Group items tagged

Use PrimaryWall to create a virtual cork board/sticky note website that can be used for student interaction with a lesson. Easy to use and taylored to the K-8 teacher's classroom.

"Kurt Wootton, co-author of A Reason to Read. "In my view, the repetition must not come before allowing students to participate in the creative tasks, but rather repeated practice walks side-by-side with the creative process."" I find this statement to "hit the nail on the head" as the debate between rote memory and creative "aha" moments continue. The analogy of the musician practicing for hours playing scales as well as note for note renditions of other's work is appropriate to this discussion. The book, "Outliers",by Malcolm Gladwell, addresses the 10,000 hour rule. To paraphrase; To become world class at anything, it takes 10,000 hours of focused practice. The author's examples range from Bill Gates to The Beatles. When two sides are set up as an US vs THEM debate, it misses the oppoprtunity to combine perfect practice with creative inspiration. Putting together a perfect meal is based on proper choices of various food combinations. Putting together a perfect learning environment is very similar in that a combination of repetitive learning and creative opportunity helps the learning as well as creative process.

"Kurt Wootton, co-author of A Reason to Read. "In my view, the repetition must not come before allowing students to participate in the creative tasks, but rather repeated practice walks side-by-side with the creative process."" I find this statement to "hit the nail on the head" as the debate between rote memory and creative "aha" moments continue. The analogy of the musician practicing for hours playing scales as well as note for note renditions of other's work is appropriate to this discussion. The book, "Outliers",by Malcolm Gladwell, addresses the 10,000 hour rule. To paraphrase; To become world class at anything, it takes 10,000 hours of focused practice. The author's examples range from Bill Gates to The Beatles. When two sides are set up as an US vs THEM debate, it misses the oppoprtunity to combine perfect practice with creative inspiration. Putting together a perfect meal is based on proper choices of various food combinations. Putting together a perfect learning environment is very similar in that a combination of repetitive learning and creative opportunity helps the learning as well as creative process.

Taking notes is an everyday skill in education but often overlooked. Technology -- and more specifically, the Internet -- has rendered paper and pencil passé and allowed educators and students to raise note-taking to the next level. Most of the following sites use some form of the "post-it" or "sticky," but with the integration of Web 2.0 technologies.

Spaaze is a website that allows for the simple creation of a virtual cork board. It is extremely dynamic and easy to use. You can add video, images, files, titles, and notes all in one spot so your students can have easy access to unit material. The canvass size of Spaaze is huge so you can add quite a few units to one canvass.

you are presented with a very simple text editor perfect for student journals. Each note can include images, links and attachments as well as tags to help with searching. For example, journal entries for a history unit might be tagged, "WWII". In addition, multiple notebooks can be created with one account. NotePub, like many online writing tools, works great for role playing assignments. Have your students assume the role of a person they are studying or character from literature. Then, your students write a daily journal entry. Completed entries can be shared in several ways including email.

Glog used instead of taking notes during reading textbook

"Net History" Add your notes from http://nethistory.info

Not an amazing article. But, it is important to note that four...maybe all five of her "five lessons" are based on communication. "1. Keep the student at the center of every decision that needs to be made. 2. Foster relationships with students and parents, because parents can be a teacher's biggest help. 3. Talk with your students every day by phone. Dove said that the majority of her day is spent talking directly with students to build a one-on-one relationship with each of them. 4. Celebrate every effort and success, no matter how big or small. "Always be positive in your feedback, even if the assignment may not be stellar. The written word is so powerful online, and you always want your students to feel that you are cheering them on and appreciate their hard work," she explained. 5. Build relationships with fellow teachers. Share resources, best practices, and stories to feel less isolated or alone in the home office."

A blog post about Edistorm. It is a free, Post-It Note style brainstorming tool. An alternative to Wallwisher, but probably geared more towards a corporate setting. There is a limited Free account, as well as, an inexpensive Educator account. A neat collaboration and communication tool worth checking out.

Recent research study shows game based-learning 'seem[s] to foster higher-order thinking such as planning and reasoning more than factual or verbal knowledge". Also "Instructional computer games seem to facilitate motivation across different learner groups and learning situations" And we already know they're addicting.....

This article reviewed or introduced some free or mostly free software that could be used for classroom collaborations across the miles. I liked the information on VRoom from Elluminate that is free for three people. Many others were noted such as Skype, UStream, and TalkShoe.

This article is lists and explains resources that can be used to bring classrooms together as mentioned 'Services that bring together distant colleagues or classrooms' listing software such as Skype, Ustream, Elluminate, Talkshoe, SightSpeed, and Vyew.

A first-rate account of how students can analyze, evaluate, and internalize the information on websites, rather than merely collecting sources and spitting back unprocessed information.

Is it time to rethink the learning enterprise? I think that our profession has to be flexible in order to benefit both the student and the teaher. This article notes how to empower teachers by making differnt forms of technology available to them so that learning can be differentiated to improve students performance.

Discusses how to enhance the classroom by using a discussion board in a skills-based course by allowing students the chance to use information literacy skills.

This article offers insight into the process of appropriately constructing class discussions online. It cautions that discussions should be based on critical thinking than on sharing facts or answers. The author notes that problems can result if a student posts incorrect information and then other students respond thinking that it is correct.

November 11, 2010 Making Online Discussion Boards Work for Skills-Based Courses By: Rob Kelly In this article, an accounting teacher described how he used online discussion boards for study groups in his course. I appreciated this suggestion...online "study groups" could be a great way to motivate students to study and also for faculty to monitor their studying. Teachers could step in to clarify information a group appears to be confused about based on their discussion strand.

This articled details the efforts being made by New York's DOE to limit inappropriate online communication between teachers and students, while still allowing for constructive and appropriate use of social media in schools. It offers examples of teachers and students who had inappropriate interactions via social media such as facebook but also notes that students need to be taught to use such tools appropriately.

Internet use has definitely changed the environment in terms of learning, thinking and succeeding. This article discusses many changes that researchers have noted in human learning and thinking. The author also discusses Howard Gardner's Five Minds for the Future: disciplined, synthesizing, creating, respectful and ethical. Mind qualities that have always been important but perhaps are even more important in this age of information. Teaching students to think critically is even more important than ever.