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Livescribe Smartpen: Applications in Education I'm really loving my livescribe pen and finding many uses for it in the classroom (particularly oral quizzes and recording things we talk about in class!) Here is their blog about how to use this amazing tool in education. tags: education Top 25 Web 2.0 Sites for Education Nice list from David Kapuler tags: education web2.0 Edutopia 2011 Survey Edutopia's 2011 survey. Join in! tags: education Tech Learning TL Advisor Blog and Ed Tech Ticker Blogs from TL Blog Staff – TechLearning.com Bob Sprankle has a nice article on how you can use wikipedia with younger students. tags: ...

Human Body Detectives : adventures Target age 6-10 - Human Body Detectives who enter different systems of the body to solve health mysteries. tags: education Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

Taken by Vicki Davis. Vulcanized rubber, Post-it notes, and penicillin were all created by mistake. What if the inventors had thrown out that petri dish or crumpled up that piece of paper and thrown it away? When you make a mistake learn from it. I love the story from Andrew Carnegie in Dale Carnegie's book " How to Win Friends and Influence People ." Andrew had a head of one of his divisions who had just made a mistake that cost the company a lot of money. Andrew went to the man's office and the man was packing. Andrew said something like this: "Why are you packing?" Disheartened executive: I made a mistake that cost this company a lot of money, I should be fired. Andrew: "I just spent $100K training you, why should I fire you!!" Andrew Carnegie understood that mistakes are the training ground for greatness. What do you think of the loyalty and performance of that man for the rest of the time he worked for Andrew! It is a mistake n...

News and Current Events is a Top Use of the iPad Some rights reserved by Tojosan A new study about reading habits on the ipad which surveyed more than 1,600 people was released by the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) at the University of Missouri. who found that "keeping up with news and current events is the most popular use of the Apple iPad." (press release sent to me via email. Their findings: "Of the more than 1,600 survey participants: Three-quarters of respondents spent at least 30 minutes a day consuming news on their iPad, nearly half said they spend an hour or more. iPad users are predominantly well-educated, affluent men between the ages of 35 and 64 who tend to be early adopters. A positive iPad reading experience is influenced by age and traditional media habits. Overall satisfaction and time spent with the iPad is very high." What are the Essential Apps for Teachers on the iPad? Craig Nansen My "go to guy...

A funny page of "Murphy's Laws for Teachers" will start your Monday off with a cackle. Here are some of my favorites: "Students who are doing better are credited with working harder. If children start to do poorly, the teacher will be blamed.  When the instructor is late, he will meet the principal in the hall.If the instructor is late and does not meet the principal, the instructor is late to the faculty meeting. Law of the Compounding of Murphy's Law: All that has been accomplished by the insertion of the computer into the classroom is the combining of two areas covered under Murphy's Law. It is a funny page and one I hope you'll enjoy.

I had a fascinating discussion with Stephan Stephensen, CEO of Mingoville , in South Africa this past October. Mobile learning is such an important growth area. We all wish we had laptops in the hands of our students, but the fact is that more of them have and will have mobile phones than laptops. This generation is engaged with their mobile devices and so I was so excited to talk to Stephan about what they are doing and the agreements his company is signing with some countries and organizations to deploy mobile learning apps to children with their countries. Mingoville is the "largest free online English lesson website for kids" but now they've developed mobile apps for math. I asked Stephan if he'd let me carry their press release in English for the US because he has partnered with the government of Denmark and several mobile companies to make their math apps free for all of 2011 for the students of Denmark . I want you to hear from his mouth what this means a...

The Royal Treatment: Computer Science Cool?: Alfred Thompson MSDN One of my favorite people at Microsoft, Alfred Thompson, their Computer Science education expert, did a recent interview with Ken Royal at scholastic. I highly recommend Alfred's blog as a great resource even if you're doing doing computer science education. Alfred is as real as they get and has helped me with questions, problems, issues through the years. tags: education computerscience_teacher Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

So, I have to go home to join in, but yes, there are great conversations between educators cropping up all over Facebook. One of my favorites is the #edchat Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/pages/EdChat/113575728680477?v=wall Lots and lots of conversation and great resources over there that are worth sharing and almost 2000 fans! Hey, let's make it a few more! Related articles New Facebook Privacy Issues... Again (blogher.com) Why 3 p.m is the best time to engage on Facebook (simplyzesty.com) What Is Facebook Becoming? (relationship-economy.com) Facebook Obsession (areweconnected.com)

