TED Talks Demystified for Teachers

I came across a great link today and wanted to share it before I forget.  Many of you have probably heard or seen TED Talks, but were really unsure what they are.  TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) hosts a conference and from that conference are several talks that people pay careful attention to because the people talking are very well known and tend to be dead on when it comes to the topics discussed.

Well, the History Teachers Attic (look for more about this site in my Weekly Core Subjects Post next week) is a website that has put together a great list of all the TED talks related to education and broken them down by topic and subject matter.  The videos are divided into 20 different topics.  For each video you will find the title, the speaker, and the length of the video.  If you are looking for a TED talk video this is a great starting point. 

What is great about TED is that this is only a small taste of all they have to offer.

A Big Thanks for Jeff Mummert

America's Next Best Teacher

There is a movement today to support Educational Reform through Blogging.  Here is my short response on the state of education, knowing that I am by no means an expert.

Reality television is huge.  It seems to me that we are heading down a road where experts come in to a school and contestants can audition their "talents" to determine who the big winners are that get to be teachers in that school.  Who would be the "expert" judges?  Television, politicians, and Washington DC would have you believe that it should be Michelle Rhee, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Charter School Founders, Hedge Fund Leaders, and Arne Duncan.  Oh, and let us not forget the CEO's of the companies that make all the standardized test because they want someone who will teach to their test so that they can get richer.

If you are wanting to determine the best teachers, shouldn't you ask students, parents, administrators, teacher educators, and fellow teachers?  Shouldn't they be on the panel?  So far, every program, meeting, panel, and decision about education seems to be missing that one important group of people....the people education influences the most, educators.

Part of me believes educators are left out due to fear.  Fear that our voices will be heard.  Fear that what really needs to be done to fix education will have little to do with making a profit.  The average American citizen fails to realize that education is where big money can be made.  The greatest idea for fixing schools could be the next gold mine for an entrepreneur.  Heck, even Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is starting to get in on the action with his donation to Newark, New Jersey schools. Something tells me he is just waiting for an opportunity to say: "Remember when I....."  If you still don't believe me, think about the fact that the new Chancellor of New York City Schools has a BUSINESS background and little knowledge of education.  Part of me wonders who the puppet master will be.  Education Is not a corporation for sale on the Stock Exchange.

EDUCATION REFORM SHOULD NOT EMULATE REALITY TELEVISION

EdTech Thanks

With the United States holiday of Thanksgiving approaching, I thought it would be great to share things that I am thankful for that relate to educational technology.  Feel free to add to this list in the comment section, or create your own list on your blog and then link back to it.

1.) I am thankful to work in a district that embraces technology use by teachers and students and sees the need to continue embracing educational technology.

2.) I am thankful for a district that is forward thinking and has embraced the use of social media at administrative, teacher, and student levels.  Our district recently created a District Facebook page.

3.) I am thankful for software companies that recognize the financial restraints placed on school districts and offer their product for free or for a reduced price.  It means so much to so many teachers.

4.) I am thankful for teachers who embrace technology integration in the classroom with an open mind.

5.) I am thankful for teachers who challenge me and my thoughts about integrating technology in the classroom, because one way I can grow is through constructive criticism.

6.) I am thankful for teachers who struggle with integrating technology because it is those teachers who bring the most reward when they experience success with technology integration.

7.) I am thankful for the development of my Professional Learning Network and all the great educators who help me grow and keep me grounded everyday. 

8.) I am thankful for my own experience with this blog, as it brings a type of personal reward that is hard to find.

What are you thankful for?

Weekly Core Subjects Resources

Another week, another serving of resources for English, Math, Science, and Social Studies.  I included an extra one this time for Music Teachers as well.  It still amazes me how much is out there for teachers to use with students in their classroom.

English

WordCounter is a site for students to copy and paste the words from a paper and get detailed information about the words and types of words contained in their piece of writing.  Students can also use it for research to find a particular subject in a paper they are looking for.  WordCounter can limit the search to 25 words, or as many as 200.  You can choose to remove common English words if you want as well.  It is currently only available to copy and paste.  Uploading will be available in the future.

Mathematics
DeadLine is a freeware download that provides software to help you with math and engineering problems.  You get a calculator and tool to help plot graphs.  It recognizes the most common mathematics functions and uses those to solve equations. 

Calculation Nation is a site where visitors can create an account and then participate in several math style games and then compete against other users online or against themselves.  There are 9 games available and I tried several of them.  I could see these being used in middle school math classes.  You can learn about the games by visiting the Educators/Parents Page.

Social Studies
The Flow of History is a site created by a teacher that examines how historical events impact each other through the years.  You can find several resources as well as flow charts that help explain how history flows.  You can find the resources broken down by the units of study which can be helpful when studying a specific time period. 

The Library of Congress has a great website.  What is even better is that they have a great website for Teachers.  The For Teachers section of the Library of Congress has several lesson plans and activities to use with their site.  You will find classroom materials and primary source documents as well as several presentations that you can use in the classroom. 

Science
Microscope Measurement is a site to virtually learn how to use a microscope.  There are several other interactive tutorials that you might want to look at.  This seems like a very practical resource for the classroom.  There are even learning goals that go with each tutorial.

Wikispecies is a partner site for Wikipedia that focuses on Species.  There are over 240,000 entries that you can search through.  You can search through plants, animals, insects, etc.  Very promising, but like all Wikipedia sites, students should use with caution and carefully examine the sources for the information. 

The Chemical Education Digital Library is a site with resources available for teaching chemistry.  I will avoid reinventing the wheel and point you to Free Technology for Teachers to get a good description of the site, since that is where I learned about the site. 

3M Science of Everyday Life is a website from Discovery Education aimed at assisting visitors to understand how science plays a role in our everyday life.  There is a section for teachers (Resources and Lesson Plans), students (Games, Activities, and Virtual Labs), and parents (Activities and Resources).  There is also a section titled Innovation HQ which examines how innovation is helping with progress.

ToxTown is a site dedicated to sharing how toxic chemicals can impact our daily lives at work, home, and in play.  There is an index to disasters and terminology for different chemicals.  There is a special area for teachers as well. 

Biological Animations is a site that provides several animations for several topics and processes in Biology.  There are animations for Enzymes, Cell Structures, Membrane Transports, etc.

Science Review Games is a site to help students study for science exams across the curriculum.  Games are broken down by subject matter and then students can find games for the unit that they are studying. 


Music

KISSTUNES is a site that uses your computer keyboard to play the piano.  You can just play around on the piano, or you can actually record what you are playing.  Learning the keys on the keyboard takes some getting used to, but it is still kind of neat.  You can choose from three different instruments - Electric Piano, Grand Piano, and Vibraphone.  If you create an account you can save your recordings. 

ScreenCastle - One Click Screencasting

ScreenCastle is a One Click screencasting tool that uses Java to create a simple screen-cast.  It is a great option for people who want an easy way to create a screen-cast.  I have created a demo of the tools in action for a section of this blog post.  When you open the tool to record, it appears at the top of the screen.  When you are finished, you just run your mouse over a red line that appears at the top of your screen.  You then click the stop recording button.  You can then preview your screen-cast and save it.  Once saved, you get tons of options for what to do with that video.  ScreenCastle easily provides you the links, embed codes, Image links, etc; see image below.

Below is the embedded video of my sample.