pogil.org

pogil.org

+++++++++++++++++++

According to the website: "Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) is a research based learning environment where students are actively engaged in mastering course content and in developing essential skills by working in self-managed teams on guided inquiry activities.

In addition to learning, understanding, and applying new concepts, students also develop important process skills in the areas of information processing, critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, communication, management, and assessment. The instructor facilitates student learning by appropriately guiding and questioning the teams as they work through the specially designed activities.

As of 2007, over 700 instructors have adopted a POGIL approach in their high school, college, and university classrooms and laboratories."

++++++++++++++++++++

I have joined the HS chemistry section and am finding useful classroom resources.
Worth checking out!

Happy holidays!

peace,

Doug

Careers Unit

The third graders at Alsup Elementary will be starting a unit about careers in January. We have built a wiki page that includes a survey for people to share with us about their careers. The survey is very short!!! It asks two main questions: Why do you work? and What skills do you use in your work?

We are trying to get as many people to fill in information for our students. Please take a moment to answer these questions on our wiki!

The wiki survey will help our students learn about the variety of careers and connect with hopefully a global community.

Here is the survey: http://thirdgradeinquiry.wetpaint.com/page/A+Path+to+Follow


Thank you!

SmartBoard Classroom Activities Secondary Grades posted to Atomic Learning

Below are links to SmartBoard classroom lessons/activities created by Global Learner, Justin Davis that have been posted on Atomic Learning.  Note, you must be logged in to your Atomic Learning account to access the lessons/activities.

• SmartBoard Classroom Activities Secondary Grades
• 
  
  • A. Language Arts, 7th Grade
  • 
    
    • Vocabulary Lesson using the SmartBoard
    • Vocabulary using PP and a SmartBoard
    
    
  
  

MS Photo Story Lessons posted to Atomic Learning

Below are links to MS Photo Story lessons created by Adams 14 Global Learners, Mary Davenport, Lisa Garcia, and Laurie Arnold that have been posted on Atomic Learning.  Note, you must be logged in to your Atomic Learning account to access the lessons.

• MS Photo Story
• 
  
  • A. Creating a Personal Narrative
  • 
    
    • Photo Story Introduction and Narrative Assignment
    • Introduction, A Personal Narrative Example
• 
  
  • B. Mathematics 3rd Grade
  • 
    
    • Collaborative Math Story Problems

SmartNotebook V.10 Classroom Activities Elementary Grades

Below are links to SmartNotebook V.10 classroom lessons/activities created by Adams 14 Global Learners, Jon Fisher, Sara Zaleski, Lisa Kellogg, Andrew Giles, Sarah Feaster, and Dorothy Lo that have been posted on Atomic Learning. Note, you must be logged in to your Atomic Learning account to access the lessons\activities.

• Smart Notebook V.10 Classroom Activities Elementary Grades
• 
  
  • A. 2nd Grade Math
  • 
    
    • Teaching Place Value
    • Teaching Place Value
    • Math Word Problems 2nd Grade
    
    
• 
  
  • B. 3rd Grade Math
  • 
    
    • Introduction to Rounding
    
    
• 
  
  • C. 2nd Grade Literacy
  • 
    
    • Making Word Families with SmartNotebook V.10
    
    
• 
  
  • D. Kindergarten Literacy
  • 
    
    • StoryTown Lesson 12 - Small Group Activity
    
    
• 
  
  • E. 3rd Grade Literacy
  • 
    
    • Pen Pal Exchange
    
    
• 
  
  • F. Kindergarten Mathematics
  • 
    
    • Indentifying Coins
    
    
  
  

2nd Grade Math lesson using PowerPoint and Voicethread posted on Atomic Learning

Below are links to a 2nd Grade Math lesson that has been created by Adams 14 Global Learner, Michelle Waheed and posted on Atomic Learning.  Note, you must be logged in to your Atomic Learning account to access the lesson.

