TEST #twitterchat: Why Teachers Like Learning Models by TeachThought Staff Recently, #cohort21 hosted a twitter chat on a topic near and dear to our hearts: learning models and frameworks. We have our own ideas about what they’re so important, but this isn’t about us, is it? This being 2014, the #twitterchat conversation, of course, quickly turned to SAMR and TPACK, and educators shared their favorite versions, how they used them, and what future needs in the space might be. Archived twitter chats make for wonderful quick reads, and can include some gems (the Starbucks analogy, for example), so, here you go. #twitterchat: Why Teachers Like Learning Models, all in one place. #twitterchat: Why Teachers Like Learning Models [View the story "Cohort 21 - Frameworks and Action Planning" on Storify] #twitterchat: Why Teachers Like Learning Models TESTThe post #twitterchat: Why Teachers Like Learning Models appeared first on TeachThought.

TEST When Student Writers Learn That They Must Make Their Audience Care by Terry Heick That a reader doesn’t have any interest in what they’re reading would be a pretty harsh assumption to make. But it’s an idea David Foster Wallace felt was important to get across to writers right off the bat, as he did in the following course description for his now-famous English 183D. "English 183D is a workshop course in creative nonfiction, which term denotes a broad category of prose works such as personal essays and memoirs, profiles, nature and travel writing, narrative essays, observational or descriptive essays, general-interest technical writing, argumentative or idea-based essays, general-interest criticism, literary journalism, and so on. The term’s constituent words suggest a conceptual axis on which these sorts of prose works lie. As nonfiction, the works are connected to actual states of affairs in the world, are "true" to some reliable extent. If, for example, a certain event is alleged to have occurred, it must really have occurred; if a proposition is asserted, the reader expects some proof of (or argument for) its accuracy. At the same time, the adjective creative signifies that some goal(s) other than sheer truthfulness motivates the writer and informs her work. This creative goal, broadly stated, may be to interest readers, or to instruct them, or to entertain them, to move or persuade, to edify, to redeem, to amuse, to get readers to look more closely at or think more deeply about something that’s worth their attention. . . or some combination(s) of these. Creative also suggests that this kind of nonfiction tends to bear traces of its own artificing; the essay’s author usually wants us to see and understand her as the text’s maker. This does not, however, mean that an essayist’s main goal is simply to "share" or "express herself" or whatever feel-good term you might have got taught in high school. In the grown-up world, creative nonfiction is not expressive writing but rather communicative writing. And an axiom of communicative writing is that the reader does not automatically care about you (the writer), nor does she find you fascinating as a person, nor does she feel a deep natural interest in the same things that interest you. The reader, in fact, will feel about you, your subject, and your essay only what your written words themselves induce her to feel. An advantage of the workshop format is that it will allow you to hear what twelve reasonably intelligent adults have been induced to think and feel about each essay you write for the course." The Selfishness Of Writing In the unparagraphed and sweeping take on nonfiction as a genre (specifically creative nonfiction, a nascent but non-digital term), Wallace took on the idea of the writer-reader relationship, and immediately clarified the goal of creative nonfiction: to communicate. Sounds standard, but this is an important distinction. The goal of writing (at least in this narrow genre) isn’t self-expression, where you grab a microphone and talk to a crowded stadium. Rather, creative nonfiction is about communication. Relaying this idea to this audience for this purpose, and without their skill and affection, no one may ever care. What is the definition of creative nonfiction? DFW describes is as "a broad category of prose works such as personal essays and memoirs, profiles, nature and travel writing, narrative essays, observational or descriptive essays, general-interest technical writing, argumentative or idea-based essays, general-interest criticism, literary journalism, and so on." In short, nonfiction, usually prose, that is somehow playful with the form-the opposite of academic writing. There is overlap between creative nonfiction and the way students treat social media. Social media is a bit like a high school locker but turned inside out. This is what I love, this is what I want others to see about me, this is what I’m feeling. I. Me. Mine. My. Myself.  Consider the smashing contrast, then, between this digital narcissism, and what Wallace saw as the function of creative nonfiction-to "instruct… or to entertain…to move or persuade, to edify, to redeem, to amuse." One is for me, the other is for you. The form is just a strategy. Unfortunately, when students are conditioned-whether through premature praise, social media, or simply youthful innocence-to believe that someone beyond their mom or teacher might be genuinely interested in their ideas, belief system, and any communication of the same-it erodes their empathy with the reader, and limits the power of their writing. They’re tricked right from the beginning into thinking someone is waiting at the end of the line. They learn to write for teachers, grades, or, worse, "self-expression." And they absolutely need-and deserve to-express themselves. But writing everything as if everyone cares is an impossible position to communicate from, and sets the student up for all kinds of problems, from tone to research, diction to supporting details, theme and thesis to syntax and idea organization. The whole writing process is different when you’re writing to someone that you assume cares. It’s the principal that guides Apple’s marketing-that is, an historically minimal and minimalist approach-because people want their products, it changes how they market them. Conclusion Genius may come from selfish expression that has little regard for "demographics" and is simply done for the sake of the "thing" itself, but the other side of that is that writing is really, really hard. Great writing is great work. The sooner we can get students to buy into the idea that readers may not care about what they write, the sooner they can be humbled into a genius mindset that connects themselves, their topic, their audience, and the tools of a writer’s craft as a matter of careful design, because that’s what writing is. Image attribution flickr user woodleywonderworks; Creative Nonfiction: If Students Wrote As If No One Cared TESTThe post When Student Writers Learn That They Must Make Their Audience Care appeared first on TeachThought.

