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Talented teachers who are also talented videographers are rising. Yes, you've seen Khan Academy, but have you seen Mr. Phonics from the UK? Better known as Mr. Thorne does Phonics . These videos by Mr. Thorne (featured on the TES website out of the UK) were created for parents so they would know how to reinforce the phonics he was teaching at school so they are very basic. But, what a novel idea! Take something that you need parent reinforcement for at home and teach the parents? (Now how is that for a "flipped" classroom. That is flipping it in a whole new way.)   I know Mr. Thorne has a British accent (well of course, he's a UK school teacher) but this beginning and ending sound game is a cool way to teach phonics. I'm not going to get into the Phonics vs. Whole language debate here. While my school leans heavily on phonics we do have Dolch sight words as well. I was taught phonetically, so as a parent, it was easy for me to te...

Pearson & NoTosh Report: Supporting Teacher CPD with Social Media | NoTosh This report "Tweeting for Teachers" says social media should be part of teacher PD. as much as I agree with that, if you just unblock social media, it doesn't mean teachers WILL use it for PD. Teach them how. Plus, expect pushback from teachers who don't want to mix personal and business. Although Facebook won't allow 2 profiles for a person, Twitter will and some teachers may want to take that route. tags: Education twitter professionaldevelopment Stagnant Future, Stagnant Tests: Pointed Response to NY Times "Grading the Digital School" | HASTAC This very well written piece from Cathy Davidson has me cheering. It is written in response to the recent NY time article "Grading the Digita...

Do Yourself a Favor: Set Up These Custom Typing Shortcuts on Your iPhone Right Now If you have an ios5 device, you got text expansion. Lifehacker's guide is a great guide for setting up. I will add this tip. If you are lucky enough to have more than one iOS device, set it up the exact same way on both! tags: Education iPhone iPad productivity Teacher Christina Lambard learned a lesson of her own this week when she tried to give her eighth graders a first-hand experience in "taxation without representation." - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com Taxation without representation lesson from history teacher Christina Lambard had parents calling the school to complain. A letter was sent home that said kids would be charged 25 cents a page and if unpaid they would get a zero. Usually ...

MR KANTZ: Patron Driven Acquisition Glenn Kantz, a librarian in a Swiss Boarding school wrote an article on "patron drive acquisitions" that I find boh fascinating and really something that libraries should consider. In the past, it has often been librarian driven. But if the libraries have books that patrons want, will the libraries be more populated? Now that ebooks and overdrive solutions are coming, doesn't it make sense to take a patron driven model? Should people be able to "vote up" the next acquisition? Fascinating thoughts and I look forward to reading more on this. tags: Education libraries librarian www.theCATCHsystem.com: Evernote For Administrators Evernote for administrators from TJ Wolf in North Carolina is a simple, easy to read...

Social media has added to my life because there are incredible people in my sphere of socializing.What you get out of your time engaged with social media is directly proportional to the number and kind of people you socialize with online. I've seen teachers get on Twitter and follow no one and say, "I don't get Twitter." That's because Twitter isn't solo. Find the people who are using Twitter, like Jerry Blumengarten ( @cybraryman1 ) and Angela Maiers ( @angelamaiers ), and you'll learn a lot from them. If you don't get Google+ (and I don't really... yet, but I will) then follow people like Peter Vogel  or Chris Porter who do. If you don't understand Facebook, I've really found that Mari Smith has helped me get it. And in the last month or two, I've been enjoying my twice daily visits to Facebook. (5:45 am and 7 pm ;-) These people help us understand how to have effective conversations. Cool Teacher Conversations on ...

The Mobile Native I've been messaging with Scott Newcomb about what they are doing at his school in Ohio and got this message: "Every student 3-5 has their own smart phone (MLD). We are starting BYOD with the upper grades this year." Here is their mobile learning blog. tags: education mobilelearning mlearning wireless_connectivity At the risk of offending some Twitterites « To Learn and Connect I think that Trina Crawford (tcrawford2011) has some great points about auto dm's on Twitter. I don't care for them either, although I admit, I experimented with them. I also have a service (I since turned off) that used to tweet right before I hit a 1K mark each time -- it bothered me and I think it would bother others. The thing is that when you tweet on twitter it should m...

