All you have to do is visit the Live Binders site below, turn on the air conditioning, grab some lemonade, and sit back and learn!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
2nd Annual Virtual Summer Camp!
All you have to do is visit the Live Binders site below, turn on the air conditioning, grab some lemonade, and sit back and learn!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
New Web Stuff 05/31/2010
Educational Leadership:Reading to Learn:Can't Get Kids to Read? Make It Social
Eleven Interesting Ways* to use an iPod Touch in the Classroom
ipodtouchclassroom [licensed for non-commercial use only] / FrontPage
WackWall - Social Network Builder | Create a Social Network Free
VocabSushi: The better way to build your vocabulary | Contextual Examples From the Daily News
Thinklinkr: the best real-time collaborative online outliner
ePub Bud - Publish, Share, and Download free children ebooks for the iPad!
Scribble Maps - Draw on google maps with scribblings and more!
Draw on google maps with scribbles, squares, circles, and more!
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Disproportionality: A Little Dose of Honesty
Last week, I participated in a great opportunity to work with local counselors and a Teacher's Resource Center. Much of our conversation was around articulating a purpose and vision for the work these counselors do. Each piece of the conversation opened up a new can of worms, considerations that had to be discussed so that real transformation was possible. The director of the Teacher's Resource Center added that much of the concern had to do with disproportionality, or the over representation of some groups either in special education, or as high school dropouts, or as behavior problems.
Part of the conversation was a discussion of resources around strategies for dealing with and undoing disproportionality. We put research to work for us in the classroom for all kinds of opportunities to impact student achievement, why not do the same to help equalize the playing field for our students?
I think it would be easy to say that our problems are the result of environmental factors that we can't control, or parents that won't participate, or an increase in violent activity among youth, or even just laziness--on the part of the students and the teachers. I don't really think that's true, though. There might be a fear of trying new strategies which risk the loss of instructional time, or limited information around research based instructional strategies that WILL work in a classroom. Whatever the reason, we need to get more analytical about our practices, see what we need to keep and what we need to cut. Our obligation here isn't education for those that we might deem deserving of it, our obligation is education for all.
I wanted to share the recent resources I've found, in hopes that it will help to light a fire of change, of advocacy, and of real growth for the kids we serve:
The National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems
Technical Assistance Center for Disproportionality
Advocacy Guide from ASCD
Response to Intervention and Disproportionate Representation
What Works Clearinghouse
Friday, May 28, 2010
New Web Stuff 05/29/2010
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Exciting Storybird News!
Yesterday, I received an email from Mark Ury at Storybird inviting me to try out some of their new features, which includes TEACHER ACCOUNTS! Teachers can now add their own class, add students, and the website will generate access codes so that students DON'T NEED EMAIL ADDRESSES! YEAH!
But they didn't stop there! The folks at Storybird also added the ability to add assignments and discussions around the Storybirds that students might make. Additionally, they've added opportunities to collaborate on projects both locally and/or internationally making this tool a great one for the Globalization of Curriculum!
These new features won't be available for a couple more weeks, but I'm embedding a sneak preview in the form of a "How To" to make it even easier for teachers to take advantage of this awesome option!
Many, many thanks to Storybird for the opportunity and the new fantastic options!
Storybird Class Directions
But they didn't stop there! The folks at Storybird also added the ability to add assignments and discussions around the Storybirds that students might make. Additionally, they've added opportunities to collaborate on projects both locally and/or internationally making this tool a great one for the Globalization of Curriculum!
These new features won't be available for a couple more weeks, but I'm embedding a sneak preview in the form of a "How To" to make it even easier for teachers to take advantage of this awesome option!
Many, many thanks to Storybird for the opportunity and the new fantastic options!
Storybird Class Directions
Thursday, May 20, 2010
New Web Stuff 05/21/2010
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Go Global RIGHT NOW with a School in Nevada
There are students in a school in Nevada who are doing some cool stuff to integrate Science, Writing, and Global Literacy.
They are sending a weather balloon up through the atmosphere and are asking folks around the globe to contribute their "High Hopes" before the May 27th launch. Then, your comments will literally be a "High" hope--high up into space!
You can read about their project here: http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blog_id=1157004&mode=comment&blogger_id=65078
They blog about their project with links for more information. It looks like they already have international participation and you can participate yourself, or it can be a project for your students at school.
This kind of effort, collaboration, and thinking is what 21st Century Learning is all about!
Way to go Mr. Crosby's class!
They are sending a weather balloon up through the atmosphere and are asking folks around the globe to contribute their "High Hopes" before the May 27th launch. Then, your comments will literally be a "High" hope--high up into space!
You can read about their project here: http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blog_id=1157004&mode=comment&blogger_id=65078
They blog about their project with links for more information. It looks like they already have international participation and you can participate yourself, or it can be a project for your students at school.
This kind of effort, collaboration, and thinking is what 21st Century Learning is all about!
Way to go Mr. Crosby's class!
Monday, May 17, 2010
"Behind The Scenes" Skills...
I was working on creating conference materials for this year’s Curriculum Mapping Institute in Saratoga Springs, New York in July. While I was working, I had several phone calls and answered a couple of emails from teachers and administrators asking my opinion about instructional practices and what did I think of this or that. Their questions were questions that I answer almost daily, but today they caused me stop and think about my own process. The questions put me in a metacognitive/aware space to be able to consider what it is I bring together in the form of skills to create a product of value—precisely the way we expect students to.
