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"The 2015 Best Websites for Teaching & Learning foster the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration. They are free, Web-based sites that are user friendly and encourage a community of learners to explore and discover. "
Beth Dichter's insight:
The American Association of School Librarians shares their top websites for 2015 in this post. The websites are in six areas: * Media Sharing * Digital Storytelling * Manage & Organize * Social Networking & Communication * Content Resources * Curriculum Collaboration As always you will find great new tools and they provide a brief explanation as well as a suggestion of grade levels. A few that you may want to check out are listed below. * Tackk allows you to create web pages quickly, and is free! * My Storybook allows students to create online books and would be great to use with younger students. * FlipQuiz allows you create game-style quizzes This is just a few of their recommendations. Take some time to check out this new list, and find one or two new tools to use with your learners this year! 
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"Project-based learning is one aspect of the Common Core’s with extra buzz. PBL engages students in purposeful ways by providing opportunities to develop a laundry list of 21st century skills in areas including critical thinking, research strategies, collaboration, communication, and literacy. If your head is spinning and you are wondering how you are going to make time for and create appropriate PBL opportunities for your elementary students, don’t worry! The good news is there are many ways to incorporate practical project-based learning into your elementary classroom. "
Beth Dichter's insight:
If you are considering project-based learning, but have questions about just what to do, this post may assist you. There are many suggestions about practical PBL projects that are appropriate for students in grades K - 5. The post also includes a quick overview of the stops in PBL as well as a list of read-aloud books that may inspire students to ways they might create a project that will help their community. You will also find a list of ten ideas for projects and three other sections: * Inspire Projects with Hand to Heart/Paw/Earth * Teach Students to Ask Questions/Research Across Texts * Try Ready-Made Books and Projects with Heifer Project-based learning provides authentic learning opportunities for students to be highly engaged and to focus on the four C's that the Partnership for 21st Century and Common Core would like us to address: Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking and Creativity.
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"This year, while serving as a teacherpreneur with the Center for Teaching Quality, I started to examine our educational landscape and saw many needs involving the new standards...I believe wholeheartedly that they will make students more effective thinkers and learners who are better prepared for life after high school..."
Beth Dichter's insight:
How do you explain to students and parents the Common Core standards? If this question is difficult to answer you should check out this post. There are two tools that you may find helpful. The image above shows six classroom scenes showing 21st century skills that students are developing on the left side. The right side shows that paths that students may take based on their skills. There is also a second visual that is designed for teachers. It is an evidence sheet. You may take the sheet and complete two sections. The left side shows what the standards look like in your classroom, and the right side will allow you to share how the skills will help your students succeed in college and career. You can download both these tools as pdf files.
Nancy Jones's curator insight,
August 6, 2014 11:21 AM
this is a handy visual for teachers to remind themselves that we are learners too!
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"We recently discovered the Bay Area’s Prospect Sierra School’s interesting learning model that prioritizes 6 ideas for learning in the 21st century. There is, of course, no single “best” way to pursue “21st century learning”–nor any learning at all for that matter. But seeing the way other inspired educators pursue the idea can teach each one of us a lot. In this model, we appreciate the inclusion of self-knowledge, as well as moving past the idea of content to true disciplinary knowledge–seeing knowledge in context and application."
Beth Dichter's insight:
This post shares another visual that provides one model of learning in the 21st century. Specifically, it prioritizes six ideas: * Disciplinary Knowledge - "Build and apply content knowledge to think deeply and act as a practitioner of the discipline" * Self-Knowledge - "Experiment and create, while embracing failure as an opportunity for growth in order to design new ideas and solutions." * Innovation Creation - "Recognize one’s emotional, physical, and learning needs, strengths, and challenges to nurture personal growth and resilience" * Collaboration - "Share knowledge and resources, building on a diversity of ideas and experiences to achieve group goals and interdependence" * Responsibility - "Understand one’s impact and influence in a local and global community; cultivate compassion, and take positive action" * Communication - "Express ideas effectively through varied means of presentation; understand one’s audiences, actively listen; and build connection" Additional information on each of these six ideas is included in the post.
