6 Education SlideShares To Inspire, Improve And Innovate Your School One of the things I love about the modern web is the willingness of talented people to share their amazing content for free. Online communities that encourage individuals to share their work in return for broad exposure and the respect and credibility that this builds. One of the strongest and most vibrant communities fostering this culture is SlideShare. SlideShare is a priceless resource and one that is often overlooked when searching and creating content on the web. With this in mind, here are six great educational SlideShares that you may like to share with your school audience. Re-envisioning Modern Pedagogy: Educators As Curators This very sharp and well designed set of slides focuses on curation of content for students and teachers. How I Flipped My Classroom A very hands-on slide deck, this presentation delves into the process that teacher, Michelle Pacansky-Brock, used to flip her classroom. The End Of Teaching Using Diigo in the Classroom QR Codes in the Classroom & Library, Too!
My 10 Favorite Education Infographics Of 2012 (So Far) We live in a world of quick consumption, bite-size morsels of information, and visualizations of just about everything. All of this has become boiled down into the uber-popular infographic. They pop up from time to time on Edudemic and I often have a tough time determining if I should actually run versus another. I’ve been saving up all of my favorite infographics for a post just like this one. I picked each infographic based on the topic, breadth of information, and overall worth. The phrase ‘sum is greater than its parts’ comes to mind as each of these 10 infographics is useful in its own right… but altogether they’re downright overwhelmingly helpful. The Public Thinks Laptops Shouldn’t Be Allowed in Class Until High School Technology has become an integral part of life in most parts of America, but some people are still concerned about how we introduce it to young people. The Internet: A Decade Later The growth of the internet in the last 10 years is staggering. Our Future Demands STEM
How to Turn Your Classroom into an Idea Factory Culture Design Thinking Teaching Strategies Brightworks School Students building a cafe at Brightworks School in San Francisco. By Suzie Boss The following suggestions for turning K-12 classrooms into innovation spaces come from Bringing Innovation to School: Empowering Students to Thrive in a Changing World, published in July by Solution Tree. How can we prepare today’s students to become tomorrow’s innovators? If we’re serious about preparing students to become innovators, educators have some hard work ahead. How do we fill the gap between saying we must encourage innovation and teaching students how to actually generate and execute original ideas? Across disparate fields, from engineering and technology to the social and environmental sectors, innovators use a common problem-solving process. In the classroom, this same process corresponds neatly with the stages of project-based learning. Good projects start with good questions. Innovators have a tendency to think big. Related
Eric Sheninger: An Idea Whose Time Has Come As we continue to move even further into the 21st century, technology becomes more embedded in all aspects of society. As a father, I see this firsthand with my son, who is in first grade. The gift he wanted the most this past Christmas was an iPod Touch, which Santa was kind enough to bring him. As society continues to move forward in terms of innovation, technology, and global connectivity, schools are being stymied by relentless cuts to education. The world of education is often defined by the "haves" and "have-nots." There are many well-respected educators that I greatly admire who feel that BYOT has no place in schools. We launched our BYOT program at New Milford High School this past September after just piloting it with the senior class last spring. Begin to change the way students view their devices by changing the language when they are referenced.
Student Engagement: 5 Ways To Get – and Keep – Your Students’ Attention - Marzano Center Keeping students engaged is easy. Not! Using unusual information to capture “situational interest” keeps students guessing. It’s hot! Think back to your days in science class: Sirius is also called the “Dog Star.” Yes indeed! Students who are interested learn more. To increase student engagement, take time to incorporate the following concepts, from Marzano’s Art and Science of Teaching, into your lessons: 1.High Energy The same part of the brain that processes movement also processes learning. 2.Missing information Curiosity killed the cat, and it also increases student’s “appetitive” state. 3.Mild Controversy and Competition Students enjoy problem-solving with their peers. 4.The Self-System The self-system is the system that controls what we decide to attend to. 5.Mild Pressure Students are smart; they look for patterns in our behavior. Don’t forget to provide adequate wait time before calling on the next student. If you read this far, now you can explain the “three second pause.”
Comparing the Book to the Movie Watching a movie after reading the book is a wonderful way to encourage students to think critically about how each medium presented roughly the same information. Here are some questions to ask: Think about the setting of the book. Did the setting in the movie look like you had imagined it (Good ones for this are Harry Potter, Holes, Narnia, and Where the Wild Things Are)? You could also:Brainstorm all the ways the movie was different from the book.
Prezi! A Great Way to Engage Your Students! UPDATE 3/13/2014: A number of the below Prezis no longer work, as Prezi no longer supports animation. I haven't tested all of the Prezis, but I know that the -ot Word Family and the Digraphs Prezi freeze. I am extremely sorry for this issue. I have reached out to Prezi about it, and their response was: "Unfortunately your prezis containing animated SWF files which is not supported anymore. Aside from the bad grammar in that sentence, I am very upset about this situation. I have been using Prezi in my classroom this year and it is a great way to get instant engagement! This post is linked up with the following Linky Parties! Do you use Prezi at all with your class?
An Open Letter to Tech-Fearing Teachers Everywhere - The Inspired Classroom You are certain to enjoy today’s guest post from Neven Jurkovic. He has written a letter for all tech-fearing teachers and has done so in a positive and motivating way. So, for today’s post in this month’s tech series, consider how you might use his ideas and words to coax a colleague or even yourself! Dear Technophobic Teacher, Thanks for taking a few moments to read this letter. Quote #1: “The kids will learn technology whether we teach it or not, so why waste our time on it?” I’m glad you brought this up. Quote #2: “Technology changes so fast that anything we teach them about technology will be obsolete by the time they get into the workplace.” I’ll grant you this: If we spend all of our time teaching specific tools or websites, you’re right, there’s a real chance that we’ll have wasted our time. Quote #3: “We didn’t have much technology in schools when I was growing up, and we turned out just fine.” The world has changed. About the Author:
5 New Technologies That Have Changed The Digital Classroom In the past, the suggestion of getting a college degree without ever cracking a book meant paying a degree mill. It meant the degree was in name only, reflecting neither learning nor effort. Then distance learning meant correspondence courses, perhaps combined with some coordinated telecasts. Technology has already changed all that, and the future will change it even further. eTexts Now online college students can obtain legitimate college degrees without cracking a book– but that doesn’t mean they don’t have to read. Students can copy the PDF to mobile devices, and carry all of their texts on one iPad or Galaxy Tab. Virtual Libraries Most online school programs — even those which still use correspondence course designs have robust virtual libraries – something that never existed 15 years ago. Distance learners access the same journals as campus students — from anywhere in the world. Online School Portals Webcams & Teleconferencing Mobile Apps & Augmented Reality
Google Announces 100 Live Hangouts For Teachers Around The World Track Hurricane Sandy Using The Google Crisis Map 1.05K Views 0 Likes If you're on the east coast like we are, you've got a pit in your stomach about Hurricane Sandy. Report: Vast Majority Of Top U.S. 7.33K Views 0 Likes Google has just unveiled some new statistics on the uptake of its popular Google Apps In Education platform. University of Michigan Developing Crash-Proof Cars 1.85K Views 0 Likes Forget Google's driverless cars. Google Drive Now Supports Native Editing On Mobile Devices 4.09K Views 0 Likes Google Drive is one of the most controversial yet useful edtech tools today.