Thank You For A Great Year! Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - December 31, 2009June 30, 20103 Over 10,000 of the visits to SYWTT this year came from nine sources. The top three alone actually sent me over 6,200 visitors. This is incredible, and I need to thank all of you for the help you've provided me. Top referring blogsThese are the blogs that have sent the most visitors my way in 2009. I cannot thank these people enough for taking the time out of their schedule in one way or another and finding something on my site that resonated enough with them to send their readers my way. You people rock! It's Not All Flowers And Sausages TutorFi.com with the post 50 Reasons Why I Enjoy Being A Teacher Guy Kawasaki with the post 20
The Best of SYWTT 2009 Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - December 31, 2009June 30, 20100 Over the past (almost) three years of blogging, I have learned a lot more about myself, teaching, blogging, WordPress, CSS, HTML, and social media than I ever really thought I would. Most of it has been good, or at least fun. Some of it hasn't been all that great, but I keep on keeping on. As we close out each year, I like to take a sort of retrospective on the past year and look at some of the most popular articles from the year. I've traditionally broken this retrospective into three individual posts (2007 Loneliest/Busiest/Overlooked, 2008 Loneliest/Busiest/Overlooked), but this year I'll do things a little differently and pack everything into one huge year-end blowout. The busiest articles of 20092009 really
Planned Neglect Personal by Joel Wagner - December 27, 2009June 30, 20102 The new year always brings with it a certain air of excitement and a new set of challenges. 2010 is no exception. With the first major chunk of the 2009-2010 school year out of the way, I'm looking back on where it has taken me and there are, quite honestly, a great number of changes that I see as being pressing needs in my life. Over the course of the next few weeks, I'll be looking more in-depth into some of these changes and really digging into where I see things headed. Entering this year, I am 31 years old. While this isn't old by any contemporary standards, I also look at some of the notable people throughout history and
15 Free Online Education Resources for Teachers Blogging & Technology by Karen Schweitzer - December 23, 2009June 30, 20100 Guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. More guest posts by Karen for SYWTT are available here. Teachers who are interested in furthering their education can find many free education resources online. There are colleges, universities, and education associations that offer free courses as well as informational sites that provide details on earning advanced degrees, certificates, and continuing education credits. Here are 15 free online education resources to explore in your spare time. Thinkfinity - Thinkfinity provides free interactive webinars, online courses, and instructional videos for teachers and afterschool practitioners. Graduate credit is available for some of the courses. Teachers Network - The Teachers Network offers a wide range of how-to's for teachers. Covered topics include finding a teaching position, professional
Interview Questions About My First Year Teaching General by Joel Wagner - December 12, 2009June 30, 20102 A former student of mine who is now in his second year of college as a music education majors emailed me some interview questions a couple of weeks ago. Since many of my readers are early or pre-service teachers, I thought the answers might be useful to more than just him. 1. What discipline methods do you use? How do you get the students involved? One of the most effective discipline techniques I have found is simply to talk less and play more. This prevents most of the misbehaviors that tend to spring up throughout the class period. Additionally, phone calls and parent contact have been invaluable tools. That also is helpful for encouraging student and parent involvement. 2. Was
20 Free Tech Tools for Learning and Communicating Blogging & Technology by Karen Schweitzer - November 14, 2009June 30, 20105 Guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes about online school for OnlineSchool.net. Nearly everyone is familiar with Moodle, the learning management system that allows teachers to communicate and share learning resources online. But Moodle isn't the only free platform that can accomplish these tasks. There are many other free tech tools and sites that offer similar capabilities. Here are 20 tools worth exploring. Engrade - Over 150,000 teachers use Engrade's suite of tools to manage their classrooms online. The tools allow teachers to post assignments, grades, and attendance books on the web. Engrade can also be used to connect and privately communicate with administrators, parents, and students. 21Classes - 21Classes
How Do We Show Our Students That We Love Them? Classroom Management by Joel Wagner - November 8, 2009May 30, 20160 When I was struggling to find hope early in my career as a teacher, I came across a few pieces of advice given by King Solomon from the Proverbs: He who spares his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him promptly. — Proverbs 13:24 This one jumped out at me as I realized I overlooked way too much misbehavior. I came to understand that by continually letting the students misbehave because I wanted them to like me was actually counter-productive and instead it made them respect me less. More than that, it showed me that whereas I thought I was being loving, I was actually being hateful. That helped me a whole lot as it set me on a
