1: Big Nate, From the Top 

2: Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site

3: Big Nate, All Work and No Play

4. Junie B, 1st Grader-Shipwrecked

5. Big Nate and Friends

6. Big Nate, Out Loud

7. Cloudy with a Chance of Boys

8. Nobody

9. Thirsty

10. 100th Day of School

As you head back to school and get your students set up on Edmodo, consider trying one of the following activities your first day of class:

1. One Thing I Want to Learn This Year:  On the first day of school, post a question on Edmodo as homework. Ask them to respond to the whole class with one thing they are looking forward to learning this year.
2. All About Me:  Create an “All About Me” presentation via the digital tool of your choice (Glog, prezi, sliderocket, etc.). The students AND teacher should each create one to embed and share on Edmodo. Have students (and teachers) post comments and connections.
3. Scavenger Hunt:  If students are new to Edmodo, have them do a scavenger hunt in Edmodo and include activities such as posting to the group, their teachers, and replying to several polls that tell about who is in the group.
4. The Buddy System: To help break the ice with new and returning students, use the small group feature to put students together in groups of 3-4 that included both returning and new students. Ask them to use the small groups to help one another with questions, support, and study groups.
5. Daily warm-ups: Post an interesting article, video clip, poll, etc. for them to view (in class or at home depending on the technology available to your students) and post comments. View this blog post fromLisa Berkery for ideas.

BONUS – Reward Positive Behavior:  Motivate students to set up their Edmodo account and complete their first activity by awarding them the Participant badge from the Edmodo Badge collection. Learn more about badges.

From Steve Hargadon, creator of Classroom 2.0:

We have three great world-wide virtual conferences coming up in the next few months. Each is free to attend, and each has an emphasis on encouraging participation and presentations–even if you’ve never done so before. They are part of my Web 2.0 Labs projects, designed to provide spaces for great conversations around education. Everyone is encouraged to participate–you can present, attend, and/or volunteer to help!

Learning 2.0 (http://www.learning20.com)
August 20 – 24, 2012

Just announced! This conference has a short lead time (right around the corner!), but this is so that it can be part of Connected Educator Month, a month-long set of terrific activities to help educators connect with each other.

Learning 2.0 is a unique chance to participate in a global conversation on rethinking teaching and learning in the age of the Internet. Subject strands include changes in the classroom (social media, 1:1 computing, “flipped classrooms,” digital literacy, maker spaces, gaming, open educational resources, digital textbooks), in student learning (individualized learning, student-directed learning, “hacking” education, personal success plans, ePortfolios, and building a digital presence), in teacher personal and professional growth (lead learning, personal learning networks, peer / open / self-directed PD), in schools (virtual and online schooling, mobile learning, blended learning, MOOCs, immersive environments, learning spaces, entrepreneurship, school leadership, big data, assessment models), and in pedagogy (from teaching to learning, social learning, social / educational networking, passion-based learning, learning how to learn, brain-based learning). A full strand list is available HERE.

The conference will also include an all-day virtual unconference (SocialEdCon online!) as well as a special educational start-up “pitchfire” event.

The conference general information page is HERE and call for presentation proposals and instructions for Learning 2.0 can be found HERE.

Library 2.012 (http://www.library2012.com)
October 3 – 5, 2012

In its second year, the Library 2.012 conference is a unique chance to participate in a global conversation on the current and future state of libraries. Held over the course of two days (three actual calendar days when including all time zones), there will likely be over 150 presentations. Subject strands include physical and virtual learning spaces, evolving professional roles in today’s world, organizing and creating information, changing delivery methods, user-centered access, and mobile and geo-social information environments. A full strand list is available HERE. Huge thank to the School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) at San José State University, the founding conference sponsor!

The conference general information page is HERE and call for presentation proposals and instructions for Library 2.012 can be found HERE.

The Global Education Conference (http://www.globaleducationconference.com)
November 12 – 16, 2012

Celebrating it’s third year, and co-chaired by the amazing Lucy Gray, this five-day, 24 hour per day incredible event brings together educators and students from around the world to discuss globally-connected education, projects, and activities. It is designed to significantly increase opportunities for building education-related connections around the globe while supporting cultural awareness and recognition of diversity. Last year’s conference featured 340 general sessions and 18 keynote addresses from all over the world with over 10,000 participant logins. This year the conference is being run in conjunction with the iEARN worldwide international conference and we’re anticipating some 20 – 30,000 attendees.

The conference general information page is HERE and call for presentation proposals and instructions for Learning 2.0 can be found HERE.

By clicking on the “Help” link on the top of the page, you’ll be able to view directions on how to:

• Log into your blog
• Change your password
• Change your theme.

