Estimation Tool

Do you ever get tired of teaching concepts the way you always have?  Check out this interesting website that puts a different spin on estimation--and more importantly building number sense!

Writing Prompts

Ever looking for a different way to create your own writing prompts that will stimulate student thought?  Check out this easy to use tool!

My Obsession with Quotes Expands!

If you have been to my office you know I love quotes.  Lately I've been seeing people that are combining graphics with quotes--and I'm even more fascinated.  You can find lots of them here, but here are a couple I really liked that I pulled out of the pool!

Do Classrooms Build Curiosity?

Here's an interesting article (just one in a series of articles on curiosity--I also liked this one!) that questions if our classrooms encourage curiosity that is natural in kids.  Interesting thoughts to ponder!  Happy Tuesday!

You Don't Want to Miss...

There are some great events coming up through the office of eLearning and the Indiana Department of Education.

Check these out:

Upcoming Events from the IDOE Office of eLearning - January is a busy month in the Office of eLearning. Please plan on joining any or maybe even all of these webinars. Click on any of the webinar titles to register for that webinar.

·         Tuesday, January 15, 4 p.m. EDT – Flipping the Classroom  – Three classroom teachers (elementary, middle school math, and high school science) will be discussing their flipping experiences: why they decided to flip, what software they are using to create their videos (or where they are locating videos), successes, and challenges. There will also be opportunities to ask the presenters questions and to have discussions with other educators on the call. Each webinar attendee will earn one PGP point.

·         Wednesday, January 16, 4 p.m. EDT – Celebrate Digital Learning – Once again, Indiana will go beyond Digital Learning Day and sponsor Digital Learning Month. Beginning February 1, you are invited to participate in any or all of our three Digital Learning Month events. You can learn more about our Digital Learning Day plans and how to represent our state in our Indiana DLD webinar .

·         Tuesday, January 22, 4 p.m. EDT – Indiana Curriculum Connection  – Join us for this webinar to learn about the Learning.com  resources available to Indiana educators in the Learning Connection.

·         Tuesday, January 29, 4 p.m. EDT – NBC Learn  – Looking to engage students and provide authentic, relevant content that is aligned to the standards? Join the Office of eLearning as we explore NBC Learn, a resource available to all Indiana educators and students. NBC Learn offers unique collections of video resources, primary sources, historic footage, images, mini documentaries and text resources designed for use in the K-12 classroom. 

Here's an interesting article on automated scoring for essays on standardized tests:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/todd-farley/lies-damn-lies-and-statis_b_1574711.html

Here's another interesting take on that article:
http://dianeravitch.net/2012/11/15/should-computers-grade-essays/

Welcome to 2013!

At times keeping up with this blog can be daunting!  However, I've had some free time to catch up on my blog feed and there are some things that I've got to share with you!

Today's installment comes from our friends in the world of Mathematics.  Check out this interesting take on graphing stories.