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Discovery Launch

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:36:08 -0500

On March 15 I was in Orlando, Florida giving a presentation at the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) Conference. Integrating the Internet into the Primary Classroom links can be found here. After I finished my presentation, my husband and I drove east to catch the Space Shuttle Discovery's liftoff. Since we're from Minnesota, not Florida, we hadn't anticipated the traffic also heading to watch the liftoff. I used our GPS to find back roads which weren't very crowded. We pulled over to the side of the road where there was a clearing three minutes before liftoff. My husband grabbed the video camera and I grabbed my Nikon D60.
Here's the three minute video we shot and posted on Teacher Tube. Watch closely for the external fuel tanks to drop off toward the end.
I was thrilled to be able to watch this historic event. It was amazing. No wonder students are so enthralled with space, space shuttles and astronauts. I gathered some resources that you could use in your class studies of the space shuttle and outer space. NASA's Space Shuttle Discovery is also on Facebook and Twitter. NASA also has student and educator web pages. The Kennedy Space Center website has information about Discovery.
Scholastic News: News from Outer Space and We Have LIftoff provide information for students. The We Have Liftoff Blog asks for students to make comments. Reading and Writing about the Solar System contains a lesson plan for you to use. Scholastic has an online unit called NASA: Challenging the Space Frontier.

CUE 2009 - Social Networking

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:33:21 -0500

I just returned from the CUE (Computer Using Educators) Conference in Palm Springs. I gave a three hour workshop on using iWork in Education. It was a hands-on workshop learning how to use Pages, Keynote, and Numbers.
I was also a panel member discussing the Importance of Social Networking in Education. Steve Hargadon, Ken Shelton, Arlene Anderson, Adina Sullivan, Alice Mercer, Anika Emersen and I shared how we used social networks in education. We also answered questions from the audience. Social networks are used for various purposes in education. The components of social networks are a profile page, a forum, a member directory and the ablitity to upload photos, video and audio. Some districts have different names for social networks; Personal Learning Networking, Academic Networking, Student Communities, Collaborative Learning Networks. We discussed Responsible Use policies. We talked about the importance of having social networking workshops for parents and school boards so that they understand how social networks can be used in schools safely. We spoke about teaching online safety just as we teach students to "Say No to Strangers", "Crawl Low Under Smoke" and "Look Both Ways Before Crossing the Street".
Collaboration is a skill we want our students to learn, whether it's collaborating face-to-face in a group or online. Many times students will start a project in class, then need to finish it as homework. Collaborating online allows them to work from home, assuming that they have internet and a computer at home. There are so many options using Web 2.0 resources. Students aren't the only ones who can benefit from online collaboration. Teachers can use these tools to share lesson plans, conduct parent conferences online, create online courses, online book discussions, tutor a sick child at home, conduct teacher meetings, share classroom calendars, collaborate online for problem solving, and more.
Steve shared that Classroom 2.0 has almost 20,000 members. I started Literacy in a Digital Classroom. I only have 20 members so far. I'd love to have you join and add to the discussions and resources. Ken shared a 1-9-90 rule for social networking: 1 publishes, 9 respond, 90 consume. THAT explains all the people who read my blog, but don't respond. :)

Weather

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:31:22 -0600

Today I'm thinking about the weather. I live in MInnesota and a blizzard is happening outside. Good time to stay inside and investigate the weather online.
If I were planning a unit on weather in my classroom, the first thing I would do is round up resources that I have available and resources online. In my classroom I would have thermometers, videos, and books. Then I would think technology with computers and digital cameras, knowing that the students would be creating weather books and videos. I would peruse the available software that might be weather related.
Online I would look for good websites for the students to access for information. Weather Watch and Math Hunt Extreme Weather are great for students. I like to bookmark or create a webpage with selected websites so that I know that the sites are good quality. I would also look for good lesson plans, like Air and Weather, Weather on a School Walkabout, and What's Your Weather Like?, that other teachers have used so that I might get some new ideas for teaching my students. I would search TeacherShare for weather lesson plans. I would look for weather experts that I might contact to speak with my students through video conferencing or to answer their questions by email.
I want my students to be able to think about the weather and to also investigate the weather online. If they were weather reporters, they would need to know what they were predicting and talking about. So I'm sure that the students would love to set up a tv studio area so that they could record their weather report. And then the weather is in the newspaper, so they would need to write about the weather in our weekly newsletter. The weather is online, so we could add the weather to our website. Now I know that I'm prepared to guide my students in their learning, so I think the first thing that I need to do is to ask my students what they know about the weather and what they want to learn about the weather.