Panel: Boys should get HPV vaccine given to girls - BusinessWeek New recommendations for boys to get HPV immunization. Too bad so many parents are afraid of immunizations. tags: Education health Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

F.L.A.T.s will officially launch tomorrow. Our teachers have been talking about the fact that we need ongoing online pd and sharing of best practices. Also, that many webinars are sort of long. We want to have bit sized presentations with time to ask questions. Our first FLAT will be tomorrow and features two of our certified teachers presenting their take on developing a global project. Join us! On Thursday October 27, 2011 at 8:00pm Eastern USA [time where you are - http://www.timeanddate.com/ worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg= Developing+a+global+project+F. L.A.T.s+with+Amy+Jambor+and+ Sheri+Edwards&iso=20111027T20& p1=861 ] Amy Jambor and Sheri Williams will present “Developing a global project” as a Flat Action Talk.   Please join us at http://tinyurl.com/ FlatActionTalk

Room in My Classroom When frowns are down and people are milling around... It's time to hide in your room. When people are tired and with caffeine over-wired It's time to hide in your room. When no one has slept and some negativity has crept It's time to hide in your room. You see, doom and gloom may loom but not in your room. Your classroom is your room, your creation, your loom, you can do a lot in your room. The most important attitude that walks in your door is the one you bring into your room. Protect your attitude with a shield of stone, keep the negative out don't let it in your room. Schools go up, schools go down, but insulate the learning in your room. Students must learn every day, it cannot fluctuate with ebb and sway keep things consistently positive in your room. My mom was a teacher and she taught me true one of the only places in this world that is yours is your classroom. Own it. Love it. Nourish it. Protect it, even from...

Program for the Study of Children and Media | Common Sense Media Common sense media has just released a new report "Zero to 8: Children's media use in America." Our students on Digiteen are reviewing this report for their research, maybe you should take a look too. tags: education digital citizenship digital_literacy digital_safety student Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

"Should jailbreaking cell phones be part of my research project, 'Miss' Vicki?" said the eager Digiteen student as if a light bulb had just gone on.  "Tons of people are starting to jailbreak phones and I'm not sure if they understand if they should or what the impact is. I think it should be part of our recommendations."  "Is jailbreaking a phone part of legal, copyright, and fair use?" he said, quoting his subtopic on the project. In just a few short sentences I was whirled away on a new inquiry and cutting edge issue of students today. I remember several years a go when some students came to me concerned that too many teens were sleeping with their cell phone in hand or under their pillow. They said it at least six months before news media outlets picked it up. Cyberbullying was on their radar at least five years  ago when the project first started including text bombing. This is why students should be at the forefront of digital ci...

We say yes without ever stopping to consider if we have the ability to do something. We run ourselves into the ground. For what? One thing I really enjoy about the Personal Kanban planning method (as described in Personal Kanban: Mapping Work | Navigating Life ) I highly recommend reading the book. It has made a big difference in my life. I've been using is the fact that by nature, it limits your work in process. I have to admit that I've always been a snob against post it notes. They fall down and you don't have a record of what you've done. They just seemed inefficient, but not any more. Our Family Kanban board (I've blacked out the names of my kids) On the left is "On Deck" - Today is the items that will be done today. While we are working on something, we put it under our names. On the right is Done. At the end of the day, I write down in my planner everything we accomplished and note my ideas for improving that in the future. The items that ar...

"I don't wanna die with this music in me," says Stacy Francis, 42 year old single Mom of 2, in her X Factor audition last month. She had someone who told her she wasn't talented. That she couldn't do it. That she started believing it. "I lost faith in myself," she says. Someone told her she was no good. If she had believed that person. That misguided, sad, jealous person would have kept the world from this spine tingling, mind blowing, beautiful music. For an uplifting, inspiring Sunday morning, watch this 7 minute video. Yes, this video is deservedly going viral. [Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FbsmvXzMJY ] Have you lost faith in yourself? Have you lost faith in your dream? This morning I want you to take time to reflect on who you are and your calling. I had to watch it twice. AS her mascara runs down her face, mine ran down my face with her. We all have our stories. When I came back from GAETC in November and fe...

Project Red: 9 Technology Practices That Improve Education the Most Great presentation from project red. See slide for the "which technology practices improve learning the most." #1 Technology is integrated into EVERY intervention class. tags: education web2.0 worldonline Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

Now we're getting useful! Some time back Kathy Schrock  created a very useful Bloom's Taxonomy grid correlated with Google Apps. While we know some of these tools aren't so useful (i.e. Google Buzz) the way Kathy has laid this out is incredibly useful. Info-graphic type websites that allow us to digest a lot of things in a simple glance are the way we need to go to be efficient! Digging deeper, I found a website  http://visualblooms.wikispaces.com/  made by Michael Fischer ( @fischer1000 ) dedicated to visually representing Bloom's Taxonomic Heirarchy. The presentation below is on the homepage. Free website - Powered By Wix.com It is time we use these tools to take a lot of information and make it usable. Time for infographics. So, I'd like to make a challenge. Anyone else care to follow the lead and make useful infographics aligning free apps and tools to Blooms Taxonomy? Take the Bloom's Taxonomy challenge and make useful informat...

