#ThrowbackThursday - Promote Engaging Technologies Even Though Schools Filter Them

Today's #ThrowbackThursday brings us to a post I wrote about the importance of incorporating social media and student devices into learning even if it is blocked or banned in schools. What a difference a half dozen or so years make! Today, social media is embraced by districts such as New York City and this week the long-standing ban on cell phones has been lifted. 

Back then I was running a Ning network for The Innovative Educator blog. Since then, Ning is out and The Innovative Educator Facebook group is in and boasting several thousand members.

Written: May 11, 2008

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Get Smart by Texting w/ @Text_Engine

When Teaching Generation Text was published in 2011 there were numerous ways to use text-only enabled phones for learning.  This was great for students and families who didn't have access to smartphones.  Back then there were terrific tools like Google SMS, Cha Cha, Wiffiti, and 4info. One by one as smartphones took the front seat, texting tools like those faded away, until now. 

Text Engine was developed to offer cell phone users a means to search the web using their text messaging service. This is great news for educators and students in low-income and rural communities.  

And that's a good thing, because while smartphones are popular, there is still a great need for text-only services in low-income and rural districts. There is also a need in districts like NYC that empower students to bring their own devices to school, but don't have the means to enable students to connect to the internet.  

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Screen time: It's not about how much. It's about how.

Editor's Note: A version of this post was originally posted on career advice expert, Penelope Trunk's education blog. If you'd rather read it (and the comments) there, go here.  

There’s nothing the press likes better than a story that generates real panic for teachers and parents…especially when it has the stamp of science to give a the panic an extra edge.

That’s exactly what happened when the media (Scientific American, Wall Street Journal,CNN, New York Times) ran a story about the American Association of Pediatrics (AAP)recommendations on children and screen time. One to two hours a day for children older than 2, they said, and no screen time at all for those younger than 2. Longer than that is dangerous to their health and their development.

An educator or parent today reading this probably had one of these reactions:

1.  You are a failure because your students are in front of screens much more than 1 or 2 hours a day.
2.  You don’t let students use computers so you’re good.

OR 

3.  Seriously? What year is this? Who is doing this research?

If you fit into the third reaction, you are likely someone who has seen amazing learning from screen time for your young people: building, creating, coding, reading, writing, and more.

Why would adults want to limit that?

We wouldn’t.

So why would the AAP make such out-of-touch recommendations?

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The Hottest Posts Everybody's Reading

Here’s the roundup of what's been popular on The Innovative Educator blog. Below you’ll see the top posts along with the number of page views. I hope there's something that looks of interest to you.  If it does, check it out. If you’re inspired use one of those icons below the post to share it with others and/or leave a comment.

Entry	Pageviews
The Evidence is Clear. When Used Responsibly Cell ... Feb 3, 2015,	2478
Does Twitter have a minimum age requirement? Jun 13, 2013,	2384
5 Ways To Use Social Media as Time Saver at Work Feb 15, 2015,	2319
Finally! Research-based proof that students use ce... Feb 16, 2013,	1609
Hashtag How Tos - Figure, Configure, Follow, Find,... Jan 25, 2015,	1480
The Social Media Game for Elementary School Students ... Feb 17, 2015,	1311

#ThrowbackThursday - 12 Reasons to Ditch the Pen - Why It's No Longer Mightiest Against the Sword

Today's #ThrowbackThursday brings us to a post I wrote about why it's time to ditch the pen and embrace the keyboard. This post came to mind when drafting this week's look at iPads vs Chromebooks vs Surface. In it I made the point that a stylus for the purposes we think of in education (writing in a notebook or math equations) is a thing of the past.  On a personal note, with the exception of having to fill out forms because of various outdated practices at places like doctor's offices, I haven't used or carried a pen in several years.

Written: September 3, 2010 

Topic: Why it's time to ditch the pen and embrace the keyboard.

Who might be interested: Anyone who is keeping students stuck as prisoners of their teacher's past by using pens instead of keyboards.

Favorite excerpt:  Get over it and join the 21st century so you can be relevant to yourself, your colleagues, and most importantly your students.

Reader question: Are you still keeping your student's tethered to the quill? What are your fears in moving forward?

Post:

I want to tackle the death of the pen which is quickly being replaced with digital writing tools like laptops, cell phones, iTouches, iPads, Smartpens etc. etc. etc. The same rumblings happen when it comes to the passing of the pen.

• But I love the feel of the pen on the page.
• Taking notes (an outdated skill) with a pen helps me understand what I’m hearing.
• I need an ink pen to be able to capture my thoughts, the keyboard just isn’t the same.

