Jody Oliver's List: Administration//Leadership

Nice ideas for transparent communication with community

"Paul Graham, Jim Collins, Tony Hsieh, and other business leaders share the questions you should be asking if you want to improve your company."

Applies to education!

"Online video is taking the world by storm, and today’s students are the biggest consumers of online video content — they’re the ‘Netflix Generation’. These students have grown up in a world where video is available instantly, on-demand, and on any device."

"Team-building activities are great. Not only can they help establish routines, tone, and expectations, they’re also fun, and can help learners feel comfortable. Though many older students in high school and college may groan at their thought, they’re usually fun, and great ways to help students feel at ease. Before you dismiss them as too juvenile, try one. You might be surprised."

"If you ask a student what makes him or her successful in school, you probably won’t hear about some fantastic new book or video lecture series. Most likely you will hear something like, “It was all Mr. Jones. He just never gave up on me.”

What students take away from a successful education usually centers on a personal connection with a teacher who instilled passion and inspiration for their subject. It’s difficult to measure success, and in the world of academia, educators are continually re-evaluating how to quantify learning. But the first and most important question to ask is:

Are teachers reaching their students? Here are 25 things successful educators do differently."

"What world-changing scientific discoveries might we see by 2025? Will we have moreenergy technologies that move us away from fossil fuels? Will there be cures for cancer and other diseases? How will we get around and communicate?"

"Poverty, coupled with stress, has long-lasting effects on brain function, according to a new study. Researchers found that test subjects who had lower family incomes at age 9 exhibited, as adults, greater activity in the amygdala, an area in the brain known for its role in fear and other negative emotions. These individuals showed less activity in areas of the prefrontal cortex, an area in the brain thought to regulate negative emotion."

"If “children grow into the intellectual life around them” (Vygotsky, 1978, p.88), then what kind of intellectual life are we presenting to the students in our classrooms? Teachers all over the world have had to accept the compromise of focusing more on delivering the prescribed curriculum than developing understanding; test-taking rather than learning. We have what the authors of Making Thinking Visible describe as “a distorted view of teaching that is self-reinforcing and divorced from what we know about effective learning”(Ritchhart, Church, & Morrison, 2011, p.25). "

"Edulastic Makes Common Core Mastery & Assessment Insights Effortless!

Edulastic allows teachers to create an unlimited number of classes for FREE. Teachers can craft daily assessments and assign them for homework–allowing students to master the Common Core or practice solving central course concepts."

Cool cheat sheet of latest tech terms - 2014

"Making consistent strides toward bringing modern technology to the classroom isn’t a simple task, and neither is adjusting to obstacles that come with it, such as protecting students’ online privacy.

But school districts considering data protection policies can look to guidance recently released by the National School Boards Association for a brief overview of existing laws, as well as information about online technologies and suggestions for merging student access with security.

“The advantages of Cloud-based platforms and learning tools are obvious – ease, convenience, 24/7 accessibility, less staff time maintaining on-site servers, individualized learning, and compliance with testing requirements,” reads the 10-page report, “Data in the Cloud: A Legal and Policy Guide for School Boards on Student Data Privacy in the Cloud Computing Era.”"

"P21’s reports and publications support a vision for learning to ensure 21st century readiness for every student. These documents have been developed through a comprehensive process involving thorough input from partners, educators, researchers, organizations and businesses across the country."

"Alignment Nashville (AN) is a unique and scalable framework for developing community schools."

RESPECT inventory to begin discussion with your staff

Attention those companies using Internet Explorer and Google Apps, read this article!

great pdf, downloadable, article.

FREE - The ISTE Classroom Observation Tool (ICOT) provides you with a convenient platform for recording observations of technology use in classrooms. Check boxes and pull-down menus allow you to easily record a variety of classroom characteristics and automatically aggregate data or export it into other programs. Use ICOT to collect data on classroom groupings, teacher roles, time and types of technology use, and the NETS.