ASCD Does the Sanny Franny!

I had the unique opportunity this past weekend to attend ASCD's Annual Conference in my hometown of San Francisco! ASCD (formally the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development) has a motto and it's "Learn. Teach. Lead." These people know what they're talkin' bout. I must admit that I nerded out (teachers are allowed to use made up words right?) a little bit on education stuff while at this conference. I was truly surrounded by the leaders in our field and I even met educational celebrity Robert Marzano!!! (see my previous post for clarification). While I could go on and on about all the new things I learned, I won't overload you; not to mention that my head is kind of still spinning from the information.

Some highlights:
1. Saturday's General Session Speaker, Chip Heath. Chip is a Business Professor at Stanford. My immediate reaction was, "Why would they bring in a business man to talk to teachers?" Then I heard his incredibly captivating presentation about change and how difficult it is to make real changes. This is an education issue, but also a life issue. Take a look at the info that he and his brother are putting out there....good stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCtwPYeTwI0&feature=related

2. Green Light Classrooms: incredible, interactive ideas for engaging learners at every age. Among other things, presenter Rich Allen discussed the idea that students (and humans) remember, recognize and make connections visually better than with words. I learned about an amazing website that helps students use pictures to remember words and concepts, something I already implemented into my own classroom yesterday. The kids LOVED it.  www.wordtoons.com

3.  It's all about planning, people! This is for teachers who need to make lesson plans and curriculum maps, adhere to standards and explain how. Jane E. Pollock, co author with (the now infamous) Marzano gave a presentation on planning that was very helpful. Even more helpful was this link she provided of Rogers School District that's already done it all for you.....yipee! (teachers love stealing, I mean sharing!).

4. 'member how I talked about teacher's being overwhelmed with all that information out there?? ya well, good luck with this stuff.....

Oh, You're Smart? That's Great. Are You Creative?

An article I read by Laura Seargeant Richardson caught my attention because she pointed out that creativity and “thinking with our hands” is just as important as STEM education when it comes to keeping our country a competitive nation. I know teachers know this, but I enjoyed being reminded of the importance of practicing creativity. I often read and write about what is current in STEM, but STEM is nothing special without original thought. In The Creativity Crisis: Why American Schools Need Design - The Atlantic, Richardson explains that we need to focus on originality and design thinking as well as STEM because these skills will lead to the innovations that add value to our communities.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited.”
-Albert Einstein

WHY?!

In reading Ms. Murphy's post about professional development, I got to thinking about what it means to be an endless learner. Like I said last time, it is essential to the career of an educator. On Monday after a faculty meeting, I met with a coworker to discuss the research behind best practices in Education (and people say our job is easy, pshaaw!). She brought out a book about vocabulary development in English Language Learners, something very important for the community in which we teach. I started reading and got some interesting insight into strategies for teaching ELL. Then my coworker and I got to talking. We both expressed our frustration with all the information out there and all the different strategies that are being used in Education. We feel entirely overwhelmed by all that there is to learn. How are we supposed to learn all this in the midst of planning, creating, implementing and assessing a variety of activities that are differentiated for every learner? sigh.

The answer is what every veteran teacher will tell you, baby steps, my dear, baby steps. Oh and don't stop learning! So Robert Marzano is a leading researcher in the field with many books that are helpful to anyone involved in Education. One thing he discusses is the idea that teachers really do want the information about the research behind strategies that they use. They want to know why it works and why they should do it. They want this in addition to step by step instructions and strategies. I must agree. With all the information that is out there, we need an answer to the question, why?

While Marzano's website appears to be an amazon-esque layout simply prompting you to buy something, I actually found a few great links including webinars on some excellent topics. Browse the "Free Resources" and get to learnin' (in all that spare time of yours).

Image courtesy of http://media.photobucket.com/image/overwhelmed+/aalex221/overwhelmed.png

$1.5M Grant Allows Company to Create Professional Development Program

Melinda Gates and her hubby, Bill, must have faith in Tutor.com because their foundation recently (Nov. 2010) awarded the company a $1.5-million grant to expand their one-to-one online sessions. Instead of solely providing online support to students, Tutor.com is developing a program that digitally connects a teacher with a “master teacher” (aka professional development coach) for on-demand, one-to-one live help from Sunday through Thursday, 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. local time. According to the program’s plan, professional development coaches will be ready to provide live help within minutes of request from a teacher.
The service will begin September 2011.
Click here for more information about the PD program.

"Good Morning, Friends!"