• Mathematics 2nd Grade
• 
  
  • A. Number Sentences
  • 
    
    • Making Number Sentences

Glogster Edu in the Classroom 3rd Grade Math lessons posted on Atomic Learnig

• Below are links to a Glogster Edu 3rd Grade Math Lesson that has been created by Adams 14 Gobal Learner, Emily Taylor, and posted on Atomic Learning.  Note, you must be logged in to your Atomic Learning account to access the lesson.
• Glogster Edu in the Classroom
• 
  
  • A. What is Glogster Edu
  • 
    
    • Glogster: How and Why
    • Getting Started with Glogster Edu
    • Detailed Tutorial on Glogster Edu
    
    
  
  
• 
  
  • B. 3rd Grade Math - Problem Solving with Addition & Subtraction
  • 
    
    • Problem Solving: Addition, Subtraction & Money
    • Math Problem Solving Organizer
    
    
  
  

Science Secondary Grades - Lessons Posted to Atomic Learning

Below are links to Science Secondary Grades lessons that have been created by Adams 14 Global Learners, Doug Abshire and James Howat.  These lessons have been posted on Atomic Learning.  Note you must be logged in to your Atomic Learning account to access the lessons.

• Science Secondary Grades
• 
  
  • A. Where Science and Society Clash
  • 
    
    • How do we know what we know?
    
    
  
  
• 
  
  • B. The Human Genome Project
  • 
    
    • The Human Genome Project Lesson Plan
    • The Human Genome Project Presentation
    • The Human Genome Project Research Worksheet
    
    
  
  

Center Global Learners - Posted Promethean Lessons on Atomic Learning

Below are links to the Promethean Activinspire lessons that have been created by Center Global Learners, Jim Hood, Jeri Trujillo, JoAnn Lopez and Melissa Garcia.  The lessons have been posted on Atomic Learning.  Note you must be logged in to your Atomic Learning account to access the lessons.  You must also have Activinspire software on your computer to view the lessons.

• Activinspire Classroom Activities Elementary Grades
• 
  
  • A. Science 5th Grade
  • 
    
    • Matter
    
    
• B. Languae Arts 4th Grade
• 
  
• Grammar and Editing
  
• 
  
  • C. Mathematics Kindergarten
  • 
    
    • Measurement
    
    
• 
  
  • D. Mathematics 2nd Grade
  • 
    
    • Adding Doubles
    
    
  
  

Love this site!

Hey primary teachers! Check out this website: www.speakaboos.com! It has interactive stories, along with follow-up activities. My class has read two stories on it, "The Gingerbread Man" and "The Little Red Hen"and they're begging to read more!

On another note, my kids are using technology like it's second nature! They are more engaged when I have involved the Smart Board in my lessons, especially during our new literacy block. the students' behavior is better as well when they know they have a chance to come up to use the Smart Board! I love it!

At Rose Hill, we are working on fundraisers to raise money for more teachers to have Smart Boards in their room. The Rose Hill technology team will let you all know when events are...BINGO night is coming in the spring!

A "Wordle" is worth a thousand words.

This is post number 305 on the Global Learner Blog for 2009, nearly double the posts for 2008.  The Wordle created today shows clearly where the emphasis for 21st Century Teaching & Learning lies within the GL cohort.  As this year ends please take time to congratulate yourself, other Global Learners and colleagues for dedicating yourselves to the STUDENTS in Adams 14 and Center School Districts. 

Thanks for all you do.

Where has the time gone?

As I look back on these last few months, the first thought that comes to mind is "Whew"! It has been one of many adventures and challenges! I realized on Friday as I lost the connection to the projector switching from the document camera back to the laptop and was forced to use the whiteboard, I have really integrated and become dependent on 21st Century learning tools in my classroom! It was very odd to teach a lesson which I normally use the laptop cart for and go back to the whiteboard. What a difference!

I have found big and little ways to incorporate routines of technology in the classroom. We utilize the smartboard and powerpoint on a daily basis in Literacy, and with the changes we have been making, I have been grateful for the opportunity to have a projector and laptop to plan thorough lessons that flow. A couple of my students have struggled with success in using the smart board in whole group settings, and I have found that small group or individual opportunities have offered a lot of success. For example in writing, I have our writer's process up on the smart board so that students move their name through Plan, Draft, Peer Edit, Teacher Edit, and Publish. We utilize the technology to enhance our learning, and that process has been an experience of the classroom community. As I reflect on some of our set routines, I think about the opportunities still out there to explore.

We also use live streaming to build background knowledge both is Science and Literacy, and are exploring a small community in Alaska where our class pen pals live. Last year writing to Alaska, I brought in pictures and made a poster board to help students gain background knowledge with what I thought was success. This year, I am able to easily take students to the community or similar environments via Google Earth, videos, and picasa. I notice we have taken a step further in our knowledge and understanding of the community and the area.

As we move into the 2nd half of the school year, I am looking forward to building on my successes, continuing to work on my challenges and explore new opportunities with 21 Century Learning.

