July, 2011

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Qualities of Effective Principals

A Principal's Reflections

'Cross-posted at the Huffington Post: Effective Leadership in the Age of Reform. School improvement efforts rely heavily on quality leadership. Educational leaders are tasked with establishing a collective vision for school improvement and initiating change to spur innovation, ensure student learning, and increase achievement. On July 13 th I had the pleasure of hearing Dr.

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More PD In Your PJs-The Reform Symposium #RSCON3

The Web20Classroom

'Starting today is the Reform Symposium. It is 3 days full of free, online professional development. Started by several of my friends, most notably Shelly Terrell the Reform Symposium brings together educators from across the globe to learn from and with each other. There are several keynotes over the 3 days, lots of panel discussions and you could even win an iPad.

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My Preliminary Google+ Resource List for Educators

The 21st Century Principal

'I have been exploring the capabilities of Google+ for just a few days, and I can already say there are f eatures that might make it so much more functional for administrators and educators. Select Sharing: The Google Circles idea is genius. Users can set up groups called circles and place whomever they wish in each of the circles. The potential for this feature is obvious: for example, an administrator could place teachers within an individual circle, guidance department within a circle, and so

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Video on Direct/Indirect Language

SpeechTechie

'RSA Animate is a wonderfully creative resource that provides sketch visualizations of interesting talks and lectures. I recently watched this one by noted linguist Stephen Pinker, discussing what we would refer to as "indirect and direct" language and social relationships. It is well worth a look and would perhaps be worth using in segments if you work with adult clients that have high-level social pragmatic issues.

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Quickly Create Personalized Learning Experiences that Work

How can we actively engage learners 24/7, on their level and according to their interests, while respecting their learning styles? It’s not impossible. In this guide: Explore how to transform traditional, one-way videos into two-way interactive learning experiences Understand different types of artificial intelligence (AI), including - Generative vs.

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Seven reasons teachers should blog

Learning with 'e's

I have written extensively on what makes a good blogpost and why it is so powerful. F rom personal experience blogging is one of the most beneficial professional development activities I have ever engaged with. I learn more from blogging than I do from almost any other activity I participate in. Here are 7 good reasons why teachers should blog: 1) Blogging causes you to reflect.

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Are Technology Trainers No Longer a Need in Education? - Part II

EdTechSandyK

'Last month when I first posted on this topic , I stated I would share my own thoughts in the comments or possibly in a follow-up post after giving readers a chance to comment. (Reader comments were wonderful for adding to my perspective; thank you!) I did share some thoughts in the comments, but I''m not done, so here I am with a follow-up post as well.

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The #140EDU Conference

The Web20Classroom

'You might remember a year back I was able to participate in one of the first #140Confs in Los Angeles and the another in NYC. This year Jeff Pulver has teamed up with the most awesome Chris Lehmann to bring the #140EDU Conference to the masses. This 140 is different from the others in that it''s focus is all on education. More importantly how real-time information sharing is changing education.

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Is Education Your Job, Your Career, or Your Calling?

The 21st Century Principal

'I n his success psychology book entitled The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom, Jonathan Haidt states that there are three ways people approach their work. People approach their work as a job, a career or as a calling, and their approach often determines their attitude and level of commitment to that work. Those who approach their word as a job, "do it for the money.

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I'm on the EDceptional Podcast this week!

SpeechTechie

'I was really honored to be asked to be part of the EdCeptional podcast offered through the EdReach Network of education-related audio broadcasts. EdCeptional is a weekly show that features a panel of great educators (including fellow SLP Deb Truskey) discussing news and technology through the lens of special education. On the show we discuss some interesting articles, issues and resources (you can see these on the show notes link) and I talk about my background, work in the Newton Public School

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Learning is learning

Learning with 'e's

I got embroiled in a Twitter discussion today with Mark Childs and Fred Garnett on whether the word andragogy is actually helpful to our understanding of learning. I'm not convinced. As ever, I like to promote argument, so here on this blog, I offer you my own views on what is quite an old debate. For the uninitiated, Andragogy (from the Greek Andros, meaning man) was a term made popular in the education world by Malcolm Knowles.

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Can Brain Science Actually Help Make Your Training & Teaching Stick?

Speaker: Andrew Cohen, Founder & CEO of Brainscape

The instructor’s PPT slides are brilliant. You’ve splurged on the expensive interactive courseware. Student engagement is stellar. So… why are half of your students still forgetting everything they learned in just a matter of weeks? It's likely a matter of cognitive science! With so much material to "teach" these days, we often forget to incorporate key proven principles into our curricula — namely active recall, metacognition, spaced repetition, and interleaving practice.

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Thursday, July 7th - Carol Black on "Schooling the World" and the Failures of Institutional Education

The Learning Revolution Has Begun

'Join me Thursday, July 7th, for a live and interactive Future of Education interview with Carol Black, director of the film Schooling the World: The White Man''s Last Burden. The film questions the impact of modern educational methods and structures on indigenous cultures, particularly in the Buddhist culture of Ladakh in the northern Indian Himalayas--and then ultimately also questions institutional education''s promises in the United States and in the "developing world.