TEST A Quick Guide To Teaching Hour Of Code 2014 by TeachThought Staff What is Hour of Code? Hour of Code is a week-long promotion of the teaching and learning of computer coding. "The Hour of Code is designed to demystify code and show that computer science is not rocket-science, anybody can learn the basics," said Hadi Partovi, founder and CEO of Code.org. "In one week last year, 15 million students tried an Hour of Code. Now we’re aiming for 100 million worldwide to prove that the demand for relevant 21st century computer science education crosses all borders and knows no boundaries." When does it start, and how long does it last? It runs December 8-14, 2014. How do I participate? Tweet about it. Blog about it. Help other teachers with it. Or better yet, teach students code in some way, shape, or form yourself. What resources do I need? This post will help, but also apps and platforms-Scratch, Codea, Khanacademic, Codeacademy, HopScotch, etc. When should I have started planning for this? Not today-probably a couple of weeks ago, when we should’ve shared this post. So we’re both to blame. Let’s move on. 9 Simple Ideas For Teaching Hour Of Code 5 Ideas from hourofcode.com: "1. Explain The Big Idea Of Hour Of Code To Your Students Explain it in a simple way that includes examples of applications that both boys and girls will care about (saving lives, helping people, connecting people, etc.). Try: "Think about things in your everyday life that use computer science: a cell phone, a microwave, a computer, a traffic light… all of these things needed a computer scientist to help build them." Or, "Computer science is the art of blending human ideas and digital tools to increase our power. Computer scientists work in so many different areas: writing apps for phones, curing diseases, creating animated movies, working on social media, building robots that explore other planets and so much more." Video games are another excellent way to introduce students to the idea of code, as they are created with code. Or have them right-click any webpage using Google Chrome to see the code that makes simply surfing the web possible. 2. Test The Hardware The best Hour of Code experience will be with Internet-connected computers. But you don’t need a computer for every child, and can even do the Hour of Code without a computer at all. Test tutorials on student computers or devices. Make sure they work properly (with sound and video). Preview the congrats page to see what students will see when they finish. Provide headphones for your class, or ask students to bring their own, if the tutorial you choose works best with sound. 3. Direct students to the activity Write the tutorial link on a whiteboard, or share through social media. Find the link listed on the information for your selected tutorial under the number of participants. hourofcode.com/co Tell students to visit the URL and start the tutorial. 4. Problem-Solve Together When your students come across difficulties Tell students, "Ask 3 then me." Ask 3 classmates, and if they don’t have the answer, then ask the teacher. Encourage students and offer positive reinforcement: "You’re doing great, so keep trying." It’s okay to respond: "I don’t know. Let’s figure this out together." If you can’t figure out a problem, use it as a good learning lesson for the class: "Technology doesn’t always work out the way we want. Together, we’re a community of learners." And: "Learning to program is like learning a new language; you won’t be fluent right away." 5. Plan For Early Finishers What to do if a student finishes early? Students can see all tutorials and try another Hour of Code activity at code.org/learn. Or, ask students who finish early to help classmates who are having trouble with the activity." 4 Additional Ideas From Us 6. See the Khan Academy’s Hour of Code resources! 7. Ask others in your building See if anyone else in your building has experience with Hour of Code, or coding in general, and ping them for ideas. 8. Don’t be afraid to keep it simple You don’t have to let students design their own social media platforms for Hour of Code to be considered a success. Set some basic goals for Hour of Code, and go with it! 9. Reflect, Reflect, Reflect After the lesson, ask the students how it went. Have them summarize and visualize what they learned, and then identify next steps for continued learning! Teaching The Hour of Code FAQ Ed note: Minus a very few minor additions we’ve made, this information was taken directly from the  website, and can be read in greater detail there. "When is the Hour of Code? Anybody can host an Hour of Code anytime, but the grassroots campaign goal is for tens of millions of students to try an Hour of Code during December 8-14, 2014, in celebration of Computer Science Education Week. Is it one specific hour? No. You can do the Hour of Code anytime during this week. (And if you can’t do it during that week, do it the week before or after.) Why computer science? Every student should have the opportunity to learn computer science. It helps nurture problem-solving skills, logic and creativity. By starting early, students will have a foundation for success in any 21st-century career path. See more stats on Code.org. How do I participate in the Hour of Code? Sign up to host an Hour of Code event here and start planning. You can organize an Hour of Code event at your school or in your community — like in an extracurricular club, non-profit or at work. Or, just try it yourself when Dec. 8 arrives. I don’t know anything about coding. Can I still host an event? Of course. Hour of Code activities are self-guided. All you have to do is try our current tutorials, pick the tutorial you want, and pick an hour — we take care of the rest. We also have options for every age and experience-level, from kindergarten and up. Start planning your event by reading our how to guide. Do