A Principal's Reflections

SEPTEMBER 18, 2013

'The beginning of the school year always renews my focus on how to improve my leadership skills. Each year I critically analyze ways I can improve as well as what I feel I am doing well. To my mind, we all have the capacity to lead. It is through leadership that we become catalysts for positive change. Once sustainable change takes hold, we will see the fruits of our labor in the form of transformed teaching and learning practices amongst learners and in ourselves.

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Social Media Strategy Professional Learning Course 392

The Web20Classroom

SEPTEMBER 18, 2013

'"Alone we are smart but together we are brilliant." October has been declared by the U.S. Department of Education to be Connected Educator Month. Started in 2012, an entire month of webinars, blog posts, ideas, discussions and more are dedicated to increasing awareness of the importance of educators to get connected. I have been honored to be a part of the planning process and give input and ideas to the entire team that is working tirelessly to promote various events, tools and resources for e

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Edcamps Education Laptops Resources 267

Educational Technology Guy

SEPTEMBER 8, 2013

'My wife is teaching Forensic Science this year so I was helping her find some resources for the class. I decided to share the resources here. NCIS - another great show to get students interested in science [link] [link] Great listing of resources and sites. [link] - high school forensics class site [link] High School Forensic Science curriculum and resources [link] Forensic Science for high school students.

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Resources Twitter Google Technology 236

The 21st Century Principal

SEPTEMBER 20, 2013

'“The nation has become obsessed with ‘seat time,’ assuming that this ‘hunkering down’ at desks and tables will result in higher test scores.” Ron Nash, From Seatwork to Feetwork What are some outmoded educational practices and ways of schooling that we need to change the most? Like the concept of "seat time" mentioned above, many of our ways of doing school and educational practices are obsolete.

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Industry System Student Engagement Personalized Learning 111

Generative AI holds tremendous promise for all stakeholders in higher education. But guardrails are needed. Strong governance that empower instructors are at the core of a responsible approach to using generative AI in academia.

Education

Philly Teacher

SEPTEMBER 11, 2013

'To start off the year, I decided to make sure that all of my 9th graders understand what the Internet really is and how it works before they get their Internet-ready laptops in a few weeks. When they came in, they had the first five minutes of class to “draw the Internet.” I got a lot of quizzical looks. “What do you mean?” “You can’t draw the Internet!

Digital Citizenship 108

Digital Citizenship Social Media Laptops Groups 108

SpeechTechie

SEPTEMBER 20, 2013

'You may have heard that a new version of iOS- iOS7- is available! This gives your iPad operating system a new look and feel and additional features. This new operating system is accessed (for free) in your Settings app under General>Software Update for iPad 2s and later, including the mini. I did my updates after a backup and "over the air" (i.e. through Settings), rather than connecting to iTunes via a computer, and it went smoothly, though it took about an hour, so be sure to allow that ti

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iPad Education Accessibility Software 107

The Web20Classroom

SEPTEMBER 9, 2013

'Recently ASCD released 4 short books that are aimed at packing a big punch in a small package. Each are less that 100 pages but have loads of quality information. Over the next few posts we will look at each one to see what they are all about. Then we will give away 1 copy of each. Sound like fun? In the first post we took a look at Fostering Grit.

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Tablets eBook Android Microsoft 195

The Innovative Educator

SEPTEMBER 5, 2013

'You may have heard of the Badass Teachers group. Back in June they started a recruiting campaign and used questionable practices to put 25,000 members in their group very quickly. The group had promising beginnings. It was started by Mark Naison a progressive college professor and a homeschooling mom who connected in a group that explores alternatives to traditional public school education.

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Groups Assessment Education Learning 103

The 21st Century Principal

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

'What are we getting students to do with technology in our schools? Here''s an interesting infographic from Education Week that offers some answers to that very question. One can only hope that "Create presentations and media" doesn''t mean our students are spending a great deal of time engaged in PowerPoint creation. It is interesting, however, that at the high school level that we are getting students to use social media for collaboration fairly often.

Technology 109

Technology Social Media Assessment Education 109

Nik Peachey

SEPTEMBER 25, 2013

Back in April 2013 I delivered a workshop at the IATEFL 2013 conference in Liverpool. The topic of the workshop was ' Criteria for Evaluating Web Tools and Apps ' and in the workshop I encouraged participants to share and explore their subconscious criteria for deciding which apps and web based tools they used with their students. I particularly encouraged them to think about 'authentic' apps rather than those made for learning.

