Upgrade Your Curriculum

"So I make the following argument with a great deal of trepidation: What if watching videos is good for kids? What if it is so good that it should be part of the regular school day? I'm not talking about the latest Pixar movie (although Inside Out certainly could be a great resource for social and emotional learning). I'm talking about explicitly educational videos that teach content to kids in an engaging and memorable way."

"Here's a sketchy video I created for my technology pedagogy course. I have mixed feelings about SAMR, because it often implies that "lower levels" are not as good when often substitution works well. Royan Lee picked this apart well. I also think there are times when the best option involves avoiding technology. For example, there are times when sketching something by hand teaches observational skills better than using a camera. However, I still see a real benefit in the SAMR model, in terms of thinking about the transformative power of technology."

"One of my early challenges in coordinating my school's STEM efforts has been determining exactly what is meant by a STEM school. There are probably as many answers to this question as there are educators, but I have decided to focus on what goes on inside the classroom. Not just in a science or math class, but in all classrooms. There are some activities that have traditionally been done well by the STEM disciplines that can be cross applied to all subjects. "

"When four South Carolina districts joined forces in 2013 to compete for a federal Race to the Top grant, their shared educational vision was clear: Teaching students to be creative innovators and independent learners will improve school performance. The challenge was finding a model to encompass all the sweeping changes they wanted to implement. What the districts' leaders eventually settled on was the term "enterprise learning," which refers to both a popular public education program overseas, and a model for professional development in corporate America. The South Carolina schools-working collectively as the Carolina Consortium for Enterprise Learning (CCEL)-are now trying to blend the two programs together with the help of $24.9 million in federal funding."

"NEW YORK - Technology is in every room at P.S. 101 in Brooklyn - it's even in the hallways. Scan the QR code with your phone outside of the fourth-grade classroom of co-teachers Vanessa Desiano and Jamie Coccia and a video will pop up of a student giving a history presentation on early explorers. Step inside, and fourth-grade students are working together to discover the themes of chapter 13 in their latest book, The Birchbark House, and typing what they find on iPads."

"It took just one relentless bout of the flu to remind me of the power of empirical evidence and the importance of shooting data. More than numbers, it was the evidence gleaned from my experiences and the images that I gathered along the way that helped my doctor solve the riddle that was delaying my recovery."

"This collaborative blog post was written with help from friend and colleague Danielle Hardt of Starpoint Middle School in Lockport, NY. Danielle is a literacy rock star, a highly effective teacher, and a secret practical joke enthusiast (a skill I highly prize!). "

"One of the most wonderful things about working with 5- and 6-year-olds is their ability to talk and communicate how they feel, their opinion, their ideas and what they understand. They have an amazing ability and willingness to communicate. The communication is spontaneous, contagious, fun and so important as we begin to learn together. Their language is encouraged, enriched and enhanced through authentic opportunities to engage"

"The one guaranteed constant in educational technology is change, and the pace of that change is definitely accelerating. So as we approach the new year, T.H.E. Journal pauses to survey the ed tech trends on the horizon. As in previous years, we have assembled a distinguished panel of five experts, including several from our advisory board. We asked them to consider 10 topics related to instructional technology and predict whether each topic will be HOT ⇧, LUKEWARM ⇔, or LOSING STEAM ⇓ in 2014. We compiled their responses to come up with an overall trend line. There was unanimous agreement on some topics and less consensus on others, but taken together, their responses paint a compelling picture of what to expect from ed tech in 2014."

"Take a moment to think about how you learned to write. What steps did you go through? What was your process?"

"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."

"Millennials live and breathe on social media, so teachers are learning how to incorporate the medium into the classroom successfully. In doing so, teachers not only encourage students to engage actively in the material, but they also provide online communities for students that might not exist for them in real life. But how are teachers infusing social media into their everyday lessons? We've highlighted several different examples and offered our own ideas on how to best engage students. "

"In the current era of accountability, it is becoming increasingly difficult to dedicate time to what matters most: good teaching for today's students. Janet Hale and Michael Fisher's latest book, "Upgrade Your Curriculum," is a collection of research and real-world narratives that pinpoint specific ways to transform your curriculum."

"Now that we are well into summer, thoughts turn towards the next school year. For many teachers, fall may bring a classroom full of new devices. While this is an exciting prospect, it could also be a paralyzing endeavor, particularly with the question: "Where do I begin?" "

"The following is a wonderful description, step by step, how one librarian upgraded traditional "animal reports" with a first grade class (six year olds)."

"Perhaps no single technology has brought a more profound change to some teachers' instructional practices than the evolution of digital video. While the growth of online content, social networking, and multimedia production tools have all helped educators reconsider how students should consume, discuss, and demonstrate mastery of content, only the dramatic increase in video availability has led directly to the "flipped classroom" movement."

"Recently, I had the opportunity to record a Google Hangout with four connected educators on "Growing Your PLN." Lyn Hilt (@l_hilt), Nick Provenzano (@thenerdyteacher), Lisa Dabbs (@teachingwthsoul) and Patrick Larkin (@patrickmlarkin) joined the conversation and shared a wealth of advice on how educators can develop a strong personal learning network."

"The Someday/Monday dichotomy captures one of the core challenges in teacher professional development around education technology. On the one hand, deep integration of new learning technologies into classrooms requires substantially rethinking pedagogy, curriculum, assessment, and teacher practice (someday). For technology to make a real difference in student learning, it can't just be an add-on. On the other hand, teachers need to start somewhere (Monday), and one of the easiest ways for teachers to get experience with emerging tools is to play and experiment in lightweight ways: to use technology as an add-on. Teachers need to imagine a new future-to build towards Someday-and teachers also need new activities and strategies to try out on Monday. Both pathways are important to teacher growth and meaningful, sustained changes in teaching and learning."