January 2009 Blog Posts (154)

Strategies - Looking for the best "blend"

I strive to provide the best instruction I can for my students, as I believe most of us do. I want to incorporate new technologies, but I don't want to lose things that have proven successful - hence the blend.

One thing I do that works well for myself and my students is using an interactive notebook. This is a paper strategy. You can read about that here at my webpage under teacher resources http://snipurl.com/mrsgannon

Added by Mendy Gannon on January 8, 2009 at 9:24am — 1 Comment

Best Sites For Valentine's Day, President's Day, Movie Trailers For ESL & More

Hi, Everybody,

Here are a few of the latest "The Best..." lists:

The Best Collections Of Educational Links

( http://tinyurl.com/8v6uw5)

The Best Sites That Use Movie Trailers To Teach English

(http://tinyurl.com/a55e3b)

The Best Sites To Learn About Street Gangs

(http://tinyurl.com/9e6jt3)

The Best Resources About President’s Day

(http://tinyurl.com/83ojh9)

The Best Sites About Valentine's… Continue

Added by Larry Ferlazzo on January 8, 2009 at 5:05am — No Comments

GUIYANG PRIMARY SCHOOL, CHINA

What’s it like to go to elementary school in China? I was able to witness a primary school. Like the high school, students wore uniforms and worked as a seamless member of a larger group. Again, the students were fully engaged and on task. Again, the teacher controlled the learning environment and used a projected PowerPoint to aid in her instruction. Like the high school, students waited for the bell to ring and the teacher to formally begin class. Students laid their heads on the desk and… Continue

Added by Dr. Kari Stubbs on January 7, 2009 at 1:36pm — No Comments

Teachers forfeit raise?

I was watching Fox and Friends this morning and a story about a school that was asked to forfeit their raise in order for everyone to keep their jobs. It was reported that if everyone, in this particular school system, agreed to give up their raise, then none of the teachers would be laid off. Talk about being put in a tough situation. On one hand, you want to be a humanitarian but, on the other hand you need to take care of your own family. There is also the issue of those teachers close to… Continue

Added by Kara Norris on January 7, 2009 at 11:30am — 1 Comment

Mathetics versus didactics

Classroom 2.0 is compelling - especially if the entire philosophy of education is turned around and we begin to think of learning versus teaching.

Seymour Papert is a big fan of using the word Mathetics - the science of Learning - when we speak of education in the 21st century. The factory method of education that we all know and hate is based on the science of Teaching or Didactics.

Check out Guide by the Side... ...not Sage on the… Continue

Added by Jorge Nelson on January 6, 2009 at 9:54pm — No Comments

Jing Goes Pro: One of Our Favorite Screencasting Tools Just Got Better

News from ReadWriteWeb:

Jing, one of our favorite free screenshot and screencasting tools, just received a major update. Besides adding a new look and feel, TechSmith, Jing's parent company, also announced a new Pro version of Jing, which, for $14.95 a year, allows users to record their screencasts in HD H.264 video, directly upload them to YouTube, and remove the Jing logos that appear at the beginning and… Continue

Added by Sabrina Fu on January 6, 2009 at 8:34pm — 1 Comment

Goals for January

To introduce our schools to various projects and competitions students can do using technology tools. Am going to enter the video comp with MIT. Any other suggestions?

Added by Alexis Krysten on January 6, 2009 at 1:06pm — 2 Comments

Online Virtual Classroom...Teaching a Multi Cultural International Online Class

virtual Classroomhttp://ladymaggic.podomatic.com

The Online Virtual English Class

Thousands of Koreans attend English Classes everyday trying to learn to speak a Language that is now deemed essential. All teachers of English in Korea are expected to be able to Speak English by 2010. Schools, Colleges, Universities and a myriad of tiny after-school centers pay enormous fees for native speaking… Continue

Added by Maggi Carstairs on January 6, 2009 at 7:17am — No Comments

Virtual MiniLife as aide to Teaching Conversational English

http://www.myminilife.com/neighborhoods/17946-active-mates

It started with Active Mates and a link where I could buy my friends. It looked fun so I did. This led me to My Mini Life and building houses for my friends to live in.

Suddenly I was part of a whole little Virtual World where people build little houses, and exchange visits and gifts, and get virtual money in points, by voting and… Continue

Added by Maggi Carstairs on January 6, 2009 at 7:14am — No Comments

Online Virtual Classroom

http://Activeenglishspeaking.com

http://blogs.computerworld.com/node/5553/print

On the advantages of virtual, text-based discussions:

"... In all my years of teaching classes, there are always some students in the class who are very hard to get to speak up. You can ask them a direct question, but basically, unless they are put on the spot, these students will not volunteer their own opinions in class, and I think… Continue

Added by Maggi Carstairs on January 6, 2009 at 7:12am — No Comments

Essays From The Middle School Frontier, Part 2

Adapting To Learned Helplessness

The sixth graders. are. killing. me.

