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A List Of Useful Resources On Teaching Information & Digital Literacy
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5 Back to school teacher tips that really work
Good ideas to start the year from Suzy Brooks
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How to Annotate Videos Through Vibby
From Richard Byrne – The video embedded below demonstrates how to highlight and comment on videos through Vibby.
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Add a Text to Speech Function to Your Browser
From Richard Byrne – Announcify is a free text to speech application that is available as a Chrome browser extension. With Announcify installed in your browser any time you’re viewing a webpage you can simply click on the Announcify icon in your browser and have the text of the page read to you.
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Welcome to the Hootsuite Dashboard, Instagram!
From Hootsuite – We are so freaking excited and we just can’t filter it! Instagram, the “King of Social Engagement,” the image behemoth, and the social network requested by more of our users than any other, is now integrated with Hootsuite! Insert all of the happiest emojis!
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Diigo for Bookmarking & Class Groups
Great look at how to set up and use Diigo Bookmarking for yourself or with students from Ken Halla
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A 6-Part Structure for Giving Clear and Actionable Feedback
From Harvard Biz – six basic questions to discuss during a bimonthly (every other month) one-on-one meeting with each admin team member.
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BYOD and Printing: What You Should Be Doing
Some good ideas here for students and teachers in a 1to1 environment
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Inside the New TNTP Research: Is Teacher Training Just An Expensive Waste of Time? | The 74
More on the TNTP study that discusses that PD is a waste of time
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Is PD Behind Teacher Improvement? Maybe Not, Analysis Cautions
From Stephen Sawchuk on Edweek – In case studies of three districts, TNTP failed to find any pattern linking those teachers who improved their craft to a specific type of professional development. And that’s despite those districts spending an average of $18,000 annually per teacher on classroom coaching, workshops, and other forms of support.
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Study: Billions of dollars in annual teacher training is largely a waste
From the Washington Post – A new study of 10,000 teachers found that professional development — the teacher workshops and training that cost taxpayers billions of dollars each year — is largely a waste.
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Seesaw 2.0 – More Great Features for Building and Sharing Digital Portfolios
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The Netflix Effect on Training
From Inc – It’s time to let go of “old school” approaches to content creation and delivery such as on-site classrooms, lifeless webinars and content created within the “ivory tower” and offer training that is digital, socially accessible, authentic, personally relevant and self-paced.
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Guide: Using the SAMR Model to Guide Learning | That #EdTech Guy’s Blog
Using the SAMR Model to Guide Learning http://t.co/QiVbOYLS35 by @ThatEdTechGuy #edtech #SAMR #ipaded http://t.co/KlGGP9qfc2
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Literally Everything I Know About Modeling With Mathematics [SMP 4]
From Dan Meyer – I’ve thought about “modeling” more than I’ve thought about any other specialization in mathematics. I’m learning less and less about it each year so I’m hopping onto a different track for awhile, moving onto other questions. First, I wanted to collect these links in one location:
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Getting Started With Frugal Innovation
From Cale Birk – Along with friend and colleague Simon Breakspear, I have been kicking around the idea of frugal innovation for the past few months. While frugal innovation is a term that is often used in fields outside of education, and there have been a number of books about the concept, it can be adapted to education with a definition such as this:
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Let’s Get to Know You! 20+ Icebreakers for Kids
Great list of ice breakers from Shell Terrell
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Implementing FIT Teaching® at Anaconda High
Good overview of the Framework for Intentional and Targeted Teaching
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Parent Parties: Teaching and Learning Fun!
Good idea to bring parents into the school, make connections and build understanding about what is happening in the school.
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Simplify with These 12 Lesson Planning Tools
From Graphite’s Blog – New year = new lesson planner. Why not ditch your paper planners and go digital this year? With these apps and websites, you can bring lesson planning and design into the 21st century.
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Comedy Central looks at what teaching would look like if it was viewed like sports.
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SimplyCircle Helps You Organize Communication With Parents
From Richard Byrne – Through SimplyCircle you can create an online community for parents of students in your classroom. You can use SimplyCircle to send messages, organize tasks for parent-volunteers, and post updates about things happening in your classroom and in your school. Parents don’t have to sign into SimplyCircle daily because you can choose to send a daily digest of updates to their email addresses.
