Group items tagged

As you know, federal law requires that all high schools, colleges and universities that receive federal funds educate students about the Constitution on September 17. The Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands has created the Sunnylands Constitution Project, a collection of classroom-ready digital resources, to help schools celebrate Constitution Day.

The purpose of these resources is to provide material which teachers of mathematics can use in their classrooms. All of the material can be viewed and assessed as to its suitability on the screen and, when something suitable has been found, can be printed out to serve as a master from which the necessary classroom copies can be made. The material is very wide-ranging in content and it will require the teacher to decide where, when and how any of it is to be used. It might be as a homework, a revision, a test, a discussion point, a routine exercise, an information sheet, a maths club activity, a diversionary pastime or serve any other purpose which individual teachers might have. The material does NOT constitute a course, and nor is it designed to support or supplement any particular course.

"About Our Motivation: Challenges and opportunities, created by our global society, invite teachers, administrators, and students to rethink the way they teach, lead, and learn. The rise of social networking, the ease with which information is shared, and the growth of our global economy are just a few factors that have made it obvious that the 21st century is a much different world than the 20th century. And yet, when we take a good, hard look at the culture within our schools, do we see that much has changed from yesterday to today? We may see more technology used in the classroom and maybe more discussions on the "content vs. skills" debate in the faculty rooms. But underneath it all, have things really changed? Have we successfully forged a culture where life-long learning, personal growth, and collaboration are valued and practiced among all members of the school community? In Richard DuFour's article "Why Look Elsewhere?: Improving Schools from Within," he states that "it is context-the beliefs, expectations, behaviors and norms that constitute the culture of a given school-that plays the largest role in deciding whether a professional development program will make a difference in that school." If a school's goal is to improve student achievement, and a school considers learning to be the crux of its community, then effective professional development-where teachers and administrators themselves become learners-is the bridge to achieving that goal."

"On October 29, 2014 the Alliance for Excellent Education hosted a webinar in its Project 24 leadership series. Project 24 is a systemic planning framework around the effective use of technology and digital learning to achieve the goal of college and career readiness for all students. This webinar focused on the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which was passed by the U.S. Congress in 1998 to protect the online privacy of children. More than fifteen years later, as digital learning constitutes a critical component of education both in and out of school, COPPA has become yet another hurdle between teachers and connecting students to digital learning opportunities. The webinar explored what educators need to know about this law, and how they and school administrators can successfully navigate COPPA to ensure that students are afforded the full benefits of online and blended learning opportunities.  It showed how teachers can provide consent for students to register for online websites.  It explored whether or not students who are under thirteen years old can even use Web 2.0 resources without running afoul of the law.  And it dealt with how school districts assume the duty of COPPA compliance. During the webinar, Mark Cheramie Walz gave educators straight-forward answers on how to comply with COPPA without sacrificing the potential that digital learning and online resources afford. Tom Murray from the Alliance moderated the discussion. Mr. Cheramie Walz and Mr. Murray also addressed questions submitted by webinar viewers from across the country."