1. Tech Savvy: Having a good understanding and proficiency in using technology.

2. Educator: A person who teaches or instructs, especially as a profession.

3. Digital Literacy: The ability to use, understand, and navigate digital technologies effectively.

4. Student Agency: The capacity of students to take an active and independent role in their own learning.

5. Professional Learning Network (PLN): A network of professionals, often in the same field or industry, who collaborate and share knowledge to enhance their professional development.

6. Game Changer: Something that radically changes or significantly influences a situation or activity.

7. Digital Learning Environment: An online or computer-based environment where learning activities and resources take place.

8. Roadmap: A plan or strategy outlining the path to achieve a particular goal.

9. Reading Games: Interactive games designed to improve reading skills and comprehension.

10. Icon Literacy: The ability to understand and interpret symbols or icons, particularly in a digital context.

11. Total Body Response: A teaching method that involves physical movement or gestures to reinforce learning.

12. Bingo: A game of chance in which players match symbols or numbers on a card with those called out randomly by a caller.

13. Visual: Relating to or involving sight or vision.

14. Choice Boards: Boards or documents that present students with a selection of activities or tasks from which they can choose.

15. Clever: Likely referring to Clever, an educational technology platform that provides single sign-on access to various digital learning resources.

16. ISTI Seal: Possibly referring to a seal awarded by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) indicating high-quality curriculum or resources.

