Edtechvoice.com - Blog

 Visit Edtechvoice.com Blog to find a repository of tutorials, lessons, and links to using Web 2.0 tools in the classroom.

School Libraries: What's Now, What's Next, What's Yet to Come

Editors, Buffy Hamilton (The Unquiet Librarian) and Kristin Fontichiaro have gathered a compilation of over 100 essays from around the world about trends in school libraries written by librarians, teachers, publishers, and library vendors. 

In the book's foreward, Dr. R. David Lankes laments that the "future of school libraries and school librarians hangs in the balance," and that even with all of the research supporting the important effects of the school librarian, "communities are presented with a false choice: reduce the number of teachers in the classroom or lay off the librarian." This, he says, is a "false choice because school librarians are teachers – their classrooms beyond the four walls of the library and extending into every classroom; indeed into every student’s home with resources and assistance."
 Download this free eBook- School Libraries: What’s Now, What’s Next, What’s Yet to Come

Reveille

 Reveille is a short film about a couple of American Veterans and the dedication they share in paying tribute to the Flag of the United States each morning. One veteran served in the Navy and the other served in the Army. The rivalry and respect they have for each other is entertaining to watch.

Have the students watch the video and keep notes in a storyboard format about the beginning, middle and end. Then they can write a response about the emotions that this video depicts between the the soldier and the sailor. What is the message of the script writer?

TEDxNYED - Will Richardson

 Will Richardson talks about the education system for our kids in the 21st century. He poses the consideration that we need to teach our kids differently not better. He defines better as "...raising the needle on test scores". He interprets this as schools = test prep. Do take the time to have a listen. He gives us lots to think about as educators.

2012 Social Learning Summit

 The 2012 Social Learning Summit is a one-day virtual conference being held as a partnership of Classroom 2.0 and the Discovery Educator Network, on Saturday, April 21st, 2012, from 9:00am - 3:00pm US Eastern Time. The conference theme is the use of social media and Web 2.0 in teaching and learning. This is a free event, with a focus on inclusion and participation. All sessions will be publicly available to attend through the online Blackboard Collaborate platform, and every session will be recorded and made available immediately following the conference. More information is available at http://www.sociallearningsummit.com

C21 Canadians for 21st Century Learning and Innovation

 The goal of C21 Canada is to witness an accelerated pace of 21st competencies, instructional practices, and digital resources and services being integrated into Canada's learning systems.”. 
Read the C21:Shifting Minds35 page pdf document. 
Shifting Minds means: 1) Understanding we need to shift what we teach and how we teach to engage, empower and position learners for success; and 2) shifting Canadians' attitudes to the imperative for 21st Century.
 
 

This side of the mirror

Visit This Side of the Mirror Blog by Janet Lee Stinson. Janet Lee has held many teaching postions and shares her insights to literacy instruction, teaching practice and has recently posted suggestions for getting that full-time teaching contract.

Bloom's Digital Taxonomy and Web 2 Tools- Prezi

This prezi -Bloom's Digital Taxonomy and Web 2 Tools provides links to great tools at each level of the hierarchy of this revised Bloom's Taxonomy.

Information is Beautiful

David McCandless, a London-based author, writer and designer has created infographics on his site Information is Beautiful. His creations visualize information – facts, data, ideas, subjects, issues, statistics, questions – all with the minimum of words. Use the dropdown menu to select from a number of topics to explore. Have fun!

The Noun Project

Visit The Noun Project site to find black and white generic symbols of things commonly found and understood around the world. A good source of icons for educators looking for graphics for special education communication tools.

Library Media Specialist: The Next Chapter

Kenny Mikey has created a Vimeo video for the Palm Beach County and Broward County School Library Programs that explains the value of the Library Media Specialist in our elementary and secondary schools. It is a great PR video for all Media Library Specialists and Teacher-librarians to use to spead the word of their role to support student success in our schools.
 

ReadWork.org

Register for free with ReadWord.org to access literacy lessons with books and passages to use with the provided lessons on: (use left-hand menu)

  • Author's Purpose
  • Cause and Effect
  • Character
  • Classify and Categorize
  • Compare and Contrast
  • Drawing Conclusions
  • Explicit Information
  • Fact and Opinion
  • Figurative Language
  • Genre
  • Main Idea
  • Plot
  • Point of View
  • Predicting
  • Pronoun Reference
  • Sequence
  • Setting
  • Theme
  • Vocabulary in Context
  • Voice
  • Grad 5 & 6 Novel Units

This site is a treasure trove for Language Arts/Literacy teachers.

Make Beliefs Comix

Create your own comic strip online. Created by Bill Zimmerman. Art by Tom Bloom. No site registration required.
The site also includes:

Effective School Library Programs Positively Impact Student Achievement

The New Jersey Association of School Librarians (NJASL) released findings on Wednesday of a three-year study conducted by the Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries (CISSL) at Rutgers University, which explored the values of quality school libraries to education in New Jersey.

