Group items tagged

Over the past two years, Forsyth County Schools in Cumming, Ga., has slowly allowed some of its 34,000 students to bring their own notebooks, iPhones or other computing tools to school and connect them to the district network. By allowing students to bring these devices into school they are allowing students to be creative in the classroom by giving the opportunity. So many districts have students "shut down" when they come into the building, and using mobile devices is what students know best, we need to embrace their knowledge, creativity and abilities in the classroom.

This article looks at online communication from a district's point of view. Using tools such as websites, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, online surveys, YouTube, and Pinterest, school districts are getting information out to a variety of constituents, not just parents and students. They are building a connection to the community.

This article gives reasons why schools should encourage tweeting among their student body. It shows the benefits of connecting students to students, teachers, parents and the entire community. Reading this article could give the reader new ideas for communicating and connecting using a popular Web 2.0 tool.

This article has merit from the perspective of a district principal. The 12 reasons are aligned with the school mission statement and since Tweeter is free, it is accessible to all stakeholders in the school community. It suggests that parents receive training in the tool to build two-way communications. Tweeter will help build a Personal Learning Network (PLN) and allows for anytime, anywhere PD, and that it is easier to send a tweet than it is to correct a webpage. The last reason #12 actually seems to be the most important in that students can make a connection not with only one mentor but with "a million other mentors" to learn from using Tweeter.

This is a fascinating article to read about a NJ school that took on the Google Platform. Much of what is documented in the article reminds me of why school district went with Google. The ease of emails, calendars, saving documents and designing websites through one platform is so helpful. What I found interesting is that the principal of the school operates with a BYOT (Bring Your Own Technology) policy. Her arguments being that as soon as schools make investments in iPads, or laptops etc. the "hardware" is obsolete in no time. She advocates a "learn anytime, anywhere on any device" approach - which I find refreshing and so innovative. At my school, there are many teachers who want to outright ban all personal electronic devices in school - well...for students! This article is a powerful reminder that with guidance and careful, thoughtful planning and implementation, we can make use of everything students bring to school with them - including personal electronic devices.

Maryellen Weimer, in her article sets out clear reasons why collaborative work, enhances creativity '. Students can see how different perspectives, constructive deliberation, questioning, and critical analysis can result in better solutions and performance.' Working effectively in groups demands students to think outside the box, and use multiple creative skills.

It was many years ago that I attended a seminar at the former GE Plastics headquarters here (now Sabic) outlining what for years has been obvious. Two key points included: 1) the need to adjust the school calendar, both in number of days and hours per day from the agrarian-based schedule which so many districts and schools still follow; 2) the need to include more group work in syllabi and lesson plans. The presenter emphasized that companies do not want to hire a person who is intelligent if that person cannot work well in a collaborative group situation. Opportunities abound to prepare our students for higher education and careers through group work in face-to-face instruction, the flipped classroom concept and the design of VHS courses.

Kae, Key points: --"reliable, valuable, and up-to-the-minute information."(web 1.0) --"content-creating process". (Web 2.0) --"the idea of K-12 education being tailored to students' own interests is becoming more commonplace."An old idea whose time may have come due to access to information through technology. --"Democratizing education." Huge implications for poorer school districts. The focus moves away from bricks and mortar to learning and access to information. The big question becomes,"As the culture of the school diminishes in the role of traditional learning, will the culture of the home be equipped to encourage the child? Will underperforming students start to perform better by providing equal access to all information? Tom

I found this article quite informative and wrote a blog entry about it. That can be located at http://alwaysjan.edublogs.org/2013/02/17/if-we-teach-today-as-we-taught-yesterday-we-rob-out-children-of-tomorrow-john-dewey/ . I hope you take the time to read my blog post.

This article brought to light the number of students and parents that have smart phone and use them as their primary source of communication. At the conclusion of the article, it suggested that school districts need to adjust their method of communication with parents due to their overwhelming use of social media and smart phones. This article was focused on the role of social media in communication with parents rather than the use of social media instructionally in the classroom

This Google Chrome extension, Checker Plus for Gmail, allows you to receive Gmail notifications such as sound and a popup dialogue box that allows you to read, reply to, and archive messages without having to go back into your inbox to view the message first. You can change the sounds and the extension is very user friendly.

