Great Educational Resources


Highlights from “They Taught Me”: Our First Week Sharing Their Stories

Here at Teach.com, we are elated with the feedback and responses we’ve been receiving forThey Taught Me: Blogging in Support of Special Needs - and April is not even half over! We want to thank all you advocates, family members, and teachers who have shared your stories so far. Both you and the children you write about are such an inspiration, and we are honored to help you share their stories.

The CDC recently reported that now, 1 in every 68 children are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Every “1 in 68” has a story. By sharing their stories, we are making a difference.

To show our gratitu…

Tell Us Your Story: Blog to Support Special Needs

Did you know that according to a recent study, close to 3 million school-aged children across the United States have a disability? That’s 5.2 percent of the entire population of U.S. students.

The percentage of students enrolled in special education programs has grown at nearly twice the rate of students enrolled in general education.

These numbers reflect the rise in occurrences of disabilities in students, but what they fail to do is speak to these students’ stories. These reports fail to acknowledge that behind the labels, IEPs, politics, and policies, these students have lives, and these lives are impacting others. They are more than their disabilities; more than points on a spectr…

#Edchat Weekly Roundup: Importance of Student Voice

One of the most commonly used education hashtags (asides from #edchat) is #stuvoice. An abbreviation of “student voice,” the popularity of this hashtag is demonstrative of just how important the voice of students is in today’s educational climate. In a time where schools seemed to be more focused on testing than teaching, it’s now more important than ever to let #stuvoice be heard.

This past week’s #edchat discussed two aspects of student voices. At 12pm ET, the topic discussed was the Flipped Classroom Approach, a teaching model that inverts the traditional teaching methods by bringing “homework” into the classroom, and delivering online instruction at home.

For more information about the Flipped Classroom model, take a look at Knewton’s infographic “

 

#Edchat Weekly Roundup: 21st Century Teaching Tools

This week's #edchat topics focused on two different areas of teacher best practice. To begin the day, #edchat contributors discussed the relevancy and authenticity of worksheets, questioning whether or not they had a place in the 21st century classroom. Late Tuesday evening, the conversation focused on innovative 'ed tech,' and how teachers can implement it as a tool rather than a distraction. While these topics clearly focused on different areas of pedagogy and practice, they fall under a common theme (and common debate) of tradition vs. innovation.

The days' topics were as follows:

  • 12pm ET: If innovation is the goal of education, and is promoted through higher order thinking skills, why do we focus on worksheets?

  • 7pm ET: How do we change a t…

 

Integrating Technology into the Common Core Classroom [Guest Post]

The following is a guest post by Karen Larson and Gene Tognetti

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Integrating the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) creates a number of opportunities for educators. Once teachers develop classroom implementation plans that address the “why and what” student outcomes to be learned, teachers need to address the “how.” How do I, a third grade teacher, create opportunities in my classroom that will ultimately lead to “college and career” readiness? How do I teach students so the outcomes are truly learned?

This can be an exciting proposition, and indeed a great time to be an educator. It is a golden opportunity to improve teaching practices while we incorporate the CCSS. It’s also an opportunity to reassess and address how other education…

 

Social Media and Blogging in Kindergarten [Guest Post]

Social media and blogging in kindergarten is where I begin to model explicitly how I get my students and their families connected. Through social media, my students and their families experience the benefits of being a digital citizen and its positive impact on our learning.

 

I model right on the first day of kindergarten how to tweet and what it looks and sounds like. I start with inviting my parents to follow our classroom on Twitter and/or set up a Twitter account for themselves. When this happens, our conversations begin. I ask parents that I know are familiar with Twitter to tweet at us during the day. Through this type of modeling, my students begin to understand the value of connecting online, but also begin their digital journey with a familiar “face.”

Right away, I have an opportunity to model the importance of being a safe, kind and responsible digital citizen. My students understand that when we tweet it is just like we are having face-to-face conv…

 

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