Continuous formation

OneNote, as well as I can gauge from the number of tweets I see tagged with it, has been undergoing a marked increase in user base. So, I've been trying to mirror what folks do with GoogleDocs and show how it's done with OneNote. To wit... " How do you direct someone to a specific spot in your Google Doc? " from Alice Keeler's blog post http://www.alicekeeler.com/teachertech/2014/04/30/directing-someone-to-a-specific-spot-in-your-google-doc/   How do you direct someone to a specific place in your OneNote notebook?  The thing about OneNote is, of course, that it can contain anything -- text, images, audio, video, files, links -- so that you can really direct folks to the exact content you want.  Objects in OneNote are in containers (you see them as light grey lines when you select them) and so when you RIGHT-CLICK on the object, you get the option to "Copy Link to Paragraph" Paste that link in an email or on the web ... if they have the On...

We got great news today... Microsoft Office Labs  have released an app for Sharepoint2013 that will create a OneNote notebook for your class very similar to what we use at Appleby ! The direct link to the Store is  http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/store/onenote-setup-tool-for-teachers-WA104313551.aspx This is a great first step forward -- it brings the collaboration and planning to any teacher with access to a Sharepoint2013 server.   Our next goal is to make it work on Sharepoint Online  (it works on Sharepoint online, too!)-- and distribute it in a way that doesn't require purchase and maintenance of an online space by the teacher.   Our pitch at the 2014 Microsoft Global Forum is, piece-by-piece, slowly coming to fruition.

"Working within our comfort zone is pretty much the antithesis of learning" @ MatthewGudenius

So this post is prompted by Dave Sladkey's post earlier on using Google Drive, namely Google Drive! What are you waiting for Math Teachers? Now Google Drive/Google Docs has much greater visibility than Microsoft OneNote and even though I'm a long-time GDocs/Drive user I would likely recommend the OneNote Notebook approach over the GoogleDrive.  But I realized that maybe folks didn't know how easy it was to set something up. Thus... Go to OneNote.com and, if you don't already have a Microsoft account, sign up for one. Click on CREATE and choose OneNote Notebook Now, you can think of a OneNote Notebook as a "Google Drive Folder".  It has Sections (like Google Drive Subfolders) and Pages (like Google Drive Files).  But these pages can contain anything.  And I mean anything.  They're like wiki pages in that you can drop text, images, links to other pages, you can embed files & videos... you name it! After you're done playing with it (and yo...

One of the things I stress when working with teachers is to have them record themselves in the classroom, either using audio or video.  It's eye-opening (and illusion-shattering) when you see yourself on the screen saying things and doing things.  It's made my practice more self-reflective in the moment -- what would I say or do if I replayed this later? We've got a new little tool that alleviates two of the problems with just putting a videocamera at the back of the room: Audio... if the camera is at the back of the room, the audio often picks up way too much noise from the students.  I realize that students are our raison d'etre, but when you're focusing on improving you and your teaching, you want to hear what you are saying (reflecting on what your students are doing is a whole other issue!) Movement... if you're doing teaching right, you're not standing in one place.  A stationary camera, even with a wide angle lens, often doesn't capture yo...

My own teaching practice, and my prioritization for teacher professional development, has been greatly influenced by Black & Wiliam's Inside the Black Box and, more recently, Hattie's work on changes in teaching and learning that have some demonstrable effectiveness across broad communities. Increasing my use of formative assessment, or assessment as learning, was pretty much the first substantial change I deliberately made and would still be one of the first things I work on with teachers. Technologically, we've facilitated that with the OneNote binder, as shown below.  We've got three spaces -- a dropbox for the students, a private & hidden marking space for teachers and then a read-only section where marked material is shared with students & parents.  Using it on a pen-based tablet means I can scribble ideas to the students quickly & easily and the synchronization means that student gets it as soon as I've completed it. So it's been rea...

We received great news this week: we've been designated a Microsoft Mentor School for 2014; one of only three across Canada. From the website:  schools must demonstrate a commitment to innovation and the ability to overcome obstacles in preparing students to be 21st century learners. In addition, they must have developed programs that can serve as models for other schools. It was interesting that Microsoft's announcement focused on the Global Forum to be held in Barcelona in March.  While it is a nice bonus that two of our faculty will be attending the Forum over March Break and connecting with educators from the 80 other Mentor Schools for a week (as well as all the newly appointed "Microsoft Expert Educators") I am glad that the this milestone allows us to continue the conversation about being a resource for others . Friends from PCMI  will recognize that phrase -- it's been one of the three guiding principles of the PCMI teacher program and is one of my...