All Blog Posts (9,941)

What is the Purpose of Being in Education?

Education is the great communal experience. We go to school 180 days a year, for 13 years of our life, and many of us continue along the educational path much longer. We can discuss similar teachers, extra-curricular activities, lunch-room antics, multiplication tables, and books. Education, as an American communal experience, is meant in one part to build our national pride, and also to also fuel the American dream. We go to school and are taught to expect the best of ourselves, of our… Continue

Added by AJ Juliani on January 23, 2010 at 10:48am — No Comments

Living in the Question

Living in the Question

Was there ever a time when there were no questions? A time before curiosity was born, when the ‘need to know’ was not yet hatched in the minds of men and women? A time before science sought knowledge and even before philosophers wondered about the nature of knowing? If there was such a time it would have been an age of innocence and contentment, and probably an innate awareness that all is as it should be … all is well… all the time …everywhere. Somewhere out… Continue

Added by James Edward Charles Webber on January 23, 2010 at 7:43am — No Comments

Data, You Make Me Smile!! ;-)

I love data. It entertains me greatly.

People collect data.

People save data.

People create data.

People fabricate data.

People withold data.

Really, what can't be done with data?

People spin data.

People generate data.

People ask for data.

People research data.

I bet there's even data about data.

I used to think I knew some things... until I saw the data.

I used to think I could believe in… Continue

Added by Alan Sitomer on January 23, 2010 at 6:30am — No Comments

Classroom of the Future: Orchestrating Collaborative Spaces (Interesting book!)

Interesting Book: Classroom of the Future - Orchestrating Collaborative Spaces

Added by Lynn Marentette on January 22, 2010 at 4:00pm — No Comments

You want the top or the bottom? America's bunk bed educational mentality.

My wife was talking to some mothers the other day about public versus private school. She's worked as a K-2 teacher in both settings for years and as I listened on, something she said really caught my ear.

Overall, she believed, administration at private schools were all about teaching to the top. Push it, set a rigorous pace and work your best students long and hard. That was the mantra. The rest will catch up -- or at least follow along. Kids in private school, that's… Continue

Added by Alan Sitomer on January 22, 2010 at 6:30am — 4 Comments

WSIS Forum 2010 open consultation: Call for participation

UNESCO, together with ITU, UNCTAD and UNDP, is organizing an open consultation for the upcoming World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum 2010. All individuals, networks and organizations interested in this issue are invited to participate in the three-fold process, consisting of an online discussion, a questionnaire and a review meeting.

See:… Continue

Added by Kevin Chilton on January 22, 2010 at 5:33am — No Comments

Theme lesson including Wordle

I'm trying out a lesson with my students this week. We just finished reading "The Taxpayer" (from The Martian Chronicles) and we discussed the theme of being left behind. I had the students get into groups of 2 or 3 and each group was given the following multi-step assignment:

1. Make a web/graphic organizer with brainstorming related to the theme.

2. On the computer, write an 80-100 word piece (fiction or nonfiction) utilizing the theme. Save the document.

3. Use… Continue

Added by Jennifer Hall on January 22, 2010 at 5:26am — 6 Comments

Five Apps for Busy Educators

Staying organized during a hectic school year is certainly a difficult task. With hundreds of e-mails, phone messages, parent conferences, and meetings, staying organized can seem impossible. To help, I’ve put together a short list of helpful apps I use to stay on top of things. MORE...

Added by Shawn Roner on January 21, 2010 at 10:03pm — 2 Comments

Blog, Blog, Blog

What does a blog do that a discussion list or wiki can not do? This week in our course we have been discussing blogs. I personally prefer to use both wikis and blogs. I find blogs more difficult to get students to use. This is because blogs usually require more communication with language. I always think of blogs as online diaries. Who is really interested in reading your blog? The only people who will be reading my blogging during this class are my classmates, maybe, and the instructor because… Continue

Added by Carol E. Kubota on January 21, 2010 at 7:05pm — No Comments

Here it comes.... !

