WeAreTeachers

The One Bit of Summer Reading You Don’t Want to Miss

WeAreTeachers — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:46:04 +0000

At WeAreTeachers, we know that teachers are by and large some of the most technologically-savvy folks on the planet. They have to be because their students are digital natives that demand engagement on their terms. But as the use of technology in the classroom grows, new myths are being formed about the connection between teachers, technology, and 21st century skill development.

Our partner, Walden University’s Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership commissioned a game-changing study on the connection between teachers, technology and 21st century skills. They detailed their findings in a report that you don’t want to miss, outlining the critical connection between technology and your students and revealing key actions you should be taking in your classroom.

The report is titled “Educators, Technology and 21st Century Skills: Dispelling Five Myths” and it is available free of charge — in its entirety, here.

Don’t have time to read through the whole thing? Our friends at Walden University have also supplied a handy summary to help you get to the key points.

This is the one bit of summer reading you do not want to miss. Check it out and share your thoughts with us! We love to hear how teachers are using this report to help them implement changes in their classrooms.

Cheers For PCI Education

WeAreTeachers — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 13:15:01 +0000

It is with great admiration and excitement that we congratulate our partner, PCI Education on their recent accolades from the Association of Educational Publishers.

Two of PCI’s products, Environmental Print and Word Problems for Non-Readers were awarded with Distinguished Achievement Awards at a gala in Washington, DC this week. These are two pioneering products that PCI created for non-readers and the AEP has identified them as “products that exemplify the highest standards of professional, quality educational content.”

The WeAreTeachers team celebrates PCI Education for this prestigious and well deserved honor and appreciate the outstanding resources, support and thought leadership they provide to the WeAreTeachers community.

Congratulations, PCI Education!

The WeAreTeachers Team

WeAreTeachers WATcast Episode #1

ceastman — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 14:54:40 +0000

We spoke to 4 teachers within their first 5 years of teaching to learn more about what its like for new teachers beginning their careers as educators. Take a listen to get some great teaching ideas, hear funny stories, and learn more about what its like for new educators.

This WATcast is sponsored by WeAreTeachers.

Note: To download the WATcast right click on the “Download” link and select “Save link as.”

Grab your video and be there for the one summit every teacher should attend.

WeAreTeachers — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:42:13 +0000

At WeAreTeachers, we are committed to supporting you as you usher your students into a world where critical thinking, creativity, innovation, collaboration and competent communication are just as important as reading, writing and mathematics. We are so pleased to work with the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) to get your thoughts, projects, and ideas out there for public consumption. With your video camera, you can share your thought or idea on what 21st century readiness means to you and contribute to a collaborative dialogue on 21st century skills–and enter to win a free trip for 2 to the National Summit on 21st Century Readiness on October 4 in Washington DC. Got a minute? Apply here.

In honor of this contest, we want to give you the inside scoop on this summit and why it’s invaluable to every teacher. At the National Summit for 21st Century Readiness, hundreds of leaders in the business and education sectors will be coming together to provide thought leadership on this important topic. To help the national community be heard, everyone is invited to participate in the Cyber Summit on 21st Century Readiness during the two weeks leading up to the National Summit. According to Paul Tumarkin, Cyber Summit organizer and communications director for P21, “This is the place where teachers, students, parents, administrators, school board members, policy makers—anyone interested in the future of education—will have the opportunity to add their voice to this national conversation.” Themes that develop during the Cyber Summit will be brought to the table as part of discussions that will take place at the October 4 National Summit in Washington DC. In addition, live video from the October 4 event will be streamed to the Cyber Summit site to allow for nation-wide involvement. Pre-register for the free Cyber Summit to stay informed about upcoming announcements, webinars and new resources. we want to give you the inside scoop on this summit and why it’s invaluable to every teacher.

Both online at the Cyber Summit and on the ground at the National Summit in Washington, discussions will focus around P21’s mission of fusing the three Rs and the four Cs: critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration, and creativity and innovation. To get the conversation going and inspire your ideas, we recommend that you watch this video of Ken Kay, president of P21, discussing the importance of fusing the three Rs and the four Cs

Want to attend the National Summit in Washington, DC? Make and submit your one-minute video statement about 21st Century Readiness and you could be on your way to winning a free trip for 2, including travel, hotel and meals. You don’t want to miss this important meeting, so take a moment to enter and then hop online on September 20th to get the dialogue rolling!

