What's Popular This Week On The Innovative Educator?

Here’s the roundup of what's been popular on The Innovative Educator blog this week. Below you’ll see my top weekly posts along with the number of pageviews in the past 7 days.

This week the big winner is 7 Solutions for Educators Who Want 21st Century Students to Tune In. It seems this is a priority for many educators.  Bravo!  Next is a hot topic for schools.  Bring Your Own Tech (BYOT).  Schools doing this are having tremendous success.  The Contraband of Some Schools is The Disruptive Innovation of Others is a guest post by Tim Clark who is successfully implementing BYOT in his district.  The World’s simplest online safety policy comes in as number three. This post breaks down those scary sounding laws like FERPA, COPPA, and CIPA and makes it much more simple for those who aren’t lawyers to understand. Coming in fourth place is a post close to my heart.  I explain how Technology (not meds) Cured My Learning and Sleeping Disorder. Finally, rounding out the top five is a topic I speak about often.  Social media doesn’t “cause” unprofessional behavior it "catches" it.  


There are five more interesting posts rounding out the top ten.. I hope there's something here that looks of interest to you.  If it does, check it out. If you’re so inspired leave a comment.





7 Solutions for Educators Who Want 21st Century Students to Tune In
Apr 25, 2011, 10 comments 2,341 Pageviews
The Contraband of Some Schools is The Disruptive Innovation of Others
Apr 26, 2011, 7 comments 1,684 Pageviews
World’s simplest online safety policy
Apr 3, 2011, 10 comments 1572 Pageviews
Technology (not meds) Cured My Learning Disorder
Apr 24, 2011, 6 comments 1486 Pageviews
Social media doesn’t “cause” unprofessional behavior it "catches" it
Apr 27, 2011, 5 comments 1483 Pageviews
Move Over iPad! Google Chrome Notebooks are Going to be the Game Changer
Apr 15, 2011, 12 comments 1369 Pageviews
An Inconvenient Truth About Education
Apr 28, 2011, 1 comment 1239 Pageviews
Student Driven Learning = Passion-Based Classrooms...
Apr 22, 2011, 6 comments 1188 Pageviews
Aligning school to the way we were born to learn
28-Apr-11 1085 Pageviews
10 Ways Technology Supports 21st Century Learners ...
Jan 28, 2011, 11 comments
You have read this article What's Popular with the title April 2011. You can bookmark this page URL http://machining33.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-popular-this-week-on-innovative.html. Thanks!

Find out why passion should drive learning at The Virtual Tech Conference this Saturday!

I'm excited to join some of the most passionate educators in the world in a panel moderated by Steve Hargadon as part of the Virtual Technology Conference Closing Panel this Saturday to discuss next steps for those who believe passion should drive learning. Passion driven learning is a topic I write about often and it's the topic of co-panelists Angela Maiers and Amy Sandvold's fantastic book, "The Passion-Driven Classroom." Rounding out the panel is the creator of Connected Principals, The Principal of Change (as his blog is called) George Couros.

No one disagrees with the premise or that passion is a factor in both individual and organizational success. We just have a lot of questions about it and this panel has the answers! 

Questions like:
* What is passion…really?
* How do you define passion?
* How could/does passion change the game?
* How does passion present itself in your work? life? organization?
* What does it mean for you? our students? your community? clients? the world?
* Can passion be “taught”?
* How is passion different than engagement?
* What conditions are necessary for passion to exist?
* Is passion a necessary or a “nice to have” quality?
* What are the repercussions of being a “passion-less” person or organization?
* Can we quantify passion? If so, how?
* What is misunderstood about passion?
* What can we do to change this? move the conversation forward?
*What are the NEXT ACTION STEPS we as educators can do tomorrow?

These are questions that need to be approached and explored from many angles and this panel of genius minds will come together to provide insights.  

We hope you can join us.  

