10
Mar
Do Schools Kill Creativity?
Filed under: Reflections, Video

While working on another post I came across this video by Sir Ken Robinson. Something to think about...


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09
Mar
Using Ning to Communicate with Parents
Filed under: Tutorials

ning_logoA colleague asked me if I could suggest a way to communicate with parents about their elementary-age children during the school year. She wanted a record of all correspondence, feedback from parents/guardians, and a simple way to manage it. As I listened to her needs I considered a variety of options including Moodle, WordPress, and Outlook e-mail groups. But ultimately, I recommended a Ning site for this situation.

Ning is free social networking software. Create your account, create your site, and you are up and running. So far we have managed to customize the site to meet her requirements. She has created forums to post comments and solicit feedback. Parents can reply to the posts, and to other parents' posts but cannot delete and cannot create new conversation threads. There is also a direct link to the teacher for private, personal contact via e-mail if needed. Ning also provides an RSS feed if participants want to monitor site activity without visiting the site daily to see what is new.

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08
Mar
Do School Leaders Get It?
Filed under: Resources

Dr. Scott McLeod says, "As I’ve said many times:

If a teacher gets it, a classroom changes. If a principal gets it, the whole building begins to change. If a superintendent gets it, the whole district begins to change. [And, if state or federal policymakers get it, the statewide or nationwide climate begins to change.]

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05
Mar
NETS Pledge for Teachers
Filed under: Resources

Courtesy of LearningToday.com, here are two posters with a NETS Pledge for Teachers.

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04
Mar
Google Docs Quick Start Guide
Filed under: Google, Resources, Tutorials

Why Google Docs?

  • Import existing docs, or create new ones from scratch.
  • Edit documents, spreadsheets and presentations from anywhere.
  • Share docs online and collaborate instantly.
  • Store docs securely online.
  • Eliminate confusing email attachments and version-control issues.

To get you started, here is a Quick Start Guide to Google Docs!

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