Schools Save Thousands When Purchasing Digital

In the Social Studies classroom, wall maps are officially an item of the past.  If a teacher possesses a projector, it has now become more cost effective and student effective to purchase and maintain digital maps than it is wall maps. Schools across the nation are moving towards digital, interactive maps, and for good reason.  No longer are the maps just one size, and no longer are there concerns of durability, detail, or accuracy of information.  Without the cost of shipping or the need to buy a whole new map at full price 3-6 years afterward, schools are saving thousands when purchasing digital.


The emergence of digital maps have now allowed teachers to draw diagrams, create labels, zoom in, or contrast and compare two different maps on the same screen.  Their collection of maps could be a simple 5, or could expand to a vast 30 or more that are all accessible at the convenience of a mouse click.  The information available to a student through a digital map is hundreds of times the amount of information that was available on a simple wall-map or free browser-based map.  Within the last 5 years, Geography has become an intriguing and interactive environment, allowing students to explore the world and make connections as they never have before.


To find out how The Exploration Company is helping with this transition in helping schools save and helping students get better grades, be sure to check out our product blog to learn how to begin your collection of digital maps.

An Education Revolution Part 3: Online Learning Is Here to Stay

Although the Education Revolution post was initially intended as a 2 part post, seen here and here, respectively, I recently attended a phenomenal webinar hosted by Aventa Learning (@aventalearning) that just blew the doors off of what I wrote and opened the discussion back up to some incredible facts and points that are rising in the education and edtech world.  Now, this post isn't necessarily an endorsement for Aventa Learning specifically, but credit must be given where credit is due from an information standpoint, and I will speak more so from the perspective that online learning is here to stay, and it's companies like Aventa that are blazing the trail.  What's more, Forbes can serve as a well-spoken appetizer to the topic at hand, "Education as we know it is finished."

In a study by Aventa Learning, a survey was conducted to 500 public school students and 326 Aventa students in late May 2010 on teens and online learning.  The implications from the the study will make any edtech revolutionaries so excited they'll dance in their seats like a 3rd grader who's got to hit the can:  Not only is online learning for secondary education here to stay, it's here to grow tremendously. 

Whether brick and mortar environment or online, students must still experience a challenge or will feel disconnected.  So why change from the brick and mortar environment?  Because:

-42% of students experience boredom
-55% of students say bullying is a problem
-48% of students are distracted by other kids
-88% of students want more electives, online classes and flexible schedules
-18% (that's it?) of students get help and attention they need from teachers
-50% of students prefer to engage and learn with their senses - to 'see' and 'do' rather than just listen.
-Furthermore, in a poll conducted on a few hundred attendees in the webinar, 54% of teachers say they see boredom in their classrooms everyday.

In the past you had to listen to your instructor.  They were, after all, one of the only credible sources of information you could depend on.  Now--as Aventa noted--being the digital natives they are, students are very discriminatory on where they spend their time and attention.  Information is acquired through multiple avenues, and the instructors who realize this the quickest will be the first to gain their students' attention back, else the students will be "at best asleep and at worst disruptive."

As explained by webinar hosts Gregg Levin, VP Schools and Solutions at Aventa, and Dr. Cathy Mincberg, Chief Academic Officer at KC Distance Learning, "Today students don't tolerate not being in control.  We don't meet students where they are, hence the increase in dropouts.  Students want to be in control."  How can  they do that?  Introducing an online setting, fully functional and credit transferable for the student looking to get ahead or to catch up.  Let's look at the presented facts:


-72% of online students spend three or more hours on homework per week vs. 56% of students in traditional schools.
-78% of online students have more interest in attending a 4-year college after graduation vs. 67% of students in traditional schools.
-58% of students feel they get the help they need in online classrooms vs 40% of students in traditional schools (Without the need of feeling embarrassed because of asking for help)
-Allows a 1:1 relationship between teachers and students instead of a 30:1 relationship in traditional schools.
-Teachers can track student success easier, record data, and tweak their performance if they know what areas they need to help their student(s) improve upon.
-A school's funding may see a lift in its burden.  After all, if a school doesn't have enough students to pay a new teacher for an AP class, maybe they simply need a proctor or a teacher that would allow them to take the online course during a brick and mortar course of the school's (aka 'hybrid course').  The school can even offer courses that provide an extension for students who need more review to catch up, or allow students to advance on their own if they are gifted.

Finally, No Child Left Behind could actually be satisfied with something as exciting as this last note.  As the main portion of the bell curve is attended to through normal classes, the outliers can be assisted with a program catered to their needs and desired attention.  After all, online learning is anything but dangerously anti-social and nonproductive.  A student in fact cannot 'blend' in, but can instead be catered to and interacted with on a more intimate level.  This allows for teachers to be more strategic at talking to students and their parents about homework and/or grade issues without marginalizing anyone in class.

