A Principal's Reflections
MAY 22, 2013
'Over the course of this school year, I have been fortunate enough to share ideas on technology integration with Judy Wilson , my children’s principal at P.S. 3 in Staten Island, NY. Many of these conversations focused on my own son’s use of technology as a catalyst for creativity, problem solving, and critical thinking developed by playing Minecraft and using iMovie to storyboard and create his own movies.
The Web20Classroom
MAY 29, 2013
'I had a wonderful conversation this morning on Twitter with a teacher from New Zealand that commented on a tweet about using Skype Classroom to go global. She mentioned how her students were going to Skype and talk to kids in Iowa. How awesome is that! I just love the fact that the world gets so much smaller when we use technology like that. There really are endless learning opportunities for students (and teachers as well).
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Educational Technology Guy
MAY 20, 2013
'I put this list together for our district as we are going with GAFE and Chromebooks and I figured I''d share it here too. Google Apps and Chromebooks Training Resources Google Apps for Education (GAFE) GAFE Training Center [link] Learn how to use GAFE [link] GAFE User Guides [link] Google in Education - Teacher Resources [link] Google for Educators Resources [link] GCF Learn Free - Google Training [link] Google Apps Crib Sheets [link] Recordings -- Innovative Chromebook Teachers - Hangout on Ai
Baker's B.Y.O.D.
MAY 30, 2013
'UPDATE AS OF 1/15/14: The company Gobstopper has changed its name to Curriculet, but this update hasn''t changed how I use Curriculet with my students. The stories and information in the below post still hold true despite the change in company name. While I''ve written quite a bit about assessing writing (ad nauseum) via digital means, reading instruction and assessment have remained a primarily paper-based enterprise in my class.
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The Innovative Educator
MAY 23, 2013
'Guest post by Jaime R. Wood In his most recent TED Talk , Sir Ken Robinson says, “There are 3 principles on which human life flourishes, and they are contradicted by the culture of education under which most teachers have to labor and most students have to endure.diversity.curiosity.creativity.” What does it take to infuse these principles into the education systems we build?
The Mobile Native
MAY 18, 2013
'Here is a list of resources to help you get started with Project-Based Learning. 1) Exploring Resources for PBL 2) 10 Practical Ideas for Better Project-Based Learning in the Classroom 3) Leading PBL Schoolwide? Tips to Get Started 4) 15 Tools for Better Project-Based Learning 5) 10 Apps for More Organized Project-Based Learning 6) Diving into Project-Based Learning: Designing the Rubric 7) PBL: Managing Your Project 8) PBL or Just Another Project: Use This Checklist to Find Out 9) Project-Base
EdTech Update brings together the best content for education technology professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
The Web20Classroom
MAY 20, 2013
'Most folks are familiar with the most common Google tools. Search, Hangouts, Docs, Mail, Drive all are used by countless folks around the world. In fact this blog is written with Google Blogger. I use Google and live there most days. But did you know there are some under used features outside of the typical ones that have great value? Here is just a handful of some of the Google Tools to check out for your classroom.
Educational Technology Guy
MAY 22, 2013
'Google is now accepting applications for the next Google Teacher Academy (GTA) in Chicago, Illinois on July 24-25. This is a great, free, professional development experience for educators that Google runs around the world. Teachers who have attended always give it rave reviews. If you use Google''s tools, or plan to, and want to learn how to use them more effectively in education, this is your chance.
Baker's B.Y.O.D.
MAY 23, 2013
'My blog turns one-year old today! 21,263 page views Thank you to all who have read my blog this year! I know I haven''t posted much lately, but I have a list of topics to write about once I get through the end of the school year. Please continue reading and sharing my posts! Coming Attractions: Gobstopper Edcanvas Voice Comments & 121 Writing Thinglink Padlet Class blogging And in case you missed them, here are some of my favorite posts.
The 21st Century Principal
MAY 27, 2013
'“The real role of leadership in education is not and should not be command and control. The real role of leadership is climate control; creating a climate of possibility, and if you do that, people will rise to it and achieve things you did not anticipate and couldn''t have expected.” Sir Ken Robinson, TED Talk "How to Escape Education''s Death Valley" What is ultimately wrong with No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, and the Common Core State Standards?
