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Tag: 21 century learning

  • The NASSP Honors 3 School Leaders for Digital Principal Awards

    Congratulations to Michael King, Patrick Larkin, and Eric Sheninger on receiving the NASSP’s first ever Digital Principal Award. These three educators are great role models for educators who are working to engage the digital learners who are currently sitting in our classrooms across America.
    Current educators have the huge responsibility of creating digitally literate learners. For educators, saying current with new technology can be challenging and overwhelming on so many levels.
    1. Teachers & students need access to technology. Technology resources are limited in many schools and districts. Additionally, each school has a different commitment level to technology and software. However, whatever resources are available, educators need to discover the best way to engage their students. If there is limited technology in a school, perhaps the students can gain access at home or at the local town library.
    2. Teachers need professional development. Teachers cannot simply jump into technology without the training, knowledge, or expertise to teach 21st century skills effectively.  For example, twitter is a great educational tool for connecting with other teachers and students around the world. However, learning to use twitter effectively and efficiently can be very time-consuming and long process.

    Personally, I have been using twitter for the past few months and I still feel like I am learning so many new things everyday.
    3. Teachers need support and guidance from administration. Many school leaders face the same challenges as teachers when trying to learn and model 21st century teaching tools and skills. Not every school system has individuals as engaged, knowledgeable, and skilled as the three school leaders selected for this impressive award.
    The good news is individual educators can access these skills in a variety of ways. You can connect with these three leaders through social media such as twitter – @bhsprincipal, @digitalsandbox1, @NMHS_Principal. Connect with the educational leaders. Spend 20 – 30 minutes a day noticing how they are using technology. Read their blogs and the blogs they recommend.
    21st century skills are a requirement for success today, why not learn from the best? 
    The following biographies were taken directly from the NASSP website, which is another great resource for educators. Congratulations to Michael, Patrick, and Eric on this great honor.
    “Michael King, Principal, Dodge City (KS) Middle School
    http://digitalsandbox.weebly.com/
    During Mike King’s 32 years in education, his schools have been recognized with an Oklahoma Medal of Excellence and National Blue Ribbon, among other honors. He has also been individually recognized as the 2005 finalist for the Oklahoma Medal of Excellence Award Educational Administration and was a finalist for the 2005 Association of Professional Oklahoma Educators Foundation Award in Educational Administration. This success is inseparable from his commitment to advancing learning with technology and his firm belief that digital tools can help students unleash their creativity and construct knowledge. This belief provides the foundation for the Creating the Classrooms without Walls program, in which students participate in a universal learning experience, utilizing mobile tools to continually access and create multidimensional patterns of explanations of the world around them.
    Patrick Larkin, Principal, Burlington (MA) High School
    www.patrickmlarkin.com
    The hallmark of Patrick Larkin’s success as a principal is his commitment to sharing learning, and he has created numerous platforms for that sharing that have caught on across the globe. He is a cofounder of the Connected Principals blog, a group blog that promotes discussion among school leaders, and the corresponding #cpchat hashtag on Twitter. He has also directed the EdCamp Admin unconference to gather school leaders in person to discuss the use of digital tools. Larkin conducts regular Parent Tech Nights to assist parents in working with their students to maintain a healthy online profile. In 2012, he led the launch of a 1-to-1 iPad initiative, the journey of which can be found on his blog.
    Eric Sheninger, Principal, New Milford (NJ) High School
    www.ericsheninger.com
    Eric Sheninger is a rockstar among educators on Twitter, with more than 17,000 followers in his professional learning network. On that network, he shares a passion for fostering learning environments that are student-centered, collaborative, flexible, and prepare all learners to succeed in the 21st Century. Sheninger has emerged as an innovative leader in the use of social media and web 2.0 technology as tools to engage students, improve communications with stakeholders, and help educators grow professionally. Named one of the “20 to Watch” by the National School Boards Association, Sheninger is coauthor of Communicating and Connecting With Social Media: Essentials for Principals, and he blogs regularly at Huffington Post, Connected Principals, and A Principal’s Reflections. A current focus of Sheninger’s efforts is a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) initiative at New Milford High School.”
    Best of luck learning how to engage our digital learners. I hope this was useful!

