Group items tagged

A site full of success stories using Skype in the classroom. If you wonder if it is successful just look at the faces of the kids in video "Skype in the classroom-Tony Bates" the fourth one over.

Since I'm taking portfolio this fall, I thought I'd share my portfolio site.

This is great Angela! Wonderful set-up and site organization. You are inspiring me for my portfolio this spring! Thanks for sharing.

"Muzy is a new kind of blog for your creative side!" I just found this wonderful site the other day ... it reminds me of Tumblr but allows you to post to your Muzy blog using unique and creative apps. User-friendly, fun, social, and mobile. You can access it on-line or through a mobile device.

How do you spur curiosity? Just ask the six quirky characters of Smithsonian's Seriously Amazing Website. The Wild will share the diversity of the animal kingdom; The Green reflects the wonder of the natural landscape; The New will show how technology and creativity collide; The Masterpiece embodies artistic expression; The Storyteller shares the tales of the people of America; The Discoverer explores the world and universe. Seriously Amazing links the knowledge and resources of the Smithsonian Institution and sparks a spirit of inquiry. Grades 3-12. Tip: Challenge students to select one of the 6 areas of exploration and learn 5 new facts to share with the class.

This is a good set of tools and instructions for creating and maintaining a PLN.

I found these piece both extremely interesting and valuable. So true the way the author discusses the outcomes of a one-shot workshop vs. a "job-embedded, ongoing" (love the terms!) framework such as PLCs. The main benefits of the PLCs are 1) their are embedded into each school day and are facilitated by teacher support staff and 2) they are not collaboration for collaboration's sake! Instead, they engage teachers into an ongoing dialogue that is of their concern or interest right here, right now! Thus, meaningful collaboration results in meaningful outcomes. Great read!

There's two tools I'm seeing less and less that were included in this blog post. I'm seeing less people using wikis and also Ning seems to have been replaced maybe by Google+? I see this blog as good discussion of using your time wisely and wonder how it might be updated say in 2 or 3 years with new technologies.

This article is actually an introduction to a course offered by the University of Manitoba. My favorite part of this article is the diagram "that shows how the different elements and various technologies are linked together." However, throughout the article it offers various links that I also found interesting.

This article is written by Stephen Downes. In this article he discusses the online course that he created called Connectivism and Connective Knowledge. This course focuses on one of the more recent trends to emerge, connectivism. The visual map in the article shows how different elements and technologies all link together.

I saw Downe's article/work referenced on a few other sites, so this ties up a few things for me. However, the visual map has far too much going on for my brain to focus. Seriously- that thing is wild.

SUMMARY: This resource is geared towards school and district leaders to better understand the necessity of CoPs for not only their teachers but also themselves. It provides simple strategies to infuse educational environments with rich resources that lead to growing PLCs and CoPs.

Thanks for sharing this Cate. I follow CoSN and am usually up on their stuff, but I had not seen this resource. I love the fact that it includes action steps for superintendents. Too often that level of leadership is left out, then people wonder why change is not really taking place.

This provides district administrators with concrete steps for building communities of practice that can help educators develop technical abilities. Suggestions include finding pockets of excellence and working with and benchmarking from other school districts.

As students construct personal learning environments, teacher instruction and support is likely to be needed. PLE's must be constructed based on needs, and students may or may not be able to articulate what their learning needs are.

Today, students already have personal learning environments, but as teachers we have the ability to forge new pathways to learning by utilizing what kids already know and modeling collaboration and exploration.

Wow! What a cool article. I really enjoyed the picture of the Networked student. This article is like a how to for a teacher wanting to teach the 21st century student. It makes me wonder if our school system should provide a class on how to set up a method for each student to display their learning or their personal learning environment.

From Google: The Google Cultural Institute brings together millions of artifacts from multiple partners, with the stories that bring them to life, in a virtual museum. This site allows your students to explore different art museums, primary sources, and world wonders. An awesome source to let students explore and see what they find.

The study in the paper was interesting as it looked at K-12 educators and their use of Twitter to research, relate and form PLNs. Twitter and other social medias have allowed teachers to form networks that are specific to their needs and wants in terms of their own professional growth. In the "End of Isolation" the researchers findings touched on the fact that "over 82% of the time, the educators in this study chose to follow other educators or content experts related to their field of teaching so they were able to create a personal learning network meaningful to their professional needs." Now I just need to work with teachers at my school site to help them realize the individualized professional potential!

This study underscored the benefits of Twitter for the educational community. The article shared the advantages to new teachers in particular, where one participant stated it changed her vision and practice in the classroom. Very powerful!

Of all the resources I have read thus far on PLNs, this particular article forced me to think deeper and reconsider my interpretation of this concept. First of all, I found that the article provided a picture of the quality of interaction that can occur within Twitter. The data collected by researchers provides an in depth look at Twitter as a PLN - a feat that few other resources I have read have accomplished. By detailing the amount, quality, and type of interactions and connections, a tangible conception of a PLN emerges, even for someone who has little to no experience with Twitter. Of the 10 surveyed, a majority of their connections and tweets were professionally related. According to Nussbaum-Beach (video I posted), the difference between a PLN and a CoP is the familiarity of the people and the connection to an idea or problem. However, this study provides a different perception of a PLN that is largely professionally based with strong two-way connections. These conclusions made me wonder if it is possible for facets of a PLN on Twitter to transform into a CoP. Further, at what point can one argue that a PLN has successfully transform into a virtual CoP? Thanks for sharing. This was an excellent read!

Wonderful tool to create rubrics for assessment.

A wonderful source for teachers on how-to, uses of, and just about anything you want to know about digital storytelling. It is especially useful for writing and social studies.

I use this site often in my class. There are wonderful lessons which are ready to use and great technology articles and resources.

If you are looking for reading strategies for elementary students, this site is wonderful. There are strategies for each of the components of reading (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension) as well as writing. For each strategy, there is also a chart that recommends whether to implement the strategy before, during, and/or after reading.

Discusses rethinking the way we teach and refers to PLN's as "Passionate Learning Networks". Provides several links to research about PLN's as well as videos and presentations on explanations of PLN's along with steps on how to create successful PLN's

Agreed, great resource and a humorous title to "boot".

This is a resource link to many more resources. In this blog entry by Shelly Terrell on Teacher Reboot Camp, she provides links to 23 resources on personal learning networks. This site provides a wealth of knowledge and resources for those wanting learn more about PLN.

Simple, positive classroom management, and parent engagement. Used by over 35 million teachers, parents, and students.

Build wonderful classroom communities with parents and students by using Class Dojo to track behavior (positive & negative), see timelines of student progress over time, send photos & announcements to parents as well!

The National Education Technology Plan is the flagship educational technology policy document for the United States. The 2016 Plan, Future Ready Learning: Reimagining the Role of Technology in Education, articulates a vision of equity, active use, and collaborative leadership to make everywhere, all-the-time learning possible. This recently published plan provides guidance and recommendations for use of technology in education. The report is separated in sections, with the Teaching section being a wonderful place to start for teachers looking for ways to learn, as well as innovative models from other teacher-leaders.