Games in Education visual

I would like to thank Dawn Leeds for the following visual for "Gamification in Education". This brings in some good questions about what we are doing. Thoughts??

Source: anethicalisland.wordpress.com via Cusi on Pinterest

Board of Education and Social Media - This Tuesday night 6/4

I just read an article about how the Board wants to redefine the relationship teachers have with their students online with, specifically, Social Media sites. There is a discussion  about this tonight and I think we as a school staff need to have our own communication about this. On the other hand this is a bad time time to get any meeting organized. I will try to post what the Board has ruled or when any more meetings about this will be scheduled. Please keep me informed if you hear anything. We need to wrap our minds around what we see as reasonable.

Video (screencast) response to email-

Sometimes a simple e=mail will not do.

I came across a unique way to respond to anyone on the Internet. If you do not want to write a response to an email you can shoot a screen cast of your self. I am not lightning fast at typing. My students and own children would not even raise my pecking to even that level. That said, a screen-cast on Jing could explain many visual ideas that text simply might not cover.  For example:

http://screencast.com/t/LaZ3VGPb This responds to a student who had a problem with finding information on my web site.

Link for Jing http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html (it is not at Jing.com).


Jing is a free down load. So create a screencast by getting the document/visual you need to work with, then
A. With the cross lines show what you want to screencast.
B. On the menu on the bottom left, choose the video icon.
C. In 3 seconds you start speaking.
D. Stop recording.
E. Hit share
F. The video will come up for you to play, copy the link to you email.

Any image that can be pulled up on your computer can be transmitted to a student, parent, or administrator.

Again, if you have any questions, or need to correct anything I have done, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Nine Characteristics of 21st Century Learning...To Get You thinking About It

9 Characteristics of 21st Century Learning

9 Characteristics Of 21st Century Learning

1. Learner-centered  (AKA Student Centered) 

2. Media-driven (this doesn’t have to mean digital media)

3. Personalized

4. Transfer-by-Design

5. Visibly Relevant

6. Data-Rich

7. Adaptable

8. Interdependent

9. Diverse 

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)...It is Already Here...Educators Need to Learn to Leverage It

BYOD: Links to Resources

Click on the Above Link.

NEASC...School Excellence ...Rubrics....Student Centered Learning....21st Century Learning Expectations...SEED...PBIS...CAPT...so many acronyms...so much technology...so little time...

Every student has a smart phone which means they have a computer in their hand, we (teachers) need to figure out how to use it THE RIGHT WAY with your permission and with your classroom IT business rules....this will take us out of our comfort zone, but we need to figure this out. The above link should help somewhat.... 

To remain relevant and ahead of the power curve you have to jump into the "deep end of Education Information Technology pool". In order for our students to learn 21st Century Learning Expectations they will need to be able to use the ever evolving  Educational Information Technologies (EdIT) that supports this. These students will need Teachers who know how and understand how to use many of these EdIT resources...that is why Peter started McMahon Tech blog to help get you started...

Come on in,  the water is fine...Click on some posts and some links I dare you.... 

I know this not a Tech post but Congratulations to Alex Meli for getting married today!

Key Questions You Should Ask Before You Flip Your Class-

This is from the blog  Flipped Learning

link-http://flipped-learning.com/?p=1268&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer&utm_content=buffer1cb7a

I am preparing to do a workshop with Icelandic Educators this week and I was asked to give them a list of questions to consider as they begin to flip their classes.  As I wrote these I realized that many people could benefit from these questions.  It is no doubt an incomplete list.  If you have more questions that I should include, please comment and I will add them.  

Overall Questions

• What is the best use of your  face-to-face class time?
• What is one lesson that you teach that is perfect for flipping?
• As you start flipping, who will you work with?
• Are you willing to give up some of the control of your classroom to your students? This is a scary thing for many teachers who like control.
• If you flip, WHAT will you do in your class now that you are not lecturing?
• Do you need additional resources since you will now have more time to do in-class higher order thinking and problem solving as a result of the extra time?
• How will you rearrange your room as you consider flipping your classroom?
• To what extent will you create vs curate your videos?
• Will you completely flip your class, or just do selected lessons?
• How will you learn more about flipped learning (books, the web)?
• How much time do you have to commit to flipping your classroom?
• How will your students access your videos?  Do you have any students who will need to access the videos when NOT connected to the internet?
• If you teach multiple classes:  Which class will you flip first?
• Have you considered moving to a Flipped-Mastery model?

Technical Questions about Video Creation:

• What software will you use to make your videos?
• Do you need any hardware like a better microphone or a tablet to write with?
• Where will you post your videos? (YouTube? Somewhere else?)
• How will you link your videos from your Learning Management System?

Classroom Questions

• How will you monitor if the students watched the video?
• How will you grade their watching of the videos?
• How will you build in interactivity into your video lessons?  (A Google form?  Notes on paper? a A question? Something else?)
• What are you going to do when a student doesn't watch your video?
• How will you change your assessment as a result of flipping your class?
• How will you communicate what you are doing with your administration?
• How will you communicate what you are doing with your students?
• How will you communicate what you are doing with your parents?