FYI: Keep Students on Track with SMART SynchronEyes

Create connections between teachers and students in your one-to-one classrooms with SynchronEyes™ classroom management software. The software shows a thumbnail image of each student's screen on the teacher's screen, making it easy for teachers to see what their students are doing and how they're progressing.

SynchronEyes software helps teachers keep their students on track:

• Guide students' progress directly from their desktops
• Monitor their Internet browsing
• Control students' online activities and block specific applications

To learn more, visit: http://smarttech.com/

Apply for the NMC Virtual Learning Prize ($100,000 Award)

The NMC Virtual Learning Prize is a $100,000 competitive program of awards intended to create a collection of innovative open-source learning experiences that make use of the unique attributes of a virtual learning environment. As many as 20 NMC Virtual Learning Prizes will be awarded in 2008.

The New Media Consortium (NMC), a 501(3)c not-for-profit, is committed to pushing the boundaries of how we collectively view teaching and learning in virtual space. The NMC Virtual Learning Prize is envisioned as a way to surface and realize creative ideas for how to make optimal use of a virtual setting, using a process that provides recognition, financial incentives, professional development services, and a return for education as a whole.

For the 2008-9 award year, funded ideas will be limited to those that can be implemented in the virtual worlds of Second Life or Project Wonderland . In future years, the program may be expanded to other virtual world platforms.

For more information, visit: http://www.nmc.org/virtual-learning-prize

FYI: A New Kind of Bullying

Cyber bullying is something that happens around the world every single day. Cyber bullying can come in the form of text messages, prank phone calls, instant messages, comments on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace or a Web site devoted to making fun of a classmate. Be aware of cyber bullying in your classroom so you can stop it before someone gets hurt.

Fed-UP with the DOE Filter, Try Teacher Tube!

Teacher Tube is an online community for sharing instructional videos for all grades and subject areas, including project-learning curriculum. For more information, click here.

2008 Trash to Treasure Competition

One's Trash is Another's Treasure. Your Treasure Can Be Worth $10,000! The Design Squad Trash to Treasure Competition challenges you to recycle, reuse, and re-engineer everyday materials into out-of-the-box inventions. You could win $10,000, a Dell Laptop plus a trip to Boston to see your design being built!

For more information, click here. Deadline: June 30, 2008

The Advertise Your Cause Challenge is for anyone with something to say who wants to say it loud! Create an advertising or media campaign and let everyone know what social issues matter to you most! Get your voice heard, make a difference & you may even win $10,000. So, Whats Your Cause?

For more information, click here. Deadline: August 31, 2008

Do you need classroom resources but lack funding?

Online charities can help you get the resources you need for your classroom. Private donors peruse educators' proposals for needed equipment and make donations. Investigate for yourself. View the following organizations and share your findings:

• Donor's Choose
• iLove Schools
• Adopt A Classroom

Now is a great time to begin planning for next year.

FYI: Updates for Moodle

Moodle has released Moodle 1.9.1 it's first maintenance update since the 1.9 launch in March. The new version includes a number of minor fixes, as well as performance improvements and some new functionality.

The new release addresses improved performance such as:

• Gradebook issues, including performances;
• Language pack issues;
• Improvements to participants list;
• Forum tracking and group modes; and
• Issues with PDF files in Internet Explorer.

A complete list of issues addressed in the new version can be found here. A summary of 1.9.1 resolved issues can be found here.

Version 1.9.1 can be downloaded from the Moodle download page here.

Google Teacher Academy

Applications Now Open - DEADLINE May 28th

The Google Teacher Academy is a FREE professional development experience designed to help K-12 educators get the most from innovative technologies. Each Academy is an intensive, one-day event where participants get hands-on experience with Google's free products and other technologies, learn about innovative instructional strategies, receive resources to share with colleagues, and immerse themselves in an innovative corporate environment. Upon completion, Academy participants become Google Certified Teachers who share what they learn with other K-12 educators in their local region. For more information, visit: http://www.google.com/educators/gta.html

Free Reading and Math Tools for Teachers & Students

MINDsprinting has launched its FREE online tutoring program, which is designed for use either by educators as part of the K-12 curriculum or by students and parents as a supplement to classroom-based learning. MINDsprinting.com provides individualized learning programs, diagnostic assessments, lesson assignments, a reading program, and two math programs, including one aligned to individual state standards.

"For teachers, it also provides a dashboard for student and lesson management, including entering grades, finding answer keys, and generating reports. It also provides a feature called Fast Tracking, which lets teachers control the curriculum, limit the scope of study to specific skills, or adjust the difficulty level of the materials."

For more information about MINDsprinting and to enroll for FREE, click here.

