Bell Primary School

"Much of the best commentary on education is written by engaged teachers and available free online. Jenny Luca highlights her must-read blogs, to help kick start you into the new school year. "

Great post re developing your personal learning network through twitter. A great list of educators to follow if I do say so myself ;-)

Technology has been changing the way people learn and interact for thousands of years. Many researchers argue that major innovations adopted by society have an effect on the structure of the human brain. There is little doubt that the Internet has changed the way people find information and the way they communicate. Changes to the way that students learn, and probably what they learn, need to follow.

Wow! A fabulous info graphic that looks at all the learning theories.

Electronic portfolios are gaining so much popularity among teachers and students. Their easy accessibility and availability anywhere anytime make them really worth trying. There are actually several web tools that you can use to create digital portfolios and I have already reviewed some of them in this post, however, today I am sharing with you an excellent video tutorial from EdTechTeacher on how to use Google Drive as a portfolio solution in iPad classroom. Check it out below

"SAMR, a model designed to help educators integrate technology into teaching and learning, was developed by Dr. Ruben Puentedura, Ph.D.. The model aims to enable teachers to design, develop, and integrate digital learning experiences that utilize technology to transform learning experiences to lead to high levels of achievement for students."

Though we've talked about digital citizenship in the past, since we're constantly using technology and interacting in digital communities, an ongoing discussion about digital citizenship isn't a waste of time, but rather a necessity.

IN Australia, primary school teachers receive, on average, 17 hours of mandatory music education in their teacher education courses. In South Australia it is even less. In Finland it is 270 hours. What is 17 hours of music education supposed to achieve? One has to ask: Why bother?

A great info graphic with some interesting ideas on how to promote your blog.

It seems that every school is considering purchasing iPads these days, and Apple has reported that iPad sales to schools are currently outselling MacBook sales by a very large margin. However, the rush to purchase iPads often precedes the careful planning and preparation that's so crucial to their success as educational tools. Technology alone is never the answer. Instead, iPad use needs to be integrated within a holistic approach to 21st-century education that encompasses a thorough and ongoing review of the skills and competencies required in our rapidly changing society and the educational processes that best help students acquire them.

Great list of digital story telling apps and web apps . Some of these are worth exploring if you are looking to integrate ICT into your literacy lesson.

Some great ideas here for integrating ICT to facilitate better writing and formative assessment. Any experienced English teacher knows the drill: on the dreaded due date, students bring printed copies of their essays to class, where we collect them, take them home, jot inscrutable comments in the margins, bring them back to class, return them, and then watch students promptly toss them in the recycling bin on the way out of the room. The whole cycle borders on farce. Students pretend to spend many hours writing their papers, teachers pretend to spend many hours grading them, and we all pretend like repeating this process over and over again leads to something we in education like to call "student growth."

Edublogs is built on WordPress - which was once just for blogs. But now, WordPress is used for way more than blogs and powers around 20% of the entire web! It never stops amazing us when we see all of the different ways that educators are using Edublogs and we don't get to share them all often enough. So, here's a rundown of ten of the most common, along with some examples for inspiration and ideas!

A fantastic Google Presentation by John Pearce looking at Web 2.0 tools and other cloud based apps to support thinking

OMG! Everything you need to know about Pixlr a great online photo editing tool that links in with your Google drive account.

My first year teaching a literacy coach came to observe my classroom. After the students left, she commented on how I asked the whole class a question, would wait just a few seconds, and then answer it myself. "It's cute," she added. Um, I don't think she thought it was so cute. I think she was treading lightly on the ever-so shaky ego of a brand-new teacher while still giving me some very necessary feedback.

"Sometimes a visual guide comes along and it just makes total sense. That's how I felt about Allan Carrington's clever 'Padagogy Wheel' which we featured on Edudemic last week. Check out the previous version then view the one below to see the differences. From what I can tell, putting the wheel on this site has generated a bit of buzz and I'm glad we could help spread the knowledge. But I was quite amazed this morning when I saw that the Padagogy Wheel had been updated. Now at version 2.0, it features another band around the edge focusing on the SAMR Model and on helping teachers (and admins) effectively integrate education technology. In this new model Allan sorted the dozens of apps and steps of Bloom's Digital Taxonomy into the SAMR Model (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition)."

Some great posters here. The language use on these posters could be used when formulating the Bell PS Digital Citizenship Manifesto.

"ur FREE materials are designed to empower students to think critically, behave safely, and participate responsibly in our digital world. Use our interactive SCOPE & SEQUENCE to find the lessons that are just right for your classroom. These cross-curricular units spiral to address digital literacy and citizenship topics in an age-appropriate way. Browse by grade band or click a category to highlight lessons that address that topic."

"Use our Scope & Sequence tool to find the lessons that are just right for your classroom. These cross-curriculular units spiral to address digital literacy and citizenship topics in an age-appropriate way. Browse by grade band or click a category to highlight the lessons that address that topic. You can download a PDF of the Scope & Sequence (en español)."