Monday, April 26, 2010

Educating Students for the 21st Century

I love Education Stromfront by crudbasher
Here is his post of April 26, 2010 on Why 'Educating Students for the 21st Century' is a False Promise (and what we can do about it)

This may not be your view point but I hoped the video causes you to begin thinking about what we need to change to be providing our students with a gobal education for the 21st century.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Real Time Communication & Education

140 Character Conference held in NY April 20/21 2010

The conference was a worldwide gathering of people interested in the effects of the real-time Internet on both business and people. I was especially interested to hear this topic discussed as it relates to education. I enjoyed listening to a panel including a PLN member, Kevin Jarrett. The discussion title was Real Time Communication and Education. For those that missed the session here is a video replay.
http://www.ippio.com/view_video.php?viewkey=f1ce381cf1f9184a807a

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Greg Mortenson and Edutopia Webinar

Edutopia is funded by the George Lucas Educational Foundation. Last week Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea, was the guest speaker on a webinar presented by Edutopia. I'm sharing Greg's message on my "Spot" because I believe so strongly in education being the major solution for greater peace in our world. The webinar is one hour long but I promise you will enjoy every minute of Greg's talk.

Here is my email from Edutopia:
Dear Rich, Thanks so much for registering for our April 15th webinar with best-selling author, Greg Mortenson on service learning. We were thrilled, Greg especially, that so many school classrooms and assemblies attended the webinar. For those of you who were not able to attend, the full archive, in its entirety, is now available for your use. We hope you continue sharing this event and Greg’s message of service learning with your students and colleagues through this archive. All materials from the webinar, along with additional resources and opportunities to continue the conversation, are available at edutopia.org/webinar-april.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Longs Creek Elementary School San Antonio Texas

From the Express News 4/11/2010

Stellar schools in San Antonio are not relegated to one part of town.
And while the neighborhood, size, wealth and ethnic make-up of successful schools in the San Antonio area may vary, there are several things they have in common: Strong leadership, almost fanatically dedicated faculty and staff, a focus on small learning groups, high expectations and a lot of hard work.
Children at Risk, a Houston-based advocacy group, is releasing its second round of annual school rankings for the San Antonio metro area Monday and gave the Express-News a sneak peek.
Researchers used a wide array of indicators, including test scores, participation in advanced courses, graduation rates and class sizes to rank 374 of the area's elementary, middle and high schools from best to worst.
The system, based on 2008-09 data, gives a boost to schools with a lot of low-income kids and leaves out some schools with insufficient data.
Hats Off
To the
Longs Creek
Staff!!!!
#28 of 257 Campuses

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Wild Flowers of South Texas

This has been a fantastic year for wild flowers in South Texas. Pictures from a recent trip south of San Antonio on Hwy 16 toward Poteet.

South Texas Wild Flowers April 2010 on PhotoPeach

Monday, April 5, 2010

Kids and Failure

A lessosn here for Teachers and Parents
Kids can Learn a Lot from Failure
Posted by crudbasher 4/5/10
I really agree with this article I saw in the Sydney Morning Herald. The article states that if we don’t let kids fail once in a while, it give them unrealistic expectations for life.
As a college teacher I saw this a whole lot. Many of my students were not concerned with doing their best because they always got what they wanted regardless of their effort. They had what I call a “blinding acceptance of mediocrity”.
I think back on my life and can clearly remember times I failed. It seems to stay with you and help motivate you to better things.
I wonder what effect failure had on these people?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dbeJkY6QGk&feature=player_embedded

Friday, April 2, 2010

Social Media Creates Open Education

Ewan McIntosh from Scotland speaking at a LIFT Conference. The title of his presentation is Social Media Creates Open Education. He believes student write because they have an audience. In the classroom it is often an audience of one - the teacher.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8lFrW4CSuI&feature=player_embedded