tech4teaching

Talk is Cheap, Texting is Free

2011-07-28T23:40:00.000-04:00

I love technology, but I am cheap. So I finally bought a phone with a slide out keyboard in November and upgraded my calling plan to include unlimited text. Oh and my husband and daughter got phones and unlimited text too. My husband and I text all the time now. Our oldest daughter doesn't text much, but our younger daughter (who doesn't have a phone) can't wait. She texts for me whenever I will let her. So I know she will be a texting fiend when she gets a phone someday.

That is why I found this guidance about setting limits with texting so helpful.

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/advice-for-parents/responsible-text-messaging-tips?utm_source=newsletter07.28.11&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=feature1

iPods for Kindergarten

2011-06-30T15:52:00.000-04:00

After meeting Patrick Tart and Angela Sonntag at the MEGA Technology Showcase this spring, I was inspired to buy iPods for our school. Angela creates instructional videos for her students to use during centers. She posts the videos to a Web page that the students access with school iPods. Caitlin Meseck, Candace Dymond and I visited Banks Road Elementary School last week to see the iPods in action and SO much more! I was delighted to find that the two iPods our PTO purchased arrived last week. So I am trying to figure them out, with the help of my 10 year old. She is a natural!

I added a QR code reader application to one of the iPods and I am trying it out.

If you want to learn more about how QR (quick read) codes can be used in education here is one resource from an ed tech leader in Winston-Salem.

We are planning to use them with kindergarteners.

Missing ISTE

2011-06-24T21:41:00.001-04:00

One of the blogs I read is Cool Cat Teacher by Vicki Davis. She just posted about missing NECC, the national technology conference, because of a family situation. I can really sympathize with her situation. (You can read more about that in my comment to Vicki's post that I linked above.)

I am going to try to attend virtually though. Here is a link to some of the content you will be able to access on the Web, http://www.isteconference.org/ISTE/2011/glance/simulcasts_and_webcasts.php. I am also thinking about signing up to do a virtual workshop, http://www.isteconference.org/ISTE/2011/program/virtual_workshops.php. Remote ISTE is $99 for a whole day of sessions. There are two tracks with lots of great sessions. I am interested in the several - Google forms, mobile learning devices, iPads and I would love to see Steven Covey talk about his new book, The Leader in Me. It also looks like you can observe the wiki (http://digiteacher.flatclassroomproject.org/) for a session Julie Lindsay will be conducting about digital citizenship.

Anyone else going in person or virtually?

Food Pyramid for Screen Time

2011-06-15T15:12:00.000-04:00

Some 'old-fashioned' parents see screen time of all kinds as bad for kids - like junk food for their brains. Honestly I would put myself in that category. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends 2 hours or less of screen time per day. I control screen time for my two kids like it is potentially lethal. One of my girls has to earn her screen time in 5 minute increments each day. There is a timer at our house dedicated to tracking screen time. Just imagine the damage to their developing minds if they spent an extra minute or two looking at a screen - TV, computer, or handheld game.

And then I think of my classroom where I lavish 40 or 45 minutes of screen time on my students just for showing up! There is a real disconnect here!

I know that unsupervised, unrestricted screen time can be bad for kids (and adults for that matter). There is inane, even violent and offensive content available to kids. I don't think that 45 minutes of Mario Kart is necessarily the best way to spend time, but is that equivalent to 45 minutes on FossWeb or reading a book on TumbleBooks? We need to start thinking about the quality of the content and encourage our kids to make good choices with their screen time.

Your Top Ten Tech Educators

2011-06-08T16:40:00.000-04:00

Technology&Learning published their "Top 10 Influential Technology Educators" this month. I was thrilled to see Dave Warlick of the Landmark Project in the list. However, I didn't see many of the other technology educators who influence me on the list. Here is my top ten:

Who are the ten teachers who influence you the most?

The Challenge

2011-06-08T16:27:00.000-04:00

I have challenged the teachers at Little River Elementary to learn about Web 2.0 tools through our district's Technology Challenge. So I am joining them in the challenge. I have tried many Web 2.0 tools but haven't consistently used them in my professional life. I'll be trying to use them regularly this summer and discover ways to integrate them into my teaching.

My Great Idea

2008-07-02T16:02:00.006-04:00

One of the ways that I share my excitement for educational technology is through graduate online course development. I write ed tech courses for Pearson Higher Ed. This spring and summer I have been busy with a course featuring Web 2.0 technology. I wrote the course and then talked with Pearson's video guru, Vikki Myers, about video content. During our conversation I listed my Who's Who of ed tech Web 2.0 - Wes Fryer; Women of Web 2.0 (Jennifer Wagner, Vicki Davis, Cheryl Oakes, Sharon Peters); Will Richardson; Dave Warlick; Joselyn Todd; and Bill Ferriter. "By the way," I mentioned casually, "most of these people are sure to be at NECC. And they will probably be present for the edu blogger con."

My project manager and her supervisor loved the idea of talking to all these people at one time. So they started making calls and got permission to attend the blogger con and film it. I was so thrilled to be part of the project I could hardly contain myself. My husband listened to my delight bubbling over and even encouraged me to fly out to be there. Unfortunately it was the same day as my daughter's birthday party and I missed her birthday for NECC last year. So I didn't pursue it, but I could hardly wait for the blogger con to arrive and see if there was any buzz on the Web about it. Little did I know the buzz would be about my "great idea" and whether it was great or the ruin of the blogger con.

Some bloggers were mad that Pearson showed up, accusing them(us) of stealing ideas and changing the climate at the blogger con. I was crushed. I only wanted more teachers to be inspired by the great ideas of my favorite ed techies and now it seemed like it had all gone wrong.

I talked to Elaine Roberts the next day and she assured me that blogger con and the conversations there were awesome! Later that day her comments on Wes Fryer's podcast seemed to quiet the storm. I hope in the end this will continue debate about intellectual property, learning communities and commercial enterprises and maybe it will be a great idea after all.

Image by Wes Fryer(http://www.flickr.com/photos/wfryer/649225040/)

Swimming with the Pods

2008-06-24T15:13:00.003-04:00

It's summer, but I can't get away from school or technology. My school district is hosting staff development sessions this summer. We don't have to pay anything to attend, but after arranging for a neighbor to walk the dog, paying for camp for two kids and asking a friend to drive the kids to camp it's not exactly free either.

But after all that, I am here with iPod, laptop and flash drive in hand. I have attended short sessions on podcasting before, but I was always dipping my toes in the podcasting water. Today I dove in head first.

I recorded a podcast, added it to a web page with a podcasting plug-in (podpress), set my iTunes settings and Voila'!

I am a podcaster!

Technorati Tags: podcast elementary media

A Measure of Success

2008-06-16T20:32:00.004-04:00

It's the first day of summer vacation! Ahhh! It feels good to have a bit more time on my hands. I still have work on my online courses, but no big deadlines around the corner and no 1st graders to meet at 10:45 each day.

With a great deal of cooperation from my fellow teachers I was able to complete a small piece of both my 1st grade and 3rd grade projects.

3rd Grade Wiki
Ms. W's class, the chatty bunch struck silent by the introduction of the Wiki, were the farthest ahead and were able to publish some answers to their key questions in the Wiki. Next time I will have them compose in Word and then copy and paste into the Wiki. We lost a lot of time waiting for the Wiki to be available to edit. There was one student who was so excited about the Wiki that she came to talk to me outside class about how I set it up. Made my day!

1st Grade Publishing
Ms. J is a very tech savvy teacher and very accommodating. So I asked her if I could work with her students outside of their regular computer time. I learned from a second grader how to make recordings directly in KidPix. So we made a KidPix slideshow out of it. It didn't turn out as polished as I would have liked, but the kids were thrilled to see their work! Ms. J brought them to the lab to see it on the last day of school and she is planning to create a slideshow next year.

Technorati Tags: elementary wiki kidpix

Bad Report Card

2008-05-27T21:19:00.003-04:00

My euphoria from last week has worn off. Remember back in elementary school when all you got was S (satisfactory) or NS (not satisfactory)? Today I felt like a kid who got her report card back covered with NS.

I didn't realize how much I wanted closure on my projects. How important it was for me to have a concrete finished product. And I am not going to get it.

My colleagues decided that we won't have our regular classes all next week. We have field day Monday and Tuesday, so those days are lost. Wednesday and Thursday we will have our end of year celebration. It all makes sense of course, but I was hoping to have just a few more days to teach.

This week is it. I get to see each class one more time.

The wiki isn't done. The 1st grade PowerPoint project isn't done. One of the second grade teachers, who isn't particularly techie finished a better KidPix project with her class than I was able to manage.

The donated computers we got last month are still sitting in the corner of the lab. I forgot to write an agenda for the Media & Technology meeting tomorrow morning. I couldn't remember kids' names today.

Sigh! The price you pay for biting off more than you can chew in the last 10 days of school!

. . . but I'd do it again, and probably will.

Crazy Pays Off

2008-05-19T22:06:00.004-04:00

Third graders. The biggest class that I teach. A chatty bunch. I picked the most disruptive student to show the Wiki first. She loved it.

With less than 10 minutes of class left, I showed it to the whole class. They fell silent. SILENT! This is a great group of kids, but they talk constantly. And this little Wiki struck them silent. I know the magic won't last but, it was Cool!

Slightly Crazy

2008-05-12T21:00:00.004-04:00

I must have a case of Spring Fever because I am doing crazy things. The first week of the last nine weeks I decided to start using a Wiki, http://littlebeavertech.pbwiki.com. My friend, Joselyn Todd, taught me so much about them (here and here), but I have been reticent to try them in the classroom. For all my experimenting with new technology, I am not much of a risk-taker when I am in front of kids. I want to be confident about what is going to happen. And Wikis seemed a little risky.

They REALLY are easy and pretty safe. I set up one page in under 30 minutes and it was a great help with my classes. So far they have just been using it like a home page to access Web sites I have chosen for them.

Now I am going to try letting students edit the Wiki. My third grade classes have been studying Internet research techniques. I talked to them at length about Wikipedia and how you can edit it. I even got myself banned from making Wikipedia changes for demonstrating one too many times how easy it is to change things on a Wikipedia page! (I didn't know that could happen, but it was a great teachable moment.) However, I decided that to really understand Wikipedia and Wikis, my students needed to get their feet wet editing.

So stay tuned! If I actually pull this off in the last four weeks of school (really I think I'm nuts!) I will share their Wiki page.

Summer on the Horizon

2008-04-23T21:51:00.004-04:00

I was working through my lesson plans today when I turned the page in my planning calendar and there was June! Suddenly it seems that the year is about to end. (June 9th is our last day with students.) We are all talking about next year and what we are going to work on over the summer.

I am excited about next year and also a little disappointed. My Assistant Principal came to talk with me several weeks ago. She said that next year I won't be teaching Encore'. Encore' is what we call the classes the students attend while their classroom teachers have planning - art, PE, music, library and computer. This year I was part of the rotation for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders. You probably remember me complaining about 2nd grade being added during the first 9 weeks of school. It made it difficult for me to collaborate with teachers and keep up with the things that needed to be fixed.

But I was able to teach. For 40 or 45 minutes each day, the kids were mine. We went on Internet adventures, wrote stories and played games. I love the kids and the challenge to engage and stretch them. So when the AP came to me and told me that I wouldn't have a fixed schedule of classes next year, my first thought was "Darn!" I'll never be able to tell Kelsi from Jennifer. I won't get a hug from Nancy once a week. I won't be a real part of the Encore team of teachers.

I stewed about it and then I began to see the possibilities for next year- podcast book reviews, create a wiki for 5th grade, apply for grants, create digital photography projects, team teach with the librarian, . . .

In reality there is a lot still to do this year - inventory, computers to fix, decorate my classroom, finish a writing project with 1st grade and a unit on research with 3rd grade - but I am excited about the possibilities that next year holds.

Groundhog Day

2008-02-05T21:18:00.000-05:00

I feel like I have just seen my shadow. The last few weeks of December and the first couple weeks of January were great! I was starting to feel the rhythm of my classes. I learned how to anticipate how much we could get done without being rushed or kids not having anything to do for the last part of class. I came up with multi-week projects that the kids would enjoy and learn from.

Then the trouble tickets and tech support responsibilities started piling up. Ten donated computers to place and set up. Three macintosh computers that need to have their OS reinstalled. A data projector that won't work. A web browser acting up. A PC that won't connect to the Internet. A laptop that won't accept its XP login. A Mac that won't turn on. It never ends!!

