Humor

This is my favorite Back-to-School TV commercial. Disclaimer: I do not work for, nor do I receive any compensation from the Staples company or its subsidiaries, unless you can count the sales taxes collected from their stores in our state. It just made me laugh and with all the financial turmoil in our schools, humor might prove to be the best tool.

LEARN NC Curriculum Database

Time is money. While struggling with which grade level, teaches a particular topic, I have rediscovered this little trick: The NCSCOS Curriculum Matrix.  One example I will share is while reading articles from my RSS feedreader this morning, I ran across a learning activity featuring the Cold War. Instead of just forwarding it as SPAM to all the social studies teachers I wanted to try to send it those teaching the Cold War.

I clicked on my bookmark for the LEARNNC.org NC Standard Course of Study & Aligned Resources page (note hyperlinked image). I used the Find It! feature to search for the phrase “Cold War”. Placing the quotes around the two words focused the search in the database and only pulled up the exact objectives containing the words Cold and War. Without the quotations, dozens of objectives with war appear. This search told me that Cold War is taught in 9th grade, not middle school.

I am sure this is not a perfect way to correlate the standards with instructional material, but it sure helps, and it is free.

My RSS feed reader, Google Reader, is full of unread blog posts, my inbox has is full of junk mail and spam. The grass in the lawn is so deep, people riding by probably think we have moved. It is too hot to worry about it. July 4th was fun, but was over too fast. Now, its time to start getting my laptop organized. Backing up to an external hard drive is one of the best tech decisions I have made. This morning, I tried to backup my Blackberry and this has resulted in multiple entries in my MacBook’s address book. Now, all my teacher groups need editing. That has to be one of the best reasons buying an iPhone. But, that is another story.  Here are three easy steps to think about if your desktop looks like mine.

1. Save your files to “My Documents” or any location you think is easily recalled and where you can easily retrieve your files. It is advisable not to populate your computer desktop. You have to create folders for several file types and according to use; five folders for your desktop folders may be enough for easy file searching. Always bear in mind that there should be no individual files on your desktop to avoid messy-looking computer desktop—only folders. I noticed on my student’s laptops that some students even had color coded their folders.
2. Inside desktop folders, create main folders for more specific categories of your files. Save move your files according to relevant folders. Make sure that your folder names are descriptive of what files are in them.
3. If you think that you still have hundreds of files in your folders, further break them down into subcategories.  If you have that many folders, you might need to think about backing up and deleting some files from you laptop.

Backup– Backup– Backup!!!!

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.

This past week, our 6th grade teachers spent several hours during their common planning brainstorming and learning how to use their student’s wiki. My brain was fried from working on all the technical issues and updating laptops. So, I decided to share the training manual we used as my post this time. I searched DE Screaming’s videos for ideas to use with this training and found the “The Underground Railroad: Escape from Slavery” title. It has black line masters ready to download. However, due to budget constraints coupled with research, our teachers know that worksheets don’t build dendrites.  Here are the minutes from my PD sessions.

Essential Question: How can student wiki pages be for informal assessments?

Activating:
Pair-share the essential question with a partner.

[Participants navigated to the student wiki, logged in, and walked through the process of creating a new wiki page, copying and pasting test, adding tags, and titles, and saving their page.]

Description
In this lesson, teachers will learn how to facilitate students creating short answers and comments about the Underground Railroad using their Apple student wiki pages and blogs.
Teachers will practice using the student wikis.
Ingredients (Resources)
Scholastics Online activity: http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/bhistory/underground_railroad/index.htm

Blog and wikis needed:

1. On the Plantation. Using your favorite reading strategies for the online content, students will become familiar with “On the Plantation” passages. Wiki pages and the Blog feature. In this part of the lesson, students will comment on the questions linked in the blog post. The instructions are on the blog post at: [link deleted, it is on our Intranet and is password protected]
2. ESCAPE! is the second part of the Scholastic online activity?  Please have your students use the online activity.  http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/bhistory/underground_railroad/index.htm
3. Reaching Safety:  [link deleted, it is on our Intranet and is password protected]
4. Reaching Freedom: Use the online activity found on Scholastic’s page. It is super! http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/bhistory/underground_railroad/almost_free.htm
5. Tell the Story, the last part. http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/bhistory/underground_railroad/almost_free.htm In this activity, use the student wiki page to record student work. [link deleted, it is on our Intranet and is password protected]

Instructions:

Part 1: On the Plantation - Guided Practice-Writing Activity:
In Fannie’s Shoes students will:

Use the prompt: “Now imagine yourself in Fannie’s shoes when she was a child. Post their answers to these questions on the blog post as COMMENTS!!!”

