Hi everyone!  Welcome to a brand new week!

I apologize for the lateness of this webinar calendar.  I was out of commission yesterday due to the birth of my niece, Haley.  Here she is.  Isn't she CUTE?!

So, here are the remaining webinars for this week.  Sign up by clicking the links and enjoy!  Also, remember to visit us on the forums for conversation, fun, and to compliment how adorable my new niece is.  Have a great week!

Wednesday, March 10

v3 Series: Enhancing Parent Communication - 9 AM Eastern

Study Island Survivor: For Principals - 5 PM Eastern

Thursday, March 11

Easy Setup in Less Than 30 Minutes (Registering Users) - 3 PM Eastern

Welcome to the Island, Study Island Administrators! (with v3 Enhancements!) - 4 PM Eastern

Who could use a bit of comic relief on this Wednesday afternoon?  I certainly could! I asked some of our former teachers here on this Island to share some of their "kids say funny things" moments from teaching.  We got some really good ones!  I hope you enjoy them!

- When I was a camp counselor working with preschoolers, one of my campers was eating a red popsicle and he accidentally got some around his mouth and on his cheeks.  I laughed and said, "Look how cute you are with that ice cream all over your face," and reached into my bag to get out some wet wipes.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him rub his popsicle ALL OVER HIS FACE!  I looked at him in shock and he said, "Am I even cuter now?"  It WAS really cute, until the whole group did it. :) - Jess E.

- "Did the pilgrims have Playstation?" - Cara C.

- "Did the people in the 1800's make their furniture with plastic?" - Cara C.

- "How old will you be when  you grow up?" - Alli P.

- "Today I saw myself beautiful!" - Alli P.

- On my Very first day of teaching, I had the students introduce themselves to the class.  One student stood and said, "My name is _______, but you can call me Tater Tot." So, I called him Tater Tot all year.  Turns out, no one else in the school called him Tater Tot except me and the other students in that class.  It stayed that way for the 3 years I knew him. - Kim W.

- When I was a principal, a kindergarten student got a referral to me.  He had to take the referral form home to be signed.  The next day, I asked him if he brought the form back, and he said he forgot it.  I told him that if he didn't bring it the next day, I would have to call his parents.  The next day I asked him again if he had brought back his form, and he shyly nodded that he had.  I asked him to hand it to me.  When he did and I opened it, I noticed that the signature was pretty strange.  It was a square, a circle, a star and other shapes where the signature should be.  It was so hard to keep from laughing in front of him! - Greg S.

What kinds of hilarious things have kids in your classes said?  Tell us on the forums!

Have a great Wednesday!

Today, all across America, schools, communities, parents and children all came together to read and be read to. Read Across America Day was instituted as part of the year round program of the same name founded by the National Education Association.   The program, now in its 14th year, was founded to "focus on motivating children and teens to read through events, partnerships and reading resources."

Read Across America Day coincides with the birthday of iconic author of children's literature, Dr. Seuss.  Dr. Seuss is also very much a part of the celebration, as many incorporate his books into their various Read Across America activities.

Click here for a video with some great Dr. Seuss activities. Read Across America/Dr. Seuss Day may be over, but these activities are great for any day!  The video is hosted on TeacherTube, so you should be able to easily pull it up, even at school.

How did you celebrate Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss' birthday? Tell us on the forums!

Have a great evening!

Hi everyone!

Welcome to a new week!  What better way to start the week than to check out our schedule of Study Island training webinars for the next week?  Just click the event to RSVP.  These webinars are a great opportunity for enrichment in Study Island and they are absolutely free!  Enjoy!

Tuesday, March 1

Wizards of the Island: District Admins - 10 AM Eastern

Easy setup in less than 30 minutes - 11 AM Eastern

Thursday March 4

Going Coconuts for Stats with Enhanced v3 Reporting! - 9 AM Eastern

Easy setup in less than 30 minutes - 3 PM Eastern

Friday, March 5

v3 Series: Monitoring Users in Liveview - 2 PM Eastern

Monday March 8

Managing Your Islanders: A Guide to Class Manager - 4 PM Eastern

I first heard about this story when it first broke last week. I assumed the whole thing would blow over, the teachers would be reinstated and all would be right with the world. 

However, it became the story that would not go away, and one that continues to develop.

Here is the gist of what happened, though you can read a full story here. The district, in an effort to pull the school out of its low performing status, laid out a plan to lengthen the school day, add tutoring time, and add extra meetings to the teachers' schedules.  They did not, however, intend to give them a pay raise.  This instigated negotiation between the union and the school board. When a decision could not be reached, the school Principal made the decision to fire the entire staff and start fresh next year.

