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Free periodic table downloads with QR codes to use in your classroom.
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For Grandparent's Day, this organization is asking people to committe to do something grand. Here are some ideas.
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Cyber-Seniors Corner - YouTube
Here's the Cyber Seniors corner where Grandparents teach others how to do things. Consider filming your grandparents and sending it to them. This is a neat idea.
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Grandparents Day! | Cyber Seniors Documentary
This organization has created a YouTube channel called "Cyber Seniors corner" - film your grandparents and their wisdom and share it with this site to have it posted on YouTube. What a great idea to help grandparent's share their legacy. You're preserving this for your children and children's children and beyond.
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Also from @artsy_momma - things you can make for Mom's or Grandmas. Over 100 ideas on this pinterest board to get you started.
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Grandparent's Day is Sunday. Here's a lovely Pinterest board from @artsy_momma about things you can make for grandpas or Dad's.
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NFPA :: Safety Information :: Fire Prevention Week :: About Fire Prevention Week
Here is the official Fire Prevention week website. Remember to plan now to help children learn about fire safety. The odds are you ARE saving a life. Plan ahead.
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NFPA :: Safety Information :: Fire Prevention Week :: Sparky's Wish List
Fire prevention month is in October. This wish list will help fire departments get information and materials to local schools for October 9 (commemoration of the great Chicago fire.)
Thursday, 6 September 2012
Wednesday, 5 September 2012
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I'm an Adobe Education leader and just found out about this competition. "The Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA) http://societyofdigitalagencies.org/ and Adobe wish to throw out a challenge your students so they might show their creative flair by submitting their best HTML animation work using Adobe Edge Animate. The competition is called the HTML5-Off Challenge! Registration cut off is Oct 20 and the work submission cut off is Nov 9. In the short term students will be required to use Edge Preview offered (free) out of Adobe Labs. We understand that there may be lack of clarity around the availability of Preview past the noted date of expiry on Oct 24, but we wanted to reassure you that Adobe is committed to making the Adobe Edge Preview capabilities available to all students and faculty for at least 6 more months. More exciting news on this front to come shortly! We hope you can find a way to slot this into your program as an additional project, or maybe in place of a similar project included in your coursework, to the benefit of the students. Prizes for the top three performing students include an Apple iPad, free annual subscriptions to Adobe’s Creative Cloud, and of course having your work published!"
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September Lesson plans aligned with Common Core
Lesson planning sites are proliferating. Here's a set of 135 lessons all relating to events in September aligned with Common Core from Sharemylesson.com. Plan ahead. (You can also upload lessons - they are giving away a free ipad to those who upload the most quality lessons still.)
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9/11 lesson plans (aligned w/ common core)
Teaching about 9/11 is hard - it still feels like yesterday for many of us. It is, however, our responsibility to share it with a generation that may not know much except the date. Here are some lesson plans aligned with Common Core standards and different subject areas. Take time to remember and to share what it means to be free. The United States is a wonderful country - we're not perfect, but we are free. If you visit a few other countries, you'll understand how much freedom we really have.
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This Weeks Newest Free Classroom Posters
Free hi-res classroom posters. For those of you who have poster makers, you'll love these but you could also print and piece them together.
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New Research Finds Most Top Torrents Are Monitored
Most torrent sites like Bit Torrent are logged and your ip address is being tracked.Best advice, don't try to download things for free that aren't supposed to be free. Be wary, wise, and share it with your students.
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September Lesson plans aligned with Common Core
Lesson planning sites are proliferating. Here's a set of 135 lessons all relating to events in September aligned with Common Core from Sharemylesson.com. Plan ahead. (You can also upload lessons - they are giving away a free ipad to those who upload the most quality lessons still.)
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Amazon's Dual Sided Tablet Idea Shows up at IFA Berlin - as a Smartphone - The Digital Reader
A dual sided tablet? Interesting idea. Here's an example of a dal sided smartphone prototype. You could use the lower power eink side when reading or extended periods and the lcd when you want brighter lights. Interesting. This is a new one on me, but one I'd like to think about.