“The findings show that New Jersey school libraries and school librarians contribute in rich and diverse ways to the intellectual life of a school, and to the development of students who can function in a complex and increasingly digital information environment,” said Dr. Ross Todd, lead researcher in the study and CISSL director. Full study can be read at http://www.njasl.org/

 

Feburary 29- Today is Leap Year!

Every four years we are compelled to talk about leap year with our students. Visit readwritethink.org to access preselected sites to help you develop your lessons.

Feb. 1st is Digital Learning Day

Visit readwritethink.org to access preselected online links for your students to explore. There are ready-made lessons for you for grades K-12.

EcoKids.ca

Teachers, take this opportunity to sign-up with EcoKids.ca to receive Class Kits.
There is a limited number of Class Kits available for free, so make sure to order yours before we run out. The deadline for ordering is Friday, February 24, 2012. The kit contains an eco calendar, book marks and stickers.
You must register (for free) to receive the Kits. When you register you will find a goldmine of resources that include lesson plans (K-8), ESL and FST lesson plans, hands-on activities, literacy resources, graphic organizers, word games, puzzles and games, tips & facts, colouring pages.
There are student links on the site as well.

GettingBoystoRead.com

gettingboystoread.com is a great site to review to get some teaching ideas and booklist to engage boys in literacy. Post this on your library website for parents. There are a number of suggestions posted to provide them with quick and easy ideas to implement.

only2clicks.com

The tag line on this site says it all-- Jump into your favorite links in only2clicks.com Watch the video on this page brought to you courtesy by Demogirl.com
This site is a quick way to make go-to links for your students. Link pages to your school library or class website.

Springfield Township High School Virtual Library

Springfield Township High School Virtual Library has many online resources with a few clicks away. A great to-to site. It is also a great sample use of wikispaces as a school or library site.

Free Webinar- February 9th: Best Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers

Best Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers - Register for Free (4:00-5:00 pm EST)
In this webinar Richard Byrne will share some of his favorite free Web 2.0 tools for discovering new academic materials, hosting online discussions, and having students demonstrate what they've learned. This webinar will offer tools and tips for all K-12 teachers across all content areas.
Richard Byrne is a full-time high school social studies teacher in Maine and author of the award-winning blog, Free Technology for Teachers

TL Guides

Joyce Valenza PhD has created a goldmine of resources for teacher-librarians (library media specialists) using LibGuides. Check out her poster "What Do TLs Teach?"

PBS Learning Media- The Green Room-Shakespeare

Online student activity
Learning Objectives:
Learn about the areas on the proscenium stage and recognize the different body positions an actor uses on the stage. Understand the director of a play chooses the best actor for a role based on auditions and act as a director to cast Romeo and Juliet.

Book Award Winners for 2012

The ALA has announced the award winners for The Newbery, Caldecott and other awards.
http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/news/ala/american-library-association-announces-2012-youth-media-award-winners

 http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/news/ala/josh-schneider-wins-geisel-award-tales-very-picky-eaters
 http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/news/ala/jack-gantos-chris-raschka-win-newbery-caldecott-medals
 
 

WatchKnowLearn

Free educational videos, organized.
Imagine hundreds of thousands of great short videos, and other media, explaining every topic taught to school kids. Imagine them rated and sorted into a giant Directory, making them simple to find. WatchKnowLearn is a non-profit online community devoted to this goal. 31628 videos and counting.
WatchKnow explained

Virtual Global Taskforce

Videos for parents and classroom use. Watch 'Lee & Kim's Adventure' video for 5-7 and the 'Jigsaw' video for 8-10 year olds about cyber safety. There are videos appropriate for high school students as well.

Canadian Teacher Magazine

An online magazine for Canadian teachers. This site provides you with classroom resources and programs, product links, inforamtion about opportunities to teacher overseas. Look for the print copy in your school. One FREE copy is sent to all English speaking schools in Canada. Extra copies can be ordered.
Read the current issue or back issues online.
Read about how and when to submit an article for publication.
 

Sir John A Day, January 11, 2011

SirJADay.ca is a site that provides lesson plans, a Sir John A. timeline, video lectures that can support the history curriculum or a celebration of Sir John A Macdonald's Jan. 11 birthday. Grade 5+. Grade 8 Ontario teachers will like this site.

 

Make-A-Flake

Make your own virtual snowflake. You can add it to the gallery.

I Am Canada - Fiction series for 9-12 year olds

Here are some suggested titles for 9-12 year olds on your Christmas shopping list. I Am Canada
This adventure series will no doubt interest boys. This is a new series from the creators of the Dear Canada series

  • Prisoner at Dieppe written by Hugh Brewster
  • Blood and Iron written by Paul Yee
  • Shot at Dawn written by John Wilson
  • Deadly Voyage written by Hugh Brewster

You will also find on this site- Book Excerpts, Discussion Guides, Videos and Activities

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