Today is the first day of #PictureBookMonth! Find more information here @PictureBkMonth https:/… In the Real World…. I am going to be honest; I get a little annoyed at this idea that we have to be harsh with students in order to prepare them for the “real world.” First, we teach kids. We don’t need to bring down the harshness of the world upon them. School does not mimic the real world. I’ve recently been going back and forth with some people on Twitter about students having a pencil. If we want to stand on the idea that “in the real world…. ” and use that as an excuse to break down relationships with students rather than build kids up, here are some real world truths. In the real world, we look things up on Google. In the real world, YouTube is one of the most popular tools for learning. In the real world, collaborating is not cheating. In the real world, finding information on the internet is a resource. In the real world, my job does not ask me things I can Google. In the real world, a lot of people show me a lot of mercy. In the real world, I use my phone for everything.
10 engaging Google Drawings activities for classes Sometimes, a linear document just won’t do. Students need room to move things around and get messy. Here are 10 Google Drawings activities to do that. (Sketch by Matt Miller) Using a document in Google Apps or Microsoft Word is perfect for many activities, but sometimes they can be so limiting. They’re restricting. Sometimes, you want your work to be all over the place. When that’s what you need, your Google Apps tool of choice might be Google Drawings. In fact, here’s how simple it is. Google Drawings is like a digital poster board. Sadly, many educators don’t know about it or know what it does. As versatile and powerful as it is, there are bound to be lots of uses for it. 1. How to do it: Create a graphic organizer (think KWL, fishbone, Venn diagram … or make up your own!) Need some help getting started? 2. How to do it: Students create a Google Drawing. Want some more guidance? 3. I found this idea from Mike Petty, a Google for Education Certified Trainer in Michigan. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
The City Library | Events Challenge your mind and mettle in this tournament, where you’ll compete against other teens using science, technology, engineering, art, and math. Kids and teens ages 8–18 can take part in weekly workshops where they’ll be able to work through a programming curriculum with the help of Library staff. Explore Minecraft your peers while improving your creative, collaborative, and problem-solving skills. Celebrate the patron saint of Ireland by taking part in St. Join other members of your community to discuss your thoughts about the novel A Man Called Ove. Flex your creativity and learn a variety of new crafts. Every Thursday, teens can take part in a new craft with supplies provided by the Library. The Teen Zone is a space made just for ages 12–18 that is open every Thursday and Friday. Learn how to raise responsible children and enjoy parenting in this free four-part course offered by Utah State University Extension. Learn about Google Flights and explore the different ways in which to use it.
50 Of The Most Beautiful Sentences In “The Great Gatsby” the 1920s prose is like the coldest bubblie… What Message Are We Really Sending About Learning and Technology? After many technology driven initiatives and false hopes of technology as a silver bullet, there is a new mantra in education today: “It’s not about technology, it’s about the learning”. This is the message that has begun to sink in as people recognize that technology alone will not change learning for the majority of students. For me, this message is still missing the point. If you think about it, it’s about both the technology AND the learning and how together we can provide new and better experiences for students. We can’t do this, however, if we continue to focus on technology and learning separately. When we have “tech coaches” to support “tech integration”, and of course do “tech trainings”, divorced from curriculum that teachers are expected to teach and the actual learning that we want to see in classrooms, this sends the message to teachers in the classroom is that it most certainly is about the the technology. Like this: Like Loading... Related In "Visionary Leadership"
The IRL Fetish The deep infiltration of digital information into our lives has created a fervor around the supposed corresponding loss of logged-off real life. Each moment is oversaturated with digital potential: Texts, status updates, photos, check-ins, tweets, and emails are just a few taps away or pushed directly to your buzzing and chirping pocket computer — anachronistically still called a “phone.” Count the folks using their devices on the train or bus or walking down the sidewalk or, worse, crossing the street oblivious to drivers who themselves are bouncing back and forth between the road and their digital distractor. Hanging out with friends and family increasingly means also hanging out with their technology. Subscribe to The New Inquiry for $2/month and get Vol. 6 “Game of Drones” todayIf the hardware has spread virally within physical space, the software is even more insidious. Predictably, this intrusion has created a backlash. What a ridiculous state of affairs this is.
