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Is it possible to be both a wired and unwired educator at the same time? Sounds like someone trying to explain Schrödinger's cat (the cat is both alive and dead at the same time, Google it).  I'm talking about being "an untethered teacher."  Sometimes, we end up tethered to the technology in our classroom.  To me, this is most evident with the interactive white board at the front of my classroom (I've intentionally omitted any particular brand name devices). Fortunately, I've been using AppleTV to untether myself from the front of the room.

The project focuses on disseminating information, resources, and tools designed to enhance the use of an instructional decision-making model in the areas of reading, mathematics, and behavior. Web site resources address steps of RtI implementation, from conducting a campus needs assessment, developing an action plan, promoting teacher collaboration, designing differentiated intervention, to answering parents' questions.

I've learned from many great teachers before me that the idea of a flipped classroom is nothing new.  While the term 'flipped class' is a trendy new catch phrase, the idea of the flipped classroom model is something teachers have been practicing for years.   Defined: The flipped classroom is an instructional  method used to engage students at home through the use of video in effort to enhance the classroom experience by a more hands-on approach to learning.

Mobile learning is a relatively new phenomenon and the theoretical basis is currently under development. The paper presents a pedagogical perspective of mobile learning which highlights three central features of mobile learning: authenticity, collaboration and personalisation, embedded in the unique time-space contexts of mobile learning. A pedagogical framework was developed and tested through activities in two mobile learning projects located in teacher education communities: Mobagogy, a project in which faculty staff in an Australian university developed understanding of mobile learning; and The Bird in the Hand Project, which explored the use of smartphones by student teachers and their mentors in the United Kingdom. The framework is used to critique the pedagogy in a selection of reported mobile learning scenarios, enabling an assessment of mobile activities and pedagogical approaches, and consideration of their contributions to learning from a socio-cultural perspective.

I have teachers ask me frequently about app recommendations for different subject areas. "What app could I use to teach subtraction?" "What app would you recommend for my students to practice writing?" "I want to use iPads in my Science class. What app is good for that?" I usually sigh to myself, when I receive questions like that. While I am not against in suggesting apps ( which I love doing), I am not comfortable with the level of disconnect between the teacher (who knows her/his students best) and the curriculum related skills and objectives and pedagogical relationship that needs to be in place for an app to be a match to use in a classroom or with an individual learner.

The preliminary results of our TeacherView Survey on Flipped Learning are in based on responses from close to 500 teachers nationwide.  These results should make any school or district administrator look seriously into how to begin flipping instruction broadly. Here's a quick sample of the findings. Click on the infographic to expand:

"Social media offers some great opportunities for learning in the classroom, bringing together the ability to collaborate, access worldwide resources, and find new and interesting ways to communicate in one easily accessible place. Teachers around the world have found innovative ways to use Twitter as a teaching tool (including TeachThought's favorite), and we've shared many of these great ideas here with you. Read on, and we'll explore 60 inspiring ways that teachers and students can put Twitter to work in the classroom."

"Infuse Learning is a free student response system that works with any Internet-connected device including iPads and Android tablets. Infuse Learning allows teachers to push questions, prompts, and quizzes out to students' devices in private virtual classrooms. In an Infuse Learning room a teacher can give students a wide variety of formats in which to response to a question or prompt. Students can reply to prompts and questions in standard multiple choice, true/false, and short answer formats. But Infuse Learning also offers an option for students to reply by creating drawings or diagrams on their iPads, Android tablets, or on their laptops."

Fairvale Teachers iBand doing a medley of christmas tunes on iPad. "Rockin' 'round the Christmas tree, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman and We wish you a merry Christmas."

Smart Classrooms Bytes provides school teachers and administrators with advice on the latest ICT trends for education.The publication supports school teachers and administrators to embrace ICT as an everyday part of education so students can achieve the best possible outcomes.Queensland Department of Education & Training

"Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) attempts to identify the nature of knowledge required by teachers for technology integration in their teaching, while addressing the complex, multifaceted and situated nature of teacher knowledge."

SlideJockey

The fact that this information revolution has radically transfomed education is no novel news to teachers and educators. The use of technology in education has become pervasive and the more we continue to invest in this field the better our instrction become. Some interesting tools here I like to look of thee rings and lore. 

Post fron Richard Byrne "Both Diigo and Jing have been written about on numerous occasions here at the Free Technology for Teachers blog, but I wanted to share my experiences using both tools when grading assignments. I teach an information literacy course for the college where I work as a librarian"

The post offers information about some engaging presentation tools available for teachers who could start using them in the classroom to better engage students. The teachers are then challenged to find ways for their students to create projects using these tools. 

Like most people I have lost many hours to Google Earth. As a geographer and teacher I have been trying to find ways to incorporate this tool into the social studies classroom. Over a year ago I started making my own Google Earth files. Throughout the past year, my father and I have spent countless hours working through technical issues creating what you see today. There are a few more improvements that still need to be made (when in doubt refresh the browser), but it works and is there for you to enjoy. I offer this tool to all teachers who want to create cool and engaging lessons for their students. In return I would appreciate feedback on how you use this site and potential improvements. Required Resources: This site looks best with IE7 and higher, Firefox 3 ((FF4-FF7 Fix), and Google Chrome. You must install the Google Earth Plug-in (Free, but you might need your IT administrator to install) and have broadband access.

This is a fabulous presentation on how teachers can use Evernote to make their record keeping so much easier. It has some great personal examples as well as embedded movies showing how to.

A great post by Chris Wejr in regards to providing time for teachers to tinker. Going beyond the PLC model, Wejr discusses how he provided his staff with time where they were released from class to go and tinker and explore.

"As teachers are seeing more and more iPads in education and either using their own devices or being given a teacher iPad or a class set, it is important to realize what the iPad is and what it isn't."

"It's the iPad's versatility, portability, camera, app selection and user-friendliness that keeps it ahead of the others for education but it's the approach taken by the teacher to learning within the classroom that realises these benefits, not the iPad alone. Worry first about what you are asking of your students and how much they are reliant on the teacher."