“Collaborative production is a more involved form of cooperation, as it increases the tension between individual and group goals. The litmus test for collaborative production is simple: no one person can take credit for what gets created, and the project could not come into being without the participation of many.” Clay Shirky   Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations Drawn by Beatrice in Korea about what FCP means to her. They aren't getting it if they sign their name.  They aren't getting it if they write in something else and paste the "finished" product onto the wiki.  Wikipedia is an example. That is what we're trying to get them ready for! We work together. Mapping the human genome was collaborative. Why do they have to sign their name? Why do they think that it won't be fair? Don't they realize we can see their contributions in a granular way? Collaborative is a new thing and we've got to do b...

Seth Godin , author, change maker Seth Godin is not God. I don't think he pretends to be but sometimes I think those that read his work don't realize who he is. He is a natural born gift writer / rebel who has made his own rules and had is own career. He is one of a kind. That is great. We need more Seth Godins. In a recent post, Seth makes a great point that we are going Back to (the wrong) school and that we are educating kids for 1925. Agreed. Totally. I agree with this statement. If you do a job where someone tells you exactly what to do, they will find someone cheaper than you to do it. And yet our schools are churning out kids who are stuck looking for jobs where the boss tells them exactly what to do. But there is also some sort of insinuation I read into the post that the problem is having teachers/ educators in authority. Let's make a line here that needs to be very clear: We need to be promoting higher order thinking . Memorizing is at the...

Saltire Centre | | EducationGuardian.co.uk Opened in 2006, the Saltire Center in Glasgow has "rewritten the design book for libraries." It is fascinating and includes a ground floor coffee bar, sofas, etc. They have double the usage from the previous library. Visits were decreasing, now they are up. Great case studies for libraries working to reinvent learning. Hat tip to Ewan McIntosh - he's contributed a piece to our new Flat Classroom book. tags: education learningcommons Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

We're gearing up to take students to India. Here's info to join us. If you're interested in taking a class, get those applications in. I'd be happy to pair up with US schools on travel arrangements if it helps. Flat Classroom® Conference and Live Events  a 501(c)3 non profit invites interested schools and educators to apply now to attend the   Flat Classroom® Workshop at ASB Unplugged 2012 in Mumbai, India .   All details are on the wiki. (http://asbunplugged2012. flatclassroomproject.org/) Deadline for Application: October 31, 2011 Final selection of classes completed: November 15, 2011. Application form: http://tinyurl.com/ asb2012flatclass Don't forget also, Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay will release their book, "Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds: Move to Global Collaboration one Step at a Time" in January 2012. Sign up for advance notice and more details at http://flatclassroombook.com Is there a Flat Classroom® in yo...

Students 'Mix It Up' to promote tolerance | The Montgomery Advertiser | montgomeryadvertiser.com Such programs are fascinating ways to help promote getting along and working with others. "National Mix It Up Lunch Day, now in its 10th year, is coordinated by the Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Tolerance program. It served as the catalyst Tuesday for millions of students, including some locally, to cross social boundaries and foster respect for one another." tags: education information_change worldonline My Child is a Cyberbully, What Do I Do? | Webroot Software Tips for parents to help their child with cyberbullying. "Research suggests that between 10 – 20% of students will be a cyberbully at some poin" tags: cyberbu...

Teaching is a noble calling. That is why when a teacher doesn't behave nobly it breaks trust and we get upset. I have to admit that I've had days as a "TT" (Terrible Teacher.) If we're honest with ourselves, we all have. It is usually when we're tired, grumpy or were woken up by a parent calling to complain about something we don't really agree with. But there are no excuses. As I've been teaching 10 years, I believe I have few days as a TT if any but there are certainly things I can improve upon So, today, I'll share a few of the things I think make a teacher terrible. Stop and Be Excellent Some of you will be shocked that I've taken my positive tone out of this post. And I do have a positive message. The positive message is that when we go down the path to be a Terrible Teacher that we check ourselves and stop. That we remember our noble calling and be more. That we move ahead and focus on our students. We can't afford to be a ter...