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"Recently I participated in a discussion on 21st century skills where one educator posed the question 'can you teach 21st century skills without technology?'"
Beth Dichter's insight:
Think about the skills that are defined as 21st century skills: * collaboration * communication * critical thinking and problem solving * creativity and innovation Are these skills that can be taught without technology? If we look to the past, we would answer yes, they are skills that can be taught without technology. We are often asked to teach these skills today with technology. What if we introduce these skills with technology, providing students the opportunity to collaborate and learn how to effectively communicate face-to-face, learn about visual cues and more. This post explores how each of these skills may be taught without technology. You can take the information and consider how to them augment the skills with technology to help your students deepen their understanding.
Siphiwe Kubeka's curator insight,
May 22, 2014 8:06 AM
Technology has made education to be much easier and more interesting in information literacy
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"So how are we doing on the push to teach “digital literacy” across the K12 school spectrum? From my perspective as a school-based technology coach and history teacher, I’d say not as well as we might wish – in part because our traditional approach to curriculum and instruction wants to sort everything into its place."
Beth Dichter's insight:
How often have you heard the term digital native or digital immigrant? Are our students digital natives because they were born after digital items were widely available? Does this factor mean that they understand how to use these tools effectively and that they are digitally literate? For me the answer to that is that they do not fully understand how to use digital tools effectively and they are not digitally literate. This is something we need to teach them. This post does an excellent job looking at this issue. Specifically it looks at these areas: * Students must learn how to evaluate online content - Think of this as a research skill. * Students must be able to engage with others online and communicate - Think of this as a communication tool. * Students need to learn how to create and projects can be digital. These three areas come together and create the skill sets needed to digitally literate. More information is available about this in the post. And if you happen to live in the New England area you might consider checking out the Massachusetts New Literacies Institute that will be taking place in at the Kittredge Center in Holyoke, MA from July 8 - 10. Information for this may be found at http://mnli.org/. This institute looks at three cornerstones: Online Content Reading, Online Collaborative Inquiry and Online Content Construction "preparing future-ready teachers."
Melissa Marshall's curator insight,
October 25, 2014 10:42 AM
A very interesting article that examines whether digital literacy is a surface approach, or something understood clearly by students. I think we could do it a little better, and this involves some extra awareness of these teaching moments when they arrive! For instance, I use the first presentation-style assignment for my Year 7s to teach about plagiarism and referencing online sources. 
Julie Hogarth's curator insight,
November 4, 2014 9:09 PM
Digital Literacy should be integrated into every day curriculum to be effectively instilled into student thinking and behavior.
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Beth Dichter's insight:
What are the top ten skills that are needed in the workplace today? The University of Phoenix has published this infographic that provides a look at the top ten skills as well as information on how to acquire the skills. Are you providing your students the opportunity to learn and/or practice these skills?
Audrey's curator insight,
November 29, 2013 2:26 PM
These skills make a lot of sense and all tend to be included in education, right now. In addition to learning the standard topics, most educational establishments incude socio-cultural, moral and practical lessons for students to be able to cope with life in the 21st century.
audrey@homeschoolsource for http://www.homeschoolsource.co.uk
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From
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Children can learn problem-solving skills using methods similar to the ones scientists employ to prepare them for opportunities in their professional
Beth Dichter's insight:
This infographic looks at science,specifically the value of teaching students science from a young age because of the many skills that are developed. These skills include developing questions, collecting evidence, forming decisions, constructing information and communicating. It also discusses the FERA cycle, as in: * Focus * Explore * Reflect * Apply The infographic then explores how STEM has the ability to impact her choices throughout her lifetime. This infographic was created by the Smithsonian and provides great information throughout (including a more detailed explanation of the FERA cycle).
Ruth Virginia Barton's curator insight,
February 13, 2015 11:30 AM
Excellent infographic about learning science through critical-thinking and student-directed inquiry
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Learning how to say no is one of the most useful skills you can develop, especially when it comes to living a more productive and healthy life. Saying no to unnecessary commitments can give you the time you need to recover and rejuvenate.
