2021 Conversation with Tx Rep. Harold Dutton - Education Committee Chair

If you were not able to attend the live session on 2-25-21, you can find the recording and more details at Texas Tribune.

Summer Fun

Have you checked out the new 30 Days of Summer Fun resource in Learning.com?

Log in to your account, go to the Marketplace and search for Learning.com. In the Integration Projects area, you will see not only great projects for teaching and learning, but a unit to engage students during the Summer. Filled with interactive games and activities available in the Learning.com Platform, your students are sure to have some fun while they continue learning. You can assign the items via Learning.com or utilize the PDF to send home with students. Both can be found by logging in to your Learning.com account.

What Builds a Better Teacher?

In February, I had the opportunity to attend the Texas Tribune Education Symposium at Rice University in Houston, TX. One of the panels was on what builds a better teacher? I thought I would post the recording here.

 

Rock Our World: Making the World a Better Place to Live

 

 

 

John F. Kennedy once said, “Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.” Crossing boundaries whether physical or mental and changing opinions is a challenge created from the environment and societal beliefs. Finding a way to build a bridge across those boundaries takes patience, understanding and a passion for what you believe in. Carol Anne McGuire found a way to build such a bridge and used her creativity to build it. Recognizing the need for peace in an every changing world of chaos, Carol Anne found a way to utilize communication, collaboration and music to connect students from across the world in an effort to build a foundation for peace.

Carol Anne is a passionate educator with a creative background in music. This partnership of passion and creativity is what gave her the inspiration to build a bridge to peace called Rock Our World (ROW). ROW brings students from every continent together to collaborate on music, film-making and special projects. ROW was founded in 2004 as a way to bring together students from around the world to learn, share and build an understanding of each other. Building peace through the use of music is not a new concept, and ROW is not the only organization with this goal. Groups like the Sonic Peacemakers attempt to bring peace through music; however, they utilize singers and musicians from around the world to promote peace. ROW is unique in that it gathers students to collaborate through music to understand human and cultural differences which allows for students to grow in their acceptance of those differences. The understanding and the acceptance are what will lead to a more peaceful world.

Rock Our World is an innovative, collaborative, international challenge based learning project. Students from around the world work together to create music, movies and to participate in a worldwide webinar family night. Each year ROW has a focused theme to assist the participants in learning about each other and their cultural differences. The themes have ranged from “Getting to Know You” to “Healthy Eating and Sustainability” to this year’s challenge, “Rocktography.” In this year’s challenge for learning, students are using the camera to capture smiles around the world. The images are being uploaded to flickr and shared as a way to build communication and understanding without words.

Although themed projects are completed each year, the main focus for ROW is to build a foundation of peace through the use of music. The school year begins with each participating group creating a 30 second drum beat utilizing a digital music creating software called Garage Band. Every Friday, the music file is passed on to the next school in a different country where a different instrument is added. As the recorded music passes from one school to the next, a song begins to form. By the time the song file returns to the originating country, it has been impacted by students from all over the world. Students put aside their differences and cross their physical and mental boundaries to collaborate on one goal: the creation of a song. Each time the song is passed from one group to the next, a video chat is conducted which allows for the students to meet each other and ask questions to learn more about who is collaborating to create the song. By including the video chat in the process, students are learning about other cultures, their differences and are able to confirm and deny societal stereotypes which allows for students to build a bridge of understanding.
Rock Our World has been impacting students from all over the world for almost 10 years. By engaging students from around the world in a collaborative effort to create music, students have learned to cross their societal and physical boundaries. Students learn to understand, work together, see beyond their differences and create an environment of peace. As they share their creations with adults and continue to build connections around the world, they are beginning to have a positive impact on peace. The students who participate in Rock Our World are building a world of peace by creating their own collaborative community and using music as their connection.

Visit Rock Our World at http://www.rockourworld.org/ to learn more.

Web Tools for Teaching and Learning

Web tools are great resources for teaching and learning. This glog below includes some favorites with links to the site.

Learning.com Innovator Community

Have you heard the news?

The Learning.com Innovator Community has a link to join on your teacher Home page after you log in to www.learning.com. Visit your Learning.com account today and join the community.

 

What:    Learning.com Innovator Community (free to join)

Where: Online for resources and best practices related to integrating technology into your classroom.

Face to face events for sharing ideas and collaborating.

Webinars for monthly tips and new ideas.

Quarterly newsletter to keep you in the know.

When: The Learning.com Innovator Community will offer a variety of events. Registration is open at any time.

Why:     Collaboration and communication with other educators for best practices around integrating digital resources into the classroom.

                Web-based and face to face community events

                Resources created for and by Learning.com Innovators

                3 membership types based on how you want to be involved

                (You may be involved in all 3 areas.)

How:     You can either log in to your Learning.com account and join from there or click this link and go directly to the registration page.

I look forward to seeing you in the Learning.com Innovator Community.

Learning.com Marketplace Update

So I am a bit behind on sharing some great updates to the Learning.com Marketplace. I am hoping that you stumbled on these digital resources without me. There are always new and exciting resources (free and for fee) that appear in the Marketplace to assist you in integrating technology into core curriculum subjects. Next time you log in to Learning.com, take a look at what is new by visiting the Marketplace.
 

 



 

Started in 2009, DOGO Media reaches thousands of students and teachers around the world to engage them with current events, books and more. DOGO offers DOGO News and DOGO Books, both for K-12 students. These are free products. DOGO News allows teachers and students to link to easy-to-read articles geared towards kids on current events, science, sports, and more! With DOGO Book, students can check out book reviews written by kids for thousands of kids books.

 

 

 

Although this one is a for fee resource, StudyDog is one that you don't want to miss.

StudyDog Learning provides scientifically-based interactive reading programs specially designed for emergent and early readers in PK–1st Grade. The Adventures in Reading series is used to supplement core curriculum and assist in reading interventions in over 3,000 schools nationwide. Lessons in each program were developed from the ground up to meet early learning standards and the guidelines of the National Reading Panel.



 

Vocabulary Spelling City has free spelling, vocabulary and writing games. This is a great way to practice word study and prepare for weekly spelling quizzes and even the spelling bee. These activities are geared K-12th grade.

ZisBoomBah.com is an interactive healthy adventure game where kids are the hero. ZBB makes healthy living a reality by weaving real life activities into the fun interactive elements of gaming. By placing kids in the center & making them the hero – they help take the pain out of getting kids to eat healthy by making eating healthy the kids idea! For teachers, ZisBoomBah offers lesson plans, printables and games that integrate nutrition, health and fitness education into math, reading and writing lessons for K-5. Created by teacher for teachers, the lesson plans follow the National Common Core Standards and Heath Standards. In addition, parents motivated to make a change will find everything they need at ZisBoomBah from a supportive community to expert advice that addresses a family’s specific needs. This is a free product.

Curriculum Matrix connects teachers with thousands of curriculum resources aligned to their state standards. It provides access to grade-specific, standards-aligned resources with an emphasis on Common Core resources. For Grades K-12. These for fee resources can be purchased for as low as $12.95 per user per year.

Dedicated to assisting teachers and helping all students achieve their full potentials, Walch Education is a leading publisher of middle school, high school and adult educational materials. Curricula is targeted, user-friendly, flexible, and cost-effective; ensuring the items are easy to implement for greater success in your classroom. This for fee resource starts as low as $5 per teacher.

 

The Marketplace is full of fantastic digital resources for integrating technology into your classroom, so don't miss out. Log in to your Learning.com account and see what you have been missing.