Group items tagged

"My first year of teaching was a blur. At the time, it didn't feel like a blur. It felt a joyous, adrenaline-fueled rush or lessons, meetings, and new relationships. But in hindsight, it was definitely a blur. And now, years later, I can see a few simple tweaks would've gone a long way."

"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."

"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."

"David Wilcox, of Musings on the Middle Years of Education, and I have worked together to create an infographic about the teen brain. It is based on a blog post he wrote over a year ago (Click here for that post) to tackle the issue of Why Teens Forget. Through lots of research, checking facts, and rechecking facts, we have found that teens forgetfulness may be due to major changes in their brain. These changes can last into the college years. While there is research that demonstrates the increased forgetfulness of "teens," we also found that research suggests this time period is an awesome explosion of learning and discovery that takes them into adulthood."

"It was a year's collection of running records, assessment data, anecdotal notes and other documents used to track my students' progress over the year. That was only a small part of my paper collection. I'd collected so much that it was hard to find my desk, buried under a mountain of paper. So this year, I decided to go as paperless as I could. Here's how.."

"Whether you are a teacher, parent, relative, boss, or fellow community member, each of us has a chance to make a positive and impactful difference in a child's life. But in order to do this, we must carefully consider this question: What do you think matters most to our children? For 20 years I have been posing this question to my students. At the beginning of every school year, I would ask my students to give me advice on how to be their best teacher. I asked them to think about the times they felt most successful and to consider what the adults in their lives did to make this success possible."

"During this first week of school, I wanted to inspire my students to be creative and have fun with their learning. In years past I have always struggled to make my writing lessons fun and engaging, yet productive. This is year I decided to introduce writing with the help of my favorite tech tool: Augmented Reality! "

"Being connected is not easy. I've spent three years on Twitter building relationships and co-moderating and participating in education chats. I am constantly reading (and writing!) blogs; all this in the pursuit of being a better teacher. Although the time it takes to develop a network is substantial, the benefits of connection far outweigh the efforts. Here are seven ways that my students benefit from the online Professional Learning Network I have built over the years:"

"In The eLearning Coach New Year's tradition, I'm presenting another list of compelling ways to learn online this year. Opportunities for learning seem limitless, applications get smarter and the content gets richer. I just hope we don't all evolve into robot heads at some point. Enjoy! At the end you'll find links to lists from the three previous years."

"The kindergarten student, a shy, Mandarin-speaking five-year-old immigrant in the tiny community of Sangudo, Alta., had barely spoken a word during the first three months of class. So her teacher was surprised one day last year when the girl struck up a conversation. The subject of their animated discussion? An image on the screen of an iPad. "

"Back to school. Three words teachers either despise or are very excited for. If you're using an iPad for teaching for the first time, going back to school can feel nervewracking and overwhelming. While the learning curve for teaching with iPads is not necessarily a steep one, it is important to be(come) confident in what you are doing with your device in front of your class."

"Ginger Gregory is the Gifted Resource Teacher at Lakeview Elementary School in Yukon, Oklahoma, and currently has 117 videos on her classroom YouTube channel. Ginger has used the six iPads in her classroom and her free, district-provided YouTube channel (since the Yukon school district participates in the Google Apps for Education program) to help her students develop oral communication skills, oral fluency, as well as digital literacy skills this semester. In the following six minute video, Mrs. Gregory and eight of her students explain what they have learned as a result of their assignments this year using iPad videos and YouTube."

"One area that I don't have time to explore very often during the school year is creating music on my iPad. It seems with all the day to day activities of teaching that I totally loose touch with musical explorations and composing. I've been taking more time lately to do this and I am floored at what I can do with an iPad and a few apps. I am not going to give you a history lesson here but I will say that at one time in my career I dreamed of creating a wonderful MIDI lab outfitted with computers, keyboards, speakers and mixers for my students to use. That dream never happened because of the crazy cost involved. My dream has been reshaped. Here is what I've found…."

"TenMarks is a service that offers an online mathematics program designed to supplement your in-classroom mathematics instruction. I tried the service when it launched a couple of years ago. Today, I revisited it when I learned that they now align all of their practice activities to Common Core Standards. "

"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 technology transforms the classroom, teaching is changing as well. When students head back to school this year, they may discover that monotonous lectures and mundane activities are a thing of the past when their teachers decide to flip the classroom. Educators across the globe will take a pledge to flip one lesson on Friday, Sept. 6, the first "Flipped Day". Hundreds of educators from 10 countries have already taken the pledge to use this innovative model of instruction on that day."

"Back to school is the perfect time of year to establish routines and remind students about making healthy choices. Children of all ages should have an understanding of the impact of their decisions related to the food they choose to eat. There are a variety of games and resources to promote discussions about healthy eating and to help students make smart choices. "

"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."