A tweet by 3rd grade teach Noreen Dooley, led me to a wiki and website by 3rd grade teacher Karen Rose. She showcases some absolutely amazing projects by her 3rd graders. She has tons of great resources and is using a wide variety of Web 2.0 tools. Check it out
- Mrs Roses’ Class (wiki): http://msrosesclass.pbworks.com/w/page/21892631/FrontPage
- Podcast page: http://msrosesclass.pbworks.com/w/page/29734448/podcast-page
- Blossom in Mrs Rose’s Room: http://krose.edu.glogster.com/aboutrose/
- The making of a Teachers, her website: http://themakingofateacher.weebly.com/
And Noreen Dooley has quite an impressive 3rd grade class website too. http://fc.bryanisd.org/~ndooley/
I work with pre-service teachers and am always looking for good examples to show them, just found tow today all because of Twitter.
The Internet is stimulating communication and collaboration in a new way; Rachel Botsman does an amazing job of explaining it in the video from TEDTalks. Is this a human need and desire that has always existed, and just needed the outlet and portal that the Internet provided, or has the technology we use somehow changed our thinking about ourselves, our things and other people?
How–and why–to teach innovation in our schools
It’s wonderful to hear President Obama call for a nationwide emphasis on innovation, but it raises an interesting challenge: Where will all those innovators come from? Currently, we are chasing testable competency in academic core… [ Read More ]
by Michael
Friends:
This is going to be your post… or, at least the comments will be.
What’s the one piece of technology advice you’d give to a teacher who’s afraid of technology?
Give it to me! Please leave your thoughts in the comments section. at the I Love EdTech blog.
There is some great advice here, 40+ comments so far and all have a piece of wisdom.
And to support this advice, there is a great post from the Teacher Reboot Camp The 30 Goals Challenge 2011….
“Goal 1: Be a Beam #30Goals: Short-term- Offer a student or other educator you see struggling support. It could be a colleague who is stressed or a student struggling with another subject. Who in your life needs your support?” by Lon
You can read tall the 30 Goals Challenge post here:: http://teacherbootcamp.edublogs.org/2011/02/01/goal-1-be-a-beam-30goals/
The idea for smories.com during an extremely long journey in a very dirty Land Rover from the Kalahari desert in Botswana to Cape Town in South Africa in February last year.
Our daughter (8) had the idea to film herself with our ipod reading Enid Blyton short stories, and then play them back to her younger sister (6). This kept them entertained for hours.
Our kids have always loved reading to each other and are transfixed when other children read them stories. They are also obsessed with the internet and will make their way to youtube any time they get their hands on a computer.
We thought a website that had a continuous flow of new stories, read aloud by kids, would make a healthier destination than so much of the stuff out there. Imagine you’re stuck in traffic and need to keep a miniature person entertained in the back. Access a playlist of smories stories from your i-phone and voila…
Once we had the idea for a site that publishes stories for kids read by kids, we also thought it would be a great unthreatening forum for showcasing unpublished stories. This allows writers to test their work in a straightforward and transparent way, hopefully giving them exposure which they might otherwise not have received.
I just spent Thursday & Friday at Notre Dame Academy, Duluth, Georgia. I was doing a Challenge Based Learning Technology workshop with teachers. The school is using the International Baccalaureate Programme. I am sure most teachers are somewhat familiar with the International Baccalaureate Programme for High School, but I suspect most in public schools are not familiar with their other programs.
“Students in the 21st century are faced with the challenge of learning about an interconnected world where knowledge is constantly developing. The International Baccalaureate® (IB) Primary Years Programme prepares students to be active participants in a lifelong journey of learning.
The IB Primary Years Programme, for students aged 3 to 12, focuses on the development of the whole child as an inquirer, both in the classroom and in the world outside. http://www.ibo.org/pyp/“
I have to tell you, this was the most amazing school, with such a positive atmosphere for learning. My first impression when we drove up was that it looked more like an office complex than a school. It even has a very warm & welcoming lobby with a receptionist. The principal greeted every child (by name) as they arrived each morning and she does this every day (all 450+). It was so fun and rewarding to watch this process. Boy, it sure set the tone for my day too. What a nice feeling!
In the course of the workshop I learned a great deal about the school and teachers. For example, Debra Orr, Head of School created this school 5 years ago! Technically it is an independent Catholic school, the key word being independent. I had a wonderful conversation over dinner with Debra and learned that a nurturing faculty is a priority. In addition to the core subjects, the academic program incorporates instruction in Spanish, art, music, media center, science lab and daily physical fitness.
