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"Please see the (link) New York Says Thank You and The 9/12 Generation Project Hurricane Sandy School Penny Drive! WE WOULD LOVE TO HAVE YOUR SCHOOL PARTICIPATE! We are looking for a huge push through the next 30 days as a second round of storms are on the way this week!!    We will have updates on NY and NJ schools latter this week at www.912generationproject.org and on our Facebook page! Over the next 30-60 days we will also have a more detailed needs assessment completed with projects that meet specific needs but at this time the 912GP Hurricane Sandy Penny Drive is the quickest way to provide fuel, lumber, cleaning supplies, and meals, etc. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have. We look forward to working with you and your youth! Remember to send us your stories and your goals and we will keep you updated on the recovery!!    Best,  Lori   Lori Sullivan The 9/12 Generation Project*Project Manager/ Educator New York Says Thank You Foundation lori@newyorksaysthankyou.org"

National Geographic and Annenberg are offering a week-long course on water (Oct 9-16), the first in a series of online courses that extend through CEM and beyond, with credit available from the University of San Diego. "Description: Water is an essential theme in social studies, science, and geography. Whether teaching about natural or human systems, water is part of the story. This open online course, framed around California's Education and the Environment Initiative (EEI), focuses on ocean and freshwater topics and strategies for teaching environmental topics in Grades 4-8. Resources and support are provided for how to use EEI to implement Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy."

I always love learning from Ledesma. Here's another one that I so agree with.

Classroom Challenge -- (PS If the entire school signs up and does it, then they might get prizes) -- The tutorials for learning how to do computer coding are also awesome math and critical thinking lessons! "Even if you aren't a student, you can take the Hour of Code yourself during Dec. 9-15. And you can help us recruit others to join the movement - at school, in your workplace, in the community. If you are an educator, host the Hour of Code as an activity in your classroom. If you're an organizer or employer, host an Hour of Code event as a team-building exercise, after-school activity in a club, or elsewhere in your community. Click the appropriate tab, and start planning your Hour of Code!"

"The premise is simple; we pick a book to read aloud to our students during a set 6-week period and during that time we try to make as many global connections as possible. Each teacher decides how much time they would like to dedicate and how involved they would like to be. Some people choose to connect with just one class, while others go for as many as possible. The scope and depth of the project is up to you. In the past we have used Twitter, Skype, Edmodo, our wiki, email, regular mail, Kidblog, and any other tools we can think of to make these connections. Teachers get a community of other educators to do a global project with, hopefully inspiring them to continue these connections through the year."

Fab read. I've only highlighted a few paragraphs... then it goes into concrete ways to improve tech integration using the example of the iPad. ---- "n: Just bringing new technology in your classroom and working it into day-to-day routines isn't enough. The iPads arrived two days before my students, and I quickly made plans to integrate them into our curriculum. Despite my high hopes, the next two months were less than successful. A casual observer would have witnessed a sea of students glued to glistening tablets, but the effects were superficial. The iPads were not helping my students make substantial progress toward self-efficacy, academic achievement, or social-emotional growth. Around the end of September, I took a step back-it was time to evaluate and reflect on what was happening. I asked myself: "What have we been doing so far with this technology?" Students used math apps instead of math card games. They'd made slideshow presentations for isolated units. They'd done some research on the Internet. In short, things were going ... OK. Nothing to write home about. Not what I would consider "worthy" of a $20,000 grant. Clearly it was time for a change. The problem, I began to realize, was my own understanding of how the iPads should be utilized in the classroom. I had seen them as a supplement to my pre-existing curriculum, trying to fit them into the structure of what I'd always done. This was the wrong approach: To truly change how my classroom worked, I needed a technology-based redefinition of my practice."

Fab read. I've only highlighted a few paragraphs... then it goes into concrete ways to improve tech integration using the example of the iPad.

How to start blogging in your classroom