We are beyond thrilled that Teachers Pay Teachers advertised our resource this week as a flash freebie! Our Internet Safety Unit Plan is one of our top sellers on TPT and we are offering it as a free download this week only.

A new school years means our creative juices are flowing when it comes to creating lesson plans. Thanks to this we have created 2 new semester courses for fellow teachers to purchase. Our semester courses are our top sellers and teachers all around the country are teaching our courses in their classrooms, pretty neat! The two new courses we have create are Business Essentials and 9-12 Computer Applications. We have taught these courses for years and have perfected our lessons enough to make an entire course. Shown below are information over each semester course.
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If you know our products you might have already seen that we sell a 6-8 Computer Applications Semester Course. That semester course is our best seller and is a great product but it was designed for the middle school classroom with 45 minute classes. We now created the 9-12 Computer Application Semester course that is designed for the high school level. With the content being high school level we now have many more unit plans for this class since the classes are 75 minutes and and 18 weeks long.  If you have previously purchased our 6-8 Computer Applications Semester Course and would like more unit plans please do not purchase this semester course because there are some similar materials. You can purchase the 6-8 Computer Applications Semester Course Extension Bundle. 

Us Tech Twins learned our passion for technology and education from our parents. Our parents have been our role models and we are proud to announce that our parents have started a consulting business known as "JTI Consulting". Their business is all about helping educators with any of their technology needs. 
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Right now their business has tutorial videos available on Teachers Pay Teacher's website. Their amazing video tutorials are over popular and new technology that us educators are using,  Right now on Teachers Pay Teacher's website they have a FREE tutorial video over Google Mail Preview Pane and it can help you and your fellow coworkers. Check out the free tutorial by clicking on the picture below! 

Below are some more of their tutorials. 

Here is some more information on them and their background in education and technology. 

TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Julie Jensen is the Exec. Dir. of Curriculum for El Dorado Public Schools and an Apple Distinguished Educator. Doug Jensen is the Executive Director of Technology and also an Apple Distinguished Educator, we organized a 1:1 Laptop Initiative for the district high school thirteen years ago, a middle school 1:1 Mini iPad initiative eight years ago, and 1:1 iPads for the four elementary buildings over the last four years. Both the middle school and the high school have been recognized as Apple Distinguished Schools. We both have been educators for over 30 years in K-12.

TEACHING STYLE
Blended Learning with the the integration of technology.

HONORS/AWARDS/SHINING TEACHER MOMENT
​Both Doug and Julie are Apple Distinguished Educators

EDUCATIONAL HISTORY
Bachelors of Education from Emporia State University Masters in School Administration and Superintendent Certificate from Pittsburg State University

ADDITIONAL BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
​-List of Presentations Mid America Computers in Education, 1994, 1995, 1996,1997, 1999, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016
-Apple Leadership & Learning Panelist, Wichita, KS, 2005, 2014 K-12
-iPad Initiatives & Implementations, Kansas State University, 2014;
-ISTE Conference in Philadelphia, PA, 2011
-KSDE Conference in Wichita, KS, 2011
-Greenbush Education Technology Conference, 2005, 2010, 2011
-United School Administrator Conference in Wichita, KS, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012 -Kansas Dropout Prevention Summit, Wichita, KS, 2009
-Governor’s Mentoring Conference, 2008
​-Apple Video Conference Briefing, 2008; for Lexington, NE
-Apple Headquarters Briefing, Cupertino, CA, 2007; for Kansas City, KS
-Apple 1:1 Digital Learning Institute in Cupertino, CA, 2007; for Kansas City, KS
-Apple 1:1 Digital Learning Institute in Chicago, IL, 2007; for Battle Creek, MI
-Apple Leadership and Learning, Wichita, KS, 2014
-Apple Technology Learning Institute in Lake Elmo, MN, 2007
-Apple Video Conference Briefing, 2007; for Cedar Rapids, IA,
-National North Central Accreditation Conference in Chicago, IL, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2006
-Kansas North Central Accreditation in Wichita, KS, 1996, 1999, 2005, 2006
-Kansas Association of School Boards, Topeka, KS, 2001, 2003, 2006
-TAKE Conference in Topeka, KS, 2003, 2006
-Apple Education Leadership Forum, Chicago, IL, 2005
-Kansas Technology Leadership Conference in Topeka, KS, 2000, 2003, 2005
-Universal Professional Development Day in Wichita, KS, 2001, 2005
-Connecting Education Conference in Wichita, KS, 2005
-South Dakota TIE Conference in Rapid City, SD, 2005
-VPL Conference in Wichita, KS, 2005
-Wichita Public Schools/Friends University Technology Fair, 1997
-Kansas Association of Secondary Administrators Summer Seminar, 1996
-Kansas Regional Association of School Boards, 1996
-Southeast Kansas Service Center, Greenbush, KS, 1994, 1995

Last year we both started new teaching positions at the 9-12 high school level. With these new positions came new content that we had to create for our classrooms. Between the two of us we taught Computer Applications, Entrepreneurship, Digital Design, Accounting, Web Design, Game Design, Success 101 (Business Essentials), Marketing, Business Management, and Digital Marketing.

Naturally you would think that we would of been overwhelmed but we both were thrilled to be able to teach new content. We love creating lesson plans that are personalized for our students and classrooms. With the new classes we taught we had our creative juices flowing and created over 50+ new unit plans, activities, semester courses, etc.

