I do think it's incredibly important to engage this question of whether or not Khan Academy constitutes a revolution in math education, because it's a powerful case for asking one of the fundamental questions in education today: should we be using technology to do old things more efficiently, or to do new things? A lot of the fawning media coverage of Khan Academy doesn't necessarily advance this discussion
When I first started blogging, I thought the posts would be the primary focus of the blog. I quickly realized that the comment section was where the blog came to life.
Many parents work but would love to volunteer in some way. Last year, I asked parents to become “virtual volunteers” for our blogs. A virtual volunteer is a person who supports the blog by commenting back to students. This type of interaction helps strengthen the home-school connection and makes the comment sections more engaging.
With classroom time at a premium, I look for meaningful ways to integrate curriculum; the blog has been the perfect venue. When my class read “The Great Kapok Tree” by Lynne Cherry for language arts, the students followed up their reading by researching a rain forest animal that was mentioned in the story. Each student composed a comment for the blog from the point of view of that animal.
During our biography unit, I had each student select a famous person to study. Students submitted a creative comment pretending they were that person. George Washington got a comment from Queen Elizabeth I, Mozart and Tchaikovsky were chatting; the blog comments truly brought these historic people to life!
Of all the riches that blogging has brought to my class, the relationships we’ve built with other classrooms around the world have been the most rewarding.
Researchers from Columbia University, the University of Maryland, and the Smithsonian Institution beat me to this. They developed this free mobile app that uses visual recognition software to help identify tree species from photographs of their leaves. I use it to help students practice careful observation prior to writing. It motivates them to use specific nouns when describing a setting.
i haven't heard of the Personalized Learning" movement before. Interesting.
"10. Personal Learning Plans: A new law in Vermont calls for every student in grades 7-12 to create, with adult help, a personal learning plan based on that student's interests and ambitions. The so-called PLP must include not just a list of courses leading to a job or career, but also experiences outside a school setting."