5 Ideas to Make Lectures and Presentations Interactive

When I was a student, I had a problem staying awake in class. I felt bad and teachers were mad. Today, as a teacher myself, I discovered the blame was misplaced. I was sleeping because of boring lesson delivery. When I teach a class or an auditorium with hundreds, there is never any sleeping going on because I have an interactive and engaging delivery. Whether delivering a lesson to school children or providing professional development to adults,...

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The hottest posts everyone's reading

Here’s the roundup of what's been popular on The Innovative Educator blog. Below you’ll see the top posts along with the number of page views. I hope there's something that looks of interest to you.  If it does, check it out. If you’re inspired use one of those icons below the post to share it with others and/or leave a comment. Entry Pageviews It's #SoMe - Great #BacktoSchool Activity for Digi...Aug 20, 2014,  2397 When tech teaches, what do teachers do?Aug 3, 2014,  2173 Inspirational Videos Help...

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Seven #BacktoSchool Strategies for Strengthening Relationships with Students

A new school year is a great time to remember the importance of building and strengthening relationships with students. I recently had the opportunity to join Paula Denton who is an educator and author of the book, “The First Six Weeks of School” and author and inner city high school teacher Larry Ferlazzo in a conversation with Rae Pica, host of Teacher’s Aid on Bam Radio. We discussed some ways to build relationships with students. Below are...

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5 Tips for Submitting a Guest Post to a Blog

A fantastic way for educators, students, or companies to get attention to ideas or product is to contribute a post to a popular blog in your area of interest. However if you do, make sure you do your homework by keeping these tips in mind.1) Comment on the blogDon't just make a request out of nowhere. Be a participant in the blog's communIty. Add valuable and interesting comments to posts that interest you. The blog author should already be familiar...

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The hottest posts everyone's reading

Here’s the roundup of what's been popular on The Innovative Educator blog. Below you’ll see the top posts along with the number of page views. I hope there's something that looks of interest to you.  If it does, check it out. If you’re inspired use one of those icons below the post to share it with others and/or leave a comment. Entry Pageviews When tech teaches, what do teachers do?Aug 3, 2014,  2141 7 Simple steps to setting up Google Hangouts on Ai...Aug 6, 2014,  1690 3 Ways Effective Principals...

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It's #SoMe - Great #BacktoSchool Activity for Digital Citizenship

Like it or not, today's students are not just citizens. They are "digital" citizens. This means that educators need to spend time with students on ensuring they know how to be responsible online.  In NYC schools we have social media guidelines created by students and teachers to guide this work. You can see them at schools.nyc.gov/socialmedia. We also support educators and parents with professional development. The professional development...

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Inspirational Videos Help You Frame Focus + Follow Up Professional Development

If you are looking for inspirational videos to spruce up professional development at your school this year, you have to look no further than "The Brainwaves" video anthology which features videos on a myriad of topics from innovative educators.The videos are free and generally run between 5 - 10 minutes. Should you decide to use them, you may want to follow these guidelines from WNET for using digital media in the classroom.I want more...

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The hottest posts everyone's reading

Here’s the roundup of what's been popular on The Innovative Educator blog. The question about Twitter makes it to the top again.  If you know someone at Twitter, please get them to comment with a straight answer :)Below you’ll see the top posts along with the number of pageviews. I hope there's something that looks of interest to you.  If it does, check it out. If you’re inspired use one of those icons below the post to share it with others and/or leave a comment. Entry Pageviews Does Twitter have a minimum age requirement?Jun...

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3 Ways Effective Principals Support Teachers

Innovative educators are often frustrated when administration will not allow them time for collaboration and professional study. At the same time,  innovative educators know that to succeed they need to have an effective principal at the helm. Principal effectiveness includes knowing how to provide teachers with these three things:Time for collaborationTime for professional developmentA school wide system that supports positive behaviorThese...

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Six suggestions for effective, large-scale technology deployment

Guest post by Chris Casal (A more detailed version of this article was cross posted at The Casal Operating System)If you haven’t heard, another story of technology gone wild was recently shared in this WNYC article “Why Hoboken is Throwing Away All of its Student Laptops.” As is the case with other failed technology initiatives in places like Liverpool, and Los Angeles, the problem is not the tech, but rather the ineffective deployment and implementation...

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The hottest posts everyone's reading

Here’s the roundup of what's been popular on The Innovative Educator blog. Below you’ll see the top posts along with the number of page views. I hope there's something that looks of interest to you.  If it does, check it out. If you’re inspired use one of those icons below the post to share it with others and/or leave a comment. Entry Pageviews Don't blame social media if your students are dist...Jul 13, 2014,  2885 Does Twitter have a minimum age requirement?Jun 13, 2013,  2610 10 Ways Social Media...

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7 Simple steps to setting up Google Hangouts on Air

Google Hangouts on Air let you conduct a video conference with up to ten people that is live streamed and taped for later viewing. Earlier versions of hangouts, were quite clunky with a few glitches, but they've come a LONG way since I first wrote about them. Two great new features are that you can now do Google Hangout on Air events and you can get the embed code, YouTube link, and even link in advance.  This means you can embed the hangout...

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When tech teaches, what do teachers do?

When I talk to students these days they tell me that when they want to learn something they're interested in, it usually is not teachers or parents they turn to. It’s Google, YouTube, or to others they find online (aka their PLN) who engage in their activities of interest. These kids aren’t just playing on the computer either. They mean serious business. Teen Jack Andraka turned to Google when doing his research that led to his discovery of a new...

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The hottest posts that everyone's reading

Here’s the roundup of what's been popular on The Innovative Educator blog. Below you’ll see the top posts along with the number of page views. I hope there's something that looks of interest to you.  If it does, check it out. If you’re inspired use one of those icons below the post to share it with others and/or leave a comment. Entry Pageviews Are #EdTech Resources Keeping Student Data Safe? F...Jul 27, 2014,  3017 Got Chromebooks? Now what? Enlist the help of your...Jul 2, 2014,  2995 10 Ways Social...

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