Best of What Tim Found 01/26/2013

• 25 Things Successful Educators Do Differently

  tags: post2blog professionaldevelopment sessionprep

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Best of What Tim Found 12/15/2012

• This is How to Teach Collaborative Writing Using Google Docs

  tags: googledocs languagearts commoncore writing collaboration collaborativewriting projectideas post2blog

• What are YOU Doing to Make Sure Your Students are 'Well-Googled'? [SLIDE] - The Tempered Radical

  tags: post2blog adminblog technologyskills

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Letter to Santa for Educators

Dear Santa,

This letter is written in hopes that you will provide all educators with the following gifts for Christmas:

·         Insatiable desire to learn new things.

·         Aspiration to make an impact beyond the walls of the classroom/office.

·         The willingness to take risks and accept the occasional failure (see my previous post on failure)

·         The ability to focus on what matters most and eliminate the clutter.

·         Time for reflection and consideration of alternative methods.

·         Collaborative spirit- together we all achieve more!

·         The ability to engage students.

Santa, these gifts would not only be advantageous for the educators that receive them, but the students they serve would also benefit greatly.

I hope preparations are going well at the North Pole and I hope to see you Christmas Eve.

I’ll have some cookies and milk waiting on you.

Merry Christmas!

Best of What Tim Found 12/12/2012

• New Ipad Apps for Schools Blog

  "The blogger for Free Technology for Teachers, Richard Byrne, has created a new blog, iPad Apps for School. Through this blog, teachers will be able to learn about free and paid apps available on the iPad. Visitors will also be able to watch videos and reviews of the projects as well."

  tags: ipad apps apps* whotofollow pln post2blog

• 20+ Google Forms Teachers should not Miss

  tags: googleforms googleforms* post2blog adminblog

• Great Tools To Teach about Human Body in 3D

  tags: post2blog science anatomy humanbody health

• 3 Excellent Tools for Backchanneling in The Classroom

  tags: backchannels post2blog toptools backchannels*

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Best of What Tim Found 12/11/2012

• The Twitter Top 100: Education Technology Must-Follows | OpenSesame eLearning Blog

  tags: pln whotofollow post2blog adminblog

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Best of What Tim Found 12/07/2012

• 15 Things Teachers & Students Can Do With Edmodo

  tags: edomodo projectideas post2blog

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Failure- Don't Fear It!

Anthony Halter made an interesting comment yesterday during the recognition breakfast for SPED, Health, and PE students.  His comment was basically about how failure is viewed by different societies.  In the west, we typically view failure or struggling as a negative rather than a natural, welcomed, or even celebrated part of the learning process.

 

His point was that the student he was recognizing was not detoured by struggles.  Rather, this student simply continued to work hard, study, and seek help until he mastered the concept.

 

I was reminded of a Arkansas Leadership Academy activity where achieving the goal (all members of our group had to work through a maze in a short amount of time) was not possible until we realized that through individual failure, we collectively identified the appropriate path.  Then everyone was able to navigate the maze well within the allotted time.

 

Whether you are trying a new instructional strategy, piloting a new common core based unit, or trying out a new tech tool, embrace and share both your successes and your failures.

 

If we’re afraid to share what goes wrong, we will continue repeating mistakes that can be avoided.

 

So, when you interact with other teachers, your PLC group, your digital PLN, the new Edmodo group started by David Welsher…share what goes well, what you’re proud of, but also what goes wrong.

 

Also, remember to play!  The most innovative teachers are the ones that aren’t afraid to challenge themselves, push new buttons, try new tools.  In short, they don’t fear failure.

 

Sometimes, there is much more to be learned from a failure than from a success.