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Complete this PD from home. Check out Rick Wormeli: "RW helps teachers understand and work towards change in education away from the traditional school model. He will push our thinking on what is ethical as well as motivate us to develop systems that work for our schools."

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Keep sharing out what you learned, join in the other fun here at the hive. There is all sorts of things buzzing around from #HiveSketches to #HiveSnaps and not to mention the #HiveBreakout! Please continue to help bring more people to the Hive by sharing this out with educators you know.

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Templates can guide the creation of a well-organized and authentic project.

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Uncategorized › PBL Rubrics and Templates

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No matter your subject area, you can encourage students to think like a disciplinarian and encourage talent development.

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Dan Meyer's methods prompt Ss to stop and think

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Dan Meyer's methods prompt Ss to stop and think

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He's funny and believes it's a wonderful time to be a math teacher.

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The Importance of Innovation in Teaching

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The Importance of Innovation in Teaching

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This piece includes an example from an eighth grade science class.

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By Daniel C. Edelson, Ph.D.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Giving people an image of what learning could be like is a really important part of improving education. Students, teachers, administrators, parents, policy makers, and community members have remarkably similar views of what education looks like, and those views have not changed much since we were in school.

Despite the fact that the dominant image is in conflict with much of what we know about how children and adolescents learn best, it is deeply ingrained in our culture. It is so ingrained that approaches to education that differ from this model are typically met with resistance by participants and stakeholders.

If you want to make students and teachers uncomfortable, ask them to work in a configuration that goes against convention. Ask most American high school students to sit in a circle or to share their work with others in small groups, and they will squirm with discomfort. Ask most American principals to evaluate the quality of teaching and learning in a classroom in which students are moving around the classroom, talking and arguing, and making messes, and they will conclude that the teacher is unable to control the students and that learning is being undermined by the disorder. And yet, these are precisely the kinds of conditions that have been shown to maximize learning.

Along with traditional views about the conditions that lead to learning, most of us carry around traditional views about what constitutes learning. Most of us were educated in a system that focused very heavily on learning facts, and we still tend to associate the state of being well-educated with knowing a lot of facts. Even as we say that 21st-century citizens and workers need to be able to think critically, solve complex problems, and work in teams, we assess the progress of students in terms of what they know.

If we are serious about educating a generation of geo-literate citizens, it is important that we break down our own out-of-date views about learning and replace them with new images of how we should educate young people and what kind of knowledge and skills we should be aiming for. Here's an example.

Consider the following two descriptions of how teachers might teach the first day of a unit on climate for eighth graders. (These are fictionalized composites based on real teachers and students.)

In one classroom, Ms. Brown projects several maps displaying global distribution of temperatures at different times of year and asks her students to identify and discuss interesting patterns.

In her classroom, Ms. Scarlet gives each of her students six crayons and a map of the world displaying continent outlines. She asks them to draw their best guess of what the distribution of temperatures is like all around the world in the month of July.

The day before, when Ms. Scarlet told Ms. Brown about this activity, Ms. Brown warned her she was making a big mistake. Ms. Brown told Ms. Scarlet that her eighth graders will get frustrated because they won't know enough to color the map in. Worse, she argued, the students are likely to draw things that are incorrect, and it's dangerous to have students do things like that if you won't be able to correct them.

At the beginning of her lesson, Ms. Scarlet grew concerned that Ms. Brown had been right. Even though they were excited about getting crayons, her students were slow to start drawing, and Ms. Scarlet saw them looking nervously at each other's papers. After a few minutes, though, they became very engaged in the temperature-drawing activity. In fact, she only wanted them to spend 5 minutes drawing their temperature maps so she could begin discussing them, but her students insisted on taking 10. When she asked them what they drew and why, two-thirds of the students' hands shot up. Over the course of the discussion, several students shouted questions out of turn about what the "real" temperatures were and why temperatures are different from place to place. At the end of the discussion, in which students voiced many thoughts-some right and some wrong-about the factors that influence temperature, they practically begged her to show them a map of global temperature distributions.

