sbisd early adopters

Learn at Camp Ed

PowToon is a brand new presentation tool that allows you to create animated presentations and cartoon style videos just by dragging and dropping.

Great infographic for your classroom!

Global Communities

"The Internet has allowed us to retrieve as much information on any topic from pretty much any source we want. Wading through the junk can be tough. We have to rely on the collective knowledge of our friends and colleagues to help us sort the good from the bad. (Because remember, alone we are smart but together we are brilliant.) But that is only half of the curation process. Once we find the good we have to be able to store it and find it again. Having good tools at our disposal is crucial so that the hard work we go through to vet resources doesn't go to waste. These tools also allow us to share our learning and curated resources, adding to the global knowledge."

It has been a desired "central" lesson when I introduce Symbaloo - COllection & storage certainly, but in the curator aspect, lies evaluation and critical thinking. When I take kids to the art museum, we are looking at the concept of a "collection" - noun and those that assemble the collection are curators - what factors are considered to place an artifact in one collection as opposed to another? I admit that the curation aspect tends to become a mere add-on and gets buried under a mountain of other "stuff". But, as with all things, we endeavor to persevere...

"But the best educational outcomes grow from a well thought out program of student empowerment - made both possible and attractive by adopting, adapting and mashing-up digital media."

I think I have a convergence of two (+) very important vectors that might actually make something along these lines be realized: (1) I have a three level green light - on one, my "real" boss actually wants me to step out and really do something different, my evaluator likes to see interesting things and realizes a certain challenge to ANY poor evaluation is not in anyone's best interest, and I have friends/support in higher places (Milk it as long as it lasts!); (2) I am too dang old and tired (saying I am tired is akin to referring to the Great Wall of China as a fence!) of making excuses for why I can't and this may actually be my last real opportunity! (BONUS Vector: No one, and I mean NO ONE that might object is paying attention!) Let's set a time - a good long block of time - to map out something SPECIAL!

"We need to develop more learning opportunities where students constitute the actual evaluators for the work itself. Imagine if students, teachers and others evaluate and provide feedback to determine the effectiveness of a student's creation: Develop an 60-second speech to be shared with the student council and three advertising posters to be copied and placed around school to decrease bullying. Your work will be evaluated according to our rubric by the students in our class, outside professionals and me - as the teacher. These are the experiences that push learning beyond a one-way conversation between student and teacher. They demystify the assessment process and allow each student to be a creator and simultaneous evaluator, providing multiple experiences for students to recognize and apply the criteria for quality."

Houston Makerspace!

Totally AWEsome! I LOVE this! I can Totally NOT afford it!

"LEARNing Landscapes | Vol. 6, No. 2, Spring 2013 23 Michael Fullan , University of Toronto ABSTRACT There is currently a powerful push-pull factor in schooling. The push factor is that school is increasingly boring for students and alienating for teachers. The pull fac - tor is that the exploding and alluring digital world is irresistible, but not necessarily productive in its raw form. The push-pull dynamic makes it inevitable that disruptive changes will occur. I have been part of a group that has been developing innova - tive responses to the current challenges. This response consists of integrating three components: deep learning goals, new pedagogies, and technology. The result will be more radical change in the next five years than has occurred in the past 50 years. T here is currently a volatile push-pull dynamic intensifying in public schools. The push factor is that students are increasingly bored in school"

"Three Ring unlocks the power of your mobile phone or iPad. Now it's easy for teachers and students to document evidence from the classroom. Capture anything, regardless of format, in just seconds. Take a picture of any paper, drawing, or board work. Record presentations or discussions with audio or video. Students can upload their own work from any mobile device or computer."

"BLCFeatureTopicIn this episode of the November Learning Podcast Series, Alan November speaks to Ian VanderSchee, an upper level mathematics teacher at Coppell High School, in Texas. The two discuss Ian's implementation of Alan's "First 5 Days" ideas at the start of this school year and how these ideas have positively impacted his students ever since. To learn more about these and other possible "First 5 Days" implementations, we encourage you to read Alan's book, Who Owns the Learning, and we invite you to attend the Building Learning Communities conference being held this summer in Boston. You can learn about both of these on our Web site at http://www.novemberlearning.com. You might also share your thoughts and stories about the "First 5 Days" on Twitter, using the hashtag #1st5days."

leveled reading resources about current events Check http://t.co/Bbw8ciB44h to search current events AND Ss select own lexile levels w/quizzes for FREE. #ELAchat #sschat #r4november

"Mini challenges are a great alternative to open exploration or direct instruction. They can be a form of guided discovery. We recommend starting with easier (easier to find, more intuitive, etc.) challenges and building up. Ideally these challenges are completed in pairs or small groups so that there is additional support and an immediate opportunity to "teach." A favorite final challenge is for the student(s) to come up with a challenge for the other pairs/groups or to prepare a "discovery" to share with the whole class using an LCD projector."

Advice, evaluation, grades-none of these provide the descriptive information that students need to reach their goals. What is true feedback-and how can it improve learning? Who would dispute the idea that feedback is a good thing? Both common sense and research make it clear: Formative assessment, consisting of lots of feedback and opportunities to use that feedback, enhances performance and achievement. Yet even John Hattie (2008), whose decades of research revealed that feedback was among the most powerful influences on achievement, acknowledges that he has "struggled to understand the concept" (p. 173). And many writings on the subject don't even attempt to define the term. To improve formative assessment practices among both teachers and assessment designers, we need to look more closely at just what feedback is-and isn't.

"It is essential that principals and other school leaders develop professional learning networks (PLNs) both within and beyond their local organizations. Although colleagues at the local level are often generous in their offerings of support, current technologies enable school leaders to reach far beyond the walls of their schools to access the expertise of school administrators and teachers from around the world and bring a wealth of resources to their schools."