Digital Eyes

why do we care? Thanks to a colleague for passing this along to me. I'm not supporting students having no regard for the rules in school. However, I think we need to ask the question, "If it is so easy to find the information online or through their social network, then what is the value of memorizing it in the first place? If we carry cellphones with us all the time and they are capable of connecting us to the information we need that readily, then maybe schools should be teaching students how to cheat. I know that when I am at work and I'm stumped, I either Google it or Twitter it. In other words, look online or ask my personal learning network. What are we doing to teach students how to effectively search for reliable information? What are we doing to help students develop a personal learning network so they can be learning from people around the world everyday? Cellphone Cheating in Schools This Kappan “Highlighted and Underlined” item quotes a Common Sense Media poll ...

Resiliency: The ability to recover quickly from illness, change, or misfortune; buoyancy. (from http://www.thefreedictionary.com) More and more, I see resiliency as a key skill for teachers. As change comes at us more and more quickly, we must recover from change. By recover of course I mean adapt to it, integrate it, prepare for the next upcoming change. There is no question that every new initiative, tool, standard, idea, philosophy, or concept brings about a series of important steps to handle this change. 1. Unlearning: A key part of resiliency is the ability to unlearn what you have previously thought of as an absolute truth. Many longstanding truths are being called into question due to rapid changes in our profession. For example, skills like cursive writing, alphabetical order, or interpreting paper maps have been staples in teaching for years. Today, however, they have become significantly less important. Tomorrow, they may go away altogether. We must be ready to question the ...

We know that kids are wired for technology. We use terms like Digital Native and Net Generation to describe that technology is natural to them. You won't get any argument from me on this. But my question is, " Are we using technology to engage students for the right reasons?" I have been a big proponent of SmartBoards in our district as well as student response systems. Their potential for engaging, interactive learning is powerful. But at the end of the day, we need to ask ourselves, for what purpose are we using these tools? If these tools simply become another way to fill students up with knowledge that they spit back out, we are not changing anything. On the other hand, if we use them to engage students in learning that gets them thinking creatively, inventively, flexibly, collaborartively, then they are powerful tools. All this technology is about much more than engaging our students. It is about what we do with them once they are engaged. I have observed the excitem...

If you haven't seen any of the videos at Frontline: Digital Nation, I highly recommend that you check them out. The clips are generally short and to the point, but they address everything from Korean preschoolers learning netiquette to Arne Duncan's view of the Class of the Future to how video games are changing education. Check it out! http://ow.ly/lzQJ