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Turning the Tide

A Principal's Reflections

'Over the past two years I have seen some dramatic shifts in an effort to transform New Milford High School into a 21st Century institution of teaching and learning. With a change in mindset and a great deal of support, I have been able to successfully empower my staff to integrate a variety of digital tools, including social media, to engage learners.

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Digital Cleansing.

The Web20Classroom

'7 days I was unplugged. For some one who is plugged in just about 24/7, having nothing that connected me to the outside world was interesting to say the least. I normally have a computer, iPad or Galaxy Tab, and phone within reach at all times. But for my annual vacation I didn''t even bring these things with me. (I did take a phone just for emergencies but it was in my truck the whole time.

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Change or We Die: Lessons from the Borders Experience for Education Leaders

The 21st Century Principal

'This evening I received a email from Borders that basically thanked me for my patronage and for being a "Borders Reward Member." The truth of the matter is, I haven''t been in a Borders store since our local store closed about a year and a half ago. As far as purchasing books online, Barnes and Noble and Amazon have done such a fantastic job of making it easy to purchase physical books and ebooks that I had absolutely no incentive to order from Borders.

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Reimagining Chickering & Gamson's Principles Post-Pandemic: Technology's Central Role in Modern Edu

This white paper examines and proposes revisions to the "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education" introduced by Arthur Chickering and Zelda Gamson in 1987 for today's technology-driven world.

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Clouds.

SpeechTechie

'Ah, summer. A great time to laze on a hillside and look up at the clouds. Clouds are an interesting context for language development as well. One can list the different kind of clouds and what comes out of them (categories). The process by which clouds are made, the water cycle, is a key curriculum topic (sequence). They are also just sort of fun, because they are shapes and different people see different things in them (description).

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Digital age learning

Learning with 'e's

In my Learning is learning post yesterday, I started a debate about andragogy and pedagogy. I held the position that the theory of andragogy (Malcolm Knowles) adds very little to our understanding of learning. In some ways, I argued, andragogy theory seems outmoded in the light of recent rapid developments in new teaching methods, learning resources and digital media.

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Facebook for Professional Learning

EdTechSandyK

'If you''re reading this post, I''m going to assume you are an active reader of blogs or Twitter or both. Are you also leveraging Facebook for your professional learning? Many of the educators and educational organizations you follow through Twitter or on blogs are also maintaining pages on Facebook. If you log in to Facebook and "Like" their page, you can get their updates in your news feed, right along with all of the life updates your friends are posting.

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The Noblest Profession

A Principal's Reflections

'Cross-posted at the Huffington Post: What is Wrong With This Picture? All across the country, education is under attack on numerous fronts. No matter where you look, educators are to blame for the economic woes in many states. This is extremely puzzling to me, as it is well known that this downturn in our economy was a result of misguided, unregulated, or greedy practices of the private sector.

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Behind the Bell: The Underlying Impact of Tardiness in K-12 Schools

Managing a K-12 campus with constant pressure to meet performance metrics is challenging. And tardiness can significantly limit a school from reaching these goals. Learn more about why chronic lateness matters, and key strategies to address the following impacts: Data errors caused by manual processes Low attendance and graduation rates that affect a school’s reputation Classroom disruption, which leads to poor academic performance High staff attrition and “The Teacher Exodus” Unmet LCAP goals t

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Where Am I?

The Web20Classroom

'Flickr CC-Puffsdaddy So if you are seeing this post you might be wondering where I am. Or maybe not. But the story is still interesting none the less. Each year I go on vacation. And starting 2 years ago when I go on vacation, I go on vacation. I don''t take any technology with me. Nothing that will connect me with the outside world for 7 days. No computer.

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Tuesday, July 5th - Live with Sandy Hirsh on the Future of Libraries and Librarians

The Learning Revolution Has Begun

'Join me Tuesday, July 5th, for a live and interactive Future of Education interview with Sandy Hirsh, the director of the School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) at San José State University. We''ll be talking all about the current and future state of libraries and librarians, and will also discuss our recently announced Library 2.011 worldwide virtual conference, for which she is the conference co-chair.

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Using Diigo for Student Portfolios

wwwatanabe

'I had some great comments from my last post about student portfolios, Diigo, and blogs. This post is a continuation of that conversation. Traditional Portfolios When I think back to my beginning years in the classroom, I remember my student portfolios were in manilla file folders. Later, they became gorgeous construction paper books. On both accounts, they were linear, and you would view it from left to right, one page after another.

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Essential Skill for SLPs: Saving Images from the Web, Part 2 (iOS Edition)!

