Westport Public Schools - ITL

"Design Squad from PBS Kids features a great collection of hands-on activities for elementary and middle school students. The activities are designed to help students explore engineering concepts. The collection of activities is divided into ten categories. The categories are technology, structures, sports, space, sound, simple machines, health, green, energy, and electricity. Each activity contains a materials list and directions. Some of the activities also have demonstration videos."

includes 29 minute video CCSS Professional Development

"The Pearson Monopoly Jennifer Job, UNC Chapel Hill If you haven't heard of Pearson, perhaps you have heard of one of the publishers they own, like Adobe, Scott Foresman, Penguin, Longman, Wharton, Harcourt, Puffin, Prentice Hall, or Allyn & Bacon (among others). If you haven't heard of Pearson, perhaps you have heard of one of their tests, like the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the Stanford Achievement Test, the Millar Analogy Test, or the G.E.D. Or their data systems, like PowerSchool and SASI. [1]"

"Published on Apr 20, 2012 Presenter: Nancy Frey, Ph.D. Join Nancy Frey, Ph.D., co-author of the successful Vocabulary for Success program, as she presents vocabulary instruction and how it is important to the vocabulary acquisition and usage curriculum of the Common Core State Standards. Dr. Frey will give recommendations on strengthening your student's vocabulary to help them succeed across the curriculum." @ 42 minutes

"IT Resources View documentation, video tutorials, and web pages to help IT professionals develop and deploy education solutions."

"Type: Persuasive/Argument Essay What's the point?: Here's a quick look at what persuasive/argument essays try to accomplish. No man is an island. Some people may have islands, but no one, strictly speaking, is an island. Anyway, the point is that we don't live in isolation. Sometimes you need to convince people to do things-to lend their island to you, for example-and for that, you'll need some seriously adept persuasive skills. That's what the persuasive essay is all about. It informs, convinces, explores, and moves a person to action. For example: "Do your homework or you don't get to go out this weekend." Some classic persuasion right there. "

"Common Core Standards: Teaching Argument Writing Argument writing is one of three types of writing stressed in the Common Core Standards for English, history, and science/technical studies. As I transition from persuasive to argument writing, my focus is on using technology to engage and support students throughout the process. Tall order. Here are some of the strategies I used to teach argument writing. What's the difference between persuasive and argument writing? Persuasive writing aims to persuade the reader that the stated position is correct. The writer wants to "win over" the reader, often by appealing to emotions. In contrast, argument writing must present a strong claim and support that claim with "sufficient evidence" and relevant "valid reasoning.""

"Common-Core Tests to Take Up to 10 Hours Districts will get 20 days to administer By Catherine Gewertz New tests being designed for students in nearly half the states will take eight to 10 hours, depending on grade level, according to guidance released last week. The new information comes from the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC , one of the two big groups of states that are building tests in mathematics and English/language arts for the Common Core State Standards ."

"What is Global Competence? A globally competent student can"

scripted curricula "Navigate stormy middle-school seas with the Second Step program. The program teaches empathy and communication, emotion-management and coping skills, and decision making. These skills help students stay engaged in school, make good choices, set goals, and avoid peer pressure, substance abuse, bullying, and cyber bullying."

video

"NOW OPEN: Siemens Summer of Learning Application A Siemens Foundation Initiative Applications due February 5, 2013 The Siemens Summer of Learning Application is now open! The Siemens STEM Academy offers two one-of-a-kind, all-expenses-paid professional development opportunities that provide unique experiences to middle and high school teachers from across the country looking to bolster STEM learning and gain pragmatic skills that they can translate back into the classroom. "

includes Common Core State Standards Rubrics, presentation software, web 2.0 rubrics and more

"Instagram says it now has the right to sell your photos In its first big policy shift since Facebook bought the photo-sharing site, Instagram claims the right to sell users' photos without payment or notification. Oh, and there's no way to opt out."

for computer class?

Checklists to support Project Based Learning and evaluation "

similar to Picnik, no sign-in needed

"Here's an article by BIE that appeared in the September 2010 issue of Educational Leadership magazine from ASCD. Good for general audiences as well as educators, it explains the essential elements that make rigorous PBL different from "doing projects.""