Blogging isn't just for students and teachers

Blogging can assist students to practice the CCSS on a regular basis, teachers to connect with parents and/or colleagues, directors of curriculum and assessment to connect with principals and teachers............but now there are principals and superintendents blogging too.  Check out some of these............

Principal blogger  http://www.bullis.org/middle-school/blog/index.aspx 
http://josephlmccourtmiddleschool.blogspot.com/

http://principalj.blogspot.com/
http://weprincipal.blogspot.com/

Superintendent blogger  http://www.millis.k12.ma.us/administration/blog  http://fairfieldschools.org/blog/

Lovin' my Acer Chromebook ........

I can't say enough good things about my Acer Chromebook.  I have been able to do so many personal and professional tasks with ease with my lightweight tool..............working in the cloud has never made my life easier.

TED Ed - A Source for Educational Videos

Have you heard of TED Ed?  It is a free resource of educational animated videos for teaching and learning.  The site has many tools for teachers including how to assign the videos, include a quiz to determine if students learned the information, and find out which students have watched the video....plus a lot more!

Let your students return to personalized "Welcome Back Notes"

Enjoying some Pinterest time over the holiday vacation and found this great site.  Pinterest is free so feel free to get a membership.  Click here to see how a teachers welcomes her students back to school after holidays.

Top Five iPad Apps for Teaching Across All Content Areas

"I’m going to share five applications for the iPad that will take the place of student supply lists, provide savings and replace dread with anticipation."

Although this blog post dates back to February, these educational technology apps are the most popular when it comes to teaching across all grade levels and content areas. These apps will engage student learning and make your students want to come back for more. But as the author, Andrew Marcinek reminds you, "teachers are and always will be the content experts in the classroom regardless of the technology or tools integrated. Adding the iPad only enhances the learning opportunities for teachers and students alike."

See the full article "Top Five iPad Apps for Teaching Across All Content Areas" by Andrew Marcinek (@andycinek) on Edutopia.

Google Slides .................Updates

Changing......As always, Google is continuing to improve their products.  That is one of the things I really love about the Google Apps suite.  They are looking for ways to make their tools more user-friendly all the time.

Google Slides, which is their version of presentations, is adding more features all the time.  Some of the most recent changes are being able to more easily see the name of the person who is editing a slide, being able to add content to a custom theme by just right-clicking and saying "Add to Theme", and being able to reuse custom themes by clicking "from another presentation" on the themes pop up window.  For details on how to use these new features, check out the Google Blog article, "Real time text cursors and other enhancements in Slides".

Another newer feature is how you access your various Google Tools from the home page.  When you log into Google, you now get the Google search bar, your frequently used web sites AND access to your various tools all on the same page.  I find this very convenient.

One feature I would like them to add is that I can customize order of the tools.  I would like to be able to either select the tools that appear at the top OR have the ones I use the most automatically appear there based on my usage statistics.  For any Google product, you can submit suggestions through their Feedback link.  This is located by going to the gear button in any tool. It is either directly listed on the gear options OR you click on Help and then you see the link on the next popup window.  You type in what your suggestion is and then you are able to send them a screenshot showing them exactly what you mean.  This is so easy!  I just submitted my feedback, so we will see if they can engineer that feature.

Be on the lookout for more changes in the Google products.  Just as I enjoy seeing the seasons change, it is fun to see the Google products change and improve.

Next Generation Science Standards Update.............

NGSS Second Public Draft will be Released January 2013

The release of the second and final public draft of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is set for the first week in January.  In recognition of the hectic schedules in December and the approaching holidays, the NGSS staff wanted to ensure all educators, stakeholders. and the public had appropriate access to the draft.  We fully encourage all interested parties to review the draft as individuals or in groups and provide feedback to the Lead States and writers.
The NGSS will be completed in March of 2013.  Since the May draft release, the Lead States and the writers evaluated all feedback and worked on revising the standards.  As a result, over 90% of the standards have been revised.  In addition, the lead states charged the NGSS team with finalizing the definition for college and career readiness in science.  The NGSS then went through a second round of revision to ensure the standards supported this definition.
Thank you for your interest in the Next Generation Science Standards.

Educator Licensing Goes Online in January

In 2014, Wisconsin educators will begin to apply for or renew their licenses online through the DPI’s new Educator Licensing Online (ELO) system.

The DPI’s Teacher Education, Professional Development and Licensing (TEPDL) team has been working on the ELO project for the past two years in order to improve the licensing process for all educators.

The new system will make the application process more efficient and is anticipated to significantly decrease the processing time for educator applications.

The department has already stopped accepting paper applications.

On January 15, ELO will open for applicants seeking an initial educator license, emergency license, or substitute license. Educators looking to renew their licenses can apply in ELO beginning in March 2014. 

Wonderopolis.............what do you wonder about winter?

What do you wonder about winter?  Check out the website Wonderopolis….. It is home to many wonders.  Great for all ages because text can be read or listened to.  It is an excellent resource to spark creative and critical thinking as well as expose kids to cool informational text on interest topics we all wonder about. 

Check this site out!  What wonder sparked your interest?

PS:  There's an app for this!

Thanks Sara Schoepke for sharing this with me!!!!

4c: Communicating with Families with an Open House Video (NEW VIDEO

4c: Communicating with Families with an Open House Video (NEW VIDEO

I have updated my Open House video!

I like using an Open House Video for 3 reasons:
1) Parents can get a better idea about what happens in our classroom if they can see it.
2) I only have 8 minutes with each set of parents and I don't want to forget to tell them anything.
3) Parents that are unable to attend Open House can watch the video on my website from home.

You can read about and watch my old Open House Video here: Open House Video 2012.

What a clever use of technology!  I am subscribing to this blog that I just found.

Setting Instructional Outcomes with Augmented Reality in the Classroom

WOW - this is quite cool.  Check it out. Kids would love this teaching tool!

Jane E Pollock helps us reflect on our Interactive Notebooks

Here is a visual reminder of the format for the Interactive Notebook.

Planning for critical thinking and the 9 high-yield strategies is key for the teacher. Using an Interactive Notebook then insures that the students are engaged at a high level too.

Here is a visual you can use.