Group items tagged

"Why wait for a formal workshop environment to start improving your teaching craft, when there are so many opportunities to build your network and learn new skills on your own? We've compiled a list of the best resources for do-it-yourself PD to get you started."

"Each morning as we start our day together, I draw attention to things that my students may have missed or mentions from our Twitter feed. This short time together each morning discussing our Twitter feed has resulted in rich discussions that prompt thinking, cause us to wonder and lead us to seek out further information. There are many opportunities during the school day to incorporate the use of twitter. A good place to start is to read the tweets from the other classes you follow, ask questions or provide comments as a whole class. The following examples will give you some ideas on how to involve Twitter in literacy, math and science. All of the Twitter activities explained can be done as a whole group, small group or by individual students. "

"Late August or early September is a make-it-or-break-it time for educators. The non-stop, brutal schedule that is a school year starts with all the finesse of trampling elephants, and doesn't relent for the next nine months (not coincidentally, the same amount of time it takes to gestate a baby). That makes starting the year right important - and there are few more critical pieces to an educator's success than collaboration."

"Augmented reality allows someone to add another layer to an existing image. For example, imagine holding your phone over a poster on the wall as if you were going to take a photo of that poster, and then instantly a video starts playing to offer you additional information about that particular poster. Pretty cool, right? The first time it happens, it seems like magic."

"Google Alerts is one of Google's hidden gems. It's a really powerful tool to keep track of trends, interesting topics, or anything really new that appears on the web. If you're not using it already, here are a few creative ways to get started with it."

"Introducing new technology into the classroom, especially iPads, can be overwhelming -- even daunting. When first getting started, the technology may seem like more of a distraction than a learning opportunity. So how do you begin? "

"I thought this one was important to share again as we start a new school year and with Common Core (with content area literacy) looming, I thought it'd be a good resource. I have added more novels to the list since the original post (thanks to some helpful friends and more reading). "

"As the new school year begins, it's already time to start mapping our your professional development for the 2013-2014 school year. While the traditional pillars of curriculum, assessment, and instruction get the lion's share of attention in professional growth plans, education technology-or #edtech-is increasingly common in PD as experienced teachers seek to integrate it more deeply, new teachers see what's out there, and skeptical teachers can stand on the periphery and evaluate what they see."

"Here is a wonderful step by step guide on how teachers can use Google Drive iPad app to create, distribute, submit, grade and return assignments. The guide starts with setting up a Gmail for students and moves on to how students can create and share a folder with their teacher.It also provides examples on how teachers can create a class folder with a variety of subfolders. the next part covers how teachers can create and submit assignments using apps like iWork which allows students to open Google Drive and upload their assignments. Next is a section on how teachers can collect, grade and return students assignments."

"Before we dig in, let's start with a quick multiple-choice quiz: Font : Text :: A. Hat : Head B. Coffee : Tea C. Voice : Speech The answer is C. The font you choose to display text is every bit as important as the voice you use to speak if you want a reader to not only understand what they are reading, but also remember it as well. The primary purpose of type is not really to be readable, but to convey information that is to be remembered. Surprisingly, readability might not always lead to the best information retention. "

"Yesterday I read Pernille Ripp's post, "Administrators, Please Inspire Us At Back to School." I started thinking about videos I've seen that have inspired me. I realized that the very best ones? They all have something in common. They are kids. What if this year, our schools, our teaching, and our learning became about kids once again? Kids we ALL have in our classrooms, hallways, and schools. Kids who have, right inside them, a chance to make a difference, to change the world. Kids who are already wanting to change the world and kids who are waiting for us to bring that out in them. Kids who need someone to believe in them, or kids who believe in us. I watch each one of these videos and see the things "school" and "learning" should be about. Passion. Believing. Dreaming. "

"As we start a new school year, one of the key aspects to consider is our relationships with the parents and families of our students."

"In a way, the current education system is already set up like a game-just not a very well designed one. Students earn points (grades), gain levels (grades), and in a way, have leaderboards. There are class valedictorians and students are essentially ranked based on their grades when colleges are deciding who to accept. Currently, the typical grading system in schools has students starting off with a 100 average, which slowly (or quickly, depending on the student's performance) gets lower and lower as the student receives anything less than a 100 on any assignments, tests, etc."

"Never been part of an online professional community or network? Already part of a community or network, but want to be more connected? The CEM Starter Kit can help you on both fronts. Written by The Connected Educator author Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Powerful Learning Practice in collaboration with the Connected Educators initiative, and loaded with helpful links and embedded videos, the kit takes a 31 days approach for this special month, giving you one simple way to get more connected every day. Please feel free to pass it along to any friend or colleague you think could benefit from getting more connected!"

"The video consists of three sections. It starts introducing Gardner and the main problem of education versus different individual skills. Then it turns to present the eight intelligences as proposed by Howard Gardner, including a suggested learning strategy for each of these intelligences. Then in the third and final part it presents the concepts of personalization and pluralization, defined in respect of the multiple intelligences theory, as the guiding principle for a more including and developing educational strategy. Regardless of what type of student, their age, level, or subject you're teaching, awareness and understanding of the theory of multiple intelligences will help reach more and deeper in the teaching effort. Even for people not directly involved in education, this theory will help in getting a more nuanced and deeper picture of human skills and personalities."

"Ideally, teaching kids how to think critically becomes an integral part of your approach, no matter what subject you teach. But if you're just getting started, here are some concrete ways you can begin leveraging your students' critical-thinking skills in the classroom and beyond. "

"As a passionate Economics major in college (which grew into an MBA), I find Econ at the root of much of the world around us. It starts with counting coins in first and second grade and grows up to a peek into NASDAQ and other adult subjects in middle school."