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Sara Wilkie

BalancEdTech - Apps Taskonomy - 2 views

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    "The iPad (or iPod touch or iPhone) with its apps opens many new opportunities for learning. At the same time, it offers a slightly different wrapper for older learning opportunities. Both can be worthwhile, but it would be a shame if teachers missed the former for the latter. And, if past experience and research is any indication, educators are much more likely to co-opt the new technology to accomplish the status quo. This activity is designed to help teachers think through both opportunities and to categorize those apps that lend themselves to either or both. Teachers will start by exploring a variety of apps, some that lend themselves to learning content such as math facts or spelling words and others that can be used in open ended content creation such as storytelling or photography. Then, teachers will examine a set of lessons that use these apps. Finally, teachers will use a "taxonomy" such as Bloom's Taxonomy, SAMR, LoTi, ETaP, Prensky, etc. and attempt to classify/categorize where the apps fall. Most likely teachers will need to contextualize the app to a particular use/activity. Ideally, teachers will realize that in most cases it is not the app itself, but the use that detrmines where it falls and that the apps belong in multiple places. "
Sara Wilkie

Tips on Inspiring Student Curiosity - Teaching Now - Education Week Teacher - 0 views

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    "teacher-ready tips for stimulating curiosity in others. First, she suggests starting with the question, rather than the answer-which teachers will recognize as the foundation of inquiry-based or discovery learning (see: math teacher Dan Meyer's take on how to make math "irresistible" to students). She then suggests offering some initial knowledge on the subject. "We're not curious about something we know absolutely nothing about," she writes. Again, teachers may know this as "activating prior knowledge" or "setting the stage" before a lesson. Finally, she says it helps to require communication, or "open an information gap and then require learners to communicate with each other in order to fill it." The think-pair-share technique and vocabulary activities that require students to teach each other their words both exemplify this. What would you add to the list? How does stimulating curiosity gel with other motivation tactics-or should teachers think of curiosity and motivation as one and the same?"
Sara Wilkie

The challenge of responding to off-the-mark comments | Granted, and... - 0 views

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    I have been thinking a lot lately about the challenge we face as educators when well-intentioned learners make incorrect, inscrutable, thoughtless, or otherwise off-the-mark comments. It's a crucial moment in teaching: how do you respond to an unhelpful remark in a way that 1) dignifies the attempt while 2) making sure that no one leaves thinking that the remark is true or useful? Summer is a great time to think about the challenge of developing new routines and habits in class, and this is a vital issue that gets precious little attention in training and staff development. Here is a famous Saturday Night Live skit, with Jerry Seinfeld as a HS history teacher, that painfully demonstrates the challenge and a less than exemplary response. Don't misunderstand me: I am not saying that we are always correct in our judgment about participant remarks. Sometimes a seemingly dumb comment turns out to be quite insightful. Nor am I talking about merely inchoate or poorly-worded contributions. That is a separate teaching challenge: how to unpack or invite others to unpack a potentially-useful but poorly articulated idea. No, I am talking about those comments that are just clunkers in some way; seemingly dead-end offerings that tempt us to drop our jaws or make some snarky remark back. My favorite example of the challenge and how to meet it comes from watching my old mentor Ted Sizer in action in front of 360 educators in Louisville 25 years ago. We had travelled as the staff of the Coalition of Essential Schools from Providence to Louisville to pitch the emerging Coalition reform effort locally. Ted gave a rousing speech about the need to transform the American high school. After a long round of applause, Ted took questions. The first questioner asked, and I quote: "Mr Sizer, what do you think about these girls and their skimpy halter tops in school?" (You have to also imagine the voice: very good-ol'-boy). Without missing a beat or making a face, Ted said "Deco
Sara Wilkie

101 Great Twitter Accounts for Teachers | My Town Tutors - 0 views

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    "The feedback from teachers has been incredible to our top 10 twitter accounts for teachers. We would like to continue to provide great resources for teachers and educators, so we are continuing to add to our list."
Sara Wilkie