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Up Periscope? New Rules for the Latest Social Media Tool
Important conversation from Carl Hooker – On one hand I love the concept of free-flowing information to the masses. On the other hand, the digital citizen in me feels like there should be some level of permission asked or granted prior to filming an entire event. It makes me wonder:
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WixED Teaches You How to Build a Website…on Wix
From Richard Byrne – WixEd is a free online course all about building and maintain a website through Wix.
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Good overview of how to use Diigo groups from Richard Byrne – Diigo groups provide a good place to share resources with students and have them share with you and each other. Diigo groups can be private. I ask students to add notes to the links that they share in a group. Those notes should provide the rest of the group with an explanation of why the link is useful.
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Photos For Class – The quick and safe way to find and cite images for class!
Teachers have told us they need a place to access safe images that are available to be used in the classroom and for educational purposes. Plus they want accurate image citations. We’ve heard you and created “Photos For Class” to meet your needs for images! – See more at: http://photosforclass.com/#sthash.xgPKImSE.dpuf
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Letter grades: The dinosaur that needs to go extinct – School Leader
From Gary Houchens – Letter grade systems tend not to deliver meaningful, actionable feedback to students. Mostly they just serve as a proxy for a system of rewards and punishments that has little to do with what students have actually learned.
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Is Your Professional Learning Community a Farce?
From Jennifer Gonzalez – Many schools now use Professional Learning Communities for teacher collaboration, but whether they all truly fit that description is up for debate.
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New! Professional Growth Features on Graphite
From Graphite – At this year’s ISTE conference, we launched three new features in Graphite’s Teacher Center:
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Using Hootsuite to Spread Your School’s Message
From Richard Byrne – Hootsuite allows you to schedule Tweets and Facebook posts to appear on a schedule of your choosing.
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From The Atlantic – Research suggests that, in the United States, the more motivation students say they have, the better they perform on various academic assessments. But that trend doesn’t seem to apply across countries.
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Announcing: CK-12’s new partnership with Google Classroom
From CK12 – We’re proud to announce that we have integrated the Google Classroom share button within CK-12. Now, teachers and students will be able to access our entire library of content in conjunction with the Google Classroom platform.
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Facebook publishes its Anti-Bias course for all to use
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Conservatives convinced College Board to rewrite American history – The Washington Post
The College Board, which has been under fire during the past year from conservatives for revisions it made to the AP U.S. History course, released a new version that it says responds to “principled feedback” from critics.
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Ed-Tech Funding: The Year (The Data) So Far
From Audrey Watters – Investments in ed-tech are at a record high, Inside Higher Ed and Education Week (among others) have observed.
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Signing off: Finnish schools phase out handwriting classes
From The Guardian – Schools in Finland are phasing out cursive handwriting classes in favour of keyboard skills, as officials accept that texting, tapping and tweeting have taken over as the primary means of communication in the modern age.
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SOLE experience encourages ‘deeper learning’ – Press Office – Newcastle University
Prof Sugata Mitra has shown that groups of eight-year-olds can answer GCSE and A-level questions using the Internet, and also retain this knowledge several months later.
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Let’s Get Rid of Acceptable Use Policies
Good post on what we should look for in AUP’s from Karl Fisch – Instead of making a list of all the things you can’t do with technology and on the Internet, what if we made a list of all the things that not only can you do, but you should do? What if students and staff had to sign an agreement that stated these are all the ways that a responsible student or staff member should be using technology and the Internet if they are to be a functional, literate, contributing member of society?
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The Web We Need to Give Students
From Audrey Watters – In developing this “personal cyberinfrastructure” through the Domain of One’s Own initiative, UMW gives students agency and control; they are the subjects of their learning, not the objects of education technology software.
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Googlefying PBL – Google Slides
Slide presentation from Shaelynn Farnswoth
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Four Reasons Any Action Is Better than None – HBR
From Rosabeth Moss Kanter – Of course, sitting still can be a good thing if it involves renewal, reflection, and focused attention (or having meals with the family). But sitting still can be a bad thing if it involves procrastination, indecision, and passivity.
