April, 2014

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Makerspaces Provide a World of Opportunities

A Principal's Reflections

'As of late it seems that I have been blogging a great deal about our makerspace here at New Milford High School and with good reason. Not only is the space being overrun with students during their lunch periods, but teachers here have begun to explore how the process of making can enhance the learning experience for the students in their classes. Just last week I shared on my blog how physics classes were exploring concepts related to circuitry in a more hands-on, authentic fashion in our const

Strategy 332
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Gamify Learning: 20+ Resources

Teacher Reboot Camp

'“Games are an extraordinary way to tap into your most heroic qualities.” -?Jane McGonigal, Author of Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. People enjoy playing video games. People worldwide spend about 3 billion hours a week playing them (McGonigal, 2011). When we play video games we learn, build, collaborate, problem-solve, explore, discover, and achieve goals.

Resources 302
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Great list of app based on task you want students to accomplish

Educational Technology Guy

'I found this great list of apps and tech tools that are organized based on the task you want students to accomplish. It was out on Twitter and I can''t find the original tweet. What do you want to do.?There''s a tech tool for that. pic.twitter.com/kWFciWylLP. This post originally appeared on Educational Technology Guy. Feel free to share summaries and links to these articles, but do not copy and repost entire article.

Twitter 279
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Why #Edcamp Is So Awesome

The Web20Classroom

'This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending another Edcamp. This one makes 7 for me. #EdcampElon was another event in a long like of teacher-driven professional development that can have a lasting impact on the learning of all who attend. Don''t know what an Edcamp is or looks like? My experience with Edcamp has been that of a participant and an organizer (EdcampNC!).

Edcamps 268
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Enhancing Higher Education with Generative AI: A Responsible Guide

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.

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On Being a Literary Parent

Baker's B.Y.O.D.

'Encouraging Then cajoling Bribing with a sirens'' song Escalating to ordering and demanding, Once a Lady, now a Tiger Disheveled shelves scattered toys I had Great Expectations Stubborn Determined This will not be a 10 year siege, or A Tale of Two Cities My best laid plans have gang aft agley I need divine intervention for laundry I shout as the Prince to Verona (but they don''t know my allusions): " I will be deaf to pleading and excuses; Nor tears nor prayers shall purchase out abuses: Theref

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Are You Leading with Fear? #BYOD

The Mobile Native

'As the temperature begins to rise, I reminisce back to a warm summer day while sitting on a bench next to the pool watching my five-year-old son climbing the never-ending ladder of the high dive. As he reached the summit, he casually walked to the edge of the board with a smile on his face. Without a care in the world, he leapt into the water! His confidence and tenacity allowed him to complete this act with faith in his ability.

BYOD 109

More Trending

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Digital Poets! Web Tools, Apps, & Lesson Ideas

Teacher Reboot Camp

'“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.” by Robert Frost. April is National Poetry month. I invite you to consider the possibilities of teaching with poetry. Poetry makes content come alive, because the poet has a deep connection with the subject matter. Poems can help students see what they consider a boring or tedious topic in a different light.

Tools 274
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Meeting Organization with Evernote

Educational Technology Guy

'Meetings, meetings, meetings. They are a necessary evil. But, you can make them more organized and productive by being organized yourself. I use Evernote as my main work (and personal) tool. For meetings, it is indispensable. Here''s how: I clip the meeting/appointment slot from Outlook into Evernote. This has the invitees/attendees, agenda, topic, time and date, etc.

Meeting 191
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Happy Birthday YouTube! Tips and Tricks For Doing More With Our Favorite Video Service

The Web20Classroom

'Today (April 23, 2014) is the 9th Anniversary of the first video ever being uploaded to YouTube. You can still see that first video here. Many districts are realizing the potential that YouTube learning can have in the classroom. There are lots of great videos and channels out there on 1000''s of topics. I have put together a list of some of my favorite tools to use with YouTube.

Video 245
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5 Ways to use social media to spice up your next museum trip

The Innovative Educator

'It’s not uncommon for today’s children, brought up in a fast-paced, digital world, to become bored and uninterested when visiting cultural institutions. It doesn’t have to be that way though. Sometimes the first step to enjoying art is to look forward to a museum visit as something that is fun. Social media can provide a great way to engage young people during a trip to museum, landmark, or other cultural institution.

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Enhancing School Device Management for Improved Learning

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.