Collaboration

I am in the process of collaborating with the Algebra teacher at Hanson through my mentor. After wondering for a while how to successfully implement a blog in my mathematics classrooom I decided that it would be beneficial to allow students to create their own word problems for solving systems of equations. My belief is that if the students are able to create a problem then it demonstrates their knowledge of the topic. Also, my students appear to be excited to be able to solve each others problems and it is a lot better than me just giving them work to do. This blog has really allowed my students to take ownership over their education and I think that this is a really powerful tool.

I know that I still have a lot to learn about how to best implement these new technological resources into my classroom, but I am glad that I am taking the chance to try them out in my class and I know that the more often I use them the easier it will become. As with anything new that you attempt there will always be some bumps in the road, but so far we have worked through them and in all honesty the students are pretty good at figuring things out as well.

As this collaborative process continues I expect it to benefit all of the students. It is really amazing how technology can bring classrooms together even though they are in seperate schools. I am extremely grateful for the knowledge that I have gained through our training that we had way back in the beginning of the year as well as by reading about what other teachers are doing in their classrooms through our Global Learner blog.

The web address of our classroom blog is http://mrcioleksblog.blogspot.com Please stop by and let me know what you think is done well, what I can do better, or just to check out what my Algebra students are working on.

Thanks!

Book Reports Updated!

I challenged my AVID students to read a book outside of class and create an advertisement Glogster so other students may read and choose new books for themselves. I was really nervous about asking them to do this outside of class as I did not know how many of them would be able to avail themselves to computers. I was pleasently surprised! Not only did 90% of them complete the assignment on their own, but they were excited and anxious to do another. This really cemented my ideas that our students are truly ready to be 21st Century learners; all we need to do is challenge them.

Here's a sample page:

OMG! It's December!

I can't believe that it is December! This entire semester is almost over and it's gone by so fast. I've been working with Drew and Jenny on transferring a lot of the curriculum lessons into SmartBoard notebook form. It's been fun and a great way to see how each of us has gotten better and better at making each lesson. It was just a great idea to split up the lessons, otherwise it would have simply been too overwhelming. This website has some great lessons already made up and is a great tool to add to our daily lesson! :) We are unsure about posting these lessons b/c we are using images from the materials.... I think one funny thing that happened this semester is that we had our kindergartners make a video about our PBS system at our school, it was posted on Youtube.... and WE CANT FIND IT! Whoops! One thing I'm pretty impressed with is that my student teacher took the initiative and made up her own SmartBoard lessons! It's hard to imagine teaching without all these precious technological resources. I'm aiming to make more notebook activities for my students to use in the spring (when they'll have become more independent), and updating my blog much more often! :)

21st Century

I have already reflected a little bit about one of my lessons that was focused on students creating digital 21st century products. As I mentioned before, I had my students create glogster posters for our unit on writing and solving two step equations. Each pair of students had to write their own word problem and solve it both algebraically as well as using pictures.

As the students were working there were quite a few different issues that arose. Whether it was students having trouble signing in, using new software, or just having trouble getting the laptops to work. Anyways, throughout these difficulties I was a little stressed because it seemed like every one was having some kind of problem and I couldn't help all of them at once. Also in the back of my mind was I wonder what an administrator would think right now if they walked in...

With that being said, it did end up taking some students longer than others to finish, but they were all excited to finish and they even wanted to come in during their lunch to work. I will be honest there were some finished products that came out better than others, but all of my students worked their way through the project and I believe that the more opportunities I give my students to get familiar with glogster the better all of them will get!

I have attached some amazing work that my students were able to create. Please take a moment to check it out.

Thanks!

http://selenasaurus.glogster.com/glog-5354/?voucher=5b6bb27201f94458251b14b530ad826f

http://aurbina.glogster.com/Elizabeth-Urbinas-story/?voucher=5559bf2d75170b528c240c98c5e89e8e

http://mlerma.glogster.com/glog-1263/?voucher=1022861570b229ff339b2fd5b1651d94

Voicethread

Well, one of my goals this year was to learn how to use Voicethread. Thanks to Jon Fisher, I now know how. Jon and I recently did a project using Voicethread. We read a story in Story Town called Jamaica Louise James, and it is about a girl who "beautifies" the subway station with her art work. We both had our classes work in groups to create a picture that could be hung in a place to make it more cheerful. We then uploaded those pictures on Voicethread and had students read a sentence that they created about the picture using at least two Robust vocabulary words that we have learned this year. We have not yet, but will have each others class comment on the pictures and sentences.
Overall, I find Voicethread fairly easy to use. One problem that I had with it, and found VERY frustrating, was that when it came time to upload it on my blog, it would not let me do it. And yes, I was doing this correctly. I tried numerous times and eventually gave up and just cut and pasted the link in my blog. Oh well, I guess nothing is perfect!

technical difficulties

As I reflect over the year I realized i haven't reflected on my technology projects. It's been a difficult start for me because I didn't have access to my laptop for about 2 months. Now that i have it back I have been taking advantage of every chance i can ge to have student interact with the smart board.Stay tuned for some of the activities I've been working on.

