7 Outstanding Free Books for your iPad Below is a list of some excellent books for your iPad. I have curated this list over the last couple of months and I kept adding to it every time I stumble upon a resource somewhere online.I don't know if you like reading books on your iPad or not but let me tell you this: having at least a couple of titles installed on your iPad would really be of great help particularly in those moments when you are stuck somewhere and have nothing to do but waiting. Reading is a habit ( luckily a good one ) that we can ACQUIRE by force of habituation at least in the eyes of Skinnerian theory.The more you read , the fluent you get at reading and the more used your mind becomes to the act of reading. Check out these books I selected for you. 1- The Student Guide to iPad The Student Guide to iPads & iOS 6 was written to help middle-school and high-school students become proficient with basic iPad operations to support learning. 2- Publishing Student's Writing to iPad 4- Reference Guide for Students
5 ways to establish credibility on your blog I don’t know what it’s like living in other countries, but here in England we are fortunate indeed. If I want to have a discussion on any subject at all, I can simply walk into the pub nearest to where I happen to be at the time, where I am virtually certain to discover a self-styled “expert” declaiming about the economy, or what’s wrong with kids today, or how to solve the financial crisis, or whether or not kids should be taught how to programme, or how the entire education system should be put right. Indeed, I don’t even have to go to a pub. Trust me, I'm an expert! We all enjoy a rant, and I imagine that most people engage in pub talk now and again. Make haste slowly I think this is a case where it takes months, if not years, to become an overnight success. To be honest, it may not be taken seriously anyway – but at least with an established reputation you stand more of a chance! Students have it hardest of all, I think. Tell us who you are Be mindful of what you write Write well
Is your school’s “digital citizenship” practice a pass or fail? cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Walmart Corporate This past week, I worked with a small group of educators on becoming a “Networked Educator“, and we had some great conversations about how social media is changing a lot of what we do in schools. Within the group, there were about four teachers from one high school, who came to learn together and asked questions about how they could move their school to the “next level” in how they are sharing and learning with not only each other, but students as well. One of the ways that they felt they were making progress was by having a school Twitter account to share what is happening at with their community. They didn’t like it at all. We looked at both students and many of the tweets were sexist, derogatory, and just outright offensive. When I asked the teachers if they knew the student personally, they said yes, and said that both of them were great kids. Do I ever swear? Do I ever swear on Twitter? #Fail 1.
How To Integrate Blogging Into Math Classes I am so excited to incorporate writing in my math class during the new semester. My goal is to have students use blogging as an instructional tool to write and express their mathematical ideas. I hope to provide them with an opportunity to reflect on their understanding of mathematics. Blogging and technology are two tools that go hand-hand. Blogging makes integrating technology in the classroom easy. I researched and wanted to find the easiest blogging site for me to use with my students. I found Kid Blogs . Kids Blogs provided me with the opportunity to create one room and add each student to the room. Now that I had the site, I needed to decide how I would effectively use blogging in my class. Students will be required to write a blog entry on topics, questions, and problems assigned by me. Using blogging as a digital journal, students will be able to reflect on their overall progress in the understanding and communicating of mathematics.
Teachers – The 10 Stages of Twitter Stage 1 Sign up to twitter following persuasion/pestering by colleagues. Follow Stephen Fry, a famous sportsman/popstar and a news channel. Read a few tweets, don’t understand what the fuss is about and mock anyone who uses twitter. Stage 2 Overhear colleagues chatting about twitter and a great article they found. Stage 3 Think about posting first tweet. Stage 4 Upon realising you have no followers ask colleagues how to get them? Stage 5 Have a mini twitter conversation with colleague, even retweet a couple of statements. Stage 6 Practise a couple of tweets that include @names and hashtags. Stage 7 Retweet any link you find interesting as people might read them. Stage 8 Thank colleagues for introducing you to twitter, impressed with the knowledge you have gleaned and your growing number of followers. Stage 9 Reflect that twitter is an incredibly positive place and everyone is full of praise. Stage 10 (the reason for this post) When seeking opinion from a range of people, ask PLN to respond.
BLOGOsphere-The Magic Medium! Teachers, even if they DO not always realize IT, love to share. Who can deny that they do NEVER exchange ideas with their colleagues about their lessons and students? The very reason WHY this happens is that teachers feel the need to learn and grow in order to ADAPT themselves to the changes THEY FACE IN A 21st CENTURY EDUworld. However, is THE exchange of ideas with colleagues the only way teachers can move forward? The fact that many professionals across the world are already making use of social media to share and COLLABORATE is very strong evidence that the answer to the question above is “NO”. In light of the growing popularity of social media among educators, there is no doubt it is a brilliant idea for every teacher to become a part of the BLOGOsphere. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Finally, I started blogging for myself, but I blog for a lot of other teachers now, and I want to thank Tony Gurr once more for encouraging me to walk the talk and reflect on my experiences. Like this: Like Loading...