Mobility 100

Mobility Learning Outcomes iPad 100

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Learning

Philly Teacher

SEPTEMBER 9, 2013

'Morning grade-wide meeting in the cafeteria this morning. I am so exhausted I can barely keep my eyes awake, but it’s a good kind of tired. After weeks of team building, inquiry into our own pedagogical practices, building units, discussing and working out details on school operations from scheduling the first day to student flow through the building, loading up UHaul trucks with furniture and carrying a conference table up three flights of stairs, today was the ultimate truth.

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Conference Meeting Classroom Education 100

A Principal's Reflections

SEPTEMBER 24, 2013

'I decided to hold back (for now) on a rant that has been brewing for the past two days and instead have decided to take a more constructive approach on my blog. A great debate that has emerged over social media channels has been how we honor and acknowledge our educators and others in the profession. During many insightful and constructive conversations with Chris Wejr we went back on forth on the merits and challenges inherent in this complex process.

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Edcamps Social Media Conference Twitter 307

The Web20Classroom

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

'Recently ASCD released 4 short books that are aimed at packing a big punch in a small package. Each are less that 100 pages but have loads of quality information. Over the next few posts we will look at each one to see what they are all about. Then we will give away 1 copy of each. Sound like fun? In the first post we took a look at Fostering Grit.

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Groups Comparison Assessment Tablets 178

The Innovative Educator

SEPTEMBER 11, 2013

'This article originally appeared at Partners in Learning - 1:1 Hot Topics. It’s no secret that successful 1:1 learning goes beyond simply getting devices into the hands of students and teachers. Many schools have had 1:1 programs long enough that challenges have been identified. However, valuable solutions exist that can be put into place to help ensure such challenges don''t get in the way of a successful 1:1 learning implementation.

Learning 83

Learning Software Laptops Tablets 83

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Personalized Learning

The 21st Century Principal

SEPTEMBER 7, 2013

'“PBL (Project Based Learning) offers a unique opportunity for teachers and students to join together in the inquiry process.” Thom Markham, Project Based Learning: Design and Coaching Guide With the advent of Common Core Standards, there''s a great deal of talk from school districts about moving to Project Based Learning because the kinds of learning asked for in those standards can better be approached through a PBL model.

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Classroom Common Core Strategy Course 98

Learning with 'e's

SEPTEMBER 1, 2013

'For the longest time teachers and lecturers have held the monopoly on the production of academic content. They create lesson plans, produce resources, devise marking schemes and search around for activities and games they can repurpose to use in teaching sessions. Although the production of content has been the preserve of the teacher and the academic since the formalisation of education, increasingly, we also see learners creating their own content.

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Social Media Trends Personalized Learning Smartphone 78

Kathy Schrock

SEPTEMBER 8, 2013

'Parallels Access screenshot Parallels Access is the coolest new program for your iPad and your Mac or Windows computer! It allows you to work with all of the programs that are on your computer on your iPad! Parallels calls it "applifying", since the programs run full screen on the iPad, but also allow you to use tapping, pinching, swiping, and scrolling as if you were using an iPad app!

Accessibility 76

Accessibility iPad Laptops Assistive Technology 76

A Principal's Reflections

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

'One of our goals at New Milford High School is to present as many college options as possible to our students if that is the direction they want to pursue. When hiring some new guidance counselors a little over two years ago I asked them during the interview process how they would increase access to higher education options upon graduation. One idea that was developed by Michelle Harle, who is now in her third year at NMHS, was to organize and hold a college fair during the school day for all s

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Student Engagement Video Accessibility Learning 297

Speaker: Andrew Cohen, Founder & CEO of Brainscape

The instructor’s PPT slides are brilliant. You’ve splurged on the expensive interactive courseware. Student engagement is stellar. So… why are half of your students still forgetting everything they learned in just a matter of weeks? It's likely a matter of cognitive science! With so much material to "teach" these days, we often forget to incorporate key proven principles into our curricula — namely active recall, metacognition, spaced repetition, and interleaving practice.

Training

EdTechSandyK

SEPTEMBER 22, 2013

'Photo Used Under Creative Commons License My last post was on the plan the educational technology team in my school district came up with for iPad Basic Training for Teachers. As iPads began making their way into our school district through different avenues last year, we felt it was important to make sure our teachers had a basic understanding of how to use the iPad before we even began to talk with them about using the iPad for teaching and learning.

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iPad Training Tablets Mobility 74

The Innovative Educator

SEPTEMBER 18, 2013

'Guest post by Adam Bellow With so many demands on a teacher’s limited time and a growing number of frameworks and standards being introduced that can increase demands even further, many educators have looked to digital tools as a way to help them make the most efficient use of their time as they strive to be even more effective at the craft of teaching.

