All Blog Posts (9,941)

What the students want

I asked the student to tell me where we could use the new sites over the next few chapters. A couple of students have respond with some good ideas on how and where to use the sites. Most haven't respond yet and a few acted like they had no idea what I wanted. I guess if you have never been asked what you would like to do in class, then you wouldn't really know how to respond. It will be interesting to see what the others come up with for suggestions.

Added by Matt Carley on January 18, 2010 at 8:07pm — No Comments

New! OER Center of California Launched in January!

The OER Center of California provides support for community college educators to find, create, remix, use, and share openly licensed learning content. Together, as knowledge workers, we can learn to share...and share to learn.

Stay tuned for futher details.

Added by Judy Baker on January 18, 2010 at 6:27pm — No Comments

Data is the Question

Over the past few years I have watched the wave of Data Driven Instruction and the companies that are making a great deal of money from the NCLB mandate. I feel as though I am in a production of the "Emperor's New Clothes" But where is the suit? That is my question.

My school district got on the band wagon.. and we are continuing to go down the chute. From a school in needs of improvement to a district in needs of improvement quite frankly I believe it is a system in needs of… Continue

Added by Deborah Boatwright on January 18, 2010 at 5:20pm — No Comments

Give away - three promo codes for the red apple

If you have a US itunes account and are interested in seeing our multi-lingual app on the iphone or ipod touch for use in the classroom leave you email here.

thanks

neal

Added by Neal Hoskins on January 18, 2010 at 3:59pm — No Comments

Tech Tools for Teachers on a Tight Budget: My Presentation at FETC

For those who couldn't attend this year's FETC (Florida Educational Technology Conference), you truly missed out. Actor and activist Ed Begley Jr. kicked off the conference by speaking on this year's theme, "Doing More With Less." (I posted some footage on YouTube here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b35lvvjv2Lo. The expo hall was incredible and there were several very informative sessions. I presented at this year's… Continue

Added by Andy on January 18, 2010 at 8:10am — 3 Comments

Was I just caught with my pants down?

The other day the Principal and a Vice Principal came into my room un-announced. Why? To do "informal observations".

I was given no notice, no inkling -- didn't even know they were in this wing of our school.

And still during the middle of 6th period they popped in, each took a position on one side of the room -- checksheet in hand -- and they observed.

I was at the front of the room at the time just having finished up giving a cloze quiz about the… Continue

Added by Alan Sitomer on January 18, 2010 at 6:30am — No Comments

ISTE SIGMS "Technology Innovation Award" now open

The ISTE Media Specialists SIG (SIGMS) announces the 3rd annual “Technology Innovation Award”. All teachers and librarians are invited to apply. You do not need to be a member of ISTE to apply. This award is quickly becoming recognized as a premier award to honor school librarians and teachers for their outstanding work in integrating technology into teaching and learning in their schools. Sponsored by Linworth Publishing, Inc. and Follett Software Company, the award will be presented to two… Continue

Added by Lisa Perez on January 17, 2010 at 8:39pm — No Comments

Screencasting with Debut’s Lite Version

Testing the free version of NCH Software’s video capture application.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been looking into a variety of free screencasting tools available on the web.

I’m interested in finding a free application that let’s me easily capture screen activity and record audio over it, and then save the resulting file in an easy to play, stand-alone format (some tools only allow created recordings to reside on their web site – I want more flexibility… Continue

Added by Kelly Walsh on January 17, 2010 at 2:30pm — No Comments

Joy of Teaching Day 5--KIDS

So, as I wrap up this experiment to specifically notice joyful moments in my teaching day, I just have to point out that honestly, the biggest reason I love my job, as corny as it sounds, is the kids. A mentor of mine (Mrs. Martha [Marty] Patton, Bless her soul) put this love of children so eloquently in a poem. This poem was printed along side her obituary and I have had it posted in my classroom ever since. It touches my heart every time I glance at it.

I am a… Continue

Added by Michelle TeGrootenhuis on January 17, 2010 at 10:30am — No Comments

Cub reporter, 10, to report on Winter Olympics in Vancouver

By Jeff Chew

Peninsula Daily News

PORT TOWNSEND, WA -- He's Brennan LaBrie, kid reporter, a title he takes seriously -- and next week he takes it all the way to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia.

