EZ Tech Integration for Teachers

From the Web: One Tweet CAN Change the World - The Tempered Radical

2011-12-26T06:00:00.000-08:00

One of the things I really love about Twitter is that tweets, links and posts can get you really thinking about teaching practice. Some scoff at the idea that practice can change in 140 characters or less. Of course it can't, but 140 characters or less CAN get a reflective teacher thinking about new ways of doing things.

What can one class of students do under the guidance of an inspiring teacher? Find out here.

One Tweet CAN Change the World - The Tempered Radical
tags: kiva education twitter pln

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

From the Web: What's Your Learning Style?

2011-07-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

Last week, Edutopia posted a learning styles quiz. I've always liked these kinds of quizzes because it helps me think about how I learn and can help my students think about how they learn.

When I was teaching psychology I always used a quiz similar to this when we talked about learning. Of course, the quiz was on paper and I never had students do the quiz more than once.

Now, I am thinking about using a learning styles quiz more than once in a year. Does your learning style change? Mine did. I used to be heavily linguistic, but when I took the Edutopia quiz I came out highly naturalistic. It might have to do with summer and the nice weather or it might be that my learning style preference is changing. Whatever it is, it's interesting to think about.

From the Web: Renting Textbooks

2011-07-18T08:27:00.000-07:00

Amazon is going to be renting textbooks this coming semester. But wait, there's more! They are renting textbooks for the Kindle.

Amazon promises up to 80% savings on Kindle textbook rentals. The site also promises that your highlights and annotations will still be available after your rental expires. That part I don't really get, but that's okay.

As a relatively new Kindle owner and one who is about to embark on graduate school, I would certainly consider renting my textbooks. My main concern is that there aren't enough titles in a Kindle format to make this possible.

After a quick search in journalism, history, education and science, I finally found a textbook available for rental. Introductory Chemistry by Zumdahl has a Kindle rental price. For three months you can rent the book for $55.22. If you want to buy it, the tome will set you back $114 on a Kindle. The hardcover is $129. Of course, this particular title won't do me any good since I will work on my MA in education, not chemistry.

The rental savings are significant, but the lack of available rentals could be a problem.

Still More Google+ Resources

2011-07-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

Two days ago, I posted eight links with resources to learn more about Google+. Of course, there are more and more articles, blog posts, Twitter comments being written every day. The theme now seems to be turning toward privacy issues.

MSNBC.com reports, through the Motley Fool page, that Google+ privacy is even more of an issue than that of Facebook. Macworld, however, has a different take; Google is doing well with privacy so far in Google+.

ZDnet has a piece about changing privacy settings in Google+ that is interesting. I did go in and modify my settings based on this article.

In other Google+ news...

Larry Ferlazzo has published a wonderful list of resources about Google+.

Lisa Nielsen has written a piece on the possibilities for Google+ in education.

Technobombs compares Google+ and Facebook side by side in an entertaining infographic.

Finally, because I'm sure you're concerned about this one, Motivated Grammar recommends the proper way to write about +1ing (or is it +1'ing?).

From the Web: 8 Google+ Resources

2011-07-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

Over the past few days, I have started collecting resources to help me learn more about Google+. This is certainly not an exhaustive list, but is one that can help you get started. I'm intrigued by Google+, but I am also concerned that it's just another place to go to get information. I DO like the Hangout feature. When I was in a Hangout the other day it was like meeting people at a coffee shop. The conversation was wide-ranging, but good.

Here are a few of the resources I've collected so far:

Google Plus for learning | Scoop.it
tags: Google+ blogs
Google+ Apps & Icons
tags: Google+ blog
The Google Plus Blog: Google+ Cheat Sheet
tags: Google+ blog
Google+ Tips and Tricks - Google Docs
tags: Google+ collaboration
BreakingNews.com finds that Google+ is great for viral sharing | Poynter.
tags: Google+ Poynter
9 Reasons to Switch from Facebook to Google+ | PCWorld
tags: Google+ socialmedia
Google+: First Tips and Tricks | Social Media Club
tags: Google+ tips tools social media
http://edreach.us/2011/07/05/an-introduction-to-google
tags: Google+ social networking

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

QR Codes: 4 Resources to Get Started

2011-07-10T09:35:00.000-07:00

I've been interested in QR Codes for a little over a year now. They are those square, bar-code looking things you see in advertisements, in storefront windows and on product labels. They seem to have a great deal of potential to add content to the printed page.

At least one U.S. yearbook publisher is aggressively marketing QR codes and storage space for digital content to enhance print yearbooks. I've thought about using QR Codes in both yearbook and newspaper. For the yearbook, we could easily post additional photos to an online storage site such as Flickr or Picasa Web Albums. We could use QR Codes to direct readers to longer stories or profiles. We could even create a scavenger hunt using the codes and have prizes for the winners.

Newspaper would have similar uses, but could also use QR codes for advertising and directing readers to more information about particular topics. Say we did a feature on online privacy, but only had enough room for one page in the print paper, but enough content for two pages. The QR codes could be used to direct readers to the content that couldn't fit in the print version of the paper.

So, you're probably asking "Why QR Codes and not URLs?" Good question. I'm finding that URLs are getting increasingly complicated. It's fine to copy and paste them into emails or post them on Facebook or Twitter, but if you're looking at a print product and have to type in a 30 character URL, you're probably not going to do it. This is probably why manufacturers try to keep product URLs simple (i.e. http://www.apple.com/ipad/ WILL work because it's simple, but http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20077078-264/how-a-google-gap-keeps-me-on-facebook/ isn't going to work for readers of a print product).

How do you learn more about QR Codes? First, check out the QR Code Livebinder that is just chock-full of resources. Next, look at 40 Interesting Ways to Use QR Codes in the Classroom (this is also in the Livebinder above). Third, read through Vicki Davis' suggestions for implementing QR Codes in the Classroom (this is also in the Livebinder). Finally, Cyndi Danner-Kuhn has a great idea for making print books interactive.

I still haven't decided exactly what I am going to do with QR codes this coming school year. I'll start with a scavenger hunt of some type, then see what my students think about ways to implement them.

From the Web: 5 Places to learn about the First Amendment

2011-07-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

We all probably need to know more about the 1st Amendment to the United States Constitution. At just 45 words, it packs a punch. Take USA Today's 1st Amendment Quiz to see how you do.

Want to learn more? Check out the Student Press Law Center's 1st Amendment Quiz as well as their numerous resources on the topic.

Don't miss the 45 Words campaign from the Journalism Education Association's Scholastic Press Rights Commission.

The Five Freedoms Project offers a more action-oriented program to get schools and communities involved in learning about the five freedoms guaranteed in the First Amendment.

Finally, don't miss out on the 1 For All website, another campaign to raise awareness of First Amendment Freedoms.

From the Web: Social Media and High School Journalism

2011-07-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

As with many districts across the United States, my district blocks student (and teacher) access to social media. Thus far, we don't have a policy anywhere near as draconian as the one proposed in Rhode Island. Here's a little Xtranormal video I ran across on Twitter (via @SPLC) that explains the situation.

On Hobbies

2011-06-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodles

For many years I've said that I need a hobby. I have trouble with work/life balance and thought a hobby would help. A good hobby would help me find that balance by forcing me to think of something other than correcting papers and preparing lessons.

I could collect something, I thought. Nah, what would I collect and where would I put a collection? I could learn to knit or crochet; those are two trendy hobbies that many of my friends already participate in. Nah, I don't have the patience or attention span to count four and do whatever to two.

I could do half-marathons! Actually tried that one and did several, but it gets kind of expensive when you have to go out of town and get a hotel room the night before for a 7 am start. I did enjoy the sense of accomplishment, but the time involved in preparing became too much once my teaching day started at 7:20 a.m.

Ooh, photography! That's a hobby I could do. Actually, this is sort of a hobby, but I don't seem to get out enough to really practice. The last time I was really out to take photos was when my husband and I visited the ruins of the Sutro Baths (see photo slideshow at right). Photography, as much as I enjoy it, isn't something that I can really practice weekly.

Blackened tofu w/ Jerked Asparagus

I have bemoaned my lack of a hobby as well as my lack of sticking with one. I realized a few weeks ago, that I DO have a hobby and have had it for years. I love to cook. Or bake. I don't know that I'm particularly good at it in the classic sense of expectations, but I enjoy it and my friends seem to enjoy eating my experiments. My husband is great about eating my experiments too (thank heavens he's not a picky eater!).

Lately, I've been into vegan baking. I have two cookbooks from which I'm working and every recipe has been delicious. The carrot cake cupcakes were the best carrot cake I've ever had, period.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Scones

A few weeks back I started veganizing* recipes that I've had for years. My favorite conversion so far has been scones. The original recipe came from a friend of my mom's and has a classic texture (crispy on the outside and light and fluffy, but still substantial on the inside). The recipe veganized perfectly and has the added benefit of flaxseeds! Both the chocolate chip version and the cranberry orange version have worked well.

I've often thought about how foreign it sounds to my American palate to bake without butter or eggs. It also seems odd to cook without cheese or meat (I've been doing without the meat for 20 years though). Think about this, during World War II, food was rationed. Home cooks had to do without butter, eggs, cheese and meat for many of their recipes. Don't forget that flour and sugar was rationed too (along with most other foods unless they were grown in home Victory Gardens). I want to hunt down some of those old recipes and cook them up.

At the same time, I'll probably work on my food photography. I usually have my phone handy so that will probably be my camera of choice, but it will require some adjustments because of flash quality.

Strangely, I feel better now that I know I have a hobby. I imagine I'll stick with this one since it's been around for years (my earliest kitchen memory is helping my mom do the canning when I was about five) and I just seem to enjoy it more and more.

*this is a fairly common word on vegan blogs. Veganize=to make a standard recipe vegan.

From the Web: Apple Education - Summer Semester

2011-06-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

Looking for some Professional Development from the comfort of your own couch? Check out these offerings for Apple. The next one is TODAY (Reaching All Learners).

Apple - Education - Summer Semester
tags: apple summer education

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

On Classroom Observations

2011-06-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

Some rights reserved by catd_mitchell

Part of my duties as Project Director for my district's Teaching American History grant include completing classroom observations of participating teachers. Like many teachers I have spent little time over the years in other teachers' classrooms actively observing their teaching and student learning.

