Series
Smart Cities: Raleigh/Durham
Research Triangle Park (RTP) is the nation’s largest R&D center with 7,000 acres and 170 companies including DuPont, Glaxo, IBM, EMC as well as NIH, EPA, and CDC. The triangle refers to three top-notch universities: Duke in Durham, UNC In Chapel Hill, and NC State in Raleigh. There’s also NC Central (an HBCU), a leader in biomanufacturing.
Good Work: It’s Easter, Get Busy
We have created a complicated mess of things on this planet--a set of complex systems we can no longer manage, systems that benefit a relative few. It’s our job to fix things--the daily tasks of making things new: teach, heal, care, create. That’s the message of Easter and Passover--it’s time for an extreme makeover, for the ultimate maker faire. Time to get busy. Reconciliation requires leadership. We need to take a stand in favor of those less blessed.
Educreations: Adding Value to the Classroom
Double your capacity as a teacher. Let students learn from your own video as you navigate through the room acting as the facilitator to your own instruction, keeping students on task and providing live support where needed.
EdTech 10: No Break for EdTech
I don’t know about all of you, dear readers, but next week our family is hitting the road for a spring break adventure. Has this blissful seasonal milestone already passed for you? Or perhaps your spring breakin’ days are long gone altogether. Either way, there’s plenty of adventure in this week’s EdTech 10 to keep you busy. And, fear not, the Getting Smart team will bring you next week’s top ten - same time, same station, different conductor.
My Big Adventure with BYOD
I’m not exactly a newcomer to BYOD (bring your own device) teaching. And I’m no stranger to sneaking it in under the radar either. At the moment, I’m testing various devices with my fifth and sixth-graders, with the blessing of my students’ parents, my technology support team, and my administration. I’ve learned a few things in the process.
22 Power Cards to Revolutionize a Class Discussion
The traditional model was not working. They needed a change. So, my colleague and I turned to some trusty characters and powerful forms of expression. How do characters like Santa, Yoda, Superman, and Socrates sound? What about powers labeled nose-to-nose, apps, sing, and resurrection? Sound boring?
EdTech 10: EdTech Equinox
This week brought us the official arrival of Spring. In honor of the Vernal Equinox - with its equal amounts of day and night, we thought we’d deliver this week’s Top 10 - with equal parts education and technology. Enjoy!
It’s the Right Place and Right Time for Geo-location Timelines
myHistro Extended is an engaging “DO” activity for students. It’s important for students to be able to construct a narrative and have the skills to deliver that narrative visually. They also need to be able to visualize change over time. The app allows students to organize information in their timelines (text content, dates, geo-location, links, images, videos) and showcase their finished products.
Detroit: Pulling Out of the Death Spiral
“The Motor City’s traditional district remains the worst-performing big-city school operator in both the Midwest and the nation,” reported RiShawn Biddle. “With 69 percent of its fourth-graders and 57 percent of eighth-graders being functionally illiterate in 2011, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, Detroit has become infamous for perpetuating educational neglect and malpractice.” Biddle notes, “the district’s financial mismanagement has been even more spectacular.”
EdTech 10: Popes, Particles & Personalized Learning
This week’s global headlines included the appointment of new Pope (with #newpope knocking #sxsw from the top spot in trending tweets) and the confirmation of the Higgs Boson “God particle” (a pretty cool return on the $9B investment in the Large Hadron Collider). Were you too busy with…