I run down to look at one computer having problems in the 10 minutes between my classes and another teacher with another computer problem stops me in the hall. I don't think I have worked my official hours one day in the last two weeks.

And the big hit is still to come! The state is rolling out a new student data system and Durham starts using it next month. Every homeroom teacher in my school is going to HAVE to enter attendance data every morning on their computer. The teachers who currently have two inches of dust on their computer and don't know how to cut and paste. They are going to log on, connect to the network, login to the database and enter their attendance data. Yeah right! Guess who they are going to call when they have a problem?! Looks like six more weeks of winter for me!

Something Old/Something New - Hanawald & M. Jones

2007-11-29T12:11:00.000-05:00

Using African Folktales and Audacity to Improve Reading Fluency
Sarah Hanawald, Marilyn Jones

http://fc.greensboroday.org/~shanawald/ncetc07 Link to handout and presentation

Good detail on implementation in classroom. Instructions for students on how to use Audacity. Link to freeplaymusic is awesome. Had a participant (shown in photo) record in Audacity to show how easy it is.

Process
» start with read alouds
» student selects and read 3-5 to themselves
» student selects a story for their presentation
» read it aloud several times, including reading to a partner or small group
» give feedback to partner about inflection, pronunciation, cadence
took 6-10 class periods
need twice as many (or more) texts as students

freeplaymusic.com
audacity tutorials http://audacity/sourceforge.net/help/tutorials
instructions for students to use audacity in the PowerPoint http://fc.greensboroday.org/~shanawald/ncetc07
need lame encoder to convert audacity files to MP3 http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Lame_Encoder.htm

Technorati Tags: digital_storytelling audacity NCETC07

Digital Storytelling

2007-11-29T11:49:00.000-05:00

Lisa Amerson, American Renaissance School

Link to PhotoStory instructions is great! Idea to use blank PowerPoint handouts to create storyboard. Great examples of student work.

PhotoStory

Instructions for using PhotoStory avail. on http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson986/photo.pdf

» I could import pictures of animals or something else that students are learning about.

6 pairs of headphones with microphone from WalMart for $12 each

She provided the digital pictures.
She has them create music in PhotoStory instead of bringing in music from home.

Will need to edit the volume of the music so can hear the narration.

pictures need to be fairly high resolution

can take up to 15 minutes to create the media file (have something else for students to do during this time)

Had students working in pairs for the science project.

They each had to create a storyboard.

75 minutes classes for 7^th & 8^th graders – 2 days for storyboard, 1 day to learn photostory, 2 days to finish

Use PowerPoint notes handout as a blank storyboard

MovieMaker

All the files for the movie need to be saved into the same location.

Instruction sheet http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson986/windows.pdf

digital video camera with firewire connection
import movie clips or still photographs

can cut a clip into two

can add narration overtop

drag and drop transitions

add titles and credits

Technorati Tags: photostory digital_storytelling NCETC07

Interactive Whiteboards with Mimio

2007-11-29T09:54:00.000-05:00

Riverwood Elementary School in Johnston County Schools, NC

Very affordable alternative to ActivBoard and SmartBoard. Functionality of software is a bit limited. List of interactive Web sites is awesome.

It works on your white board. 3 pieces One piece installs on the side of the board, one is the pen, one plugs into your laptop. Has a calibration tool when you first attach it. Can move it from classroom to classroom.

~$550 (+white board if don’t have one) (+$199 for wireless connection) (+ data projector)

gallery that comes with the software has images, lessons on the Web site

can add images to the gallery

pen has right click capability

have to freeze the screen to use the highlighter tool on a Web page

in software update – will have tool bar locked to the side, will be able to do unlimited cloning

can’t animate objects, difficult to associate sounds with objects

Interactive Web sites

http://www.primarygames.com/science.htm all subjects

http://www.juliethompson.com/SMART.html LA, math, writing activities

http://www.topmarks.co.uk/Interactive.aspx literacy, math, science

http://www.eagles.k12.mo.us/sullivan/karen/pd4ets/templates.htm several great links

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/ks1numeracy.html numeracy

http://bgfl.org/bgfl/15.cfm English, math, science, and other various topics

http://www.fabulousfirstgrade.50megs.com/smartboard.html

http://eduscapes.com/sessions/smartboard all subject areas

http://www.mymaths.co.uk/samples/sketchingQuadratics.html sketching quadratics

http://www.mimio.com/solutions/education/resources/index.php mimio resource for interactive sites

atozteacherstuff

Technorati Tags: NCETC07 interactive_white_board mimeo

Joselyn Todd - Web 2.0 Classroom

2007-11-28T22:00:00.000-05:00

Web 2.0 Let’s Make Learning a Group Effort

Joselyn Todd
Sam Morris

Nice to see specific classroom application of technology. Gave me opportunity to think of ways to implement in my classroom. Practical implementation of Warlick philosophy.

http://cagroupeffort.pbwiki.com PW: group

Asked a participant to take notes and post them to the wiki (This is an example of what Alan November suggested in his session later in the day.)

Applications that are Web-centric

GoogleDocs
Amazon
CNN – commentary on CNN reporters

The long tail

http://www.judybrown.com/tools.html

http://www.go2web20.net/

web 2.0 awards

Wiki has replaced PowerPoint in Joselyn's class

wikipedia – 9 million pages in 6 years

Ø What if I had the students put their presentations re: pilgrims onto a wiki instead of presenting to the class? Then their parents could see the results and it would be stored for future reference.

Can document who did what in the Wiki history.

Suggestion from the audience – assign a color to each student so you can easily see who contributed.

Joselyn’s wiki about robotics.

Wiki hosts
wetpaint
pbwiki
wikispaces

Let students develop content. Have students develop content about their interests related to the subject area.

Wikis can be moderated.

Blog vs wiki -the most powerful person on a wiki is the LAST person on the wiki. Everyone is on an equal playing field. On blog there is one person who has a higher status. All the others respond to the author.

anne.teachsme.com blogs re: blogging

jmccullers.edublogs.org 3^rd grade

wordpress – students don’t need an email account to create a wordpress blog, can host on your own server and make it available only within the WAN

have students create a screencast to teach each other things.

Technorati Tags: Joselyn_Todd Web2.0 blog wiki NCETC07

ActivBoard Advanced

2007-11-28T21:57:00.000-05:00

ActivBoard Advanced

page turn effects – right click the orange page turn button (if choose random ti will change with each page turn)

hiding the sound controller (it comes up when click on something that has sound associated with it) Main menu – studio settings – linked file hosting Uncheck show sound controller

keep preferences from being changed install it on a “thawed” drive so the preferences that you change don’t get forgotten (check if our drives go into deep freeze)

insert a page in the middle of flip chart right click – new page

right click disable Main menu – customize – tool store- presentation toosl – drag mouse with right button red – drag it between the first and second column. Toggles the right click on and off

rub and reveal

open blank and minimize it

open web brower and get to maps and get a map

camera tool – area and take snapshot of area sent to current flipchart

switch to satellite image hit the camera tool again (automatically select the same area), sent to current flipchart again

lock the one you want in the back to the background

put the one you want in the front – layer to the top, edit – lock

right click on the pen tool to get a circle

use eraser tool to erase the center of the image

group the parts of the image

Save an image to your tool bar Third column underneat the x on the control bar. It is blank and you can add your own tools to it. Hand will appear in the third column. Can drag any image to the third column to save it.

translucent button

double click the image and then you have a translucency dial for the top image and the one below will become visible

containers

flipchart with instruments that you have to put in brass, string, percussion

switch to design mode

double click on object that you want – selectr properties(check) – select container – can contain – keywords and enter the keyword that it can contain

doubleclick the objects that you want to drag into the container and put the keyword into description

have to get out of design mode for it to work

copy stuff you want

select an object from a flipchart

bring up page selector window on the right (underneath page turn tool)

drag object and drop it onto a blank page that you see in the page selector window

restrictors

double click the object – descriptors – restrictions – can move

Technorati Tags: Activboard NCETC07

Alan November - Banning Student Containers

2007-11-28T21:48:00.000-05:00

Alan November
Banning Student Containers

Philosophical presentation, digital learning farm is a cool vision. Like the specificity of things to try in the classroom. Lacked factual justification, but good correlary to Warlick's presentation.

The US has become one of the most restrictive countries for using the tools they use at home at school.

We should study what kids do with technology when they are at home. If middle school girls had gotten hold of paper before teachers in the middle ages we would have banned pencil and paper.

Most school work is very self-centered compared to the work that they were doing prior to the industrial age when they were doing work on the farm that was vital to the family.

There are kids in China who are more desparate than our kids. They want the life that we have. We need to create a culture of learning where our student are demandng more work so they will be able to compete.

The digital learning farm where children are farmers. Give children jobs on the digital learning farm.

“The best school’s I have seen are where the learner owns the learning. Until we get to a culture where the learner owns the learning it doesn’t matter.”

Step 1 – Homework is going to contribute to the good of the whole instead of the individual. i.e. Create a tutorial design team

screencastomatic is a free tool for broadcasting

Step 2 – Curriculum review team – create a weekly podcast reviewing the previous week’s curriculum

Step 3 – Daily researcher sits at Internet connected computer to get answers to factual questions. Teach critical thinking on the Web. (research response to Pope’s speech in Turkey, don’t want to just see the US version, look at tr domain)

Step 4 – Global Conversation Team - Get primary resource materials across the world regarding all subject materials. Have an international discussion of topics.

Step 5 – Official Scribe – takes notes and embeds Web tools on a daily basis

Joselyn Todd had one of the participants do this during her session earlier this morning.

fear and imagination are the two barriers to innovation

Warlick - Education in a Flat World

2007-11-28T21:30:00.000-05:00

David Warlick

Our Student, Our Worlds – Education in a Flat World

Similar theme to November's. Enjoyed the backchat. Examples were compelling and informative. Flat classroom means students and teachers are on an even playing field. I want to see more examples of teachers modeling this behavior and discussion of how it works and what challenges are.

What are the conditions that are converging that make this change necessary?

http://handouts.davidwarlick.com/ to see Dave's handouts

http://davidwarlick.com/ajaxchat/index.php the backchat for this session (backchat coined by Dave Jakes)

what is the backchat - taking a conversation and turning it into a document, content that can continue to be useful to us

We are spending too much time teaching kids how to use paper.

Three converging conditions

» unpredictable future – what do kids need to know to be prepared for a future that we no little about?

Richard Florida, author – moving from industrial age to a creative age

Living in the 20^th century and learning in the 19^th century classroom

» Info-oriented students – want to participate, invest themselves, connect to others, create and have people give them feedback

Universities are starting to ask the question how do I market to the MySpace generation. We need to think about this as well for K-12.

Students today learn technological skills from the kids around them. Vastness of the digital divide will come when we realize that these kids are learning from their learning community (facebook, bebo, xanga, aol). The kids on the other side of the digital divide don’t have the technology, but they also don’t have that community.

we need to teach kids how to choose how to communicate – IM speak versus formal English

» new information landscape – information is participatory, connected, abundant

kids today see information as a raw material, something that they can use to create something else

digg social networking tool, for this to be effective the people “digging” things need to be literate

teach the kids to prove the authority of anything that they read, don’t assume the authority

http://innocentive.com corporations post problems for people to solve, agreeing to pay a prize to the person who solves it

57% of American teenagers have produced original digital content and published it. From their perspective students are more literate than their teachers. Our classrooms are flat!

We are paying more attention to each other and less attention to CNN, Encyclopedia Brittanica.

