Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

"All over Canada, and at many schools in North America, today is the first day of school. Doing the work that I do today, I did not realize that until I opened up Facebook this morning and was hit by a barrage of "the first day of grade _____" pictures all over my feed.  The excitement on the faces of many students was contagious, but it also seemed that some parents were pretty happy to send their kids back to school as well What I have been thinking about a lot lately is about how we maintain that "first-day" excitement in our students throughout the year? Although this is something that I do my best to support in my work, I know that this is not an easy task for educators and schools as there are so many variables in the lives of our students and ourselves that have an impact on our experience in school. My focus here is on how do we create an experience in school that is both joyous while challenging.  The reason both elements are essential is that it is easier to "challenge" our students to grow in a space where they are excited to be in the first place. If a student hates coming to school every day, it is going to be a lot tougher to push them toward growth."

"The American Red Cross has a handful of apps on weather safety for iPad users looking to plan and prepare for natural disasters.  They also have a great iPad app to help students of any age stay safe.  With First Aid children can learn about different ways to act in situations that require First aid.  There are photographs, informational text, and diagrams to help students understand the best steps to take in an emergency.  First Aid includes extra features including the ability to switch from English to Spanish and a quiz to check for understanding."

"Last Sunday, I received a note via the contact form on my blog that was a first for me in many ways. It was the first time I had ever been contacted by a parent via my blog, the first time I could not put a comment out of my mind until I had addressed it, and the first time I ever thought about the impact a school's 1:1 take-home technology initiative could have on a family."

"When smartphones first became popular, the struggle was to shrink Internet Explorer to the size of a playing card. The internet browser was the de facto app installed on every computer-it allowed you to browse the web. For many, the web browser is a computer. (See Google Chromebooks.) It quickly became clear that squeezing desktop actions on handheld technology was backwards. Mobile-first thinking changed things. Facebook became mobile-first-which meant that it's designed to not just be accessed on your phone, but work better on your phone. Websites are often now responsive, scaling to the size of your screen. But more importantly, the software and the hardware are increasingly parallel, with apps working together-iOS's Neato feeding Evernote, for example, location-based alerts, smarter notifications, simpler multitasking, improved voice recognition, fingerprint sensors, predictive notifications based on usage, and more. Today, mobile technology is awful for ambitious word processing, but for everything else it's pretty incredible. Have you seen apps like Brainfeed? A library of engaging content!"

"The first day that the students receive their iPads is very exciting. While distributing iPads to students it is good practice to let them have about 20 minutes of exploration time to check out apps and share with each other things they discover. A lot of the learning that happens in the classroom is based on sharing amongst the students. This exploration time should happen daily for the first few days so students can have time to acclimate to using the device."

"Passing out iPads to students on the first day of school was like celebrating Christmas (or in this case Hanukkah) with thirty antsy kids sitting around the tree, attempting to hide their impatience. Once the iPads had been handed out, students were instantly excited, engaged and enchanted with the new learning device in their hands. At first, everyone was confused about where to find work, where to save and store their products - and which app to use for what purpose. As with every pilot, these issues worked themselves out and soon classes were running pretty smoothly. Once they all learned what a "hard reset" was we were on our way. After an exciting year chalked full of learning lessons and changes in our learning landscape here are my takeaways: "

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello's iconic "Who's on First?" comedy routine from the 1930s just got a refresh from a few of today's funnymen. Abbott & Costello's Classic Who's on First routine in audio only format can be found her: http://pcdon.com/-Abbott-Costello-WhosOnFirst.wav

"Thousands of Indigenous Manitoba students will return to better-funded schools next fall with the creation of a new First Nations school board that will serve as an "inspiration" throughout Canada, according to the federal Minister of Indigenous Affairs Carolyn Bennett. The board is designed and operated by Manitoba First Nations. The provincial government has no jurisdiction over it. "This is totally unique and historic, because for the First time we will be able to fund a system that then is self-determining," Bennett told reporters after the signing ceremony Friday morning. Bennett said the system is unique because the federal government will send funding to the school board itself. "In other agreements, we're sending money to a chief and council that goes to a school. This way, we're building a school system run by a board, working in close collaboration with educators," she said. "The educators will determine how they work in terms of curricula and professional development, hiring of faculty, staffing - this will be their system that we will fund." Students will have access to more resources and opportunities as part of a new funding formula, said one of the Indigenous leaders who helped negotiate a new agreement."

"Our first entry from our Diverse Teacher Voices program comes from Sharon Davison, a Kindergarten teacher from Vermont who responded to the "Dear first Year Me" prompt. For Sharon, there is some increased significance-or rather, there's significance for each one of us as readers. Sharon has taught for 32 years-and here she is, from 1983 to today, still tweeting, still blogging, still connecting, still serving. Beautiful! Her class twitter account can be found here. Give her a visit. Dear first Year Me, So you have decided to share your energy, strength, perseverance and courage to become a teacher! Congratulations!  You can do it because you care about making a difference.  Just remember to….."

This looks like just the type of program a middle school librarian could love. CS, or Computer Science First is a free Google program designed to increase student exposure to computer science education through after-school, in-school, and summer programs in a club approach run by teachers and/or community volunteers. CS First works towards its goal of developing student courage, confidence and curiosity about computer science by providing a wealth of free training materials targeted at students grades 4 through 12. The resources may be tailored for nearly any schedule. Students learn how to build creative projects using Scratch, learn about the critical role computer science and coding play in today's world, and explore technology-based career options. There's something here every kid could love as well.