Where is this year flying off to????

1/2 year almost gone. My room and my promethean board... What would I do without them? I love them. My kids love them. They can almost work it better than I do. During the past 2 weeks during transistion time, my students sneak up to the board and leave messages to me on it, draw on it, create using tools. When for some reason or another it stops working for a minute, a few of my students run to the computer and fix the problem. They love it as much as I do.

I have created rule flip charts for each of my blocks of independent work time. At the beginning of the block - I go through instruction and directions, ask for questions and then place the rule page up. The read and reread and go to work. It is wonderful. The students wrote the rules and monitor their and other behaviors. The rules list the consequences and the positive rewards for following the rules, thus when someone breaks a rule, there is no complaining or excuses.

I have started flip charts as an introduction and teaching tool for most of my subjects in science and social studies - I have begun to embed videos and activote exercises. These also become a study guide to review for a test.

I use it to make notes as I teach and save and then students can review by asking for my notes. It helps for students that are absent as I can print them off for the absent ones and it helps catch them up.

I have heard others say that they will not ever teach without one and would buy one if they did not have one.... I now fully agree! Have a good December!

Busy November

November is always crazy as I'm preparing for three winter programs! Technology is so great. I make short videos with pictures and words to accompany the songs and it really gets the kids engaged.
I have also done a little collaborative project with Jenny. I have engineered some of her math songs, removing vocals in parts so that the kids have to fill in without the singer on the cd. We'll let you know how the kids like it.

I have just finished a fall project with Mr. Fisher's class. We took fall pictures here in Center, my students collected leaves and made some leaf rubbings. My class also wrote fall poems which we posted on our wiki site along with Mr. Fisher's class. Mr. Fisher was very supportive in helping me out with this project. I felt like a took a big risk because technology and I do not get along. My class had a good time doing this project. It was very time consuming because of all the other things we have to do as teachers, but at the same time it was a learning experience for both my students and I.
Tita Martinez
Haskin Elementary

Many Irons in the Fire

This semester has been great with all the collaborative projects

and fun things I've been trying. Right now it seems like I have a lot of irons in the fire. (photo courtesy of iansand at flickr).

I've wrapped up the Fall Project with Tita Martinez at Haskin Elementary. I'll let her tell you all about it. My students have completed their Monster stories, drawings, and recreations for my project with Esmunda Talamantes at Hanson. I've got a voicethread project going with Sara Zaleski and another just among the students I have for English Language. I'm building a multimedia database to accompany StoryTown stories for second grade for a Star teacher project. I'm as busy as ever but really having a good time. I'll post links later.

On another note. I encourage everyone to nominate the Global Learner Blog as the Best Group Blog for the 2009 Edublog Awards. Follow the rules here and make the nomination from your personal blog. You can see my nomination here.

My Technology Reflection

Thank you for all of the good reading. I haven't read/commented on many, but I plan to very soon. It's fun to see all of our hard work shared and celebrated. I wonder how how much I'd post if we didn't have our timeline? Hmmm.

This year I have taken a new approach with my students. With all the changes we have in our district (education in general) I had to choose the best and most usable technology tools for my class. Thus, I have chosen the SmartBoard. I have been creating weekly Notebook's with 45 pages each! Every page has it's objective and I'd say about 75% of the pages are interactive - some of them are just reminders to me on what we're working on next.

Our class blog has taken a step back. We tried to start strong, but it has not been a priority. Last week students completed their meteorologist forecasts. They are posted on our class website for all to have a listen. Upon completion of their forecasts, I think next year I may branch out and work on a voicethread. Who knows, by then there may be another new and exciting tech. tool!

Happy December!