SpeechTechie

'Cross-posted on Therapy App 411 In a related post , I described the important skill of saving images from the Web on standard laptop and desktop operating systems (i.e. Mac OS X and Windows whatever), which SLPs would need to do in order to create visuals using web images and utilize the features of inserting images in many web tools (e.g. Glogster, Voicethread, and countless others).

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The Battle of the Authoring Tools: A 10-Point Comparison for Picking the Right One

Speaker: Chris Paxton McMillin, President of D3 Training Solutions

There are plenty of great authoring tools for developing eLearning, but the one you select could directly impact your course's outcomes. Depending upon your learners’ needs and your organization’s performance goals, you could be overlooking considerations that impact the both effectiveness of your courses and how long it takes to finish them. From general capabilities to specific workflow structures, some aspects are critical when it comes to learning objectives and deadlines.

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Three things all teachers need

Learning with 'e's

Last night I took part in a 3-way Skype podcast recording for TeacherCast.ne t , which was hosted by Jeff Bradbury, who is based in Philadelphia, USA. My co-panellist was Mark Greentree , who was speaking from Sydney, Australia. One of the scheduled questions which we never got around to addressing was: What should a parent expect from a teacher in the 21st Century?

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Adopting Cloud Solutions: Making a Smooth Transition to Google Apps

The 21st Century Principal

'My school district just passed it''s one year anniversary using Google Apps. We have saved a considerable sum of money while enjoying the robustness of Google''s Gmail, Google Docs, and other Google apps such as Google Sites and Google Reader. During the transition there were the usual bumps and frustrations that occur with any transition to something new, but by emphasizing the positive new features, and by showing our district users how to accomplish many of the same things they could with th

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Innovation In Teaching Follow-Up

The Web20Classroom

'Earlier I asked for y''all to tell me what you though innovation in teaching and in the classroom looked like.I got a ton of great responses. Here are a few that stuck out to me. Innovation is about flexibility, adaptability and related to that infamous "with-it-ness" that educators are supposed to have. Ideally, being a thought ahead of learners (anticipating the question or the problem) is related, but what you do to address these is the critical point.While we can "solve any problem" with te

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Live Tuesday July 26th with Kieran Egan on "Learning in Depth"

The Learning Revolution Has Begun

'Join me Tuesday, July 26th, for a live and interactive FutureofEducation.com webinar with Kieran Egan , director of the Imaginative Education Research Group. Dr. Egan''s work focuses on a new educational theory and its implications for a changed curriculum, teaching practices, and the institution of the school. He is the author of over 20 books, including the newly-published Learning in Depth.

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The Roses and Thorns of an LMS Strategy: How to Flourish with the Right LMS

Speaker: Amanda Davis, Chief Experience Officer and Liam O'Malley, VP of Association Solutions

The "new normal" is now a little less new, a little more normal. Does that mean your current LMS strategy is in need of a refresh? Is your organization or association leaning into the always-evolving eLearning environment to ensure you have the tools and content to remain relevant through all this change? There are many complex decision-making processes within your learning & development strategy and LMS lifecycle management, including: Selection.

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Student Portfolios, Diigo and Blogs

wwwatanabe

'I''ve had several people ask me about how to start blogs and portfolios with their students next year, and what''s the best approach. Purpose of Student Portfolio? Portfolios are collections of student work/artifacts that represent the process and progress of their learning. Typically the stronger artifacts document reflection and feedback. Some of the artifacts in the portfolio are then selected to present to others, such as at a parent-teacher conference.

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Essential Skill for SLPs: Saving Images from the Web

SpeechTechie

'This past Thursday, I had the privilege of doing a fly-by at Mindwing Concepts day-long workshop, Narrative and Expository Writing with the Story Grammar Marker® in order to cover a few tech complements to their great tools, including the Mindwing Blog that I help to write. During my presentation I talked about Popplet , which is a terrific tool for concept mapping and breaking down expository text.

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Secrets of the bloggerhood

Learning with 'e's

How do you drive people toward your blog, and how do you gain a regular readership for your website? Well, there are many opinions on how this can be done. I read a very interesting and thought provoking blogpost on popularity earlier today by Ankesh Kothari, who guest writes on the Problogger site under the title of The Secret to Blog Popularity. Here is an abstract from the post: Psychologist Antonius Cillessen of the University of Connecticut wondered how kids became popular.

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Stop Going to School for your Education

The Electric Educator

'Clayton Christensen and Michael Horn put out an insightful and daring article in Harvard Magazine this past week in which they discussed the possibility of Harvard Business school, of which they are both affiliated, being adversely impacted by the growing popularity of online learning. The focus on Harvard was meant to demonstrate how even the most respect, well established learning institutions are likely to be impacted by the disruptive innovation of online learning.

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Building the Foundation for a Modern K-12 Classroom

K-12 looks different these days. But one thing remains the same: you need a reliable learning platform that serves as the foundation for teaching and learning––for all students, in a variety of learning experiences. Discover how the Instructure Learning Platform supports today's K-12 classroom through: A central, consistent, connected hub of the digital learning environment.