Free, Ongoing Tech PD with Edublogs

 

 

What: The Teacher Challenge is a free ongoing professional development series through   Edublogs. Like gaming quests, teachers can complete as many tasks as you want in any order.

It’s all about you choosing when you want to learn, while being supported by mentors would assist you with your learning! Best of all, it’s no pressure. Learn what you need to learn, leave when you need to leave. Either way, feel free to just JUMP IN!

How:

Step 1:  Choose any of the following series you would like to complete:

Series 1: Blogging With Students

Guides you through the process of class and student blogging.

Series 2: Personal Blogging

Guides you through the process of setting up your own personal or professional educator blog.

Series 3: Building a PLN (Personal Learning Network)

Takes you step by step through the process of building your own PLN.

Series 4: 26 Free Web Tools

Learn about 26 different free web tools and how educators use them with their students.

Step 2:  Get started working through the activities!

Remember you can always organize your friends to join you!

Step 3:  Leave a comment on a post!

 

Doctor of Education Informational Meeting at UH Hilo

 

What: if you already have your master’s and are interested in taking the next step in your educational journey, the EdD program out of UH Mānoa will have an informational session at UH Hilo on November 5, 2013 from 4-6 PM at UCB314. This is a follow up to an earlier post, so again, if you want a flyer, click here.

Please rsvp to eddprog@hawaii.edu.

 

Text to Text Ideas from the NY Times

 

The NY Times’ Learning Network is my go to when I am looking for reading strategies and ideas using current events. This year, to support the adoption of Common Core State Standards, they are starting a new series using a Core close reading strategy : Text to Text

This series attempts to offer up lessons that could easily be adapted by teachers across the curriculum and from what I have seen so far, it’s a great way to blend nonfiction with fiction, or use a variety of media with written text.

Each lesson includes a key question, extension activities and additional resources to expand the basic lesson. Here’s two graphic organizers to help student organize their “Text to Text” thinking. (free PFD downloads)
Comparing Two or More Texts
Double-Entry Chart for Close Reading

This text to text link will lead you to the lessons. So far here are the lessons on their site:

“The Scarlet Letter” and “Sexism and the Single Murderess”
Key Question: To what extent is there still a sexual double standard, and how does that double standard play out in contemporary culture?
It pairs a passage from “The Scarlet Letter” with a recent Op-Ed article that, together, invite discussion on societal attitudes toward female sexuality.

“Where Do Your Genes Come From?” and “DNA Double Take”
Key Question: How are recent advances in science changing our understanding of the genome, and how might this affect fields like forensic science or genetic counseling?
It matches a Times article with often-taught scientific, historic, cultural or literary material. This edition is about new findings in genetics.

“Edward Snowden and Daniel Ellsberg”
Key Question | Is Snowden a Hero, a Traitor or Something Else?
It pairs two Times articles that capture parallel moments in history: Daniel Ellsberg’s surrender to the police in 1971 after leaking the Pentagon Papers, and Edward Snowden’s public admission in June that he leaked classified documents about United States surveillance programs.

Photo credit: http://litemind.com/relativity/

ʻŌiwi TV – a Rich Video Resource for the Classroom

What: In 2009, ʻŌiwi TV partnered with Oceanic Time Warner Cable, the Kamehameha Schools, and the ʻAha Pūnana Leo to break the barrier and for the first time establish a Native Hawaiian television station. ʻŌiwi TV is Native Hawaiian owned and operated –empowering people to assert our Native Hawaiian identity and promote outcomes that benefit our community, our natural resources, and most importantly our future generations.

See our own Roddy Floro in the article video: Hōkūleʻa Training at West Hawaiʻi! 

Why: The power of the hoʻolohe quadrant in moenahā is to build a relationship with the students and the content. They need to personally connect to the journey you are wanting them to go on within your unit, so using these types of local resources, being able to teach through culture, even when you are not teaching culture is a fabulous thing. Use this channel to broaden your ability to make those connections.

Are you Connected?

What: October is Connected Educator month – a focused time to get more educators to connect with each other and to support collaboration and innovation in professional development.

Why: Online communities and learning networks are helping hundreds of thousands of educators learn, reducing isolation and providing “just in time” access to knowledge and opportunities for collaboration. However, many educators are not yet participating and others aren’t realizing the full benefits.

How can you participate? 

Sign up to participate here and get the following perks:

• Highly interactive webinars and other real-time events—many headlined by education, technology, and community leaders—that you can register to attend.
• Forums on key education and community issues in which you can participate.
• Showcases, open houses, launches, exhibits, collaborative projects, polls, and other special activities of which you can partake or be a part.
• Contests you can enter, badges you can earn, plus other resources ranging from starter kits to book clubs and classes to help you join the world of connected education or become more connected.