The observations were a revelation to me. I LOVED them. I liked seeing how teachers incorporated Word Walls in their secondary classrooms, how they managed their classrooms, how they gave their students the opportunity, despite limited resources, to integrate technology into learning. I liked seeing which assignments teachers chose to feature on their walls, the lists of honor students and students of the month, the seating arrangements to maximize space (some classrooms now have 38 students).

The variety of teaching strategies engaged students and kept things interesting in the classroom. One of the classrooms had a greeter who took me to a seat and ever-so-quietly explained what students were doing that day and why.

This has led me to the conclusion that we (teachers) are missing out. We are not learning from each other like we should be. I don't work in a district, or even know of one nearby, where teachers are actively involved in the day-to-day process of teaching outside of their own classrooms.

Imagine what would happen in my room if I went to a teacher who is really good with video in her classroom and asked to observe one of the lessons so that I could better use video in mine? Or the guy across campus came to me to ask about beginning of class routines? What if one of the department teachers was having trouble with a group of students, but couldn't figure out what was going on and wanted another set of eyes on the problem? Wouldn't ALL of us improve? Wouldn't our students do better?

Fortunately, some of my colleagues agree with me so next year, we're going to make a concerted effort to get into each other's classrooms during the course of the year. We will, of course, have specific objectives each time we visit. Though the cohort is relatively small in relation to the rest of the teachers in the district, we are going to start making a difference one classroom at a time.

From the Web: Two Ways to Experience ISTE at Home

2011-06-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

The two posts below outline ways that anyone can experience ISTE virtually. First, Richard Byrne focuses on ISTE Unplugged (which is free), then Chris Atkinson offers us several other ways to stay informed about the happenings at ISTE. You can also participate in ISTE remote for just $79.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Two Lists: Great Conference Advice

2011-06-24T07:26:00.000-07:00

I'm missing ISTE again. Too far (and therefore too expensive) for me this year. This morning, while trolling Twitter, I ran across these two blog posts with advice for ISTE attendees.

First, Richard Byrne at Free Technology for Teachers offers 7 Tips for ISTE newbies. Among his tips are charge your batteries (on the electronic devices), don't forget your comfortable shoes and attend vendor-sponsored soirees to meet people and get free food.

Second, Steve Dembo at Teach 42 suggests What not to do at ISTE. Steve's tips include Don't be a XXXXXXX and don't confine yourself to sessions from your friends and favorites.

Both of these posts can apply to ANY conference you might attend. It is good to attend conferences and workshops and these tips can help you make the most of it.

As for me, my goal is to attend ISTE 2012 in San Diego!

Weekly Tech Tip 6.15.11

2011-06-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

This is part of a weekly email I send to the teachers in our Teaching American History Project. The idea is to give them new online resources they can use either with their students or for professional growth.

If you've been looking for a way to get your students engaged at the computer without sacrificing higher level thinking skills, try having students make an interactive poster using Glogster or Wix. Both companies allow students, once they have an account, to create posters online from any internet connected computer. The level of interactivity required is up to you, but students can add text, animations, photos and video to make their presentations rock. If you're signing up with Glogster (http://www.edu.glogster.com) be SURE to get an education account (the regular Glogster is blocked on district computers). Once you have an educator account, you can give your students sub-accounts.

On Collaboration Road

2011-06-12T10:52:00.000-07:00

Some rights reserved by Jasmic

I'm really excited for next school year. Last Thursday, my colleagues and I voted on whether or not to change our schedule to accommodate formal time for collaboration during the school day. After weeks of discussion, some of it quite heated, the staff voted overwhelmingly for collaboration time.

What does collaboration time look like? We don't know that yet, but it was really cool to run into a colleague on Friday and chat about how we'd like to share something that we did a few years ago. I am under no illusion that creating a schedule for collaboration will be easy. One of our first tasks will be to come to a common understanding of what collaboration really is.

What I do know is that we will be able to start systematizing collaboration in a way that we haven't before. We'll be able to share what is working in our classrooms and we'll be able to get down to business analyzing student work to determine how best to help our students.

Weekly Tech Tip 6.8.11

2011-06-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

This is another is a series of weekly tech tips I'm sending out to the teachers I work with in our Teaching American History Project.

Name a free resource teachers can use to find out both the latest in education as well as a place to get tons of resources. The answer, of course, is Twitter. This social networking service is SO much more than meaningless updates of the lives of washed-up celebrities or random musings of angst-ridden teens (in fact, more adults are using Twitter than teens, but that's another story). Twitter is famous for its 140 character updates and the fact that Lady Gaga now has 10 million followers (or some such ridiculous number), but educators can use the service to get relevant information for the classroom. GOOD magazine posted a short article about why Twitter is a useful tool for teachers. Tom Barrett, a primary teacher in the UK, has also listed 5 Things to Get Your Twitter Network Off The Ground. The published Google Presentation 33 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom (this document is crowd-sourced, so educators from all over the world have contributed to it as they have new ideas for incorporating Twitter into the classroom) offers specific ideas for using Twitter to collect and disseminate relevant educational information. A few minutes of Twitter a day can connect you to a world of resources you didn't even know were out there (and the opportunity to collaborate with other classrooms). Yes, you do have to use Twitter at home or in the local coffee shop, but it's totally worth it. Get started by following me (I'm mswojo on Twitter) then check out the people I follow and select some who seem interesting to follow and so on. You'll be glad you did.

From the Web: If you were on Twitter

2011-06-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

I ran across this blog post via Twitter the other day. Many teachers I talk to don't get why Twitter is important, but this post shows them. Check it out.

If you were on Twitter | Dangerously Irrelevant | Big Think
tags: twitter education PLN scottmcleod

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Weekly Tech Tip 6.3.11

2011-06-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

This is another in a series of tips I'm sending to my Teaching American History Project teachers. The Weekly Tech Tip is part of their weekly news update for the project.

Current events are pretty old-school, but they serve a purpose. It's important for teachers AND students to know what's happening in the world. There are numerous websites out there to help you learn more about world events, so here are just a few that present it in an interesting sort of way:

Google Fast Flip brings together front pages from many of the world's top news websites. Click on one to go to that particular story. Scroll through by clicking the arrows to see more stories. Fast Flip houses a variety of story types from straight news to tech news to entertainment news.
Newseum has many, many fabulous resources, but Today's Front Pages is one of the best. The pages are from all over the world and are particularly interesting when there is a major national or international event. Students can easily see how coverage differs by region and by country.
Newsmap shows which stories are getting the most play by type of news. You can also look at the maps by some countries (the default map is U.S.). See what is important to people around the world. Because this is a dynamic site, don't expect things to be the same if you check them early Monday morning and show the map to your students by 9 a.m.

From the Web: Graphic Information

2011-06-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

No, not graphic as in inappropriate, graphic as in pictures! I've loved infographics since I first became acquainted with USA Today back when dinosaurs still roamed the earth. I've been talking to my journalism (newspaper and yearbook) students for the past two years off and on about infographics, but the idea hasn't taken off.

This summer one of my goals is to read more about infographics and start experimenting with simple ones that my students can do. I'm hoping that over the course of the year, we can get some great examples from our staff.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

From the Web: Sign up for the Geo Teachers Institute

2011-05-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it's good to be reminded that an opportunity is out there. TWO Google Geo Teachers Institutes are being offered in early Fall. It's worth going to!

Google LatLong: Sign up for the Geo Teachers Institute
tags: google latlong education geography

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Weekly Tech Tip: 5.28.11

2011-05-28T13:25:00.000-07:00

Note: This begins a series of weekly tech tips that I am sending to my district's Teaching American History Project teachers. My original thought was to contain this in our internal weekly email, but I thought the tips might be useful here too. Let me know if you find the Weekly Tech Tips of use (or if you have suggestions for others)!

Download Google Toolbar. It will be your new BFF. Yes, it adds another row of annoying icons to your browser window, but the benefits far outweigh any minor quibble with the number of icons. In addition to the usual bookmarking feature available in browsers, you can also tag your bookmarks in Google Toolbar. Not only that, those book marks are available to you anywhere the Google Toolbar is installed. As soon as you log in to your Google Account, there they are!

Another handy feature is the ability to SHARE the webpages you view. Imagine this, you're surfing away, find a really cool site on the American Red Cross' efforts aiding the victims of the Johnstown Flood and you really want to share it with one of your friends. No longer do you have to copy and paste the URL into an email. Just click the SHARE icon, choose a method to share it and away you go!
There's also a nifty little icon that looks like a teeny, tiny newspaper. Click on that to get the latest in U.S. and World news.

Finally, if you click on the little wrench icon, then click on options, then click buttons, you will find a couple dozen MORE icons you can add to customize your browser experience.

Cool Infographic: Wilderness and Resources

2010-12-27T09:49:00.000-08:00

I love infographics. Here's a great one from TheBigWild.org. This could be used in a geography classroom to start a discussion on resource use and conservation or even in the journalism classroom as a simple infographic to get designers started on their own. Click on the infographic to go to the original, then on that page, click on the original to get a full sized image.

The Big Wild asks "How Wild is North America?"

Going Mobile

2010-12-23T07:40:00.000-08:00

This morning I updated the mobile blogging feature on this blog thanks to Richard Bryne's tip in Free Technology for Teachers. If you use Blogger, Blogger in Draft makes this task super easy (just two clicks, then test it on a mobile device).

Happy Thanksgiving: Seize the Moment

2010-11-25T06:19:00.000-08:00

Photo by Alex Wypyszinski. Click to see the entire photo essay

So much of what we do in education is about seizing those teachable moments. They aren't in our lessons plans and surely aren't written on the daily agenda in the appropriate place on the whiteboard. Sometimes these moments start with a "But why?..." or even just a slightly furrowed brow. Sometimes it starts with a blank stare.

Regardless of how teachable moments start, we seize them and our classrooms are richer because of it. If we never stray from our plan, our students lose because we are missing those amazing discussions.

So, what sparked this reflection? I was checking the weather forecast the other day and saw a link to an article, "Amateur Photographer Captures Grizzly Bear Chasing a Bison Down a Highway in Yellowstone." I don't read Field and Stream, but had to check this out. These 16 photographs are all about seizing the moment. The photographer was out to take pictures of geysers. What if he hadn't started shooting the drama unfolding in front of him? He would have missed out on this rare opportunity the same way that teachers can miss opportunities if we aren't willing to stray from the plan.