I need computers for every participant? No. We have Hour of Code tutorials that work on PCs, smartphones, tablets, and some that require no computer at all! You can join wherever you are, with whatever you have.Here are a few options: Work in pairs. Research shows students learn best with pair programming, sharing a computer and working together. Encourage your students to double up. Use a projected screen. If you have a projector and screen for a Web-connected computer, your entire group can do an Hour of Code together. Watch video portions together and take turns solving puzzles or answering questions. Go unplugged. We offer tutorials that require no computer at all. How can I make an Hour of Code tutorial? If you’re interested in becoming a tutorial partner, see our guidelines and instructions. We’d like to host a variety of engaging options, but the primary goal is to optimize the experience for students and teachers who are new to computer science. Do students need to log on using an account? No. Absolutely no signup or login is required for students to try the Hour of Code. Most of the follow-on courses require account creation to save student progress. Where is the tutorial with Anna and Elsa? It is now published on Code.org/learn. We hope you enjoy it! Which activity should I do with high school students? Across all ages, we recommend trying one of the beginner tutorials on Code.org/learn to start, such as the tutorial with Angry Birds or with Anna and Elsa. A high school student should be able to finish one of these in 30 minutes and can then try a more advanced tutorial in JavaScript, such as KhanAcademy or CodeHS. I am doing Scratch for Hour of Code, but what if my students have iPads rather than laptops? Scratch doesn’t run on tablets. If your students are young, they can use the ScratchJR iPad app (for early-readers). If you look at the tutorials on Code.org/learn, you can find other tutorials that work on iPads - from Code.org, Tynker, Lightbot, or CodeSpark." A Quick Guide To Teaching Hour Of Code 2014 TESTThe post A Quick Guide To Teaching Hour Of Code 2014 appeared first on TeachThought.

TEST Every Classroom Is A Team And Every Teacher Is A Coach by Molly Bruzewski, Ed.S. In this current atmosphere of accountability, educators are often challenged with balancing the time it takes to participate in enriched activities that involve student engagement and academic excellence. There is often a war of words waged between teachers when it comes to expectations and what good classroom engagement should look like. We often see two opposing teams in our staff meetings. Team 1 has educators that are passionate about "getting to know their students." They are welcoming, smile during the first days of school, and have relatively few classroom rules and procedures. There is a laissez faire atmosphere about "doing business in class." By the very nature of the school environment, an assumption is made that students will get the education bug by osmosis, and that student learning is something outside of them. Team 2 has an equally passionate group of educators. This group loves their areas of expertise and launches into the school year with plans strapped down and resources ready to be disseminated. Their entire year accelerates as though they are on the mission to Mars. An assumption made by this group is that students are "there to learn, period!" They assume full responsibility for every student’s achievement in the classroom, but they don’t have time for the warm and fuzzy stuff. Team 1 and Team 2 are at a standoff! These teams have similar outcomes at the end of the school year. They are playing catch up because they didn’t "get through everything" for a variety of reasons. They are burned out.  They have exhausted a case of lozenges trying to get students’ attention. They can’t wait to see students go home for the summer. And what about evaluations? Team 1 scored high on student engagement and developing relationships with students and parents; Team 2 scored high on academics and classroom management. But, what did they learn from one another? The pressure is intense for both teams to produce, and they sit across from one another in faculty meetings. So how do we capitalize on the strengths that they bring to our staff? How do we develop a culture in our classrooms and buildings that promotes a climate of respect for all on one hand, while at the same time raises student achievement on the other? It begins with leadership. If we think about it, football programs have an offensive team, a defensive team, and special teams. Though they are different teams, the objective for each team is clear - they are on the same team and are in the game to win. They have different roles, patterns and plays. The players are selected for specific positions on offense and defense because of their size and talent. What if the football coach treated the offense and defense as two separate teams that had no relationship to the other? What if the offense or the defense played like they didn’t need the other? How successful would that team be? The principal and other building leaders are similarly situated to capitalize on the best from the philosophical teams in their building. It’s time bring them to the table for a strategy meeting. Step 1: Modeling Assume the Head Coach role. With the talent you have assembled, take advantage of their unique abilities and mold them into a team. Begin developing a playbook and define what you want to see in classrooms. Simultaneously, model the types of behaviors you would like to see your staff engaging in with their students. For example, greet staff and students with a handshake and smile when they walk in the building for the day or during regular class passing time. Learn their first and last names, their likes and dislikes, and what motivates them to be in the building on a daily