http://edutrails.edublogs.org Musings about technology and education... Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:13:15 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en It's the first week back for teachers in most parts of New Brunswick. With students returning next week, schools and districts are busy preparing and PDing teachers with the newest strategies and ideas. I am lucky this week, as I have been invited by my district to attend the Professional ... http://edutrails.edublogs.org/2008/08/26/five-steps-to-improving-test-scores/ Sometimes the array of powerful web tools available for schools is overwhelming, with more being added every day.  Part of my job is to track new tools and act as a filter, introducing them to teachers and students as learning needs dictate, but even I find it difficult to keep ... http://edutrails.edublogs.org/2008/08/21/cool-tools/ In his documentary "Bowling for Columbine", Michael Moore visited a bank where clients received a gun for opening an account. Today a courier brought me my free gift from my bank for opening an account, something far more powerful - a micro-laptop. The Royal Bank here in Canada is offering ... http://edutrails.edublogs.org/2008/08/14/239/ I am sitting in the closing keynote of CONTACT, a joint conference of teachers from the four atlantic provinces in Canada, listening to Betty-Jean Aucoin. This is NOT a technology-oriented conference, kind of a change for me.  I wasn't sure what to expect coming in, knowing that I was invited to ... http://edutrails.edublogs.org/2008/08/08/the-endor-a-start/ Brenda MacIsaac's session this morning at CONTACT on the shifting nature of our kids and the increasing disconnect between schools and their learning needs was wonderful.  She presented a great snapshot of the research and personal anecdotes, painting a picture of today's youth that captured just how important it is ... http://edutrails.edublogs.org/2008/08/06/changeon-the-fly/ Live blogging morning session at CONTACT2008 conference.  Please excuse typos and grammar. "From Hopscotch to Hypermedia: A Vision of K-12 Students Today: Growing up Digital" - Brenda MacIsaac, NSTU ----------- This is not a workshop on technology, this is a workshop on students and learning. Technology transformed my practice, I couldn't teach like I ... http://edutrails.edublogs.org/2008/08/06/from-hopscotch-to-hypermedia-live-blogging/ My wife and I enjoyed a leisurely drive yesterday, turning what would normally be a five hour drive into a ten hour tour as we drove along Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore on my way to the CONTACT conference at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia. Taking in a winery tour ... http://edutrails.edublogs.org/2008/08/06/contacting-on-the-east-coast/ After enjoying the better part of a week being off the grid, I was working my way through my feedreader this evening, catching up on my network. One item that caught my eye, mainly because it is something that I have been pondering about for the past week or so, is ... http://edutrails.edublogs.org/2008/07/24/where-will-the-change-come-from/ One of the great things about summer is that teachers have the time and the opportunity to become active learners by catching up on reading.  Unfortunately, all too often, teachers don't see themselves as learners...but that is not what this post is about. Every teacher who cares about understanding the world ... http://edutrails.edublogs.org/2008/07/24/the-world-is-flat-audiobook-giveaway/ Last Tuesday evening I said goodbye to many old and new friends in downtown Memphis at the closing party of yet another great Laptop Institute conference hosted by the wonderful folks at Lausanne Collegiate School (more thoughts on that later). After a couple hours of sleep my wife and ... http://edutrails.edublogs.org/2008/07/23/off-the-grid-in-the-big-easy/