I’m always so impressed with the collection and diversity of blog posts that come from the blogs of Ontario Educators. Check out this Livebinder for my collection. Here are a few of the posts that I enjoyed recently.
Using Video to capture quadratic motion
Last week at this time, Brandon Grasley was talking out loud about ideas to work with quadratics. Over the course of the week, he put his plan into action. Read this post to find out how it turned out and how Desmos was there to help.
It actually looks like a great deal of fun! The video adds an additional element as he gets his students to explore this and other phenomena.
A Global Survey – Electricity Usage
Heather Theijsmeijer describes a global project her students are involved with. The post is incredibly complete and, by the time you’re done with it, you’ll be able to replicate it if you’re interested. She starts with how she plans the whole project with components of electricity and astronomy.
She had me hooked to read the entire post with the word “global”.
The magic that pulls it all together is a Google Form with results collected in a Google Spreadsheet. At the time of posting, she claims 400 contributors from 36 different countries. I was a little freaked out when I looked at the results and saw my name there until I realized she was sharing the live results.
So, I just had to know…I scrolled down and the contributors now sit at 472. The neat thing is scrolling through the document looking at the source of the entries.
As an aside, she just logged into the spreadsheet so I’m not enjoying the results alone!
You know what? The kids are all right. Check out this reflection from a Grade 6 student in Heidi Siwak’s classroom.
I was impressed with the quality of the writing and the quality of the reflection.
I can easily see why Heidi decided to share it. Wow!
I think Tim King’s comment in the sidebar sums up the result of the effective use of electronics in the classroom.
Students create astonishing work with Arduino.
Instead of electronics being something that is
done to them, Arduino lets them author their
relationship with electronics.
But don’t stop with Arduino. Tim shares his thoughts about Galileo and Edison as well.
I like his philosophy. I think it applies here and in so many ways. If you haven’t done so already, you need to read Douglas Rushkoff’s “Program or be Programmed“.
Growth Mindset, Meditation and the Voices Inside my Head
In my circles lately, there has been a great deal of discussion about mindsets as well as mindfulness. It’s a good discussion but at 140 characters, a little short in depth.
Tina Zita more than makes up for this in this blog post.
The post goes through her experiences as she works her way through the course and assignments. Very open, she shares her journal.
And, there’s an App for that.
What a wonderful collection and sharing of continuous learning from these Ontario Educators! Please take a moment to click through and enjoy the complete posts. The link at the very top of this post will let you access the entire list of Ontario Edubloggers. If you’re not there, please use the form and get yourself added.
doug -- off the record 
Please share your thoughts here. I’d enjoy reading them.