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Ben Rimes

A Call for Technology Leadership - 16 views

www.districtadministration.com/viewarticle.aspx

shared by Ben Rimes on 10 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • (1) modeling the use of new technologies in communicating to students, teachers and the general public; (2) ensuring that technology becomes integral to teaching 21st-century skills from critical thinking and problem solving to collaboration and information literacy in the classroom; (3) boosting Web 2.0 applications and tools as key components of student learning; (4) offering professional development in these technologies and deploying the online tools that help teachers create learning communities among themselves; and (5) requiring better balanced assessments of student work—including project-based learning enhanced by technology tools—in an age driven by NCLB-oriented testing and better use of data from the assessments to help students improve their performance.
    • Ben Rimes
      Ben Rimes on 10 Jan 11
       
      Asking any leader to model effective strategies makes sense, but shouldn't the imperative of offering professional development in newer communications tools come first? Some district leader's I can see jupming into new tools and ways to communicate, but you can't expect all veteran leaders to adopt new tools without the development and support they'll need.
    • Ben Rimes
      Ben Rimes on 10 Jan 11
       
      I'm curious to know in how many districts does the Superintendent serve as the curriculum leader capable of making the sweeping changes to move a district towards project-based learning. I have an inkling that many superintendents find niches that make them valubale, whether it's focusing on assessment, community relations, curriculum, or something else.
  • The revised edition also includes a self-assessment for superintendents to evaluate how far their districts have come along the technological curve. CoSN’s CEO Keith Krueger explains that his organization’s research shows that many district leaders are behind that curve, and the new document opens with a letter:
    • Ben Rimes
      Ben Rimes on 10 Jan 11
       
      Not surprising at all...
  • e cautions that the large-scale changes CoSN is advocating are most likely to happen for district leaders who are not engaged in dozens of other initiatives. “Everybody wants the superintendent to be in the middle of everything,” Reeves explains. “The real acid test is whether you can execute the ‘not-to-do list,’” adding that superintendents need to resist establishing too many priorities. Each of the five areas featured in “Empowering the 21st Century Superintendent” includes a set of resources and a series of action steps for superintendents and district leadership teams. For instance, in the 21st-century skills section, leaders are urged to improve their own such skills, create a vision for integrating them into K12 instruction, audit the district’s strategic plan to see which might be missing and adjust professional development accordingly.
    • Ben Rimes
      Ben Rimes on 10 Jan 11
       
      Love the pragmatism in this quote. Good acknowledgement that district superintendents are engufed in far too much at times, and thus tech-integration may not realistically happen. Good to know that the framework provided by CoSn also includes some directions for district tech teams.
Vicki Davis

Curriki - ContinuityofLearning - 0 views

www.curriki.org/...ContinuityofLearning

education learning h1n1 edu_trends

shared by Vicki Davis on 27 Aug 09 - Cached
  • Vicki Davis on 27 Aug 09
     
    Just received this in my inbox: "WASHINGTON DC (August 25th, 2009) - Curriki, the largest online community for creating and sharing open source K-12 curricula, was asked by the Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII) to provide a continuity of learning plan for states, school districts, and individuals as part of a nationwide readiness initiative for a possible resurgence of the H1N1 virus. Curriki's continuity of learning plan includes access to a free and open repository of teaching and learning resources built on an open platform that can be customized for individual states or school districts. Like an iTunes playlist, users of Curriki can create collections of free and open educational resources, along with repositories of other supplemental content. If a teacher prefers one lesson to another, he or she can easily swap content in or out to meet the individual needs of the students. States or school districts can take advantage of customized landing pages designed to provide specific information, news, resources, and links to their education stakeholders. Additionally, Curriki's group function allow members of a district, school, or community to stay connected and privately share resources, communicate and post news and collaborate on projects from any location. " I think that perhaps online learning is about to completely boom largely as a result of the growing pandemic and the need for isolation and ongoing learning. Curriki has things together for this and I'm going to take a look at this for our school.
Vicki Davis

iPod Touch to help improve student learning - Live5News.com | Charleston, SC | News, We... - 8 views

www.live5news.com/...-help-improve-student-learning

education ipod edu_news edu_trends

shared by Vicki Davis on 15 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • harleston County School District may soon be investing in the iPod touch as a learning tool for students.
  • "Everything from vocabulary, to e-book reading, to art, to science," said CCSD Media Services Coordinator Connie Dopierala. CCSD hopes to invest in a set of 40 iPod Touches for every school in the district, at $150 each. Students can learn math or grammar on inexpensive application programs.  "We can download a 99-cent app and load it on all 40 iPod Touches or however many, and that's very cost-effective with taxpayer dollars," said Dopierala.
  • Vicki Davis on 15 Apr 11
     
