Figure 1Six types of parent involvementType 1:ParentingAssist families with parenting skills, family support, understanding child and adolescent development, and setting home conditions to support learning at each age and grade level. Assist schools in understanding families' backgrounds, cultures, and goals for children.Type 2:CommunicatingCommunicate with families about school programs and student progress. Create two-way communication between school and home.Type 3:VolunteeringImprove recruitment, training, activities, and schedules to involve families as volunteers and as audiences at the school. Enable educators to work with volunteers who support students and the school.Type 4:Learning at HomeInvolve families with their children in academic learning at home, including homework, goal setting, and other curriculum-related activities. Encourage teachers to design homework that enables students to share and discuss interesting tasks with parents.Type 5:Decision MakingInclude families as participants in school decisions, governance, and advocacy activities through school councils and improvement teams, committees, and parent organizations.Type 6:Collaborating with the CommunityCoordinate resources and services for families, students, and the school with community groups, including businesses, agencies, cultural and civic organizations, and colleges and universities. Enable all to contribute service to the community.

There are three main ways in which information can be encoded (changed): 1. Visual (picture) 2. Acoustic (sound) 3. Semantic (meaning)

We can process information in 3 ways: Shallow Processing - This takes two forms 1. Structural processing (appearance) which is when we encode only the physical qualities of something.  E.g. the typeface of a word or how the letters look. 2. Phonemic processing – which is when we encode its sound. Shallow processing only involves maintenance rehearsal (repetition to help us hold something in the STM) and leads to fairly short-term retention of information.  This is the only type of rehearsal to take place within the multi-store model. Deep Processing - This involves 3. Semantic processing, which happens when we encode the meaning of a word and relate it to similar words with similar meaning. Deep processing involves elaboration rehearsal which involves a more meaningful analysis (e.g. images, thinking, associations etc.) of information and leads to better recall. For example, giving words a meaning or linking them with previous knowledge.

Another way I use Voki is to help my very young students create digital identities. The parents feel more comfortable with the children using avatars instead of their real identities.

I asked my students if they could figure out what the phrase "rooting for" meant by listening to the conversation.

3. For shy students use to read haiku's or other poetry aloud - or really any (short) writing

My ELL students can use it to help them with pronunciation of vocabulary

After biography unit, have them create a character that tells facts about their researched person

1.  Students create an avatar using Voki.com. We suggest limiting the time because students and teachers could spend all day creating the perfect avatar. 2.  Students type a sentence, paragraph, or section of their stories into the Voki text box. 3.  Students listen to the speech and read along several times. 4.  Students make corrections.

Half a million American children take classes online, with a significant group, like the Weldies, getting all their schooling from virtual public schools.

Florida Virtual School, the largest Internet public school in the country, more than 50,000 students are taking courses this year

About 90,000 children get their education from one of 185 such schools nationwide.

In 2011, Dove® released the findings of its largest global study to date on women’s relationship with beauty—The Real Truth About Beauty: Revisited. The study revealed that only 4% of women around the world consider themselves beautiful, and that anxiety about looks begins at an early age. In a study of over 1,200 10-to-17-year-olds, a majority of girls, 72%, said they felt tremendous pressure to be beautiful. The study also found that only 11% of girls around the world feel comfortable using the word beautiful to describe their looks, showing that there is a universal increase in beauty pressure and a decrease in girls' confidence as they grow older. Though Dove® efforts have moved the needle in a positive direction, there is more to be done

At their age there are no egos, no prejudices, they just love to learn about what children their age are like from all over the world

I want to not only be able to bring these techniques into my classroom but I also want to be able to help other teachers who may not have a strong technical background feel more comfortable bringing it into theirs.

Someone please explain to me the whole “hashtag” thing. PLEASE!  I feel so out of the loop!

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