"Good morning, Ms. Brennan," is what you're supposed to say. Instead you have a confused look and a twinge of worry in your stomach. "A substitute?! What does this mean for my day?" Worry not dear friends, I am a dear friend of your trusty endless learners blogger, Patricia Murphy. Apologies, my name is Erin Brennan and I teach first grade in San Francisco, California. I absolutely love my job despite the blood, sweat and (many) tears that I've offered up in the name of Education. I was quite honored when Trish (that's what we in the biz call her) asked me if I'd be interested in being a guest author on her blog. While I've wanted to create my own blog for sometime, I clearly lacked the dedication to follow through with it. Here's the next best thing; Trish does all the work and I'll add my 2 cents as needed. Perfect!

So the thing is, I've known Trish nearly my whole life. We are both spawned from teachers. Education and social justice are coursing through our veins. Trish and my collective knowledge about children, pedagogy, textbooks and timeouts really places us at the top of our field (I kid, I kid). In actuality, the theme of this blog encompasses what I believe to be one of the most important characteristics of a quality teacher, the desire to continue learning. It is with this in mind that I've already begun to consider the immense amount of topics that we can address in this venue. So come on in and enjoy the show.

I will leave you with a link to a powerful powerpoint that I was once shown called "If She Only Knew Me." As a teacher, we have a lot of power and influence in a child's life. It is a great responsibility that can't be taken lightly. It's not just about the desire to be a great teacher, it's about the repercussions if we are not.

http://www.edequity.com/PDFs/ASCD_Equity_Walks_Presentation.pdf

Top 10 Undergrad and Grad Programs in Video Game Design

Princeton Review and GamePro Media partnered to create the second annual list of colleges and universities with the best video game design programs.

TOP 10 UNDERGRAD PROGRAMS:
1. University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA)

2. University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT)

3. DigiPen Institute of Technology (Redmond, WA)

4. The Art Institute of Vancouver (Vancouver, BC, Canada)

5. Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI)

6. Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Worcester, MA)

7. Drexel University (Philadelphia, PA)

8. Champlain College (Burlington, VT)

9. Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY)

10. Becker College (Worcester, MA)

Honorable Mentions: Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA), North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY), Savannah College of Art and Design (Savannah, GA) and Shawnee State University (Portsmouth, OH)

TOP 10 GRAD PROGRAMS:
1. University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA)

2. University of Central Florida (Orlando, FL)

3. Southern Methodist University (Plano, TX)

4. Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY)

5. Drexel University (Philadelphia, PA)

6. University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT) 

7. University of California, Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz, CA)

8. Savannah College of Art and Design (Savannah, GA)

9. Parsons The New School for Design (New York, NY)

10. The University of Texas at Dallas (Dallas, TX)

Honorable Mentions: Academy of Art University (San Francisco, CA), DePaul University (Chicago, IL), DigiPen Institute of Technology (Redmond, WA), Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA), and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA)

The entire list of both undergraduate and graduate programs are available today in GamePro magazine (April issue).

Competition Among Tablets

Apple released its iPad 2 this past Wednesday. I know it can seem like Apple and other technology companies come out with a new and improved product before we have a chance to get sick of its last one. It can make people crazy when trying to stay on top with the latest trends, but it is good for competition. Competition among tablets is increasing which will assist in competitive pricing, and very possibly, more affordable tablets. I believe tablets will be extremely practical and useful devices for all students and teachers…once they’re affordable for the average person.

Whether or not you’re willing to spend the money on a tablet, it’s good to know their capabilities and improvements. So, I’ve summed those up below.

Apple’s iPad 2

Size: 1.3 lbs (3 oz lighter than original iPad); 9.7-in. screen; aluminum shell is 33% thinner




Resolution: 1024 by 768 pixels (same as original)




Storage Options and Respective Prices: 16 GB [$499], 32 GB [$599] and 64 GB [$699] (same as original)




Memory and Processor: 512 MB and new dual-core A5 processor(this lets you do more than one thing at a time)




Includes 2 cameras.




If you have the $39 dock-to-HDMI Digital AV Adapter, iPad 2 is capable of video mirroring which is a beneficial tool for presenters and teachers.




There are more than 65,000 apps available at the App Store.




Motorola's Xoom

Size: 1.76 lbs; 10.1-in. screen




Resolution: 1280 by 800 pixels (greater than iPads)




Storage: 32 GB

Price: $799

Memory and Processor: NVIDIA’s Tegra 2, 1GHz dual-core CPU and a 1GB RAM

Includes dual cameras.




Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Size: 1.76 lbs; 10.1-in. screen




Resolution: 1280 by 800 pixels (greater than iPads; same as Xoom)




Storage Options and Respective Prices: 16 GB and 32 GB (price could change due to release of iPad 2)




Memory and Processor: NVIDIA’s Tegra 2, 1GHz dual-core CPU and a 1GB RAM (same as Xoom)

Includes dual cameras.