California DEN

I like to multitask. At any given time I usually have about 6 different application windows up and running on my laptop (not to mention all the items running in the background). So, it would follow that I similarly have a ton of tabs open in Firefox. Here are two tips for those wanting to get the most out of their browser.

First, when you set your homepage, why not set several tabs as your homepage instead of the usual one? I use email, Google Docs and my Netvibes reader. To do this just open up the tabs you want to use (no more, no less) and then click Tools and see the image to the right here for more info.  Notice the word “pages” is plural! Click and there you go.  The next time you open your browser you’ll have all your goodies open!

Second tip, If you have a bunch of tabs open about the same topic you can bookmark them all at once.  Just click Bookmarks and then  Bookmark all tabs. I usually choose to create a folder when I bookmark several at once.   Now they are all organized for me and I didn’t have to click for each one.  In addition, you can delete them easily because it just takes one click to delete the entire folder. Ever actually go through all of your old bookmarks?  That’s a task I dread.

Now the cool part.  Let’s say you are teaching a lesson on the solar system and you have several online resources (including Discovery Streaming of course), ahead of time you bookmark a bunch of appropriate pages and keep them in a folder. Then when its time for the lesson you navigate to that folder in your bookmarks and click  Open All in Tabs. Viola! I’m going to be presenting to an administrator shortly and I have my resources in a single folder which I will just open at once, no wasted time clicking on all of them individually.

Now I can’t tell you if this will work in Internet Explorer or Safari because… well I just don’t use them because I consider them inferior (just my take).

~Dave Kootman

These come via Twitter courtesy of DEN member Fred Delventhal.  If I had to follow one ed tech leader on Twitter I think Fred would be the one. Check out his blog here. Some of the latest:

Google Apps Tips

10 Obscure Google Search Tricks

Ways to Exhibit Student Art on the Internet

I keep thinking of some of the general guidelines I try to follow on a daily basis in my classroom; particularly things of educational technology relevance. What pitfalls do teachers want to stay away from when using tech? What things do we want to make sure we do consistently when using tech? How can we better use tech to teach? I’m not talking about specific projects, hardware, software or websites, but rather the little things we do, or should do, that make a big difference in the long run.

Well, I got motivated and created a list of things that I think are important, but we all know that “We is Smarter Than Me.” So I’m posting it as a wiki. Take a look at the things on the list and see if you can add to them. Keep them concise and try not to add things just for the sake of adding to the list. let’s make them new and different. I’m excited to see what great ideas we can come up with! Here is the link.

~Dave Kootman

Everyone has to check out the website listed below. Linda Foote of Poway Unified School District, has been hard at work teaching her educators why creating digital story telling is important and how to do it!

Want to be impressed…. Go to this website (http://powayusd.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/projects/edtechcentral/DigitalStorytelling/default.htm) and scroll down to "Good Readers" click and be patient as the movie loads! These 1st graders can teach us a thing or two about good readers.

It doesn’t end there… scroll a little further down and click "Time Team" and brace yourself to be entertained and educated as you learn how to read a clock.

Scroll down even further and access great links to a variety of helpful resources for creating your own digital story!

Thanks to Linda Foote and the Dynamic Digital Team in Poway!

This morning I recieved an FeedBlitz email with updates from the MD DEN blog.  I was TOTALLY blown away with what I found.  Aaron Smith, a DYNAMIC DEN member from back east, wrote about a gentleman by the name of Karl (from the Fisch Bowl Blog… a staff devt blog for his CO highschool) was asked to present to this faculty.  His goal, "to get the staff to really think about what are students are going to need to be successful in the 21st century, and then how it might impact what they do in their own classrooms’.  I remixed content from David Warlick, Thomas Friedman, Ian Jukes, Ray Kurzweil, and others, added some music and came up with the following presentation.  If you want the music you’ll have to download both files…" 

Why should you download this PPT… Because DID YOU KNOW THAT…

• The 25% of the population in China with the highest IQ’s is greater that the total population of North America… Translation for teachers: They have more honors kids that we have kids.
• China will soon become the number one English speaking country in the world!
• The U.S. Dept. of Labor estimates that today’s learner will have 10-14 jobs by the age of 38.
• The top 10 in demand jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004.  We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist! Using technologies that haven’t been invented in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet!
• In 2002 alone Nintendo invested more than $140 million in research and development!

I have to stop because I could go on and on…. So for more AMAZING FACTS and INFORMATION download this PPT and MP3 file right away.  Then head over to his blog post and let him know what you think and/or post your comments here.

Download did_you_know.ppt

Download didyouknow.mp3

Okay… give me this moment to be so proud… DEN member Ray and I have been trying out podcasting and he just sent me a link to his first Podcasts done by his students!  I really enjoyed listening to what his kids had to share… one student has over 800 people in her family… another shared his perspective on immigration laws… and another gave a wrap up of their recent field trip! 