There are plenty of articles to be read on this situation, but I'd like to hear from you.  What do you, as a teacher, think of this decision?  Tell us on the forums!

Happy Thursday!

Teachers are heroes every day. They save lives every day. Yesterday, David Benke did it in a more immediate way than most of you will (thankfully) ever have to.

Yesterday afternoon, a student eyewitness says a man approached students in the parking lot of a middle school in Littleton, CO and asked if they were students at the school.  When they said they were, he shot them.

Shortly thereafter, the man was tackled to the ground by David Benke, a math teacher at the school.

You can read a full account of this event here.

Thank you, Mr. Benke, for your bravery.  Who knows how many lives you may have saved.

It is that time of year again, folks!  It is time for our annual Study Island Spring Contest!  For some of you, I know this is a time of year that you wait for with great expectation.  How do I know this?  When I worked for our award-winning Customer Relations team (never gets old), I took calls from people as early as October asking what the spring contest would be.  In the past, we have had some very successful contests, such as our commercial contest from last year (view videos on YouTube here), lab decorating contests, and more.  This year's contest is perhaps the biggest ever.  So, if you're ready, give us THREE CHEERS!

That's right! This year's contest is called the Study Island National Pep Rally.  You mission is to host a pep rally or assembly to celebrate how Study Island has made education more fun and interesting at your campus. Include student-created cheers, skits, songs, raps, poems, posters and more to help MAKE SOME NOISE and get students and teachers excited about using Study Island.

You'll definitely want to get in on the game because these prizes can't be beat!

National 1st Prize: $5,000

National 2nd Prize: $2,500

National 3rd Prize: $1,000

To enter, first consult the official rules which are outlined in the contest entry form.  To get a copy of the entry form, just go to our website, www.studyisland.com, and click "Click here for contest information" underneath the US map.  Then, just hold your pep rally (YAY!), record a video of it, and upload it to YouTube or TeacherTube, fill out the entry form, and send it to us at the address on the form.

Have questions about the contest?  Giddy with excitement and just want to talk about it with someone?  Talk about it on the forums!

We can't wait to see all this excitement!  Have fun!

Happy Monday, everyone!

Starting this week, we will be blogging our schedule of free user webinars every Monday.  These are available to any Study Island teacher or administrator, absolutely free. Just click the webinar title to register.  You can also click here for a full schedule of Study Island webinars.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

11 - 11:30 AM ET: Easy Setup in Less Than 30 Minutes (registering users)

Wednesday, February, 24, 2010

2 - 3:00 PM ET: v3 Series: Increasing Your Success as a Teacher in Study Island (grades 1-8, Math & Reading)

Thursday, February 25, 2010

3 - 3:30 PM ET: Easy Setup in Less Than 30 Minutes (registering users)

4 - 5:00 PM ET: Create Your Own Island: A Guide to Custom Material

Have a great week!

I have never been a big gamer. When I was a kid, we had a Nintendo, and we had about three games: Super Mario Bros., a Barbie game, and something else that only my sister played. I never saved the Princess in Super Mario, and I barely beat that Barbie game. When I did, I was mentally and emotionally exhausted. Video games lost their charm after that.
My interest in video games was reawakened with the Nintendo DS.

My husband is a big gamer, and we take many, many, many (more than I would like) trips to GameStop. During those trips, I started to look at the Nintendo DS and (later) DSi systems, and the games for them. I started to notice that there were games that were made for intelligent grown-ups. They weren't just games full of violence and blowing stuff up, but intelligent-type games, like logic games, "coaching" games (like My Healthy Cooking Coach), and the like. I started to pine for one.

This Valentine's Day, my dream of being a Nintendo DSi owner was finally realized when my husband bought me the best Valentine's Day gift EVER. He's going to be mad at me for posting this picture. Oh, well.

Maybe it was because my own personal desire for a DSi was about to be realized, but as I stood there perusing the games, I noticed that a great deal of them were also educational games for younger audiences. I started to turn the question over in my brain; "Could these be used in the classroom?" Eventually, I settled on this answer: Yes and no.

My no answer was because I think it would most likely be cost prohibitive to purchase a class set of a single system (Nintendo DS, PSP, etc.) and then purchase class sets of enough games to make it a viable tool. Also, even though there are many educational games available, fitting a specific game to your curriculum may prove challenging.

