Group items tagged

A list of the finalists for Best Teacher blog for 2012. I hate to say that the edublog award timing wasn't good for me, but school was so crazy and I had such workload, I didn't mention it. I'm still very honored to be on the list of finalists - thank you to those of you readers who mentioned me and included me on the list - I really do appreciate it.More than that, it helps me help my family with this blogging that I do on the side. Thanks!

You have until NOvember 26 to nominate for the Edublog awards. There are many who don't care for this awards system because there are many great bloggers, but I think anything that recognizes educational blogging is a good thing. So, nominate away, here is information. Here's the page that tells you how to do this. "The 2012 Edublog Awards are a go! The Edublog Awards is a community based initiative started in 2004 in response to community concerns relating to how schools, districts and educational institutions were blocking access of learner and teacher blog sites for educational purposes.  The purpose of the Edublog awards is promote and demonstrate the educational values of these social media. Working together, we create an invaluable resource of the best-of-the-best on the web! How Does It Work? There are 3 parts to the awards: Nominations - NOW through November 26th Voting - TBA The Live Awards Ceremony - TBA"

Sandy McConnell has created a nice set of reflections for 2012, something I think all admins should want their teachers to do, where she shared her views, what she has done, and how she's improved. Such retrospection on a year is a powerful way to mark learning and remember. She's done so many things, but particularly I like how she didn't let the fact that she was temporarily laid off stop her from learning and moving forward. IF you're having a tough time, you might want to read what Sandy is and has done. She inspires me. Wow. I"ll link to all of her sets, because I"d like you to read them all.

TEacher AJ Juliani (a Flat Classroom certified teacher) writes a beautiful and profound blog on his wish list. He understand and gets global collaboration in the classroom. Especially moving is this quote: "My wish list for Education in 2012 is centered around the belief that it is time to try "new things in new ways". It is time to look for "Next Practices" instead of "Best Practices". It's time to put ideas that are unproven into practice, learn from our failures, and celebrate our successes. Here is my wish list:" Worth a read.

A yearly event for schools to raise funds for worthly causes in the developing world. The Day for Change 2012 is Friday 3rd February and has a sporty theme. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Competitions+%26+Events

If you'd really like to get into the Luminosity program, here is the application form to get into it. Here's info from the press release. This is a cool app that is supposed to improve many parts of cognition. I have it on my list to try and it is very interesting to me. Here's the link and some info: "Preliminary results from the Spring 2012 semester found that students who trained with Lumosity improved more on a battery of online cognitive assessments than students who did not train. Additionally, effects were dose-dependent; engaging in more Lumosity training led to greater improvements on the assessments. Insights from the 2012-13 LEAP academic year on the effects of cognitive training on students' real-world academic outcomes are forthcoming. Educators are increasingly interested in enhancing their students' cognitive and behavioral factors. More than 75 percent of all teachers who applied for the Fall 2013 LEAP semester believe training with Lumosity will promote: cognitive enhancement, increased ability to pay attention, improved self-confidence, and improved general attitude toward learning."

The ICTmagic Advent Calendar is back for 2012! Get a new Christmas resource, activity or game to use in your class every day in December up to the big day.

This edudemic list from 2012 still looks pretty up to date. Take a look at all of the places you can snag video. Of course, now, many are curating these into lists on pinterest, clacko, educlipper, diigo, and more, to align with standards, but these are good places to start.

"For these reasons, the U.S. Department of Education's Connected Educators initiative is launching Connected Educator Month in August 2012. Throughout August, there will be coordinated opportunities to participate in events and activities in dozens of online locations to develop skills and enhance one's personal learning network."

The U.S. should aim for 100M bps (bits per second) of broadband available to all U.S. residents by 2012 and 1G bps by 2015 in order to catch up to other countries that are moving forward with broadband rollouts, recommends a study released Monday.

IN her final set of reflections, Sandy uses a new feature, that of Google plus tagging in a blogger blog, which is how I found what she wrote! IF you use blogger, use the plus and tag people and we'll find you more easily than the traffic type things. Finally an advantage for being on blogger besides just tight integration with Google. I love how her work with edtech and ipads is part of what she's done. With all she's been through: layoffs, cancer, adding onto her house - I think I've found a new hero and definitely someone I"ve added to my PLN. I've known of her work, but now I"m a fan. Sometimes, when you open up, share and reflect, you connect on a deeper, more personal level than if you pretend like life is perfect. TEachers, lets stick together and encourage each other.

Even more inspirational, here Sandy shares how she worked hard to find a place where students are treated with compassion and inclusion and how she found someone to work with her. She also built onto her house and had surgery on a thyroid tumor. I think that some people think that innovators have it easy and they'll just work when it is easier. Sandy didn't have it easy at all and look at what she's done. I find her reflections so heartwarming and hope some of you will share your stories. We should draw strength from one another.

David Truss is the Vice Principal and Lead Administrator of the Inquiry Hub in Vancouver, British Columbia. We interviewed Dave about the design of the Inquiry Hub back in April, 2012. The Inquiry Hub opened this September so we interviewed Dave again to follow their journey.

I'm recording another episode of "Every Classroom matters" interviewing some of the teachers and organizers in the Chicago Early STEM college movement. As I researched for this show, I found this report out of North Carolina reporting an increase in test scores. A county here in Georgia is also implementing Early college stem as well. STEM is something every school needs (listen to the earlier show I recorded w/ Kevin Jarrett) but this is an interesting approach. "Just two years after it opened, a North Carolina high school has found that teaching students the principles of STEM can boost test scores and keep learners engaged. That's prompting the school to ask, "If we can do it, why can't other schools do it, too?" The school has a mouthful of a name: the Wake NC State University STEM Early College High School. It has attracted many students to its Raleigh campus - first generation-college students, minorities, and students from poor backgrounds - who are underrepresented in STEM fields. But in 2012, students did far better than average on the state's standardized exams, with more than 95 percent passing."

The revised COPPA act went into effect on July 1, 2013. Take time to read up on and know this act.

"The First World OER Congress will be held 20-22 June 2012 at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France. Organized in cooperation with the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), the Congress aims to influence educational planning worldwide and to encourage governments to support the development and use of open educational resources."

"The History Engine is an educational tool that gives students the opportunity to learn history by doing the work-researching, writing, and publishing-of a historian. The result is an ever-growing collection of historical articles or "episodes" that paints a wide-ranging portrait of life in the United States throughout its history and that is available to scholars, teachers, and the general public in our online database." Via http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/04/history-engine-explore-stories-of.html