Group items tagged

"One of the core principles of good iPad usage that my EdTechTeacher colleagues have developed is the idea that educators should focus on creation apps rather than content apps. Most apps that are designed to teach specific content are terrible, so educators shouldn't think of iPads as repositories of apps but rather as portable media creation devices. Thus, educators don't need to review and master the hundreds of education apps that come out every year; rather, they should consider how a small suite of apps related to annotation, curation, and image, audio, and video production could support diverse student performances of understanding. "

"Often I speak to teachers who are so ready to redefine their classrooms but simply don't have the resources to go 1:1 at this time. While I point them to this page to start thinking about grants, there aren't always open funds ready to dole out $15,000+ to teachers. If you are in this situation, and have a projector, laptop, and perhaps one teacher iPad, here is a "recipe" for how you can leverage these devices on a daily basis... and still work some magic. "

"TUAW readers of long standing, this post is for your friends and family who are asking you about iOS 7. Feel free to share it with them in person, on your social networks, or randomly in coffee shops and libraries. For more info, scroll to the bottom of the post. Breathe in, breathe out. Namaste! Chances are, you're here because someone you know suggested you look us up regarding iOS 7, the new operating system for the iPhone and iPad. Thanks for reading; we're here to help. Most importantly, don't panic. We're going to run down some of the most commonly asked questions and essential tips for iOS 7, with a minimum of jargon and handwaving."

"Stan Davis has devoted a long career to the well-being of youth, in particular their empowerment through voice and their safety and dignity through bullying prevention. With Charisse L. Nixon, Davis recently published a study of 13,177 students in fifth through twelfth grades from 31 schools and in 12 states, focusing on giving students a chance to speak about school connection, peer mistreatment, and student and adult actions. The Findings Writing in the report of their work, Youth Voice Project: Student Insights into Bullying and Peer Mistreatment, they state: "We are concerned that too much work in this field has focused on adults telling youth what bullying is and what to do to address bullying behavior. In reality, youth are the primary experts on what is happening at school and on what works best to prevent peer maltreatment....We see authentic youth involvement as key to success in bullying prevention." Lessons learned from surveying the students can be summarized in the following don'ts and dos:"

"Safety note: Teachers should note that some schools may have policies against following your students on Twitter. That's okay. With tags, you don't need to follow your students and searches will only turn up tweets related to the topic you are exploring with your students. "

Teach cell phones, don't ban them

Most Faculty Don't Use Twitter, Study Reveals

"It seems like everyone is trying to learn to code: Code.org has celebrities like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Chris Bosh telling you anyone can code; CoderDojo's are springing up all over the country; the UK has made it part of their official curriculum for all grade school kids. I think this is slightly misguided. Don't get me wrong - I do think the world would be better off if everyone had some familiarity with coding - but coding itself should not be the goal. Computers and programming are just tools. They are a means to an end. The real goal should be to teach people a new way to think. In other words, we should be trying to teach computer science and not just coding. In this blog post, I'll explain the difference between the two, and why focusing on the right one is critical for the movement to succeed."

"I do not use a lot of worksheets in my math program.  So much so, that last week, I gave a worksheet during math to my grade 2 students to do and one of my students cheered.  CHEERED! For a worksheet!  I asked the child in my class why she cheered.  I figured that she would have responded with, "I like worksheets."  If she had answered that way, I would have been fine with that. I believe that we all have our own learning preferences and some children enjoy doing worksheets.  However I would never have anticipated what she said to me.  She responded with, "I like doing worksheets better than using the iPads because I don't have to think as much."  "

"But in order to see results like those in Singapore, a cultural change must take place in the classroom, points out Norris. It's not enough just to introduce technology into the learning environment and expect results, she says; you must change everything, from devices to curriculum to pedagogy. "You must give them curricula with the technology activities baked in," she asserts, "so students don't have to keep going back and forth from their paper and pencil textbooks to their technology activities." "

"This is copied from my new blog. schoolipads.wordpress.com I have just started my blogging of my school and how I manage the iPads but I plan to try and cover it all. So, check there if you don't see more from me here."

"I took my handicapped dog of 15 years for a walk in the grass. Maddie has gone from not being able to walk on her hind legs (a neurological problem) to gradually being able to walk with an awkward, back-legs-don't-really-know-where-they're-landing gait. Let me relate Maddie's experience to brain-compatible elements that my teachers implement at New Morning School every day. I provide my dog with the choice to engage in walking every day; she loves it. When children engage in activities they view as pleasurable, and when the projects are ones they have chosen, just as Maddie does, dopamine is released in the brain. This neurotransmitter increases attention and helps information to be stored in long-term memory.1"

"This is the last post on iPad for this year. I have recently published several guides on the use of iPad in education starting with the best educational iPad apps for teachers and concluding with these tutorials and a soon to be released eBook that will be comprehensive enough to include everything we have covered about iPad so far. If you are an Android user and wondering why I don't talk about Android as much as I do about iPad , I recommend that you subscribe to my second blog Teacher's Mobile Technology to stay updated about educational Android tips and apps."

"Today while I was looking for a citation from " Making Thinking Visible: How to Promote Engagement, Understanding, and Independence for All Learners " , it dawned on me to compile a list of the popular iPad apps that promote visual thinking. Making Thinking Visible is by all means a must read for those of you interested in knowing how thinking can be made visible at any grade level and across all subject areas through the use of effective questioning, listening, documentation, and facilitative structures called thinking routines. Another book I have in my shelf and which is more or less similar to the one cited above is " Blah Blah Blah: What To Do When Words Don't Work " in which Dan walks his readers through the different practices of making thinking vivid with less words."

"The pupils use the Scratch tool, developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which gives them them ready-made lines of code that they put together to make games and movies. The aim is that eventually they will begin to adapt the code and eventually write their own. They have been learning coding in their citizenship lessons with teacher Juliet Heppell. She says you don't need to be a computing expert to get children started on the path to becoming confident computer coders. "I am self-taught. I can do some very basic things, but beyond that I just know where to send them to learn more," she says. "

"Do you have students who rarely raise their hand when you ask a question? When I think back about kids in my classroom who didn't participate at first, I remember Jared and Maya (whose names I changed). Jared was polite, listened to his classmates, and did his homework. But when I asked questions or set up class discussions, Jared remained silent. Maya was really creative and an avid reader. She also didn't participate, frequently had her head down in class, and was reluctant to start work. Some of our students might sit quietly through each lesson or be visibly disengaged. Maybe they don't understand the lesson, are embarrassed, or hesitantly wait for another peer to share. Jared and Maya certainly aren't unique. "