Secondary Transition materials and infor from Tennessee's SPED website...

The state of Tennessee offers some great information for Secondary Transitions.   The information is organized well and is a great resource for parents, teachers and administrators.

Here's the link:   http://www.tn.gov/education/speced/secondary_trans.shtml


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Are you listening??

Julian Treasure offers 5 ways to improve our listening.

We, as educators, need to listen more and talk less. I experienced this on the first week of school. The teacher was talking and talking and the students were trying to ask questions to get a better understanding of the information, but the teacher had a pace and didn't listen. I watched the student shut down and not attempt to ask anything further. We corrected that at the end of the instructional session, but the damage was already done. We now have repair work to do that should never have been needed, if we had just listened in the first place.


Check out the TED talk at the link here: http://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_5_ways_to_listen_better.html



Thanks to Free Technology for Teachers for sharing this link in our personal learning network.

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How does the internet filter what we see?

This is a great TEDTalk about how the internet gatekeepers filter the searches that we make and why we need to make sure that searches are under our control and not some electronic coded control. As educators we need to make sure that as we are teaching critical thinking, we understand that not everything is as we think it is.

Take a look.

http://edupln.ning.com/video/eli-pariser-ted-talk


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Be careful in the social network world and in blogging!!

Please check out the article below and the link back to it regarding the information that is stored on your Facebook, MySpace and Twitter accounts -- EVEN IF YOU DELETE THEM!

From the Miss Techs website: http://www.misstechs.com/2011/06/social-network-slipups-stored-7-years.html

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Your social networking slipups to be stored for 7 years

In a world where potential employers will almost certainly toss your name into a search engine before considering you for a job, we should all be very careful about what we put online. However, sometimes we slip up, leaving a nasty smear on an otherwise pristine social networking persona. Now, thanks to a ruling by the FTC, background checking services can store those unfortunate moments for up to 7 years after you've deleted them from the web.

A company called Social Intelligence - which provides background checks for companies during the hiring process - recently drew ire from would-be employees due to its practice of building detailed files on applicants. The company keeps these records, which can contain embarrassing pictures or comments that have long since been deleted, in case they are requested by other potential employers in the future. The FTC, after taking a microscope to Social Intelligence's information gathering methods, declared that the company fell within the guidelines of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Individuals who believe their social record is tarnished through no fault of their own are welcome to dispute the firm's findings. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people affected have no idea what information Social Intelligence has on them until they are denied a job. So before you update your Facebook, Twitter or other social networking status, remember that the information you put forth can come back to haunt you, years after you've wiped your web slate clean.

In other words, think before you fire off, spew off or write something done that will be retained forever. 

Remember we are always saying, "If it isn't written down, it didn't happen." So the reverse can also be true -- "If it's written down, it DID happen," even if we delete it right away. 

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The SLA Slam Poets presented this beautiful poetry 

at the ISTE 2011 closing address last week in Philadelphia, PA. 

This is where we need to be as teachers. Listening to the students. 

I want to thank them for the inspiration they brought to me as they

challenge each of us as new teachers or teachers that need to have the passion rekindled.    

Thanks to each of these young people for making it real1

Gifted & Talented Power Point

I created this power point for my ED330 class on using Differentiated Teaching strategies for Gifted & Talented students. It is set up as an open document for sharing for those that may wish to use it or anyone who may find it useful.

If you do use it, please just let me know!

Click here to open the Google file.


Thanks!
Don

Math Options....from videos to interactive websites.

Here are the collections of sites with math, physics, engineering, and other sciences video tutorials.  Some sites also contains non-science videos as well. If you find a site with more than 50 videos, please inform me so I could  include it on the list.

• Khan Academy – more than 2100 not only for math but also includes other subjects such as economics, chemistry, physics and other fields. The math videos range from adding integers up to elementary calculus.
• Brightstorm - more than 500 math videos in algebra, geometry, Precaculus and Calculus.
• Just Math Tutorials – more than 1000 videos on algebra, geometry, trigonometry,  calculus, differential equations, and linear algebra
• MIT Open Courseware – videos about math, engineering, sciences, and other fields.
• Free Video Lectures – more than 700 (excluding Khan Academy’s which they also listed) videos. Videos include single variable calculus, multivariable calculus, vector calculus, probability and statistics, algebraic topology and more. Some are actual class videos.
• Math Playground – more than 70 videos for high school mathematics. Topics include integers, algebra 1 and 2, and geometry.
• Art of Problem Solving – more than 70 videos on counting and probability.
• Gresham College Public Lectures - more than 100 public lectures about mathematics particularly history of mathematics, computational mathematics, everyday mathematics, mathematical puzzles, and more.It also contains hundreds of more public lectures in astronomy, biology, physics, other sciences, and other areas such as law, arts and literature, medicine, music, politics, and more.
• University of Missouri Kansas City Youtube Channel- more than 230 videos on algebra, calculus, and physics.
• Center of Math Youtube Channel – more than 70 calculus videos.