We showed in the past how to add advanced features into iMovie ’11, but did you know you can also customize the look of it? Here are two easy ways to change to look of iMovie ’11.  iDig Video Quicktips is a quick look at some of the great video tips we have mentioned on the show. We also showcase some of our favorite tips and tricks to work with video effortlessly.

Presented by:  James Crawford

Give us some feedback! Email iDigVideo@edreach.us to send us a note. Or leave a comment below. 

ToolZeit – Walter’s Flying Bus

What’s it do?

Walter’s Flying Bus is an interactive storybook about special needs and differently-abled children. It takes place in Uganda and is an inspiring book about children letting their dreams fly.

Basic Features

Interactives on almost every page.

Excellent narration and music.

Narration available in English, Spanish and Luganda.

How do you see it being used by an educator or student?

Walter’s Flying Bus is a great story to share with children. The characters are special needs children so teachers of students with special needs can add this to the library of stories featuring special needs children.

The end of the book also features videos of the real life children the book was based on.

100% of the after tax profit from the sale of the book goes to Chosen & Dearly Loved, a special needs adoption organization.

How we rate it:

Ease of Use (How easy is it to learn and get started? Navigation is easy or difficult.) – 4

Looks/Aesthetics/Design (How does it look.) – 5

Editing/Customization/Feature set (Can you make it work the way you want it? Use it in different ways or is it totally locked down or very few features )  - 4

Bang for the buck (Is it cost effective? Freenium and Pricing Plans, Education Deals? Trial version available??) – 5

Educator/Classroom Value (Meets the needs of teachers and/or students in or out of the classroom)  - 5

Overall Rating – 4.6

Cost – 99 cents

Links

Walter’s Flying Bus https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/walters-flying-bus/id582138770?mt=8

We’re Renee and Fred for ToolZeit on the EdReach Network. We bring you a new educator tool every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Tools and apps may be for teacher use, student use or even tools you can use in your personal life. Checkout more great shows and blogs at http://edreach.us.

You can keep up with all of the ToolZeit tools we share by subscribing to us on Stitcher http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/edreach-podcasts/edreach-toolzeit

You can support us by subscribing and giving us a rating in iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/edreach-toolzeit/id564978266?mt=2

Do you use an educational tool or app that you think others should know about? Email us at toolzeit@edreach.us

Circle Fred at http://plus.google.com/+FredDelventhal

Follow Renee at http://twitter.com/vjpoppins

Show Links:

A Framework for using ipads to build early literacy skills

This week on TheatreCast:

Hosts: Nick Cusumano (@edtech4theatre) and  Danielle Filas (@msfilas)

Guests: Melissa Agar(agarmelissa@gmail.com)

Ben Gorman(jamminactor@gmail.com)

TheatreCast Show Notes

Leave us some feedback!  Contact us with any questions or comments- theatrecast@edreach.us

Show Links:

Article and Interview Clip

ToolZeit – Directr

What’s it do?

Directr is a video creation app that provides users with a ton of storyboards to help guide in a creating short, better looking videos.

Basic Features

Over 100 storyboards to get you started.

Uploads to the Directr site.

Multiple sharing opportunities.

Save your video to your camera roll

How do you see it being used by an educator or student?

Directr can be used by those teachers that want to capture a special event or something great their students are doing. For teachers introducing filmmaking or digital storytelling, the storyboards are an excellent guide for planning and shooting your stories.

Note: The app is rated 12+ due to some of the storyboards offered and the requirement of an account by someone over the age of 13. Use may be limited due to district policies and classroom management skills.

We would like to see the possibility of editing the storyboard list due to subject matter and to make it easier to navigate the long list.

How we rate it:

Ease of Use (How easy is it to learn and get started? Navigation is easy or difficult.) – 5

Looks/Aesthetics/Design (How does it look.) – 5

Editing/Customization/Feature set (Can you make it work the way you want it? Use it in different ways or is it totally locked down or very few features )  - 4

Bang for the buck (Is it cost effective? Freenium and Pricing Plans, Education Deals? Trial version available??) – 5

Educator/Classroom Value (Meets the needs of teachers and/or students in or out of the classroom)  - 5

Overall Rating – 4.8

Cost – Free

Links

Directr https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/directr/id526717506?ls=1&mt=8

We’re Renee and Fred for ToolZeit on the EdReach Network. We bring you a new educator tool every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Tools and apps may be for teacher use, student use or even tools you can use in your personal life. Checkout more great shows and blogs at http://edreach.us.

