Group items tagged

"I wrote about the power of "The Network" in Personal Learning Network Thoughts. I would say that Twitter and my blog are the most important tools to the puzzle that make up my PLN. It takes time and effort to build, grow, maintain and nurture my PLN. I get out of it what I put in it. The PEOPLE who make up my network are "IT"."

"The following is a wonderful description, step by step, how one librarian upgraded traditional "animal reports" with a first grade class (six year olds)."

"This post is part of C.M Rubin's monthly series in the Huffington post: The Global Search for Education: Our Top 12 Global Teacher Blogs. This month we are answering the following prompt: Can Social Media Have a Role to Play in Managing a Successful Classroom? As in previous posts in the series, I am examining the prompt from a semantic point of view and ask myself immediately: What do we consider " managing a successful classroom" (and even what does it successful mean)? I also stumbled immediately over the word "CAN" and cringed when I wondered if it could say "Should" or "Must"? Semantics aside and out with an easy and short response: YES, social media can play a role in a successful classroom."

"I am still amazed at the amount of educators, who believe that Twitter holds NO VALUE for their professional learning. Many hold on to the belief that Twitter is a waste of time, used to follow celebrities, listen to gossip and bad hair day complaints. If YOU were able to get past that initial Twitter reputation, diving into the Twittersphere can be scary, OVERWHELMING and participating in this global conversation platform does not necessarily come naturally to everybody."

"Wes Fryer, a blogger I have been following for many years, has created a wonderful resource page called "Mapping Media to the Curriculum" page. He starts with the simple question: What do you want to create today?"

"To keep our parents in the loop about Social Media use in the classroom, we have posted the following Twitter Policy and Rationale on the school's 21st Century Learning blog."

"This summer, I facilitated quite a few workshops about iPads in the classroom. I wanted to make sure that the sessions went BEYOND using apps to play games, replace worksheets and kill & drill activities, but that the focus was transformative and pedagogical use. I am especially thrilled with the slides from the following slide deck… I took my own advice from Presentation Makeover and took all the images used myself…no stock images…the model guiding us through the presentation is my 8 year old niece, Sophia, who was so patient with me as I asked her to model with the iPad. Many times she became engrossed in playing on the iPad that she even forgot that I was taking photos of her."

"I have been following the "Where the Hell is Matt" videos since 2006. I always thought the video is a great hook for students into geography. There are three versions available with a clear evolution of Matt growing as he travels around the world."

"Is it personality? Are some people born with it? Can it be learned? I am talking about REFLECTION. At the beginning of the week, I had the opportunity to be part of a workshop during our pre-service ( we just returned from our summer break here in the Southern Hemisphere) with our ES Principal, MS Principal and HS Assistant Principal. The topic was student reflection. The following ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS emerged out of the planning for this workshop: How does student reflection impact student learning? How can we embed reflection into assessment practices so that it is not seen as an add-on? How can we make the reflection visible and sustainable?"

"Thank you to Larry Ferlazzo for sharing the following Infographic on his blog."

"Alan November elevated the "Official Scribe" as one of the roles that empower student learners.I see the role of the scribe as follows: The official scribe plays an important role in the classroom community. Their work is essential for students who were absent from class or need a review on a specific topic previously discussed. The official scribe also takes pressure off other students from having to take notes, but invites them in to contribute with corrections, additional information or resources."

"In an attempt to bring new additions to your Blog reader, I am starting to feature guest posts on Langwitches. Be assured that these guest posts are from educational bloggers, I highly value and their voices contribute significantly to my own learning. Today I am sharing a blog post and a newly published book by my friend, colleague and co-author Mike Fisher. Follow him on Twitter and add his blog to your RSS reader. By Mike Fisher Originally blogged on MiddleWeb.com on December 8, 2013 Back in the early 90's, my grandmother taught me how to bake biscotti in a traditional way. She was a baker by trade and taught me about the precision of measuring ingredients to get a perfect dough consistency, how to lay out the initial loaf, cut on the diagonal and re-bake until the cookies reached their optimum crunch."

"I wanted to take a closer look at the iPad Evaluation I previously blogged about in Evaluating Apps with Transformative Use in Mind. The section of Content and Components deserved a closer look and explanation. You can download the PDF file of the iPad App Evaluation for the Classroom with the following sections of evaluation included: Considerations Content & Components Logistics Fluency Substitution vs Transformation Model (based on SAMR model of Ruben Puentedura and Alan November's work) Evidence of Learning (based on conversation with Stephen Wilmarth) After looking at iPad apps through the lens of Gardner's Multiple Intelligences, November's Digital Learning Farm, 21st century Upgrades, let's take a closer look at the content and components of these apps."

"There can never be enough examples from the classroom to share. The benefits are many, from creating a ripple effect of digitally documenting and sharing to a glimpse in someone else's classroom by having the opportunity to be a fly on the wall via a video clip. I have shared the Excitement of Learning that can unfold with a Mystery Skype call before. The following video clip is from David Jorgensen's 8th grade Humanities class (São Paulo, Brazil), recorded during their first Mystery Skype with a class from rural Iowa, USA."

"Every once in a while I visit the Microsoft Office Clipart Gallery. I just realized that they have redesigned the page. It is suddenly titled "Find Images Where you Need Them" and is divided into three sections: Using the Newest Office on Your Desktop, Using Office Web App, Using Bing to get Images. It is the last section that caught my attention. Bing is a search engine, just like Google . You can read the following step-by-step directions to find images with Bing Search"

"Your moderators: Silvana Scarso (Brazil), Chic Foote (New Zealand), Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano (USA) & Andrea Hernandez (USA) and Katrin Barlsen (Argentina) While we will be digging deeper into the topic, Documenting FOR Learning, by following the Q1/A1 chat format (see questions below), we will continue to practice what we preach and use this opportunity to AMPLIFY teaching and learning."

"I have been enthralled watching the following TED Talk (Ideas worth Spreading) How to Listen to Global Voices by Ethan Zuckerman: Sure, the web connects the globe, but most of us end up hearing mainly from people just like ourselves. Blogger and technologist Ethan Zuckerman wants to help share the stories of the whole wide world. He talks about clever strategies to open up your Twitter world and read the news in languages you don't even know."

"I received this link to the following book trailer from the librarian at the school I work at.It was very timely, since we just had a discussion about "real books", e-books and the advantages/disadvantages of each."

"I found the following video in my Reader today from The Innovative Educator. I will be saving the video for future PD opportunities."

"Ask yourself the following questions. Then ask these questions of your faculty and administration. * Is global awareness and education important to students who do not and most likely will never own a passport? * Should/is "Global Awareness" or "Global Competencies" (be) taught as a (required) separate course/subject? * Do you infuse culture BEYOND food, music, games, festivals, language or art? * Do teachers need to be globally connected in order to connect their students?"