What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains

An interesting view on what's happening to us... kids AND adults (we are also guilty!)

What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains [Epipheo.TV] - (RunTime - 3:54)

   

Skills teachers need today!

Check out these two lists about what skills teachers need TODAY and into the future:

http://edudemic.com/2013/03/the-10-skills-modern-teachers-must-have/ 

http://edudemic.com/2013/04/27-ways-to-be-a-21st-century-teacher/

Share your thoughts in the COMMENTS below.

Thinking Thursday - Article: Is This Learning?

Is This Learning? (click for article)

Let's discuss the definition of learning

By:

Will Richardson

District Administration, Dec 2012

...These are examples of a growing narrative around what learning should look like in the new, efficient, less costly EduBusiness world that is exploding around us. It’s a vision that uses technology to “personalize” education for each student to meet the outcomes required by the summative assessment, whatever that may be. And it’s a vision that should deeply concern us.

...Two years ago, IBM surveyed 1,500 CEOs from around the country, asking them what the most crucial factor for success is in today’s world. Shockingly, the top answers had nothing to do with mastering content or getting good test scores. Instead, they said that “creativity” and “managing complexity” were the most important traits. Far as I can tell, we can’t deliver those things very easily, nor can we measure them as cleanly either.

...  But we have to seriously ask: “How much more?” and “At what expense?” The new normal is learning it when we need it, not when it comes up in the lesson plan.
For administrators, it comes to two questions. Do you believe the world has changed dramatically when it comes to learning? And if so, how can you begin to change the conversation around learning?

Twitter in Biology Classroom: Organelle Wars!

Below is a great idea from a science teacher (Brad Graba) who posted this on an NSTA listserv (reprinted with permission, additional links added to his references)... 

This creative idea could be adjusted/adapted for other disciplines as well. The idea is to be creative and think of NEW ways to get students interacting, thinking, creating, communicating, and applying content/subject knowledge!

Thanks for sharing, Brad!!!

This year when I did my cell unit, I had the students run a campaign to get one organelle elected president of the cell (thank you to Ms. Chamberlain in California for the idea).  I added a twist, though, in that I asked the students to create a Twitter account in the name of their organelle to campaign for their organelle and smear other organelles. 

A biologist, Dr. Anne Osterrieder in England, researches the Golgi Body, and was looking on Twitter to see if anyone was mentioning Golgi Body in their tweets so she could keep up on current research.  She happened upon my students' Twitter accounts and began tweeting with them.  Soon, scientist friends of hers were tweeting with my students, helping them research their favorite organelles and smear other organelles. 

The campaign was dubbed #organellewars, and it took on a life of its own.  One of the scientists that got involved has his own BBC radio show as Dr. Molecule and talked about us on his radio show, several of the scientists blogged about the project, and our school newspaper made the project front page news for our school paper. 

I've gained a lot of valuable contacts and resources with the scientists who participated with us.  Whenever I have questions I can't answer myself I go to them now.  My students were more engaged in this project than any I've ever run in my classroom, and were getting great help from biologists around the globe in learning about the cell.  It turned out to be the most rewarding project I've ever done in my classroom.

Brad Graba

AP Biology Teacher

Accelerated Freshman Biology Teacher

Science Bowl Sponsor

William Fremd High School

Palatine, IL 

Creative Commons Infographic - Using CC Images

Here's a great infograhic on using Creative Commons for photos for blogging or pretty much most other non-commercial uses. Creative Commons licenses can be used for pictures, text, and more! Take a look at all the versions/license options HERE.

Hopefully it's OK to use a picture of one of their licenses... :-)

This one is for Attribution, Non-commercial, and Share-Alike uses... just like the one I have for this blog (see lower right margin).

TurnItIn.com Webinars

TurnItIn.com has dozens of  FREE 30-minute webinars on the writing process, research, plagiarism, rubrics, and more!

For more FREE webinar options, check out this list (and leave a comment below if you have any more FREE webinar URL listings to be added!)

