Back to School

August and September bring much excitement with “Back to School”. Teachers, parents, and students are all gearing up for the start of a new school year and getting back to routines. For many, “Back to School” night at schools are the first opportunity to make impressions - for students, teachers, and parents. These nights can really set the tone for the upcoming school year. Darri Stephens, Senior Director of Education Content for Common Sense Education, writes of “three tried-and-true tenets for a successful Back-to-School Night”. In her recent article, “Back-to-School Night: The Ultimate Conversation Starter for a Successful School Year”, Stephens encourages teachers to do three things: 

• Be transparent - Have a common language and explain your thinking
• Be direct - Invite parents into the classroom and set expectations for students
• Be consistent - Stay true to your rules and keep parents informed

Back to School Night provides a great opportunity to establish parent partnerships that will ultimately lead to student success throughout the year.

You can get more from Common Sense Education by visiting Graphite in Pepper’s Resource Library. To read more about this awesome resource, you can also check out this recent blog post from July 25, Graphite: Tools for the Digital Classroom.

Be sure to check out all our Pepper course offerings.

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Connecting After the Course

A unique feature of Pepper is the ability to form your own personal community of people all over the country with whom you can share lesson plans, work samples, and ideas. Our discussion forum is an excellent way to get your feet wet. Simple click on the "Discussion" tab on the menu bar and post away! Connect with others who have taken the same course, post a new topic, or share your own thoughts about existing posted topics. 

Learning is Social - Engage with Peers and Coaches in Pepper

One of the many helpful features on our Pepper website is the ability to search for other educators, view their profiles, and connect with them to get a new perspective. There is a wide range of search criteria to choose from, so you can locate people with precision. You can message each other and share portfolios and ideas all with a few clicks!

In addition, you can browse our extensive Resource Library and course offerings to grow as an educator while impacting your students in the process.

Check out all of the rich features Pepper has to offer at http://www.pepperpd.com/

Digital Storytelling--Technology, Creativity, and Common Core

No teacher or parent can deny the power that storytelling has for children. In fact, children's fantasy author Philip Pullman writes, “After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” Stories help us make sense of the world around us, teach us to find meaning and purpose, and convey information in beautiful and sometimes unexpected ways.

What is digital storytelling? At its simplest, it just means using a variety of audio and visual technologies to share personal narratives, to illustrate and present the stories of others, and to expand on creative ideas. It can be a fantastic tool for helping students develop skills and capacities that are integral to the Common Core State Standards.

Students involved in a digital storytelling project can learn how to locate key themes in a narrative, develop deeper and richer vocabulary, and examine and compare different narrative perspectives. They can hone communication and collaboration abilities, as well, and gain confidence in public presentation skills.

Don't let the technology part of digital storytelling intimidate you! Check out this list of great websites for ideas on how to get started with digital storytelling in your classroom!

Edtechteacher.org -- Take a look at their digital storytelling page for tools, examples, and media resources!


Yesalliance.org -- This group (Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance) has a set of fantastic short briefs that show you how digital storytelling explicitly aligns with CCSS for grades K-6 and 7-12.

Shrockguide.net -- This page from ed tech specialist Kathy Shrock's blog offers an enormous set of links and resources, all related to digital storytelling. It can take a little effort  to find the things that will be most helpful, but it's worth it!