Read the rest at: 
http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2010/09/pen-is-no-longer-weapon-of-choice.html 

Music Education - Learn How to Read Music

People enjoy music in their community, some as audience members and some as participants as well. Learning how to read music for the first time or as a refresher will open horizons that transcend other forms of communication.Written music is a language of the world. Whatever one's life has been, acquiring or refreshing basic music reading skills will enhance the enjoyment and success in this artistic endeavor. Some people have no formal musical background, or haven't picked up their instruments or sung since grade school. Now is a great time to learn or relearn the basics. Anything that you learn or refresh from years ago is a gain. Gracefully accept age related limitations while learning to innovate, and you'll be enlarging your musical world.

Reading music starts with being able to see what is in front of you. Make sure that you have plenty of light, that you can easily see what is written on the instructional music page in front of you and that you are comfortable physically. If you can't see the music, try a larger print version of a beginning music instruction book. Reading glasses might also help. The piano or keyboard is a good instrument on which to base your initial music reading skill application. Pianos are widely available in community settings. Because the keyboard is a percussion instrument, a beginner can practice music reading skills and immediately hear the translation of what they are seeing on paper. Even if you plan to sing rather than play an instrument, being able to find your first note and hear it on the piano is hugely gratifying.

The first thing to learn about the keyboard is the location of middle C. A regular sized piano has 88 keys, 52 white keys and 36 black keys. Count only the white keys from the left or lower tones. The 24th one is middle C. It may be helpful to mark it with placement of a penny or sticky note with the letter C written on it. Another way to locate this note is to find the middle area of keys. Middle C is the white key just left of the group of two black keys. Confirm the placement of middle C by both methods.

Now look at middle C written on music paper. For now we will only consider notes starting at middle C and going to the right or higher in tone. Middle C is denoted below the five lines landing on what would be the next horizontal line which horizontally bisects the written note.

Now gently strike the note you marked previously as middle C. Learn the notation shown above and practice finding it on the piano. Listen to the tone. Practice finding middle C without the penny or written clue. Repeat looking at the Middle C on the music paper and finding it on the piano keyboard. Practice this 7 to 10 times over a week, for no more than 30 minutes per day. Congratulations on reading your first musical note!

How To Read Forex Quotes

1.Currency prices

Factors such as economic and political conditions deeply affect currency prices. Political stability, inflation, and interest rates are all factored into the price of any currency. The price of currency can be controlled by governments who flood the market or buy extensively.

2. Volume of FOREX

No force can have dominate the market due to the volume of Forex.Market forces will prevail in the long run, making FOREX one of the most open and fair investment opportunities available.

3. World Currency

Each world currency is given a three letter code which is used in FOREX quotes. The most common currencies are USD (US dollars), EUR (European euros), GBP (United Kingdom pounds), AUD (Australian dollars), JPY (Japanese yen), CHF (Swiss francs) and CAD (Canadian dollars).

4. Foreign exchange prices

Forex quotes can be used to determine prices of foreign exchange. The first currency is the 'base' and the second is the 'quote' currency. In this example: USD/EUR = 0.8419 the currency pair is US dollars and European euros. The base currency (USD) is always at '1' and the quote currency shows how much it costs to buy one unit of the base currency. In this example, 1 US dollar costs 0.8419 euros. Conversely...EUR/USD = 1.1882 ...tells us that it costs 1.1882 US dollars to buy 1 euro. When the price of the quote currency goes up it indicates that the base currency is becoming stronger – one unit of the base currency will buy more of the quote currency. The base currency is made weaker when the quote currency is weak.

5.Central banks

National central banks play an important role in the foreign exchange markets. They try to control the money supply, inflation, and/or interest rates and often have official or unofficial target rates for their currencies. They can use their often substantial foreign exchange reserves, to stabilize the market. Milton Friedman argued that the best stabilization strategy would be for central banks to buy when the exchange rate is too low, and to sell when the rate is too high - that is, to trade for a profit. Nevertheless, central banks do not go bankrupt if they make large losses, like other traders would, and there is no convincing evidence that they do make a profit trading.

The mere expectation or rumor of central bank intervention might be enough to stabilize a currency, but aggressive intervention might be used several times each year in countries with a dirty float currency regime. Central banks do not always achieve their objectives, however. The combined resources of the market can easily overwhelm any central bank. Several scenarios of this nature were seen in the 1992-93 ERM collapse, and in more recent times in South East Asia.