I was just designing a flier, but there were several considerations I had to make:
• What was my creative element going to be?
• How would I represent this, what programs would I use?
• How much time was I going to devote to it?
• How would I know I was finished?
What I realized pretty quickly, is that I was on automatic pilot, internally creating my own rubric and working at an analytical, evaluative, and creative level. The only limitation was my toolbox. I had to work within the confines of what I already know, or am willing to learn in this process for this specific purpose.
I wondered how often we consider these “Behind the Scenes” moments for kids. We may have an endpoint in mind, but do we really think about what requisite skills or toolboxes students will need to complete the tasks we challenge them with?
To come to my end product (my assessment, if you will…) I had to engage the following skills:
• Brainstorm ideas for the finished product and select an appropriate theme
• After choosing the “comic” theme (as it related to a framework for digital storytelling), brainstorm ideas for what I would need to include in flier
• Manipulate Microsoft Publisher software both visually and textually
• Create a comic using ToonDoo then copy and paste image into flier
• Create a Superhero with Marvel Comics Hero Maker and insert image into flier
• Develop appropriate text for insertion into flier
• Engage several Publisher tools including background color, frames, text manipulation, Word Art, etc.
• Rearrange elements once everything is on the page to make it “pop.”
• Additionally, support materials had to be created (which aren’t represented in the example below) but included two separate websites, one of which has been months in the making!
I knew most of the tools already, but still had to learn the Hero Maker and expand my knowledge of ToonDoo, both of which only took a few minutes, but still built skills in my toolbox that are available the next time I need them. (Which is exactly what I would like for kids to be doing!)
All of this boils down to me identifying what my “Behind The Scenes” moments were for creating this flier, and articulating that process here as an example of what we expect for students. We get into the habits of assigning tasks and assessments but rarely deconstruct them. When we take them apart and look at them with a more critical eye, we get to the root of what we want from children: LEARNING. How often do kids ask what they have to LEARN to move on, rather than asking what they have to DO to move on?
The learning is more important than the doing. Today, I had to ask myself to learn a couple of things and to engage other elements I already knew in the creation of a new product.
Here’s a sneak preview, with a couple of the elements removed, just so you can get an idea of my vision. (I can’t give away the whole farm yet!)
All of this to ask: Are the tasks and assessments in your classroom dependent on learning or as a culmination of skills both surface and “behind the scenes?” Or, are the tasks and assessments in your classroom more of a checklist of "to do" items that may or may not represent what a kid knows and is able to do? Which one provides the truer picture of evidence of learning?
I was just designing a flier, but there were several considerations I had to make:
• What was my creative element going to be?
• How would I represent this, what programs would I use?
• How much time was I going to devote to it?
• How would I know I was finished?
What I realized pretty quickly, is that I was on automatic pilot, internally creating my own rubric and working at an analytical, evaluative, and creative level. The only limitation was my toolbox. I had to work within the confines of what I already know, or am willing to learn in this process for this specific purpose.
I wondered how often we consider these “Behind the Scenes” moments for kids. We may have an endpoint in mind, but do we really think about what requisite skills or toolboxes students will need to complete the tasks we challenge them with?
To come to my end product (my assessment, if you will…) I had to engage the following skills:
• Brainstorm ideas for the finished product and select an appropriate theme
• After choosing the “comic” theme (as it related to a framework for digital storytelling), brainstorm ideas for what I would need to include in flier
• Manipulate Microsoft Publisher software both visually and textually
• Create a comic using ToonDoo then copy and paste image into flier
• Create a Superhero with Marvel Comics Hero Maker and insert image into flier
• Develop appropriate text for insertion into flier
• Engage several Publisher tools including background color, frames, text manipulation, Word Art, etc.
• Rearrange elements once everything is on the page to make it “pop.”
• Additionally, support materials had to be created (which aren’t represented in the example below) but included two separate websites, one of which has been months in the making!
I knew most of the tools already, but still had to learn the Hero Maker and expand my knowledge of ToonDoo, both of which only took a few minutes, but still built skills in my toolbox that are available the next time I need them. (Which is exactly what I would like for kids to be doing!)
All of this boils down to me identifying what my “Behind The Scenes” moments were for creating this flier, and articulating that process here as an example of what we expect for students. We get into the habits of assigning tasks and assessments but rarely deconstruct them. When we take them apart and look at them with a more critical eye, we get to the root of what we want from children: LEARNING. How often do kids ask what they have to LEARN to move on, rather than asking what they have to DO to move on?
The learning is more important than the doing. Today, I had to ask myself to learn a couple of things and to engage other elements I already knew in the creation of a new product.
Here’s a sneak preview, with a couple of the elements removed, just so you can get an idea of my vision. (I can’t give away the whole farm yet!)
All of this to ask: Are the tasks and assessments in your classroom dependent on learning or as a culmination of skills both surface and “behind the scenes?” Or, are the tasks and assessments in your classroom more of a checklist of "to do" items that may or may not represent what a kid knows and is able to do? Which one provides the truer picture of evidence of learning?
Sunday, May 16, 2010
New Web Stuff 05/17/2010
Cool Twitter App that creates a parade of your Twitter Followers
Penzu - Write in Private: Free Online Diary and Personal Journal
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
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