Group items tagged

"21 Digital Tools to Build Vocabulary" - vocabulary literacy researcher/writer Kimberly Tyson shares some excellent tools for building vocabulary, which she sees as one of the most important activities teachers should get right. She shares the important role vocabulary plays in the CCSS. See some of her other blog posts.

Learn how to build websites using html & CSS, the building blocks of the Internet. Also, here is instruction in writing Java script, PHP, API's, etc. There is s growing movement to teach students how to create using code.

Building Blocks: The First Steps of Creating a Multicultural Classroom byLarri Fish of Siena College Discovering diversity takes creativity, extra effort, diligence, and courage on the teacher's part. Thus, American public schools have rarely offered an enthusiastic welcome for student difference.

Just Breathe

"Shouldn't we be looking at the Internet as an amazing network enabling "The Power of Pull" and be empowering kids to learn through building things together rather than assessing their ability to complete courses and produce the right "answers"?

"Having started a half dozen MOOC's in the recent months, I have found most of them tend to share a common trait. Many MOOC's currently represent a sort of parody of higher education's worst practices, its most spectacular delusions about itself. "

Holly Clark, aka EdTechDiva, provides some great points about how to help improve search skills for students AND teachers. There are other skills, as well, but these are a good start. Google also has resources for building these important skills.

This is a helpful look at the stages many go through as they begin the journey of building a PLN. I've read a couple of posts by those extending themselves into the realm of connected relationships online: Chez Vivian "Oh, what a tangled web we weave" - http://goo.gl/CFnKv & Fenella Olynick: "Staying the Course: Connections, Reciprocity, and the Web" http://goo.gl/H8UKp

"It seems like just yesterday that I was a disconnected nomad working hard to maintain the status quo and conform to a rigid system commonly known as education. You see, prior to 2009 I was adamantly opposed to even the thought of using social media for both personal and professional reasons. As a building level leader burdened by endless responsibilities, I could not fathom wasting even a precious minute in what I saw as a perpetual time sap. " Read the rest of this post to see how Eric discovered being connected on social media and engaging in conversations with passionate educators has transformed his work in education.

"The next time you see a tweet ridiculing a person or linking to someone who does, please respond with a challenge: "Is this the world you want to encourage? What does this accomplish? What does this create?""

What is the relationship between synchronous and asynchronous experiences? The opportunity to learn more about digital literacy by treating both sessions as one continuous "meeting" helps define what digital literacy actually implies (the ability to move seamlessly within these various digital platforms to create one cohesive experience). How we define "meetings" is being transformed with the advent of the blending of synchronous and asynchronous experiences and I think will have a profound effect on education and professional development. What literacies will be needed to learn in these settings?