basis. As the coach, provide opportunities inside and outside of school time for staff to socialize and become a community. For example, if your objective is for teachers to be engaging, inviting and to build a sense of community in their classrooms, then pull out your Playbook and employ the talents that  Team 1 brings to this conversation. Ask them to "develop the plays" to launch at the next staff meeting. These gatherings are ideal opportunities to begin building your community idea. Get teachers on their feet while Team 1 facilitates the icebreaker and community-building activities and conversations. As you embark on this mission, you understand that without balance your efforts could be undermined. Therefore, community-building strategies need to be coupled with conversations around quality routines and procedures. To begin, model a few routines that you consider appropriate for the flow of business as the school day gets started. For example, if things get hectic first thing around teacher mailboxes, and your preference is for teachers to be in their classrooms or in the hallways greeting students as they arrive, come up with strategies that will alleviate the commotion and facilitate a positive workflow. Demonstrate there are a variety of ways to get business done that promotes order and honors everyone. Then pull out your Playbook and put Team 2 to work. The strengths of Team 2 are procedures and productivity. Have them demonstrate some of their main classroom procedures and facilitate conversations around strategies that all could live with. This conversation at staff meetings should be given equal weight. There needs to be a balance when we discuss building community and developing routines and procedures. Developing positive relationships plays a critical role in the socialization of the whole child - especially for our students. We have a unique opportunity to model what good relationships look like, and appropriate ways to treat one another as friends and colleagues. At the same time, routines and procedures are integral for workflow. They set expectations and parameters so students know how to accomplish things on their own. As you build your team at the beginning of the school year, be diligent to employ these strategies throughout. Be consistent and set the expectation that you want students to get to know one another in a similar fashion - because every classroom is a team and every teacher a coach. Teams work together to succeed. Everything we do is based on this first practice, modeling. In part 2 tomorrow, we’ll take a look at the idea of clarifying expectations, and how that impacts the "team" approach of student achievement. Molly Bruzewski, Ed.S. is an education consultant in Michigan. Her expertise is in curriculum mapping and assessment, classroom instructional strategies, online teaching and learning, and she serves as a Great Expectations (GE) methodology instructor. Bruzewski is passionate about teaching excellence and believes GE provides a comprehensive approach to student success in all classrooms.   References Modeling - Playbook Practice 1; Speaking in Complete Sentences - Playbook Practice 2; Obama’s Use of Complete Sentences Stirs Controversy, November, 21, 2008, The BLOG, Huffington Post; The B.E.S.T. Literacy Connection, The Power of Speaking in Complete Sentences, Sarah Whitt, Feb. 13, 2012; Whole Group Instruction - Playbook Practice 3; Education Week BLOG, Finding Common Ground, 5 Reasons You Should Flip Your Leadership, Peter DeWitt, July 6, 2014; image attribution flickr user flickeringbrad; Student Achievement: Every Classroom Is A Team And Every Teacher Is A Coach TESTThe post Every Classroom Is A Team And Every Teacher Is A Coach appeared first on TeachThought.

TEST 10 Sample Student Learning Objectives For The Teacher That’s Not So Sure About This Hour Of Code Thing by TeachThought Staff You keep hearing about this hour of code thing, but you’re not a "hacker," and aren’t real comfortable with teaching what you don’t know. Especially when it relates to technology and its fundamental programming. You know this is some kind of "coding week." You’ve seen our tips for integrating coding into the classroom. Now what to do? Turn students loose with Scratch or Codea or Kahn Academy? Well, maybe. Self-Directed Learning is a core learning fluency in an age of access. But if you need something a bit more specific-lessons plans and walkthroughs and all-below we’ve 10 Sample Student Learning Objectives For The Teacher That’s Not So Sure About This Hour Of Code Thing 1. Students will define "coding" as both a noun and verb, and explain-as crudely or precisely as they are able-how code works. 2. Students will compare and contrast code to poetry and cooking recipes. 3. Students will identify the pros and cons of self-directed learning as it relates to learning code. 4. Students will identify three unique resources for teaching themselves to code. 5. Students will locate and explain two different coding communities, and how they can help that student learn coding. 6. Students will identify three coding apps that work for them, and explain why that app works for them better than another. See here, for example. 7. Students will identify and define three html tags, and explain what each does. 8. Students will create three two-dimensional figures, and 1 three-dimensional figure. 9. Students will name 3 "basic coding" projects, and 3 "master coding" projects, and give examples of each. (Think shapes, bouncing balls, and basic web pages, vs multimedia pages, apps, and video games, etc.) 10. Students will analyze a simple web page for its fundamental structure. 10 Sample Student Learning Objectives For The Teacher Not So Sure About This Hour Of Code Thing TESTThe post 10 Student Learning Objectives For The Teacher Not So Sure About This Hour Of Code Thing appeared first on TeachThought.