New literacy

· exposing truth

· employing information

· expressing ideas compellingly

· ethical use of information

wombat – waste of money brains and time

blog werenotafraid.com

Technorati Tags: flat classroom Warlick NCETC07

What's New from Google - Patrick Crispen

2007-11-28T16:23:00.000-05:00

Googlebots from Patrick Crispen

fun presentation - Google 411 tip and Creative Commons search are AWESOME

The Googlebots send Google a complete copy of the entire Web page.

http://netsquirrel.com/ - to see his old presentation on how Google works and gets a page rank

Patrick gives permission to use his presentations under Creative Commons

Google 411

Call 1-800-goog411 will text the directions or map to cell phone, doesn’t offer residential information . . . yet

Google Mobile Maps is a dowloadable cell phone application, see real time traffic information; google.gmm; more cell phone stuff mobile.google.com

in google maps set location and then type ribs in [location]

Google Research Tools

books.google.com

full text searching of thousands of books – adding ~ 3,000 books a day

Google has scanned and you can search the content of books to let you know where the word you are searching for occurs in the book, but won’t let you read the book online (with a few exceptions)

scholar.google.com

limits searches to peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles

news.google.com

news archive search – can find out where the article is and then you have to go to your library and get the real document. look on left hand side for the timeline

Google notebook www.google.com/notebook

browser add-in that lets you save information from the Internet onto a virtual 3x5 card, highlight information on web site, click on the star it adds what you wanted to your Google notebook page. on your notebook page it has all the information you nee to cite the resource

on advanced search there is a choice under usage writes to specifically look for Creative Commons materials

common facts can be searched using plain English

Google will make basic mathematical calculations

3*5

1 light year in miles

1 cup in teaspoons

1 dollar in euros

define smoots

weather: greensboro nc

movie [zipcode]

Google Productivity Tools

could create a classroom set of email addresses on gaggle.net

Google Docs has Powerpoint now too

Technorati Tags: GoogleEarth Crispen GoogleDocs NCETC NCETC07

Becoming a Teacher

2007-11-02T20:26:00.000-04:00

Eight years ago, one of the teachers that I respected the most told me that I needed more experience with the demands of classroom teaching. I knew she was right. I earned my teacher's certificate in college, but decided to work in my major, engineering, after graduating.

My first job as a teacher was in an urban middle school six years later. I took over in March for a teacher who left. It was a tough position. I was trying to ~~teach~~ control adolescents that were emboldened by the fact that they had “run off the last teacher.” I survived the few months and had some moments when I felt that I was really reaching the kids.

The next fall teachers shuffled around and the principal decided to put Life Skills (the modern version of Home Ec.) back into the classroom where I had been teaching. I was moved to the Media Center where I became the computer resource teacher. I did teach one elective course each day, but I didn’t have a full teaching load. I loved that position and collaborated with many of the teachers in the school, but I didn’t have to track attendance, turn in grades, attend IEP meetings, hold parent conferences or prepare students for standardized tests. I wasn’t a real teacher.

That brings me to this fall when I got my own classroom again. I was fully four weeks into the school year when I panicked realizing that I had not started recording any grades. Our school district issues report cards every 9 weeks in elementary school. So I was nearly half way through the grading period and didn’t have anything to base grades on. Honestly, I was still struggling to recognize the students since I had only seen each of them four times.

I started making notes on my seating chart for each class about how the students were performing. In the ten minutes between classes I would try to get the lab ready for the next group of students and record my grading notes in a spreadsheet. My third graders wrote acrostic poems. So each night I carried a stack home to grade and record. And I poured through pacing guides and curriculum Web sites planning lessons.

I was starting to feel like I was keeping all the balls in the air in this juggling act, when the testing coordinator for our school came in two weeks ago. “Computer benchmark tests are going to be next week. We need you to help administer them to the fifth grade.” I wanted to scream, “Are you kidding me?! I don’t have time for that. Go talk to someone else.” I didn’t. I just tried to juggle a little faster.

I haven’t been to the K-12 Online conference. I am not presenting at NCETC this year. I have not conducted any workshops for other educators in months. I haven’t been keeping up with my favorite bloggers.

But I am learning what its like to be a teacher.

Technorati Tags: k-12 k12online k12online07 NCETC teacher

Aching Feet

2007-09-08T20:58:00.000-04:00

I have 30 computers in my lab. On average there are 24 students in the classes that come for a weekly computer elective. That means that I turn on 30 computers and login about 50 times each day. Last week when I was copying files to the machines I sat down (or leaned and typed on the keyboard from standing)at each one at least 5 times.

Before, in between and after my classes I go to other classrooms (usually munching on part of my lunch as I walk) to work on their computer problems then hurry back to my room make notes about what I did or did not fix and move on to the next item on the agenda.

It is no wonder that I have been going to bed at 9:30 this week!

I am trying to work smarter. On Thursday I found a shared hard drive where I could copy files instead of carrying them from computer to computer. That probably saved me a half mile of walking each day. I also learned about a program called Synchroneyes, that will allow me to control all the computers in the lab from one central location. With an $800 price tag I decided that I need to work on my marketing spiel before I bring it up to the principal.

He does owe me though. After 8 days of teaching AND fighting more technical fires than you can imagine he brought me news that I will also be teaching second grade. That was not part of our original deal and means there is virtually no time to work with other teachers. Bummer!

But WOW do I love being a teacher again!

Technorati Tags: k-12 technology elementary synchroneyes

Back to School Jitters

2007-08-20T17:05:00.000-04:00

I couldn't sleep last night. I went through three potential outfits this morning. I felt sick to my stomach as I headed out the door to my NEW SCHOOL! I have a classroom key and an official badge for the first time in over 6 years.

The staff are very nice and made me feel welcome with friendly greetings and lots of requests for help. I am having to relearn the layout of a school network - Macs and PCs. And a new school building. When I took my daughters to see my computer lab last week I couldn't even find the room right away. My oldest spotted my name on a sign that pointed the way.

Today I was a kindergartener leaving the safety of (working at)home and venturing out into a new place. I have just 6 days left to make the transition to teacher ready to greet students at the door of MY room.

If I can get the digital camera working, I will post a picture.

A welcome (?) vacation from the Internet

2007-07-26T09:16:00.000-04:00

My family is just getting home from a four day trip to the Carolina coast. It was a nice getaway. The weather was beautiful and the ocean clear and sparkling.

I packed my computer along with the bathing suits, sunscreen and sand buckets. I had a vague thought that our hotel provided free wireless Internet access.

As it turned out the hotel charges a daily fee for Internet access and its wired. Our first day I thought about looking up the location of some local sites, but was too busy swimming in the pool and looking for sea pebbles to get the computer out. The second day my husband and I were trying to come up with the name of the 1980’s show about lifeguards. “Wish I could Google it,” I thought to myself. We asked our waitress at dinner instead. I caught up on some reading while the kids were swimming and thought about some posting I wanted to do, but we went to play jungle golf instead. My youngest asked if she could play a game on the Internet that afternoon, but we went back to the pool instead. That evening I did some work for church after the kids were in bed. I thought about posting my spreadsheet to GoogleDocs, but turned off the computer instead.

By the end of the third day I wasn’t missing the Internet and its endless opportunities. I embraced the lack of access and absence of multitasking. I felt a peace settle over my mind and enjoyed a quiet evening walk on the beach. I think I’m glad they didn’t have free wireless. But maybe they will have it next year. : )

Image from Flickr Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/paphio/236563104/

Technorati Tags: vacation balance family

Live Blogging From Hand it in to Publish It

2007-06-27T10:33:00.000-04:00

Wil Richardson

handitinnecc.wikispaces.com for Wil's notes and links

Wikinomics book

lives are transparent in this world - the idea of privacy is changing
more and more of the work that we create is expected to be shared, shift from copyright to creative commons

used to be "do your own work" now becoming more collaborative

content is everywhere - ie MIT OpenCourseware; no longer encapsulated in classroom or fixed to a place and time

constantly changing

kids still need to be helped and taught how to use tools well. They are more fearless in their use of technology

we teach children to becme dependent learners
there is nothing about what kids are passionate about in my kids classroom

the cult of the amateur - book about why web 2.0 is bad

delicious network explorer - can see how people you are connected to are connected to others; if we don't like the way kids are creating network on my space then we need to help them develop a better process

article, Scan This Book

learning about wikis, blogs and podcasts in Blackboard is like learning to drive in a simulator

VoiceThread allow you to link recordings to images and post to the web

connect with people who are passionate about what you want to learn about

Technorati Tags: necc n07s584 Web 2.0 Wil Richardson

Live Blogging: Drupal Content Management for the Web 2.0 World

2007-06-27T08:29:00.000-04:00

Brett Hinton

http://core.gilbert.k12.az.us/other/necc/

Drupal - website paired with a database that organizes content, can share the production of Web content with this tool

login and password for content creation; can create the administration rules however you want (i.e. email account, keycode, etc.)

released in 2001

did a quick poll and were able to view results very quickly

created my own blog within the drupal site

the presentation main page is a wiki created within Drupal

if you don't have a web server to install Drupal, there are providers that you can use (30 day free trial) that have a Drupal server already

walled Web 2.0 garden - addresses some of the privacy and security concerns of wikis, blogs, podcasts because you can control access

the holy grail of content management systems is controlling who can create, edit, view different types of content

module that you can add to add audio files and automatically creates what you need to make it a podcast

create events, schedule rooms example showing scheduling computer lab through Drupal; not as robust as Exchange where it checks for conflicts

the biggest obstacle to using Drupal is the configuration and figuring out which modules you need to do what you want

Bill Fitzgerald is an educator that does a lot of Drupal work. He has an installation that works pretty well for schools right out of the box.

trying out the administration side now login: demo pswd: demo

opensourcecms.com has configurations of dozens of open source systems and they reset every 30 minutes. You can try them out, mess around with settings and it will reset.

Super job Brett!!

Technorati Tags: necc n07s814 brett_hinton

Live Blogging: Digital Portfolios for K-12

2007-06-26T17:00:00.000-04:00

Birds of a Feather Session on Digital Portfolios

lots of schools move to portfolios because of 1:1 initiatives
some have paper portfolios and want to move to portfolios

tool for keeping portfolio documents

Rhode Island public schools has a new graduation requirement to demonstrate

portfolio.du.edu/pc University of Denver (go to graduate student association)

scrapbook kind of system
issue of control - teachers need to have some control so students don't put in inappropriate things or delete all their old "babyish" work

high tech high (www.hightechhigh.org/schools all the portfolios are public

multiple audiences - current teacher, future teacher parent

need to have a basic framework - can give students freedom after that for older grades

security and privacy are issues for portfoio's stored on the Web

example
first grade teachers get together and agree on one piece of work that al will do and put in their portfolio, do these a few times of year; tied to the 6 traits of writing rubric can look at the class as a whole and how they performed on that task using richerpicture software

collect, select, reflect - collect a bunch of samples, select the ones that you want, reflect on why you chose those

Helen Barrett - wrote about portfolios

alternative to standardized tests

use it to track cross curricular skills i.e. ICT skills

set of essential questions - how do we decide what is good, how do we create a portfolio culture

portfolio addresses the things that you can't address in a standardized test

when you put something in the portfolio make sure that it it tied to a particular standard, can make it part of the process for the student

teacher may specify the work to be included or say select 2 of your lab reports to include

spend time focusing on the reflection piece also - document that in the portfolio also

3rd graders and up can put the artifacts in

each artifact is assessed as normal part of school work

the portfolio itself is assessed also, maybe with a rubric

one school does 15 minute interviews with student and two teachers

can use very short snippets of video to show reading proficiency, analysis skills

Research educational leadership article by david niguidula

writing by Helen Barrett

Technorati Tags: n07s256 necc portfolio david_niguidula

Live Blogging: Leslie Fisher Digital Pictures

2007-06-26T15:52:00.000-04:00

If your camera is slow, get a professional speed card

camera shake is when everything is out of focus

Rule of thirds - overlay the grid to demonstrate
Look at space and figure out how to use it
Older people are more flattering looking up
Look for lines and how you can use them

Look for the natural light and use it, take it

8-10 feet is the limit of built in flash

notch on the zoom indicator shows when you move into digital zoom
digital zoom is the equivalent of a magnifying glass and crop tool

shutter priority - let me control the shutter speed
need enough lighting to get the fast shutter speed

aperture priority - portrait mode(short depth of field - 2.8), landscape mode (large depth of field)

exposure compensation - change overall brightness
dial down

white balance - makes sure colors are captured accurately

4 things to always check in photo editing
1. autocolor
2. levels - want to see a bell curve centered in the middle

color card - Scott Kelby book has one included, can also buy one
use photoshop to select what gray, white and black should be

file automate, crop and straighten photo - to quickly fix
3. shadow/highlight
4. sharpen

look at image size
72 is perfect for the Web
minimum of 180 for printing

Technorati Tags: necc n07s723 leslie_fisher digital photography

NECC Tuesday Keynote

2007-06-26T08:27:00.000-04:00

What do the arts, brain research, and creativity have to do with the emerging face of education?

