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Geofencing is a new concept in safety notifications. Schools can literally notify anyone entering an area (i.e. notify vendors and parents they must check in with the office when entering a certain area), leaving an area, or within an area of issues. This could be used to notify and protect students, teachers, and anyone on campus in the case of an emergency of any kind.  This article is one of the best I've seen about geofencing and how it works, although it is promoting an app (Ping4alerts) it is very useful for safety leaders and it directors to read and understand the potential of this very useful technology. "Hyperlocal alerts are a new capability made possible by the rise of smart devices and "geofencing" technology. A geofence is a virtually "fenced-off" area or geographic location. When this concept is applied to mobile devices, it refers to the ability of users to receive automatic alerts or notifications when entering, leaving or moving within a geographic area specifically defined by a virtual geofence. That area could be as small as a single building or as large as a state or region of the country. System administrators draw a square on a map through their portal interface to designate the location and size of the geofenced in area."

! Of the first 10,000 drawings submitted, every school that submits at least 20 drawings will be entered into a drawing to win a $5,000 donation from Bing™ and a portion of the book proceeds. We understand this is quite a tight deadline. To help you out, we are going to provide you with some educational materials. The first 500 teachers to fill out an information request form on Artsonia will get a poster for the classroom, along with a satellite and rocket fact sheet and some fun rocket trading cards. You may also download pdf printable versions of the educational materials. In addition, students can watch the Delta II rocket launch video on www.10000rockets.com. Then, in early November, Bing™ will have a panel of scientists talking about rockets and you can use that for further inspiration in the classroom. As the students are learning about rockets, we want to get 10,000 of them to draw the rocket of tomorrow. Drawings can be uploaded on Artsonia from 10/8/09-11/25/09. We will do a few things with the drawings: * The first 10,000 drawings will be published in your Artsonia school gallery and showcased on a dedicated gallery website, www.10000rockets.com. * Schools who submit at least 20 drawings will be entered into a drawing to win* one of eight $5,000 donations. * Each drawing will be judged by a panel of Microsoft employees in conjunction with scientists. The judges will select one from each grade group (K-5, 6-8, 9-12) that inspires them and turn these student drawings into 3-D models to honor their invention. * The first 10,000 qualified drawings will be placed into a commemorative book and sold on 10000rockets.com. Proceeds from the book will be donated to 8 of the schools who have students featured in the book, chosen at random.

Students across the country have already started working on their IWitness Challenge project sponsored by the USC Shoah Foundation - The Institute for Visual History and Education, but there's still time for youngsters in your community to enter this free online program geared to all secondary-school students. The deadline to enter the Challenge is Dec. 2, 2013. The winning student, along with their teacher and a family member will be brought to Los Angeles to showcase their work as part of the 20th anniversary activities for the Shoah Foundation, which was founded by director Steven Spielberg in 1994 after making "Schindler's List." Tthe IWitness Challenge (iwitness.usc.edu) connects students with the past in a very personal way that spurs them to take action to improve the future. With access to many of the Shoah Foundation's 52,000 testimonies of survivors, liberators and rescuers, students experience history in a way that hits home. Instead of reading facts from textbooks, students feel the emotions and build relationships with those who lived through seemingly impossible situations. But students do more than watch the testimony. The IWitness Challenge compels them to think, to make smart choices and to create their own project and video from what they've learned. By encouraging teachers and students to create their own lesson plans, IWitness allows them to expand on practically any subject they wish to pursue. From civics, government and history to poetry, art and ethics, educators can tailor lessons appropriate for their classrooms. And by using the embedded editor, participants not only learn valuable searching and editing skills, but also how to make ethical editing decisions that ensure their finished assignments are a fair and accurate reflection of what they've seen. All work is kept safe inside the IWitness site and not accessible to the public. Using IWitness is free, but teachers or homeschool parents must register at iwitness.usc.edu.

Web tool for selecting things. Enter up to 100 choices and spin on the site, embed on your own site or share the link. You can enter choices by copying and pasting choices into a single textbox, making it simple to draft on an offline document.

"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

Here's another contest that may interest you. If you join TES Connect, you'll be entered to win $125US (equivalent of 100 British pounds) in Amazon vouchers. You can also download my 8th grade portfolio and other resources I've put exclusively on TES' website.