My yes answer was this: I feel that it is almost always beneficial to take something kids love anyway and use it to an educational advantage. Here's an idea I came up with for using hadnheld gaming systems in the classroom:

Create a designated time for students to play an educational game on their preferred system

- Check out your school's rules on bringing these types of devices to school. If it is against the rules to do so, ask permission to allow your students to bring them on the days specified for class activity.

- Send a letter home to parents informing them of the new class game time. Let them know the specific days that students will be allowed to play games and specify that they must bring an educational game. Specify the parameters of what constitutes "educational" for your purposes, and specify any characteristics that will not be acceptable (such as violence), or specify that games must fall into a specific rating category. Games are rated similarly to movies. You may specify, for example, that any games brought into class should be rated E (for everyone).

- Have students give their games to you in the morning. Look over them not only to make sure they fall within the parameters that you set, but also to see what teachable elements they have that you may be able to work into your curriculum.

- Not all students will have a system. One idea for them might be to give them extra time to play computer games.

This activity is obviously not ideal for all classrooms and situations, but it's a thought. We did something similar to this in the school-age child care room I used to work in. The kids loved it, and it made them less likely to want to play their games at an inappropriate time.

Do you think this kind of an activity would work in your classroom? Do you have other ideas for using gaming in the classroom? Tell us about it on the forums!

Happy Thursday!

Last week, we had the honor of being at the TCEA (Texas Computer Education Association) Conference in Austin, TX.  It was a great time.  My intention was to go and update all of you live, attending as a teacher would, and pick up as much information as I could to bring back to you.  It turned out to be a learning experience for us in one area: Exhibitor vs. Attendee.  None of us had the forethought to register lil' ol' me as an attendee and not an exhibitor, thus I couldn't attend many of the events I would have loved to share, such as the concurrent sessions.  Oops.

It worked out well, though, as record-breaking snowy and icy weather gave us a short-staffed booth.  And man, was that booth busy!  I'll come back to that in a bit.  Here is my recap of TCEA's 30th Anniversary conference.

The Lay of the Land

The Austin Convention Center seemed to utilize every bit of free space for this conference.  The ballrooms were set aside for keynotes and major presenters, but rarely did I pass a room (since I couldn't go into any of them) that wasn't being utilized for workshops.  Not only was this a great utilization of space, but reflective of the sheer amount of learning being offered to this year's attendees.  One thing that really caught my attention was the Gaming, Geocaching, and Second Life "Playgrounds" that were set up.  They were staffed by volunteers and when enough people were gathered, they had impromptu sessions.  Sadly, the playground was located in the very back of the convention center, and was never very full when I passed by.  Here is an aerial view.

I took that picture while I was looking for the Web 2.0 lounges, another area that really peaked my interest.  I circled and circled looking for it.  I asked a security guard, and he didn't even know where they were.  Finally, a kind stranger pointed me in the right direction.  These were a great idea, but just like the playground above, they were never very densely populated. I think it was a great idea for TCEA to include areas for these things, but I wish they had given them better real estate.  It seems a bit backwards to me that an organization promoting technology in education would push such important up-and-coming tools to the side.

Keynotes

These were the only events I was allowed into.  I made it to two out of three.  

The opening keynote was Chris Gardner, who is an entrepreneur and author who literally pulled himself up from nothing to realize his dreams.  When he began his journey to become a highly successful stock broker, he was homeless, living on the streets with his toddler son. He wrote a book about his life called "The Pursuit of Happyness", which was made into a movie starring Will Smith. 

Mr. Gardner's style of motivational speaking is unlike anything I have heard from anyone else.  He just tells his story.  He doesn't tell you what his story should mean to you.  He doesn't say that his story is proof that if you want something badly enough and are willing to try hard enough, you can do anything.  He doesn't use any flowery words or grand metaphors.  He just tells what happened to him, as if he were at lunch with a friend, and he does so in an entertaining, sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking, way. There are many videos of him speaking on YouTube.  Check them out if you get the chance.  You won't be disappointed.  Here is a picture I snapped with my phone at the book signing.  You can see Mr. Gardner seated at the table.  That HUGE GUY in the background is his son, Chris Jr., all grown up.

The Thursday keynote was given by David Kushner, an expert in digital culture and industry.  He is a contributing editor of Wired and Rolling Stone, and is a frequent guest on TV and radio shows.  David spoke candidly about the new face of technology and how it relates to kids and to education.  He spoke about the new statistics that were released recently that said, essentially, that if a child is awake, they are connected.  Kids today are viewing new technologies, web 2.0 tools, etc, as toys.  Not only are they viewing these things as something to play with, but they are also drawn to them because they give them a sense of empowerment.  They grasp that there are few boundaries to what they can do.  He implored educators to acknowledge this and use these tools with students, give them the guidance they need to utilize these limitless resources to learn and create.  It was very thought provoking stuff, indeed, but also nothing that I don't read every day from members of the Educator's PLN on Twitter.

