Group items matching

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"Since getting my iPad and my iPhone, my life has become more organized and much easier. I work twice as much and twice as hard - and I've become twice as productive. My income has skyrocketed, and I owe it all to becoming more organized. A big chunk of the solution has been iStudiez Pro, a universal app for all your devices. Let's find out more after the jump. "

"Strip Designer is a great comic strip creation tool to add to your students' iPads. Priced at $2.99 USD it is $2 less than Comic Life and is just as good. Strip Designer provides dozens of comic strip layouts from simple one frame comics to one page layouts in a variety of configurations to multiple page layouts there is probably a layout that works for all students. And if not, your students can create their own custom comic strip layouts in Strip Designer."

"We're used to media reports about children and teachers who bully students. A more hidden fact of school life is the extent to which teachers suffer at the hands of cruel colleagues and administrators. One in three teachers claim they have been bullied at work. In Part I of a two-part post on the subject, I will share the voices of teachers who describe being bullied by colleagues. Part II will discuss solutions. "

For Halloween 2016, I did a version of Halloween Wars (a Food Network show) with my two classes of gifted elementary learners. I am sharing this lesson through my blog post as it reinforces how I approach lesson planning and teaching. Background Information Principles that drive my instructional approach. regardless of theme, include: Instructional challenges are hands-on and naturally engaging for learners. There is a game-like atmosphere. There are elements of play, leveling up, and a sense of mastery or achievement during the instructional activities. The challenges are designed to be novel and create excitement and joy for learners. There is a healthy competition where the kids have to compete against one another. Learners don't need to be graded about their performances as built-in consequences are natural. There is a natural building of social emotional skills - tolerance for frustration, expression of needs, working as a team. Lessons are interdisciplinary (like life) where multiple, cross-curricular content areas are integrated into the instructional activities."

"Until last week, if you'd googled the name "Klara Bowman," the search would have come back with a series of stories about a drunk teacher who was fired from her job in Tacoma, Washington. That was before a columnist with The News Tribune in Tacoma decided to uncover Klara Bowman's full story. A search of her name today will yield stories about a woman who took her own life, about her struggle with addiction, and about the need for frank talk about alcoholism. Columnist Matt Driscoll first raised concerns about the coverage and reaction to Bowman's story back in March. Bowman was fired from her job after being found intoxicated while in the classroom. It was the second time she had been caught drinking at work. "We lost the humanity of Klara Bowman in these "

"3D printing and other additive manufacturing techniques are revolutionizing global health systems. Great interest is being seen in the 3D printed prosthetic movement due to the potential for a wide range of people, including novice designers, builders, and students to produce devices that have the potential to effect positive change in a recipient's life. Close Additionally, there is incredible value in having students print and build devices and for those devices to make their way to other young people. Through this work, students are provided with a window into an incredibly authentic application of many of the STEM concepts and 21st century skills they are being taught and recipients have their interest sparked and have a tangible object that offers a glimpse into what is possible when they receive one of these devices."

"Aah February; a month of love, of reading, of waiting for spring if you in the Northern Hemisphere.  While February may  be the shortest month of the year sometimes in teaching it can feel like the longest of them all.  While I love this month for the work I can do with my students, I find that sometimes the dark nights and cold Wisconsin winters can be positively slump inducing.  Rather than dread the slump, why not do something pro-active? So this year I plan on doing my very own unslumping challenge and you are more than welcome to join me.  Every day for the month of February, I plan on doing something to either reinvigorate myself or make a difference to others.  It will not cost me much money but will hopefully instead lead to a deeper level of gratitude for the incredible job I have, the amazing students I get to teach, and the wonderful people in my life. Here is what I plan on doing"

"What does it mean when people talk about "student voice and choice" in education? Educators are always thinking on how best to engage the young people we work with; perhaps one way to capture their attention is right under our noses. If students feel that that their opinions and ideas are heard and valued by their peers and teachers, they're much more likely to be engaged with their education. These 7 videos offer up strategies for giving your students more agency in their lessons and day-to-day classroom life."

