International Dot Day is coming up on, around, or during the week of September 15-ish.

Every year, millions of students and educators connect on International Dot Day to celebrate creativity, courage, and collaboration.

Getting involved in International Dot Day is easy. It is free, flexible, and open to any classes from all around the world.

This ultimate guide to International Dot Day explains exactly what it is and how to participate.

We’ve put together lots of examples from the educational blogging community and invite you to leave your own ideas in a comment.

About International Dot Day

International Dot Day began when Terry Shay introduced his class to Peter H Reynold’s book The Dot on September 15, 2009.

Since then, this date has been celebrated each year as International Dot Day — a day for classes to explore the story’s powerful themes: bravery, creativity, and self-expression.

About the Book – The Dot

The Dot tells the story of a caring art teacher who reaches a reluctant student in a remarkably creative way.

In Peter’s book, the teacher encourages the student to begin a journey of self-discovery and creativity, starting with a simple dot on a piece of paper. Transformed by this journey, the student goes on to inspire others.

How to Get Involved

Participating in International Dot Day is simple.

1. Visit https://www.internationaldotday.org/welcome Here you can read up on the day, find ideas and check out the resources.
2. Sign up to participate. This is just a simple survey the organizers use to help plan events around International Dot Day.
3. Read the book to your class. If you or your library don’t have the book, you might opt to view a YouTube video or purchase the interactive online version. 
4. Express yourself in any way. This is where you can get creative. Your dot theme can be incorporated into story writing, artwork, songwriting, photography, dance, cooking, performances, or more.
5. Publish! If you have a blog, this is the perfect platform to show the world how you have celebrated the day.
6. Connect. International Dot Day is as much about celebrating creativity as it is about connecting and collaborating. There is a page on the International Dot Day website which has been set up to help you connect with others. There are links to a Google Doc and social media channels. There are many teachers looking to connect their class through their blog or Skype etc. Such wonderful possibilities for your students!
7. Connect. International Dot Day is as much about celebrating creativity as it is about connecting and collaborating. You can connect with the Dot Day community on Twitter or Facebook. There are many teachers looking to connect their class through their blog or tools like Flipgrid or Skype. Such wonderful possibilities for your students!

International Dot Day Ideas

International Dot Day is something you can celebrate throughout your entire school, with your class, or by connecting with other classes around the world.

Here are a few ideas from previous International Dot Days.

1) Shannon Miller’s Resources

K-12 Teacher Librarian, Shannon Miller is a leader in the International Dot Day Community. A post on Shannon’s blog explains how you can connect and celebrate.

She shares a link to a Google Doc where people can add their details, schedules, and make connections. Shannon has also put together some Padlets with resources and picture books, plus a Pinterest board.

Check out Shannon’s post for all the details and links.

Padlet books with dots

2) Group Blog: Connect The Dot Stories

When I was teaching grade 1/2/3 students last year, we connected with 3 other classes in different countries for Dot Day and set up a group blog.

We worked on a range of collaborative activities. One of the most popular was “Connect The Dot Stories“.

Here’s how this activity worked:

• Students got together in small groups and came up with a team name.
• The group came up with one keyword from The Dot story that was written or inferred.
• They then came up with a set of 4 other words (not necessarily from the story).
• The children wrote each of their 5 words on a circular ‘dot’ and had a photo taken of the words.
• These photo story prompts were posted on the blog.
• Individuals/pairs/groups from the other class then came up with a short story that includes each of the words.

This was a fun challenge!
Here’s an example that was posted to the blog by one team. Other students used those word prompts to make up a short story.

Team Polar Bear: Art, opened, draw, empty, polar bear, strong

Other activities we came up with that you might want to explore include:

• Augmented Reality Dots
• What Can You Create With A Dot?
• Copy Our Dotty Pictures!

3) Google Meets

Amy Kincaid‘s elementary students met with a bilingual class via Google Meet. They shared writing assignments about encouragement.

Read more on Amy’s Library Blog.

4) Dot Day Circle Stories

Kevin Hodgson‘s sixth graders celebrated being creative with writing and with art.