Details.
Registration is Free – PJ’s are Optional:
  • Date:  Saturday, April 30th
  • Time: Passion Panel - 5:40 EST Time Zone Conversion Chart
  • How to Register (Two Steps Required!) Step One - Step Two
  • How to Participate in the Panel:  http://tinyurl.com/WOWpassionpanel
  • Conference Resources:  http://www.aztea.org/moodle
  • Moderated by
    • Steve Hargadon
  • Panelists
    • Lisa Nielsen
    • Angela Maiers
    • Amy Sandvold
    • George Couros
You have read this article #passionbased / #passiondriven / passion based learning / passion driven learning with the title April 2011. You can bookmark this page URL http://machining33.blogspot.com/2011/04/find-out-why-passion-should-drive.html. Thanks!

An Inconvenient Truth About Education

We can stop "Waiting for Superman."  "We Are The People We've Been Waiting For" is here bringing us a film about the failure of the educational system to keep pace with a 21st century world.  The film focuses on the question of whether the current system provides young people the opportunity to discover and develop their talents.  It's no surprised, that test-driven systems fail at this miserably.  The film features celebrities, students and educators sharing different perspectives on the failure of many educational structures to prepare students for the world in which they live. 


The site itself has a plethora of useful information which you can access by clicking about the site where you are connected to experts and others speaking about issues in education.  For instance when you click on the link shown in this picture you hear from a celebrity, a pupil and an expert about children who don't respond to academic environments.

On another link you are taken to video clips of education in other countries that are doing things right for students.  In this case, right correlates to passion-driven learning.  Another link takes you to students discussing what they might be interested in doing in the future.  The site also addresses the idea that the academic and/or college track is not for everyone, and that's okay!  Another neat part of the site is the "game" you can play to find out what you're good at.  What you might be surprised to find you're good at, and possible career paths. 
You can check out the site and play the career game, watch experts speak, or order the film at this link.
You have read this article We are the people we've been waiting for with the title April 2011. You can bookmark this page URL http://machining33.blogspot.com/2011/04/an-inconvenient-truth-about-education.html. Thanks!

Aligning school to the way we were born to learn

Born to Learn is a cool site I recently came across that was created because our current systems of education aren’t doing enough to unlock our true potential. On the site they feature several video animations (and they’re working hard on more) to sum up over 20 years’ of rigorous and complex research in a way that’s accessible and easy to understand.


Here is the sites intro video which is just a terrific conversation starter for educators, parents, and students.

Born to Learn from Born to Learn on Vimeo.


The majority of the material collected on the site is taken from the book Overschooled but Undereducated which synthesizes an array of research and shows how these insights can contribute to a better understanding of human learning, especially as this relates to adolescence. As explained on the site, by mis-understanding teenagers’ instinctive need to do things for themselves, society is in danger of creating a system of schooling that so goes against the natural grain of the adolescent brain that formal education ends up unintentionally trivializing the very young people it claims to be supporting. By failing to keep up with appropriate research in the biological and social sciences, current educational systems continue to treat adolescence as a problem rather than an opportunity.

This book is about the need for transformational change in education. It synthesizes an array of research from both the physical and social sciences and shows how these insights can contribute to a better understanding of human learning, especially as this relates to adolescence.

The intention of the book and the site is to shake education out of its two-century’s-old inertia because they say, if a generation fails, the fault lies squarely with the previous generation for not equipping them well enough for the changes ahead.
You have read this article #passionbased / #passiondriven / real life learning with the title April 2011. You can bookmark this page URL http://machining33.blogspot.com/2011/04/aligning-school-to-way-we-were-born-to.html. Thanks!

Social media doesn’t “cause” unprofessional or inappropriate behavior. It “catches” it.

Something interesting has been happening across schools and districts in response to online safety concerns.  Instead of empowering and teaching students how to harness the power of the internet and social media they are banning teachers from interacting with teachers in online spaces like Facebook. These misguided schools and districts like this one in Ontario tell educators, students, and parents that,
"The use of the Internet and social media, despite best intentions, may cause members to forget their professional responsibilities and the unique position of trust and authority given to them by society,"
Really?  Do policy makers really think the Internet and social media “cause" such behaviors or "catch" em? When we block and ban are we doing what’s best for kids or are we doing what is more convenient for those in charge who would have an easier time if they didn’t have to deal with such issues?  