Frontline's "Growing Up Online"

How many of your students have a Facebook or Myspace Page? In Growing Up Online, FRONTLINE takes viewers inside the very public private worlds that kids are creating online, raising important questions about how the Internet is transforming childhood. As more and more kids grow up online, parents are finding themselves on the outside looking in. Moreover, at school, teachers are trying to figure out how to reach a generation that no longer reads books or newspapers. Let's begin a conversation on your thoughts about this topic. View the report at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/

DIGITAL RESOURCES: Leonardo da Vinci's Geometric Sketches

The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) has offered this educational resources that brings together the work of the Franciscan friar Luca Pacioli (c.1445-1509) and the geometric sketches of Leonardo Da Vinci. Visitors will find an introduction to this educational resource, along with illustrations of cubes, octahedrons, and cylinders. The accompanying article was written by Frank J. Swetz, and it is easy to see how these materials could be incorporated into a classroom discussion about the history of mathematics. Investigate for yourself and share your findings. View: http://mathdl.maa.org/

DIGITAL RESOURCES: Exploratorium-Microscope Imaging Station

The Exploratorium museum in San Francisco has a very ambitious and interesting microscope facility and has created a website to offer those far away from the Bay area some access to this project. First-time visitors will want to click on the "Features" area to get started. Here they can look at the cells of sea urchins, blood, zebrafish, and frogs. Each feature has images of the cells, along with complete background material on the work that is being done through the use of these high-powered images. The "Gallery" is a great place to stop next, as it contains dozens of high-resolution images and movies created with research-grade microscopes. Here visitors can learn about cell motility, development, and immune response through looking over this extensive gallery that covers the gamut of different cellular activities. Finally, the site also contains an "Activities" area that includes classroom activities, printable flipbooks, and desktop wallpaper. Investigate for yourself, visit: http://www.exploratorium.edu

THE FINAL WORD (Poll Results)!

Have you (or a teacher you know) written about your teaching in a blog?

Fifty percent (50%) of the people to took last week's poll on our site have written or know a teacher who has written about their teaching in a blog. The remaining fifty (50%) of the people to take last week's poll have not and/or do not know a teacher who has written about their teaching in the blog.

Educators blogging about their teaching helps us share and explore ideas, and take part in a larger community. The blog posts may be about an announcement or a question, comment or concern that makes you think, and brings others into a conversation about ideas.

Will Richardson writes about the difference between having a blog and "blogging." in his December 4th, 2006 posting. He writes:

Ok, so here’s my beef, again. Blogs are powerful communication tools. Blogs are powerful publishing tools. But blogging (the verb) is still much more than that to me. Blogging, as in reading and thinking and reflecting and then writing, is connecting and learning, neither of which are discussed in the article. (And maybe they weren’t meant to be, I know) I’m not knocking what Tim or his teachers are doing, I think it’s great. But I’m just asking the question: how are his teachers modeling the use of blogs to learn not just to teach?

Why let our students blog?

2nd Annual LEGO Creativity Award

The 2nd Annual LEGO Creativity Award presents the opportunity for youngsters to display their creativity by writing an original essay that explains a time in their lives when they were creative and how it made them feel. Five children between 6 and 13 will be awarded $5,000 each to nurture and celebrate their individual passions. LEGO believes strongly that children are the "builders of tomorrow."
For more information, visit: http://www.legocreationnation.com/

DIGITAL RESOURCES: ReadThinkWrite Comic Creator for Your Classroom

The Comic Creator provides educators with resources to help their K to 12 students develop their writing skills by composing their own comic strips for a variety of contexts (pre-writing, pre- and post-reading activities, response to literature, and etc).

The Comic Creator organizers focus on the key elements of comic strips by allowing students to choose backgrounds, characters, and props, as well as to compose related dialogue. The tool is easy to use, made even easier with the Comic Strip Planning Sheet, a printable PDF that comic creators can use to draft and revise their work before creating and printing their final comics. After completing their comic, students have the ability to print out and illustrate their final versions for feedback and assessment.

For more information, visit: http://www.readwritethink.org/

Video Streaming to Your Classroom

Streaming Video can provide a very powerful tool that can enhance the learning environment both in and out of the classroom because it allows the teacher to enhance the classroom experience by playing media in the classroom with a simple click on a web link. Students can access the videos to study for exams, review information that they may have not clearly understood, or watch the video to build on what was presented in class.

It is amazing that more teachers are not using this technology to enhance their instruction because streaming video provides educators with so many benefits . Consider that:

• most players are free,
• videos can be seen anywhere an Internet connection is available
• substantial collections of video and audio are easily accessible
• the technology requires very little in system resources
• links to videos can be placed in Web Pages or e-mails
• video is never entirely on students hard drive, so students cannot share it illegally
• and, finally, video Streaming content is always current and up-to-date

Here are a few resources to explore.