Class Blog and VoiceThread

Well, can you tell it is the end of November? Suddenly we're all posting.
Both my team members and I have already posted about our joint project. I had not yet made a blog for my class this year, so first I had to quickly put one together. Now I can share that address and you can check out our VoiceThread. As Melissa and Michelle have posted, our next steps are to have our students comment on each others pictures and write doubles addition sentences.
http://kelloggclass09-10.blogspot.com/

I'm enjoying reading what all of you have been up to.
-Lisa

Atomic Learning Reflection

I used many flipcharts to teach my skeletal system unit this year. I downloaded them from Promethean planet and although I did not use all sections in them, I used the ones that were applicable to the unit the third grade was teaching. The flipcharts have many interactive sections in them and during reading groups, the students utilized these sections of the flipchart to aid in learning the names of the bones of the skeletal system. The following links are some of the flipcharts used from Promethean Planet: http://www.prometheanplanet.com/server.php?show=ConResource.234; http://www.prometheanplanet.com/server.php?show=ConResource.471

The interactive portions of these flipcharts were well received by the students and served as great practice for the students as they learned the names of the bones. I would also like to report that my NEP (non-English speaking child) has learned not only the common names for the bones in our body, but most scientific names also.

This was truly a successful learning experience for us all!

History at its Finest

The experience of using technology as a part of historical research has been an awesome achievement for the third grade students in Center, Colorado. My team member and I planned an activity that allowed our students to collaborate via the internet to complete a project on the history of the San Luis Valley.
We began our project by selecting teams using a "Selector Tool" spinner that is created by Kagan. The spinner we chose is on the computer and allows us to choose the number of participants and then have it randomly select teams. After teams were created, the students had to research their topic or area in the San Luis Valley. Our students accessed information via internet search engines, e-mailed information to other team members and collaboratively created murals based upon the information that they had obtained.
During the process, students took turns videotaping others as they used technology to complete their projects. (I will link some of these videos as soon as I figure it out. I will work hard to have them linked prior to or during the upcoming weekend. I will also link pictures of some of their completed murals.)
We continue to use the Promethean board on a daily basis and I look forward to having my accu-votes installed so we are able to access data on students. I utilized flipcharts on a daily basis to teach my entire skeletal system unit. We used aspects of these flipcharts as work stations and the interaction and enthusiam of the students created an extremely positive learning environment.
I am excited about furthing my personal experiences and my students learning experiences in the upcoming semester.

Atomic Lesson Reflection

So I will try this AGAIN!
Reflection ocean ecosystems lesson
I have been teaching this lesson in some way for four years. This however was the first time I did it using web cams to view the ocean ecosystems. Our last I.B. unit was on oceans and part of that requires the students to study the different ecosystems. I found a website http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/efc/cam_menu.aspx that has different web cams set up to view the exhibits at the aquarium. This was a fantastic way for the students to view the ecosystems. This was their first time to experience a web cam and they loved it. For so many students who have never been to the ocean it made an impact. It really was a simple lesson to set up and thankfully no glitches! I will definitely use this again next year. I just hope the aquarium has a few more ecosystem web cams set up. I closed the lesson by letting students share what they observed and any wonderings their observations led to. We also completed a Venn diagram on the Smart Board. Even though, students are well versed in Venn diagrams the use of the Smart Board upped the interest. So, I guess I can give my self a pat on the back for this one! ha!

Collaborative Project - Solving Math Problems

     Boy how time flies!  It seems like just yesterday we were meeting up in Denver planning this.  My student all worked hard coming up a problem they could type into the computer on classblogmeister for other people to solve.  They are all excited when we get a few minutes for them to go and check their blog to see if anyone has visited their problem.  We are learning how to do this together.
     Creating a classblogmeister blog was not real difficult but figuring out how to add students was where I had my biggest difficulty.  Once I figured that out things went rather smoothly.  My biggest challenge with my students is the ESL part.  I have an enormous number of ESL's so creating a usable problem was time consuming.  However, we got the job done.
     My students have been learning a whole lot about how blogs work and how they can be used in a great number of ways.  We have slowly been looking at my partners student problems they have posted for us to solve.  I have had issues with different kinds of sites being blocked by our school but hopefully we will get them resolved.   Emily's glogs still can't been seen but Laurie's students problems are viewable.  My students can't post yet to her students problems but that is being looked into also.
     We created a time line for our project and was glad it was not set in stone.  It has been modified several times due to the problem we have encountered.  I think my students have learned a lot about the use of technology and the quirks it sometimes has.  They have learned to be much more patient will dealing with issues.
     My blog is available for anybody to view.  My students are waiting for anybody to respond to their post.  You can follow this link: http://www.classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=287454 to go directly to my blog.  Please drop by and let us know what you think.  Once there you can check out my student problems by clicking on their problems title on the left hand side of the page.  Feel free to leave them a post as to how you like their problem.  Make sure you read the information at the top of my blog before you post a comment since I reserve the right to view and make changes to your post before it becomes public.
     Good Luck on the rest of the semester.  It gets tough from now until Winter (Christmas) Break.

