Blended Bulletin, Issue 17

Cool Tools

PenPal Schools is an interesting free tool that connects students' voices from across the globe. Given an interesting topic in one of three curricular areas, students comment about articles in order to share different perspectives. I can certainly see this as a powerful platform in social studies and foreign language classrooms.


Professional Learning

From Mrs. Greene, George Couros' Purpose and Empowerment succinctly makes the case for increasing student ownership. George Couros writes a very interesting blog and is a great follow on Twitter!

Four Steps to Transforming a School discusses how data-informed instruction, student-centered approaches, innovation, and caring adults are vital to improving outcomes for our students.

Newton’s New Law of Teaching: When Quality Instruction and Technology Intersect posits that master teachers possess high innovation skills/mindset and high instructional skills in their content. The article also offers professional development suggestions for teachers that fall in different quadrants on this interesting matrix:

#InclusiveSpaces: Classroom Design for Every Learner introduces the idea of crowdsourcing ideas for overcoming the inherent obstacles of redesigning classroom spaces. Follow the #InclusiveSpaces for updates in the coming months.

Predictions, Dumb and Otherwise, about Technology in Schools in 2025 offers a picture of the future of education. Larry Cuban, the author, suggests that the focal point of the picture should not be new technologies, but new ideas about what to teach and learn.

How paper-free days can spark a tech transformation describes how one school moved away from paper not to save money, but to inspire innovative and creative ways to engage students.