"Summer is a time when many of us are thinking about and planning professional development workshops for our schools and for other schools. I've always found that a short 3-5 minute video can be a good introduction to a PD sessions and or make for a nice thought-provoking break during a PD session. Here are seven videos that I think serve those purposes well."
Over the years we have seen little time or funding devoted to professional development (PD) that might equip teachers with the skills required to make smart and productive use of new technologies. What little PD we have seen was devoted mainly to the learning of software and how to operate the latest toys. We have too often placed carts before horses.
Managing learning in the laptop classroom requires considerable savvy. This article explores the dimensions and characteristics of such classrooms, identifies the chief challenges facing teachers in such space, and suggests moves, tactics, strategies, tricks and scaffolding designed to optimize student learning.
"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."
Guided by research, educators at Cochrane Collegiate have homed in on ten top teaching methods, and teachers receive weekly PD to help them implement the practices
We created a flipped PD model because we believed face-to-face time with technology integration experts should not be spent learning how to use technology. Instead that valuable time should be focused on the development and implementation of curriculum and learning activities that are transformed by the integration of technology.
"Instructional strategies determine the approach a teacher may take to achieve learning objectives.
Five categories of instructional strategies and explanation of these five categories can be found within this site.
Instructional methods are used by teachers to create learning environments and to specify the nature of the activity in which the teacher and learner will be involved during the lesson. While particular methods are often associated with certain strategies, some methods may by found within a variety of strategies. A sampling of instructional methods with accompanying explanations are presented in this website."
What simple activities or readings could advance a teacher's understanding of education (technology included) given that the teacher has 15 minutes of time a week for personal professional development?
"Many view classroom management as how a teacher runs the day-to-day operations of the class. In the 21st century, classroom management goes beyond the classroom walls. To keep students working and focused on the tasks at hand, a Web site can be utilized to make class time more efficient. "
"EPIC 2020 , stands for the proposition that the education of the world will change dramatically for the better during this decade. The two movies that follow and this site hope to provide tools that shatter the paradigm that the future will be anything like the past as well as facilitate discussion and accelerate actions to bring about the
transformation of the education of the world."
Digital Learning Day, February 6, 2013, is a national celebration of teachers that shines a spotlight on successful instructional technology practice in classrooms across the country. Add your voice and expertise to tens of thousands of educators representing nearly 2 million students in ongoing activities, idea sharing, and collaboration leading up to the big event. Mark your calendar for February 6, 2013 and join the wave of innovation sweeping through our nation's schools. Participation is free and easy
Below is a comparison of the learning characteristics of adult learners and youth learners. Of course, these are generalizations with exceptions occurring in each group of learners, but you may want to keep these differences in mind as you consider the learner population you expect in your online course. The design of your course would be influenced by your expected student population."
We often hear about tech-savvy educators and administrators who have an array of best practices and whose love for technology is evident. But as anyone who's ever been part of a school or district knows, not all teachers and administrators are as comfortable or familiar with technology.In a recent "Question of the Week," we asked our tech-savvy readers: "How do you get tech-reluctant teachers and administrators to use technology effectively?" Here are our readers' top answers (edited for brevity).
This a self-paced, scaffolded technology integration course for educators. This course was the collaborative effort of school districts all over the nation- and the content for this course was created by technology integrators, classroom teachers, Google Apps Certified Trainers and Teachers, and ISTE award winners. All of the suggestions we give are grounded in practice- they are techniques we actually use and we know work! We've flipped this course so that you can learn when you have time, and we've created templates, videos, and resources so that you can start using those tools right away.
In many schools and learning organizations, professional development is still an "event." It's something that happens a few times a year, imparting isolated chunks of information and strategy to educators. This type of learning is often not pervasive enough to inform everyday practice.
Social media has the ability to change that. And teachers are starting to take this to heart.
FlippedPD is a modern approach to professional development. It is a way to maximize and respect teachers' time for professional learning. FlippedPD was developed specifically to meet the instructional and technology integration needs of classroom teachers and is based on a blended learning model that combines personalized and on-demand digital resources with face-to-face coaching support for technology integration to meet instructional goals.
"Customizing your teaching to suit each child makes eminent sense. Kids are different, they learn differently, so we should teach them differently, right? But when you're staring out at 20 or 30 students as individual as snowflakes, you may find yourself asking that ever-daunting question: "How?"
The short answer is: one step at a time. Teachers at Forest Lake Elementary School in Columbia, South Carolina, have made it their mission for the past decade to differentiate instruction for their diverse students. They started small, and they've grown and honed their strategies each year.
Here are their tips -- combined with some advice from Edutopia bloggers and members of the Edutopia community -- on how you can get started. And please use the comments field below to ask questions and add your own suggestions! "
The Internet provides tons of free tools and resources for teachers to use in their classroom. This handbook is for new teahers and/or teachers who are wanting to integrate technology in their classroom. The tools are both to use with students and use professionally.
Group items tagged 