At 10, LaBrie is the youngest reporter in the world known to be covering the 2010… Continue

Added by Jack Olmsted on January 17, 2010 at 4:00am — No Comments

Favorite Web 2.0Tool/Site for the Classroom

I will be presenting a workshop on Favorite Web 2.0 Tool for the classroom. If you had to choose your favorite Web 2,0 site to use in the classroom, what would it be? It could be for both students and/or educator (K-12).. I appreciate your assistance.

Added by K. L. Evans on January 16, 2010 at 2:30pm — No Comments

Uhm, Houston, we have a problem...

Houston is gonna measure teachers by their test scores -- and fire the ones that don't add up.

Interesting stuff.

I guess we always knew it would come to this, didn't we? Nobody is questioning the tests; everyone is questioning the teachers that don't deliver the test scores.…

Continue

Added by Alan Sitomer on January 16, 2010 at 6:30am — No Comments

Online Reading Games for Children

Sites for Beginning Readers

Listen to unique songs for each letter of the alphabet. http://lettertv.net/pages/songs.htm

Find songs, animation, and interactive learning when learner clicks on appropriate places on the screens. This site is packed with a lot of learning. http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/index/load.htm?f

Match baby (lowercase)… Continue

Added by Michelle Breum on January 15, 2010 at 3:15pm — No Comments

Online Stories for Children

Find eleven great stories including The Snowy Day and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? http://www.rif.org/kids/leadingtoreading/en/preschoolers/read.htm

Don't miss this site. There are a large number of books read aloud. http://www.tumblebooks.com/library/asp/home_tumblebooks.asp

Choose a story read by an actor… Continue

Added by Michelle Breum on January 15, 2010 at 3:12pm — No Comments

Literature study and technology - finding links

I feel that I do a reasonably good job of incorporating technology into my 7th grade English class. I'm very fortunate in my access to technology. I have a Smartboard, a cart of 27 laptops that I share with 4 other teachers (who only use them sporadically), headphones with mics, 4 desktop computers, and a Flipvideo camera.My district offers outstanding support from the ed tech department - from lesson ideas to training to co-teaching opportunities.

In my class, we use the internet… Continue

Added by Jennifer Hall on January 15, 2010 at 12:30pm — 2 Comments

Will we ever again trust in the idea of non-quantifiable learning?

Here's the problem: our scores speak for our school before people know who we are or what we do.

The book is being judged by the cover. But does the cover have anything to do with gaining insight to or prognosticating about the content? For sure.

However, does it tell the whole story?

Probably not.

Does it tell an accurate story?

I am not so sure.

Does it tell a fair story?

Nope, I don't think… Continue

Added by Alan Sitomer on January 15, 2010 at 6:30am — 3 Comments

Using Wordle Effectively

I thought I'd share my most current uses of Wordle.

First - Teacher Planning: I was just assigned a student teacher. To help her comprehend the "big ideas" of our state core, we pasted the sections of the core she will teach into Wordle. When the Wordle was created, the maximum number of words was lowered to 35 from the "Layout menu." This helped her see the main ideas she should spend the most time on during her teaching time in my… Continue

Added by Glen Westbroek on January 14, 2010 at 5:54pm — 14 Comments

Joy of Teaching--Day 4 Winter Writing Projects

One summer I heard a speaker say, "Is it cute, or does it count?" Meaning, is that activity actually helping the kids LEARN something. Since then, I've cut back on the "artsy/craftsy" activities in my room. Posters, mobiles, dioramas, etc only get made IF they truly reflect actual LEARNING,

BUT,

once a year,

right after Christmas vacation… Continue

Added by Michelle TeGrootenhuis on January 14, 2010 at 3:30pm — No Comments

What's the State of Distance Learning?

Part1 of A Review of Technology and Education

This article is part I of my multi-part investigation into the extent that technology is becoming a part of the educational process. As I am building a website which is designed for students to collaborate and manage their group projects online, I thought it important to investigate the extent that people are turning to the web for learning.

I’ve never taken an… Continue

Added by Sal P on January 14, 2010 at 2:36pm — 1 Comment