Tip of the Day: 2 days and counting…more than 1.7 million students participating so far!

Tip of the Day:

1.      Public-Private Partnerships Make A Difference In Schools Everyday and Especially for Digital Learning Day

2.      Check List for Digital Learning Day:  Plan a Lesson, Tune-in To The Webcast, Watch the Town Hall

Check out this amazing group of non-profit organizations and corporations that have banded together to make Digital Learning Day 2012 happen.

Visit the “Partners” page at http://www.digitallearningday.org/partners/ to see the broad array of companies and partnerships that were created through this national awareness campaign.  As you peruse that page, please know that these companies have invested in Digital Learning Day to support innovation and great teachers like you.  As you visit their pages, you will notice several partners are offering special offers and product pricing for Digital Learning Day participants.  There is no expectation to buy or sign-up for anything but we would appreciate you noticing their support and perusing their links as time permits.

Checklist for Digital Learning Day

1.      Tune into the morning webcast at http://www.digitallearningday.org. The full agenda can be reviewed at http://www.digitallearningday.org/events/national-events/dldwebcast. 

2.      Plan a Lesson by viewing the resources in the teacher toolkits at http://www.digitallearningday.org/toolkits/teachers/

3.      You are also encouraged to watch the live town hall meeting being streamed via the Internet on February 1, 2012.  You can view this on your own, with colleagues, or as a class. Please make sure to register at http://digitallearningday.eventbrite.com/ to get the directions, bookmark the link, and test your system before the live webcast on February 1 at 1:00 PM Eastern Time.

Tip of the Day: A Teacher’s Dream! Check Out These Edutopia Resources for Digital Learning Day.

Tip of the Day: A Teacher’s Dream! Check Out These Edutopia Resources for Digital Learning Day.

6 days and counting…1,655,375 students participating so far! You can see Edutopia’s Digital Learning Day Resources at http://www.edutopia.org/digital-learning-technology-resources. These resources include interesting and teacher-friendly videos, helpful hints, and new tools and resources on:

Integrating Technology into Schools

Online Learning and Blended Classrooms

Teaching with New Media Tools

Working with Digital Learners

Additional Resources on the Web

Tip of the Day: Awesome Ideas from Teachers Like You!

We are getting great ideas from teachers like you about what they are doing to celebrate Digital Learning Day with their students. What an amazing groundswell of activities and ideas that have already been submitted! Take a look at a sampling of these ideas found at http://www.digitallearningday.org/toolkits/teachers/awesome_ideas.

If you have a document that should be shared as a model for other teachers, please send it to digitallearningday@all4ed.orgin Word or a PDF (typo free with no personal information). Please also submit a two sentence description of the resource. We can’t guarantee to post your idea before February 1st, but there will be plenty of opportunities after the event to highlight your celebrations as well.

LIVE TOWN HALL: Registration is now open for the National Town Hall Meeting. Make sure to register at http://digitallearningday.eventbrite.com/if you plan to watch the live webcast on February 1 at 1:00 PM Eastern Time.

Digital Learning Day Tip of the Day: Check Out Two New Toolkits for Digital Learning Day

Check out, pass on, and Tweet the two new toolkits for Digital Learning Day!

Building upon the interest and resources in the Teacher & Librarians, School Leader, District Leader, and State Leader Toolkits, the Alliance has developed the following:

• Beyond the Classroom Toolkit: The Alliance for Excellent Education encourages all programs that interact with young learners, both in and out of school, to explore and learn more about the power of digital learning. This toolkit highlights several programs from across the country.
• Parent Toolkit: The parent toolkit provides resources, sample letters, and recommendations on how parents can participate in Digital Learning Day and learning more about technology and digital learning as it relates to their students.

You can also now make your own poster, flier, or email to celebrate and promote Digital Learning Day. Check out our Artwork Toolkit for materials.

Digital Learning Day Tip of the Day: Learn from the Experts: Understanding How Students View Their Own Learning; Implementing Instructional Strategies; and Making Learning Relevant

How Students View Their Own Learning
Julie Evans, Chief Executive Officer, Project Tomorrow, shares insights from the national Speak Up survey into how students view their own learning in contrast to how they learn in school: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlwFKHFi9VA

Instructional Strategies
High-Level Teaching Practices for Engagement and Critical Thinking
Yvette Jackson, Chief Executive Officer, National Urban Alliance for Effective Education and author of The Pedagogy of Confidence: Inspiring High Intellectual Performance in Urban Schools, identifies the high-level teaching practices that elicit students' deep engagement and critical thinking.

Digital Learning Day Tip of the Day– Check out the English Language Arts Resources, Lesson Plans, and Ideas in the Teacher & Classroom Toolkit

Literacy and language arts are often viewed as content areas that are addressed across the curriculum. We have added many new resources, tools, and links to the Language Arts Toolkits section of the Digital Learning Day website.

Some highlights include:

• A Smattering of Writing and Language Arts Resources: Dr. Scott McLeod, Director of the Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE) has compiled these links and resources related to writing. Lesson plans, links to magazines and publications, news, comics, student blogs, and other educational tools are all included here.
• American Association of School Librarians (AASL): These "Top 25" websites foster the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration. They are free, web-based sites that are user friendly and encourage a community of learners to explore and discover. Websites are broken down into: Media Sharing, Digital Storytelling, Manage and Organize, Social Networking and Communication, Content Collaboration, Curriculum Sharing, and Content Resources: Lesson Plans and More.
• Literacy, ELL, and Digital Storytelling Life Academy High School/Bay Area Writing Project (Oakland, CA) is highlighted in this video that documents a semester-long, project-based learning unit focused on immigration led by National Writing Project high school teachers Cliff Lee and Yumi Matsui. As part of this project, students created digital stories portraying the immigration experience of a family member or friend. The video shows the project from the beginning stages to the end, when students show their work at an Exhibition Night in front of families and peers.

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.

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.

Digital Learning Day Tip of the Day: Awesome Ideas!

Take a look at these great ideas on what you can do on Digital Learning Day!

This flyer, created by library media specialist Robyn Young from Avon High School in Indiana, includes recommendations for teachers and ideas that technology leaders, principals, or district leaders can encourage educators to do on Digital Learning Day. We recommend you use these ideas or develop your own based upon her recommendation.

Digital Learning Day Tip of the Day: Check out what is happening in your state and find some great ideas from educators like you!

Thirty-six states, representing 79 percent of the teachers and students in the U.S., have signed up to host their own personalized version of Digital Learning Day.

Visit the state events section of the Digital Learning Day website to see if your state is among the participants. If it is, reach out to learn more (get more information by clicking on your state on the list on the left) or reach out to your department of education or other state organization to recommend that they get involved!