The people in the government agencies running them, from national officials to local authorities, are educators, not business people, military leaders or career politicians.
Free Technology for Teachers: 77 Educational Games and Game Builders - 4 views
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This is a link to a website with links to educational games for many topics for many subject areas. Kristen Koburger
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This site is like Christmas every day! THANKS!
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Wow! These would be an absolutely fantastic way to add some fun to an otherwise boring lesson.
Why Are Finland's Schools Successful? | People & Places | Smithsonian Magazine - 2 views
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Why dont we do this???? Having politicians and businessmen run the education system in this country is like having a ballerina play football. It doesnt make sense!
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I wish there was a "like" button here. So this is my LIKE. -
Double like. -
LIKE!
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“We are not much interested in PISA. It’s not what we are about.”
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I wonder if they would be saying the same thing if they were at the bottom, though. It's easy to say you don't care about test scores when your test scores are through the roof. If you're at the bottom of the pack and saying you don't care about test scores, then people say "Well, obviously. That's why they are doing so poorly."
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Yes, but isn't he saying that their focus is not preparing the students for some standardized test, but more in training them in how to be knowledgeable about the important things they need to know to be functional, productive adults? With that dreamy philosophy actually put to practice, it would seem to me that they would achieve success on the tests, and continue to not care much about them...
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I agree that the sentiment is that value in placed on learning rather than testing. It would be interesting to see from a budgetary standpoint how much money the U.S. invests in standardized testing and consider what they could accomplish if they put that money into more effectively helping students learn. -
I understand and agree with the fact that they put the focus on learning as opposed to testing. However, they still take the tests. If they were truly not concerned about the tests, they could just opt not to take them, right? If the US said that we were focused on the holistic learning process and not on tests, would anyone put any value in that statement considering our test performance?
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Teachers in Finland spend fewer hours at school each day and spend less time in classrooms than American teachers.
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Interesting. In our curriculum class last night, China was being praised for how much more time is spent in the classroom (praised in a video clip).
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I'm wondering if teachers might be a little more sane if they spent more time prepping and less time in-class... what do you think? And maybe it just varies by the teacher.
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5 Reasons Why Our Students Are Writing Blogs and Creating ePortfolios | Powerful Learni... - 2 views
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What happens when these digital tools no longer matter?
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We have no problems teaching them to comment in full sentences and with appropriate spelling etc,
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This is short but to the point and informative article that provides some insights into the importance of the technology we are working with in class -
Summary: Cultivate a positive digital footprint, both for yourself and for your students! In showing that ePortfolios provide students with transparency for family, skills for the future, effective digital citizenship, and an online cv for employers, this blog convicted ME that I should (a) learn to have a positive online presence, and (b) teach my student to do the same.
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This is an awesome article that makes a positive spin on the "digital footprint" theme. I've mostly come at it from a you-better-watch-what-you're-putting-out-there perspective...in other words, from a "be careful" point of view. This has re-framed it a little for me...made me realize I can approach digital writing with a let's-show-them-the-great-things-we're-doing attitude.
22frames.com - Search and find captioned / subtitled videos from across the web - 2 views
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I think this site is pretty awesome even for hearing students. I know that when I watch something with words along the bottom, I automatically read what is along the bottom no matter what. Things that have tickers across the bottom, like CNN or (what I'm more likely watching, shamefully) E!, I get super distracted, which is frustrating. But having the words that are actually being spoken, kids may become better readers and also better absorb what is being presented to them. Reading along also makes watching a video a less passive activity.
Interactive Whiteboard Resources: Literacy, Key Stage 4 - Topmarks Education - 1 views
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Literacy - Key Stage 4 (15-16 year olds)
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This resource is for middle school to high school classroom teachers and gives lesson plan ideas on Shakespeare. With the three choices of resources dealing with three of the Bard's most famous works, using an IWB seems like a natural fit. Even though Topmarks is British, the ideas behind literacy-technology interactivity remain fresh. This resource gives detailed ideas that incorporate IWB and literary exploration. Topmarks' section on Shakespeare allows teachers to closely study Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and The Tempest. This is useful to me because of the topics covered; Shakespeare can be boring to some students. These lesson plan ideas allow me to reinvent Shakespeare's works on an IWB so that students may interact and rethink their own ideas on classic literature. -
Nice summary. Sounds like a great resource for you!
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A lesson which considers Shakespeare's representation of the island in 'The Tempest' through characters' visions of their environment. It provides students with artists' impressions of the island and focuses on language used in relation to the island.
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This specific lesson on 'The Tempest' seems so interesting because of the graphical nature of the plan. Seeing things on the (IW)board as opposed to simply thinking about it may just be that final push that students need to connect.
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Awesome find, Max!
