Group items tagged

A great overview of Lance's research into the effectiveness of libraries.  He answers the question: Do school libraries or librarians make a difference?  His answer (A HUGE YES!) is back by 14 years of remarkable research.  The point is proved.  But this information remains unknown to many principals and superintendents.  Anyone interested in 21st century teaching and learning will find this interview fascinating.

We've heard many ingenious ways that teachers have used Google Docs in the classroom. Here are just a few: * Promote group collaboration and creativity by having your students record their group projects together in a single doc. * Keep track of grades, attendance, or any other data you can think of using an easily accessible, always available spreadsheet. * Facilitate writing as a process by encouraging students to write in a document shared with you. You can check up on their work at any time, provide insight and help using the comments feature, and understand better each students strengths. * Create quizzes and tests using spreadsheets forms, your students' timestamped answers will arrive neatly ordered in a spreadsheet. * Encourage collaborative presentation skills by asking your students to work together on a shared presentation, then present it to the class. * Collaborate on a document with fellow teachers to help you all track the status and success of students you share. * Maintain, update and share lesson plans over time in a single document. * Track and organize cumulative project data in a single spreadsheet, accessible to any collaborator at any time.

How Google Saved A School - Two years ago, this middle school was at risk of being shut down by the city. Today it's a success story. What happened?

Interview and chapter from Dr. David Barr, founder of the 21st Century Information Fluency Project. This Google book article from Joyce Valenza & Reva Basch's book Super Searchers Go to school reaveal some of David's thinking about the knowledge, skills and dispositions for successful searching. Anyone who knows David Barr recognizes his amazing understanding of 21st century information systems. This is a gem. Don't miss it.

Great methods for successful integration of Google tools into your classroom instruction.

"This is a guest post, authored by my friend and colleague, Cody Holt from Royse City ISD in Royse City, Texas. After 11 years as a high school Language Arts teacher, Cody made the transition to the world of instructional technology and his toughest challenge ever-teaching teachers. As a Digital Learning Specialist for Royse City ISD, Cody gets the privilege to help teachers navigate instruction in a digital age; specifically, how to incorporate digital tools to positively impact learning. Cody is also the Director of C4L Operations and the Chrome Squad Internship (C4L is our district 1-1 initiative). When not neck deep in Chromebooks Cody spends his time with his wonderful wife Jennifer and their three amazing kids: Kollyn, Reese, and Tucker."

There is a wealth of research to suggest that vocabulary knowledge is the single best predictor of student academic achievement across all curriculum areas. Experts agree that vocabulary development is an attainable goal. If given the opportunity to receive effective vocabulary instruction, most students can acquire vocabulary at rates that will improve their comprehension and also their chances for success in school. Technology is an effective and engaging tool that can be used to improe vocabulary acquisition for all learners and engage them in the learning process. Google Presentation offers some features that make it an attractive tool for a lesson in which students work collaboratively to construct knowledge about vocabulary by creating vocabulary cards.

I use Skype and enjoy the free functionality. It's far from perfect, but has a place in my e-learning toolkit. (I've also used Jah-Jah to call my daughter in Thailand and was very pleased with this alternate take on internet telephony.) Like all things tech, Skype could go. As this article shows, the big hitting billionaires who run the show are in dispute. If i have to switch, so be it! Will Google Voice move into this space? Who knows? Wait and see as the future unrolls on a daily basis