They wrote short Circle Stories with either a circular object or a circular theme. They used the words to “paint” the stories into circles (or dots) using a free tool called Visual Poetry.

They collated their Circle Stories in a Padlet.

Find out more on Kevin’s class blog, The Electronic Pencil, and on his professional blog, Kevin’s Meandering Mind. 

5) Kindness Rocks

Inspired by the Kindness Rocks movement, Mrs. Shemansky and her colleague did a rock painting activity with their middle school art classes.

The students ‘made their mark’ by painting two rocks each. One rock became part of the school rock garden and the second rock was hidden and shared with others.

Read more on Mrs. Shemansky’s Class Blog.

6) Dotty Videos

Senior School students at Togher School in County Cork, Ireland put together this great video about Dot Day 2018! Here is their video from Dot Day 2019!

During a collaboration with Linda Yollis‘ class in California in 2017, her third graders made a video to show my students around her school.

Read more about this project on Mrs. Yollis’ Classroom Blog.

7) School-Wide Thinglink

Dot Day was a school-wide affair for Karen Arrington’s students in 2017. The activities involved design thinking, art, augmented reality, Flipgrid, and more.

Karen compiled all of the great activities the students completed in a Thinglink.

Read more details on these activities on Karen’s Tech Tips blog. 

8) Skyping In-Person

Jen Bearden, Rachael Turken, and their first-grade students tried all sorts of things on International Dot Day. There was singing, dancing, artwork, and math.

See what these young students got up to on Jen Bearden’s blog, 20 Something Kids And 1 Kooky Teacher, and Rachel Turken’s blog, im 4 students. 

To share their creations, Mrs. Bearden’s class was going to Skype with Ms. Turken’s class next door as practice for future calls. Technical problems led to them doing ‘in-person’ Skype calls in a fun and creative way.

Check out all the action from their in-person Skype session on this blog post. 

9) A Dotty Day

Becky Versteeg and her Team 2 Eagles students had a busy Dot Day in 2017. After reading the story, they got creative with some artwork and writing.

This video with The Dot author, Peter H. Reynolds, provided inspiration for their dotty creations.

They then tried some dot day math with dominoes and finished the day with some music.

These lyrics are for a song that Peter H. Reynolds and Emily Arrow wrote for International Dot Day. Find the video and actions here.

10) Going on a dot hunt

Karen Arlington’s school has been participating in International Dot Day since 2011 and you can check out some of the creative ways her students have celebrated here. 

In 2017, Karen’s first-grade students went on a “dot hunt” and took photos of dot-shaped objects. Her video is embedded below.

How will you celebrate?

How will you make your mark on International Dot Day this year? Leave a comment and tell us.

If you blog about International Dot Day, be sure to leave the link in a comment!

It’s almost that time of year again when thousands of educators and ed tech folks gather at the The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference.

ISTE is a non-profit organization that serves educators interested in technology in education and the annual ISTE Conference and Expo is the biggest educational technology conference in the World.

ISTE 2019 is being held on June 23-26 in Philadelphia.

If you’re like us, and not able to attend ISTE 2019, you are still able to learn from the conference by participating remotely as we’ve done for last six years.

This post explains how you can attend ISTE virtually (for free!) wherever you are in the world.

Don’t have time to read the post? Check out our summary poster below.

Print it off and scan the QR codes with the camera of your phone or tablet to go directly to some of the resources.

Contents

Click on the links below to go to the section that interests you.

1) NotAtISTE Community

2) Watch Live Via Periscope

3) #NotAtISTE Voxer Community

4) Hashtags And Social Media

5) LiveBinder

6) Flipboard Magazine

7) Shared Google Doc

8) Information Overload?

1) NotAtISTE Community

The NotAtISTE Community is the first place you should visit if you’re interested attending ISTE remotely. It’s an amazing community set up and facilitated by Jen Wagner, Peggy George, and Vicky Sedgwick.

Social networking is an important part of attending conferences. The NotAtISTE Community is a fun way for those #NotAtISTE to connect with each other while sharing learning and tips.

Each year, the #NotAtISTE community organizes a wide range of activities. You can add yourself to the participants list here!

