How to Transform Our Classrooms

We educators have ideas about how education might be improved, but achieving our dreams for our schools, especially considering the cutbacks in budgets, seems impossible. Technology is surely changing our schools, but are we able to guide what is happening or are we simply struggling to keep up? THE Journal offers the White Paper, The Trifecta for Transforming Education, which offers an approach to change that “addresses the complexities of both technology and Curriculum. “ It also tackles myths such as: “Tablets are the ultimate PC today,” “Consumerization transforms everything easily,” and “Education and learning is primarily done at home.” You can download this free 8-page paper on the THE Journal site.

Replicators in Our Schools

It’s Star Wars in our classrooms with the arrival of replicators—3D printers. The “printers” work by reading designs developed by students using 3D software and then producing the designs through a layering process with an extruded plastic material. According to Worcester Prep (Maryland) science teacher, Colleen McGuire, “Some of my students are excited to ‘print out’ their own robotic designs without being constrained by the shape of Legos. Others are seeing the creative design potential to produce personalized products from jewelry to architecture. What we are doing gives our students a glimpse into the world that will be their lives.”

At the Southview Middle School (Minnesota), eighth graders are designing and “printing” better cup holders for automobiles. Teacher Peter Grimm says that the addition of the 3D printer has motivated more students to experience the engineering lab. Grimm explains that the printer adds excitement to learning because it brings “designs that existed only in students’ minds to life.”

Just think of what 3D printers can do now and what will be possible with this technology in the future.

Intel Science Search Semi-Finalists—Role Models for Your Science Enthusiasts

It is a pre-college competition, and some of the previous winners have gone on to win the Nobel Prize and the National Medal of Science. You and your students can check out the forty 2013 Finalists and take a look at the topics that they investigated.  Approximately 2000 students took part in the competition. Three hundred semi-finalists were selected before the forty Finalists were announced. The Finalists were in Washington, D.C. this month (March 2013) meeting with notable scientists and competing for over $630,000 in awards, with the top winner receiving $100,000. Sara Volz (Colorado), who explored algae-powered biofuel was selected as the 2013 winner, with students investigating predictions of protein binding in drug therapy and pulsed plasma devices coming in second and third.

Teacher Core for PBS Learning Media

Twenty-eight K-12 educators and library media specialists comprise the PBS LearningMedia Teacher Core. These are teachers who work with their local PBS stations to promote digital learning in their communities. Teacher Core members take part in a two-day Digital Education Summit at PBS, which helps them with  learning about tools and techniques designed to enhance learning.  Current Core members come from Washington, Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, Missouri, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Wyoming, Arizona, Illinois, Ohio, California, and Michigan. If you are interested in promoting online media in schools and homes, you might want to become a Teacher Core member.

Mastering Language Arts Anywhere

Benesse America has launched StraightAce English: Grammar and Vocabulary, a language arts program for middle school students. According to Shigeki Matsuo, president of Benesse America, “Just 15 minutes a day studying with StraightAce is enough to show positive improvements in test scores, and encourages struggling students to succeed.” StraightAce, aligned with Common-Core standards, features 1500 questions complete with explanations that can be integrated into classroom courses.  This mobile tutor is also available for math.

Lucidchart: Free Graphic Organizer—the Best

Blogger Brad Hanks calls Lucidchart “the best free learning tool you’ve ever heard of.” That’s quite an endorsement considering all the free tools available for students and teachers. Lucidchart, even though it is free, is, according to Hanks, supported by a for-profit company, which mean it won’t disappear after you’ve created your best work on the organizer. Hanks suggests you use it for leading discussions; for thinking, pairing, and sharing; for real time feedback on assigned tasks; for exploring concepts; for individual and group assignments; for brainstorming with mind maps; for teaching logic with Venn diagrams; for use with tablets; and for moving beyond the classroom with Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, personal sites, and more.

Too Much Questionable Testing?

At this time of year, I hear teachers complaining about the time it takes for testing. “Thank heavens we are finished with the testing. Now, I can get back to teaching.” “We were testing last week, so I had time to cut out puzzle pieces.”

In June, parents in New York called for more teaching, less testing. Some say that some test questions are of poor quality and some tests contain major errors. Bedford Central District in Westchester County, New York voted in a resolution against the overuse and misuse of standardized testing.  Are we becoming dependent upon assessing our students with products developed by outside agencies and are the demands of preparing for and taking tests subtracting too much time from teaching hours? Are we sending teachers the message that they do not know how to evaluate their students? Don’t we hear often that test results are not used or, at least, not used effectively? We learned that Common_Core tests will take up to ten hours; districts giving them will have twenty days to administer them.

Got a Great Tech Idea? Ignite It at ISTE 2013

The folks at ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) are looking for thirty dynamic speakers to spark creativity in an Ignite session. Those selected will have five minutes to show twenty slides which tell about a great ed tech idea, an exciting new tool, or a personal story about getting students involved in learning.  If you are heading to San Antonio for ISTE, why not submit an Ignite idea? The deadline is May 1.

EduClipper, A Digital Clipboard

eduClipper is a free social Web resource that lets you “clip” what you want from the Internet—articles, images, videos, links—whatever you find. All you have to do to sign up is to submit your email address. Then, you can clip and save to eduClipper. The content is searchable and you can share your work with other social networks.  Even without signing up, you can explore and share what others have posted on the site. Some of the already clipped resources include apps for iPads, posters to help combat bullying, a diagram of the seven layers of density, common core math lessons, information on stress in the workplace, texting grammar, monthly writing activities, and much more.

Writing to Please Robot Readers

Some time ago we wrote about Les Perelman’s (MIT) challenge to the authors of a study that claimed machines could grade writing as well as teachers.  Mark D. Shermis, one of the authors of the study, said “mostly Perelman’s criticisms don’t add up.” Perelman, on the other side of the argument, is worried that states will go along with machine grading based on the study. The machine graders may, according to Perelman, lead teachers to teach to please the robot readers, which look for “length and loquacious wording, even if they don’t quite make sense.”