Students Voice Amplified.

The ability for students to get thier voices heard has become easier via smartphones and mobile enabled social networks. With just a phone and an internet access you can be a publisher, broadcaster or editor.

Our conversations have moved from the traditional linear conversation in which a teacher stands and speak at students, and the students chooses to consume the information or not. Instead we now have a truly 'Networked' conversation where students not only talk with thier teachers and peers but also have direct conversation with experts, solution providers etc.

There is no getting away from listening to what students want because these are conversations happening, conversations that institutions may choose to ignore ( at thier peril) or embrace. It's about opening doors to listen to what students have to say and where necessary creating a new set of policies for safe guarding and managing 'Social Media' responsibilities.

Some tools to use to help amplify students voice includes

- Skype in the classroom
- GoBubble
- Flipgrid.

Little Engineers Workshop

schools in the Suburban areas of Ogun state, we had students from Ilisan, Remo, Ogere, Ikenne, and the environ at attendance.
The workshop aimed at instilling in the students a passion for STEM, also introduced the students to the world of robotics generally and especially the space industry.
This is the first engagement among many others in 2019 we will be bringing to Ogun state.
#education #stem #robot #engineers #empoweredlearners

See more

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6492124138700840960

Flexible Seating and Student-Centered Classroom Redesign

Flexible Seating and Student-Centered Classroom Redesign: Flexible classroom seating invites collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking by helping students manage their physical energy and comfort as they learn on their own terms.

Spring Paper Flowers

Spring Paper Flowers

Teacher Appreciation week

It is said that a good teacher is like a candle, it consumes itself to light the way for others.

Teacher appreciation week is an annual celebration aim at recognizing the efforts and the impact of teachers on our children and community at large. It is an opportunity for Head of schools/principals to recognize exemplary teachers in the system and also for parents and students alike to say thank you to teachers who have touched their lives in one way or the other.

The truth is that most of us would like to do so but we are at lost for how to say thank you, apart from saying thank you.

There are some sites that offer ideas and practical tips on how to say thank beyond saying it. Such as

Teacher appreciation site

Do you need ideas and materials for Teachers’ Day, Teacher Appreciation Week or 

Teacher Appreciation Day

, whether in the United States or elsewhere? You are most welcome to this unique website devoted to teacher appreciation. We strongly believe that teachers play a key role in every individual’s development and evolution. Showing appreciation to them is therefore a fair reward and an act of gratitude that will also make you feel better. 
Along this site we shall not only make suggestions on how to show your teacher appreciation and onteachers gifts like teacher appreciation card but we’ll also collect contributions from our visitors and provide information on teacher appreciation activities such as Teachers’ Day in those countries where such celebrations exist and on different teacher quotes. Visit http://www.teacher-appreciation.info/

Education World also posted on

Sixty-Five Ways to Recognize Teachers During Teacher Appreciation Week and All Year Long

Some great ways to celebrate teachers all year long including the following:

• Host a "Thank You Breakfast" during Teacher Appreciation Week, or during another time of the year when they least expect and most need it.
• Whenever you are able, send a personally written -- preferably, handwritten -- note of thanks or appreciation to teachers "caught" caring or who pulled off terrific classroom projects. Send at least a dozen of those notes each week. Keep a copy for the teacher's file; later in the school year you will be able to draw on those positive moments as you compose teachers' evaluations.
• Call for a "Jeans Day." All teachers can dress down on that day. Or make this a special reward for teachers who have gone above-and-beyond; have stickers printed that say "I earned this Jeans Day." They can wear the sticker on whatever "Jeans Day" they choose.
• For more ideas visit http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/recognizing_teachers_all_year_long

 To all the teachers out there, Thank you for all that you do to improve education.

Girls in ICT Day 2015

Girls in ICT

International Girls in ICT Day  aims to create a global environment that empowers and encourages girls and young women to consider careers in the growing field of information and communication technologies (ICTs). International Girls in ICT Day is celebrated on the 4th Thursday in April every year. On International Girls in ICT Day all stakeholders are encouraged to organize events with the vision to empower and encourage girls and young women to consider studies and careers in the growing field of ICTs. (girlsinict.org). 

