Video: Web Search Strategies in Plain English by The Common Craft Show

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NYCDOE Software Expo & Showcase

Great news! The NYCDOE Division of Contracts and Purchasing (DCP) and the Office of Instructional Technology (OIT) announce steep discounts off list price on award winning instructional software that will be available for purchase September 2, 2008.

On Monday, October 6 and Tuesday, October 7, 2008, the NYC Department of Education is hosting a Technical Learning Solutions Software Exposition for Principals, Teachers, Coaches, and Decision Makers for software facts, demos, best practices, breakout sessions, speakers and more!

When:
Half day sessions offered Monday, October 6th & Tuesday, October 7th
8:30 AM–12:00 PM or 1:30 PM–5:00 PM

NYCDOE Selected Software Titles Include:
• Orchard & Practice Planet by Siboney
• Destination Math & Reading by Houghton Mifflin
• Rosetta Stone
• Waterford Early Learning by Pearson
• Gizmos by ExploreLearning
• Raz-Kids by Learning A-Z
• Encyclopedia Britannica
• Earobics by Houghton Mifflin
• Dimension M by Tabula Digita
• Atomic Learning
• Virtual Science Lab by Pearson

To Register, visit http://www.learningtimes.net/nycdoeshowcase/register

School Alert: Apply for Renzulli Learning Differentiated Instruction Program

The Office of Instructional Technology is pleased to announce the Renzulli Learning Differentiated Instruction Online Learning Program. Renzulli Learning is a tool for engaging students that helps teachers differentiate instruction through individualized resources tailored to students' interests and learning styles. Participating schools will receive a subsidized site license to Renzulli Learning, professional development, and more.

For more information and to apply, visit http://tinyurl.com/6kepra. Applications will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis with priority given to middle schools.

If your school is interested in applying, please note that your administration should designate a Renzulli School Site Manager (RSSM). The designated RSSM can sign up for the Renzulli School Site Manager class at http://pd.nycoit.org under department "Instructional Technology". The NYC Department of Education is providing a subsidy for this program so that interested schools can enroll at a reduced cost of $700, which is payable through FAMIS.

You could win an Interactive Classroom Makeover!!!

Make a music video with your class that shows how amazing it would be to have a technology-fueled classroom. You could win an Interactive Classroom makeover worth over $25,000.

Grab your video camera, tune up your instruments or just SING! Send us your video, a panel of judges will choose one winner from grades K-5, 6-8 and 9-12 will be chosen from the entries.

Start your video today! The contest ends on October 24. Click here for more information.

Discovery Educator Network Streamathon

The third annual streamathon has been scheduled for September 23, 2008, from 9 a.m. EST to 9 p.m. EST. This free, online professional development event is open to educators nationwide and is a service of Discovery Education, a division of Discovery Communications, whose networks include Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and the Science Channel. To register, click here.

KC3~Kids Creating Community Content International Contest

If you’re looking for ways to engage middle and high school students in authentic research, presentation skills and use of videoconferencing technology then you’ll want to be involved in the 2008-2009 Kids Creating Community Content (KC3) International Contest. This standards based project taps into the creative nature of students as they look at their community and explore ways to share their unique area with students from around the world. For complete details and project requirements visit: http://kc3.cilc.org

Submission Deadline October 17, 2008

Check out Reading Rockets!

If you're beginning to explore video and audio resources on the web for teachers and students, the free Video and Audio Podcasts from Reading Rockets are a terrific place to start.  Features include video and audio chats with favorite authors, as well as advice from education experts and videos of best practices from classrooms:

http://www.readingrockets.org/podcasts/

Free Math Academy Activites

Real-life applications of mathematics while having fun? Is it possible? Yes! Created by teachers for teachers, the Math Academy tools and activities included in these booklets were designed to create hands-on activities and a fun learning environment for the teaching of mathematics to students. You can use Math Academy activities to enhance your math instruction while staying true to the academic rigor required by the state standards framework. For more information, visit: http://www.actuarialfoundation.org/youth/mathacademy.html

Free Microsoft Curriculum on Intellectual Property

Microsoft will offer a student curriculum, for students in grades 8-10, covering technology and creative rights in October/November of 2008. The curriculum will be partnered with a corresponding Web site, www.mybytes.com. The site is designed to complement the intellectual property curriculum; it also can serve as a standalone tool to help students understand the issue of creative rights.

The online materials include cross-curricular classroom activities that can be adapted for use in grades 6-12. The material is organized into thematic units that span subject areas such as civics, computer science, debate, economics, fine arts government, journalism, language arts, drama and video production. The Web site is designed to help students apply critical thinking skills to the subject of intellectual property. Features at the site include a music mixer that allows students to create ring ones, interviews with artists on the subject of intellectual property, a Viewpoints forum, polls, and more. Educators can access the online material is free with registration.

