Reading log Part Time Indian 6 Alternatives to Reading Logs by @shfarnsworth - Teacher Tech Guest blog post by Shaelynn Farnsworth Let’s face it, reading logs are typically not accurate in time read or books finished. From forged signatures to parents exaggerating the time their student spends in a book, reading logs do very little to motivate students or to instill a love of books. If the purpose of reading logs is to create habitual readers why do they continually fail both students and teachers? What alternatives to tracking pages or time offer more value and choice to readers? 1. Have students share what they read on social media. 2. Book blogs provide students a social experience of sharing what they read with a global audience. 3. Along with Book Blogs, students can create Vlogs sharing what they read. 4. As adults, when we read something that we enjoy we talk about it. 5. Give Me 5 is a simple strategy where students choose 5 quotes from the book that best illustrate the author’s message, insight into a character, or conceptual understanding. 6. Shaelynn Farnsworth
How the Maker Movement Is Transforming Education How the Maker Movement is Transforming Education By Sylvia Libow Martinez and Gary S. Stager The Maker Movement, a technological and creative learning revolution underway around the globe, has exciting and vast implications for the world of education. Fortunately for teachers, the Maker Movement overlaps with the natural inclinations of children and the power of learning by doing. One might try to marginalize robotics or 3D fabrication as having nothing to do with “real” science and dismiss such activities as play or as just super-charged hobbies. Three big game-changers of the Maker Movement should be on every school’s radar: Computer-Controlled Fabrication Devices Over the past few years, devices that fabricate three-dimensional objects have become an affordable reality. “Hard Fun” and the Process of Design The tools and ethos of the Maker revolution offer insight and hope for schools. However, hands-on Making is not just a good idea for young women. Celebrating Young Talent