The personal learning network for educators

February 2010 Blog Posts (27)

College Dropouts: Realities, Myths, and Data on Why

Without a college education, it becomes increasingly harder to break out or stay out of poverty. This does not surprise most people I have talked to. What does surprise them is the reality of how few young people (in the US) who start college, actually graduate within 1.5 times the stated length of those programs.

For two year colleges, 80% of young people starting a two year program won’t graduate within three years, if at all. For four year…

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Added by Terry Eberhart on February 28, 2010 at 12:54pm — No Comments

Social Skills Teaching Is Back In My Classroom!

It has been a very interesting year for me. Our school underwent some enormous changes with the implementation of RtI (Response to Intervention). For those who are not familiar with RtI, children are assessed in their language arts skills and then are grouped according to their ability. These children then switch classrooms for instruction.

My first reaction to such a change was, "NO! Not in first grade! These kids need consistency! Heterogeneous grouping is gone! How are…

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Added by Irene Farmer on February 28, 2010 at 10:47am — 3 Comments

Second Life - Three articles worth reading

1)…

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Added by Paul Simbeck-Hampson on February 27, 2010 at 11:39am — No Comments

Two approaches to parental engagement

We have made good use of technology to engage parents in their children's learning. Below are two key developments that are proving successful.

Blog

The school has two blogs. One was set up several years ago with the support of the SSAT and the other last year by one of our ICT Leaders

(@mr_jim). The first blog enabled the whole school community to get

involved in the life of the school, it took communication to new levels

and conversation beyond the…

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Added by Michael Shepherd on February 26, 2010 at 7:36pm — No Comments

My Blog

I will not be posting blogs here. If you wish to visit my blog, and I hope you do, please go to http://flemingamberedm310.blogspot.com. Leave some feedback! I'd love to hear from you.

Added by Amber Fleming on February 25, 2010 at 5:09pm — No Comments

DreamBox Learning wants Third Grade Math Game Beta Testers

DreamBox Learning creates engaging kindergarten, 1st grade and 2nd grade math games, and they're looking for students to test the beta version of the new DreamBox 3rd grade math game coming out this spring!

This sounds like a fun…

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Added by Tracy on February 25, 2010 at 3:15pm — No Comments

Tufts University allowing YouTube video applications (prospective students)

For the first time in their application process, Tufts University is allowing applicants to submit short YouTube videos to go along with their applications.

Here is the article from the New York Times.

Added by Kurt Schollin on February 25, 2010 at 12:10pm — No Comments

How do we make positive change?

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Added by Irene Farmer on February 25, 2010 at 8:07am — No Comments

Thanks for the fun activities

"Thanks for the fun activities"

These were the words I heard from a first grade student of mine who comes to me for help in reading. Those words made my day, my week, my year thus far!

Our school district switched to an RTI model of instruction this year and I have the Tier II students who are assessed as the emergent readers needing the most help in reading/writing. After 13 years of teaching a multi-level classroom of first graders, this model…

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Added by Irene Farmer on February 24, 2010 at 8:36pm — No Comments

Discovery Education's Web 2.0 for 2010 Portal

Discovery has launched a brand new Web 2.0 portal full of teacher tools featuring: Internet Safety, Media Literacy, Web 2.0 Tools, Tech Tips, and more.

Added by Kurt Schollin on February 24, 2010 at 12:08pm — No Comments

Magic Studio (Interactive Resources)

Build your own interactive resources, perfect for IWBs with Magic Studio.

With this free tool, teachers can easily create their own interactive maps, drag and drop activities, timelines, presentations, quizzes, and more. There is also the option to search material that has already been created and stored on the site library. …

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Added by Kurt Schollin on February 24, 2010 at 11:43am — 1 Comment

Helping Kids Find Their Passion?

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Added by Irene Farmer on February 21, 2010 at 2:50pm — 3 Comments

How can your Students Benefit from Black History Month

The world that we live in is changing every day. With the passing of each day the United States is becoming more diverse. Black History

month presents educators with an opportunity to share the

accomplishments of the Black community. Did you know that there are

African Americans who are making history every day? Inviting people

from your city or local community to speak with your class can be a

great way to enlighten students about their accomplishments.… Continue

Added by Dr. Stephen Jones on February 19, 2010 at 11:21am — No Comments

Book recommendation: Languages and Children: Making the Match, New Languages for Young Learners, Grades K-8 (4th Edition) (Paperback)

Languages and Children: Making the Match, New Languages for Young Learners, Grades K-8 (4th Edition) (Paperback)

~ Helena Curtain (Author), Carol Ann Dahlberg (Author)…

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Added by Paulino Brener on February 19, 2010 at 1:58am — No Comments

Rethinking Grades and Effort

Should effort be a part of a student's grade?

Earlier this week I attempted to answer this question with a brief response. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that such a big question was deserving of a big response, so here's my long answer.

I think effort is important, REALLY important. The reason that I had such a hard time answering this question is that I really, REALLY think grades are overrated. A good grade might get a child free tokens at the pizza… Continue

Added by Karren Colbert on February 17, 2010 at 10:20am — 3 Comments

Of what use is homework?

I just participated in a conversation in Elluminate with Alfie Kohn. This was organised by Steven Anderson of The Educator's PLN.

This was an exciting talk with over 100 people in attendance, including

a classroom or 7th graders in their computer class.

During the talk,… Continue

Added by mrsdurff on February 15, 2010 at 2:56pm — 3 Comments

The Teacher and the Surgeon - A short tale about the pace of educational change

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Added by Michael Shepherd on February 13, 2010 at 6:37pm — No Comments

Dan Brown: The “Achilles Heel” of Education Reform

Dan Brown, (Blog, Twitter) teacher and author of “The Great Expectations School,” effectively took on the wrong-headed notion that the best way to…

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Added by Greg Thompson on February 12, 2010 at 7:01pm — No Comments

Celebrities Kids | Celebrity Obsession: Are our teens too star-struck?

Celebrity Kids - Teen Kids

Celebrities Kids | Celebrity Obsession: Are our teens too star-struck?

Following the lives of teen celebrities such as Taylor Lautner or Miley Cyrus are part of the normal past time for the average teenager today. While on the surface this may sound like the sort of thing we'd expect a young person to be doing with their time, this behavior can also lead to some major psychological issues that have far-reaching effects. In a recent study of…

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Added by Traci S Campbell on February 12, 2010 at 5:29pm — No Comments

The Return of The One Comment Project

In July of 2009, I launched The One Comment A Day Project. My mission was to promote new bloggers and bring comments to existing blogs. Initially, The One Comment A Day Project burst on to the scene with the celerity of a gazelle, however, it soon became another faded project. The members of the ning remained, however, the collaborative dialogue that…

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Added by Andrew Marcinek on February 12, 2010 at 9:57am — No Comments