The Booth

Spending time in our booth in the exhibit hall was an incredible experience.  I spent some time telling people who had never heard of Study Island about how our program can help them and their students, but I think I spent MORE time talking to current customers.  Some wanted to know if there were any new features they hadn't heard about.  Some wanted to talk to us about how to better use a particular feature or how to find the right feature for their needs.  Some people wanted to tell us how much their assessment scores have improved since using Study Island.  Some people just wanted a free t-shirt.  All those people, however, came by because they wanted to say hello and tell us how much they love Study Island.  Having these conversations with people was like a family or school reunion; like we were chatting with old friends.  We appreciate that so much.

We also had a full schedule of presentations on topics such as various clickers that you can use with Study Island, to overviews of our v3 enhancements, to overviews of our new SAT program.  Here is Sabrina, a member of our training team, conducting a session on v3 enhancements.

If you saw us at TCEA, thanks for stopping by!  If you didn't, we hope to see you soon at a conference near you. Check our Twitter and Facebook sites for updates on when we will be close to you!

As always, find us on the forums for great conversation and fun!

Have a great week!

...In the commercials, anyway.

Study Island made a VERY brief cameo during the Google Super Bowl ad entitled, "Parisian Love".  I guess you could say this means we're a "household name"?

Check out the video below.  We pop up very early, at about 3 seconds in. We included a screen shot below, in case you miss it in the video. Happy Monday!

Will you be at TCEA next week?  So will we!  You will definitely want to stop by and say hello at BOOTH # 1617, because we will have some awesome presentations, demos, and GIVEAWAYS!

Presentations and Demos:

Study Island and eInstruction Clickers:     
2/10: 9:30, 4:30     
2/11: 10:00, 4:00     
2/12: 10:00

Study Island v3 Enhancements:     
2/10: 10:00, 12:00, 1:30, 3:30     
2/11: 10:30, 1:30, 3:00 

Study Island SAT:     
2/10: 11:00, 2:30

Study Island and Renaissance:     
2/10 & 2/11: 11:30

Study Island and TurningPoint:     
2/10 & 2/11: 1:00

 Study Island and Qwizdom:     
2/10 and 2/11: 2:30

GIVEAWAYS!

Come fill out an information card for us and be entered in a drawing to win one of the following prizes:

- One (1) Netbook
- One (1) Study Island single class, single subject subscription
- One (1) set of Classroom Response System clickers.

ALSO, mention that you are a fan of Study Island on Facebook, a follower on Twitter, a reader of The Tide (this blog) or a member of our Island Community forums and get a Study Island Social Networks t-shirt!

You can mention this to any of our booth reps, but I'd love it if you would tell me personally.  Here's what I look like:

I would love to meet you, take a picture with you, and get any of your ideas and input for our social networks.  If the picture isn't enough, I'll probably be wearing some absurd island-themed getup.

Let us know if you'll be at TCEA on our forums!  We'd love to make plans to meet you!  We hope to see you there!

Yesterday, President Obama outlined his planned budget for the Department pf Education for 2010.  He also called for changes in No Child Left Behind, including, among other things, the consolidation of the Enhancing Education Through Technology funding program into a new initiative called Effective Teaching and Learning for a Complete Education.  Here are some highlights of the new budget and proposed plans.

- Asked for $49.7 billion in discretionary spending increases.  That is about $3.5 billion more than the current year; an increase of about 7.5%.

- $1.3 billion of that would fund round two of Race to the Top.

- Proposed replacing the system known as adequate yearly progress (AYP) with a new system that officials believe will be more fair to students and teachers.  This system would broaden the focus from test scores to include other measurements, such as college and career-ready standards, high school graduation rates and college enrollment rates.  

- The Enhancing Education Through Technology program would be reorganized under a new initiative called Effective Teaching and Learning for a Complete Education.  The new initiative would focus on improving teaching and learning in the areas of literacy, STEM, and Well-Rounded Education, integrating technology into instruction.

You can read more about these announcements in this New York Times article, which gives an overview of the budget and plans for NCLB. You can also read an article which more fully explains the change in the EETT program on eschoolnews here.