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30+ BYOD and BYOT Resources

The Mobile Native

'1. Forsyth County Schools BYOT 2. Chesapeake Public Schools BYOD 3. St. Marys City Schools BYOT 4. 10 BYOT/ BYOD Back to School Basics 5. 9 Steps for Schools to Create Their Own BYOD Policy 6. Building on the "Bring Your Own Device" Revolution 7. 11 Sample Education BYOT Policies to Help Create Your Own 8. 20 BYOD Resources by Category 9. 10 Places to Find Great BYOD Lesson Plans 10. 6 Hidden Tricks for BYOD Success 11. 30 Perfect Apps for BYOD Classrooms 12. 4 Big Concerns About BYOD in School

BYOD 108
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Inquiry-Based, Constructivist Learning in Physics

A Principal's Reflections

'Every year New Milford High School teacher Tahreen Chowdhury teaches Newton’s laws of physics and most of the students are able to grasp the first and the second law. However, Newton’s third law is the one that is most contrary to their everyday intuition. This law, as the students know it, is “every action has an equal and opposite reaction”. The students have learned this concept since their first science classes, but are puzzled by this concept when they see small cars being demolished by bi

Learning 285
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Be Inspired! Free! Online! #RSCON5, Sun. Apr. 6

Teacher Reboot Camp

'Join us this Sunday, April 6th! Professional Development in your PJs. Only 4 hours. You can even join our Technology Smackdown and present your favorite web tools or apps. Find all the web room links here. Just click on the green links on this page and a Blackboard Collaborate room will popup. Check your time zone here, Bit.ly/rscontz46. If you enjoyed this post, you may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates or subscribe to the Teacher Reboot Camp free eNewsletter to receive

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Today is Earth Day - here are some resources for teachers

Educational Technology Guy

'Earth Day, April 22nd, is a great time to talk to your students about the environment. Earth Day was started in 1962 as a way to bring attention to environmental issues. As polution increases, and the environment is continually affected by humans, it is a great time to get our students thinking about environmental issues. Here are some resources you can use with your students: Earth Day Networks site - [link] Google Earth Day Resources #mybeautifulearth https://plus.google.com/u/0/explore/mybea

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Quickly Create Personalized Learning Experiences that Work

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.

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Learning and Programing With @GoSphero

The Web20Classroom

'A few weeks ago the folks over at Orbotix sent me a Sphero to try out. I had seen them before so when given the chance to get hands on I couldn''t resist. What is a Sphero? So as you can see it''s a robotic ball that you control via Bluetooth from your smartphone or tablet. But it''s more than that too. There are a slew of apps that you can download that allow you to take your Sphero to the next level.

Learning 231
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iFrame, You can frame, We all can frame.

Baker's B.Y.O.D.

'I''ve been dappling with very basic html embed codes and trying out how to embed a webpage inside of another webpage on this blog and my Weebly portfolio site. This is a nifty trick to use when you want more of a wow-factor visually. Seeing the webpage can be more effective to showcase a website than merely hyper-linking to it or including an embedded RSS feed list.

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Sphero, an Introduction

My Paperless Classroom

'This is the first in a series of posts exploring the resources for teaching with the Sphero robot published at https://www.gosphero.com/education/. The Sphero company made these posts possible by providing 2 robots for review purposes. As a nerd I am excited about this robot ball because ROBOT BALL! and as a teacher of technology I am excited because in addition to having some great remote-control and augmented reality features, there are some really neat programming opportunities with Sphero,

Robotics 101
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Using EdTech to Enhance Science Learning

A Principal's Reflections

'Miss Ginter’s Biology students at New Milford High School have been using Padlet as a forum to post answers to teacher created questions, as well as student created questions. A KWL chart on Mitosis was created in class, and the questions that students wanted answers to were posted on the Padlet. Students have the opportunity to post their response with the approval of the teacher.

EdTech 282
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Can Brain Science Actually Help Make Your Training & Teaching Stick?

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.

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Almost 70% of teachers are not engaged. Here’s why that matters so much

The Hechinger Report

'Wednesday Gallup released a major report on the State of American Schools. Their data paints a picture of schools performing as a complex ecosystem, with the wellbeing, engagement, and performance of teachers, students, and principals all intertwined. The report combines decades of surveys of 5 million American teachers and principals with the results of the Gallup Student Poll, now billed as the largest survey of American students with 600,000 5th through 12 grade participants, and several lar

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21st Century Literacy, Communication, and Blogging

wwwatanabe

'What does it mean to be literate? Traditionally, being literate meant the ability to read and write, a trademark of being educated. In essence, it meant the ability to communicate face-to-face and in writing. The Internet has changed what it means to be literate because communication; writing; and how we retrieve, share, critically evaluate, and synthesize information includes digital fluency, which requires a new set of skills.