"It has me thinking about my own experience with creative work. When I first got into drawing, I copied the styles of other artists. When I first got into poetry, I copied the style of my favorite poet. When I first wrote a novel, it was essentially fan fiction -- albeit at a time when no one knew that term. I have noticed similar trends among students. They often go through a phase of copying and mash-ups that occur before creating something truly original. I see this trend in art class, wood shop, in writer's workshops, and in STEM labs. So, this has me thinking about stages that I notice as students move from consumers of media to creators of media. I admit that this is not very scientific. There might be a better model out there that explains this phenomenon. However, here are seven stages I see students go through as they shift from consuming to creating: "

"When 3D printing was first introduced over 30 years ago it felt like something more likely to appear in a Star Trek episode than reality. Today, more companies than ever are utilizing this technology to take their concepts from the boardroom to the design table in a matter of hours. The first step of every "solid imaging" project - as the name was originally dubbed by inventor Chuck Hull - is using 3D printing software, or computer aided design (CAD) software, to create your digital blueprint and send it off to the 3D printer to have it created layer by layer. The first thing Chuck ever printed was a tiny cup for washing the eye, something boring yet innovative in that it would spawn objects that even good ol' Chuck probably never thought possible. Below is a list of many of these items that can be created by a 3D printer that you wouldn't think would be. These items were selected for this list because you'd probably not think of them as manufacturable items and because some of them cannot be produced with a single process while employing traditional manufacturing processes."

"When I first saw these contraptions my initial reaction was how in the world would we incorporate these devices with our demanding academic curriculum? The last couple of months my instructional technology team and I have had a ball coming up with strong academic tie-ins for using MaKey MaKeys and programming with our elementary students. I was astonished how easily and naturally programming and incorporating MaKey MaKeys have been, even for first graders! Just the other day I was working with first graders who were learning about the four cardinal directions. We had them create interactive compass roses by programming a sprite in Scratch to move north, south, east or west depending on the arrow key they pressed. Some students were even able to add voice recordings to their script!"

"To help fill this gap in K-12 STEM education, Harvey Mudd created its first MOOC for middle and high school teachers. Middle Years Computer Science (MyCS) walks a teacher through the lesson plans, activities and exercises of a curriculum developed to appeal to students with a broad range of interests and no prior CS experience. Schools that have been using it have found it to be easy to use, accessible and engaging for their students. Our second MOOC offering, How Stuff Moves, supports students in their first course in calculus-based physics, a fundamental building block to further physics study in college. The course provides lectures, demonstrations, problem sets, worked solutions to every practice problem and concept tests- a wealth of resources to help students master the material, whether they are considering taking a high school AP physics course or their first mechanics course in college."

"My iPad Pro arrived this past week to my excitement. I have used it for just a few days now at this point. There are absolutely no regrets about this large purchase (I joked that it did cost exactly half of what I paid for my first car!). I am thoroughly impressed by this device. The larger size of this iPad gives it a new device feeling, as opposed to just a refreshed model of the same dimensions. For a size reference, here is the iPad Pro side by side with the iPad 4: And here it is next to the iPad Mini:   I hope to do a series of posts outlining my use of the iPad Pro. This first post will just outline some initial thoughts on the device, and who I think it is best suited for. Readers of this blog will know that I'm a huge supporter of using iPads for content creation as opposed to just content consumption. The iPad Pro, along with the new features of iOS 9, bring with it many more possibilities of doing so."

"In the age of technology, when students use online databases for home research and when Khan Academy tutorials personalize learning, why does the 21st-century student come to school? They come to see their friends. They come for the community. They come to be part of a classroom culture that motivates them to stick with the online tutorial and write that last paragraph in an essay. For my first seven years of teaching, I spent the first week discussing class norms, dutifully posting group expectations on the wall, and asking that students sign an agreement to follow them in an effort to "determine class culture." Turns out there's a quicker, more fun way to establish a positive atmosphere. With a little reinforcement, this positive culture lasts past the honeymoon of the first two weeks and into the second quarter when the gloves come off. The secret is improv games. I call them warm-ups and play them once a week at the beginning of class. Many students tell me that warm-ups are the best part of their day."

"Have you ever played a name game with your new classes? Typically everyone stands in a circle and the first person says their name, the next person says their own name and the name of the first person, and the third person says their own name, the name of the second person, and the name of the first person, and so on. Can you imagine how the last person in the group feels? There's so much pressure to remember everyone's names. Over the years, name games have been a go-to tool for me when learning the names of students. I noticed that my students and I learned names faster through name games. Now, however, I approach these games differently."

"My first year of teaching was a blur. At the time, it didn't feel like a blur. It felt a joyous, adrenaline-fueled rush or lessons, meetings, and new relationships. But in hindsight, it was definitely a blur. And now, years later, I can see a few simple tweaks would've gone a long way."

"Most children enter kindergarten as technology users, but their knowledge of how to use it safely and appropriately varies as widely as their abilities to print their names and tie their shoes. As their first teachers, it is unquestioningly our duty to develop digital citizenship alongside scissor skills and sharing. Collaborative, project-based learning experiences provide many authentic opportunities for students to acquire and practice digital citizenship skills that will see them safely into adulthood as they begin to develop and manage their first digital footprints. In Manitoba, we have a Literacy with ICT Developmental Continuum that fosters critical and creative thinking skills as students learn to use ICT safely and responsibly. How does this actually look in kindergarten? "

"CS First provides free, easy-to-use computer science (CS) enrichment materials that target and engage a diverse student population"