Globalization of education
Arabic and Chinese are important languages in US education now
off shore tuturoing
shortages that we wil experience in teacher supply will be filled with international candidates
producing literate adn pompetent students is not enough, our graduates must be able to think creatively
most impotant requirement heard from educators in the NETS refresh was the need for creativity
think, learn and recruit globally the world of flat teaching is here
Don Kniesek, CEO of ISTE

Discussion Panel
Andrew Zolly
Mary Colonade - Philadelphia pubic schools
school of the future
learning first, tech nology later
power of language
be comfortable not knowing
tension of creativity and accountability

Dr Frances Pedro, global competitiveness, CERI
very big gap between use of computer at home and at school in US compared to other countries

Michael McCauley
seek out your cathedrals - think about the higher purpose of what you do, need deep faith in your team, role is to inspire all those around me by the hard work that I do

Elizabeth Streb, modern dance, Macarthur genius
ask seemingly unaswerable questions
streb lab for action mechanics

create a place where it is okay to fail
allow kids to gather on an ad hoc basis
4 pumps - include doers and users in the innovation (change to include kids), network, modularity - being part of a system but act autonymously, technology

brain research shows that students should learn foreign language as soon as possible

Technorati Tags: n07s755 necc

Visit me at NECC on Tuesday afternoon

2007-06-25T21:16:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow afternoon I will be sharing ways to use images captured with digital cameras in the classroom. Most schools have more than one digital camera. In this session I will show ways to use pictures captured by teachers or students to enhance teaching.

Several templates for creating the examples I will be sharing are on my wiki page, http://lbfogle.wikispaces.com/

Creating Unique, Inexpensive Classroom Materials from Digital Images
Poster : Traditional
Laura Fogle, Tech4Teaching
Scheduled Tuesday, 6/26/2007, 1:00pm–3:00pm; GWCC Level 5, Galleria

Use your digital camera to make your own books, posters, signs, and more. Get students involved and see their motivation soar!

Blog Tag(s): necc, n07s356

Technorati Tags: necc, n07s356, Laura_Fogle

NECC in "Hotlanta" Monday

2007-06-25T20:12:00.000-04:00

After a 6 1/2 hour drive accompanied by a Charlie Bone audiobook, I arrived in Atlanta this afternoon. I checked into my hotel, grabbed my laptop bag and caught a shuttle to the Georgia World Congress Center.

I met two librarians(forgot to ask where they were from) and four tech coordinators(from Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine).

I got to one great birds of a feather session on podcasting in elementary school, "Creative Podcasting for the Elementary Set" by Kathy Shields.

suggestions
- call podcast and the Web site the same thing to make it easy for people to find it
- keep each session to 3-5 minutes
- for kids who can write, have kids practice their script and get comments from peers before recording

resources
free resource for converting audio files www.zamzar.com
ripplingpond is Kathy Shields website, Small Voices in her podcast.
use Camtasia Studio to make an enhanced podcast
free storyboard software (called storyboard?)
can import audacity files into iTunes to convert them
http://www.learninginhand.com/

Kathy's casual and informative style were great. The interaction with the audience made the session very practical and relevant. Thanks Kathy!

Technorati Tags: n07s241 necc necc2007 kathy_shields

Are You Up to the Challenge?

2007-06-06T09:48:00.000-04:00

It is June. There are two days left of school. You have a classroom full of 12 and 13 year olds. Can you get them to beg for more time in science class?

Joselyn Todd can.

Students arrive, get their assignment from the class blog and go to work on their tablet PCs. Each of the five team has a Lego NXT robot to program. The students quickly assign themselves tasks - wiki documenter, programmer, photographer, robot assembler. The classroom buzzes with excited chat about 45 degree turns, touch sensors, and measurements. "Do you want some music?" Ms. Todd asks. The majority of the students raise their hands so Ms. Todd launches a playlist in iTunes on her tablet.

As the class period ticks away students dash from their tables to the obstacle course for each new trial with their robots, 80's music beating in the background. The din quiets for one group to create video documentation of their programming efforts, then quickly restarts. Ms. Todd oversees the whole scene encouraging one reluctant student to be more involved with her group, cheering on successful attempts and offering advice when robots wander off the course.

When she announces that it is time to pack away the robots one team begs, "Please can we try just one more time." "Okay," replies Ms. Todd "but I am not giving out late passes."

What a way to end the year!

You can visit their wiki and see the student work first hand. Team 4B has a video interview from the obstacle course challenge.

Local Schools Show Their Stuff

2007-06-01T10:46:00.000-04:00

Students and teachers from Durham Public Schools showed off their technology talents on Thursday, May 31st at the First Annual Technology Showcase. There was a lot to brag about too!

Several elementary schools had claymation projects. The quality of these one or two minute animated movies was awesome! According to the teachers at Watts and E.K. Powe, the projects only took a few weeks to complete. Students storyboard their ideas on paper and make their clay characters. Then they act out the story and take hundreds of digital pictures to knit together into a movie. The students even put the pictures together into the movie using the Clay Animation kit.

One kindergarten teacher gave her students a digital camera and challenged them to find shapes around the school. The kids put the pictures and their description of the shape into a PowerPoint slideshow.

Middle school students from Chewning were programming Lego robots after school. How's that for motivation! They won third place in a recent robotic competition.

District representatives had information on Internet safety and online access to school catalogs.

Perhaps the best judges of the showcase were my two children. They were entranced by the projects. My eight year old brought a book, Harry Potter, of course. And my six year old brought her Leapster. And they didn't even look at them. They bounced from claymation movies to online subscription services to the robots to a free programming tool.

I talked to Dottie Black, coordinator of the event. This was the first annual and they expect to start planning next year's event in the fall. I will be expecting great things. Way to go DPS, Duke and Pepsico!

Technorati Tags: k-12 technology DPS Duke Pepsico

Privacy in the Digital Age

2007-05-30T09:37:00.000-04:00

I don't consider myself paranoid in fact, I am probably more trusting than the average person. But I have begun to wonder how much of my personal life is stored on computers around the world. Who might be looking at it and why?

Durff got me thinking about it again this week after reading his post, Privacy - Right or Privilege. I think privacy should be a right, but is it one that we are giving away bit by bit in our online practice?

How many times have you clicked that little "I agree to privacy policy" button without understanding all the legalese that scrolled by on my screen. I have lost count.

I keep my calendar online on AirSet. I compose documents on GoogleDocs. I store pictures on any number of photo sites. There are little bits of me spread all over cyberspace. And I used to think that was no big deal, because no one would go to the trouble to gather it all up and use it? Maybe I was wrong about that.

Watch parts four and five of Frontline's "Spying on the Home Front." Every time you use your credit card, you leave a digital footprint on a database.

And what about the information that you post to a digital networking site? Watch this video about the rights that FaceBook retains for tracking information about its users.

I think management of privacy will be a pivotal issue for the continued growth of Web 2.0 and automation.

Technorati Tags: privacy FaceBook Durff

Share Tech Tips with Educators Online

2007-05-23T09:20:00.000-04:00

The second annual K12 online conference is gearing up. Submit your proposal to share learning with other teachers by June 18th.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first annual K12 online conference and learned a lot. If you didn't participate, you still can. There are sessions on blogs, wikis, Flickr, RSS, podcasting . . .

And the presenters are a who's who of tech educators - David Warlick, Jeff Utecht, Bud Hunt, Vicki Davis, Mark Wagner, Wil Richardson, Wes Fryer, Terry Freedman . . .

Technorati Tags: k12online k12online07

Students Envisioning the Future

2007-05-18T11:33:00.000-04:00

Vicki Davis, one of my favorite bloggers, is working on the Horizon project. Students are envisioning the future. Watch this video about the future of cellular phones.

Can you imagine all the things that Atif, the creator of this video, learned in creating this video? Now that is authentic learning and awsome use of YouTube! It makes the world seem a lot smaller when I am inspired by a student in Bangladesh.

Dear Secretary Spellings

2007-05-15T15:59:00.000-04:00

The US Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, is asking for your input on the role of technology in education. I have chosen to focus my comments (at least my first contribution) on the area of Web 2.0 and global competition. Let the Secretary hear from you too, by clicking here.

In what ways can technology help us prepare our children for global competition and reach our goals of eliminating achievement gaps and having all students read and do math on grade level by 2014?

Dear Secretary Spellings,

I believe that technology in the hands of innovative teachers uniquely addresses global competition in education. Web 2.0 technology such as blogs, wikis, and moderated social networks can expose students to global content in an authentic way. Here is one example, The Flat Classroom Project.

In international online projects, American students interact with students and teachers from other parts of the world. They learn about cultural differences and similarities. They share content learning between the two groups and make it relevant to their personal experience. Teachers see first hand the differences in education between the United States and other nations, giving them the opportunity to adapt their own practice. Educational leaders at the local, state, and national level must highlight best practices in the area of global connectedness to encourage innovation.

Sincerely,

Laura B. Fogle

Technorati Tags: DearSecretarySpellings Web2.0 wiki

Harry Potter Magic

2007-05-11T16:06:00.000-04:00

According to The Kids and Family Research Report released jointly by Scholastic and Yankelovich, students who read Harry Potter books report improved attitudes about reading.

51% did not read books for fun before they started reading Harry Potter, but now they do
kids who read Harry Potter were more likely to consider reading important than those who haven't

Now a report like this is encouraging, but honestly it came from the publisher of the Harry Potter books and a marketing research company. So I did my own research.

My eight year old is a Harry Potter devotee'. She read her first Harry Potter book in August of this year, at the encouragement of her best friend. I had been bribing her to read chapter books during second grades so I was amazed when she willing picked up a book well over 100 pages. She absolutely devoured all six books! You had to pry her away from them to get her to do anything else. She was reading 60 to 100 pages in one day, while still going to school and doing her required work. She is know breathlessly waiting for the 7th book and rereading books one through six. So as a parent, watching her read the books transformed my view of her from a reluctant reader to a voracious reader, but I wasn't sure what she thought about it.

I asked her to comment on how the books have changed her thoughts about reading. I was amazed by her response.

I like fiction now more than non-fiction. I especially like fantasy. I like trying to figure out the clues to the mysteries. I learned how to figure out words that I don't know from hints. J.K. Rowling is a good author. So I have learned a lot about writing from her. It inspired me to start writing my own Vanessa and Selena stories with my friend.

Not only did Harry Potter solidify her thoughts about herself as a reader and what she likes, but it developed her vocabulary deciphering skills and her inference skills. She now not only thinks of herself as a reader, but a writer too!

This is the kind of enthusiasm that we need to harness to help kids be successful in school. We must find what children are passionate about and use that energy to help them become 21st century learners.

Technorati Tags: k-12 reading HarryPotter

MEGA Showcase

2007-05-03T13:14:00.000-04:00

The MEGA showcase happens every spring. It features innovative technology project from schools across the piedmont of North Carolina. It is like a free mini conference and also features an impressive keynote speaker (more on the speaker in another post).

The highlights of what I saw at yesterday's showcase:

Wikis

Middle school students are collecting data about blue birds using boxes on the school property and posting them to a wiki. West Lee Middle School, Lee County Schools

Fourth grade students using wikis to write for a large audience in language arts from W G Pearson, Durham Public Schools

Podcasting/Vodcasting

Middle school students podcast interviews with family members about their experience with heart disease and/or high blood pressure. The teacher, Joselyn Todd, also creates vodcasts with the students describing why they chose that particular family member. Cary Academy

Multimedia

1st through fifth graders writing their own books based on a particular author's style. Then creating illustrations for their books using Scholastic Keys. Finally the illusltration s are put together using MovieMaker and the student records a narration. This is awesome and could be done easily in almost any classroom! Olive Chapel Elementary School Wake County Schools
EC middle school teacher video conferencing with pre-service teachers at NC State West Lee Middle School, Lee County Schools
Elementary math teacher and her student creating math raps. They got a grant to buy a special software to make their videos very professional with animated backgrouds, etc. Some of them are posted on TeacherTube. Deep River Elementary School, Lee County schools
Elementary students using a virtual environment where they create their own avatar. Quest Atlantis is the program and is tied to the Standard Course of Study. Williford Elementary School, Nash-Rocky Mount Schools

Wow! Great work going on!

Technorati Tags: MEGA moviemaker podcast teachertube wiki Joselyn_Todd

Brother Where Art Thou?

2007-04-27T16:14:00.000-04:00

My brothers were visiting yesterday and today. What a wonderful treat! We had a great time talking and eating over the day that they were here. They were on their way to the Outer Banks of NC for a Hog Rally.

Paul has a Treo and spends a lot of time online, IMing, and text messaging. He is the guy I talk to for advice on PDA gadgets and the like. He pointed me to a cool Web site that keeps track of passwords for you, SplashId.

Steve is less of a gadget guy, but is an expert on information security. He is the guy I talk to for advice on keeping data secure (and raising two daughters).

After our conversation over biscuits and text messages, I am beginning to rethink the convenience of letting Firefox remember many of my passwords. Perhaps I should increase the security of my personal and professional information. Any suggestions for other simple things to do to protect yourself?