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The Reinventing The Classroom Virtual Conference #reinvent14

The Web20Classroom

'This is a really awesome time to be in the classroom. From Bring Your Own Device to Web 2.0 tools to students connecting across oceans, there are some pretty incredible things happening with learning. The new Reinventing The Classroom Virtual Conference aims to discover and share the most innovative, long-lasting and creative projects and share in a global conversation about what is right with education, world-wide.

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Look What We Found: POETRY!

Baker's B.Y.O.D.

'April is National Poetry Month , and, while I''m excited that poetry is showcased this month, really, poetry is all around us everyday. Rather than teaching an isolated poetry unit for two weeks during the school year, I incorporate poetry into every unit all year long. Look for some more blog posts highlighting poetry that connects to canonical texts.

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Behind the Bell: The Underlying Impact of Tardiness in K-12 Schools

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

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Learning about Time, Speed, and Distance with Sphero

My Paperless Classroom

'STEM integration can be daunting at first and it can be tough to know where to start. Sphero''s series of SPRK lessons begins with a very straightforward lesson on time, speed, and distance. When I think about learning these concepts I can still see the word problems (R = D/T). This type of computation only became real to me once I put a speedometer on my bike and started using it to commute.

Adobe 97
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Instilling an Early Passion for History

A Principal's Reflections

'At New Milford High School we are always encouraging collaborations resulting in interdisciplinary projects. Recently students from Mr. Manzo’s 9th Grade Honors World History classes were assigned to create children’s books about the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte in France during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Students were to incorporate all of the associated subject matter, vocabulary, and major concepts whilst creating a narrative that a small child could not only understand b

Learning 274
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Finding Content for Reteaching, Blending, and Flipping

EdTechSandyK

'Online content means you can learn anywhere, with anyone! Photo by familymwr used under a creative commons license Recently I had a wonderful conversation with my district''s high school educational technologist, Kristin Thompson , about apps and online tools that could be used for formative assessment and reteaching of concepts. We talked about using a tool like Socrative or InfuseLearning to get a quick feel for where students are in their learning, and then apps like Explain Everything , Edu

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Let the VAM Lawsuits Begin: Issues and Concerns with Their High-Stakes Use

The 21st Century Principal

'Lawsuits against states using value-added models in making teaching evaluation decisions has begun in earnest. There are now three lawsuits underway challenging the use of this controversial statistical methodology and the use of test scores to determine teacher effectiveness. This increase in litigation is both an indication of how rapidly states have adopted the practice, and how these same states failed to address so many issues and concerns with the use of VAMs in this manner.

Data 88
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The Battle of the Authoring Tools: A 10-Point Comparison for Picking the Right One

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.

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Things That Have Me Thinking-4/18

The Web20Classroom

'This is my series where I explore a few things that I have seen or heard about that is pushing my thinking, getting me to see something a different way or just something I want to share. This week we look at the 3 things about apps I''ve been exploring. Field Day - I have been doing a lot of work lately investigating and helping teachers learn what authentic-based learning means.

Android 204
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Time Is Not Always On Our Side- 5 Minute Mobile Projects with Field Trips

MSEDTechie

'Time is NOT on our side. Sometimes we want our students to complete quick mobile projects that take very little time, but produce awesome projects. Our 4th grade students recently visited Jefferson City, our Missouri capitol, to learn more about Missouri history. Each group on the field trip had an iPad to capture video and or images to document their experience.

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How Do I Learn to Make Awesome Videos?

My Paperless Classroom

'If you want to learn how to make really cool video content for your classroom, or your community group, or for any other reason, I have a perfect method: take the equipment you have on hand, learn how to do every thing it can. I like to have an on-going "learning project" a place where I can make video content that allows me to try out a creation or editing platform when my entire lesson is on the line.

Video 94
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Bucking the Trend

A Principal's Reflections

'The following is a guest post by Michael Warren , a Social Studies Teacher at Hasbrouck Heights High School in NJ. Michael recently visited New Milford HS and reflected on hist visit below. You can follow him on Twitter at @mrwarren29. Over the past several years in both politics and education, the word “change” has created a buzz that incites people to believe that something big is about to occur or that there will be a dramatic shift from the status quo.

Trends 255
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Reimagining Chickering & Gamson's Principles Post-Pandemic: Technology's Central Role in Modern Edu

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.