PBL & STEM/STEAM

"A Whole New Way to Appreciate Great Literature!"

A Wiki created by Mike Fisher that specializes in graphic organizers that engages the learner through multiple learning modes

This Wiki has been developed by Mike Fisher and is chock full of ideas to aid you in preparing your students for test taking environments and being able to study independently and interdependently.

Resources, Web sites, Rubrics

Over a 1000 books on-line in various languages

"The Khan Academy is a not-for-profit organization with the mission of providing a high quality education to anyone, anywhere. We have 1400+ videos on YouTube covering everything from basic arithmetic and algebra to differential equations, physics, chemistry, biology and finance which have been recorded by Salman Khan."

"Phil Bird's excellent post on using Google Streetview a while back jogged my memory about a lesson I sometimes do with students when the sun is cracking the flags and the classroom gets too hot to want to stay indoors for the full session."

"It has always been my contention that if you love your subject and teach it well, your students should do well in the final exam. Yesterday, a member of the audience (whose name I unfortunately failed to catch) stated that it has been found that the students of teachers who teach in an inspirational way achieve better results than students of those who teach to the test. This chimed with Bruce Dickson's observation, based on 50 years in education, that inspirational teaching turns pupils on."

"Asking questions is very much a part of the learning process and there are ways in which we can use educational technology to support this. It is surprising therefore to see that the way questioning is handled in schools and colleges seems to have changed little in the last fifty years. Up and down the country, you will still see learners asking questions by first raising their hand and waiting for the teacher to acknowledge them. Is this the best way? "

"It is not enough to teach students how to understand information and communications technology. At some point you are going to have to assess their knowledge and understanding. "

"Alfie Kohn writes and speaks widely on human behavior, education, and parenting. The author of eleven books and scores of articles, he lectures at education conferences and universities as well as to parent groups and corporations. Kohn's criticisms of competition and rewards have been widely discussed and debated, and he has been described in Time magazine as "perhaps the country's most outspoken critic of education's fixation on grades [and] test scores.""

Loved this quote form the article ... "Primary school students who used them for a year became instructors for teachers who had not used the gadgets before. One prep class actually created an instructional DVD to be used by staff explaining and demonstrating how to operate a (hi-tech) whiteboard," Mr Light said."

"Welcome to Worlds of Words. You will find many useful resources on this site for building bridges between cultures. These resources include multiple strategies for locating and evaluating culturally authentic international children's and adolescent literature as well as ways of engaging students with these books in classrooms and libraries."

"Test How Fast You Juggle Tasks" Fantastic interactive article to see how you are not only at juggling tasks, but focusing when taksing, and more!

"WHAT CHILDREN WRITE TO AUTHORS "You've got mail" is an understatement for me during the months of November and December. Each year, the post office delivers white plastic mail bins by the dozens filled with correspondence from children across the country. I am not the person to whom they are writing, but I and my staff are the ones who read their very personal letters. "

"What is iObservation? iObservation is an instructional and leadership improvement system. It collects, manages and reports longitudinal data from classroom walkthroughs and teacher observations. Teacher growth and leadership practices inform professional development differentiated to individual learning needs for every teacher and leader to increase his/her effectiveness each year."

"Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacobs is an internationally recognized expert in the fields of literacy, curriculum and instruction, and educational reform. In the first part of our interview, Heidi exposes the pitfalls of American literacy instruction and explains what we can do to improve it."

"Electronic textbooks are closer to becoming a reality in Texas classrooms. Already, many are picturing classrooms where textbooks exist on the Internet or on Kindle-like devices."

"Texting can be a teaching tool. That's what some believe. So, for subjects ranging from Spanish to science, from homework help to exam reminders, teachers around the country are beginning to allow students to text in class."

"Joining in the effort to keep students engaged in the classroom, Microsoft on April 30 announced a new addition to its PowerPoint software that allows students to participate in classroom presentations. The best news: It's available free of charge. The new tool, called Mouse Mischief, allows teachers to add multiple choice, yes/no, and drawing questions to their presentations. Students then use any computer mice (any device from the school will work) to answer these questions. The tool also allows for whole-class or individual student responses."