He is using a free online program called Podomatic.  I took a look tonight and it seems pretty straight forward… check it out for yourself at www.podomatic.com let me know what you think!

So who else out there has their own podcasts going?!?  Post your links in the comment section so we can check it out. 

To listen to Ray’s podcasts go to http://cr13.podomatic.com

Shhhhhhhhh!  You haven’t heard about the Educational Technology Conference?  Over four hundred educators from central California may not want you to know about this "little" conference developed and sponsored by CTAP Region 6 and CCCUE.  It is no surprise that anyone would want to keep this gem to themselves…it featured "Techno Icons" Mike Lawrence (keynote speaker) and the DEN’s very own Hall Davidson presenting two sessions!  Attendees for the day were treated to a wonderful variety of learning opportunities within the over 75 sessions available to choose from as well as chances for networking with others interested in technology.  This inexpensive ($60) conference also included breakfast goodies and a box lunch (sub sandwich, chips, salad, fruit, cookie, softdrink or water - sometimes it is all about the food!) as well as a hefty, green CTAP computer bag filled with freebies like notepads and pens and trial software (we teachers love the free stuff!)  And, if this wasn’t enough already, you should have seen the raffle prizes!  There were screams of delight when Marianne Pack, director of CTAP6 announced the winners of prizes like digital cameras, InterWrite School Pads, a video iPod and a one year subscription to Discovery Health Connection (guess who donated that fan-tabulous prize?) 

You may want to mark your calendar early this year and be sure to attend the ETC 2007!

Kristin and Melissa had a great time at the Google Earth session presented by southern California DEN manager, Jannita Demian.

It may be cold and snowing in Colorado, but we have one DEN member who is RED HOT!!!

Jennifer Jensen just received some fantastic news!  Soon she’ll be New York bound, compliments of Scholastic, as she was selected to be part of their Book Club Teacher Advisory Board, along with 25 other teachers from across the country.  Their vice president of marketing will also be coming to visit her class.

On Monday, she learned that she is the Rocky Mountain Regional Winner for International Reading Association’s Presidential Award for Reading and Technology, for submitting an online reading unit for the book Bearstone by Will Hobbs.  We can’t wait to see your project. It’s still too soon to see this year’s winners, but to learn more about this program click here.

As if that’s not enough, in January she won a photo contest with a Scuba Diving Resort in Honduras.  Guess what her prize is?!?!? A week long trip to the Honduras resort!  Take me Jennifer!!!  Perhaps, one day we’ll see your photos in our image library! If you want to see her winning photo click here.

Jennifer, on behalf of your DEN family, CONGRATULATIONS!!!

It was almost an out of body experience as Susan started her lesson.  I sat back in the tiny first grade chair and almost thought that I had been transported 7 months back in time to when I was in the classroom.  For a moment, I thought I was watching myself.  Susan is a first grade teacher in Ceres who is definitely an out of the box thinker.  I laughed outloud when I saw a little plaque on her wall that read “A creative mind is seldom tidy” and a miniature construction cone on her desk that read “Back away from my desk.”  So this post I have to dedicate to my old principal, who I almost made hyperventilate several times…. See… I’m not the only one!

Susan was on a “Journey” unit in her Open Court, so her class was transformed to a castle (which even included a knight that encouraged students to read and a “King Author” throne).  As a result, today her student would journey to far away castles and create stained glass windows.  She began by showing them pictures from a not so far away Hearst Castle.  Then played a unitedstreaming clip about castles.  This movie was actually designed for 3^rd-5^th grade students, however she just kept the volume down and narrated it herself.  Needless to say there was lots of “oooss” and “aahhhs”  Need a great way to bring bright color to your class… take it from Susan and have students create stained glass windows from sheets of thin plastic and permanent marker. 

Thanks Susan for allowing me to travel off to far away lands and for allowing me to prove I’m not the only one out there who’s not always tidy J 

Just how do you overcome the obstacle of not having a t.v. or an LCD projector?  Just ask Karen. She enlightened me with the most creative way to show unitedstreaming that I have seen so far.  She began by separating the class into “expert groups.”  Each group would be responsible for taking notes on one particular Native American tribe and then reporting back to the class. She chose the unitedstreaming movie “Native Americans: Early Heritage” because it went perfectly with her Harcourt Brace Social Studies book.

I was a little skeptical at first when she sent 4 students to different computers that were lined up side-by-side and the rest of the class gathered on the floor behind them.  Under strict instructions not to touch anything until the call was given, students sat quietly.  “One, two, three” and then they all hit the “S” button (stream) at the same time.  Yes, I saw unitedstreaming in stereo surround sound for the first time… same movie clip, 4 computers, one set of speakers, and all going at the same time.  Now this could have been a disaster… but amazingly all the movies were pretty close to being on cue.  She used one set of speakers and her 30 5^th grade students watched intently the screen of their choice.  AMAZING! 

Thanks Karen for showing us creative ways to overcome these obstacles and reminding us to think big!