You can keep up with all of the ToolZeit tools we share by subscribing to us on Stitcher http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/edreach-podcasts/edreach-toolzeit

You can support us by subscribing and giving us a rating in iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/edreach-toolzeit/id564978266?mt=2

Interested in using video creation in your classroom? Also check out the iDig Video podcast here on the Edreach Network.

Do you use an educational tool or app that you think others should know about? Email us at toolzeit@edreach.us

Circle Fred at http://plus.google.com/+FredDelventhal

Follow Renee at http://twitter.com/vjpoppins

Part of PBS NewsHour’s American Graduate series.

On-Air September 27th, 2012.

More on how energy jobs in North Dakota are changing a way of life.

More in District 8, which covers about 1,500 rural miles beyond the four-mile radius of the town of Williston, bus drivers are more than just the backbone of the transportation program. They are the eyes and ears.

PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) Ray Suarez (@RaySuarezNews)

Show Links:

Coursera partners with publishers to bring digital textbooks to the masses

This week on the podcast, Troy Cockrum and Joan Brown interviewed Andrew Vanden Heuvel, a Physics teacher from Michigan.  Andrew is one of the first to get Google Glass and the 3 discuss ways to use Glass in the classroom.  Here is a video about Andrew’s trip to CERN mentioned in the podcast.  Find the video version of this podcast embedded below.

Andrew has a collection of his Glass videos called STEMbite.  You can also visit his website at agl-initiatives.org.

You can also catch up on a lot of resources from the Flipped Learning Network by going to www.flippedlearning.org.

Follow Troy on Twitter

Follow Joan on Twitter

Follow Andrew on Twitter

Leave us some feedback!

Contact us with any questions or comments- flippedlearning@edreach.us

This week on the Google Educast: 

Ask a Google Certified Teacher!   Leave us an email at googleeducast@EdReach.us

Celebrate EdGamer’s 100th Episode with our Special Guest, Atari Co-founder, gaming pioneer, and edtech entrepreneur, Nolan Bushnell. We’ll discuss Nolan’s new book, as well as his exciting new ed company, Brainrush.com! Tune -in and level-up!

Please go to the Show Notes for all of our links.

Here’s our Show Notes

Show Host: Zack Gilbert

Show Guest: Nolan Bushnell

Contact us with any questions or comments- edgamer@edreach.us

EdGamer artwork by Tricia Fuglestad

But I have some other good reasons too.

Many amazing teachers in my PLC run independent projects similar to The Twenty Percent Project where students are pursuing amazing projects and learning tons. Some of these incredible programs are called Genius Hour. These teachers meet once a month on twitter under the hashtag #geniushour. I have learned a ton from these brilliant (probably genius) teachers, and I admire them a great deal. I do, however, object to the title.

Let’s get past the obvious. If we’re to use the definition 99.9% of the English speaking population uses, very few students are geniuses. I get that people are trying to redefine the word, but intentional language manipulation is nearly impossible, and it confuses people. Some people score very well on IQ tests. For now, they’re the geniuses, and people like me and most of my students are not.

Other people suggest that by calling students geniuses, they become such, or at least their confidence is boosted to the point that they will perform better on tasks and projects. I firmly believe in the remarkable and mysterious power of positive thought, but, “I am going to do well on this exam because I am a genius,” is the wrong thought. It’s vague. It’s probably wrong. And it doesn’t work. I would reframe that thought to: “I am going to work hard today studying this material so when I take the test, I will feel prepared, challenged, and satisfied with a job well done.” Having students focus their meta-cognition on their behaviors rather than their talents or innate qualities is profoundly more productive.

Let’s pretend that telling a student he is a genius boosts his confidence enough for him to perform better in an activity, and he earns an A on an assessment. The message we’re sending him is that he did well because of his intellectual capacity. Now, what happens when this student later encounters an assessment he does poorly on? What happens when this student fails at a different activity? And I hope that he does fail frequently. If his success is the byproduct of his genius, then what does it mean when he fails? He will reasonably conclude, “I am clearly not a genius at this activity, this failure labels me as such, and I should stop pursuing this activity. ”

Lately a quotation has spread around the internet that is almost certainly falsely attributed to Albert Einstein. It reads:

“Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid.”

