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Court strikes down net neutrality rules

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TED-Ed helps students become expert presenters

Posted By ESchool News Staff On In Curriculum,eClassroom News,Teaching & Learning | 1 Comment
TED-Ed

TED-Ed, the educational arm of TED Conferences, has launched a new classroom-based program to promote media and presentation literacy among students.

The program, TED-Ed Clubs [1], has been piloted in 100 schools around the world and shown great results so far, the organization says—particularly when it comes to getting shy students more engaged in education.

TED-Ed Clubs provides a free, flexible framework for students to discuss, pursue, prepare, and present their “big ideas.” On the project’s website, you can find a step-by-step guide for starting a TED-Ed Club at your local school or community organization, as well as ideas from other TED-Ed Clubs around the world.

The project’s goal is to help club members deliver their own short, TED-style talks, while other members may record and edit the talks on video.

“In today’s world, a person’s ability to effectively and creatively communicate their ideas can be the difference between endless opportunities opened, and endless opportunities missed,” said TED-Ed Director Logan Smalley in a press release.

“Right now, there are countless young minds forming the ideas that will define our future. TED-Ed Clubs invites and celebrates that future by providing teachers a tool to nurture their students’ passions, and by providing students a platform to practice presenting their ever-evolving ideas.”

TED-Ed Clubs are open to students ages 8 though 18 and require a minimum of one adult educator per club. The goal is for club members to present their ideas to their peers in a TED-style talk, and—with the permission of students, teachers, and parents—to nominate exceptional presentations to be featured on the TED-Ed website. Some young speakers also might be invited to attend and present at TEDYouth conferences happening annually throughout the world.

TED-Ed [2] is an extension of TED’s mission of spreading great ideas. The growing TED-Ed video library features carefully curated educational videos, and the TED-Ed website helps educators “flip” their classroom by tailoring any video they find online to create customized lesson plans, distribute the videos publicly or privately, and monitor students’ progress.

Computer-only GED exam spurs competing tests

Posted By From wire service reports On In Featured on eSchool News,IT Management,News,Teaching & Learning,Top News | No Comments
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11 note-taking tips for the digital classroom

Posted By Staff and wire services reports On In Curriculum,eClassroom News,Teaching & Learning,Uncategorized | No Comments

With less books, paper, and pencils and more laptops, smartphones, and tablets gracing our classrooms these days, it would be logical to say that the nature of note-taking in class has changed, too, reports Edudemic. Especially with digital tools such as Evernote [3], writing things down on paper seems less likely to be the #1 way of taking notes. That said, does taking notes really help? Does the physical act of writing something down help you to remember it? What is the most effective way to take notes? How does all of this play into a more digitally based classroom?

Read the full story [4]

Governors include digital learning initiatives in State of the State addresses

Posted By Staff and wire services reports On In District Management,IT Management,Uncategorized | No Comments

With the start of the new year, governors across the country are delivering their State of the State addresses, which outline their priorities for the upcoming legislative sessions, the ISTE Connects Blog reports. ISTE provides brief summaries of those addresses that include a focus on digital learning, which include summaries of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s State of the State addresses…

Read the full story [5]

7 things we should start teaching in schools ASAP

Posted By Staff and wire services reports On In Curriculum,eClassroom News,Teaching & Learning,Uncategorized | No Comments

Americans typically learn a lot of things in school–spelling, math, why plants are green–that are actually useful in our day-to-day lives, the Huffington Post reports. But they also learn a lot of other things–cursive, long division, how to play “Hot Crossed Buns” on the recorder–that are probably not. No, we didn’t waste our time with those lessons. Learning something new isn’t ever a net loss. Playing the recorder provides building blocks for understanding music, and writing cursive has been shown to increase reading comprehension [6], for example. But it is worth reconsidering what we teach in the classroom and figuring out which lessons could better prepare students for life after graduation…

Read the full story [7]

America’s most challenging high schools

Posted By Staff and wire services reports On In Research,Teaching Trends,Uncategorized | No Comments