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From the Department of Don’t Get Ready, Get Started
But for the sake of reminding me to keep going back to it, here are her four big points on why getting started beats getting ready: Small wins matter Accomplishments come in pieces Perfection is unattainable anyway Actions produce energy and momentum
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12 Good Resources for Teaching Digital Citizenship – A PDF Handout
From Richard Byrne – my favorite digital citizenship resources for elementary, middle, and high school students.
Category: Uncategorized
My Weekly Diigo Bookmarks (August 2, 2015)
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From Emerging EdTech – Check out these outstanding channels of content created by a half dozen different inspired educators.
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DLN Smart Series from Getting Smart
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Good take from Karl Fisch – . I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s unfair to everyone to have different policies within the same school. It’s just not transparent and it makes it harder for everyone to figure out what they need to do to be successful. So I think it’s time that we have a uniform late work policy in my school.
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From Jonathan Martin – A profile of new (and relatively new) innovative educational models which are becoming more significant alternatives in the landscape of educational choice, and includes interviews with leaders of these alternative models.
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How to playlist tutorial for using Remind from Richard Byrne.
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From Richard Byrne – Vibby is a new service for breaking YouTube videos into segments and inserting comments into those segments.
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From Larry Ferlazzo – Resources for The Best Ways To Begin & End The School Year.
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Interesting perspective on taking notes on laptops. “according to a study conducted by Princeton’s Pam A. Mueller and UCLA’s Daniel M. Oppenheimer. Their research shows that when you only use a laptop to take notes, you don’t absorb new materials as well, largely because typing notes encourages verbatim, mindless transcription.”
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From Getting Smart – “The article cites Stanford University’s Thomas Black, registrar and associate vice provost for student affairs who refers to the current transcript as, “A record of everything the student has forgotten,” and asserts, “There’s a clamor, for something more meaningful.”
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“While saying yes to every assignment may initially please senior execs, it usually leaves people over-stressed and inundated with work — a lot of which ends up half-finished or forgotten. In the long run, no one is happy.”
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Good way for staff to show evidence on reflective practice.
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Good look at how teachers are moving beyond traditional textbooks.
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Great list of digital ice breakers
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From Wes Fryer – Even though we are literally surrounded by screens at times in today’s society, I don’t think we yet fully appreciate just how powerful they truly are… or the “digital discipline” required to overcome their attraction for and influence on our minds.
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Wondering how this quote also relates to school data? – Malcolm Gladwell had some bad news for mobile marketers: Just because you have more data doesn’t mean you’re going to make better decisions.
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From the NYTimes – To understand the failures of the modern American college system — from admissions marketing to graduation rates — you can begin with a notorious university football scandal.
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Some good back-to-school activities from Shaelynn Farnsworth
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Great resource for historical videos
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Good ideas for creating literacy centers from Beth Holland
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Good list of places where teachers can access free resources to build their own content.
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Video Notes – Good resource from Beth Holland
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Good overview of Book Creator’s new features and how it can be used in the classroom.
My Weekly Diigo Bookmarks (July 26, 2015)
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A vision for education in MA in the next 20 years -published by the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education
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I would love to see more teachers doing this.
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From Richard Byrne
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An interesting look at the headlines from around the country regarding the Opt-Out movement.
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It’s always interesting to follow the $ and see who is paying researchers for their opinions
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States in the Southeast suspend K-12 students at the highest rates in the country, according to new data released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Education…Suspended students are less likely to graduate on time and they are more likely to repeat a grade and enter the juvenile justice system, data show.
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From Slate – New data on child well-being released Tuesday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation make for depressing reading on many levels, not least because the findings are so deeply unsurprising. The basic gist is that, despite the economic recovery, more kids are living in poverty…
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Free website grader
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Great letter from Pernille Ripp to an administrator (John Bernia) about what the goal of the evaluation process should be for teachers.
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How one teacher uses a blog and postcards to connect with families
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Good overview of how-to use social media successfully from Harvard Business Review
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Good call to administrators from Bill Ferriter on why Principals need to embrace social media tools
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From Keys to Literacy -Text structure is the arrangement of ideas and the relationships among the ideas; readers and writers who are familiar with text structure recognize how the information is unfolding. Common Core Reading Standard #5 focuses on teaching text structure.
