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Online Learning is Big Business
I recently attended a presentation by online learning vendors who have been awarded a contract by our local BOCES. They offer online courses for students who need to make up missed or failed classes (credit recovery) or want to get ahead or take a low-enrollment class (credit accrual). The vendors offered to us through this…
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Flashback Friday: Making the Connection
In a year-long review of items I wrote in this blog 5 years ago, this installment of Flashback Friday looks back to October 2004 and the post, Making the Connection. What I wrote: Kids today are connected. When they go home, they do not pick up the phone anymore. They get on the computer and…
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A Refreshing Look at a Hot Topic
We have certainly heard a lot about the H1N1 virus and what we should do to help prevent its spread. When I first read the email from BrainPOP that they had resources about H1N1 (swine flu), my first reaction was, “Oh, great, even Tim & Moby are talking about it.” I must say that I…
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The Writing Process
Clear, articulate, concise writing is important for our students. The mind of a middle schooler may often be anything but clear, articulate and concise 🙂 (and that is OK). What strategies can we use to help students acquire and integrate learning of the writing process? Better Answers is a writing program we are working on…
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Flashback Friday: WITS for Kids
In the last year or two many districts have been opening a web portal for parents and students to access information about what is going on in school (grades, etc.). For this month’s flashback, I wrote back in September 2004 about how our internal website, WITS (Williamsville Information Tracking System) was being opened for student…
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Worksheets and the Internet
Content Tech Ideas for Technology Use in the Classroom Using a worksheet to research information on the Internet and fill in the blanks is a popular activity. In its most fundamental state, this is a form of the strategy cues, questions, and advance organizers. Students use questions on the worksheet to (hopefully) guide them through…
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Flashback Friday: What Matters?
In this month’s flashback, one of the posts I wrote in August 2004 is What Matters? The two questions I posed regarding if using technology in a lesson are appropriate were: Does the technology allow for new and unique learning experiences that are not possible without it? Does the technology allow for increased, more efficient…
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Unplugged & Unwound
A little music to accompany this post… Clear Waters Music: Clear Waters by Kevin MacLeod We just returned from a family vacation in Lake George. I purposely did not bring the laptop, iPod touch, or any other gadget. I considered not bringing the cellphone, but it does prove helpful on occasion. A week without email,…
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Flashback Friday: Goals for this Blog
Point A to Point B is celebrating what I think is a reasonable milestone – the five year mark. I began this blog immediately after attending the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in 2004 in New Orleans. The sessions that stand out in my mind from then are Bernie Dodge’s spotlight session on wikis (at…
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Some Need 30 Minutes, Some Need 30 Years
Not too long ago, I was with my son in the local toy store helping him pick something he could spend some gift money on. Rather quickly he decided on a Rubik’s Cube. The flashbacks started rolling in… The first time Rubik’s Cube was all the craze (circa 1980), I had one like everyone did.…