A colleague of mine just posted a terrific link on Diigo this morning regarding the integration of technology in classrooms and how Web 2.0 can serve as an excellent springboard to such integration.
If you're interested in learning more about Web 2.0 and how it might fit into your classroom, this website is something you won't want to miss. It may serve as a terrific professional development opportunity. All you have to do is write up a PD proposal and submit it to the PD contact person in your building.
Should you just want to peruse the website, it has many resources and links up to many well known leaders of who practice the integration of technology on a daily basis in their classrooms.
I welcome your comments.
This video comes from the site and explores the impact of Web 2.0 tools on learning and teaching.
I welcome your comments.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Eagle Rock School Visit
A week after visiting Eagle Rock School in Estes Park, Colorado I'm reminded of the importance of reflection and action. If I only return from Eagle Rock School with fond memories of the event — that would be sad indeed. As a representative of my school volunteering to attend this event, it's my responsibility to share snapshots of the school we experienced on our visit.
Eagle Rock School is a community of learners. Each student attending is hand selected by committee. Each student must adopt and live by a set of guiding principles - 8 themes + 5 expectations = 10 commitments. These guiding principles are embedded into every happening at the school. They call it "Bad Math - Good Education."
But what stood out to me most of all during the Eagle Rock visit was that each and every child was a leader and each and every student worked on fostering leadership in each other. It was the students, not the teachers, that held each other accountable for actions and success. The teachers were more like mentors or guides fostering this newly found passion for success in education that their students have discovered.
Students are well versed in sharing what they have learned through POL's or presentations of learnings. Since every student is a learner at Eagle Rock, every student shares their learnings through these presentations. These presentations are required at the end of each trimester at Eagle Rock and center around a topic of a student's choosing. The POL's are evaluated by outside educators who often comment on the outstanding quality of the presentations.
I want to bring these ideas to MSSD? I wanted to immediately test out some of these practices to see how our students responded before I forgot the intention of the visit and it became a blur in my memory.
I began implementing my own version of a POL in my reading class. During reading days students began researching a topic of their choice with the intent on preparing a presentation of their learning after a three week time period. It's been a week and students are well on their way. What have I learned:
When I first introduced the project I asked the students what they thought of the idea. About half really wanted to spend time on the project and begin working. The other half were split between being afraid of what the work might entail and those not wanting to do the work at all. As a group, we decided to go ahead with the idea.
By the third day everyone was so engrossed in their learning they begged not to take a break from their research for our scheduled read aloud day. I agreed to read aloud one day a week instead of two to honor their request.
We're into the second week now and I've learned our students are really good at projects which sets the stage for educational learning opportunities. My job, over the next week is going to be spent on encouraging and teaching the students how to delve further into research by learning how to better question what they are researching. In other words, students are doing a great job about explaining what they know but their investigating skills need honing. The good news is that everyone has a topic and everyone is participating.
The goal over the course of the semester is for students to learn through their POL's that learning can take them into new directions. After their first presentation concludes, students will have the option of continuing with their course or choosing another topic. Maybe their interest in the topic has faded or they have discovered something new about themselves and they want to pursue this new discovery. The goal is to awaken a passion in themselves about learning and how sharing these passions can trigger excitement and self respect.
Stay tuned.....
And for those of you interested in a copy of google notes taken during the visit - click here.
Lastly, inviting change isn't easy.
Eagle Rock School is a community of learners. Each student attending is hand selected by committee. Each student must adopt and live by a set of guiding principles - 8 themes + 5 expectations = 10 commitments. These guiding principles are embedded into every happening at the school. They call it "Bad Math - Good Education."
But what stood out to me most of all during the Eagle Rock visit was that each and every child was a leader and each and every student worked on fostering leadership in each other. It was the students, not the teachers, that held each other accountable for actions and success. The teachers were more like mentors or guides fostering this newly found passion for success in education that their students have discovered.
Students are well versed in sharing what they have learned through POL's or presentations of learnings. Since every student is a learner at Eagle Rock, every student shares their learnings through these presentations. These presentations are required at the end of each trimester at Eagle Rock and center around a topic of a student's choosing. The POL's are evaluated by outside educators who often comment on the outstanding quality of the presentations.
I want to bring these ideas to MSSD? I wanted to immediately test out some of these practices to see how our students responded before I forgot the intention of the visit and it became a blur in my memory.
I began implementing my own version of a POL in my reading class. During reading days students began researching a topic of their choice with the intent on preparing a presentation of their learning after a three week time period. It's been a week and students are well on their way. What have I learned:
When I first introduced the project I asked the students what they thought of the idea. About half really wanted to spend time on the project and begin working. The other half were split between being afraid of what the work might entail and those not wanting to do the work at all. As a group, we decided to go ahead with the idea.
