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Overview Teacher Program Details Effectiveness studies What educators say Parent education resources Instructional philosophy Curriculum See-a-Lesson now Get a FREE DreamBox Learning subscription for your classroom Through June 30, 2009, get a free classroom subscription Any qualified teacher can sign up! (Read program details.) Already have an account? Go to teacher login DreamBox Learning provides more than 350 math lessons and completely individualized learning in an engaging and effective game experience that kids really like! But teachers appreciate the ability to track student's academic progress through the in-depth math curriculum. Through June 30, 2009, we are offering a free classroom subscription for any qualified teacher in the U.S. and Canada! So you can try the next generation of online learning for yourself. Then you can set up your entire classroom, computer lab, or after-school program to play and learn with DreamBox. (Read program details.) Just 4 easy steps to starting your subscription You can apply for a free DreamBox classroom subscription by following these easy steps. Create your teacher account Make sure your computers meet the requirements Play some sample DreamBox lessons Apply for your free classroom subscription Why should you use DreamBox in your classroom? DreamBox Learning K-2 Math is a solid curriculum, taught in a way that enhances learning fun.

DreamBox Learning provides more than 350 math lessons and completely individualized learning in an engaging and effective game experience that kids really like!

DreamBox Learning K-2 Math is a solid curriculum, taught in a way that enhances learning fun.

C-1.1 I show and explain the plan I followed, the information I gathered, or the work I created. (examples: text, images, sound, multimedia presentations, email, tables, spreadsheets, animation, web pages...) sa1.1 logs on and off ICT devices sa1.2 opens applications and files (examples: using Start menu, My Computer, desktop icons...) sa1.5 navigates within an application (examples: using icons, menus, keyboard shortcuts...) sa2.2 manages electronic files and folders sb1.2 recognizes and presses keys on the keyboard (examples: uses one finger, uses both hands, hunts and pecks, uses correct hand position while watching the screen, demonstrates speed and accuracy...) sb2.1 selects and uses peripherals to find / record / manipulate / save / print / display information (examples: microphones, digital cameras, video cameras, electronic whiteboards, digital microscopes, joysticks, touch screens, storage devices, compact flash memory, data projectors, TVs, printers...) C-2.1 I discuss my work with others at a distance by using electronic communication tools. (examples: email, Internet, threaded discussions, videoconferences, chats, instant messages, camera phones, blogs, podcasts, online whiteboards...) sa1.11 sends and receives text messages and electronic files using rules of etiquette (examples: not typing in all capital letters, filling in subject line…) C-3.1 I communicate with a wide audience and collect feedback to improve my work.

Q: What are Diigo Educator Accounts? These are special premium accounts provided specifically to K-12 & higher-ed educators. Once your Diigo Educator application is approved, your account will be upgraded to have these additional features: You can create student accounts for an entire class with just a few clicks (and student email addresses are optional for account creation) Students of the same class are automatically set up as a Diigo group so they can start using all the benefits that a Diigo group provides, such as group bookmarks and annotations, and group forums. Privacy settings of student accounts are pre-set so that only teachers and classmates can communicate with them. Ads presented to student account users are limited to education-related sponsors.

Student accounts have the following special settings to protect the privacy and safety of students. Classmates in the same class are automatically added as friends with one another to facilitate communication, but students cannot add anyone else as friends except through email. Students can only communicate with their friends and teachers.  No one except their friends can send message, group invite, or write on their profile wall. Student profiles will not be indexed for People Search, nor made available to public search engines.

Q:  Sounds great.   How do I apply? Go to www.diigo.com/education and fill out the application form

Thanks to a company named Google , we no longer are confined to a photo album, a world map with push pins or a heavy family atlas to connect stories and images from around the world. Thanks to Web 2.0 tools, we can mash-up media, such as photos, videos, audio, and links that take us to explore further to TELL a story in more detail and with more connections to the world around us than ever before. We can invite others to collaborate in telling a story that has many perspectives, memories, or meanings.

