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'I am extremely excited that August is Connected Educator month. In my opinion, being a connected learner, leader, and/or educator is no longer an option. My personal and professional journey in this area is well documented and something that I regularly present on. When I think back to my life as an educator prior to becoming connected, I can honestly say that I was isolated, naive, and definitely not as well rounded as I am today.
'For many teachers the traditional textbook just doesn''t cut it any more. Between the rapid pace at which information changes and rising cost, many are looking for alternatives. Believe it or not, there are lots of options out there, if you know where to look and you are willing to get your hands dirty. The best part? Kids can create these using any of the tools below.
'This past Friday I attended EdcampCT and had a great time learning, sharing, and meeting new people. I facilitated a discussion about Evernote and one of the questions I got was "why not just use Google Docs for notetaking?" I went on to explain all the features of Evernote but wanted to expand on it a bit. Evernote is my way of organizing lesson plans, lesson resources, notes, web clippings, and more.
'To be a progressive teacher, you find and do what works. Period. The students should be stakeholders in their education and have accountability, responsibility, and be actively engaged in and out of the classroom. Period. I apply the theories and philosophies of Bloom , Bandura , Vygotsky , Maslow , Gardner , and many many many others. I''m a proponent of critical thinking, cooperative learning, metacognition, blended learning, flipped learning. see a pattern?
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.
'To paraphrase Marc Prensky from his collection of essays From Digital Natives to Digital Wisdom: Hopeful Essays for 21st Century Learning : “The easiest, executable solution to our education problems today “is to change what goes on in our classrooms.” We need to move from teacher-centered and teacher dominated learning models to more personal, student-centered learning models.
'We are starting our second year of having iPads in our elementary classrooms, our Title I CCJH classrooms, and some of our AJHS classrooms. We''ve created a list of tips for managing the equipment in our classrooms. Tip 1: Team decisions regarding equity Will you break the cart up across your grade level? If so, who will host the cart in their room?
'I was recently sent this video that puts into perspective the new type of learner that is entering our schools. The problem, however, is that the majority of schools across this country and beyond are doing very little to meet his/her diverse learning needs. Times are different and thus learners are different. Isn''t it about time that schools focus more on the learning needs of our students as opposed to preparing them to bubble in answers on tests or ensuring that they follow orders?
'I was recently sent this video that puts into perspective the new type of learner that is entering our schools. The problem, however, is that the majority of schools across this country and beyond are doing very little to meet his/her diverse learning needs. Times are different and thus learners are different. Isn''t it about time that schools focus more on the learning needs of our students as opposed to preparing them to bubble in answers on tests or ensuring that they follow orders?
'Once again, its #LeadershipDay. For 6 years educators have been gathering together on this day to write specifically to address technology and leadership. And since I''ve had my blog I have participated. (Here are my entries: 2009 , 2010 , 2011 ). The idea is to share some sort of wisdom, question, knowledge, thoughts or ideas related to technology leadership.
'What Can You Do With Google is a nice infographic from GCFLearnFree that provides a nice summary of some of the tools and apps that Google has and what you can do with them. The web page also has an interactive with more details and information. This is a great summary of some of the things you can do with Google''s many products. Check it out. Here''s some more great ways to use Google''s many apps and resources in education.
'With two weeks until school is back in session and in preparing for my presentation on Edmodo for the upcoming TeachMeetNJ unconference , I''ve been reflecting on past practices and thinking about how I structure the educational process in my class. Prior to the digital revolution, I used worksheets as the hub for lessons and content. I can hear the gasps of horror right now, but let me explain.
