Educators' Advantage - Regional Office of Education #13

ake writing a team effort with
hese new online resources
ttp://www.google.com/educators.
eeklyreader.html
Google Inc. and Weekly Reader
ave teamed up to offer free tools
nd materials to help educators teach
digital buddy writing,” which is
here two or more students work
ogether from different computers to
rite and revise the same paper at
he same time. “Revision writing is
critical piece of the writing process,
nd more and more, teachers are
sing the concept of working with a
writing buddy’ to help make writing
ore fun and collaborative, and to
each students the importance of havng
support throughout the creative
rocess,” explained Cristin Frodella,
roduct manager of Google’s educaion
initiatives, in a recent blog post
escribing the partnership. The free
esson plan, available on Good for
ducators, contains tips and checkists—culled
from teachers all over
he country—for incorporating digital
uddy writing into the classroom,
sing Google’s free Google Docs online
ord processor. With this new curiculum,
students can work together
nline to review each others’ work
imultaneously and watch as their
eers’ comments and edits appear
ew federal web site aims to link
esearch with practice
ttp://dww.ed.gov
The U.S. Department of Education has
aunched a new web site aimed at giving
ducators advice about effective teachng
practices and examples of ways to
mplement these practices to improve stuent
achievement. Called “Doing What
orks,” the new site offers a user-friendy
interface to help users quickly locate
eaching practices that have been found
ffective by the department’s research
rm, the Institute of Education Sciences,
nd similar organizations. In addition, it
rovides examples of possible ways this
esearch can be used to help students
each their full potential. Teachers intersted
in successful strategies for helping
nglish-language learners, for example,
an watch a video of eight strategies that
eachers at one school use to teach vocabuary.
Coming soon, the department says,
ill be similar resources in such areas
s early childhood education, high school
eform, literacy, school restructuring, cog-
Educators’ Advantage • Volume 3, Issue 3 • Page 10
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
instantly and legibly across multiple
computers, Google says—whether
they are in the same lab or in completely
different locations anywhere
around the world.
Watch science in action at the South
Pole through archived webcasts
http://www.exploartorium.edu/icestories
In a series of webcasts held in celebration
of the International Polar
Year (2207-2008), educators at the
Exploratorium in San Francisco will
be talking with scientists at McMurdo
Station near the South Pole about
the many research projects they’re
conducting. For instance, this season
three giant helium balloons will
launch near McMurdo Station and
circulate in circumpolar air currants
above Antarctica, collecting data
about cosmic rays—very high-energy
particles that zip through the galaxy
at nearly the speed of light. If conditions
permit, Exploatorium educators
will be talking with the balloon
scientists from their ice facility
at Williams Field, where the giant
balloons are inflated and launched
and their flights are tracked. The
museum makes these webcasts available
and educators also can explore
its archive of previous South Pole
webcasts, which feature research on
nitive learning, and math and science.
“Educators need to know what works, and
this online library of resources will build a
bridge from research to action,” said U.S.
Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings
in announcing the site. “Its translates
research-based practices into examples of
tools that support and improve classroom
instruction.”
CoSN launches technology leadership
wiki for small school districts
http://www.cosn.org/wiki
The Consortium for School Networking
(CoSN) has created a new online resource
designed to help technology leaders in
small school districts. Called the Small
School District Technology Leadership
wiki, the site allows users not only to learn
from the resources provided by CoSN and
other sources, but also to contribute to the
site by adding their own best practices,
tips, strategies, case studies, and resources.
“CoSN recognizes that technology
leadership concerns and needs of small
districts are typically impacted by a dif-
CURRICULUM
LEADERSHIP
penguins, ice cores taken from miles
beneath the earth’s surface, and construction
of a new 10-meter telescope
at the South Pole.
New podcasts aim to make science
more accessible
http://feeds.feedburner.com/bytesizescience
Seeking to make science more
fun and easily accessible for today’s
students, the American Chemical
Society (ACS) has launched Bytesize
Science, an educational, entertaining
new podcast for young listeners.
Bytesize Science translates cuttingedge
scientific discoveries from ACS’s
36 peer-reviewed journals into stories
for young listeners about science,
health, medicine, energy, food, and
other topics. New installments are
posted every Monday and are available
free of charge. The program’s
archive includes items on environmental
threats to killer whales, a scientific
explanation for why some people
love chocolate, and some unlikely
new uses for compact discs. The podcaster
for Bytesize Science is Adam
Dylewski, an ACS science writer and
recent graduate of the University
of Wisconsin-Madison with degrees
in genetics and science communication.
Dylewski spent his college
career immersed in science and jour-
ferent set of resource, personnel, and even
expertise constraints that are experienced
in larger or medium-sized districts,” said
Keith Krueger, CoSN’s chief executive.
“The content found on the CoSN wiki may
prove useful for any district but is particularly
focused on the specific needs and
challenges of small school districts.” The
wiki aims to help with systematic technology
planning for school districts with
student populations of 2,500 or less in particular.
Of the more than 14,000 school
districts in the United States, nearly 75
percent have student populations of less
than 2,500, CoSN says.
Let “Route 21” help steer your efforts
to implement 21st-century teaching
http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/route21
Numerous polls suggest that stakeholders
increasingly believe U.S. schools
should do more to prepare students to
succeed in today’s rapidly evolving world
by teaching so-called “21st-century skills,”
such as global literacy, problem solving,
critical thinking, innovation, and creativ-
nalism, writing down-to-earth explanations
of important discoveries as
a weekly science columnist for The
Daily Cardinal, UW-Madison’s student
newspaper. Later, he continued
to translate science news as a reporter
for UW-Madison’s communications
office and for The Why Files, an
award-winning science news site with
a witty, fun edge.
Health Education Curriculum
Analysis Tool (HECAT)
CDC announces the initial release
of the Health Education Curriculum
Analysis Tool (HECAT)
www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth
The Health Education Curriculum
Analysis Tool (HECAT) can help
school districts, schools, and others
conduct a clear, complete, and consistent
analysis of health education curricula
based on the National Health
Education Standards and CDC’s
Characteristics of Effective Health
Education Curricula. The HECAT
results can help schools select or
develop appropriate and effective
health education curricula and
improve the delivery of health education.
The HECAT can be customized
to meet local community needs and
conform to the curriculum requirements
of the state or school district.
ity. To help schools implement such 21stcentury
teaching and learning practices,
the Partnership for 21st Century Skills
has launched a new online resource called
Route 21, a one-stop shop for related tools
and information. Route 21 showcases how
21st-century skills can be taught through
changes in standards, assessments, professional
development, curriculum and
instruction, and learning environments.
It harnesses Web 2.0 features to allow
users to tag, rank, organize, collect, and
share Route 21 content based on their
personal interests. Users can contribute
to the site’s resources by uploading relevant
examples, as well as sharing their
reactions and insights on implementing
21st-century skills in their state, district,
or school. The site represents the first
comprehensive online resource for highquality
content, best practices, relevant
reports, articles, and research to help educators
implement 21st-century teaching
practices and learning outcomes, according
to the Partnership.