January, 2013

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The Right Way is Your Way

A Principal's Reflections

'I have read some very thought-provoking posts and associated commentary over the past couple of weeks focusing on how particular educators use social media. What I have found interesting is the powerful opinions as to how one should use social media. I think it is great that so many people have focused opinions on what social media should, could, or should not be with a considerable emphasis on specific do''s and dont''s.

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Formative Assessments Are Easier Than You Think!

The Web20Classroom

'When I was teaching science one of the best lessons I learned was about formative assessment. In my first year of teaching I taught the way I was told to teach. Deliver content to my students, assess at the end, remediate if necessary. With that cycle, I always had kids who were behind, who never seemed like they could catch up. I was talking with a teacher friend the summer after my first year and she suggested something simple.

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Boundless - free, open source, digital textbooks

Educational Technology Guy

'Boundless is a service that provides free, open source, digital textbooks. There are 18 open textbooks with Creative Commons licensed content, for college subjects including accounting, biology, economics and more. Boundless provides a free alternative to expensive textbooks and they can also be used as supplemental materials for students. The content is changed and additions made, in direct contrast to printed textbooks that are usually outdated before they are printed.

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How to Decode a Tweet

EdTechSandyK

'When you first start using Twitter, one of the things you have to figure out is how to decode Tweets. What does each part represent? What does it mean when a word starts with a #? Below is a Tweet as it might be displayed on the Twitter website when viewed on a computer. Note that not all Tweets might include all of these exact attributes. If you are using an app or third-party service like Hootsuite or TweetDeck to read your Tweets, they might look slightly different, but the parts will still

How To 111
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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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8 Must-Have Skills for Spotting Misinformation for 21st Century Students

The 21st Century Principal

'A 21st century skill that all students need badly is the ability to spot misinformation. As educators, we desperately need to do as Loren Collins states in her book, Bullspotting: Finding Facts in the Age of Misinformation. We need to "arm our students with baloney-detecting tools to prevent false and unsupported beliefs so that such beliefs can be better contained.

Tools 107
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This is how Democracy ends — Apology from a former teacher

The Innovative Educator

'Recently Kris Nielsen , the Teacher Dropout I featured on my blog last month, wrote this to me on Facebook: A while back, I asked you if you saw any redeeming qualities about CCSS. Your answer got me thinking. Since then, you could say I've seen the light. To follow is the post he wrote that appears on his blog Middle Grades Mastery. Almost a year ago, I offered my time to the middle school at which I was employed to give a two-night presentation that promised to ease parents’ conc

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So.You Wanna Be A Good Digital Citizen

The Web20Classroom

'This is an update from a post a wrote a while back. I''ve included some new resources to check out. Recently, my district began a huge initiative to combat bullying/cyberbullying and to help students become more aware of the choices they make both in their face-to-face lives and their digital decisions as well. There is no one right way or right answer that will stop the problems.

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Great Tips, Resources and Ideas for Going Paperless in the New Year

Educational Technology Guy

'I am a big fan of going paperless whenever possible and technology just keeps making it easier to do. Google is one of the sponsors of the Paperless pledge and has some tips, resources and ideas for going paperless and I have collected a variety of resources and tips. Here they all are.Check them out and check out Paperless2013 and sign up for more tips.

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Your Facebook Privacy is YOUR Responsibility, Not Your Friends'.

EdTechSandyK

'Social networking is a great way to share our lives and keep in touch with friends, but it''s important that we all keep ourselves educated on how our settings work and only share information about privacy that is accurate. For example, I''ve lost count of how many of my friends have posted the status below in recent weeks: Hello, FB friends: I want to stay PRIVATELY connected with you.

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Introduction to iPads: Part 2--iPad Integration

wwwatanabe

'How does a teacher start to use iPads in the classroom? While Part 1 focuses on the hardware basics, Part 2 focuses on iPad integration in the classroom. Most teachers need to think through a few things about implementation before going full throttle. iPad management When I think about introducing a class to something new, I recall the lesson learned in my first year of teaching when I handed out geoboards for the first time.