TEST 4 Coding Resources From The Khan Academy by TeachThought Staff The Hour of Code-or rather, week of code that is itself composed of hours-began yesterday. There are, according to the HoC website, 75004 individual events happening worldwide, which is stunning, and good news if you believe in digital literacy. With that in mind, below is information for coding resources from the Khan Academy. "Beginning (December 8th), millions of children in tens of thousands of classrooms across over 150 countries will be trying out code as part of Computer Science Education Week. We want to amplify this effort. Last year, 15 million students tried computer programming for at least one hour during Computer Science Education Week on Khan Academy and other platforms. The Hour of Code is a global movement by Computer Science Education Week and Code.org reaching tens of millions of students in 180+ countries through a one-hour introduction to computer science and computer programming. Learn about the simple steps you can take to prepare your class for an hour of code the includes easy to understand interactive talk-through demonstrations fun coding challenges and a creative final project. Hour of Drawing with Code: This hour teaches your students to program using JavaScript, one of the world’s most popular programming languages. They’ll use JavaScript to program drawings, finishing with a fun draw-a-wild-animal project. This tutorial requires good typing skills and a keyboard. Recommended ages: 10+. Hour of Drawing with Code Blocks: This is a variant on the first tutorial, but students get to drag and drop blocks of JavaScript code instead of type. Recommended for younger students and students on tablets. Recommended ages: 8+. Hour of Webpages: This hour teaches your students to make their own webpages using the basics ofHTML and CSS, finishing with a holiday greeting card. Your students need good typing skills and a keyboard to program in HTML/CSS. Recommended ages: 10+.​   Hour of Databases: This hour teaches the fundamentals of databases, which are how apps store data about users and content. Your students will use SQL to create tables, insert data into them, and do basic querying, finishing with a project to create a database for an imaginary store. Your students need good typing skiils and a keyboard to program in SQL. Recommended ages: 12+." 4 Hour Of Coding Resources From The Khan Academy TESTThe post 4 Coding Resources From The Khan Academy appeared first on TeachThought.

TEST 25 Of The Best Resources For Teaching With YouTube by TeachThought Staff As both hardware and software design improve, the possibility of mobile learning is increasingly accessible. Video is undoubtedly at the core of a modern mobile learning experience. (As opposed to, say, an early 20th century "mobile" experience that was likely hands-on, place-based, and experiential.) To actually be useful beyond the cool-video-as-a-writing-prompt-every-once-in-a-while stage is going to require smarter tools. Teachers need to be able to capture, upload, download, edit, slow down, speed up, annotate, curate, share, and otherwise "own" video content so that is fully merges with everything else. With that in mind, below are 25 of the best resources for teaching with YouTube. Some are web-based, some are apps, and others are guides or tips. Let us know in the comments what your favorites are that we might’ve missed! 25 Of The Best Resources For Teaching With YouTube ︾ 3.31kviews 25items 25 Of The Best Resources For Teaching With YouTube Listly by Terry Heick 25 Of The Best Resources For Teaching With YouTube   Follow List   Embed List   Share 1  SafeShare.TV - The Safest Way To Watch and Share YouTube videos. Not only does SafeShare.TV remove distracting and offensive elements around YouTube videos, but it also allows you to crop videos before sharing them. 0 likes Comments Relist Share 2  21st Century Classroom: YouTube @ Kent-Meridian High School Learn about how one teacher, Mike Christiansen, a 9th grade social studies teacher at Kent-Meridian High School in Kent, WA, uses YouTube in his classroom to... 0 likes Comments Relist Share 3  YouTube for Schools - YouTube Share your videos with friends, family, and the world 0 likes Comments Relist Share 4  Education Whether you're doing research for a project, need help with homework, or just want to learn something new, YouTube EDU features some of our most popular educ... 0 likes Comments Relist Share 5  quietube | Video without the distractions | Youtube, Viddler, Vimeo and more quietube: Video without the distractions. 