Expert Advice for Teaching English Language Learners

WeAreTeachers — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 14:24:03 +0000

Did you know that in just five years from now, it is estimated that more than 10 million students will be identified as English language learners? To help these students, we must create classrooms that are inclusive, dynamic and easy to customize to fit different students needs. Pearson is at the forefront of empowering English language learning teachers and is bringing their enthusiasm for the subject to WeAreTeachers by sponsoring the “English Language Learners” microgrant. Pearson and WeAreTeachers are teaming to cash and video camera in the hands of teachers like you, just for sharing your ideas and thoughts on teaching English language learners. Got a minute? Why not apply?

In honor of this microgrant, we want to shine a light on three tips on teaching English language learners from Pearson’s stable of education experts.

Tip One: Create a Customized Classroom
As MaryEllen Vogt, Ed.D. points out in her video on differentiated instruction, students crave classrooms that adapt to fit them. Take a moment to watch the video to see how Dr. Vogt recommends using differentiated instruction to reach ELL students.

Tip Two: Celebrate Diversity
In Dr. Jim Cummins’ video for Pearson, Acknowledging Student Identity, he speaks about why it’s important to make sure to reach out to students and get to know them personally. Dr. Cummins points out the frustrations and fears ELL students often fear due to not being able to communicate things about themselves to their peers and teachers.

Tip Three: Model Good Behavior (the SIOP model, that is.)
Dr. Jana Echevarria talks about the research that supports the SIOP model of teaching in her video. If you are not already using the SIOP model, take a minute to hear Dr. Echevarria’s compelling argument for why it’s essential to the ELL classroom.

We are so grateful to Pearson for sharing their experts with us-and we can’t wait to hear your expertise as well. Take a moment to share a thought, idea, project or special challenge in ELL and you could win $200 and a Flip Video or iPod nano with video for your classroom. The deadline to apply is June 8, so don’t wait. Apply today!

Spreading End-Of-The-Year Cheer

WeAreTeachers — Fri, 21 May 2010 14:58:37 +0000

Over the next few weeks, you’ll be turning in your grades, cleaning your classroom, and hopefully getting some much deserved rest and relaxation. WeAreTeachers wants to start the pampering now, so we have joined forces with some of our partners to offer you more fantastic microgrants with prizes you will use from the brands you love!

Companies like Dell, LeapFrog, Partnership for 21st Century Skills, Pearson, Enhancement Courses, HighScope, K to the 8th Power, Scientific Learning, and others are offering new microgrants on a variety of topics to help you start your summer off right.

As always, our microgrants will put $200 and a Flip Video or iPod nano with video in the hands of teachers who submit their thoughts, ideas or solutions on the microgrant topic, but now we are kicking it into high gear by offering some extra goodies. LeapFrog is giving away over $2000 in additional prizes for your classroom and P21 wants to send you and a friend to Washington DC this October to get the scoop on 21st century skills.

Best of all, it takes less than five minutes to apply. So take a moment to look over all of the different microgrants available and start applying!

5 Tips for Beating Summer Reading Loss

WeAreTeachers — Thu, 20 May 2010 15:22:30 +0000

We all know that as the mercury climbs, days get longer and students’ attention spans can get shorter. We look forward to the summer vacation, but with the break in the school year often comes the dreaded “summer slide,” where much of the progress you and your students have made this year may be eclipsed by TV time and fun in the sun.

As teachers, we recognize that the effects of long summer breaks can be a frustrating part of teaching, and LeapFrog® wants to help! They have teamed up with WeAreTeachers to develop a new microgrant: “Outsmart the Summer Slide!” Teachers take note: This is our largest prize package to date.

Ten teachers will each win $200 and a Flip Video™ or iPod Nano® with video to help them create great projects for combating the summer slide. Additionally, LeapFrog is awarding a Tag™ Reading Center Bundle to one Grand Prize winner, and Tag™ School Take-Home Bundles to the remaining 9 winners. Do you have a great idea for keeping reading and learning at the forefront of your students’ minds over the summer? Don’t miss out – apply now!

We invited LeapFrog Literacy Expert Carolyn Jaynes, PhD. to share her tips on how to get kids hooked into reading over the summer. Read more from Carolyn on LeapFrog’s website.

