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This is one of my favorite simplified clasroom rules posters. I am thinking to do something similar to this.

An alphabet chart that you may print out and use for your classes to help them remember the sounds of letters.

Heartwrenching, heartaching, upsetting, but all too true. For those who want to see inside the life of many US public school teachers, Peter Hirzel has a gutsy, edgy post on salon and says many of the things that are often whispered and said in email. But there is a part that I want EVERY teacher to hear because it reflects something I say a lot to teachers: "When we have each others' backs, we are invincible. So I hope all the teachers continue to be kind to one another, because one kind word was very, very often the only thing that got me through the day." BE KIND TO EACH OTHER. Encourage each other. Smile. Say hello. You are fellow journeyman and deserve each other's respect and kindness. Please hear this. Don't be discouraged, but if you're in edreform and don't read this post, you shouldn't be in edreform because you don't get the conflicting emotions plaguing the psyche of so many teachers today.

A study from this past January shows that 53 per cent of online Americans use Wikipedia. In order to improve the accuracy of Wikipedia and other sources like it, we need to teach students how to collaboratively edit.

Dr. James  Beeghley (Jim as most of us know him) has a presentation on Wednesday at K12 online about how history and social studies should be taught using technology. He talks about early photography and a lot of other very cool thoughts that will certainly challenge the thinking and teaching of history teachers.

I'm speaking Monday at 4 pm as part of Blackboard Collaborate's distinguished lecture series. It is a free webinar and this is the link to go to to register. This is what and how I teach my students online and prepare them to present online. Every student is required to present online twice a year in my computer science class and once a year in my 9th grade computer fundamentals. IT is just as important as face to face presenting and in some ways could be more important as it could potentially have more reach for my students.

This is a good downloadable programme which provides a good environment to teach children how to code. It feels very similar to MS Logo, but much more suited to children. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+%26+Web+Tools

Teaching unit for eleven-year-olds about monuments around the world.

I have to admit that it was very hard to put into a few short words my thoughts on adaptive learning. I didn't really intend for it to center on the testing piece but I guess that is what the editors thought hadn't already been covered, although I do agree with everything I said on it. Of course, many will say we need much more than testing but I think the big point is that pencil and paper don't cut it. We are wasting time with how we test now and can be much more targeted in terms of what students know and how we can teach. Your thoughts? The biggest thing that bothers me about all these apps is that we have no learning analytics - no feedback loop at all to parents or teachers. I literally have to watch my son play his ipad learning games to really understand where he is and what I need to do to fill things in. 

How should students analyze a painting? This middle/ high school project gives a writing structure for analyzing painting in this cross disciplinary unit.

Overview of the use of efolios in the Expository Writing course at the University of Washington. along with some sample portfolios. Currently the electronic portfolios are optional although having a portfolio is not. "The six TAs who chose to teach with electronic portfolios discovered many advantages to introducing this technology. They found that students learned to write for a wider audience and were able to better connect to the course outcomes by showing a greater variety of examples such as graphics and links to relevant Web pages. The electronic portfolios also simplified some logistics, allowing the instructors to easily show examples of online portfolios and students to review each other's work. "

A challenge toolkit. If you are a gifted and talented or teacher of children who have challenges, there are 50 activities in this powerpoint that can you can adapt to any subject.

If you are a parent or homeschooler, you'll have time to use this powerpoint between now and New Year's. This is a lesson about how to design a poster for firework safety.

While the UK celebrates safer internet day on February 7, we can go through and get some great resources for kids of all ages (including some SmartBoard templates.) 

In the chinese lantern festival (coming up on February 6), children in China and in other areas across Asia, carry lanterns with riddles on them as they go into their temples. Here are some lesson plans and templates for making your own lanterns. You could have students put riddles on them relating to topics you have going in your classroom.

This upcoming Friday is the UNICEF day for change in the UK but what a great idea. I can't find anything on the US website about this activity but it seems to be all over UK websites.  I think that it is a great idea to have some sort of "change day" for children's activities in schools whether it is for UNICEF or another cause. Many students have change in their houses and can do something.

the Atlantic asked me to write about why I became a teacher. I left the business world to move into teaching. Not because I had to (I was a successful business woman) but because I wanted to. Please feel free to share your story. Here's mine.

Back to school resource pack for kindergarten classes.

This is a great lesson that is perfect for kindergarten and first grade or students with fine motor problems. 

It is great to watch this Webmaking 101 course for journalists evolve. jess Klein wants to "create authentic learning experiences around webmaking projects." This is a brainstorm about how to teach journalists the basics of html, css, and copyright authentically. I'm looking for the site. I love it. The site would strip out everything but the text and let the journalists add things back in.