The reality is that the student - teacher connection is one of the most important pieces of learning and socialization for our children and this needs to happen in both the online and offline worlds of our children.  Teachers aren’t acting inappropriate because, “The Internet or Facebook made me do it.”  If a teacher is acting in inappropriate ways online, that is an extension of who they are.  The reality is that if we can’t trust our teachers to behave appropriately online, then we certainly shouldn’t have them spending all their days with our children.  If we and do trust our teachers, then we realize they are a part of the equation when it comes to keeping kids safe.  Teachers can act as role models and guides in children’s worlds online or offline. The hard facts are that child maltreatment is usually at the hands of parents, family, friends and clergy yet we don’t have mandates or ban events like picnics, family reunions, or church. Rules and mandates should be around behavior, not “where” interaction takes place. 
You have read this article Facebook in education / online safety / social media with the title April 2011. You can bookmark this page URL http://machining33.blogspot.com/2011/04/social-media-doesnt-cause.html. Thanks!

The Contraband of Some Schools is The Disruptive Innovation of Others with BYOT (Bring Your Own Tech)

Guest post by Tim Clark @timclark45 on Twitter

In New York City students who BYOT have it confiscated by police
and placed with other contraband like guns and knives
While cities like the one where The Innovative Educator works view student owned devices as contraband, I have found one of the most exciting disruptions to traditional teaching practices to be extending to students the invitation to “Bring Your Own Technology” (BYOT).  Last year, Forsyth County Schools in Georgia  modified their technology guidelines to do just that! They permitted students to bring their personal technology devices to school to assist in their learning.  

Forsyth County Schools has always pursued the use of technology to improve educational opportunities. The district’s vision for classroom technology after-all is “to engage students in asking questions and choosing tools to facilitate real world problem solving.”  Classrooms are each equipped with an interactive whiteboard, teacher laptop and four student desktop computers.  There are also student laptops available at each school and there are peripheral devices such as student response systems, digital cameras, scanners, and document cameras.  Yet, despite all this district-provided technology, the most impactful and influential gadgets are not any of these. Instead after 20 years in education I have found that empowering students to use their own personal technologies is the game changer when it comes to learning.

Our Beginnings
Forsyth County Schools began its venture by implementing a BYOT wifi network in every school.  This “BYOT” network provides filtered Internet access, but the students can connect to that network with their personal devices without using a password.  A few trailblazers from a handful of schools volunteered to pilot the BYOT initiative at a variety of grade levels.  They spent an afternoon of training in hands-on activities designed to explore the potential opportunities of using various student-owned technologies.  Some highlights were collaboration provided by Web 2.0 applications and a focus on student-created projects.

Fundamental Changes
BYOT Facilitates Collaboration!
Click here to watch videos of BYOT in action.
As the teachers began to introduce BYOT into their classrooms, some fundamental changes began to occur.  They no longer had to teach their students about technology in order to integrate technology effectively in their classrooms because the students were already the experts with their own devices.  The students were also eager to share what they knew about their technology devices and how they could be utilized in the classroom. In the elementary grades, students initially brought in their gaming devices, such as the Nintendo DSi or their iPod Touches, and they began to assume ownership of the types of apps they thought they should use in order to learn more in school.  They began to communicate more effectively about real work as they used the PictoChat feature of their Nintendo DS’s and DSi’s to collaboratively complete assignments and generate new ideas.  Eventually, many of these students have progressed to bringing in iPads, netbooks, and laptops as they have begun to create original projects based on what they have researched independently.  Of course, many of these students personally own their gadgets, but many of them have convinced their parents to loan them their devices so that they can attend to the real work of elementary school.

Reduction in Disciplinary Issues
In the middle school and high school, students generally brought in their smartphones and laptops to facilitate their own learning.  In the high school piloting the BYOT initiative, the disciplinary issues related to technology decreased drastically as the students began bringing in their own devices.  Instead of hiding their technology tools throughout the day, which invited theft with the fear of repercussions, the students were able to put their technology on their desks and use them for new purposes.  The school now had open lines of communication regarding the appropriate use of technology between the students, the parents, and the teachers.  In this way, the teachers were now able to educate the students in how to avoid the pitfalls of posting inappropriate content online and how to treat each other with respect.

