VFLR Celebrates Connected Educator Month (Wk 3)

It’s Connected Educators Month – the first major celebration ever of the powerful potential for educator-driven professional learning in the Internet age.

Each Wednesday of this month (five in all) we’re featuring several posts written by our Voices from the Learning Revolution bloggers. This week, we’ve selected four more revolutionary voices from our collection of nearly 200 articles posted since March 2011. They, too, reflect the spirit and vision that underlay the USDOE-sponsored Online Communities of Practice project.

For regular updates about PLP’s involvement in CEM, be sure to visit the PLP blog.

 

Magic and Serendipity in Our Global Primary Classroom

First grade teacher Kathy Cassidy has witnessed many magical moments since her Canadian kids became virtual globetrotters. But none have been more engaging than the story she tells here, of an unsolicited video clip from a primary class in Greece. “It was magical learning about a place my students had never before heard of and will probably never see for themselves. Learning that was totally led by the students. The children in Greece, too, have questions for us to answer. More magic. More serendipity. I love my connected classroom.” Learn more

 

 

 Ballad of a Frustrated Staff Developer

El Paso IT leader Tim Holt wrote this edgy poem as both a rant and a plea for teachers to engage more with technology integration and connected learning (for themselves as well as their students). A 25-year public school veteran and former science teacher, Holt got plenty of feedback in the comments for his “infographic,” which begins: Do not tell me / You do not have time / You cannot complete the assignment / Or come to training / Or take a course / Or read a blog / Or expand your own learning… Learn more

 

 

How We’re Using Our Own Private Classroom-Focused Social Network

Fourth grade teacher Patti Grayson tells how she’s incorporated the Edmodo social networking platform for schools into her everyday classroom experience for students. “Unlike Facebook, Edmodo is highly secure,” she says. And it’s simple to set up and implement. “I’ve been using Edmodo with my students for almost a year now and it has had a big impact on learning and collaboration.” Learn more

 

Civility, Social Justice, Empathy & Social Networking in the 21st Century Classroom

What do citizenship, social justice, empathy, social networking and an urban high school classroom have to do with each other? “In my classroom the answer is EVERYTHING,” says Beth Sanders, a social studies teacher in Birmingham, Alabama. “My mission: Support my students to become not only informed but aware, not only aware but empathetic, not only empathetic but active, not only active but connected, not only connected but reflective and ready to create real life solutions to real life problems.” Learn more