This Week in Ontario Edublogs

 

Another great week of reading from Ontario Edublogs.  Here’s but a few of the things that caught my attention.

John Seely Brown at PLP Live and #ECOO12

Peter Skillen shares his thoughts about the chance to hear from John Seely Brown.  He will be one of the keynote speakers at the ECOO Conference in Toronto in October.  Registration is now open for the event.  I’m equally as exited as Peter for this and all of the speakers/presentations at ECOO.  It promises to be another great teacher-directed conference.  Have you registered?  You can do so at the ECOO website.

My “Welcome to School” Letter

Well, Shannon Smith is certainly off to a good, transparent start to her new job as Principal of Glen Cairn Public School in Ottawa.  In a recent post, she shares with the world her “Welcome to School” letter that is principally directed to the parents of the students in her charge.  She touches many important bases so important these days such as community of learners, critical thinking and problem solving, and of course, how all of this dovetails with her employer’s strategic plan.  How many other principals do this?  Why don’t they all?  After all, it is a message to staff and community of the direction the school will take.

WELCOME BACK!

So, if a public blog is good enough for a principal, why not for a classroom teacher?  Brian Aspinall let’s the parents know of his happiness of being a Sundevil.  At his own self-hosted site, he plans to keep everyone informed as to what’s happening in his classroom.  What a great concept.  He must have had a great education at the Faculty of Education.

In addition to all of the things that would happen in an intermediate classroom, his students should be in for a great ride.  Brian brings a very strong background in technology to the classroom.  This will be a good classroom to keep tabs on.

Why does school need to change? Because students have changed,

I admit that I’m a sucker for posts like this.  They very clearly outline what makes a classroom teacher so special.  If you believe the rhetoric that you’ll find as you read the teacher bashing that’s so common these days – teachers make a gazillion dollars, work from 9-3, get paid every day that they are sick and don’t take the day off, and teach the same way all 30 years of their time in the profession.  If you believe any of this, then you need to read and ponder Andrew Campbell’s post.

From his post, here are some truisms about this year’s crop of Grade 9 students…

Check out these great posts at the links above or all of the good things from Ontario Educators at the LiveBinder site.  If you’re an Ontario Edublogger, please visit and add your site to the list.

Related articles

• This Week in Ontario Edublogs (dougpete.wordpress.com)
• This Week in Ontario Edublogs (dougpete.wordpress.com)
• This Week in Ontario Edublogs (dougpete.wordpress.com)
• This Week in Ontario Edublogs (dougpete.wordpress.com)
• Don’t Hurt Yourself with Social Media (dougpete.wordpress.com)
• TTT#304 Celebrate Connected Teacher Kevin Hodgson w/ Terry Elliott, Troy Hicks, Nanci Burke, Joseph McCaleb, Aram Kabodian 6.27 (teachersteachingteachers.org)
• Edudemic List of 50 Must-See Blogs For Special Education Teachers (pattidudek.typepad.com)

 

Advertisement

OTR Links 08/31/2012

• The Internet vs. Facebook in 10 Years [infographic] | Social Media Today

  “I recently stumbled across an interesting infographic as it made the rounds across the social web recently. Created by bestedsites.com, the graphic visualizes the meteoric rise of the Internet in just 10 years. “

  tags: internet facebook infographic social social media media

• 14 Edtech Integration Tips & 20+ Resources for the School Year : Teacher Reboot Camp

  ““Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important.” ~ Bill Gates”

  tags: edtech integration tips resources school teacher reboot camp

• A Teacher’s Guide to Communicating with Parents | EdSurge News

  ”
  “I’m already getting parent phone calls and it’s August! Can technology help me manage this through the year?”  “

  tags: parents guide teacher

• GIMP is Now a Self-Contained Native App for Mac OS X

  “GIMP, the image editing program that’s a popular open-source alternative to Photoshop, is now easier than ever for Mac users to start using. Though it was completely free, installing it has long required that X11 also be installed — a major pain in the butt. That changes with the latest version of GIMP: the app is now a self-contained native app that’s a breeze to install. It’s as simple as dragging and dropping.”

  tags: gimp native app mac mac os x os x

• A List of 16 Websites Every Teacher should Know about

  “As part of their preparation for the new school year teachers try to look for new web resources and materials they can use to help them with their teaching.This is definitely not an easy task for one needs to live online in order to be able to keep up with the new releases and sift through the tsunami of web tools available online. In this regard, Educational Technology and Mobile Learning has recently started posting a series of articles featuring some of the best free web resources for teachers across different educational spectrum.”