Technorati Tags: family SplashID PDA Harley

HASTAC Conference

2007-04-20T10:56:00.000-04:00

Thanks to a friend who alerted me to a great opportunity, last night I attended the opening keynote address for the 1^st annual HASTAC Conference “The Social Life of Learning in the Net Age” by John Seely Brown, former Chief Scientist, Xerox Corporation. It was thought-provoking, but I am sorry that I will not be able to attend the panel discussion on Saturday that sounds like it will address the implications for public education that interest me most.

We were welcomed by Cathy Davidson, co-founder of HASTAC. “If we work together . . . we can transform the information age into an age of understanding.”

My notes from John Seely Brown's remarks follow:

Digital technology is pervasive.

Half the world’s population is under 20 years old. To meet the need to educate this growing population would need 1 university per week

Distance learning is NOT the solution to the problem. Skill sets are becoming outdated very quickly.

Cartesian view of learning is an old way of thinking about learning.

The social view of learning is that understanding is socially constructed. “We participate therefore we are.” We learn in and through our interaction with others in the world.

There are several studies that show the ability to form study groups is the #1 indicator of college success. Virtual peer based study groups work also.

There are new kinds of social spaces for collaboration & learning, i.e. Second Life.

Terra Incognita is a virtual space for studying. Professor can interact with each study pod. The study pods can float off by themselves to have privacy.

Open systems, open teaching material -> meta university

Open courseware consortium Open education resource movement – In 2001 MIT president asked the question about how it will use the Internet. Decided to give free access to primary materials for vitually all their courses to learners anywhere, any time. They are now putting video lectures on their site.

One unintended consequence was that professors began looking at each other’s courses and linking course content.

WGBH teachers’ domain 113,000 lectures

On campus at least as much learning happens outside the classroom as inside. Learning starts when you walk out of the classroom and start to talk about it.

Cyberinfrastructure (NSF)

Example Faulkes telescope project (telescope in Maui for Australian students)

Highly specialized scholar’s portal, i.e. Decameron web at Brown University,
Valley of the Shadow at UVA.

Kids are joining in open source groups- distributed remote group of workers that have a culture of its own. Participatory learning platform

Niche communities of co-creation, learning and sharing: dedicated, discipline: serious leisure, passion-based informal learning. Example of amateur astronomers working together with professional astronomers.

Creating meaning by what I produce other build on a remix open source culture blogs

Open participatory learning infrastructure

New learning ecosystems

Active blending researching and learning meld into a new kind of distributed learning/knowledge system
Reversing the flow – Michael Polyani get the experience of something and then learn the explicit information, when you get stuck is the perfect time to learn about something
Networks of imagination – network of practice combined with a commity of interest (common values)
Out of it action happens and then networked imagination emerges

Global Meta University (Chuck Vest is talking about this the most)

In the future we will see a culture that thrives on participatory life long learning. Recreation will be an act of re-creation/remix & productive inquiry.

www.oerdnerves.org A review of the Open Educational Resources Movement

Technorati Tags: HASTAC JohnSeelyBrown CathyDavidson SecondLife

Today I am a Hokie

2007-04-17T20:58:00.000-04:00

I am in shock over the tragedy that struck Virginia Tech yesterday. I have an extended family member there. I was frantic to know how she was yesterday. I got a call at about 12:30 letting me know she was okay, but it wasn't until I saw her update her Facebook page that I felt reassured. It was like reaching out and hugging her virtually. For the rest of the afternoon I couldn't close that browser window. Seeing her profile pic and her comment "thankful to be alive" was reassuring amidst all the horrific news I was hearing.

In the past 36 hours online groups commemorating the victims, sharing condolences and expressing support for the Va Tech community have formed. This is how the generation of digital natives connect to one another and comfort one another. It is moving to see how they have used social networking tools to respond positively to senseless violence.

Join others in supporting the Va Tech community in their time of shock and grief. If you have a Facebook account, join VT Unite Global. Or visit VT Incident, a Web site created by Va Tech students to collect information, share feelings and offer condolences.

I shared the news with my children when they got home from school yesterday. My five year old wanted to see it on the news. I think it was her way to make it real. My eight year old wondered aloud why my husband and I were still talking about when we knew that our family member was not hurt. We tried to explain to her that many people were hurt and even killed without terrifying her. It is so difficult to talk with children about horrific events like this. However, I believe that it is better to talk with them in the open instead of letting them overhear bits of conversation and wonder about it on their own.

Here are a couple links with suggestions on how to talk with children about tragedies.

Talking to Children about Terrorism and War - American Academy of Pediatrics
A National Tragedy: Helping Children Cope - National Association of School Psychologists

My thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by the shootings of April 16.

Technorati Tags: VirginiaTechmassacre FaceBook social networking

Paying Teachers the Right Way

2007-04-12T08:30:00.000-04:00

The Center for Teaching Quality has released a detailed recommendation for reforming teacher pay, Performance Pay for Teachers. I think they are on the right track.

The authors of the report are 18 teachers from across the country with amazing credentials. They recommend a base pay system with three tiers – novice, professional and expert. Teachers who show above average performance in increasing student performance or leadership within their school would receive additional compensation. There are also incentives for qualified teachers choosing high-need, low-performing schools.

The report recommends measuring student performance through a combination of standardized tests and classroom assessments. It also focuses attention on the growth of students during the school year, not just their performance level at the end of the year like NCLB. I believe this would encourage teachers to help all students, not just those marginally below the grade level standard.

They also addressed my other pet peeve of educational compensation - seniority pay. They argue that teachers should be rewarded for demonstrating leadership not just seniority. Absolutely!

In a time when most of the rhetoric about education and performance measurement systems is focused on what is not working, this report has a refreshingly positive focus. I hope my state of North Carolina, where the Center for Teacher Quality is based, will adopt a teacher compensation system of this type.

Technorati Tags: merit salary NCLB testing CenterforTeacherQuality

Cool New Tool

2007-04-04T20:49:00.000-04:00

I-Lighter is a shareware program that allows you to annotate Web pages and save your annotated version to the Web for others to see. I can imagine students using this for Internet research projects. If four students are researching The Supreme Court. They create a public folder and divide up the resources their teacher has identified for their research. They read relevant Internet documents, highlight them and make notes using i-Notes. One of their research documents like look like this.

The highlighted text was created with I-Lighter. When they begin creating their report each student can access all the research. None of it is saved in an individual student's folder or hand written on pieces of paper stuck in one student's desk. Better yet reams of copy paper and barrels of ink were not wasted printing out interesting Web pages.

When you open your saved Web documents, you will find the full text of anything you highlighted and any notes you typed. You will also have a link to the original Web document. From here you can paste your notes directly into Word if you like. Students using this tool will need a stern reminder about plagiarism and proper citation of sources.

Hope

2007-04-02T11:06:00.000-04:00

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead

I talked with an old friend on Thursday about public school. She reminded me that if educated, involved parents give up on public schools they will likely not improve. Our society as a whole will suffer as we allow the children without other options to receive an inferior education.

On Friday afternoon I joined a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens who volunteered at Hillandale Elementary for Science Day. I saw at least twenty parents and community members at the gathering for volunteers afterward and I know that many more volunteers were present. I worked with two doctors and an RN showing third graders actual human hearts and lungs. The kids practiced taking their pulse, learned about lung disease (and could see the difference between a healthy and diseased lung), looked at the chambers of the heart on a model and listened to each others' hearts with stethoscopes. It was exciting, hands-on learning!

Technorati Tags: public schools, parents,

http://www.flickr.com/photos/orangeacid/419423674/

Stop Cyberbullying

2007-03-30T09:10:00.000-04:00

According to iSafe, 43% of the youth population report being bullied online. Wherever kids gather the potential for bullying exists. Adults who care need to learn about these new gathering places and help kids learn to protect themselves. What can you do?

Watch this great video about cyberbullying.
Ask a teen you know to explain MySpace or Facebook.
Learn how to help kids stay safe online, 11 tips from Vicki Davis.
Join the StopCyberbullying network. (invite me to be your friend)

In honor of Stop Cyberbullying day, Friday March 30th 2007.

Cartoon reprinted with permission from Cathy Wilcox.

Technorati Tags: stopcyberbullying, cyberbullying, cybersafety, MySpace, FaceBook,

Losing Faith

2007-03-27T15:54:00.000-04:00

"I've always been a supporter of public school."

That's me. I believe in the dream of public school. I have always enjoyed working with a melting pot of students, including those who don't have all the advantages that society can offer. I still carry the name of a student that I almost ten years ago.

He was hanging around late after school one day. I had him one period a day and I had only been at the school for about a month, so I didn't really know him. But I knew that school, at least my class, wasn't a big priority for him. I wanted him to know that I cared and maybe that would motivate him to care about school.

We've all heard the stories and seen the movies of inspirational teachers working in an inner city school who turn kids around. So, I asked him if he needed a ride home. He said, "Yeah." So we set out across town and he hopped out of the car in front of a non-descript apartment building. I looked up his mom's phone number the next day and wrote it on a note card next to his name. I tried to call her but only got a machine. I told my mentor about it the next day and she cautioned that it wasn't a very smart move on my part. I knew that, but wanted to take the risk - in hopes of a big payoff. The payoff never came.

That is the end of the story. He wasn't in school the rest of the year. I found out that he got in trouble and was possible being put in "lock up," juvenile detention. He didn't come back the next year either, but I still carry around that postcard in my briefcase. It reminds me that I believe in the power of public education and a caring teacher to save a struggling kid.

So why have my wistful thoughts of education turned to private schools? In conversations with teacher friends over the last two days we have bemoaned the national focus on testing. In the school system where my kids attend teachers are given a pacing guide which tells them exactly what to teach on each day of the school year. Now if that won't suck the creativity out of teaching, I don't know what will. We have shared stories of teachers unwilling to challenge students with creative and innovative assignments. Schools, some of the best in the public school system, where students only use technology once a week. Where teachers have third graders coloring hand-written brochures instead of designing them in Word or Publishers.

Then come the stories of private schools where teachers are freed from the bonds of testing. Where class sizes are small and innovation is encouraged. Teachers challenge their students to create real content, connect to the world outside the classroom and apply technology in meaningful ways. Doesn't it sound good?!

I don't want to give up on public education, but I need to see there is hope. Show me that the accountability pendulum is beginning to swing the other way. Point out examples of great innovation and stellar teaching. If you see hopeful signs, please share them. If you have ideas for how to shift the thinking of the education establishment, please tell me. I want to keep my faith alive.

"After view of my classroom" image by LizMarie
http://www.flickr.com/photos/perspicacious/303144538/

Technorati Tags: public schools, testing,

MEGA fun!

2007-03-22T20:14:00.000-04:00

About twenty educators gathered in the Friday Institute yesterday afternoon to network and share ideas and experiences. Our group is called MEGA. It used to stand for Middle Educators Global Activities. We are so diverse now that we have moved beyond the "middle" part. There were elementary and middle school teachers there along with representatives of the Department of Public Instruction, NC State University, and private industry.

Joselyn Todd presented a jaw drapping session on Wikis. She teaches 7th grade science at Cary Academy. Get this - if she has to be absent, she creates a screencast for her students to watch so they don't lose any instructional time. She gives wiki homework. The students are divided into groups and each group is given a subtopic on chemical reactions, for example. They have one night to make their contributions to the chemical reactions wiki. And wow!! These kids create some compelling content. Joselyn said she loves teaching middle schoolers because they are naive enough to believe that they can do just about anything. And she motivates them to do just about everything! They are working on a Periodic Table of Podcasts. Listen to Krypton. It is great!

I got to lead a discussion of cybersafety in the 21st century classroom. The conversations were remarkable! We all agreed that turning off Web 2.0 sites for schools is not the answer. That would be like telling students that they can never use scissors because they could get cut. Yes, there is potential danger in Web 2.0 from predators and cyberbullies, but our students are out there. They are not going to give up these tools! We need to be out there with them learning and creating an environment that is somewhat protected. We give them rounded kindergarten scissors. Teach them how to cut and they slowly graduate to the big, pointy scissors. Start them off on imbee and class blogmeister, where the teacher or parent controls access and student sites are protected from the general population. Teach them how to protect their privacy. By the time they are in high school they will be ready to use MySpace responsibly.

We recorded the conversations so they may be available in the future as a podcast. Until then you can visit some of the links (look at MEGA_1 through 4 and cybersafety) that we used as resources. The links and my Powerpoint presentation will all be posted soon in the MEGA archives!