Tips to Get Kids Hooked Into Reading

Visit the library. Many libraries have a summer reading challenge, where kids read books and earn prizes or recognition. And librarians can help match your child to a book she’ll enjoy.
Summer is a great time to delve into one of your child’s passions. Let your child pick a topic that is exciting to him—even if the topic is not related to something he might learn in school! Studies show that when children are excited about a topic, they will keep reading.
Be sure your child has books at the right level for her; this will help keep her motivated. Try the “Five-Finger” test: 1) Read one page of the book. 2) If there are more than five unknown words, choose a different book.
When you’re on the road—traveling out of town, or just around your own town—be sure your child brings a book! Also, remember that you can use travel time for reading games like “find the letter” (or word) and rhyming games. It’s also a great time just to engage your child in conversation, which helps build background knowledge and vocabulary, two important parts of reading comprehension.
Set aside at least 15 minutes each day when your child can read any book of his choosing. Afterwards, encourage your child to talk about what he’s read. Use one or more of the following prompts to get him started:

Tell me about your favorite part of the book.
Why was that your favorite part?
Tell me about your favorite character? Why is he/she your favorite character?
Did this book remind you of anything? Something you’ve done or heard about? Another book you’ve read?
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Expert Advice on English Language Learning

WeAreTeachers — Wed, 19 May 2010 11:59:26 +0000

Did you know that in just five years from now it is estimated that more than 10 million students will be identified as English language learners? To help these students we must create classrooms that are inclusive, dynamic and easy to customize to fit different students needs. Pearson is at the forefront of empowering English language learning teachers and is bringing their enthusiasm for the subject to WeAreTeachers by sponsoring the “English Language Learners” microgrant. Pearson and WeAreTeachers are teaming up to put cash and video cameras in the hands of teachers like you. Got a minute? Why not apply? Application takes just five minutes and is as easy as sharing your ideas on teaching English language learners.

In honor of this microgrant, we want to shine a light on three tips on teaching English language learners from Pearson’s stable of education experts.

A World Apart: Lessons from the Digital Frontier

WeAreTeachers — Thu, 13 May 2010 14:12:39 +0000

This month, WeAreTeachers is teaming with Dell to present our “Transforming Your Lessons for Digital Learners” microgrant. Do you have a great idea for updating your lesson plans for the digital age? Let us know and you could win $200 and a Flip Video or iPod nano with video to capture the implementation of your project.

At WeAreTeachers, we have been lucky enough to witness two fantastic teachers make the most of technology to bring two classes together from across the world. If you have been following the blog, you know Candace Townsley in Oklahoma and Shelly Terrell in Germany from our previous post.

Since that time, so much has happened. In December, Candace underwent surgery to remove a malignant tumor and used Facebook and Skype to keep her concerned students and friends in the loop while she recovered. (And we are glad to report that she is doing great and back in the classroom!)

She and Shelly prepared a “Westward Expansion” unit together and their classes Skyped their presentations to each other on March 2. Candace said on Facebook, “Skyped with Shelly from Germany this morning. Some of my students in Mrs. Rutherford’s class stepped up to the challenge of creating a presentation on Westward Expansion since I’ve not been at school. The kids learned a lot about school in Germany and we even got to see a German Castle that’s next door to their school. We will Skype again soon!!”

After the initial project, Candace and Shelly both said that using Skype was a great way to bring their lessons to life in a way that their digital learners found relevant and interesting.

“It was wonderful,” said Shelly. “We plan to do more together.”

Shelly and Candace’s lesson on Westward Expansion is a great example of how incorporating technology into lesson plans can enrich a simple lesson and make it memorable and interesting.

Do you have a great idea for infusing your lesson with digital technology, like using computers, smart phones, Skype or social media to enhance your curriculum? We want to hear about it! Apply for our “Transforming Your Lessons for Digital Learners” microgrant today!

Great Tips Every Primary Education Teacher Needs to See

WeAreTeachers — Mon, 10 May 2010 20:00:01 +0000

We have heard from the primary teachers in our WeAreTeachers communities that you are always looking for fresh, new methods to reach your students. Walden University has a fantastic library of content for all teachers and has partnered with WeAreTeachers to give you access to these wonderful resources.

Today we will be featuring a video from Walden University by Cheryl Salomao, a 1st grade teacher at William E. Norris School in Southhampton, Massachusetts. This video highlights some of Ms. Salomao’s favorite teaching methods, from warming your class up with a mini-lesson to grouping students and creating sensory experiences for them, you are certain to walk away with some new ideas for your classroom.

A special “thank you” to Walden University for sharing this valuable video with us. Keep an eye out for more Walden University content, coming soon!