There's a side note to this as well. Photographer Alex Wypyszinski did all this without specialized equipment. He skillfully used what he had (a digital point and shoot camera) and got great results.

As educators, we can do that too.

Beginning Blogging, Part II

2010-11-23T06:00:00.000-08:00

Just recently we revisited commenting. Our newspaper now has an online home, but we’re not getting a lot of traffic yet (frankly, that’s fine because we’re still tweaking the site and trying to establish a functional workflow). We reviewed three basic commenting rules:

1. Use your real name. For students, a first name and last initial are fine (remember, these are high school students).

2. Move the conversation forward. Add something meaningful to the conversation. It’s fine to agree or disagree, but explain WHY.

3. Re-read your comment before posting. Check for spelling and punctuation errors. It’s helpful to read the comment out loud to yourself or move your lips while you read it. Doing that will help you find any missing words.

I then set the students loose on the website. They found articles and blog posts that appealed to them and left comments. Some of them were profound. Some comments carried forward conversation about issues at school. Almost all of them really did add something to the conversation.

One other thing that I did before students started working was to grab a newspaper. I set the scene where I was at the breakfast table with a paper. A student was sitting across from me and we each had a section of the newspaper. As we read, we discussed the articles that caught our interest. Back in the day (as my students say), the conversation about the article stopped there unless you took the time to write a Letter to the Editor. Nowadays, you can have a conversation with the writer of the story and every other person who reads and comments on the story! I saw the lights go on as they finally understood how conversations about online news stories really can make a difference.

Beginning Blogging, Part I

2010-11-21T06:00:00.000-08:00

Way back in September, Karen McMillan posted about how she teaches her middle-schoolers to blog. In a nutshell, she talks about introducing students to blogs and what they are (frequently they are what I would call specialty writing). She also emphasizes that blogs are part of a conversation that is dependent upon the blog readers who leave comments on posts. She has her students create paper blogs on a topic of their choice, then they do a commenting session.

I have discovered that my journalists really aren’t familiar with blogs. They read blogs on Tumblr, but they admit those blogs are mostly short quotes or pictures. They might read blogs on Xanga, but not too many students are there anymore. They DO recognize that Facebook posts aren’t the same as blog posts. At any rate, we reviewed what blogs are. I showed them several that I view on a regular basis (I was hard-pressed to find one that doesn’t relate to education) and talked about why I found them appealing. We discussed style and tone, then I had them create their own paper blogs.

I did not take the time to have the students plan out the whole blog or design the page, though many of them did. I was more concerned that they get something on the paper about one of their passions. Students had time to get about a paragraph on paper before the bell rang.

The following day, we reviewed comments on blogs. The emphasis was on moving the conversation forward and backing up your comment with evidence. In other words, it’s not enough to say “I like your post.” Great comments add to the conversation.

At that point, I dipped into my sticky note collection and passed around the coveted bright colored notes. Students then, as McMillan describes, read the blog posts of their classmates and left comments on the post-its.

I was surprised how many of the students enjoyed both the writing exercise and the commenting. In a hustle-bustle world, they often don’t have time to read each others work in a way that allows them to enjoy what their peers are writing. This was a nice break. I could hear whispered conversations about what they were reading. It was awesome!

Free money means more stuff for your classroom

2010-11-18T06:00:00.000-08:00

There’s free money out there. However, it seems that many teachers are reluctant to go after that money for their classrooms. I’m surprised that many find the grant-writing process intimidating so they just don’t apply. In my district we have an annual round of grant applications from the Ed. Fund and by now most people have heard of Donors Choose. There are also places where you can just post a list of items you’d like. Digital Wish allows teachers to register and post tech-based lesson plans to be entered into rolling grant pools. At any rate, here’s my primer on writing your first classroom grant application:

1. First, think about the project you want to do in your classroom, but you don’t have the equipment or supplies to do it.

2. Next, look at your standards. Does this project meet the standards? If not, no matter how cool it is, let it go. If you don’t teach English/Language Arts, see what ELA standards your project meets. Add those standards to your subject standards.

3. Think about the needs that this project meets. What will your students get out of this experience? How will their success improve as a result of this activity. Ponder this item until you can effectively articulate what needs are being met.

4. Create a list of essential items for the success of your project. Are you doing a video project? Find the video cameras that will work best for your students. If you know ahead of time the specific items you need, the quicker the application process will go.

5. Check your local school district for available grants or create an account at a site such as DonorsChoose. I’ve had great luck at DonorsChoose, which is why I mention them.

6. Read the application carefully. Even sites such as DonorsChoose will allow you to go back and make changes to your application before you submit it.

7. Fill out the application. Our language has become very informal, but this is no time to write in a casual tone. Use complete sentences. Read back what you’ve written. Read it again. Revise it. Read it again.

8. Fill out the budget form. DonorsChoose has you fill out the form using their vendors which is fine (and also why it is so important to know what exactly it is you need ahead of time).

9. Re-read everything and submit your application. Pay attention to the due date if your grant doesn’t have a rolling deadline.

10. Sit back and wait. If at first you do not succeed, try, try again! It never hurts to have more than one application out at a time.

An article published in THE Journal on November 10, 2010 also provides some tips for grant applications. Lana Bellew’s suggestion to not go after grants that have only a few awardees or ones that don’t meet the needs of the district she works with are especially relevant.

Connectivity, but at what price?

2010-11-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

Note: I wrote this Friday, November 12, but blogger wasn't cooperating and I couldn't post.

I like to be connected as much as the next person, but I’m starting to wonder what 24/7 connectivity is doing to us. Texting in the classroom has been a problem for several years. I frequently notice students furtively communicating with friends or even cheating on tests.

A week ago we had a blackout at school. We were without power, and therefore, network connection for two hours. We literally could not work in either yearbook or newspaper classes. ALL of the work we do is online. The only thing we don’t do online is interview people. Notes are transcribed online, stories are written online using GoogleDocs, pages are designed on the computer and stored on our common drive. It was nice to be able to sit and talk about what was happening, but we got behind.

Today, as my husband and I went to breakfast at our hotel, we noticed a young woman eating alone. Her phone was constantly beeping as new text messages came in. For awhile the messages were coming in on top of each other so her phone was singing. As I sit in a coffee shop in the town we’re visiting, a woman brought in her two boys for breakfast. Almost immediately she was on the phone while her boys were left to fend for themselves. When they started arguing, as young siblings do, she hung up the phone, but was most upset with the kids. I see other examples too; the man in the grocery store talking as he’s picking up a few items, the people driving while on the phone (which is illegal, by the way), the people walking down the street with heads down texting away.

Though it seems we’re connected with those around us, are we really? Really, it looks more like we’re connected with people who are far away from us rather than those who are with us. What do you think? Is our connectivity in the virtual world impairing our connectivity with those who are in our immediate proximity?

Where I've been, where I'm going...

2010-11-13T08:35:00.000-08:00

It has been some time since I blogged. I am finding my new position a great professional challenge (in other words, it’s something new and very different). I’ve always enjoyed organizing things, so, really, this is right up my alley. I’m learning new things and recently gave input on a grant the district is applying for. That was an interesting process; I learned a lot about grant language, buzz words and creating a budget.

Unfortunately, it hasn’t left me much time for blogging or even trying out new strategies in the classroom. This is also the first year in my entire career that I am not teaching history or geography.

I was not expecting to miss teaching history quite as much as I do. Even my students ask me if I miss it. My journalism classes are great this year (newspaper and yearbook), but I do pine for my social science classes.

Last week, while at our first Lecture/Workshop we discussed how to take the ideas from the morning and apply them in the classroom. I found myself wishing that I had a class to work with so that I could try the ideas that the group came up with. I realized, however, that I could take many of the ideas and apply them to journalism and media studies.

Our morning lecture was devoted to Dr. Clarence Walker’s talk about his book “Mongrel Nation: The America Begotten by Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings,” where Walker posits that the U.S. has always been multi-cultural and it’s high time we admit that. He spoke eloquently about Hemings’ 38 year relationship with Jefferson and the 1998 media hoopla caused by DNA analysis of Hemings’ descendents that prove at least three of her children were fathered by Jefferson.

During the afternoon, 8^th and 11^th grade teachers discussed the meaning of the Jefferson/Hemings relationship, how to teach about Jefferson and how to teach about slavery (among MANY other related issues…such a great conversation). In the midst of all of this, we discussed James Callender’s attack on Jefferson using the media. That was when it hit me.

I could teach a great deal about U.S. history through Journalism. Why couldn’t we take media accounts of the Jefferson/Hemings relationship through history and look at the different ways the topic is discussed. How does a changing political climate effect the language used to describe a hot-button relationship in our history? My next task is to find newspaper articles that discuss the relationship, then I can write up the lesson!

From the Web:: 2010 GAW Blog-a-Thon

2010-09-18T07:46:00.000-07:00

Our friends over at My Wonderful World are hosting the second annual Geography Awareness Week Blog-A-Thon. This year's theme is freshwater. You aren't limited to blogging just about water, but could blog about other geographic topics.

Check out the sign-up instructions here.

From the Web:: Resources for Online Safety

2010-09-10T10:15:00.000-07:00

Here are two interesting resources for online safety. The first, obviously, is a short video showing how quickly inappropriate postings can get out of hand. The second is a nice infographic about how complicated privacy settings have become on Facebook.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Glogster for beginning design

2010-09-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

One of the most difficult things my new yearbook students learn each year is how to use InDesign. The very basic concepts (one pica spacing between elements, dominant photos, caption formatting, etc) get lost in trying to learn the program. This year, I decided to try something different.

Edu.glogster.com was unblocked late last spring in my district (I don't know if that was intentional or by accident, but I'm not complaining). I decided to give it a try with the yearbookies. They designed a spread about themselves and their interests. The instructions were pretty simple, but they needed to include correct spacing between elements, a headline and subhead, correct captions for photos, a dominant photo and a brief profile. The products were pretty good. The students enjoyed working with Glogster and the frustration level with the program was very low. I'm not showing samples here because most of them included their last names in their profiles (since that is our standard for profiles in the yearbook).

Last Friday we shared the products and students were easily able to pick out what was working and what wasn't. This coming week, we will be transferring that information into a template in InDesign. It will be interested to see how quickly students will adapt their skill set.

