Group items tagged

"Can sharing facts you learn in class be as fun as sharing the latest "Call Me Maybe" parody on YouTube? That's what SchoolTube says. The free website claims to be "the nation's largest teacher-moderated K-12 video-sharing website" - think of it as YouTube for the education set. "

"XW1W uses today's instant technologies to share answers to the same question across the world once a week. XW1W is a simple, social way for students to learn about real life in other cultures from real kids all across the world. By simply "hashtagging" Twitter or blog responses to a weekly question about daily life, students can share and learn about other cultures from their international peers."

" Searching by file type and searching by domains is a great way for students to refine their Google searches. Searching for and within a DOC, a PPT, or XLS file can lead students to resources that they might not otherwise have seen. But increasingly a lot of us are creating our documents, slides, and spreadsheets in Google Drive. Many of us are then publishing those files for anyone in the world to see. Thanks to the Google for Education Google+ page, today I was reminded that you can perform a Google search to look for publicly shared Docs, Slides, and Spreadsheets. The screenshots below illustrate how to do this."

"The Rationale and Overview goes on to state that "Assessment for Learning involves the following key actions: sharing learning intentions; sharing and negotiating success criteria; giving feedback to pupils; effective questioning; and encouraging pupils to assess and evaluate their own and others' work." So where does Angry Birds fit in? Let's breakdown the key actions [above] and compare"

"The folks at Twisted Sifter shared a really cool compilation of maps this week in their article "40 Maps That Will Help You Make Sense of the World." These cool maps gave me a chance to reflect on the world from different perspectives and I wondered how awesome some of these conversations would be in the classroom. The Twisted Sifter post was a great reminder, especially here at the beginning of the next school year, that educators have a responsibility to share other perspectives around the world and invite those perspectives into the classroom. In fact, it's one of the seven College and Career Readiness Capacities that are the umbrella over the entire ELA Standards document. This capacity asks that students come to understand other perspectives and cultures."

"Back in 2012, we shared how to cite a tweet. We followed that up with how to cite an app. So when we saw the very useful teachbytes graphic above making some noise on pinterest on several different popular #edtech websites, it reminded us of the constant demands changing technologies place on existing ways we do business. When and in what contexts it makes sense to cite social media content is probably a more relevant post than sharing a graphic that simply shows the format, but they're both nice to have, yes? Citation Style Of course, citation style matters, and the two most popular are the APA and MLA. The APA (American Psychological Association) has their rules for citing social media in academic writing. They even have a thorough ($12) guide to clarify the process, while the MLA (Modern Language Association), as far as we can tell, has yet to expressly address apps and social media as anything other than "software." And to an extent, this makes sense. As media becomes more nuanced, new modalities emerge, authors use new channels to distribute their thinking-and even as the "crowd" becomes a legitimate source of information (see wikipedia, twitter, erc.), new rules for governing that reality will continue to emerge. The more general those rules are, the less reactive governing bodies will have to be moment by moment."

"Annotating tools are a must have for every teacher. I personally can't imagine myself surfing online with no web tools to help me annotate, highlight, clip, and share parts or segments of the web content I find interesting. Most of the browsers nowadays particularly Chrome and Firefox have specific extensions for this purpose. All you need to do is install one of them and there you go, with one click you can master the information you read."

"In the past, I've had the very good fortune to work with both Destination Imagination and Odyssey of the Mind in my classroom. Both of these programs allow kids to explore creativity to the nth degree and offer engaging and learning-filled explorations beyond what is typically offered in school. The guiding philosophies of both programs are: In what ways can we be creative? How creative can we be? We often ask our students to be creative, but how often do we ask them to extend that creativity into previously unexplored territory? How often do we invite them to up the WOW Factor? I often muse about that when I think about Web 2.0 tools that I share in workshops. I'm always trying to brainstorm divergent ways to use these versatile tools at multiple cognitive levels as well as creative extensions beyond what the tool was designed for."

"In the spirt of practicing what we teach and learning what we practice, we at AmplifiEDUcation are committed to documenting our Twitter chats using a variety of tools and lenses. For the October 14, 2015 chat, "Documenting for Learning" we've chosen to use the lens of curation. As I shared last night, I have been practicing using infographics as a documentation tool, so I decided to use that tool to document the chat."

Because of these experiences, I have a firm belief that my students also grow and achieve more when they learn to overcome obstacles and persevere. One way to encourage that can-do attitude is to invite others to recognize my students for their effort and success. Recognition from outside the classroom sparks something in students that leads to bigger and better things. I want to share a story about how that happened for me and my students this year.

"In response, we asked her if she was willing to send us her argument-writing unit so we could share it with other teachers. We're pleased to publish it below, including all of her handouts and recommended videos embedded. And, of course, all students age 13 to 19 can find this year's contest here."

"A while back, I was asked, "What engages students?" Sure, I could respond, sharing anecdotes about what I believed to be engaging, but I thought it would be so much better to lob that question to my own eighth graders. The responses I received from all 220 of them seemed to fall under 10 categories, representing reoccurring themes that appeared again and again. So, from the mouths of babes, here are my students' answers to the question: "What engages students?" "

"I've invited my colleague Brandon Wiley (Twitter: @bwileyone), who directs Asia Society's International Studies Schools Network, to share some advice for new teachers on how to create a global classroom for the 21st century."

"A free new social networking platform aims to encourage elementary school children to read more books. BiblioNasium is a pilot virtual reading village for children aged 6-12 and their friends, parents, and teachers. The site enables young readers to catalogue, share, and exchange their book recommendations. It also offers reading-level-appropriate book recommendations using the Lexile Framework for Reading."

"At the end of a project-based learning (PBL) experience, students typically share what they have learned or discovered with an audience. Depending on the project, students might publish their work online, make presentations at a public event, or pitch their ideas to a panel of judges. For veteran PBL teacher Don Wettrick, "nothing is better than a project that gets community buy-in." Connecting students with an authentic audience is key, he says, to driving engagement and helping students relate what they are learning to the real world. "My top two goals are to help students find great opportunities [for real-world problem solving], and then cheerlead them to a great audience." "

"Thank you to Larry Ferlazzo for sharing the following Infographic on his blog."

"We've introduced you to a variety of quality image sites where you can find Creative Commons images, but the Creative Commons license goes far beyond just images. Different types of content are licensed online using Creative Commons - videos, music, and even blog content. You'll find plenty of it online to share, remix and use commercially. When it comes to Creative Commons music - there are certainly no shortage of websites with audio you can use for any occasion."

"One of the key components of global competence is the ability to weigh perspectives. Today, MaryBeth Jackson, founder and director of The Viewfinder Project, shares the power of photography in helping students see different points of view. Don't miss the list of resources at the end."

"At some point we have all had to provide "How to" instructions to friends and colleagues on navigating a website, sharing a document, or on the latest tech tip. You may have tried listing the directions. You may have been a little more adventurous and taken screenshots and added some arrows to help the user see where they should go and what they should click. You may have even combined the two methods. Somehow, you still face the dilemma of not being sure your friend or colleague fully understood what to do."

"Edcamp "unconferences" have shattered the traditional model for professional development, and they're catching on as a way for educators to share their ideas and expertise in an informal, collegial way."