APS Tech Goddess

It is a snowy day in Denver, but things are warm and bright here at the Colorado Council International Reading Association conference.  Yesterday was the kick off with an eye opening speech and presentation by David Allington called “We can teach them all to read but will we?”  One of the more shocking statistics he shared is that students who are not reading on grade level by the end of 3^rd grade are 4 times more likely to drop out of school than their peers that are reading on grade level.

Tami Thompson gave a terrific session titled “Literacy Re-Boot Camp.”  She provided an amazing list of Web 2.0 resources. Many of these resources are listed on her blog http://teacherspirit.blogspot.com.  My favorites so far are www.oneword.com which provides you with a  word and gives you 60 seconds to record as many thoughts as you can about the word, and www.drawastickman.com which is exactly what it sounds like – draw a stickman and let the story unfold.

Angela Maiers was also an inspirational speaker.  To borrow a bit of her presentation – think of the word literacy.  What two words come to mind?  For many the words they think of are reading and writing.  Instead we need to associate the words power and privilege.  Literacy, the ability to speak, read, and write, provides us with power over others and creates privileges that illiterate students don’t receive.  We as teachers can help our students attain this power by teaching students’ brain to find patterns in writing/reading so it makes more meaning.  We also have to teach information in context.  “x” may be a letter of the alphabet with set sounds in reading, but in technology it means exit and in math it could be a function or a variable.  Context matters in all things.  Teaching items in isolation can be damaging to students.

Right now I am sitting in the Friday morning keynote by Steven Krashen.  First and foremost, this man has a very sick sense of humor.  I’m not sure we have had enough caffeine this morning for the bad jokes he is throwing at us.  The jokes are done and now the factual portion has begun.  We do not have a literacy crisis in this country, instead it is a math crisis.  Students in grades K-4 are constantly labeled as the lowest quartile in terms of literacy proficiency.  The problem with that is that no matter how much the scores increase, they will still be the “lowest quartile.”  Views and reports by media and government are skewed on this issue in a misleading way.  Half of all kids will be below grade level because that is what grade level is.  Would we label a hospital as failing because the patients in the emergency room are sicker than patients in other parts of the hospital?  The kind of reading that really counts is the reading that you do because you want to not because you have to.

I’m not sure how the rest of the day will go.  Several sessions have been cancelled because of the snow.  So stay tuned for part two to be posted later this evening!

I am having a great time at Colorado TIE!  Drove up Monday with Gwynn.  Tuesday started with a terrific keynote by Roger Pryor.  (Can’t wait to see him again at ISTE.)  Tuesday afternoon I went to a great session on movie making with elementary students.  Today (Wednesday) started with two sessions on eNet Colorado’s DREAM site.  This will be an invaluable resource for teachers!!!  The afternoon was spent presenting.  Our first session was Creating the Student Centered Classroom Using ActivInspire. Then we shared projects by the AEA Technology Fair Winners in a Classroom Connection session in the exhibit hall.

Thursday is our busy day.  I start the day at the eNet Colorado booth.  At 10:15 Gwynn and I present Hola, Hello Bringing Academic Learning to All Students.  Session #4, Now I Get It Student Created Projects with ActivInspire, is at 1:45.  Our last session, Digital Draftbooks, starts at 3:00.  Then we get to party!!!

Friday I get to take it easy again and attend a few sessions.  Then it is home to sleep and pack before ISTE.

Thank you TIE for another great conference.  And, Randy Stall, you rock!!!
See you in 2012!

I have now been published twice, with a third opportunity on the way.

My first was blog post for Promethean Planet about Hispanic Heritage Month.  You can read my blog here…http://community.prometheanplanet.com/en/blog/b/blog/archive/2010/09/28/supporting-hispanic-heritage-month-in-the-classroom.aspx

I was also featured in Tech4Learning’s Creative Educator Spring ’11 issue.  Turn to the Classroom Connections section and you will find my piece on creating animated water cycle models using Frames.  http://creativeeducator.tech4learning.com/v09/connections/Classroom_Connections

I am also currently working on a new article for Creative Educator about joining Tech4Learning’s software with Discovery Education resources.  That article should be posted this fall.  I will post a link here when it is ready.

Updating the writing Process
Use Evernote with recording to keep track of student reading/fluency/running record

Digital Learning Collaborative

Bud Hunt & Michelle Bourgeois

Stevan Kalmon & Dixie Good

<http://colearning.wikispaces.com/2011-PG2>

<https://docs.google.com/document/d/166qvjwE9vQD8bU9eLnXl6x2wDT7ImrhiwxNSxKNBbSk/edit?hl=en#bookmark=id.jy1wb7uhrrd9>
Stop thinking of yourself as a teacher and think of yourself as a learner

Learn what it means to be a learner – figure out what it looks like for you – Turn off teacher mode and thinking to become a learner

set your learning goals and share with others

http://blogs.stvrain.k12.co.us/instructionaltechnology/dlc/

How does the learning I’ve done apply to my classroom?