Teaching American History Grant: The First Presentation

2010-09-07T19:10:00.000-07:00

Last week, I introduced the Teaching American History grant program to our school board. Charley, a community member in our district and commenter on the previous post, suggested that I make the presentation available online.

A New Chapter

2010-09-06T08:57:00.000-07:00

It was a dark and stormy night....Oh, wait. Wrong chapter.

It has been a month since I last posted. About the time of my last post, my district was notified that it had been awarded one of 124 Teaching American History Grants in the 2010 cycle. I am the Project Director for the grant.

So, what does that mean? It means a new challenge for me. I will be coordinating professional development for our secondary and elementary history teachers and working with all of our partner organizations to develop the best possible program. I am securing office space for the grant (it's a five year term) and am interviewing people for the job of project assistant. I'm recruiting teachers to be our teacher leaders as well as individuals who will be participants in the first cohort. Of course, there is more too, but that's for later.

The nice thing about being Project Director is that it is a 40% position, so time is built into my day for learning and for developing this program.

The hard thing is that I shift gears from classroom teacher to Project Director halfway through the day. Sometimes the transition is a little jarring, other days it works just fine. The strange thing about it is that I'm not in the classroom working with students full time.

I'm very excited that my district has been awarded this grant. It is a bright spot in an otherwise dreary economic picture. Teachers and administrators are responding very positively towards the grant and I know that it will be a great ride. Stay tuned for updates!

Back to School: Online Resources Lists

2010-08-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

photo by funadium

This time of year seems to spawn lists in blog posts. I think that's probably because teachers are running out of time to read in-depth posts and are more likely to quickly scan for the things they need. Two of these posts have recently caught my eye.

First, Lee Kolbert at Geeky Momma's Blog, posts "15 Free Tech Tools for Teachers." She mentions several of my favorites including Edmodo and Rubistar, but there are other tools I have not used.

Mrs. Smoke, over at Making Teachers Nerdy, posts a list of "Top 20 Websites No Teachers Should Start the 2010-2011 Year Without." This post has everything from file conversion tools to free video editing sites.

What sites and tools would you include on a list?

Google Wave, I hardly knew ye...

2010-08-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

By now you've probably heard that Google has pulled the plug on Google Wave. While it had some interesting features (such as replaying a thread), it was difficult to follow and confusing when you had more than two people on a wave at once. Early on, the gadgets did not consistently work. I got frustrated and basically left it alone. Sure, I'd check in once in awhile, but I never really used it with any sort of consistency.

I'm glad the announcement came now before I invested a lot of time into figuring out how to make it work for my student journalists. You see, Wave would have been a fantastic way for my journalists to keep track of their stories. They could transcribe notes, write questions, store drafts of stories, add pictures related to their story, add links related to their story and more. So...we'll stick with Google Docs for that.

Technology pundits are predicting that though Wave is gone, many of it's features will be resurrected elsewhere. See PC World's commentary, Louis Gray's piece about Wave and the much-maligned Google Buzz, and, of course, the Official Google Blog announcement for more.

From the Web:: Diigo and Delicious « A Comparison

2010-08-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

The handy chart here will help you decide which social bookmarking tool is best for you. This was first brought to my attention via @McTeach on Twitter.

Diigo and Delicious « Involvement and Interactivity in Teaching

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Leadership Day 2010: Dear Administrators

2010-08-01T08:23:00.000-07:00

Dear Administrators:
As an educator, I do not have time to beat around the bush. We must change the way we do business to meet the needs of our students and teachers. Spending 20 days or more each year testing (not to mention the time spent preparing the students for testing) is not preparing our students for the future.

One of the ways we can start moving toward our goal of having a well-prepared student population, is to get on the technology integration bus. Please keep in mind that technology is a TOOL, not a subject, and it is one that can help both our students and teachers become more successful. Technology integration is not something to fear.
Here are five simple steps on the road to technology integration that could help our students and teachers become more effective learners:

Please do not assume that just because a student is using the internet or an electronic device that they are up to no good. If we TEACH students appropriate use and teachers MODEL appropriate use, more than likely they will do the right thing.
Remember that the only classrooms that have dictionaries (if they are lucky) are the English classrooms. Sometimes, in other subjects, we have to look up words when context clues don't work or the glossary doesn't provide the definition. We CAN get around this problem if only students were allowed to use their cellphones in class. Many students have texting plans, so allow them to call Google at 466453. Students can get everything from definitions (by texting "d word") to currency conversion to weather and more.
Give teachers the ability to show relevant videos from YouTube. Seriously. The Library of Congress has a YouTube Channel. So does National Geographic. The Khan Academy which has math and science videos, has more than 19 million views. Even though the Khan Academy has an official website, the 800+ videos are housed on YouTube. Keep in mind that these resources are FREE. Most teachers really don't have the time to hunt for random videos that have nothing to do with the curriculum. Assume they will do the right thing.
Encourage all students to blog about their passions. Sure, you might get kids writing about frivolous topics, but they are WRITING for an AUDIENCE beyond their teacher. There are moderated blogging services for classrooms (teachers would have to approve posts and comments) such as ClassBlogmeister and Kidblog. Other platforms include Blogger, Tumblr and Wordpress. Heavens, you could even go with a multi-user Wordpress platform so your entire school (or district) is on the same service. EVERYONE, including teachers and administrators, could be writing.
Please get over your fear of NETWORKING. Students can gain new insights about the lives of others if they are allowed to network online. Teachers could improve their professional practice by connecting with other educators around the world. Students could HELP each other with assignments and provide real, thoughtful feedback to their peers. Teachers could CONNECT their students with other classrooms around the world for collaborative projects. A few of the tools and services that could be really useful are ePals, Edmodo, GlogsterEDU, and Twitter.

By integrating technology we can help our students prepare for the future and encourage teachers to teach more reflectively and improve their practice. We can improve education by finding new ways to engage in and respond to learning. It's a win-win situation for everyone. Do not be afraid.

Thank you.

From the Web:: Jenny Luca's Cybersafety

2010-07-27T11:42:00.000-07:00

I've been looking for resources to help my students learn about cybersafety, netiquette and cyberbullying. Jenny Luca's wiki has some great resources, that are developmentally appropriate to help kids learn about this topic.

Jenny Luca - Cybersafety

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Part II: On the Green-Eyed Monster, a Reflection from #Googlegti

2010-07-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

We had several excellent presenters at the Google Geo Teachers Institute. Bette Manchester, one of those presenters, is the executive director of the Maine International Center for Digital Learning. During the course of the presentation, she discussed many of the successes Maine has had in implementing digital tools into the curriculum.

One of the things Bette mentioned was a reminder that when implementing technology tools or when trying new strategies, teachers often run into the Green-Eyed Monster. At its worst, the monster can destroy the efforts of the teacher who is trying to innovate.

The Harvard Education Letter published a piece about the effects of the Green-Eyed Monster on innovative teachers back in 2000. Of course this was, in Web 2.0 terms, written when dinosaurs still roamed the earth, but the points author Julie M. Wood makes are still relevant today. How do we know? Think about your own experience with trying out new strategies, or using new tech tools or even returning from a professional development workshop excited about the new things you want to try in the classroom. Have you ever run into a teacher who 'poo-pooed' your efforts? That's the Green-Eyed Monster.

A selection from a MiddleWeb thread on the topic is heart-breaking as teachers describe the difficulties they've had in trying to innovate AND share what they've done. Deborah's experience was particularly distressing:

Thank you for the tip on the Green-eyed monster. Even to admit that professional jealousy is lurking about the edges of one's career is a "showing offing" thought where I come from these days. Thanks for the tip. It was most clarifying.

My name is forbidden in certain classrooms at the high school where I teach. I have been removed from my English classroom and I have been told that I am too creative and too intelligent. Can a teacher be too intelligent?

-Deborah

While my experience hasn't been as extreme as Deborah's, I find that I am very careful what I say and how I say things about what I'm trying to do in the classroom. Last spring, when I was going to "bring in" a college professor to do a short lecture on the geography of Central Asia, I told very few people at my site, but did invite one colleague to see the presentation and another teacher who works at another site. I also invited one of my assistant principals who is generally supportive of classroom innovation. I have not talked at my site about the fact that I am scheduled to get a Promethean board in time for the fall semester. Why? I'm worried that the Green-Eyed Monster will rear its ugly head.

Unfortunately, I don't have any solutions to this problem. It is something that we need to discuss openly. Education should be a collaborative effort and the Green-Eyed Monster will hinder our develop and our students' achievement.

photo from postbear on Flickr. Used under a Creative Commons License.

Part I: On Networking, a Reflection from #Googlegti

2010-07-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

Why Part I? I have a feeling this will be a multi-part reflection because I still have so many things running through my head. For this post, I'm going to focus on the importance of networking. I've written about this before, but my experience at GTI hammered it home.

First, when I was accepted to the Google Teacher Academy in 2008 (truly a highlight of my career) I told some friends and asked them some questions about it. Of course, none of them had applied or were going to GTA, so they couldn't help me much (though not for lack of trying). When I got to Mountain View the day of the event, I saw that people were talking to each other like old friends. I wondered how that was possible given that participants came from all over the world.

It turns out that many of the participants had connected through Twitter or Facebook and other social networking sites before GTA. Once I got home, I immediately signed up for Twitter and began developing my PLN. Over the past two years, I've realized how incredibly important it is to get connected to other educators. Some charge that the relationship kind of feeds on itself and we end up patting each other on the back, but I learn something new every day and some of it does challenge my thinking.

This time, I was determined to connect with people BEFORE the Google GEO Teachers Institute. I started searching in Twitter and suggested that we start a Google Spreadsheet with our Twitter IDs so we could all follow each other. I'm still managing the spreadsheet. During the event, another participant, Diane Main, set up a Facebook group for us and we're still using the forum set up by the Geo Education team at Google.

While at GTI, I was able to talk in person with several teachers I'm connected to online, but had never met in person. Karen McMillan, Danny Silva, Diana Laufenberg and Ian Usher gave me some interesting things to think about while we were at Google Headquarters. Making these connections in person only enriched my already fabulous experience. Meeting these educators and SO many others was like really tasty icing (not that fake, sickly sweet stuff) on a really good cake.

