TimBedley.com
Image
2
Educator’s Round Table #1
Tweet
Part informal. Part structured. Educator’s Round Table brought together leaders in education from different schools, different towns, and different perspectives. Why? We share a passion for education and we want to collaborate.
Six educators: Tim Bedley (me), Brian O’Connor, Cherie Daniel, Ginger Fleck, Jen Wagner, and Mary Bedley (my wife.) Three topics: introduce yourself, tell us about a resource, and tell us about something you do with kids. One recording: listen below or download it to your device and listen on the go (right click, save to…) Share your feedback. Or better yet, join us next Monday!
Show notes
Calculation Nation Math Games, Gamequarium, Blogster, Flocabulary, Twitter, Class Dojo, Projects By Jen, Wordle, Whole Brain Teaching
What is a Maker Faire?
Tweet
Everyone I ask in my neck of the woods, Southern California, has never heard of Maker Faire. On the weekend of May 18-19, my brother Scott and I took a trip to the San Francisco Bay area to visit our very first Maker Faire. We were told that over 150,000 other people would visit the two-day event as well. Hmmmm. So I guess it’s not as big of a secret as many would think!
What we saw blew our minds. What is a Maker Faire? “Maker Faire is the Greatest Show (and Tell) on Earth—a family-friendly festival of invention, creativity and resourcefulness, and a celebration of the Maker movement,” says the Maker Faire website. But after seeing it for myself, it’s not something that can be described in words. One must experience it to understand it.
Scott and I, the Bedley Bros., shot a bit of video while at Maker Faire because we love to learn and love to share. So check out our interviews with some of the coolest makers at the faire. In the first video, we talk with Eric Stackpole who created on open source underwater ROV, Shane (high schooler) with First Robotics Competition, David Baszucki of Roblox, Legoscope, and More. The second video features Jay Silver, who created the Makey-Makey, and Andrew H. Petersen of the Drone Dudes.
Talented Students Sing in Class Musical
Tweet
My 4th and 5th graders just performed the Bad Wolf Press musical “US Geography” in front of a raucous packed house. I’ve never taught a group of students with more acting and singing talents than this class. Check out this duet sung by Hailey and Jordan.
And listen to little Melodie, a 4th grader, sing a solo on “The Rockies and More.”
How to Bring University Life Into the Elementary Classroom
Tweet
My brother Scott, 2013 Orange County Teacher of the Year, was hanging out at a park in Irvine with his wife and son and happened upon some teams of college students involved in The Solar Decathlon. This is a national competition between university engineering students to see who can design and construct the best state-of-the-art home.
Scott is always concerned about how he can enrich the education of his students, so he initiated a relationship with a student team from Santa Clara University. This partnership resulted in Scott’s class conducting regular Google Hangouts with the students who were working 500 miles away. Scott’s class prepares for the Hangouts by doing research and preparing questions. Members of the SCU team share presentations using the screen share feature and take the kids on virtual field trips through the 2009 house as well as the current construction site.
Scott graciously allowed my class to join in on the hangouts and several other classes from as far away as South America have begun watching the broadcasts. Students get to see the progress and appreciate the vast amount of work that goes into designing and constructing the Radiant House. Students from Scott’s class and my class have also been engaged by the college engineering student team through quiz questions and opinion polls which give the kids input on team decisions. The SCU Google Hangouts have been recorded and archived on YouTube. SCU Solar Decathlon has a Facebook page as well.
This cutting edge pedagogy is attracting the attention of the media as well. The Orange County Register (Irvine World News) and CBS News in the Bay area (see video below) have done stories on the Google Hangouts.
The Bedley Bros. #EdChat Ep. 12: Steven W. Anderson
Tim and Scott interview one of the most respected educators on the web, Steven W. Anderson. He is Director of Instructional Technology for the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools in Winston-Salem, NC. Steven also regularly travels the country talking to schools and districts about the use of Social Media in the classroom.
Steven has been a presenter at several educational technology conferences, including ISTE, ASCD and NCTIES, as well as served as a panelist at the #140 Conference in Los Angeles, New York and was a featured speaker at the first ever #140Edu Conference, focusing on the real-time web in education. He is also responsible in helping create #edchat, a weekly education discussion on Twitter that boasts over 500 weekly participants. Steven has also been recognized with the NOW Award, highlighting the Movers And Shakers in the world of social media and the 2009 and 2011 Edublogs, Twitterer of The Year Award. In 2012 he was named an ASCD Emerging Leader, recognizing young, talented educational leaders in their field.
Show Notes
Fostering Critical Thinking Tip #2: Area Outside the Box
I gave my 4th and 5th grade students the following math problem:
“Draw as many rectangles as you can that have the area of 18 square inches. You may use a calculator.”
15 minutes later all of my kids understood that there were three clear possible answers:
1 in X 18 in
2 in X 9 in
3 in X 6 in
But then something magical happened. I pushed them a bit harder and said that there were unlimited answers to this problem. “Can you find other answers besides these three? Don’t forget, you are allowed to use a calculator.”
Every student sat by her/himself and formulated an answer to the best of her/his ability. The students then met others in the back of the room to share their results and reach consensus (while the others continued to try to solve the problem near the board.) Eventually, all of the students realized that they could get answers like:
1.5 in X 12 in
or
4 in X 4.5 in
My students developed much better mathematical understanding and reasoning skills through this critical thinking lesson. You see, I didn’t spoon feed them the answers. I gave them a challenge and let them figure it out with the help of their peers. The problem was challenging enough for about half my kids to get some correct answers initially on their own, and the other half to at least take a stab at it. Then, by collaborating, the entire class was able to wrap their brains around the idea. This is the direction education is headed with Common Core.
The Bedley Bros. #EdChat Ep. 11: Adam Bellow
Adam Bellow will be making the Keynote Presentation for this year’s ISTE conference in San Antonio, Texas. Get to know Adam and his many talents with edtech in this week’s episode of The Bedley Bros.
Show Notes
Adam’s Website, EduTecher
The Bedley Bros. #EdChat Ep. 10: Rick Morris
The Bedley Bros. have a sit-down with the guru of classroom management and instructional strategies, Rick Morris. He shares thoughts on the Independent Classroom Culture, “happy productive.” Rick believes that classrooms are not going to be truly happy places unless the students operate independently.
Rick Morris’s Website “New Management”
The Bedley Bros. #EdChat Ep. 9: Interview with Alex Kajitani
Tweet
Watch Alex’s engaging discussion with Tim and Scott on the latest episode of The Bedley Bros. EdChat. Alex, the 2009 California Teacher of the Year, shares ideas from his new book Teacher of the Year Handbook. Both of the Bedley Bros. also share a quick tip for teachers. Whether or not you are in the running for Teacher of the Year, educators will benefit from this lively interview with the Rappin’ Mathematician.
Show Notes
FaceTime for Absent Students
Tweet
Last week, Jordan, one of my fifth grade girls, was caught doing something without permission! AND I LOVED IT!
Jordan’s classmate, Koral, was on a trip out of town to attend a funeral. During our book clubs (literature circles), I noticed that Jordan had propped her iPad up in front of her and was talking to Koral on FaceTime. Jordan knew that our class was a safe place to try something new. She also knew that I would approve of anything she did that enriched her education or that of a classmate. So here is Jordan reading Chomp to Koral, separated by a measly 1000 miles.