Going Viral
The growth of BYOT in Forsyth County Schools has been viral this year.  Our Department of Instructional Technology recently organized a tour for district administrators of three of the pilot schools in our district, and we expected about 20 people might choose to attend.  To our delight, we had over 60 administrators and instructional technology specialists sign up for the tour, and we had to close enrollment.  We used two school buses from the district to travel to the schools and followed up the tour with a presentation which caused the administrators to use their devices to participate in the discussion using Poll Everywhere.  You can see the highlights of the tour in this video FCS BYOT Tour.  From this tour, interest in BYOT has grown tremendously, and almost all of our schools are implementing the BYOT initiative in some fashion ranging from a few pilot classrooms to entire schools.

Collaborating with Students
The ultimate goal of the FCS BYOT initiative is to have the students participating in higher level thinking activities involving the use of technology, but this change in practice can evolve as the teachers allow themselves to become collaborators with their students in the learning process.  When the students first bring in their technology devices, they are immediately engaged and want to explore all of the possible capabilities of the technology.  This initial phase of exploration passes quickly as the students become more literate in their devices and learn how to connect them to the BYOT wireless network.  The teacher and the students then begin to adapt what their technologies to their current classroom practices.  For example, they may use a calculator app to help them complete a worksheet, or they may begin to use the calendar on their devices to keep track of homework assignments instead of writing them in an agenda.  Eventually, the students demand more from their devices, their teachers, and themselves, they want to transform their learning by communicating, collaborating, and creating with their devices, and teachers have to get out of the way of these potential applications.

Eventually, teachers can progress to the practice of sharing the standards or objectives for students learning, and the students can determine the strategies for researching those concepts and communicating them to others.  In fact, BYOT is not really about the devices.  It is about the empowerment students feel when they are using those devices which they own and know so well.  This empowerment gives them control over the learning processes and sets the stage for empowering them to evaluate their own strengths and weaknesses.  With the collaborative support of their peers and teachers, along with the relative anonymity of the web, the students are willing to learn from their mistakes and share their successes.  In one classroom with several ESOL students, those students would hesitate from volunteering to answer questions due to their lack of confidence in the language.  However, with the advent of BYOT, every student can be expected to answer questions simultaneously or contribute to the body of knowledge housed online, and every student is included in the discussion.

Equity Issues
When I discuss the concept of BYOT, I am often questioned about the issue of equity and what happens to the students who do not have their own devices.  As I travel around the district, I find very few students above third or fourth grade who do not have their own devices, even in our schools who receive Title I assistance.  Generally, many of the students who do not have their own devices are students in the primary grades who have yet to start asking their parents for more technology.

Moving Into the Future
I now see more use of the student desktop computers and laptops in the school which are available for all students, especially those who don’t have their own devices.  I have seen 1 to 1 initiatives in other places, but after experiencing BYOT I prefer the differentiated, flexibility, and empowerment that is comes from using different devices.  

Forsyth County Schools are  just logging on to the future by embracing BYOT.  It is a developing and encouraging process for us.  We are aware of the possible pitfalls and difficulties, but we choose to focus on the possible potentialities and capabilities for effective change.  It is futile and detrimental to try to ban the wave of personal technology devices from entering our schools; instead, we realize it is more beneficial to utilize these communication tools for designing innovative strategies that engage and empower students to learn effectively with the tools they own and love.  

As a fourth grade student recently told me, “As you work with other students with your own devices, you are able to build upon what you know with their ideas, and they learn more from yours.  Together, you make something new that no one even thought about before.”

For more information about the BYOT initiative of Forsyth County Schools, visit www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/byot.

About Tim Clark
Tim Clark is the District Instructional Technology Specialist (ITS) for Forsyth County Schools.. He has been a teacher for over twenty years.  He is currently pursuing his Doctor of Education at Kennesaw State University.  As an ITS, one of his goals is to work effectively with teachers and students through various forms of technology in order to increase achievement and motivation, to encourage collaboration, to facilitate problem-solving, and to construct innovative ways of presenting information.
You have read this article byod / BYOT / Cell phones in Education / differentiating instruction / differentiating learning / free range learnng / student centered learning with the title April 2011. You can bookmark this page URL http://machining33.blogspot.com/2011/04/the-contraband-of-some-schools-is.html. Thanks!

