Jen Stover

Put Simply: a Resource Districts Should Not Ignore! "The Horizon Report"

This is a "Blog/RE-Tweet" giving attribution to ISU faculty member, Scott McLeod, who recently published a post called "My April SAI Report" on his site, Dangerously Irrelevant. 

Included in this post, he discussed "The Horizon Report, K-12" (2009), a document dedicated to the future of technology integration in the classroom.

Every Principal and teacher should read this report, in my opinion, because:

• It is a fantastic resource for educators preparing for the implementation of the Iowa Core....

• I am amazed at all the resources, giving our kids the capability to interact with the entire world! 

     

Some Examples:

http://mscofino.edublogs.org/projects/
At the International School Bangkok, students in kindergarten through fifth grade collaborate with their peers around the world using a range of methods including social networking tools, collaborative workspaces, blogs, wikis, and microblogging tools.

New Media Literacies.org
Scheduled for release in May 2009, the Learning Library presents a variety of interactive learning challenges that are designed for students to work through. The challenges are structured to encourage practice and exploration in new media literacy skills.

Top 10 Web 2.0 Tools for Young Learners
This article highlights ten high quality online tools, some of which use some social networking in the classrooms of younger students.

....and this is only the beginning of a huge list of resources to help with 21st century skills integration and the "WHY's" behind we so need to be doing this!!

Teachers, administrators: please pay attention to this report, and to Scott's research! 

If you want your district to be on the path of excellence, visit his site: "Dangerously Irrelevant!"

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Enjoy These Online Tools!

In my quest to find resources that help integrate technology into the classroom, these resources recently came across my google reader today:

1. E-Learning for kids

Take a look at this fantastic website!  Geared towards students K-6, this site is packed with fantastic activities and games for the classroom, or to use at home.  Parents, kids would love to use this site!  I visited, played some games......would LOVED to have this around when I taught first grade language arts!

2. bygosh.com

Oh my gosh!  "By gosh" is awesome!  Visit this site and find MANY titles, along with links to other sites that host books by category, age level of reader, genre, you name it!  Fantastic resource for educators all ages!

3. www.jenuinetech.com

Fantastic website for the PreK-6 educator!!  This site is filled with ideas that integrate technology,from online projects share by other teachers, to educational seminars that can be taken online!  I suggest you check it out.

So glad we are living in the age of technology and FREE RESOURCES!!  The sky is the limit for your classrooms, so enjoy these sites......many more to come!!  Oh, and..... happy Friday!!

Welcome to JenStover.com!

Good Morning, Happy Wednesday, and Welcome to my Blog!!

My name is Jennifer Stover.  I am an educational consultant, beginning my new career alongside Angela Maiers (of Maiers Educational Services, Inc.), and Mike Sansone (of Converstations).  I am humbled and honored to be a part of their (my) mission, which is very simple: change the lives of learners all across the world.

This is a very exciting and brand-new day for me as I begin a completely new venture in my life.  Today marks the beginning of a turn in my career I never expected.  I couldn't sleep last night, I am having so much fun imagining the possibilities that are ahead!

Angela Maiers: Many of my friends and colleagues in the public school system, as well as the graduate level are familiar with Angela and the amazing work she does with schools around the country (and world).  While teaching in Johnston, IA, I had the pleasure of being involved with staff development with Angela.  She is acknowledged as an accomplished writer, leader in best practice research, and 21st century learning strategies.  More importantly, she works with her heart, then her head.  Her work isn't "work"...it is a life mission.  I am honored to be her colleague as well as her friend.

Mike Sansone, designer of the company "Converstations", is a business builder and conversation conductor, who works with Angela and I on every issue from designing our businesses to opening our car doors and holding our purses while we shoe shop!  He is an amazing man, committed to positive change in the world.   I am proud he considers me worthy to be a part of his team! 

 

As a reader of my blog, what I hope to provide is this: insights from one educator to another of what I believe to be important in regards to best practices and resources for your classrooms.  My goal is to constantly be researching, learning from the best, trying new lessons with learners, staying focused on helping you be your best at all times.  My background is elementary and early childhood education, undergraduate literacy education, graduate early childhood education and digital literacy. 

As an educational Consultant, what I hope to provide is this: to be invited to come to schools and work with teachers and staff, working with them to support the curriculum they already have, strengthen their strengths, and not "reinvent the wheel."   Thinking about what is important to teachers in staff development, I want to assist them in feeling empowered, inspired, and excited about what they do in their classrooms with our most precious future resource....our children.

With that.....I look forward to having conversations with you and hope to be working with you soon!

Sincerely,
Jen Stover

 

A Simple Reminder of Authentic Learning

Just a quick post about something fantastic that happened while driving with my daughter this week.
It was a great reminder of the learning process, especially in relation to young children.

We were driving along, she wanted to listen to her vacation bible school cd from a few years ago.  She loves that cd; it is familiar, she can sing right along and enjoy the songs, completely on auto-pilot.
I suggested we pop in a new one, our upcoming summer VBS songs, so she could begin learning the lyrics.

To this, she was very, very opposed.

I said, "Honey, why don't you want to listen to this one?
She replied, "Well, I just don't know it like the other one, it is more fun to sing.  It's no fun when you don't know the words."

We had a discussion about the new cd in relation to her beloved cd from a few years ago.  We discussed how she felt when we first started listening to it, whether she could sing along right in the beginning, or did it take some time to learn the words and music?

A light bulb popped on inside her little head and she realized.....the same thing would happen with this new cd!  She just had to try it out, then try it again, and again, each time in different ways.  Sometimes in the car, sometimes while dancing, while coloring and drawing, etc.   Her little brain was literally "bathed" in that music, just in different ways all the time. And, guess what, just a few short days later, she is singing away, several songs memorized, belting them out at the top of her lungs!

Maybe not the most exciting story to read (I apologize).  However, it is a simple reminder of this...

We must always teach a concept more than once if we expect our learners to REALLY internalize the learning!!  Also, we should always teach the concept by incorporating strategies that work with many learning styles. 

I loved this story.....a simple reminder of learning. 

Through perseverance (keep on trying, you will get it) and adaptability (learning in many different ways), learners will have ownership.  Keep the activities spiraling; returning again and again, so students can feel successful and learn the same concept in many different ways.

.....Hopefully, they will be eager to come back for more!

Image taken from Flickr by Khwarlings