By the third day everyone was so engrossed in their learning they begged not to take a break from their research for our scheduled read aloud day. I agreed to read aloud one day a week instead of two to honor their request.
We're into the second week now and I've learned our students are really good at projects which sets the stage for educational learning opportunities. My job, over the next week is going to be spent on encouraging and teaching the students how to delve further into research by learning how to better question what they are researching. In other words, students are doing a great job about explaining what they know but their investigating skills need honing. The good news is that everyone has a topic and everyone is participating.
The goal over the course of the semester is for students to learn through their POL's that learning can take them into new directions. After their first presentation concludes, students will have the option of continuing with their course or choosing another topic. Maybe their interest in the topic has faded or they have discovered something new about themselves and they want to pursue this new discovery. The goal is to awaken a passion in themselves about learning and how sharing these passions can trigger excitement and self respect.
Stay tuned.....
And for those of you interested in a copy of google notes taken during the visit - click here.
Lastly, inviting change isn't easy.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Tech Tuesday - Webquests in the Classroom
This week in Tech Tuesday we'll spend some time talking about Webquests and how webquests may be incorporated into core curriculum.
In a nutshell, a webquest is an inquiry-oriented online learning tool. They can last one class period or one month becasue the duration is set by the teacher. Bernie Dodge is a leader in webquest design and we'll spend some time on Tuesday navigating through the Bernie Dodge Webquest website.
That's all Tech Tuesday is - 20 minutes of spending time with technology.
In case you aren't able to attend - Here are a few excellent starting points that allow easy searching for webquests applicable to curriculum.
Tate Online: http://nmolp.tate.org.uk/webquests/
General Info: http://warrigoni.com/7007/webq.htm
Science - http://www.middleschool.net/less_tut/webquests/sciwq.htm
Math (other subjects too) - http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/computing/web_quests/math/
Social Studies - http://its.guilford.k12.nc.us/webquests/socialst.html
Language Arts - http://www.rockwood.k12.mo.us/itech/webquests/wqmatrix/engla.htm
Music and Arts - http://www.techtrekers.com/webquests/
Foreign Language - http://www.rogers.k12.ar.us/users/bgilmer/webquest.html
Physical Education/Health - http://bestwebquests.com/bwq/listarea.asp?wqcatid=5&edid
And Lastly - a google wonderwheel search for webquests provided these results - http://www.google.com/search?q=webquests&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbo=1&tbs=ww:1
In a nutshell, a webquest is an inquiry-oriented online learning tool. They can last one class period or one month becasue the duration is set by the teacher. Bernie Dodge is a leader in webquest design and we'll spend some time on Tuesday navigating through the Bernie Dodge Webquest website.
That's all Tech Tuesday is - 20 minutes of spending time with technology.
In case you aren't able to attend - Here are a few excellent starting points that allow easy searching for webquests applicable to curriculum.
Tate Online: http://nmolp.tate.org.uk/webquests/
General Info: http://warrigoni.com/7007/webq.htm
Science - http://www.middleschool.net/less_tut/webquests/sciwq.htm
Math (other subjects too) - http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/computing/web_quests/math/
Social Studies - http://its.guilford.k12.nc.us/webquests/socialst.html
Language Arts - http://www.rockwood.k12.mo.us/itech/webquests/wqmatrix/engla.htm
Music and Arts - http://www.techtrekers.com/webquests/
Foreign Language - http://www.rogers.k12.ar.us/users/bgilmer/webquest.html
Physical Education/Health - http://bestwebquests.com/bwq/listarea.asp?wqcatid=5&edid
And Lastly - a google wonderwheel search for webquests provided these results - http://www.google.com/search?q=webquests&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbo=1&tbs=ww:1
Sunday, November 29, 2009
We Are All Technology Teachers by Kim Cofino
We Are All Technology Teachers by Kim Cofino
Seven or eight years ago at MSMS we implemented a reading program in which all teachers became reading teachers for 30 minutes a day. I couldn't help but think about the analogy Kim Cofino makes in the article linked above between ESL teachers and teachers of technology. It's exactly what MSMS did with reading teachers. As difficult as it was, and still is, for all teachers to become reading teachers, we all need to make the shift to become technology teachers and truly integrate technology into everyday learning in the classroom.
This seems to be quite the order considering how fast technology changes and the pedagogical shifts needed to make this happen. The good news for MSMS is that much of the infrastructure is in place to allow this shift to happen. However, without training and support for that infrastructure, we're struggling to implement the essential tools of 21st Century teaching and learning. A good bit of time, training, and support was provided to teachers to help them become reading teachers. We need to do the same for technology if we want all teachers to become teachers of technology.