    I'm not sure how the licensing is working for them. I didn't think you could have one app and share on 40 ipods, but that is what the Charleston County School District says they are doing. From the article: ""Everything from vocabulary, to e-book reading, to art, to science," said CCSD Media Services Coordinator Connie Dopierala. CCSD hopes to invest in a set of 40 iPod Touches for every school in the district, at $150 each. Students can learn math or grammar on inexpensive application programs. "We can download a 99-cent app and load it on all 40 iPod Touches or however many, and that's very cost-effective with taxpayer dollars," said Dopierala."
Tony Richards

The Atlantic Online | January/February 2010 | What Makes a Great Teacher? | Amanda Ripley - 14 views

www.theatlantic.com/...good-teaching

what makes a good teacher good article read

shared by Tony Richards on 04 Feb 10 - Cached
  • Tony Richards on 04 Feb 10
     
    "What Makes a Great Teacher? Image credit: Veronika Lukasova Also in our Special Report: National: "How America Can Rise Again" Is the nation in terminal decline? Not necessarily. But securing the future will require fixing a system that has become a joke. Video: "One Nation, On Edge" James Fallows talks to Atlantic editor James Bennet about a uniquely American tradition-cycles of despair followed by triumphant rebirths. Interactive Graphic: "The State of the Union Is ..." ... thrifty, overextended, admired, twitchy, filthy, and clean: the nation in numbers. By Rachael Brown Chart: "The Happiness Index" Times were tough in 2009. But according to a cool Facebook app, people were happier. By Justin Miller On August 25, 2008, two little boys walked into public elementary schools in Southeast Washington, D.C. Both boys were African American fifth-graders. The previous spring, both had tested below grade level in math. One walked into Kimball Elementary School and climbed the stairs to Mr. William Taylor's math classroom, a tidy, powder-blue space in which neither the clocks nor most of the electrical outlets worked. The other walked into a very similar classroom a mile away at Plummer Elementary School. In both schools, more than 80 percent of the children received free or reduced-price lunches. At night, all the children went home to the same urban ecosystem, a zip code in which almost a quarter of the families lived below the poverty line and a police district in which somebody was murdered every week or so. Video: Four teachers in Four different classrooms demonstrate methods that work (Courtesy of Teach for America's video archive, available in February at teachingasleadership.org) At the end of the school year, both little boys took the same standardized test given at all D.C. public schools-not a perfect test of their learning, to be sure, but a relatively objective one (and, it's worth noting, not a very hard one). After a year in Mr. Taylo
Art Gelwicks

No videoconference to Williamsburg - I'm sad » Moving at the Speed of Creativity - 0 views

www.speedofcreativity.org/...ference-to-williamsburg-im-sad

shared by Art Gelwicks on 21 May 08 - Cached
  • but we’ll do so from our church, away from school, and we will not involve any Edmond PS students in the videoconference to comply with the directive from the district technology director. I did not realize the district forbids any parents or students from using any type of personal computer and outside Internet connection device (like my cell network data card) to provide an interactive learning opportunity for students. Now I know.
  • Art Gelwicks on 21 May 08
     
    Yet another district technology director giving the rest of us a bad name. Good grief....justify yourself without using the paranoid buzzphrase, "To Protect the Children!"
  • Art Gelwicks on 21 May 08
     
    Why are we afraid to confront district technology personnel and administrators over knee-jerk tragic decisions like this?
Vicki Davis

One Wyoming school district says, "One iPad per child." | ZDNet - 6 views

www.zdnet.com/...4306

news education ipadchat ipad

shared by Vicki Davis on 28 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • Vicki Davis on 28 Dec 11
     
    A Wyoming school district is mandating one ipad per child. 
Brendan Murphy

How to fix our schools: A manifesto by Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee and other education le... - 16 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...AR2010100705078.html

shared by Brendan Murphy on 08 Oct 10 - No Cached
  • has left our school districts impotent and, worse, has robbed millions of children of a real future
    • Michael Walker
      Michael Walker on 08 Oct 10
       
      Why are district's impotent? If administrators do their job and a) mentor young teachers and b) remove them if they are ineffective the system can work!
    • t jaffe-notier
      t jaffe-notier on 11 Oct 10
       
      Yes. In the districts where administrators work the system does work. Unfortunately these mega-district administrators think that their job consists only of firing bad teachers. The hardest work is giving the good teachers the resources they need to continue excellent work!
  • District leaders also need the authority to use financial incentives to attract and retain the best teachers.
    • Michael Walker
      Michael Walker on 08 Oct 10
       
