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EVPD Google Sites & Global Collaboration! - YouTube In this YouTube video ( a recorded Google Hangout) Theresa Allen and Janet Barnstable talk to two teachers in Siberia about how they use Google Sites in education. If you're not doing it, you should listen to this, it is a great tutorial but will also wake you up. IF they doing this in Siberia, what is your excuse? Those of you caught in the storm might want to use this opportunity for some teacher PD. tags: education tumblr teaching google flatclass Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

"I wanna live like there's no tomorrow Love, like I'm on borrowed time It's good to be alive" Woke up singing Good to Be Alive this morning. It is my son's senior year. It has been tough turning down speaking for the rest of this year, but I want to live this year with no regrets. My friends in New Jersey saw me watch my son sack the quarterback on the big screen after the local news carried it. This past Friday, as Kip and I ate dinner on Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco with FALL CUE the next day, I had the phone on the table getting score updates from the big game. There's no place in the world I'd rather be than in the stands, at home, and at school watching this last year of my son's high school and enjoying the time with him. My daughter's a junior and I want to spend time with her while my youngest has his last year in elementary school. Life is full of opportunities and wow, God has blessed me with so many. It is good to have cho...

Matt Mills: Image recognition that triggers augmented reality | Video on TED.com My students and I have been playing with Aurasma today on our ipads and iphones. You have to have a unique image (digital or distinct images are best) and you can attach animations or videos to them. So, a book's page can have a video attached or a painting could have a description attached. It is very cool. This TED video explains the concept. tags: computer_science augmentedreality news augmented arts_entertainment education invention tumblr Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

I have too much I "have to do." Really, you have to do all of that? Those 50-100 things on your list, someone is MAKING you do all those things? At the end of your day, if you haven't done all that, a big buzzard of big lists is going to swoop down and whisk you to the nest where people who don't finish their list go at the end of the day? I'm asking and reasking myself about all these things I "have" to do. Overburdened, overwhelmed, and overworked, I'm not the only teacher, parent, or professional in this plight. Begin with 3 wins I've begun making an active list of 3 things each day that I want to be my major accomplishments of the day. I write those three things before the day even starts: Things like: - "I will be successfully caught up on all grading, and provide feedback to students so they can improve." - "I will be an excellent National Honor Society advisor today by making sure I've sent out acceptance letters and com...

Take Your Students on a Virtual Tour of the Tundra to Learn About Polar Bears Take your students to the ARCTIC -- starting on October 24. Hat tip to Richard Byrne - head over to his blog to see what Discovery and Polar Bears have in store for you THIS WEEK. "Discovery Education and Polar Bears International have teamed up to offer some fantastic virtual field trips starting later this wee tags: education news teaching science stem tumblr Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

A School that Practices Learning-Literacy David Warlick shares his views about learning literacy and how this looks. Do you engage your students in discussions and opportunities to understand learning and celebrate learning? tags: education learning literacy literacy news Take Your Students on a Virtual Tour of the Tundra to Learn About Polar Bears Take your students to the ARCTIC -- starting on October 24. Hat tip to Richard Byrne - head over to his blog to see what Discovery and Polar Bears have in store for you THIS WEEK. "Discovery Education and Polar Bears International have teamed up to offer some fantastic virtual field trips starting later this wee tags: education news teaching science ...

kind over matter: Freebie Alert : Free Positive Thoughts Poster! This website has a cute free poster with positive thoughts. This was printed and put in our teacher's breakroom last week and everyone loves it. People are tearing off a thought and putting it in their pocket. I'm printing some for my classroom but am planning to have students design one for use somewhere in their life where people need encouragement. It will require a bit of graphic design, but I have room in my 9th grade course for that. Great idea. tags: teaching inspiration encouragement choose2matter Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

Dimpled cheeks and frizzy hair arms in slings and fashion flair. You enter here different but green not knowing what this short life means. A spider's wisp of unknown length ripped away by angels' blink. A ripple, a spark, a falling leaf, transient, short, sadly brief. But as you near my magnetic grasp enticed to seek and excited to gasp we dance with apples and Newtonian stares traipsing like nymphs to Siren's lairs. Learn with me fair children of men come sit on my Socratic rock again inquire to know and settle not life's too short for learning to stop. Rock I shall till life's last bell then carve my stone and wish me well: "She who taught best has finally earned recess." - Written on my iPad using Blog Press by Vicki Davis, author, Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds Photo Credit: Big Stock

