Connectors

I am reading a very interesting book titled "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell. I just started reading and what I find fascinating is that we are all brought together by people who are connectors and these connectors seem to have a special way about them where they can become the tipping point of relationships, economics and trends.

This book is so interesting and also brings up the fact that Paul Revere was a connector thus the reason he was able to reach so many colonist telling them that the British were coming. The fact that there was another messenger named William Dawes, who was tasked with alerting another part of Boston was never recognized in history since his efforts were unsuccessful.

Why? You ask. Two people given the same task to share the same critical information and one succeeds and the other fails...Paul was the connector.

To be continued.

Reaching Out

Now that you have been exposed to blogs and will use them with your students this school year, think about what you will do next year. Planning ahead is what teachers do so here's an example of how a teacher in Staten Island gets to know her students before she even meets them!



Sharing ideas is another way that we learn...we are life long learners.

NYLearns - Posting Assignments

Here's the answer to posting assignments to your NYLearns website. Classes need to be created so that you can link an assignment to a particular class. Sign into your NYLearns account and click on the HELP button located on the upper right and download the training manual.

Review the following pages in the NYLearns manual:

Page 54 - How to Create Classes
Page 81 - Assignments

I hope you find the document as a valuable resource. Keep it handy.

Why Teachers Teach!

Why do you teach?

Pay Attention!

Watch this video and be inspired to integrate technology into your classroom. We need to catch up.

How To Wiki

Cute and to the point. This video is a good video to share with your students when you introduce wikis.

Enjoy. Let me know what you think!

Internet Safety - iSafe

Please post your thoughts about today's lesson and visit www.isafe.org to get the latest information on cyber safety.

Using the Internet is the way of the future. Our students are digital natives and the Internet has become a large part of their everyday life. Taking away the Internet is not an option. We are all stakeholders when it comes to our students/children.

As an educator, what can you do to keep our students safe when they are online.

NYLearns

NYLearns provides a plethora of lessons, documents and resources that are aligned with the NYS standards. One such resource is the ability to quickly create assessments for are alignedwith the NYS standards. For example: assessment builder can be used to prepare your students for high stakes test and is also a means of identifying needs and improving student acheivement.

In your opinion, what resource do you find to be the most useful and why? Also share how you will use this valuable resource with your students or target audience.

Sharing for Success...

As learners/educators with the shared vision of improving student acheivement with the support of technology it is important that we begin to network and share information, share resources and share knowledge as a global community in order to prepare our students for the future.

With this in mind, I ask that you share your wikispace address to this post so that it can be available to all BCSummer2007 members. The internet has provided us with the ability for on-going 24/7 communication.

Although all good things must come to an end, I will expect you to continue your ed-tech journey with your colleagues via the Web 2.0. Continue to expand your horizons and stay current with the ever-changing evolution of technology. Be sure to expand your network and invite more colleagues into your circle. Many hands make for light work!

Knowledge should not be a secret. Share and we will all grow.

Remember to add your wikispaces address to this post.

Self Improvement

Reflection is the first step to improvement...

Now that your colleagues have shared their wikispaces and blogs with you. Think about what you saw today in terms of layout, content and creativity.

What would you do to make your wiki and/or better?

Teacher Offerings

The DOE will be launching technology courses for teachers across the city come September 2007. In order to survey your needs and interests, list the skills, applications or things that you would like to learn in terms of using technology in the classroom with your students.

Please be honest.

Google Docs

Google Docs is a versatile and amazing collaborative tool. Reflect on today's activities and think about how you will use this in your personal and professional life.