Friday Round Up 5/25/12
Happy Memorial Day weekend to all that celebrate!
On June 7, Join the Conversation About Summer Reading
On June 7th the NY Times Learning Network is hosting a day long twitter conversation to kick off their Third Annual Summer Reading Contest which begins June 15th and runs till August 17th. On June 7th people will come together in a twitter chat with the hashtag #summerreading to share information. You can tweet your summer reading list, great suggestions for others, best places to read or ideas for starting your own book club! The learning network will be reposting their favorite tweets throughout the day. We will be participating in the day, so expect an update soon on how we plan to get involved!
Google’s 80/20 Principle Adopted at New Jersey School
Fifty-five teachers from New Milford High School in New Jersey were given a break from their typical lunch and hall monitor duties 2-3 times per week to make room for a 48 minute professional development period where they could focus on teaching related issues that interested them. (Based on the Google model which gives employees 20% of their time to pursue company related topics that interest them.) Teachers have focused on interdisciplinary projects, differentiated assessment and ways to integrate technology into their curriculums. The results have been fantastic. Student behavior has remained the same, yet teachers now have the opportunity to record videos to attempted a flipped classroom and integrated more technology into their daily student lessons. At the end of the year teachers are required to hand in professional development logs where they report the topics the studied and how it enhanced their learning. Next year they will even begin to create portfolios on what they’ve accomplished.
The Most Honest Commencement Speech You’ll Never Hear
Lisa Bloom starts this article by sharing the grim reality that many of our college graduates have diminished expectations for their future as they graduate debt-ridden with high unemployment rates. (43% of high school females would rather be a celebrity assistant than a CEO or college president) Many students year for jobs, independence and adulthood, yet they are forced to move back home with parents often working jobs outside of their chose field much below their chosen salary rate. At the end Bloom gives her own version of a commencement speech, apologizing for her generation, which she believes has failed recent graduates by not providing low cost education and jobs after graduation.
Eight Free Tools for Teachers to Make Awesome Infographics!
I love infographics! (You can check out our own infographic pinterest board here) Recently it has become very easy to make high quality infographics of your own, so check out this great article if you’re interested in making one of your own!
