Denver_Public_Schools_dpsk12

nice for use with interactive whiteboard, requires flash

At first glance, I like this a lot. It combines existing social spaces and incorporates or provides the opportunity to fracture them into learning spaces as well. I've heard folks ask before if this is even where our students want us to be. good question. I think the tool, whatever it is, will need to allow for layers or (ahem) circles so that we can organize the input and output cleanly and easily. I still lik edmodo in this type of space as THE go-to tool because of the ability to work with kids and teachers P-12.

Make something!

A couple of quick takeaways for me are that it's nice to see professional development called out as something we need, but we really have to get away form the paradigm of thinking it's something we do "to" teachers or is done "to" us.  The other takeaway I have after reading this is around a question I've asked before. If we're truly "blending" our teaching and environment, what does the space look like? How can we professionally develop as teachers to be better prepared to adapt and modify our existing learning spaces to better meet the needs of a flexible, student centric, tech infused learning environment? If shifting the ENTIRE teaching model paradigm upside down is NOT an option, what is? Is this something that needs to be built, modeled, and then iterated? I culled some nuggets from the reading.

This is an interactive multimedia site designed to get Tween girls excited about Science and reaffirm that it's cool if you already do. I spent a little time poking around the videos and games, and they wer nice, gave an overview, seemed engaging.  What I especially liked though was the Projects page, where you're given a ton of options, including submitting your own projects. Another gem on the site is the "For Teachers and "For Parents" pages. This quote especially caught my eye. "Every girl can be a SciGirl with a groundbreaking new TV show and interactive website that will transform the way tween girls look at science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). "  Here is an additional link that takes you to the site's Educational Philosophy. http://www.pbs.org/teachers/scigirls/philosophy/

Great stuff coming from +George Siemens in this slide deck. Paid particular attention to slide 40 "Reed's Law." I personally  and us as a team have been looking at different change models. I had not thought about the tipping point in relation to what we're doing with edmodo and getting enough users to hit that point where the sub groups have teeth and the hill from which I've been dancing alone becomes filled with other crazy hill dancer people. :) h/t +Derek Sivers 

Google Hangouts keeps getting better and better. I've been really impressed thus far with its consistency, ease of use, and functionality. Screensharing is a must, Bigger video, less so for me, but the ability to draft, ,collaborate, and draw out ideas in this setting seemingly super easy is great.  As an aside, I'm wondering how much I'll be using gmail, since Google plus, pretty much does everything I would need from an email already and then some.

Looking forward to the conversation. Hope i can make it. Aaron's been doing this for awhile, look forward to hearing more about how the skill has evolved as access is increased. "Join us on Tuesday, January 17th, at 3:30pm Mountain time for a visit with Aaron Sams, a science teacher at Woodland Park High School in Woodland Park, Colorado, as we talk about the flipped classroom - what is it, it isn't and the many forms that it can take."

This is a pretty sweet collection of resources for teachers to cruise through and glean nuggets of cool for their students. All kinds of sites to support each stage of the writing process, as well as content from MI, OWL, and the like. As well as ways for students to get published, watch videos, and get creative. I'm not a huge fan of lists, but this is a nice collection.

I like that this article address the obvious gaps of research and lack of control of multiple variables that could eschew results. Nevertheless there are some great data points on why keeping and retaining the best in our profession needs to be a continued focus and conversation. Is it enough to use test scores, of course not. But a balanced system that helps us speed up the process for removing ineffective folks in our profession can't hurt.

18,000 Resources, 1,200 Lessons, and a great space for students to search, study, and practice. I like this site quite a bit. It is run by a nn-profit, which has me hopeful for what's to come.

If Chrome continues to be the fastest growing browser, this resource may be helpful for soem folks helping to "sell" IT on the idea of supporting it. If you're a chromebooks school or program, then this is a super useful tool to put in the hands of your teachers.

Would love to look into the possible purchase of some or all of these resources to share them with our teachers. Wondering about cost and work load that would be taken on. This could be a great resource for the developers and curriculum specialists designing ELA certification trainings and courses.  Look forward to see what if anything is possible to work out.