Have a good crap detector

teaching teachers how to do teacher research – Teacher Research Cycle

goals – create a replicable prof. learning process, empower educators to use collaborative processes and technologies to improve teaching and learning

design – applicaton process: clear expectations, layers of learning community, guided goal development, monthly team leader meetings, …

“If folks don’t want to be there, it won’t work”

It’s not an ed tech initiative, it’s a learning initiative

What was most valuable?  “Being more deliberate in what I am doing and why.”

improvement in culture of classroom more important and influential than improvement in CSAP scores!!!

Bring the teacher back into the classroom!!

Our Kids’ Digital Presence/Footprint

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wyIHSESztfkFli5y4haKVuHajFxWu5-fybnKkRkaNJk/edit?hl=en#

This conversation is intended to really talk about our own children, but obviously applies to our students as well. We’ll take notes here. Feel free to add.

Some possible focal points:

1. Should our kids have their own domain as a “home base” for their digital footprint? Or should something like Facebook (shudder) suffice? Or is a footprint spread over lots and lots and lots of spaces fine, because Google and its descendants will be able to search, find, and collate the various parts into a cohesive whole?

2. What pieces are necessary? A blog? Email/Contact Info? “Traditional” social networking technologies (twitter, facebook)? Multimedia (flickr, youtube, etc.)?
etc. etc. etc.

3. What about the privacy/security/safety piece? What’s important there? At what age should they use their real name? Can they start with a pseudonym and then transition? Or what?

4. What about Terms of Service (age 13 and up)? Is it okay with parental consent? Or for those pieces of their presence should they wait until 13?

What’s Next? Learning 2.0 is four.

Next year – Jeffco

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C7p1gQzBqOtca2K5XjyAEUGZWe3uOKSefDQCFgSkyjw/edit?hl=en#

First of all, let’s just say that having a 1-day work week is awesome!  We should get a 6-day weekend for Groundhog Day every year, just without the sub-zero temperatures!!

Today was the first day of CCIRA 2011.  I attended some good technology integration sessions this morning.  Followed by a lunch with Steve Spangler.  If you have not seen Steve in person, you should.  He is hilarious!  Next was the first presentation Gwynn and I have this year – Supporting ELLs with Technology.  We had about 25 participants who gave us rave reviews.  They even applauded at the end!  After that session, we returned to our room to do a Skype interview with the review board for the Morgridge Foundation Share Fair.  The interview went very well and both of our presentations were accepted on the spot.  I can’t wait for day 2!!

I was able to participate in a few of the DEN Streamathon sessions today.  Wow! A lot of great new stuff now available – new content, new contests, and soon a new DEN membership status.  Can’t wait to become a DEN Guru. 

 Gurus – STAR educators who possess expertise of one or more pedgogical topics (Differentiated Instruction, PBL, etc), have demonstrated their expertise through a variety of professional expereiences and advocate for the meaningful integration of DE content across area of expertise.  They will be promoted throughout the community as thought leaders in the educational field and have the opportunity to share their expertise in a variety of ways.  Gurus will be featured as regular contributors to the national DEN blog, featured in own DEN webinar, represent DEN at major educational conferences during the year (registration and travel expenses covered by the DEN).  Application opens on October 1. 

 I can’t wait to apply!!!

Wow, do I have a busy year ahead.  Gwynn and I will be presenting twice at ITEC in a few weeks in Coralville, Iowa.  Our first presentation will be on GoogleEarth and our second will be on supporting ELL students with technology.  We have also been approved to present again at CCIRA in February.  We have applied to present again at South Dakota TIE (Sioux Falls this year) and we will be applying to present at ISTE 2010 in Denver!!!

Plus, teaching, training, and more.  I hope my sanity and energy last through the rest of the year!!

Gwynn and I successfully made it to Copper Mountain for this year’s Colorado TIE Conference.  Today was a pretty easy day.  We volunteered this morning to help stuff goodie bags and fold t-shirts, then we manned the registration counter for a while this evening.  The meat of the conference starts tomorrow and the we wrap up on Friday when we present.  I’ll publish notes from my sessions and the keynotes on a separate set of pages.

Ta ta for now!

Ok, it’s been a few months since I updated.  The 2nd Annual APS Technology Fair went well, despite rescheduling and losing lots of judges and one of our main prize sponsors.  That kept me busy for quite a while after South Dakota.  Then the end of the school year came at us hard – May 21st was our last day!!!  So far I have spent the month of June being lazy, doing odd jobs around the house, etc.

 But no more!!!  Colorado TIE begins on Monday.  Gwynn and I will again be presenting our Google Earth Tour presentation.  Maybe this time the Internet connection will hold out and we can have a successful session!  I will update from the conference as a I, so check back for more.

Well, thanks to a very wet spring snow storm, the technology fair has been rescheduled for Saturday, May 16.  The time and place will stay the same.

I am sitting in the first session of the last day at South Dakota TIE.  So far the conference hasn’t been too bad.  It hasn’t been too great either.  Our presentation on Sunday (along with a lot of others) hit a major snag when the poorly laid Internet connection crashed.  We did the best we could and thankfully our audience was very understanding.

The conference finished us today around 2:00.  Gwynn and I will hit the road immediately after.  We are planning a stop at the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, SD, but then straight home for a nap!