Kids Learning and Communicating

Communication is the key to success in our society. Those who communicate well often rise to the top. One way to help our students be more successful is to help them learn to communicate ideas and learning to others. Kidlink is one way to do this. It is a website devoted to helping children learn to communicate, collaborate and share learning online. Projects on this site incorporate curriculum from around the world. Their are projects such as Time Machine where teachers can sign up and their students can visit and record their responses. They can see others responses. Users to the Kidlink site must register and teachers must also register and sign up for projects. Here is another link to an article making the case for using technology in education.

Learning An Active Approach!

Active Learning is a new buzzword so to speak in the educational community. However for many teachers active learning is nothing new. Active Learning is simply students doing something rather than being passive while learning. Great teachers know that students learn and remember more easily when they are active participants in their learning. The site above shows many different ways teachers can use active learning in their classrooms to assist their students and increase their potential! Active learning powers the brain to process information in a variety of multi-sensory ways. When a student watches a video and then responds to it they not only see and hear the video they are retelling, relating and responding to it.

Technology The New Fuel for Education

Technology is in essence a new fuel for education. Previously education was driven by books, lectures and thought. While thinking continues to be the most important part of education, technology is driving a new frontier for teachers who embrace it. Technology allows students to process knowledge in new ways and apply knowledge to new situations. Technology increases productivity and allows students to use knowledge in multiple disciplines.

Teachers are crucial to creating learners who are able to use technology to drive their learning. Teachers must become capable users of technology effectively in their classrooms. They must encourage students to use technology effectively to enhance their learning. Teachers should create projects in their classrooms that allow students to see the potential for learning when using technology. They should create projects that cover several subject areas allowing students to apply technology to solve problems. These projects can have tremendous impact on a students learning and potential to solve problems in the real world. Here is a related article on the New Economy, Technology and Learning Outcomes. It highlights the importance of information literacy, techonology fluency and competent competencies together to our students existance in the society of the future.

Using Technology to Power Up Your Classroom

Technology is amazing as it has the power to help students learn and recall information. Teachers who use technology in the classroom can allow their students to experience a multi-sensory approach to learning material. Brain research shows that when students are exposed to material in a multi-sensory approach they are able to remember it more easily. They also create an experience with the material that translates to new experiences.

Teachers in science can use this approach to incorporate videos from United Streaming or Teacher Tube to enhance their lessons. They can allow students to blog about experiments and create websites to show their experiences in the classroom. When students must retell or relate experiences they are reliving them in their brains and making new connections that will enable them to recall that experience on a different level with an emotional attachment. This will enable the student to remember the experiment long term rather than just a blip in their mental recall. The following video is from teacher tube and has some important points for teachers to remember!

How your brain works...

Knowing how your brain works can dramatically affect your daily life and learning. You can learn ways to quickly memorize information, get others to pay attention to you, and maximize your potential.


Here is a recent article from the NY Times that shows how you can boost your brain power!

Along the side you will see several helpful sites on the brain and You Tube video's of Dr. Medina and his brain research. I feel understanding our brain and how it works will help teachers to unlock the power within our students.