As anyone can see from this lovely cabgirl's expression, Educon2.2 is almost here! Educon is THE conference which takes place at The Science Leadership Academy in Philly. Attending this conference the first two years was like going to a party with my Tweets… Continue

Added by Durff on January 21, 2010 at 4:28pm — No Comments

Kellee Michelle

I am a sophomore on the Teacher Education program, K through 6. I love working with children, I am the Karabiner Kidz director at The Summit Church. I tutor a Kindergartener in handwriting two days a week and babysit a 3 year old once a week. I am an only child, but will inherit 8 brothers and sisters in June when I get married. I am engaged to Robert Gentry, and we will be getting married on… Continue

Added by Kellee Kuessner on January 20, 2010 at 6:42pm — No Comments

What do I hope to get out of the eLearning Assessment Course?

Why have you chosen this course, this university and/or this program?

Carol has chosen this course because it is one of the required courses that must be completed to receive the Graduate Certificate for e-learning. She is also quite interested in learning about the various ways to assess online learning and the learning of students in her face to face classes.

This was an interview conducted for the eLearning Assessment Course that I am taking.

* Tell me about… Continue

Added by Carol E. Kubota on January 20, 2010 at 6:23pm — No Comments

SMART Technologies: Multitouch Application Contest Announced for the SMART Table

SMART Technologies' Multitouch Application Contest Announced: http://bit.ly/6wnjoO

SMART Multitouch Application Contest Website

The contest is divided into two categories, commercial and academic. I think this would be a great project for high school tech. students! I think that to program an application for… Continue

Added by Lynn Marentette on January 20, 2010 at 4:36pm — 3 Comments

Week 1 Review

Yesterday we held our first class in the new semester for the CPED 2023 (Introduction to Educational Technology) course. As much as I thought I had most of my thoughts together prior to starting the course there were so many more things I felt I left out.

I would have liked to have painted a broader and yet more detailed… Continue

Added by Dave Eveland on January 20, 2010 at 6:30am — No Comments

Sensible Evaluations of Teachers... and More Farces from the Front Lines

Schools are so understaffed on the admin front that sensible evaluations of teachers that are thoughtful, timely and fair to all parties involved seem almost like a pipe dream.

Take my school, for example. We have 4 admins on our campus: a P and 3 VP's.

That's for something like 150 teachers.

So if each educator were to get 8 classroom visits (two per quarter; that doesn't seem unreasonable, right? I mean not if you are to reasonably try to gain… Continue

Added by Alan Sitomer on January 20, 2010 at 6:30am — 1 Comment

your middle name

is Nathaniel.

Added by Kelsey Watson on January 19, 2010 at 5:26pm — 2 Comments

Students Helping Haiti

Hi all - this is my first post, and it's an important one. In my role as Youth Outreach Coordinator for United Nations World Food Programme, I have been inundated with request from students and educators asking how they can help the survivors of the earthquake in Haiti.

So - WFP has put together a campaign and donation page dedicated to students. The page can be found here:… Continue

Added by Graham Bell on January 19, 2010 at 10:34am — No Comments

eLearning Assessment Tools

I would like to use this space to blog about my learning experiences with the University of Wisconsin at Stout. I decided to attend online classes in order to receive a graduate certificate in eLearning. The University of Stout seemed to have what I needed. I finished the first class in September which was very informative.

The class I am taking now is eLearning

Assessment. The first week included reading various articles on assessment and some interesting ways of really getting… Continue

Added by Carol E. Kubota on January 19, 2010 at 10:31am — No Comments

Who's to Blame?

I'm only in my second year of teaching. It's rough. This year's group is horrible when it comes to behavior, and having an 18-day Christmas break (yes...18 days) seemed to have been retroactive to their behavior. Any semblance of control I had before break has yet to be regained. I'm starting to wonder if it's me....

At what point do you stop saying, "That teacher has to send kids to the office because they're godless heathens" (though that can be said about one class in my… Continue

Added by Jessica Eitzen on January 19, 2010 at 8:37am — 1 Comment

Don't you love how everyone feels as if they can do your job better than you can do it yourself?

Whenever any other adult walks into my classroom, things change. Why? Cause classrooms are fishbowls and when a new species enters the tank, the environment changes.

Sure, in some ways, things will revert back to normal. Especially if I, at the front of the room, keep an even keel, and keep rolling on with business as usual. (Which I usually do. I have sort of given up on dog and pony shows a long time ago... but when you are a young teacher and you think that your job is… Continue

Added by Alan Sitomer on January 19, 2010 at 6:30am — 2 Comments