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New updates to Educlipper highlighted by Richard Byrne
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Great piece on PB from Seymour Papert
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Funny but true – resource for school leaders to review
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Good piece from Harvard Business Review
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Good resource for connecting with colleagues or parents – FreeConferenceCall.com makes it easy for anyone to quickly create a free and private conference call number.
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From Larry Ferlazzo – Substitute the word “teachers” for “doctors” and in many ways it provides a very similar critique to the one many of us educators (and researchers) give to Value Added Measurements
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Chance favours the connected mind, said Steven B. Johnson, and with social media, any mind can be connected today. No special tools or software are required, only the meta-cognition inherent in all people. Stepping outside our routines and looking at how we get information, and from whom, should be a regular reflective activity.
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Post on how the student help desk was started at Francis Wyman Elementary in Burlington
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From Richard Byrne: “HSTRY is a great multimedia timeline creation tool. There are two features of HSTRY that make it stand-out from the crowd. First, as a teacher you can create an online classroom in which you can view all of your students’ timelines. Second, as a teacher you can build questions into timelines that you share with your students. You can even insert explanations of the answers to your questions”
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A look at how MA is looking to make college more affordable
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Stop repeating nonsense about ‘bad’ teachers. Just. Stop it. – Icing on the Cake – An education blogA good post refuting the following often cited statistic about teachers: ‘Teachers who work in a given school, and therefore teach students with similar demographic characteristics, can be responsible for increases in math and reading levels that range from a low of one-half year to a high of one and a half years of learning each academic year.’
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Exactly, yes it was, but let us wonder why he got hit and then privately go and fix it. Smart play just 3 weeks late https://t.co/pODgygO38b
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Here are over 40 drills we use in our workouts. http://t.co/ljWxFnLRL4
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Great rant by Alfie Kohn on the misguided focus on measurable objectives
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Great post by Vicki Davis on delaing with bullying proactively
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Great post by Kristen Wideen on using Explain Everything to teach reading
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Great piece from Danah Boyd on Screen Time and parental concerns
My Weekly Diigo Bookmarks (July 19, 2015)
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Below are links to several brain break videos. Brain Breaks are designed to be short in duration, which allows students a chance to move and refocus their attention.
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Videos from the Teaching channel on connecting math to life
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Good post to help people get started with blogging from Sue Waters.
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List of Professional Learning Resources curated by Steven Anderson
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Great post from Cathy Davidson on the current state of higher ed. (and secondary ed for that matter). Are students getting the courses that they need most?
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Worth watching – Microsoft HoloLlens brings holography into physical world. Now its possible to create what you think. Its easy to convert your imagination into designs. Easier to explore the places never actually being there.
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#StatusQuo session w/ @Jeff_Zoul @casas_jimmy Reminds me think of WillIAm’s What I Am https://t.co/fiTYAHycRJ #EdcampLdr
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Breaking down silos in education
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Resources on racism from Larry Ferlazzo
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Three Google Drive settings from Richard Byrne: 1. Google Docs offline 2. file conversion 3. photo folder creation
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Important question from Chris Casal and Angela Maiers – Are we using technology to empower/enable our kids to make the world awesome?
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From Michael Horn – “To maximize the benefits of blended learning, we’ll need to rethink not just the system architecture of schooling, but also the physical architecture of schools themselves. We need more designers and architects thinking about how schools should change their physical design, clarifying the principles underlying these changes, and illuminating the path to move from today’s egg-crate boxes to designs fit for the future.”
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How bad is it? Climate scientists are reporting PTSD. http://t.co/utQAPZK30u We teaching our kids to cope with future? #edchat #notonccss
My Weekly Diigo Bookmarks (July 12, 2015)
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Creating a Table of Contents in Google Docs – YouTube
Creating a Table of Contents in Google Docs https://t.co/Mrpy7YE28i via @YouTube #GAFE
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How Standardized Tests Are Scored (Hint: Humans Are Involved) : NPR Ed : NPR
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EdCamp Malden 2015 Theme: ELL Success! Tickets, Malden | Eventbrite
@patrickmlarkin Coming to EdCamp Malden, a free ESL themed unconference in October? Spread the word! All are invited! http://t.co/KXKfF7VyDK
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The Office Compatibility Mode extension in Chrome allows people to view and edit Microsoft® Office files in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Based on feedback, we’ve added a new feature that makes it simpler to use those edited files on the web.