Einstein’s position on genius is not consistent with this notion, and he repeatedly discounted the role genius plays in intellectual success. No, he didn’t flunk out of elementary school either. To get the real story on Einstein, read Mark Isaacson’s book. Einstein was a genius, but he worked his ass off to discover relativity.

Educators must help students attack the erroneous belief that brainpower is a fixed asset. It’s true that some people are born with talents that make certain tasks easier (geniuses fit this category), but all people can get smarter if they have the right mindset. There are many types of intelligences and we can develop them all, especially if we know how we learn best. Brain Power grows through effort and curiosity. Failure and iteration. I encourage you all read Carol Dweck’s Mindset to learn what research-based science has to say about this topic.

We should not tell students they can achieve greatness because they are geniuses. We should show them that they can achieve greatness by giving them independent opportunities to work hard, produce meaningful products, and master skills through practice.

And for all you geniuses out there … shove it.

Image Credit: Horizontal.Integration on Flickr

ToolZeit – NBC Learn

What’s it do?

NBC Learn is division of NBC broadcast network. They have collected years of their professionally produced segments and shows and aligned them to state standards.

Basic Features

Web browser media player called Cue Card “supports videos, photographs, newspaper articles, primary source documents, and other media”

Downloading media

Lesson Plans

State Standards aligned and searchable.

Training materials

iPad compatible no app necessary

How do you see it being used by an educator or student?

NBC Learn can be used to support almost every subject at every grade level. The videos are high quality and fact that teachers can search by state standard can save time in planning. The lesson plans offer many different ways to integrate the resources in your classroom.

NBC Learn is a school subscription service. There are several free learning units of instruction and you can sign up for a free trial.

How we rate it:

Ease of Use (How easy is it to learn and get started? Navigation is easy or difficult.) – 5

Looks/Aesthetics/Design (How does it look.) – 4

Editing/Customization/Feature set (Can you make it work the way you want it? Use it in different ways or is it totally locked down or very few features )  - 5

Bang for the buck (Is it cost effective? Freenium and Pricing Plans, Education Deals? Trial version available??) – 4

Educator/Classroom Value (Meets the needs of teachers and/or students in or out of the classroom)  - 4

Overall Rating – 4.4

Cost – Free Trial

High School – $1,999 | Middle School – $1,499 | Elementary School – $999

Links

NBC Learn http://www.nbclearn.com/portal/site/learn/k-12

We’re Renee and Fred for ToolZeit on the EdReach Network. We bring you a new educator tool every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Tools and apps may be for teacher use, student use or even tools you can use in your personal life. Checkout more great shows and blogs at http://edreach.us.

You can keep up with all of the ToolZeit tools we share by subscribing to us on Stitcher http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/edreach-podcasts/edreach-toolzeit

You can support us by subscribing and giving us a rating in iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/edreach-toolzeit/id564978266?mt=2

Do you use an educational tool or app that you think others should know about? Email us at toolzeit@edreach.us

Circle Fred at http://plus.google.com/+FredDelventhal

Follow Renee at http://twitter.com/vjpoppins

Mobile Reach Minute: Student Device SmackDown!

This Mobile Reach Minute is a double sequel! It not only is the return of the 4th-8th grade students from the MRM: “Straight from the Students’ Mouths” but a follow up to MR #47: “Mobile Device Smack Down”. In this mini-episode, the students will debate the pros and cons of Chromebooks vs. iPads. Tune in to see how they weighed in and which devices they choose!

Cast: David Freeburg (@whizbang), Jennie Magiera (@MsMagiera), Sue Gorman (@sjgorman) |  The Mobile Reach Show Notes

This week on TheatreCast: 

Host: Danielle Filas (@msfilas) and Melissa Agar

Guests:

Jill C. Hartley- Raconteur Ensemble http://raconteurtheatre.com/ Stephen Gawrit- The Right Brain Project http://www.therbp.org/ Nathan Allen- The House Theatre http://thehousetheatre.com/ 

TheatreCast Show Notes

Leave us some feedback!  Contact us with any questions or comments- theatrecast@edreach.us

Show Host: Patrick Black (@teachntech00)

Show Links:

Monty Neill: Authentic Assessment as Part of a Testing Reform Campaign

ToolZeit – Pilo – The Pillow Fairy – An Interactive Children’s Story Book Series with 3D Animation

What’s it do?