America’s Most Challenging High Schools ranks schools through an index formula that’s a simple ratio, reports the Washington Post: the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Advanced International Certificate of Education tests given at a school each year, divided by the number of seniors who graduated that year. A ratio of 1.000 means the school had as many tests as graduates…

Read the full story [8]

Six helpful classroom management apps for teachers

Posted By By Laura Devaney, Managing Editor, @eSN_Laura On In Apps,District Management,Featured on eSchool News,IT Management,Teaching & Learning,Top News | No Comments
classroom-management

Classroom management can be challenging, but teachers can benefit from different tools

Mobile apps aren’t just for students. Teachers and administrators benefit from management apps designed to boost productivity, provide quicker access to actionable data, and more.

Here are 6 apps that you can give your teachers to help them improve their classroom management abilities and strategies.

This is just a sampling of available classroom management apps. Do you use an app that isn’t on the list? Make sure to mention it in the comments section below.

[Editor’s note: Prices are current as of press time. Please note that app prices may fluctuate.]

1. TeacherKitiPhone/iPad [9], Free

This classroom management app helps teachers organize different classes and groups of students. They can track attendance, grades, student behavior, and more. Data is easily synced from the handheld device to a classroom computer when desired.

(Next page: Five more classroom management apps)

2. Teacher’s Class BEHAVIOR PROAndroid [10], $0.99

Behavior management gets a boost from this app, which lets teachers differentiate between good and bad behaviors by recording behaviors in a daily log, reviewing those recorded behaviors, and creating lists of students or groups for additional monitoring. Teachers also can create categories for persistent or recurring behaviors, such as repeated lateness or bullying. Educators can eMail behavior logs to themselves and can forward those logs to colleagues or parents.

 

3. Class DojoiPhone/iPad [11]Android [12], Free

Teachers improve student behavior and practice solid classroom management at the same time with this app, which captures and generates behavior data that is easily shared with parents and administrators. The tool uses positive reinforcement to award feedback points for in-class behavior in real-time.

 

4. Too NoisyiPhone/iPad [13], Free

This simple management app helps teachers control classroom noise levels. It’s especially useful during group work, all-class debates or discussions, or in classrooms with younger students.
5. Smart SeatiPhone/iPad [14], $4.99

Teachers create seating charts with desks on a grid, choose random students for participation, make notes, and record and export attendance. Teachers also can create spreadsheets of class attendance records and export them to eMail.

 

6. Stick PickiPhone/iPad [14]Android [15], $2.99

Using this app, teachers can change up their classroom management strategies and pick students for random classroom participation. The app goes a step further and suggests different questions for learners at different levels. It also records how well students respond during classroom discussions, letting teachers track that information and change question levels accordingly so that students do not become bored or frustrated.

13 challenges for today’s technology leaders

Posted By By Meris Stansbury, Associate Editor, @eSN_Meris On In Digital Issue Article,Featured on eSchool News,Teaching Trends,Top News | No Comments
challenges-technology-leader

5 fresh ways to keep professional development engaging

Posted By By Joe Dixon On In District Management,Featured Best Practice,IT Management,Opinion,Professional Development,Rethinking Professional Development,Teaching & Learning,Top News | No Comments

Joe Dixon, chief learning officer at Teq [16], shares 5 innovative ways to make professional development interactive.

Teachers operate in complex and lively environments where success depends on their ability to be creative and flexible. As a result, sustainable and meaningful professional development (PD) needs to move beyond traditional information and planning sessions, to more of a project development and embedded model.

This updated model requires ongoing collaboration and communication among educators, community members, caregivers, and students. The most meaningful PD is continuous, on-demand, and social, while providing for unique classroom situations, individual teaching styles and various comfort levels with technology and new techniques.

How to keep PD engaging

When done well, professional development challenges teachers with innovative possibilities, increases their skills and fosters ongoing conversation and collaboration.

