Win a Library Face Lift

Acer and Intel have teamed to help you transform your school library into a 21^st Century Learning Lab. Schools can be nominated for the grant until January 17, 2010.  An online form along with 2000 words or less may be submitted along with a photo album and video describing why the school should receive the grant.  K-12 schools in the United States are eligible; prizes include ten Acer Timeline Notebook Computers and two desktop computers. The value of the prize is $12,000.  Only one entry will be accepted per school.

What Makes a Good Teacher?

When researchers try to discover what makes a good teacher, the results never seem to come to surprising conclusions.  Defining just what assets master teachers should have has been elusive. Are effective teachers those who have a degree in a subject, engage in in-service training, got good grades in college, are certified, are experienced in teaching the subject, and/or have an excellent understanding of the content? You could probably name some other possibilities and know that there’s more that goes into effective teaching than can be measured by degrees and knowledge. The Ed Week article, “Majoring in Math Not Always a Classroom Plus” by Sean Cavanagh, explains that being a math major or doing professional development to become certified for math teaching are not necessarily good teaching guarantees, especially with elementary and middle school students. Good teachers need the knowledge, but they also need to know how to teach and motivate students to master and use the content. How do you tell whether a teacher is effective? Observe the teacher teach. Watch how students react.  Find out if they are learning.  The question, “What makes a good teacher?” seems too complex to be answered by number crunching studies.

Oldies But Goodies When It Comes to Software

Do you remember The Print Shop, World Book, HyperStudio, Mavis Beacon, and EdMark (Thinkin’ Things and Thinkin’ Science)? MacKiev has taken these software classics and updated them to make them even better. They also offer Kid Pix Deluxe 3 (works with Garage Band and iTunes), Cluefinders (Math Adventures, Search & Solve) , Dr. Suess (ABC, Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat), and 3D Weather Globe. There’s a French language version of Kid Pix. Most of the software is for Macintosh computer, but HyperStudio comes in a MacKiev Windows version. You’ll find the software comes with excellent support and is reasonably priced.

Resource Shelf for Your Classroom

ResourceShelf is updated daily to give you the latest in quality online resources on topics such as Intellectual Property, Online Education, Reference Tools, Databases, Fast Facts and eBooks. It’s a place where “dedicated librarians and researchers share the results of their directed (and occasionally quirky) web searches for resources and information.” Subscribe to ResourceShelf’s weekly newsletter or get your information through online access or RSS feed. You can learn from Fast Facts, for example, that Wisconsin is the leading state in cranberry production with 400 million pounds. Massachusetts, the state you probably thought was the cranberry queen, comes in second with 190 million pounds. If you are interested in reports from government agencies, think tanks and special groups, try ResourceShelf’s docuticker.

Two Million to Transform Tech in Education

Is it possible for American students to move to the top in STEM achievement before the end of the decade? The MacArthur Foundation hopes to help US students to that goal through two competitions: 21^st Century Learning Lab Designers and Game Changers.  Educators and others are encouraged to design interactive learning labs of the future that will motivate students in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. For the Game Changers competition, participants will create game ideas to be used on PlayStation’s, Little Big Planet. Previous winners of grants are currently working on projects such as video blogging in India and a mobile phone application that lets children share information about wildlife.  Additional information about the competitions is available at the Reimagining Learning Site.  The competition opens on December 14^th.

National Lab Day: Barnraising from Hands-On Learning

The National Lab Day site (beta) is a place to get ideas about hands-on projects and to get help with your projects from scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and researchers.  The idea is to build learning communities that will provide the support students and teachers, Grades 6-12, need in the STEM subjects. Although it’s called a Day, it’s actually an on-going effort to encourage hands-on lab projects and to make math and science come alive for students.  In May 2010 there will be a celebration of all the projects that have been started throughout the nation.

Homework As An Excuse

Most kids like to spend time online, and many parents and teachers worry about the time students spend at the keyboard. As teachers move to assigning homework that may require use of the Internet to access and complete assignments, kids have a perfect excuse for staying online.  All they have to do is to tell parents, “I’m doing my homework,” when perhaps they’ve finished what was required an hour or so ago.  This is just another way kids are finding to circumvent what we want them to do. The answer is parent and teacher communication so parents will be aware of assignments and teachers will be aware of how long students are taking to “do assignments” at home. We need to help parents learn how to monitor their children’s online activities and how to find out what’s actually assigned.

Tech Helps with Literacy

Is it a good idea to have preschoolers watching educational videos and participating in digital games? Yes, according to a study of the Ready to Learn program, which involved approximately 400 preschoolers. It was found that the students in the program were better prepared for Kindergarten than those who were not in Ready to Learn.  The students using the digital learning tools outscored those in the control group in areas such as: “naming letters, knowing the letter sounds, recognizing letters in the student’s own name”, and “knowledge of story and print concepts”. The study was conducted by the Center for Children & Technology - Education Development Center and SRI International on behalf of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The program is designed to help students age 2-8 with literacy skills by using media tools to enhance the curriculum.

Tech Tools for Autism

Sara Stroud’s article, “A New Way Forward” in the T.H.E. Journal (December 2009), discusses tech solutions such as virtual worlds, interactive whiteboards, blogs, and notebook computers to help autistic students learn to communicate more effectively.  Using the virtual community Second Life, high school students with autism went to a “block party” where they practiced meeting others online.  With digital technologies such as interactive white boards and notebook computers, students are able to practice how to read facial expressions, raise their hands, do peer monitoring, and increase attention. Some are even writing their own blogs and are boasting about being published authors.

Too Much Testing?

According to a study by Public Agenda, most teachers (90%) say that there’s too much testing going on in our schools.  Almost 60% of the 890 teachers taking part in the survey felt that testing in schools  was a “major drawback”. Both younger and older teachers agreed that test scores were not good predictors of student success and that linking teacher pay to student test results was not a good idea. To review the full results of the survey, go to the Public Agenda site.