Group items tagged

"For today's Weekly App Series we've found six great apps to add to your iPad collection. We have included six essential news and news reader apps in this week's bundle. Our editorial team goes through the data, picks the best and most interesting apps and then brings them to you on a regular basis."

"For today's Weekly App Series we've found six great apps to add to your iPad collection. We have included six Summer Olympics apps in this week's bundle. Our editorial team goes through the data, picks the best and most interesting apps and then brings them to you on a regular basis."

"According to Apple, schools are using iPads to administer tests on a regular basis now. I can see this being helpful in 1:1 classrooms and those looking to make tests / pop quizzes a bit more interactive. But, a big problem with giving tests on iPads is cheating. Luckily, Apple has added in some controls to Guided Access that lets teachers turn off the ability to use Safari to look up answers while taking a test. In fact, you can disable and enable all sorts of custom controls. You can use 'Single App Mode' where a student can ONLY use the app that's delivering the test."

"He also argues that in our standards-focused world, we need to take time for joy within the curriculum, and because it is a great thing to do even if it is not part of required learning. He shares five pieces of advice: 1) Be mindful 2) Create something 3) Commit regular random acts of kindness 4) Turn pseudo learning into real learning 5) Be silly and laugh everyday"

"Here at Mashable we use Skype on a daily basis. It's part of a suite of essential online tools that keep us connected to our friends, families and colleagues. As regular users, we've picked up a few handy tips and tricks we thought we'd share with you. From customizing Skype sounds to setting up a called ID, we think you'll find our selection useful. "

"The consistent and effective use of Descriptive feedback in classrooms has become a popular strategy due to its positive influence on student learning. Based on the research of John Hattie, my colleague, Jason Lynn has given me an in-depth look at Hattie's work and how we can use it in the classroom. Although the research suggests that providing students with descriptive feedback has the largest influence on student learning, it can be difficult for teachers to find more time to provide this meaningful assessment as learning and assessment for learning tool with regularity."

"On a fairly regular basis I'm asked for suggestions on places to find public domain images. I have a handful of go-to sites that I usually recommend."

"Sketchnoting, in its purist form, is creating a personal visual story as one is listening to a speaker or reading a text. I also believe the interactive notebook, which includes the process of taking "regular" notes" while listening to a speaker and later creating a sketchnote of the text notes, would also be considered sketchnoting. This page will provide links, ideas, tips,and research evidence dealing with the power of sketchnoting. If you are looking for a book on the topic, the seminal work is this book by Mike Rohde. "

"When electrical engineering professor Dr. Karen Shoop of Queen Mary University in London took her first knitting workshop, she noticed immediately that knitting is very similar to writing computer code. "I noticed that knitting instructions are largely binary (like computers) - in other words, knit or purl," she said. "More interesting were the knitting instructions, which read just like regular expressions [of code], used for string matching and manipulation when coding." Shoop also recognizes that the earliest stages of computing were inspired by handwork: "Of course, computers ultimately started off partially inspired by weaving and the Jacquard loom, or earlier Bouchon's loom. Arguably some of the earliest programmers were the people making the card/paper punch hole patterns for weaving patterns.""

"When you need a quick pick-me-up, how much bang for your buck will you get at Starbucks? Chances are you probably order one of a handful of drinks and stick to that group on a regular basis. However, this in-depth chart from Thrillist might help you try something new if you're looking to juice up on the cheap."

"Perhaps it's my bias as a classroom teacher that has me pushing back a bit, for I firmly believe that while extra-curricular activities can be one way of educating our children in more complete ways, they had better not be the main way in which we do so. This is important for two reasons. The first is that many children are unable to participate in outside activities. They may have to work or support their families. They may not have the resources or parental support needed to stay after school. If extra-curriculars are our main vehicle, the students who would most benefit from a whole child approach will be least likely to get it. Second, I worry about a subtle message that may be sent when the most engaging, supportive, and interesting work happens outside of the regular curriculum. Some students might come to believe that academic work is something to slog through-to endure. The fun learning happens in the band room, on the baseball field, on the ropes course, or in the afterschool art class."

"The simple truth is that turning students on to nonfiction reading - proving that articles from sources like Popular Science and Gizmodo and National Geographic can be JUST as amazing as The Hunger Games or The Lightning Thief or The Lunar Chronicles - is probably the MOST important contribution that I can make to the academic and intellectual growth of my students. Being exposed to high interest articles from a wide range of fields - space science, biology, chemistry, earth science - might just introduce kids to personal passions and future professions.  Seeing science in action turns what could be just another boring subject in school into an interesting career worth pursuing.  Just as importantly, exposing kids to high interest nonfiction text on a regular basis will build their comfort level with a genre that will increasingly define the reading that they do as middle schoolers, high schoolers and adults. So I'm trying something new this year:  I'm going to use Remind - a free service that allows teachers to send out text and/or email updates to parents and students - to share two or three interesting science current events every week."

"True STEM classes, which are NOT "regular" science or math classes in which teachers have been asked or have chosen to offer STEM-focused lessons to students, are very rare today in most schools. I was blessed the past two years to teach STEM to 4th and 5th grade students as a separate "specials class" where STEM was treated like PE, Music and Art. All students went to STEM class. It wasn't reserved just for the GE/Gifted Education kids. Everyone went to STEM and participated, including many "special friends" who were not mainstreamed for other classes during the day. They went to STEM class, however, because they could succeed in collaborative environments which emphasized hands-on learning."

"As regular readers of this blog know, I am a proponent of getting kids involved in physical activities like bicycling, skiing, and playing team sports. I also like to see connections made between students' interest in sports and lessons in the classroom. The resources below can all be used to create lessons connected to students' interests in sports."

"SAN FRANCISCO - Many children in San Francisco do not have regular access to computers in school, let alone computer science classes. The school district is about to change that as it plans to become the first large urban school district in the country to commit itself to exposing every child to computer science starting in pre-kindergarten all the way through 12th grade. "We are not trying to produce an army of software engineers," said Bryan Twarek, SFUSD's computer science coordinator. "We want to open all doors to this industry, and right now those doors aren't open to everyone.""

"Feeling overwhelmed? Don't worry, everything you need to get started with MinecraftEdu is described on this page. Before you can start using MinecraftEdu, you need to purchase necessary server and user licenses. Also, we recommend you try the demo of regular Minecraft on your computers and check out the system requirements. Once you've purchased MinecraftEdu see the instructions below for how to install the game. You're all set!"

"Getting students started creating videos can seem like a daunting task. There isn't enough time in the day to get your regular subjects done, how are you supposed to give students time to create videos? I am here to tell you it can be done. I hope that this post/presentation will provide what you need to get started.  Students can create videos on a variety within the context of what they are learning right now. Video story problem for math, a how to science experiment, or a book trailer that covers important story traits are all good ideas. Here is a list of apps, PDF Templates, and equipment that can be helpful when creating movies. "

Online classes may be a relatively young instructional practice for K-12 schools, but experts already generally agree on one point: Research shows that virtual schooling can be as good as, or better than, classes taught in person in brick-and-mortar schools.

I meet quite a few bloggers during conferences and events and one of the most commonly discussed issues among new bloggers is, "How can I create content on a continuous basis? Where do I get the ideas from?" This is one of the major reasons most bloggers start with lot of enthusiasm and quit in despair. It's simple math, content creation on regular basis adds value to a blog which brings more users. Now go in reverse, No content - No Value, No Value - No visitors.

Anti Social Networking??