As Levin and Mincberg noted, "Online learning has emerged because of the need for something different in the world of education."  The evidence is becoming clearer: It's time to give online learning a very serious look.  For more information, white papers are available at www.aventalearning.com.

Thank you Aventa Learning for the information and image!

The Future of Reading: Text 2.0

Had to share this.  This article simply astonished me -- half in giddy delight, the other half in an anxious, scared-of-Big Brother way that I usually feel when technology makes significant advances.  Considering the concern that folks had about e-commerce back in 1999, I realized my anxiety was normal and would eventually subside to the inner child that loves to play with new gadgets.

Imagine if you are doing a report for a school paper and simply skimming through an online document fairly quickly to search for keywords, when all of a sudden the computer does the work for you, fading away unimportant filler and bolding the key terms that you need.  Or imagine that you are learning a different language and that as you read your assignment that is posted in Spanish, you become stuck at trying to decipher a certain word.  The computer notices this and, in a little popup window, offers a quick translated word for you to see before you move on to the rest of the sentence.  This is just the beginning.  This is Text 2.0.

Illustrations, definitions, sounds: this brings it all to the table.  Elementary school and learning to read may never be the same.  Special education could be helped tremendously with this aid.  College Literature and Herman Melville's allegories will be missed no more with automatic footnotes that it provides as you cross over a difficult pronoun or location.  As it follows your eyes with the computer's camera, it even knows when you look away and welcomes you back with a bookmark of where you were.

This is in its early stages still, but apparently, according to the article large companies such as Apple are showing interest in the technology.  That type of funding could make this concept become a household name in the next ten years.

The video in the article is rather interesting, showing a few instances of Text 2.0 in action.  Be sure to take a view and begin imagining how this could help you with your classroom!

You are About to Witness an Education Revolution: Part 2

Welcome back.  It is becoming more and more common to find multiple articles daily from credible news sources that stress the important of "e-learning" or "m-learning" for the "i-generation."  I'd like to share a few of them in this post and the previous as a follow up to our Ten Things a Teacher Should Know In the 20-Teens article to point #3: Explore How  to Teach, Not Just What to Teach.

After discussing reteaching the way teachers teach in the first part of this post, the natural question I want to ask after such a thing is accomplished is: "Then what?"  That's when we can start having fun with technology.  Our young students are immersed in technology everyday, what with YouTube, smart phones, video games, web browsing, Twitter, etc.  Since the emergence of these (and especially since the iPad launch), there has been a rather noteworthy increase on articles that involve educational video games, so much so that this could be a precursor to a rather major movement to the educational industry.  But don't take my word for it; Browse the news articles when you have a moment and you'll quickly discover it as well.  Even companies that make products for the classroom are beginning to be encouraged and pushed towards creating more tech-based products (i.e. programs for cell-phones).  I'll be happy to point you to a few within this article to get you started.  As I come across more I'll be sure to update the list.

Social Sciences

-Too many students do not retain vital information from social sciences.  Here's an interesting title that includes minigames such as “Do I Have A Right”: iCivics

Elementary

- Martha Speaks has made its way to the iPhone as an App.  This is just the start of applications with educational purposes to keep your child busy in the checkout line at the supermarket.

Foreign Langauges

-Facebook Apps are now beginning to crop up with educational value.  Teacher's Discovery, a leader in foreign language education just launched a Digital Flash Card Challenge for beginning learners of a few languages.
-Hello-Hello has launched a new app for the iPad for learning numbers in different foreign languages for children.

Math

-Math and logic are sometimes are a bit of a challenge to have fun with, but True Thought LLC has developed a rather interesting game to liven it up.  Square Logic is Sudoku-meets-Inspector Parker with math thrown in the mix.  Frankly, it's almost too much fun while doing math.

Role Playing / Training

-Corporations may take this virtual world into their consideration when training customer service reps

-One of the more seasoned and fascinating video games used for role playing in a virtual setting is Second Life

Here's a great post from a fellow blogger talking about educational games.

Some educators may look to this video game surge as disheartening, but other educators look at this as revolutionary and exhilarating.  Just as when the emergence of writing birthed civilization and allowed the world to learn at an incredibly quickened pace, technology has just birthed globalization, allowing humans to access their environment from a top-down perspective, understanding the bigger picture of how the world works.  Look at how fast a toddler learns to use an iPad.  As we recall with the Learning Pyramid, instead of just watching Sesame Street, a toddler can now interact and heighten their understanding of a math problem or vocabulary word almost instantly.