They have no gym, so all PE is outside!! Of course, the weather in Atlanta is mostly good. But I love the idea that kids playing outside.
Most of the time, classroom teachers seem stressed, especially when they are being pulled out of class for staff development and have a substitute in their room. And even though the teachers I was working with were concerned about their classes, they were completely committed to our task. The Challenge Based Learning workshop I conducted was right in line with their IBC curriculum. In fact, they are living it in their classrooms daily.
They are increasing their technology at a rapid pace, eight carts of iBooks, an iPod Touch cart and an iPad cart at the moment, but are adding iPads for all 8th graders in a few weeks. Each classroom has a mounted LCD projector and a interactive whiteboard (Smartboard). They have just moved to using Macs this year. As my workshop began and I learned the teachers had just started using all this technology and the Macs in September, I was stunned. There comfort zone with the Mac was amazing for such a short time.
I frequently link to articles about school change and NCLB and I discovered that is school is doing education/school RIGHT. We chould all learn a lesson from them. So, if you are reading this and are a principal, superintendent or school board member or teacher, I encourage you to visit this school and see how they DO IT RIGHT!
Kindergarten students at an Oregon elementary school are using technology in the classroom — from lessons on laptop computers to free “choice time” with iPad tablet computers. “During the year, I gradually introduce more and more ways to use technology to engage the kids in practicing various skills. Utilizing technology allows me to work with the students in smaller groups and differentiate my instruction time,” teacher Sue Holt said.
Read the full story, Daily Astorian, The (Astoria, Ore.)
Dr. Michael Wesch of Kansas State University along with his students, produced the viral video A Vision of Students Today almost 4 years ago is producing another video. His next video is tentatively titled The Vision of Students Today. Dr. Wesch needs teachers and students around the world to contribute to the new video. To contribute, find a video camera and record a two minute clip of scenes you see during the critical learning moments of your school day. Then upload your contribution to Professor Wesch’s YouTube Channel between Jan 17 and February 15.
Click here to read all of the details about this new collaborative video project.
Do you use Calvin and Hobbes comic strips in lessons? Now there is a Calvin and Hobbes search engine. Type in your query — homework, reading, etc — and then get the text and, in many cases, a link to the strip itself.
You might also be interested in from Larry Ferlazzo’s blog The Best Comic Strips For Students & Teachers — 2010 (And Earlier) and Part Two Of The Best Comic Strips For Students & Teachers — 2010.
Hans Rosling’s 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes
Hans Rosling’s famous lectures combine enormous quantities of public data with a sport’s commentator’s style to reveal the story of the world’s past, present and future development. Now he explores stats in a way he has never done before – using augmented reality animation. In this spectacular section of ‘The Joy of Stats’ he tells the story of the world in 200 countries over 200 years using 120,000 numbers – in just four minutes. Plotting life expectancy against income for every country since 1810, Hans shows how the world we live in is radically different from the world most of us imagine.
Those of You Born 1930 – 1979
At the end of this Email is a quote of the month by Jay Leno. If you don’t read anything else, Please Read what he Said. Very well stated, Mr. Leno.
TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED
THE 1930′s, 40′s, 50′s, 60′s and 70′s!!
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were Pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn’t get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles,
Locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode
Our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.
As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats,
No booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.
Riding in the back of a pick-up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar.
And, we weren’t overweight. WHY?
Because we were always outside playing…that’s why!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. And, we were O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps. And then ride them down the hill, only to find out, we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo’s and X-boxes.
There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable,
No video movies or DVD’s, no surround-sound or CD’s,
No cell phones,
No personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms.
WE HAD FRIENDS
And we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth , and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays,
Made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes..
We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
These generations have produced some of the best Risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever.
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.
If YOU are one of them? CONGRATULATIONS!
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the
lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.
While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn’t it ?
The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:
“With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms
tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of swine flu and terrorist attacks.
Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?’
School of One takes a different approach. Excerpts for those unfamiliar:
“The School of One’s mission is to provide students with personalized, effective, and dynamic classroom instruction customized to their particular academic needs, interests, and learning preferences.
To organize this type of learning, each student receives a unique
daily schedule based on his or her academic strengths and needs.
