This weekend I along with 49 other educators from around ASIA have been invited to attend the Apple Distinguished Educators institute in Bangkok, Thailand. It will be a chance to be indoctrinated immersed in all thing Apple through the lense of education.

What really excites me about the institute is that it is project based. All participants will be placed into groups and given themes and questions to explore using the variety of Apple products available to us. Lots of advanced workshops and new stuff to try out.

Some notable edu-bloggers (Kim, Clay) will be there along with MAC guru Steve Clark of Shanghai Community International School.

I’m psyched!

Check out all the action here

………………..the students will play, or so the old adage goes.

Last week the verse when something like this.

When the teacher is away the students don’t know it because he checks in and leads a class by SKYPE!

One of our teachers did just that while at a Partners in Learning conference in Madrid Spain.

His class has been exploring similarities and differences between cultures and he saw a great opportunity to share some on the ground experiences as they were fresh in his mind. He as able to share some art he bought and the students were able to ask questions on the fly.

Its about making connections.

Minimal planning with huge learning rewards.

When teachers are willing to take risks and they know they have support on the other end to make thing happen, great teachable moments emerge.

A few observations:

Classroom management needs to change a little so questions can be addressed one at a time to allow for any delay.

A brief mention to the students that although the medium is different nothing much has changed, this is still their teacher and the same behavior expectations apply.

Projecting the picture engages the students and immerses them in the experience.

Elevate the camera so the speaker can see the maximum amount of room space.

Wow!

No one told me how time could fly when you have kids…………

That’s not true. Everyone told me, I just didn’t believe them.

The last month at work has been all about “SHIFT HAPPENING” and over the next few posts I will take you though that journey. I hope to provide insight on how one school is moving forward to creating a shared understanding of what it mean to be literate in the 21st century.

In the mean time…………

Have you leveled yours?

Thanks so Doug Johnson for digging this one up. 

The first thing I thought of was……….I wonder how this is calculated?

An algorithm that scans vocabulary and language and assigns a score to based on the level?

Try yours and then try your favorite blogger.

Cool.