This is a fascinating time to be in the education world.  Teachers: get ready for the revolution.

You are About to Witness an Education Revolution: Part 1

Yes indeed, the time as come.  Experts, marketers, bloggers and administrators are all marching to the same beat: We are on the brink of a massive education revolution.  It is becoming more and more common to find multiple articles daily from credible news sources that stress the important of "e-learning" or "m-learning" for the "i-generation."  I'd like to share a few of them in this post and the next as a follow up to our Ten Things a Teacher Should Know In the 20-Teens article to point #3: Explore How  to Teach, Not Just What to Teach.

As our digital natives enter the education world, some are light years ahead of their instructor in networking, online etiquette, accessibility to information and adaptability to newer technologies.  Since we cannot change the way the students are learning, it only makes sense that we must change the way our teachers are teaching.  Such a call to action would have to be answered by not only the universities and colleges that train our next generation of teachers but also the education supply companies, the parents, but most of all, the teachers themselves.


But what exactly needs to be changed?  
-The content?  Not necessarily.  Although certain standards may have been tweaked to accompany some of the growing technologies, they have mostly remained the same and students still need to learn to read a map.

-The time of day that school takes place?  Although there have been about 120 schools across the country that have shifted to a 4-day schoolweek and have claimed improvements in student test scores, there isn't sufficient evidence to support this wholeheartedly.  This could be a maybe.
-The delivery of the content?  Now we're on to something.  So says former President of both the California Charter Schools Association and the Los Angeles Unified School District, “data shows that more than half of the students say that the easiest way for students to learn something new is by practicing and watching, which is one of several critical reasons why we need to re-wire our educational approach.”

In other words?  Teachers must become students again... sometimes to their own students.  In an Associated Press article that asks how we should teach future teachers, "Hemant Mehta's formal training was useless when it came to keeping order in the classroom and getting students to pay attention." The article continues, explaining "the 27-year-old needed help from Twitter, math blogs on the Internet, TV sitcoms and experienced teachers down the hall."


Suzanne Wilson, chair of teacher education at Michigan State University from the same article adds to the mix by bringing up a daunting point. "It's complicated in the United States because we don't as a country agree that teachers need much preparation.  We're deeply divided on this as a country."


But what are the challenges to changing the attitude of educators towards such a momentous shift?  In a survey reported here, teachers cited the following factors as barriers to using information and communication technology in their classrooms:


    * Extent of the curriculum that needs to be covered during the year (81.4%)
    * Time constraints (71.7%)
    * Time required for preparing information and communication technology-based activities (60.4%)
    * Availability of infrastructure (53.5%)
    * Amount of quality content (50.7 %)
    * Lack of in-classroom teacher support (50.2%)
    * Lack of participation of teachers in decision making (43.4%)
    * Need for professional development (37%).

At first glance, it appears that we just revealed a project that's a bit bigger than anticipated.  Considering the leading challenge, not only do teachers have a large amount of content to cover, they also have No Child Left Behind Axe looming over their sweating brows.  This, in fact could arguably be a direct or indirect cause to many of the remaining factors.  Such a rationale is a fair explanation used from the critics to this movement.  From a new-age perspective however, there exists an argument that is just as powerful: the use of information and communication technology will assist students in learning quicker, thus moving through the extent of content quicker and allowing the rest to fall into place.

Platforms are beginning to crop up like ConnectYard that would allow instructors to communicate with their students through social media.  They may also start a second Facebook Profile that is only for school-purposes, an online blog, a wiki and much more.  Possibilities are growing every day for teachers to reach their students in a method that will maximize the learning potential.  Some teachers have even allowed students to text them.  We are about to witness an education revolution.  Will you be a part of it?

Educators: Your Personal Life May No Longer Be Personal

In lieu of all of the newest Facebook changes, here's a quick follow up post to our Ten Things Educators Should Know in the 20-Teens article and come back to #4: Your Personal Life May No Longer be Personal.

After the most recent changes that included user to "Like" content outside of Facebook (Thus allowing information to leak out of the site), there were a few negative responses from the community urging Facebook to reconsider it's breach of the privacy threshold.

As educators, this is simply an alarming reminder to stay wary of what to post online in our profiles and other content.  With camera phones only being a recent innovation, a veteran educator may not sense the threat of unprofessional images cropping up in their supervisor's inbox of something they did in the past.  However, an interesting new article points to the fact that the younger crowd are beginning to learn rather quickly.