Selling Ice to Eskimos: The falling value of knowledge « Douchy's Blog - 0 views

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    "Great teachers in this second decade, will need more than subject knowledge to have value. In the 20th Century, it was arguably the most important quality of a teacher. "She knows her stuff" was a common student endorsement of a quality teacher. But "knowing your stuff" won't be sufficient any more. Wikipedia knows it's stuff, too. Better than you do, no doubt. The differentiator of success for a teacher will be the way you creatively translate knowledge to the lives of your students, the way you inspire them to discover knowledge themselves, and the way you infuse the learning process with joy."
Sara Wilkie

Are they Students or are they Learners? : 2¢ Worth - 1 views

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    I spend a lot of time, these days, talking and writing about how we are asking teachers to redefine what it means to be a teacher - and, in all fairness, how difficult that is. I try to present myself as a master learner, suggesting that part of what teachers should be, today, is constant and resourceful learners - master learners. But perhaps a significant part of this exercise in redefinition should involve our students - an explicit remolding of perceptions of these youngsters, in order to fully shift the relationship between student and teacher, learner and master learner.
Sara Wilkie

{12 Days: Tool 8} Pinterest Cheat Sheet | Learning Unlimited | Research-based Literacy ... - 0 views

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    "Pinterest, a social sharing website that allow users to create and share virtual bulletin boards, has been the darling of social media over the past year. Its primarily female user base continues to grow by leaps and bounds. While you likely know teachers who have free Pinterest accounts, you may still be wondering if you belong on yet another social media site. "YES!" (Uttered quickly and with much enthusiasm!) And here's why. While Pinterest is exploding with fashion boards, trendy home decor, and to-die-for travel destinations (that sadly don't fit my budget), it also includes many boards for educators. Pinterest, heavy on visual appeal, can serve as a great resource for such areas as: classroom decor, language arts. content areas, lesson plans, technology tools, professional books, and much, much more! Your boards can also be a resource for students (age 13+ according to Pinterest regulations), teachers, and parents. If you're a newbie to Pinterest, listed below are a few must-know terms and how-to's. With a few quick tips, Pinterest can help you organize the internet jumble of resources for teachers and students. If you're a full-fledged addict, er, Pinterest Pro, skip to How Educators Use Pinterest or simply download today's Pinterest Cheat Sheet that also includes many ideas for boards."
Sara Wilkie

Dropbox and DropitTome for classroom use - National Technology in Education | Examiner.com - 0 views

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    "Now that half of the school year is over, teachers often find themselves needing a better organization plan for their classroom. Dropbox is a free service (there are paid levels as well) teachers can use to store and access their files from any device. It also provides a way to share files between classes and between students and teachers."
Sara Wilkie

Are You Ready to Join the Slow Education Movement? - 0 views

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    "Personalized learning requires teachers to become co-learners and release their iron grip on the learning process. It requires districts to trust principals, principals to trust teachers, and teachers to trust students. It requires a great deal of conversation about what real learning is and why it matters. engaged-students2This student-driven approach to learning allows kids to explore what matters to them, to build things that don't work and to figure out why. It requires them to form opinions and justify them based on solid evidence. And it requires adults who care and can speak carefully and honestly into the lives of kids. All learning should be formative. "
Sara Wilkie

Who do our students consider the audience? SmartBlogs - 0 views

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    We need to develop more learning opportunities where students constitute the actual evaluators for the work itself. Imagine if students, teachers and others evaluate and provide feedback to determine the effectiveness of a student's creation: Develop an 60-second speech to be shared with the student council and three advertising posters to be copied and placed around school to decrease bullying. Your work will be evaluated according to our rubric by the students in our class, outside professionals and me - as the teacher. These are the experiences that push learning beyond a one-way conversation between student and teacher. They demystify the assessment process and allow each student to be a creator and simultaneous evaluator, providing multiple experiences for students to recognize and apply the criteria for quality"
Richard Fanning

Technology Integration Matrix - 2 views

  • The Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) illustrates how teachers can use technology to enhance learning for K-12 students.
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    The Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) provides a foundation for professional development for technology integration and a common vocabulary for talking about effective uses of technology in teaching and learning. The Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) illustrates how teachers can use technology to enhance learning for K-12 students.The Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) illustrates how teachers can use technology to enhance learning for K-12 students.
Richard Fanning

100+ Google Tricks for Teachers | TeachHUB - 3 views

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    100+ Google Tricks for Teachers
Sara Wilkie

