Technology-Enhanced Learning: An Online Workshop by Annette Lamb
Earlier Posts on Cartoons, Comics, and Graphic Novels
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Literacy and Technology Pilot in Western Maine
It was a pleasure to discover the Literacy and Technology Pilot site this afternoon. It is sponsored by the Western Maine Educational Collaborative and facilitated by Darlene Bassett, educational consultant, BPI.
It is accompanied by Darlene's blog, Literacy and Technology Pilot, BPI and WMEC.
It is accompanied by Darlene's blog, Literacy and Technology Pilot, BPI and WMEC.
Power of Pets and Laughter
by Ed Latham
I was having a fairly rough day this week. I was on the road long hours and had many teachers I was working with in a very short time. I returned home the other night and my son noted that I was looking worn out and a bit bummed. I agreed with his assessment. He told me to wait right there and then brought over his computer. He challenged me to not laugh and not smile at all while watching this video. I was unsuccessful in meeting his challenge and even a few days later have to laugh and smile at something so simple. Have a look ...
Pets and how they play are so positive on human emotions and outlooks. Watching a playing kitten can help to completely change a person's mood. Think about some of the horrible stories we hear in schools and in student lives. Don't you think some of our students need little videos like this more often. Heck, we adults probably need stuff like this much more. Do you have any quick feel good videos you can share?
I was having a fairly rough day this week. I was on the road long hours and had many teachers I was working with in a very short time. I returned home the other night and my son noted that I was looking worn out and a bit bummed. I agreed with his assessment. He told me to wait right there and then brought over his computer. He challenged me to not laugh and not smile at all while watching this video. I was unsuccessful in meeting his challenge and even a few days later have to laugh and smile at something so simple. Have a look ...
Pets and how they play are so positive on human emotions and outlooks. Watching a playing kitten can help to completely change a person's mood. Think about some of the horrible stories we hear in schools and in student lives. Don't you think some of our students need little videos like this more often. Heck, we adults probably need stuff like this much more. Do you have any quick feel good videos you can share?
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Monday, November 30, 2009
Telstar 3 Group: Classroom Management & WebQuests
Monday, November 30 - 3:30, Crescent Park School, SAD#44
Agenda
Agenda
Is it good writing?
by Olga LaPlante
At some point in my life, I subscribed to the Current Events by Izzit. The site offers other classroom ideas as well, and they often have a somewhat controversial content, which is great - whether you actually agree with the writings and clippings from press being of high quality - for generating discussions, because they often contradict the mainstream news and accounts, and I wouldn't bet my money to say that they are unbiased. Again, the value is in generating a discussion, plus the lessons have questions, and vocabulary to learn.
Anyway, this lesson was published just recently - the lessons are free and they stay online for a couple of weeks. This will make you chuckle at least, but also make you think. I would love to see comments on this one.
PS. Mind the beautiful English language, with words like "mark" (Br) and "sit" for "grade" and "take" (Am) or references to A Level English Exams.
At some point in my life, I subscribed to the Current Events by Izzit. The site offers other classroom ideas as well, and they often have a somewhat controversial content, which is great - whether you actually agree with the writings and clippings from press being of high quality - for generating discussions, because they often contradict the mainstream news and accounts, and I wouldn't bet my money to say that they are unbiased. Again, the value is in generating a discussion, plus the lessons have questions, and vocabulary to learn.
Anyway, this lesson was published just recently - the lessons are free and they stay online for a couple of weeks. This will make you chuckle at least, but also make you think. I would love to see comments on this one.
PS. Mind the beautiful English language, with words like "mark" (Br) and "sit" for "grade" and "take" (Am) or references to A Level English Exams.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Featuring the Work of Jerry Bracey
I just discovered that Jerry Bracey recently passed away. In his work he had battled the misuse of statistics and testing. If you haven't had a chance to see his work, I encourage you to do so.
The Bracey Report on the Condition of Public Education, 2009
32 Principles of Data Interpretation
32 Principles of Data Interpretation Grouped
Education Hell: Rhetoric vs. Reality
Summary of His Work: Gerald Bracey
Jason Ohler: In Tribute to Gerald Bracey and His Campaign to Keep Education Pundits Honest
“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics” ~Disraeli (popularized by Mark Twain)
Monday, November 23, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
"Please Be Proud of Me"
By Pam Kenney
“Please be proud of me even if I don’t get all the answers right…”
The publication in 1981 of David Elkind’s The Hurried Child focused national attention on a growing trend by educators and parents to push our children to grow up too soon. Schools taught kids to read, write, and add at earlier ages than ever before; parents prodded them to excel. The hours after school, on weekends, and even during summer breaks were filled by music lessons, sports practices, academic enrichment classes, and specialty camps. Elkind worried that our increasing tendency to push children to achieve success early would have a disastrous effect unless we changed our collective expectation.
