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Nature Works Everywhere gives teachers, students and families everything they need to start exploring and understanding nature's fantastic factory - videos, interactive games, and interactive lesson plans that align to standards.

The GLOBE Program (http://www.globe.gov) is taking this opportunity to salute teachers everywhere----for all of the things you do----for inspiring your students and cultivating the love of learning. Teachers are the backbone of our educational system. They encourage, inspire and challenge us to reach new heights and dream without boundaries. The GLOBE Program Office in Boulder, Colorado produced this video for teachers everywhere. We encourage you to watch it, send it to your fellow (or favorite) teachers, school administrators, friends and family members. Encourage them to share it with their network as well so that everyone may pause for a moment and truly appreciate the teachers who made a difference in their lives.

Salute to Teachers Video

This is a great set of language resources and games for learning Mandarin Chinese. Topic range from greeting, family, eating, parts of the body and more. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Mandarin+%26+Chinese+culture

Christmas is a time to be with friends and family, but if you are by yourself for a while, try this Christmas Solitaire card game. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Winter+%26+Christmas

We are a social entrepreneurship company that partners with the top universities in the world to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free. We envision a future where the top universities are educating not only thousands of students, but millions. Our technology enables the best professors to teach tens or hundreds of thousands of students. Through this, we hope to give everyone access to the world-class education that has so far been available only to a select few. We want to empower people with education that will improve their lives, the lives of their families, and the communities they live in. Our Courses Classes offered on Coursera are designed to help you master the material. When you take one of our classes, you will watch lectures taught by world-class professors, learn at your own pace, test your knowledge, and reinforce concepts through interactive exercises. When you join one of our classes, you'll also join a global community of thousands of students learning alongside you.

Pernille Ripp's poignant post shares why more teachers don't refuse to give the tests. Unless it is done en masse, it can't really be done. That said, parents can refuse to have their children take the test without repercussions and in fact, a national opt out movement is brewing. "If I were to refuse administering these state mandated tests, I would get in trouble.  That is an absolute guarantee.  And while I have never been one to shy away from too much controversy, the kind of trouble this time would be much bigger than a write up.  I could even lose my job for failing to do my duties.  To some that may not seem like a big deal, after all, I should be standing up for my students and their rights, my own opinions, I should protect those children that I teach from the tests.  But my job is vital to my own children.  My job is our health insurance.  My job gives us just enough money so that we can pay our bills.  I wish my husband had a huge paying job, he doesn't, and so we are a very dependent two income family.  So losing my job refusing tests just isn't something I can rationally do and in a sense, I am not sure I should be the one refusing the tests anyway."

Some very interesting gadgets and gizmos that you may want to add to wish lists for family and friends. Also a few I wouldn't have picked ( a car made the list) but still very interesting.

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.

Birth to Five: Watch Me Thrive! is a set of resources that include developmental screening tools; toolkits with resources and tip sheets; guidance on finding help at the local level; and a "screening passport" that allows families to track a child's screening history and results.

Two-year programs offered by junior and community colleges are quicker and less expensive than four-year programs. Contrary to popular belief, the path to advancement does not always travel through a bachelor or master's degree program. Two-year associate degrees are more convenient because most offer part-time, evening, weekend, and online classes. This convenience provides advantages for those who have full-time jobs, especially adults with families.

Communication skills are critical for today's students. Reading, writing and the ability to tell a story set the stage for success. The Hub, a new TV destination dedicated to bringing kids and families together, is partnering with Discovery Education to support teachers in this important endeavor. Here you'll find inspiration to engage and inspire your budding writers. Meet the artists, editors and writers that bring good stories to life-and watch your students' communication skills soar!