Use this Blog on the student wiki: [link deleted, it is on our Intranet and is password protected]
Part 2: Escape - Students, you will read and complete the letter writing activity where you are an agent on the Underground Railroad writing to a stationmaster in Philadelphia. <follow steps online>

Part 3:  Reaching Safety - The Underground Railroad - escape from slavery

[link deleted, it is on our Intranet and is password protected]

Post a Comment to answer these questions.

STEPS:

1. Follow the link to the website. Find the correct answer to the questions.
2. Copy the question to use in your comment.
3. To Post a COMMENT, scroll down to find the word “comment” and click on this.
4. Save your comment. It will not show up immediately.
5. THEN continue this process until you correctly answer all questions on this blog.

Part 4: Reaching Freedom - use the online resources for this part, they are super!!

Part 5: Tell the Story - students create their own wiki page to answer questions.

1. Tell the Story - Students will use this blog: [link deleted, it is on our Intranet and is password protected]
2. Select and Copy the text of all the questions below.
3. Click on the + icon to create a new wiki page
4. Enter the name of your new wiki page. Give the page a name like Nikki’s Telling the Story Wiki. Click the Create word to open the new page.
5. Click on the pencil icon so you can edit your new page.
6. Paste the text with all the questions below into your new wiki page.
7. Save the wiki page by clicking on save.
8. Tag your wiki page with your name. You may want to bookmark your new wiki page so you can find it easier. Tip: use another New Window to open both your new wiki page.
9. Read the questions and click on the links to navigate to the online resource.
10. Read the material linked to and look for the best answer to the question. Read carefully!!!
11. Navigate back to your new Telling the Story wiki page and click the pencil icon to edit.
12. Type in your answers.
13. MAKE SURE YOUR FULL NAME IS ON THE WIKI PAGE [this helps searching for student work]
14. Add Tags to your new wiki page with your name and another tag Tell the Story
15. View “The Underground Railroad: Escape From Slavery” on DE Streaming.

Assessment:

Informal question and answer while students are reading and listening to the content online as you move around monitoring students.

* Teacher created rubric for writing projects.
* Peer-assessments to evaluate each other’s writing.
* Use North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s supplied writing rubric.
* Exit slips to check daily progress.
* Teacher created K-W-L or other graphic organizer.

Integration of Technology/21st Century Skills

* Information literacy
* Effective written communication
* Technology using wiki and online resources

Integration of Other Academic Areas

* Communication Skills
* Social Studies

Differentiations

* Auditory learners use headphone
* K-W-L for visual learners
* Modification for EC - fewer questions, learning pairs to create common wiki page.

Tech Facilitator Reflections:

For students that had not used our student wiki prior to this activity, the learning curve was steep. However, many of our students have been using their student wiki on a daily basis to post comments, photos, videos, music, and writing assignments. A positive experience that a teacher shared with me was when a teacher was telling the students about how to create a new wiki page. The teacher made a mistake and several of her teachers were quick to point out that she had made told them the incorrect procedure. The teacher made the transition from “sage on the stage” to coach on the side. Students have an opportunity to serve as mentors, peer tutors, and tech experts when there is one teacher and 27 laptops or computers in a lab setting. I tried to talk to the students that the teacher told me were their experts. I could not catch up with them so I pulled up their wiki page and left a positive comment and asked our principal to leave a comment of their pages.

Mastering how to create wiki pages requires several sessions. Teachers have their own teacher wiki pages. However, it is different when they are trying to tell middle school students how to use them. Having setup the student wikis as a social network and encouraging them to share photos and things that they like for example- dogs, hunting, baseball, books, vacation trips, and even trips to the D.C. This usage let them explore the wiki environment. We posted tutorials and FAQs for students to use as they learned how to use the wiki. Teachers on the other hand commented that they just did not have enough time to learn how to use the wiki. They would find it hard to believe that some of their students comment on their classmate’s wiki posts after 1:00 AM and as early as 5:30 AM - and these are middle school students!