Our next meeting is May 2. Beckey Reed and Lisa Grable, our group facilitators, always make it interesting. I can't wait!

Technorati Tags: MEGA, MEGA_March07, cybersafety, podcast, Joselyn_Todd, social_networking, MySpace

Disney 2.0 Not Ready for Primetime

2007-03-09T12:37:00.000-05:00

I am back home, fresh from our family’s first trip to Disney World. I had been before, but not with my own children. It was a truly magical experience. We had talked about the trip and saved money in our Minnie bank for two and a half years. I got chills when we drove through the big gates onto Disney property for the first time. And taking my daughter on Space Mountain was a real thrill.

So when I arrived home to read Wil Richardson’s post about Disney entering the social networking scene, I was delighted. Disney magic comes to Web 2.0!

But what I found was more marketing than magic. Even with DSL, my connection was maxed out with all the video clips it was cramming into my browser. I tried out a few games and found them difficult to understand and clunky. Maybe its because I am a digital immigrant. While I agre with Wil that its exciting to have such a big player in the social networking business, I think Disney has a long way to go before Disney XD is ready for primetime.

Technorati Tags: Wil_Richardson Disney Web 2.0 social_networking

Becoming a Media-Savvy Parent

2007-03-01T10:41:00.000-05:00

Television by By NOTICIAS-TIC from Flickr (http://www.flickr.com)Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/

A few weeks ago my kindergartner wrote me a note. “Mommy controls all the things I like.” She was mad because I had taken away her computer privileges for the day. She loves to play games on the computer and for the most part I am happy to allow it, but sometimes I put on my “Mean Mom” persona and draw the line. And according the experts, we Americans need to being drawing the line more often.

My daughter is not the only one that loves her media time. America’s children consume a huge amount of media content. In a report published by the Kaiser Family Foundation in 2005, it was reported that children between the ages of 8 and 18 were spending an average of 6.5 hours a day with media (averaged over a seven day week). That is more time spent interacting with media than any other waking activity, including attending school 4.8 hours per day (averaged over a seven day week).

The American Academy of Pediatrics, the doctors that study how kids’ bodies and brains develop, recommend no more than 1 to 2 hours per day of “quality screen time.” That is less than one-third of our children's current media consumption.

I do set some limits and occasionally feel like I am the only “Mean Mom” doing so. And I am sure that my kids feel like they are the only ones who are so limited in their activities. There are others out there questioning their TV consumption. Read about Mountain Mama's experience.

What can you do if you are trying to improve the media habits of your family? Here are my top four suggestions.

1. Set limits.
53% of kids in the KFF survey reported that they have no rules for TV watching (page 11 of the executive summary). Having rules reduces total time spent viewing TV by two hours (p. 19 of the executive summary). Decide what the rule is for your household and enforce it. The heaviest users of TV and video games were also the children with the lowest number of hours spent reading. And we want our kids to be reading. (http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/slmrb/slmrcontents/volume32000/independent.htm)

2. Educate them.
Talk to your kids about media messages.Discuss the programs they watch and what happens to the characters.PBS has terrific media literacy materials

http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/media_lit/media_lit.shtm.
http://www.pbs.org/parents/childrenandmedia/
Make sure they know how to stay safe on the Internet.
NetSmartz

3. Be present.
Don’t let you children access the Internet where they are not in plain sight. Don’t put a TV in their room. We have all used media as a babysitter from time to time, but try to remain partially tuned in to what your kids are doing.

This one is the hardest for me. I set limits, but don't want to be bothered to watch what they are watching or look over their shoulders on the computer. I am going to try to do better on this one.

4. Model good behavior.
Limit your own media use. Turn off the TV news and your Blackberry during dinner. Let your kids see your reading a book, magazine or newspaper, so they will be inspired to read. They will do better in school if they read according to the American Library Association. “Students who read independently become better readers, score higher on achievement tests in all subject areas, and have greater content knowledge than those who do not.”

Adapted from The National Academy of Pediatrics recommendations. http://www.aap.org/pubed/ZZZRC31PQ7C.htm?&sub_cat=1

Good luck and wear your Mean Mom and Dad hats proudly. Your kids will be better for it.

Technorati Tags: parents, TV, media

The Job of Integration is Done?!

2007-02-14T09:13:00.000-05:00

Yesterday the President cut funding to states for educational technology. The justification was that the work of integrating technology is done. I beg to differ!

Are your school-age children learning to conduct effective research on the Internet? Can they construct persuasive arguments in compelling ways - using audio, video, and text? Are they communicating with experts on topics they are studying? Are they learning about other cultures by interacting with people who live in those cultures? Do they use technology seamlessly in their daily classroom activities?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonnny/110936654/

Well mine aren't - not on a regular basis anyway. These are the things that they need to be doing everyday. There are moments of great innovation and change breaking through in our schools, but the systemic reform that we need to prepare children for their future has not happened. We must continue to fund this initiative!

So I sent a message to all my congressional representatives. I encourage you to do the same.
Find your representative: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

Here is my message to Congress:

I encourage you to restore funding to Title II D of the No Child Left Behind Act, Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT). The work of integrating technology into education is NOT done.

I have two daughters in public schools in North Carolina. They each have one computer in their classroom that is rarely used by students. They go to a computer lab once a week for instruction. This is not good enough!

They should have at least have a group of 3 computers in their classroom. Students should be using them on a regular basis as a natural part of their assignments.

Employers and educators alike have repeatedly stated that students need to be technologically proficient to succeed.

http://caret.iste.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=questions&topicID=1
http://www.21stcenturyskills.org
http://www.conference-board.org/publications/describe.cfm?id=1218

Even Time magazine recently called for further reform and modernization of America's schools.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1568480-1,00.html

North Carolina has taken a strong position in educating our students for the 21st century. The federal government must support our state by reinstating funding that will further our efforts to put technology in our schools and train our teachers how best to use it.

I am very passionate about this subject and would be happy to talk with you further about this issue.

Respectfully,

Laura B. Fogle

Technorati Tags: Congress, EETT, technology

TCEA Session on Primary School

2007-02-09T22:07:00.000-05:00

These are my notes from the session ABC’s of Technology Integration: Primary Ideas for Primary Teachers at TCEA 2007.

Michelle Heindrick, the presenter, is a first grade teacher at Lee Elementary School.

Basic computer skills for K-2
Scholastic Keys is a program that overlays MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel. It makes it easier to use for K-2 kids.

Give them a sentence strip with their name is all capital letters and have them type it. Having it in all capital letters help them match the letters on the keyboard and eliminates the need for them to translate lowercase letters of their name into upper case mentally. As students get more familiar with the keyboard they can start to add the step of translation.

Spelling Practice in Word
Students work with a buddy. Teacher creates a table with three columns labeled: 1st try, 2nd try and Correct. One student calls out the spelling words and the other types. The typist can see when they have a word spelled wrong because of the spell check “squiggle” that Word puts under the text. On the third trp they are allowed to right click their incorrect spelling and try to choose the right option from the suggested spellings.

Four columns in a Word document
Column 1 and 3 have words that you type. They have to duplicate the words by typing in column 2 and 4.

PowerPoint Descriptive Writing
Insert clip art in a slide. Have students write a sentence describing the picture.

Modified “Creature Feature”
After reading the book “Creature Feature” the class creates their own version. Students each choose an animal and write their description of the animal. In kindergarten may want to have “reading buddies” do the typing. Kindergarteners can create an illustration in KidPix or other drawing software. Import the illustrations into PowerPoint. Print and bind your own class book.

Spelling refresher or high frequency word practice
Put one word in each slide of a PowerPoint slide show. Adjust the timing for the ability and attention of your students. Put it on continuous loop.

Free K-12 PowerPoint presentations are available from Pete’s PowerPoint Station.

Counting
To practice 1:1 correspondence create a template in KidPix with blocks for each number 1 through 10. Student pick a stamper and put the correct number of stamps in each box for the numeral in the box.

Sorting with Kidspiration
Put words for objects from two categories in the middle of the screen. Put a box and label for each group on the sides. Students are supposed to move the objects to the correct box. Then switch to outline mode and the terms are sorted. Older students then can write a sentence about each item and why it is in that category.

Other suggested Web sites
http://www.lil-fingers.com/
http://www.earobics.com/gamegoo/

Technorati Tags: TCEA, TCEA2007, kindergarten, powerpoint, michelleheindrick

My First TCEA Session

2007-02-09T21:31:00.000-05:00

These are my notes from 21st century Projects for 21st Century Learners session at TCEA 2007.

Amy Elliott, the presenter is a tech facilitator for Sherman ISD in Texas.

They initiated technology report cards to help raise the visibility of technology standards to parents and classroom teachers. They have implemented this in primary grades. The report cards are issued twice a year. They include a line for Texas technology standards (TEKS) for the grade and indicate the student’s mastery level for each standard. Presenter said they remind teachers to work on the standards and keep them in the forefront of teachers’ minds. They are stored electronically by each classroom teacher and printed for parents.

Claymation
She uses PowerPoint to create claymation projects with third and fourth graders. They use clay, a digital camera on a tripod, a desk, poster board taped to the wall for a backdrop and PowerPoint. Each PowerPoint slide has one digital picture on it and is displayed in a slideshow for 1 second or less. Students are told their project can portray one object doing one thing (i.e. a snowman melting). She coaches them on making very small changes for each “frame” of the animation.

Recording Audio Books
Older elementary students record narrations of picture books. They are stored electronically for younger students to listen to.

PowerPoint Book walk
Start with a visual image to introduce the book. Then take a picture walk – posing questions about images from the book. i.e. What does this character look like he is feeling?
[Personal note: Be careful copyright laws when using images from any published work.]

Can use this as an introduction to Powerpoint where students view the Powerpoint slide show on their own computer and type answers to questions on slides by moving to edit mode and typing in a text box.

More advanced students can create their own slide. Simplify the process by creating a media kit in a folder. The media kit would include a word document with instructions for the students, documents with key vocabulary words, clip art, video clips, etc.

PreK and Kindergarten Powerpoint

Have NAME typed in a slide, they type their name in place of the text.

To help the students be more independent, add voice instructions to each slide they are supposed to modify. They click on the speaker icon to hear the instructions.

Have them move clip art to show understanding of concepts. i.e. sort the pumpkins from the smallest to the largest. Students show understanding of math concept and also get to practice click and drag.

If you are in a lab setting, when they finish their work in Powerpoint have everyone stand up and rotate to a different computer to see what a classmate has done.

Print handout notes and turn them into a mini book.

Create a "How To" Video using PhotoStory
Students create a rough storyboard on paper or in Powerpoint. Then they take digital pictures on a topic of interest. They import the pictures into PhotoStory 3. They make notes for each image about key ideas they want to describe. Then they record a narration for each image.

Tips: Don’t let them type an entire script or they will read it verbatim and the narration will sound stilted. Remind them to pause for a split second after pressing the record button and for a split second before stopping to avoid truncating the voice track.

I will post a link to the on-line handout when it is available.

Technorati Tags: TCEA, TCEA07, powerpoint, photostory, preschool, kindergarten, amyelliott

Free Tutorials Online

2007-02-02T16:02:00.000-05:00

Do you know the difference between the microphone jack and the line in jack on a sound card? Want to learn some of the basics behind networks?

This great Web site, Kidz Online Tech Training, offers short video tutorials on basic technology topics: digital audio, digital video, digital imaging, networking and more. They even have a special gURL Tech feature to promote females in technology.

This is a great resource for the person wanting to expand their technology background knowledge.

Technorati Tags: free, Kidz online, technology, tutorial, women

I Believe I can Fly - with the help of Google Earth

2007-01-23T21:42:00.000-05:00

Google has given us another awesome, free tool, Google Earth. If you have ever wanted to fly, you will have fun with this!

There are several Google Earth meme projects being created where people connect virtually and share an experience or a picture. You pin a note on the Google globe and people all over the world can read your note. It is a different kind of social networking.

This meme project was created by Lucy Gray. People share their experience about remarkable teachers and learning experiences. Check it out.

Here is my post about my most memorable teacher.

The teacher who had the greatest impact on me was Anne Simpson, my high school Language Arts teacher. She challenged me to give more of myself by assigning open-ended projects and maintaining high academic standards. She was passionate about teaching and transforming the lives of adolescents. She told me I should be a teacher and I did become one, thanks to her example. Today I work with teachers to help them enhance their teaching with technology. Through demonstrating her passion, Ms. Simpson helped me find my passion.

Thanks Lucy for giving me a reason to learn to fly with Google Earth!