Posted at eSchoolNews, studies have shown that youth are more apt to watch their privacy settings than the previous generations.  It is becoming more common for a student entering the working world to hack and slash their profile to skin and bones, eliminating tags to unprofessional photos and cleaning up their "interests" and "hobbies."

"I have to present a public face that doesn't have the potential to hurt my image," says Marlene McManus from the article as she "scours" her profile of photos from college exploits.  This is so key, and portrayed very nicely through @edtechsteve and his video on digital footprints.

But it's not just students who are trying to enter the working world.  Educators must also be wary from the opposite end of the spectrum.  If a teacher has a Facebook account, it may be harsh to simply ignore friend requests from students.  A simple solution some educators are taking is creating a second account, starting afresh without the danger of sharing content that was not meant to be seen.

Critics seem to be running out of arguments.  After once claiming that "[online] relationships could cause bias when the instructor gives his or her students a grade," we are beginning to see that a social media account is as expected as having a cell phone in today's era.  From the same article, "Proponents of using online social networks to reach students say it makes sense to go where students are already spending much of their time online."  By separating the professional from the personal, educators may find a handy tool to assist in conducting an engaging classroom.

Cyber-Bullying & The War On Social Media Critics

Social media has drastically changed not only how we communicate with one another, it has also changed how the world operates.  Business is conducted through blogs, Twitter and Facebook.  Education is executed through Podcasts, Wikis and online training.  Online schools thrive on the existence of social media to connect students to essential and necessary resources. 

This past week, Anthony Orsini, the principle in New Jersey's Benjamin Franklin Middle School sent out an email to its parents, urging them to stop their children from using social media entirely.  Here is a portion of the message:
"Sit down with your child (and they are just children still) and tell them that they are not allowed to be a member of any social networking site. Today!  Let them know that you will at some point every week be checking their text messages online! You have the ability to do this through your cell phone provider." 

The reason for Orsini's message?   


"The threat to your son or daughter from online adult predators is insignificant compared to the damage that children at this age constantly and repeatedly do to one another through social networking sites or through text and picture messaging."

Cyber-bullying hardly existed pre-social media, yet it seems that the emotional state of our youth was still a concern even then.  After the initial surprise of a parent receiving this in their inbox, it shouldn't take long to the trained eye to recognize this as a knee-jerk reaction to the social trends of the day.  After all, how is this really different from the media's attempt to convince parents a few months ago that formspring.me was the cause of a young girl taking her own life (when her mother said it was not); that video games were the cause of all school violence in the mid 2000s; or even that the tragedy of Columbine was to be blamed on singer Marilyn Manson?  Love him or loathe him, Manson's quote from his VH1 interview after Columbine still resonates so strongly even in the context of today's attempt to control social media.  When asked what he would say to the students that conducted the incident, Manson replied: "I wouldn't say a single word to them. I would listen to what they have to say, and that's what no one did." 

Social media may in fact not be the cause of our youth's turmoil if these warning signs have been apparent before these "dangerous" websites.  To act on Orsini's thought process may be telling the students that social media is unimportant, that in order to live in today's world they need not interact with others online.  In fact, it's been noted that scare tactics do not work as the best education for online safety.  But just as social media can be detrimental to students' education if used in excess, it also can be extremely helpful if used properly.  Resources like Twiducate put a beneficial spin on social media, and these could be a wonderful preparation for students' future use of online social media outlets, such as Moodle and Blackboard.  

Even eschoolnews explains the benefits of students that are actively "seeking technology-based learning experiences outside of school... using Facebook and podcasts."  Articles similar to eschoolnews' are becoming prominent but merely just make it an official statement of what all of us are witnessing: a communication revolution.  So parents, when a call-to-arms crops up in the media or from critics that are against the imminent change, take the time and patience to really look at the facts.  Be honest with your children, communicate with them, and nurture a great relationship so that if any challenges arise because of a negative occurrence through social media, you may be able to work through them with the correct authorities to see it through.

And your thoughts?

*Update 6/10/10*  Facebook and National PTA team partner up to promote internet safety.

Student vs. Pull Down Map

Social Studies sure has come a long way.  While speaking about the evolution of pull down maps to online maps with a coworker of ours--a former teacher of 30 years--he began to reminisce a story I felt would be worth sharing:

"Back in the beginnings of my teaching career (early 70’s), part of my teaching day was in platoon... where I taught geography and social studies to 3rd graders. My classroom was one of those typical WPA classrooms built around the Depression, a brick fortress with weathered hardwood floors, beautiful molding everywhere, institutional green paint (three various shades throughout the building) and multiple heavy-duty pull down maps hanging above the chalkboards on two of the walls.


