For the past two summers I have blogged my way out west and into Canada. My friends and family have enjoyed the daily adventures of my crazy life as I led them through the ethnic foods I tasted, people that I met and beautiful scenery that I was seeing for the first time. It started as a journal of my thoughts and then became my memories of two glorious summers with my husband of 29 years. This year my adventure will be different. I will be traveling to
Who ever said summer school isn’t fun? Get ready for your school year with an amazing series of complimentary professional development sessions from the Discovery Educator Network (DEN). The series will run from August 3 through August 27 and will feature sessions on Digital Storytelling, School Leadership, Science and Web 2.0. All of the sessions for the DEN Summer School Webinar Series begin at 11 AM ET.
As the last school bus pulls out of the school parking lot for the summer, many dedicated educators have been known to experience spontaneous outbursts that mimic celebrations of winning a National Championship or quiet personal sugar highs. Giggles, howlers, and high-fives are most numerous in the teacher’s parking lot around 3:29 PM. I had a principal one time that encouraged the staff to congregate in the bus parking lot as the students left for the summer. The teachers would form a kick-line and chant the chorus to that song by the artist Steam, that starts with the words–”Nah nah nah nah, hey hey, good-bye“. I do not think our parents would approve of that now. It would be considered taunting or worse.As the desiel exhaust fumes clear from the bus parking lot and the school yard littered with broken pencils and half-chewed lunch room yellow straws dot a well trampled lawn, it is difficult to not feel a little– blue. Blue from all the missed chances to help students learn those math facts, voice-mails parents left nonrespondent, passing guides, retention lists, and the thought that you will not be seeing all the smiling faces from learners that never bored of preparing for their EOGs. However, as an educator, the thoughts of a better year and a few days to refresh our minds work miracles.Celebrate the accomplishments of this school year. Reflect a little and rest a lot. The return of the first bus of a new school year is only days ahead.
On May 30, 2009, North Carolina educators participated in the 1st DEN Geocaching Day at two locations: Etowah and Kinston
Etowah, NC
Twelve geocachers began the day at the newly opened Etowah Public Library where they learned about how GPS satellites work, GPS devices and Geocaching. They then spent some time looking for some small caches around the library as they learned to use their GPS devices. They were given many examples of how to tie geocaching to any curricular area as well as time to collaborate and connect with each other. Their adventure then took them to the Etowah Park where they found two geocaches. The first one was found very quickly; but, the second one proved to be a bit more of an adventure. After using the clue given to them on the geocaching.com website, the cache was found covered with ants. Their geocaching experience ended with Julie’s Sub and Sandwich Shop providing a wonderful lunch and lots of prizes from Discovery.
Kinston, NC Twenty three cachers started the day at Golden Corral for breakfast and some general geocaching hints. Our adventure was the First Battle of Kinston Tour, which consisted of 12 new caches and a history lesson at each stop. Included in each cache was information needed to complete a puzzle that would reveal the location of the last cache. The travel bug was launched at the 3rd stop on the tour. Cachers met at the Kinston Visitor’s Center and received a button proclaiming they finished The First Battle Tour of Kinston. Our reward for a long morning of caching was the delicious lunch awaiting us at Subway. Everyone was pleasantly surprised at the nice prizes and lunch.
On June 27th, there will be a second event: The Battle of Wyse Fork, which will also consist of 12 new caches. Join us if you can.
This has been a crazy week. It all started last Thursday afternoon. Our email system went offline because of a hard drive failure. I knew then it would not be up the next day. That is when my headache started. Saturday and Sunday, our email was sporadic, but I thought the worst was over. Monday morning rolls around, and our email is still down. My head ache returns.
By Tuesday, our email system has been moved to a new server but we were still having issues with outbound mail. Most of that was solved before the end of the day. Finally on Wednesday my headache subsided and I felt that I could show my face it public again.
By now it is quite obivous I have nothing to write about. So, I am just going to share some things that have excited me.
1. The Dell Latitude 2100 Education Netbook. I am not a big fan of netbooks for me personally, I prefer my laptop and iPod Touch. I see the benefits for education. Dell has released a special netbook for education. I want a set and it has been a long time since I have said “I want” and “dell” in the same sentence.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvPb0nQEt_U
2. The Palm Pre. Our cell phones are on the Verizon network and I am not happy with the selection. BlackBerry is not an options. Saturday, June 5th, Palm is releasing their newest phone the Pre. It is only on Sprint, but Verizon already let the cat out of the bag and said they will be carrying the Pre in 6 months.
3. Apple’s WWDC. On June 8th, Apple will most likely be talking about the new iPhone. There have been rumors of it being available on Verizon, but I am not holding my breath. I am still excited to see what the updates are and when I can get them on my iPod Touch.
5. Twitter: I am a bipolar twitterer. Sometimes I love it and think it is great, other days it is just a distraction. Today I am liking it. I especially like this video out of UT Dallas. I would have loved a classroom like this growing up. I would never raise my hand or participate in a discussion in school, but I would have participated like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WPVWDkF7U8
It is a good time to be a geek.
Are you looking for something to fill those last days of school or review before the last days of testing?
Have a great summer and get geared up for another school year by creating your own presentations for classes next year. (maybe let your students help????)
Hang in there ……just a few days left.