Pilo – The Pillow Fairy is a series of three interactive storybooks. The main characters are a child and a pillow toy that comes to life. In each book they go on an adventure.

Basic Features

English/Chinese/Korean recorded by professional native dubbing artists

Choice of characters: You can choose the main character that you want, either a boy (Tommy) or a girl (Sunny).

Decoration of Pilo

Each book contains several different interactive activities.

How do you see it being used by an educator or student?

The Pilo series is a nice set of interactive books your pre-school classes. The interactive activities are at the most basic level with students guided to the correct answers. We would have liked to see the text to the stories to go along with the narration.

There are free versions available but they are not complete and include overly intrusive advertising.

How we rate it:

Ease of Use (How easy is it to learn and get started? Navigation is easy or difficult.) - 5

Looks/Aesthetics/Design (How does it look.) - 5

Editing/Customization/Feature set (Can you make it work the way you want it? Use it in different ways or is it totally locked down or very few features )  - 2

Bang for the buck (Is it cost effective? Freenium and Pricing Plans, Education Deals? Trial version available??) - 2

Educator/Classroom Value (Meets the needs of teachers and/or students in or out of the classroom)  - 2

Overall Rating – 3.2

Cost – Free $2.99 ($1.49 20+ copies)

Links

Pilo1 - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pilo1-activity-fairytale-book/id553144227?mt=8
Pilo2 - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pilo2-activity-fairytale-book/id556759121?mt=8
Pilo3 - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pilo3-activity-fairytale-book/id560928480?mt=8

Volume Purchase Pricing https://volume.itunes.apple.com/us/store?term=arcreative&mediaType=8&genreId=

We’re Renee and Fred for ToolZeit on the EdReach Network. We bring you a new educator tool every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Tools and apps may be for teacher use, student use or even tools you can use in your personal life. Checkout more great shows and blogs at http://edreach.us.

You can keep up with all of the ToolZeit tools we share by subscribing to us on Stitcher http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/edreach-podcasts/edreach-toolzeit

You can support us by subscribing and giving us a rating in iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/edreach-toolzeit/id564978266?mt=2

Do you use an educational tool or app that you think others should know about? Email us at toolzeit@edreach.us

Circle Fred at http://plus.google.com/+FredDelventhal

Follow Renee at http://twitter.com/vjpoppins

This week Addie and Emily join forces with Steve Thomas of Circulating Ideas. Library Journal had an editorial called “Can We Talk About the MLS?” So we decided to do just that, and talk about it with some of Syracuse University’s favorite professors and a school librarian who’s still working on her Master’s. (This is part 2. You can hear part 1 on Circulating Ideas.)

Show Host: Emily Thompson

Show contributors: Addie Matteson, Steve Thomas, R. David Lankes, Jill Hurst-Wahl, Corrine Dickerson

Leave us some feedback!

Contact us with any questions or comments- littech@edreach.us

On this week’s episode the EduWin team is excited to be joined by Branden Chi, a 3rd grader in Mrs. McCluskey’s class at Wescott Elementary School .  Branden is an extremely creative and inspirational young man who choose to create the claymation book report for Charlotte’s Web which has received a great deal well deserved attention from educators around the world.  We hope you enjoy the interview during which Brandon explains the project!

This weeks show also features #eduwins from @PrincipalJ, @HoldOn2urChair, Carol Reese and @drezac

It’s always interesting to see a common thread among the EduWin Team’s selections for the show.  This week it seemed we focused on how students can creatively make connections and have a true, positive and meaningful impact on the world through technology.

James’ favorite #eduwin via @drezac: “This Claymation Charlotte‘s Web video is a HUGE #EduWin. This was made by one of our 3rd graders! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtmPHuzd8w8 …”

I’m happy to report Branden continues to post exciting video’s on his YouTube Channel. Be sure to check out his latest claymation creation: The Chocolate Enemies Trailer and his first hand drawn animation: Morph

If your interested in stop motion animation, Branden recommends starting with iMotion HD.  Some of his other works were created using VidRhythm Both apps have free versions on the iOS platform.

We look forward to many more creative works from Branden and would like to thank his father for allowing him to join us and for fostering and supporting his talent!

