21st Century Learning & Teaching

"DoodleBuzz is a new way to read the news through an experimental interface that allows you to create typographic maps of current news stories."

"The Internet has made researching subjects deceptively effortless for students - or so it may seem to them at first. Truth is, students who haven't been taught the skills to conduct good research will invariably come up short."

Math Video Podcasts

"On the morning of December 19, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright achieved one of mankind's greatest feats: the first controlled flight. This revolutionized the way the world operated. Countries reacted, hiring engineers to replicate what the Wright brothers had accomplished while also trying to buy rights to the flying machine. Changes were made for the better of civilization reforming not only warfare but also the transportation of people, money, mail, and goods."

Google tools for searching

"Grade Essays Faster - "Impossible!" you say? Look, we can't grade the essays for you, but we can reduce the repetitive, inefficient manual labor involved - and in doing so we open up a new world of invaluable student data. Welcome to the future."

"Social studies supervisors and teachers across the country are revising their unit plans to meet their state's content standards, as well as, the Common Core State Standards for Literacy in History and Social Studies. Simultaneously, many states are implementing new evaluation and observation frameworks. The performance ratings employed by the most popular evaluation models encourage a shift away from teacher-led direct instruction to more student-centered activities incorporating inquiry and synthesis. In social studies, primary source document analysis goes hand in hand with the 9-12 Common Core reading and writing standards. Here are five top resources to align your curricula to the Common Core with student driven lessons. "

"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. "

"Are you having trouble listening with understanding and empathy (one of the Habits of Mind) when you are not face to face with the other person-on facebook, Google+, twitter, or other social networks? As an educator, staying in touch with your professional learning network digitally is a boon to the quantity of communication, but without the proper habits, you may not be reaping the quality you might."

"Last year we introduced Hangouts On Air to a limited number of broadcasters, enabling them to go live with friends and fans, for all the world to see. Since then, this small community has grown the feature in lots of creative ways. And they've made one thing crystal clear: when groups of passionate individuals can broadcast live, together, the results are truly remarkable:"

"One of the biggest business battles of our time is between Microsoft and Google. The two have very different business models. Microsoft believes that if they build it, we will come-and buy their product. Google's approach is different: if they build it, we will integrate it into our lives. We use Microsoft products on their terms, but we use Google products-from iGoogle to GoogleDocs-on our terms, to construct whatever we want."

"News, insights and big moments with fascinating videos - The Documentary Network"

"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."

"A technological revolution is happening in the world of education; it is changing schools for the better. But, it will never change the definition of and need for great teaching. That is what attendees of The Atlantic's second annual Technologies in Education forum learned and discussed Tuesday."

"ASCD, the global leader in developing and delivering innovative programs, products, and services that empower educators to support the success of each learner, has compiled a summer reading list for administrators, teacher leaders, and classroom educators interested in low-cost, high-impact professional development. All of the titles below-along with more than 300 other ASCD books-are available in print and various e-book formats in the ASCD Store."

"This conversation is starting to get old. It is 2011, not 1875. It's time we collectively got our heads out of our filters and prepare students properly for the world they will graduate into, not the world we grew up in. Everyone needs to be vocal, everyone needs to be an advocate for students in the 21st Century. I've written about this before, but the message is still not getting through. The red tape and fears are mounting and students are suffering in the wake of ill-informed adults. The Internet filters, in their current state, have got to go. Protecting students is one thing; a blanket denial of modern learning is another."

"All great teachers do great work. And not only that, but they also do different work. Great teachers are always looking to improve practice, steal ideas and try new things -- all in order to meet the needs of their students. PBL teachers are no exception. Any teacher who is truly doing PBL would also agree that it's different. There is something about being a PBL teacher that requires different work, and work that is especially capitalized when implementing a PBL project. Because I work with so many PBL teachers, I feel there are some things that PBL teachers should specifically be proud of. I present them in these six affirmations. "

"Choices. Kids need access to choices in instruction so that when the moment arises they can make discerning decisions about what they will do. I just watched that happen. At a conference with adults where kids were invited."

"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?" "

"Students who learn financial literacy skills gain knowledge that will yield returns well into their future."