How can you or your students write a story with a map? Create a Scavenger Hunt around the World Use an image of a place anywhere on Earth or your own backyard as a story starter Map the settings of a book you are reading Write a collective "Where have you been this summer" as a class Follow a biography of an important character in history and events that influenced or were influenced by him Tell the story of learning (and where) that took place in your classroom in a  school year

Video Conferencing is one tool that can be used to extend and enhance the impact on Curriculum Content and delivery The Professional Development of school staff The quality of leadership within schools

Video Conferencing enables learners to do things that are hard or impossible to do by other means. Collaborate easily and regularly Be in more than one place at once Link directly to places and resources

It struck me as I looked at this list that it’s a lot like what I believe about children and computers: that student choice, plus time for unstructured access to lots of different computing experiences is crucial to developing literacy and fluency with computers. My vision includes a teacher or mentor modeling passion, collaboration, interest in the subject, and offering experiences that challenge students without coercion, tricks, or rankings. If I had to come up with a catchy acronym, I’d call it Sustained Tinkering Time (SST).

So, looking at this list, there are some things that seem really relevant to the kind of computer fluency I would like all students to have. Wouldn’t it be great if students had: Free access to lots of different kinds of books software and hardware The teacher reads works on computer projects too No tests, book reports, logs, comprehension quizzes Comfortable space to read work on computer projects and that this was for all kids, not a reward or remediation?

Rheingold points to five reasons for teaching students social media: Developing students' literacy in our new online environment is as crucial as developing their abilities to read and write. Communication is moving toward social media. We can either help students thrive in this environment or leave them flailing. Many students bring their computers to class. Why not work with this trend instead of fighting or ignoring it? Social media is just that: social. Students who use Twitter for class are "learning collaborative skills that are particularly important today." There is only so much class time. Rheingold makes mini-lectures on video that students comment on between classes, allowing more time to engage the issues through in-class discussion. Shy students who hold back in class often speak up online. "If you can extend the discussion to an online message board, you enable students who may not jump into the discussion," he said, to "make a thoughtful contribution."

The Washington Post recently published a really interesting article on the ability of well-connected parents to influence the decisions of their local school districts (hat tip to The Science Goddess). The term ‘well-connected’ refers to parents’ abilities to use online tools to communicate and mobilize (rather than to their connections to people with power).

Below are a few examples of parents pushing back on their local school systems. Parent tools include blogs, online petitions, and even administration countdown timers! I’ve linked to individual posts but you can click on the headers to see the blogs in their entirety. Has MCPS dropped American History from its curriculum? Change mayoral control? Beware the mushroom cloud! Media pig Wanted: a full-day kindergarten slot - do you feel lucky?

Online communication technologies have greatly amplified the abilities of parents to voice their opinions and mobilize for desired change. Activist parents now have a bevy of new tools and strategies to help facilitate their agendas and they are not afraid to use them. School organizations are going to have to get used to this new state of affairs in which parent activism and criticism are more public, permanent, and far-reaching. I’m pretty sure that most school leaders haven’t really thought about this…

On this web site you can: Create your own puzzles. Play your own and common puzzles. Send puzzles to friends. Put created puzzles on your web pages.

Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) are all about using web tools such as blogs, wiki, twitter, facebook to create connects with others which extend our learning, increases our reflection while enabling us to learn together as part of a global community. PLNs increase our opportunities to ask questions and receive help compared to our normal daily face-to-face interactions.

Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) are all about using web tools such as blogs, wiki, twitter, facebook to create connects with others which extend our learning, increases our reflection while enabling us to learn together as part of a global community. PLNs increase our opportunities to ask questions and receive help compared to our normal daily face-to-face interactions.

Best of a PLN is it's personal! You make all the choices: What tools you use! Who you connect with! How you want to learn! When you want to learn!