7 Solutions for Educators Who Want 21st Century Students to Tune In


"If your target audience isn't listening to you, it's not their fault, it's yours" Seth Godin
 
More and more I am reading articles like this one Colleges worry about always-plugged-in students. In it they talk about college professors and administrators who have or are considering unplugging student’s access to the internet or banning technology altogether so students will focus. These learning institutions are moving in the wrong direction!
When we blame or ban the technology,  we solve our issue temporarily, but we are ignoring the root of the problem.  
When it comes to learning, many educators know banning is the easy way out, but there are a number of reasons behind why students are not paying attention. Rather than taking away student rights and the freedom to use the tools they want, we must address the root of the issue that is causing the problem. My advice comes from someone who teaches adults and students in a “no ban zone.” These ideas work for me and they will work for you.  

Ideas for Educators Who Want 21st Century Students to Tune In
1) Problem:  You have poor classroom management
Solution:  While you may have been a master of classroom management in the days before the internet, the environment has changed.  How have you changed your classroom management techniques?  Do you let students know when they should have their lids at 90 degrees? Do you allocate at least some free time where students can catch up on their need for personal issues?  Are you having students sit in different configurations, sometimes with their laptops, other times they may circle up for conversation or have breakout groups that report back.  

2) Problem:  You are not engaging your students
Solution:  Educators who stand at the front of the room lecturing are not engaging students like me.  Even if I’m interested in the topic, I can’t stand sitting and listening to you for a long time.  It’s boring.  I want a piece of the action.  Provide accountable interactivity.  Perhaps have students Tweet relevant thoughts, ideas, and links using a provided hashtag and at the end of your lecture you have a fantastic subject specific newspaper to read if you use something like Paper.li. Maybe you can create a method for students to share ideas and thoughts during your talk using a backchannel.  While traditional instructors may believe students should sit up and listen, the fact is you are boring students like me to tears, so give me a job to do and I’ll pay attention.  

3) Problem:  You complain about technology, but you don’t incorporate it into instruction
Solution:  Stop complaining that your students are on Facebook and not paying attention and start incorporating tools like this into instruction.  People are social.  We like to discuss and make meaning.  We’ll do this about the thing you’re talking about if you’ll provide such opportunities.  Perhaps teachers could make a Facebook page and use that as a hub for students to connect and share during instruction.  Perhaps the teacher sets up some discussion boards or Wall Wishers to share ideas.  Many 21st century students aren’t content sitting and listening to you blathering on.  Make your teaching more interesting, and your students will reward you by being more interested.  

4) Problem:  You never shut up
Solution:  Let’s face it.  Sitting in class listening to a lecture is just plain boring for many students. Why do they have to come to school to listen to you talk.  Of course your students aren’t paying attention.  Flip your classroom and tape your lectures for students to listen to on their own time. Spend class time doing stuff...real stuff that your students are interested in and you can help them with. Parents will like this idea too because instead of needing to hire tutors, class time can be used for the teacher to help students having difficulty with their work.  Salman Kahn explains this beautifully in this TED Talk.

5) Problem:  I don’t need to hear you telling me something I can look up
Solution:  When I was pursuing my license in educational leadership I took my laptop to class.  In class I often found teachers were just reading some theory to me that I could pull down from the internet and save in my online bookmarks.  This meant I could use class time to do my other work because I didn’t have to take down notes.  I already had them.  While the instructor shared some such theory with the class, I was already doing the homework assignment we had.  At nights I would go out to the local bar while my classmates did their homework. At first they complained this wasn't fair and said I was cheating. As the program progressed, more students had their laptops in class and joined me at the bar later.

If you are just telling students something they can find on the internet, stop. Give them the link and use class time to have discussions, do work, or make meaning of the work.

6) Problem:  You think you own the learning.  You don’t!  
Solution:  You don’t own the learning.  Your students do.  If they’re not interested in what you have to say, then figure out a way to say it in a way that they’ll be interested or ask your students to do that for themselves.  If students simply aren’t interested, then perhaps you can give them freedom during class to do what they are interested in.  Multi-millionaire, Aaron Iba’s favorite teacher was the one who let him do just that.  He got to sit in the back of the room working on his computer.