Additional information on the project can be found online at www.IPReducation.com.

Microsoft, www.microsoft.com/education.

FREE SMART Board Resources

There are free lessons and resources on the Teqsmart Educator Resource Center for use with SMART Boards. There are hundreds of files created by teacher in and around NYC – so the content is specifically appropriate to teachers in NYC. There are currently over 4,000 users of the site – most on a regular daily or weekly visit to get resources for use in the classroom.

Additionally, people can download a free interactive Learning Object – “Electoral Map,” which displays customized Electoral College results. Votes can be toggled on or off for each state and votes are automatically tallied and displayed. There will be a whole series of TeqSmart Learning Objects available throughout the school year. Download and utilize this free file for use in the content development/lesson creation at http:///www.teqsmart.org

Educators can also visit the Teqsmart blog to get the latest news on upcoming products, interesting ways to use SMART Boards and other great resources out there that work well with SMART Boards…

FYI: Disrupting Class is a new book by Clayton Christensen

Clayton Christensen is best known for his disruptive innovation theory. The theory postulates that an innovation (such as the personal computer) arrives that changes the way the entire field is organized. For instance, we have seen this with technologies such as the cell phone, email, and instant messaging, etc. Mr. Christensen and his colleagues discuss the education system and how technology is the catalyst for change. Computer-based learning is leading us to student-centric teaching and learning and leading the revolution that is changing the way we teach and learn.

Technology coordinators, chief information officers, school principals and superintendents, teachers, parents, and all who have an interest in assuring that our education system be the best it can be for all students should read this book.

Free Lesson Plans from HotChalk

HotChalk's LessonPlansPage.com is a collection of over 3,000 lesson plans from Preschool through High School and beyond, that were developed by Kyle Yamnitz, students and faculty at The University of Missouri, and more recently by the users of this website. Launched in October of 1996, The Lesson Plans Page was developed to assist educators of all types. Elementary school teachers get lesson plans that are ready to use in their classrooms. The folks at Hotchalk have worked hard to develop a good extensive resource for educators. For more information, visit: http://www.lessonplanspage.com/

Free Digital Resources by Teachers, for Teachers

You can find hundreds of technology and media lesson plans for elementary school through high school at the Teachers Network Technology and Media Lesson Plans website.

WANTED: Classroom Innovators

Toshiba America Foundation (TAF) is currently accepting applications for grants to support innovative projects designed by math and science teachers to make their own classrooms more exciting and successful for students. Check out the deadlines for your grade level and download the application form and guidelines. For more information, visit: www.toshiba.com

Free Checklists to Support PBL and Evaluation

A project based learning method is a comprehensive approach to instruction. Your students participate in projects and practice an interdisciplinary array of skills from math, language arts, fine arts, geography, science, and technology.

The folks at PBL have created age-appropriate, customizable project checklists for written reports, multimedia projects, oral presentations, and science projects. The use of these checklists keeps students on track and allows them to take responsibility for their own learning through peer- and self-evaluation. For more information, visit: http://pblchecklist.4teachers.org/

DIGITAL RESOURCE: Wisc-Online

Drawing on a wide range of subject expertise, the Wisconsin Online ResourceCenter (Wisc-Online) is a digital library of web-based learning resources known as "learning objects". Learning objects" are essentially self-contained small chunks of learning that can be embedded in a learning activity, lesson, unit or course. The site includes over 2170 of these objects, and new objects are being developed continuously. Visitors will need to complete a short registration form before they are allowed to access all of the materials on the site, but they can certainly get a sense of what the site includes by checking out the "New Learning Objects" area. Here they will find everything from animated presentations showing how the pH level of a cleaning solution is controlled to an interactive activity on industrial automation. For more information, visit: www.wisc-online.com

PBWiki Back to School Challenge

Collaborative technology developer PBwiki has launched two new grant programs for education offering free upgrades to the company's hosted wiki service and other awards.

The first of the programs, called the Back To School Challenge, will allow up to 100,000 teachers and librarians to earn a gold-level PBwiki account for free. (Gold upgrades normally run $250.) They can do this by "by using, blogging about, and referring others to PBwiki." Other prizes in this program include a $1,000 gift certificate for purchasing school supplies; autographed books; Lego educational products; and games. Prizes are awarded based on a point system. A complete list of prizes and point totals can be found here.

The second program, called the Partner Program for Education, allows districts and associations to offer PBwiki gold accounts to members for free.