Should our student’s wiki be public or remain private. In my humble opinion, no. I was surprised at the number of our 6th graders that bragged about having their own MySpace page. One Friday, our content filter device died and our school filter was inactive. I was in a classroom when the students discovered the hole in our filter. As I walked around that particular classroom, about 1/3 showed me their pages. All of them had password protected their profiles and all knew about the dangers of MySpace. By having our entire student wiki behind our firewall and password protected, the students generally approved of this arrangement. 7th and 8th graders do not have laptops this year and the student wiki is most populated by 6th grade students. I have had one student complain about using the wiki to post his assignments. His complaint is well founded. He complained that if he posted an assignment on the wiki, that anyone can change it. To combat this issue, students are instructed to post their documents in a pdf format. Also, students can post their presentations as movies. Keynote and PowerPoint documents can be exported as movies. Students can post movies with their names in the titles and credits. This seems to slow down copycats and vandals. So, private wikis have a place in our program, even if students are not exposed to “a larger audience”. Maybe after using the private wiki in grade 6, they will be ready to move to a live blog and wiki environment next year.

With budgets as tight as Ebenezer’s purse string these days, I can think of no better topic to reflect on. Questions filled my head and I find it hard to turn off. In this post, I have pulled together my favorite educational uses of laptops in the classroom.

8. Graphic organizers.

Our laptops have an organizer application installed. I will not mention the name. There are several solutions available for schools. They let students know what they are about to learn or experience. Graphic organizers help students focus on the learning. They can also be used for review or summary tools. However, my personal favorite graphic organizer is not created on the laptop. Cheap paper plates, markers, poster board, and some paste works like a charm. However, to make enhance the use of graphic organizers, try this tip: Export the graphic organizer files your class creates as images. Our students upload them to our student’s password protected wiki. On their wiki page, students in the class are encouraged to provide positive feedback, or co-edit the wiki page containing a specific graphic organizer.

7. Wikis.

Since these are web based, browsers and Internet access are ultimately required. Like most 1 to 1 schools, not all kids have Internet access. One of my students shared that when her mom took their dog to the veterinarian, she sat in the truck and composed her wiki posts. She did not have wireless access at the vet’s office. She used her text editor app on her laptop to type her book report. Then, when her mom went to Walmart to buy groceries, she accessed their free wifi and copied and pasted to update her wiki post. Most of my students seem to have cell phones, but they only use them as a Pager. They only text each other much like old pagers. Currently, our student’s wiki does not support cellular device access. We are still a few steps away from convergence of these technologies.

6. Rubrics.

Providing ongoing feedback to students as to the status of their learning is essential. The more specific the better, and the more criterion-referenced the better. What is the best rubric maker? I do not have a “dog in this fight”. Some of my teachers prefer one over the other. I have tried all of them in the past. I know lots of teachers that prefer to create their own. However, sometimes it is nice to have a model to follow.

5. Digital Storytelling.

Non-linguistic representations are fun and effective uses of instructional time. Providing mental pictures along with language works. Representations can also include images and concrete representations. Students use their built in digital cameras, or cameras teachers check out from the media center in our school. Still images and video clips that students generate help students hook what they are learning with prior knowledge. Our students are learning to use iMovie to tell digital stories. One resource I have used is Discovery Education: Streaming. The AFI resources fit well with high school students. Students viewed the online tutorials and created their own storyboards, scripts, and shot the videos. Editing and finally presenting their movies to parents at a school function highlighted the learning activity.

4. Homework.

Not all our laptop users have elected to pay our user fee and qualify to take the laptops home. We call these users “24/7 Users”. IMHO, homework is a necessary evil. However, it must be relevant and aligned to the course of study. The practice moves a student to mastery of learning. Homework is one way to extend the practice. A key to retention of the learning is practice. In our 1 to 1 program, teachers can assign homework, but they must offer an alternative assignment for non-24/7 users, also known as– “day users”. This complicates homework assessment. As a teacher, I would consider it a challenge to modify homework assignments for an additional subset of learners. However, that is what separates master teachers from the rest. However, technology is not really worth the investment if it is just replacing what teachers want students to do on paper. Our district has invested in a blog and email-hosting product. We are hosting it on our servers. This January, we will be introducing this tool to our 6th graders in our 1 to 1 program.

3.  Pat on the Back.

Sharing instructional slide shows, movies, and posters reinforces effort and helps give praise to learners. Walking through our school, I have noticed how teachers are constantly posting student work. Some teachers call it cutesy and not important. However, using laptops to help share student work is important in the larger scheme of making learning relevant to learners. It is their “5 seconds of fame”. Some parents post their children’s work on the refrigerator. I try to post photos of groups of students, without names, on our school web page. Athletic teams, and such give a quick pat on the back for students. Our student wikis host movie clips from students. They have learned how to export slide shows as movies. One skill we need to focus on is how to include voice annotations with the slide shows. They have mastered adding music and nauseating transitions. Maybe I need to share this clip of presentation designer and internationally acclaimed communications expert Garr Reynolds, creator of a popular Web site on presentation design and delivery on the net — presentationzen.com

2. Notetaking and Summarizing.

Do students even know how to summarize and take notes? Such skills allow students to organize a lot of information.  They can then figure out the most important information to use. Synthesizing information is an essential skill for high student achievement. All I see students doing is copy and paste. They Google the question provided in the handout, and copy and paste whatever comes up first. They do not evaluate its validity. Speaking of Google, one of their apps is Notebook. They even have a mobile app. Some email/blog applications offer a “digital locker”. Students can post notes and summary documents on their student wiki. Teachers like this strategy because these files can be opened and contents can be checked. Teachers can save the work on their desktop and while students are working on individual or group assignments, a face-to-face conference can held.