Another option is to give up some control and be part of a growing and successful trend in letting students own and design their learning.  Educators are finding that giving students ownership and responsibility for their learning pays off quite well.  

7) Problem:  Technology is just too distracting for some students
Solution:  Okay, so you think technology is just too distracting for some students.  Remember your job as a teacher is to help prepare students be successful in their present, not your past.  A teacher is not helping a student become successful by creating an artificial environment in school.  Instead teachers can help empower students to take ownership of their learning and self-monitor.  Many students are very good at this. They may just have a browser closed at certain times, turn off chat, turn off sound, or as the students in Colleges worry about always-plugged-in students shares, use an app like “self-control” which blocks certain websites for specified periods of time.  

Schools should not encourage dependency learning and dependency attention.  It is incumbent upon educators to empower students to be able to self-monitor and discover the optimal conditions to learn and create.  Imposing restrictions on students, is certainly more convenient for educators, but it is NOT what is best for students. 
You have read this article differentiated instruction / differentiated learning with the title April 2011. You can bookmark this page URL http://machining33.blogspot.com/2011/04/7-solutions-for-educators-who-want-21st.html. Thanks!

Technology (not meds) Cured My ADD / ADHD & Sleeping Disorder

I slept through most of school.  I didn’t mean to sleep through it.  I felt really bad about sleeping through it.  Many of my teachers resented me for sleeping through it.  I tried a lot of things to combat this.  I got a good night sleep.  In high school I started drinking coffee.  In my first year of college, last year of high school I started taking No Doze until the day I got so sick from the coffee and No Doze that I stopped taking No Doze. From an assessment perspective, despite my sleeping, I was a great student.  I graduated in the top ten percent of my class in high school and college and did well on standardized tests.  The issue wasn’t just an issue in high school and college either.  Starting in pre-school, my mother got a call from the school concerned that I spent my days sleeping and they thought that perhaps I was retarded.  Yep, they actually told my mom that even though I was already reading and writing before I had entered pre-school.  My mom sent me out for tests at UCLA, and the results showed I was actually gifted.  So what was the problem?  If I was smart, cared about my grades and was doing well, why did I sleep so much?  

The answer is simple.  

I was bored in school.  

When I’m bored, I fall asleep.  It’s embarrassing, but that’s what I do.  This didn’t end when I graduated from school. I had the same problem when I was bored at work. The worst is during those boring big group meetings. I usually designated a colleague to kick me or pinch me if she started to see me fall asleep.  


I am one of those people some would label as ADD or ADHD.  I just label myself as having a brain that needs constant stimulation and I embrace that. You will find many who are labeled with ADD/ADHD recognize they have the same issue.  Read this and this and this and this.  Our brains just sort of turn off if we’re not stimulated and we fall asleep.  Anytime I am in a setting where it’s one-way input, this is an issue.  I need interactivity.  This is seriously dangerous when I am driving alone for any length of time and I have the same issue as a passenger.  I call it "CARpalepsy."  It also has a lot to do with the fact that I don’t like going out to movies or listening to lectures or concerts.  I was always the one who was shushed.  I wanted to talk about what I was seeing.  Make meaning, process.  It was that or I would fall asleep.  


When left to my own devices, I operate effectively at a mile a minute.  I love it.  At this moment I have ten blog posts in my cue that flew out of my fingers as I was reading, writing, tweeting, on facebook, talking, BBMing and texting.  Often I do all that and go running or play volleyball for a few hours in the middle while still doing much of that.  For me technology has been a godsend. It provides me not only with a way to not only stay awake when bored, but it also provides a funnel for my thoughts and ideas and a way to process and share. It has been the non-medication treatment for my problem of needing a lot of stimulation and it has opened doors, windows, and allowed me to make connections I never thought possible.  


Now I can go to movies and text my thoughts to the person sitting next to me or share with the world through Twitter or Facebook, get feedback and have conversations, without disturbing others.  In meetings I’m not just sitting there consuming information.  I too can have a part in it as I BBM my colleague asking their thoughts about what is being said or look up something that is being talked about that I don’t understand instead of tuning out.  With technology I have the world in my hands at any time and I am able to control the amount of stimulation that allows my brain to work at optimal speed.  And, to me this is the big idea...
Individuals need to be empowered with the ability to self-regulate and have ownership over the way they can function most effectively.  