      And yet, studies show that merit pay doesn't work!
    • t jaffe-notier
      t jaffe-notier on 11 Oct 10
       
      That's right. Socio-emotional learning, one of the most important kinds for the development of good citizens, defies standardized testing.
    • Brendan Murphy
      Brendan Murphy on 20 Oct 10
       
      How about we raise starting pay for teachers to $60,000 per year. Make teaching a profession more top notch students want to major in.
  • but let's stop pretending that everyone who goes into the classroom has the ability and temperament to lift our children to excellence.
    • t jaffe-notier
      t jaffe-notier on 11 Oct 10
       
      Wow. Straw man. Who's pretending? Let's stop flogging our administrators and stop slapping our policemen too...
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • We must equip educators with the best technology available to make instruction more effective and efficient. By better using technology to collect data on student learning and shape individualized instruction, we can help transform our classrooms and lessen the burden on teachers' time.
    • Michael Walker
      Michael Walker on 08 Oct 10
       
      Yes, the most effective way to use technology in the classroom is to gather data...NOT! What about providing the technology so the students can create meaning and learn?
    • t jaffe-notier
      t jaffe-notier on 11 Oct 10
       
      I've found that administrators aren't too interested in individualized instruction, even though they say so. What they want is higher scores on "common assessments" whether or not this benefits individual learners. Humanities teachers have always been frustrated by this, and now science teachers are frustrated too. They're not allowed to help students achieve excellence in areas that are exactly the right amount of challenge for each student. Instead, they're still forced to "cover everything" for each student, in spite of the fact that this does not benefit students who haven't mastered the material to a point of competence. Weird.
  • For the wealthiest among us, the crisis in public education may still seem like someone else's problem, because those families can afford to choose something better for their kids. But it's a problem for all of us -- until we fix our schools, we will never fix the nation's broader economic problems. Until we fix our schools, the gap between the haves and the have-nots will only grow wider and the United States will fall further behind the rest of the industrialized world in education, rendering the American dream a distant, elusive memory.
    • t jaffe-notier
      t jaffe-notier on 11 Oct 10
       
      How can we recruit excellent teachers to schools that need them the most when our best proposed solutions don't reward teachers for taking on a challenge?
  • taking advantage of online lessons and other programs
    • Brendan Murphy
      Brendan Murphy on 20 Oct 10
       
      This is code for let's pay online educators $12 an hour to teach and remove the cost of those expensive buildings.
  • replace or substantially restructure persistently low-performing schools that continuously fail our students.
    • Brendan Murphy
      Brendan Murphy on 20 Oct 10
       
      Can we start at the very top and fire the superintendents?
  • charter schools a truly viable option
    • Brendan Murphy
      Brendan Murphy on 20 Oct 10
       
      No they aren't a viable option, they are labratories.
  • Michael Walker on 08 Oct 10
     
    This article is ripe for Diigo commentary!
  • ...1 more comment...
  • Dean Mantz on 08 Oct 10
     
    New York Times "How we can fix our schools"
  • t jaffe-notier on 11 Oct 10
     
    This article is ripe for Diigo commentary!
  • Brendan Murphy on 20 Oct 10
     
    This article is ripe for Diigo commentary!
Anne Bubnic

Wi-Fi Turns Arizona Bus Ride Into a Rolling Study Hall - 3 views

www.nytimes.com/...12bus.html

ad4dcss digital access wifi mobile communication

shared by Anne Bubnic on 25 Feb 10 - Cached
  • Anne Bubnic on 25 Feb 10
     
    Part of a wider effort to use technology to extend learning beyond classroom walls and the six-hour school day. Internet buses may soon be hauling children to school in many other districts, particularly those with long bus routes. The company marketing the router, Autonet Mobile, says it has sold them to schools or districts in Florida, Missouri and Washington, D.C.
Ben Rimes

Executive Summary | U.S. Department of Education - 9 views

www.ed.gov/...executive-summary

shared by Ben Rimes on 15 Mar 10 - Cached
  • regardless of background, languages, or disabilities,
  • personalized learning
  • critical thinking, complex problem solving, collaboration, and multimedia communication should be woven into all content areas.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • In all these activities, technology-based assessments can provide data to drive decisions on the basis of what is best for each and every student and that in aggregate will lead to continuous improvement across our entire education system.
  • Another basic assumption is the way we organize students into age-determined groups, structure separate academic disciplines, organize learning into classes of roughly equal size with all the students in a particular class receiving the same content at the same pace, and keep these groups in place all year.
    • Ben Rimes
      Ben Rimes on 28 Mar 10
       
