This article in edutopia talks about wikis and how we use them in our classrooms. Also quoted in the article, some other good friends of mine, Stewart Mader, and Louise Maine.
Of course, if I could just keep myself from using southern slang, I'd make my Mom a little happier, but it keeps on coming out! I had completely eradicated it from my speech but when I moved home, I guess I just inhaled all of this southernness and it just comes out!
Social and Emotional Learning: Making a Case in an NCLB World"
Target audience: Educators in the elementary and secondary grades interested in evidence for the value of social and emotional learning and practical ideas for implementing it
Reading, writing, and arithmetic are important -- there's no doubt of that. But it takes more than those basic academic skills for students to grow into happy, successful adults.
In this session, two pioneering educators and a national education leader explain why social and emotional skills deserve time and attention -- SEL has been shown to raise test scores -- and how they provide it effectively in their schools.
AP government teacher Dayna Laur and art teacher Katlyn Wolfgang collaborated to create a joint project between their classes. After Edutopia produced the video, Dayna and Katlyn, who teach at Central York High School in York, Pennsylvania, shared their strategies for creating a successful integrated studies project. You can also find free resources and downloads from from Central York High School.
Edutopians have been busy wrapping up the year and preparing for summer. In this posting, our Community Manager Betty Ray breaks down the top five most practical, most innovative, and most persuasive resources shared on Edutopia
Nice article to spread around to teachers as they hit post planning. From edutopia, it asks us to do what all of us teachers should constantly do: examine ourselves. Change is a way of life. I've got quite a few I'm pondering for myself as well.
An interesting guide from edutopia for parents that you can share with your parents and PTO. They share a lot of examples of 21st century learning and as you work to build support for these things, this is a great document to share. (Full Disclosure: The digiteen project is listed for middle school - after this was listed, we saw such an inundation of schools wanting to do the project, we created the DigiTween project for kids aged 10-12 and Digiteen is still for kids aged 13+.) There are a lot of other great sites including the World Peace game, information on Skype in the Classroom, World of Warcraft in School and the Digital Youth Network. Download and share.
Can you help students motivate themselves? Yes you can! Larry Ferlazzo shares some incredible ideas in this blog post over on Edutopia with more than 25,000 shares as of this time. We can help students motivate themselves.
Donna Roman is such a great teacher. Here in her Edutopia article she shares how her classroom is going global. Just a great example for elementary teachers to follow.
I'm a huge fan of the American School of Bombay and visionary Shabbi Luthra - this article on Edutopia captures so much about this amazing school that uses laptops at a very young age in ways that empower students to learn, create, and share. Shabbi is passionate about bringing the best to her school but also shares expects that what is brought and discussed there will be used. Such a great school - it is well worth attending ASB Un-Plugged when they host it just to see what they are doing. It is hard to find a better school anywhere in the world.
This book continues to be discussed heavily in education. I love Elena Aguilar's poignant discussion of the book on her blog at Edutopia. Wow.
Elena writes:
"About a year ago, I read Susan Cain's Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking. I wanted to tell everyone about this book right away, but I also wanted to let what I'd learned sink in. I wanted to sit alone with my new self-awareness, process my experience, and absorb the revelations I'd had -- all in true introverted fashion. See, as I'd read Cain's book, my predominant thoughts were, "She's describing me! I'm an introvert! And there's nothing wrong with that!" The margins of my copy are littered with stars, exclamation points, and scribbles that, as I look back, reflect my profound relief and gained understandings."
This would be a great book for education book clubs to consider. Just make sure you take time to let everyone share and reflect and include even the introverts in the conversation - though they may say less, they may actually have more to say than we truly understand.
Hundreds of articles, expert interviews, research, and resources highlighting success stories in K-12 education. Short videos provide case studies in technology integration, project-based learning, emotional intelligence, teacher preparation, assessment and more." /> metatext/html; charset=utf-8
Excellent Webinar opportunity this Thursday from edutopia.
The Power of One: Greg Mortenson's Crusade to Promote Peace through Project Learning
Thursday, April 15, 2010 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM PDT
Webinar Registration
Host: Suzie Boss, journalist and Edutopia.org blogger
Presenter: Greg Mortenson, best-selling author of Three Cups of Tea
Can one person really make a difference in the world? Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea, describes his own unlikely path from mountaineer to humanitarian. His best-selling story has inspired thousands of students to contribute to school-building efforts in remote regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan through a service-learning program called Pennies for Peace. Supported by a multimedia, standards-based curriculum for grades K-12, Pennies for Peace culminates with student-driven projects that develop leadership skills and build cross-cultural understanding. Mortenson explains how the program works, how teachers can get involved, and why students benefit from authentic opportunities to make their own difference in the world.