What concerns me is articles like this one Colleges worry about always-plugged-in students where we hear from colleges and professors who want to strip students of their freedom to learn in the way they choose by taking away their technology.  We all learn differently. Rather than banning, which we all know is taking the easy way out, instructors need to empower students to differentiate learning and self regulate.  If teachers can’t update their practices to engage 21st learners, the answer isn’t to keep their students in the past.  The answer is to get to the root of the issue and update their practices.  Just how to do that is the topic of tomorrow's post.  Stay tuned! 
You have read this article ADD cure / ADHD Cure / ADHD Treatment / differentiated instruction / differentiated learning / learning innovatively / Sleeping Disorder / Sleeping Disorder cure with the title April 2011. You can bookmark this page URL http://machining33.blogspot.com/2011/04/technology-not-meds-cured-my-add-adhd.html. Thanks!

What's Popular This Week On The Innovative Educator?

Here’s the roundup of what's been popular on The Innovative Educator blog this week. Below you’ll see my top weekly posts along with the number of pageviews in the past 7 days.


This week the big winner is Move Over iPad! Google Chrome Notebooks are Going to be the Game Changer I learned a lot about the Google Notebook when writing the post and even more afterwards from the great comments and the additional blog post it inspired by Steve Kinney.  You’ll also want to look at the links to comments from teachers who are piloting the devices in other cities.   The next most popular post was Have schools forgotten they were supposed to prepare students for the world?  This is a concern of mine as I meet more and more soon-to-be high school and college grads who are left with a diploma in hand but unprepared to find a job or career.  They have no resume or ePortfolio as a result of all their years of study and a GPA only tells a prospective employer so much about a student’s talents and potential.  Rounding out the top three is my ADHD post which has consistently ranked at the top of all my posts.  The pharma companies spend millions to get kids hooked on drugs and they reap in profits as a result.  Find out why doctors, parents, and educators are clamoring to get you to do more research before drugging your children. 




A couple other posts made their way to the top including one on my new favorite phrase, “free-range learning.”  See what happens when students are allowed to embrace free range learning
which means they are empowered to use their own technology and given the freedom to access any internet site they choose.  Also at the top is my piece on Student Driven Learning = Passion-Based Classrooms.  More and more teachers are relinquishing control of the learning to students and seeing spectacular results.  I also provide Advice for Choosing Pages, Groups or Profiles When Using Facebook.  This is a question I’m asked often.  This post provides real classroom examples of what educators are doing and why it works best for them.  Finally, from Vicky we have a guest post on the important topic of bullying in which she asks readers How Do You Really Feel About Bullying?


There’s several other interesting posts as well. I hope there's something here that looks of interest to you.  If it does, check it out. If you’re so inspired leave a comment.

Post Pageviews
Move Over iPad! Google Chrome Notebooks are Going to be the Game Changer
Apr 15, 2011, 12 comments 951 Pageviews
Have schools forgotten they were supposed to prepare students for the world
Apr 17, 2011, 4 comments 912 Pageviews
Cure ADHD without Drugs with These Resources from ...
Feb 5, 2011, 19 comments 841 Pageviews
See what happens when students are allowed to embrace free range learning
Apr 18, 2011, 4 comments 806 Pageviews
Student Driven Learning = Passion-Based Classrooms...
Apr 22, 2011, 3 comments 717 Pageviews
Advice for Choosing Pages, Groups or Profiles When Using Facebook
Apr 21, 2011, 2 comments 704 Pageviews
How Do You Really Feel About Bullying?
Apr 19, 2011, 3 comments 653 Pageviews
Do You Have the Fluency of a Digital Native? Take this test
Apr 12, 2011, 4 comments 629 Pageviews
8 Real Ways Facebook Enriched Ms. Schoening’s First Grade Class
Jul 15, 2010, 16 comments 578 Pageviews
The Ten No Nos of Teaching with a Projector or Interactive Whiteboard
May 10, 2010, 28 comments 468 Pageviews
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