      For good reason at the elementary level. It's called socialization. Students that are 2 or 3 years apart can exhibit radically different thought processes, levels of self-control, but more importantly, there are huge developmental differences socially, emotionally, and physcially.
  • The NETP accepts that we do not have the luxury of time – we must act now and commit to fine-tuning and midcourse corrections as we go. Success will require leadership, collaboration, and investment at all levels of our education system – states, districts, schools, and the federal government – as well as partnerships with higher education institutions, private enterprises, and not-for-profit entities.
    • Ben Rimes
      Ben Rimes on 28 Mar 10
       
      Perhaps one of the most frightening statements in the document to a large number of school districts. Teachers quite often are able to enact a mid-course shift, and students are most always extremely flexible, but at the administration and district level change can often be glacial as such radical change could very well mean replacing the hierarchy of leadership throughout a district, shifting positions, or eliminating them, and large organizations have a tendency towards self-preservation.
  • Vicki Davis on 15 Mar 10
     
    Current update to National Education Technology plan in the USA. Highlighted with diigo with comments.
  • Ben Rimes on 28 Mar 10
     
    Current update to National Education Technology plan in the USA. Highlighted with diigo with comments.
Ben Rimes

A Call for Technology Leadership - 3 views

www.districtadministration.com/viewarticle.aspx

shared by Ben Rimes on 12 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • Once a leader in a smaller district knows where he or she wants to go, change can happen more quickly than in a mid- or large-size district.
    • Ben Rimes
      Ben Rimes on 12 Jan 11
       
      I wonder what would denote a small or mid-size district. Obviously the number of enrolled students, but there's some flexibility there.
  • Freeman, who uses a blog to communicate with students and parents, points out that her own active use of technology in the 4,200-student district has helped create a norm for others to follow.
    • Ben Rimes
      Ben Rimes on 12 Jan 11
       
      Lead by example, nice.
  • “The kind of learning we expect 21st-century teachers to achieve is the intersection of content pedagogy and technology,” Moran insists.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • “You can no longer take on a professional development agenda without a technology component,” Kimball argues. “We know that professional learning communities are not effective without everything—from access to student data to the tools to analyze it.”
  • Freeman says. “We’re still trying to find ways to assess what we know we morally should. We know that students need to be competitive in a global environment.”
Dennis OConnor

Education Week: Bringing Professional Development Into the 21st Century - 15 views

www.edweek.org/...03crawford.h31.html

professional professional development education

shared by Dennis OConnor on 09 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • Dennis OConnor on 09 Sep 11
     
    But the body of research reveals that staff-development costs, including central-office and local staff, hours of teacher time, stipends, salary increases, substitutes, facilities, instructors, and material expenditures hover in the range of $8,000 to $16,000 per teacher, per year, especially in larger districts. Most districts have no idea they spend that much on staff development. Sadly though, most administrators agree their professional-development outlay has no correlation with student-achievement results.
Maggie Verster

Social Media Guidelines for Schools - 0 views

socialmediaguidelines.pbworks.com

guidelines policies aup socialmediaguidelines socialmedia school2.0 saschools

shared by Maggie Verster on 17 Aug 09 - Cached
  • Maggie Verster on 17 Aug 09
     
    This is a collaborative project to generate Social Media Guidelines for school districts. The goal of this guideline is to provide instructional employees, staff, students, administrators, parents and the school district community direction when using social media applications both inside and outside the classroom.
Vicki Davis

Wissahickon School District: WHS Graduation Project - 5 views

www.wsdweb.org/page.cfm

education news graduation pbl

shared by Vicki Davis on 23 May 13 - No Cached
  • Vicki Davis on 23 May 13
     
    I'll be spending time to AJ Juliani, Steve Mogg and Rosie Esposito from Wissahikon school district. Here's a copy of their Graduation project required to graduate from their school. I think all schools should have graduation projects. There is information and manuals if you want to look into this for yourself. I saw this in Evansvlle High school as well. This can be part of your genius work. "As part of graduation from Wissahickon High School, every senior is required to complete a graduation project.  The projects include research, writing and an oral presentation to assure that students are able to apply, analyze, synthesize and evaluation information and communicate significant knowledge and understanding.  This is culminating project in one or more areas of concentrated study under the guidance and direction of the high school faculty. "
Jenny Moon

