Tag: Education

Back-to-School EduTweetUp (August 2010)

The first Memphis EduTweetUp was such a success that we all agreed to have another once the new school year began. All K-12 educators are invited to join us for food and fun as teachers from many different schools and districts connect and share ideas. The evening will conclude with a Web 2.0 Smackdown during which attendees can volunteer to share quick demos (under 3 minutes) of some of their favorite Web 2.0 tools and services. Note that free wi-fi will be available in the dining room. We’ll also have a computer projector and screen.

We’ll be meeting at Panera Bread (4530 Poplar) from 5:30 to 7:30 PM on Tuesday, August 31, 2010. Please help us spread the word via Twitter, Facebook, on your blog(s), email, etc., and include the event tag: #metu. Note that Non-Twitter-using teachers are absolutely welcome to join us, too. There is no registration fee but please help us make appropriate restaurant reservations by RSVP-ing using the buttons in the Tweetvite widget below.

Proposed Agenda

Event Tag: #metu

A Teacher’s Influence (Quote from Haim Ginott)

I have come to a frightening conclusion.
I am the decisive element in the classroom.
It is my personal approach that creates the climate.
It is my daily mood that makes the weather.
As a teacher I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous.
I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.
I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.
In all situations it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or dehumanized.

–Haim Ginott

Empty Classroom

Professional Development Meme 2010

I’m a big fan of goal setting. It can provide a road map for the short or long-term and can be an effective motivational strategy. I have set a few professional development goals for this summer and have challenged a few of my friends/colleagues to do the same thing. In 2008 I realized that I could set this up as a blog meme and hopefully encourage some of my online friends to achieve a few items from their To Do Lists. There are a myriad of ways to approach this, but I’ve opted to take the short-term, easy-to-assess approach, but I’ll leave some wiggle room for you to customize it to meet your needs. The official information is below.

Directions

Summer can be a great time for professional development. It is an opportunity to learn more about a topic, read a particular work or the works of a particular author, beef up an existing unit of instruction, advance one’s technical skills, work on that advanced degree or certification, pick up a new hobby, and finish many of the other items on our ever-growing To Do Lists. Let’s make Summer 2010 a time when we actually get to accomplish a few of those things and enjoy the thrill of marking them off our lists.

The Rules

NOTE: You do NOT have to wait to be tagged to participate in this meme.

  1. Pick 1-3 professional development goals and commit to achieving them this summer.
  2. For the purposes of this activity the end of summer will be Labor Day (09/06/2010).
  3. Post the above directions along with your 1-3 goals on your blog.
  4. Link back/trackback to https://www.clifmims.com/blog/archives/3669.
  5. Use the following tag/ keyword/ category on your post: pdmeme2010.
  6. Tag 5 or more bloggers to participate in the meme.
  7. Achieve your goals and “develop professionally.”
  8. Commit to sharing your results on your blog during early or mid-September.

My Goals

  1. Read at least 2 of the books on my book wish list.
  2. Implement idea for new blog feature.
  3. Submit at least 1 of the articles currently in progress for review.

I Tag…

Memphis EduTweetUp: About the Web 2.0 Smackdown

We’re planning on concluding next week’s Memphis EduTweetUp with a Web 2.0 Smackdown. Here are a few details for those unfamiliar with a smackdown.

Rules and Organization

Volunteers will choose one of their favorite Web 2.0 tools or social technologies and quickly demo it for the group making sure to share ways that it can be integrated with teaching and learning.

Each demo is allowed a maximum of 3 minutes. Finish in under the time limit or face the Smackdown!

Warning: This is fast and frantic (and lots of crazy fun) — Thus the term SMACKDOWN!!!! The goal is to involve as many people as possible and learn about as many new resources as possible.

Please RSVP
Please help us make appropriate restaurant reservations by RSVP-ing regarding your attendance here.

Invite Others
Please help us spread the word via Twitter, Facebook, your blog(s), email, etc., and include the event tag: #metu.

Event Tag: #metu

Ready steady... Go - Day 86 of Project 365

Memphis EduTweetUp (May 2010)

All K-12 educators are invited to join us for food and fun as teachers from many different schools and districts connect and share ideas. The evening will conclude with a Web 2.0 Smackdown during which attendees can volunteer to share quick demos (under 3 minutes) of some of their favorite Web 2.0 tools and services. Note that free wi-fi will be available in the dining room. We’ll also have a computer projector and screen.

We’ll be meeting at Amerigo Italian Restaurant (1239 Ridgeway Rd.) at 5:00 PM on Tuesday, May 11, 2010. Please help us spread the word via Twitter, Facebook, on your blog(s), email, etc., and include the event tag: #metu. Note that Non-Twitter-using teachers are absolutely welcome to join us, too. There is no registration fee but please help us make appropriate restaurant reservations by RSVP-ing using the buttons in the Tweetvite widget below.

Proposed Agenda

Event Tag: #metu

Web 2.0 Technologies for Elementary and Middle School Classrooms

These are the slides for today’s presentation at the NCTIES Conference. Examples of how both teachers and students have used these tools are included. The full set of notes and resources from this session are available on the wiki. Thanks to everyone that attended, participated, tweeted, shared resources and ideas, etc.

Together We Learn More

I encourage new visitors to the website and blog to join our professional learning network (PLN) via Facebook and Google Friend Connect so that we can all engage in more active and collaborative ways. I hope you’ll join our educational community (click on the buttons below) and let’s have fun learning together. Please feel free to invite other educators, preservice teachers, homeschool families, and anyone with an interest in education and technology, too.

Integrating Computer Games

Creating game-based learning environments or experiences using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) games is becoming an increasingly tenable, valuable, and popular instructional method. COTS games are computer or video games created for entertainment purposes. A few popular examples are SimCity, Age of Empires, ZooTycoon, and Railroad Tycoon.

My good friend Dennis Charsky invited me to co-author Integrating Commercial off-the-Shelf Video Games into School Curriculum. Ten suggestions to help educators effectively integrate COTS games are shared in this research article. Below is an overview along with a few notes from this publication.

10 Things To Do When Integrating a Commercial off-the-Shelf Video Gam

View more presentations from Clif Mims.

Day 2: MECA 2010

2010 MECAToday is the first full day of the 2010 Mississippi Educational Computing Association (MECA) Conference. The temperature dropped below 40 degrees overnight, so it is cold outside today (The conference site is 2 blocks from the hotel). I know this isn’t all that cold to many of you, but the temperature combined with the biting cold is extreme for this region.

Here are my notes from Day 2.

Event tag: #msmeca10

Day 1: MECA 2010

2010 MECAI’m excited to be working with educators in Mississippi this week. I grew up in Mississippi and still consider it “home.” I also taught middle school here and most recently taught at the University of Mississippi before making the move to Memphis. I’ve also been a consultant with the MS DOE at different times in recent years. I’m teaching/ sharing 5 workshops and presentations here at the 2010 Mississippi Educational Computing Association (MECA) Conference. Day 1 of the conference included afternoon sessions and activities in the hall of exhibitors.

Here are a few notes from my Day 1 experience.

Event tag: #msmeca10