What I learned this week 11/01/2010

• AllThingsPLC » Blog Archive » Grading Formative and Summative Assessments

  Grading formative assessments by DuFour

  tags: Twitter_reads

• Joliprint | Print friendly & PDF your blogs and websites

  Neat little tool that makes a pdf of a your favorite web article...drops the rest of the junk.

  tags: Twitter_reads

• Data-Driven and Off Course : Education Next

  Are we perhaps doing a tad of this?  Data is great....it helps us focus on what kids need to learn....but let's not lose the forest thru the trees

  tags: Twitter_reads

• Bridges  |  BridgeURL

  URL sharing service.

  tags: Twitter_reads

• The Answer Sheet - 7 Class size myths -- and the truth

  Smaller classes are expensive....but it works.  Some reformers looking to cut costs have actually been advocating larger classes to safe time.

  tags: Twitter_reads

• Testmoz - The Test Generator

  Free test creation tool....sends results as CSV too...need to compare to Blackboard which makes disaggregating data so difficult

  tags: Twitter_reads

• Best of the EdTech Web 2010 - With Links

  Byrne's best of the web....too good not to share (even if I already did so)

  tags: Twitter_reads

• OER Commons

  Open content for teachers to use

  tags: Twitter_reads

• Alternative software and apps to your PC (Windows, Linux), Mac, iPhone, Android, Web/Online and other platforms. - AlternativeTo.net

  Great site to help you find alterative software packages.  Organized by commercial packages...helps you find cheap, free, better alternatives.

  tags: Twitter_reads

• DIY Anti-Cheating Device

  Couldn't pass up this funny picture labeled as anti-cheating device

  tags: Twitter_reads

• An important update on the future of drop.io | Drop.io Blog

  This one really makes me sad.  Drop.io (one my favorite tools) has been bought by Facebook and will be shut down in a matter of months.  Time to find another large file sharing service.

  tags: Twitter_reads

• Going to the hard places | Connected Principals

  Moving forward as we all must requires us to sometimes to go to hard places....uncomfortable places.  Change hurts sometimes.

  tags: Twitter_reads

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Education Week: Character Education Found to Fall Short in Federal Study

Education Week: Character Education Found to Fall Short in Federal Study

Gulp....character education programs might not be all that!

Recent study from the US Dept. of Education titled Efficacy of Schoolwide Programs to Promote Social and Character Development and Reduce Problem Behavior in Elementary School Children. How is that for a mouthful?!

Not sure I would print this (all 656 pages of it) instead I would read the summary linked above at EdWeek.

In a nutshell it appears that researchers have the impact of various "character education" programs and found that basically after several years of implementation with many factors considered the programs don't appear to have conclusive impact on the students they are meant to "mold and shape" despite other conflicting reports that have shown various programs to have a positive impact on students behaviors and value systems.

As a teacher I am a bit disappointed as our school has pushed its own hybrid of programs for several years now. It has been a substantial commitment in materials and time with regards to teacher training and classroom implementation efforts.

However as a parent I am not surprised. I would like to think that the values I raise my children with are the values that they take with them to school. Unfortunately for teachers, there is no one set of universal parent values although I think the vast majority of parents could agree on a pretty good core set....religious or not.

Our school doesn't really collect meaningful data that can be contributed to the success or failure of our own unique program called SEEDS. However, as someone who has observed the program since its inception in our school I will say one positive aspect of the program is the common set of vocabulary and expectations related to student behavior.

What I learned this week 10/20/2010

• Hamster Is A Free, Highly User-Friendly Video Converter [Windows]

  video converter...might be handy

  tags: Twitter_reads

• FINAL Top 100 Tools for Learning 2010

  tags: Twitter_reads

• iLearn Technology » Blog Archive » Create your own virtual classroom: Edu 2.0 and Vyew

  Virtual classroom

  tags: Twitter_reads

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

What I learned this week 10/19/2010

• BBC - Dimensions

  overlay historical area with your own area for size comparison

  tags: Twitter_reads

• YouCanBook.Me

  If you make yourself available to your students online (and you know who you are) this might be a good way to schedule people during your virtual office hours....if there is an especially busy time.

  tags: Twitter_reads

• Free Technology for Teachers: Five Alternatives to Traditional Book Reports

  no more book reports

  tags: Twitter_reads

• Free Technology for Teachers: 5 Resources for Learning SAT Vocabulary

  build that vocab

  tags: Twitter_reads

• iLearn Technology » Blog Archive » Bloom’s Taxonomy Bloomin’ Tree

  More great graphics that demonstrate Blooms....would make a great poster

  tags: Twitter_reads

• Perfect Practice | Connected Principals

  “If I’m only succeeding, I’m not learning”
  