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“New Teacher Advice – ‘Hold On To Your Optimism & Idealism’”
Good quotes for new teachers from Larry Ferlazzo
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Not Business As Usual at the NEA (A Peek Into Institutional Racism)
Great insights into ongoing institutional racism from Jose Vilson
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Exploring the circular – generating routes for future exploration
From Bo Adams – When young people see the economy through a circular lens, they see brand new opportunities on exactly the same horizon. They can use their creativity and knowledge to rebuild the entire system, and it’s there for the taking right now, and the faster we do this, the better.
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Meriden Public Schools Launches “Take Charge of Your Learning” Campaign | Getting Smart
Teacher leaders will facilitate the I’m Charged classrooms throughout the school district. These classrooms will serve as model learning and teaching sites for other teachers in the Meriden Public Schools as well as other districts. By creating a collaborative learning culture, the Meriden Public Schools is braced for a successful digital transformation.
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@patrickmlarkin We liked your tweet so much, it is now on T&L Live @ ISTE! http://t.co/54hBcAgWnC
Educators Must Take the Lead to Stop Ed-Tech Scaremongering
This post originally appeared on my EdWeek Blog
This post is a summary of what I was trying to get across in my in my 1-in-3 Presentation at ISTE this morning. The format called for educators to share one technology integration tip in three minutes. My tip revolved around the importance of educators sharing their stories about how they see digital resources positively impacting their students.
It is a common experience for me to come across an article or blog post second-guessing the use of technology due to the harm that it could cause students. I have no problem with questions surrounding the successful use of resources to support learning. In fact, I think we need to encourage these conversations and have them transparently so our stakeholders understand why and how these resources will be implemented. However, my frustration level peaks when I read about technology resources being dismissed by those who have little to no personal experience with their implementation in schools.
Back in January for instance, I opened The New York Times and read an op-ed titled “Can Students Have too Much Tech?” that was big on skepticism, but light on substance. The author, a developmental psychologist with zero years of experience in K-12 schools, was pessimistic about technology in classrooms.
The author devoted nearly a quarter of the piece to a study done by a pair of Duke economists over a decade ago that talked about a program where students were provided computers to use at home. In addition, she referenced the failure of the One Laptop Per Child project, which was designed to help children without access to teachers learn. Yet the conclusions of this piece were directed at technology in classrooms with an implication that schools are misguided in their focus on investing in this area.
Another misleading article published by The Washington Post in April 2014 was titled “Serious Reading Takes a Hit From Online Scanning and Skimming, Researchers Say.” The amazing thing about this piece was that it was actually a researcher sharing her opinions about digital reading with no actual research involved. These concerns about scaremongering and imbalance in the national dialogue about technology in education are not new. I have ranted previously here andhere about “research” on the the negative implications that some people warn about in regards to e-reading. How is it that these articles get headlines and draw people’s attention while peer-reviewed studies that show some benefits from e-reading remain absent from the dialogue? Why isn’t anyone talking about Ofra Korat’s research indicating improved comprehension andvocabulary acquisition from e-reading?
There are significant questions for the education community at play in regards to technology integration. Generally, I feel we are allowing scaremongering around technology in education, along with underappreciation of the evidence of success in ed tech. The naysayers are driving the national narrative, even though advocates for blended learning have plenty of compelling evidence!
How can we change the tide in this conversation?
In my district, Burlington Public Schools, we host a blog on which we share success stories and ed-tech learnings, and we also host regional events to support sharing by educators. But I don’t pretend that school district blogs and teacher meetups alone can change the problematic national dialogue around technology in education. Educators need to raise our voices. I am not saying that we have all of the answers about the outcomes from technology in education—positive or negative. Additional quality research by impartial parties is needed, and the education community should continue to push ed-tech companies for well-executed efficacy studies done by reputable parties like SRI and Teachers’ College, to expand the insights.
