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Blogs on Teacher Development

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Excuse Me, Could You Please Tell Me Where I Am?: Learning to Use a GPS

Jim MoultonDecember 4, 2006

Tags Teacher Development, Technology Integration, All Grades

In one of the scenes in the GLEF video segment Journey North: Children Practice Real Science, the teacher tells her students they are "going to follow the path of the monarchs."

It's All About the Curricula: Designing a Student-Centered Program

Sandy MittelsteadtNovember 30, 2006

Tags Integrated Studies, Project-Based Learning, Teacher Development, High (9-12)

On my career-academy journey, which has spanned the last twenty years, I have found that the most demanding and difficult aspect of career-academy development is the curricula.

Are You a Chaser of Crows?: Using a Different Approach to Enlighten Students

Jim MoultonNovember 27, 2006

Tags Teacher Development, All Grades

We recently lost a great dog to illness. Pip came to us a little over nine years ago, a mixed breed, kind and gentle, and way too smart for his own good. Man, what a guy he was.

Using Wikipedia in the Classroom: A Good Starting Point

Chris O'NealNovember 20, 2006

Tags Teacher Development, Technology Integration, All Grades

You've all heard by now of Wikipedia, the online, collaborative, social encyclopedia, written in the form of a wiki. As of this past spring, Wikipedia had nearly 3.5 million articles in more than 125 languages.

The Internet-Connected Computer: It's How You Use It That Counts

Jim MoultonNovember 15, 2006

Tags Teacher Development, Technology Integration, All Grades

The value of a current classroom computer is determined by what you do with it. If it's used only for word processing, you might as well replace it with an electronic typewriter. But when it's used to connect to a world of learning opportunities that otherwise would be inaccessible to teacher and students, it becomes a critical tool with which that teacher works to change children's lives.

Technology 101: The Internet-Connected Computer

Jim MoultonNovember 13, 2006

Tags Teacher Development, Technology Integration, All Grades

Many of the activities highlighted in GLEF's video segments are Web-based projects, so let's start at the beginning. To participate in a Web-based project like Journey North, you have to have access to at least one Internet-capable computer, preferably in your classroom.

Have You Seen SketchUp?: Google's Answer to 3-D Drawing

Jim MoultonNovember 6, 2006

Tags Teacher Development, Technology Integration, Upper Elementary (3-5)

Sure, everybody Googles, and Google Earth is de rigueur. But my question is, "Have you seen SketchUp?" This tool for three-dimensional modeling is fun, engaging, and, in the end, powerful.

Vector, Bitmap, Inline, Floating: What?

Patsy LanclosNovember 2, 2006

Tags Teacher Development, Technology Integration, All Grades

I recently taught the first day of my Productivity Academy workshop, the focus of which was creating vector and bitmap graphics and investigating whether they are inline or if they float when inserted into documents. Many people do not understood the difference between graphic types, nor do they understand the attributes of each of the graphics.

Are Teacher Unions the Problem?: A Clear Look at a Cloudy Issue

Larry LeverettNovember 1, 2006

Tags Teacher Development, All Grades

Scapegoating teacher unions for the failures of public education system is a favorite pastime of critics who view the organizations as major obstacles to creating the conditions necessary to promulgate change and innovation in America's schools.