So what to do? Get connected. Stay connected. Try any of these to get started, but get started.

Twitter your life in 140 characters. Ask questions or share links and lesson plans.
Facebook has room for teachers. Really. You can search for open groups of teachers who teach your subject or grade level to start.
Plurk is similar to Twitter. I'm not on it, but I know there were die-hard fans at GTI.
Linkedin is more of a professional exchange, but has lots of possibilities.
Edmodo now has the ability for teachers to connect with each other. I'll have more on my visit to edmodo headquarters later.

Are there any that I missed? Leave a comment here. The more teachers connected to other teachers, the better off we are.

From the Web:: internet lingo

2010-07-24T08:15:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I get emails from students or text messages from my yearbook or newspaper editors that contain acronyms that are foreign to me. This site can help translate.

Myspace Acronyms - internet lingo

tags: internet acronyms

From the Web:: A Blogger's Code of Ethics

2010-07-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

Vicki Davis' post on selling advertisements on her blog made me hopping mad. She describes three instances where companies have contacted her to purchase advertising, two of which were mind-boggling. One company asked her to change old posts for context ads and another suggested that she change STUDENT work for context ads. I agree with Vicki that those two cases are reprehensible.

The decision to sell ads on a blog is up to the individual blogger, but should be clearly disclosed. Furthermore, I don't believe there is ever a case where a previous post (or the work of another person) should be changed to include advertising.

Here is Vicki's post and the Blogger's Code of Ethics which she references. These are important ideas to think about.

From the Web:: Map Resources

2010-07-18T08:17:00.000-07:00

Here are two resources that could be useful in the classroom. First, check out the National Atlas which currently features historical data so students can compare the changing physical geography in the United States. Next, track severe weather with Weather Underground's Severe Weather Map. You could then use weather.com or accuweather.com to focus in on specific cities.

From the Web:: Tech Tips For Teachers: Free, Easy and Useful Creation Tools

2010-07-14T06:16:00.000-07:00

This post has list some great tools with lesson ideas. Don't be shy, try one!

Tech Tips For Teachers: Free, Easy and Useful Creation Tools - The Learning Network Blog - NYTimes.com

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Google Search Stories and the classroom

2010-07-11T08:30:00.000-07:00

Last week, a little late to the game, I discovered Google's Search Stories. In a nutshell, Search Stories allows you to list seven search terms, pick whether you want the search to show links, images, maps, or other results, choose music, click a button and get a video. It's very cool. Here's one I did for the Five Themes of Geography:

How could you use this in the geography classroom?

If studying the 5 Themes, have students find examples (other than these) of each of the themes. Their first and last search terms could be the same as the sample video.
Videos could show examples of geographic terms such a bay, peninsula or mountain.
For regional studies, students could focus on physical features or landmarks within a region and create videos.
Furthermore, students could create a Search Story for specific countries within a region.
If you're working on the Geography Awareness Week theme Freshwater, videos could feature examples of freshwater stores around the world as well as illustrations of problems facing most of the world in getting access to freshwater.

The downside to Search Stories is that it's on YouTube, which means that for many of us, it won't be available at school. Of course, students with computer access at home could do the assignment there. Perhaps the local public library has convenient hours for students to work. Despite difficulties, Search Stories could have great application in the classroom.

I am sure you can think of many other ways to use this nifty tool in the classroom. What ideas to you have? Share them below.

A Twitteraholic’s Guide to tweets, hashtags, and all things Twitter | The Edublogger

2010-07-08T07:38:00.000-07:00

This blog post from Sue Waters is a fabulous introduction to Twitter! Everything you need is right here. One of the best tips? You don't have to be on Twitter all day to get something valuable from it.

A Twitteraholic’s Guide to tweets, hashtags, and all things Twitter | The Edublogger

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Blog!

2010-07-06T08:05:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe, but it's my blog's second birthday. Well, actually, its birthday passed more than a week ago and I forgot about it, so I thought I'd celebrate now.

I've been looking through posts from the last year to see what I wrote about at various points in the school year and have found several that stuck with me all year. Last summer I wrote about revising my syllabi to reflect changes in technology use. I did that, but later realized that I missed the most important part of the revision. I need to actually TEACH students about responsible media use. I suppose I do teach it to an extent, but not formally enough.

Of course, all of this is related to issues with filtering sites at school, which I wrote about here and here. At this point, I am firmly in the camp that espouses the idea that school filters need to go away and educators need to work with students to responsibly use the internet. I recently read an article (unfortunately, I can't remember where it was) that points out that within a few years our students will all have smartphones anyway, so filters will be pointless. Last year I had one class where 50% of the students had smartphones.

Last year, I also wrote about my thoughts on school reform. I didn't see much by way of courageous conversations in my area this year, but that's another story. Like many other teachers, I found 2009-10 to be a difficult year in education and thus had several periods of little activity on this blog. That's another story too.

So, where do I go from here? As my educational interests evolve, I find that I more frequently want to write about things other than technology integration in the classroom. I'm not sure yet if that will fit here or if I need to start another blog. I know that I will continue to blog about my experiences with tech integration.

As time has passed, more people have visited this blog each month. I appreciate that and hope that you are finding things that are useful in these posts.

Here's to another year of working to improve education and sharing my efforts with others!

photo from: Theresa Thompson, Creative Commons Set, Flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/22998854@N02/2311733808/

Teachers, get on the professional bus

2010-07-05T07:17:00.000-07:00

I'm really not a fan of the phrase "get on the bus" nor its variants "are you on the bus?", "she's not on the bus", "we kicked him off the bus," and "they got run over by the bus." However, there comes a time when these phrases must be used.

Recently, I suggested that teachers move into the 21st century by learning about social networking and creating their own accounts. The post I referenced from JEA Digital Media has some great ideas.

This time, I'm suggesting that teachers "get on the bus" and join professional organizations and/or subscribe to professional journals. A discussion thread for new teachers on Edutopia got me all fired up about this topic. Since classroom teachers spend much of their day closed off in a room with one or more groups of students, we don't have the time for professional interaction that might benefit us. Professional organizations and journals can help us.

Find an organization or journal in your subject area. Sign up. You could even follow a few blogs as suggested in this recent post. Any step you make in this direction will only help you become a better educator. You will be exposed to new idea and the latest information in your field. Don't delay, sign up today!

Blogger stats just got easier

2010-07-02T08:17:00.000-07:00

I saw this post on Mashable this morning and checked my tabs in Blogger. Sure enough there's a new tab! So, what do I see? I can check page views, traffic sources and where my audience is located (by country). I can also see which posts have been viewed most recently. Mashable points out that this new feature doesn't have everything a power blogger needs, but, for right now, it works for me. The graphic interface is easy for me to follow.

Teachers, please move into the 21st century!

2010-06-30T06:50:00.000-07:00

I've noticed that many teachers are reluctant to move online. They don't want to blog or get on Facebook or Twitter (or other social networking sites). The post "5 Ways to Learn..." at JEA Digital Media has some great suggestions for getting online and learning about the sites that our students use. While this post was written with journalism teachers in mind, it applies to all of us. Do what you can, but get involved online. It opens whole new worlds!

photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/61963330@N00/617650945/

From the Web:: 13 Tips to Supercharge Your ‘Dumb’ Phone

2010-06-26T06:33:00.000-07:00

Not everyone has (or wants) one of the expensive smart phones. Here's a guide to getting more from the phone you have. Some of these are applicable to educations, while others are for more personal use. My all-time favorite has to be using your cellphone as a dictionary by calling 466453.

13 Tips to Supercharge Your ‘Dumb’ Phone

From the Web:: Even more Edubloggers!

2010-06-23T06:13:00.000-07:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33624275@N00/313251515/

This seems to be the season of edublogger lists. I imagine that's because now that school is out, we have time to reflect on those blogs that have made a difference in our classrooms. Here are two more lists of edubloggers:

Scholastic's Top 20 Teacher Blogs has a variety of topics. Some of the bloggers here are new to me and definitely worth checking out. Check out Tales from the School Bus for a different perspective on working with kids.
Bright Hub's Best Blogs for Tech Savvy Teachers is another list to check out. Some of the first blogs I read are here. You don't have to be super tech savvy to find these blogs useful, just keep an open mind and go exploring!

Bing! Your donation is ready.

2010-06-22T06:30:00.000-07:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34017702@N00/74907741/

Microsoft search engine Bing has teamed up with DonorsChoose to give people a chance to honor their most inspirational teachers AND make a donation to their favorite project proposal at DonorsChoose. All you have to do is go to the Bing Teacher Appreciation Month page and write a few words about how a teacher inspired you. A few hours later, a redemption code for a $5 donation shows up in your email box. Go to DonorsChoose, find a project and donate. Just like that. Bing!

From the Web:: Get your Edubloggers!

2010-06-21T06:35:00.000-07:00

Karen McMillan, a middle school teacher and avid participant on Twitter, blogs at Notes from McTeach. Her post from Saturday, June 19 is definitely worth reading. In "Get Your Edubloggers Here!" McTeach describes how she selected her top 10 blogs to read and why reading blogs is important for educators. If you're looking for a place to get started reading blogs, this is a must-see list.

EZ Tech Integration makes list

2010-06-19T08:41:00.000-07:00

Onlinedegrees.org has just published a "Top 100 technology blogs for teachers" list and this blog made it on the list! Some of my favorite ed tech blogs are on the list, but there are also many blogs that are new to me. See if you find a few new blogs to add to your favorites. Which ones do you recommend?

From the Web:: Every Teacher’s Must-Have Guide To Facebook

2010-06-17T06:36:00.000-07:00

The title says it all. There is a video, a 22 page guidebook, two posters and a list of Facebook types to avoid like the plague all in this one post. If you're new to Facebook or need a refresher, this is for you!

EduDemic » Every Teacher’s Must-Have Guide To Facebook

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Google Geo Teachers Institute, Part II

2010-06-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

I received an email from Google on Monday inviting me to attend the GEO Teachers Institute! I am thrilled to be part of this inaugural event and look forward to filling my brain with all sorts of Google-y and geography goodness. If you're attending, please fill out this form. Anyone can see the results in the spreadsheet here. More to come soon.

Wikipedia: Friend or Foe or Something In-between?

