Saturday, October 10, 2009

While I Was Sleeping

This morning I woke up bright and early for a Saturday and, after a warm cup of coffee, checked in with Twitter. People from all over the glove had been busy sharing news, websites and blog entries with anyone who happened to be tapped into Twitter while I was sleeping.

Part of my morning routine is to spend about five to ten minutes quickly reviewing old tweets and click on links that catch my eye so I can check them out later. Remember, the subjects of my tweets are specific to the people I follow. Your tweets can be as well.

I've listed a sampling of sites noted to give readers a taste of the richness of resources shared on Twitter.

Local Educators Study Promising Japanese Teaching Method
  • An article from the Washington Post discussing a new form of Professional Development that made me think of our recent Tech Fair and what Tech Tuesday's is all about.
Classics Illustrated Comic Books
  • This site has many classic books in comic book form. I can imagine how much fun it would be for kids to check out this site either before, after, or instead of reading one of the great classics. Options are endless, titles are plentiful.
A Library to Last Forever
  • Another New York Times article written by Google co-founder Sergey Brin defending the Google Books Project, one of Google's newer projects attempting to digitize the world's books. I support Google's efforts which is what caused this tweet to catch my eye. If you haven't checked out Google Books, it's worth some sniffing around time.
50 Years of Space Exploration
  • This tweet was a surprise because I was expecting a video or a blog entry and not the image that showed up when I went to the site. I kept thinking about th emany possibilities of using this image for independent research when I was teaching Astronomy.
President Obama On Being Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
  • The space news agency reporting on Obama's letter of acceptance.
10 Rare HTML Tags You Really Should Know
  • Now that I'm working with sixth graders on wikis and blogs I have the chance to introduce HTML code to them so they can design their pages to look like they want.
Quick Trick for Downlading YouTube videos without a 3rd Party Service
  • Who doesn't want to easily download those YouTube videos when you find them so you can show them multiple times. YouTube videos aren't on YouTube forever.
Edublogs and How to Use Them
  • Great explanation supporting blogging in a classroom. Edublogs use a WordPress environment but allow the teacher to have a bit more control of the blogging environment. Edublogs also allows users under 13 to participate. This blog is written using Blogger.
Improvements in Google Squared
  • A Google blog entry about the number of improvements to the amount and quality of information you can find with Google Squared, as well as new tools to sort and export the data.
Thoughts on Setting Up a Student Centered Wiki
  • A few days ago an I read an article by Ruth Reynard in The Journal ” More Challenges with Wikis: 4 Ways to Move Students from Passive to Active.” I use a wiki in my classroom now and it is largely teacher driven. I'm trying to change that by having the students become authors of pages themselves, editing the How-To pages, etc.... But, at the end of the day, the wiki is primarily teacher driven. Any time I can read about the like struggles of other teachers and how they are compensating for them I'm interested.
Interactive WhiteBoards
  • I'm always interested in what users of these boards have to say about them, especially in classrooms. This site was a double bonus because this teacher has a large number of other resources on her wiki - definitely a keeper.
Computer Lab Classrooms
  • Just a ton of links related to computer labs and technology. Nice find.
Digital Storytelling
  • Larry Ferlazzo's latest blog entry has amassed a great number of resources related to digital storytelling. In addition, several comments also point to further resources. Just in time!

Well, in the time it took me to write this at least 20 more tweets came in with more information to sift through. I'll never have time to sift through it all, but that's not the point. You take what you can, when you can. If I have 15 minutes to look, I do. It's always better to be walking.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Tech Tuesdays - Back in Action

The first quarter of the school year is just about ready to come to a halt. How does time ever pass so fast? I feel like just yesterday we were all unpacking our summer boxes and preparing for a new round of students to stream through the doors.

I'd like to kick off a new round of Tech Tuesday meetings at the start of the second quarter. Tech Tuesday's will continue to be a time to get together as a staff to "talk tech." I'm becoming more and more of a believer that to really understand technology integration in the classroom you have to spend time in the environment and play. Talk Tech is an informal yet informative time to grow together as avid users and integrators of technology in the classroom.

Just a few weeks ago Edutopia launched their Top Ten Tips for Teaching with New Media download. I thought this list would be a great place to start our discussion in Talk Tech. Each week we can delve into the topic just a bit deeper. I thought these 10 Tips would be a good focus for Tech Tuesday's. And, should you feel the need to focus on a tool other than what I'm proposing below because you want to discuss something specific to you, no worries. This is a start and by no means is it a permanent list. Suggestions are always encouraged and appreciated.
  • Break the Digital Ice
  • Find Your Classroom Experts
  • Get Off to a Good Start
  • Think Globally
  • Find What You Need
  • Make Meaning from Word Clouds
  • Work Better, Together
  • Open a Back Channel
  • Make It Visual
  • Use the Buddy System
So, we'll meet in Shaunda's room at 7:30 each Tuesday. 20 - 25 minutes of tech talk. What could be more fun?