Langwitches Blog Silvia Tolisano

"Those of us who are involved in Professional Development have known for a while now. We don't have the same crowd sitting in the audience anymore. The crowd is not "WoWed" by fancy PowerPoints with clipart from the Microsoft Gallery. A sigh goes through the ranks when animation (maybe even with sound) pop one bullet point after another onto the screen."

"Technology is not about "replacing" learning nor teaching. Technology is a tool to make learning and teaching possible in ways that it never was before nor that we had ever imagined (Well, maybe Gene Roddenberry from Star Trek had). I would like to share a small example of how technology tools can enhance a learning experience by making (personalized) connections to what is being learned in the classroom, bringing in the outside world, and taking learning literally "off the page"."

"Via Kim Cofino on Google Buzz, I found the Google SearchStories Video Creator. I see some great possibilities in the classroom for it. * Pre-reading activities * Book summaries * Introduction /background knowledge * Discussion starters"

"You must have noticed that I have been reading and re-reading "Curriculum 21″ by Heidi Hayes Jacobs. I have posted my first impressions and recommendation here and since then have joined and written about the companion Ning to the book here. I created a Flickr Curriculum 21 group to have a hub for images and videos of Curriculum21 teaching and learning examples."

"Here is another post in the series of showing Alan November's Digital Learning Farm: Students as Contributors in Action."

"A Personal Learning Network (PLN) is a group of people you count on to: * guide you in your learning * be your source of advice and resources * make you aware of learning opportunities * share their best practices * point you to answers and support"

"As I discussed in a previous post What is…will be obsolete in Second Grade?, I am taking a closer look at student jobs and responsibilities in the classroom in relationship to 21st century skills, literacies and "The Digital Learning Farm", a term coined by Alan November."

Presentation for CMI2010

"In the back of my mind, I continued to have Alan November's Six New Roles for Developing Empowered Learners and Contributors, which I have written about before: Math Lesson? Empower Learners? , "Skype Jobs" for Students & Students as Meaningful Contributors "

"Students from Jacksonville, Florida/USA and Binyamina, Israel recently celebrated Jerusalem Day together. A true opportunity to share Language, Culture & History via Skype. A grandfather in Israel shared his memories of the Six Day War (1967) of liberating Jerusalem. The Rabbi from Florida explained what Jerusalem means to Jews outside of Israel. Students sang songs, played instruments and practiced English and Hebrew."

"This is an end of the year reflection by Middle School students after contributing and working on a collaborative Math wiki this past school year. Related blog posts about the Math Wiki project: * Thoughts on Setting up a Student Created Wiki * Setting up and Introducing a Collaborative Student Math Wiki * Math Tutorial Music Videos * Student Thoughts about their Math Wiki (Midyear Survey Results) * Empower Student to Be Lifelong Learners NOT Dependent Learners * Students as Meaningful Contributors"

"My children (16, 18, 20) are writing more and more. Their friends do too… Probably not in the way some of you can imagine… nor think of as writing…but nonetheless they are writing. They are texting… 8000 texts (per month) sent and received… Can you imagine probably 5-10 words on average per text…40,000 -80,000 words per month: A collaborative monthly story of their lives in WRITING!"

"The more we podcast and have our students create video clips or other digital storytelling projects, the more we need to teach storyboarding as part of the process. Being able to pre-visualize how your story will unfold is becoming a vital skill to have for storytellers."

"My official title at school is "21st Century Learning Specialist". My work focuses on bringing 21st Century skills and literacies to educators and students. I know…I know… many of you don't like the term "21st Century Something"."

"I wanted to share my third presentation slides from BLC11 Transforming Culture in the Classroom"

"I have been dying to share this project with all of you, but I have been holding off until we have completed the unit (well almost…). There seem to be more and more opportunities popping up for our 5th grader to continue learning and connecting their knowledge about Christopher Columbus… Take a listen to the students' "CC Newscast" video and then read on about the "upgrade" process from textbook to globally connected learning!"

"All of our classrooms at MJGDS have their own blog. Several grade levels are piloting individual student portfolios based on a blogging platform. * How do you keep up with all this information? * How do you filter and organize it? * How can you avoid having to go back to blogs to check if the owner has updated with a new post? You can download this How-To-Guide for Subscribing via RSS & Google Reader to Classroom Blogs as a pdf."

"In my previous post titled Enhancement-Automating-Transforming-Informating, I described the fusion (in my mind) of the SAMR model with Alan November's concept of Automating vs. Informating to transform teaching and learning."

"This blog post has been in the making for over 12 months.The first part was written (and then left in the draft folder) in November of 2009, while the second part is being written as the unit was unfolding over the last few weeks. I began working with our Middle School Language Arts teacher, Mrs. Kuhr, to upgrade one of her units (Author's Point of View)."

"What tools and platforms are available to better assist schools in better communicate and market themselves to parents and a community at large? How about creating School Information Network Channels by using diverse media platforms to: * stay in touch * solicit feedback * share upcoming and current events * share different media (audio, images & video) * share students' voices"