In Ms. Brown's class, on the other hand, the lesson was very different. After Ms. Brown put her global temperature maps on the projector, she had to ask three different prompting questions about what they saw in the map and wait a full 30 seconds-an eternity in front of a classroom-until one student reluctantly raised her hand and said, "It looks like it's warmer closer to the equator." After a few more minutes of discussion, in which a handful of students each identified a pattern, Ms. Brown instructed them to take out their books and start reading about the causes of temperature variation.

Ms. Scarlet's approach made Ms. Brown uncomfortable. She didn't like the unfamiliar practice of asking students to do a task before they'd been taught to do it. It even made the students uncomfortable at first. They aren't used to speculating, and Ms. Scarlet had to reassure them that they wouldn't be graded on their maps or even asked to hand them in.

However, in the end, Ms. Scarlet's activity was much more engaging to students, and it achieved its goal more effectively than Ms. Brown's. Both activities were intended to get students to notice patterns in global temperature and develop interest in the sources of those patterns. Ms. Brown's assumed that students would be naturally motivated to notice differences and be curious about them. Ms. Scarlet's recognized that they wouldn't be, and it engaged them in an activity in which they had to draw on what they knew in a way that made them curious about what they didn't know. Ms. Scarlet's lesson is also based on research that says that if you ask students to articulate their current understanding of a phenomenon before you teach them something new about it, they learn the new material more effectively because they can connect it to their existing understanding. Ms. Brown was afraid the map-drawing activity might reinforce a student's misconception, but in fact, the reverse is true. By eliciting students' misconceptions, a teacher increases the likelihood that they will replace the old in their memories with the new.

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The Importance of Innovation in Teaching

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By Daniel C. Edelson, Ph.D. Tuesday, November 1, 2011 Giving people an image of what learning could be like is a really important part of improving education. Students, teachers, administrators, parents, policy makers, and community members have remarkably similar views of what education looks like, and those views have not changed much since we were in school.

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Wagner shares how his negative experiences as a student influenced his desire to reimagine school. He also discusses his experience as a teacher (10 years as a HS teacher) and as an administrator.

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Tony Wagner | Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox

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Leslie Wilcox welcomes Tony Wagner to Long Story Short.

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Dr. Larry Rosen explains how different generations use different technologies

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Dr. Larry Rosen explains how different generations use different technologies

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At 9 minutes, he discusses how teachers (and education) can adapt to the needs of today's learners (since their brains and habits have developed differently, due to technology). He is the author of Rewired (2010), a book that explains generational differences at home, school, and work. In this book, he makes many suggestions for teachers.

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George Couros, Author of The Innovator's Mindset

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George Couros, Author of The Innovator's Mindset

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He emphasizes the importance of embracing change and why many teachers resist change. Student testimony encourages us to reflect: Are schools teaching for yesterday or tomorrow? He shares many examples of how Ts can empower their Ss.

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#OurVoice: George Couros at TEDxBurnsvilleED

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George Couros, Parkland School Division George Couros is the Division Principal of Innovative Teaching and Learning for Parkland School Division in Alberta, Canada. He is a leader in the area of innovation, his focus is always the development of leadership and people to do what is best for kids.

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Kayla Delzer advocates for student-centered learning

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Kayla Delzer advocates for student-centered learning

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She employs a students-teaching-student model. She provides examples, such as Genius Hour.

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Reimagining Classrooms: Teachers as Learners and Students as Leaders | Kayla Delzer | TEDxFargo

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The blog, podcast, and videos offer many innovative teaching methods.

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Marc Prensky discusses the needs of today's "digital natives"

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Marc Prensky discusses the needs of today's "digital natives"

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He argues that our education system needs to work harder to nurture creativity.

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Do schools kill creativity? | Sir Ken Robinson | TED

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How to escape education's death valley - Sir Kenneth Robinson

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How to escape education's death valley - Sir Kenneth Robinson

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He outlines three principles crucial for the human mind to flourish --and how current education culture works against them.

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How to escape education's death valley | Sir Ken Robinson

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Changing Education Paradigms - Sir Kenneth Robinson 

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Changing Education Paradigms - Sir Kenneth Robinson 

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He explains (the gist of) the history of education and why today's system needs to change.

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RSA ANIMATE: Changing Education Paradigms

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Literacy guru Pernille Ripp organizes a fall read aloud that allows students and teachers from around the world to connect and discuss a shared text. Last year, 7th graders read A Long Walk to Water and connected with students in Canada and Japan via a shared blog space and Flipgrid.