Helpful videos are also available on this page to show you how to:

• Add a new post
• Learn about the visual editor
• Give you an introduction to widgets
• Learn how to upload images and
• Learn how to add links to your side bar

Thompson R2-J is providing  a district-wide subscription to this valuable resource, free of charge, to our teachers, students and media/librarians and other staff members.

If you haven’t used Visual Thesaurus before, please go to: http://thompson.visualthesaurus.com/  and create a new account. (If you are asked for a registration code, please contact Val Downing through our district email system.)

Visual Thesaurus does just what it says, plus a whole lot more! It can be used for English words and also for many different World Languages. It can be used to differentiate parts of speech, create spelling lists, pre-teach vocabulary, and provides resources for teaching vocabulary and grammar from all over the country.

It works from your web browser without any additional software to install and will also work on the iPad and other tablets and iOS devices.

From their website:

The Visual Thesaurus is an interactive dictionary and thesaurus which creates word maps that blossom with meanings and branch to related words. Its innovative display encourages exploration and learning. You’ll understand language in a powerful new way.

Say you have a meaning in mind, like “happy.” The VT helps you find related words, from “cheerful” to “euphoric.” The best part is the VT works like your brain, not a paper-bound book. You’ll want to explore just to see what might happen. You’ll discover — and learn — naturally and intuitively. You’ll find the right word, write more descriptively, free associate — and gain a more precise understanding of the English language.

For additional information, please create a login and click on the “Educators” tab on the page. There are some wonderful resources on that page.

Also, please view this short (4 minute) video on using the thesaurus and dictionary functions of the product.

The International Association for K-12 Online learning, or iNACOL, identified blended learning as an emerging trend in 2010. The phrase “blended learning” can be a bit confusing. Their definition is as follows:

Blended learning is any time a student learns, at least in part, at a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home and at least in part through online delivery with some element of student control over time, path, and/or pace.

A report from The Rise of K-12 Blended Learning, authored by Michael B. Horn and Heather Staker of the Mountain View, Calif.-based Innosight Institute labels six types of blended learning approaches:

• face-to-face driver programs where teachers deliver most instruction in a live classroom and use online activities to supplement or remediate what goes on in the brick-and-mortar school;

• rotation models where students follow a schedule that alternates between face-to-face class sessions and in-person instruction;

• flex formats where most of the curriculum originates online, but an on-site instructor provides instruction as needed in individual and small group sessions;

• online lab sessions where students do work online, but in a computer lab at a brick-and-mortar school with aides who offer supervision but little subject guidance;

• self-blend schools where students may take online courses a la carte to supplement their brick-and-mortar school’s curriculum; and

• online driver constructs where students receive most of the course online and independently, but participate in required or optional face-to-face meetings.

So, what are we doing here in Thompson with blended learning?

First of all, we are starting small and expecting to grow fast! We have been working with Boulder Valley School District on a combined Enhancing Education Through Technology (E2T2) grant to pilot blended learning in a Learning Management System (LMS) called BrainHoney. We have approximately ten teachers in three high schools that will be using blended learning in their classrooms. These teachers will be mainly using the first learning approach of face-to-face. With the predicted success of this program, we are making plans to enable this capability (over the next year or two) of using an LMS to any teacher in the district that desires it.

Secondly, we are working with the Curriculum and Instruction Department to provided Professional Development to our teachers through the LMS. Teacher trainings in the areas of Math, Literacy and Technology are already “in the works”, and will have an online driver, as well as face-to-face components. This program will also be using BrainHoney as the LMS.

Thirdly, we are working on moving the content from our online school, Thompson Online, into BrainHoney. The online school uses a combination of the online driver, online lab sessions and flex formats to meet the needs of students that prefer on online environment for their educational experiences. For additional information about Thompson Online, please contact Kellie Bashor, Thompson Online principal.

In addition, we are working with a publishing company to provide a rotation model of blended learning in Math in one of our middle schools. Although the i’s haven’t been dotted, nor the t’s crossed, we are hoping to have this phenomenal product and learning environment available starting 2^nd semester of upcoming school year!

Although, I stated that we are starting small, you can see we have many projects addressing the growing trend of blended learning. We feel that this is truly where the future of learning is leading education and are making a strong stand to help our teachers and students become, even more, successful.

Here is a neat one that could apply to being an enchanting teacher by Guy Kawasaki:

1. Make sure the first question is “student name.” Otherwise you won’t know who submitted which answers.
2. You can mix question types (multiple choice, short answer, paragraph) but if you have too many types and too many students, the spreadsheet can become difficult to navigate.
3. When embedding the form into a blog, make sure you edit the width to fit within your blog’s main column. You can use the same principles of editing the size of a YouTube video for editing the width of a spreadsheet.