Week of October 17

                                            Thursday Thoughts October 17

As we focus on Breast Cancer Awareness, I think it is so important to emphasize that this is not simply a concern for women over forty.  In fact, it is not just a concern for women.  Although rare in men, it can occur generally between the ages of 60-70.  In young women, I found that it has been detected as early as 21 years of age. My cousin was in her 30's when she learned that she had breast cancer.  To our knowledge, we did not have a family history of it.  She only found out because her toddler hit her in the chest with his head as she was wrestling with him.  She noted that it was unusually painful but did not think too much of it.  Several days passed but the pain did not subside. She went to the doctor and the cancer was discovered.  It had spread to her lymph nodes.  She went through radiology and chemo and is thankfully in remission but had she not had that incident.....well we all acknowledge that her little one very well may have saved her life.  The bottom line is that you can't ignore anything when it comes to your body and your health; no matter your age.   Thank you for showing your support.  Please remember to wear pink on Monday.

Staff Spotlight:
This week I would like to shine the spotlight on Paula Bell.  Paula is another one person department in our school that goes out of her way to assist everyone.  She not only orders all of the supplies for the grade levels and collects money for all field trips, but she also takes special care in making sure that our staff events have just that little extra touch of love.  When Paula organizes an event or activity, you can be sure that every "i" is dotted and every "t" is crossed.  She is also a great listener and you can often find staff in her office laughing, sharing and sometimes even crying.  I can tell you from first hand experience that she phenomenal with last minute requests, even though she doesn't prefer them.  Just yesterday I mentioned to her (in passing) that I needed a particular item for my office and by this afternoon it had been ordered, delivered and ready to install.....amazing!  Many thanks to Paula for taking care of all of us.

4C's: Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, Critical Thinking Skills 

 4 Key Strengths Of Tablets As Learning Tools                       

by Rose Cauilan

As the classroom quickly evolves into the 21st century, it should come as no surprise that portable devices are becoming an increasingly important part of a child’s education. Tips for teaching with tablets is something Teach Thought has taken a look at before, and their momentum is only increasing.
Why? For starters, there are a number of benefits that this technology can offer–including the ability to mobilize learning, personalize curriculum, and provide transparency for all stakeholders in education.
Education is also hungry for change, another reality in favor of using tablets for learning. But using tablets and using them well are two different things. Making tablets more effective–in terms of understanding, rather than simple measures of “engagement,” or even multiple-choice based assessment results, will require playing to their strengths.  Which means it might help to identify a few of those strengths.

Strength #1: Mobile Learning
Mobile learning is simply the untethering of students from classrooms, allowing them to learn while embedded where the learning is. (Which is rarely in a desk, with a book, listening to a teacher.) This naturally promotes the practice of authentic learning, empower project-based learners, and supports place-based education as well. With a tablet, smartphone or other BYOT device, this is not only possible, but natural.

Strength #2: Personalized Learning
The incredible library of apps available for both iOS and Android devices (and, yes, Windows Surface tablets, too) are powerful distributors of content. No longer does learning have to come simply from books and direct instruction. It is now possible that they come from self-directed and mobile learning through a combination of media, from texts and videos, to social media streams, images, and more.  And with many apps increasingly benefiting from adaptive learning mechanisms of some sort, the ability for students to access the right content at the right time is more possible now than ever.

Strength #3: Transparency
Since so many apps have built-in social media potential, and students are increasingly able to mobilize and self-direct their own learning through the power of a tablet, transparency is a natural result. Data can be seen, shared, socialized, communally disaggregated, and communicated to a much more informed–and even more personal–audience through tablets and BYOT approaches to learning technology.  And with that added transparency comes the sharing of the burden–and opportunity–of teaching students across an impressively wide and capable audience, rather than individual, overworked teachers struggling to do the same for 130 other students.

Strength #4: Engagement & Collaboration
Kids need to be actively engaged, something tablets and their native apps can address. Not only are these handy devices visually stimulating, but teachers can link these pads together so that children can coordinate their efforts and solve problems together. While receiving a smiley sticker on a well-done math exam is pleasant, the highly advanced programs that tablets offer can truly take these rewards to the next level. Simply stated, these mobile devices for learning can truly make a profound difference.
To provide an example, a recent study published by CNN found that children who use these devices were no less than twenty percent more likely to be rated at “proficient” or “advanced” levels of learning after interacting with these gadgets for a few months.  Any of us who may have been bored stiff in the classroom can attest to how important it is for a teacher to interact with his or her students. The great thing about mobile notepads is that they are some of the most visually engaging teaching tools available. They offer stimulating graphics, interesting programs and most of all, the students can truly get a “hands on” feel for realism that can hardly be matched in a textbook alone.
It will be interesting to see what the future holds in education, but we can be certain that these unique devices will play an important role in shaping and molding young minds. Understandably, many teachers are seeking to slowly integrate mobile technology into their classrooms, but these devices have become commonplace in virtually every aspect of our daily lives.  To have education startlingly different doesn’t make sense.


Technology Tidbits: (If you have websites to share please email me and I will share with all)

Check out the following websites:

 http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/me5l/html/math5.html
 Math Live presents students with animated stories that teach mathematics lessons.

http://www.schrockguide.net/assessment-and-rubrics.html
A great website for just about everything for teachers.  Jennifer Serafin shared that this is a great website for all types of rubrics that teachers can tweak.

THE PL POST HAS NUMEROUS WEBSITES AND RESOURCES THIS MONTH.  IT CAME OUT ON OCTOBER 15th.

News & Notes

Fulton County Schools and local universities have partnered up to provide an informational session on how to obtain your leadership certification. Kelly Cayce, a Certification Specialist, will provide an overview of the steps for earning your certification in the state of GA, answer questions, and introduce the partnering universities. 
Date: Monday, October 28th
Time: 5pm
Location: Haynes Bridge Middle School
Please see me if you would like to RSVP for this opportunity.