Popular Educational Twitter Hashtags - Online College Courses A fantastic infographic about the most popular education hashtags- share this. It is a very useful infographic. tags: education news twitter hashtags Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

I'm sitting here looking at the grey skies over Chicago. Planes coming and going, gray rain dropping down. The guy at gate E12 is putting his happiest Disney voice asking people to board for Detroit Michigan like they are about to ride Space Mountain. A tired man at Starbucks bumped into me and said "excuse me" just as I said it to him and then glared at me and said "I said excuse me" to an incredulous look from me as to why he was so snippy. Maybe he gave everything he had today and didn't have anything left to determine that I meant him no harm and was only trying to be respectful. After arriving last night close to 1 am and sleeping a few fitful hours, I started speaking at 8:15 am this morning with a small break for lunch and then finished up around 3:30. Lots of people had started leaving the conference muttering concerns about Chicago traffic with a very slim last session. Ending a conference feels just like ending school. I get this feeling. I want cl...

Here come the word clouds: Obama's and Romney's debate language, visually | The Daily Caller After ever debate, even though I have a computer class, we use word clouds to discuss the debate results and deconstruct what happened. We discuss important words missing, etc. and also look at social media. This is a great context for discussion - I just tell students, however, that our job is to deconstruct and analyze not to debate who is our "favorite" and why. tags: education news politics sschat Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

As I'm heading to S DE's PowerUP with Technology conference in Chicago , I'm pondering the two kinds of teachers. There are two kinds of teachers: paper and pavement. Paper teachers know all the things to do on paper, but when it comes to hitting the pavement with action, they come up short. They can't quite get how to deal with an unruly class or respond to a child who doesn't want to be there. The kind of teachers I like are pavement people. If a teacher is only booksmart, it is tough to teach. These paper tigers know all the words but can't quite find the words when facing a rebellious teen or a misbehaving seventh grader. Paper Tigers Paper people can write perfect words. They can speak them too. Well versed, well phrased, and sometimes well-oiled, it all sounds great. X marks the spot... or does it? We can also allow paper to convince us that we are sorely amiss and cannot be a good teacher without "x." Advertising has as an objective ...

Political Boot Camp for High School Students Mark Phillips from Edutopia calls for a "political bootcamp" for kids to understand how the process works. It can be done with a teacher who understands the difference between sharing their own views and requiring an agreement with those views to get a good grade or avoid denigration. Those in authority in schools must be careful to respect all students and their viewpoints. We need discernment an wisdom in such tumultuous times, however, our ability to disagree in a civil way is paramount to our future. tags: education news politics Mom: Bus Driver Told Boy He Should Have Been Aborted Over Romney Yard Sign This next political issue is over a bus driver arguing with a CHILD over a yard sign and telling the child that the child "should have ...

Make your own political campaign ad Students can make their own political ads on this new website from PBS. This is a cool idea, just realize that these topics are very emotional, so handle what you do well. tags: education teaching politics Five-Minute Film Festival: Preventing Bullying A recommended playlist of videos from YouTube to use when tackling bullying shared via Edutopia. tags: teaching bullying edutopia Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

It is 9:02 pm on Friday night, October 12, 2012 and it is Homecoming at Westwood. I'm on a plane to New Jersey getting ready to give a speech at the school of a person I admire very much, Eric Sheninger, a speech I agreed to give long before the football schedule was announced. Last week I was told this night was also senior night and that parents would escort their senior football players onto the field as they are announced to the cheering stands. I would be in the air between Albany and Atlanta during that time on the first leg of my flight. There is more than just a promise and contract here, on Monday, October 15, taxes are due. This speech and a tiny bit Kip and I saved up are what we need for taxes. Every speck of money I've earned in the past year has gone to whittle down a whopping debt due to an unexpected job situation several years a go. I need this speech to write that check on Monday. So, by the time I got to Atlanta, I knew that my husband and my father -- ...