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The project was created in 2010 with a simple goal in mind; one book to connect the world. From its humble beginnings, the GRA has grown to make a truly global connection with milllions of students having participated.

What is it?

The premise is simple; we pick a book to read aloud to our students during a set 6-week period and during that time we try to make as many global connections as possible. Each teacher decides how much time they would like to dedicate and how involved they would like to be. Some people choose to connect with just one class, while others go for as many as possible. The scope and depth of the project is up to you. While there are commonly used such as Skype, Twitter, Padlet, or Flipgrid, you choose the tools that will make the most sense for you. Teachers get a community of other educators to do a global project with, hopefully inspiring them to continue these connections through the year.

When is it?

Once a year, starting in early October and running through mid-November. Due to the time commitment, this is only a once a year project, however, two fantastic spin-off projects run at other times; the New Zealand Read Aloud and the French version of GRA, Ecouter Lire le Monde.

I have questions as a Participant

Please see " For Participants" to have all of your questions answered.

I have questions as an Author

Please see "For Authors" to have all of your questions answered.

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To see the blog with the latest news and ideas, go here. To join our Facebook Community, go here - this is how you sign up The project was created in 2010 with a simple goal in mind; one book to connect the world. From its humble beginnings, the GRA has grown to make a...

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Combine learning goals and community service. Students can design projects that will help their local, national, or global society. For example, readers of A Long Walk to Water can come up with ways to raise $1000 to build a well in South Sudan.

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Iron Giraffe Challenge Salva's Thank You The H20 Project Resources for Educators Speaker Request Form A Long Walk to Water FAQ Merchandise and Books

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Middle school math teacher (now coordinator) shares innovative lessons

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Middle school math teacher (now coordinator) shares innovative lessons

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King's Edutopia publications and website seem to share innovative (and tested) ideas for the middle school math classroom.

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As a new teacher I remember getting into my classroom for the first time. I set up the space like classrooms I had seen before and enjoyed; I got my lesson plans in order; packed the filing cabinets with resources; started to make copies of overhead slides; put together an area for reading and stacked the shelves with books I had picked up in college or from my parents house.

Then the students arrived, and all my plans went out the window. I realized very quickly that the type of teaching I had been exposed to and grew up with, and the type of teaching taught at many undergrad programs...was quickly becoming a past practice. That's not to say many of the pedagogical and instructional strategies I learned don't stick with me today (the good ones always will) but these students were different learners than I was...and at the time I was only 22 years old.

After teaching in a nice classroom of my own at the middle school I jumped up to the high school ranks and became a "floating" teacher. We had recently joined the "Classrooms of the Future" movement and every teacher in our district received a Macbook. Many teachers had a cart of 30 Macbooks in their classroom, and every room had a SmartBoard installed. I taught in four separate classrooms and learned to digitally organize my classroom and instruction.

Flash forward eight years and the classrooms look very different in my same school district. In the two years since my district began our 1:1 laptop initiative our classrooms have evolved once more. New technology, new standards, and new content. Throughout this process I have tried my best to stay on top of where education is headed and what are the emerging "next" practices. Now when I talk to teachers in my district and around the country, I try to focus on the key elements of innovative teaching. With technology, standards, and content continually changing...these "innovative commandments" give teachers a starting point regardless of their situation.

1. Innovative teachers must offer choice

Commandment #1 might be the most important. I spent a lot of time as a teacher figuring out new ways to inspire and motivate my students. Sometimes it worked, but often I would fail to reach all of them. Then one day I gave my students choice. Not some "fake choice" assignment where they could pick one topic out of a box of topics...but REAL choice. You know what happened? Students were inspired and motivated to learn by themselves...and by each other. And they did a much better job at inspiring then I ever could. Choice gives students the ability to go above and beyond our curricular limitations...try to give as much choice as possible and watch your students innovate.

2. Innovative teaching allows for failure

Maybe this one should be re-labled "provide growth opportunities". We learn best after failing. In fact, you should start promoting epic failures in your classroom. Give a round of applause when students fail because now the learning can really begin. This doesn't work too well with tests...but with projects it is great! If you create a culture where failure is not only accepted, but embraced...your students will not be afraid to challenge themselves.