Tools 4 Tuesday - SMART Turkey Resources (Thanksgiving)

No pun intended (since it's election day...)

http://www.teacherslovesmartboards.com/smartboard-thanksgiving-holiday-resources.html 

Top 50 Tips for New (and Returning!) Teachers

Here are just a few from the So You Want To Teach? Blog… Many refer to personal growth and/or reflection of one's teaching. Just as students need to think about and focus on their learning, we need to do the same with our teaching! Here's the list (with bold accents for emphasis from me!):

1. Persevere  
2. Learn from the wisdom of others
3. Avoid gossip
4. Work diligently
5. Leave room for a personal life
6. Live on less than you earn
7. Students are a reflection of their parents
8. Students are a reflection of their teacher
9. Persistent problems are usually caused by something you are doing/allowing/omitting/forgetting
10. Find a core group of other young teachers and learn together
11. Mistakes happen; admit when you are wrong
12. Parents often know about problems before class is over; students text crazy fast and subtly
13. If a parent complaint is going to hit an administrator's desk, make sure they are prepared beforehand
14. Take "mental health" days off from time-to-time as necessary
15. Don't try to understand why kids do what they do, try to planhow you will respond
16. We're all making it up as we go
17. Don't take anything personally
18. Love your students
19. Don't let anyone walk all over you
20. Smile more (read You Better Smile Before Christmas!)
21. Plan your lessons, but don't tie yourself to your lesson plan
22. Fire drills happen
23. Bus tires don't always stay inflated
24. Bus wrecks sometimes happen too
25. Before you yell at kids for not staying focused, think back to how your acted during your last inservice
26. Don't argue with anyone in front of anyone else
27. Choose your battles (I used to have kids call home about chewing gum, now I simply have them spit it out)
28. Practice THE LOOK (authoritative, but not condescending)
29. Study your body language
30. Shut your mouth more often
31. Strive to eliminate these words: Umm, uh
32. Minimize the use of these words: Like, cool, well
33. Ending your directives at a lower pitch level will greatly increase student compliance
34. Audio record 20-45 minutes of teaching a week (however much you can bear to listen to); find one area to fix and write it down in a journal
35. Write that same focus area on a post-it note and keep it with you whenever you are teaching
36. When you listen to the recording the next week, figure out if the problem got better; if not, address it again
37. If a problem persists for three weeks in a row, move on to another problem and come back to this one later
38. This same process works with your students too; if they are having a particular problem, address it three times, then move on and come back to it later
39. Go observe other teachers as much as you can
40. Find at least one mentor
41. Create a Culture of Encouragement rather than a Fortress of Fear
42. Remember that your students are real multidimensional people
43. Teenage girls are crazy; Teenage boys occasionally have brains and use them even less often
44. Respect comes when people feel safe
45. Be as consistent as you possibly can be
46. If you must be inconsistent, make every effort to at least be fair
47. Make someone's day every day
48. Say "thank you" more
49. The secretaries run the school/district; treat them accordingly
50. Don't seek out special recognition

Too Busy for Online Courses?

Life is too short for... (learning things you may not be in the mood for)

Something to consider as more schools (K-12 through university and graduate school) offer online courses. If anyone gets a quote, please leave the amount/description below in comments.

http://www.wetakeyourclass.com/ 

http://www.wetakeyourclass.com/faq.html

Too bad ALL of our students can't say this... "Give us a deadline and we will meet it!"

Quote of the Week: We Don't Blame the Exercise Books

Quote of the week (by José Picardo in England):

"Whenever students achieve poorly in their exercise books, we don't blame the exercise books and decide to stop using them. Instead we tackle whatever problems led to such poor achievement in the first place and even apply sanctions if deemed necessary. The same principles should apply to using tools such as Glogster. The internet is not an excuse for poor teaching."

… "However, students must be taught how to write good comments – years of schools' refusal to engage with pupils using social media has meant that they have not learnt how to interact appropriately online. I believe it's our job to teach them… And we always model the comments, that is to say, we show them what good and bad comments look like so that they know within which parameters to operate. Dedicating some time to teaching students to write good, meaningful comments is essential if we are to establish purposeful learning conversations.

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From Box of Tricks >> ICT in Education POST

iPad Users: Make your own stylus!

Feeling creative? Don't want to pay $5-20 for a stylus for your iPad or other tablet device? Then make your own! Plus, this is a great science lesson in conductivity and/or static electricity! 

Here's how from MakeUseOf...