Everything’s New to Me

I collaborated with Melissa Garcia and Lisa Kellogg to create a lesson that incorporated technology, was collaborative and included a digital product (a math lesson from the Marilyn Burn's Library that we adapted). As a new Global Learner, it was a huge stretch for me and I was beginning to see it as impossible! So many steps yet it was all connected and meaningful. On top of that, my Teacher Candidate was solo teaching! It was all worth it working in a team. Through many conversations and much support from my team, I did so many new things that I hadn't ever imagined.

Our lesson objectives were that students would use pictures to demonstrate and verbally explain addition and subtraction of whole numbers (doubles) by writing number sentences describing a monster's characteristics. We started the lesson by using the book My Monster Mama Loves Me So by Laura Leuck, illustrated by Mark Buehner. I scanned the book into a PowerPoint presentation to be used with my SMARTBoard. Wow was that hard to do. I used the Snagit program (http://www.snagit.com/) to capture the images. I had never heard of it but it is free and amazingly easy! Using the Power Point was far more interactive and engaging than a typical read aloud! Each student then created their own. Exemplar pictures and number sentences were placed on the class blog
(http://mrswaheedroom28.blogspot.com/) with Voice Threads.

Before this lesson, I had never created a Power Point, scanned an image, or created a digit product with students much less a Voice Thread. Even sending the completed file was hard. Luckily I used http://www.yousendit.com/, also free which allowed me to send such a large file another thing I had never heard of! The thing I was most amazed with was the level of engagement from my students and has remained such. They love posting comments on the blog and I was amazed at how quickly they have learned; yet how slow and painful it was for me. Seeing the other second grade classroom's work created a long lasting connection and a community of learners! My class will never be the same, me either! I have so many tools to use now and a team to go to when things get rough.

Math Problem Solving Project

Jim, Laurie, and I embarked on our first collaborative project together which focused on math problem solving skills. We each had our students create math story problems and found a way to post them on our classroom wiki or blogs. My students created glogsters at www.glogster.com. You can see their work here: http://rmtwentyone.blogspot.com. After posting student projects the plan was to have our classes go to each others' sites for our students to solve other students problems. My class has gone to Laurie's blog and will be going to Jim's wiki this week.

What went well:
My students really enjoyed creating their math problems and their glogsters. They are enjoying solving others problems and are practicing their math problem solving skills while they use web 2.0 applications.

What didn't go well:
The timeline we set up of course didn't happen perfectly (of course!). We needed to allow more time to get the project completed. Also, Jim's class couldn't access my classes problems because they can't see the glogsters embedded on our blog. I need to go back and post them again in a way that he has access to them. I will focus on doing that this week! My theory is that his school district blocks glogster (which is too bad). Perhaps we can get it unblocked? As of now, no one has solved my students problems. I hope that Jim's class will have access soon and be willing/able to solve our problems and that Laurie's students will do the same!

I am looking forward to completing another project with Laurie and Jim this year and I think we will be able to continue to work well together! I know my students are benefiting!

Collaboration Video Project

Our project is located here: http://schoolweb.acsd14.k12.co.us/Alsup/ (Or will be as we are doing this there have been some technical difficulties oops... but check back soon)

We decided to take on a project that demonstrates how our students are becoming more international. As part of this growth the students need to know how to be risk-takers, communicators, have empathy, be enthusiastic, etc (watch the video for a complete list). This video shows the students showing that action and then saying what it means to be that.

It turned out to be very cute. The students collaborated well and are proud of their work. It was also a great way for the students to review and practice all the attitudes and learner profiles. Mrs. Berry and I feel that way too. The project was time consuming, simply because a lot of it was completed in pairs. Overall this, was a fun way to promote I.B.

Mrs. Berry and I also collaborated well. I am so glad she is my mentor!
Brianna and Kelly

Reflection about Collaborative Project with Mrs. Berry's class

Kelly and I have worked on a Power Point in Google Docs. We decided to do a compare and contrast of our schools and classrooms. My students were excited to see what Mrs. Berry's class was posting. They were also excited to share and take photos of our classroom and playground.

