Intriguing site lets students or teachers read along to stories with audio, movie-style soundtracks or create their own soundtracks for creative writing assignments. Includes a few sample lesson plans for using the site with elementary, middle, or high school students.
Site lets teachers post a question online. Students then respond via webcam (no account required) and have their (moderated) comment added to a really great-looking video wall online. Site does cost $65 annually, but that includes 10 walls and virtually endless questions/responses.
And yet the dominant model of public education is still fundamentally rooted in the industrial revolution that spawned it, when workplaces valued punctuality, regularity, attention, and silence above all else.
Decentralized systems have proven to be more productive and agile than rigid, top-down ones
In 1970 the top three skills required by the Fortune 500 were the three Rs: reading, writing, and arithmetic. In 1999 the top three skills in demand were teamwork, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills
We don’t openly profess those values nowadays, but our educational system—which routinely tests kids on their ability to recall information and demonstrate mastery of a narrow set of skills—doubles down on the view that students are material to be processed, programmed, and quality-tested. School administrators prepare curriculum standards and “pacing guides” that tell teachers what to teach each day. Legions of managers supervise everything that happens in the classroom; in 2010 only 50 percent of public school staff members in the US were teachers.
Teachers provide prompts, not answers, and then they step aside
There will be no teachers, curriculum, or separation into age groups—just six or so computers and a woman to look after the kids’ safety. His defining principle: “The children are completely in charge.”
“schools in the cloud,”
as the kids blasted through the questions, they couldn’t help noticing that it felt easy, as if they were being asked to do something very basic.
"Free online service for teachers to create their own customized portfolio webpage." Includes a personal URL, ability to upload files, links, photos, etc.
Web app lets students use web-connected mobile devices to indicate whether or not they understand a topic, then provides teachers a real-time graph of student responses.
Educational program sponsored by the American Institute for Foreign Study designed to promote multi-cultural understanding and appreciation in elementary and middle school classrooms. Resources for parents, teachers, kids.
"MathBits.com is devoted to offering fun, yet challenging, lessons and activities in secondary (and college level) mathematics and computer programming for students and teachers. Created by two mathematics teachers."