The Truth Behind 'Out Of Office' Replies The Funny Thing About Cheating [COMIC] 7.38K Views 0 Likes Have you ever caught a student cheating? Were you impressed at the lengths he or she went to in order to actually cheat? I've known some who would have aced a test had they spent as much time focusing on the test rather than on cheating. Welcome Back To School [Comic] 4.02K Views 0 Likes We are living in a world of connectivity. Why School Websites Suck. 1.98K Views 0 Likes Ever been to a school website trying to find the mailing address of it... only to find yourself assaulted with racially diverse pictures, a virtual tour, and a lot of marketing language?
6 Ways Students Can Collaborate With iPads The following post is written by Greg Kulowiec of EdTechTeacher . Join EdTechTeacher at the iPad Summit in Atlanta on April 10-12. The app store is loaded with options that allow students to create content on their iPads. From comic strip creators to mind maps, video editing and publishing, screencasting & digital books, the options for individual student creation are expanding. However, collaboration between students is often a critical component of any classroom activity or project and increasingly there are options available that allow for collaborative efforts across iPads. Below are six ways to support collaboration between student iPads that cover the spectrum of creation options that range from text to digital storytelling to video creation. Explain Everything ($2.99) A flexible and powerful screen casting option, students and teachers can collaborate on screencasts by exporting Explain Everything project files from an iPad. Google Drive (Free) BookCreator ($4.99) Subtext (free) Diigo
4 Education Technology Trends Coming To Your Classroom How Online Education Has Changed In 10 Years 8.37K Views 0 Likes We all know that education, specifically online education, has come a long way in the last few years. 5 Reasons We Use Social Media 9.83K Views 0 Likes There are many reasons we use social media. How Fast Is Twitter Growing? 6.40K Views 0 Likes The results are in. Why TED Talks Have Become So Popular 6.87K Views 0 Likes TED talks are useful and free ways to bring high-level thinking and through-provoking ideas into the classroom and your home.
20 Ways To Make Professional Development More Effective “One goal of a staff meeting is to get teachers excited about teaching the next day.” Todd Whitaker As we near the Common Core implementation and more focus is placed on critical thinking and content literacy comprehension, administrators often ask how to best utilize their staff meeting time to promote best instructional practices. See Also: How Common Core Standards Mesh With Education Technology In years past, staff meetings have notoriously been used to collectively discuss the school fundraiser or to subject colleagues to “death by bullet point” presentations. Experience has taught us that spending precious staff meeting time reading what could have been sent out in a memo is a detrimental and wasteful practice that must end. How To Increase Collaboration, Focus on Best Practices, and Get Teachers Excited About Teaching Establish the idea that there is no room for negativity at a staff meeting-too much is at stake for negativity to hijack the group. Let’s Demand Curiosity.
5 Amazing Ways To Collaborate With Another Class “Ms. Clark, when are we going to do that again?” Nothing makes me happier as an educator than hearing those words – and lately, I have been hearing them a lot! It is not the question, as much as the look on the faces of my students, that I enjoy the most. As we began our journey, some of our classes had 1:1 iPads, but others did not. If collaboration is something that interests you – and it should - here are five easy and highly engaging ways you can begin (or even improve) your journey. 1. If you have not heard of a Mystery Skype yet – stop what you are doing and read this amazing blog post by a really innovative educator Craig Badura ( @mrbadura ) from Nebraska. In this scenario, kids get to apply and use geographical knowledge, critical thinking, and the skill of deduction. Tip: The world is your oyster with this type of project. 2. I think most educators see the value in having students within their own class collaborate on a Google Doc – but it is time to think bigger! 3. 4. 5.
7 Ways Twitter Promotes 21st Century Learning by Dr. Justin Marquis, Ph.D. Twitter is one of those pieces of technology that people either love or hate. For the haters, it seems like a superfluous, narcissistic, even petty platform through which people who think they are more important than they really are share their most intimate details with the world. A recent report from The Education Forum, Twitteracy: Tweeting as a New Literacy Practice, sheds some light on the debate over whether Twitter is a major time waster or a valuable educational tool for developing technological literacy. Twitteracy Findings, No Surprise Literacy as a general concept has changed dramatically in the Information Age. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. These are some of the many ways that Twitter is being considered as a new form of literacy and which may prove beneficial to learning at all levels, not just in higher education. The best way to understand how any hi-tech tool could benefit your students is to begin using it yourself.
How To Get Started With Blended Learning Blended learning in the classroom is evolving, this much we know. I can remember back when I was in grade school, the only technical advancement that we had at our disposal was Number Munchers , the computer game designed to teach students basic mathematics skills. Times have certainly changed. Today, blended learning in the classroom is becoming more of a norm than an exception. See Also: What Exactly Is Blended Learning? Blended learning approaches don’t have to be overly complicated. The Teacher’s Perspective From the teacher’s perspective, this simple set-up saves hours of time. Leave No Student Behind One important aspect to blended learning is not leaving any student behind . In some respects, this is a significant advantage to the technology used for blended learning. The Right Balance Finding the right balance of technology assisted learning is a bit of an art. We are entering some exciting times in learning.
5 Keys to Successful Student Collaborations As you know, group work can give teachers headaches and students nightmares. If set up poorly, collaborative projects often result in one person doing all of the work, while others contribute minimally or actually disrupt. Arguments, inefficiency, mess, and chaos follow closely. When set up well, though, group work taps into the power of collaboration. Define group success. We live in a web of collaboration. We want to hear from you! Click to Print 60 Ways To Use Twitter In The Classroom By Category Social media offers some great opportunities for learning in the classroom, bringing together the ability to collaborate, access worldwide resources, and find new and interesting ways to communicate in one easily accessible place. Teachers around the world have found innovative ways to use Twitter as a teaching tool (including TeachThought’s favorite), and we’ve shared many of these great ideas here with you. Read on, and we’ll explore 60 inspiring ways that teachers and students can put Twitter to work in the classroom. Communication Twitter makes staying in touch and sharing announcements super simple and even fun. Organization Twitter’s hashtags and other tools share a great way to organize information for your classroom. Resources Use these ideas to take advantage of the vast resources that Twitter has to offer. Writing Skills
Students Share Characteristics Of Their Favorite Teachers A few weeks ago I had a Twitter dialogue with Reed Gillespie ( @rggillespie ) an AP at Kettle Run High School in Nokesville, VA. and Angela Maiers ( @AngelaMaiers ) who coined the phrase #YouMatter and is an author, educator, and national speaker. Our conversation revolved around a post from Angela titled 12 Things Kids Want from Their Teachers . Twelve simple and free “things” students want and deserve . Reed shared his post What Students Want From Their Teachers he wrote after visiting with students at his high school during lunch. This got me to thinking “What do Cherokee students want from their teachers?” The feedback provided by our very bright and amazing students wasn’t eye opening or earth shattering, but does provide their view of what they want and deserve. 1. 2. 3. 4. I enjoyed my conversations with our students.