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Inbox Pause Puts Your Email on Hold So You Can Actually Relax or Get Things Done
The productivity research I'm reading keeps stating that an open email box with notifications turned on is the nemesis of productivity - it takes a full 4 minutes to re-enter what you were doing and up to 20 minutes to reenter a flow state. This Chrome extension may make a happy medium and lets you pause your email if your company REQUIRES you to keep email open. I think that companies should rather encourage checking at certain times during the day. Often, email is a time waster and there are those who specialize in e-procrastination. Like those who wait to see you walk out the door before hitting send. ;-)
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Placing the Signature on Top of a Form Promotes Honesty
When you sign your name at the top of a document, you're more likely to be honest, according to a new research study. I guess putting student's names at the top of a paper is more than just convenient for the teacher. ;-)
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IFTTT Launches Channel Dedicated to Google Drive
If this then that helps you archive tweets, make copies of photos where you are tagged on Facebook and more. Now, in an amazing coup, they have added Google Drive as a channel. This means that some productivity nuts out there would have an alternative to dropbox or for those who have Google apps for domains and don't allow dropbox, you have a great place to archive and store. Definitely take a look at ifttt.com as a great timesaver if you use social media. (You could have ifttt.com archive all of your social media posts on Facebook for your school or any time you're tagged in a photo and more.)
Tuesday, 4 September 2012
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2012 Back-to-School Bulletin Board Contest
A pinterest based bulletin board contest where you can win prizes for the most "likes" and "pins" for your bulletin board. Some of you will be interested in this because I've seen your amazing boards on Pinterest.
Monday, 3 September 2012
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| We've come a long way on our lesson plans - Look at this one from 1979 (Photo credit: Fuschia Foot) |
- 50 Teaching and Lesson Plans that Rock
- QR Code Classroom Implementation Guide
- 15 Fantastic Ways to Use Flipboard
- 89 Lesson Plans and Ideas for Teaching Math
- 10 Ways to Be a Terrible Teacher
- 62 Ideas, Lesson and Humor for English Teachers
- 54 Teaching and Lesson Plan Ideas for History Teachers
- World Wonders: A new flipped classroom tool for teachers
- Innovative Teachers: Share Your Genius (Guest post by Superintendent Eric Williams)
- Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock 8/27/2012 Edition
Sunday, 2 September 2012
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Mrs. Jackson's Class Website Blog: September Lesson Plan Ideas
Mrs. Jackson shares lots of great ideas. Here's her September list of ideas.
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12 Great Google Sites for Teachers - HOME - Edgalaxy: Where Education and Technology Meet.
A list of sites you can use in your classroom. Think twice about blogger, but many of these others are great.
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In with the new……Giving Time « The Learning Journey
"As a teacher of young learners, time needs to be on our side. One thing Ive become over the last few years is that one size does NOT fit all. We do not march to the same beat in education or eat the same breakfast for that matter. We each have out own ways of learning, thinking. Some just need more time that others." says Jason Graham, a new friend via Twitter and our Flat Classroom Certified Teacher course. I love how he describes the first grade classroom and am saddened for how many I think don't have the flexibility or perspective that he has.
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10 Creative uses for Dropbox - HOME - Edgalaxy: Where Education and Technology Meet.
I love Dropbox. Now that I use If this then that, I've found many more uses for it. Here at edgalaxy, are 10 creative uses for Dropbox.
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Here's Everywhere You Should Enable Two-Factor Authentication Right Now
I recommend moving towards two-factor authentication - a higher level of security. From Gmail to Facebook, take the time to do it now. Here's how in this article.
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Make Your Computer More Self-Sufficient This Weekend
Take this weekend and automate your computer in many ways with these tips from Lifehacker. Labor Day is a perfect day for tune up.
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For Those Who Want to Lead, Read - John Coleman - Harvard Business Review
This fantastic article from Harvard links to research on why leaders read. This is an example, in my opinion, of how the modern scholarly article should look. It is convincing about the topic but also has hours of reading and research behind it. I think that such articles should be required writing for college and high school students and are entirely different from traditional academic papers. Hyperlinks are the modern footnote but are different in how they are used. Great article to share for two reasons: he who reads leads, and he who can write this way can disseminate scholarly writing effectively. Hats off to the author, John Coleman on a very well written, convincing piece.