Carlos’ favorite #eduwin via @PrincipalJ: “A middle school student created his own business to raise awareness about bullying. WOW! #eduwin http://www.meinfinity.com/ ”

Michelle’s favorite #eduwin via Carol Reese on whatisyoureduwin.com: “Students in Austin, Texas used Skype to discuss water conservation with students and a naturalist in Kenya. Their story was picked up by Skype and is now used to promo Skype in the Classroom. Talk about an #EduWin!”

Unfortunately, Cheryl could not join us for this episode as she was participating in #edcamp Detroit.  We look forward to catching up with Cheryl on Episode #20.  Carlos’ personal eduwin was the idea of edcamps.  If your interested in this exciting unconference format you can find an upcoming event in your area at http://edcamp.wikispaces.com/

Michelle shared the #techcoach chat that happens on Thursdays and the corresponding site at http://techcoachchat.wikispaces.com which is full of great resources as well an archive of previous chats!

James shared a QR Code Easter Egg hunt created by @lisaberkery and influenced by one of James’ sessions at a recent conference.  You can find her summary of the project at: http://www.berkerybytes.blogspot.com/

Show Host: James Gubbins

Show Contributors: Carlos Fernandez and Michelle Russell

Give us some feedback! Email eduwin@edreach.us to send us a note. Or leave a comment below. 

Show Links:

Five Steps to Create a Progressive, Student-Centered Classroom

A key part of any video curriculum is choosing the right film to teach students about visual literacy and all the components that make up a film. Award-wining acting and directing teacher Rob Kennedy joins the podcast as we discuss how to use “The Godfather” as a model for teaching visual storytelling, framing, composition, lighting, music and editing. Also new from tech: bio-engineered trees that may someday glow like street lamps!

Show Hosts: Jonathan Furst, Jim Crawford 

Special Guest: Robert Kennedy

Here’s our Show Notes

Give us some feedback! Email iDigVideo@edreach.us to send us a note. Or leave a comment below. 

This week on the podcast, Joan Brown interviewed Ken Halla, World History and Government teacher from Fairfax, Virginia.

The two discuss Ken’s upcoming book, how he implements blended learning, how he implements flipped learning in his classroom and more.

You can also catch up on a lot of resources from the Flipped Learning Network by going to www.flippedlearning.org.

Follow Troy on Twitter

Leave us some feedback!

Contact us with any questions or comments- flippedlearning@edreach.us

Show Links:

Why Humor Makes You More Creative

“I think the most meaningful barrier that the institution has created is the lack of motivation or inspiration to give young people to want to stay in school,” Angel Figueroa, founder of I-LEAD Charter School in Reading, PA.

One city’s struggle to regain its economic footing is also tied to significant problems in its schools. Jeffrey Brown reports from Reading, Pa., as part of our American Graduate series.

On Air Nov. 21st, 2011.

Jeffrey Brown (@JeffreyBrown )PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour)Ray Suarez (@RaySuarezNews)

Flipboard contacted us to let us know of a great update. Normally Flipboard content is driven by an RSS feed with a never ending supply of new content. Each time you open it up you get the latest posts from whatever sites you put into it. You can now create magazines and put specific web pages, blog posts, pictures and videos into it.

What does this mean for educators?

Using the Flipboard Magazine Editor teachers can now create content specific magazines for their students. Think of this way – You have a unit on mammals coming up. You look around on the web for some articles, videos, and pictures to include. Using the “Flip It” bookmarklet tool the items you find are easily added to your Mammals Unit Magazine. It is like creating your own textbook but in the beautiful layout of a Flipboard Magazine.

The folks at Flipboard have made it super simple to get started too. In the updated Flipboard app there is now a “+” on every article or video you view. Just tap the “+” and it will give you the choice of which magazine to add this content to. If you want to find resources using your computer, Flipboard has you covered there too. You put the “Flip It” bookmarklet tool in your bookmarks bar and just click that on any web page to add it to a magazine. Flipboard Bookmarklet Tool

They also provide a Flipboard Magazine Editor on the web so you can organize your content to your liking.

Are you using Flipboard Magazines in your classroom? If so, let us know by leaving us a comment.

Show Links:

Coursera Announcement

Maria  Cipollone (pronounced: chip-alone) is a born-and-raised Philadelphian who is also a PhD student in Media and Communication at Temple University.  She studies how “new” media technologies (e.g. video games, virtual/augmented reality experiences, mobile technologies) shape our thinking, working, and especially learning.   In her dissertation, she wants to answer the following questions:  what happens to the motivation to play Minecraft when we take Minecraft to school?  What psychological factors (for example ‘tele’presence) contribute to motivation to ‘mine’?  And the big one: does Minecraft help students learn?  Maria has a wealth of knowledge and you will not want to miss this conversation.  Tune-in and level-up!