'“The educational improvement efforts now in place are aimed at bringing back the education that American offered students in the 20th century (with some technological enhancements,” From Digital Natives to Digital Wisdom: Hopeful Essays for 21st Century Learning by Marc Prensky Do Americans really have the stomach to “reform their schools?” Looking at the list of reforms in vogue today, one can only wonder whether reform is really the goal, or as Prensky points out, “Reform efforts are more abo
Schools face increasing challenges as technology becomes integral to education. Efficient device management is essential for maximizing technology use and safeguarding investments. Our article discusses the importance of tracking devices, outlines current challenges, and suggests modern solutions that go beyond traditional methods like Excel. Learn how advanced tracking systems can streamline operations, improve maintenance, and offer real-time updates for better resource allocation.
'As a student at Michigan State University, Brett Kopf struggled with dyslexia and ADD. Likely during a class in which he should have been paying attention, his mind wandered to a potential solution for his resulting disorganization - if there was a service that could send him a text message every time he had an assignment due, test, or schedule related announcement, his status as a student could dramatically improve.
'I have been engaged with social media for over three and a half years now. As I often reflect on my journey, I can’t help but think about the early days and months after I first began to use Twitter and some other tools. There were many times during this early period that I questioned the value of the time I was putting in, or the actual impact any of this was having on teaching, learning, school culture, and leadership.
'Kicking off today (Aug. 1) is Connected Educators Month. Through a partnership with the US Department of Education, the idea is to get the word out about what it means to be a connected educator and the importance of being connected. There are lots of webinars, panels, discussions and resources to share. You can learn more about it by visiting the Connected Educators Calendar.
'Prezi , the zooming presentation tool that makes presentations engaging and fun, has added some cool features. Prezi has added 3-D backgrounds for the presentations, which can add some great images to your presentations. Also added are Fade-In Animations like PowerPoint has to slowly reveal your content or only have it come up once you click. Great for posing questions and hiding the answer.
How can we actively engage learners 24/7, on their level and according to their interests, while respecting their learning styles? It’s not impossible. In this guide: Explore how to transform traditional, one-way videos into two-way interactive learning experiences Understand different types of artificial intelligence (AI), including - Generative vs.
'In a recent post, I discussed the essentials of using iBooks as a tool for displaying (and saving) PDFs files you possess, download or create. Thanks to Alex Dunn ( @smartinclusion ) for pointing out in a followup discussion on Twitter that interactive whiteboard lessons such as those displayed on a Smartboard can also easily be saved as PDFs and reviewed in that manner.
'“Our students must learn not only how to use current technologies, but also how to evaluate which ones work best for particular tasks or projects,” write Howard Pitler, Elizabeth R. Hubbell, and Matt Kuhn in their latest edition of Using Technology with Classroom Instruction That Works , 2nd Edition. In the digital age, that is the crux of our instructional problem: how do we give students the experiences with digital technologies that make them effective consumer-users?
'Guest Post for SmartBlogs on Education Over the past four years, I have had the privilege of teaching in a forward-thinking school district that has embraced the use of mobile learning devices in the classroom. Mobile learning has become the new buzzword in many educational communities. Mobile learning is essentially anytime, anywhere learning. This type of learning could be with a netbook, iPad, iPod touch or even a smartphone.
'The other day I had a discussion with Colleen Tambuscio, one of my teachers, where she was actively sharing some of the innovative ideas she planned to implement during the upcoming school year. Colleen is the architect of our globally recognized Holocaust Education Program. During our conversation, she shared with me her experience with Today’s Meet at a recent professional development program hosted by the Shoah Foundation in California.
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.
'Last week on #edchat the discussion turned to blogging and the importance (or maybe not) in and out of the classroom. As always the conversation was a lively one with lots of different ideas on student blogging, administrator blogging, platforms and more. (Check out the archive to read and follow all the discussions.) I wrote about how to be come a blogger a while back.
'At EdcampCT this past week, I was chatting with Greg McVerry ( @jgmac1106 ) about devices, 1-1 and BYOD and he made an interesting comment. Instead of a school purchasing an iPad and keyboard for all the students, what about a Chromebook and Nexus 7 for each student? I like this idea for a lot of reasons. An iPad starts at $500 and then add the case for $50 and keyboard for around $50 and you are at $600 for one device.