I will never forget the day when I decided to quiz students on the names of our states, using a topography map that only identified states by outlines. The students were divided into teams.  After a short clue was given, I requested for them to go up and point out the State and name it along with the Capital.

My first platoon group did well--no problems with the map or questions. The next platoon group came in and I realized right away this could be interesting. In this group was a young man, who was a little person. On the first day of school, his parents had told me they wanted no exceptions for him. Since the students were pulling down various maps (the maps were regional by nature) I had asked Jimmy B if he would like a partner to help him pull down the maps. He adamantly said "NO."

The fun began when he went up to the map. He first pulled up the stool (others had used this so that was nothing new).  He then selected the correct map and grabbed it with both hands to pull it down.  What a surprise it was to me when he stepped right off the stool to pull the map down, but even funnier when Jimmy B dropped down with the map, only to be sent right back up with it!  After the recoil, his weight helped the map to go down some as he began to swing his legs about. Jimmy let go with one hand, swinging it up to Tennessee (which was the correct answer along with Nashville).

He let go and dropped to the floor. Everyone stood up and cheered.  Who would have thought a boy and a map would clash?  With the triumphant display of physical determination, the final score was Jimmy B: 1, U.S. Map: 0.


…A day in the life of Mr. H."

The moral of the story?  Buy online maps.

Ten Things a Teacher Should Know In the 20-Teens

With the recent explosion of technology, the field of education has already changed and will be even more drastically altered with the completion of the next ten years.  Although technology may affect the impact of education, its effects ripple out into other avenues.  Consider the following ten topics, listed in no specific order, if you are teaching or intend to be teaching during the next decade:

1. When you talk to students, you talk to their parents as well

Call them what you may: concerned, helicopter, or even Kyōiku Mama, parents today are more involved with their students' academic lives.  From a college standpoint, 90% of the phone calls I answered when working at a major University's Admissions Office were parents checking in on their student's status and orientation. Today if a high school student does poorly on a test, it's becoming more common to hear from the parent than the student, asking what happened and asking what challenges to overcome. Whether it may be to appease or to support such parental involvement, schools are now implementing an online system that allows parents to check their students' attendance, grades, and teachers' websites at their leisure.  Parents seem to love this, as one district claims a 50-70% usage, boasting that "the communication between the school and home has increased dramatically, and the parents absolutely love it."  Pardon me, but what ever happened to the communication between students and their parents?

2.  Students Live and Breathe Technology

Branded as "Digital Natives," today's youth are one step ahead of the sharpest of sharp company executives when it comes down to finding information, communicating or adapting to new and emerging technology trends.  After all, how hard is it really to grasp technology when your new Christmas gift as a toddler is Fisher Price's version of the iPhone?  After students leave your class, they check their email, DVR their favorite show while they video chat with their aunts, and text their friends all the while playing Farmville in the background on Facebook.  Can we honesty expect students in today's world to learn without technology in the classroom?  (See last week's post for a great example of this.)

3. Explore How to Teach, Not Just What to Teach

With technology and resources changing so quickly, a teacher might need to learn how to teach all over again.  What with wikis, forums or even Youtube, students have realized their ability to impact their world, and their input might even be crucial for a teacher's retention rate.  After all, the students in this year's class may not learn the same way as students two years previous.  When Jane goes and watches the History Channel about a Civil War special before going to see a flick about Johnny Depp robbing banks--only to then catch the latest webinar about her favorite rock group to finally follow it up with a Youtube video about how a Science Olympiad project was completed, chances are she didn't read too much that day.  Textbooks are still required and completely relevant, but this might mean scrapping the 10-year-old lesson plans from when Netscape was the most-used browser of the day and one-button-square mice were in.  To a group of students that may not get the recommended daily dose of human contact, some simple Dale Carnegie tips might completely alter the atmosphere and success of your classroom.

4. Your Personal Life May No Longer be Personal
For the young professionals just leaving college and entering the education realm, it would be very wise to alter your privacy settings on Facebook and go through those pictures you were tagged in your freshman year of college because, if not, one of the above mentioned parents will be sure to find it and let all of your supervisors know.  Social networks are a part of our lives, and it's becoming tricky to draw and keep to the line that separates them from our work lives.  (See a previous post about Twiducate, an alternative that could be very effective for you and your students.)