  tags: edchat websites edtech

• Lesson Plans and Resources for Arts Integration | Edutopia

  “Dance in science, pop art in Spanish, or photography in math — there’s no end to the ways arts can be integrated into other curricula. Educators from Bates Middle School, in Annapolis, Maryland, share arts-integrated lessons and resources that you can use in your school.”

  tags: arts lesson plans resources

• Best Practices for Deploying iPads in Schools | MindShift

  “As schools get ready to deploy iPads this year, each one is scrambling to figure out how to develop an efficient and effective system that works. With no standardized system or uniform roadmap to follow, at the moment, it’s up to individual schools to reach out through their networks to find information about best practices and smooth, streamlined service.”

  tags: ipads education

• Skype – The Big Blog – Happy 9th Birthday, Skype

  “It was Alexander Graham Bell who invented the telephone and made the first call ever in 1876, and it was Motorola that invented the first cellular phone in 1973. It was Skype that joined in on these revolutionary moments in communications history on this date nine years ago with a little piece of software. “

  tags: skype blog birthday

• THIS is Why Multitasking is Failing You (Infographic) | Social Media Consultant | Social Media Agency | Social Marketing

  “Did you know a majority of us merely think we’re multitasking?

  We’re actually serial tasking. Multitasking is doing multiple things at the same time, whereas serial tasking is shifting from one task to another in rapid successi”

  tags: multitasking infographic social social media media consultant agency social marketing marketing

• Java 7 Security Vulnerability Discovered, Here’s How To Protect Yourself

  “A new potentially dangerous Java security vulnerability has been discovered that could allow malicious code to run on a Java-enabled computer, be it a Mac or Windows PC.”

  tags: java security vulnerability how to

• New Video Compression Technology Will Cut Bandwidth Use in Half, Says Ericsson | PCWorld

  “HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) will revolutionize delivery of TV services to all types of devices including smartphones and tablets, according to Ericsson, which will launch what it says will be the first live TV encoder compatible with the technology at the IBC trade show next month.”

  tags: video compression technology will bandwidth half says ericsson pcworld

• Five Tips for New Teachers to Become Connected Educators | Teaching with Soul

  “While the idea of being or becoming a connected educator is important, as a new teacher, this may seem completely overwhelming. There are resources in abundance for this month of learning, such as the CEM Starter Kit and theConnected Educator Month Calendar. These sites are packed with wonderful information, truly enough to get the head of a new teacher spinning!”

  tags: tips teachers connected educators teaching soul

• 3 Reasons To Switch Your LMS | Upside Learning Blog

  “For most organizations, there are multiple reasons for switching over to a new LMS. Scalability issues, outdated features, complicated GUI, lack of technical support from the vendor – are just a few of the many reasons.”

  tags: reasons switch lms upside learning blog

• Twenty five FREE online tutorials for learning Android programming — freewaregenius.com

  “What these courses have in common, aside from the focus on Android development, is that they are all 100% free. You should be able to get yourself started off on developing your first app, and those who have some development experience will find advanced topics covered as well.”

  tags: twenty free online tutorials learning android programming com

• ZaidLearn: Using Social Media for Research (APAME 2012)

  “‘Using Social Media for Research’ will be presented on the 2nd September (Insya-Allah) at the APAME Convention 2012.”

  tags: using social social media media research

• Most students want money smarts taught…

  But while the typical student will face a crushing debt load by the time they finish college or university – an average of almost $27,000, according to the Canadian Federation of Students – very few feel they are prepared to cope with personal finances after high school.

  tags: students money

• Back to school: technology tips for parents – thestar.com

  “‘Is it a toy or a tool?’ is the question that every parent should be asking when considering purchasing new technology for back to school. The great thing about many devices is the variety of tasks they can be used for.”

  tags: school technology tips parents com

• Socialize your Blog | The Daily Post at WordPress.com

  “Remember that old saying that went something like, “Get new followers, but keep the old”? Okay, I may be stretching the truth a bit here, but one thing’s for sure: it’s always a joy to get new readers. Part of blogging is putting yourself out there to build relationships with those who come back to your site again and again.”

  tags: blog daily post wordpress com

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.