'In my last post, I talked about the potential benefits of using iBooks for displaying and interacting with ePub books in therapy. iBooks is also useful as a collection spot for useful PDFs that you might want to display as visuals in a therapy session. What is a PDF? A PDF is a Portable Document Format, and we have seen them more and more over the past few years.
'What if you only had time and money to use and purchase six tools to teach your entire curriculum? What would those six tools be? Authors Harvey Silver, R. Thomas Dewing, and Matthew Perini seem to do just that in their book The Core Six: Essential Strategies for Achieving Excellence with Common Core. Many of us are right in the midst to implementing the Common Core Standards, whether we philosophically agree or disagree with the need for their existence.
Managing a K-12 campus with constant pressure to meet performance metrics is challenging. And tardiness can significantly limit a school from reaching these goals. Learn more about why chronic lateness matters, and key strategies to address the following impacts: Data errors caused by manual processes Low attendance and graduation rates that affect a school’s reputation Classroom disruption, which leads to poor academic performance High staff attrition and “The Teacher Exodus” Unmet LCAP goals t
'The Learning 2.0 virtual conference is just around the corner (August 20 - 24 [link] ). We have an incredible lineup of keynote speakers and some GREAT practitioner sessions--AND there is still time for you to sign up to present (we hope you will do so)! Learning 2.0 is a free conference and is held online, in multiple time zones, over the course of five days.
'I am extremely excited that my second book is now available through Solution Tree entitled What Principals Need to Know About Teaching and Learning Science. It was a great deal of fun co-authoring this book with Keith Devereaux , one of my Science teachers at New Milford High School. It is our hope that this book becomes the go to resource for principals looking to establish and maintain effective science programs that focus on doing science as opposed to just knowing.
'This Tuesday (Aug 21) at 2pm EDT, the folks over at Nearpod are starting their Educator Spotlight webinars and I am honored to be the first guest! Are you using technology as effectively as you could in your classroom? Or perhaps you know you need to try to use it but don''t want to include tech just for the sake of it? This session will introduce you to TPACK (Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge) and how it can be used to effectively integrate new technology in a classroom setting.
'Evernote , one of my favorite web apps (along with Google''s many apps), has a great product, Evernote Clearly which is a browser extension for Google Chrome (other browsers will be added soon) that allows you to read online with less distractions. You simply click the extension and it hides all the distractions from blogs and articles, allowing you to read with less distractions and more easily.
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.
'Many of you have already begun your school year, I can see from my social media channels. This is a time of excitement, but also of some anxiety! I myself have some transition nervousness as I have cut out the public school piece of my job(s) and will be working in private practice (also consulting to schools on students with social learning and language challenges), continuing my app work with Smarty Ears , and running workshops on tech integration!
'No one argues any more that principals must take on the role of being an instructional leader in their schools. It is widely accepted, but often having credibility in that role is difficult when principals do not have experience teaching, or don’t really understand what being an instructional leader means. Author of the book The Principal as Instructional Leader: A Practical Handbook , Sally Zepeda points out that, “ Principals who are instructional leaders ‘link’ the work of leadership and lea
'As I start my 20th year in education, a profession I still love, I want to be energized and excited and open to possibilities. The truth is, I''m anything but those things right now. Right now I''m just tired. There are several reasons for why I feel the way I feel, some of which I can identify and some of which I may be ignorant of, but regardless, it''s where I am.
'MAHALO to Donna MacDonald who pinned this infographic to the SIGMS Forum 2012 Pinterest group , and for introducing me to YA writer Kate Hart''s fantastic work! Hart is called the queen of infographics and I can see why ! This infographic is just the ticket for my presentation on plagiarism tomorrow! Source: katehart.net via Donna on Pinterest For the back story on this infographic, go here. (???
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.
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