• Power Media Plus (email your BITS for the passcode information)
  
• Teachers Network
• Teacher's Domain

Technology Use in Formative Assessments

Technology use in formative assessments helps students improves feedback, reporting opportunities and their overall performance.

• Wikis
• Students can receive feedback from their peers who typically word the solutions in very student-friendly language.
  
• Online Course Management
• Teachers can transform an online quiz into a formative assessment by creating an explanation for each correct answer in the ProProfs, eChalk, QuizLab or HotChalk course management systems.
• Explanations and supporting resources provide concrete formative suggestions for students' improvement.
• Podcasts
• A teacher can digitally record her feedback as she thinks aloud about each student's work for feedback, which can be posted to the district's server so that students can listen to the teacher's feedback.
  
• Online Rubrics
• A teacher can modify rubrics, checklists, or rating scales to create a formative assessment rubric specific to the unit or content being currently taught in the classroom.
  
• Spreadsheets Record Growth
• An Excel spreadsheet can be used to keep track of her students' progress on a weekly basis.

THE FINAL WORD (Poll Results)!

Should tech training be required for all current teachers?

"Advocates of tech training believe it is money well spent, but others argue that these lessons are time consuming and ineffective and, without proper follow-up, easily forgettable."

One hundred percent (100%) of the people to took last week's poll on our site think it is imperative that all teachers pass a tech-training course to ensure that students are getting the highest-quality education possible. What do you think?

Did you miss the 2008 Thirteen's Teaching & Learning Celebration ?

Teaching & Learning Celebration 2008 features highlights from the third annual education event co-sponsored by New York public television stations WLIW21 and Thirteen/WNET. Thousands of teachers gathered at the Hilton New York on March 7 and 8, 2008 for this "World's Fair" of education to get inspiration from world-renowned experts - and each other - about the importance of science, the natural world, global awareness and instructional technology in today's classrooms. To view the highlights, visit: http://www.thirteencelebration.org/video2008

DIGITAL RESOURCES: NBC Lauches iCue for Students

NBC News has launched an ad-supported free online learning community aimed at students 13 and older named iCue, which stands for Immerse, Connect, Understand and Excel. It combines games, peer talk and video in an environment intended to be fun and safe. ICue uses technology that includes the iCue CueCard media player, flash card, note-taking tool and trading card. The "flip card" technology allows users to watch streaming videos from NBC News and then "flip" the CueCard over for additional information.

The initial activities are politically themed and during the summer, history, government and politics, as well as English language and composition components, will be added. NBC News stated the content is “aligned with” standards for advanced placement classes but is appropriate for a wide range of classes. Investigate it for yourself, visit: http://icue.com/

NASA Educational Resources

The Educational Materials section of NASA's website offers classroom activities, educator guides, posters, and other types of resources that are available for use in the classroom. Materials are listed by type, grade level, and subject. The following items are now available for downloading.

• 2007 NASA Education Highlights
  
• Additional Video Learning Clips Added
• Universe DVD
• Liftoff to Learning: Plants in Space
• NASA's Destination Tomorrow™: Bringing the Future into Focus
  

DIGITAL RESOURCES: Good Copyright-FREE Music

Are you having trouble finding good copyright-free music to use in videos and multimedia presentations? Try Jamendo and Opsound. Both provide music that has been licensed through the Creative Commons, which provides different levels of licensing. All the songs on these sites can be used so long as the artist is given credit, and you don't commercially profit from the project you create. Both sites contain thousands of songs in dozens of genres, but you probably need to do some pre-screening of music for your students at school, or potentially need to do some downloading at home because of in-district filtering. Investigate these sites for yourself and share your thoughts.

2008 Discovery Education/3M Young Scientist Challenge

The Young Scientist Challenge is open to all 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders nationwide. Students will be challenged to create a one- to two-minute video about a specific scientific concept, which they will select from a list of concepts provided by the Young Scientist Challenge judges. All concepts will relate to the 2008 Young Scientist Challenge theme, "The Science of Space." Each entry must demonstrate the student's understanding of the scientific concept explained and his or her comfort level discussing science in general.

The competition is open for entries between now and June 15, 2008.

Finalists will be judged on their communication and scientific problem solving skills. At the end of the competition, America's Top Young Scientist will be awarded a $50,000 savings bond (valued at $25,000 USD). Other finalists will receive secondary prizes.
For more information or to enter the competition, visit www.discoveryeducation.com/youngscientist.

