Group items tagged

A video sharing community for K-12 teachers.

From their About page, "edshelf is a directory of websites, mobile apps, and desktop software that are rated & reviewed by educators, for educators. We decrease the friction of using and procuring effective technology into the classroom." Concentration is on K-12, but these apps might also be useful for postsecondary teachers.

Website of John Taylor Gatto. According to his biography (on this website), Gatto was a long-time schoolteacher, eventually winning New York State Teacher of the Year (also multi-winner of NYC Teacher of the Year). He then very publicly quit teaching (that same year) and launched a public-speaking and film-making career, exploring what he feels is wrong with K-12 education.

SB mentions Gatto in a post describing readings that he's used that are critical of the current educational system.

A project of Johns Hopkins University and the University of York (UK), this site provides an encyclopedia of evidence and reviews of K-12 education programs. There might be useful information here; as well the presentation might be one that we can learn from.

September 2011. Events such as a summit, a webcast, and a teacher town hall. This site has other education-related resources as well. The focus appears to be K-12.

By Arthur Applebee, The Atlantic, Sept 27 2012. Published as part of a debate, "Why American Students Can't Write," Applebee argues that students must be asked to write more (throughout their K-12 education) and on rich topics.

RA (coach) sent the link to this article, with an interest in the "evolving purpose of composition classes." She links GSCC work to this article, especially the professional learning community.

With a presence both on the internet and on TV (PBS), Teaching Channel calls itself a "showcase" of "inspiring and effective teaching practices in America's schools." The organization's mission "is to revolutionize how teachers learn, connect, and inspire each other to improve the outcomes for all K-12 students across America." Browse videos by subject, grade level or topic (all from the left-hand navigation). In addition, there is a blog. Users are encouraged to subscribe, and the Teachers space is also organized by subject and grade-level, as well as by roles. The site also provides a workspace.

Part of UD's Institute for Transforming Undergraduate Education, this program offers workshops at the K-12 or post-secondary level for how instructors can integrate problem-based learning into their own classrooms. The PBL Clearinghouse, a "peer-reviewed online resource" collects PBL problems and articles. Additionally, the site offers resources including sample syllabi and projects.

By Nadine Dolby, Commentary column, The Chronicle of Higher Education, July 9 2012. In this commentary piece, Dolby describes a panel in which she invited her undergraduate education students to meet with a panel of "real" parents in the hopes of getting some new perspectives on K-12 education. As a matter of course, she required them to refrain from using cell phones, texting or tweeting. And she observed that these students then had a great deal of trouble just listening. She argues that, in a democracy, it's not enough just to share your own opinions, you must also listen to those of others. She concludes, "Teaching our students how to truly listen may be the most important multicultural lesson of all."

by Heather Coffey, published by Learn NC: K-12 teaching and learning from the UNC School of Education, n.d.

Youtube video. Advancing K-12 Technology Leadership, Consortium for School Networking(COSN)

This site is credited to Utah State University, and provides math games for users of all ages, from pre-K to grade 12.

KP recommended this site as it has "some decent activities students can do on their own." She also says, "No rules, just play."

eduTecher is a great place to look at new educational technologies, or to find just the right technology to do a job (e.g. document collaboration or word clouds). Each tool is reviewed by the staff, and users can search the database various ways. While many tools have a K-12 focus, there are plenty that would be useful in postsecondary education as well.

This website,created by the Clinton RESA, Ingham ISD, Macomb ISD & Shiawassee RESD, offers 21 technology concepts (e.g. blogs, digital citizenship, online video resources) that teachers might want to incorporate into their classrooms. While the site is aimed at K-12 teachers, it is likely that teachers at all levels can find something worthwhile here. NOTE: the site was built in 2008; in the fast-moving 2.0 world, there might be tools that are since out of date.

by David Bornstein, Opinionator commentary, New York Times, April 19, 2011. Author discusses a successful new elementary school level math curriculum, Jump Math, in use in Canada and England. The founder of Jump Math, John Mighton, believes the key is in teachers working with students to break math problems down into steps, that can be further broken down. When students are successful at mastering a step they have the confidence to go on.

K.S. mentioned in Coffee Klatch, April 2011.

Posted to YouTube by pocketlodge on May 2 2011. This video features Katie (no last name given) describing how she flipped the classroom as teacher of 8th grade math in a public school in Raleigh, North Carolina. This is a brief (3.5 minute) overview in which Katie outlines the positive aspects of the flipped classroom, but there is no concrete description of the flipped classroom.

DM shared a list of flipped classroom resources that were useful in his (home) department last year.

Created by the Washington State Board for Community & Technical Colleges, 2008. According to the History page, "The Transition Mathematics Project (TMP) is designed to reverse this trend by helping students successfully progress from high school math to college-level math. With the participation of high school and college math educators, TMP has identified the math skills and knowledge high school graduates need to complete college-level work...."

Posted by Shelley Wright, on the website Powerful Learning Practice: Professional Development for 21st Century Educators, Oct 8 2012. In this post, Wright describes how she no longer adheres to the model of the "flipped"classroom because she has learned to fully use student-centered and project-based learning models. She carefully describes the differences between the two, as well as giving an overview of how -- at semester's end -- her chemistry students learned 10 new concepts in 8 weeks.

This edition of UPDATE focuses on partnerships, beginning with an interview with Dr. Gene Bottoms, founder of High Schools That Work (HSTW). Dr. Bottoms provides important insights into the ways partnerships were used to create HSTW, as well as the ways they are necessary to involving high schools and community colleges in the implementation of Programs of Study. This volume also includes two invited articles, one by Dr. Pamela Eddy, College of William and Mary University, and Dr. Marilyn Amey, Michigan State University, that give OCCRL readers a glimpse into their new book on partnerships and collaboration, and a second by Dr. Louise Yarnell, who shares a model that she and her colleagues at SRI are developing for the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program of the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Teachers tell how to improve public schools.