Beth Dichter's insight:
This post discusses a recent article that was published by the Journal of Consumer Science. The short hand version is that there is a significant difference in saying "I don't" than "I can't." Why? "Your words help to frame your sense of empowerment and control [and the] words that you use create a feedback loop in your brain that impacts your future behaviors." As I read this post I thought about Carol Dweck's work on growth mindset. How can we use this new knowledge to help our students?
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"If communication does not happen in a vacuum, neither does magic. As many know,iPads have become one of the most recent panacea to the many woes in education. From primary education to higher education, iPads are being introduced in classrooms. What do they fulfill?"
Beth Dichter's insight:
This post explores iPads and how they are used in classrooms, noting that "hey will not magically increase learner engagement if learners are not themselves motivated to learn, nor can they be used in the same way in all educational contexts." Patras goes on to discuss mobile learning, again raising questions such as "...doesn’t there need to be a differentiation among the educational levels and environments in order that the use of the tool better fits the needs and demands of learners?" (In this question she is referring to iPads as the tool.) At the end she provides she looks provides the table (image above) that shows the difference between Web 1.0, Web 2.0 and Web 3.0, the directions she says we are moving. What are your thoughts?
Bryan A. Sonda Piña's curator insight,
March 26, 2013 6:45 PM
I guess this process will take time to be a reality
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"As educators, we constantly strive to prepare our students for the ‘real world’ that exists around them. We teach them how to read, write, and calculate. Then, of course, there are the less tangible skills we teach; such as how to work in a team, think critically, and be curious about the things they encounter each day. We want to prepare them to lead productive and successful lives once they leave us and enter into the realm of adulthood. But what lies ahead for our students in the future? Did educators of twenty years ago know that so much of our world would be based on computers and technology now? Could they have known what skills would be needed in the job market today?"
Beth Dichter's insight:
This post focuses on work published by Tony Wagner back in 2010 but the information is still relevant. Wagner interviewed CEOs of 100 major businesses and was able to come up with seven essential skills students should have for the 21st century (and yes, we are in this century). The skills are listed below and more information may be found in this post, which lists the skill and then discusses how to prepare students to meet this skill. * Critical Thinking and Problem Solving * Collaboration Across Networks and Leading by Influence * Agility and Adaptability * Initiative and Entrepreneurship * Effective Oral and Written Communication * Accessing and Analyzing Information * Curiosity and Imagination
Mohini Lata's curator insight,
May 20, 2013 8:34 AM
As technology is becoming powerful and life changing how can we prepare students for the 21st century survival. The seven survival skills purposefully apply in a classroom. This links with Using Mathematical Higher order thinking - Critical Thinking and problem solving prepares students to see problems from different angles and formulate their own solutions. Collaboration encourages students to take on different roles. Agility and Adaptability – be willing to adapt to the changes around them.Initative and Entrepreneurship - always try. Effective Oral and written communication - how to speak confidently and clearly. Accessing and Analyzing Information- learn the difference between factual information and factual-sounding opinions. Curiosity and Imagination - teach them how to apply them creatively and purposefully. Technology has become an essential and important tool for education, helping teachers with their work and most importantly supporting the students. This also links with brief design technology and the digital technologies strand of the National Technologies Curriculum as students are taught how to use the technologies available to them.
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Beth Dichter's insight:
Mark Gleeson takes an infographic that he learned about on Scoop-it and brings the discussion of leadership and leadership building into the classroom, by taking each of the eight leadership qualities in the infographic and discussing them at three levels (quoted below from the post): * Peer Leadership (School Leadership teams/Curriculum leadership teams or individuals) * Teacher-leading-Class and * Student Leadership The eight leadership qualities are: * Courage * Humility * Accountability * Trustworthy * Communication * Conviction * Collaboration * Aligned What made this post valuable to me was his discussion on each of the eight qualities within the framework of the three levels of leadership that are in our schools. You may find yourself asking questions about leadership in your school or district, and wondering how you might use this information within your classroom (or school if you are an adminstrator).
