Saturday, October 05, 2013

Angela Ma iers & Larry Ferrazo #CE13

This isn't an article, it's just notes from a #CE13, online chat of connected educators.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FHdHUzRnms
Choosing to matter.  #youmatter
Telling me that they matter because their contribution is needed. Everyone's genius can and should contribute.  It's not about inspiration or ego or self-esteem, it's about helping them find their passion and asking them to contribute with their genius....
Angela points out that students don't want to be passive.
It's not inspiration. It's a reality. People are needed.....
More about Choose2Matter: Choose2Matter http://choose2matter.org/

http://live.classroom20.com - K12 Online education connector.

Many book clubs in connected educator...
http://www.k12onlineconference.org

Larry was a community organizer for 19 years prior to being a teacher. The nexus is the drive to find a way to get people to drive themselves. Helping people find motivation....Look for intrinsic motivation.

My themes.
I'm a total education radical. The system as it now exists drives me nuts. Like Geoffrey Canada, I'm angry.  Teachers teach classes saying that its aimed at passing the AP test.  Courses are built around tests. It's all tied up in this circular accreditation thing which has long stopped meaning anything to most of the students going through it.

I became a radical by listening to my Dad.  I became a radical by going to HBS.  I 

An old community organizing principle.  The people most affected by a problem are often best positioned to know how to solve it.

Book Clubs:
Teacherpreneurs by CTQ (Barnett B et al)
The Connected Educator, by Sheryl and Lani 
Invent To Learn, by Sylvia Martinez

What School Leader NeedTo Know About Digital Technologies by Scott McLeod

donnaroman - that was awesome.  I can use that:  What do you want us to notice about you....?

angelamaiers  - Yes Jean---Consider my blog as an open inviation to share your genius with the world community! I try to highlight a teacher, student,leader doing work that matters! http://www.angelamaiers.com/category/teachers-with-habitudes

Judy Willis - Ignite
@judywillis
John Medina's book-Brain Rules
radteach.com
Never do anything for others that they can do for themselves...

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Charter Schools in South Florida

Wow, these charter school things are multiplying.  Here's a list that I just ran across of Miami/Broward Charter School Chains:
Endeavor Schools - President Ricardo Campo, Brickell Ave, Miami 
CharterUSAFort Lauderdale, Florida 33308
Imagine Schools - local offices and schools with some major functions in South Fl. HQ in VA.
AcademicaMiami, Florida 33143


About Florida's Charter Schools from floridaschoolchoice.org/information/charter_schools/

Charter schools are public schools of choice. They are very popular—and among the fastest growing school choice options in Florida. Charter schools are largely free to innovate, and often provide more effective programs and choice to diverse groups of students.
Since 1996, the number of charter schools in Florida has grown to over 615 in 2013-14. Charter school student enrollment now tops 229,000 students.


In contrast, Kentucky has zero charter schools.

National Resources
http://www.calcharters.org/


Florida Charter School Growth from .
floridaschoolchoice.org


Friday, July 26, 2013

Kidsafe Gmail

While it seems quaint, having an email account remains the nexus of a person's online world. Their Facebook, Twitter, Wordpress, Pinterest, and Instagram identities are all based on an email.
Early on, each kid needs to have an email and it's important for parents to consider when and how to let them have one. Gmail is pretty popular and can be set up so it's a safe kids email system.  And I quote:

This is how I to set up a free email account so it's 100% safe. As a parent, you can preview all of your child's mail. Or, you can designate which users can send emails to her without you previewing them. Al the others go to you first. This way, you can throw away all the strange email about viagra etc

1. Sign up for a gmail account. Go to: www.gmail.com

2. Click on settings --> filters --> create new filter
Then, fill in these blanks:

to: your childs email address

Doesn't have: list peoples email addresses that you allow them to get email from UNMONITORED (here I have my dd's grandparents, myself, and a couple of kids that she is best friends with.) put OR between them so it looks like this : grandma@grandma.com OR mommy@mommy.com ORbstfriend@bestfriend.com OR bestfriend2@bestfriend.com

3. Go to "next step":

check all these:

Skip the Inbox (Archive it)
Forward it to: youremail@youremail.com
Delete it

This will send YOU all the email that is not from one of the people that you approve. All email from other senders will immediately be forwarded to you and deleted. You can then forward it or delete. You can also go in and add new friends when you think it's appropriate. Their spam folder will always remain empty. If you get something that you want them to see you can forward it to them from you instead if it showing from the original sender. You can always add more approved people later.