FdL school district purchased more than $25,000 worth of Apple iPads | thenorthwestern.... - 5 views

www.thenorthwestern.com/...n-25-000-worth-of-Apple-iPads-

school district

shared by Jenny Moon on 09 Oct 10 - No Cached
  • Jenny Moon on 09 Oct 10
     
    $25,000 worth of Apple iPads
Jeff Johnson

Texas Teachers To Carry Guns (CBSNews.com) - 0 views

www.cbsnews.com/...watch

district guns school teachers texas

shared by Jeff Johnson on 24 Aug 08 - Cached
  • Jeff Johnson on 24 Aug 08
     
    The Harrold, Texas school district calls for teachers to carry guns to prevent a future Columbine school incident. Harry Smith talks to the superintendent and a teacher's federation representative
Vicki Davis

In Florida, virtual school could make classrooms history - 1 views

mobile.orlandosentinel.com/detail.jsp

education learning innovation. technology edu_news

shared by Vicki Davis on 11 Nov 08 - No Cached
  • A new law that takes effect next fall requires every district in the state to set up an online school for kindergarten through eighth-grade students. They won't have to get on the bus -- or even get out of their PJs -- to head to school at the family computer.
  • Vicki Davis on 11 Nov 08
     
    Florida takes a huge step forward (or backwards?) in virtual ed.
  • Vicki Davis on 11 Nov 08
     
    A new law requires every district to set up an online school for grades K-8th grade. I'm just curious about a few things -- why the arbitrary selection of ages? I'm not sure that virtual education is a good idea for k, 1, 2 -- would need to be convinced. To me, it has great application for high school -- but yet high school isn't part of it. Many virtual classes I've seen are NOT well constructed and the online teachers aren't accessible. The teacher must be there while teachers are learning. Just have a lot of ideas here but questions too!
Vicki Davis

frontierlict » home - 0 views

frontierlict.wikispaces.com

curriculum education professionaldevelopment

shared by Vicki Davis on 18 Apr 08 - No Cached
  • Vicki Davis on 18 Apr 08
     
    Cool wiki that is being used for PD in a district.
  • Vicki Davis on 18 Apr 08
     
    This is a wiki being built for a digital literacy program for teachers within a school division. This approach is a great one for districts and is a way to reach everyone with current information. I also wish they had a blog to compliment it, but sharing these sorts of websites are great. It would be nice if we had a template of information that people could copy to get started.
Jeff Johnson

Developing an Acceptable Use Policy - 0 views

www.k12.wa.us/AUP.aspx

aup acceptable K-12 school districts acceptable use

shared by Jeff Johnson on 12 Jan 09 - Cached
  • Jeff Johnson on 12 Jan 09
     
    This site is intended to assist K-12 school districts and other K-12 entities in developing their own Acceptable Use Policy for use of the K-20 Network. Since "local control" is a major tenet of K-12 education in Washington state, it is up to each district to determine what elements they wish to include in their own policy, and if they wish to include other elements not contained in the template that has been provided. It is highly recommended that all K-12 entities using the K-20 Network should have their own board-approved Acceptable Use Policy, in addition to the basic "K-20 Conditions of Use/Acceptable Use Policy" (see link below). Since it forms the basis of ALL that we do in K-12 education, we have included the K-12 Mission [restated from the OSPI Home Page] below as a reference point, and suggest you may want to include it and/or your district's mission statement with your AUP.
Michael Walker

Developing Hybrid Learning Environments - Synthesizing Education - 13 views

synthesizingeducation.com/...g-hybrid-learning-environments

hybrid blended professional development ideas

shared by Michael Walker on 15 May 10 - Cached
  • There are two keys to building the kind of trust required to make the new system successful. The first is to train teachers to effectively facilitate student learning without being the center of attention on a daily basis. This means teachers must develop a new skill set that hybridizes their content knowledge as well as their ability to transfer that knowledge to other fields. The number one trait that districts will be using to judge new teachers in the years to come: flexibility.
  • The second emphasis should be on generating this type of hybrid learning on a district level before extending beyond the walls of local control.
  • districts should begin working with isolated courses and training their staff gradually to facilitate these types of learning environments.
  • Michael Walker on 15 May 10
     
    Ideas on PD for Hybrid instruction
Vicki Davis

"Exploring Body Image in Second Life" submitted by Peggy Sheehy, Ramapo Central School ... - 0 views

www.rezed.org/...2047896:Topic:7172

education secondlife virtualworlds web3d

shared by Vicki Davis on 10 Sep 09 - Cached
  • Vicki Davis on 10 Sep 09
     
    The exploring body image simulation from Ramapo Central School District by Peggy Sheehy.
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