Students interact with music, movies, software, and other digital content every day-but many don't fully understand the rules surrounding the appropriate use of these materials, or why this should even matter. To help teach students about intellectual property rights and encourage them to become good "digital citizens," software giant Microsoft Corp. has unveiled a free curriculum that offers cross-curricular classroom activities aligned with national standards. The Digital Citizenship and Creative Content program was designed for students in grades 8-10 but can be adapted for use in grades 6-12, Microsoft says. In one unit, students are given a scenario in which a high school sponsors a school-wide Battle of the Bands. A student not involved in the production decides to videotape and sell copies of the show to students and family members. Later, one of the performers ("Johnny") learns his image has been co-opted by the maker of a video game without his permission. Students research intellectual property laws to see who owns the "rights" to the Battle of the Bands as a whole, as well as the rights of individual performers, to determine three or four steps that Johnny can take. http://digitalcitizenshiped.com

Estie Cuellar from Texas has a dream to take nine of her students to the conference. While many of us have raised our money from private donors, Estie is located at a school with many underserved children from families in poverty. I have pledged to do what I can to help her spread the word about her situation. She has scholarships for four of her students to pay their conference fees, however, all schools must raise money for their own airfare. This is a great cause and I hope that there are some people out there who believe in the vision of representing ALL of our society here in America at a conference which plans to turn conferences upside down -- working hard to give students a meaningful place alongside the educators who will be attending the leadership strand of the conference. Julie and I dream of writing a book to fund this conference in the future, but for now, we have to do it all the hard way ( a lot of pavement pounding and hard work.)

via http://freetech4teachers.blogspot.com/2008/12/secret-builders-virtual-world-for-ages.html\n\nSecretBuilders is a virtual world for children 5 to 14 years old powered by a web 2.0 community of children, parents, educators, writers, artists and game developers. On SecretBuilders, children will explore virtual lands, undertake quests, play games, maintain a home, nurture a pet, and interact with their friends. Three features which form the backdrop for SecretBuilders distinguish it from other online worlds:\n\n * Children learn through immersing themselves in the stories, themes, and concepts from the best in literature, arts and humanities. They will interact with famous historical and fictional figures and be introduced to content and characters from world civilization and the great thoughts and ideas of human creativity. \n\n * Children will create this site, not just consume it. They are directly involved in creating this world with their ideas, critiques and contributions on virtually every aspect of the site and many of their ideas will be implemented!\n\n * Children publish their works - writings, art, videos - making SecretBuilders their own personal store of creativity. They can invite friends and family to view their works, and comment upon them. Seeing their works published and enjoyed by others instills tremendous for self-confidence as well as motivation to do more.\n

Article by Wil Richardson on Collaboration

Information about paying people to pass ap tests.

Paying kids to pass the AP test isn't working... but those supporting it say give it time. In some ways, money is the easy answer. But money doesn't solve problems when you have a child who has low self esteem. A child who is beaten every night isn't going to want to learn more during the day for a one time incentive... they feel trapped. Although the average improved (there were more "5's") - the overall pass rate declined slightly -- but more tests were taken. I am glad that people are willing to put money into trying new things, but sometimes I think teachers are left out of the equation. If we look at brain rules, improving the family life of kids and making sure they get more sleep are two of the most beneficial things we could to improve test scores.

Cool summary of an article by Liz B. Davis -- Liz took the article and extracted the most valuable bits to her using google Docs. This methodology is fascinating, but even moreso the fact we may all begin doing this together with Diigo.

Cool summary of an article by Liz B. Davis -- Liz took the article and extracted the most valuable bits to her using google Docs. This methodology is fascinating, but even moreso the fact we may all begin doing this together with Diigo.

Cool summary of an article by Liz B. Davis -- Liz took the article and extracted the most valuable bits to her using google Docs. This methodology is fascinating, but even moreso the fact we may all begin doing this together with Diigo.

Student created wiki. Thomas Cooper is the teacher behind this project. He teachers at the Walker School in Marietta, GA. Many people believe that child labor and abuse is something of the past, but there could not be more of a false statement. Around the world children are being marginalized, and abused, and forced into labor. Children in Africa are being forced to join the military and kill children and adults alike. Other children are living on the streets because their parents' lives were taken by the AIDS virus. And due to India's class system, young children will live in poverty with no possible way of hope in the future. Children are even forced into prostitution and labor. Childhood deformities and disabilities cause affected children to live in isolation and cause pain and suffering for both them and their families. Be sure to check out the teacher resources in the table of contents.

This April, the NEA is marking National Autism Awareness Month by publicizing its ASD resources for teachers and families, including The Puzzle of Autism, a guide to assist educators, inform parents, offer ways to help identify the typical characteristics of ASDs, and provide ideas for ways to work successfully with children who have the disability.