85+ Cool Sites I Found In October Via Twitter Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - November 8, 2009June 30, 20102 I have been getting more and more into sharing information via Twitter recently. With 1,300 RSS subscribers, and only 850 Twitter followers, I know that not all of my readers are getting all of the links that I share. I thought it might be fun to share with you some of the links that I came across last month and shared on Twitter. If you aren't following me on Twitter yet, you should start: @sywtt Also, if you're on Google Wave and would like to add me, feel free! My address is soyouwanttoteach.com@googlewave.com 5 great resources to find out about Google Wave 5 Reasons Google Wave Is Not Ready 5 Step Change Strategy Five Technology Lessons Every Teacher Can
10 Books That Rocked My World Personal by Joel Wagner - November 7, 2009June 30, 20106 Over the last decade, I have read a handful of great books that forced me to think and consider a lot of things about the way I was living. I've mentioned some of these books before on the blog, but this week I read another one of those kinds of books and thought I would share more with my readers about some of these amazing books. 1999 - How To Win Friends And Influence People (buy on Amazon) Back when I was in college, I didn't know much about social interactions at all. I was horrible with remembering names, I didn't really make much eye contact, and I just sort of needed this book to really open my eyes to
Latest Carnival of Education Posted Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - November 3, 2009June 30, 20100 I have been asked to pass along a request. Unfortunately, I had a pep rally this morning and a football game this evening. I'm hosting the next EduCarnival at my blog (http://imadreamerteacher.blogspot.com/), and there aren't a ton of submissions. Since you have a widely read blog, I was wondering if you could post a short thing about how people could still submit today? It's too late to do it through the form, but they could email me links directly at imadreamerteacher@gmail.com. EDIT: It's now too late to submit...but check out the EduCarnival V2 Issue 11 anyway.
7 Steps To Financial Freedom [VIDEO] Personal by Joel Wagner - November 2, 2009June 30, 20103 This is a video of Dave Ramsey presenting his 7 Baby Steps. Following the summary video are 10 more videos with more specific details. If you haven't heard Dave Ramsey before, you need to subscribe to his podcast. Now. The Baby Steps Intro Budgeting Baby Steps Debt Snowball The Emergency Fund Retirement Investment College Savings Pay Off Mortgage Be A Giver Build Wealth Live Like No One Else
The Adaptive Unconscious: You Never Get A Second Chance To Make A First Impression General by Joel Wagner - November 1, 2009June 30, 20105 Yesterday, I picked up a copy of Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink (purchase on Amazon). Dave Ramsey has been recommending his latest book Outliers (purchase on Amazon) on his radio show lately but when I got to Barnes & Noble, I realized Blink was available in paperback and so was therefore quite a bit less expensive. I've heard Dave recommend it before, so I decided to go with the less costly alternative. I began reading it this afternoon and came across the following paragraph on pages 12-13: Whenever we meet someone for the first time, whenever we interview someone for a job, whenever we react to a new idea, whenever we're faced with making a decision quickly and under stress, we use
Taylor Mali Extravaganza [VIDEO] General by Joel Wagner - October 25, 2009June 22, 20161 A couple of years ago, I saw a few videos on YouTube of Taylor Mali reciting some of his poetry. I reposted one of them last night, and thought I would dig around and see if I could find some more. Here's what I came up with. The Impotence of Proofreading On Girls Lending Pens Reading Allowed I Could Be A Poet Speak With Conviction Miracle Workers Tony Steinberg: Brave Seventh-Grade Viking Warrior
Video: What Do Teachers Make by Taylor Mali General by Joel Wagner - October 24, 2009June 30, 20100 By Taylor Maliwww.taylormali.com He says the problem with teachers is, "What's a kid going to learnfrom someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?"He reminds the other dinner guests that it's true what they say aboutteachers:Those who can, do; those who can't, teach. I decide to bite my tongue instead of hisand resist the temptation to remind the other dinner gueststhat it's also true what they say about lawyers. Because we're eating, after all, and this is polite company. "I mean, you¹re a teacher, Taylor," he says."Be honest. What do you make?" And I wish he hadn't done that(asked me to be honest)because, you see, I have a policyabout honesty and ass-kicking:if you ask for
10 Free Ed-Tech Resources to Implement in the Classroom Blogging & Technology by Karen Schweitzer - October 21, 2009July 3, 20160 This article is by Karen Schweitzer, the About.com Guide to Business School. Since it was published in 2009, 5 of the original 15 sites have gone away. It's now 10 Free Ed-Tech Resources to Implement in the Classroom. Enjoy. Teachers who are looking for technology to implement in their classroom can find many different resources online. From presentation apps to educational microblogs, the Internet has everything teachers need to improve learning experiences and productivity in the classroom. Here are 10 free ed-tech resources worth exploring: Mindomo – Mindomo is a versatile mind mapping tool that makes it easy to create, organize, and share your ideas. It is a great brainstorming tool for the classroom. SlideShare – SlideShare is the world’s largest presentation sharing community. It can be