The Interactive Whiteboard Revolution

Every tech-savy teacher wants an interactive whiteboard in his/her classroom. What is it about this technology that is so useful and appealing? Decide for yourself, investigate the interactive whiteboards listed below:

• Dukane's Leaderboard
• Hitachi's Starboard FX Duo
• Interwrite Learning's Interwrite Board
• Numonics Intelliboard
• PolyVision's Walk & Talk Board
• Promethean's Activboard
• Smart Technologies Interactive Whiteboard
• Mimio
• Luidia's eBeam Projection

Share your thoughts and experiences with this technology with us. We value your opinion.

2008 HP Technology for Teaching Grant Award Winners

In 2008, HP is investing more than $12M in schools and higher education institutions around the world. We are proud to congratulate HP Technology for Teaching grant recipients for 2008! More than half of the New York City Public Schools that received the award were from the Bronx. Congratulations:

• P.S. 9 The Ryer Avenue Elementary School
• DeWitt Clinton High School
• P.S. 721 Stephen McSweeney School
  
• P.S. 129 Twin Parks Upper School
• New Day Academy
• Frederick Douglass Academy V

HP believes that teaching excellence, combined with the right technologies, has a positive impact on student achievement. The HP Technology for Teaching Grant Initiative is designed to support the innovative use of mobile technology in K-16 education, and to help identify K-12 public schools and two- and four-year colleges and universities that HP might support with future grants. The HP Technology for Teaching initiative encompasses a total investment of nearly $60 million since 2004, impacting over 1000 educational institutions in 41 countries.

Free Computer Recycling from Apple

This spring, Apple will recycle your school’s old, unwanted Mac computers, PCs, and qualifying peripherals from any manufacturer—for free. There’s no purchase required, and all accredited K–12 and higher education institutions with at least 25 pieces* to be recycled are eligible to participate. Just register in time, follow the steps, and Apple will do the rest. For more information, visit: http://www.apple.com/education/shop/recycle/promo/index.

This offer expires June 30, so register now, click here—it’s never been easier to go green.

"Getting Started" with Wikispaces

Wikispaces has just posted a customizable presentation and a "Getting Started" handout to the teacher help page at http://www.wikispaces.com/help+teachers#toc8 to help spread the word and ideas about how to use wikis in education. For more information, visit: http://www.wikispaces.com/help+teachers

Ideas for Using Digital Cameras in the Early Learning Classroom

Is the digital camera in your classroom or school gathering dust much of the time? Gail Lovely, a former elementary school teacher, has suggestions for integrating digital camera use into classroom routines at this link: http://www.gaillovely.com/resources/cameras.htm

Take your photos further with Picasa from Google

If Photoshop Express is still too complex, try Google's Picasa, the free photo editor and on-line storage service. You can organize, edit, share, print, backup and create professional looking photos using this free software. Picasa requires a Gmail account (also free), but couldn't be easier to use when it comes to posting and sharing albums or slideshows. Try it yourself http://picasa.google.com/index-new3.html

Amplify your Images with Adobe Photoshop Express!

If you can't afford the expensive software price or the time to overcome the steep learning curve for its complex functions, you can access to the editing features of Photoshop for FREE. There is good news - Photoshop Express has been launched on the web. This is a free service that includes the most common features from Photoshop, plus a hefty amount of free storage space. You can give it a test drive here: https://www.photoshop.com/express/landing.html

Need Help with Your School's Spring Cleaning?

The time has come to get rid of your obsolete text books and IT equipment!

The New York City Department of Education's 2008 Book Buy Back Program combines the current book buyback program and adds the new option to have obsolete IT equipment removed from your school.

Schools are invited to register from April 28 through June 6. Please register at http://www.learningtimes.net/cleansweep

Celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week-May 4th-11th!

Give teachers the gift they really want—a simple thank-you.

According to a NEA survey of more than 2,500 teachers, the gift nearly half of them most want is to hear the words, "thank you."

To acknowledge America's 3 million public school teachers, the National Education Association and Parent Teacher Association are building the Nation's Largest Teacher Thank-You Card. Send them NEA your e-card! All submissions will be compiled into a larger-than-life tribute to teachers that will be unveiled later this year. For more information, click here.

The Intel Teach Program is Coming to the BRONX!

The Intel Teach Program offers proven professional development that enhances 21st century learning through the effective use of technology. The Intel Teach Essentials Course is being offered by the Office of Instructional Technology at P.S. 111 in the Bronx during the Month of May. To register NOW on Protraxx, click here.

This course is Professional Development that makes a difference! You can go back to your schools and implement your new skills immediately. Check out Units created by previous NYCDOE participants here.