"The Neverending Tale is created by You.
The Neverending Tale is for kids and kids-at-heart.
It is a choose-your-own-path adventure story- like you might read in a book. But you can add to the tale where ever you like. Whatever you add will become part of the tale, anything you can think of.
The tale will change and grow over time- as other kids like you follow your story and write new choices. You can see that it's not just a story, it's also a game. And like any other game, there are rules to understand before you start. "
"While many of you may be heading for the beach this week, it won't be long before you're ready to start exploring some new tools to help your students be better creators and collaborators when you go back to school in the fall. This week we published a new video on Nicole Dalesio, a fifth-grade teacher who uses all kinds of free technology tools in her class to keep her kids engaged, and it inspired me to go hunt down the best tutorials for all these great, free Web 2.0 tools. Did I mention most of them are free?"
"
Most educators are more familiar with Bloom's Taxonomy than with Webb's Depth of Knowledge.
Blooms Taxonomy
In 1965 Benjamin Bloom identified three types of learning: cognative (mental skills/knowledge), affective (emotional/attitudes) , and psychomotor (manual/physical skills) Within the cognative area, there are six progressive categories in the development of intellectual skills. Each step must be mastered before the next can occur. (Note the levels listed below do not reflect the 1990's revision of the taxonomy)"
"By 5:01 p.m. on a Tuesday afternoon, Byron High School (MN) math teacher Troy Faulkner has already received five e-mails from his students: "Where's tomorrow's video lesson? We are waiting!" With their laptops, tablets, or smartphones--whatever is convenient--Faulkner's students are waiting to log on to Moodle and watch a YouTube video of him solving quadratic equations. In the classroom the next day, Faulkner will work with students as they demonstrate how well they understand the concepts laid out in the lecture the night before. "
"Before March 2009, Eric Sheninger viewed social media the way many principals do. He didn't think it would help students learn. Instead, he saw it as a hindrance to learning. "
"It was about five years ago when I got into visualization. Before I actually made anything, I read books and guides that made suggestions and preached a handful of design principles, but when it was time to make a data graphic for publication, I didn't know what I was doing. Theory is great. Being able to apply it to your own data is better."
"WiredSafety's volunteers have been doing this since right after the Web was launched. For more than 16 years we have been helping people who need our help online. Our sites have had different formats, approaches and lots and lots of coders, editors, writers and webmasters.
We are all volunteers, and our online presence looked different every time someone added something or took something away. The site and our other sites grew, but not always in the right way. Our haphazard sites and navigation would be modified to adapt to a need we discovered, and new topics shoe-horned in when they emerged. No one overall vision for the site. And it stopped reflecting our One Vision, One Mission, One WiredSafety rule.
We never had enough time to plot our site, update everything and adopt the newest technologies to help us address the needs of the public or even all our volunteers. Please accept our apologies.
That was before. This is now. With the generous support of Google, Spectorsoft and a couple others we have ripped everything down and started from scratch. Only about 10% done, we launched with the new site to clean things up. Expect daily changes and improvements. "
"We are not spyware
Our team believes in positive family communication based on trust and responsibility. Before using our product, we urge you to sit down with your child to have a discussion about what exactly will be monitored.
Read more »
See us in the news
Watch as Dr. Phil, law enforcement officers, and parents from around the country all recommend My Mobile Watchdog.
View more »
Keeping School Kids Safe
My Mobile Watchdog is proud to partner with TDS, California's largest and oldest public school 403b Plan Administrator, to prevent cyber bullying."
Help the carpenter with his job. Think carefully before you cut a plank, because there are no second chances if you make a mistake. So remember the carpenter's saying: "Measure Twice and Cut Once"!
Students can create their own digital stories. They can choose their characters, setting, and topic. Children have many opportunities for creativity, as they can change the setting and add details to their stories. Students can preview before they print and share their stories.
iPads are a great tool to encourage continual sharing and collaboration in the classroom, says education technology consultant Sam Gliksman. Gliksman runs iPads for Education, a Ning network that has drawn several thousand educators and other people interested in exploring the use of iPads in schools. He has captured much of what he's gleaned from working with schools and teachers on their iPad programs in a new book, iPad in Education for Dummies. Recently, he shared with THE Journal his best advice on what to do before a rollout and how to help an iPad classroom run as smoothly as possible to let teachers focus on the learning, not the technology.
20 Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers is the title of a nice slide presentation created by Simon Ward. Ward's presentation contains some very familiar sites like Delicious and also includes some lesser-known sites. In fact, there were a few sites in the slide presentation that I don't recall ever seeing before. Take a few minutes to go through the presentation and you might find a new-to-you tool too.
"MouseMail uses Active Email Filtering to scan for inappropriate content, as well as non-approved contacts in every email.
MouseMail scans all incoming and outgoing email messages for inappropriate content. Questionable messages will not be delivered to the child, but diverted to the parent for review.
This filtering allows parents to passively monitor their children's communications, giving parents a chance to talk with their child if an issue arises before that issue becomes serious."
"MindTap™ is the first in a new category-the Personal Learning Experience (PLE).
MindTap is well beyond an eBook, a homework solution or digital supplement, a resource center website, a course delivery platform
or a Learning Management System.
More than 70% of students surveyed said it was unlike anything they have seen before."
"
The Future of Online Learning
By Jeff Borden / August 2011
Print Email
Comments Instapaper
Higher education is undergoing an explosive period of transformation that embraces the digital age. From tablets to smart phones to wikis and blogs, today's digital environment makes communication, collaboration and information sharing easier than ever before. "
"
What amazed me most about Classtools.net was not the valuable tools provided, but the ability for teachers to easily customize these tools and use them in any subject area. If that is not enough, how about the ability to embed your newly made instructional resource on your own classroom website, wiki, or blog? Any educator will also like the fact that students have no need to log in or sign up for an account… and neither do teachers! Need tutorials… they are provided! Do samples help you understand better… you will find plenty! Is budget a problem… then free should be affordable!
Classtools.net is the work of educator, Russel Tarr, Head of History at the International School of Toulouse, France. Upon entering the site, educators will see the listing of tools. Clicking on a tool allows teachers to individualize that specific tool for their own classroom needs. Teachers then have the option of copying a generated link to place on their own web site or of copying a generated code to embed as a tool (widget) on their classroom site. Also, on the front page, are some video links that will provide further information. Two videos that provide excellent information are the 1 Minute Overview and How to Create Games.
The Listing Of Over 20 Digital Tools For Your Classroom
The tools that you can even customize are included below. Along with this tool listing you will find descriptions of each tool, an overview of and samples of specific tools (if provided), and any related video (if provided).
* Arcade Game Generator - Allows teachers to create concept builders, practice exercises, and reviews. Best of all, one set up feeds into five different game possibilities at the same time The teacher can choose which game, or allow students a choice. Make sure you check out all the examples and pre-made games in (overview and samples). Also watch the How to Create Games .
* Random Name Picker - Can be used as an activity management tool or skip the names.
"MouseMail uses Active Email Filtering to scan for inappropriate content, as well as non-approved contacts in every email.
Questionable messages will not be delivered to the child, but diverted to the parent for review.
This filtering alerts parents to any inappropriate communications, giving the parents a chance to talk with their child if an issue arises before it becomes serious."