Helium writing contest for education professionals

From Helium's website:

Welcome to the Helium Education Professionals Contest!

We’ve created a contest just for education professionals at Helium. It will tap their unique knowledge and experience.

To participate, you need to have one of these badges at Helium for Teachers, School Administrators, School Counselors, and University Professors

The contest submission period starts Wednesday, July 8, at 16:00 GMT, and ends 28 days later on Tuesday, August 4, at 23:59 GMT. (Figure your local time from GMT here.) Winners are usually announced the following Wednesday (eight days after the contest ends), after sufficient rating has taken place.

When contests shift to the “Awaiting Calculation” status, all titles within that contest will be closed to further submissions and Leapfrogs. This will allow the rating system to fairly evaluate the submitted articles. Once the contest is closed and the results announced, the titles to that contest will reopen for general writing submissions.

If you are a member and an education professional and want to participate in this contest, but don’t yet have one of our education professional badges, email us with a state licensing website link with information needed to verify your credentials online to experts@helium.com. Be sure to include your Helium About Me page URL. Barbara Whitlock and the Helium team will verify your information and you’ll be able to enter the contest quickly.

A few words about contest points:

• Points will be awarded for articles rated in the top 55% for each title—the higher your rank at contest end, the more points you earn. But watch out: You’ll get negative points for articles ranked by your peers in the lower 45%.
• New articles are always inserted at the 50th percentile; as a result a new article will not earn or lose points until the community has rated the article against other articles submitted to the same title.
• Ties in ratings can and do occur. These ties are not displayed as a tie on the site. To illustrate, consider the case of a tie in ratings when there are only two articles to a title. It is possible that neither article will earn points because they are tied and each is considered at the 50th percentile even though one is displayed above the other.

Looking for more great prospects for writing and earning? Check out Helium Marketplace, where Helium teams you up with publishers looking for freelancers.

Winners earn:

1		1st Prize at $60
1		2nd Prize at $40
1		3rd Prize at $30

How to earn points:

• 5 points - over 95th percentile
• 4 points - over 85th percentile
• 3 points - over 75th percentile
• 2 points - over 65th percentile
• 1 points - over 55th percentile
• 0 points - over 45th percentile
• -1 points - over 35th percentile
• -2 points - over 25th percentile
• -3 points - over 15th percentile
• -4 points - over 5th percentile
• -5 points - 0- 5th percentile

Be sure to read a copy of Helium’s Writing Standards before you enter the contest.

This week's contest titles:

• A summer vacation survival guide for teachers teaching summer school
• Classroom management strategies for handling students on field trips
• Factors to consider for teachers transitioning to school administrator roles
• Guide to appropriate friendships among college professors and students
• How professors can network with businesses to create student opportunities
• How school administrators can build teamwork among teachers
• How school principals can build closer relationships with students
• Strategies for engaging students in summer school
• Summer school trends: Kindergarteners put in reading summer school
• Teacher tips: How to help homeschoolers transitioning to high school
• Teacher tips: How to organize a successful field trip for high school students
• Teacher tips: How to use your summer vacation to improve your teaching
• The dangers to college students who revere their college professors
• The pros and cons of college teachers moonlighting for online degree programs
• What teachers should consider before choosing to teach summer school

"How can I get my students to read more non-fiction?"

Non-fiction graphic novels, which have been on the rise with young adults for over eight years, can be used in both the English language arts (ELA) classroom and the social studies (SS) classroom. Perhaps even more important, non-fiction graphic novels will align to the standards (or themes) in both content areas.

Read more from Katie Monnin's new Diamond Bookshelf article by clicking here.

Maupin House and social networking

Become a fan of Maupin House on Facebook

Follow Maupin House on Twitter

Read Maupin House's blog

Read the Teaching Graphic Novels blog

Join the Maupin House group on LinkedIn

Check out our videos on YouTube: About the Bag Ladies and the Pony Tail Band Book Project

Search online for Maupin House savings with the Florida Backyard Card

Free resources from Education Reporting

Check out this article from Education Reporting for a list of nearly 30 online resources helping teachers with classroom management, multimedia in the classroom, and pedagogy.

Resource round-up: virtual schools

Articles

• "Learning without limits: How the rise of online instruction is changing the nature of schooling" by Christine Van Dusen (eSchool News)
• Online tutoring resources (eSchool News)
• "Blended learning more effective than face-to-face" (Education Week)
• Technology Counts 2009: Breaking Away from Tradition: E-Education Expands Opportunities for Raising Achievement (Education Week)
  

Organizations

• Sloan Consortium. "A consortium of individuals, institutions, and organizations committed to quality online education."
  
• International Association for K-12 Online Learning. iNACOL's mission is to "ensure all students have access to world-class education and quality online learning opportunities that prepare them for a lifetime of success."

Virtual Schools

• Connections Academy
• Florida Virtual School
  

Collaborating with other teachers online

Looking for free and easy ways to find quality lessons? Going online seems to be your best bet!

SharedSchool is a "knowledge exchange and productivity tool for educators" with which you can manage lesson plans online, correlate your lessons automatically to state standards, and most importantly, help and be helped by fellow teachers by sharing and searching free online lesson content and practice assessments.

MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching) is a "searchable collection of peer reviewed and selected higher education, online learning materials, catalogued by registered members and a set of faculty development support services. MERLOT's vision is to be a premiere online community where faculty, staff, and students from around the world share their learning materials and pedagogy."

Global SchoolNet

According to their website,

Global SchoolNet's mission is to support 21st century learning. We engage teachers and students in meaningful project learning exchanges with people around the world to develop literacy and communication skills, foster teamwork and collaboration, encourage workforce preparedness and create multi-cultural understanding. We prepare youth for full participation as productive and effective citizens in an increasing global economy.

Teachers can find partners, projects, and competitions worldwide and in all subjects. Take a tour of the site, become a member for free, and start your global collaboration today!