0 likes Comments Relist Share 6  Copyright Law: What Teachers Need to Know By Ken Schlager Intellectual property has emerged from the legal backwater to become major news, with frequent high-profile cases of individuals and companies being prosecuted for the illegal use and distribution of copyrighted material. While teachers enjoy many exemptions under copyright law, the classroom does not shelter all uses. 0 likes Comments Relist Share 7  YouTube Capture Create beautiful movies on the go with YouTube Capture 2.0. Start recording in a snap, then edit and share videos of any length right from your phone. Features: * Capture the moment: Start recording instantly * Stitch together an unlimited number of clips as you build your story * Trim and rearrange clips right from your phone * Add a soundtrack from your music collection or YouTube’s audio library * Touch up videos with color correction and stabilization * Upload to YouTube and share on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter - all in one step 0 likes Comments Relist Share 8  Pocket: Save Articles and Videos to View Later Pocket has been named one of the best apps for iPhone and iPad by the App Store. Over 12 million people use Pocket to easily save articles, videos and more for later. With Pocket, all of your content goes to one place, so you can view it anytime, on any device. You don’t even need an Internet connection. Don’t lose track of the interesting things you find by emailing yourself links or letting tabs pile up in your browser. Just save them to Pocket. WHAT CAN I SAVE? Save articles, videos, recipes, and webpages you find online or from your favorite apps. If it’s in Pocket, it’s on your phone, tablet or computer, even when you’re offline. Perfect for commutes, travel, and curling up on your couch. 0 likes Comments Relist Share 9  TubeChop - Chop YouTube Videos TubeChop allows you to easily chop a funny or interesting section from any YouTube video and share it. 0 likes Comments Relist Share 10  YouTube Doubler | Mashup Helper YouTube Doubler: Twice the Fun - Play 2 YouTubes at Once 0 likes Comments Relist Share 11  YouTube to mp3 Converter Download your favorite YouTube videos as mp3 files without registration. 0 likes Comments Relist Share 12  Creator Academy - YouTube Creator Hub Creator Academy Programs and tools Support Working together 0 likes Comments Relist Share 13  YouTube Creators - Google+ YouTube Creators - Learn, share, and engage with YouTube and other YouTube Creators! - If you're a YouTube Creator, you've come to the right place to engage with other creators, learn more about what YouTube's been up to lately, and get tips from our live Hangouts with creators as they 0 likes Comments Relist Share 14  Working Together - YouTube YouTube Creators Program 0 likes Comments Relist Share 15  EducationOnAir This website contains all the information you need to find and take part in Education On Air sessions on Google+: Live Hangout Schedule 0 likes Comments Relist Share 16  Teaching With YouTube: 197 Digital Channels For Learning Teaching With YouTube: 197 Digital Channels For Learning If you don't have a YouTube channel as an education provider, there's a good chance you're behind... 0 likes Comments Relist Share 17  Welcome to the School of You | teachem 0 likes Comments Relist Share 18  Create and delete playlists A playlist is a collection of videos that you or another user has created. Find a group of videos that you like? Maybe a few of your favorite songs, or highlights from your local sports team? Need to organize the content that you've created to share with your audience? 0 likes Comments Relist Share 19  GifYoutube brings you this awesome Animated GIF. wp5vR is an animated gif that was created from https://youtube.com/watch?v=-ZcQmXu2004 for free on GifYoutube. 0 likes Comments Relist Share 20  YouTube Teaching Videos Pins about YouTube Teaching Videos hand-picked by Pinner Jill Kuzma | See more about social thinking, social skills and video clip. 0 likes Comments Relist Share 21  http://www.teachertube.com/ 0 likes Comments Relist Share 22  How To YouTube Your Classroom YouTube is popular. How popular? 0 likes Comments Relist Share 23  The Official Educator's Guide To YouTube YouTube is a goldmine for content. Yes, it's also a goldmine for trash and whimsy, but more than anything it's a kind of circus-mirror reflection of culture. Which should make it useful to teachers. Below is a the official YouTube guide for educators put together by YouTube (Google), and it's actually very good. 0 likes Comments Relist Share 24  Annotations Explore this site for more information on creating content for YouTube. 0 likes Comments Relist Share 25  Using Enhancements - YouTube Help If you're on your computer, you can make tweaks and add effects to your videos directly on YouTube! You won't need to reupload the video, and your video's URL, view count, and comments will st 0 likes Comments Relist Share View more lists from Terry Heick 25 Of The Best Resources For Teaching With YouTube TESTThe post 25 Of The Best Resources For Teaching With YouTube appeared first on TeachThought.