3. Mentorship comes in all forms

Remember when learning was hard? It took time to find an answer. You had to search the library, ask the right teacher, or find some type of adult of expert who had knowledge and ask for guidance. Today's learners can find out what a professor at MIT thinks about the future of robots...and we have to be ok that his/her answer if most likely much better than ours ever would be. In the same fashion we have to model to our students where to find the "right answers" to their questions. Their learning mentor could be Google, Siri, YouTube, Udemy, Quora etc. These sites and platforms can connect our learners to better information than we ever had, it would be a shame for us not to show them how to best use it!

4. Technology with a purpose

I recently had a teacher ask me what I thought about Prezi. I told them I really liked it for some uses and then asked them what they were going to use it for... They responded that their students needed to do a presentation and Prezi seemed like a cool new format to present. I agreed. When I dug deeper on the assignment it was short 1-2 minute presentation on a recent medical discovery. While I agreed that Prezi was an awesome tool for presentations...it didn't make sense for the students to spend time learning a whole new platform and putting together a presentation in Prezi (it takes a while) for this topic.

I suggested them using Haiku Deck because it was super-simple, easy to use, and they could create on any device. Students could then get to their presentation material quicker, and allow for some deeper tasks in the future. My point was use technology with a purpose. And understand which tool (technology) is right for which job (assignment or project). In order to do this you must be informed on what options are out there...or ask a colleague that knows. Don't waste your time, or your students time by using techn for tech's sake.

5. Build something together

You know what is so much better than one student working passionately on something they care about? Students collaborative together to build something that matters...to them...and the world (more on that later). How often do you let your students collaborate? I'm not talking about "Think, Pair, Share". I mean real collaboration where they work through problems together and come up with solutions, and test those solutions, and then debate whether or not they can improve upon that solution... Give them a chance to build something together, and they'll learn much more than they could learn by themselves.

6. From local to global

When I first did the Flat Classroom Project my students realized that they are not alone in their "learning". And they also learned that students all around the world were just like them. They struggled to learn, and had to work hard to create. My students were no longer naive about their place in a global education system and we had many discussions about what it would be like to not only compete with these students for college spots and job positions, but also work with them in college and in the workforce. At the same time, you can't forget to have a focus on your local community. When we do project with our local watershed, or run community fundraisers its about a bigger cause. Teachers need to tie "innovation" with both local and global experiences, because both allow students to interact with the real world.

7. Standards are guidelines, you are the architect

Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe made a great point when they said: " The standards are like the building code. Architects and builders must attend to them but they are not the purpose of the design. The house to be built or renovated is designed to meet the needs of the client in a functional and pleasing manner - while also meeting the building code along the way."

Don't let new standards get in the way of innovative teaching. That is a lazy excuse. Instead, use standards as a starting "code" for creative lessons and projects that promote design thinking and innovative learning experiences.

8. Be a learner first and model it

I've had a number of great coaches in my life, but my one football coach will always stand out. He wasn't our head coach but worked specifically with the offense. He sticks out in my mind because he looked at the game differently. He would see things in film and relate them to a game he watched on TV. He would bring in new ideas that he came back with from clinics and camps and other coaches playbooks. He never stopped learning. And we could see it as players. He was never satisfied. He demonstrated what a growth mindset looks like to a learner. I was his student, but he inspired me because he was relentless in learning. We in turn wanted to watch film and break down other defenses because of his modeling. Remember, it is what you do...not what you say...that speaks volumes to your students.

9. Flexible with high expectations

My students like to say I challenge them. My players that I coach say the same thing. And I admit that I have high expectations for myself, our team, our students, and our school. But with high expectations often comes lack of flexibility. Innovation doesn't happen without either of these. Have high expectations for your students and they will rise to meet a challenge, but also to have the flexibility to go with what is working and change paths if need be. It is a fine line to walk as learners, but keep an open mind about what is possible, and anything really can happen.