As a result, students within the school can receive profoundly
different instruction. Each student’s schedule is tailored to ability and
to the ways he or she learns best. Teachers acquire data about student achievement each day and then adapt their live instructional
lessons accordingly.”
Check out the overview video, it is extremely powerful
School of One from SideLot on Vimeo.
“”Within the decade, it will either become the norm to teach this course (high school Algebra I) in middle school or we’ll have finally woken up to the fact that there’s no reason to give algebra weight over statistics and IT in high school for non-math majors (and they will have all taken it in middle school anyway).”
- Shelley Blake-Plock
Last night I read and posted the clip on ’21 Things That Became Obsolete in the Last Decade’. Well, just for kicks, I put together my own list of ’21 Things That Will Become Obsolete in Education by 2020′.
1. Desks
Check out the complete list, CLICK HERE
by Christopher Breen, Macworld.com
Over the Thanksgiving holidays I had the opportunity to visit with my favorite 100-year-old—Lew, my mother’s husband. His birthday rolls around again in a couple of weeks and, as you might imagine, with a century of stuff tucked away here and there, he’s a hard man to shop for.
But not this year. This year he gets his own iPad………..
………. With the “for a 100-year-old” caveat in mind, he’s in great shape. He gets around with the aid of a walker, he goes to the gym twice a week, he reads three papers a day, and he follows every ball caught, dropped, kicked, or thrown by a UCLA team.
He’s also a great reader, but that’s become more difficult for him. He requires large-print books and he’s read through most of the ones he cares to from the local library. He’d like to revisit some of his favorite books but he can’t because they aren’t available in large print.
But thanks to the iPad, many now are. Read the full story.
I have to agree with the articles author, reading on the iPad is pretty great. I still love real books, but, I love that they are cheaper in digital format and these days, I seem to always have my iPad with me, so whenever I have time to kill, waiting in line, waiting for my meal in a restraunt (only when I am not with someone), on the treadmill at the gym and all kinds of other situations, I can read!! I just love it.
I am using my iPad educationally and in classes I teach, but I am also finding the entertainment value as a powerful reason to own an iPad. I travel quite a bit and if you are like me, flying is not only a hassle these days, but very boring. I usually download a movie or TV series and use the time on the plane to be entertained. Sure makes the trip got faster. Yes, I could do some work, but sometimes you just need to let go of work, clear your head and watch something. I just love it.
If you have not played with an iPad yet or are still trying to figure out why you need one, it is time you dig in and make a decision. Talk to peoplke with iPads, ask them what they like about it, how they use it personally and professionally. I think you will be surprised by what you discover.
Kevin Honeycutt is always amazing, but watch the video below. It really rocks. Last Friday I was honor to do a presentation in the Theories of Teaching grad class in the Music Department. My first thought, wow, I had forgotten how much fun it is to teach grad students, they actually discuss things and have opinions and are truly interested in learning. Anyway it was so much fun.
In email today, Kevin sent me this video from part of a presentation he did at a recent conference. Take a look, it will blow you away and is really some food for thought!!
http://janehewitt.blogspot.com
Co operative Learning
I love the cooperative learning techniques. The booklet below is created on Storybird as an introduction for younger pupils or SEN secondary.
Cooperative Learning on Storybird
Brad Flickinger of School Technology Solutions blog and a great post, Unbelievable Tech Projects for Students. I can relate completely, way back when, I also stumbled onto the www.MabryOnline.org website and saw the projects he is discussing. I was totally blown away as well. Brad says:
“So here I am, four years later, still burning with the same passion that was ignited inside of me back in 2007, working on unbelievable tech projects for elementary students. Check out their latest work at www.BethkeElementary.com and look for KBOB Studios.”
Bethke KBOB Studios
Podcasting
Web Shows
Movies
This blog post by Jonathan Martin from Connected Principals is really good stuff. I applaud Jonathan Martin for being a risk taker, although, I think to be an effective principal of a school you have to be a risk taker. But he is really on the “bleeding” edge. Challenging himself to try new things, including communication. What a novel concept, communication. Sorry for the sarcasm!
- To learn.
- To model learning.
- To share.
- To showcase my school.
- To articulate a vision.
- To develop a vision.
- To connect and converse.
- To lead.
- To contribute to and influence the broader educational conversation.
- To get perspective.
- To make mistakes.
- To show off.
- To write.
Find out the details behind why he blogs, To read the full post with all the details, CLICK HERE