TEST Learning Is The Ultimate Disruption by Terry Heick It is the work of a school to join members of a community to one another. That this doesn’t happen naturally isn’t surprising. Matters of curriculum, instruction, and assessment are often alien to the home, the life, and the natural thought processes of most students. Academics are a different kind of language than people speak naturally. Teachers, units, tests, behavior plans, attendance rosters, proficiency, standards, letter grades, edtech, and more are the collective tools and jargon of education. Yet, these end up being the very same terms we use to communicate learning success with and through. This naturally brings the school into conflict with the home, and vice-versa, so that they seem constantly at odds. The underlying assumptions, I assume, of content standards is that if students master them, their lives will be improved. This is usually framed under the "college and career readiness" slogan, four words that describe why students should go to school and what they’re preparing for while doing so. What, then, is the most ideal relationship between the student and the curriculum? What should curriculum "do" for a student? What should learning alter, question, or produce? Ferguson, Missouri The events in Ferguson, Missouri, of suffering and gnashing of teeth and collective failure, were entirely predictable. Continuing a pattern surfacing most recently in Compton in 1992, Detroit of 1967, Watts in 1965, et al. These aren’t "cultural events" or "teachable moments," but, shared failures of pedagogy and curriculum. Think about it. What in your current curriculum, as it exists now, would keep "Ferguson" from happening? And not the "civil unrest" part, but the conditions that seem to demand it? If what we teach doesn’t, by design, erode the circumstances that lead to racism, ecological disasters, religious intolerance, the collapse of financial markets, poverty, child trafficking, bullying, or any of our most recent challenges, are we okay with that? This isn’t about teaching social justice as a class, but rather shifting the what and the why of student learning. An introspective education speaks naturally to Ferguson on equal terms. The best learning is organically preemptive. Our cultural failures are failures of memory. Teaching For Cultural Memory If culture refers to the practices and patterns of a group of people that share a place, time, heritage, or other fundamentally human thing, then cultural memory would be the tendency and capacity to recall those events within those spaces that brought us all collectively to where we are today. Ferguson happens when our cultural memory fails; our cultural memory fails when we turn away from one another. Legacy is a pattern of remembering, retracing, and reinforcing what brought us here, with whom, and how we might best use this space and our skills and experience to do our best work. Literature, art, history, husbandry, land use, agriculture, architecture, music, food, family place, and more are all acts of reflection. Our capacity and tendency for such reflection directly through storytelling and traditions are acts of communal reflection. Culture. What We Know & What We Do With What We Know Sources of authority and self-image; images of race, and image of one’s self as a member of that race; a sense of history, and a sense of one’s place in that history-these are terms that education deals with whether it does so by design or not. Curriculum and learning models; what they learn and how they learn it. One is important as a matter of knowledge, the other a matter of practice. On a cultural level, this becomes what we know, and what we do with what we know. Culture, then, isn’t just a "part" of learning, or some nebulous background for understanding. When learning doesn’t grow from cultural positions, historical terms become ahistorical omissions, literature becomes mere stories, and math becomes a non-stop sequence of skills of dubious value, all gathered beneath the Cheshire Cat grin of academia. It is challenging to design learning experiences that bring people closer together, and help a student realize their truest self. The relation, currently, between schools and communities is unclear. If this is true, then education isn’t broken, as we keep thinking, but what is broken is our collective image of what education is. The strength and clarity of our cultural memory are the purist and most revealing effects of authentic learning. It is the work of a culture to recognize itself, and hold on to what it considers valuable. When we turn away from our past, we turn away from ourselves, and the results are predictable. Forgetfulness is a kind of ignorance, a power-set of its own. But learning is the ultimate disruption. Learning Is The Ultimate Disruption; image attribution flickr user baltimoreheritage TESTThe post Learning Is The Ultimate Disruption appeared first on TeachThought.

