Kathy Schrock       

It's so encouraging to work with teachers who go all out to seek ways to engage their students. It seems to be more difficult with each passing year, but engagement is more needed than ever. Where is the fine line between engagement and entertainment? For me, it has always been particularly rewarding when I can trick my students into learning. Using reverse psychology or introducing seemingly unrelated activities to learning bring such a great sense of accomplishment. I love when students are enjoying themselves and then later figure out that they were actually getting their work done. The best way to engage students is to engage ourselves in life long sharing and collaborating with other educators. It was clear to me who I wanted to highlight for this summer "tuesdays" - one of the greatest collaborators of student engagement activities - Kathy Schrock.

          
     

I have watched Kathy Schrock with great awe over the last 15 years. She's an expert who is down-to-earth, funny and super eager to learn and share. I always thought, "I want to be Kathy Schrock when I grow up!" I have no idea how she keeps up with trends and technologies in education, but I am sure glad she does. Her main website, Kathy Schrock's Guide to Everything,

Is packed with EVERYTHING - she's not kidding. Look at some of these topics: App for That, Assessment and Rubrics, Concept Mapping, Creating a PLN, Digital Storytelling, Intellectual Property, Literacy, 60 Tech Tips in 60 Minutes and that's just to mention a few. Go visit her site, it's amazing! As if keeping up with such a vast website is not enough, she hosts a monthly "best of the month" on Kathy's Katch of the Month and writes a current and most interesting blog at Kathy Schrock's KaffeeKlatsch. Her credentials are very impressive and VERY interesting. I have no idea how she get's it all in! Thank you Kathy for all that you do for educators everywhere. I will definitely be taking one of your classes at FETC!

In these tight financial school budgets, many teachers are unable to attend large conferences like FETC. I would really encourage administrators to give teachers who are willing to share the opportunity to attend conferences where iron sharpens iron. A teacher can become totally renewed by ideas that flow on the conference floor, in the sessions, workshops and the incredible networking that goes on daily. With speakers like Kathy Schrock, teachers want to try new ways to engage their students. It's contagious. If you are unable to go to conferences this year because of budget cuts, ask again, but be sure you have a plan to present to your administrator. How will he/she get a return on their investment in you? How will you share with other teachers? How will your students benefit? You never know until you ask. Just ask with purpose. There are a host of free passes available through vendors, press passes and exhibition hall passes so it doesn't have to be a burden on the wallet either. 

"If you want something done, ask a busy person."

Ben Franklin 

My 5-year-old granddaughter's clay animation today. She called it Mr. Cartwalker because he was walking a cart of cinnamon rolls down to the lakefront. The only thing I made was the palm tree, the lake and his shirt and pants. She did the rest. Kids are SO creative.   

ipadio   

LiveBinders 

Doceri 

NASA's Image Gallery 

Popplet 

Zoey's Room
Finance in the Classroom
Fotopedia 

The Common Good Forecaster  

Google Earth 

UJAM 

Symbaloo.edu 

Google Science Fair 

Stossel in the Classroom
Word Sift 

Lee Kolbert