How Facebook’s newest teen engineer supported his family with apps until cashing in There’s nothing that highlights the fact that Silicon Valley is the new Wall Street, gold rush, colonial settlement — insert your American Dream rags-to-riches historical moniker here — quite like the story of 18-year-old Miami resident Michael Sayman. This week, Facebook hired Sayman as one of its youngest full-time engineers in history. He wouldn’t tell me his salary, but admitted his friends are already pressuring him to “buy a Tesla,” which he won’t do because he’d “rather save the money.” I met Sayman four months ago, when the then 17-year-old developer caught Mark Zuckerberg’s eye. He had poured the last year of his life into building the game, which was a version of charades. “I’m beating Starbucks, Luminosity, Fitbit, Lyft… oh my gosh, it’s number 123 in the overall app store ratings!” But getting to the top of the app store wasn’t just a fun goal for Sayman. Since the age of 13, Sayman had been supporting his parents and his sister with profits he made from prior apps.
The Best Resources For Doing A “One-Sentence Project” One of the many great ideas that Daniel Pink has shared is having people come up with one sentence that they hope other people will use to describe them in the future. He writes about it in his books and in other writings, and I also discuss it in my new book. Students in two of my classes — one an ESL class and the other a mainstream ninth-grade English class — are doing it now and it’s going well. Here’s the student hand-out I used: ONE SENTENCE PROJECT (part of it was adapted from the third video in the next part of this post). Here are the three videos I showed prior to students working on their one-sentence: Two questions that can change your life from Daniel Pink on Vimeo. What’s Your Sentence? Here’s a video a few of my ESL students made: Mrs. Video: My English Language Learners Did A “One-Sentence Project” Let me know if you have resources to share on One-Sentence Project’s you’ve done with your class.
5 Reasons To Write A Letter To Your Future Self | This Is QuarterLife In March, I turned twenty-five years old, and on that most dreaded day I received a letter from my twelve year-old-self. At twelve, I distinctly remember listening to Britney Spears’ “Ooops I did it Again,” consuming Fruit by the Foot, surviving Y2K, and wearing checkered school jumpers that came down to my knees. It was that magical time right before pimples started growing uncontrollably and watching Saturday morning cartoons was still acceptable. Oh how much has changed since those simple times. Reading my letter evoked a lot of emotions in the span of two minutes. Aside from the obvious hilarity that comes out of a twelve year-olds mind, it amazed me how much my twelve year old self seemed to know about life. 1) It reminds you of who you once were We’re always growing and changing — you’re not the same person now that you were at 15, and at 35 who knows what new interests, goals, and people will be a part of your life. 2) Writing a letter helps you reflect
Duolingo For Schools Opened Today – Here’s How It Works As I posted earlier this week (see Duolingo Takes Next Step To Conquer Language Learning World & Lets Teachers Create Virtual Classrooms), the super-popular Duolingo language-learning app unveiled its free Duolingo For Schools feature today. It looks impressive. It’s very easy to register as a teacher and create a class — in fact, it just took a few seconds. The only minor annoyance is that it appears you have to create a new username as a teacher — in other words, if you presently are registered on Duolingo, they won’t let you use that same username. It’s not that big of a deal, but it is just one more username to have to remember After registering, you’re given a link to send to students or, as I have done, post in our class blog. It will show the name of their teacher and class. Once that’s done, the student can go to work and his/her word completed will show-up on the teacher’s dashboard, which looks like this: All in all, it looks pretty darn easy. Related January 10, 2015
Your Words Matter Your Words Matter. I had a teacher who once told me I would most likely be a college dropout. Her words mattered. When I told my wife I wanted to write a book and she said without blinking an eye, “Do it.” I told my daughter the other day how proud I was of her for writing a full sentence! My words mattered. And when I hear back from the teachers and parents that read this blog, I know my words matter. “Learning how to use language effectively will be the most valuable skill you will have to use for the rest of your life.” Woah. Want to get a job? Want to get married? Want to sell something? What Are We Teaching Our Children About Their Words? The problem I see across the board in schools and in the workplace, is that most people rarely think about the power their words have to make a positive impact. DON’T use your words to bully another person (important). or DON’T use contractions (not that important). Your Words Matter To matter means to be of consequence or importance to others.