(Next page: 5 ways to keep PD engaging)

1: Start with the end in mind: Professional development for the sake of professional development does little but waste the time and energy of teachers. Instead, encourage instructional leaders to define the goals for their unique learning community (e.g. provide quality reading instruction to improve student achievement or create a SOLE [self-organized learning environment] with three schools using the following big question: “Will robots be conscious one day?”).

Simultaneously, survey teachers to discover what each already knows and would like to accomplish. Once armed with this knowledge, it will be easier to plan embedded PD experiences that help your team achieve their goals. Having a clear understanding of the desired outcome is liberating and allows for true differentiation of instruction for each teacher.

2: Connect and share: When conducting PD, the more intense the connection, the more effective the individual will be. In Edward Hallowell’s book, Shine: Using Brain Science to get the Best from Your People [17], he writes about the importance of “Selection, Connection, Play, and one’s ability to Grapple and Grow.” Dr. Hallowell defines connection as, “the bond an individual feels with another person, group, task, idea . . . or anything else that stirs feelings of attachment, inspiration, or a willingness to make sacrifices for the sake of the connection.” As educators we intuitively understand the importance of connection and desire it in our interactions with our students and our peers.

Therefore, we must create the opportunity for connection and personalization in the professional development experiences we create. Build opportunities for educators to connect with each other and the topics being addressed. If teachers connect to the experience, they will continue to collaborate beyond the experience.

There is an amazing array of free social learning platforms available to educators. Platforms like Edmodo [18], Google plus [19], LearnZillion [20], Teq Online PD [21], and Twitter [22] can create tremendous opportunity for teachers to collaborate with teachers and other professionals around the world.

At Teq [16], all of our PD is specifically designed as blended learning experiences where educators are engaged and able to access specialists, colleagues, tools and materials anytime. This interaction keeps experiences fresh and fun, and retention is improved as teachers learn by practicing the skills both in and out of the classroom.

3: For goodness’ sake, have a good time: Again, let’s turn to Dr. Hallowell, who defines play as, “any activity that engages the imagination.” Dr. Hallowell goes on to explain that imaginative engagement and play are synonymous and that play is what allows us to dream up novel approaches, fresh plans and creative solutions to unsolved problems.

So, make PD fun and actionable by having teachers work together to create things they can actually take back to use in their classrooms and share. Allow teachers to develop useable lessons, ideas and materials based on what they’re learning, so they can apply them to the specific curricula or topics they’re teaching.

Ask educators to bring their stories about students, successes, and concepts they’re currently teaching and insert new technology and approaches where appropriate. Professional development is most effective when teachers walk away with tools, lessons and collaborators they can use right away.

(Next page: Ideas 4 & 5)

4: Build a culture of risk-taking: Once educators are connected and practicing their craft they will be much more likely to take chances; however, this takes time and confidence. Remember, meaningful PD must be continuous, on-demand and social. Imagine being able to invite a trusted colleague into your classroom to watch your instruction, or better yet, to watch them teach to your students. Well, that is the idea behind embedded professional development and it helps to accelerate this process.

Teachers, and all people for that matter, are more likely to experiment when they are supported and receive immediate feedback from people they trust. The internet now makes it possible for educators to share their practice with each other and receive instant feedback.

At Teq, embedded PD takes many forms, in person/classroom both physically and virtually, as well as synchronous and asynchronous dialogue around recorded lessons. You can do this too; simply start small and you will be amazed how quickly your network will grow.

5: Build in follow-up: Finally, just as students require repeated review and testing to ensure key concepts have been grasped, professional development can’t be a one-time happening that’s then set aside until it’s time for the next in-service.

Teachers should to have the ability to go back and revisit PD tools and information, as well as ask clarifying questions once they’ve had the opportunity to use new skills or tools in the classroom. Providing deliberate follow-up reinforces new materials and also shows which development activities are yielding the most real-world value and results over time.

These key ideas open the door to a PD program that empowers teachers and has lasting impact. Not only can professional development created this way be engaging, valuable, and a reinvigorating experience that educators look forward to, it can also be an effective tool for transforming the culture and performance of a school.

Joe Dixon is Chief Learning Officer at Teq [16].