When students viewed the finished product they were suprised to find out that our classroom had some things in common and pointed out the things that were different.

Come check out our blog to view their hard work for the project. http://www.mslopezroom114.blogspot.com/

I did have trouble uploading photos and tried many different things, I send the photos to Kelly in an email and she was going to upload them for me. After meeting with fellow Global Learners from my own school, I was told that maybe flickr from Yahoo would work because this allows you to upload images, resize them and embed them as a url and it worked.

It has been an interesting journey to complete this collaborative project. A GREAT BIG THANK YOU goes out to Kelly for being such a patient and understanding mentor...I know it hasn't been easy! Our Global Learners support group has also been a big help with projects and sharing new findings.


I am excited to get started on the second half of the expectations.

Collaborative Math Project

I have been working on a collaborative math project with Lisa and Michelle. For our project, we decided to use the book My Monster Mama Loves Me So by Laura Leuck to teach doubles. In the book, the Monster Mama and the Monster Child share similar features. As we read the book, we created doubles equations to add the characteristics that the Monster Mama and Monster Child share.

After reading the book, each student created a drawing of their own “Monster Mama” and their “Monster Me.” After each student completed his/her drawing, I had the students take a picture of the illustration. It was great to see the students helping each other as they used the digital camera.

Once the students took pictures of their illustrations, we recorded their voice overviews on Audacity. I had originally planned to add the students’ voices into a VoiceThread but had previously experienced problems embedding the VoiceThread into Class Blogmeister. Instead of VoiceThread, I decided to create Podcasts of the students’ voices and add each voice overview individually as a podcast. In trying to complete this project, I discovered www.podbean.com. Through this site I was able to upload the files I had saved as mp3s and get a URL to post in our class blog.

Lisa, Michelle, and I have all added the finished illustrations and voice descriptions to our blogs. The next step is for each class to visit each blog to create more doubles equations about the “Monster Mama” and “Monster Me” illustrations.

Through this lesson I have learned many new things. I have learned how much more interactive a lesson can become with the use of technology. I have done this lesson before and this time the students really seemed to understand and define what a double is. I also found that I was able to incorporate writing because I had the students write down what they would like to say before recording on Audacity.

Overall this lesson went really well. I appreciated the opportunity to work with Michelle and Lisa on this lesson. They were both very supportive when it came to problem solving and sharing ideas about the lesson. I look forward to collaborating again in the future.

You can visit our classroom blogs to check out our "Monster Mama" and "Monster Me" project at http://www.classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=285494


This lesson can be found in The Marilyn Burns Classroom Math Library book.

Collaborative project-November

Emily, Jim and I have at last completed our collaborative project! We each had our students write math story problems and post them to our blogs. Now our kids will go into each others' blogs and solve other students' problems. My blog address is:

http://msarnold3rdgrade.blogspot.com/

Check it out!

1st Semester Global Learner Recap.

Well, the first semester of 2009-2010 is drawing to a close. This was my first semester as a Global Learner, and also my first semester with the district's new, more rigorous pacing, T4S, etc.

I think so far everything is going well. I am finding it difficult to keep up with some of the Global Learner things and also stay on pace with what the district feels I should be doing. I think both expectations were reasonable though, so I'm making due.

Recently, my students collaborated with other science students from the high school and middle school on the ibtoktidbits.blogspot.com blog. My students integrated blog-reponses into a lesson where they used laptops and the internet to research and create electronic products to show what they learned. The blog gave students a chance to share their own opinions and read what their peers said as well.

A few observations - one, it was difficult to get the students to truly collaborate with the other students, very few of my students actually responded to or engaged the students who had already commented. I think a CoverItLive session might be better in the future for this kind of thing (and based on my own experience contributing to Mayville's CiL sessions).

Also, while the amount of incidences were lower than I expected - I've learned that being able to moderate comments is key. A couple of my students decided they were going to post under names like "Mike Rotch", and others that were even less appropriate - making comments that were obscene. Luckily it was only 2-3 kids out of 145 - so not bad, I was also able to figure out who did it an deal with them - but I could see it getting much worse depending on the group of students. You can read all of the appropriate (and hopefully none that are not appropriate) comments at http://ibtoktidbits.blogspot.com.

