The New @eduClipper

I have been a big fan of eduClipper and an even bigger fan of the their founder, Adam Bellow. Adam is a great friend of mine and I have seen, first-hand, the dedication, countless hours, and sweat he has put into eduClipper.

And it definitely shows in this latest round of updates.

What is eduClipper?

Think of it as Pinterest, only more awesome and with an educational focus. You browse the web for content for teaching, resources for learning, or just stuff you want to save and share. When you find something you clip it.

Make sense?

This video might help.

Pretty awesome huh? 

So what about these new features?

Teacher and Student Accounts : Teachers can easily set up classes of students and create eduClipboards of content to share with whole classes or groups of learners.

Teachers can also change settings to make eduClipper more or less restrictive for the whole class or individual learners based on school or classroom policies. There’s a lot there - and we really want to put you in the driver’s seat when it comes to how you wish to use a powerful tool like eduClipper with your kids.

New Bookmarking Tool : This bookmarking tool lets you clip literally any type of content and bring it into eduClipper as an eduClip. It is smooth and fun to use!

Collaborative Clipboards : Sharing resources is great - but creating collaborative clipboards with users on a topic is an even better way to offer real-time collaboration in classes for students or teachers. Great for educators connecting with colleagues to create the ultimate resource board as well as for students to join each other and curate the best resources for academic or interest-based learning. Citations : Being a “good digital citizen” starts with citing sources and we have worked with EasyBib to generate citations for all eduClipped web content. A quick and painless way to annotate your eduClips. Those are just a few quick things - but in short... everything is 100% more awesome and we are excited to tell you that this is just the tip of the iceberg. We have a lot more up our sleeve and you should be on the lookout for more cool news soon. Knowing Adam, I know this isn't the end of the great things he has planned. So head over to eduClipper and check out all these great new features! eduClipper

Common Core Academy Learning Opportunities From Discovery Education

A long time ago, Francis Bacon said that knowledge is power … 

This summer, teachers can empower their teaching with meaningful and actionable knowledge about the Common Core Standards at Discovery Education's Academies!

As a trusted educational partner, Discovery Education has worked with thousands of educational leaders to transform teaching and learning.  Educators are invited to join their peers for Common Core Academies that are:

• Research-based: Our professional development integrates proven curriculum, instruction, and

assessment practices from expert practitioners and thought leaders

• Personalized: Each Academy addresses educator-identified needs related to the transition to more rigorous standards

• Actionable: We provide classroom applications that support long-term action planning with strategies for immediate classroom integration

Educators can choose the academy that meets their needs in a variety of locations across the US: 

ELA Academy

This two-day, hands-on Academy will engage K-12 educators in an intense focus on research-based English Language Arts (ELA) instructional practices to successfully implement the rigors of text complexity, evidence-based writing, and vocabulary development in their ELA and content area classrooms. Specifically, this Academy will dive into what these practices look like and how to build them into the curriculum to maximize student engagement and achievement. Educators will then utilize this knowledge to develop CCSS lesson plans and assessment tasks for immediate use in their ELA or content area classroom.

Math Academy

The CCSS not only require shifts in what we teach, but most importantly, in how we teach. During this two-day Academy, K-12 educators will dive into each of the Standards for Mathematical Practice and analyze the types of instruction these standards warrant. Practical strategies as well as options for balanced assessment of the content standards will be explored and discussed. Educators will leave with tools, including lessons and assessment tasks for immediate use.

Leadership Academy

The CCSS require a number of shifts that need to be made in current curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices. As leaders, we need to think, plan, and act differently. What changes have you made as an instructional leader? In this two-day, hands-on Academy, central office, building, and teacher leaders will discuss implications for curriculum, instruction, and assessment as a result of the CCSS shifts and share practices that work. In particular, leaders will focus on the CCSS classroom and what it looks like. Participants will explore research-based strategies and tools to monitor teachers’ use of best practices to effectively teach the new standards so all students can meet them. Participants will also explore and develop strategies to use with students and parents to prepare them for more rigorous standards.

Specialized Instruction

The CCSS are for all students, including those who receive special education services. These rigorous expectations require that students have a deep level of understanding in ELA and Mathematics. This two-day, hands-on Academy will provide K-12 educators with research-based practices to connect the demands of the CCSS to instruction that supports students with special needs. Specifically, participants will closely examine the ELA and Mathematics CCSS to investigate strategies for students to access, respond to, engage in, and ultimately, meet their learning targets.

Visit the Discovery Education Common Core site to learn more!