10. A challenge that is fun

I really shouldn't have waited till #10 to mention the word fun! Learning needs to be fun. The process may have its ups and downs, and it should be challenging. However, it should have moments of pure fun and enjoyment. One of my favorite quotes is by the late professor and author Randy Pausch of the Last Lecture. Randy says, "If you can't learn and have fun at the same time, then I'm not sure you have a good understanding of either." As human beings we enjoy a challenge. It's a different kind of fun then going to Disney World, but I'd argue that it may also be a better type of fun. Let your students work hard and have fun in their learning experiences. They'll thank you for it.
I'm sure I left a few things off this list that would be considered innovative teaching. Let me know in the comments and add your thoughts to the discussion!
Photo Credit: Saad Faruque via Compfight cc

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As a new teacher I remember getting into my classroom for the first time. I set up the space like classrooms I had seen before and enjoyed; I got my lesson plans in order; packed the filing cabinets with resources; started to make copies of overhead slides; put together an area for reading and stacked the shelves with books I had picked up in college or from my parents house.

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10 Ideas for Innovative Math Instruction

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10 Ideas for Innovative Math Instruction

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Innovative educators know that math doesn't have to be boring or abstract. There are several innovative ideas for spicing up your math class. My favorite idea for educating innovatively in math is mathcasting which is fabulous, free, and easy. The first three articles below touch on the concept. The fourth article introduces two really interesting math resources that innovative math educators may find of interest. One is a site that has great ideas for relating math to real life and another is a bank of videos that students stuck on a concept can refer to when necessary. The fifth, sixth, and seventh article highlight some software programs that math educators might find of interest for remediation, though they're more geared toward elementary. The eighth article has some inspirational lectures to inspire math students, and the ninth article looks at an innovative math program piloted in New York City. The last is a link to Teachers.tv which is fabulously cool and free. From algebra to vectors - and everything in between - the site enables you to explore ways to get the message across and bring math to life.

1. Kids Teach Kids with Mathcasting

2. There is Such a Thing as a Free Lunch: 8 Free and Easy Ways to Begin Educating Innovatively

3. 21st Century Educators Don't Say, "Hand It In." They say, "Publish It!

4. Innovative Ideas That Make Sense for Those Hungry for Math Instruction

5. Free Math, Language Arts, and Geography Games

6. Timez Attack Helps Kids Have Fun Tackling Math Times Tables

7. Game-Based Learning Site for Innovative Math Educators

8. 100 Incredible Open Lectures for Math Geeks

9. 5 Innovative Ways to Differentiate Instruction as Witnessed During My Visit to the School of One

10. Teacher's TV - Math

If you find any of these ideas useful, please share your thoughts in a comment or even a guest post on The Innovative Educator.
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Update:
Here's another great resource:
" Science of NFL Football" is a 10-part video series funded by the National Science Foundation and produced in partnership with the National Football League. Lessonopoly has created student activities and lesson plans to support the video series which will help students learn concepts like nutrition, kinematics, and projectile motion. Each video is complemented with lesson plans which include fun classroom activities.

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10 Ideas for Innovative Math Instruction

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Innovative educators know that math doesn't have to be boring or abstract. There are several innovative ideas for spicing up your math class. My favorite idea for educating innovatively in math is mathcasting which is fabulous, free, and easy. The first three articles below touch on the concept.

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Becoming Innovative: 15 New Ideas Every Teacher Should Try

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Becoming Innovative: 15 New Ideas Every Teacher Should Try

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Becoming Innovative: 15 New Ideas Every Teacher Should Try
by TeachThought Staff

What are the latest emerging trends in education?

As trends to do, these are changing almost yearly. Consider how quiet iPads in the classroom have been recently, whereas three years ago they were going to replace teachers and were (unsarcastically) compared to magic. While mobile devices like the iPad can indeed parallel a kind of magic in the learning process, it obviously has to 'fit' into a progressive supporting ecology of assessment, curriculum, and instruction.

With that in mind, we've created a list of 15 (the graphic plus 3 bonus items below) new ideas every teacher should try. Not all will fit or work-again, it depends on the ecology of the classroom, school, and so on. But each of these ideas below-some learning models, some concepts, and some technologies-can be transformational for students, and your teaching.

A suggestion? Maybe pick 8-10 that seem like they might be the best fit for what and who you teach, and spend the next year or two trying one per unit. In that way, this can be a kind of 'to-do' list as you seek out new and innovative ideas for your teaching.

