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Archive for August, 2011

Go Out On A Limb – Take Risks and Support Others

Posted by Kathy Adkins on August 26th, 2011 No Comments

This tree climber goes out on a limb most everyday regardless of the risks and hazards of the occupation. Do you take risks? As educators we are surrounded with more and more tools and ways to implement instruction. Now more than ever we have to take risks and try new ways to engage the digital learners.

In a recent post by UK educator, Martin Burrett(@ICTmagic) shares ideas for classroom teachers to go beyond the traditional and try new ideas. Try IT this year, Ten Techie Things to Try This Year embraces social media, collaborative learning and creativity using technology. What would  you add to the list? Try something new on this list or grab an idea from below and schedule time to go out on a limb to support new learners in your community!

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far it is possible to go.” – T.S. Eliot

“Go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is.” – Jimmy Carter

Friday Flash – Five Ways to Support Others

Top 50 School Technology Blogs – Build your Professional Learning Network by following top leaders and sharing their knowledge with your personal learning community. Grab new ideas from these pioneers and collaborate with a first year teacher to design new learning adventures. Empower these new educators to take risks. You will be there to support them!

GaETC, Georgia Educational Technology Conference – Seek permission to leave the building to attend GaETC on November 2-4, 2011 or another professional conference. Kathy Schrock, Alan November and Tony Vincent are just a few of the leading experts that will inspire you to go out on the limb at GaETC. Submit a proposal to present is open until September 6. After attending conference collaborate with a colleague to implement new ideas.

epals Global Community and Skype in the Classroom – Schedule a time to connect a classroom in your building with a classroom in another country with epals Global Community. Check out the National Geographic collaborative projects as well as member projects. Collaborate with the teacher and provide opportunities to connect the classrooms via Skype in the Classroom.

Collaborize Classroom – Collaborate and share with a colleague this free site that compliments learning and encourages discussion. Primarypad as well as typewith.me are other tools for online discussion. Allow students to pair and share when classrooms are large. Take the risk to try a new tool.

Delicious and Diigo - Make time to save Internet sites of interest using tags with relevant key words to share with the learning community. Share your account with others and encourage them to create accounts. Go out on a limb and create a group account for team members to share resources needed throughout the year. Together is better!

App Resources

Pulse News – Pulse is a free news reading app for the IOS as well as Android. You can easily define the app with your favorite blogs or social media sites. You can even add this site to your news stream

Diigo for iPad – Free

Skype for IOS - Skype for Android – Free

Photo courtesy of irewired and Big Huge Labs – Bobby out on a limb removing limbs one by one from decayed tree. Thanks for taking the risk Bobby!

 

 

 

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Busy as Bees – What is Important?

Posted by Kathy Adkins on August 19th, 2011 No Comments

The beginning of this year seems extremely busier than years past. We are working as busy as bees and dodging barriers and obstacles just as this bee is avoiding the thorns of the thistle. But just as this bee seeks the nourishment from the flower, we too need to reach out and seek new ideas and ways to learn and provide better instruction for all learners. Our learners today are different and are unlike any other generation. Angela Maiers(@AngelaMaiers), a veteran teacher, parent and mentor, shares 12 Most Important Things About Kids Today. This is an incredible list that she proudly shares to inspire and make you so proud of all our young learners. Maiers also challenges us to maximize our partnerships and relationships with them because they still want and need our guidance. How can you take this list and support these important things about kids? Challenge and seek what is truly important to our learners.

Five for Friday – Professional Learning Communities/Networks

Edutopia, provides incredible resources for innovation and learning contributed by professionals from all over the globe. (@edutopia)

HP Teacher Experience Exchange provides professional development resources from lesson plans, webinars, to forums and how to videos. (@HPTeachExchange)

Classroom 2.0 is a social network for educators interested in Web 2.0 and social media in the classroom. (@classroom20)

The Teacher Learning Community offers many free webinars on current topics conducted by educators. August 24, from 2:00-2:30 you can tune into Web Tool Smackdown and receive a free copy of SimpleK12′s ebook – 101 Free Tech Tools for Teachers. (@TLC_edu)

Educators PLN is a personal learning community and great spot to connect with other educators as well as gather material to share with your professional community.

Photo Courtesy of irewired – Colorado Rockies

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Happy New Year – Warm Welcome to New Challenges

Posted by Kathy Adkins on August 12th, 2011 No Comments

Cartoon Posted by Classroom Connect September 2003

The new school year is beginning across the country with much excitement and anticipation. Doors in our district are opening with new opportunities and challenges as students in more classrooms are bringing their own devices as guided by the BYOT Initiative (Bring Your Own Technology) and acceptable use guidelines the district has set in place. Mobile learning devices of all types are welcomed and connect via a special filtered network for the students. Network filters have been lifted for only educators to open Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to support their needs to engage new learning and instructional methods.

A recent article in a local newspaper highlighted our district and implied technology was taking over the classrooms. Yes, the district has a strong technology presence and a better choice of words for the title would be Mobile Devices Influencing Instructional Practices. It is about instructional practices and new learning. As the cartoon reflects, mobile learning has been occurring outside the school walls for many years but banned in classrooms. The wait is over for many districts and the opportunities to support and collaborate as lead learners will make this an exciting year for educators. Will it be a warm welcome in your district? May you all have a Happy New Year!

Four For Friday – Mobile Learning

Two recent posts from Big Think - The Birth of the Digital Toddler by Dominic Basulto and Shift Happens V5 – Iowa Did you Know? by Scott McLeod are two great reads.

10 Major Mobile Learning Trends to Watch For posted by Mindshift focuses on the latest movements toward mobile learning. Be sure to read the section on Bring Your Own Device.

Students Love Technology from the Education Database Online Blog shares the obsession college students have for technology and how they use for learning. Be sure to Click to See the Graphic to view the infographic. Coding is shared to embed the graphic for future sharing.

Cell Phones in the Classroom from Greeneville High School, Greeneville, Tennesee lists instructional activities from the high school staff as well as management procedures and other resources.

App Resources – App Review Sites + Apps

IEAR.org – I Education Apps Review – Great community effort to review educational apps

App Advice – Really like the layout of AppLists

Appolicious a Yahoo service provides educational listings for IOS and Android

momswithapps is a family, friendly group of collaborators sharing apps for all learners. You can connect via their app on iTunes. Check the site every Friday for App Friday deals!

Cartoon courtesy Classroom Connect

 

 

 

 

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