The iPad & Education

The iPad could revolutionize our classrooms. Read this article by Neil Offen from the Durham Herald-Sun (January 28, 2010) and weigh in on how you think you might envision a device like this being used in your classroom.

Schools tackle texts, not the book kind

Double click the image above to read the Newsday article. The statistics are startling. One day you may come upon a problem like the ones described in this Newsday article. As a teacher how would you handle the situation if you caught a student sending an inapropriate text in school? What do you, as a future teacher, need to think about to prepare for a situation like this. What can you do now to prepare to be a role model for your future students?

Using the SMART Board wisely in classrooms

Click on this link to read this is a testimonal article from a New York City special education teacher explaining the virtues and uses of the SMART Board in her classroom. This will give you some insight into its everyday classroom uses. Have you found any new ideas that you might try in your classroom (of the future)? How would/do you use it in your classroom?

Why let our students blog?

Watch this video. Did that convince you to let your students blog? Why or why not?

5 Back to School Must-Haves for Innovative Educators by Dana Lawit

Read through this article to see which "must-haves" you and your students might use this year in your classroom. Post a comment describing how you would use them.

Amazing WhiteBoards

So you finally got that interactive whiteboard...here's how to make the most of it in your classroom. Click on the link to read the article:
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3751711
Will you be an effective whiteboard user in your classroom? Which of the ways mentioned in the Scholastic Instructor article "Amazing Whiteboards" by Jen Scott Curwood (May/June 2009) would you consider using? Why? What other ways could you think of to use a classroom whiteboard to engage and enrich the learning experience i nyour classroom for students?

The Networked Student

This is a true story about a networked learning project that took place in Wendy Drexler's high school Contemporary Issues class. Each student built a personal learning environment focused on a specific contemporary issue. This is also the culmination of her professional learning as part of the CCK08 Connectivism course offered by George Siemens and Stephen Downes in the fall of 2008. She is planning to continue to experiment with networked learning in the middle grades in the coming school year. While the video offers a social studies example, this format is applicable to all subject areas.
Do you think you might adapt any or all of the connected learning strategies and opportunities that Wendy Drexler used?