Still, the conversation seems imbalanced right now, because the fears get too much of the airtime. We need to challenge the media—both the education press and the national publications—to cover success stories in ed tech. We need to ask the media, and our peers, to put a critical eye on the coverage in our space. And as educators, we also need to make sure that we share success stories widely, and not merely with the teacher across the hall or the school district down the road, so that we accelerate the velocity of insight in our profession. As thousands of passionate educators convene in Philadelphia this week for ISTE, I hope we are all talking about how we can exert more influence on the national narrative.
I dream of a day when educators control the narrative surrounding education…
My Weekly Diigo Bookmarks (July 5, 2015)
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Welcome to new @educationweek blogger @patrickmlarkin writing about #edtech. Catch up on his #ISTE2015 talk here. http://t.co/c8EpCVImOT
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Yale Grammatical Diversity Project
From Larry Ferlazzo – “Yale has created the Grammatical Diversity Project to document varieties of grammar usage across the United States. You can explore it with an interactive map on its site.”
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Great argument for digital books and long-term sav
Great argument for digital books and long-term savings. @patrickmlarkin @bradcurrie @educationweek Education Week http://t.co/qiAHEtHmgb
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Digital Principal @patrickmlarkin will speak during a “Think & Drink” event at #ISTE2015 on 6/29! RSVP now: http://t.co/Zld2bQ6O1z
My Weekly Diigo Bookmarks (June 28, 2015)
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The Center for School Mental Health, at the University of Maryland, has “compiled a list of assessment measures… http://t.co/MF1bOGVj4X
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Good list of examples of sites/resources students can use to create digital portfolios
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5 Steph Curry Skills You Can Add To Your Game http://t.co/eZ3yLwhpd2
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Good tip from Richard Byrne
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From Richard Byrne – “The transition from Word or Pages to Google Documents often prompts a lot of questions about formatting settings. In the video embedded below I address three formatting questions that I am frequently asked about in my email and in my workshops.”
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Good post by Audrey Watters on what qualifies as a MOOC
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“When I was a marine they called me a patriot. Now that I’m fighting for my people, they call me a fucking thug” http://t.co/HNvsTMwDgE
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Good list of edreform action items for schools, districts, and/or states from Scott McLeod
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Thoughts on Blended Learning from Phil McRae of the Alberta Teachers’ Association
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How do you figure. So many people love to get on Papi. That was a bullshit ejection. PERIOD!!!!!! https://t.co/zHkiCetLOE
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“I forgive you Dad” – A blog I wrote about the difficulty in forgiving my alcoholic father. -> http://t.co/yxS9G25E00
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Why Start With Pedagogy? 4 Good Reasons, 4 Good Solutions via @CathyNDavidson http://t.co/CRhYi0AQEv #edchat #cpchat
Blizzard Bag Survey for BPS Parents
We are asking parents of Burlington school children who were in grades 1-11 this past year to take a few minutes to provide feedback on our Blizzard Bag pilot which concluded June 1. Please complete the survey below as we gather information for a discussion in the fall as to whether or not we will look to provide alternative assignments for snow days in the future. We will make a phone call to all families next week to make them aware of the survey and also post a student survey next week.
My Weekly Diigo Bookmarks (weekly)
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Plan and Share Biking and Walking Routes on Google’s My Maps
from Richard Byrne
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Take a Deep Dive into Close Reading
Resources from ASCD
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How to Create Image Collages and More on Canva
Great overview of Canva by Richard Byrne
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How to Get Your School Announcements to as Many People as Possible
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Common Core & Social Emotional Learning
Good resources from Larry Ferlazzo
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When It Comes to Ongoing HR Development, It’s Really Up to You | TLNT
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Standing desks improve learning outcomes at New Westminster school – British Columbia – CBC News
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What drives the most high-achieving teams? How are you nurturing such work in your schools?
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Taking Close Reading to the Next Level with Text-Dependent Questions | ASCD Inservice
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Believe It Or Not, Most Published Research Findings Are Probably False
From Big Think – Perhaps most important and most difficult to change, is the structure of perverse incentives that places intense pressure on scientists to produce positive results while actively encouraging them to quietly sit on negative ones.
