Group items tagged

"Here are some interesting graphics I came across in fortheteachersblog and thought you might want to have a look. These visual graphics feature a set of useful pieces of advice to parents on how to help their kids with Math, reading and spelling. I invite you to explore them and share with your colleagues. The graphics are also available for free download in PDF format in case you want to print them out and use them in your class. Make sure you give credit to the owner of these visuals anytime you use them."

"The world as we know it has fundamentally changed our learners.  It is not that they are learning differently per say, but the environment in which they learn has dramatically changed.  The challenge for educators and schools today is to make learning REAL (relevant, engaging, authentic, and lasting) for all students and aligning it more with their world.  A great deal of emphasis has been placed on personalized opportunities for students.  Whereas there are many benefits with this approach, the reliance on technology platform and human interaction can take away from intended outcomes. REAL learning places a greater emphasis on making learning personal for students.  Image credit: http://pblstem.com/ Below are some quick tips that can make learning more REAL (relevant, engaging, authentic, and lasting):"

"Flickr hosts millions of images that are licensed under a Creative Commons license or are in the public domain (Flickr Commons). Depending on the license, you may use the images on your private or commercial webpage, or can make changes to it. If you want to use these images, you need to to the following: Make sure you understood the license correctly Get the correct HTML code for the IMG tag Link the image back to the Flickr photo page Give the author of the image proper credits (Attribution) Link to the Flickr profile of the author Link to the license the image is licensed under With ImageCodr.org, there is no need to do all this manually, you simply enter in the URL of the picture page (as seen in your browser) you are interested in and ImageCodr.org will generate the ready to use HTML code. It will also display a brief and easy license summary, so you don't get in legal trouble because you missed something."

"After posting about Digital Taxonomy for iPad, today we are sharing with you the web version. We tried to come up with web tools that go with each of Bloom's thinking levels. Some of these tools can fit in different levels, however, for practical reasons we limited our selection to five tools per level. You can print, share and embed the visual the way you like as long as you credit us as the source. The Android version is coming soon."

"In the spirit of my last post, I would like to share another science apptivity for the iPad. I wish I could take credit for this one but Bryan P Doyle is the author of the resource. I had the pleasure of attending his session at the Area 7 Conference this summer."

"Does your child have an iOS device (iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch) or access to your personal device? iOS devices have many security features that parents don't know about. You can use these features to help protect your child from accessing inappropriate content; guard your personal data on a shared device; and safeguard you from unexpected credit card bills due to unapproved app and itunes purchases. The following video explains how!"

"If you go to the Getty Images website, you'll see millions of images, all watermarked. There are more than a hundred years of photography here, from FDR on the campaign trail to last Sunday's Oscars, all stamped with the same transparent square placard reminding you that you don't own the rights. If you want Getty to take off the watermark, you'll have to pay for it. ""Our content was everywhere already."" Starting now, that's going to change. Getty Images is dropping the watermark for the bulk of its collection, in exchange for an open-embed program that will let users drop in any image they want, as long as the service gets to append a footer at the bottom of the picture with a credit and link to the licensing page. For a small-scale WordPress blog with no photo budget, this looks an awful lot like free stock imagery."

"Gen i Revolution is an online game designed to help middle school and high school students develop and test their knowledge of concepts in personal finance. Gen i Revolution contains fifteen "missions" in which students have to select "operatives" to assist them. Each mission is designed to help someone make better personal financial decisions. Some of the mission topics include credit, budgeting, and investing for the future. "

"Financial literacy used to be a class in many schools-well, until that whole standards-based reform and "accountability" movement started turning the screws on schools. And like that, it was gone. It only takes one look at our nation's financial crisis, heaps of student loan trouble, and general credit malaise to wonder if financial literacy shouldn't be a bit higher on our priority list. An easy retort is to wonder who has the time-and where are the standards, where is the research, and who's going to see the data? But what if, rather than teaching a pure financial literacy lesson or unit, you tied it to your content area? What if it was embedded into a project-based learning unit about design or social media or the causes and effects of World War II?"

"It's been 30 years since I developed the notion of "multiple intelligences." I have been gratified by the interest shown in this idea and the ways it's been used in schools, museums, and businesses around the world. But one unanticipated consequence has driven me to distraction-and that's the tendency of many people, including persons whom I cherish, to credit me with the notion of 'learning styles' or to collapse 'multiple intelligences' with 'learning styles.' It's high time to relieve my pain and to set the record straight."

"When we think of digital literacy, we usually think of research-finding, evaluating, and properly crediting digital sources. The "research" connotation makes sense, as it is the sheer volume of sources and media forms on the "internet" that stand out. But we are living in a world where the internet is disappearing, replaced by sheer connectivity. Are you "on the internet" when you tweet? Skim through a social reader like Flipboard? Send a text? Mark up a pdf and sync it with the cloud so you can access it later? Are the cloud and the "internet" the same thing? As the internet dissolves into something more seamless-that no longer requires a clunky web browser to make itself visible-we might adjust our perspectives in parallel."

"Thankfully, the design community and teachers such as Jane Hewitt are doing their best to provide alternatives to the cheesy and the costly - stylish and high-resolution stock photos that are completely free to do what you like with. Gone are the days of doing a quick Google Image search and cut and pasting an image without really considering who it belongs to. On the back of our post on digital citizenship, we've been meaning to write this as a follow-up. What good is an encouragement to cite your sources, respect copyright and give credit where it's due without any help to do so? Here, then, is your help… Half-decent stock photos are not always easy to locate, but here are the best we've found. What's great about this list is that for the vast majority, you don't need to include attribution - the photographer has provided them for you to do what you like with - whether that be the background for your TED talk (!), a story-starter for your English lesson or for your students to use in their project work."

"This project supported in part by a Remake Learning Fellowship from The Sprout Fund. Credit: Leanne Bowler, University of Pittsburgh"

"Several summers ago, I wrote 10 Ideas for Creating Literacy Centers in response to a request from a Summer Workshop participant. Over the past few weeks, this post has been re-circulated on Social Media, so I decided that it needed an update. My original post was inspired by Suzy Brooks' use of her SMART Board as a learning center. For this update, I would like to credit the fantastic work of Kristen Wideen and Meghan Zigmond. While many of the concepts from the original post are certainly still applicable, here are 10 new ideas for creating learning centers."

"One year ago today, I put up that last brick and finished building our Epic LEGO Wall at Stewart.  Since then, I've been awed and humbled to see so many other schools build LEGO walls.  In classrooms, in libraries, in hallways, on old mobile whiteboards.  I can't take credit for all of these, but it's nice to know that my posts about our LEGO wall have inspired and helped others to create theirs.  It's so exciting to see such a variety of spaces, and to see so many schools embracing interactive, creative spaces for their students.  A little over a month ago, I put out a call on my blog and on Twitter for pictures of your LEGO walls, and you all did not disappoint.  So here's a delightful sampling of LEGO walls around the world."

"This wasn't a staff development day. It wasn't a workshop. It wasn't a conference or even a meeting. This was simply Thursday. A day in the life of an educator who happens to be connected to a virtual teachers lounge (credit to ArtGuy for the analogy). This is nothing more than daily conversation. And yet it's also miraculous in so many ways."

Onine PD courses for credit. Fee

Great short film done with Stop Motion video. Be certain to click on the Making of Credits link to see how it was done.