Two more points.

If your child would like to see pictures of who they are sending email to:


First, add people to your child's contact list and in the quick Contacts list you can run your mouse over the name and it gives an option to "change picture" I have pictures of her friends in there so she is sure she is emailing the right person.

Setting up an igoogle homepage for your child

This is great. I put her gmail account, her favorite sites (Time4Learning.com, SpellingCity.com, PBSkids.org, LearningGamesForKids.com) on it as well as a quote of the day, this day in history, a dictionary, and her gmail account.

Tuesday, May 07, 2013

Elementary Science Just Became Teachable

Science4Us is good news for everybody.  Science education in the United States remains a disappointment and a national priority. The lack of engagement and strength in science starts in the kindergarten, first, and second grades.
Science4Us's goal is make elementary science education a success within the reality of today’s educational environment.  Why teach our youngest learners about science? Isn’t physical science really advanced, covering things like E=mc2 and Newton’s laws of gravity?
Yes, physical science can be really advanced, but a lot of physical science has to do with how the world around us works. Kindergarten through Grade 2 students may not understand Einstein’s theories, but they know from experience how gravity works–even if they don’t know the name for it.


Science4Us is teacher-friendly and student-friendly. The curriculum delivery model in the classroom requires no additional professional training for teachers, while offering a variety of learning sequences and possible centers-based explorations as well as whole-class discussions. Science4Us provides students with recursive learning opportunities intended to highlight and correct naïve ideas and/or misconceptions. Students, whether pre-readers or literate, are guided through the multimedia experience at their own pace.


  • Articles/Resources
  • Science in the Classroom
    • Kindergarten Science Curriculum - Science is messy. We do not always know the answer when we start. We play. We explore. We poke around and stir things up. We try something not because we already know what will happen but because we want to know what will happen.
      As educators, we are accustomed to answer keys and red pens. Knowing the answers ahead of time, right or wrong. Contrary to this, our students are on a constant journey of discovery with something new and exciting around every corner. The Science4Us curriculum encourages students to explore freely and discover connections on their own. They may not ‘get’ everything they are poking around in, but with repeated exposure, they can become comfortable mucking about in science. They are ready to dive in and explore. We need to let them. Your students can learn science. Your students can do science. Your students can love science, and so can you!
    • 1st Grade Science Curriculum - Coming Soon!
    • 2nd Grade Science Curriculum - Coming Soon!
    • Review for 3rd-5th Grade Science - Coming Soon!
  • Science at Home
  • Science Fair Projects  This is a resource so that teachers and parents can help students have a successful science fair experience. Did you know that science fairs began in the US Post-WWII? Technological progress was in the air...it was the beginning of an era where progress accelerated into what became known in the 60s as the Space Age!
    •  

Monday, April 29, 2013

Summer time again? Need some ideas for summer study?

Summer vacation has a powerful nostalgic feel for so many people. Yet many of us have, at times, use the summer vacation from school for a chance to catch-up or get-ahead on some subjects at school. Here's some ideas.

Discuss using the Time4Learning Summer Study Summer Program with other parents in their forum.
Visit the Time4Learning summer skills building program to see how it can help for PreK-8th Grade. It's $19.95 per month.

VocabularySpellingCity has a great vocabulary and spelling summer program, not expensive! It includes some writing practice and plenty of games. It's $30 for the summer and includes a full year of membership on the site.

To improve your writing, a writing course might help. Try Time4Writing's writing courses online for summer practice.

And one more idea, how about some summer science study with Science4Us.

Friday, March 29, 2013

Symbaloo Social Bookmarking System

The symbaloo system might take the place of Igoogle and other mobile bookmark systems. Here are a few webmixes of theirs that I have enjoyed;

http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/homeschoolwebsites
http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/wordgames2

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Educational Learning Aps

Here is a review of an educational learning app by time2play. It's about SpellingCity, home of hangmouse! (hangman)