Technorati Tags: Google Earth, Lucy Gray, meme, social networking, teacher

Is Social Networking Really THAT Scary?

2007-01-20T11:40:00.000-05:00

I watched over my niece's shoulder while she was looking at her Facebook page at grandma's house. It really didn't look so scary. As I said in my Christmas day post, she has protections in place to keep her information relatively private.

Social networking has become a victim of our fear-focused society. Opponents, like Chuck Favata in a recent Learning & Leading with Technology column, cite the danger of pedophiles. In reality, the number of children being solicited on-line is dropping while the number of kids using social networking sites is skyrocketing. According to a report recent published by the Pew Internet research project, 55% of online teens are using social networking sites. Isn’t a bit like sticking our heads in the sand to say that we don’t want to address them in schools?! To read more about the safety concerns, check out this blog by Scott McCleod.

We need to talk more to students about the specific dangers of posting personal information on the Internet. According to a report from Missing Kids, about half of parents are talking to their kids about this issue, but only about one-third of kids report hearing about it at school.

We are in a race to reinvent our schools and make them more relevant to today’s kids. Shouldn’t we be looking for creative, responsible ways to harness the power and excitement of social networks instead of putting them on the shelf because we are too scared to figure out how to do it safely?

Technorati Tags: McCleod, parents, social networking

If Blue Can Do It, You Can Too

2007-01-09T12:30:00.000-05:00

Blue, Dora and Diego all have their own podcasts on Nick Jr. I have visions of two year olds with their iPod video players sitting in their strollers watching Dora. Maybe that is a stretch, but maybe not as much of one as we old-timers might think. Fisher-Price has a digital camera for preschoolers and it was one of the hot toys this past Christmas. Disney has a cell phone it markets exclusively to 10 to 15 year olds. Yesterday, a friend of mine told me that many, many of her 8 year olds' friends just got iPods, and several got cell phones.

Blue, Dora and Diego each only have three right mini-shows now and they are actually vodcasts. However, you can subscribe to any of the three characters programs, so I think many more will be coming. There is no denying that RSS is now becoming mainstream. As educators we need to get moving and start experimenting more with these technologies. Kids are using them in their out of school life and if we don't learn to harness their potential we will become as outdated as a copy of Benji on beta.

Technorati Tags: Blue's Clues, Diego, Dora, podcast, preschool, RSS

Preschool for All

2007-01-08T09:24:00.000-05:00

The National Association of School Boards of Education (NASBE) published a report on preschool, Fulfilling the Promise of Preschool. They recommend that states get more involved in providing quality, developmentally appropriate preschool. I feel torn about this recommendation. On the one hand, I believe that preschool can be a great experience for young children. They learn to interact with other children and adults other than their parents. With the right program they can develop the skills they need to be ready for kindergarten. (readiness skills)

My state has a program called SmartStart that targets at risk children. The state provides funds for local government to subsidize childcare and preschool. This is terrific! It can help erase the acheivement gap before kids get to kindergarten. We need to help families with young children afford quality child care. We need to provide childcare organizations (whether it is Bright Horizons or Aunt Betty keeping 4 kids in her home) with access to the best research in child development and effective techniques for encouraging growth and development. For families with middle incomes and a discerning eye, quality care is available. Both of my children had wonderful early childhood experiences. They entered kindergarten prepared to learn and excited to take the next step.

However, I fear that the current obsession with accountability and acheivement measurement will be pushed down to preschool. Four year olds will be drilled on their ABCs and the time to learn through play will be lost. I also wonder how far this will go. I don't think Americans are interested in socialized childcare. When do you start public preschool - 4 years old, 3 years old. What effect will this have on for-profit daycare centers?

With all those questions in mind, I do believe that we need to do more. According to Pre-K Now, only 13 states meet eight or more of the ten quality criteria developed by the National Institute for Early Education Research. No state met all ten. We clearly need to do more.

Technorati Tags: preschool, smartstart, nasbe

'Tis the Season to be Clicking

2006-12-25T15:31:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas!

I am enjoying Christmas with my family and learning about gadgets. Everyone from my 3 year old nephew to my mom has new gadgets to play with. My eighteen year old niece, Allison, gave me a tutorial on MySpace and FaceBook. She pointed out the differences and what she likes about each.

MySpace allows you to make your profile accessible only to your "friends." She said there were creepy people asking her to become their friends and join their group, so she protected her profile. After you protect your profile only your profile name and picture are visible to people you have not approved. However if someone doesn't choose a profile name that is a derivative of their real name and posts a picture of their pet lizard, it may be hard to figure out it "soccerdude" is your friend from school or not.

FaceBook allows you to adjust the privacy more precisely. You can block individual pieces of your profile instead of all of it, like MySpace. For example if you don't want your friends to see the geeky picture of you in your new Christmas sweater. You can block that photo album from your friends and let your Aunt Paula see it. You can also block a specific individual from your account if they start annoying you. FaceBook has a cool feature in its picture album application that allows you to tag portions of pictures with the names of "friends" in your FaceBook profile. Say you get a great group shot at a football game. You upload it and then highlight one friend in the picture and tag it with their name. Highlight another and tag again. Then when the picture appears in your album, all the tags are hotlinks to your friends' profiles.

Gotta make a Facebook page for the new year.

My fourteen year old niece let me borrow her iPod. I felt a little all thumbs at first controlling the playlist, but with a few pointers I got it. My daughters soon took control of the iPod sharing the ear buds between them.

Here is our family electronics portrait! Aren't we a good-clicking crowd?

Technorati Tags: Christmas, FaceBook, MySpace, social networking, Web 2.0

Santa Claus is Coming to the Blogosphere

2006-12-09T20:28:00.000-05:00

I have spent today enjoying Christmas traditions.

We took my daughters to see Santa this morning. I did some baking and worked on the family Christmas cards (created online with a digital camera) this afternoon. Tonight we listened to Christmas music and then watched Santa Claus is Coming to Town. I was about to go back to the Christmas cards and baking when I stumbled on this. Santa is a blogger!! And he is as prolific a writer as he is a gift giver. Here are a few of his better locations in the blogosphere:

http://hisanta.landsend.com/a/santas_blog/

http://clauschronicles.blogspot.com/2006/12/100-things-about-me.html

http://www.santasjournal.com/journal/

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Santa blog Christmas

Image from Flickr Santas by Nouveau

Technorati Tags: Santa, blog, Christmas

Warm-up Your Brain Cells

2006-12-05T20:59:00.000-05:00

Fiona chopped down an old tree and cut the trunk into 24-inch lengths. Because the tree had been dead for so long, there were no branches left. They had all fallen off.
Next, Fiona split each length into 4 pieces so that each piece was thinner and not so heavy, but still 24 inches long.
Now she had 80 logs to burn in her wood stove.
How many feet tall had the trunk of the tree been?I have been working on a math course over the last couple weeks.

Brain Teaser from EduPlace

If you need help with the answer, you can go to the Web site for hints. The answer won't be posted until next week.

Can you tell that I have been working on a math course this week? There are lots of great on-line tools for math. Here are my top 5.

http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivitySearch.aspx

Activities and lessons for teaching any math skill you can dream of from adding to algebra. Maintained by National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

http://www.teacherlink.org/content/math/interactive/flash/kidsandcookies/kidcookie.php

Learn about fractions by sharing virtual cookies. Almost as fun as sharing the real thing!

http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/games.html

A bevy of games that feature everything from estimation to pattern recognition. And the kids won't even realize they are learning!

http://www.shodor.org/curriculum/

These are mostly for the middle school and up crowd. Great tools to demonstrate very abstract math concepts.

http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/features.html#calculator

Google has a built in calculator, currency converter and dictionary. Try it! Just type 3 +4 in the search box. Follow this link to learn how to perform more sophisticated calculations and conversions.

Hope your brain's all warmed up and ready for some math now!

Technorati Tags: math NCTM K-12 Shodor

Flickr image. Woodcut by Clearly Ambiguous.

Pot of Gold at NCETC

2006-11-29T20:31:00.000-05:00

I am at the premier technology conference for the state of North Carolina this week, NCETC.

It is so exciting to talk with other educators who are using technology in the classroom and encouraging other teachers to use technology. The range of technology that people are presenting about is incredible! You have people talking about podcasting, blogging and skypecasting. And you have people talking about how to use Inspiration and PowerPoint.

I attended a mini blogger con moderated by David Warlick.

We discussed multiple vendors for student blog sites:
Gaggle
Class Blogmeister
ePals
elgg

I learned how to legally copy images from flickr. Go to http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons
This subset of flickr images are willingly shared using a creative commons license.
Use the search tool to find a picture you are interested in.
Click on the “all sizes” button, and then choose the size image you want to download. And click the link for downloading the image.

Picture from flickr by Mylerdude http://www.flickr.com/photos/mylerdude/309730002/

Technorati Tags: NCETC flickr creativecommons Warlick NCETC06

Pay for Performance

2006-11-26T20:41:00.000-05:00

In Performance Pays (Technology & Learning, November 2006) Lindsay Oishi reports on Denver Public Schools “groundbreaking teacher pay for performance system.” Their system four parts – knowledge and skills, professional evaluation, market incentives, and student growth. I was so delighted to hear about a public school system with a balanced merit pay system. When I first started working as a teacher in 1996 after spending six years in industry I was flabbergasted by the pay system. I was evaluated by my supervisor, but it didn’t really matter. It had no effect on my pay.

I was paid the on the same pay scale as every other teacher in a NC public school, based only on years of experience and advanced degrees. Richard* taught math the same way he had taught it for the last 20 years. He lectured and gave problems from the book. He bemoaned the change in “population” at the school and wished for the good ole’ days when the kids were better behaved. He grumbled about attending staff development and you had better not get between him and the door at the end of the school day. Charlie* had been teaching for a number of years too. But he wasn’t counting the days until retirement. He started a new class teaching kids how to do desktop publishing, after he took a course at the local community college on it himself. Although he was not formally mentoring any new teachers he willing spent time with them to offer advice. He was at school all hours, knew the kids and could talk their language. They were both getting the same salary, but everyone knew they weren’t doing the same job.

To bring about the next revolution in education we need to reinvent the compensation system. Teachers who are getting it done need to be rewarded. And it shouldn’t just be based on the results of high stakes testing. It must be a multi-faceted measurement system. I think Denver has the right idea. You can read more about Denver’s program at Dept. of Ed.

*fictitious names

Technorati Tags: Technology&Learning, merit, salary, testing, Denver, public schools

When You Wish Upon A Star

2006-11-17T21:00:00.000-05:00

There is a strong Leonid meteor shower expected this weekend for North America and Western Europe. I fondly remember the last time I shivered outside to watch meteors. Our oldest daughter must have only been 3 at the time, but she had already caught her daddy's love of the stars. She would go out on the porch each night to say goodnight to the stars before she went to bed. So when she heard us talking about a "star shower" she was all in. I think it was 4 am when we got up and wrapped ourselves in blankets. We were living in the country at the time so we just went and laid in the front yard and stared up at the black sky whispering to each other "There's one!" "Look over there!" It was magical.

We live inside the light pollution zone they call the city now. So we will have to drive somewhere to have any chance of giving our second daughter the same thrill. Might just be worth it.

While we are talking astronomy, I stumbled on this awesome Web site, Your Sky, this week for all your astronomy enthusiasts and science teachers. You enter your latitude and longitude and it will give you a sky map. You can also get a horizon view and play with the virtual telescope. For free!

Technorati Tags: astronomy science Leonid meteor star

Keeping Up with the Bloggers

2006-11-14T22:02:00.000-05:00

Every time I catch up on my blog reading my head starts to spin and I feel that I am being left behind. David Warlick has been using an avatar to represent him in an online course. Do you have an avatar? I don't! He is meeting with community college teachers on using iPods in higher education - cool! Wesley Fryer has been skypecasting. I need to try that out! And of course he is podcasting and I haven't even gotten around to doing that. Vicki Davis is a new favorite and I can't keep up with her either. This technology thing can be overwhelming. There is always something new and it seems that everyone knows about it before me. Yeah, I have heard of YouTube. But only when they were bought out and it made national news and I had never been there. Much less had I thought of using their videos to teach math. But there it was in one of Vicki's posts. You gotta see this! Effective Math Videos. It seems that I am the only technology educator who sleeps, how else can people be out there discovering all this stuff.