2010-06-15T06:09:00.000-07:00

Larry Ferlazzo shared this link to an Ed Week commentary on Wikipedia. There's a lot of good stuff here, including ways to help students get the most out of Wikipedia as they do research.

I used to be rabidly anti-Wikipedia. I remember frothing at the mouth while telling my students of the evils to be found at the site (peppered with tales of high-profile news stories about contributors with false identities). My students would quiver in fear and shrink from my wild gesticulations.

I'm over all that. Now when I talk about using Wikipedia, I talk about it in much the same way that Matthew Shapiro, the author of the commentary, suggests. Wikipedia is a place to start, but there are many additional and valuable resources out there.

Here's a thought for schools....Wikipedia might be BETTER than a traditional print encyclopedia for students. Why? It's more up to date. The Brittanicas in my site's library are nearly 10 years old.

From the Web:: Virtual Summer Camp

2010-06-13T06:28:00.000-07:00

The Virtual Summer Camp is chock-full of resources to help you brush up on Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. Some resources are websites, others are videos, some are .pdf tutorials. Check it out.

Virtual Summer Camp

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Playground Maps 2010

2010-06-11T05:55:00.000-07:00

I decided to do something non-tech based for end of the year assignments with my geography students. They created two maps of California that my students next year will be able to use in a variety of ways. Here's a slideshow of the prep work, gridding, chalking and painting (no stencils for us). One map is CA counties and the other is physiographic regions. More later on the types of things we will be doing with the maps next year....

Flip v. iPhone 4

2010-06-10T05:30:00.000-07:00

Janko Roettgers at New TeeVee is predicting that the iPhone 4 will kill off the Flip Video camera. The new iPhone has HD video capability, so, as the thinking goes, we will all ditch our Flips. That might happen for the regular smartphone user, but not in education.

Let's look at this practically speaking. First off, I like the iPhone as much as the next person. I have one. Sort of. Long story, but let's just say I have one that more or less works. If we look at the iPhone 4 with an starting price of $199, similar to a Flip Ultra HD, it seems to be a no-brainer. Go for the iPhone! But wait, there's more. Don't forget you have to have a data plan with your shiny new iPhone. Add on a minimum of $15/month to your video camera cost.

I have five Flip cameras in my classroom. I bought two of the original versions when they were on close-out, one was given to me as part of a project that I work with and the other two I got through a grant with DonorsChoose. My students and I use the cameras frequently. We have no monthly fee for operating our cameras. All I have to do is replace the batteries on some models.

Are there some things I would change about the Flip? Sure. An audio input jack would be first on my list. Second would be WiFi capability so students could upload directly from the camera to SchoolTube. However, for overall ease of use and affordability, Flip Videos are the way to go.

From the Web:: History Pin

2010-06-08T06:21:00.000-07:00

History Pin is an interesting way for students to observe change over time or to place themselves in the larger world. Imagine using old family photos to show how your region has changed over the years.

GAW 2010: NGS home for freshwater

2010-06-03T05:54:00.000-07:00

Last week I shared the Fish Pharm infographic from National Geographic. This week, check out Nat Geo's home for all things freshwater. There are a variety of features here from information on the world's rivers to photo essays to tutorials on choosing the most water-efficient toilets. Click around.

National Geographic: Freshwater

Oil Spill Resources

2010-05-29T06:04:00.000-07:00

Sometimes complicated subjects are more accessible when discussed in terms of editorial cartoons. Cagle's Professional Cartoonist's Index has a wonderful collection of cartoon commentaries on the Gulf Oil Spill.

Also, don't forget Larry Ferlazzo's extensive list of links for information on the oil spill. Click on the blog post to access the live links.

Getting Ready for GAW 2010

2010-05-27T05:40:00.000-07:00

You might have noticed the logo to the right letting you know that Geography Awareness Week 2010 is just six months away. This is the year of freshwater. Over the next few months, I'll post a few relevant links for celebrating Geography Awareness Week AND working on the theme itself.

Today, check out the Fish Pharm infographic at National Geographic. This gives just one example of the kinds of medications that end up in our water supply. What is happening in your area?

From the Web:: Everyone is Number 1 in something

2010-05-25T05:00:00.000-07:00

Created partly in fun, this chart shows that yes, indeed, every country can be number 1 in something. This is a great opportunity to discuss with students how these 'rankings' are derived. Notice at the bottom of the chart, the authors admit to using 'fancy journalist tricks' to make it work.

Everyone is Number 1 in something!

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

From the Web:: Is the British banger dangerous?

2010-05-24T05:33:00.000-07:00

One of the things we've noticed at our site is that our students, overall, are not doing well on standardized math tests. Yes, we have many who do VERY well, but most struggle. Part of math standards in California require students to be able to interpret data, graphs and charts (interestingly, a similar standard is part of the language arts standards as well). What I'm trying to get at is that you don't have to be a math teacher to incorporate these skills into your class.

As a geography teacher, I might use this slide show while talking about the incidence of certain types of diseases around the world. The presentation does a good job explaining what it actually means when studies report that just one extra sausage a week increases disease risk.

BBC News - Is the British banger dangerous?

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

From the Web:: Infographic "Crude Awakening"

2010-05-21T05:24:00.000-07:00

This infographic, "Crude Awakening," has an amazing amount of information. Click on the image to enlarge it and settle in for some interesting reading. This is a great way to get reluctant readers involved in current events.

From the Web:: How to Find Flickr Photos with a Creative Commons License

2010-05-20T05:04:00.000-07:00

I've been going over this at least once a week with my geography classes this year. This will be a great reference for my students when they forget how to search. Thanks @starden for sharing the link!

How to Find Flickr Photos with a Creative Commons License
tags: creativecommons, photography

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Google Geo Teachers Institute

2010-05-18T06:07:00.000-07:00

As the official blog post says, save the date! The Google Geo Teachers Institute is coming. According to the application, which is emailed to interested parties, the event will take place in Mountain View, CA. Check out the call for interest here.

From the Web:: Google Voice for Teachers

2010-04-20T06:30:00.000-07:00

Lisa Nielsen over at The Innovative Educator has an excellent tutorial on getting started with Google Voice. In addition to explaining how Google Voice works, she also give several concrete ways to use it in the classroom.

From the Web:: Why We Opt Out

2010-04-19T06:16:00.000-07:00

Alfie Kohn posted "Why We Opt Out" on his website. Though the article is from 2003, it is well worth reading. The writers explain why they think testing is not appropriate for their children and in the process raise several questions about whether or not testing is good for any child.

From the Web:: Google Student Blog

2010-04-06T07:21:00.000-07:00

The Google Student Blog has great resources for computer science and math students as well as information about internship programs and contests with Google. The Interview with an Engineer feature is a good way to see what software engineers actually do at Google.

(via Lisa Thumann on Diigo)

On Tall Poppies and Revelations

2010-04-04T12:31:00.000-07:00


photo: poppylove...#4 SquaRED

This post is a response to "No Teacher Left Behind A Guest Post" at The Educational Mac.

This sounds like Tall Poppy Syndrome at work in education. I first heard this concept eloquently explained by a 16-year-old exchange student from New Zealand. She explained that where she was from, it was not okay for one person to stand out regardless of how accomplished they are. It was not socially acceptable to discuss your accomplishments or anything else that might set you apart from the crowd. Some of this could be attributed to typical teen behavior and the need to fit in, but after lengthy discussion I could see there was much more to it.

I think the attitude described in "No Teacher Left Behind" is more common than we tend to think. Though I am generally supported by my site administration, the district level folks seem to find me to be an annoyance because I want to integrate technology into my classroom and my students' lives. There are subtle and not-so-subtle messages that we get about the importance of professional development and making meaningful change in our classrooms.

About 15 years ago I contacted my district's Director of Curriculum and Instruction. I told him that as part of my agreement for extensive training with the our state's Geographic Alliance, I was available to give workshops, free of charge, to teachers. Teachers would receive materials and lessons aligned to our curriculum documents of the time. I asked if I would be able to use a room at our staff development center. His response (and I still remember EXACTLY where I was) "well, sure, but we'd have to charge you for the space, so you might want to try to work with your principal on that." I was dumbfounded. Really? CHARGE me to provide free professional development aligned to our curriculum? He went on. "So you're interested in this geography stuff, huh? (he used the phrase 'geography stuff')We have to send somebody to this standards workshop with the county. Would you be interested?"

This turned into a great opportunity for me to work with teachers from all over my county, but other workshops continue to be an issue. I have led professional development sessions for the district over the past 15 years, but the topics have been mostly district generated, not teacher generated. Just recently I got an enthusiastic response to a workshop idea from our current Director, so maybe things are improving.

I also invest a lot of my own time and money into professional development. I have to. My district has provided zero content-based professional development for social studies teachers (aside from Dog and Pony shows for our textbook adoptions) for nearly 10 years. Conferences and workshops during the school day are at my own expense.

To sum up something of a rant above, I feel like I was asked to stop learning and sharing years ago. To some extent I thought I had just resigned myself to that existence. Until I had a revelation.

In 2008 I was nominated for a Teaching Excellence Award, and shortly thereafter, the District's Teacher of the Year Award. For both nominations, I had to fill out forms describing my teaching experience and professional growth. As I was filling out the forms I was stunned to discover that ALL of my examples were directly related to activities and learning that occurred OUTSIDE of my regular teaching duties. As I read and reread what I had written and tried to think of other examples that might be more district-oriented, I realized that my primary identification as an educator is NOT with my district nor is it with my school. Years ago, without even realizing it, I switched my primary identification to the groups I work with that actively support new ideas and high quality professional development.

At first, I felt a bit adrift, but then I realized that what kept me growing as an educator was being in a field of already tall poppies and I was trying to grow professionally to be tall with them. Honestly, I do find this a bit disconcerting; somehow I believe that I should be able to grow more with the people I see every day more than those that I see less frequently or those that I've never even met in person.

Today, I actively pursue feedback from those who are already where I want to be. It might be technology integration or it could be curriculum development. Whatever it is, I MUST continue to learn and grow. Overall, I am happier because of it.

I will continue to learn from those individuals and groups who have so influenced my development as a teacher.

I will continue to implement appropriate technology integration and teaching methods in my classroom.

I will NOT let what seems to be a desire for mediocracy get me down.

Go Forth. Look for Funding.

