3 Great Professional Development Guides for Teachers Are you looking for some free professional development guides to read in the coming Christmas break? Edutopia has generously put up these three guides to help teachers and educators better improve their practice and enrich their instructional knowledge. I have just finished reading the second guide in this list and I must say they are really wonderful. Let me share with you a brief synopsis of each of them together with the links where you can access them. 1- Project-based Learning Professional Development guide This guide is divided into three parts: the first part is an introduction to project based learning in which the authors argue for the importance of PBL in learning together with some explanation on how it works. 2- Technology Integration professional Development Guide This guide walks you through the process of technology integration in education. 3- Assessment Professional Development Guide The content of this guide is structured in the same way as the previous guides.
Finding the Right Tool WebTools4U2Use will introduce you to a lot of different, powerful, useful tools.But... how do you choose the right one? By Task This mindmap by Toy Waterman provides a basic list of webtools from which to choose those most appropriate to different kinds of classroom activities. Check out Project Bamboo's Digital Research Tools(Bamboo DiRT), Created and maintained by a partnership of several U. By Product By Cognitive Level By Learning Style Brian Gray created this ThingLink image that links to lists of recommended tools for each learning style. Another way to look at these tools: 100 Helpful Web Tools for Every Type of Learner recaps some of the tools listed in this wiki and more. By Instructional Strategy By Stage of Inquiry Here's a new search tool from the UK that will help you find just the right tool from the 100s available. it's organized around stages of inquiry based learning. By NETS*S By Category By Types of Learning By Curriculum Area By Teaching Style
My Professional Learning Connections Noam Chomsky Spells Out the Purpose of Education E + ducere: “To lead or draw out.” The etymological Latin roots of “education.” According to a former Jesuit professor of mine, the fundamental sense of the word is to draw others out of “darkness,” into a “more magnanimous view” (he’d say, his arms spread wide). As inspirational as this speech was to a seminar group of budding higher educators, it failed to specify the means by which this might be done, or the reason. Lacking a Jesuit sense of mission, I had to figure out for myself what the “darkness” was, what to lead people towards, and why. It turned out to be simpler than I thought, in some respects, since I concluded that it wasn’t my job to decide these things, but rather to present points of view, a collection of methods—an intellectual toolkit, so to speak—and an enthusiastic model. What is the difference between education and indoctrination? First, Chomsky defines his view of education in an Enlightenment sense, in which the “highest goal in life is to inquire and create.
The Teacher Tap: Professional Development Resources for Educators The Teacher Tap is a free, professional development resource that helps educators and librarians address common questions about the use of technology in teaching and learning by providing easy access to practical, online resources and activities. Check out the Project Overview for more information. For a more indepth look at these topics, go to our online courses including: We're in the process of updating this resource, so you'll find a mixture of old and new pages. 101 Web 2.0 Teaching Tools Online tools and resources have made it easier for teachers to instruct students, and for students to collaborate with those teachers and with other students and parents. These “Web 2.0” teaching tools aren’t magical, but they may seem to defy definition at times since they save time, help you to stay organized, and often take up little space on a computer. Some of these applications are Web-based, which means that they can be accessed from any computer. The following list is filled with tools that will make a teacher’s, or those enrolled in the best online education programs, life easier. Aggregators The following list includes free tools that you can use to stay on top of current events, including headlines and blogs. Aggie: Aggie is an open source news aggregator that’s also a desktop application. Bookmark Managers Classroom Tools You need tools to help assess class progress. Animoto: This web tool completely simplifies the creation and sharing of videos. Collaboration Course Management
12 Важные вопросы для 21-го века Учителя ~ Образовательные технологии и Дистанционное обучение One of my favourite topics to talk about here in Educational Technology and Mobile Learning is the 21st Century Education and particularly the 21st century teacher. The last thing I have published in this regard was the 22 Digital Skills every 21st Century should Have. I strongly believe that the role of this teacher has undergone a major and transformational change due to the introduction of technology into teaching and learning. This seamless change has also brought about another change in the " teachable" priorities, learning styles, and strategic objectives. The 21st century teacher deals with new emerging challenges the most daunting of which is getting students engaged, motivated, and on-task. Today's students have a very short and limited attention span and have developed new learning modes, ones that draw on interconnectivity and networked collaboration.These and several other factors render 21st century teaching a serious challenge .