So...You Wanna Use Blogs In The Classroom

Blogging is an important part of who I am as a professional. I can use this space to share resources with you, reflect on my own practice and try to figure out how to be a better educator. It is my public reflection on technology, leadership and learning.

Think about when you were in school. You write an essay. Who read it? Most likely the teacher and that is where it ended. You pour hours and hours into reflections on Shakespear, the economic and political effects of wars on society or how plants have evolved over time, yet the only person who read your thoughts are the teacher. Maybe you shared with a close friend or even the class. But generally the world was unaware of your thoughts and feelings.

Blogging changes that for kids. Now the audience is global and anyone can read, and in some cases respond and comment. Kids can post their writing, projects, thoughts and reflections. Teachers can provide prompts or starters and kids can pick up and run with it.

More and more teachers and classrooms are embracing blogging in the classroom. You're thinking about it, but are unsure where to even start or how to get started. Lets take a look at some classroom blogging resources to get started with.

There are lots of platforms to use. And the one you pick will depend on your district (blocked or not, policies, etc.) and how you want to manage them. Two very popular platforms are Edublogs and Kidblog. Both are very teacher friendly and ofter lots of features that make management easy. Edublogs has a great Getting Started section that will walk you through creation of your blogs and how to use them in the classroom.

Five Steps To Starting A Classroom Blog-Ms. Morris offers some great and personal advice on classroom blogging, learned from her own trial and error.

Two Critical Tips For Blogging Projects-From my good friend Bill, this post offers some more great advice on blogging in the classroom and how to make it successful.

Collection Of Blogging Resources-When I think of classroom blogging I think of Silvia Tolisano. She has been blogging, on, well blogging for a while. Her resources for classroom blogs are extensive and worth spending lots of time with.

Tips For Blogging With Students-Sue Waters (from Edublogs) also has written a lot about blogging with kids. This collection of tips are definitely not to be missed.

Student Blogging Guidelines-Some teachers will want some guidance in place when they undertake blogs with kids. Kim lays out some easy to follow guidelines that might make implementation easier.

So you can get started. You can manage your blogs. But what will you do with them. More over, what will kids do with these spaces. In addition to the ideas I laid out earlier, there are a couple more to consider.

The Student Blogging Challenge is a great way to get into blogging and get kids into their blogs. The challenge is hosted by Edublogs but you don't have to use Edublogs to take part. The challenges range from helping kids understand the mechanics of the blog to learning about digital footprints. Each challenge has prompts the kids can use as starters for posts too. And while the challenge goes on for a specific time, you can certain jump in any time and start.

And lastly, one of the great communities out there that supports student blogging is Comments4Kids. Remember before when we talked about reflection beyond the teacher? Comments4Kids aims to extend the reach of student blogs and provide feedback on posts and show kids the world is reading what they are writing. There is a Twitter hashtag too (#Comments4Kids) that you can use to post blog links or ask questions. Join the Comments4Kids blog and share your posts with the world!

Do you have a favorite resource for blogging in the classroom? Or some advice? Leave your comments below.

photo credit: Kristina B via photopin cc

Professional Development On Your Time, Your Way

As someone who helps develop and deliver professional development to teachers, I've heard lots of reasons why some of the PD schools offer to teachers might not be a good fit.

It's not relevant to me.

It's a waste of time.

Boring.

I am sure if you ask, most teachers can recall some PD they've suffered through with great detail.

PD should be something that we look forward to. It should be something that we are excited about. It should be something we are in control of.

Yep. In control of.

Did you know there are tons of ways to learn new concepts, techniques and ideas for both in the classroom and for you as an educator?

Simple K12 Webinar Series (http://simplek12.com/webinars) The girls over at Simple K12 have been offering free webinars on a wide variety of topics for a while now. Everything from going Google Apps, formative assessments, iPads, administrator specific stuff, you name it, they probably have an upcoming webinar on it. The webinars range from 30 mins to 1 hr and are completely free to watch live. (If you want the recordings you have to be a member of the Community which comes at a fee.) Check out the upcoming calendar for all they have to offer.

Classroom 2.0 Live! (http://live.classroom20.com/) Classroom 2.0, one of the largest member communities for educators anywhere on the Internet, has been doing these Saturday live webinars since 2009. Again, the topics vary week-to-week. But no matter the topic, you will find yourself having lots of fun and learning too. The sessions take place every Saturday at 12 noon Eastern. Miss a show? Not to worry! They archive every session and tag them so they are easy to search. This archive is a place I regularly go to find information on tools, trends in instructional practices and just to learn something new. You can also subscribe to the audio feed in iTunesU.