Please go to the Show Notes for all of our links.

Here’s our Show Notes

Show Host: Zack Gilbert

Show Contributor: Gerry James

Show Guest: Maria Cipallone

Contact us with any questions or comments- edgamer@edreach.us

EdGamer artwork by Tricia Fuglestad

Show Links:

How to Listen When Someone Is Venting

This week on the Google Educast: 

Ask a Google Certified Teacher!   Leave us an email at googleeducast@EdReach.us

Mobile Reach #49: Guest Star App Show and Tell

Guest stars Meg Wilson (@iPodsibilities), Lisa Johnson (@TechChef4U) and Jeff Herb  (@InstTechTalk) join the cast this week for a round robin favorite app show-and-tell! Learn about “the Dropbox for Kids”, a beautiful app to rule the slideshow world and a few app developers that are truly “good people.” Stay tuned until the end to learn about some amazing #EduWins from around the country.

Cast: David Freeburg (@whizbang), Jennie Magiera (@MsMagiera), Sue Gorman (@sjgorman) |  The Mobile Reach Show Notes

But first you have to get the job. I’m not going to lie to you, this coming summer will be a  very long and incredibly short one. But you can do it! There are a few rules though:

1. You just spent 2-3 years creating a network of interesting colleagues. Don’t abandon them. If you attended an in-person program, chances are a bunch of you are living out the remainder of your lease. Hang out. If you were in an online program, well, Hang Out  on G+ (or Skype or chat on Facebook). Go for a drink. Most importantly, when you hang out, talk about anything other than the job hunt. You were once an interesting person with hobbies, take this chance to be that again.
2. Do something most days that requires you to put on not-pajamas and go somewhere else. It will make you feel human. Volunteering is good. Part-time jobs are good. At the very least go blog at a coffee shop.
3. Write at least one application every day or two. Better yet, write them with a friend (or five). About March of my last year, a group of us started meeting at the Crazy Wisdom Tea House on Saturdays*. It was a built-in way to have someone to proofread our cover letters and someone to talk to while we filled out repetitive job forms.
4. This is the toughest one: You have to be happy when your friends get hired, or at least act like it. It will be difficult. When my friend Steve got hired first, I had to pull out every single acting trick I knew to congratulate him. When someone gets something you want so badly, it’s hard to remember that their job isn’t about you. Chances are, you never got past the cover letter for that job (if you even applied). Your job is coming, and you can cry later. I did! Ask my former roommate about the day I collapsed on the sofa like a dying silent movie heroine . . .

By the numbers:

6 months
over 75 applications
5 phone interviews
4 in-person interviews (for one of them I had to rent a car and drive to Chicago at my own expense)
1 interview at ALA-Annual
2 job offers (I still feel bad about turning the 1st down, but it was a bad fit and I wouldn’t have lasted)
1 job

It’s harrowing, but keep at it. Now head over to inalj.com and get started.

*Confidential to the UMSI grads, Crazy Wisdom has amazing hummus and will give you as much hot water as you want. Tip generously .

I am usually the “gets along with everybody guy”, the gentle disruptor…not last week though. Last week I learned from a colleague that I am “dangerous”. Really. Me of all guys. It kind of reminded me of that famous scene in Top Gun where Ice Man confronts Maverick and tells him that he is dangerous.

The precipice for the confrontation arose from my collaboration with another teacher and Sony’s K-12 team as we embarked on a case study with first graders and a travel kit of the company’s Xperia S tablets. So, what makes me dangerous?

In my colleague’s eyes, the “danger” comes from the various relationships I have fostered through Sony’s Education Ambassador program or with Apple, Google, Discovery Education,  the media, or various other members of my thriving personal learning network. Those relationships yield opportunities…opportunities that not everyone within a district or building may have access to. These opportunities are dangerous to the status quo of what I call the “fairness to a fault” of the educational establishment where everyone is the same and everything is equal. I seem to remember a number of countries crumbling at the end of the 80’s that operated under a similar premise.