Sophie Colas's comment,
February 25, 2013 7:37 AM
A ces qualités nécessaires, j'ajouterai la maturité, la générosité et la duplicité.
Sophie Colas's curator insight,
February 25, 2013 7:37 AM
A ces qualités nécessaires, j'ajouterai la maturité, la générosité et la duplicité.
Sophie Colas's comment,
February 25, 2013 7:48 AM
Excusez-moi, toutes les qualités contraires à la duplicité : droiture et franchise. Oups
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"I believe that creativity is necessary in today’s classroom. In fact, creativity is one of the important 4 C’s (Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Communication, Creativity) that make up part of the foundation of a 21st century education. The remaining foundation is of course another C (Significant Content). I believe that when you put all of these C’s together you get two more C’s which make up the 'Common Core'."
Beth Dichter's insight:
This post is the first in series and discusses free resources that may be stored on a local computer or a network. The list includes Scratch, Sketc-Up, Gimp, 3 free office suites, Alice, a variety of tools that will help you make movies and more. Most are described in some detail and there are links to additional resources to help you learn the tool. Additional posts will discuss Web 2.0 apps that may be used on the Internet (and across platforms), web apps and sites that promote literacy and student publication and web sites that promote student creativity.
Randy D. Nichols's curator insight,
January 15, 2013 9:30 AM
A good list to help you start (or continue) bulding a "digital toolbox" for multimodal compositions. (I will steal some of these ideas for my delicious links!)
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"To understand the extent to which the skills taught in education systems around the world are changing, and whether they meet the needs of employers and society more widely, Google commissioned research from The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The EIU surveyed senior business executives, teachers and students."
Beth Dichter's insight:
What skills do learners need today to be prepared to be a leader as they move through school and into careers? Google commissioned a study and this post provides a short video that discusses key findings as well as a link to the final report, Driving the Skills Agenda: Preparing Students for the Future. The Executive Summary provides a number of key findings, including the ones listed below. (The text below is quoted from the report.) * Problem solving, team working and communication are the skills that are currently most in demand in the workplace. * Education systems are not providing enough of the skills that students and the workplace need. * Some students are taking it into their own hands to make up for deficiencies within the education system. * Technology is changing teaching, but education systems are keeping up with the transformation rather than leading it. The full report provides additional information, including a number of visuals as well as case studies. As educators it is important that we consider the skills our learners will need in the future, and this report provides insight into some of what will be needed.
Dr. Deborah Brennan's curator insight,
June 7, 2015 5:56 PM
Preparing our students with the necessary skills for post-secondary career and college is critical, but especially for our poverty students. Too often, school is the only venue to provide these thinking, collaboration, and problem solving skills. However, many poverty schools under the pressure of standardized testing are stuck in a remediation routine of filling gaps in content, reading, and math. We must provide time for teachers to collaborate and plan integrated lessons that integrate these higher level thinking skills into their content areas. 
Katie Catania's curator insight,
August 5, 2015 9:10 AM
What skills do learners need today to be prepared to be a leader as they move through school and into careers? Google commissioned a study and this post provides a short video that discusses key findings as well as a link to the final report, Driving the Skills Agenda: Preparing Students for the Future. The Executive Summary provides a number of key findings, including the ones listed below. (The text below is quoted from the report.) * Problem solving, team working and communication are the skills that are currently most in demand in the workplace. * Education systems are not providing enough of the skills that students and the workplace need. * Some students are taking it into their own hands to make up for deficiencies within the education system. * Technology is changing teaching, but education systems are keeping up with the transformation rather than leading it. The full report provides additional information, including a number of visuals as well as case studies. As educators it is important that we consider the skills our learners will need in the future, and this report provides insight into some of what will be needed.
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"For most educators, back-to-school decorations still include the proverbial apple, school bus, writing strips, and black and white composition notebooks... Looking back, we wanted to round up some of our favorite resources that highlight the pencil as a metaphor for leadership, work, and fun."
