In this third and final post of the "Staying Connected with TeacherCast" series, our focus will turn to the wealth of information, knowledge and expertise offered by our very own industrious and innovative teaching colleagues from around the world. Many of these colleagues are educators just like you and I whose passion for teaching is demonstrated by the sound pedagogical practices that occur in our classrooms on a daily basis. Teachers, such as these, strongly believe that sharing their educational know-how with a wider audience is not only important but a necessity in order for future generations of teachers, and subsequently students, to gain the most benefit. As a result, it is safe to assume the next step in our "staying connected" journey requires us to not only utilize new found resources but to also share our educational materials, insights and skills with the global teaching community. Many educators will resist this request not because of a lack of teaching skill but rather of confidence. I can personally attest to this view because it was only a few, short months ago that I, too, did not think I had anything important to contribute. But with a good heart to heart chat with a fellow colleague (Thank you, Anna), I gained the necessary confidence to break out of my shell. So for those educators out there who are in the same position I was, I strongly encourage you to rid yourself of those confining shackles and embrace the connected educators community by sharing your expertise with us! We are eager to learn from you too!
The TeacherCast Educational Magazine offers educators a relaxing and engaging coffee-shop atmosphere to share their pedagogical expertise. In essence, the TeacherCast Educational Magazine is a collection of articles written by every day educators on a wide range of topics such as technology integration, software tutorials, leadership, personal reflection and much, much more. Currently, with a family of more than 50 writers which include teachers, principals and superintendents, the TeacherCast Educational Magazine provides educators with an excellent opportunity to learn, share and collaborate with our peers. In fact, many of these writers appear regularly on the TeacherCast Podcast as well to further elaborate on their teaching practices and ideas. With a viewing audience from more than 120 countries each month, the TeacherCast Educational Magazine is truly an inspiring educational resource teachers can not do without.
Below is just a sampling of the great content one will find in the TeacherCast Educational Magazine:
"Promoting Student Engagement ~ Make Your Mark" by Angela Maiers
"Your Leadership "Home Button"" by Joe Mazza
"Student Standardization" by Tom Whitby
"Use Google Voice to Call Parents" by Melissa Seideman
"Making the Right Digital Decisions" by Steve Anderson
"Teaching Communication is the Key" by Catlin Tucker
If you are interested in becoming a TeacherCast contributing writer, please fill out the contact form located at the bottom of the TeacherCast Educational Magazine web page and Jeff Bradbury will be more than happy to support you in your "staying connected" journey.
There is no doubt that TeacherCast lives up to its motto of "a place for teachers to help other teachers". Jeff has put his heart and soul into offering a central location or "meeting place" for a wide array of educational resources in various formats so that there is a little of something for everyone. On behalf of the thousands of educators out there, I would like to thank Jeff for all his efforts as we appreciate it very much. Also, we would like to thank Jeff's wife and fellow teaching colleague, Jennifer (@bassjen1) as without her love and support, Jeff would not be able to live out his dream of making TeacherCast an educator's go to resource. The goal is and will always be to do the best for our students and TeacherCast certainly makes that goal a reality for many, many educators worldwide. So please do not hesitate any longer, get involved and be vocal about the great things that are currently happening in education today. Get connected! Stay connected!
Staying connected with one's Professional Learning Network (PLN) is a critical component in the ongoing pursuit of improving personal teaching practices. To take full advantage of your PLN however, it is important to maintain a consistent pattern of engagement. For some educators, establishing that habitual routine can be difficult unless an universal resource is available. In the first post of the "Staying Connected with TeacherCast" series, it was explained how TeacherCast fulfills the needs of educators by offering a plethora of educational resources in a variety of formats. Resources such as TeacherCast University, LiveBinder Gallery, TeacherCast TV and much more offer educators a wide range of information to expand their pedagogical practice. The key attribute of these fantastic resources is that they are all offered in one, easy to use location. As a result, educators can easily connect with the global teaching community by utilizing the numerous resources TeacherCast offers!
In Part Two of this three part series, we now turn our attention to the merits of the TeacherCast Podcasting Network, a vibrant library of audio presentations hosted by Jeff Bradbury for the purpose of offering yet another medium for educators to access professional development resources. Essentially, TeacherCast podcasts are lively discussions with the most respected educators from around the globe who share their knowledge and expertise about some of the hottest topics affecting education today. TeacherCast podcasts are organized into three main formats.
1. TeacherCast Podcast is a round table type show featuring teachers and administrators who discuss educational topics they specialize in such as EdCamps, curriculum development and leadership. Jeff welcomes all interested teachers who want to share their expertise to contact him and invite themselves on the show. In the past, the show has featured great guests such as Steve Anderson, Tom Whitby, Jerry Blumengarten, Angela Maiers, and over 200 other leading educators from around the world. Below are three sample round table discussions you will want to listen in on:
With the month of August in the rear view mirror, so too is Connected Educator Month. Over the past several weeks, countless educators have expressed great appreciation and enthusiasm for the new teaching connections they have made as well as the new learning resources they have acquired. With the new school year now upon us, the goal is to incorporate those innovative pedagogical ideas into our current teaching practice.
