Scratch, a free iconic programming language and active learning community provided by MIT, is a learning platform EVERYONE involved in education should know how to use. This is a bold claim, but I'm ready to defend it more than ever after spending four weeks working with Scratch this past semester with my UNT pre-service education students. Together, we learned about the primary Scratch project types (Animations, Games, Simulations, Music, Art, and Stories) as well as other possibilities. Teaching about Scratch and with Scratch enabled me to model project-based learning for my students, and enabled them to learn first-hand the power (as well as challenges) of discovery learning. Scratch challenged all of us, since it took everyone outside our comfort zones. When you ask students to create a word processing document, a spreadsheet, or a presentation, there's a VERY high likelihood they have past experiences with those activities. None of my students had ever used Scratch prior to our class, and many had never tried any kind of computer programming previously. Scratch is a very open environment, so it is ripe for creativity and creative expression. Our schools are too often devoid of opportunities for creative expression, and the invitation for students to demonstrate their learning with Scratch can change this. Few things made me happier this semester than my students discovering how THEY could be successful using Scratch to communicate with others, and resolving to share it with their own students when they begin teaching. This is one example from a student's blog reflection about Scratch and Chris Betcher's 2010 K-12 Online Conference presentation, "Teaching Kids To Think Using Scratch."
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Google Reader - EdCeptional blogs - 0 views
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This is a "bundle" of all blogs mentioned during EdCeptional shows. http://goo.gl/Z1aem
Dump Technology - 0 views
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Blog entry for 12/15/2010
Steve Jobs, Bill Gates clash on merit of liberal arts education (NYT) | Seattle's Big B... - 0 views
Heather Wolpert-Gawron: The Education of Student Success: Top 10 Family Responsibilitie... - 0 views
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Teachers, students and parents all have roles in ensuring student success, says teacher Heather Wolpert-Gawron, who lists the top 10 responsibilities of each in three blog posts. For teachers, it is important to be experts in your field, make lessons engaging and relevant and be strong role models. Wolpert-Gawron writes that students must be their own advocates, ask questions and communicate with teachers. Families, she writes, are responsible for making sure students attend school ready to learn. However, a fourth party -- policymakers and voters -- must support education if students are to succeed, Wolpert-Gawron writes.
Moving at the Speed of Creativity - 0 views
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a VERY Bold claim.
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Scratch, a free iconic programming language and active learning community provided by MIT, is a learning platform EVERYONE involved in education should know how to use. This is a bold claim, but I'm ready to defend it more than ever after spending four weeks working with Scratch this past semester with my UNT pre-service education students.
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I will be attempting to use Scratch with my high school sped class. I think I can scaffold this appropriately.
TED Blog | Let's use video to reinvent education: Salman Khan on TED.com - 0 views
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Let's use video to reinvent education: Salman Khan on TED.com
Thoughts By Jen » Blog Archive » Yes, I am Frustrated - 1 views
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For the last few months, there has been a grumbling in my soul regarding my "Personal Learning Network" - or as I prefer to call them "my friends online". Instead of moving forward, it feels we have come to a crossroads and have stalled. As the dweller that I am - I have spent some time in self-reflection of why this might be (both as a participant and also as a grateful receiver of info). …..and just decided to share my thoughts. 1. The honeymoon is over. The newness of wonderment with this thing called "twitter" or "PLN" is now over. We are getting to know each other - the true parts of each other - and seeing each others pros and cons. With familiarity at times can come contempt. The being on our best behavior (whether some of us ever really were - grins) has also faded and there is impatience and nit picking where before there was compromise and "this I can ignore." Plus, the small network that was manageable is now huge - and at times overwhelming and overstimulating. Because the "honeymoon" is over - reality is settling in…..which can be a good thing, as well as bad - it just seems (to me) that we are not as nice to each other as we used to be.
Free Download: Lali Puna - Radiolab - 0 views
Michelle Rhee's Cheating Scandal: School Test Score Irregularities - The Daily Beast - 0 views
With iPads, Olympia students have world at their fingertips - Olympia School District -... - 0 views
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“Textbooks have really great things, but they’re also very limiting,” said Underwood, who is in her 24th year of teaching at Olympia High. “Our kids are digital kids. They respond very well to this kind of tactile environment, where they can get immediate feedback.”
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Again, the focus is on the stuff. Not the pedagogy, or the changes in teaching. Really?
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hasn’t used iPads because they don’t work with the district’s technology system
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And this technology system is some proprietary POJ from Albania?
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as well as a pilot program at Olympia High where students in an intensive college readiness course known as AVID were issued district-owned iPads to use throughout the year for note-taking, research and organization.
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And what has been done with teacher training? Shifts in pedagogy?
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