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Students of Harvard Cheating Scandal Say Group Work Was Accepted - NYTimes.com
Students say that notes sharing on a confusing course caused their open book exams to look similar and that collaborative notetaking was accepted because the professor didn't require them to go to the course. "Introduction to Congress" may become an Introduction to Collaboration in the 21st century as this cheating scandal is played out in a very public way.
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"Arts exposure makes students more altruistic, civically engaged, and socially tolerant." For more information, read this profile of a school by Liz Dwyer.
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Georgia College Produces Student-Written E-Textbook
Pick up a free textbook written by college students on education technology. Of course, as I tried this with my high schoolers, the problem isn't drafting, it is in the editing. ;-)
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The Annoying Thing Facebook Is About to Do with Your Phone Numbers and Emails (UPDATED)
I think I'm going to delete my phone number off Facebook for this reason. Be aware that "power" advertisers are going to "get" your email and phone number from Facebook. Personally, I don't appreciate this at all, but then again, any of us who think anything is "free" are being foolhardy. There is no such thing as free, you're always giving something.
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Advertising's bumpy transition (and why it matters to you)
I've struggled with advertising and Seth Godin's recent post on "supported by advertising" hits home. I often talk with my husband about a desire to respect educator's time and space by not inundating them with tons of ads. I'd like a few well selected companies in my sidebar and turn down most companies who want to buy ads. I know there are many I respect who fill their blogs with ads and they're probably laughing their way to the bank, however, I'd rather have a relationship with readers who trust me. Hopefully that will convert to book sales and people who come to see me when I present. Maybe I'll end up eating these words when I realize how much money I'm leaving on the table. But I agree with Seth that the way advertising works on the web doesn't respect consumers and isn't "there" yet as to where it needs to be. I find popups and tons of ads annoying.
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Nancy Rappaport: Sexual Misconduct by Educators: What We Need to Do to Protect Students
This is an important article for school administrators and other teachers to read with the warning signs to look for in teachers who may be sexual predators. As professionals who love our students, we must not tolerate or allow such behavior in our midst. It is alarming that up to 10% of students will be the target of sexual misconduct by teachers some time in their school career and there is no real way to find out who such people are - as they often shift from school to school. Be wary and be wise. Let's do something and not sit by awkwardly when the alarm bells go off. Children are a heritage and we are the guardians.
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What happens when these schools close? Where do the students and teachers go? Will the new schools need to construct new space and the old location rust and die. The problem isn't location it is what is happening in that location. It is time to start using common sense to these sorts of problems. Is closing the school the answer if we have no plan for opening something that is better in its place. If poverty is the problem, are we penalizing the poor further by requiring them to go further frrom home to get a good education. I don't have answers - just wondering.
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Taylor Swift Could Perform At Horace Mann School For The Deaf Via Internet Contest Prank
I don't know how it is described when groups suddenly mobilize to "rig" a contest unless it would be "flashvoting" instead of flashmobbing. People on Reddit decided to vote for a school of the deaf to receive a Taylor Swift Concert and others mobbed to send a rapper to Kodiak, Alaska. This happened in a local contest where one of our students was up against a young man in the voting whose cousin mobilized the washington redskins nation to vote. (We won anyway as grandparents stayed up through the night voting - we are a small town that sticks together, but that is another story.) Meanwhile, those who have online contests to get votes and promote views need to know that not all such views and reviews are the same.
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Claire Moshenberg: School Rules = Lower Obesity
I wish every school would read this article about the links between school vending machines and nutrition rules and obesity. I also think that when overactive children are in trouble on the playground that they should "run the track" (as my child's teacher does) rather than stand on the fence. Kids need to get moving and eat healthy foods.
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HP, Dell and the paradox of the disrupted — Tech News and Analysis
"Disruption doesn't care about legagies" says this article discussing the major disruption hitting the "wintel" market as the computing industry is becoming forever changed by the new preferences in computing devices and how we use them since the inception of broadband. An important article to read, the graphic in this article says it all about the size of businesses. Education would do well to read and understand that a similar disruption is coming to education and indeed, is already here. "Disruption doesn't care about legacy." From the school on the corner to the pristine ivory tower down the road, read these words and know that in 10 years someone is going to be doing a similar chart on education. The parallels are ground shaking.