Beth Dichter's insight:
Perhaps you remember a few years back when the pencil became a viral hit on Twitter. Think back to the year 2011 and recall how tablets were becoming "the next best thing" in education. How was this technology going to be integrated into the school day? This post provides a number of resources that moves the pencil beyond that viral chat. You will find an image of the pencil with each component representing various groups of people often found in schools. The video, iPencil, takes a look at what actually goes into making a pencil, and will teach students about how one product impacts much of the world. And last, but not least,, is the Ode to #PencilChat, a short video that looks at technology integration in the classroom. Why look at the pencil? Here are the last two lines of this post. "Whether metaphor, symbol, or tool, the pencil is flexible, durable and timeless. We wish everyone a great school year."
Melissa Marshall's curator insight,
September 9, 2014 9:23 PM
The Pencil as a metaphor for educators and technology. I have yet to have a student ask, 'I won't do this because no-one's given me any PD.'
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The following five helpful mantras provide refreshing ideas for creating eLearning courses that go beyond a conventional approach.
Beth Dichter's insight:
Once again SHIFT Learning has published an article that focuses on eLearning, but is applicable to face2face learning. The five mantras that are discussed work in either location. What are they? (All are quoted below): * Think visually. * We don't remember data, we remember stories. * Design smarter, not harder. * Visual clutter is the evidence of a failed search for clarity. * Leave your learners feeling inspired. Additional detail is provided in the post and an additional resource is shared in three of the five areas listed above.
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Games give players agency and teach the core 21st century skills of critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity better than any tradition...
Beth Dichter's insight:
Students love to play games, and games have the potential of teaching 21st century skills. This video discusses why games work and provides a look at a number of games and skills that they teach students. Key to this is the need for the teacher to help the students transfer the knowledge they are learning in the games to other areas. The video is short (under 5 minutes) and may provide you with some new information.
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'Look Up' - A spoken word film for an online generation. 'Look Up' is a lesson taught to us through a love story, in a world where we continue to find ways t...
Beth Dichter's insight:
What happens if we live in a world where communication is digital, and people do not take time to communicate face2face, or to sit in nature and enjoy the sounds of the outdoors? Do you wonder if people are over involved with their cell phones? Consider taking five minutes of your time to watch this video. What are your thoughts?
malek's curator insight,
May 5, 2014 8:49 AM
“We don’t even know if anyone is listening, 
Michelle Gilstrap's curator insight,
May 5, 2014 2:46 PM
This is a great reminder to put down our phones and computers and relate to life. It is short, but impactful
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'Learning thrives on error' "Among all the influences that can make a profound difference in student learning is how we think about our role! So, start with looking inward and ask about the mind frames you have as an educator. It is through these mind frames that we make decisions in the classroom and school, and it is argued that educators highly imbued with these mind frames are among the high impact educators."
Beth Dichter's insight:
These 7 mind sets of learning come from John Hattie, Professor of Education and Director of Research at the University of Melbourne. The first three are below (and quoted from the post): * Teachers/leaders believe that their fundamental task is to evaluate the effect of their teaching on students' learning and achievement (Know thy Impact) * Teachers/leaders believe that success and failure in student learning is about what they, as teachers or leaders, did or did not do. We are change agents! (e.g., Growth vs. fixed: High expectations for all) * Teachers/leaders need to talk more about the learning than the teaching (Focus on learning) This post will help raise questions that may help you improve your teaching. What mind frames to you have as an educator? Are there areas where you think you could improve? Read through the post to learn more about the three areas listed above (with a more in-depth look at them and read about four additional mind frames).
Rosemary Tyrrell, Ed.D.'s curator insight,
January 15, 2014 2:30 PM
This is a great article and seems to be based on the same ideas that Carol Dwek's Mindset relies on. Worth a read. 
Terry Doherty's curator insight,
January 27, 2014 5:48 PM
I like the approach of "walking in their shoes" to describe how educators effect an interest in learning.
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"One of education’s primary goals is to groom the next generation of little humans to succeed in the 'real world'... Students must be engaged and cooperation must be practiced, and often. The following team-building games can promote cooperation and communication, help establish a positive classroom environment and — most importantly — provide a fun, much-needed reprieve from routine."