TCEA Conference

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:28:30 -0600

Last week I presented and learned at the Texas Computer Education Association Conference. I arrived in Austin Tuesday night and gave a 3 hour workshop on Wednesday morning. The workshop was Podcasting Stories and Poems. We explored Internet resources and created podcasts using GarageBand. To teach about writing stories and poems I used these Scholastic resources. I also shared he podcast resources.  • Storytelling Workshop with Gerald Fierst  • Writing With Writers  • Poetry Idea Engine  • Poetry Writing with Jack Prelutsky  • Poetry Writing with Karla Kuskin  • Poetry Writing with Jean Marzollo  • Write It Poetry  • Tech Tutor articles: A Guide to Digital Storytelling  • Monsters  • Tech Tutor Blog  • 10 Podcasts for Teachers and Kids  • Harry Potter Podcast Tour  • TeacherShare
As a learner I attended Digital Storytelling with Photography by Marco Torres. Marco spoke about different types of cameras and settings. He reminded us that photos need to tell a story and showed us many excellent examples of storytelling photos. A workshop from Marco is always a wonderful learning experience.
In How to Do Everything in Second Life by Jamey Osborne I learned more about having an avatar and using it in Second Life. Jamey did a great job with his presentation, but I'm still not sure how I would use Second LIfe in an elementary classroom. I think I'll leave it to the older grades. But please let me know if you have found a way to use it in your classroom.
Stained Glass and More with Photoshop Elements by Patricia Kathy and Kathy Smith showed techniques for creating a stained glass image. Photoshop Elements makes it easy to add layers to create your image.
Engage Young Learners with Web 2.0 Tools by Gail Lovely was one of the most practical sessions that I attended. One of the resources that I really liked was Andrew Church's Tech & Learning article "Bloom's Taxonomy Blooms Digitally". Weebly is a free website and blog that is easy for teachers to use. One of the most intriguing resources that I think students would really enjoy is Kerpoof. Not only can students write and online story, but they can also use Kerpoof to create an animated movie. ImageChef allows you to add words to photos and clip art. Picnik is an online photo editing site. You can find Gail Lovely's entire presentation with all her fabulous links on her YoungLearners2.0 site.
Mr. Gatekeeper, Tear Down Those Walls! by Mary Ann Bell included research about filtering in schools. Overly stringent filters can do more harm than good. They prevent teachers and students from accessing some excellent resources. Often it is difficult for teachers to get the filter opened up in order to use a resource in their teaching. What do you think? How strong should Internet filters be?
Digital Photography in the Classroom by Laquetta Shaw used my list of 100 Ways to Use Digital Cameras as her handout. I thought that was interesting.

Write

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:18:09 -0600

I love to write. I write lists, letters, articles, lessons, blog entries and more. I encouraged my first graders to write - even if they just wrote what sounds they heard. I told them, "As long as you know what it says, it is writing." Sometimes they just wrote random letters and then asked me what they wrote. I told them that they needed to know what they were writing. That's part of communicating. The important thing is that they write to express their ideas. I firmly believe that writing helps children learn to read. And reading helps children learn to write. So I encourage kids to write in their journal or blog every day.
So still thinking technology in the classroom, let's concentrate on blogging. Previously I added a link to Blog in Plain English. So hopefully you watched it and understand what a blog is. Here are some other ideas on how to use blogs and blogging rules for your classroom. I love this video called "Why Let Our Students Blog" by Rachel Boyd from New Zealand.
If you are looking for blogs to read or to show for examples, check out the Scholastic Blogs or Blog Carnival
Looking for a place to create and manage classroom blogs? Check out Edublogs or Blogger . Or if you have a Mac OS X Server, wikis and blogs are created and managed within your own district. Teachers can use Classroom Homepage Builder to post updates for their students and parents.