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This resource has a number of whiteboard activities for different areas of study. I focused on the English (Literacy) section. It seems somewhat limited in some respects, as it only has a few activities for certain books/plays, but the ones that were there were pretty cool. I really liked the Romeo and Juliet activities. I thought the intro scale about love at first sight would be a great way to get kids hooked, and the activities in which the kids put the things that happened in order were good as well. I liked some of the middle grades activities more. There was one in which you have to look at different newspapers coverage of the same event and make a Venn diagram of how the stories overlap. I think this really makes learning more interactive and meaningful to the students and utilizes the technology well.
Choosing an Interactive Whiteboard | Scholastic.com - 1 views
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Ease of use. Can you use the interactive whiteboard with less than five minutes of instruction? Be sure the basic functions can be used easily.
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This resource for all grade levels lists the major points for using an IWB. Choosing the right Interactive Whiteboard is crucial to whether or not the tool will be helpful in a classroom, or just a nuisance. Scholastic has 8 points to ponder, like how easy it is to use your IWN functionally, size of screen, ability to save images, and other technological issues. For my classroom, these pros and cons of IWB use are beyond pertinent! I do not want to be stuck with a faulty or finicky whiteboard, so having these major questions in my head will help me in choosing the right one. Even if I do not get a say in the type of IWB, knowing that these factors make a difference puts me more in the know.
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Good points! Glad to know about this resource, too!
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Capture capability. Can you save images in standard formats such as GIF, JPG, and PDF? Can you save sequences of images and play them back ? Can you record speech and include it with images? Can you transmit content in real time?
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These points are on cue for future use. If my IWB is not capable of saving the norm of image types, then how can I expect to use it to its fullest potential? The latest and greatest technology should be automatic.
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Illuminations: Activities - 1 views
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Activities
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I love the idea of students working together to complete these activities on an interactive whiteboard. I hope they would think that this is so much fun and at the same time they would be learning! Students respond well to technology and this is a way to show them that technology can be fun and educational.
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Free Technology for Teachers: 47 Alternatives to Using YouTube in the Classroom - 1 views
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1. School Tube is a website dedicated to the sharing of videos created by students and teachers. School Tube allows teachers and schools to create their own channels for sharing their students' works. School Tube also provides excellent how-to resources, copyright-friendly media, and lesson plans for using video in the classroom.
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I like the idea of students sharing their work with other students from around the country (or even the world). I think students would take more interest in their assignments if they knew they would get to share them with others.
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I agree. Especially considering how one impact of technology is that many kids (heck, people) expect lots of attention over the most mundane things. If they get 43 comments on a Facebook status about brushing their teeth, only getting feedback from a teacher or classmates on their work is probably a lot less exciting, no matter how good the feeback is.
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12. CNN Student News is a daily web show highlighting a handful of stories. The stories covered by CNN Student News range from traditional serious news topics to how-to stories appealing mostly to students to light and fun stories. As a social studies teacher every week I find at least a couple of stories from CNN Student News that I can work into my curriculum. CNN Student News provides printable maps and a daily news quiz to go along with each episode.
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I didnt know CNN had a student site. This is great!!! Getting students interested in news and current events can help widden their perspective on the world and maybe make them proactive citizens.
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If I were a history teacher, I would integrate these videos into the class assignments, having the students watch the videos and write a brief summary of the content.
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I loved this cite and I thought it was a perfect way to sift through all of the regular news to find news that is interesting to students in school.
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38. Art Babble is a video website designed and maintained by the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The purpose of Art Babble is to provide a place for people to learn about the creation of art, artists, and collections through quality video productions. Visitors to Art Babble will find videos related to many forms of and formats for art. Browse the video channels and you'll find videos covering a wide array of topics including abstract art, European Art and Design, African Art, graphic design, glass, sculpture, surrealism, and much more.
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Some museums let you take virtual tours of parts of their museums. Free field trip!!! http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/fossilhalls/virtualtours/
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HowStuffWorks "Learn how Everything Works!" - 1 views
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When I was little, I had a book called How Stuff Works. I used to reference it all the time because I was curious about everything. Conversion to a website format makes it that much easier to find what you need and to add additional videos as technology advances. I think that this would be a fantastic reference website for any classroom.
Avalon Project - Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy - 1 views
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Avalon Project - excellent for use in looking at pimary documents. Students can review specific documents in the context of understanding events and historical periods
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Students can work in groups reviewing primary documents and collecting information in the context of a event or historical action. This allows for students to understand the importance of looking at materials in the context of their particular time and location
Wecome to History Animated - 1 views
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ANIMATED HISTORY - If a picture is worth a thousand words, a good animation is worth ten thousand. After reading book after book dealing with history and finding only complicated maps with dotted lines and dashed lines crisscrossing the pages, An effort has been to depict key naval and land battles using animation technology.
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This is an excellent site that allows animation to present complicated facts through animations connecting events with the historical concepts and activites that surround them. An excellent way to present complicated specific information to student in an accurate, detailed, and yet entertaining way.