Posted using ShareThis
Seven or eight years ago at MSMS we implemented a reading program in which all teachers became reading teachers for 30 minutes a day. I couldn't help but think about the analogy Kim Cofino makes in the article linked above between ESL teachers and teachers of technology. It's exactly what MSMS did with reading teachers. As difficult as it was, and still is, for all teachers to become reading teachers, we all need to make the shift to become technology teachers and truly integrate technology into everyday learning in the classroom.
This seems to be quite the order considering how fast technology changes and the pedagogical shifts needed to make this happen. The good news for MSMS is that much of the infrastructure is in place to allow this shift to happen. However, without training and support for that infrastructure, we're struggling to implement the essential tools of 21st Century teaching and learning. A good bit of time, training, and support was provided to teachers to help them become reading teachers. We need to do the same for technology if we want all teachers to become teachers of technology.
Posted using ShareThis
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Searching for Presentations Just Got Easier
After countless hours of searching for powerpoint presentations related to Earth and Physical Sciences last year, I've come across a site that proves to be hopeful as a powerpoint search engine. The PowerPoint-Search.com site searches powerpoints on the web by topic and provides an array of files specific to the query without having to weed through the results looking for specific file types.
Check it out.
Most authors on the web are the sharing type. Still, it's appropriate to give credit to an author when you use their work in whole or part.
Check it out.
Most authors on the web are the sharing type. Still, it's appropriate to give credit to an author when you use their work in whole or part.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
What Do Your Students Say About You?
I just finished reading an excellent post by Paul Bogush, a colleague of mine who teaches in Connecticut. His post reminds me how important it is to never lose sight of the big picture of education and the impact we have as teachers with every comment and action we make. Our little idiosyncrasies, our grading policies, and our words shape the children we come into contact with on a daily basis.
Paul's post points to the number of hours a middle/high school teacher spends with a student over the course of a school year (170+ hours.) How do you want to shape each and every child you teach/touch?
I'd like to pass on the opportunity to add to the slideshow on Paul's blog and found below.
Just click on the link and follow the directions.
http://moourl.com/sfam1
1-Click on an empty slide to the left.
2-Click on Insert—>then image
3-Select the image from your computer or the url
4-Flickr images need to be saved and uploaded
5-Place any personal information you would like under the image
6-Click save and close
Paul's post points to the number of hours a middle/high school teacher spends with a student over the course of a school year (170+ hours.) How do you want to shape each and every child you teach/touch?
I'd like to pass on the opportunity to add to the slideshow on Paul's blog and found below.
Just click on the link and follow the directions.
http://moourl.com/sfam1
1-Click on an empty slide to the left.
2-Click on Insert—>then image
3-Select the image from your computer or the url
4-Flickr images need to be saved and uploaded
5-Place any personal information you would like under the image
6-Click save and close
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Blog Commenting
Commenting on other blogs is a skill easily attained by following a few simple practices. Take time to talk about these practices with your students and refer to them as you review blog comments together as a class.
Be nice to each other. Don't be mean to other commenters. Even bloggers have feelings. We're putting ourselves out there for the world to read our thoughts.
Connect to the post. Have a point when you comment on someone's blog. Don't ramble.
Read the whole post before you comment. Don't just comment on the comments. This will help you write a thorough and thoughtful comment.
White space is your friend. It's hard enough to read from a computer screen. Use short sentences, and short paragraphs. Write in an active voice. At least try to be grammatically correct.
Here are a few comment starters that can help raise questions and provide useful feedback for bloggers.
For more thoughts and ideas on blog commenting visit Langwitches Blog
Be nice to each other. Don't be mean to other commenters. Even bloggers have feelings. We're putting ourselves out there for the world to read our thoughts.
Connect to the post. Have a point when you comment on someone's blog. Don't ramble.
Read the whole post before you comment. Don't just comment on the comments. This will help you write a thorough and thoughtful comment.
White space is your friend. It's hard enough to read from a computer screen. Use short sentences, and short paragraphs. Write in an active voice. At least try to be grammatically correct.
Here are a few comment starters that can help raise questions and provide useful feedback for bloggers.
- This made me think about…….
- I wonder why…….
- Your writing made me form an opinion about…….
- This post is relevant because…….
- Your writing made me think that we should…….
- I wish I understood why…….
- This is important because…….
- Another thing to consider is…….
- I was reminded that…….
- I can relate to this…….
- This makes me think of…….
- I discovered……
- I don’t understand…….
- I found myself wondering…….
For more thoughts and ideas on blog commenting visit Langwitches Blog
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