With testing over for most of us and summer just around the corner - it always helps to have a special activity or project tucked away. How about a new resource for that special project? The World Digital Library is a new collection of primary resources of historical significance. Students can develop cultural understanding through manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recording, films, prints, photographs, and architectural drawings. Students select from seven languages and click on a continent to begin their journey. The partner institutions include major university and national libraries from around the world, whose curator videos provide another learning feature for students. This site will help make these last weeks more productive, educational and interesting for everyone.
Fifteen states will participate in the first-ever DEN Geocaching Day and North Carolina is one of them!
Two events are planned for Saturday, May 30, 2009 in which educators are invited to learn about geocaching and using GPS devices.
Location #1 - Golden Corral - Kinston, NC
Location #2 - Etowah Public Library - Etowah, NC (15 miles South of Asheville)
If you have ever asked any of the following questions:
Then, you should contact one of the DEN Guides above to participate in this wonderful opportunity.
Well, 10 days into May and teachers are counting down the days until the buses leave campus for a well deserved summer hiatus of sorts. At the beginning of the school year, students walked patiently in straight lines are now trying to run, shout, scream, giggle, and jump like they are wild. Some blame it on the rising sap, I think they are also ready for a change.
Folks, we must focus some of this raw energy on preparing for those wonderful end of grade tests. Trying to be politically correct, these tests are an opportunity to show how well our students have mastered the curriculum.
For my fellow teachers that are overwhelmed by all the end of year events, and celebrations and such, here is a wonderful gem that folks at Discovery have shared, at no cost, with educators, students, and parents. Homework Helper has resources to help students master the basics of mathematics of numbers and number operations. Videos and tutorials explain basic operations and help with the mastery of math skills in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division–essential building blocks for success in mathematics. I like this site too- Webmath.com Then for science review earth, physical, and life science resources are excellent for viewing at home or in the classroom. For English, they have video chapters and web resources to assist students with their written and verbal communication skills. Content areas included are grammar, composition, and mechanics from Kindergarten to Grade 1 - high school. Hold on, there are social studies recources too! The section keys in on chapters and web resources will assist students with understanding the election process, as well as the powers of and people behind the U.S. presidency.
Marvelous? Yeah right.
Please, don’t let your middle schoolers run over you on their way out the door. All I can say is that I am bad of backing into my parking space everyday this time of the year.
Mediashare
This is an entertaining for schools using Discovery Streaming. The reporters show how to use Mediashare. I wish we had this tool to use with our One to One learning program. We try to use the teacher wiki and we have iWeb, but this is really slick. I read in the Den Spring Training 2009 post that DEN members have a contest running through May 22nd. Lance and Steve do a great job explaining how to upload. So, with this in mind, why not share? I need to dig through my videos and see if I can earn some “Resources Shared” points. If I can get around to it.
If you read anything about education and technology, you will hear the term 21st century skills. 21st century schools are being built. Classrooms are being fitted with 21st century tools. But what does it really mean?
I recently found a great site by Apple called Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow-Today, or ACOT2. The site outlines what they believe to be the 6 design principals of the 21st century high schools and the answer is not just technology.
1. Understanding of 21st Century Skills and Outcomes. A survey of business leaders came up with a list of most desirable skills; including, work ethic, collaboration, social responsibility, and critical thinking. There is nothing ground breaking about this list. These traits are timeless. The survey also cited creativity and innovation as being increasingly important. Again, these are timeless and I am confused by using the word increasingly. Innovation, or yankee ingenuity, is as american as baseball and apple pie. Apple doesn’t paint the picture of 21st century skills until you click the button to show more about 21st century skills. A link to The Partnership for 21st Century Skills breaks the skills down to Core Subjects; Learning and Innovation Skills; Information, Media and Technology Skills; and Life and Career Skills.
Nailing 21st century skills down is tough. Here is my best attempt at a definition that I could post on twitter.
The ability to find, evaluate, organize, and share information and apply information to collaboratively solve problems.
2. Relevant and Applied Curriculum. Curriculum is becoming less of WHAT content is taught and more of HOW the content is taught. Apple gives six key characteristics of curriculum for 21st Century Learning
1. Involves collaboration and community
2. Based on authenticity and relevance
3. Leverages real-world tools, resources, and methodologies
4. Incorporates a rich continuum of teacher and learning strategies
5. Grounded in rich content with a 21st century context
6. Creates linkages to the outside world
3. Informative Assessment. Taking a chapter test and getting a percentage grade was normal for me in school and even while I taught. It always signified the end of learning that particular topic. Informative assessment moves to make frequent assessments in order to ensure quality learning is taking place and the desired outcome is met. Similar to using a GPS in a car. Informative assessment can be made by students, teams of students, teachers, and the entire world.
4. Culture of Innovation and Creativity. You can’t teach innovation and creativity. Schools must create a culture that embraces creativity for students and teachers.
5. Social and Emotion Connections with Students. Textbooks don’t motivate students. Meaningful relationships with other students, teachers, and adults have a great impact on learning. Schools have to be a community and care about each student and believe every student has something to contribute.
6. Ubiquitous Access to Technology. Schools must allow students to use the tools needed to get the job done. Once a year I get annoyed at the North Carolina Writing Test. They now allow the students to use a computer, but forbids the use of spell check, a dictionary, or a thesaurus. All tools that writers, professional and amateur, use everyday.
Also posted on ITSThinkTank.
It’s that time of year again…Testing Time!
Have you checked out the interactive EOG web samples (for grades 3-8 and Algebra I and II)…here’s the site - http://cuacs8.mck.ncsu.edu/mathsampleitems/main.html
Happy EOG-ing!!!
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