I ran across a Blooms Taxonomy Tutorial from the Colorado Community College System Colleges Wiki page on Blooms Taxonomy in my delicious network feed. I thought it might be helpful to teachers as you design your lesson plans. I love the second of the animations that suggest activities for each of the levels, with a focus on digital technology. The text is a bit hard to see embedded in this blog, so use the links below each one to see them full screen.http://media.ccconline.cccs.edu/ccco/FacWiki/Blooms_Taxonomy_Tutorials/BloomsTaxonomy_Verbs_Pyramid/BloomsTaxonomyVerbsPyramid.swfTo see this tutorial full screen, click here.
http://media.ccconline.cccs.edu/ccco/FacWiki/Blooms_Taxonomy_Tutorials/BloomsTaxonomy_Activities_Tabs/BloomsTaxonomyActivitiesTabs.swfTo see this tutorial full screen, click here.
Publishing Writing Ideas
Jacqui Sharp from ICT Teaching and Learning posted this great slideshow of different ways to publish writing. It’s great!! It goes from the easiest ways to the more elaborate…but lots of fun things are included. Take a look! Can you think of any other ways?
McGlothlin Award Nomination Call
Do you know a wonderful teacher who deserves recognition? What about a chance to travel and bring “the world” back to their classroom? If so, please consider nominating this teacher for the McGlothlin Award. This Award is one of the largest monetary awards in the country ($25,000, $10,000 of which must be spent on international travel), provided by the very generous McGlothlin foundation. Their goal is to recognize teachers for their hard work, reward them, and inspire others to enter the teaching profession. It is open to full-time elementary or secondary teachers of core curriculum areas within the Blue Ridge PBS broadcast area. To check to see if your division is eligible, look here. Teachers must have five years experience and plan to continue teaching in the years to come.
This year they are opening nominations to the public and asking that all entry materials be sent electronically, to mcglothlin@blueridgepbs.org
The following elements should be sent no later than November 6, 2009:
Resume or curriculum vitae that lists the nominee’s
• education history
• employment history
• continuing professional development
• awards/honors
• conference or other presentations
• volunteer service to the community
Three letters of recommendation, forwarded from the authors. (Suggested sources: principals, supervisors, parents, colleagues, current or former students.)
Nominees must provide a personal statement about their teaching (limit is two (2) typewritten pages) that demonstrates how they fulfill the criteria of the McGlothlin Awards. Please include the answers to these important points:
• How do you bring the world to your classroom?
• Where would you choose to spend $10,000 of your award for international travel?
Click here if you’d like more information about nominating someone you know!
Social Networking Revolution
Thom Ryder sent this video out to the staff at Oak Grove, and it’s really good. Just had to share:
To see a list of the statistics quoted (and their sources), you can check out this blog post from Socialnomics.
Welcome Back with Wordle!
Want an easy back to school activity that will help you begin to know your students? Try Wordle! Here’s an example of an About Me activity using it. Please remember to use only first names if you do this with your students.
The instructional ideas for this resource are endless. You can find some of these ideas in this post, Wordle Word Clouds. I also suggest taking a look at the ideas Tom Barrett has collected from many other educators below:
Finally, you may want to check out Jen Wagner’s Guess the Wordle Wiki. There she posts different Wordles throughout the week, and students are encouraged to guess their subject using the words in the Wordle (Monday is an easy wordle, Wednesday is a little harder, Friday is the hardest). She will also be adding a Thursday Wordle that will be about a book (librarians, this might appeal to you)!
If you have your students create Wordles, make sure you direct them to this exact URL (http://www.wordle.net/create) so they bypass the gallery of other Wordles. While most of the examples in the gallery are usually okay, from time to time inappropriate words do appear there. By going straight to the “Create” area, you lessen the chance that students run across inappropriate words. 🙂
If you have never used Wordle before and would like some help as you explore it with your students, please contact me!
Teaching with Technology 