ISTE Inspiration Awards: Nominate Yourself or a Colleague

ISTE (The International Society for Technology in Education) recognizes individuals who inspire others through innovative use of technology. If you know of a teacher or school leader who deserves this recognition, be sure to fill in one of the nomination forms.  Categories for recognition include: Outstanding Leader Award, Outstanding Teacher Award, Outstanding Young Educator Award, Sylvia Charp Award for District Innovation, Public Policy Advocate Award, President’s Volunteer Service Award, and several more. Winners will receive recognition at the ISTE Conference and Expo, free registration, membership to ISTE, and other prizes and cash awards. Deadline: February 28, 2014.

The Future for Teachers

Marc Prensky, best known for his advocacy of games in education, refers to the traditional curricular subjects—math, English, science, and social studies— as MESS.  In the future teachers, Prensky suggests, will be teaching “motivation, respect, empathy and passion” because, although technology can do a good job of teaching content, it doesn’t do so well with personal qualities.  Prensky calls educators today, the last pre-Internet generation and tells us that we need to prepare our students for the future by stressing “effective thinking, effective action, effective relationships, and effective accomplishment.” —And he believes we shouldn’t  “judge the new generation based upon our old ideas and beliefs.”

Tough Teachers

The Wall Street Journal article, “Why Tough Teachers Get Good Results,” is an excellent piece for us to read and discuss. Over the years, there has been much discussion about exactly what motivates students and what ignites creativity. Janice Lipman, the article’s author, suggests that maybe we aren’t where we should be in education because of teaching methods that follow “the kinder, gentler philosophy that has dominated American education over the past few decades. The conventional wisdom holds that teachers are supposed to tease knowledge out of students, rather than pound it into their heads.” Lipman backs up her call for stricter discipline and unyielding demands with research and with her eight-part manifesto: “1. A little pain is good for you. 2. Drill baby, drill. 3. Failure is an option. 4. Strict is better than nice. 5. Creativity can be learned. 6. Grit trumps talent. 7. Praise makes you weak. 8. ....while stress makes you strong.”

Lipman says that one of her toughest teachers taught students how to fail and how to get themselves up and going once more.

What do you think? Is it an either or—nice or tough?

Five Minutes to Inspire a Student

Mark Barnes, author of The 5-Minute Teacher (ASCD), tells us that we only have a few minutes to capture our students’ attention and motivate them to want to learn more about what we are teaching. His book, 48 pages long, seems to follow this guideline for us, as well. Sure, the book will take more than five minutes to read, but it is a quick read that’s filled with ideas that will work in your classroom. Even highly motivated students who have the interest and determination to listen to a longer lecture will profit from short instructional sessions. Teaching in small increments is what Barnes recommends—inspire our students and then set them off to learning on their own.  With integration of technologies into classroom, teachers are putting those precious five-minute sessions to work, and then giving their   students the tools for finding the information they need to move themselves forward. If you’d like to try this idea, look for 5-minute teacher resources and Web pages online.

Innovators Under Age 35

MIT Technology Review has released its annual list of innovators under age 35. It’s a “celebration of people who are driving the next generation of technological breakthroughs”.  The list of inventors, entrepreneurs, visionaries, humanitarians, and pioneers is sure to motivate your students. Problems addressed by the innovators include identity theft, 3-D moving images, prediction of events, cyber attacks, jobless economic recovery, personal robotics, recessive genes, inputting of text into computers, underdeveloped nations, disease, and energy.

Free Scholastic Reading Timer

It’s often difficult to turn students on to reading. When parents tell me they can’t get their children to read, I often suggest that they require their children to read as much as they play video games or watch television. A new app from Scholastic may help as well. It tracks children’s reading minutes, provides a weekly log, and offers book lists, tips, and articles about children and reading for parents.  The Timer motivates children to have fun reading every day.

The Scholastic Reading Timer app works with iPod Touch, iPad, iPhone, Android devices, and Windows phones.

What Does Tech Take from Us?

Why might technology be an obstacle in classrooms? Matthew Lynch, in the Education Week piece, “Tracing Technology’s Unintended K-12 Effects”, worries about the changes technology is having in our schools. Although, technology provides increased access to knowledge and communication, according to Lynch, it is “both a blessing and a curse.” Lynch calls us a “screen culture” in which children coming to school are used to the instant gratification that television, video games, smart phones, computers, and the Internet offer.  Teachers, especially those in the lower grades, struggle to catch and keep student attention. Because students are expecting what they want at the press of a button, they have difficulty when they are faced with problems.

Lynch wonders if students who learn to read with electronic books will have the same “reverence” for reading as many of us gained in the past. Is the feeling of opening a good book and settling down to read the same? Many of us would argue that it is, but Lynch isn’t so sure.  He also challenges us with other questions, like this one: “Which teaching methods deserve to be clung to and which ones are meant for the curb?”

Creating Comic Storyboards

ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) has announced the upcoming publication of Serious Comix: Engaging Students with Storyboards by Eydie Wilson. The book ($31.95, $19.95 members), which will be available this month (March 2013), features cross-curricular learning that strengthens language arts, critical thinking, and creative skills. With Wilson’s guidance, you can add the motivation of comic creation to any subject area. If you are interested in using comic creations in your lessons, you should also take a look at Plasq’s Comic Life 2, a super way to bring student’s comics to life through technology.  The Plasq software is available for Mac and Windows for less than  $30.

Teaching Inspiration from Edutopia

Edutopia has a wonderful “Be Inspired” pinboard on Pinterest. Filled with excellent quotes about children, teaching and learning; the page is proof that “Teachers Make a Difference”. You’ll enjoy all the pinnings.

Follow Edutopia Pins

Looking for ideas related to geography, ePals, life in China, using Skype in the classroom, or understanding cultures? Try Edutopia’s Pinterest pinboard Around The World. Or how about information on edible schoolyards, project-based learning, design, art integration, technology, and loads of other topics?  There are 82 pins so far on the Students Like Tech board, some of which include information about using games for learning, tech tools with feedback for students, ultra cool educational sites, teaching with tablets, back-to-school apps, and where we are in digital learning. Other Pinboards target Common Core, school supplies, mobile classrooms, careers, Halloween, reading lists,  . . .