Almost 30 years later we not only haven’t mitigated the pressure we place on our children, we are hurrying them more than ever. When I was an elementary school principal, I worked with children who were under so much stress from unrealistic parental expectations that their fingernails were bitten to the quick, they lied to their parents about assigned homework, they cried in school when they couldn’t grasp a new concept immediately, and they hid or threw away papers with even average grades on them long before they could reach a parent’s hand. Every teacher recognizes the panicked look on a child’s face when she realizes she didn’t do well on a test. “Mom’s/Dad’s going to kill me!” is a too common refrain.
Something’s got to give because:
-Although the overall suicide rate decreased slightly from the early 1990s through the early 2000s, the rate of teen suicide increased 6%. For children 10-14, the suicide rate increase during the same period was 100%. According to the CDC, suicide is the fourth leading cause of death for young people from 10 to 14.
-Child psychologists report a staggering number of youngsters with chronic stress-related headaches, stomachaches, phobias, and free-floating anxiety.
-Girls as young as seven or eight are dieting to achieve an impossible standard of thinness.
-Serious sports-related injuries have increased several-hundred fold for elementary age children.
Experts offer a variety of suggestions for parents to begin to come to grips with the hurried-child syndrome. I’m certainly no expert, but my plea today is for parents to relax the expectations they have for their children. School is a place to learn, and learning is a process. No child understands everything the first time, and some children need weeks of patient instruction before they can grasp a concept. For some children, learning to read is a slow, painstaking process, but eventually they will read. Learning math facts is torture for other kids, but they’ll remember them at some point.
Please try hard to emphasize the positive when talking to your child about grades. If a mark is lower than you had hoped, find out what the trouble is. Look for progress during a school year and help her set realistic goals for improvement. Expecting your child to make straight A’s is almost always unrealistic and unreasonable. Above all, please don’t yell, spank, or restrict privileges when your son or daughter brings home a grade lower than an A or B. A raised voice and punishment not only don’t motivate your child to work to improve his grades, they dangerously undermine his self-confidence and sap his incentive to learn.
Children want desperately to please their parents, and they should be doing just that. They work hard and try their best day after day in school. I firmly believe that our children are gifts to us. As parents, one of our gifts to them must be to expect a lot less perfection, to remind ourselves every day that they are works in progress, and to let them know by word and deed that they are loved.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Critical Thinking Memories
Question: Can you remember when you became aware that you could think critically?
Was it in school or out of school?
Did someone model it for you?
LearnCentral & vRoom
Learning in Maine now has an annex space at LearnCentral. Join LearnCentral and get a free (3 participant) Elluminate vRoom for synchronous learning.
LearnCentral Webinars
Today, Monday, November 16th, 8pm Eastern(US): Cool Video Projects and How To Do Them with Rushton Hurley. This month one of the Next Vista Digital Dream Team group will introduce a school where multimedia is infused in the entire curriculum, as well as tell about a project he is doing. LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/node/33456
Tuesday, November 17th, 8pm Eastern(US): The monthly PBS / Classroom 2.0 webinar on teaching. "Helping Kids Understand Viruses and Vaccinations with Sid the Science Kid." LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/event/37480
Wednesday, November 18th, 8pm Eastern(US): The new Learning Game Series. This week: Drawing Lesson Plans from Gaming, a Case Study of Caduceus, an online learning game built as part of Children's Hospital Boston's "Generation Cures" initiative. LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/
Thursday, November 19th, 8pm Eastern(US): Howard Rheingold Presents "Howard's Brainstorms!" Part 2. The topic will be "Thinking about Thinking Tools." Howard will briefly summarize some of the foundational documents in this area, recap via screensharing and TheBrain, and then facilitate a discussion inviting questions from the community online. LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/event/37483
Saturday, November 21st, 8pm Eastern(US): "Succeeding with Web 2.0 Projects" with special guest Terry Freedman. Last year, Terry Freedman worked with 6 primary (elementary) schools and one secondary (high) school to secure around 800,000 dollars'-worth of government money and run a project involving podcasting and making videos. LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/event/27720
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