Now all these new materials are available to all teachers who are interested on https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Tech-Twins. Total we have over 130+ Lesson Plans, Activities, Projects, Whole Semester Courses, Training, PowerPoints, etc…Covering topics from Business, Technology, and Computers. ANY TEACHER CAN BENEFIT FROM THESE PRODUCTS! Us tech twins have been hard at work and updated all of products to make sure they are the top quality! With all of our products there is absolutely no prep needed for the teacher! 

Shown below are a few of our newest products we have posted in our store. Click the button below to access our store. 

​As teachers we want to make sure our students are still receiving a proper education even though we aren’t personally in the classroom to educate them. Long-term subs are great and we understand that once they are in the classroom they are now the teacher. However, us Tech Twins like to provide our long-term subs with all the materials to cover our class with little stress. It can't be easy to walk into a classroom and take over multiple classes, for 6-12 weeks, without any resources and curriculum to help them. That’s why we created the Maternity Leave Bundle for other secondary educators.

We did a lot of research on Maternity Leave and most of the information we found was for Elementary teachers, not Secondary teachers. Therefore, after a lot of research, time, and effort we feel very confident leaving our classes to our long-term subs. We want to share what worked for our planning with fellow secondary educators who too are in the same position as us.

As we all know babies can make a random appearance at anytime, so its best to be prepared. Samantha teaches a total of 6 different preps at her high school. All but 2 of her classes are 9 weeks long. Samantha’s maternity leave fell at the end of the 3rd 9 weeks and the beginning  of the 4th 9 weeks. Because of these circumstances she had to make sure the long-term sub could take over at any point in her 3rd 9 weeks classes and begin her 4th nine week classes. Nichole teaches 4 preps at her school and she has to plan an entire semester worth of materials for all of her classes. This is because her due date falls at a time where she could be gone towards the beginning of the semester or be gone the 2nd half of the semester. Preparing an entire semesters worth of materials allows the long term subs to be able to pick up where ever we left off in our classes. 

Here is what we provided for our long term subs.

1. A video over how we organized our lesson plans for all our classes.
2. Video of what the binders look like when it’s all put together!
3. A binder for every class taught, the following documents are included:
   1. Instructions on how the class works, and what’s included in this folder.
   2. USB Drive with all digital materials.
   3. Class syllabus.
   4. Class objectives outline.
   5. All the course unit plans, lessons, and activities in order.
      1. In the unit plans we have found that leaving very detailed lesson plans really helps the subs be successful. This way they know exactly what is to be taught. This will take some time to prep for all your unit plans but in the long run it will leave you and the sub stress free. 

​ 4. A “Maternity Leave” Binder with the following documents in it:

1. Cover
2. Thank You Page
3.  Long-Term Sub Information
4. Class Schedule
5. Classroom Calendar
6. School Information 
7. Logins & Passwords
8. Grading Information
9. Sub Plans
10. Class Roster/Seating Charts
11. Student Information
12. District Calendar
13. Printers
14. Any other documents you find important for your sub to be successful in your room.

​If you too are going to be taking maternity leave in your near future and are interested in having these materials, you can purchase this bundle by clicking on the tab below. And congratulations to those those expecting!

Summer break is right around the corner and that is definitely something to celebrate! As a teacher it is easy to end the last few days or weeks with playing videos, games, etc., but it's still vital to make those last few classes count. We have learned you can still end your class on a fun note while keeping students engaged  with rigorous lesson plans. Listed below are some tips to help you end your semester smoothly. 
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Activities
This can range from computer scavenger hunts, cross word puzzles, video reflections, website explores, article reviews, etc. These are great activities to have students learn other useful information that might not be tied into a unit plan. Shown below are a few activities of our products that you could purchase.
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​End of Semester Reflection
These are activities or projects you can create to have students reflect on the knowledge they have gained during the semester. Students are also being innovative with an computer application such as word, power point, etc. Click on the picture below to check out the projects we have in this area. ​

We have upgraded our Microsoft Office software to 2016! This now means that we now are offering multiple products that are compatible for teaching Office 2016. We still have all the same products that are compatible with Office 2010 & 2013 but have added some newer versions of our products for those of you who teach with Office 2016. Shown below are a few of the newest updated products. Go to https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Tech-Twins to check out all the newest products. 

As teachers we teach unit plan after unit plan to make sure we teach all the required standards in our classrooms. However, there are days as teachers we have to be flexible because we are sick, or plans change, etc. These days teachers need classroom activities that can have students learn and be engaged but require little effort from a teaching stand point. Us Tech Twins pride ourselves in creating some fun extension activities for our classrooms and we know these materials are compatible for other classrooms too.

Tips for Extension Activities:

1. Have clear instructions for students to be able to complete the work without your assistance.
2. Make it engaging for the class being taught. For example if it is a Computer class have them go on a computer basics scavenger hunts. If its Entrepreneurship have them watch a shark tank episode and reflect on the episode.
3. Create at least 10 extension activities to cover the days that you aren't able to teacher the typical curriculum. 
4. Make sure the work on the activity is enough to take up the entire class period.

 
Listed below are some activities we make:

1. Internet Scavenger Hunts
2. Website Explores
3. Video Reflections
4. Vocabulary Crossword and Scavenger Hunts

If you are interested in any of these activities, click on the pictures shown below to preview the products on Teachers Pay Teachers website. 

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