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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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Union supports standardized tests boycott

The Innovative Educator

'The Seattle Times reports the teachers union shares concerns the faculty at Garfield High has raised about district-required standardized tests. As a result, the Garfield teachers announced that no teachers at the school would be giving the tests this winter, even though the district requires them to do so. Nearly all the faculty signed a letter to the district saying they’re not against testing, but they think their standardized exams (MAP) is a flawed test that fails to help them or their

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Learning Math Should be Fun and Engaging

A Principal's Reflections

'Kanchan Chellani, currently a math teacher at New Milford High School , is a strong believer in making the learning process fun, interactive, and meaningful for students. To engage students in her classroom, Mrs. Chellani has utilized a variety of tools to help her develop an interactive, student-centered learning environment. Through the use of technology, collaborative learning exercises, and teaching mathematical concepts in the real-world and interdisciplinary context, she has managed to su

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A Class You'll Be Excited To Take. #ETMOOC

The Web20Classroom

'It''s been a few years since I last took a formal "class." My entire Masters degree was done online back in 2009 and 2010 and that wasn''t all that traditional at the time. Now it is almost the norm. But I do enjoy learning and I am very interested in the ideas of MOOCs or Massively Open Online Courses and have been for a while. If you aren''t familiar with MOOCs the idea is that major universities (like Harvard, MIT, Georgetown and others) offer courses from their faculty free, and online, for

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Getting Organized Tips and Resources

Educational Technology Guy

'GET ORGANIZED!! Here are some tips on getting organized. I am a very organized person (type A personality and was an engineer for ten years) and I used to teach organizational skills to other employees at one of my jobs. There are a ton of different organizational methods out there, but it is actually pretty easy to be organized and stay that way using some free tools.

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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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4 Rules For Building a Culture of Support: Advice From a Practicing Principal

The 21st Century Principal

'In his new book, Building a Culture of Support: Strategies for School Leaders , educator and principal PJ Caposey offers school leaders three things: practical, down-to-earth advice for leading schools; concrete strategies in creating highly supportive school environments; and a compact approach to leadership that brings supporting staff, students, parents, and school community to the forefront.

Strategy 100
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On Edmodo Global Connections Just a Post Away

Baker's B.Y.O.D.

'While I use Twitter consistently for informal professional development and connecting with other educators, the opportunities for making connections on Edmodo are greatly increased. Unlike Twitter where one has to find and follow others (I follow 982, but only about 550 follow me), the communities on Edmodo provide areas for thousands of educators to congregate and post.

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Dear overbearing phone mom - No thanks!

The Innovative Educator

'You may have read the post from an overbearing mom who was trying to control her kid because she purchased a phone for him. The level of contempt this mom shows for her son is disheartening. Fortunately, this mom’s whole desire to impose lessons upon him falls short if he rejects her gift. Teaching your child that money equals control is a shameful and dangerous lesson.

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Making Teachers' Lives Easier

A Principal's Reflections

'The following is a guest post by Jessica Groff, an English teacher here at New Milford High School. In this post she discusses her experience with a cloud-based technology solution called ClassLink. Jessica also teachers Digital Journalism and has worked with her students to create The Lance , our school''s digital newspaper. Four years ago, I left a desk job to become a teacher.

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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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A Wrap Up Of Day 1 At #FETC

The Web20Classroom

'I''ve had the pleasure of spending time at the Florida Educational Technology Conference, better known as FETC. Held in Orlando, educators from across Florida and the world really, are here talking educational technology and learning together. Today was filled with lots of sessions and even a presentation from yours truly. Below are the links to everything I did today.

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Google Slides now available offline!

Educational Technology Guy

'Google Docs/Drive is a great, free resource that allows you to create, edit, share, collaborate on, and comment on Documents (Docs), Spreadsheets (Sheets), and Presentations (Slides), all online. Think Microsoft Office in the cloud with some other great features. I use Google Slides (Presentations), the equivalent of PowerPoint, for all of my presentations.

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Revised List of Top iPad Apps for School Administrators

The 21st Century Principal

'In November 2010, I wrote a blog post entitled “Top iPad Apps for School Administrators.” That post has been one of the most popular on my blog for quite sometime. Now, two years later, I have found myself using many of the same apps, but also some newer ones as well. I thought it time to revise my list of iPad apps now that I have returned to using the iPad.