KQED education We Need A Higher Minumum Wage Are American workers in need of a raise? Last week, students across the country debated about whether or not the minimum wage should be increased in our #DoNowWages post. We asked students What is an appropriate minimum wage for where you live? In other words, what is the basic amount of pay per hour that a worker in your city would need to earn in order to make ends meet? Continue Reading A Visualization of How The Drought is Impacting California’s Reservoirs California is home to a number of reservoirs and dams that provide water and power to surrounding cities and farms. Continue Reading What Happened to Malaysian Airlines Flight 370? About a month ago a Malaysian Airplane mysteriously disappeared. Continue Reading Selfies Are Okay, But Don’t Take Too Many Love them or hate them, selfies have become one of the most common ways people express themselves on social media. Continue Reading At Adobe Books with Chris Johanson Continue Reading Continue Reading
Top 8 Web Tools for Teacher's Professional Development I have been recently posting about teacher's professional development using web technologies and each time I do I would get emails asking for the tools I use personally. I compiled a list of the top 8 platforms I use almost daily for expanding my knowledge and staying updated about the topics that interest me the most. Being a graduate researcher in the field of educational technology and from my own experience of several years blogging in Educational Technology and Mobile Learning, I highly recommend the tools below and I personally view them as the most important platforms for growing professionally.
Web 2.0 Tools While the Web has always been a tool for collaboration, only in the last few years has software permitted individuals to use it as a platform for true collaborative activities. Web 2.0 is about users and content, instead of just surfing on the Internet. It's about what the Internet can do for an active collaborator, rather than a passive viewer. Web 2.0 Technologies Web 2.0 technologies are changing the way messages spread across the Web. There are a large number of Web 2.0 tools, some of the more popular ones are: BloggerWordpressMyspaceYoutubeMetacafeDel.icio.usDiggFurlTwitterFlickr Using Web 2.0 Tools Many people will have already used some of these Web 2.0 tools, and a good way to explain the concept of Web 2.0 tools is to consider an example of how they can be used. Podcasting If an individual was interested in video games, they might search a podcast submission Web site (like Podcast.net) and download an audio review of a game to listen to on their computer. Blogs Social Bookmarking
Web 2.0 is Dead! Written by Mark Brumley Remember the late ‘90’s? You couldn’t go wrong with your stock portfolio; any company that had a website was going through the roof! We couldn’t wait to party like it’s 1999. Windows ’98 was amazing…especially Solitaire! The Internet was so clunky but we loved it. The web back then was, for the most part, a read only experience and at first, we didn’t care. Flash forward to today and the thought of a static site is almost unimaginable. This type of progression is predictable with any technology. What action should we take? Web 2.0 is not really dead…it’s just the Internet. Mark Brumley (112 Posts) Mark Brumley is an educational technology leader, presenter and founder of Teach Amazing, who has lived and worked around the globe in his commitment to provide authentic learning experiences to enhance the education of 21st Century learners.
Blog | Erin Stead Illustration | Caldecott Medal Winner for A Sick Day for Amos McGee From the Cluttered Desk of Philip Stead (with Erin sitting close by): Before we begin I would like to tell you a little story. Last October Erin and I were asked to give a talk at the Nashville Book Festival. Public speaking has a way of agitating our already naturally nervous energies and so, after the presentation, we decided to take a walk around town, hoping eventually to stumble on a nice place to eat lunch. There were long waits at every place we passed and it wasn’t long before we were too hungry and too tired to keep searching. We ended up knee deep in an hour long wait for a table at a restaurant with a less than promising menu. Also, it was loud. The Contributor is a paper written and distributed primarily by Nashville’s homeless and formerly homeless population. Unrelated Side Note: My local free form radio station, WCBN, once played Hotel California continuously during Pledge Week until someone called in with a pledge of $100 to make it stop. This is what I read: truck driver
Overview - Baseball, Race and Ethnicity: Rounding the Bases - Lesson Plan Back to Lesson Plans Lesson Overview Students use primary sources focused on baseball to explore the American experience regarding race and ethnicity. Objectives Students will: analyze historical images; create an original argument using primary sources; pose historical questions after analyzing and reflecting on primary sources; employ search strategies to obtain primary historical data from targeted collections of sources; place the developments of race and ethnicity in America in historical context. Standards Time Required Five classes Recommended Grade Level Topic Sports, Recreation & Leisure Immigration & Ethnic Heritage Era Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1929 Rise of Industrial America, 1876-1900 Credits Jennifer Schwelik & Greg Deegan