Okay, they're not killing me. They're...challenging me.

That's it. They are a challenge.

Here is an interaction I had today:

The setting: During class. Silent reading time. Several students are

taking AR quizzes on the laptops for only the first or second time.

Student: Mister!

Me: That's not how you--

Student: Mister! Mister… Continue

Added by Robert Barker on January 5, 2009 at 11:00pm — No Comments

Essays From The Middle School Frontier, Part 1

I originally published these essays on my school's google group, but thought they might fit in with the spirit of Classroom 2.0.

Round Holes and Square Pegs

a mid-year reflection for public consumption

During my first year of teaching it was not uncommon for my

then girlfriend to come home at the end of the day to find me

sprawled face down on our bed, a kind of slain snow angel, shoes still

on, my "I'm serious about my profession" red tie… Continue

Added by Robert Barker on January 5, 2009 at 11:00pm — No Comments

Classroom 2.0

I have been a member for a couple of weeks, but have yet to dive deeper in Classroom 2.0 until I read a post on Thumann Resources, Top 10 Reasons to Join Classroom 2.0.

Added by Alexis Krysten on January 5, 2009 at 6:40pm — No Comments

Getting Back In The Water

If anyone has ever watched the disturbing, but motivational and strangely moving video "Did You Know," then you may be like me at this tail end of the winter break: a bit scattered.

Two versions of Did You Know?

1. Version 1

2. Version 2

Mid-way through my fifth year of teaching, a lot of my… Continue

Added by Robert Barker on January 5, 2009 at 5:15pm — 9 Comments

Study Guides & Homework ... I Wonder

By returning to the classroom there were a number of ideas I wanted to try. One of my ideas dealt with teaching students the importance of study guides while addressing late work.

How often do teachers find giving students assignments and on due date discovering a handful not turning them in. Why do students not turn in their work? I think there are a number of reasons: 1) They don't care, 2) They don't see the importance of the assignment in the process of their learning, 3) They… Continue

Added by Alan Beam on January 5, 2009 at 2:24pm — 4 Comments

Should Technical Education be on the "cut list?"

There was an article in the Wichita Eagle this morning talking about the discussing the budget crunch their school district faces. They are anticipating that there will be programs that must be eliminated. Currently, technical education does not influence the individuals making these decisions. The Bush administration has been trying to eliminate funding to… Continue

Added by Donnie Smith on January 5, 2009 at 7:30am — No Comments

Online Learning - Education Online And Computer Elearning Tools For Special Kids; By Lance Winslow

By Lance Winslow

Special Kids require more teachers and assistants per students to assist them in learning. This is a challenge for school budgets as even the regular classes are often bursting at the seams with regards to student/teacher ratios. Tough choices thus, are sometimes made by administrators as the parents of regular kids and of special kids battle it out at PTA Meetings.

“Hey wait a minute; can we have… Continue

Added by Lance Winslow on January 5, 2009 at 12:11am — No Comments

Just started a Ning!

In getting ready to teach another session of Classrooms for a Digital Age - an ed. tech philosophy course more or less, I revisited Ning looking for a cool way to incorporate it into the curriculum. I created http://classroomsfordigitalage.ning.com to get started and think that I may try to utilize this in my district to help connect the grade level and secondary content teachers with resource collaboration.

We'll see how it goes! Happy 2009 to everyone.
cz

Added by ChristyZ on January 4, 2009 at 4:50pm — 1 Comment

Cheap Interactive Whiteboard using Wii remote?

I was poking around on You Tube and find a post by Johnny Chung Lee from Carnegie Mellon University. He is working on different projects that incorporate the Wii remote. In the video he details how to use a Wiimote, a homemade LED pen, and a plain surface to create an interactive whiteboard. The other fascinating idea was that he projected the image onto a table manipulated the computer programs from there. My mind started spinning with… Continue

Added by Kara Norris on January 4, 2009 at 1:31pm — 1 Comment

New Schools

I hope we are ready to move away from the old paradigm of teaching: stand and deliver. I hope that we are all ready to start a new collaborative, self-guided learning model. If you agree with this, I would love to hear your new ideas on what school should look like.

If you were in charge of starting your own school from scratch, what would it look like? Who would attend? What would students do?

Added by Matthew Samson on January 4, 2009 at 10:55am — 2 Comments