  Love this little post....

  tags: Twitter_reads

• BYO Tech – Future or fallacy - Teach42

  Maybe the time is now?

  tags: Twitter_reads

• Guskey and Grading: Lots to Think About | Connected Principals

  When are we going to look and talk about what grades really mean?

  tags: Twitter_reads

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

What I learned this week 10/15/2010

• ASCD Express 6.01 - Practices, Not Programs

  Yes....yes....yes....time to Weed the Garden!

  tags: Twitter_reads

• Amazon.com: Fires in the Mind: What Kids Can Tell Us About Motivation and Mastery (9780470646038): Kathleen Cushman, The students of What Kids Can Do: Books

  Looks like an interesting read....Cinci Public does not have it yet but does have other Cushman books

  tags: Twitter_reads

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

What I learned this week 10/14/2010

• Education Week Teacher Professional Development Sourcebook: Change Agent

  I think we’ve become enablers for our teachers. We’ve kind of built this whole professional development thing around the idea that “We’ll provide you with the workshops, and the curriculum, you just show up. We’ll give you the computer, and teach you all the stuff you need to know, etc.”

  tags: Twitter_reads

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

What I learned this week 10/09/2010

• The Answer Sheet - Report: Schools, teacher ed programs ignore how kids really learn

  Despite big advances in our understanding of how children and adolescents grow and learn, little of that knowledge has found its way into schools or educator preparation programs.

  tags: Twitter_reads

• eduTecher.net

  Learn about new apps from the teacher perspective

  tags: Twitter_reads

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

What I learned this week 10/08/2010

• N. Oldham Middle students choose projects on studio days | courier-journal.com | The Courier-Journal

  Really like this idea....but can younger students handle it and with OAA will we have time to not do work that drills right back to standards, benchmarks, indicators?

  tags: Twitter_reads

• ProCon.org - Pros and Cons of Controversial Issues

  5th grade is working on persuasive writing.  To persuade we sometimes need passion and what goes better with passion than actual facts.  Facts related to current issues is what this site provides....love how it provides both sides of the argument.

  tags: Twitter_reads

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

What I learned this week 10/05/2010

• Class Struggle - Ed school professors resist teaching practical skills

  Interesting study that has been making its way through the blogosphere....basically the question is "are schools of ed preparing teachers for what they will face in the classroom"?

  tags: Twitter_reads

• Let them sing it for you

  Type in some text and then just listen it sung back to you from various songs

  tags: Twitter_reads

• WordStash :: Vocabulary Learning, Dictionary Exploring, Mind Expanding

  Great place for students to build an online wordwall of sorts

  tags: Twitter_reads

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

What I learned this week 10/04/2010

• Google Forms: how to create a quiz or a test that automatically grades itself in Google Docs--Internet--Tools & Tips for Multimedia Designers--Planet of the Web

  More on Google forms quizzes

  tags: Twitter_reads

• Free Technology for Teachers: How to Create Self-Graded Quizzes in Google Docs

  More on self graded quizzes with Google Forms

  tags: Twitter_reads

• Ken O'Connor - Ask The Grade Doctor

  Ken O'Connor answers questions about grading

  tags: Twitter_reads

• PinDax | Create and discover message boards for your interests and passions

  Think wallwisher but with more options

  tags: Twitter_reads

• Download Online Videos direct to PC, iPod, PSP, iPhone, Mobile etc.

  Youtube converter

  tags: Twitter_reads

• QuizBreak!

  Easy free online Jeopardy template

  tags: Twitter_reads

• Discussing Blog Design in 5th Grade

  tags: Twitter_reads

• America: A Narrative History, 8e: W. W. Norton StudySpace

  Google tours of US HIstory

  tags: Twitter_reads

• Make a homepage in minutes : Flavors.me

  An instant personal webpage for you!

  tags: Twitter_reads

• kitchen table math, the sequel: Audacious Idea #2: Placement by mastery, not age

  place students by mastery rather than "date of manufacture"

  tags: Twitter_reads

• Singapore Math Adopted in More U.S. Schools - NYTimes.com

  NY Times takes a look at Singapore Math

  tags: Twitter_reads

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

What I learned this week 10/02/2010

• WSJ/NBC Survey: A C- Grade for Schools - Washington Wire - WSJ

  Schools receive a C- on national survey.  One interesting improvement idea is to not advance students until a level of competency is attained.  Makes sense....students getting the level of instruction they need rather than having to be taught with the identical peer group.

  tags: Twitter_reads

• The Associated Press: Calls for longer school years face budget reality

  Obama calls for longer school year.  I have to agree that 3 months off is probably too much.  I also know that there are ample opportunities to increase time on task in our current schools.

  tags: Twitter_reads

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.