Speaker: Andrew Cohen, Founder & CEO of Brainscape
The instructor’s PPT slides are brilliant. You’ve splurged on the expensive interactive courseware. Student engagement is stellar. So… why are half of your students still forgetting everything they learned in just a matter of weeks? It's likely a matter of cognitive science! With so much material to "teach" these days, we often forget to incorporate key proven principles into our curricula — namely active recall, metacognition, spaced repetition, and interleaving practice.
The Innovative Educator
MAY 12, 2013
'By now, you''ve probably seen the video of high school student Jeff Bliss demanding an end to what he calls "packet teaching." Instead he puts out a call to action for teachers to work to touch the hearts of kids to open their minds. The interaction was ignited when his teacher told him to stop his b g about the test and kicked him out of class. A student flipped open the cell phone, caught his reaction on tape, and published it.
A Principal's Reflections
MAY 3, 2013
'Cross-posted at SmartBlog on Education. Around this time last year I received what I thought was an odd request. Juliana Meehan, a teacher from a neighboring district, contacted me and asked if I would agree to mentor her as part of her training to become an administrator as part of the NJ EXCEL program. Now at this time my plate was extremely full and, as a result, I was very reluctant to take on this additional responsibility.
The Web20Classroom
MAY 16, 2013
'I have been a big fan of eduClipper and an even bigger fan of the their founder, Adam Bellow. Adam is a great friend of mine and I have seen, first-hand, the dedication, countless hours, and sweat he has put into eduClipper. And it definitely shows in this latest round of updates. What is eduClipper? Think of it as Pinterest, only more awesome and with an educational focus.
Educational Technology Guy
MAY 17, 2013
'PBS KIDS'' Design Squad Nation is an Emmy Award winning program with STEM related videos, activities, games and an interactive community. There is also a Parents and Educators section with lesson plans, curriculum guides, and more. There are some great new features to it, including a Solar System unit with games, activities, and lesson resources about our solar system, a roller coaster project where students compete to build the best roller coaster out of poster board, and a variety of other re
This white paper examines and proposes revisions to the "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education" introduced by Arthur Chickering and Zelda Gamson in 1987 for today's technology-driven world.
Baker's B.Y.O.D.
MAY 6, 2013
'So, I''ve been playing a lot of Candy Crush lately. yeah, that addicting Facebook game. yup, that one. I know I shouldn''t admit it, but. there is some relevancy. While I usually write about technology in the classroom, I think it''s appropriate considering the events of the past two weeks to talk about how seemingly silly games serve an important purpose.
The 21st Century Principal
MAY 1, 2013
'“Collectively, all of the digital content you create, and that others create about you, becomes your online reputation. And today, that’s the reputation that matters the most.” Matt Ivester, lol…OMG! What Every Student Needs to Know about Online Reputation Management, Digital Citizenship and Cyberbullying In his book, lol.OMG! What Every Student Needs to Know about Online Reputation Management , Digital Citizenship and Cyberbullying, Matt Ivester repeatedly cautions high school students that “W
The Innovative Educator
MAY 26, 2013
'The Leaving to Learn movement, started by Elliot Washor and Charles Mojkowski is built on the idea that a great way to learn to find success in the world is to be in the world. The first step is taking down the barriers between school and the outside world and letting students leave, to learn. Washor and Mojokowski recently published a book on the topic.
A Principal's Reflections
MAY 29, 2013
'One of our guiding beliefs here at New Milford High School is that our students will find purpose and meaning in their respective learning experiences. Over the years we have added a series of new courses (19 in just two years), re-written the curriculum of existing courses, made available online courses as part of the VHS Collaborative , and developed numerous authentic learning experiences focusing on the unique interests of our learners.
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The Web20Classroom
MAY 3, 2013
'A long time ago, Francis Bacon said that knowledge is power … This summer, teachers can empower their teaching with meaningful and actionable knowledge about the Common Core Standards at Discovery Education''s Academies! As a trusted educational partner, Discovery Education has worked with thousands of educational leaders to transform teaching and learning.
Educational Technology Guy
MAY 20, 2013
'CloudConvert is a free, online file format conversion service that lets you easily convert files from different formats. Simply select, or drag and drop, your files, select options (email when done, send to Dropbox, send to Google Drive) and off you go. As it''s name implies, everything is done in the cloud with no software to download. It also works in mobile browsers so you can convert files on the go to be able to view them on your mobile device.
wwwatanabe
MAY 30, 2013
'Close reading is a strategy for reading complex text. In Part 1 , the focus is how to do a close reading. The focus in Part 2 is how to annotate with iPads. The focal points of this post are the teacher steps in close reading; how to create text dependent questions for informational text in 6th-12th grades; annotating in Diigo; and creating writing activities to go with close reading.
