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Through the end of the year, Discovery just sent me a note that they are offering these three common core academies at no cost. Here's the info from Steve Dembo. I've done some work with their SIEMENS STEM Academy and am a sTAR Educator and everything they do is top notch. If you can work it out before the end of the year, this is something you'll want to do. From Steve Dembo: "We know that implementing the Common Core can be an uphill climb. That's why Discovery Education is proud to partner with educators to offer Common Core Academies in ELA, Math, and Leadership at no cost. From now until the end of the school year, educators across America are invited to sign up for an Academy and receive: practical strategies to implement CCSS reseach-based instructional practices best practices in using digital content resources and digital tools for immediate classroom integration Discovery Education Common Core Academies offer one day of immersive professional development and two follow-up virtual sessions at no cost to support educators and leaders in effectively implementing the Common Core State Standards. Educators may choose from three Academies offering a unique combination that brings together best practices in digital integration with proven research-based instructional practices: Literacy and the Common Core in a Digital World Teaching and Assessing Common Core Math in a Digital World Leadership Strategies to Support Digital Literacy and the Common Core"

# for students, teachers and parents to use; # for showing the workings that led to a final product (it's time we stopped covering up our learning in English, showing our working in Maths - let's get the process of learning out there for all to see, contribute to and build upon);

Coordinate parents and volunteers the fast, easy way with free online sign up forms and volunteer scheduling. At VolunteerSpot, we believe that volunteers should be rewarded for stepping forward and sharing their time and talents with those in need. All too often, volunteering means putting up with a certain amount of hassle or frustration - whether that is late night emails, reply-all messages, reminder phone calls, or searching for a parking space. Our sponsors enable us to provide FREE tools that simplify volunteering powering your good work in schools and clubs, in your congregation and neighborhoods. We can't find you a parking place, but with VolunteerSpot, DOING GOOD just got easier!

Web activist and filmmaker Brett Gaylor explores copyright in the information age, mashing up the media landscape of the 21st century and shattering the wall between users and producers. The film's central protagonist is Girl Talk, a mash-up musician topping the charts with his sample-based songs. But is Girl Talk a paragon of people power or the Pied Piper of piracy? Creative Commons founder Lawrence Lessig, Brazil's Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil and pop culture critic Cory Doctorow are also along for the ride

Fascinating method of tagging images and helping train the web. Some students turned this up for netgened about the semantic web. So amazing what students turn up!

Connecting can still be a struggle.

Sometimes teachers reach out and find others are not there. This is what it takes to set up collaboration. I've found that it takes a teacher totally committed to eventually find a person to connect with -- it takes two determined teachers to make it happen -- her experiences are similar. So, if you have students who speak mostly spanish and would like to collaborate -- please please connect and leave a comment on this post. Share resources and places that you're connecting. Sometimes, twitter, as she says, does end up being the best way to connect.

From Alfred Thompson, my favorite Microsoft Computer Science blogger -- "I was asked to pass along the news that the submission deadline for the June 17th Alice Symposium call for papers has been extended to March 31st. You can of course go to that website to find out more about the symposium and register to attend. There are also some other workshops going on at Duke in June. I understand that they are filling up quite quickly so if you're interested you'll want to sign up soon. Duke in June 2009 * Two-day Alice 3.0 Workshop June 15-16, 2009 * Two-day CompMedia Workshop June 18-19, 2009 * One-week Alice Workshops * June 22-26, 2009 * June 28-July 2, 2009"

Why do teenagers so often seem like a different species? Journalist Patricia Hersch gives a troubling answer in her fascinating, up-close-and-personal look at what it means to be a teen in today's American high schools. Rather than interviewing "high-risk" teens (those already swept up in a cycle of drug use, gang violence, or unintended pregnancy, for example), Hersch focuses her attention on "regular kids"--adolescents who are average achievers on academic and social levels. In light of this, A Tribe Apart is all the more startling to read: Hersch's investigative approach makes it impossible for parents to shrug off their responsibilities by saying "That's not my kid." This is your kid.