This year’s activities include:

• Create your own  #NotAtISTE badge and introduce yourself in the Collaborative Google slideshow (can add your own slide after June 22). You can create your own badge using these templates. Click on tutorials to find video explanations of how to make these. Check out last year’s slide show for ideas.
• Daily Challenge which you can participate in and includes randomly drawn door prizes!
• Add yourself to the #NotAtISTE Map.
• Join the #NotAtISTE Voxer Community.
• #NotAtISTE Ignite sessions where you can share an idea in under 5 minutes.
• Flipgrid Chats.

Check out Sean Fahey and Karly Moura‘s The Educator’s Guide to Flipgrid to learn how to participate in Flipgrid chats.

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2) Watch Live Via Periscope

Periscope is a live streaming app that allows whoever is watching live on their mobile device to comment and ask questions.

Best of all, you can watch it after it is recorded if you miss the live broadcast. Periscope is a great way to watch presentations, visit the exhibit hall, and attend poster sessions remotely.

The Team from #PassTheScopeEDU will be periscoping from ISTE and you can follow their hashtag on Twitter.

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3) #NotAtISTE Voxer Community

Voxer is an app that allows users to send audio, text messages, and photos to each other.

Voxer allows you to interact either synchronous and asynchronous. This is ideal for the #NotAtISTE community as participants are spread across all time zones.

You can join the #NotAtISTE Voxer community by clicking on this link.

Watch this video to learn how to use Voxer.

You’ll find more information on using Voxer in education here.

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4) Hashtags And Social Media

Twitter is one of the best ways to monitor what’s happening at ISTE thanks to the large number of educators tweeting from the conference.

Hashtags and handles

The Twitter hashtags to follow are:

1. #ISTE19
2. #NotAtISTE
3. #NotAtISTE19
4. #PresentersOfISTE

The same hashtags are also being used on Instagram.

The official Twitter handle is @ISTE.

Monitoring social media

There is a range of different approaches you can use to monitor Twitter during the conference. Two popular approaches include:

• Flipboard — Used to monitor content shared when you’re offline (asynchronous). You’ll find a complete step by step guide to setting up Flipboard here.
• TweetDeck — Used to monitor content shared when online (synchronous). You’ll find a complete step by step guide to using Twitter and following hashtags using Tweetdeck here.

Tony Vincent has shared a helpful tip on using multiple search terms in Tweetdeck:

Catch more of the tweets from #ISTE18 in Chicago by saving a search that contains multiple hashtags.

For example, enter this search:#ISTE18 OR #ISTE2018 OR #NOTatISTE OR #NOTatISTE18 OR #PresentersOfISTE

[Works in TweetDeck too!] pic.twitter.com/Q4BgnvLtPt

— Tony Vincent (@tonyvincent) June 24, 2018

Twitter lists

Another option is to create your own Twitter list of the presenters you’re interested in following or people who are sharing helpful information from ISTE.

Here is my Twitter list of NotAtISTE participants from 2017.

You’ll find information on using Twitter lists here.

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5) LiveBinder

Peggie George, Barbara Tallent, and Susie Highley are curating resources into a #NotAtISTE19 LiveBinder.

Check out the 2018 LiveBinder to view the resources they curated last year!

Bookmark it, pin it, and keep checking back as the #NotAtISTE19 LiveBinder gets curated all throughout the ISTE lead up and conference.

Start with the “Getting Started” tab.

You’re welcome to share resources with the ISTE hashtags and the team will add them to the LiveBinder.

Click here to open this binder in a new window.

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6) Flipboard Magazine

Since 2014, Sue Waters and others have been curating the best information and content shared during the conference into the ISTE Insights Flipboard magazine.

View the Flipboard Magazine.

This video explains how Sue uses Flipboard to find, curate and share content.

You’ll find a complete step by step guide to setting up Flipboard here.

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7) Shared Google Doc

Since 2014, I’ve created a shared Google Doc for sessions I wanted to attend. I prepared my own notes by:

• Reviewing the handouts and links provided by the presenters
• Reviewing blog posts or articles on the sessions attended by people who are at ISTE
• Adding any photos shared from the sessions

Here are links to my Shared Google Docs:

1. Blogging Sessions at ISTE 2014
2. Blogging Sessions at ISTE 2015
3. Blogging Sessions ISTE 2016
4. Blogging Sessions ISTE 2017
5. Blogging Sessions ISTE 2018 (Kathleen Morris).

