Elmo teaches kids money lessons

For Me, for You, for Later: First Steps to Spending, Sharing, and Saving, was developed in 2011 by Sesame Workshop, the creators of Sesame Street®, in partnership with PNC Grow Up Great. For Me, for You, for Later provides parents, caregivers, and educators with strategies and resources to turn everyday experiences into financial moments.

Achieve It with Sesame Street! is a free mobile app that reinforces concepts introduced in the For Me, for You, for Later kit. Parents set goals with their children and complete fun, real-world challenges that introduce important age-appropriate financial concepts such as choice, value, spending, saving, sharing, and more. This app is available for free from the iTunes store and the Android Marketplace. To locate the app, simply search 'PNC' or 'Sesame Street'.

PNC Grow Up Great is full of tools, online games, and other resources for kids, parents and educators.

Students, get out your phones and get organized

I noticed that very few of you are using your agenda books to stay organized. For those who do not have phones, you really should be. For those who do have phones, you need to start to take advantage of an ideal organizational tool just at your fingertips. It is with you all the time and it is one of your most important possessions. Not all phones are equal, but all phones do have basic tools you will find helpful.

Calendar
Stop pretenting to write your homework down on a scrap piece of paper you know you will lose five minutes after class is over. Write your homework down in your calendar, and set a reminder time for when you plan on doing it, and when it is due.

Passwords
Use your phone to store valuable passwords. For some of you, it may be your online banking password. For others it may be your online school program passwords like Budget Challenge or Everfi. There are plenty of applications available, such as these five. Be sure to use the appropriate password protection techniques, here are just a few.

Twitter
Most of you use Twitter to follow your friends and your favorite celebrities. However, Twitter can also be a valuable learning tool. Click here for 12 Twitter feeds for HS students to follow.

Khan Academy
Do you need to see a math problem explained one more time? What about a science illustration? Khan Academy is full of videos you can use to review, extend your learning, or practice. Click here to visit Khan Academy. Yes, they have an App.

Vocabulary
Are you having trouble with vocabulary in any of your classes? Click here to visit Quizlet to study virtually. By the way, they have an App.

Remind101
Most of you use Remind101. If you have yet to signup but have the capability, I strongly suggest you signup now.

You can't fire your way to Finland

I always wondered what Charlotte Danielson, who crafted the teacher evaluation model we use, thought of the current trend of teacher evaluation reform. Well, here it is in three short minutes.

3 resources to teach about bankruptcy

The Credit Abuse Resistance Education program is dedicated to providing abundant resources for teachers and students to learn about bankruptcy and bankruptcy prevention.

The United States Courts has a collection of helpful videos on bankruptcy basics.

The National Council for Credit Counseling is the nation's largest financial counseling organization.

A researched-based argument to integrate financial literacy

The Rand Corporation just shared a summary of the results of decades of research that identifies nine lessons on how to teach 21st century skills and knowledge. Clearly, the first four lessons make a compelling argument for the integration of financial literacy skills in elementary grades. The national trend seems to be to wait until high school, that is if students are left all together to wait and learn from the school of hard knocks. The release of this research is timely, as teachers across the country are beginning to implement the new Common Core State Standards.

"As Thomas Friedman put it in a recent New York Times column, globalization compounds the urgency for students to develop the skills and knowledge they need for economic and civic success in the 21st century. Yet despite widespread agreement among parents, educators, employers and policymakers worldwide that students need skills like critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork and creativity, these skills are stubbornly difficult to teach and learn.

The "transmission" model, through which teachers transmit factual knowledge via lectures and textbooks, remains the dominant approach to compulsory education in much of the world. Students taught through this method typically do not practice applying knowledge to new contexts, communicating it in complex ways, solving problems or developing creativity. In short, as our new paper lays out, it is not the most effective way to teach 21st century skills.

Decades of empirical research about how individuals learn, however, provide valuable insight into how pedagogy can address the need for 21st century skills. Indeed, the research suggests nine lessons that inform how to teach these skills:

Make it relevant. The relevance of learning specific knowledge and skills is much clearer to students—and much more motivating—if they understand how a given topic fits into "the big picture," or a meaningful context.

Teach through the disciplines. Students develop their 21st century skills and knowledge as they learn why each academic discipline is important, how experts create new knowledge, and how they communicate about it.

Develop lower and higher order thinking skills—at the same time. Students need to comprehend relationships between given variables and how to apply this understanding to different contexts.

Encourage transfer of learning. Students need to develop the ability to apply skills, concepts, knowledge, attitudes and/or strategies they develop in one context, situation or application to another, reflexively (low-road transfer) or after deliberate thought and analysis (high-road transfer)."

Click here to read the full summary or download the research paper. Click here to download the K-12 Jump$tart Personal Finance National Standards. Click here for an e-binder of resources for financial literacy integration.

#EdTech specialist - can you please help?