Blog post by Ken Kay of EdLeader21 outlining strategies for administrators to assist teachers in implementing 21st century skills (critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity) into classroom practices .

Assess student learning at a glance via a honeycomb-style, color-coded display featuring overall student understanding from the individual to district level. I found this very interesting not only due to the ease of use, but also the ease of which you can fluidly bounce between multiple different problem areas quickly and efficiently.

Four years ago we toured the Portland HS. They were all warm and fuzzy about their new 1:1 student laptops. We asked about blocking sites and they stated they were teaching responsible use over locking everything down. We must teach responsible use but everyone needs to realize that the lure of wasting time on connected devices is too much for many of them.

/we began our 1:1 initiative 5 years ago and each year we have a different image for the students. We have several eBooks and programs which are used for curriculum. Deep freeze was installed to prevent "distractions" and DyKnow is used by teachers to keep students on track. The district filters based on the State guidelines. Teaching guidelines really doesn't work, neither does locking the system--it prevents so much education using Web 2.0 tools. I'm not sure there is a happy balance unless the students are mature enough or afraid of consequences. Taking the tablet away hasn't helped either.

School district implements common planning time and allows teachers to collaborate using a wike for lesson plans and web links to enhance classroom teaching.

Thank you for sharing that example of the wiki and teacher sharing. I may discuss this to be a possible option for a professional day for my own dept members as we look to design our own text.

The final section talks about how teachers have changed the way they teach, now using the laptops as tools for students to create products, such as pubic service announcements, or podcasts explaining the concepts for other students.

Liz, This is an excellent article that should help us with our 1 to 1 program next year. As I heard in Shanghai last year, teacher training is key to a successful program.

Liz, This is an excellent article that will help us plan our 1 to 1 program. It reinforces what i was told in Shanghai in September, teacher training is the key to success.

A school librarian has worked to bring Kindles into the classrooms of the school she serves. Because of the success of the program the school district purchased Kindles for every eighth grade student.

This looks very interesting as well as promising. Furthermore, placing such devices into the hands of older students help mitigate the fears of lost/damaged property. I was unaware a Kindle had a text-to-voice option, something a few students I know would find immensely enjoyable. "The bottom line for me is the Kindles have generated a love of reading among those students who would not have otherwise picked up a book."

This is an awesome example of how to use a wiki for professional development. Thank you Neal.

This article attracted my attention due to my affiliation with Graduation Portfolios for our district. I loved the idea of students taking ownership of their Portfolio in terms of linking it to an electronic format they could *present* at the end of the school year. One of the apps listed ("Three Ring") sounded really interesting, and I hope to model it with next year's Seniors.

This article was great. Our high school students should be creating career portfolios and some of the programs like Evernote and Three Ring seem to be great ways of collecting and organizing career information. Employers are now looking at what students have accomplished over a paper resume. Some employers want to see you digital resume' with examples of a student's work. These two programs seem to be a great way to help students be prepared for the new way employers might require for job interviews. One other website is a great resource for Student Portfolios and that is MassCis. Not only does it have the ability to upload exemplars, but it has lessons teachers can use that are aligned with the standards to help students explore their career interests. Imagine, career information, career inventories, goal setting activities, resume writing, college and financial information, teachers' lesson plans and student portfolios all on the same website. Each student can create a portfolio and have it from the middle school through high school. Check it out: www.masscis.intocareers.com

Schools and libraries hungry for faster and more reliably funded Wi-Fi connections will be watching the July 11 open meeting of the Federal Communications Commission closely. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's long-awaited E-rate modernization plan, which he released in outline form on June 20, will be discussed by commissioners and presumably voted on during the meeting. This article is so on topic right now. As we move forward and learn to incorporate the new technologies and collaborative tools for our students, isn't it sad that some school districts have to worry about how they will pay for access. Since this article has been posted, the FCC did vote to modernize the school and libraries E-rate. Unfortunately, this problem will continue to be present for the foreseeable future. Linda