You can check out the progress of my Google Doc here!

Sessions I’ve chosen are based around blogging, online tools, digital writing etc.

Make Your Own Google Doc

Here is how I do it:

1. Work out which sessions I would have attended if I was at ISTE by searching the conference program by adding the search term (1) and then clicking on the Search Icon (2).

• If you log into the ISTE website you can mark your favorite sessions.
• When you’re logged in, you’ll also have access to a ‘digital tote’ where you can store all your conference materials like session handouts and resource lists.

This generates a list of sessions based on the search term.

2.  Check each session page for links to the presentation website, handouts etc. and use these to write notes about the session.

Here is an example of a session page!

Resources for the session are often listed in the Digital Tote Resources.  Michael Hernandez digital tote resources link (1) is a great example of how helpful these resources can be.  Click on “Add to digital tote” (2) to store all session handouts, resource lists, exhibitor information, and more for easy access.

Here is what the Digital Tote resource looks like on Michael Hernandez’s session page.

3.  Check each of the presenter’s profiles by clicking on their name to see if they include their Twitter username or links to their website.

Michael included his links in his bio which meant I didn’t need to check his presenter profile to find his information.

4.  Transfer information about each session I would have liked to attend into a Google Doc including links to the ISTE session page, presenter’s Twitter usernames (or websites), and a summary of the session.

Below is an example of what it looks like from my Google Doc.

5.  Before the session, add any additional notes by checking the presenters’ resources, websites, and Twitter accounts.

6.  After the session, check if anyone is tweeting information about the presentation by checking the presenter’s Twitter accounts. Work through any relevant information shared.

For example, the Tweet embedded below takes you to the presenters’ resources which I worked through as I wrote my notes for ISTE 2017.

Here is a link to our resources from our Poster session from today on Global Collaboration! #notatISTE17 #ISTE17 #dpcdsb #onted pic.twitter.com/hfjH9Bpp4G

— Vickie Morgado M.Ed (she/her) (@vickiemorgado1) June 26, 2017

Information Overload?

There is so much content shared during ISTE, and so many activities you can join as a #NotAtISTE participant. It can feel overwhelming and lead to information overload!

Here’s my advice based on my 6 years of participating in #NotAtISTE:

My most important tip is don’t place a time limit on your learning!

People often feel that they have a set time to achieve what they are trying to learn based on the duration of a conference.

I take the opposite approach attending conferences virtually. I break what I want to learn into manageable chunks and focus on what I want to learn before the conference starts, during the conference and after the conference finishes.

I also break up activities based on what needs to be done synchronously vs what I can do asynchronously. I accept that with a conference like ISTE, even as a NOTAtISTE participant, it’s impossible to participate in everything so I prioritize what I do based on achieving the maximum outcome for the time I have available.

Here’s a summary of my approach:

1. Before the conference — Organize your Google Doc by working through the ISTE program and the resources shared by presenters while also researching different options for participating as a NOTAtISTE participant.
2. During the conference — Participate in the different NotAtISTE communities, curate resources into Flipboard, and focus on any synchronous activities I want to learn or participate in. My goal is to try one or two new things I haven’t tried previously. For example, in the NotAtISTE community in 2014 I learned how to use Voxer and in 2015 I was introduced to Periscope. Add notes to my Google Docs.
3. After the conference — Work through the resources that have been shared and continue to research topics that interest me. Participants at ISTE and NotAtISTE will curate the best links which makes it easy to follow them up after the conference.

Time wise, I look for ways I can multitask to work smarter and not harder. For example, with Voxer and Periscope I can listen on my daily walks or when I’m doing work around the house.

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Anything else?

Have any more ideas? Please leave them in the comments below!

This week, students around the world are participating in ‘Hour of Code‘ as part of Computer Science Education Week (December 3-8).

Learning to code can be life changing for students which is why I’d like to introduce you to our colleague who is an inspirational young coder.