The 21st Century Principal
MAY 14, 2013
'“Teacher mind frames are the most important enhancer and barrier to students’ learning.” Alan Bain and Mark Weston, The Learning Edge: What Technology Can Do to Educate All Children Our relentless pursuit for some magical formula that will suddenly transform our schools is a fruitless quest. There are no magical formulas or tools, and there are no heroes who will ride into our schools and school districts and suddenly save the day and turn our schools into magical places of learning and engagem
Speaker: Chris Paxton McMillin, President of D3 Training Solutions
There are plenty of great authoring tools for developing eLearning, but the one you select could directly impact your course's outcomes. Depending upon your learners’ needs and your organization’s performance goals, you could be overlooking considerations that impact the both effectiveness of your courses and how long it takes to finish them. From general capabilities to specific workflow structures, some aspects are critical when it comes to learning objectives and deadlines.
The Innovative Educator
MAY 19, 2013
'Jeff Bliss got our attention when he shared his frustration with his teacher, classmates, and the world about his learning environment. The now viral video captures a room of passionless students, some with their heads down, some with a facepalm, some staring into space, all silently sitting at their empty desks seemingly disconnected not only from each other, but also from their behind-a-desk-fortress teacher.
A Principal's Reflections
MAY 9, 2013
'The following is a guest post by Juliana Meehan. As I sat with my stack of 100+ personal narratives waiting for grading, the enormity of the task threatened to swamp whatever energy I had. After thirteen years of teaching high school and middle school language arts, the idea of having to mark those papers with notations like “run-on” and “fragment” ad nauseam drove me to seek a different solution.
SpeechTechie
MAY 28, 2013
'The We Do Listen Foundation has produced some great books that are available both as hardcovers and free animated versions on their website. The stories feature Harold B. Wigglebottom, who often commits a series of social errors and learns through them- thus providing a good context for teaching story grammar. In particular, "Harold B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen" is a helpful additional context for teaching Whole Body Listening (a term originally created by Suzanne Truesdale and also discuss
Educational Technology Guy
MAY 17, 2013
'Wonderopolis is a great, free resource that has some great resources to help students learn and explore all kinds of topics. It has topics ranging from the science of why the sky is blue to how sound effects are made to pretty much any question, or "wonder" a child has. There are quizzes to help reinforce knowledge and connect to related ideas, mobile design and navigation, social networking features, ways for users to share ideas, and over 900 different topics of wonder.
Speaker: Amanda Davis, Chief Experience Officer and Liam O'Malley, VP of Association Solutions
The "new normal" is now a little less new, a little more normal. Does that mean your current LMS strategy is in need of a refresh? Is your organization or association leaning into the always-evolving eLearning environment to ensure you have the tools and content to remain relevant through all this change? There are many complex decision-making processes within your learning & development strategy and LMS lifecycle management, including: Selection.
EdTechSandyK
MAY 12, 2013
'Texas Senate Bill 1458 has passed the Senate in an unanimous vote and is making its way to the House as early as Tuesday, May 14th. The details on what the bill includes can be found here: [link]. The bill is much improved over its original version, but still denies many current educators access to comprehensive health care when they retire and does not grant a cost of living increase to all retirees.
The 21st Century Principal
MAY 20, 2013
'“PBL has been practiced in various ways in education and has become increasingly common with the advent of of digital technologies in recent years.” Yong Zhao, World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students Project-Based Learning (PBL) is being touted as the 21st century answer to how we should be educating students and the perfect delivery-system for the Common Core State Standards.
The Innovative Educator
MAY 21, 2013
'In case you missed it, a wrong-minded study was released this month from the National Bureau of Economic Research that says that computer ownership does not affect educational outcomes. Makes you wonder how on earth earth such misguided studies can even be commissioned. Also makes you curious about who is really behind the funding of research that misleads readers into believing that poor kids don’t need the same tools their wealthier peers use for success.
A Principal's Reflections
MAY 1, 2013
'Educators across America are grappling with what the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) mean for their instruction and have key questions around successful implementation: What are the core components of the CCSS and how do they impact me? How do I integrate the CCSS most effectively into my curriculum and instruction? How do I create assessments that align to the CCSS?
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