5. Generation Z has Ended.  Generation Alpha has Begun.

Articles on the Generation Z'ers have circulated enough for this blog to save its breath, but when families begin to relocate due to new careers and students' schedules becomes just as busy as their parents', a teacher's ability to teach a student may be indirectly affected.  After National Honors Society, church, sports practice, transportation challenges (i.e. walking home), and study groups for major projects, the daily lesson might not receive the attention that it needs.  Just as Generation Z was granted with a list of attributes and needs, teachers must now get used to a whole new list.  Since they will be receiving them before the decade's end, Elementary school teachers will need to keep up with the articles on Generation Alpha, the newest generation that just began their reign this year in January.

6. No More Assuming What Your Students Know

There's an interesting, recent story from a local Social Studies 9th Grade Teacher in Macomb, Michigan: "After displaying a world wall map for the class, I invited a few students up to the map and began asking them where a few countries were.  After discovering some difficulties with a few less-known countries, I started to ask a few major countries.  To my surprise, Brazil became a challenge to point out, as was other well-known countries like Egypt.  One thing that I've learned from coming into the 9th grade is that I've stopped assuming anything about what the students know from their previous schools."  And this can be for any subject, not just Social Studies.  Is it normal for a junior to not know how to FOIL or a senior to not know how to balance a chemical equation?  But who is to blame?  The teachers?  No Child Left Behind?  Changing Schools?  Technology (i.e. calculators)?  Parents?  All of the busy schedules?  Quite possibly a combination of all of the above.

7. A New Subject to Teach in the Classroom: Integrity
Technology has begun to play a concerning role with the ease of acquiring information on the internet.  Even one freelance writer mentions here in a blog post the frustrating increase in students cheating on papers with sites like ifreelance.com, which is virtually impossible to track.  Colleges and Universities especially notice the increase in plagiarism the past 5 years, as noted by Yale just a few months ago.  With thousands of dollars and a degree at stake, it's a bit easier than high school to establish the risks involved with cheating at the college level.  With that being said, plagiarism might be one of the hardest non-required topics to teach for high school teachers today.  Ironically, we can also use the internet to combat plagiarism, as seen with resources such as www.plagiarism.org or this university website that includes www.TurnItIn.com.

*Edit 4/20/10:  Just came across this March article on technology being used to cheat and what can be done about it.


8. Pressure from the Top Down - NCLB

Also known as the hovering axe over a non-tenured faculty's head, No Child Left Behind is a looming reminder of the need to optimize grades and student retention.  But at what cost?  If the lesson has corners cut from it, then not only are the students who wish to excel being restrained, but the disfigured lesson ends up forcing more catch-up work onto the next teacher's workload.  Instead of doing that, teachers are now exploring books on tape, podcasts, and other various supplemental materials that can reach different learning styles that allow their students to stay on the same learning plane.

9. Teenage Angst: More than Just a Cry for Help

Not to dwell on an ominous topic for too long, school violence is still becoming a growing concern.  CDC's report on youth violence from last year brings forth some thoughts to address.  More than 1 in 3 students had been in a fight the previous year and an estimated 30% of 6th to 10th graders in the United States were either a bully, a target of bullying or both.  A sign of the times, one may suppose.  With the surging popularity of UFC and other television or music influences, an extra task for the 20-teen teacher might be that of which to convince an influential teen that conflicts can be resolved outside of fisticuffs.

10. Hire a Financial Planner

Everybody acknowledges that being a teacher comes with its financial challenges, but recently it appears that a few more issues have arisen.  The leash on education's funding has, without a doubt, gotten awfully tighter across the board.  School districts are pushing back textbook adoptions, extra paper cannot be purchased, and state budgets are getting slashed.  Not only would it be difficult to have upgraded materials for your classroom, it might even become difficult to upgrade the teacher's salary.  Countless examples of wage freezes are occurring to help school districts cut costs.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides insight to the teacher's salary, explaining "Median annual wages of kindergarten, elementary, middle, and secondary school teachers ranged from $47,100 to $51,180 in May 2008; the lowest 10 percent earned $30,970 to $34,280; the top 10 percent earned $75,190 to $80,970."  So what can a teacher do to improve her pay?  Student organization involvement can add a few hundred to the pocket, or coaching sports might give a 10% raise in states like Michigan.  Not all states allow this, however, as coaching is becoming a full-time position with impressive salaries like those in Texas, where one head coach is paid more than the school's principle.  Toying around with an inflation calculator, there's been about a 25% increase in cost of living since the year 2000.  The last time education cuts were this bad, the teachers in the early 70's were experiencing very similar inflation rates and challenges.  But now, tack on a global economy with an incredible state of consumer debt, this is an experience that will challenge the financial fortitude of many.  If venturing into the education realm as a new teacher with a $30k salary (which was the equivalent of $37k in 2000), developing multiple streams of income might be a safe bet.

