Teacher Talk

Safe Toys in One-Word

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Inviting Teachers...

Blog for Teacher Talk

Inviting teacher-authors and teacher-learners to contribute to the Teacher Talk blog. This is YOUR blog and open to the whole Professional Learning Board community. Please take a look around.

New to blogging?

That's okay. Write about anything related to education, teaching and learning.

Who'll read what I write?

Maybe no one. Maybe everyone. Your postings will be accessible across the World-Wide-Web, so don't write anything that you wouldn't want shared. Also, it's important to adhere to general data privacy and confidentiality regarding student names, etc.

Why?

While we can't offer to pay you, we can provide this opportunity to engage in the technology that is forcing changes in education we are only beginning to see. This is a forum and opportunity  for teacher-learners and leaders to experience the blogosphere and blogging in a somewhat moderated environment. Discover new ground, participate in self-publishing, develop skills, reach new audiences and share ideas, insights, stories, suggestions, helpful hints and successful practices.

Interested?

If you'd like to be given blogging privileges, Send Murray an Email. Please include your name and why you would like to contribute to Teacher Talk.

Tags: blog, teachers, ed blog, teach

Thanks for Tooting

Featured as 1 of fifty and chosen to represent Raptivity's Clientbase

Thank you for tooting our horn!

Professional Learning Board has been chosen to represent Raptivity's clientbase and will be featured as one of only 50 demonstrations during this week's eLearning Developer's Conference & Expo 2006.

See us at DevLearn 2006

Register at Professional Learning Board for a FREE 14 day trial of Raptivity.

Tags: elearn, teach, resource, online, e-learning, K12

GRANT: Middle School Math

MathMovesU is a new education initiative that aims to excite American middle school students to study math and improve their perceptions of math.

Why MathMovesU?
A recent national survey, sponsored by Raytheon, verified what you as teachers already know -- that only a third of students report liking math a great deal, and many report having a difficult time understanding the math they are taught (43%) or think it is boring (34%).

However, the majority of these students want to improve their math skills and recognize math's importance. The vast majority of middle school students report that they would be more interested in math if they learned about celebrities (79%) or were shown how people in music, sports and video games use math in their jobs (81%).

So MathMovesU enlists celebrities like skateboard legend Tony Hawk and soccer star Mia Hamm to get kids' attention and show them how math plays a surprisingly important role in their careers.

Program Details

Through MathMovesU, you can:

• Apply for a Math Hero Award, which makes $2500 grants to individuals and $2500 grants to the school or math-related non-profit program of the individual’s choosing.
• Send in your ideas about making math fun and win a surprise celebrity visit for your school.
• Encourage middle school students to win exciting prizes every week by answering celebrity-related math challenges online.
• Spread the word about the $1000 scholarships offered to middle and high school students, with a matching $1000 grant to the students’ school.

Exciting Upcoming Events
In April, MathMovesU will host the nation-wide “Hippest Homework Happening” event online at the MathMovesU Web site. MathMovesU celebrities will be on hand to demonstrate how math figures into their careers and the MathMovesU team is going to make math homework a cool thing to do!

We applaud educators like you who work with kids everyday, and hope we can help you engage students in a new way. Additional teacher resources and information is available on the MathMovesU Web site.

National Board Certified Teacher Adds Accountability to Teacher Continuing Education

Minneapolis, MN March 21, 2006 –– State and Federal legislation has increased demands for teacher accountability over the last few years. Most notably, Federal No Child Left Behind legislation requires that all teachers be “highly qualified.” Professional development is a critical component for teachers to achieve the “highly qualified” status in the legislation. http://professionallearningboard.com [Professional Learning Board™] courses enable teachers to learn from master teachers while providing evidence of learning the course content.

Ms. Paxton, MEd, National Board Certified Teacher and company founder commented "I learned a lot going through the http://www.nbpts.org [National Board of Professional Teaching Standards] process. Providing these courses to my colleagues enables me to demonstrate my learning and holds me accountable for doing so." These same reasons are given by Paxton as to why teachers “love” the courses. Each certificate has a unique code which school personnel can validate automatically, at no cost and online through the Professional Learning Board web site.

Ninety-nine percent of teachers enrolled in online continuing education courses from Professional Learning Board have successfully demonstrated their learning and earned certification. After completing the courses, teachers must pass an online test with at least a 70% score in order to earn a certificate.

The Internet-based continuing education courses model best practices in online instruction while providing research-based and real-life strategies to improve student learning, in the classroom and online. Additionally, activities and downloadable resources reinforce teacher learning.  Ms. Paxton states “Our goal is to help teachers learn strategies and obtain resources that they can apply in their classrooms immediately to increase student performance.”

Teachers and schools have given accountability, Professional Learning Board and its courses an enthusiastic two-thumbs up. Over 90% of first-time customers say they would enroll in another course and public schools, districts and private schools recommend Professional Learning Board to their teachers.

Online Teacher Continuing Education Makes the Grade in Illinois

February 24, 2006

Minneapolis , MN – The Illinois State Board of Education recently approved Professional Learning Board™ as an authorized provider of continuing education services to Illinois teachers and education employees. Professional Learning Board™, based in Minneapolis, provides professional development to teachers through online courses.

“We’re extremely excited that the Illinois State Board of Education has recognized our company and services as worthwhile resources for our fellow teachers in Illinois” stated Ellen Paxton, MEd, National Board Certified Teacher and founder of Professional Learning Board. The company has been providing online courses primarily to Minnesota licensed teachers for three years.

Professional Learning Board delivers research-based, professional development courses created by recognized experts and master teachers, for teachers. Ms. Paxton, like accomplished teachers who constantly assess and adjust their practice, is committed to continually improving Professional Learning Board’s services. “Decisions and changes are driven by listening to, working with and learning from the teachers we serve.”

Online education has been a mainstay of corporate training programs for years while the education field has relied on classroom and seminar methods. Paxton continued, “We realized that teachers and schools could receive the same benefits corporations have received for years: on demand, measurable training at significant cost savings.”

Teachers enroll in Professional Learning Board™ courses through the company’s web site (http://professionallearningboard.com). Teachers receive immediate access to their courses after paying the $25 course fee. The web site also provides teachers a web log (blog) similar to an online virtual teachers’ lounge, where teachers learn from one another.

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About Professional Learning Board™

Professional Learning Board is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded by Ellen Paxton, MEd, NBCT, the company provides online continuing education courses, resources, software and custom development services to PK-12 public and private schools and teachers.

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