The ultimate guide to getting started with blogging! -Edublogs ? education blogs for teachers, students and schools In case you missed it, we just wrapped up our first Teacher Challenge series – 30 days to kick start your blogging! Hundreds of educators from around the globe participated in 8 challenges over the course of four weeks. Together with mentors, bloggers of all experience levels had the opportunity to really step up their game. And if you missed out, it is never too late to work through the challenges at your own pace! Here are the beginner and advanced challenges in their entirety: Activity 1 – Getting StartedBeginner – Advanced – Discussion Question Activity 2 – Writing Effective PostsBeginner – Advanced – Discussion Question Activity 3 – Working With Pages Beginner – Advanced – Discussion Question Activity 4 – Avatars & Blogging Etiquette Beginner – Advanced – Discussion Question Activity 5 – Working With ImagesBeginner – Advanced – Discussion Question Activity 6 – Embedding Media Beginner – Advanced – Discussion Question Activity 7 – Widgets and SidebarsBeginner – Advanced – Discussion Question
How To Choose The Right Platform For Your Class Blog Blogging and online content creation has changed a lot over the years. Going from nerdy venting to something that nearly every major company and institution does. Blogging is essential for the public face of any organization and that is no different for schools and classrooms. Blogs are a great way to share what is going on within your school and build a conversation that goes well beyond the classroom walls. Class Blog Decisions The first decision really is, does your class need a blog? A blog is a bit like a pet. The second question is, what kind of a blog do you want to build? Choosing The Platform With so many choices, here is our list of the most popular blogging platforms and a brief summary of each. WordPress Powering many of the most visited blogs on the web, WordPress is the obvious choice for a feature filled, robust, professional blog. Notable WordPress blogs - Time Magazine, Mashable, NFL Blogger and Posterous Notable Blogger/Posterous blogs – Google, Twitter, Airbnb Tumblr Jux
- From the Principal's Office: Going 1:1? How Would You Respond To Comments Like This? 4 Comments January 14, 2013 By: Patrick Larkin Jan 13 Written by: 1/13/2013 5:17 PM ShareThis Also posted on the Connected Principals Blog I had the opportunity to appear on National Public Radio’s Here and Now Program last week along with one of our students to talk about our 1:1 iPad program here in Burlington at our high school. For about three thousand years or more all that was needed for learning and writing was some sort of pencil. While there are a number of predictable questions that you will need to answer in regards to WHY you support such a financially significant initiative, the one above is one that is common from taxpayers who don’t want to spend the money necessary to put modern resources in the hands of teachers and students. As I conclude with my response below, I am wondering how others would respond to this type of comment? Having said this, I think that the role of public education is to prepare students for the real world.
7 Reasons educators should blog Like many others, I find blogging a useful activity. So useful, in fact, that I think everyone involved in education should do it! Here, in no particular order, are my reasons. Keep an online (research) notebook Blogging readiness, by Cambodia4Kids think some people eschew blogging because it can be frightening to expose your thoughts to the world. So, you might ask, what’s the point of that? One limitation of Evernote, and possibly other, similar, services, is that it’s hard to share all of the notes you’ve made, unless you email them or tweet them out. Why might you want to do this even if you are not doing a course and therefore do not have a tutor? Reflect To my mind, it’s essential to reflect upon one’s practice. What can make reflection even more powerful and useful is allowing other people to comment on what you’ve done. Keep a progress record Interestingly, this does raise another issue. Review Be the “go to” person Share the love
A Parent's Guide to Twitter and Education As an educator, there are tons of great hashtags available to find the resources I'm looking for. Hashtags are usually found at the end of a 140 character tweet. I think of them like television channels, only there are many more to choose from and you can even create your own for your organization or team. Today, the most widely used educational hashtag on Twitter is called #edchat. On Tuesdays at 12pm (Eastern) and 7pm (Eastern), you can join hundreds of educators around the world discussing a topic chosen by a public poll during the days leading up to the chat. For more information on #edchat check out a recent piece by educational technology guru Steven Anderson (@web20classroom). For parents on Twitter, there are hashtags that offer support in raising children and supporting the work of schools. Like other educational chats, #PTchat has a weekly time where educators come together to discuss a certain topic - Wednesday nights at 9pm (Eastern). Last 5 #PTchats Archived
The Research Center I have always had some form of form of research in my classroom but a few years ago a changed happened that made the center something special. The improvement can be blamed on our class Twitter account. Yes, tweeting is what makes the research center so powerful in my room. It was nothing I planned and really just evolved on its own. Most of our first tweets were with friends from Canada so I put some books about Canada in our bookshelf. The kids actually would fight over who would get those books each day and I was taken back by how interested they were in these non-fiction books. Here is how it works: We have twitter friends all around the world (see map below) and those classes tweet about what is happening in their room and about their learning. The Job: In the beginning of the year the kids look for their favorite pictures in the books and write the words on that page. Here are some ways to collaborate with other classes around the world – Global Collaboration in Kindergarten
Realizing Increased Student Achievement With Mobile Technologies: Here's the Plan Mobile Learning | Viewpoint Realizing Increased Student Achievement With Mobile Technologies: Here's the Plan "Let's start at the very beginning; that's a very good place to start." It seems appropriate that in our first column for T.H.E. Step 1: Low-cost, Internet-connected, mobile devices are used, 1:1, as essential, not supplemental tools in the classroom. Realistically, it is low-cost, internet-connected mobile computing devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets) that will enable each of the 55,000,000 K-12 school children in the U.S. to have his/her own truly personal computing device 24/7. Step 2: Curriculum developers provide teachers with lessons, assignments that exploit the affordances of the software that comes along with the lessons, assignments. The data also say: using new technology to implement old processes leads to precious little gain in effectiveness/productivity. Why a learn-by-doing pedagogy? Just three steps to change K-12--but those three steps are anything but easy!
A teacher in social media - Pearltrees - 10 tips for teachers A (Finnish) teacher's dive into social media - "I discovered pearls in Pearltrees!" + 10 tips for teachers This time I thought I could write about Pearltrees from a teacher's perspective. I started to use the web curation tool Pearltrees during my autumn holiday (in 2012) and I'm still amazed by the possibilities it has to offer.It was the head teacher of our upper secondary school Kari Rajala who first introduced me to social media. I started using Facebook and soon got friends from my fellow teachers. In a week, I was already in Twitter following all kinds of discussions and weaving my personal learning network.