Lots of Good Information for Educators This Month

It's fun to stop at a Starbucks and discover that folks in the car ahead of you (who you don't know) have paid for your coffee! Random acts of kindness.  :)  Connected educators, however, help each other in a bit more organized manner. I know that I can find many--even more than usual--articles and tweets online this month about being connected. Many teachers and other educators share good news about new tools and other teaching resources via blogs and tweets. And the K12 Online Conference 2014 this month is free and asynchronous. What a bargain that is!

Be Connected! / Phil and Jo Schiffbauer / CC BY 2.0

Connected Educator Month:
Are you finding articles to help you work with your students and with other educators in addition to helping you boost your own professional development? If you are a new teacher or if you mentor new teachers you will find some good ideas at Teaching with Soul. Especially check Five Tips for New Teachers to Become Connected Educators.

New Tools:
Are you looking for a good way to share resources with students? Read BlendSpace: Awesome Review Idea! at Teaching with Technology. See how Bethany Petty created a review activity for her students' Constitution tests. In addition, she shares other ideas for using Blendspace with your students.

Mathematics, Technology, and Women:

In the early years of my career it seemed that only male mathematicians showed up in textbooks and elsewhere. I was delighted when I later began teaching technology education to find references to Lady Ada Lovelace and Dr. Grace Murray Hopper and their work in the field. Today I enjoy reading Roots of Unity, the mathematics blog of Evelyn Lamb in Scientific American. In Beyond Emmy and Sophie: Resources for Learning about Women in Math Lamb shares resources for several female mathematicians. She also provides access to her Twitter list of Mathy Ladies (students, teachers, other women) who tweet about mathematics.

K12 Online Conference 2014:

Last week we viewed presentations for two strands (Stories for Learning and Games and Gamification) of this year's conference. Beginning tomorrow (Monday, October 27) we will view presentations for the Passion-Driven Learning and STEAM strands plus the keynotes for those two strands. Check the schedule for the presentations.

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Have you connected with other educators this month to share your good ideas and experiences?

Two K12 Online Conference 2014 Keynotes Today

Are you following the K12 Online Conference 2014?

Wes Fryer took us across the country as we met educators who (virtually) joined him in his pre-conference keynote, Igniting Innovation in Teaching and Learning, a week ago (Monday, October 13).

Conversation / Sharon Mollerus / CC BY 2.0

Today (Monday, October 20) Ben Wilkoff's keynote for Stories for Learning and Kevin Hodgson's keynote for Games and Gamification are scheduled to begin those two strands.

Do you need information about this excellent online conference? Go to last week's blog post to learn more.

Are You Ready for the K12 Online Conference 2014?

Are you ready? The K12 Online Conference 2014 begins in just about 8 hours with Wes Fryer's pre-conference keynote!

k12onlineconference.org

Read about the conference here:

K12 Online Conference 2014. Igniting Innovation. Free. Online. 

http://teachinginadigitalworld.blogspot.com/2014/08/k12-online-conference-2014-igniting.html

Note the presentations and when they will be presented here:

2014 Schedule

http://k12onlineconference.org/?page_id=2480

You do not want to miss this!

Connected Educators Benefit From and Inspire Others

Old School Room / Catherine Snodgrass / CC BY 2.0

A leftover photo of a student. A few papers. More than 30 desks nailed to the floor in neat rows. Empty shelves. This was the classroom I walked into the summer before my first year of teaching. The textbooks were the curriculum. No professional development was offered for new teachers. I met a few experienced teachers and a kind principal. They were my support for my first year of teaching. That was the extent of my being connected when I began teaching. Of course, this was before technology played a role in education.

Today new teachers have so many more options for connecting with other educators and finding support as they begin their teaching careers. My responsibilities and opportunities have changed throughout my career. And so have the ways that I connect with other educators.

Local, state, and national organizations and their conferences have provided many opportunities for me to meet others and learn from outstanding educators. I have had the chance to grow as I have shared my experiences with others. And technology tools such as blogs and Twitter have added more ways we can connect and grow today.

http://bit.ly/connectededucatormonth

How are you connected with other educators? Are you benefiting from being involved with a PLN (personal learning network)? Have you searched for #ce14 on Twitter to find what today's educators are sharing during Connected Educator Month? Have you shared how you are connected? My PLN is such a rich source of ideas and experiences from educators who strive to teach and learn and help both students and other educators. I am so very thankful for them. No teacher today--new or experienced--needs to teach without the extensive support of other educators who are passionate about their mission and willing to share!