Group items tagged

"Making learning interactive has always been difficult for educators. Students rarely want to collaborate and get involved in discussions, because most of them are afraid of making mistakes and saying something wrong. Luckily for all of us, the emergence of technology used in classrooms has made educators able of making the learning process interactive. Blending the traditional textbooks with innovative web tools that inspire collaboration will be the wisest thing you've ever done for your students. The goal of project-based learning is to enable your students to put the things they have learned into practice and develop valuable skills through the project development. They will learn how to make priorities, manage sources, and summarize new concepts. The final goal is to enable them to understand a certain concept more easily."

"What boosts PBL from a fun and engaging exercise to a rigorous and powerful real-world learning experience? Researchers have identified four key components that are critical to teaching successfully with PBL (Barron & Darling-Hammond, 2008; Ertmer & Simons, 2005; Mergendoller & Thomas, 2005; Hung, 2008). All of these play a role in the curriculum-design process."

Tons of resources collected by our good friend and ACTFL President, Toni Theisen.

From Thomas Sauer's Skydrive - the Jefferson County Public Schools (KY) WL curriculum for levels 1-3, regardless of language, but emphasis on Spanish, French and German

"Over the course of two years, I, along with the Burlington Public Schools tech team, had the opportunity to meet and connect with over one hundred schools. These discussions would usually involve what device works best in the classroom and how the iPad is affecting teaching and learning outcomes. Frequently this conversation focuses on the most effective hardware for teaching and learning. While this is an important decision to make, it should not be the focus. In fact, the best devices a school can employ are great teachers."

"For some, the technology rich classroom is easy to justify. Once you have made the transition and seen the benefits, it is easy to weigh them against the potential risks and worries about the problems resulting from having a room full of devices."

"PDF documents are now being used almost everywhere. Long ago, when they have just been introduced, it was difficult for us to use these documents as there were no options for any kind of change. All we could do was just read or view the documents. There were no PDF tools for teachers, admins, and students. However, with the introduction of other tools, we were able to do different things with PDFs which made it easy for us to use them for various purposes."

It's a practical guide to building 21st century-student competency in the "4 C's" - critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity/innovation. The book is designed for middle school and high school teachers, instructional coaches, and school leaders. It also shows how the 4 C's in a PBL context align with the Common Core State Standards. Sample projects, CCSS-aligned 4 C's rubrics, tips for technology in projects, notes for school leaders on building support for 21st century learning with PBL. Authors: Suzie Boss, author and BIE National Faculty, and John Larmer, Editor-in-Chief, BIE

A comprehensive look at the promise and potential of online learning In our digital age, students have dramatically new learning needs and must be prepared for the idea economy of the future. In Getting Smart, well-known global education expert Tom Vander Ark examines the facets of educational innovation in the United States and abroad. Vander Ark makes a convincing case for a blend of online and onsite learning, shares inspiring stories of schools and programs that effectively offer "personal digital learning" opportunities, and discusses what we need to do to remake our schools into "smart schools." Examines the innovation-driven world, discusses how to combine online and onsite learning, and reviews "smart tools" for learning Investigates the lives of learning professionals, outlines the new employment bargain, examines online universities and "smart schools" Makes the case for smart capital, advocates for policies that create better learning, studies smart cultures

What year are you preparing your students for? 1973? 1995? Can you honestly say that your school s curriculum and the program you use are preparing your students for 2015 or 2020? Are you even preparing them for today?  With those provocative questions, author and educator Heidi Hayes Jacobs launches a powerful case for overhauling, updating, and injecting life into the K 12 curriculum. Sharing her expertise as a world-renowned curriculum designer and calling upon the collective wisdom of 10 education thought leaders, Jacobs provides insight and inspiration in the following key areas:  * Content and assessment--How to identify what to keep, what to cut, and what to create, and where portfolios and other new kinds of assessment fit into the picture.  * Program structures--How to improve our use of time and space and groupings of students and staff.  * Technology--How it s transforming teaching, and how to take advantage of students natural facility with technology.  * Media literacy--The essential issues to address, and the best resources for helping students become informed users of multiple forms of media.  * Globalization--What steps to take to help students gain a global perspective.  * Sustainability--How to instill enduring values and beliefs that will lead to healthier local, national, and global communities.  * Habits of mind--The thinking habits that students, teachers, and administrators need to develop and practice to succeed in school, work, and life.

This ASCD Study Guide is designed to enhance your understanding and application of the information contained in Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World, an ASCD book edited by Heidi Hayes Jacobs and published in January 2010. You can use the study guide before or after you have read the book, or as you finish each chapter. The study questions provided are not meant to cover all aspects of the book, but, rather, to address specific ideas that might warrant further reflection. Most of the questions contained in this study guide are ones you can think about on your own, but you might consider pairing with a colleague or forming a study group with others who have read (or are reading)

In the new global economy, the jobs that exist now might not exist by the time today's students enter the workplace. To succeed in this ever-changing world, students need to be able to think like entrepreneurs: resourceful, flexible, creative, and global. This book unlocks the secrets to cultivating independent thinkers who are willing and able to use their learning differently to create jobs and contribute positively to the globalized society. World Class Learners presents concepts that teachers, administrators and even parents can implement immediately, including how to: Understand the entrepreneurial spirit and harness it Foster student autonomy and leadership Champion inventive learners with necessary resources Develop global partners and resources With the liberty to make meaningful decisions and explore nontraditional learning opportunities, today's students will develop into tomorrow's global entrepreneurs.

Are you preparing a new generation of innovators? Activate your students' creativity and problem-solving potential with breakthrough learning projects. Across all grades and content areas, student-driven, collaborative projects will teach students how to generate innovative ideas and then put them into action. You'll take learning to new heights and help students master core content.

The Common Core State Standards clearly define the skills students need for success in college and the 21st century workplace. The question is, how can you measure student mastery of skills like creativity, problem solving, and use of technology? Laura Greenstein demonstrates how teachers can teach and assess 21st century skills using authentic learning experiences and rigorous, varied assessment strategies. Based on the best ideas of renowned experts in education, this book provides a framework and practical ideas for measuring Thinking skills: critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, and metacognition Actions: communication, collaboration, digital and technological literacy Living skills: citizenship, global understanding, leadership, college and career readiness Included are numerous rubrics and checklists, a step-by-step model for developing your own classroom assessments, a lesson planning template, and sample completed lesson plans. Assessing 21st Century Skills gives you the tools and strategies you need to prepare students to succeed in a rapidly changing world.

This is a tool for makeing a poster with a quote, embedded in an image/template to post online, to tweetl to download as a picture - cool tool!

A couple of weeks ago, Samer Rabadi, Edutopia's Community Manager, started this discussion on the Community Bulletin Board: "What Does It Mean to Be a Connected Educator?" He observed that, for many of us, becoming connected educators has transformed our lives. I would certainly agree with that!

"On a given day, how much time do your students spend working on their fluency? At the elementary level, hours are devoted to reading and speaking fluency. In middle and high school, students read aloud, deliver oral presentations, and write in a variety of formats to improve upon their language fluency. And yet, while we devote a significant portion of every school day to a student's reading, writing and language fluency, how much time is devoted to the development of their technology fluency? "

"The Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition Model offers a method of seeing how computer technology might impact teaching and learning.  It also shows a progression that adopters of educational technology often follow as they progress through teaching and learning with technology. "

Great infographic on the workflow of PBL using Google Apps