The purpose of this post is to ask for help and advice from #EdTech specialist who are familiar with the new MacBook Air. I was fortunate to be the recipient of a $60,000 grant from Discover's Pathway to Financial Success, and with my Grant dollars I purchased a full computer lab. Click here if you are interested in learning more about the Grant, and how else I have allocated the money.

Background
Our technology specialist has already ordered 30 MacBook Pro's (plus one for me), and all of the support equipment. Our school is not a 1:1 school, and many of the kids have no experience working with a laptop computer. Furthermore, the kids have little to no experience turning in paperless work, or using online programs to take notes.

The primary purpose for the technology is to support my students in my stand-alone personal finance course for our special education students. I will have kids from all of my classes using the computers, so they are going to benefit as well.

I have a SMART board in my classroom that has never worked, but is going to be fixed. I would like to integrate my SMART board into my lessons, student notes, and classroom activities.

To be clear, I do not want to overwhelm the students. My goal is to use technology to enhance learning opportunities. I do not want to overwhelm them with technology and create barriers to learning.

My short term goals and questions

• I immediately want to go paperless with everything except for tests. This means how I share notes, assignments, and projects. I have been told that Microsoft's OneNote is an excellent program for note-sharing.
• Does One-Note work well with Mac's?
• Is there any cost for One-Note beyond the initial purchase of the program?
• What is the third-party intermediary that allows for sharing notes, and is there a cost?
• Are there any other note-sharing programs that you feel may be better?
• We have an internal dropbox at the school. Would this be the best way for the students to turn in their assignments? Would DropBox be better because it has an app?
• I want to ensure students are not sidetracked with off-site/off-topic internet sites. 
• What kind of spyware do you recommend I use?
• Beyond engaging lessons, do you have any specific classroom management techniques you feel are effective?
• I want to make sure the computers are not damaged or stolen.
• Any advice?

My long term goals and questions

• I want my students to leave our school and enter a college or a work setting computer literate. I don't know how else to explain my end goal other than sharing two visions... 
• I want see my students in a college sitting next to kids who attended elite private schools with 1:1 programs, and be able to outperform them. 
• Any specific advice, programs, fluencies, that I should integrate into my coursework?
• I want my non-college bound students and/or special education students to walk into an office setting and have enough technology fluency to thrive in an everyday office setting.
• Any specific advice, programs, fluencies, that I should integrate into my coursework?
• I do not want to ever use paper again - - ever.
• Do you know of any assessment programs that would allow me to upload my assessments, for my students to take the assessments, and to turn them in? Note - my tests are typically multiple choice and extended response. 
• Do you know of any programs that will auto-grade multiple choice and/or written response questions?
• I want my students to leave every class with an e-portfolio, something they can show future employers or college admissions. 
• Any suggested e-portolio programs and/or resources? Preferably free.

Any advice you can provide me in response to this post is greatly appreciated.

Thank you...for 39 years

Earlier this month I had a close friend tell me that he divides people into two categories. There are people who skim across the surface of life - - experiencing and doing things that make their own lives better. Then there are people who dive into the lives of others, and who dedicate their lives to making the experiences and lives of other people better. These are the people who leave a legacy, the people who are talked about years after they are out of your lives or after they pass, people like my great friend Dennis Sulfsted.

Dennis Sulfsted grew up in Reading, Ohio. Dennis partially stepped away from Reading to attend the University of Cincinnati. He soon returned to serve the community in 1974 as a teacher at Reading Schools and never left. During his tenure, he won countless awards for excelling with every position he held with our district. As an English teacher and Newspaper advisor, he won national awards. As a wrestling coach, he won numerous championships and coach of the year awards. As our technology director, he won leadership awards.

I chose not to write a full-page summary of his awards, because adult recognition is not that important to him. I believe the moments that matter the most to him are memories of students in the midst of a lesson, who he has at the edge of their seats. Memories of students engaged in learning during a carefully crafted lesson that drive deep into the soul of a child, far beyond the context of a book.

Dennis is a friend I turn to as a moral compass. He serves as my guide to help me navigate through the many shades of grey in education. Regardless of the situation his priorities are clear and consistent. He puts the needs of kids first. He never lies - - ever. And he prioritizes helping teachers’ help kids through technology.

Dennis transitioned from the classroom to our full-time technology director twelve years ago. Regardless of whether he was excelling as a classroom teacher, or through classroom teachers, he spent his career excelling for kids. I experienced this first-hand. I am every technology director’s worst nightmare. I am always pushing the envelope, and often doing so at the last minute. Dennis was always there for me. He often dropped what he was doing to help me because he knew my students would benefit.

To begin the year, the computer lab Dennis built was dedicated to him. The computer lab is now known as the “Sulfsted Computer Lab”. So in the years ahead, teachers and alumni will walk past his lab and remember him, and everything he did for teachers and kids.

I can’t say I will miss Dennis as a friend, because I will not lose touch with him. What I can say is thank you. Thank you for making me a better teacher. Thank you for your advice, your support, and your passion. Most of all, thank you for leaving a legacy.