Where would you like to see all this extra money go?  Would you support the (cryptic at this point) plans to change AYP?  Do you think the integration of EETT into this new initiative will help education technology by placing it side by side with everyday curriculum, or will it damage awareness?  Tell us on the forums!

Happy Tuesday all!

Yesterday, a coworker asked me how long it would be before I give up on my Origami project.  I looked at her blankly and said, "Um, never! I made a promise to my readers! I can't let them down!"

I'm not givng up, but I am copping out on today's origami, since it's a newspaper hat.  I already know how to made a newspaper hat.  YOU know how to make a newspaper hat.  Also, it is cold and raining outside, and walking to the corner store for a newspaper was out of the question.  So, here is a picture of a newspaper hat.

(Photo from http://kriley19.wordpress.com)

At the beginning of this year, I set out on a journey to learn something new. A Page-A-Day Origami Desk Calendar gave me an easy avenue to do so. Every day for the last (almost) month, I have created a piece of origami art. I am not the best coordinated or most artistic person ever.  What talent I do have is concentrated in the written arts; not so much the visual.  I was hoping I would fail miserably at making some of these things, making for a funny story, and maybe a funny picture of a mangled piece of paper. Unfortunately, that has not happened.  So, I guess one thing I have learned is that I am better at this than I thought I would be.  

After creating my favorite piece, the Pecking Chicken, I asked myself if I would ever be able to make that it again without directions. The answer, sadly, was no.  I couldn't help but wonder if I was actually learning anything. I am practicing, going through the motions, but am I really learning if I am not getting to the very root of what origami is?  WHY do I fold it this way or that?  What is the rationale?  Isn't that real learning?  Or am I learning by doing?  Will those bigger learning questions be answered as I go along? Eventually, I settled on two things: 1) I will just have to keep on folding and wait and see, and 2) There is a deep truth in there somewhere.  I'll have to file that away to think about later.

Click here to see pictures of my origami on Flickr.

Did you just remember that this is Blog Week here at The Tide, and begin to wonder what any of this has to do with blogging?  It has everything to do with blogging because blogs don't have to be written.  There are photo blogs (like my origami) and video blogs as well.  Final lesson, grasshopper: Your blog can be whatever you want it to be.  Just make it fun and informative, and you will have succeeded.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Last Friday, we were very happy to release our newest program; Study Island SAT.

This new program provides targeted preparation for both SAT Math and SAT Verbal.  Each section is organized according to test strategy, and the lesson links next to each strategy take the user to an animated lesson.  The verbal section contains both Critical Reading and Writing.  The program also includes three full-length practice SAT tests.

This program, like our others, will be available to both the individual student for home use, and to schools and other institutions of learning.  Pricing for individual users is $59 and can be purchased by going to http://studyisland.com.  Click on your state on the US map, then click the "Parents and Students" icon at the top left of the next page.  Doing so will give you a list of all products available for purchase, scroll through until you see the SAT program.

For schools, just click on your state, then click "Pricing and Purchasing Info" on the next page to obtain a price list, or give us a call at 800-419-3191 to request a quote.

Click here to discuss the new Study Island SAT program on our forums!

Happy Thursday, everyone.  Thank you for being amazing, caring, wonderful teachers.  Have a great day! 

By now, we have all heard about the tragic earthquake that struck Haiti last week.  This morning, an aftershock of a magnitude 6.1 struck.  It is now estimated that hundreds of thousands have lost their lives, while millions more are homeless, injured, and hungry.

As a child, I remember feeling very affected by happenings such as these.  I remember feeling thankful for my home and family and safety.  I also remember feeling as if I was powerless to help those in need, even while desperately wanting to.

In the wake of this tragedy, many teachers and schools are stepping up, using this tragedy as a valuable opportunity to teach students about world awareness and about giving to those less fortunate.  One way to do this is to raise money for the many aid organizations working on relief efforts in Haiti.  Here are some fundraising ideas:

• With parental permission, you could ask students to bring donations from home, donate a portion of their allowance, or ask family members and friends for donations for your school's fundraising effort.
• Engage students in a craft project, such as making ribbons, and sell the items the students make.
• Go back to some of the old stand-by's:  resurrect one of your school's "usual" fundraising projects, such as bake sales.

Once you have raised funds, here are some reputable charities to whom to donate:

The American Red Cross

yele.org

Albert Schweitzer Hospital

United Nations World Food Programme - Students Helping Haiti

I'll leave you with this article from WJZ news in Maryland about students who want to help relief efforts in Haiti.  

Have a great day!