Beth Dichter's insight:
Team building exercises are a great way to teach skills and change things up in the classroom. The list of ten seen in the image above are described in the post. Some of the skills learned or reinforced are communication, problem solving, and trust. For more information and to learn how to play the game click through to the post.
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In our final post of Infographics Week, a history teacher tells how she used the Gulf oil spill to have students create infographics about the worst disasters in American history.
Beth Dichter's insight:
Have you thought about having students create infographics and held back because you were not sure how to go about doing this type of project? This post provides an in-depth look at one teacher does this type of project. A step-by-step list of what to do is included as well as the three essential questions that students were to address. Although designed for a high school class the step-by-step directions are easy to modify to meet the needs of your students. This was one of a series of posts published by the NY Times. At the end of the post there are links to four additional posts in this series on Teaching With Infographics: Places to Start; Social Studies, History, Economics; Science and Health; and Language Arts, Fine Arts, and Entertainment.
Nalya Ovshieva's curator insight,
September 29, 2013 3:14 AM
Infographics is a new kind of visual literacy. They are a kind of visual summary of information that would take a reader hours to process
David Baker's curator insight,
September 29, 2013 6:40 PM
This was a great project for our teachers last year. We are posting their info graphics outside out Office of Professional Development. 
Gayle Kakac's curator insight,
September 30, 2013 8:10 PM
Been loving infographics and looking for a good way to incorporate these. Hoping for an app that would make them easily. We'll see what this has to say...
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Beth Dichter's insight:
Quandary, a free online game for players ages 8 - 14, won the Game of the Year Honors at the 2013 Games for Change Confernce. This game provides players an opportunity to help shape a new society "while learning how to recognize ethical issues and deal with challenging situations in their own lives." The websites goes on to state "Players develop skills such as critical thinking, perspective-taking and decision-making. Quandary provides a framework for how to approach ethical decision-making without telling players what to think." Why use Quandary with your students? This game is designed to help students learn skills in: * Problem solving * Communication * Information literacy * Global awarenes * Collaboration * Creative thinking There is a teachers page available which provides additional resources including a Game Guide, a sample lesson plan, an opinion tracker as well information on how the learning outcomes match to standards in both the Common Core and the Partnership for the 21st Century.
davidconover's curator insight,
August 30, 2013 8:04 AM
I look forward to sharing this game with my students. I wonder what their comments will be. 
Amélie Silvert's curator insight,
August 30, 2013 11:10 AM
Defining moral dilemnas, finding solutions and discussing. Collaborative work. Why not give it a try?
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"Over the past two decades there has been a lot written, and much discussion, around the use effective use of assessment in the classroom. Unfortunately many educators, particularly at the secondary school level, continue to cling tenaciously to “traditional” practices which are, at best ineffective and at worst, counterproductive to the goals of modern education. Here are six common misconceptions about assessment and evaluation that we could stand to rethink."
Beth Dichter's insight:
Read the list below and see if you find yourself in one or more of these misunderstandings...and for more information on each click through to the post. 1. Assessment and evaluation are the same. 2. Most assessment is summative. 3. Assessment is one way communication, the teacher gives feedback on student work. 4. Assessment is for grading purposes. 5. Student work should be given a grade or a mark. 6. If assignments are late, a teacher should deduct points.
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"Welcome to a continuing series of posts based on the eight essential elements (BIE) that make up Project Based learning. In this post I would like to focus on "significant content. I have ten ideas..."
Beth Dichter's insight:
Gorman begins this post by providing a definition of Project Based Learning that looks at the final project as the "desert." He states "In true Project Based Learning the project uncovers and facilitates the learning of significant content. In PBL there is a balancing of learning that occurs through out the project duration." He discussed PBL in relation to the four C's (Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking, and Creativity) noting that often PBL becomes too focused on the four C's. There is also the need to make sure that there is sufficient scaffolding for the learners. To assist in learning how to plan there is list of ten ideas that may be considered in the planning process and the first three are listed below (quoted from the post): * The entry event should show a relationship to the Driving Question promoting a “need to know” of significant content. * The Driving Question should allow students to uncover the curriculum in a student friendly and understandable manner. * The PBL planning sheet for students should line up with significant content in the curricular area being studied and assessed. Gorman has also provided a link to a PBL Planning Reflection Sheet.