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Social Media Smartphone Tools Professional Learning 80

The 21st Century Principal

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

'Small high schools are necessary because they help school districts fill a niche, that if left unfilled, parents will seek alternatives outside public schools. While I do not consider myself an avid supporter of increasing the number of charter schools and school vouchers, I understand why there''s interest in options for schools. Instead of constantly complaining about the increase of charter schools and vouchers, perhaps school districts need to seriously question the design of those schools

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Meeting System STEM Study 98

Learning with 'e's

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

'Teachers are constantly searching for new ways to promote good learning. If those methods can also encourage creative thinking, they are even more welcome in the classroom. Technology can provide some of those creative solutions. Here are just five ideas for using technology to support learning, while promoting creative thinking, and I''m sure that with a little thought you will be able to adapt them to your own subject area. 1) Senses: In this picture the five traditional human senses are depi

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Technology Learning Twitter Wiki 77

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Classroom

SpeechTechie

SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

'ReadWriteThink, a longtime online presence developed with the participation of the International Reading Association, has amassed an impressive amount of interactives (flash-based, so not accessible on iPad) that can be used to build language skills. My issue with the more complex ones that could be used with older students was that your work could not be saved, and you had to finish your work in one sitting.

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Elementary iPad Accessibility 72

A Principal's Reflections

SEPTEMBER 4, 2013

'The following is a guest post by Erik Endress. In the days following December 14th, 2012 school administrators, educators, law enforcement personnel and parents have undertaken the most comprehensive look at school safety since the Columbine massacre of 1999. While much of that discussion has focused on preventing a Newtown-style active shooter from making entry to a building, history shows that the majority of active shooters appear from the inside of the school, in the form of a student, staf

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Mobility Report System Accessibility 251

mauilibrarian2 in Olinda

SEPTEMBER 22, 2013

'Watched this Google+ hangout with Martin Shervington and TheGoToMom Kimberley Blaine and thought it was too good not to share. Solid advice that is helpful in real life as well. :) Linda (??? ? ) @mauilibrarian2 G+ This post was originally published at mauilibrarian2 in Olinda.

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Social Media Google 70

The Innovative Educator

SEPTEMBER 8, 2013

'Twitter ( www.Twitter.com ) is a great tool for sharing, discovering, and connecting with others who care about the same ideas and information. You can use Twitter right on your phone without downloading any software and even with just one teacher cell phone per class, contributions can be made and modeled anywhere, anytime. Twitter has become such a popular tool because it asks one question, "What's happening?

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Twitter BYOD Social Media Software 79

Speaker: Chris Paxton McMillin, President of D3 Training Solutions

There are plenty of great authoring tools for developing eLearning, but the one you select could directly impact your course's outcomes. Depending upon your learners’ needs and your organization’s performance goals, you could be overlooking considerations that impact the both effectiveness of your courses and how long it takes to finish them. From general capabilities to specific workflow structures, some aspects are critical when it comes to learning objectives and deadlines.

Comparison

The 21st Century Principal

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

'“It takes courage to stand up to absurdity when all around you people remain comfortably seated. But if we need one more reason to do the right thing, consider this: The kids are watching us, deciding how to live their lives in part by how we''ve chosen to live ours." Alfie Kohn, "Encouraging Educator Courage," Education Week Online In a post to Education Week entitled, "Encouraging Educator Courage" Alfie Kohn calls on educators to be courageous in the face of outrageous mandates and policies

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Policies Education How To 89

Learning with 'e's

SEPTEMBER 19, 2013

'Can technology help us to think more clearly? We find ourselves increasingly immersed in our digital worlds, surrounded by devices and tools, our minds constantly impacted by streams of new information. It''s often difficult to keep up, and one could easily feel swamped by the relentless flow. This a similar experience for hundreds of millions of other individuals around the world.

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Technology Personal Learning Network Personalized Learning Tools 74

SpeechTechie

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

'Utilizing comics in interventions has many applications, from social instruction ( Comic Strip Conversation or Social Thinking ®-style), to sentence and narrative formulation, to modifying curriculum topics into an engaging form. I have often covered these techniques in workshops and lamented that there wasn''t a good free app allowing people to get their feet wet with comic-making.

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Assistive Technology iPad Study Technology 69

The Learning Revolution Has Begun

SEPTEMBER 5, 2013

'Running free, worldwide, virtual events for education is a TON of fun, no question about it. I think that the " Conference 2.0 " model--accepting almost all proposal submissions then letting the audience decide which sessions to attend--is possibly more historic than we realize. Holding virtual conferences that focus on peer- and practioner-driven sessions opens the door to educators and others being "creators" and not just "consumers" at such events.

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Conference Libraries Personal Learning Network Personalized Learning 63

This white paper examines and proposes revisions to the "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education" introduced by Arthur Chickering and Zelda Gamson in 1987 for today's technology-driven world.

Technology