The NUA's mission is "to substantiate in the public schools of urban America an irrefutable belief in the capacity of all children to reach the highest levels of learning & thinking demanded by our ever-changing global community."

One possibility? Engaging families of at-risk youth. That could be done with a “recognition activity” for student achievement of short-term goals – passing certain tests or completing a number of assignments, said Teresa Egan, who works with Cleveland-area youth who are or have been incarcerated.  Egan is a program officer at Employment Opportunities for Youth, part of the Cuyahoga County Department of Justice Affairs in Cleveland.

The organization’s mission is to provide “exposure, inspiration and direction” for New York City students most in need, and to help them develop the skills to become community leaders.

The concept of virtual high school sits at the intersection of three major trends: Online learning awareness and increasing knowledge about how to deliver it; the national high school reform dialogue; and the school choice movement.

Situational groupings help support and focus students in key areas

Situational grouping is exactly what it sounds like: Students are grouped based on the frequent formative assessments that occur in the classroom, so the students in each group and the purpose of each small group differ and these groupings change frequently.

Can educators use a podcast rubric to evaluate student standards-based learning?

The actual student learning of the academic standard often counted for 1/6 or less of the rubric grade. Therefore, educators cannot use such a podcast rubric to evaluate student standards-based learning. A non-weighted or non-refocused podcast grade means very little (or nothing) in terms of content learning.

Media literacy has become critical as students spend more time reading print, watching online news, TVs and movies. Teachers can help students develop their media analysis skills.

Many educators, over the past couple of years, have had the chance to participate in a number of online synchronous professional development sessions, commonly called Webinars. Vendors often give product walk-through presentations using the WebEx online conferencing program. The International Society for Technology in Education presents professional development sessions using Adobe Connect, another Web-based presentation software. Other districts and educational agencies choose Elluminate as their presentation platform. Each of these products has similar components—they allow the participants to view a presentation, chat in a chat window to ask questions or make a comment, create polls to collect data from the participants in real-time, and sometimes even allow the use of a microphone in addition to a chat window. Usually, the sessions are recorded and archived so participants can go back and review the presentation or share it with others in their professional learning community.

I can't remember the last time I've actually sat and watched TV on a television. I watch most everything on the Web now --- the news, the few sitcoms I follow on Hulu, movies from Netflix streaming to my computer, favorite vodcasts in iTunes... and the great content just keeps coming. This week, I'll focus on some great free video resources on the Internet for classroom and student use, that are ready at the waiting.

 
This week, I'm offering up a stack of cool and interesting links that don't warrant their own articles, but are perfectly sized for metaphorical "stocking stuffers" in time for the holidays. Happy Holidays to all and if you have some free time ahead of you, enjoy some leisurely surfing with these treats! 
 

One of the important skills I need to teach my elementary students is how to conduct an Internet search.

Part 1 of the Grant Writing Guide for the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation took you through Section #5: “Objectives and Plan of Action.”  This column picks up with Section #6: “Assessment and takes you through “Endorsements.” 

The heart of the process is the “Grant Writing Guide.”

My GrantSuccess process evolved from writing many technology integration grants on very short timelines. Over the course of a decade, I was asked to guide many teams of teachers as they applied for state funded computers. In these applications, many questions needed to answered. Are we eligible? What do we have to do? How will the writing get done? How will we find the time? It was out of this tension that GrantSuccess evolved. The heart of the process is the construction of the “Grant Writing Guide.” This column uses the Martha Holden Jennings’ Grant-to-Educators to show what a “Grant Writing Guide” looks like.

In my third column, I listed some guidelines for grant application text development. Remember, I recommended creating and using the Grant Writing Guide (GWG) of GrantSuccess. The GWG includes information from the Request for Funding Proposal (RFP) organized by sections of the narrative.