To continue to grow as an educator however, it is important to stay connected. Not only is it essential to nurture current teaching contacts but it is also important to continue to build your PLN (Personal Learning Network). Doing so can be difficult for some educators however. To aid in this process, a wide selection of resources in various formats in a central location is needed. Consequently, a website educators must try that offers these services and much more is TeacherCast. TeacherCast is the brainchild of Jeffrey Bradbury, a music teacher from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Jeff's passion for connecting educators and sharing educational resources is clearly evident through his ongoing work with TeacherCast. In fact, the underlying principle of TeacherCast is to build 'a place for teachers to help other teachers'. With a reach of over 400,000 followers and growing, the collaborative nature of TeacherCast is truly motivating and engaging.
Jeff's enthusiastic support for his teaching colleagues does not end with just the TeacherCast website, however. Jeff has recently added TeacherCast University, an educational consulting service for teachers who are looking to expand their teaching practice with a more hands-on approach. Jeff is a frequent workshop presenter at Edcamps, TeachMeets and other educational conferences with the workshop topics ranging from technology integration to learning about Web 2.0 tools. Virtual workshops are also available for those looking for a more cost-efficient way of benefiting from Jeff's expertise. The goal for each workshop is to provide engaging and relevant material whereby each attending colleague leaves with something new to add to their teaching methodology. TeacherCast University provides additional professional development opportunities as well such as conference keynote presentations and technology integration consults. For those teachers who are unable to attend a TeacherCast University workshop, Jeff also shares his expertise through highly engaging webinars. Below is the first TeacherCast webinar on Sandvox, an easy to use website creation tool for Mac.
TeacherCast offers a wealth of information on various educational topics. Below is a brief summary of some of the excellent features TeacherCast provides:
1. TeacherCast Mobile App - Simply put, the TeacherCast iPhone/iPad app is "education at your fingertips"! This free, time-saving app easily allows educators to stay informed about the most current pedagogical practices, technologies, educational trends and much more. In fact, students can benefit from the TeacherCast Mobile App too by accessing a myriad of popular web tools and applications such as KidBlog. It is evident that this app is designed to be "the one app educators can use everyday." Click here to download the TeacherCast mobile app.
2. App Reviews - These very popular teacher-tested app reviews are a definite educational treasure for teachers! TeacherCast's dedicated app reviewers, current classroom teachers themselves, recommend the best educational apps and suggest possible classroom activities for each. Click here to sample one of dozens of app reviews TeacherCast offers.
3. LiveBinder Gallery - A wide array of educational resources are shared by educators from around the world in this nicely organized LiveBinder Gallery. Click here to view the more than 15,000 LiveBinder resources!
4. TeacherCast TV - A library of educational videos are available ranging from tutorials on the latest technologies to keynote presentations. To sample one of the many screencast tutorials, refer to the video below.
5. Career Center - Looking for a job? The TeacherCast Career Center offers a central meeting place for both employers and employees to connect. To further assist prospective teachers, a search engine is available to help narrow down your choices.
6. TeacherCast Pinboard - A collection of educational links organized by topic that every educator will find very helpful. Links range from information about upcoming professional development opportunities to blogging tips.
Without a doubt, TeacherCast makes the task of staying connected very easy!
This is the first in a 3 part series about the benefits of staying connected with TeacherCast. Next week's post will focus on the TeacherCast Podcasting Network - a network of very informative and highly engaging presentations featuring respected educators who share their knowledge and expertise on the most pertinent topics affecting education today.
The time consuming task of searching the web for engaging educational content can be frustrating especially for busy teachers. To help ease the time-crunch, educators will want to try 19Pencils, an educational website for K-8 classes that offers a high quality search engine rich with educational content only. This educational resource library for teachers has been collaboratively developed by educators from around the world who have shared their teacher-tested materials. Resources such as lessons, activities, interactive websites, quizzes, etc can be saved and managed using the 19Pencils website which allows teachers to create a collection of resources specific to their students needs.
The 19Pencils service does not end with searching for resources however! The true value of 19Pencils is found in the creation a class page where the newly found resources can be directly shared with your students in an easy to use thumbnail format!
Additional Features of 19Pencils:
Once you have registered for a 19Pencils account, you can also enjoy the use of the following:
1. Thousands of educational topics are available. Searches can be quickly narrowed down with the use of the site's search filter. Each day more and more resources are added by great educators worldwide.
2. Adding your own content is easily done in one click of the mouse. The best part is your resource is immediately shared with the rest of the 19Pencils teaching community.
3. Within your Class Page, student progress and assignment completion can be monitored from the teacher account. Also, you can create or add custom (single question or multiple choice) quizzes for your students.
4. If you already have a class website - no problem! A 19Pencils widget can be embedded into your existing website directing students to 19Pencils activities.
19Pencils is still in beta meaning that feedback is welcomed as the website's intent is to assist teachers in the best way possible. If you are a K-8 teacher and you are looking for a time-saving, educationally sound search engine for teacher-tested resources, I highly recommend trying 19Pencils! Click here to get started!
This post originally appeared on The De-tech-tive 4 Teachers.
