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"What Makes a Great Teacher? Image credit: Veronika Lukasova Also in our Special Report: National: "How America Can Rise Again" Is the nation in terminal decline? Not necessarily. But securing the future will require fixing a system that has become a joke. Video: "One Nation, On Edge" James Fallows talks to Atlantic editor James Bennet about a uniquely American tradition-cycles of despair followed by triumphant rebirths. Interactive Graphic: "The State of the Union Is ..." ... thrifty, overextended, admired, twitchy, filthy, and clean: the nation in numbers. By Rachael Brown Chart: "The Happiness Index" Times were tough in 2009. But according to a cool Facebook app, people were happier. By Justin Miller On August 25, 2008, two little boys walked into public elementary schools in Southeast Washington, D.C. Both boys were African American fifth-graders. The previous spring, both had tested below grade level in math. One walked into Kimball Elementary School and climbed the stairs to Mr. William Taylor's math classroom, a tidy, powder-blue space in which neither the clocks nor most of the electrical outlets worked. The other walked into a very similar classroom a mile away at Plummer Elementary School. In both schools, more than 80 percent of the children received free or reduced-price lunches. At night, all the children went home to the same urban ecosystem, a zip code in which almost a quarter of the families lived below the poverty line and a police district in which somebody was murdered every week or so. Video: Four teachers in Four different classrooms demonstrate methods that work (Courtesy of Teach for America's video archive, available in February at teachingasleadership.org) At the end of the school year, both little boys took the same standardized test given at all D.C. public schools-not a perfect test of their learning, to be sure, but a relatively objective one (and, it's worth noting, not a very hard one). After a year in Mr. Taylo

"Handheld computers are everywhere. From mobile phones to handheld games, it's a very familiar sight to see people of all ages gazing into screens that they can hold. Schools are discovering that handhelds like iPod touch and iPad make great learning tools. In fact, handhelds can play a big part in project based learning. Not only do projects motivate students because they use exciting handheld technology, but they also lend themselves to student voice and choice. Watch or read below to be inspired to bring project based learning into your classroom, learn strategies for creating effective driving questions, and see how an iOS handheld can play a role in the the planning, research/investigation, and presentation of projects."

A useful chart comparing project-based learning in classrooms to simply doing projects

"Flat Classroom Project 2010 - 1"

Keynote for Flat Classroom Project 2010 -1 created by Judy O'Connell, Sydney, Australia

Second Classroom is a project to explore ways in which educators can create projects for students using immersive media such as Second Life, MMORPG and social networks to create authentic learning.

"Post by Steve Saville, deputy principal at Alfriston College in South Auckland. For four years, Steve has championed the use of comics in the classroom through a series of innovative workshops which have allowed students to develop and publish their own high quality comic books. In the first of a two-part guest post, Steve tells the story of Alfriston's unique comic book education project."

"Eight basic principles for the "Innovative Classroom," around which one teacher designed a middle school course called Physical Computing. Some of the projects and tools are specific to that course, but the fundamental ideas could be applied to almost any course at any level"

"Project-Based Learning (PBL) naturally lends itself to differentiated instruction. By design, it is student-centered, student-driven and gives space for teachers to meet the needs of students in a variety of ways. PBL can allow for effective differentiation in assessment as well as daily management and instruction. PBL experts will tell you this, but I often hear teachers ask for real examples, specifics to help them contextualize what it "looks like" in the classroom. In fact, the inspiration for this blog came specifically from requests on Twitter! We all need to try out specific ideas and strategies to get our brains working in a different context. Here are some specific differentiation strategies to use during a PBL project. "

An excellent example of a project developed by teachers after attending the Flat Classroom workshop at NECC 2008 Ozlinks is a collaborative project between Mrs Knight's Year 7 class at St Joseph's College Mildura, Victoria, Australia students and Mrs Peter's Year 7 class in Chehalem Valley Middle School, Newburg, Oregon, USA Coordinated by Mrs Elliott - Mildura, Victoria, Australia

"Jon Bergmann talks with Vicki Davis (CoolCatTeacher) about flipped learning by which he means moving direct instruction to the individual space so the classroom space can be freed up for collaborative projects. Listen now to find out more about this pedagogical method."

Blog posting from Vicki Davis

Start spreading the News to leave some PD time open during the K12 online conference October 20-24 and 27-31! If you want to download the flyer you can get it in PDF format. http://k12onlineconference.org/ Julie and I met 3 years a go at the K12 online conference and shortly thereafter the first Flat Classroom Project was born. Little did we know we'd be keynoting a strand so soon. But the best thing about the K12 online conference is you -- us. All of "us" -- the loosely defined, ever changing edublogosphere full of plurkers, lurkers, and prolific conversationalists. So, you've been hanging around the fringes wondering if all of this "stuff" is for you and your classroom. I challenge you -- read / listen to ONE session -- participate in ONE conversation. Just dip you toe in and see what you think! Share what you're doing! Learn from others! This is not about any ONE person telling US how to do things the best way. This is about US telling US how to do things. Free. By teachers and educators for teachers and educators. What is there to lose?

"There are several ways educators can use Awesome Highlighter , here are some suggestions : * Teachers can use it to show students the important parts of a lesson * Teachers share links of Highlighted text of relevant interest with students to save them time * Students can use it to share referencing quotes between each other * They can also use it to gather information for research and classroom project"

The Monster Project encourages the development of reading and writing skills while integrating technology into the classroom. Using monsters as a vehicle, students exchange written descriptions via this wiki, and then recreate their partner's monster without ever looking at the "real thing". During the project, students create, discuss, describe, interpret, analyze, organize and assess their monsters as well as the monsters of their peers.

An online Victorian collaborative project to gather, display and share robotic projects from classrooms around the world. Seems to have a primary school focus.

"Classrooms are infused with technology. Many lessons ask students to use for online or digital tools. Accomplishing this so it serves educational goals isn't as much about knowing how to use the tools as constructing knowledge in an organic, scalable way. To prepare students to make the cerebral leap between tools used for a particular project and tools available as-needed requires preparation in eight areas discussed in this post."

This site was nominated for an Edublog Award. Has very specific entries that are relevant for the classroom teacher. Focus may be for primary students but concepts seem easy to transform for Years 7 - 10 students.

LANGWITCHES' Blog contains thoughts, ideas and projects on my journey as a Technology Integration Facillitator. My name is Silvia Tolisano. I was born in Germany, raised in Argentina and am living in the United States. I hold a Bachelor's Degree in Spanish with a Minor in International Studies and a Masters in Education with an emphasis in Instructional Technology. My areas of interest include technology in the classroom and multicultural and global education.

"Mobile devices are now found in the hands of most children, and school leaders are using that to their advantage by incorporating devices that students already own into classroom lessons and projects."

A good PBL Essential Elements Checklist for teachers wanting to use this style of learning in the classroom

A collaborative videoconference project gives you and your students an opportunity to learn with another school or classroom.