EdTechspiration

Helping teachers prepare students for tomorrow, today.

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Tuesday’s Tech Tips 11/27/12

Here are some technology resources that you may find interesting. There is something here for Elementary and Secondary.

Flipped Classroom
16 Flipped Classrooms from Around the World
Teaching w/ the iPad
10 Popular Tools being Used on iPads in the Classroom
(These are really pretty good.)
TCEA’s new iBook,  The iPad in Elementary: ELA
Costs $2.99 but it looks interesting.
INFOGRAPHICS
INFOGRAPHICS as Creative Assessment by Kathy Schrock
Tools and Resources for Creating INFOGRAPHICS
What the heck is an INFOGRAPHIC?
Sample INFOGRAPHIC – Beware of the Internet Illnesses!!!

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The Uncertainty Principle: A Tale of Risk

In quantum mechanics, Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle asserts that you can Uncertainty Principleeither know exactly where something is located, or you can know how much momentum something has, but you can never be certain of both. This mathematical principle for wave-like systems affirms that no matter what we do, there will always be an element of uncertainty.

Everything we do involves an element of risk because we can never really know for certain the value of every variable before we make a decision. The larger the decision, the larger the risk. Every leader knows this and every leader has felt that moment of fear set in once the newness of an opportunity wears off.

In The Surfer’s Guide to Taking Risks, Srinivas Rao notes that surfing is like life in that your tolerance for taking risks often determines your success. “The more waves you go for, the more you will catch.”

Life is Like an Ocean

 In helping my school district integrate more technology and adopt practices from the Framework for 21st Century Learning, I found a certain degree of risk was required at every level. As a teacher, I have to risk changing roles and becoming a facilitator in the classroom. I have to allow myself the freedom to try new things without becoming paralyzed under the burden of high stakes testing. As the technology director, I have to make decisions about purchasing, distribution, management, support, and professional development for my district without ever truly having all the answers. As a leader, I have to be open enough with my vision to allow others to participate in it, which always changes the outcome… but is the only way we can truly share the dream together.

“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.”

— Robert F. Kennedy
Risk is easier to take when you make the time to base your vision on sound principles. Before moving forward with our most recent technology initiative, we spent a year establishing a foundation. First we looked at what change we wanted to see happen in the classroom. All other decisions flowed from there. Once you realize where you are, and then decide where you want to go, the rest is just details.
Try just one more time.
Taking risks and having the courage to keep riding that wave changes you. I am not the same person today that I was when this all started. There have been ups and downs, peaks and troughs, moments of fear and indecision as well of moments of bliss. The true rush of leadership lies in the journey and not the destination. Its the moments when others’ successes become my own and we achieve something greater than we would have alone are the most memorable. As Jim Rohn says, “You want to set a goal that is big enough that in the process of achieving it you become someone worth becoming.” This is the feeling I now long for each time I paddle out to catch that next wave. Hopefully you will catch one too and we can both ride together.

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Tech Tuesday’s Resources for SISD Teachers

Fellow SISD Teachers,

Here are a couple of resources you may be interested in using.

similarsites.com
 SimilarSites.com
Feeling constrained by our bottle rocket web filter? Try SimilarSites.com – http://t.co/rDka30Ez You may find unblocked alternatives. Please remember that you can also submit sites to the IT Department (a.k.a. James & Chris) to review.
The 100 Best Web 2.0 Tools (Edudemic)
Featured in Edudemic, think of this massive list as a Where’s Waldo but for awesome resources. Each resource is written in big bold letters, followed by the description offered by the person who submitted the resource.
A Look at Google’s Massive Library of Free Lesson Plans (Edudemic)
Many of these fit well with CSCOPE’s scope and sequence and give you resources in addition to that CSCOPE’s many exemplar lessons.
http://edudemic.com/2012/11/a-look-at-googles-massive-library-of-free-lesson-plans/

2 of the resources (above) are from Edudemic, which is an amazing on-line magazine. http://edudemic.com

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Use Sock Puppets for iOS as a Fun and Easy Exit Ticket Strategy

There are many fun and interesting iOS apps that students can use to creatively show their teacher if they understand some fundamental concepts from that day’s lesson. Sock Puppets is one such app. Though it is designed with younger students in mind, students of all ages can have fun with this app.

Get Sock Puppets

Exit Tickets

An exit ticket is an ideal way to end class as it provides the teacher a means to challenge the student with a question requiring some application of what was learned in that day’s lesson. The prompt or question should require only a brief time to respond to, certainly no more than five minutes, but perhaps only 1-2 minutes. An exit ticket is not intended to be a simple, quick summary and not a major task. The responses should not be part of formal assessment, but it can provide valuable feedback to the teacher.

The video below quickly demonstrates how students studying functional relationships in Algebra can use the Sock Puppets app as an exit ticket strategy to show that they know the difference between a function and a relation.

 

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