Megan was looking for a new book to read. “Do you want a book that’s true or one that’s make-believe?” “Make-believe.” “Do you want a book where the characters are kids, real animals, or imaginary creatures?” “Imaginary creatures like fairies and unicorns?” I nodded. She nodded. “I’m assuming you want a picture book instead of a chapter book.” She’s going in to first grade, and … Continue reading Free Books, Part 1

When I taught middle school, I would explain to my students that the Internet has three uses. It can be used as a resource, for retrieving information. It can be used as a dissemination tool, to publish information for a global audience. And, it can be used to interact with others. My classes were spending about 75% of their Internet time retrieving information, 24% of … Continue reading Summer Renewed

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Summer’s a great time for reading. Actually, any time is a great time for reading. A lot of people like to take a few good books on vacation, or spend warm summer evenings at home with a book. I had a high school teacher who implored us to always be reading something. It doesn’t have to be academic or career-related. It doesn’t need to be … Continue reading Summer Renewal 12: What Have You Read?

This is an easy one, but it may take some time. It’s one of those things you’ve been meaning to do when you have more time. That time is now. The web has all kinds of great resources to enhance your teaching. Back in April, I mentioned several sources of great instructional materials, including these two: I was looking at the Open Educational Resources site… … Continue reading Summer Renewal 11: Find Curricular Resources

I know. The National Educational Computing Conference was a month ago. Educators and educational technologists gathered from all over the country (and beyond) to discuss best practices and new innovations and better ideas for using technology in education. There were 17,000 people there. I wasn’t one of them. For me to go to NECC, the stars have to align correctly. It’s always the last week … Continue reading Summer Renewal 10: Go to NECC

If you’ve been following along so far, you have encountered a lot of resources, and have learned a lot, and probably have opinions, ideas, and comments about what you’ve been finding. You can certainly leave comments here on my blog, and there are lots of places on the read/write/web where you can make your opinions known. But at some point, it’s time to start your … Continue reading Summer Renewal 9: Start Blogging

Finding is 10% looking and 90% knowing where to look. If you’re searching for the best Tiramisu, go to Little Italy (or just come to my house). If you want you want to see a rainbow, turn your back to the sun right after it rains and look up in the sky. If you can’t find your car keys, check the lock in the front … Continue reading Summer Renewal 8: Get Tapped In

It’s a “long distance” call from my home to my office. When we actually had a land-line phone in our house, we had to pay extra for my wife to call me at work. Unbelievable. A few nights ago, I participated in a 40 minute conference call with a man from New Hampshire, a woman from Korea, and a guy in British Columbia, Canada. None … Continue reading Summer Renewal 7: Skype

It gets harder and harder to send teachers to professional conferences. The costs are high, scheduling is difficult, and funding sources aren’t readily available. Just as important, pulling a teacher out of the classroom, even to do worthwhile staff development, shortchanges the students. Last fall, the K12 Online Conference changed the paradigm for professional meetings. Instead of pulling teachers out of the classroom, sending them … Continue reading Summer Renewal 6: K12 Online Conference

There is a community of passionate educational technology people out there. The community includes experts in everything from designing and maintaining computer networks to teaching people how to send email with attachments. They’re generally well-read, insightful professionals, and they’re all working to improve the use of technology in schools. They’re also a very kind, welcoming, and helpful collection of people. If you want to improve … Continue reading Summer Renewal 5: EdTechTalk

If you’ve been following along so far, you’re starting to accumulate some useful resources. You have some podcasts that you’re listening to. You’re reading some blogs. Maybe you’ve found a few other useful things along the way. At some point, you’re going to want to go back to these pages. For the first decade of the web, we used bookmarks. When you’re on a web … Continue reading Summer Renewal 4: Mmmm, Del.icio.us