  • Firefox Add-ons for Teachers

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    Arthur Bio: Carol Mortensen has twenty-three years of educational experience.  The Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) named Carol the Classroom Teacher of the Year for her innovative and creative use of technology to create a 24/7 virtual classroom using her classroom website. Carol has presented at school districts throughout Texas as well as state and local conferences on a variety of technology integration topics. Her article on the use of websites as an instructional tool was recently published in the TechEdge Magazine.  In February 2011, her article, Lessons Learning In a 1:1 Classroom, was published by TechEdge.  The article was republished in ISTE’s Learning  and Leading magazine in August 2011.  She was named Fairmont Junior High’s Teacher of the Year for the 2011-2012 school year. Educators often find themselves overwhelmed and stressed with a plate full of responsibilities that are literally flowing over.  While we may not be able to decrease the requirements that we encounter, we can take some steps to improve our efficiency in completing them.  When we do this, we are able to spend more time facilitating our students and less time on the organization and non-student contact activities. Luckily, we all have a great resource available to do just that and it’s literally been sitting right there in front of us for some time.  Firefox Add-Ons are free extensions that can be added to your Firefox browser to improve its functionality in almost every area of teaching.  From improving your own organization to providing students with free tools that support the content areas, Firefox Add-Ons can almost provide an answer for every time we stop and think “I wish there was an easier way to do this” or “If only my students had access to…”  As a bonus, the Firefox add-ons can enhance the presentation of materials and content to students to that the learning experience itself is improved and students are provided an optimal learning experience. Below are just a few examples of what’s available for educators: Clearly - How many times have you found a great resource for students online but the page ads or design was distracting for the students?  Clearly solves that problem by providing a one-click clean-up of the page so that all that remains is a clear, crisp article.  Whether displaying information in class or sending along a tutoring resource to your students, Clearly helps provide the information suitable for optimal learning.  Clearly doesn’t stop there, either. Once the page is cleared of distractions, you have the ability to change the text and background color and/or increase or decrease the font size.  For students with special needs, this is a huge benefit. Fox Tab – If you’re presenting to a student either online or face-to-face, Fox Tab is bound to improve the experience. Fox Tab serves as a speed dialer for all of your favorite websites which you choose to include.  No more fumbling for forgotten URL’s or wasted time during website transitions because you simply click on Fox Tab and an eye-appealing layout of your selected websites is waiting for you.  A simple click and you are moving on to the next important concept with your students.  The layouts are dynamic and 3D and you have the option of styles to suit you and your students’ tastes. Wired-Marker – Turn your projected or shared webpage into an interactive board that you can annotate with permanent markers.  Use them to highlight important information for your students and add important notes and information. Because the markers are permanent and will be visible upon returning to a previously visited website, you can highlight important information you don’t want to forget knowing that it will serve as a reminder when you return to the site. ReminderFox – Don’t stop and write down notes to yourself when you think of to-do tasks or write an appointment time on a sticky note for a last-minute student tutoring session change.  Instead, use ReminderFox right from your Firefox browser to quickly note all important dates and tasks.  Set reminders and you’ll find yourself never forgetting an important task again with the most minimal of effort! This is just four examples of the thousands and thousands of free tools that are available to streamline your work and improve the academic outcome for students.  You’ll find everything from graphing calculators to photo editing tools. There are tools to make browsing safer and faster.  Luckily, each tool is rated and the number of users who have downloaded the tools is shown.  User reviews are available on the page provided to each add-on, as well. It just may be that the answer for many of your work needs is readily available at no cost within the Firefox browser.  A quick install of an add-on may improve a lesson, a teaching method, or a work problem in ways you might never have imagined. If you are ready to give the Firefox Browser Add-On's a try, check out my list of Firefox Essential Add-Ons For Educators.  I’ve included 51 of my tried and true favorites including the ones mentioned earlier.  You’ll find step-by-step instructions for customizing Firefox with these Add-Ons here. Just a word of warning: Be prepared!  Once you realize the value and functionality that these tools have to offer, you are likely to be creating collections of your own!