“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” – Steve Jobs

photo credit: Unhindered by Talent

While I believe that preparing students to succeed in the workplace is an important part of education, the true goal is to prepare students for life. However, after reading You are now a Consultant, How work is changing, I couldn’t help but wonder if we are preparing students to become self-sufficient in their careers.

The article highlights the fact that the average length of employment is now 2.3 years. The majority of our students will have 12+ jobs in their careers. The author describes 5 tips to thrive as a “consultant” in the workplace, and I couldn’t help but think how each tip is a reminder of what our students need in their classes.

Below are the 5 tips and some thoughts on teaching these skills:

1. Become self-sufficient by building your network

Are we teaching students to build their network, or are we letting them fend for themselves? Creating a PLN for educators has been at the forefront for a few years, but it’s time to teach our students how to cultivate and participate in a learning community.

2. Every time you start a new project you must learn very fast about the client and the work

Project-based learning where students must investigate the problem, and develop a plan before starting, provides an opportunity to discover that successful projects are made in the planning phase.

3. You must keep up with the latest technologies and best practices

Can we teach students to teach themselves the newest technologies and find optimum practices? While the technology we have today won’t be what they use in the work place in 5-10 years, through learning how to learn technology, we can prepare them for whatever tools become essential down the line.

4. Project lengths are short…

Giving many, fast paced projects might be a better strategy than one quarter or year long project.

5. Have a skill set that is in demand

Instead of teaching skills, let’s first have students identify the skills they need, develop projects and a learning plan, and ensure that each student is prepared with the skills they need.

You are a Consultant, How work is changing

Bit Literacy Cover

Bit Literacy is an excellent book that explores how we can be masters of out technology, instead of the other way around. Do you know anyone who sits at the computer hitting send and receive constantly waiting for an email? This book goes over a lot of common sense tips and techniques on how to set up systems to get the most out of the flood of information. From email to backups this book covers the essentials without focusing on any soon-to-be outdated technology. It’s a classic on technology use if there ever was one.

Twitter4teachers is a great place for you to find other “twittering” teachers in your area. Join the conversation!

photo credit: Foraggio Fotographic

It’s essential that teachers keep constantly up to date, especially in the area of technology. Exciting new tools are created daily, and teachers must stay on top of technology if they wish to remain relevant in the classroom.

Here’s 7 great blogs that every teacher should be reading.

1. So you want to teach?
   While this site is written by a band director, it offers advice that are important to all teachers, including information on classroom management and personal development.
2. Infinite Thinking Machine
   A very interesting blog full of great ideas of using technology in your classroom. From the about page: “The Infinite Thinking Machine (ITM) is designed to help teachers and students thrive in the 21st century. Through an active blog, an Internet TV show, and other media resources, the ITM shares a “bazillion practical ideas” for turning the infinite universe of information into knowledge.”
3. ELearn Magazine
   A magazine site with a blog full of articles on online education. As you integrate a site into your traditional classroom, this site will help you follow best practices that will help you be a success online.
4. Edutopia
   This is a top-notch site filled with info. The stories on specific teacher’s experiences are always inspirational.
5. e-Literate
   All about online learning. Another solid site for teachers looking to take their students online for their courses.
6. The Tech Savvy Educator
   With a name like that it has to be good! While I hadn’t discovered it until after setting up this blog, The Tech Savvy Educator is a frequently updated site full of practical ways to integrate technology.
7. darcynorman.net
   Focuses often on secondary education, but full of great ideas, including wide spread use of blogging on a campus. The information is good, but after reading the blog for a while you’ll enjoy the personal tone and the inside look at technology integration at the secondary level.

While I’m sure I’ve missed some essential blogs, these are just a few that I enjoy reading. Have a blog you think was missed? Post it (with the url) in the comments!

Math Class Starters
Online Stopwatch
Scientific Method Lab
Promethean Planet (World’s Largest Interactive Whiteboard Community)
Classroom Game Show Templates
Smart board has many activities that work great with the mimio also.
A Large list of interactive site resources organized by subject.

Found a great site or resource for your smart board or mimio? Share it here! Leave a comment with the url.

Schools can defitely use donations in the technology department. However, schools are not places to dump your “tech-junk”. Wired has a great guide on what to donate.

Technology and Your Local School: What to Donate and What NOT to Donate | Geekdad from Wired.com.

It’s finally summer! If you’re at all like me, you have a packed summer full of vacations, perhaps a side job or two, and even some planning for the next school year. But take some time out and brush up on some technology skills.

Here’s a few good ways to brush up a little:

1. Check out some technology books from your library. They probably are more up to date than you’d think. 
2. Check out Lynda.com and consider a subscription. The site is full of extremely well done video tutorials. Perhaps you can even get your school to pay for it as professional development.
3. Youtube. It gets a bad rap of being the ultimate time-waster, but youtube is full of tutorials, especially on subjects like Photoshop.
4. Read some blogs! You’re already doing this here, but search around for some great blogs of other teachers who are sharing their experiences online. Check out my upcoming series highlighting great teacher’s blogs.
5. Think about starting a blog. It can be for your students or other teachers, but you’ll gain a ton of insight as you go through the process of actually putting your thoughts on the web (sounds just like what we tell our students when we make them write, huh?)
6. Relax. Summer’s a time to refresh, not burn out. So take some “me time” and chill for a bit. We all know the chill time will disappear in August/September.

Note: This is an on going part of a look at six issues that we face in keeping our children and students safe online. We’ll be looking at the issue, discussing some solutions and recommending some free and commercial software that can help protect the children you work with online.

The issue: Phishing Scams

Phishing scams are intended to get you (and your child) to give up important information that can be used in identity theft. You may be directed to a site that looks exactly like the true site, but the information you enter such as your user name and password, are received by the scammers who now can access your accounts.

Solutions:

– Teach your children never to submit their full name, address or other personal information without your consent.
- If you go to a link offered in an email, check to see if there is an “s” after the HTTP in the address at the top and a lock at the bottom of the screen that indicates the web site is secure and encrypts data
- Most companies never ask customers to confirm personal information by sending an email.
- A good practice is to not use links offered in an email, but to go to the website directly (type the address you usually use to access the site)