Shrinking Budgets Put School Support On The Block : NPR - 1 views
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Interesting story discussing a specific budgetary dilemma regarding educational administrators. Regional Superintendents have been working for months without pay, and it has affected all of the schools they supervise.
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Am I allowed to use the term "cluster-f"? Wow! How bizarre things have become....but perhaps a revolution will come about only after things have become so incredibly junked up. What do you think, Nate?
When Contagion Spreads: Crowdsourcing Disease Outbreaks - 1 views
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This great resource is a lesson plan from the New York Times. The students not only get to put their brains in the realm of public health and and social media, but they also get to see a new movie trailer as a warm up. As the students delve into using technology such as Google Tools, Twitter, and even Facebook. All this use of technology and new media would be a blast in the class and is a huge reason why it sparked my interest.
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WOW! I skimmed this lesson plan, Max. It's really cool! Have you seen the movie yet?
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This is a really awesome link! I added it to my Reader and immediately went to town combing through all of it. I saw the movie last weekend and was completely freaked out by it. What makes it worse is that I have a friend who is an epidemiologist and he is always telling me all the ways in which I could die. He can be a drag sometimes. I just have to remind myself that, for most things, soap and water do the trick. :)
Edupunk - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 1 views
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"an approach to teaching that avoids mainstream tools like PowerPoint and Blackboard, and instead aims to bring the rebellious attitude and D.I.Y. ethos of ’70s bands like The Clash to the classroom."
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I like the idea of avoiding commonly used tools like Powerpoint. There are so many other technologies students can used to create presentations nowadays.
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I agree. I know the classes which have been the most tedious all feature Powerpoint prominently. Granted, the Powerpoint was used poorly, but that seems to be the norm. Let's use this exciting stuff instead!
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This approach goes along way in holding the attention the class / more and more students expect visual and audio stimulation
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It's so easy to stick with the comfortable, old technologies (aka Powerpoint) rather than find the best technologies. I'm certainly guilty of this!
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I like the idea of avoiding tools like powerpoint as well, there are so many other tools on the internet such as Prezi that give presentations a whole new format that becomes much more interesting and useful than a typical powerpoint.
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I think that students fall into the pattern of using powerpoint over alternative tools because it is the one they have the most expertise with and it is the one that their audience already understands. For example I think ustream is such a dynamic resource but it doesn't have the mainstream popularity of youtube
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I have never been one to fit in with the mainstream, so this my kind of attitude. Powerpoint is overused and rarely used correctly. Blackboard is rarely used to its full potential and is an educational crutch. The more variety you use, the more interest you may keep.
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Reaction against commercialization of learning
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I like that this is essentially a movement away from managed curriculum and toward constant differentiation. Between this and "do it yourself," the attitude of "hey, if this doesn't work, we will do whatever we need to in order to find something that does" permeates and I love that.
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This appears to be the way education is headed
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Do-it-yourself attitude
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Speaking as someone who is very DIY by nature, I love the idea behind this movement. The assosciation with 'Unschooling' is a little troubling though. I read an article on Unschooling over the summer and it talked about a 15 year old kid who couldn't read. I think a little guidance in the right direction is still needed.
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A Clean Slate: Interactive Whiteboard Makes Lessons Snazzy | Edutopia - 0 views
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This article is a great resource for IWBs because it is inspirational and provides the reader with a variety of ways to make full use of IWBs in the classroom (even more ideas are included in the comments section!). This would be a great resource for teachers who are looking for new and interesting ways to put their IWBs to full use.
Creativity Resource for Teachers » Language Arts - 0 views
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This is a collection of lesson plans and ideas from the home page of the Denver Art Museum. I walked through a few lessons, and they seemed to be interesting and engaging. It's making me wonder if any local museums have programs or collections of lessons that are based on artwork or historical artifacts in their collections. Hmm...
ULP - Critical Response - Lesson 2 - 0 views
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Found this link by poking around some of the Carnegie Museum sites. I like the idea of using the structure they point out with an IWB. You could have pictures of each thing you list on your word-association warm-up, and even give some multi-media examples in the music section, and have students list first impressions from listening/watching. An IWB could make this lesson really fun and interactive.
Teacher Scholastic - Perfect activities to use with any Interactive Whiteboard - 0 views
Excellent examples of effective activities for the utilization of the whiteboard -in particular for the areas of the social sciences the inclusion of primary sources for use in the classroom very ...
20 Interactive Whiteboard Resources for Teachers - 0 views
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Summary of available materials - resources for active whiteboard use, activity suggestions, and useful links Use in classroom: Can be utilized in the classroom by involving students in the utilization of the whiteboard to present materials to class based on a review of assigned materials related to specific topics. Student learn to utilize technology and take an active and interactive part in the teaching and learning process
