January 2010 Blog Posts (153)

Communication and Discussion Between Distant Classrooms

If anyone is interested:

I have created a Ning (http://sauconvalleyenglish.ning.com/) with the idea that teachers can connect their classroom with other classrooms from around the US (and hopefully the world.) Teachers can create discussion boards and share various media. In turn, their students, once registered, can reply to and discuss the responses of distant students. Teachers can also schedule Skype or instant discussion times… Continue

Added by Anthony Marinelli on January 26, 2010 at 12:46pm — No Comments

Launching an Edtech Company part 4: standard of content

As we think of the final touches to our simple learning management and communication tool (coursefeeds.com) we're drawn to the idea in education that these days there exists a basic standard of content on the web. A "standard of content" or SOC, used to be localized to schools and classrooms. It was based on the set of books that a teacher utilized during the school year.

So for example, in my social studies course back in 8th… Continue

Added by Joseph Thibault on January 26, 2010 at 12:04pm — No Comments

Key Elements Teachers Possess

Check out my latest blog post

http://chasemarch.blogspot.com/2010/01/key-elements-great-teachers-possess.html

Added by Chase March on January 26, 2010 at 9:10am — No Comments

A Three-Dimensional Model for Understanding Student Disruptive Behavior in the Classroom; Part One: The Group and Community Building Dimension

Dimension One: The Group and Community Building Approach to Understanding Student Disruptive Behavior*

Many of our public and private schools are under siege with our students and teachers fearing for their safety and security. It seems each day we learn about new acts of violence, vandalism, sexual harassment and drug dealing that are occurring within some of our public and private educational institutions. In response to this new form of domestic school terrorism, some of… Continue

Added by Richard D. Solomon, Ph.D. on January 26, 2010 at 8:39am — No Comments

Now go out and get me the good data!

I greatly distrust the data I hear. Why? Because the way one presents the data all too often determines the message that the data conveys to the audience. And the less insightful the audience (i.e the more laypersons in the group) the easier it is to spin, spin, spin away.

For example...

Scenario 1: Headline

Local school doubles their test scores over last year! YAY!

Scenario 2: Headline

80% of students at local school… Continue

Added by Alan Sitomer on January 26, 2010 at 6:30am — No Comments

The Future of Thinking

Over the past two decades, the way we learn has changed dramatically. We have new sources of information and new ways to exchange and to interact with information. But our schools and the way we teach have remained largely the same for years, even centuries.

What happens to traditional educational institutions when learning also takes place on a vast range of Internet sites, from Pokemon Web pages to Wikipedia? This report investigates how traditional learning institutions can become… Continue

Added by Kevin Chilton on January 26, 2010 at 3:53am — No Comments

Which social networking category will you fall under? Enthusiast, Lukewarm, Burnout, Unaffected, or Addict.

Using social media is becoming more popular everyday shown here. If you are like me, it's mandatory and one of the more preferred ways to keep up-to-date with what your friends and family are doing. Internet users determine if their social networking habits are healthy. Enthusiast, lukewarm, burnout, unaffected, or addict which type of social networker are you? Click… Continue

Added by Kiwi Commons on January 25, 2010 at 6:59pm — No Comments

AV-1 Survey: VHS End-of-Life

This week, Scott Tiner, Classroom Technologist from Bates College poses the question to the AV-1 community, "How do classroom planners and technology managers deal with the inevitable…

Continue

Added by Joe Schuch on January 25, 2010 at 8:35am — No Comments

Testing free video editing tools (and techniques)

The 3rd post in a series focused on free tools for recording, editing, and publishing video tutorials.

I’ve been working this month to find a set of free tools that can enable me to produce and distribute video tutorials. Picking up where I left off last week, this weekend I pursued the idea of using Windows Movie Maker as a free editing tool to pair with a free video… Continue

Added by Kelly Walsh on January 25, 2010 at 7:00am — 4 Comments

Learner Centered vs Teacher Centered Learning

We have just finished Module 2 in E-Assessment Learning. Our final reading was about the differences between Teacher Centered and Learner Centered Learning.

Teacher Centered Learning:

Teaching and assessing are separate.

The instructor's role is to be primary information giver and primary evaluator.

Assessment is used to monitor learning.

Emphasis is on the right answers.

Desired learning is assessed indirectly through the use of objectivity scored… Continue

Added by Carol E. Kubota on January 24, 2010 at 5:09pm — No Comments

IEEE's One Voice Video- about the potential of STEM-related careers. Share it with a young person!

IEEE's One Voice video: Accomplishments and potential of people working in tech/engineering fields. Share it with a kid! http://bit.ly/5z9Oer

I've included some great links for career exploration activities. Some are geared towards encouraging more girls to consider pursing a future in an engineering or related field.

Added by Lynn Marentette on January 24, 2010 at 3:53pm — No Comments

Great site for current events

Found a great site for current events and wanted to share it. Just scroll over the map and bring up front page headlines from all over the world.

Added by Mr. Ryan Graham on January 23, 2010 at 7:23pm — 3 Comments

Best Sites For Haiti, Olympics, Nutrition, Tallest Buidings & More

Here are my latest "The Best..." lists:

The Best “The Best…” Lists Of 2009

(http://tinyurl.com/y9bloxg)

The Best Year-End Collections Of Images — 2009

(http://tinyurl.com/ye4z39y)

My Best Posts In 2009 (That Weren’t “The Best…” Lists)

(http://tinyurl.com/yar7bj7)

Part Forty-Three Of The Best Ways To Create Online… Continue

Added by Larry Ferlazzo on January 23, 2010 at 11:49am — No Comments

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