New LibGuide - 21st Century Fluency - Learning in a Digital Age - 2012

Check out our newest LibGuide just published yesterday on 21st Century Fluency - Learning in a Digital Age - 2012!  The guide has the latest resources available from the Library and various articles, blogs, web links and more! 

You can follow the link attached to the title above or follow this link http://ctserc.libguides.com/index.php to the SERC Library LibGuides home page

Labor Day

Happy Labor Day!   Yes, I know even though Labor Day is an American federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers ----- there are lots of people who have to work on Labor Day ----- and ------ we especially salute those who have to work! 

Okay a little history, some facts ----- In 1882, Matthew Maguire, a machinist who also was serving as secretary of the CLU (Central Labor Union) of New York.  And of course others argue that it was first proposed by Peter J. McGuire of the American Federation of Labor in May, 1882 based on the annual labor festival held in Toronto, Canada. 

Either way, Oregon was the first state to make it a holiday in 1887, it became a federal holiday in 1894 and thirty states officially celebrated Labor Day.  The United State Congress unanimously voted to approve rush legislation that made Labor Day a national holiday after the deaths of a number of workers during the Pullman Strike. 

Current Labor Day pays tribute to the contributions and achievement of American workers.  It also symbolizes the end of summer for many Americans, and is celebrated with parties, parades and athletic events and of course store sales!!!

Free webinars on Common Core and 21st Century!

 Okay -  you know how we like FREE - well to get you at least registered for these FREE webinars, I am combine three different webinars into one post ----- ready -----

Compass Learning is offering:  Meet the Common Core State Standards Trough Rigorous and Relevant Project-Based Learning on September 13, 2012 - 3:00 PM EST - for more information and to register:   https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/s/showReg?udc=w11i03z05x3q

 

Hosted by edweek.org is:   Teaching 21-stCentury Skills Outside the School Day on September 11, 2012 from 1 to 2 pm EST - for more information and to register:  https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=registration.jsp&eventid=504999&sessionid=1&key=42FABC018E3415D431D9CCDE7C9B09E2&partnerref=enl&sourcepage=register

Hosted by edweek.org and sponsored by The Clock is Ticking - Pearson Common Core Institute is:  How One District Is Putting the Common Standards Into Practice:  A Case Study on September 13, 2012 from 2 to 3 pm EST - for more information and to register: 

https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=registration.jsp&eventid=505026&sessionid=1&key=947F8990E9515E80271A69E878C2A78D&partnerref=enl&sourcepage=register

Improving Academic Outcomes for African American Males Webinar Series

Okay --- I know the beginning of school and I am posting a webinar series from Schools Moving Up @West Ed ----- Well, it is free, you can come watch here at the SERC Library Community Room, you can sign up yourself, you can view it as an archive eventually ------ come on it is a win, win situation!!!!!

On Thursday, September 13th from 2:30 to 4:00 in the SERC Library Community Room we are showing the webinar, High Quality Instruction that Promotes Learning and Achievement for African American Male Students by Dr. Joseph F. Johnson, Jr., NCUST Executive Director and Professor of Educational Leadership at San Diego State University who will provide information about the instructional practices that make a difference.  The webinar will discuss strategies for changing instructional practice in schools.

For more information, follow this link to learn more about the series, sign up for the webinar, and view the first webinar Discipline that Does no Harm:  Improving Academic Outcomes for African-American Male which is archived, this link will get you to the sign up for the next webinar on September 13th and just use the Webinar tab to find the first webinar archived, http://www.schoolsmovingup.net/cs/smu/print/htdocs/smu/webinars/upcoming.htm

In addition follow this link, http://www.ncust.org/wp/ to the National Center for Urban School Transformation (NCUST) which has been identifying and studying urban schools that achieve outstanding academic results for all students, including African American males.  These studies have pinpointed practices that lead African American male students to excel.

Tools scours Twitter for signs of bullying

Okay, just in time for school to begin again, computer scientists at the University of Wisconsin have developed a program that can scan through Twitter for signs of cyberbullying.  According to the blog post in Education Week/Digital Education - from a story on Good Education magazine's website, the program recently discovered 15,000 bullying-related Tweets in one day out of roughly 250 million Tweets issued in a day!  The researchers hope to develop the program further so it can also recognize danger signs pointing to children who are in need of an adult intervention.  In addition, according to a release from the university, they hope to create ways to show bullied children that others like them also suffer cyberbullying.  Check out the full blog posting here http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2012/08/edtech_notebook_twitter_bullyi.html or the original story at http://www.good.is/post/a-new-program-scours-twitter-for-school-bullying/

App that can assist teachers and grading

Andy Cahill, left and founders Dante Cassanego and Parul Singh

Check out this article in the Boston Herald about the two recent MIT Sloan School of Management graduates (Parul Singh and Dante Cassanego) who have co-founded a company called Gradeable that is developing an iPhone and iPad app that they plan to launch in January to help teachers with the task of grading.  Singh and Cassanego along with Andy Cahill, Gradeable director of education and training, are using their interviews with teachers to develop the app.  Check out the article for more information.