"With schools and libraries feeling the pinch of the slowing economy, PBwiki wants to make sure educators can still afford the tools they need to make 2008-2009 the year of collaborative learning," said PBwiki CEO Jim Groff in a statement released this week. "Giving away 100,000 premium wikis lets us help out and spread wiki-based collaboration to an even wider audience."

Both programs are open now and run through Oct. 31. Further information can be found here.

Nano Science Education Solutions and Resources Online

The purpose and mission of The NanoTechnology Group Inc., is to provide a supportive and collaborative advisory role to our members for facilitation and development of innovative Nano scale Science Education to include subject specific math curriculum targeted for grades preK-20, featuring Interactive Virtual Nano Science Classrooms for Global access and Virtual Interactive Nano Science Laboratories (nano-lab) for experiential learning, along with Massive Online Role-playing Games for Education globally. As a Solution Based Organization, they continuously post new resources for teachers/students/parents while seeding the ideas into the matrix for implementation. For more information, visit: www.TNTG.org/

Do you remember PicLens?

It's probably impossible to create a true 3D experience in terms of web-browsing, but PicLens 1.8 comes quite close. This application can be used with a variety of browsers to bring online photos and videos into sharp relief. Essentially, PicLens displays video and photos as a movable "wall"of sorts on the monitor. This version is compatible with computers running Windows XP or Vista. For more information, visit: http://www.cooliris.com/

Best Buy Grants

Nominations for the 2009 Best Buy Teach Awards are now open. The program will award $2 million in K-12 grants this year for the use of technology in ways that engage students in the classroom and help keep those students in school. The Teach Awards recognize schools and districts for "exceptional, creative use of interactive technology in the classroom." Winners will be chosen based on the strengths of their current programs and their plans for expanding those programs in the following year. For more information, visit: www.bestbuyinc.com

Free Electronic Student Planner

The StudyMinder Homework System is an electronic student planner that helps students improve their grades by solving the most common problems students face:

• Forgotten assignments
• Homework notes scattered everywhere
• No overview of when assignments are due
• Difficulty estimating study time so everything gets done
• Waiting to start big projects until the night before they are due
• Lack of good study skills

For more information, visit: www.studyminder.com

DIGITAL RESOURCE: Free "Quiz School" Resource

ProProfs has upgraded Quiz School, a free online resource that allows educators generate custom assessments. The new version, launched this week, adds integration with popular social media services and includes new analytics and reporting features.

Quiz School is designed to let educators create online quizzes and practice tests for their students. In addition to custom quizzes, the service provides a library of pre-designed quizzes, which range from K-12 education to technology certification, SAT and GRE prep, and general trivia.

For more information, visit: http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/

Fresh Start for Donated Computers

Has your school ever received donated personal computers that were delivered without the appropriate documentation and CDs for the original Windows® operating system? Microsoft's Fresh Start for Donated Computers program helps primary and secondary (K-12) schools ensure its donated computers are properly licensed—so students and teachers can gain additional access to technology.

To learn more about the Fresh Start for Donated Computers program, visit: www.microsoft.com

The Dollar General Back-to-School Grants

The Dollar General Back-to-School Grants provide funding to assist schools in meeting some of the financial challenges they face in implementing new programs, or purchasing new equipment, materials or software for their school library or literacy program.

For more information, visit: www.dollargeneral.com

Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology

Registration is now open for the 2008-09 Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology!

The Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology recognizes remarkable talent early on, fostering individual growth for high school students who are willing to challenge themselves through science research. Through this competition, students have an opportunity to achieve national recognition for science research projects that they complete in high school. It is administered by The College Board and funded by the Siemens Foundation.

For more information, visit: http://www.siemens-foundation.org/en/competition.htm

Leavey Awards for Excellence in Private Enterprise Education

The trustees of The Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Foundation have generously endowed the Leavey Awards for Excellence in Private Enterprise Education with a cash award of $7,500 is given to full time educators who have an innovative way of teaching America’s private enterprise system. A special award of $15,000 will be given for an unusually meritorious entry. The candidate must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident employed full-time as an educator at an accredited American school (grades K-12), college or university. The application must conceive and implement and innovative course, program or project which develops, among students, a deeper understanding and appreciation of the American private enterprise system. The nominee’s program, course or project must be operating or initiated during the previous academic year.

The deadline for entries is October 1st. For more information visit: www.freedomsfoundation.org/

Kids In Need Teacher Grants

Kids In Need Teacher Grants provide K-12 educators with funding to provide innovative learning opportunities for their students. The Kids In Need Foundation helps to engage students in the learning process by supporting our most creative and important educational resource — our nation's teachers. Teacher Grant awards range from $100 to $500 each and are used to finance creative classroom projects. Typically, 200-300 grants are awarded each year. All certified K-12 teachers in the U.S. are eligible. For more information, visit: www.kidsinneed.net