TEST Letters Of Recommendation Take Time. Plan Accordingly. by Dawn Casey-Rowe, Writer of Letters of Recommendation My box is filling with recommendation requests. Every time I finish, more sneak in. "Miss, did you finish my recommendation?" emailed Student Number One. No, because you didn’t ask me. Student Number Two said, "The deadlines snuck up on me. Would you be able to write me a recommendation in the next two days? I’d be eternally grateful to you." That’s no way to get a great recommendation. If I’m writing about you, you want me happy, overjoyed with life, not grumpy and overloaded at the last minute. Recommendations are time consuming. The better my mood, the better your recommendation. Maybe you asked nicely but didn’t follow up with details about what you’ve been up to when you’re not busy doing my homework.That forces me to say something like "He’s a good student." The last thing you want is something generic. That’s the kiss of death for getting selected for anything. A seasoned writer of recommendations can be the edge you need in a situation where the recommendation is actually being read. "Actually being read?" you ask. That took you off guard, didn’t it? The truth is resumes and recommendations aren’t always read, so you have to back them up with some good old fashioned relationship-building. We’ll get to that later. But first, let’s hear from an expert on resumes. "Oh, I deal them out into two piles, ‘maybe’ and ‘no.’ I spend ten seconds reading each of them," said my brother, the unofficial expert I interviewed five years ago for no particular reason. He read a lot of resumes and recommendations at his job. After a while, he said, it gets dull and every person starts to look the same. If you’re going to be dealt into piles along with the rest of humanity do you need recommendations at all? Why would you go through all the trouble to ask for one? Simple-recommendations aren’t all about the letter, they’re about building your organic network and having people on your side. Students forget I have a life outside of school. I might just be able to further your career. I might introduce you to a professional who can help you or find you a mentor for your project or life. Having letters of recommendation in your file isn’t always enough-you should aim to keep the good people on your side. That’s the ultimate goal. It’s the people you least expect who will help you on the road to success. Never underestimate or forget this fact. "But I just need a letter for college," you say. Fine. I’ll give you a letter for college and we’ll worry about building your success network some other day in another article. If all you want is a recommendation, then take heed. Follow these tips. Teachers & Students: 6 Letter Of Recommendation Tips  1. Plan ahead Give the recommender at least a two week notice. Respect the recommender’s time. The busier the person is, the more time he or she will need to write you a quality recommendation. 2. Ask nicely and set clear expectations Ask nicely, whether by email or in person. Tell the recommender exactly what you need. If you need more than one recommendation over time, set that expectation, "I was hoping to get a letter for my file and use your name as a reference for a job interview." 3. Make it easy for the recommender Follow up with a short email with bullet points highlighting the details of the recommendation. Include any necessary addresses, the name of person to whom it must be sent, and mention deadlines. 4. Market yourself When you follow up with your recommender, be sure to include a few bullet points about your accomplishments, especially things the recommender might not have known. This will help the recommender write a glowing and specific recommendation about you. Generic recommendations serve zero purpose. Colleges and jobs easily disregard them. Put yourself in a position to stand out. 5. Convert the recommendation Follow up with colleges and hiring managers after the recommendations are sent. Don’t let your resume or recommendations be another in the pile. When applying for colleges, use social media to follow, like, and interact with colleges. Be enthusiastic and give yourself every advantage-make that recommendation come alive by providing the world with a glimpse of the real person behind it. 6. Thank the recommender. Follow up and show the recommender you truly appreciate the time spent on your behalf. An email, in-person thanks, or phone call is appropriate depending on your relationship with the person. Today, recommendations come in all shapes and forms. Society is heading more and more toward ratings and public recommendations. Even though you may need a good old fashioned letter of recommendation, don’t underestimate the power of a public recommendation on a network like LinkedIn. Ask someone you know to connect with you and give you a short recommendation. Remember, recommendations are not about what’s on the paper-exactly. They’re more about building a network, having people who support you in your corner. As a student, this is one of your first professional lessons. Feeling comfortable interacting with people on a professional level is a skill. Building a strong network is a necessity and a gift that comes with experience. Great recommendations are simply a byproduct of those relationships. Don’t make me hate you at recommendation time by dumping last-minute requests for letters you don’t really need. Follow the six steps above and make them matter. When you follow the steps, you’ll be surprised at how many people are willing to help you-not simply by writing recommendations-but by guiding you toward the future you want as well. Teachers & Students: 6 Letter Of Recommendation Tips; Letters Of Recommendation Take Time. Plan Accordingly; image attribution flickr user shordzi TESTThe post Letters Of Recommendation Take Time. appeared first on TeachThought.

TEST One Person Dug This Cave: What Craftsmanship Is Capable Of by TeachThought Staff When a person brings craft, motivation, and affection to bear on an idea, incredible things are possible. This is an idea we, as educators, try to impart to students. The success of this depends on whether or not they are ready for that kind of a message, and whether or not we’ve given them the tools and space and inspiration to make it possible. One man, tired of creative conflicts and rejection, turned inwardly, and spent the better part of ten years alone to etch art and space for light out of a cave in New Mexico, which was recently shared on boredpanda.com. An official summary can be seen below. You can learn more here. Cavedigger Documentary: What Craftsmanship Is Capable Of "Ra Paulette digs cathedral-like, ‘eighth wonder of the world’ art caves into the sandstone cliffs of Northern New Mexico. Each creation takes years to complete, and each is a masterwork — like Gaudi buildings turned inside out. But patrons who have commissioned caves have cut off nearly all of his projects due to artistic differences. And Paulette’s obsession is taking a toll on his personal relationships. Fed up, Paulette has chosen to go deeper — to forgo all commissions to create his own Magnum Opus, a massive 10-year project." Cavedigger Documentary: What Craftsmanship Is Capable Of TESTThe post So A Man Got Annoyed And Dug A Cave appeared first on TeachThought.