Online Conference November 14-18, 2011 
Don't miss any of the 325 presentations starting this Monday as part of the Global Education Collaborative. Each presentation is using Blackboard Collaborative for you to participate or watch later.

Personalizing learning means moving to student-centered learning. This takes time. Here are a few tips to help you transform your learning environment. 

1. Find out how each student learns best.
2. Allow students to choose their topic.
3. Encourage teachers and students to co-design the curriculum.
4. Ask lots of questions.
5. Teach less, learn more.
6. Share how you learn.
7. Connect, extend, challenge.
8. Re-evaluate assessment.
9. Define goals and encourage reflection.
10. Focus on learning, not work.
11. Coordinate student led conferences .

Learning begins with the learner. What children know and what ...   more...

Curation is a new skill that all of us can use. There are multiple curation tools where you can collect resources based on a topic, tags, and other people's suggestions. One curation tool that is growing quickly is Scoop-it. Barbara has set up several Scoop-its that you can follow and rescoop any of the resources to your own Scoop-its: 

Barbara posts regularly on her blog Rethinking Learning. Join her as she facilitates growing creative and engaging learning environments. Here's some of the latest posts:

• Making Change with Good Questions
• Creative Thinkering
• Curation as a 21st Century Skill
• Who are our Experts Now?
• What is Personalized Learning?
• Prepare Students for the Real-World

Contact Barbara, follow Barbara's blog, 
and follow her at   . 

We are so proud of the featured projects our members have created that they now appear in the lower right on the outside of My eCoach so everyone can view them. Here are a few of the featured projects since the last newsletter:

• Using Google Docs 
  by Nicole Elenz-Martin
• Percentages Save or Make you Money by Ken Bakken 
• Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Knowby Trish Ledoux
• Yelp.com isn't Designed for Kids by Michelle Lee
• Director of First Impressions by Ruby Pedroza
• Dare Mighty Things by Pam Lowe
• Living in the Cloud by Brian Dvorak
• Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs...   more...

Here's a few spotlights that go straight to their websites. When you are on the My eCoach home page, you can find more than a link to the website or resource. We add vocabulary words, keywords, curriculum areas, grade levels, essential and discussion questions, extension activities, and, in some cases, match to standards.  

Do you know a great resource? Please submit it to our eLibrary.

Educational News, Grants and Contests

Articles and Resources

• Personalized Learning Works Wonders
  
• Informed Choice: Vision Mapper
• If Kids Designed the Schools
• How To Pedagogy Sheets
• How Social Media is Changing Education
• Planning for Project Learning

Contests & Challenges

• 2012 Student Design Competition 
• National Peace Essay Contest for HS Students
• American Mathematics Competition
• The Stock Market Game
• Kids Philosophy Slam (2/3/12)
• We Can Change the World" High School Challenge (3/15/12)
• Teachers in Space Program (12/2/11)  
• eCYBERMISSION Competition...   more...