Afternoon Announcements: January 18, 2012

Happy Wednesday. As you reflect on the amount of cups of coffee it took to reach this day while contemplating how many it will take to finish the week, enjoy the latest in education news.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia School District has failed to report crime consistently. A new report has found numerous safety flaws within the school district including not offering enough counseling for kids traumatized by violence, and failure to replicate best practices citywide. The school district in response has promised to focus more attention on violence prevention, offer more transparency around violence data, enact better reporting, and modify their zero tolerance policy.

 

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Stats that Stick: January 18, 2012

Number of documents available in a new digital archive for the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: 200,000.

The Washington Post reports that thanks to the tireless efforts of the King Center Imaging Project, nearly 200,000 documents connected with the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are now included in a new online archive that became available on Monday, the national holiday that honored the slain civil rights leader.

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William Dorsey- Leveraging Digital Learning for Science

This following post comes from William Dorsey, a Globaloria Educator and biology teacher at Capital High School in Kanawha County, West Virginia.

As a science teacher, I know that time is of the essence. It is a constant challenge to cover all the content. Every science class has its own content to cover. Biology, for example, involves teaching subject matter that ranges from the characteristics that define life to all the processes that occur within a living organism to the intricate complexities and interactions of ecology. With all the labs that make science fun, I, like most science teachers, often find myself rushing through material or not getting to certain sections at all. Digital learning when done right offers a very workable solution for such time constraints.

In my Biology class, digital learning using the Globaloria learning process and curriculum has allowed me to solve this issue and provide a fun and interesting way of challenging my students. By spending one day a week in the computer lab collaboratively inventing and designing biology-focused webgames on a network, my students have learned to become self-paced learners, taught themselves the guiding principles of biological classification, a topic that I often had to rush or ignore, and modeled digital and work skills crucial in the world of their future.

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Afternoon Announcements: January 17, 2012

We hope you enjoyed the extended weekend. Now as you venture back into the rhythm of the work week, enjoy the top stories in education news.

As most of us enjoyed a work-free or school-free Monday in honor of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., National Public Radio talked with several teachers and asked for their thoughts on the challenges of observing the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in the classroom. An NPR reporter sat down with a group of teachers and discussed keeping the lesson fresh and relevant to society today as well as analyzing whether white teachers are prepared to teach about civil rights.

Also touching on Dr. Martin Luther Jr., the New York Times reports New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg invoked the ideals of the Civil Rights leader in criticizing the lack of an agreement on a system to rate teachers’ performance.

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Digital Learning Day Tip of the Day: Countdown to Digital Learning Day: District and School Perspectives

RSVP for the Alliance's webinar tomorrow, January 18th, at 1:00 pm ET on district and school perspectives!

Hear directly from and ask questions of educators to learn more about possibilities for digital learning and specifically for Digital Learning Day. Details can be found below.

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Michael Horn: Digital Learning Day Cometh

In his weekly blog for Forbes, Michael Horn, the co-founder and executive director of the education practice of the Innosight Institute, writes that the arrival of Digital Learning Day, February 1, 2012, is the latest step that the "disruptive" (in a good way) innovation of K-12 online learning is moving more into the mainstream.

In his post, Horn, who is the coauthor of Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns, tracks the emergence of technology in education from a few enthusiastic early adopters to a dramatic shift from print to digital.

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Holly M. Jobe: Utilizing Technology in the Classroom

The following blog post comes from Holly M. Jobe, president of the Board of Directors for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).

We’ve heard from so many authors including Tom Friedman, Daniel Pink, Tony Wagner, Heidi Hayes Jacobs, James Stigler, and James Hiebert that schools are not preparing students to thrive in the 21st century.  All of these authors have pointed to new skills students will need in the world they will inherit. Where will students learn these skills? It is clear to educational reformers that classrooms are where change happens.

Many of the 21st century skills are technology related, so it is essential to have technology tools available for teacher and student use in classrooms. I am delighted to write this blog post for the first Digital Learning Day encouraging more widespread use of technology in classrooms.

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Digital Learning Day Tip of the Day: Character Development Content to Celebrate Martin Luther King’s Legacy

Using robust digital content in conjunction with language arts, social studies, and character development activities can help bring important issues to light to improve school environments.

Today, I want to pass along this as a free resource to the Digital Learning Day community in celebration of MLK day.

The Power, Prejudice and Preventing Ethnic Conflict site is a free resource offered by Ripple Effects that is a multimedia, skill building program, which includes compelling true stories and an engaging game.

 

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