TL2014 – Resources of the week… (weekly)
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What Teachers Need to Know about Creative Commons ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning
An easy-to-understand explanation (including video and inforgraphic) of creative commons.
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An Open Letter to School Leaders Now Manning the Firewalls of Education
A thoughtful argument for unblocking social media sites in schools.
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ARTSEDGE | Perfect Pitch | Take the Field
Perfect Pitch is a nice little game produced by the Kennedy Center’s Arts Edge. Perfect Pitch teaches students about the instruments in an orchestra through a baseball game setting. The game introduces students to four eras of orchestral music and the instruments used in each. Students can create their own small orchestras and virtually play each instrument to hear how it sounds. After building an orchestra students then test their knowledge in short quizzes about the instruments and their sounds.
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Use Technology to Develop Global Competence | Asia Society
The article outlines three ways technology can be used to develop global competence: investigate the world; recognize and weigh perspectives; communicate ideas.
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How Can Teachers Prepare Kids for a Connected World?
A real-world example of how changing pedagogy can provide students with necessary skills, connect them to others in the world and help them meet the standards. Students can still meet the standards (and then some) through changed pedagogy.
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From Cave Paintings to the Internet
An amazing online project to document the history of information and media. The project has a huge scope, starting with entries from 2,500,000 BCE right up to the modern day.
The project also provides a great Google Maps based interface to explore the records geographically and thematically. The map allows the user to select from a large number of themes, from archaeology to writing and palaeography. The entries can also be explored by historical era and by regions. -
Five Questions to Ask about the Common Core
A thought-provoking set of questions to ask about the Common Core. “The efforts to develop common curricula nationally and internationally are simply working to perfect an outdated paradigm. The outcomes are precisely the opposite of the talents we need for the new era. A well organized, tightly controlled, and well-executed education system can transmit the prescribed content much more effectively than one that is less organized, loosely monitored, and less unified. In the meantime, the latter allows for exceptions with more room for individual exploration and experimentation. The question is what matters in the future: Do we want individuals who are good at taking tests, or individuals who are creative and entrepreneurial?”
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Jazz on PBS Kids Go is a nice little site on which children can learn about the history of jazz music, styles of jazz, and the instruments used in jazz music.
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“John Green teaches you Literature and Hank Green teaches you Ecology. Check out the playlists for past courses in World History and Biology”