Diving Into Project-based Learning: Our Inquiry |Philip Cummings - 0 views

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    "I decided to use the teacher console on Diigo to create groups for each of my classes. I used handouts and tips from Bill Ferriter's Digitally Speaking Wiki to get everything set up and explain to the student how I wanted them to find, annotate, and share resources and information. (I highly recommend Bill's resources. They saved me a ton of time.) The students had used Diigo for research on a project during a previous school year so I thought with Bill's handouts and the boys' previous experience we were in good shape to begin. I soon learned differently. We have a 1:1 laptop classroom and the boys have a natural tendency to head straight to Google any time they have a question, but it was obvious after the first day that they weren't finding the quality resources they needed. Additionally, some boys still didn't know (or forgot) how to share to a group while others didn't know how to write a quality annotation. I had assumed too much. They needed what Mike Kaechele calls a "teacher workshop" on searching for information and on how to use Diigo. They needed me to model what they should do."
Sara Wilkie

Shanahan on Literacy: What is Close Reading? - 0 views

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    "The common core standards are encouraging teachers to engage students in close reading. Much of the focus of discussions of close reading have emphasized what teachers should not do (in terms of pre-reading, or types of questions). I am being asked with increasing frequency what close reading is. "
Sara Wilkie

5 iPad Apps to Help Students and Teachers Collaborate | Jonathan Wylie: Instructional T... - 0 views

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    "There are not an abundance of apps for the iPad that really encourage a worthwhile level of collaboration between students or between students and teachers. There are several that would allow students to share an iPad and work on something together on one iPad, but what if you want students to be working on their own iPads at school, at home, or at a time of their choosing? The following 5 apps are designed for just that, and help take advantage of the iPad as a collaborative tool. "
Sara Wilkie

The Biggest Challenge to Overcome for the Effective Use of iPads at School « ... - 0 views

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    "A teacher's role in the classroom is to supply direction, maturity and wisdom. It is to raise questions, inspire endeavour and lay down challenges. A teacher brings purpose to the lesson. But to be effective in an iPad classroom, she must relinquish control over the tools used, allowing students to share the responsibility and joy of discovering and sharing solutions to achieve that purpose. I'm not saying that teachers are absolved of their professional responsibility for learning to use the technology. But they should admit to being learners, and not let that fact stop their students from using the device in unforeseen ways, in the pursuit of the class goals."
Sara Wilkie

Recipe For The Perfect PLN - 1 views

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    "A Personal Learning Network (commonly referred to as a PLN) is one of the most popular ways for modern teachers to reach out and get connected to other educators, whether this means keeping in touch with colleagues and friends or making new connections with other talented teachers across the globe. The very best PLNs facilitate wonderful information sharing, learning opportunities and gateways to collaboration between classrooms. Read our recipe for the perfect PLN and start cooking yours up today!"
Sara Wilkie

10 Ways To Use Avatars In Education | Digital Learning Environments - 2 views

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    "As overcrowded classrooms, crunched school district budgets, and online, open learning become more prominent in lower and higher education - for better or worse - teachers and students are feeling stretched in many directions. While the hoped for result in democratic learning is that we'll all be more connected, the truth is that we're also losing valuable face time and struggling to find new ways to bring the world back to students. Avatars are being used to help these challenges, by helping younger students contextualize history lessons, giving teachers more direct training before they even meet students, and more. Here are 10 amazing ways avatars are being used in education."
Sara Wilkie

Cool math games - have fun learning math - 1 views

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    Spring Branch ISD is now working with MangaHigh. They are uploading student rosters for teachers so that SBISD teachers can assign challenges to their students. It's a great motivational tool to which our teachers and students have access.
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    for any teacher who wants to use it?
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    Middle schools and high schools definitely have access to this program. Check with Karen Justl to find out whether or not all schools have access.
Sara Wilkie

8 Steps To Flipped Teacher Professional Development - 0 views

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    "Whatever you do the first year will be a trainwreck (compared to the nice and tidy sit-and-get PD). So from the beginning, everyone should be aware that it's all a work in progress-just like the profession itself. Perhaps the greatest potential here is in the chance to personalize professional development for teachers. The above ideas are too vague to be considered an exact guide, but an "exact guide" really isn't possible without ending up with something as top-heavy and standardized as the process it seeks to replace-or at least supplement. Instead focus on the big ideas-personalizing educator training through self-directed and social media-based professional development."
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