This looks like a great contest. (Plus you can win the kind of computer I have on my desk and it is awesome.) Here's information from the sponsor of this essay contest. I also suggest you get photos and take videos and you can share on your own school website or blog. "The Legacy Project's 14th annual essay contest changes lives and communities as it connects generations and gives students a powerful purpose for writing - listening to and learning from a life . Students learn about real life from real people, and often end up making unexpected friendships along the way. Here's one amazing example of a past winning essay: http://www.legacyproject.org/contests/winners12.html#tulsa Here's a closer look at the educational value of the contest and 21st Century learning skills, with quotes from students and teachers across the country: http://www.legacyproject.org/contests/ltalhowenter.html To enter the Listen to a Life Contest, students 8-18 years interview a grandparent or grandfriend 50 years or older about the older person's hopes and goals through their life, how they achieved their goals and overcame obstacles, or key life experiences. The young person then writes a 300-word essay based on the interview. The Grand Prize is a Lenovo ThinkCentre computer, along with 10 Legacy Awards of a keepsake timepiece from Expressions of Time. The contest runs to March 28, 2014. Students and teachers can find out more about the Listen to a Life Essay Contest, including complete contest rules, at www.legacyproject.org. This national contest is run by the Legacy Project, a big-picture learning project, and the nonprofit Generations United in Washington, DC.

"My StoryMaker lets you control characters and objects - and creates sentences for you! Once you are done with your story, you can print it out. You cannot go back and edit a story once you have ended it but, if you click "yes" when asked to share it with others, you can print it out again by entering the magic number it gives you in the box on the right. Since lack of space forces us to delete story files older than 1 month, please save the .pdf file that prints to your own computer."

"My StoryMaker lets you control characters and objects - and creates sentences for you! Once you are done with your story, you can print it out. You cannot go back and edit a story once you have ended it but, if you click "yes" when asked to share it with others, you can print it out again by entering the magic number it gives you in the box on the right. Since we periodically have to delete the older story files, please save the .pdf file that prints to your own computer."

Details last edit Nov 21, 2009 5:20 am by hickstro hickstro - 5 revisions hide details Tags * edit * Type a tag name. Press comma or enter to add another. Cancel Edit This Page What's the Matter with Wikis? Exploring the Social Space of Wikis as a Collaborative Writing Tool

Details last edit Nov 21, 2009 5:20 am by hickstro hickstro - 5 revisions hide details Tags * edit * Type a tag name. Press comma or enter to add another. Cancel Edit This Page What's the Matter with Wikis? Exploring the Social Space of Wikis as a Collaborative Writing Tool

So, what will it take to transform teaching and learning? What will it take to shut down the pleasant hum of the machine that is so good at turning out 20th century students even though we're entering the second decade of the 21st century? Leaders with Courage and Commitment!

This site makes it easy to create images merged with QR codes. It's great for creating stylish interactive logos or add QR links or info to photos. Just choose an image, enter the QR code details, drag into place and download the result. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+%26+Web+Tools

This is a presentation creating app for iPads. Enter a few titles and pieces of text and the app finds stunning images for you to choose from to add to your slides. The finished creations use html and can be viewed on most web enabled computers, tablets and mobiles. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+%26+Web+Tools

Google just announced you can print Google forms in the way that makes it simple for them to fill in the form online (or for you or your staff to enter them.) This is great.

Few people enter the teaching profession because they are passionate about controlling behaviour or disciplining prospective pupils. Most become educators because they want to make a positive difference in students' lives. However, countless well-intentioned yet potentially ill-prepared teachers find themselves in situations during the school year where they feel compelled to use forms of intimidation, manipulation, bribery, yelling, scolding, or even false praise to make students behave. These archaic classroom management techniques often backfire- as they did for me early in my teaching career-and result in students losing respect for and disliking the teacher.

A fun HTML5 word game where players connect letters to spell words. Just enter a name in the bottom box to get started. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/English

Make a photo collage quickly and easily from your social sites, Bing Image search and more. Just choose your images and choose a layout. You can even enter text as a layout. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Photos+%26+Images

This is a list of lessons for August. Bookmark it as lessons are added, you'll be able to find them here. I am reviewing the back to school lessons for my classes (I always love ideas to help welcome students and start well.) You can also upload your back to school lessons to enter the competition.

A great virtual place value card resource for whiteboards. Enter the number you want and see deans apparatus for each. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Maths

A great site for finding Music videos online. Just enter the artist to build a playlist. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Music%2C+Sound+%26+Podcasts

Make a Text Snowflake with this easy to use online creator. Enter three lines of text, adjust colours and print to make a display or part of a Christmas card. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Winter+%26+Christmas