2010-04-03T09:27:00.000-07:00

I was delighted last night to open my email and see a "Your project has been FUNDED!" email from DonorsChoose. This project was "Journalism to Go" which will help my students journalists get going using more web-based tools to share their stories and photos. Once again I used the power of social media to get the word out that the project needed just a bit more money for full funding.

The real purpose of this post, though, is the emphasize the point that we (teachers and school communities) need to actively search for funding opportunities for resources we might not otherwise be able to get. Here in California things are going to get worse in school funding before they get better, so we're going to have to get creative.

Yes, things will be rough, but we don't have to go without. Go forth. Look for funding. When you find an opportunity tell your colleagues. Together, we can bring resources to our classrooms!

Finding the Money

2010-04-01T05:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I offered a brief workshop on using Donors Choose for teachers at my site. Only a few showed up, but they had great questions and were obviously interested in figuring out how to get the resources they need for their classrooms.

One teacher asked if projects submitted to Donors Choose had to be technology based since that's all she had heard about. NO! Any teacher in any subject area can request resources of any type so long as it helps their students become more successful.

We all realized that organizations like DonorsChoose or, in our area a group called the Ed. Fund, will become more and more important for teachers during the cutbacks that we are experiencing across the nation. What do you and your colleagues do to get the resources needed to help students become more successful?

From the Web:: Reorganizing Time at School

2010-03-28T05:46:00.000-07:00

I read the article "NYC School Built Around Unorthodox Use of Time" last week and found it fascinating. Why can't we think about our use of time in schools? Would our educational offerings somehow diminish under this type of plan? Somehow I don't think so. Read this, think about it and share your thoughts here.

The full article is available with a free edweek.org membership. Sign up takes just a couple of minutes.

The week that was

2010-03-27T05:40:00.000-07:00

I'm glad the week is over. The quarter ended so I had to get grades finished. The final yearbook deadline was this week. I wrote three proposals for projects at DonorsChoose (one got fully funded in about a day!). I can feel my head beginning to clear. Whew!

World Water Day: Resources

2010-03-22T04:00:00.000-07:00

We often forget, here in the United States, that most of the people on our planet don't have easy access to fresh, clean water. We just turn on a tap, they have to trek for miles to get clean water, THEN haul it home. Today is World Water Day. Click here or on the logo to the right to go to the official website. Check out other resources here:

History of World Water Day

National Geographic Society has a nice interactive feature on freshwater.

A Freshwater Story outlines how much freshwater is available.

Sir Ken Robinson: Education is Broken

2010-03-21T07:04:00.000-07:00

Here is a short, but powerful video on the problems with a highly competitive education system.

Back to Basics?

2010-03-16T07:32:00.000-07:00

Last week I ran across this article "Of Mice and Mentors" at the School Library Journal. I had the pleasure of meeting Keisa Williams last summer; she impressed me with her great ideas for tech integration and her obvious love of her library and her students.

My biggest takeaway from her story about using technology in the library is the reminder that sometimes we really do have to go back to the basics when introducing technology in the classroom. I have found that many of my students don't know the difference between minimizing a window and closing a program. Some have trouble distinguishing between a new browser tab and a new browser window. Others don't know how to use the Start menu on a Windows-based computer.

Most of my students have computers with internet access at home and about half of them have smart phones in their pockets, yet they haven't learned the basics of effective computer use. A few years ago I had fewer students with computers, but those who did seemed to have more basic knowledge.

Don't get me wrong, I do have students who are quite tech savvy and are easily able to navigate their own computers and teach their classmates effective technique. I have a few who are even suggesting more effective ways to use Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. My concerns lies in the fact that students arrived to me either unable or unwilling to poke around on the computer.

The good news is that week before last, we had a breakthrough. I created a document that students had to download, then complete. Because the document was a graphic it opened in Photoshop. Students pairs figured out the toolbar and even helped each other out. No one lost data. Everyone finished the assignment in a timely manner.

While I do some demonstrations for my students, I try to keep those at a minimum because I want them to figure things out. I think this is easier to do with high school students, than elementary students, but it can still get frustrating for all of us. I have established naming conventions for accounts that require sign in, but will be sure next year that all accounts have the same naming convention.

Overall, it appears that most of my previously uncertain students are feeling more comfortable moving around on a computer. They are able to embed a document into wikispaces without assistance and can open, work on, save and submit a document from Edmodo.

Whether you go all the way back to teaching the very basics in how to use a mouse or open and close a browser window or throw students a task figure out with minimal demonstration, having kids work with the computers or other technology tools consistently and persistently is the key.

photo by Nathan Arnold http://www.flickr.com/photos/82016566@N00/7189811/

Another redesign for the blog

2010-03-14T06:05:00.000-07:00

You might have noticed that this blog has gone through another resign. Last year's redesign was because I was tired of the old look and wanted something more lively and fresh. I had to go to a template outside of Blogger to get what I wanted. I felt like I really accomplished something because I was able to go in to the HTML and make changes that I wanted without breaking the template. Exciting stuff.

Yesterday, Melanie Holtsman posted a link to Draft Blogger on Twitter. I didn't even know about Draft Blogger, but I played around for awhile and here you have the result. Draft Blogger has additional templates with greater flexibility and more modern design. Read the blog post about the changes and how to get them on your blog.

The question is, why go through another redesign? Well [insert sheepish look here], I had trouble reading my own blog. I found the contrast between the text and the background was too stark and the overall size of the font too small. Sometimes the letters blended together. I wear glasses and have for years, but I was concerned that if I was having trouble, others might be as well.

The grays and blues are more soothing to my eyes (and I hope yours too). The borders around each post nicely package the entry. I noticed that I need to add more visuals to the blog (this has always been a problem, but it seems more apparent now) and I will continue to tweak the design a bit (for examples, the subhead needs to be a little darker). My goal though, is to keep it simple and easy on the eyes.

What do you think?

From the Web:: Top 50 Education Technology Blogs

2010-03-10T04:00:00.000-08:00

This is a great list of some of the best Ed Tech blogs out there. I like the categories. Some here are new to me. Which voices are missing from this list?

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

NYT Magazine: Build a Better Teacher

2010-03-08T04:00:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I spent an hour reading "Build a Better Teacher" and the accompanying comments. I'm not sure the article (or Lemov's Taxonomy) has all of the answers. I perused the videos and was struck by the fact that all of the students were in uniform and they all seem to be in charter schools.

As an education community, we cannot ignore the fact that most charter schools can choose who attends their school and can dismiss students who are not holding up their end of the bargain (I got one of those students just recently. I asked why the student was transferring schools in the middle of the year and the student responded that he/she had been kicked out of the charter school for poor attendance). I am allowed to refer students for disruptive behavior or poor attendance and an excessive number of tardies, but they are not transferred out of my room to improve the learning experience for the other 35 students.

I know that at some schools in my district teachers are more concerned about getting basic needs met for their students. Teachers could have the best management techniques in the world, but if a kid is coming to you every day hungry or has experienced violence in the home or community, there are a few other things to worry about than whether or not Johnny is paying attention.

So...what does this mean for public schools? Honestly, I'm not sure. We need to look at the entire picture of education, not just what the teachers are doing and how test scores are improving (or not).

From the Web:: A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods

2010-03-06T09:52:00.000-08:00

This is a fantastic resource showing a WIDE variety of graphic organizer types. Many of the examples are business oriented, but teachers could easily apply them for use in the classroom. I shared this with my site colleagues this week and got a favorable response.

How did I find this? John Faig posted it on Twitter.

A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods

tags: visualization, tools, design

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

From the Web::: JamesBurkeWeb's YouTube Channel

2010-03-05T04:00:00.000-08:00

I love James Burke's various video series. I've even used them in class. Now I can watch the videos whenever I want on YouTube! Of course, YouTube is blocked at school, but I could direct students to the videos and have them watch at home.

One note of caution....Over the past few years, when I have used these videos, my students have said they don't like them. They claim to have a hard time following Burke because of his accent and they also have trouble following the connections he is making between people and events. I'm not quite sure why this is happening, but next time I use any of them, I will use some sort of graphic organizer to help students get through the video.

YouTube - JamesBurkeWeb's Channel
tags: jamesburkeweb, youtube

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

From the Web:: 12 Word Cloud Resources, Tips, & Tools

2010-03-03T04:00:00.000-08:00

This is from Shelly Terrell's blog. Over the weekend, Wordle was taken offline because of trademark issues, so my PLN on Twitter scrambled to share alternatives. This is a great list of possibilities. Wordle was back online by Sunday night.

12 Word Cloud Resources, Tips, & Tools | Teacher Reboot Camp
tags: resources, wordcloud, tools

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

From the Web:: Two interesting ways to view the news

2010-03-01T05:45:00.001-08:00

I played around with both of these resources on Saturday while following earthquake news from Chile. Both are worth checking out as a way to gather and sort news.

I had seen Newsmap before, but forgot about it. I really like the tabs to international news at the top of the Newsmap page. It's interesting to flip between different countries to see what is being emphasized.

Newsmap
tags: newsmap
VueTOO® Home Page
tags: vuetoo®, news, content

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Quiz: How Millennial Are You?

2010-02-27T07:07:00.000-08:00

Pew Research has put together a quiz to help you find the answer to the question: How Millennial Are You? Unfortunately, I am not very Millennial today.

For those of us in education who are Baby Boomers or Early Gen-Xers, these questions provide some food for thought in dealing with our young charges as well as the younger teachers on our campuses.

Take the quiz and find out for yourself: How Millennial Are You?

From the Web:: Tumblr vs Posterous: quick blogging showdown

2010-02-26T06:33:00.001-08:00

Here is a detailed review of both platforms. I have access to both at school, so this could be useful for gauging which blogging service would be more classroom friendly. Currently, Tumblr seems to be winning with students in my area though I do have a few using Posterous.

Tumblr vs Posterous: quick blogging showdown

tags: posterous, tumblr, blogging

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

From the Web:: Our old friend, Webquest

2010-02-24T07:20:00.000-08:00

Years ago I used Webquests in the classroom. I created them. I had students create them. I even taught a class about using Webquests in the social studies classroom. Somewhere along the line they got put on the back burner. Now, there's Zunal, a free Webquest maker.

Zunal allows document uploads and you can export the Webquest as well. Recent improvements allow for embedding YouTube video and embedded quizzes. There are hundreds of Webquests already built at the site (some are unfinished) on a variety of subjects.