Reach out and iTouch their education

Who would have ever thought to hear this in his lifetime?  "Sometimes barred from the classroom owing to perceptions of security risks and student 'distractions,' smart phones and iPods are now making their way into the K-12 space, and with teachers' and administrators' blessings."  Would you allow an iPod Touch (also called iTouch) in your classroom?  ...A resounding "no!" is heard from those who shook their fists at the dawn of the cellphone, while the reluctant "yes" comes from the progressive individuals who understand that fighting technology is futile.  I recall the years when even if a cell phone accidentally fell out of your pocket, a hall monitor would be sure to enforce severe consequences.  Now it seems that you'd be hard pressed to talk to a 5th grader that doesn't have one.

But how do you regulate something with such incredible freedom?  "The games, the games, the games.  What an incredible distraction an iTouch would be in the classroom!" says the teacher that disagrees wholeheartedly.  Something tells me these are the same teachers who would be shocked to hear that their students are already playing Tetris on their TI-86s.  If students are interested in class, they will pay attention.  If students are bored in class, they'll find anything to occupy their attention.  It seems hard to justify that if there's a color screen involved that the situation would be any different.

As a matter of fact, not much really is all that different when looking at our first referenced article again: "after the stimulus money runs out, we're going to be in trouble in terms of federal money for technology.  The next logical step is for the devices to come into school."  Is this not what happened with TI calculators already?  Parents and students don't think twice to drop $100 retail for a calculator.  So let's compare prices.  An ebay search will show that many 8 gig'ers are $100 and possibly even less.  A refurbished or returned iPod Touch could run just as low, while a brand new 8 gig is only $200.

But why compare this to a TI if an iTouch can't replace a TI.  Or can it?  Not only is there a fully featured calculator app available, but there's also a graphing calculator app.  Texas Instruments has just started to perspire.  Because then what?  Now we can put the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution on the iTouch for students to search and discover that the word "democracy" isn't in any of the founding documents.  Next we put maps and atlases on the iTouch so a student who is talking to her friends about a different country can become their resource to show how densely populated India really is.  And then to add a frosting to the cake, we can throw in a fact of the day, word games, math games, and a combo dictionary/thesaurus to wrap it up.  Education publishers are just getting started.

Schools have already begun to purchase classroom sets of iTouches and have developed lesson plans around them.  Even at $200 a pop, a set of these technological marvels is a drop in the bucket compared to the money a school is used to spending on a computer lab or portable laptop station.  Get those lesson plan thinking caps on; it's time to start learning to teach all over again.

*UPDATE* 8/12/10 Although this article was written before the launch of the iPad, we had no idea this shift into the realm of education would happen so quickly.  Here is an article of Apple moving forward, striking deals with schools who adopt iPad sets.

No more answering the "Why am I learning this?" question

Ever had 5 minutes extra to spare at the end of your lesson?  It's happened before: it's too late to start a new topic and the students don't want to open their books if they'll need to pack them back up just as they get a feel for the homework assignment.  What's more, it's Friday and they're starting to get antsy.  What can a teacher do that could be anything but a reprimand to get them to settle down?  Simple, just open up a quick 5 minute video from The Futures Channel.

It's brain candy for the curious; it's a "How It's Made" for the career explorer; it's an academic YouTube for the classroom.  Learn how they used probability to locate one of the biggest underwater treasure finds to date; learn why it's profitable to pursue a green career, or even why math is so important for the art of baking.  These short clips will seize not only the students' attention, but yours as well.  With a 250% increase in internet traffic in 2007 alone, this site is becoming a popular choice among teachers for visual supplementation since it surpassed 10 million views.

Although a good handful of videos are available for public viewing, the expansive collection is available upon subscription to Defined STEM, the partner company that creates these videos with The Futures Channel (STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).  Pricing is definitely in favor to a teacher subscribing by the year, and the list of convincing feedback is exceptional.  Trouble getting students excited about math?  The site helps portray a dimension of the working world that students are typically unable to see, as noted by a teacher on the feedback page: "I show the videos to my Geometry and Calculus classes and we discuss the need for mathematics in the occupations highlighted in the videos."  Now when students continue to ask why they have to learn how to solve equations or why biology is an essential component to their daily education, a teacher no longer needs to reply with the traditional "so you can be a well-rounded student," and instead can just show a video on the application of whichever topic is up for discussion.  As a matter of fact, why not preclude your Skype guest speaker with one of these fantastic videos?

Extra educational tidbits give the site more flavor, as math teachers and fans of Stand and Deliver actually have the opportunity to see videos from and about Mr. Jaime Escalante's experience in education.  Collections of the best movies are available for purchase as well for those not seeking a subscription.  For the teachers that have difficulty adding supplemental educational elements into their tight curriculum, The Futures Channel is the perfect fit to maintain a great sense of edutainment.