Bam Radio Network (http://www.bamradionetwork.com/) Bam Radio has grown into the place to visit for educational podcasts. With so many topics to choose from, my iPod is about to bust with all shows I've downloaded. You may already know 2 of the shows there, Edchat Radio and my show, Edtech Radio but those are just 2 of over 50 with hosts of every caliber. Oh, and all the shows are free and short too (about 10-20 mins) which makes them perfect for listening while riding to work or going for a stroll.

School Leadership Summit Recordings (http://admin20.org/page/summit-recordings) The School Leadership Summit was a 1-day, completely virtual conference aimed at school administrators but the topics reached much further than the school principal. With a keynote from Yong Zhao and over 100 sessions, you are sure to find something that you didn't know before. I am certainly going to spend time going through all the sessions over the next couple of weeks.

TED Talks (http://www.ted.com/) By now most have heard of TED Talks but in case you haven't, TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) are talks given by some of the world's best thinkers and doers. Whenever I watch one, no matter if its on the designs of 404 pages on websites to a talk given on monkeys and game theory, I always learn something. There are over 1400 to choose from, and while not all are education related there are several that are. And even the ones that are not, there are still takeaways that you can use in your teaching.

Open Courses (Various) In just the past year there has been an explosion in the number of higher ed institutions providing open courses to the world, meaning you can take a course on Physics from MIT or economics from USC. From MIT Open Courseware to edX (which is a combined effort of over 10 universities) there is so much out there to choose from, all for free. These can be great places to beef up your content knowledge or just learn something new.

Twitter Hashtags (http://bit.ly/hashtagsedu) A list like this wouldn't be complete without mentioning the great learning that happens on Twitter 24/7. And hashtags are a great way to organize and follow that learning. (Want to learn more about hashtags? Read this post I wrote a while back.) The spreadsheet linked above is one of the best I've seen. Organized by day, it has most all of the Educational Hashtag chats and their times, along with hashtags that might not have a chat but folks still share using them.

Now, take control of your professional development. Use these as a starting point and go learn!

Do you have other places, webinar series, podcasts or courses that have helped you take control of your PD? Leave some comments below.

photo credit: Βethan via photopin cc

Why Everyone Needs A Champion

I am a proud part of one of the most awesome projects anywhere around.

Imagine you are 9 years old. You and your classmates are watching and learning about the Olympics, talking about the importance of fitness, graphing the stats of athletes in the various competitions, and discussing goals you have for now and the future.

Then picture when an Olympic athlete that you have been watching appears in your classroom from Bejing or Alberta or South Africa via telepresence to check in on you and your class and see how your theme of the month (respect) is coming along.

The whole time you embark on the journey, your athlete is with you and your class every step of the way. You are making videos, writing letters, integrating technology and learning, all with the support of an Olympian...

So when I was approached by Gold Medalist, Steve Mesler to be a part of the Classroom Champions there was no way I could turn it down. When I read about what it was and what they do I was literally speechless. The opportunities he, his team and the other athletes are providing to kids all across the country is truly different from anything I had ever seen or been a part of.

The Mission:

To connect students in high-need schools with top performing athletes in order to motivate them to recognize their potential, set goals and dream big, while educating them in the practical use of communications technology.

Here is how it works:

A kind of 21st century pen-pal, each Athlete Ambassador adopts 1-4 classrooms per year. Focusing on their own personal journey, Ambassadors teach about the hard work of training, goal setting, competition and perseverance. Using blogs and live video chats, students are engaged with their Ambassador several times per month. Our program supports teachers by helping them incorporate these activities into their curricula, focusing on letter writing, reading, geography, math, technology, goal setting and leadership.

The Athlete Ambassadors are Olympians and Paralympians who are training at locations from around the world but give their time to helps and mentor kids in these classrooms. 

Hear more from Steve about the program:

To be a part of the program more than 50% of the students in the school must be on Free/Reduced Lunch.   The teachers that are accepted join a community of other educators that support not only the Classroom Champions project but each other as well. They share their stories, successes and challenges, all in an effort to help improve learning and technology integration in their classrooms. 

As part of the program teachers receive different types of  technologies  that they use to video and share with their Athlete along with recording their experiences. This project is as much about teaching kids about goal setting, motivation and content skills as it is helping teachers with understanding the importance of technology integration in their classrooms. 

Each month some classes make videos about that month's theme and post them to share. So here you can see what a class learned about Respect.