Webquests were first developed in 1995 by Bernie Dodge at San Diego State University. The Webquest.org site has extensive background into the theory and practice of using the tool in the classroom. The Creating Webquests page also has links to other Webquest builders.

Thanks to Paula Naugle for posting this on Twitter!

Photo by: Extra Ketchup "Students Engaged in Research"

From the Web:: Education Apps Rated

2010-02-22T07:06:00.000-08:00

There are thousands of apps for the iPhone and iTouch out there. How do you know which ones are good? If you're using your iPhone or iTouches in the classroom, how do you know which educational apps are decent and how in the world do you find them? Lucy Gray posted to Diigo MacWorld's AppGuide for education apps. The list is sorted by editor review ranking.

I prefer free apps, but I'm much more likely to consider paying for an app if I know that it has been reviewed by a reputable source.

photo by: foundphotoslj "Student in Class"

From the Web: Discovery Education's Web 20.10

2010-02-20T06:33:00.000-08:00

Discovery Education has launched a portal chock full of Web 2.0 tools for the classroom. The site covers everything from media literacy to internet safety to a categorized list of online tools. There's even a sweepstakes for a tech makeover!

Discovery Education: Home
tags: discovery, Web2.0, collaboration, tools

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

From the Web: JK Rowling: The fringe benefits of failure | Video on TED.com

2010-02-18T07:00:00.000-08:00

Someone posted this on Twitter last week (of course, I forgot to list who it was). I really liked this talk. Sometimes we end up in places or situations that we think are awful, but something wonderful happens as a result.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

From the Web: 3 Types of Web-based Instructional Activites (w/examples)

2010-02-16T07:00:00.000-08:00

Here's another great post from the Learning Today blog. Web activities are divided into three categories. Take a look and be sure to check out the examples.

3 Types of Web-based Instructional Activites (w/examples)
tags: web2.0, learning, teaching, tech_integration

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

From the Web: 5 Questions for Planning Successful Web-Based Activities

2010-02-15T07:00:00.000-08:00

These are excellent questions to ponder when developing technology integrated lessons. Number 2 is my favorite. We need to remind ourselves that sometimes high-tech solutions aren't the answer.

5 Questions for Planning Successful Web-Based Activities
tags: webbased, teaching, web2.0, instruction, learning

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Bringing the World to the Classroom

2010-02-14T07:25:00.000-08:00

Earlier this month, I wrote about an upcoming event in my geography classroom. My students were going to have a guest speaker talk with them about the mountains of Central Asia. Having a guest speaker isn't all that unusual but, in my school, having one over the internet is something different.

I asked Dr. Stephen Cunha, a professor of geography at Humboldt State University and the director of the California Geographic Alliance (full disclosure: I have been a teacher consultant with the Alliance since 1994) if he could help us out. Though Dr. Cunha has experience with video-conferencing, he had not used Elluminate before, but he was game to try!

For our event we used the vRoom provided by LearnCentral. We also had a backchannel going in the classroom so students could make observations and ask questions. For our backchannel we used Edmodo.

Before we even got to working with Dr. Cunha, we practiced using a backchannel during lecture and during a video. Some students reported that they felt more engaged with the topic because they could focus their energy on typing. I noticed that the more we practiced, the more they interacted with each other in the backchannel. One of the biggest challenges, of course, is to make sure that comments are relevant to the topic at hand.

On the day of the guest lecture we went over the Elluminate interface and had Edmodo set up and running. Student moderators had been selected and were watching comments and questions. The lecture was about 20 minutes, then we had time for questions and answers. Our moderator asked questions on behalf of the class.We also had two visitors to class: one of our assistant principals and our district assistive technology guru.

Here are some general observations and thoughts on the process:

I was really nervous because I wanted everything to go well. Overall, it did but we still have some sound issues to work out (made sure it's loud enough, no echo, etc).
The students aren't totally comfortable putting out their own thoughts and questions. There were a few instances such as the Edmodo screenshot here, but not many. Students are NOT used to getting information from each other or contributing to their own learning. I know that's a broad statement, but they are constantly asking if they have the "right" answer when they post something.
Giving students the opportunity to hear other voices in their education is extremely important. Dr. Cunha talked about Central Asia in a way that I never could. He's the expert, not me. Why shouldn't we have more experts in our high school classes?
I really need to get more administrators and teachers to see the possibilities for learning. The assistant principal asked one student if she was on Facebook. The student explained that she was on Edmodo and it's educational.
Even with the glitches, I am looking forward to doing this again. It was not difficult to set up or execute. Next time, I hope my students can suggest someone who could provide insight into their unit of study.

top screenshot courtesy of Dr. Stephen Cunha

Ask and ye shall receive...

2010-02-13T11:33:00.000-08:00

Just about two weeks ago I wrote two proposals at DonorsChoose.org. The first was for two HD Flip Video cameras so that my students could participate in the Life 'Round Here 2010 project. The second was for 10 sets of earbuds so we can use audio and video resources at computer stations in the classroom. On Thursday I logged in and saw that both projects had been funded almost all the way. The catch was that the foundation making the donation would only give the money through the President's Day weekend. Uh oh.

I put out a request for help on Facebook and Twitter, just for the heck of it. I thought that if I got just a few more dollars on each project, I'd pitch in the rest. Not an easy task, mind you, but I'd do it. About five hours later I got the email that the Life 'Round Here project had been fully funded. The next morning I woke up to an email that the earbuds had been funded! WooHoo!

The proposal form is NOT that bad. Of course you have to think about how your request fits with your curriculum and you have to show how your request will help your students do better in school. Your first proposal will take the longest because you're getting used to the format.

So, the point of this is the following:

If you have an equipment need in your classroom, fill out a proposal at DonorsChoose. Of course you want something that is going to move learning forward, but it's pretty open. There are dozens of vendors within the eSchoolMall at DonorsChoose.
If you want to participate in a project or go on a field trip, but don't have the money, fill out a proposal. You never know what might happen!
If your proposal is almost fully funded, go ahead and ask your Facebook friends and Twitter PLN for help. They will.

Once you're funded make sure you respond in a timely fashion to DonorsChoose. You have thank you letters to write and pictures to take to let your donors know how they helped.

Take a chance on this. In the past four months, we've had at least four projects funded just at my school alone!

The "I hate grading programs" post

2010-02-10T04:00:00.000-08:00

Yes, indeedy, I do have a love-hate relationship with grading programs. They are useful and ultimately save me time, but they never do EXACTLY what I want them to. I decided after my student teaching semester (yes, back when dinosaurs still roamed the earth) that I would never do grades by hand again, so I went looking for something new.

I started with GradeMachine by Misty City Software and used that successfully for several years. It didn't do everything that I wanted, but was pretty easy to use.

By the early 2000s, I had moved to a new school with a new grading program. The idea was that within a few years everyone would be using Micrograde by Chariot. Many of my colleagues resisted the switch, but I plodded forward. The single most important advantage of Micrograde at my site was the ability to post grades online. Once students and parents could see what the grade was at any given moment, the number of requests for parent conferences plummeted. However, for most of the time I used Micrograde, I had trouble. For example:

One quarter, one of my classes suddenly started picking up data from another class. Have no idea what happened and Chariot couldn't recreate it, so the problem didn't exist. I had to recreate the class.
Another quarter, I entered my password protected gradebook one morning and ONE of my classes suddenly had A+ grades well over 120%. NO assignments had been changed, the grade scale was the same, but suddenly everyone had higher grades. Since Chariot couldn't recreate it, the problem didn't exist. I had to recreate the class.
On one of the upgrades, the summary grading period broke. No one knew that until AFTER semester grades were reported. Turned out that in the new version, one had to manually enter the percent for each quarter in a semester grade. Ugh. I was one of the fortunate ones that I noticed an oddly computed semester grade and fixed mine before turning them in.

Finally, my district decided to purchase a new student information system that includes a gradebook. With that decision, my site stopped paying for the Micrograde feature that allows teachers to post grades online. Powerschool is managing all of our data and seems to have the features that we need for the district. Despite a year's preparation, the district was not ready to roll out the gradebook feature, so teachers were given the option to try it out. It IS nice that I can enter grades from any internet connected computer, but that doesn't make up for the current shortcomings. I tried it for a semester and have decided to move on for the time being. Here's why:

I cannot modify the grade scale despite the instructions from both Powerschool and my district.
I cannot move students between classes. For example, I have three yearbook students in one of my newspaper classes. Since they are enrolled in that period, that's where they are graded. Needless to say, the extra work of excusing yearbook kids from newspaper assignments and vice versa is a pain.
My ability to enter grades the way I want is limited. There are codes I can use for excusing a student from an assignment and it IS nice that I can mark an assignment as late, but if I enter an assignment by letter grade I CANNOT mark a zero for an assignment that was not turned it. That bugs me. If I just mark it as missing, it doesn't count as a zero. Go figure.
The biggest problem is that the district has not activated the module that allows me to post grades online. Seeing how I got one case of paper for the entire year and all of the printers in my room are at least three years old, it's not feasible to print out grade reports for each kid. I can create pdf reports for each student, but it's a cumbersome three step process to create 35 reports per class, then individually email them.

Recently, one of my newspaper students wrote a commentary about the value of having grades posted online and mentioned Engrade. I decided to check it out. First of all, it's free; that's a good thing right now. Of course, the greatest thing in its favor is the ability to post online, but it's a serviceable program. I was able to import my student list from an Excel spreadsheet, added my grading categories, checked the grading scale (fully customizable) and, within a few minutes had all of my geography students in a single class! Entering grades is just average since I use a keypad and can go pretty fast. Sometimes the program is either too sensitive or not sensitive enough and I have to go back because someone gets skipped or ends up with two grades in the assignment cell.

The most telling thing about Engrade though is what happened when I handed students the slips to create their own accounts to check grades. Many of them immediately stopped what they were doing and got on the computer, while others stayed after class to set up their account and check grades. More came in at lunch to check. Some now come in during passing period to see if I've updated grades. Obviously, something was missing for them.

So, now that I'm at the end of my gradebook rant, I've decided to stick with Engrade at least until the district turns on the posting module. I'd rather work with a program that is a little clunky but meets the needs of my students, rather than one that, right now, doesn't do what my students need it to do.

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