Insatiable Learner

I am currently working on the culmination of my Flat Classroom Teacher Certification course, which is a collaborative Global Project Design. I have worked with a colleague from Wisconsin, USA to modify and develop my 'Dare to be Yourself' unit, designed for my Year…

Kim and I are finalising our FLAT. It is a simple unit with options for elementary level students in grades 3-5.   

Here is our  Flat Classroom Global Project Planning

We are going to try and meet up again tonight to put the finishing touches on this project after we show it to our Global Collaborator Network colleagues where this project will be place.

Here is the link…

Here is my video about Gaming in the Classroom. It is a quick blurp about how Mark will be using Minecraft in his classroom and how he uses Scratch. 

Claudia and I are finalising our FLAT. It is a whole unit with lots of options depending on the needs of the learners. 

Here is our Flat Classroom Global Project Planning

Here is the FCP teacher page

We are going to try and meet up…

Global Project Handshake Proposal

Dottie Barrow, Akram Bhatti, Tamara Wolpowitz

We are proposing a handshake that focuses on a group of 700 middle school age students in 15 different countries from 20 schools.…

By Juliet Evans, Claudia Felske, Bill Krakower, Kim Powell

"Nice to Meet us" ; )…

By Juliet Evans, Claudia Felske, Bill Krakower, Kim Powell

"Nice to Meet us" ; )

• Bill's Animoto Handshake …

By Juliet Evans, Claudia Felske, Bill Krakower, Kim Powell

"Nice to Meet us" ; )…

Global Learning Project Proposal

For one of my Flat Classroom challenges, I must demonstrate ways I give learners a choice in outcomes or topics in projects.

As part of my PBL teaching course, I wrote a couple of blog posts about choice, as this important element is one shared across the two courses but also, one that my school fosters as part of the learning culture. See …

Handshake Assignment

Tracey Ugalde

Holly Fairbrother

We are proposing a handshake that would work for a variety or learner levels but focuses particlarly on a group of 700 K-2 students in 15 different countries from 20 schools.…

I tried out my idea for a collaborative Scratch project, using the third graders as guinea pigs. This was our initial result:

Which I guess you can't see on the ning... try this link

The kids worked in the desktop version of Scratch. I uploaded their projects to the beta site and saved all the sprites in the new backpack feature.

What I liked: I really like the backpack and can see…

 I've completed one collaborative wiki project in class (Quadblogging about Cultural Awareness) and am coming to a close on a second: collaborative wiki and outsourced videos on Wearable Technology. The Quadblog had a cumbersome start as we all tried to meet and did, but never all at the same time. A Google Doc let us stay in touch though, and see…

Reflection is one of the most valuable and most under-utilized tools in education. National Board Certification taught me this, and while I'm a big believer in it, I also feel what I believe all teachers feel - the lack of time to adequately reflect after a day's teaching, a unit's teaching, a year's teaching. For that reason, I enjoyed this challenge. It provided me with the impetus (read: forced me!) to reflect on the choice project, resulting in valuable notes for "next time…

I've always been a believer of "choice" in all aspects of life, so of course, to be an authentic teacher, this needs to be part of my classroom as well. Some classes/units/concepts lend themselves naturally to choice; others are more challenging. This chapter and our FC class on choice reinforced  for me the importance of giving choice and allowing students multiple ways to demonstrate their learning and to stretch themselves. I think what's key is to try to figure out how to allow choice…

As a part of the Library media committee in my district, one of the charges we assumed was to create a Digital Literacy Scope and Sequence to ensure that all students receive training and experience in an even and effective manner instead of slip shod, here and there. We continue to develop our plan in monthly LMC meetings. To that end, we are using the "Digital Literacy and Citizenship Classroom Curriculum" from…

*Note: I am just realizing that I have my OWN Blog on this FC Ning. Ning is a new venue for me and I've been unsure about exactly where and what I'm supposed to be doing on it. Apologies that now is the first blog of mine that is in it's proper location. I'm hoping my hashtags and the searchable nature of a Ning will allow my FC Fearless Leaders to find my previous posts albeit in the "wrong spot." In an attempt NOT to cloud up the Ning with redundancy, I'm going to adopt Lady Macbeth's…

Learning Analytics

The analysis of data to identify patterns has been done for centuries. The progression has moved from manual extraction of patterns, to a period where predictive analytic tools were used that required advanced skills, to the present where predictive analytic tools are used that no longer require IT specialists to extract the data. The commercial market uses these tools to determine consumer trends. Now the educational…