Kansas Educators

"ben [dot] wildeboer [at] gmail [dot] com"

For Kansas City Chiefs fans!!

creating course to help teachers build PLNs (Personal Learning Networks. Use these 7 Habits of Connected People. PLN's Social Netowrking, Twitter and such.

"The Teacher/Student Game: Competitive Behavior Management"

"Top 12 Tips for Teaching Math Facts "

About Boolean Squared This site is the home of my comic series, which I am developing as a way to tap my funny bone when it comes to learning and technology and teaching. I hope you like it.

Check out this website from Teacher in Manhattan, You'll be amazed!!

Where kids shape he world

"Classroom Game Templates and MORE"

I love the idea of leaving kids with one "cool tool" each time they visit me. During my second session with the grade 3-5 students, I modified an idea I found on Chad Lehman's website using Wordle. In a nutshell, Wordle creates a word cloud out of the text your provide. The more frequently a word is used, the bigger it becomes in the cloud. We began our Wordle lesson by modeling the process, and I had kids quickly brainstorm reasons we love Thailand. Yes, the beaches truly are amazing here, but I did cheat a bit when we made this. When one kid said 'beach,' I asked who else liked the beach and then added a bunch more to give them the idea.

"The Flat Classroom™ Project is a global, collaborative project using Web 2.0 tools to foster communication, collaboration and creation. For inspiration and content material it draws on the work of Thomas Friedman and 'The World is Flat'. Read more about the project background and view past projects. "

"Flatclassroom09-3 - Sounding Boards Every fall a global project takes place led by Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis. This year over 220 students from 5 countries will research trends in information technology and globalization, write a collaborative research report on a wiki, and produce digital videos about their topics. Sound impressive? Well it is! These students are not graduate level university students. They are in high school. As part of this project, there is a peer reviewing process that takes place later this month. These Sounding Boards are simply a 1 -> 2 -> 3 review done by middle school students. I have my 7th graders do this. My students think they are reviewing college student work. When I show them pictures of the students involved, they are often incredulous. The global project has won ISTE's Online Learning Award (2007) and is included in Thomas Friedman's book, The World is Flat. Each team produces 5 videos to go with the research report. The wikis and the videos need you to peer review. Each Sounding Board classroom only has to review one team wiki. Sign up on the Flatclassroom page (scroll down) or if you prefer contact me and I will sign you up. I have found my kids love watching the videos. I like to make a wikisite for my classroom and have them do the 1 -> 2 -> 3 reviews that Kim Cofino recommends. So come volunteer! Let's overwhelm the project with our middle school enthusiasm! Navigate to the FlatClassroom09-3 Sounding Boards page and read over the description. Sign up or contact me to do it. Thanks in advance!! "

"Parents: Focus more on 21st-century skills Schools must do more to prepare students for information-age careers, say respondents to a national ed-tech survey "

"October 25th, 2009 With classes, homework, and projects-not to mention your social life-time is truly at a premium for you, so why not latch onto the wide world that Google has to offer? From super-effective search tricks to Google hacks specifically for education to tricks and tips for using Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Calendar, these tricks will surely save you some precious time."