A San Francisco wiki services provider has just finished a multiyear project under which it gave teachers all over the world 100,000 free wikis. And now, it is doubling up and getting set to give away another quarter million. The company, Wikispaces, decided in 2006 that it would make helping teachers use the collaborative software to further cooperation between students, both in their own schools and with schools in other cities and countries, a cornerstone of its business. But while Wikispaces hasn't made any money directly from the project--and in fact has incurred significant costs due to supporting the teachers' use of the wikis--co-founder Adam Frey said the company has found that the educators are just the kind of evangelists that can aid a start-up in building a business.

The Schools We Need Presentation I'm in St. Louis, post presentation, and I'm pretty pleased with how it went. It's not easy for me to figure out how to talk to audiences that aren't made up of educators, because the question is always what is the balance between the universal ideas and the deep entry into pedagogy. Judging from the reaction, folks seemed to think that I struck a good balance today. I had a lot of people come up and tell me that I really challenged them to re-think their ideas about school design, and that's thrilling to me. A few folks asked me about strategies to get educators and facilities folks talking more, which is also really exciting.

Keynotes for k12online 2008

Keynotes for K12 online 2008 -- you have 16 days to submit your proposal. This is a wonderful conference and Julie and I are so excited to be keynoting the strand, "Kicking it up a notch" -- we're working hard when we meet at necc to "kick it up a notch" as we brainstorm on this keynote!

A list of some new "up and coming" blogs -- some I've heard of and some I haven't. Will be perusing this list.

Cool new list of new bloggers.

language arts warm ups for every day

language arts warm ups

It is amazing that this site easily sends up to 1 GB files to another person.

This website lets you send up to 1 GB files to another person -- what a GREAT tool. I'm using Gspace right now to send a monstrous file to Julie, but if it doesn't work, then I'll be using this website instead. Great tool.

Set up free conference calls and allows as many people as you like to set up and participate in the conference call. Many of us use skype, however, if you go over 10, and people are just in the US, you could use this instead. The great things is that this gives you recording of the conference with no time limit. The MP3 file is given to the host.

The Reflective Principal: A Taxonomy of Reflection (Part IV) Reflection can be a challenging endeavor. It's not something that's fostered in school - typically someone else tells you how you're doing! Principals (and instructional leaders) are often so caught up in the meeting the demands of the day, that they rarely have the luxury to muse on how things went. Self-assessment is clouded by the need to meet competing demands from multiple stakeholders. In an effort to help schools become more reflective learning environments, I've developed this "Taxonomy of Reflection" - modeled on Bloom's approach. It's posted in four installments: 1. A Taxonomy of Reflection 2. The Reflective Student 3. The Reflective Teacher 4. The Reflective Principal It's very much a work in progress, and I invite your comments and suggestions. I'm especially interested in whether you think the parallel construction to Bloom holds up through each of the three examples - student, teacher, and principal. I think we have something to learn from each perspective. 4. The Reflective Principal Each level of reflection is structured to parallel Bloom's taxonomy. (See installment 1 for more on the model) Assume that a principal (or instructional leader) looked back on an initiative (or program, decision, project, etc) they have just implemented. What sample questions might they ask themselves as they move from lower to higher order reflection? (Note: I'm not suggesting that all questions are asked after every initiative - feel free to pick a few that work for you.) Bloom's Remembering : What did I do? Principal Reflection: What role did I play in implementing this program? What role did others play? What steps did I take? Is the program now operational and being implemented? Was it completed on time? Are assessment measures in place? Bloom's Understanding: What was

An important part of using an online tool with your students is educating them on appropriate online behavior. Just because your students grew up with technology doesn't mean they appreciate or understand what is/isn't appropriate to post online.

a simple (and cheap) answer to your personal finance needs. For just $3 a month, it can track your monthly expenses and help you increase your savings.To get started the site takes you through a quick five-step planning process, beginning with an assessment of how and where you want to save.  Then it inquires about your expenses (both fixed monthly and irregular). Finally you fill in your income.  The site will then create a review of your spending habits, including a dynamic list of savings for future purchases. Each month you'll fill in the your expenses using the Receipts category (this comes in handy at tax time as well, since you don't need to store them in a shoe box anymore). There's even a tag feature that allows you to group expenses together. Unlike Mint, Pear Budget emphasizes speed and simplicity. If you decide to register, you can set up an account in less than five minutes (and you can sign up for a free 30-day trial).

IF you use office, you should set up the office live add in. It is so useful for sharing and backing up files!