But then again it is all about choice. I have been spending time on a classroom organizing tool for a kindergarten teacher. It has pictures of the lunch choices for the day and kids put their popsicle stick in the pocket with the picture (and words) representing what they want for lunch that day. So the teacher doesn't have to stand there each morning and help them read the lunch choices. Simple and old tech - just took a digital camera and some office supplies to make it. But it can save a teacher time.

I guess that is what makes me different than the techno-junkies. Yes I am an engineer by training. Yes, I can fix computers and I have given talks to other engineers on SCSI and microchannel. I have written Fortran code. But I am not here for the whiz bang factor. You have to sell me on the effectiveness of a technology for education before I am going to take the time to play around with it. I am not going to try to get another teacher to try something before I have tried it. I can't wait to see what the people on the bleeding edge find for me to try next!

Technorati Tags: blog warlick fryer davis math k12 video

Get Off the Bench

2006-11-01T09:45:00.000-05:00

Scott McCleod has inspired me to "get off the bench." In his most recent Dangerously Irrelevant post, he related Barry Glasner's book, The Culture of Fear, to our decisions about education. "We would be much better off as a society if we spent less money and attention on sensationalist issues and instead focused on what matters: improving high school dropout and college completion rates, increasing the number of children who arrive at school ready to learn, reducing the growing segregation of students of color and poverty in urban school districts, more equitable school funding, educating children for their future rather then their past."

To that, I say, "Amen!" I couldn't agree more. And today I will stop being part of the problem and become part of the solution. I will become an advocate for the things that I think need to change in education. I will write to my Congressmen and my state legislators about education initiatives. I will educate other parents.

What will you do? Join your local PTA. Contact your elected representatives (US House, Senate). Attend a local school board meeting. Volunteer in a school. And don't forget to vote next Tuesday.

If we don't get off the bench and into the game for America's school children, who will?

Technorati Tags: activism, McCleod, The Culture of Fear, Glassner, election

Software Seduction

2006-10-29T20:44:00.000-05:00

On Friday my kindergartener had her Fall festival at school. That is what they call Halloween parties now. My third grader had Oktoberfest. Nope, no beer, but as it turns out I could have used it! I signed up to serve brauts (they were really hot dogs) and sauerkraut to the third graders, read to them in German, then run down to the kindergarten room and make candy corn necklaces with the kindergarteners from kits I bought. It was a beautiful plan. Until I was seduced by software!

I settled down to my computer to work after the kids were on the bus that morning. I would have a few hours to work before heading to the school. I’ll upload pictures from the kindergarten pumpkin farm trip on Tuesday. Target has new photo coupons out (you can pick them up at the photo counter) and I could get 10 for free. Then inspiration struck! I could use the same pictures to try out a new piece of software I heard about. Microsoft Photo Story is free software from Bill Gates that turns your still digital images into an engaging multimedia presentation. I downloaded the software and plopped the pictures in. And WOW! It automatically put in the transitions – fades, zooms and pans. It looked awesome and it was only 11:00. 11:00!!! I had to get going - but this was looking so great I wanted to share it with the kindergarten class right away. I had a few more minutes - I could just download a song to add a music track, pack up the laptop and the data projector, schlep it out to the car, load up my supplies for Oktoberfest and Fall festival, drive to the school, pick up the English version of my German book in the school library and start tossing out the brauts by 11:30. Yeah, I know it sounds insane now, but it really sounded doable at the time.

Got the song, packed up my stuff, drove to the school, found the book and arrived out of breath and slightly wet from the drizzle just as the third graders were packing up their morning work to have lunch ala Deutchland. I served 26 brauts, stumbled through Ein Kleine Raupe Nimmersat (that’s The Hungry Little Caterpillar) by Eric Carle. Off to kindergarten and the fall festival with my big surprise.
I took my station at center #2 and started making necklaces. The kids loved it and I was having a great time until I looked in the bag of supplies and was horrified to discover that I only had HALF of the necklace kits. My heart sunk. I really wanted to cry. I sheepishly approached the teacher and told her. “Oh. Well . . . it will be okay,” she said. “Some of the kids can just make them next week,” she said. Yeah right! Tell ten five year olds that while the rest of their class made cute necklaces, they would be punished for nothing they did by getting nothing! Please shoot me now before the crying starts.

I stumbled out into the drizzle to see if by some miracle the extra kits were in my car. No. They were at home. I knew it. Why? Why? Why did I have to rush out of the house without double checking my supplies?! I held my breath and dialed my best friend’s cell phone number. I told her of my desperate situation and she agreed to go to my house and check for the missing necklace parts. I couldn’t believe my good fortune when she arrived just as I was trying to explain to my next group of kids why they didn’t all have the big candy corn like the sample necklace. I was saved!! There were 12 more kits. BIG HUG for my friend!!

The rest of the afternoon went pretty well. The kids loved their necklaces and everyone got one. I showed the multimedia show of the pictures to the class and they were enthralled. I went back to Oktoberfest and served black forest cupcakes and took my kids home. Oh yeah, we stopped at Target on the way home to pick up the prints. If only I had left it at getting the 10 free pictures printed. I could have shown the kids the printed pictures. . Ahh, but the allure of a new software toy to show off in a classroom was too much for me to resist.

Technorati Tags: Photo_Story technology education

Twenty-first Century Ideals for Schools

2006-10-24T08:46:00.000-04:00

Last week I went to the first MEGA meeting of the year. I have been going to MEGA meetings for 8 years now. I know exactly how long because when I went to my first meeting, my youngest daughter went with me in her infant car seat.

It was a great meeting with teachers from four different counties attending in person and a group of educators from ECU joining by video conference.

Melissa Bartlett, a teacher and member of the State School Board spoke to us about the new goals the board just approved. We disected each goal in small groups. Most everyone in the room had some kind of technology background or focus so we were pretty much all in agreement about the ways that schools should be moving toward the goal of twenty-first century skills. There were high-minded conversations about learning anywhere, anytime; educators who innovate and lead; and students solving real-world problems. I felt really energized and inspired.

Melissa challenged us to put these goals into our school's School Improvement Plan. And then I began to wonder how we can inspire teachers, parents and administrators to think about these idealistic improvements when they are grappling with overcrowding, burgeoning Limited English Proficiency populations and more and more emphasis on test scores. To sell these ideas we must make them practical. I believe that the high-minded ideas can impact the everyday classroom challenges, but we have to show people how. Then we can start to move toward the twenty-first century classroom.

Technorati Tags: 21st_century_skills MEGA

Walking, not running, down the Web 2.0 Road

2006-10-18T12:04:00.000-04:00

This is what an online conference looks like. I am "attending" the K-12 Online Conference this month. And this is what my computer screen looked like while I was listening to the keynote.

I was less than 50 miles away from where David created his keynote presentation for K-12Online when I was watching the keynote. Yet I was able to watch it after attending an open house night at my children’s elementary school, getting them tucked into bed, making their lunches for tomorrow and laying out their outfits for picture day.
That is the beauty of Web 2.0. It comes to you when you are ready. And yet, I feel that its full power eludes me. I have a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, and six years as a computer technical support engineer, one year as a programmer. Yet, I haven’t gotten the RSS feed from my blog working the way I want. I don’t have Technorati tags on it, but I don’t really get how they work. How do we expect teachers, who are up to all hours grading papers and preparing lessons after THEY get home from open house and put their kids to bed, to figure this stuff out? We have to push to make it less cumbersome. The tools have to become more user friendly.
David, thanks for the links that will help me further down the road of Web 2.0.

Technorati Tags: k12online06 k12online warlick

2006-10-17T15:36:00.000-04:00

I presented to a great group of preschool teachers recently. We talked about Internet resources for early childhood education. I learned several things from them and hope they learned a few things too.

In the process of the presentation we got into a little discussion about having computers in preschool classrooms. It seemed, as the conversation evolved, that many of the teachers wanted to have computers in their classroom. We talked about the option of having a computer lab and having an outside company bring in computers as one of the “specials” for the students. None of the options sounded great to me. Then one of the teachers brought up the recent news article about young children needing more “free play.” The children get plenty of screen time at home. Preschool is a place to interact with others and learn relate in a group of non-family members. This I agreed with. Even though I am a strong proponent of the benefits of technology I think the AAP got it right when they said we should limit the screen time of children. We tabled the discussion and got back to my presentation.

Later in the day the discussion kept creeping back into my mind. What did I think was the right answer for this preschool? And then it came to me – my old mantra. Technology is just a tool! We were focusing on the computer resource like it was something that should hold a different status than blocks or toy cars. It shouldn’t. I think there should be a computer center. Maybe it should rotate from classroom to classroom, but it should be integrated into the curriculum. The children of this generation see computers as another toy in their toy box. We as educators need to recognize this. It should be available. And we should use it to further our curriculum themes, but don’t make it something separate. Just put it in the toy box with the rest of the toys.

2006-10-10T20:57:00.000-04:00

I remember my fifth grade science fair project – a demonstration of how television worked. I struggled to understand the concepts I was reading about and don’t think I ever really got it but I remember trying to work through it. I remember a sixth grade social studies project. I stayed up late the night before writing it. My teacher pulled me aside and told me that this was not my best work and he expected better of me. I didn’t excel on those projects, but the experience inspired me. When I was in high school I worked with a group of friends to transform the theatre into Wonderland ala Lewis Carroll. And we created Alduous Huxley’s Brave New World in our teacher’s work room.

My husband and I had a conference with our third graders teacher this week. I like her teacher, Ms. T. She has many years of experience and clearly still loves being in the classroom. She is in complete control of her classroom and yet is flexible enough to offer each child what they need. But as we left her room Tuesday night part of me wondered if it was the right place for my daughter.

We asked Ms. T if there would be any projects for homework. “No, she said I used to do those but I quit. Most of the children here just don’t have the resources and parental support to complete a project like that.” WHAT?!! I understood what she was saying. Our family is very focused on education. We put school first and yet some nights it is difficult to get the regular spelling, math and reading homework in between dinner, soccer and church events. Our family is firmly in the middle class and running to WalMart to get poster board, construction paper and a new set of markers is not a big deal. According to our school’s report card approximately one-third of the population is economically disadvantaged. I get that asking the kids to make a shoe box diorama of the solar system would challenge most families and be almost impossible for other families. But isn’t public education supposed to be about challenging us as a society? Stretching us and making us better?

I think we need to have high expectations for all children and find ways to help them succeed. Maybe that means doing the long term project in class and asking the parents who can to donate supplies, but I don’t think it means giving up on the project. If you don’t have the fifth grade science project you’ll never be able to create your brave new world.

2006-08-31T21:10:00.000-04:00

My two daughters are wrapping up their first few days of school, one in kindergarten and one in third grade. They are riding the bus for the first time and both making the transition well. The kindergartener has been very impatient for school to start and fairly bounces out of the house each morning to the bus.

I have enjoyed the beginning of school too, for the most part. I am still trying to get over my experience at Open House. There I was nicely chatting with my daughter’s third grade teacher, Mrs. T, when she tells me that the school district got all the third through fifth grade teachers laptops. I could feel my face light up. “Really?” I said. “That is great!” My mind was racing with all the cool things I could suggest – find Web site links for lessons and show them to the class, take part in one of the many online science projects for classrooms, have the kids contact experts in different fields via email to find real world applications for the things they are studying in school. NO.

The district is using the laptops to send daily lesson plans to the teachers. And they are required to follow the lesson plans. You have got to be kidding me. Someone in the central office apparently has a crystal ball and knows the reading level, math knowledge, science aptitude and social studies expertise of each of the 25 kids in Mrs. T’s class. And they are going to custom design lesson plans each day and send them to her. NO. They are taking some ridiculous stab in the dark based on what the Standard Course of Study says the class should know and dictating her lesson. Never mind the two kids who don’t speak English, the five with ADD, the two with learning disabilities. Just teach to the middle. Why not just put all the third graders in the school in one room and teach these lessons to them?

Okay, I know there does need to be some standardization of the curriculum between classrooms. It is not map out the school year so teachers can see when their class is falling behind. I even like the idea of emailing teachers lesson ideas. Heaven knows they don’t have time to go wander around the Web and find the plans Learn NC or other projects have posted. But don’t TELL them what they HAVE to be teaching each day. Show some respect for the professional skills of educators.

From that moment at Open House my head started spinning. Where is public education going? When are we going to stop this all encompassing focus on standards and testing? Is public school becoming a mass production system? Maybe I need to write to the Superintendent. Maybe I need to get on the school board. How is this going to affect the education that my children get? And what am I going to do about it?

2003-03-08T07:26:00.000-05:00

This is the beginning of a new project. I hope it is successful. Blogging is the new hot web technique and I want the divas to learn it.