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Mozgov denies Iguodala at the rim – ESPN Video
NOT in Mozgov’s house! Iguodala’s shot gets swatted away by the big man. http://t.co/OMABt4DP0r
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This novella (reading time: 2 hours) is from the collection Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future, edited by Ed Finn and Kathryn Cramer. It is nominated for a Locus award and a Sturgeon Award.
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Summer Reading Recommendations for Educators 2015
A good list from Jonathan Martin
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The Best Resources For Helping Teens Learn About The Importance Of Sleep
Some great studies on teens and sleep
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Blogging With Students In 5 Simple Steps
good post from Sue Waters on setting up Edublogs with teachers
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From the Smithsonian Science Education Center
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Data mining finds lessons about procrastination
From the Hechinger Report – In one recent data-mining analysis, researchers from an education technology company found that almost one third of the students they studied waited until the day before the due date to start their chemistry homework (typically weekly problem sets). And these students scored 3 percentage points lower, on average, than their classmates. In other words, if the class average was 88, the procrastinators scored 85.
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Things to MUST know if just starting out as a coac
Things to MUST know if just starting out as a coach via @USABasketball http://t.co/McLlBhPOV8
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Why Ed Tech Is Not Transforming How Teachers Teach
Article from Ben Herold in Edweek – Adults seem to be the ones holding up progress in using technology to improve learning
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In a forthcoming study by researcher Emily Rodgers of The Ohio State University, in Columbus, and her colleagues, 1st graders in low-performing elementary schools showed statistically significant gains in their ability to identify letters after using an iPad app called LetterWorks. Their teachers, however, expressed reluctance about continuing to use the app, in large part because they held a philosophical belief that tactile learning is important for young children.
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Every marketing challenge revolves around these questions
From Seth Godin – A simple and short list of questions that must be asked for any marketing endeavor
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From Peter Greene – “Social capital is a kind of fancy term for a quality that is critical for education, but also for pretty much everything else, and it’s another way to understand the differences between rich and poor, powerful and powerless, that goes beyond simply saying, “Some people have money and some people, not so much.”
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The flip-a-holic’s ultimate guide to subscribing, curating and sharing using Flipboard
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Karen Fitzgibbons and Our Biased Education System – Scenarios USAScenarios USA
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When you can predict who’s more likely to be suspended, less likely to graduate, more likely to get shot dead by law enforcement, and less likely to get arts, music, and the breadth of physical education by the color of someone’s skin, we still have racial inequality.
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Blended Learning Implementation Guide
Good resource from the Foundation for Excellence in Education
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21st Century Skills – from the Institute of Museum and Library Services
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A critical look at the Common Core Math standards from Constance Kamii
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Is the Common Core killing kindergarten? – Ideas
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What does earlier reading in kindergarten predict for reading proficiency and academic success in later grades? Not much, according to the report, which cites study findings that by fourth grade, children who were reading at age 4 were not significantly better at reading than their classmates who’d learned to read at age 7. The report also points out that in Finland and Sweden, kids don’t even start formal schooling until they are 7 years old.
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Given the wide developmental variation in young learners and the evidence that early reader advantages fade, the report concludes that a kindergarten literacy standard will simply crush the spirits of the late bloomers, linking school with “feelings of inadequacy, anxiety, and confusion.”
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Unlike the advantages for reading ahead of the pack in kindergarten, which may fade over time, research shows more robust, long-term negative academic effects on students who are struggling readers, falling behind their peers.
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“Young children learn best in active, hands-on ways and in the context of meaningful real-life experiences,” notes a statement of “grave concerns” about the kindergarten standards signed by hundreds of teachers and education scholars, including Howard Gardner, the Harvard developmental psychologist known for his theory of multiple intelligences and their importance in learning. “Overuse of didactic instruction and testing cuts off children’s initiative, curiosity, and imagination, limiting their engagement in school,” according to the statement.
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“Over the last half century, there’s been a continuous decline in children’s freedom to play,” says Boston College psychologist Peter Gray. “It’s through play that children gain the social abilities, the grit, the ability to control their impulses and solve their own problems that makes them resilient.”
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I said this yesterday at #beyondpencils and @TimmyS54 spoke more eloquently on “School is life itself” at #EdSurge! https://t.co/vXqSAAp5Lp
My Un-Learning Journey 