I found this fascinating quote today:

What if our educators took time out of each day to reinforce the proper, safe and secure way of using these devices – not only inside the walls of the classroom – but outside as well? Don’t you believe that would begin to reduce the number of inappropriate uses (sexting)?JDS-CIO, CIO Corner, Jun 2009

You should read the whole article.

In the 1950′s Benjamin Bloom developed his taxonomy of cognitive objectives, Bloom’s Taxonomy. This categorized and ordered thinking skills and objectives. His taxonomy follows the thinking process. You can not understand a concept if you do not first remember it, similarly you can not apply knowledge and concepts if you do not understand them. It is a continuum from Lower Order Thinking Skills (LOTS) to Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS). Bloom labels each category with a gerund.

Bloom’s Taxonomy Blooms Digitally, Andrew Churches.

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• Bloom’s Taxonomy – what does it mean now? (angelamaiers.com)

Our high schools are full of secretly texting, blithely unengaged adolescents, my colleague Dan de Vise reveals today in a story on a Montgomery County proposal to let students text during lunch. Dan’s story describes the situation well. Educators can’t keep up with the latest technocrazes. They banned cellphones for awhile, then decided they were necessary for emergencies. They figured no one would use them in class, forgetting that the text function allows a flurry of conversations without the miscreants making a discernible sound.

Texting vs. Teaching: Who Wins? – Class Struggle – Jay Mathews on Education.

Text messaging has spawned an era of uninterrupted contact among friends, especially young people. Students often tap out silent conversations beneath their desks, even though most Washington area public schools forbid them to use cellphones on campus during school hours.

via Montgomery County Student Leader Proposes Allowing Cellphone Use at Lunchtime – washingtonpost.com.

TeachMate.org is a service that helps people who wish to learn things find others who wish to teach them. You may think of it as of a dating service in education. We are also very fond of the idea of teaching for teaching: you can find people who’d love to teach you something in return for you teaching him another thing.

The essence of this service is simple: whoever teaches — learns. There are few simple things we wish our user could find out:

• You don’t need to be a professional to teach. Instead, you have to teach to become a professional.
• You don’t need to pay money for learning or ask for money when you teach someone.
• Learning is not about the degrees, it’s about the process and what you can do with your knowledge.

TeachMate is an opensource project. You can download sources and contribute!

I am very excited to announce our first contact from Schools United. We have joined with a school from Smorgon, Belarus. (See map below)

If you are interested in participating, please email Michael for details. This will prove to be a very exiting experiment, especially during a time when diplomacy with Belarus has been shut down.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Smorgon,+Belarus&ie=UTF8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ll=54.162434,26.279297&spn=20.993585,56.601563&t=h&z=4

Within the past few months, a new crop of web 2.0 timeline applications have sprung up.  The first application I played around with is http://www.dipity.com/.  Dipity has some great features for your personal blog and has some pre-fabricated time lines for you to use in the classroom (http://www.dipity.com/election).  A personal favorite of mine is the History of the GUI (http://www.dipity.com/hewittteacher/The_History_of_the_GUI).  Sign up now while the platform is still in beta for free and use for your classroom.

The second offering is http://www.allofme.com/.  AllofMe.com (also free and in beta) offers similar features to Dipity.  Check out the sample on the page using Forest Gump history as a backdrop. (http://www.allofme.com/T/1006773/Forrest_Gump).

The third and final site is http://www.ourstory.com/.  OurStory was the first of the bunch to incorporate photos, videos, etc. into your story (timeline).  It is still free now, but sign up soon.  The site already is restricting the free features in lieu of a paid membership.

All three offer many features for your own of classroom time lines.  Imagine the possibilities for your students!  Digital story telling has never been so easy (and free).

Best Buy is proud to support K-12 schools who have integrated interactive technology into the curriculum to engage students and make learning fun. As a company, Best Buy believes that when technology is used effectively it can inspire children and have a positive impact on their ability to learn.

The Best Buy Teach Award program recognizes creative uses of interactive technology in K-12 classrooms. Winning programs focus on kids using technology to learn standards-based curriculum, rather than on teaching students to use technology or educators using technology that children aren’t able to use hands-on. The purpose of the Best Buy Teach Award program is to reward schools for the successful interactive programs they have launched using available technology. Please do not be discouraged from applying if your school does not have the most current equipment.

Applications must be completed and submitted online by 11:59 p.m. Eastern DST on October 12, 2008. Awards will be announced on March 2, 2009, at www.BestBuy.com/teach.