17. Swag Bag: A bag or collection of promotional items or freebies, often given as gifts.

18. Back to School Season: The period when students and teachers return to school after a break.

19. Jump Start: To initiate or begin something with a burst of energy or enthusiasm.

20. Virtual: Existing or occurring online or in a digital environment rather than in physical space.

This is the Ten Minute Teacher Podcast with your host, Vicky Davis.The future is now preparing our youngest scholars for a Digital World episode 816.In this show, we’ll sit down with Debbie Tannenbaum, the tech savvy educator for early childhood education and author of TransformTechie Notes to Make Learning Sticky.Get ready to discover innovative strategies for integratingtechnology into early education, building student agency, andwhy your professional learning network can be agame changer for your teaching career.If you teach the youngest students and arelooking to transform your classroom into a dynamicdigital learning environment, this episode is your roadmap.Today’s sponsor, EVERFI has created an incredible setof reading games called Wordforce go to everfy.com.Coolcat to sign up for these free games perfectfor K to two classrooms everywhere and check outmy review this week on my blog.So today we’re talking with Debbie Tannenbaumfrom Tanninbaum tech, and she’s author ofTransform techie notes to make learning sticky.And Debbie, you have a little bit ofa story of your teaching career, how youwere teaching, how you started learning.Now you’re helping schools and districtsand doing so many things.So tell us a little bit about your journey.This is my 25th year in education, my 6thyear as a tech coach, and during my firstyear as a tech coach, I’m in elementary school.I was getting super frustrated because I feltlike I could never help all my kids.And so it’s actually kind of funny because Iwas listening to your podcast back in, I guess,2018, 2019, and you were interviewing this woman, PanaAsavatan, and she was talking about icon literacy.And I reached out to her immediately afterthe podcast and found out more about her.And this kind of started me on this whole journey.I help districts with a lot of things,but my true passion is helping our littlestlearners, making sure that they develop agency, thatthey really understand how to use digital devicesand how they become digital learners.It’s become a really big passion to me.A lot of what I see is for secondary school,a lot of what I share tends to focus onthose littles those youngest scholars because we really need tomake sure that our kids are ready.There’s so much change going on in technology right nowand education, and if we don’t make sure our kidshave those skills, it becomes really tricky down the road.Well, I love that you were seeking help.You didn’t let your frustration get to you.You found somebody who resonated withyou by listening to podcasts.And I’m sure you’ve been listening tolots of different podcasts, but then you’relike, oh, Pana really is awesome.You reached out to her, and then you just got excited.So building your PLN really doesmake a difference, doesn’t it?It absolutely does.And over the last, what, five years since Ijoined twitter or maybe even more than that.Becoming part of a PLN hastotally changed everything for me.I’ve had so many opportunities to learn, somany opportunities to share that I would havenever had if I hadn’t had those experiences.And I’ve gotten to feel so much richerin what I do because of those experiences.So it’s really been great.As the last couple of years have gone, I’m doingthings now that I would have never imagined doing fiveyears ago, and a lot of that is due tothe people I’ve been connected with through social media.We’re going to talk about making learning sticky, andreally we want to focus today on the littlesbecause, you know what, you may be somebody thatresonates with those who are working with trying toreach and help the littles.So where do you start?How do you help teachers reach our youngest?I think it’s really important to start simple.I always talk about when I first start working withmy youngest learners because of the work that I hadexperienced talking to Pana and working with her.I really try to think about those nineicons that I feel like are the mostimportant for my students to understand, to reallynavigate those digital learning environments.Before we even touch a device,we really start to learn those.And whether we’re talking about power and we’re doingsome total body response and we’re using our hands,or we’re talking about username, which has seven digitsor password, everything we do is really concrete.And then we even play some icon bingo toreally make sure that the kids know those things.Icon bingo.Okay, I love that.Tell me about icon bingo.So icon bingo, there’s a really great site.I think it’s called ESL activities.And you can put pictures on a bingo board.And I put like I’m trying toremember all nine of them, but likepower username, image, text, video, microphone.And so I put those ones that I’m goingto use with my students a lot on there.And we play I even had some educators atISPI play some icon bingo in one of myplaygrounds because it’s really important to make sure thatthey understand what those icons are.And then as we build, we can get even more.But there’s so many icons that goacross different platforms that I want tomake sure my students understand that.And so I want to know my students toknow, no matter what program they’re in, kind ofa way to navigate that digital learning environment.And once I’ve done that with them, I do a lotof things where I reinforce those icons as we’re learning andreally try to link the digital literacy that they’re building withthe learning that they’re working on as well.I think that’s super important.I have something I call an.edu Rubicon thathas the icons on the left and thenthose criteria for success on the right.And it’s very visual because I want my studentsto know that they can do these things.I incorporate things like video inside of itbecause I want them to have that agency.Before this, I was spending a lot of time playingWhack A Mole and trying to get my students alldown and never being able to do it.And now what I’m really my goal isnow they’re calling me because they want meto show me what they’re creating.And that’s a big shift, andI think that that’s so important.So when I’m working with our primary educators and ouryoungest learners, I build on that, making sure that beforeI even mention a tech tool, that I really spendtime to talk about ways to promote that agency.Because far too often we go directly to the tech tools.And when we do that, we’re missing a piece.And so whenever I share about littles, Ialways tell them the first half hour hasnothing to do with tech tools.I won’t even mention a techtool until that second half hour.But then when I mention those tech tools,you’re going to see those connections made. Love it.So when you say littles, define the age with what I do.I really look at like that pre k to second.But the stuff I share will really work.Pre k and up.So have you done this with three year olds or isit more like four year olds or five year olds?Four year olds. Four year olds.The Whack A Mole is a complaint that teachersand tech coaches have with those four year olds.So you find that playing the bingo reallyhelping them understand the icons and what theydo and how long the username is.I haven’t played with the bingo with my four year olds.I’ve played it with my Kindergartners, but just thatsame idea of really building it and making sure.When I work with my youngest learners, I tryto stick with programs that are very visual.One of the ones I really like iscalled WIXY, and they have a primary viewthat’s super easy for our kids to use.And then when I get to my olderkids, then I’m able to build on that.I’m so excited because we had iPads this year.That my pre k kids, when they get to kindergarten.This isn’t going to be the firsttime they’ve been on a device.What are your favorites?You’ve got WIXY.You’re excited about the iPads. “ WWW.ARMINIC.COM “ Just throw some out at us that your kids love.WIXI is probably one of my favorites.I also love book creator.I think book creator is an amazing tool.I use Flip a lot with my kids.Oh, really?How do you use it?Well, I start really simple.We start with the paper version,and I’ll start with my Kindergartners.And I’ll say, okay, here’s a fives frame.Color it in two different ways.Do you want to hold it up in front of your faceand record, or do you want to hold it to the side?I make it so that they only have the camera tostart, and then I just let them watch each other.And honestly, they love watching each other.And so we build on all of those things as we’reworking small strategic steps to really make sure that they understandhow to do these things one step at a time.And I like programs that allow our kids toshare their knowledge in lots of different ways.So it’s not just, oh, I’m drawing a picture, but maybeI can create a video, maybe I can add my voice.And so I like those things.And it also makes it easier for our teachers.If our teachers pick a tool that has lotsof different choices, then their teachers learn one tool,the kids learn one tool, and then it’s easierto help them transfer over when they really understandhow all of that works together.So I can work with my kids onWIXY, and then when I get to Flip,they understand how they’re alike and different.We can make that transfer.So as we finish up, could you just give usa quick elevator pitch for here’s how you can makelearning stick with technology with four and five year olds.I think you have to look at theopportunities the technology can give our students.And is it going to give our students opportunities toshare in ways that they can’t without the technology?And a lot of times having them record theirvoice or having them make a video, you’re goingto get different things than you might get ifyou just have them draw a picture.And so giving them those opportunities to dothat, having it be able to read tothem, really giving them authentic tasks and beinglike you’re actually creating something on the computer.With my four and five year olds, I doa lot of stuff where they have choice boards,where there’s a couple of different activities and theyget to choose what they’re doing.I want them to feel like when Icome to their rooms to do our technologythat it’s always linked to what we’re learning.I never do something that isn’tlinked to what they’re learning.And I work with the teachers to do that,and they see then the connection between us.So are the choice boards projected on the board?Are they in a Google Doc orGoogle Slide or where are those?A lot of times I’ll use WIXY because it labelsyou to link within and then they get into WIXYusing Clever and they know how to do that.I teach them that.We learn how to find the Clever icon.We learn how to find what they call the rainbow hand.We’re really intentional with those icons as we build.Love that Debbie Tannenbaum.And you work with districts all over helping themuse technology with the littlest to make learning stick.And I love your techniques.So many great ideas.Thank you, Debbie, for coming on the show.Want to prepare your students for career andlife success, but short on time busy teachers?Use EVERFI’s standards aligned, research based digitallessons recently awarded with the ISTI Sealfor high quality curriculum to teach studentsto thrive in an ever changing world.Interactive game based lessons designed by experienced educatorshelp you engage students at all grade levelsand bring critical real world skills like financialeducation, early literacy, character education, health and wellnessand more to your classroom.Thanks to partners, these lessons are freefor all K twelve schools and students.With back to school season gearing up, nowis an exciting time to give your studentsa jump start on their future.Go to everfy.com Coolcat.That’s everfi.com Coolcat to learn more and sign up toget a virtual swag bag full of free goodies toget the school year off right with a great start.So sign up for Everfy today.You’ve been listening to the Ten Minute Teacher podcast.If you want more content from Vicky Davis, youcan find her on Facebook, X.com, TikTok Threads, Instagram,Blue Sky and YouTube at cool care.Thank you for listening.