Justin, Demi, Selena, Rihanna - and COPPA | BCP Business Center This Justin Beiber fan site has been penalized more than $100,000 for collecting emails of minors under 13 without parental permission. COPPA compliance is more important than ever. I find it ironic that kids under 13 aren't even supposed to be able to have emails in the first place on many websites. "The details of the registration process varied depending on the site, so you'll want to read the complaint for the specifics. But the 25-words-or-less summary is that Artist Arena allegedly collected kids' names, addresses, email addresses, birthdates, gender and other info without properly notifying parents and getting their consent. According to the complaint, the company violated COPPA by knowingly registering over 25,000 kids under 13 and collected and maintained personal information from almost 75,000 other kids under 13 who started the sign-up process, but didn...

The teacher is not always right. Take this report card for a troubled science student in 1949. "It has been a disastrous half. His work has been far from satisfactory. His prepared stuff has been badly learnt, and several of his test pieces have been torn over; one of such pieces of prepard work scored 2 marks out of a possible 50. His other work has been equally bad, and several times he has been in trouble, because he will not listen, but will insist on doing his work in his own way. I believe he has ideas about becoming a scientist; on his present showing this is quite ridiculous, if he can't learn simple Biological facts he would have no chance to find the work of a a Specialist, and it would be sheer waste of time, both on his part, and of those who have to teach him." This is taken from the report card of John Gurdon , by a teacher at Eton College in 1949. Boston.com - AP News - Nobel Prize winner gets poor marks in science. Gurdon has just won the Nobe...

"There's enough for everyone's need, not everyone's greed." James Lee Adams, Sr., my grandfather Sometimes little fish need a chance. Greed is wanting more than you need. Websters says " Intense and selfish desire for something, esp. wealth, power, or food."  It is an insatiable desire to accumulate. I don't look down upon those who accumulate wealth and are successful. Greed is not synonymous with wealth, however. We see it in school. We should all be able to strive and succeed and benefit. The wealthy aren't necessarily greedy. There are those who are poor that can be greedy too. Someone poor could want to have what others have without working for it. Someone poor could be greedy to have the things that another earned. We can all be greedy for food or power. How does this relate to school? Greed in the classroom. Praise. I've seen some kids who are successful who cannot stand the idea of another child being recogniz...

The Ignite Show with Georgia Governor Nathan Deal We recorded a show in Atlanta with Governor Nathan Deal about helping high school students choose their career track. We also discussed what flattening the classroom means and how one can integrate the world into your classroom to create rich learning experiences. Thank you to my friend Anne, the show's host, for inviting me on. tags: education news flatclass edreform careered career tumblr Teaching in the Age of Entitlement: How to Avoid Contributing to the Problem Some students believe they are entitled to grades just for showing up, according to new research, especially if they are paying for their education (like college or private school). On this Radio show at the BAM Radio Network hosted by R...

Guest post from  --   Eric Sheninger  http://ericsheninger.com    Eric is a  NASSP Digital Principal Award winner (2012) ,  PDK Emerging Leader Award recipient (2012) , Google Certified Teacher,  Adobe Education Leader ,  ASCD 2011 Conference Scholar , co-author of " Communicating and Connecting With Social Media: Essentials for Principals " and " What Principals Need to Know About Teaching and Learning Science ", writer on education for the  Huffington Post , co-creator of the  Edscape Conference , sits on the  FEA Board of Directors , and was named to the  NSBA "20 to Watch"  list in 2010 for technology leadership.   The annual  Edscape Conference  will once again be held at New Milford High School in New Milford, NJ on Saturday October 13, 2012.  Hundreds of educators from over seven different states and Canada will once again descend upon my school to learn together and network in an effo...

Neil Armstrong’s Parents Appear on the Classic American TV Show “I’ve Got a Secret,” 1962 Shown the day Neil Armstrong was named an astronaut, there is a telling moment where his parents were asked "How would you feel if your son were the first one to step foot on the moon." Such videos are available for free. I love the Open Culture site for finding cool things like this. tags: education teaching scichat science_teacher tumblr Congress.gov Unveiled | News Releases - Library of Congress "The Library of Congress, in collaboration with the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives and the Government Printing Office (GPO), today unveiled Congress.gov, a new public beta site for accessing free, fact-based legislative information. Congress.gov features platform mobility...