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Search for Mobile Apps Using Google

EdTechSandyK

'Yesterday I learned from a TCEA Tweet that Google has launched an app search feature. What a cool tool for those of us working in mobile learning environments - whether they be individual teacher devices, pods of classroom devices, 1:1, or BYOD - to use to explore app possibilities without having to log into an app store first! I played with app search a little and made a quick tutorial video to show you how to access it and an idea I had for combining it with Google''s advanced search feature.

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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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High school dropout pursues passions and becomes a multimillionaire

The Innovative Educator

'David Karp began learning HTML at 11 and soon after was designing websites for local businesses. Unlike Nick Perez who spent years being drugged and tortured in a school that didn’t understand his particular passion, Karp attended high school for one year before dropping out. This allowed him to focus on doing projects that enabled him to pursue his passions.

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Altering the Path to BYOD

A Principal's Reflections

'The following is a guest post by Sherry Spier, a K-12 Media Specialist Coordinator in the Cinnaminson School District (NJ). In this post Sherry reflects on here recent visit to New Milford High School, which took place on January 11, 2013. For the last year, myself and four other members of the Cinnaminson School District staff worked relentlessly to start a pilot Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT) program at Cinnaminson High School.

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Newly Posted Favorite Resources 01/13/2013

The Web20Classroom

'Photo Pin : Free Photos for Bloggers via Creative Commons tags: photos creativecommons favorite Five Steps to Starting a Class Blog in 2012 tags: blog blogging favorite Free Technology for Teachers: Five Ways to Visually Explore Wikipedia tags: Wikipedia favorite The Mobile Native: BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) Toolbox tags: byod favorite Over 25 Links Uncovering Project Based Learning Resources On The Web tags: project based learning PBL favorite Using Google+ To Improve Your Teaching tags: goo

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Doodle 4 Google contest open - create a doodle, win a scholarship

Educational Technology Guy

'Google is once again hosting a Doodle 4 Google contest for K-12 students in the US. Students create a doodle of the Google logo based on this years theme: "My Best Day Ever." would be what? Think outside the box and use some imagination. The winner will see their Doodle on the Google homepage for a day, get a $30,000 college scholarship and get a $50,000 technology grant for their school.

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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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Can Smith and Wesson Save Our Schools? Or, Will Guns Be Our Undoing?

The 21st Century Principal

'Several weeks after Newtown, the debate about what to do to make our schools more secure continues. The NRA has called for armed guards in every school. Some school districts in Texas and Utah are arming teachers and administrators. One school district in Ohio is arming its custodians. ( Montpelier Ohio School Board Votes to Arm Janitors ) In typical American fashion, many reactions to the Sandy Hook tragedy have been to grip our guns even tighter and declare certain ideas like assault weapons

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Who Are Your Top 5 Education Tweeps to Follow?

EdTechSandyK

'I know questions like this are insanely hard, but that doesn''t stop me from asking them! In preparation for a Twitter for Professional Learning workshop I''m leading at the TCEA Convention in early February, I''d like to know who your top 5 education folks to follow on Twitter are and why. You might think of it this way: If the Twitter rules changed one day and you could only follow five people in education, who would they be?

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7 ways to support your child in being digitally responsible without contracts

The Innovative Educator

'Parents and educators agree that in the age of “ Generation Text ” it is important to be prepared to help children become responsible citizens of the digital world. What they don't agree on is how to go about this. While some flocked to follow the advice of the overbearing mom whose iPhone gift came with contractual strings, other parents, educators, and teens alike were appalled by the disrespect and contempt conveyed by such an approach.

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The Lowell Milken Center Discovery Award

A Principal's Reflections

'Innovation and creativity are at the core of the American spirit and they are the qualities that build the foundation for progress in education, technology, business, and, well, just about everything. As a principal, I often write about of the importance of creativity, innovation, and discovery in the classroom. When it comes to innovating in the classroom, project-based learning has gained increased attention as teachers and reformers seek ways to the move our classrooms away from the often mu

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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.