I have never been one to simply “know (my) role”. I have always challenged the upper extents of my lot in life. Take for example my college football career. The end of my playing days at Hillsdale College came two weeks after the release of the movie Rudy and would finish eerily similar to the film. I was like Rudy, five-foot nothing, barely over two-hundred pounds, and slow. Yet somehow I wouldn’t let myself realize I had no business on the field with one of  the winningest NCAA Division II football program in the country. It had always been a dream to play college football and the staff at Hillsdale gave me that opportunity, let me live that dream.

We cannot ignore opportunities or not chase opportunities because we are worried about how other colleagues will feel or react. We may work within a system that is largely based on uniformity be we still live in a land of opportunity. As “just a teacher” I am not going to sit pat and follow some unwritten code of doing just what the district tells me and no more. I still have a lot more dreams to chase.  What others often fail to see is that these relationships and opportunities more times than not move the entire organization forward. We all end up benefiting from access to new equipment or from positive exposure in the press or from me gleaning new ideas I can share.

A couple of years ago at the Apple Distinguished Educator institute I saw a great quote that I later learned was from Nelson Mandela. It fortifies in me the drive to keep moving us all forward. It was repeated by Gurjit Lalli today as I caught a snippet of the TedX Grand Rapids live stream.

“Playing small does not serve the world…we are all supposed to shine as children do. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same.”

Yes Ice Man, I am still dangerous…but that is a good thing.

Show Host: Patrick Black (@teachntech00)

Show Links:

How To Give A Meaningful Thank You

Te@cher Tech T@lk Tidbit #7.5 – Edcamps, F2F, & Webinar Learning  In this “Tidbit,” Judi shares some ways to attend professional development options. She explains the jist of what an ‘edcamp’ is and also shares some ways that educators can seek out other PD options using a local ISTE affiliate.  Judi also shares some ideas for finding online webinars or webcasts to seek out your own learning.
Host: Judi Epcke (@jepcke) |  Teacher Tech Talk Show Notes

Leave us some feedback!  Contact us with any questions or comments - Email us at ttt@edreach.us or share ideas on Twitter using #TeacherTechTalk

This week on the aRTs Roundtable is about Plan B. What do you do when you hit a wall in technology in the arts. Tricia reached out for resources at https://edbacker.com/ Jen creatively rescheduled. Brenda using Sonic Pics is still trying a work around with her first graders and the book Fortunately by Remy Charlip. Carol was someone else’s Plan B, since another teacher found it difficult to recreate a movie. We all had the student’s in mind of creating our Plan B.

Show Host: Carol Broos

Show Contributors: Brenda Muench, Tricia Fuglestad,  and Jen Kolze

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Contact us with any questions or comments- artsroundtable@edreach.us

This week, Addie and Emily wrap up their series on the Youth Media Awards by talking about the Batchelder, Odyssey, Schnieder, Carnegie, and Stonewall awards and medals.

Show Host: Emily Thompson

Show contributors: Addie Matteson

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Contact us with any questions or comments- littech@edreach.us

This week on the podcast, Troy Cockrum interviewed JT Hoke, Principal at Attica Jr-Sr High School in Indiana.

The two discuss how JT led his school initiative for school-wide eLearning Days.  The school had 4 days this school year where every student stayed home and had instruction delivered in a variety of manners.  He discusses the successes of the program and the planning that goes into implementation.

You can also catch up on a lot of resources from the Flipped Learning Network by going to www.flippedlearning.org.

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Contact us with any questions or comments- flippedlearning@edreach.us

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Strong Teams, Strong Schools

How does violence affect students’ ability to learn? That’s what eighth-grader De’Qonton Davis and his classmates set out to investigate as part of the NewsHour’s Student Reporting Labs project in partnership with PBS station WEDU in Tampa. The students produced a unique video report that they hope President Obama will see.

De’Qonton explains, “I want the president to see what I could do and see what — what young kids can do, young black American kids. And I want them to know that somebody out there is trying to learn and trying to get their education right and be a good adult dad in a community when he grows up.”

Aired May 16th 2012

Listen to De’Qonton’s insight on his journalism  and see what other issues he’s been reporting on.

PBS NewsHour(@NewsHour) Ray Suarez (@RaySuarez) Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff )

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HOW TO USE FRUSTRATION TO CREATE SOMETHING AMAZING

He’s back and he’s bringing us World Peace…the board game and the book! EdGamer 98 features the return of one of our favorites guests, John Hunter. Listen in as we discuss John’s new book, World Peace and Other 4th Grade Achievements, and attempt to solve the world’s problems in a half hour. It’s another can’t miss episode of EdGamer. Tune-in and level-up!