Note that we've also created a pdf version which has some links embedded to help you as you look for information on some of these ideas. If you hover over some of the terms, you'll see which are active and which are not. Feel free to print and share the graphic however you see fit to support teachers and students around you.
Becoming Innovative: 15 New Ideas Every Teacher Should Try 13. Grading Backwards
Consider: This approach.
14. Use Prevailaing Social Media Trends
Consider: Help students use facebook video to publish their ideas
15. 3D Printing
Consider: Thingiverse (also referenced above under 'Maker Tinkering') is an excellent place to start-especially if you don't have a 3D printer.
15 New Ideas Every Teacher Should Try In 2017; Becoming Innovative: 15 New Ideas Every Teacher Should Try

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Becoming Innovative: 15 New Ideas Every Teacher Should Try -

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Becoming Innovative: 15 New Ideas Every Teacher Should Try by TeachThought Staff What are the latest emerging trends in education? As trends to do, these are changing almost yearly. Consider how quiet iPads in the classroom have been recently, whereas three years ago they were going to replace teachers and were (unsarcastically) compared to magic.

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Join book clubs led by literacy/education gurus like Penny Kittle

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Join book clubs led by literacy/education gurus like Penny Kittle

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You will gain access to shared resources, authors, and a community of innovative teachers.

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Join us to create a community of teachers who are disrupting old habits... reading, thinking and teaching differently. Join us in the 2018 Book Love Foundation's Summer Book Club and help us to grant...

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19 Ideas to promote more creativity in your classroom

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19 Ideas to promote more creativity in your classroom

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Extension projects (one of my favorites) is on this list!

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7 Characteristics of an Innovative Educator

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7 Characteristics of an Innovative Educator

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via Teach Amazing!
What are the characteristics of an innovative educator?

Reflective-As an educator, it is important to reflect on what is working and what is not. Even though it can be a little uncomfortable, we have to admit when a great lesson was really a flop. We must constantly examine our processes and our concepts to make sure they are what is best for the students we teach.

Learners-An innovative educator is always learning, reading, listening. Every student, staff member, professional development opportunity is viewed as an opportunity to get better and be better in the classroom and in the education community at large. They create local and global professional learning communities. They take responsibility and initiative for their learning.

Creative-When I say creative I don't mean in the sense of artistic even though some innovative educators fall in this category. I mean creative in their thinking and approach. An innovative educator is very uncomfortable with doing business as usual, especially when it yields no result. So they go to work brainstorming ways to make things better. They may change up a lesson to make it more engaging or increase student motivation. They may adopt a more unconventional approach to handling challenging students so as to develop a stronger rapport.

Connected-It's hard to be classified as innovative when you are disconnected from your students and trends in the profession. How can you know what your students need and what will be the best approach to use with them if you are not connected to them personally? Innovative educators close the gap between the traditional images of teachers so he can determine what is best for each student. In addition, because they are life-long learners, they are abreast of changes occurring in their field and how to best apply these new changes to their instruction.

Collaborative-Education is one industry where sharing is necessary and vital to true innovation in the classroom. When teachers work together to solve problems and share successes, our students perform much better in the classroom. An innovative educator is always exploring topics with other educators, sharing what they know with others. They are members of Professional Learning Communities where they learn and share with others. They know that none of us is as smart as all of us.

Inquisitive-How can I improve? What did I do wrong? When is the best time for this approach? How should I adapt this for my struggling readers? What can I do to extend this lesson for my gifted students? What if I did it this way? Innovative educators are always asking questions. After all, it's not about having all the answers; it's about asking the right questions.

Principled-Innovative educators live life according to strong values. They want to make a difference. They believe that being an educator is a great way to make their mark in the world and they don't take it for granted. They believe in being a role model to the students they serve and look for opportunities to show they care by their actions not just with words. They also care enough to make tough decisions even when it's not popular and accepted. They stand up for their beliefs.
This article appeared on Teach Amazing! and was written by Rachelle Wootten, an Educational Technology Specialist and author of the iBook: Mission 'Pod'sible: A Teacher's Guide to Podcasting. You can follow Rachelle @rwootenits or learn more about her at about.me/rachellewooten.

