Looking for Teacher Grants for your Classroom? Grant Wrangler is a free site that offers a bi-weekly newsletter delivering the latest grants and awards directly to your email box. Grant Wrangler also offers grant writing tips and many other grant-related resources.
Teacher’s Website Full of Practical, Helpful Tips Ms. Powell created this her website several years ago, “for sharing tools to overcome discipline issues, disorganization, paperwork overload, and the regimented, boring curriculums that drive so many teachers from the classroom each year.” I found some terrific math games as well as some great ideas about organizing materials and your classroom. It is definitely a great resource for both new and experienced teachers. Check it out!
Connect|ED Conversations
Recently a member of our community started a new discussion regarding “Bridging the Gap” Here is a little of what this member has to say:
“My annual review interview with the principal always revealed how differently the administration of the school viewed student learning from my own way of seeing it. I would always be presented with cold facts and statistics showing the progress my students had made purely in academic terms. My standardized test results (always high and very satisfactory) were seen as a measure of my teaching competence. That was not (and is still not ) the way I measure an educational process. I would leave the interview with the principal’s congratulations in my ears and yet I always felt something was out of kilter. The way to get kids turned onto learning is to get yourself turned onto teaching. Let the curriculum be the basis for your own creativity and guide the students as the discover their own ways to learn material.
The most creative group in any school are the teachers. They work extremely hard to make meaningful and pertinent learning experiences available to their students in a variety of creative ways. Given the current trend of test centered evaluation the way in which teachers, their students and the schools perform, it seems to be back in the principal’s office for that annual interview all over again only this time it’s nation wide.
I am currently pursuing two trends of exploration for myself. One is to try and examine the relationship between effective teaching and effective learning. The other is to create a group (or groups) of colleagues, current and former students to examine the human element in the humanistic approach to educational processes. When I think about it, my whole professional life has been the pursuit of these two trends.”
Want to join this conversation?Leave your thoughts here!
Another member has started a discussion about “Blogging Research“. This member is the creator of a free blogging service available to teachers and their students called ClassChatter.com. Although I have never used this service, it has been recently upgraded and looks like a great place to have your kids blog. The creator of ClassChatter is a teacher and he designed this blogging tool with a teacher’s mind and with safety features that teacher’s need! Check it out!
Timez Attack is an unbelievable, new multiplication tables game. You have to see it to believe it!! If you know of a student that is struggling with learning the multiplication tables, or you just want to offer some variety…check this out! I think it is pretty neat.
I showed my third grade students this game today and they instantly were engaged and wanted to play. We have a video projector hooked up to the computer so the screen is huge. I had one student demo the game (he learned instantly on the spot) and all the kids were cheering out the multiplication facts, helping him defeat the number troll that is part of the game.
I encouraged the students to download the free version at home as another way of practing. The great thing about the game is that the free version works on both Mac and PC computers and teaches multiplication tables 1 - 12! Click here to learn more about the game!
I’ve decided to add a couple past newsletters to the blog. In the future I will add all newsletters here as well.
Academic, Arcade-style Games Online and Free
I found this website tonight and it looks like a good site to use as a center or to recommend to your students and their parents for some fun basic skills practice at home.
From the website, “ Our educational video games offer an innovative approach to teaching basic academic skills by incorporating features of arcade games and educational practices into fun online games that will motivate, intrigue, and teach your students.”
Join our Online Community of Educators!
I am just launching Progressive Educator’s online community for educators. I need professional teachers to contribute your ideas. Will you take a minute and join today?
New Content on Our Blog
I have added a couple new articles on our Blog, including a video about what a social network is and why they are important!
Did you know I send out a semi-regular newsletter? This week’s e-newsletter contained the following links. Want to get this e-news too? Subscribe here!
Free, Open Source Learning? Free-Reading.net is an “open source” instructional program that helps teachers teach early reading. Because it’s open source, it represents the collective wisdom of a wide community of teachers and researchers. It’s designed to contain a scope and sequence of activities that can support and supplement a typical “core” or “basal” program. The state of Florida has added FreeReading.net ?on its short list of K-3 supplemental reading programs that schools may use state instructional money to purchase for the 2008-09 school year. Not that Florida should be considered a model for education reform, but this site looks full of great resources. What if this model were copied for math or science or some other content area. Anyone interested in starting a project with me?
Interactive Vocabulary Website for English Learners This site is great for vocabulary development for English Learners! Click on a word collection. It loads a sound file and an interactive picture that allows you to move the cursor over any of the circles that point to parts of the picture to see and hear the word for that part. It’s hard to describe. You’ll have to take a look for yourself.
Don’t forget to join our professional community.
This video (created by Common Craft) is for people who wonder why social networking web sites are so popular. One reason is because they solve a real-world problem: they make the invisible visible. We’ll let the video explain how it works.
I would add that networks like Progressive Educator’s Connect can create a virtual space for teachers to share and grow professionally. For the past two years I have created my own professional development by reading educator blogs from around the world. It is some of the most thrilling and exciting professional development I have come across. The best part is I can participate at any hour of the day or night — in sweatpants and slippers — and I can do it all from the comfort of blue sofa in my living room!
Progressive Educator believes relationships are the bedrock of teaching and learning. We create opportunities for connecting, learning and sharing so that together we might transform our classrooms, schools, communities and public education.
Through the use of innovative tools and technologies Progressive Educator is dedicated to inspiring, training, and energizing teachers for the long haul so that we may flourish in this challenging and vital profession.
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