Please go to the Show Notes for all of our links.

Here’s our Show Notes

Show Host: Zack Gilbert

Show Contributor: Gerry James

Show Guest: John Hunter

Contact us with any questions or comments- edgamer@edreach.us

EdGamer artwork by Tricia Fuglestad

This week on the Google Educast:

Ask a Google Certified Teacher!   Leave us an email at googleeducast@EdReach.us

Check out our Show Notes

Cast: David Freeburg (@whizbang), Jennie Magiera (@MsMagiera), Sue Gorman (@sjgorman) |  The Mobile Reach Show Notes

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Mind the Comprehension Iceberg: Avoiding Titanic Mistakes With the CCSS

Show Host: Patrick Black (@teachntech00)

Over the past five years, I have spent a great deal of time shifting 20% of my class from being teacher-centered to student-centered. That was a fail.

I’ve written a fair amount about the 20% Project and why I believed that it was important to have class time when the teacher is off center stage while shifting emphasis on the students. This model energized and liberated many of my students, while it confused and terrified others. Either way, I was committed to establishing a project where students can take on challenges and solve problems any way they saw fit. As a result, my students are currently wrapping up some amazing projects.

The problem, though, is that a 20% Project should NOT be a student-centered project. It should be a human-centered project. OK, I don’t really like the term human-centered either. Last I checked, most students and teachers at least resemble humans. I mean, what else would it be, pistachio-centered? I’m reminded of when writers begin a sentence with In life, or Throughout history, or In society. These modifiers are meaningless.

However human-centered is a specific term that comes from the design-thinking framework that Molly Wilson introduced to our entire school last week. For a solution to be human-centered, it must come from deliberate research on the individuals who will experience the solution. It involves building empathy on the user. I much prefer the term user-centered or audience-centered, but whatever you call it, I prefer the idea better than student-centered when applied to independent product-based learning assignments like the 20% Project.

A student-centered project is one that focuses on the creator’s needs and desires, where an audience-centered or user-centered project focuses on the actual person who would use the project. Many of my students naturally intuited that their project should be audience-centered. Consider my students who decided to teach technology to senior citizens. Before they began solving all of the seniors’ problems, the students took the time to see where individuals were in their expertise and assessed their goals for using technology. These students adapted beautifully while creating their session.

Next year during the 20% Project, I would like to see empathy be a more structured component of the project. After they identify what type of project they want to pursue, students will need to identify the audience or user base of the project. Then they must interview potential users and empathize with them to better understand how to solve the problem. According to Molly, this component of the design-thinking process is not only essential, it’s also a ton of fun.

There is still a place for student-centered learning, just as there is still a place for teacher-centered learning. Perhaps the closer the learning goals are toward the bottom of Bloom’s Taxonomy, the more the work should be teacher-centered. As activities work their way up, they should be student-centered, but the top should go beyond the student and center on a real authentic audience.

Many language prescriptivists object to the term centered around claiming that objects and ideas can be centered on something but not around something. I’ve made such obnoxious objections in the past, but perhaps classes should be centered around teachers, students, and humans.

Kevin Brookhouser is one of the hosts of the Google Educast, is an English teacher, and also the proprietor of GRMR.me, a fabulous resource for English. You can follow him on Twitter @brookhouser

Te@cher Tech T@lk #07 – 15 Pounds of Equipment!?
In this episode, we welcome a guest for the episode in the form of Mrs. Beth Lisowski, also known as @MrsLTech on Twitter.  We go over some recent ed tech news, share out some Classroom Connections involving blogging and reading records on the iPad.  Our “Coolest Things We’ve Seen Lately” involve TEDed, the Twisted Wave online audio editor, and the BoomWriter tool and upcoming summer camp opportunities. Come check us out!

Hosts: Chad Kafka (@chadkafka), Tammy Lind (@taml17), and Judi Epcke (@jepcke).
Guest: Beth Lisowski (@MrsLTech)

Show Notes  |  Subscribe on iTunes!  |  Find us on Stitcher!

Leave us some feedback!  Contact us with any questions or comments!  Email us at ttt@edreach.us or share ideas on Twitter using #TeacherTechTalk