Build a Smart Phone Application. No Programming Required. Creating apps just got less expensive. Your classes and schools can create apps with a little seed money using brainbite. tags: education app mobile mobilelearning Partnership for Powerful Learning Home - Partnership for Powerful Learning I like a lot about the layout for this schools 1:1 laptop initiative at forest Hills outside Cincinnati. This wiki is well worth a look. tags: education learning teachmeetga [licensed for non-commercial use only] / TeachMeet Georgia Teacher professional development is changing teachers are participating in viral face to face environments in amazing ways. This is the teachmeet that is happening Friday and Saturday in Geo...

Just got this email from Julie Lindsay with a list of schools coming to the Flat Classroom Conference in Beijing the end of February. This is very exciting! Changchun American International School Guangzhou Nanhu International School RDFZ Xishan School International Academy of Beijing Hua Shi Yi Fu Zhong High School Tsinghua High International School Yokohama International School, Japan International School Beijing Gyeonggi Suwon International School, Korea Western Academy Beijing Beijing City International School Beijing Normal University University of Nothern Iowa, USA Livingston American School, China Al-Azhar Islamic Senior High School, Indonesia Dalian Maple Leaf Foreign Nationals School American International School of Guangzhou Dulwich College Beijing Kaohsiung American School, Taiwan Shanghai American School British School of Beijing -Shunyi Campus International School of Tianjin International School Yangon, Myanmar Cebu Inter...

Next Generation Learning Challenges Some requests for proposals asked for for this: "I’m writing to let you know that the Next Generation Learning Challenges is releasing its second wave of a series of RFPs to solicit proposals for technology applications that can improve college readiness for 7th through 9th grade students. Specifically, this second wave will focus on next generation approaches to learning aligned with the Common Core State Standards, as well as next generation assessments." Just wanted you to know. tags: education grant Kindle Publishing for Blogs Everyone has been asking me how to publish your blog on the Kindle. I would write a blog post but really, the instructions on this page make it simple. Schools should also be publishing news blogs for a subscription - it would be a great model! ...

This 2007 video by students Kyle Barrett: University of Illinois and Bobby Barrett: Cary Grove High School) for students now has over 100K hits. I'm not sure how they got permission to use the music but it is very compelling and something you can share if you're working with a bullying prevention program. I think the toughest thing for me is that I've seen teachers who are bullies. It makes me angry. We must all know that any power we may have can be used for good or be used for bad. Often, the teachers we remember are the "bad ones" and the bad ones almost always wielded their power to intimidate, humiliate, and embarrass. Often teachers don't know it. We must always be careful to: Watch. Watch the body language of our students. If several respond with a remark like "ooh" or "you told him" you often have embarrassed a child. Talk to them later and privately and apologize. Apologize. Good teachers apologize because all teachers...

Merchandising and Design - Scholastic to invest $20 million in web technology - Internet Retailer Was talking to my friends at Scholastic about what they are doing with ebooks - a whole lot it seems with some things that will be rolling out in the near future. They are investing $20 million in ebooks, customer reviews, and personalized recommendations in this fiscal year which began last June. tags: education ebook 7 Fantastic Free Social Media Tools for Teachers This older article from Mashable lists lots of free social media tools for teachers. Edublogs is on the list as is Edmodo, TeacherTube and School Tube, but several of the others I've not heard of or used but would love to meet the teachers who are! tags: education collaboration socialnetworking Collaborize Classroom There is a new social media platform for the classrooms. Mashable named this one of the "...

Image via Wikipedia This funny set of "operating system" jokes is a great one to pass along to your IT department including: " Customer: "Do you sell Mac OS X for Windows?"" and " At least three people from our company have come to me panicked, almost crying. They all say, "I think I just erased a program!! Help!!" In reality, it turns out they just minimized the window. When I open it again, they gasp, "What did you DO?!?!?""  Why do I bring up the "dumb question?" Well, really my journey that has culminated in this blog and many other blessings really started with a  dumb question. "What is a blicki and how do I use it in my classroom?" I asked David Warlick at GAETC in November 2005. With kindness he corrected my portmanteau of "blog" and "wiki" but then said something I've kept with me: "It depends on what you want to do." It always starts with wh...