1. Comparing, contrasting, classifying, analogies and metaphors.

Blending these skills into a lesson is a challenge. However, old school thematic units can help with this process. Projects that are well planned and executed engage learners and build those brains one dendrite at a time.

The laptop does not magically fix any of these problems or challenges. With all the money issues- the best magic is leadership.

My hope for all the readers of this blog is for Peace on Earth.

One more thing…Why 8 instead of 10 or even 12 Educational uses of Laptops? We could only “afford” 8. wink, wink!

If you are a Thomas Friedman fan as I am, you will be interested in this link

http://macmillan.hosted.panopto.com/CourseCast/Viewer/Default.aspx?id=610215c3-a3c8-429c-9dcd-3f8b72ee8a99

that features a video and PowerPoint of his latest book Hot, Flat ,and Crowded. Educators may find many of Friedman’s comments in this presentation are very timely with the possible collapse of the American auto industry. World economy and global warming are at the heart of the 21st century learner and what a way to integrate science and social studies for our students.

Here’s cross-post from the DEN Blog - mark your calendars…it’ll be a special treat!! 

“On Wednesday, November 19th, Alan Kay will be our featured speaker on EdTechConnect, a free webinar series from Discovery Education.  While this is open to all educators, I strongly recommend you only share the link with colleagues of your that have an open mind.  Alan will most certainly stretch the way you think about education.  Register yourself and then pass the link along.  I know I say this often, but this is one webinar you will NOT want to miss!

Click here to register!

 Alan Kay is a technology pioneer who has consistently been at the forefront of the computer age.  He was one of the first researchers to realize the significance of mobile computing in education, and his ideas have been a major influence in the OLPC project.

“The important thing here is that the music is not in the piano. And knowledge and edification is not in the computer. The computer is simply an instrument whose music is ideas.”  - Alan Kay

If you want a sneak preview of Alan as a presenter, check out his recent presentation on Ted Talks.”

Did you miss the Fall DE Virtual Conference or do you wish that you could view some of the sessions again because they were SOOOOO AMAZING?? Well…you’re in luck…the archives from the Virtual Conference are now online. Not only are the archives posted…but the chat window also shows up in real time - how awesome is that!!!!

So visit the Virtual Conference page (http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/fall-virtual-conference) and you can enjoy all 5 presentations again and again. Share them with your colleagues…with your administrators…with the world!!!!

Just a heads up…the archives are hi-rez with audio, video and chat, so they’re pretty big files - about 100MB or so.   Keep that in mind when downloading!

Thanks to all the presenters…fabulous job!!!!

Here’s a cross-post from the National DEN Blog …

DEN Virtual Conference: Registration is Now Open!

Join us in-person, online or both, on Saturday, October 25th for the DEN Virtual Conference.

Registration is now open!

The DEN Virtual Conference features an incredible lineup of online presentations including “Power Up Your Professional Learning Network” by STAR Discovery Educator Jennifer Dorman. Check out all of the sessions here.

You can register to attend virtually or join us at one of 17 in-person events hosted by the DEN Leadership Councils. Either way, you will learn powerful ways to integrate digital media and Web 2.0 tools into your instruction as well as discover an abundance of resources to expand your own personal learning network.

Share the news with your colleagues by sending them the DEN Virtual Conference Flyer. For more information, visit: http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/fall-virtual-conference

Hi Stars…..This is my first blog for DEN and I am thrilled to be a part of the DEN LC.  Maybe I will be able to share a few  new sites with you this month. As a classroom teacher…I am always looking for interactive sites for my students that relate to our area of study. Sooooo…..

With Election Day 2008 just around the corner, we have found this interactive site interesting.

http://adomatic.us/   

The site allows students to upload a photo and produce their own presidential advertisements.

 http://www.pppst.com/government.html

provides powerpoints that covers topics from government to the election process. 

Don’t forget NC Wise Owl also has some wonderful resources. Please share with us any great sites you have found lately.