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7 Characteristics of an Innovative Educator

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via Teach Amazing! Reflective- As an educator, it is important to reflect on what is working and what is not. Even though it can be a little uncomfortable, we have to admit when a great lesson was really a flop.

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Students across grade levels and their family members come together to discuss a shared text. LMS has hosted a fall and spring FBN for a few years now, and we greatly appreciate the sophomore students who join us and help facilitate the discussion.

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Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 takes place in a future America where books are outlawed and firemen burn any that are found. Montag, the main character, is a fireman who becomes disillusioned with his role in the censorship and destruction of knowledge. Readers will find Bradbury's 1950 criticism of the role of mass media and censorship still relevant today.

THURSDAY, MAY 24th 6-7:30pm

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Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 takes place in a future America where books are outlawed and firemen burn any that are found. Montag, the main character, is a fireman who becomes disillusioned with his role in the censorship and destruction of knowledge. Readers will find Bradbury's 1950 criticism of the role of mass media and censorship still relevant today.

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Join the Notice & Note group on Facebook

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Join the Notice & Note group on Facebook

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An administrator of the group will approve your request. There is a fiction and nonfiction group.

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This group is for educators who are interested in growing their literacy teaching practices to enable students to be thoughtful, reflective readers. It is based on the work of Kylene Beers and Bob...

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Join the movement and introduce Ss to texts that will act as windows by introducing the varied narratives of different cultures and lifestyles.

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A 501(c)(3) nonprofit, WNDB aims to create a world where every reader can find themselves in the pages of a book. To reach this goal, we've created programs to mentor diverse writers and illustrators, support diverse publishing professionals, and provide books to classrooms nationwide.

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Alice Keeler's class Twitter excel sheet

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Alice Keeler's class Twitter excel sheet

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You can make a copy and share it with your class. Students compose their Tweet and a link appears for you to click as you approve student work. As long as your Twitter account is open in a tab, clicking the link will automatically post your students' thinking to your class Twitter account. Students can connect with authors or experts in a disciplinarian field. They can publish work or share links to work. They can also participate in Twitter chats.

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I have had several teachers how they can have their students tweet without having a Twitter account. I highly encourage teachers to have a class twitter account and a class hashtag. Here is how to use the class Twitter account.

Tweet Pictures

Provide a window into your classroom by posting pictures of your class and class activities. Blur out the faces of students whose parents do not want their child's pictures on social media. I recommend posting at least 5 pictures throughout the day.

Tweet Questions

When your students ask questions, post those to the class Twitter account. Use the class hashtag.

Follow

One thing that is great about Twitter is that the stream of tweets you see is only the people you follow (plus some ads). If you're judicious about who your class Twitter account follows, it would be safe to project the class Twitter stream. I recommend following @USGS which tweets some great pictures and news facts that are appropriate for schools. Also find other classes that are in your same grade level to follow.

Additionally here are some people on Twitter who you should probably NOT follow since their tweets are not aimed at school-aged children, but who are experts in their field. They might be good to ask questions of or invite to Google Hangout to answer student questions. http://tinyurl.com/tweetexperts Please add people to the list who you know might be good for students to tweet questions to.

Students Twitter

Most likely you are not going to have your students create Twitter accounts to tweet from class. Instead, use the class Twitter account to allow students to tweet. Do NOT give the students the class Twitter account password. Instead, I created this spreadsheet to facilitate tweeting.

http://tinyurl.com/tweetmyclass

Create a copy of the spreadsheet above. Replace cell D2 with the class hashtag.

Change the sharing to allow your students to edit. Link to the spreadsheet within your LMS or in the "About" tab in Google Classroom.

Students would add their tweets to the collaborative spreadsheet into column A. The number of characters (Tweets have a 140 character limit) and a link to create the tweet. The hashtag is automagically attached to the tweet.

Using the spreadsheet allows the students to actually compose the tweet. However, you approve the tweet before it is sent out.

Be Logged Into Class Twitter Account

Make sure you are logged into the class Twitter account when you click on the blue link.

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Class Twitter Account: How Your Students Can Tweet - Teacher Tech

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I have had several teachers how they can have their students tweet without having a Twitter account. I highly encourage teachers to have a class twitter account and a class hashtag. Here is how to use the class Twitter account. Provide a window into your classroom by posting pictures of your class and class activities.