The teachers are also writing lesson plans and designing activities that incorporate technology, keeping content first, but also encompass that months theme (respect, fair play, inspiration, goal setting etc). The educators share those lessons with each other in the Classroom Champions community and exchange ideas, again to help improve learning for these kids. 

I am so proud to be a part of this program. And you can be a part of it as well. Applications are open now through April 14. Teachers in classrooms in the US and Canada are invited to apply. I hope you will apply and encourage other educators in your school or district to apply as well. And be sure to head over to Classroom Champions to read more about the program. 

Why Every Conference Should Be A Connected Conference-#ASCD13

I've spent the last several days attending the 2013 ASCD Annual Conference in Chicago. Educators from across the country and across the globe gathered to discuss pressing educational issues and talk about how we can all make teaching and learning better for kids, no matter where they are. I have always been impressed with the caliber of speakers here and the level of educational discussion.

But...

I feel like something is missing...

There has been a huge push from ASCD to get educators connected. They have a Twitter account, Facebook Page, Pinterest page and ASCD EDge is a popular community. And during the conference the Executive Director sent his first tweet and talked about the importance of educators to embrace social media to extend their learning.

But it still feels like something is missing.

The hashtag is very active during the conference and there are bloggers and twitterers invited to be members of the press (full disclosure, I was one of those invited).

But still, there is something missing.

After the call to the membership to become more connected myself, Nick Provenzano, Dr. Kristen Swanson and Hadley Furguson were sitting at a table thinking. There was this charge for educators to be connected. But no space, time, session, nothing, to talk to attendees about why be a connected educator or how to make that happen. So in the span of 10 minutes we created #EdcampRogue, an impromptu session where we would gather, talk about the Edcamp Model of PD and how educators can get connected. We received the blessing of ASCD, took over a space in the middle of the conference and proceeded to have 50 educators come and talk about connectedness. It was inspiring. For me, one of the best parts of the conference.

As I reflect about all the conferences I get to attend the more and more I worry about where we are heading as connected educators. People like Nick, Kristen, Hadley and countless others are plugged in and connected and all of us have stories to tell about how this has made us better educators and how it has had an impact on our teaching. And we've all shared these stories with countless folks.

But when are conferences and organizations going to do more than encourage? When are they going to provide spaces, speakers, sessions, webinars and more than encouragement to educators to get connected?

And it's not all about Twitter.

Shocker, I know.

Being connected isn't just about being on Twitter. It's more than that, as any connected educator will tell you. Will they say that Twitter has had a large impact on their learning, sure. But its it the only community they are involved in? Nope.

Being connected is looking beyond ourselves and our teaching and looking at what others are doing. Seeing what innovations are happening in classrooms. Helping kids (and educators) see the world is as close as a screen and there is so much learning that can take place there.

But being connected also comes with responsibility. I believe all of us that are connected have a duty to help those that are not, get connected. And think about the backing we could have if large conferences and organizations set up spaces and specific times to help educators learn about being connected. I think most of us who attend these events would sit as long as it took to work with other educators and talked about the benefits and how-to's.

It could be so easy for conferences to build in time for conversations between sessions. At least time to talk and reflect on the learning and provide space to teach about blogging, Twitter, online communities, etc. Show educators the power of reflection along with the power from being connected and how to make that happen.

So until we can get conferences and organizations to provide us that time and space, go out, create your own space and session, put the word out and help show others the power of being a connected educator.

photo credit: kirk lau via photopin cc

The ASCD 2012 Annual Report

Here in Chicago at the 2013 Annual Conference, ASCD posted their Annual Report for 2012. Entitled “Creating Solutions: The ASCD Revolution in Motion.” This report showcases the association’s achievements and serves as a resource discovery tool for educators who seek programs, products, and services that empower them to support the success of each learner.

The online report features association statistics, interviews with ASCD members, product previews, and success stories from across the organization. Report visitors from anywhere in the world can use this tool to watch a clip from ASCD’s inaugural Virtual Conference, learn more about new PD Online® courses on the Common Core State Standards, and hear directly from diverse ASCD members about the benefits of association membership.

I was honored to be asked to be a part of this report highlighting the benefits of being an ASCD Member and how it has benefited me as a professional. 

I think one of the best parts is the infographic (which is one of the more cleverly designed one's I've seen) highlighting everything from the diversity of the membership, to affiliates to the Annual Conference. (Click here learn more.)

So check out the infographic and the Annual Report to learn how ASCD is helping Learn, Teach and Lead.