QR Codes in Education ? An innovative way The main purpose of this blog is to share how technology can be integrated with teaching and learning , making students more active in the process. Well, something which has been going on for a lot of mostly commercial and marketing uses is the QR code. The video below illustrates the QR Code experience : Have you ever heard about it ? Nowadays the Smartphone essential use is a reality. For instance, a practical example: Teacher divides the class into two groups and share part of the teaching point of the day , whatever it is with 50% of a group and 50% with another via the qr code. How does that work ? Rach
What it’s like to grow old, in different parts of the world At TED2013, Jared Diamond shares some of his research on how different societies treat the elderly. Photo: James Duncan Davidson The world’s population is getting older. Across the globe, people are living longer thanks to improvements in healthcare, nutrition and technology. Jared Diamond: How societies can grow old better In today’s talk, Jared Diamond examines the vast differences in how societies across the globe view and treat their senior citizens. The Western system for elder care is far from perfect, notes Diamond, and everyone stands to learn something from how different societies care for their seniors. Who is considered old? As Diamond mentions in his talk, the perceived value of the elderly is an important factor in determining whether seniors are respected or not. The United Nations recently turned its attention to developing policy to support aging populations around the world — and their line for elderly begins at 60. Where do the elderly live?
Facebook and social networking Introduction How many friends have you got on Facebook? What’s the friend limit on Facebook? This lesson takes a look at trends in online social networking. It gives students chance to create an imaginary online 'wall' where they can interact with each other. Topic Social networking websites Age Teenage/adult Level Time 60-90 mins Aims To help students talk about Facebook and other social networking websites To develop students’ reading skills To develop students’ question formation skills To develop students’ communication skills Materials Lesson plan: guide for teacher on procedure. Download lesson plan Worksheets: can be printed out for use in class. worksheet - seven tasks Download worksheet The plans and worksheets are downloadable and in pdf format - right click on the attachment below and save it on your computer. Copyright - please read All the materials on these pages are free for you to download and copy for educational use only.
Make Your Life into a Masterpiece Make Your Life into a Masterpiece The most important masterpiece you’ll ever create is your life. But to create your masterpiece you must first design it. You must have a vision of what it looks like. Once you have a vision and design it you can begin the process of building it. To help you with your design you can ask questions such as: What does your life look like when you are at your healthiest, strongest, and best? What does your family situation look like while you are pursuing success in your work? What matters most? What priorities drive you each day? What are you doing that makes you come alive? What are you born to do? What are you doing to live and share your purpose? When you look back on your life what do you want to be able to say about it? How do you want to feel? What will you have wanted to accomplish? What legacy will you have left? For some the answers to these questions may lead you to a new career. Stay flexible and adaptable through the process. -Jon
10 Intriguing Photographs to Teach Close Reading and Visual Thinking Skills Photo Updated, March 17, 2016 | We have published a companion piece: “8 Compelling Mini-Documentaries to Teach Close Reading and Critical Thinking Skills.” Ever want your students to slow down and notice details when they read — whether they’re perusing a book, a poem, a map or a political cartoon? Young people often want to hurry up and make meaning via a quick skim or a cursory glance when a text can demand patience and focus. Closely reading any text, whether written or visual, requires that students proceed more slowly and methodically, noticing details, making connections and asking questions. We’ve selected 10 photos from The Times that we’ve used previously in our weekly “What’s Going On in This Picture?” Below, we offer ideas from students and teachers who have engaged with these images for ways to use them, or images like them, to teach close reading and visual thinking skills. 1. I stumbled across your site while looking for alternate ideas. 2. You can use our “What’s Going On?”
4 inspiring kids imagine the future of learning After more than 13 years of research convinced him that children have the ability to learn almost anything on their own, 2013 TED Prize winner Sugata Mitra aspires to shape the future of learning by building a School in the Cloud, helping kids “tap into their innate sense of wonder.” In the spirit of Mitra’s invitation to the world to “ask kids big questions, and find big answers,” we asked four brilliant young people to tell us: What do you think is the future of learning? Here, their answers. Adora Svitak, 15-year-old writer, teacher and activist “One of the most powerful shifts in the future of education will come from not only the tools at our disposal, but from an underutilized resource: the students whose voices have for too long been silent. Watch Adora’s talk to discover “What adults can learn from kids” » Kid President, 10-year-old inspiration machine “My older brother and I believe kids and grown ups can change the world. Watch Kid President’s inspiring “pep talk” for the world »
It’s Time for PechaKucha: Do it with Style | ELT-CATION “The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.”Michael Altshuler [Image credit: Greedy Pics] A 60-year-old woman was arrested after exceeding her allotted three minutes of speaking time at a California city council meeting. It takes a reader about 20 seconds to scan a blog post and choose “should I stay, or should I go”;A hug that increases oxytocin (often called the “love drug”) which can make you a lot happier and fill you in with positive emotions should last at least 20 seconds; (A good read with practical ideas for your classroom with an added bonus of 7 fantastic 20-second timers for PowerPoint presentations available for free download is of equal effect, if not more)It is exactly the time limit you have per slide to deliver a PechaKucha presentation – the style that combines storytelling with images. Time flies. Take it away, Tekhnologic: [Image credit: Thomas Hawk] What is PechaKucha? PechaKucha (ペチャクチャ) is one of many Japanese onomatopoeia phrases. And it’s great!