1. Calling all Michigan STAR's!!

    Be it know that this is a semi-formal call out for any and all Michigan STAR’s to be a guest blogger on this site. You’ve read us. Now it’s your turn. Do you have a topic of great importance (or not that important)? Do you have a great idea to share? A best practice? Just [...]

  2. Ride the Wave… or Crash and Burn?

    Getting ready for the new school year has taken a gradual shift for me. When I think back, I remember the early years where I needed a key to the building, to my classroom, and to the copy room. In my classroom, I dusted off and sorted through teachers’ editions, professional journals, and various handbooks [...]

  3. First Impressions of Windows 7

    I’ve seen the ads, I’ve read the reviews, and I couldn’t wait to get a copy of Windows 7 to see how it worked for myself.  Admitedly, I was nervous about upgrading my computer (from Vista), worried that something would go wrong and I’d no longer be able to connect to my home wireless network, [...]

  4. Organized Chaos

    What do you get when you put a Media Specialist with a social personality on the web? FACEBOOK LISTS! Categorize it! Organize it! Label it! Okay, I doubt it was really a Media Specialist who developed lists on Facebook, but I can attest to the fact that at least one is using them–ME! I haven’t [...]

  5. Overheard at Alan November's Building Learning Communities Conference

    Michael Wesch:  “Harness the relevant tools and engage students in real world problems that the teacher does not know the answer to.” “We need to move our students from knowledgeable to knowledge-able.” Michael Lambert: “Treat a visual like an onion.  Peel back the layers, make the students slow down, and dive in.” “Emotion drives attention [...]

  6. Fun Learning

    I’m at the DEN Leadership Council Institute in Boston this week with 75 other amazing DEN leaders from across the country.  This evening we participated in an AmeriDEN Idol competition.  What a fun structure for learning!  Each team (of approximately ten people) were given four minutes to deliver a presentation to the others…   a web site, online tool, video, etc.  The DEN team hammed [...]

  7. ISTE 2010: Day One

    Greetings all of you back in Michigan! The DEN group hit the ground running today in Denver with a pre-conference event held at the Denver Zoo.  I put together a slide share of some of the photos that I took today, and I am sure that there will be more to come. ISTE 2010: Day1 [...]

  8. Is it good form… to use Google forms?

    I have to credit this week’s blog to my esteemed (and recently retired) colleague, Mr. Bruce Vigneault. He sent me a link to http://edte.ch/blog/2008/08/23/10-google-forms-for-the-classroom/. One reason that it particularly interested me was because he commented that many of the forms pertain to the lower grade levels. In my experience at our district, the majority of [...]

  9. Interesting Web Find

    As the school year draws to a close, I find myself beginning to have a few spare moments to look at some of the websites that I accumulated over the course of the year that I haven’t looked at.  One of those sites is http://www.fillanypdf.com.  This site allows you to upload any PDF form to [...]

  10. Geocaching Day; West Bloomfield Group

    Today is the Discovery Educator Network (DEN) Spring Geocaching Day.  Groups of teachers from all over the country get together to geocache!  This is part of the West Bloomfield group, organized by Cindy Carson and Pam Shoemaker.  It rained the whole time, but that didn’t stop us.  A fun time! Another Michigan group cached in Battle [...]

  11. Feeling Weebly

    I’d love to say that I have more information about Shepherd High School’s use of Facebook in the classroom, but we really haven’t done much more with it. Maybe it truly is just a social media in which students prefer to focus on their social lives? Perhaps we won’t venture into their social circle with [...]

  12. Geocaching Day 2010: Michigan Locations

    Greetings fellow Michiganders.  The DEN team here in Michigan is hosting two locations for DEN Geocaching Day on May 22nd, 2010.  One location will be in West Bloomfield, MI and the other will be in Battle Creek, MI.  Click on the city names to register for either location.  Below you will find a flyer for [...]

  13. Voice Thread in Action

    It was not until we were in our Poetry Unit that I saw an obvious use of Voice Thread with my 1st and 2nd graders. I have been unsure how it could be useful with young students as I have. But, with the students showing excitement with writing poetry I presented Voice Thread to them. [...]