17-year-old Alex is blind and is in his final year of high school. He is an outstanding self-taught coder and a highly valued member of the Edublogs team.

Alex became vision impaired during 9th grade and lost most of his sight within 6 months.

We invited Alex to share his story for the Student Blogging Challenge. We’re cross-posting it here as it is proving to be very fascinating and inspiring for teachers and students alike.

Over to Alex…

My name is Alex and I work as an accessibility developer and system administrator for Incsub which is the company behind Edublogs.

I started here at Incsub in May 2017 just days after I turned sixteen years old. I go to school in the day and work in the night.

Although this job can be demanding, I always love the challenge it offers me day by day.

Alex’s role with the company

One of my main roles is to ensure all servers are running properly and respond when automation fails. Basically, I make sure we stay online.

I have helped with building infrastructure components and hosting. This means I built the parts that make our servers work to host our sites and helped with moving networks of websites to our servers.

My other working time is spent ensuring all Incsub sites (including Edublogs, CampusPress and WPMU DEV) stay completely accessible to visually impaired users who rely on screen reading technology. A screen reader reads aloud the screen for people who can’t see or have other limitations.

This screen reader demo for digital accessibility video shows how a screen reader works and the importance of accessibility for the visually impaired.

Alex’s blindness

Although some would see visual impairment as something you can’t live with, I assure you it’s very possible.

When I first started at Incsub I was hired to provide live chat support for WPMU DEV (a WordPress company that’s part of Incsub). That would later translate into becoming an accessibility developer. (Developer is another word for coder or programmer).

I study our company sites weekly to ensure they are accessible to everyone. The sad news is most sites are not. Just because I cannot see very much, I cannot use a lot of websites.

Now I get to work every day to ensure all sites are accessible within Incsub as everyone deserves the same opportunity for accessing the web.

Below is a picture of me at a WordCamp event last year (that’s a WordPress conference. WordPress is the software that powers 30% of the web including Edublogs and CampusPress). I’m wearing the yellow and black hoodie.

Thanks all the people who were at the #a11y table of the #WCUS contributor day!
Especially @jdelia and Katherine White for testing Gutenberg for a full day.
And a big shoutout to Alex Stine, a 16 yr old web dev that helps with coding and testing with NVDA. pic.twitter.com/2pNT6ficIS

— Rian (@RianRietveld) December 4, 2017

Here is a picture of me at the 2018 WordCamp pictured with James Farmer (left), Ronnie Burt (right) and the WPMU DEV mascot.

How Alex learned to code

Learning to code wasn’t all that challenging. I first started learning basic HTML in the 7th grade. It just took off from there.

I found WordPress, signed up for web hosting, and started learning the ways of web development.

It wasn’t until I started to code for accessibility development here that I really learned more of the advanced coding languages. I have taught myself HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, React JS, PHP, and Shell.

Moving on from accessibility development, I ran into system administration (upkeeping and configuring servers). I started learning with a company called Linux Academy. It’s an online program that allows you to learn Linux concepts, Cloud basics, Docker, and a whole host of other subjects.

I’m still very much in the practice stages but getting better every day. It’s cool what you can do with servers and don’t let your disability stand in your way.

A coding career

It is very important to me that the younger audiences get involved with coding. Without the younger generation, the sharing of information starts to drop. We need to keep this open sharing idea around. That way, everyone can learn from each other. It is truly the sharing of information that makes everyone smarter.

Getting the young involved in technology should increase the chance of them finding a really good paying job in the future, after graduation.

This video shows us how computer science is improving so many areas of our life.

More About Alex

Students taking part in the Student Blogging Challenge were invited to ask Alex a question. There was an overwhelming response and Alex has answered many questions about coding, using a computer, and his blindness in this post. 

About Hour of Code

Hour of Code is designed to introduce young people worldwide to the basics of coding and computer science through one-hour coding activities.

While these activities are promoted during Computer Science Education Week, they can be done at any time throughout the year.

Over to You!

As Alex has demonstrated, there are no barriers to forging a successful career in coding. His skills help to keep blogs and websites in schools around the world running smoothly.

Any comments or questions? Scroll down to find the comment box.