Cathy O's Observations: Planning for China It is very exciting to see a teacher who is planning to go and learn all about technology but also one who is going to so richly share the learning experience with her students! This is such a powerful example of "taking people with you" for vicarious learning. We'll also have a China immersion project going on back at the school and it is going to be exciting - just like it was for India. tags: education learning YouProjects - One Button Project Management. Another project management online program from gtd agenda - they have also come out with youchecks and you tasks. tags: education productivity Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

Image by Marquette La via Flickr Sometimes I have to take my students into the textbook because that is what they will get in college. Sometimes they have to do those awful, outdated labs on their book on CD because that is also what they will get in college. Sometimes I have to have them do those awful, hard to read lessons that tell you to click here and point here because I don't want them to be so thrown off by that obtuse language... because that is what they get in college. I know because I've researched it and my students are coming back and telling me that although what I teach them is great in the "out there - "Mrs. Vicki" lessons" that it is also great that I "prepared them for college." (Which usually means solo using only a book technology lessons.) Uhm. Someone in college needs to prepare kids for the real world. The Frustrated Few And you good professors are out there - Curt Bonk , Leigh Zeitz , Eric Brunsell and many of ...

Too Much, the Magic Bus! - Arlington, VA, United States, ASCD EDge Blog post Excellent post from my friend Walter at ASCD about innovation and how to build success for your program. A great read. tags: education innovation change MCA school board votes down international trip - News - News Item This makes me livid. My friend Suzie Nestico's students cannot come to Beijing at this point but the reasons stated are totally off base: 1) "Why can't they just watch it on a big screen?" The time zone is 12 hours difference and this is a project-based learning conference. Students will not only learn about technology but will envision and develop future projects for global collaboration as they participate with some of the best minds in the business. 2) This is just a paid vacation to China! This perhaps makes me most ...

Photo by Handle with Care Many people think that kids just aren't motivated by grades any more. Of course, this research released in the New York Times has many people a Buzz. Students would rather receive a boost to their self esteem over hanging out with friends, sex, or pizza? Isn't this the generation we've been told to compliment over and over? Many schools have removed awards and made sure everyone gets a trophy. Doesn't this help? Or are they hungry for genuine, well-earned praise?  Do they want to know that they matter? Do they need meaning? I don't have the answers here nor do you, but I do know that when I do things in my classroom that it is important for kids to know that the work we are doing matters and that they matter as human beings. My friend Angela Maiers was telling me about some research she did with school children in some low performing schools in Hawaii.  What did the kids want? They want the teachers to look them in the eyes e...

Great video as we start the new calendar year in North America and new school year in the southern hemisphere. Created by Starkville (Mississippi) School District by Broadcast Media Group (hat tip to a 2009 post from Wesley Fryer.) Video is the new essay. Yet somehow I also wish that videos could automatically be transcribed for my growing base of Kindle readers. Remember your noble calling teacher! It is noble and you are noble if you act like it!

keep your eyes on the road ahead. | Shannon in Ottawa Excellent post on leadership from Shannon in Ottowa. She says "When I was learning how to ride my motorbike, the instructor reminded us over and over to keep our eyes on the road where we want to go. Allowing our gaze to stray and linger on oncoming traffic or the ditch will lead to disaster: You drift towards your focus. To avoid an accident, keep your eyes on the road ahead." Great post for those in leadership or in schools. tags: education leadership learning Google Talk So, if you want to chat, but don't really want to have your gmail open all the time, remember that you can bookmark and install google talk. This will keep you from getting interrupted by your email while still making you accessible to those who need to reach you using this valuable servic...

I'm working towards a much better working model of list making, etc. I'm not ready to share a lot of it yet, but there is one aspect that is helping me a lot. On my "habit list" that I keep in my Home Routines app, I have " inbox zero " on my list and also "check email tasks." In email, I have several contextual task lists that I keep. As I"m reading email, I add the emails to the appropriate list by clicking Shift + T. There is also a little known tasks canvas that lets you see the tasks away from email - https://mail.google.com/tasks/canvas . This is extremely useful when you need a little faster retrieval than a google search and also keeps your email task list HANDY in context - IN EMAIL. I use it for nothing but email tasks but find it very helpful for being organized. Don't be confused - task lists is not my only list - but I'm finding it helpful to have contextual lists and then ROUTINES I follow to send me to those lis...