I just found out about a great, academic way that Scholastic has teamed up to support the St. Judes Children Hospital: Math-a-thon!
Students watch a video in class to build excitement for the Math-a-thon. Then with their parents permission they take part in the program that asks students to raise pledges in relation to the number [...]

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I have just returned from the NCTM conference with so much to tell about new ideas to teach and learn math. One of the most exciting and engaging resources for students comes to you from Illuminations, the web-based resource developed by NCTM in partnership with Thinkfinity.org.
http://calculationnation.nctm.org/  – What is Calculation Nation: (from About Calculation Nation)
Calculation [...]

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Whether you make your living as a writer or find yourself constantly scribbling for the love of it, Prairie Winds Writing Project and Dakota Writing Project want you to join us in the Badlands for a 24-hour writers retreat. June 5-6, beginning at 6pm, Friday and ending the same time on Saturday.
We did this event for the [...]

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Geoffrey Sheehy, a teacher at Central High School gave a great presentation/talk on how to present. A major point in his presentation was for educators to be “anti-formula” when presenting. Many of his examples came from power point and were definately ‘anti-formula’.
You may ask what is anti-formula? In easy words it’s using pictures and as [...]

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Elizabeth Vogt, secondary English teacher at Riggs High School in Pierre, South Dakota, shared how she and her students use iGoogle.  She began with iGoogle start page, her beginning point on the internet. She’s added her bookmarks, Google Calendar, and her Google Docs just to name a few. Everything that she [...]

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Sherry Crofut, middle school teacher at North Middle School in Rapid City, showcased her favorite web connection tools during her breakout session. I sat in awe as she showed us Plurk, Twitter, Facebook, and many other tools that help her stay on top of her game. She has a rich network of online colleagues, some [...]

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In the final presentation of the TIE Conference, Dr. Jim Parry invited us to reflect with him on change. He cited Christensen’s book, Disrupting Class, as an important book to prepare us for the end of the monolithic instructional model. His final point, however, was the one that startled and delighted the audience: a video [...]

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Jennifer Nehl shared some great writing strategies with teachers under the premise of Everyday Writing For The Everyday Teacher.  She was able to engage the teachers with her first strategy that focused on making the students expend more energy in the learning process than the teacher.  After the participants in the session had a chance [...]

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Cheryl Lemke of Metiri breakout session noted that too often we expect students to have quick answers. Diane Halpern research shows that complex problems may take days to process. She demonstrated iearn.org to as a place to join worldwide projects in a wide variety of content.
Any content or unit can be racheted up for critical [...]

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Copyright and Fair Use – Lacey and Matt
I didn’t know that phrases can’t be copyrighted. Lacey said, “Anyone can say ‘Live free or die.’” I like to attribute phrases and wise thoughts, though, because that adds value to the phrase for me. Knowing who said something is part of its context.
Fair use allows you to [...]

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