"What does it mean when people talk about "student voice and choice" in education? Educators are always thinking on how best to engage the young people we work with; perhaps one way to capture their attention is right under our noses. If students feel that that their opinions and ideas are heard and valued by their peers and teachers, they're much more likely to be engaged with their education. These 7 videos offer up strategies for giving your students more agency in their lessons and day-to-day classroom life."

" What are MakerSpaces? Makers build, fix, and create. They are students, teachers, tinkerers, cooks, technology buffs, architects, crafters, performers, hobbyists, builders, artists, engineers, scientists, and writers. They use the MakerSpace to solve real life problems with access to tools and materials. A MakerSpace is not confined to a school setting but can also be a community space like a public library where community members off all ages, means, and abilities can design, prototype, and create original works. On March 18th and 19th, we celebrated New Jersey Makers Day, and I had the opportunity to visit a number of different Maker events in various communities. These are some themes and big ideas that I noticed in my travels. Perhaps these big ideas will inspire you to create your own MakerSpace makeover in your own classroom, school, or local community."

"Empowerment of people through Media and Information Literacy (MIL) is an important prerequisite for fostering equitable access to information and knowledge and promoting free, independent and pluralistic media and information systems. Media and Information Literacy recognizes the primary role of information and media in our everyday lives. It lies at the core of freedom of expression and information - since it empowers citizens to understand the functions of media and other information providers, to critically evaluate their content, and to make informed decisions as users and producer of information and media content. Information Literacy and Media Literacy are traditionally seen as separate and distinct fields. UNESCO's strategy brings together these two fields as a combined set of competencies (knowledge, skills and attitude) necessary for life and work today. MIL considers all forms of media and other information providers such as libraries, archive, museums and Internet irrespective of technologies used"

Every day we aim to make technology so simple and intuitive that you stop thinking about it-we want Google to work so well, it just blends into your life. But sometimes it's helpful to step back and take stock of what you're doing online.

"This is a great site for locating apps for special needs education. a4cwsn is committed to helping the families and carers of children with special needs and the wider community of educators and therapists who support them, by producing videos that demonstrate how products designed to educate children and build their life skills really work from a user perspective. They have an easy to use apps index. "

"It's no secret among my friends and family that I have an Evernote addiction. Between Evernote and my personal scanner, I cannot decide which one is more important to my work and personal life. I started out with the free version of Evernote, but quickly figured out that the Premium version was the only way to go based on the quantity of documents I store as well as the number of times I must access stuff offline. Suffice to say, if you're not using Evernote, I highly suggest giving it a try - only then will you be able to truly determine if it's a beneficial service or something you can do without."

"If you're a teacher, you probably don't have oodles of free time on your hands (unless you've thrown lesson planning and grading your students' work out the window!), but when you do, a good book recommendation is almost always welcome (trumped only by a good wine/beer/food recommendation!). I always enjoy a good 'beach read' when I need something brainless (read: flaky, easy reading), but sometimes I'm up for something with a little more substance. What better than something that can help you out in your classroom or professional life?"

"Creating animations can be a fun element to add to a creative writing project. Creating the animation could be the final piece of the project in which students bring their short stories to life. You could also have students create short animations to use as story starters for their written works. Here are five free tools that students can use to create animations."

"The main arguments behind the push for students to learn to code, usually center around preparing students for future jobs. There is a skill shortage in the computer science industry which determines skilled job seekers can walk into lucrative contracts. This trend is predicted to rise. The other aspect to the usual argument is that even students who do not work in the technology industry will also benefit throughout their life and careers by learning computer science, as all industries now involve some component of programming. While these arguments are perfectly valid, there are many more reasons why kids should learn to code. They include:"

"In his popular TED talk, Ken Robinson made the powerful point that most of the students doing work in your classrooms today will be entering a job force that none of you can visualize. That talk is from almost ten years ago, so we already know he was right and can only assume he'll continue to be so in the years to come. Learning a specific skill set doesn't have the value in today's world that it once did. Learning how to be more creative (and thus adaptable) - now that's what prepares students for life beyond the classroom."

"Too much time can easily be wasted trying to format documents that have already been put together by someone else. If you use Google Docs, here are 24 time-saving templates that'll let you get on with using the documents, rather than struggling with putting them together in the first place. The templates below have been split into four sections; work, health, home, and travel, so feel free to scroll to the section that's most relevant to you."