This year it was celebrated on the 23^rd of April, 2015. To celebrate the event , a one week ICT training based on the Microsoft digital literacy curriculum was organized for high school girls from nine schools in Ijebu-ode, Ogun state. These girls were trained on basic computer opereations and terminologies, productivity programs like MSword. Excel and PowerPoint, digital lifestyle, the internet and WWW, among others.   At the end of the training the Microsoft digital literacy certification test was taken and passed.  The event also provided the opportunity for the girls to interact and make friends with girls from other schools. Special thanks gooes to Exquitec Education Technology, EasyClick Computers, Institute of Enterprise Development for making the event a possibility. Hope to have larger number of girls involvement in the next event  

Social Media in Education

A Guidebook for Social Media in the Classroom

                                   

  A lot of us are used into using social media just for socializing but are in the lost about how these tools can be integrated into the classroom. we know most of our students are media literate but how can their knowledge of social media be used to help their learning. Vicki Davis answers some of this in her blog post.

Is Social Media Relevant? Take the Quiz

Before we talk social media, let's talk about the relevance of social media by taking a quiz. Which of the following is most likely to be true?

• ☐ Should we teach letter-writing in the classroom? Kids need to write letters and mail them. But what if they become pen pals with strangers and share private information with them? What if their letter gets lost in the mail and the wrong person opens it? Are we opening up a whole dangerous world to our students once they mail letters to others? Surely students will send thousands of letters through the mail in their lifetime.
• ☐ Should we teach email in the classroom? Kids need to email other people and should know how to title a subject. But what if they email someone bad? What if they accidentally send it to the wrong person? What will we do? And are we opening up a whole dangerous world to our students once they email others? Surely students will send thousands of emails in their lifetime.
• ☐ Should we teach (dare we say it) social media in the classroom? I mean, they don't have to learn microblogging on Twitter -- you can do that in Edmodo, right? You can have a private blog or put them on Kidblogs or Edublogs instead of letting them post long status updates on Facebook, right? Are we opening up a whole dangerous world to our students once they are writing online and posting comments to each other? Surely students will post thousands of status updates, pictures, and blogs in their lifetime.

The Social Media Myth

The myth about social media in the classroom is that if you use it, kids will be Tweeting, Facebooking and Snapchatting while you're trying to teach. We still have to focus on the task at hand. Don't mistake social media forsocializing. They're different -- just as kids talking as they work in groups or talking while hanging out are different.

You don't even have to bring the most popular social media sites into your classroom. You can use Fakebook or FakeTweet as students work on this form of conversation. Edublogs, Kidblog, Edmodo, and more will let you use social media competencies and writing techniques. Some teachers are even doing "tweets" on post-it notes as exit tickets. You can use mainstream social media, too.

12 Ways Teachers are Using Social Media in the Classroom Right Now

1. Tweet or post status updates as a class. Teacher Karen Lirenman lets students propose nuggets of learning that are posted for parents to read.
2. Write blog posts about what students are learning. Teacher Kevin Jarrettblogs reflections about his Elementary STEM lab for parents to read each week.
3. Let your students write for the world. Linda Yollis' students reflect about learning and classroom happenings.
4. Connect to other classrooms through social media. Joli Barker is fearlessly connecting her classroom through a variety of media.
5. Use Facebook to get feedback for your students' online science fair projects. Teacher Jamie Ewing is doing this now, as he shared recently.
6. Use YouTube for your students to host a show or a podcast. Don Wettrick's students hosted the Focus Show online and now share their work on a podcast.
7. Create Twitter accounts for a special interest projects. My studentMorgan spent two years testing and researching the best apps for kids with autism (with the help of three "recruits"), and her work just won her an NCWIT Award for the State of Georgia.
8. Ask questions to engage your students in authentic learning. Tom Barrett did this when his class studied probability by asking about the weather in various locations.
9. Communicate with other classrooms. The Global Read Aloud, Global Classroom Project and Physics of the Future are three examples of how teachers use social media to connect their students as they collaborate and communicate.
10. Create projects with other teachers. (Full disclosure: I co-created Physics of the Future with Aaron Maurer, a fellow educator I first met on Twitter.)
11. Share your learning with the world. My students are creating anEncyclopedia of Learning Games with Dr. Lee Graham's grad students at the University of Alaska Southeast. The educators are testing the games, and the students are testing them, too.
12. Further a cause that you care about. Mrs. Stadler's classes are working to save the rhinos in South Africa, and Angela Maiers has thousands of kids choosing to matter.

This post was ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: FEBRUARY 27, 2014 | UPDATED: FEBRUARY 19, 2015 by EDUTOPIA  FOR THE FULL PUBLICATION CLICK HERE http://www.edutopia.org/blog/guidebook-social-media-in-classroom-vicki-davis