http://www.srsmn.org/dorothybialke/wordpress Connecting the dots between what students want, enjoy and need. Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:33:36 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Yesterday I read an article about the website Wordle.net. This website creates a "word cloud" out of select writings. A person may write an original piece, cut and paste some text, or link it to a blog for analysis. Using the submitted words, the website then creates an image. The ... http://www.srsmn.org/dorothybialke/wordpress/2008/11/24/wordle-addition/ The teachers cheered this morning when I completed the hookup of our fifth document camera. Why the cheer, why the sparkle in the teachers' eyes, and why were the students equally excited? Well, let me tell you…. A document camera is a tool that allows the teacher to project an image ... http://www.srsmn.org/dorothybialke/wordpress/2008/11/05/what-is-new-in-st-raphaels-classrooms/ The new school year began this week. This start was quiet as everyone fell into the routine that has been established over the last few years. While that sounds wonderful it is a little too uneventful for me. Each of the last three years brought changes and the challenges that ... http://www.srsmn.org/dorothybialke/wordpress/2008/09/05/challenges-for-a-new-school-year/ During the last three years I have learned the value of using a variety of tools to engage students in learning not just content but also the 21st century skills.   Employers are looking for employees who have a different skill set then they did even ten years ago and schools ... http://www.srsmn.org/dorothybialke/wordpress/2008/07/10/leadership/ From June 29 until July 3 I was with more than 17,000 attendees at the NECC in San Antonio. This national conference is an exciting place to learn about teaching and learning in the 21st century. As I sat through various workshops in addition to the keynote speakers I met ... http://www.srsmn.org/dorothybialke/wordpress/2008/07/08/necc-2008/ On Wednesday, June 18, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis announced publicly that an anonymous donor donated $10 million over the next ten years to 15 Catholic Schools who are members of FOCUS. This is great news for St. Raphael's Catholic School because we are members of FOCUS. FOCUS ... http://www.srsmn.org/dorothybialke/wordpress/2008/06/20/donation-to-catholic-schools/ The news media continues to bring attention to the lack of interest in the hard sciences in today’s American youth.  The media also brings attention to the high interest levels in hard sciences and engineering amongst the youth in Asia.  Schools throughout the United States are responding to this situation ... http://www.srsmn.org/dorothybialke/wordpress/2008/05/21/stem-science-technology-engineering-and-math/ This past weekend I spent time with people who are from the Greatest Generation and I listened to them complain that nothing is made in the Great United States of America anymore. They went on to say that maybe our country is not so great anymore. This made me reflect ... http://www.srsmn.org/dorothybialke/wordpress/2008/03/04/defining-great/ I recently read an article in the National Middle School Association's journal titled "Listening to the Voices of Young Adolescents." This article summarized the comments of 2,700 middle school students who responded to the question "What should middle school teachers know about middle school students?" A few points resonated with me ... http://www.srsmn.org/dorothybialke/wordpress/2008/01/17/listening-to-young-adolescents/ The other day I gave a tour to a family that is exploring schools for their son who will start kindergarten in the fall. As I gave the tour, I pointed out the ways St. Raphael's staff works with students to help them grow and develop their academic abilities. ... http://www.srsmn.org/dorothybialke/wordpress/2007/12/03/tools-for-teaching-and-learning/