Nocking the Arrow

Creative Commons Image - Pinterest You are an educator preparing your transition to a 1:1 learning environment, and you have many ideas and many questions about how student learning will improve under your guidance.  Here are a few of my favorite recent posts pertaining to connected learning in a 1:1 environment. These resources may validate, or challenge, some of your ideas. They will likely answer some of your most pressing questions. If nothing else, they offer interesting summer reading, and food for thought. Enjoy and share! The Five Biggest Education Technology Trends to Know About -  +Edudemic  Online Learning, Alternative Credentialing Platforms, Tablets & Smartphones, E-textbooks, and Learning Management Systems - Knowing and understanding the tools and programs that can be leveraged for learning is a key to teachers keeping current while providing meaningful learning experiences for their students. The Teacher's Guides To Technology & Learning...

By now, you might be one of the millions to have seen Jeff Bliss's ninety second manifesto on the state of learning in his World History class. Reaction in social media has been mixed, with many folks expressing disgust at the indignation he expressed towards his teacher, and many more praising Jeff for speaking out against meaningless, uninspiring, classroom experiences. Let's be cautious with our judgement of this video since most of us do not have the contextual knowledge of the situation, the classroom, or the people involved. However, I do feel that there are at least a few things that we can learn from analyzing this video thoroughly and critically. Classroom Engagement - There is very little evidence of student engagement in this video. Notice early in the video, even as one of their classmates goes off on a rant, a girl wearing blue is cleaning her fingernails. The girl seated ahead of her is covering her face. A young man wearing light blue is adjusting his wrist w...

Happy Mother's Day. Mom is all about sharing. In honor of her, and caring mothers everywhere, I am sharing these recent additions to my iPad app collection; Instashare , Stage , and Posts . Easily share files, media, and information with these terrific iPad apps. Instashare - (Rated 4+ / FREE) Easily and quickly transfer files between devices. Supports iOS and OSX. Android support coming soon. Stage - (Rated 4+ / FREE * in-app video recording $1.99 ) Interactive whiteboard and document camera app.  Impressive presentation capabilities when coupled with the Belkin iPad Stage. Posts - (Rated 4+ / FREE) Manage your blogs through this fantastic app. Blogger and Wordpress support. Manage multiple blogs, create and edit off-line, edit HTML, and moderate comments. Visually impressive and easy to use.  Posts for the iPad

" Y " is my favorite letter. Why? Because as a question, it opens doors to greater understanding, more information, and self-reflection. For instance, " Y am I blogging" ? This post represents a milestone - my 50th blog post on " Nocking the Arrow ". Looking back over the past year, I've written a few posts that I am very proud of, and there are others that I now view as rather pitiful. It is hard to gauge which posts will generate the most interest. My favorites don't necessarily generate a lot of traffic. It seems like many readers gravitate towards posts that provide some bit of practical direction or advice. CC FlickRiver Writing is not especially easy or natural for me. It usually takes me several hours to compose a piece that I consider to be " blog worthy ". I cross check my resources to make sure that my information is accurate. I proof read my work several times to catch as many grammatical errors as I can - and I still ...

Are you a giver? Most educators that I know are.  Here are eight ways, in no particular order, that you can support your personal learning network with Twitter . Post Reflections  - Share your classroom successes, and failures. Tweet your thoughts on being a teacher, a leader, and a learner.   Use Twitter as a digital diary to support your PLN. Share helpful resources - Other educators will find value in the readings and resources that you find interesting and useful.  Use Twitter for social bookmarking to support your PLN. Ask challenging questions, and share your answers - Google isn't the only place to find answers to our questions. The power of the Hashtag (#) is it's ability to find and filter.  Use Twitter as a search engine to support your PLN. Communicate & connect  in real time - Twitter chats provide an interesting avenue for sharing your experience, knowledge, and opinion. Use Twitter as a chat room to support your PLN. Follow co...

School field trips can provide such memorable learning experiences for students. I had the good fortune of chaperoning my son and his 7th grade classmates on a trip to Brookfield Zoo . The day was chilly, but the animals cooperated by providing us with much to record and discuss. The activities of the trip were to be tied primarily to Science learning objectives. The organization of the day was outstanding, and the students were cooperative and enthusiastic. In the days leading up to the field trip to the zoo, students were asked to gather basic information about categories of animal species. The purpose of the zoo trip was for students to record observations about selected animals. This information would be used to help design favorable exhibits for their selected animals. On the day of the trip, we had 30 minutes before boarding the bus. Students worked on worksheets in preparation for their observations. During the hour long bus ride I made a mental note that every one of ...