Kid-Tested, Administration-Approved Twitter for your Class

High School teachers and even elementary teachers, it's time to get hip and join the social media networking frenzy.  It has become an increasing debate on if teachers should cross that line from privacy to public domain with their social networking profiles on Twitter, Facebook, etc., especially those who are fresh out of college within the past 5 years and witnessed the beginnings of "TheFacebook" (Facebook's original website title).  So how can educators still have a private life, write on friends walls about the upcoming gathering on the weekend, yet still be professional with students that live and breathe social media?  Introducing sites like Twiducate, "an opportunity for students to explore web 2.0 without the barriers and blocks of existing social networking websites."

School networks are keen to block trance-inducing sites like Facebook and Myspace, so incorporating social media into the classroom with the thumbs up from administration may be a bit tricky.  With Twiducate, it's a website solely designed for the classroom, controlled by the teachers, and just for the purpose to help connect the classroom... well, outside of the classroom.  A teacher is able to create her own profile and a unique classroom that she manages.  From there, the teachers actually create the students' profiles so as to disallow just any student, or any person for that matter to join the online class profile.  Creating a student under the controlled classroom profile churns out a unique passcode that a student can use once provided by the instructor to login to the specific classroom.

Once the classroom profile is set up and the students have their codes, the class can tweet away to one another, have discussions, comment on other topics, and even have quirky avatars to keep it light.  It's a safe website, safe in the sense that it's darn near impossible to do anything wrong on it.  Images or files can't be posted, and posts can be deleted by the teacher if need be.  Students can't wander into another "classroom," and they can't post official bookmarks to the group's page (only the teacher can).  It allows for a teacher to communicate with students over the weekend without the worry of providing phone numbers or facebook messages, yet its personal enough to be answered quicker than an email since it's within the community setting.

With Twiducate being so basic, there's hardly any options or profile changes anyone can alter or change.  After playing around with it for a few moments, one can even see a value in adding this into the elementary school classroom for 4th or 5th graders that may want to become wet behind the ears with social media (aka web 2.0).  As a matter of fact, Twidicate itself says on its website: "It is a fact that students will need social networking, blogging and basic internet skills to compete in today's business world."  I'd be very interested to see if school administration catches onto the need of students using and breathing social media.  Whether Twiducate or another website that offers such a web 2.0 service in an approved academic setting, it may be their only shot to keep up with these tech-savvy students.

Map making companies must give more than just a picture

A globe helps a student understand the fact that the earth is round...this is good, although there still seems to be a few that were daydreaming during that lesson and eventually end up on the Flat Earth Society forums in their developing years.  But besides that concept and the study of outer space, what else are globes used for in the subject of geography?  The location of countries?  nothing a wall map or even computer software cannot provide these days.

As a matter of fact, with the rise of GPS, Google Earth, and even map databases like David Rumsey that let's a student view maps from 100 to 200 years ago, geography has exploded in the past 10 years alone.  Just to think, ten years ago we were still looking at paper maps and asking for directions.  Now, the man that had too much pride to stop and ask for directions doesn't think twice about letting the smooth-talking GPS lady lead the way.  Even iPhone apps are supplying our geography needs.  Now we have a globe in our pockets on a little screen (At the time of this post the Flat Earth Society has still not yet released an iPhone app).

So what does this mean for the education realm and for companies that provide tools for education?  It seems that outside of primary schools, a customer need for physical items like wall maps, transparencies, and globes is becoming an unnecessary expenditure.  Online sources on the other hand never become obsolete, they are simply updated from the server side.  They don't need to be carried around.  They don't receive wear and tear.  They don't need to be purchased more than once.  They can be brought to a student's home computer if they are needed to be used for homework.

In order to stay in business, it sounds like map making companies will have to provide something more than just a picture with some borders and lines to stay in business.  Pre-1995, this was how map-making companies made money.  After all, that's all anyone knew since the capacity for information exchange and its availability was nothing compared to today's capability.

So then, what will make a school actually spend money if they can receive all of this information for free already on applications like Google Earth?  Today they will have to add value to their product, something that an educator cannot get for free, and something that will undoubtedly improve grades, excitement, and understanding on the topic at hand.  Information, knowledge, comprehension all must be provided as solutions that will engage, intrigue, and challenge the student.  Instead of lecturing at the students with the materials, the tool must grow with the students by not only letting them take control of the learning process but also by empowering them with enough success to be excited about learning the world around us.