How Corporations Profit From Black Teens' Viral Content (via @thefader) In mid-September, YouTube shut down Meechie’s channel, which had accrued hundreds of thousands of subscribers. “I had too many copyright strikes,” he said, referring to his use of songs without explicit legal permission from labels. According to Meechie, labels contact YouTube and demand his videos be taken down, often without the knowledge of their own artists, some of whom pay him directly to help boost their buzz. “And it’s crazy, you know, because the artists ask me to put the videos up.” As prolific and internet-known as Meechie and his crew are, they are multiple steps removed from owning, in a tangible sense, their art, leaving them vulnerable to both YouTube’s whims and to having their creativity lifted by outsiders. K.J.
“The Web We Need to Give Students” by @audreywatters #KCedu #MOedchat #KSedchat Since UMW launched Domain of One’s Own in 2013, other schools have picked up on the program’s relevance in today’s world — including Emory University, the University of Oklahoma, and Davidson College, as well as at several high schools. Domain of One’s Own has also spun out a startup of sorts, Reclaim Hosting, that provides low-cost Web hosting and helps educators offer their students their own domains. Clarence Fisher introduced Domains last year to his high school students at the Joseph H. This observation was echoed by Bryan Jackson, who has implemented Domains at Gleneagle Secondary School in Coquitlam, British Columbia. Often when schools talk to students about their presence on the Web, they do so in terms of digital citizenship: what students need to know in order to use technology “appropriately.” It’s one of the flaws too with how privacy conversations about education technology are usually framed. Giving students their own digital domain is a radical act.
The Upside of Being Boring In an age where most career-related tips focus on building a strong personal brand, standing out, and exuding confidence and self-belief, one could be forgiven for assuming that only charismatic individuals who excel at self-promotion stand a realistic chance of success. But the truth is that being boring isn’t so bad. Consider the following advantages of having a boring personality: 1. Superior management skills Popular writing on leadership emphasizes the role of charisma, yet charisma is just a politically correct term for narcissism, and its benefits are almost always short-lived, and benefit the individual rather than the organization. Conversely, the best managers in the world tend to be stable rather than excitable, consistent rather than erratic, as well as polite and considerate. 2. For all the talk about disruptive, creative, and curious employees, most firms still prefer to hire and promote people who follow rules and are well-behaved. 3. 4. 5.
David Mitchell on Earthsea – a rival to Tolkien and George RR Martin Four principal wizards inhabited my childhood. These were, in order of discovery, TH White’s Merlin, JRR Tolkien’s Gandalf, Susan Cooper’s Merriman Lyon and Ursula K Le Guin’s Ged, more commonly known as Sparrowhawk, true names being a serious business in Earthsea. Other magicians and witches also lived on my boyhood bookshelf, but even at 10 years old I sensed that these belonged to a lesser order. Growing up, I adored A Wizard of Earthsea, Le Guin’s slim but muscular 1968 novel, which I read and reread until my ratty old paperback copy required emergency surgery, and I still have a precious memory of getting to the last page for the umpteenth time, staring at the final line – “and Yarrow ran to meet them, crying with joy” – and realising with a giddy clarity that being a goalkeeper or inventor or forester was yesterday’s news, and that I had to be a writer and nothing else would do. First, there is the titular wizard himself. As for the titular wizard, so for his titular world.
The Most Important Lesson Yesterday, I was doing a puzzle with my two-year-old daughter, which has become one of my favorite activities to do with her. While we were playing, she was making me laugh with all of the funny and cute things that she says and does; she is turning into a little person. But even beyond the cuteness, there is nothing more rewarding than watching her learn and demonstrate new knowledge and skills. The look on her face when she is able to do something that she wasn't able to do just a few minutes before is simply the best- this is why I love doing puzzles with her.As I watched her in awe, I was reminded that learning- which is defined as the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study, or being taught- is an innate quality. Children are naturally curious and inquisitive. Some days it will be a struggle.