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"Next week marks the beginning of parent-teacher conferences. I can count on a few issues to come up: how I calculate grades, the degree to which I am willing to chase students for late work, and individual parents' expectations about the flow of information between school and home. But this year, I am hearing lot of questions about how to best educate introverted students and, specifically, the fairness of class participation grades."
Beth Dichter's insight:
This post raises an important question on how we should work with students whom are not comfortable speaking up in the classroom. Do we give them a pass or do we create situations where they are expected to speak up, to present material to their classmates? The author is clearly in the side that students need to learn to speak up. In fact, the Common Core has Speaking and Listening as one of the requirements. The author also references a book by Susan Cain, 'Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking' stating "Cain champions the often-overlooked talents and gifts of introverts, and offers parents and educators strategies for communication and evaluation. This year, I drew on this advice and made a number of changes to my classroom in order to improve learning opportunities for my introverted students." If you find parents of students whom are introverts questioning your requirements or you have students whom are introverts and would like to read about some ways others think about this issue check out the post.
Jennifer Snapp's curator insight,
July 31, 2015 8:02 PM
I chose this article because it addresses the importance of communication for students who are introverts. Students must be able to speak up not just for a grade, but for their health, happiness, and success in society. Hopefully, others will look differently at the introverts in their classes and help them become better communicators so that they can speak up for themselves in and out of the classroom. Interesting article. 
Jennifer Colin's curator insight,
October 20, 2015 9:56 AM
This is a very insightful look at teachers dealing with introverts in their classrooms. It is true that parents may advocate for giving their child a pass on participation or presentations because of his/her personality type. Author Lahey says, in essence, that's bunk. "A student who is unwilling to stand up for herself and tell me that she does not understand the difference between an adverb and a verb is also less likely to stand up for herself if she is being harassed or pressured in other areas of her life." Encouraging students to speak up is not just important for making the grade, but can also be a matter of personal health and safety. "If you can't stand up for yourself...the world will be a very intimidating and frightening place. I don't want my kids to be intimidated by the world." As an aspiring administrator, this is an important stance to keep in mind. Teachers may be tempted to cave to the wishes of parents of introverted students. But doing so is not helping the children; it is ultimately doing them a disservice. |
![Top 10 Skills for the 21st Century Young Professional [Infographic] | Eclectic Technology | Scoop.it](https://img.scoop.it/z5P_zLpU88v4IZDB1kUQxjl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBVvK0kTmF0xjctABnaLJIm9)
The American Association of School Librarians shares their top websites for 2015 in this post. The websites are in six areas:
* Media Sharing
* Digital Storytelling
* Manage & Organize
* Social Networking & Communication
* Content Resources
* Curriculum Collaboration
As always you will find great new tools and they provide a brief explanation as well as a suggestion of grade levels. A few that you may want to check out are listed below.
* Tackk allows you to create web pages quickly, and is free!
* My Storybook allows students to create online books and would be great to use with younger students.
* FlipQuiz allows you create game-style quizzes
This is just a few of their recommendations. Take some time to check out this new list, and find one or two new tools to use with your learners this year!
The American Association of School Librarians shares their top websites for 2015 in this post. The websites are in six areas:
* Media Sharing
* Digital Storytelling
* Manage & Organize
* Social Networking & Communication
* Content Resources
* Curriculum Collaboration
As always you will find great new tools and they provide a brief explanation as well as a suggestion of grade levels. A few that you may want to check out are listed below.
* Tackk allows you to create web pages quickly, and is free!
* My Storybook allows students to create online books and would be great to use with younger students.
* FlipQuiz allows you create game-style quizzes
This is just a few of their recommendations. Take some time to check out this new list, and find one or two new tools to use with your learners this year!