Overall, I do think that the semester has gone well for me as a Global Learner using technology in my classroom. For sure I've done 10x more with technology this year than last year. My highlight would still be using "clickers" - something I do almost every day now as a warm-up or in-class response tool. (Read my original post abotu clickers here: http://principianteglobal.blogspot.com/2009/09/first-time-using-clickers-as-teacher.html)

Next semester, my goal is to streamline my grading and classroom procedures a bit better - hopefully through more use of technology! Follow all of my reflections at http://www.howatscience.net

Collaborative Challenge Blogging

Sarah Feaster and I collaborated on a blogging project with our Math Groups (see Sarah's Blog on this site below dated 11/28/09) :). Sarah's class at Central posted a graphing problem for my class at Rose Hill (http://thebrainiacsinroom14.blogspot.com/2009/11/math-challenge.html), and in turn, we posted one for her class (http://m13panthers.blogspot.com/2009/11/math-challenge.html).

This is one of those classroom experiences where you wish you would have done it months ago! My class had a fantastic time and were buzzing with excitement to meet the challenge and offer one in return. Their curiosity was peaked as we discussed that Sarah's class were 3rd graders not far from Rose Hill, and that we could interact with their class using the blog and internet.

While this class is normally engaged in learning, the project offered an opportunity to go a step further to really motivate them as well. Every student demonstrated full engagement and motivation to meet the challenge and offer one in return the entire period. I look forward to building on these challenges, and continuing to offer new ways with 21st Century Learning to build thier higher level thinking skills, problem solving, and practical uses of skills we are learning in the classroom. To see our results to Sarah's challenge, please visit our class blog:
http://m13panthers.blogspot.com/2009/11/math-challenge-results.html

Lesson on Measurement

I am very excited to be using my Promeathean Board on a daily basis. I have downloaded and used many lessons from Promeathean Planet. Many of the lessons are students friendly and I can have my students use the Promeathean Board as a center. Also, many lessons can be modified to better fit the needs of your own lessons. My students are "experts" on the board and enjoy using it everyday.
One lesson that I used the board for was a measurement lesson where students had to compare the length of various lines. Also, they had to measure and weigh each other and record their findings. They really enjoyed this process of using the tape measures and scales.

I have to say that the board allows for the visual learning that many kids respond to, all of my students are actively engaged and want to have their turn on the board to show what they know and can do.
During the measurement lesson they genuinely understood the concepts of measurement because the lesson was delivered using the Promeathean Board. It is colorful and interactive which keeps students' attention.
We are definately excited about using the board!!
I also use the board to have students view and help update our class blog.
http://www.mslopezroom114.blogspot.com/

Collaborative Blogs

Hi All,

Jeri, Jen L, and I started a collaborative blog back in August when we were all together at the training and have used it sparsely throughout the first half of the school year. I think it has been a success for what we've done with it, but it has much more potential for the future. It is an open line of communication between classrooms, a window into each of our classes, and a record of the work and growth our students have accomplished throughout the year. I think for the rest of the year I want to use it more for these purposes.

When we started the blog, we set out these expectations, but perhaps not clearly and explicitly enough for us to really follow through with it. So now as I reflect on the collaborative potential of a blog between classes, I think of the ways I want to utilize it. We posted a video on it at the beginning of the school year as a way for all of our classes to comment and connect around the same ideas, and that was a big success. It was also good practice for all of our students to get on the blog and get comfortable with the technology that was new to most of them.

I admit that I feel the need to have to get creative when I decide to include blogging in a lesson, because I can't allow it to take away from the integrity of the lesson. It would be a whole lot easier if students came with this knowledge of blogging already in place, but, haha, that's why we're here! So we spent a lot of time working on setting up these routines and standards at the beginning of the year, and now I think the students in my classroom are comfortable logging into the blog and doing their thing with little assistance from me.

The collaborative piece is a bit more challenging, mostly because our 3 classes (3rd grade from A14, 5th grade from A14, and 5th grade from Center) have to find more general things to work on together rather than on specifics, because we're constantly trying to stay within the confines of the curriculum. There's no time to stray away from curriculum, so creating really good collaborative blogging opportunities that ENHANCE our learning can be a challenge. I am always reminding myself that we don't use technology because it's "cool" and "fun." We use technology to engage our students in meaningful ways. The technology should never take away from the lesson.

So we will have to spend some time thinking about ways to integrate this collaborative project into our respective curriculums in ways that are meaningful and engaging to our students. It can be difficult, but not impossible. What successes and struggles are others having with collaborative blogs?

Thankful

Well it's a few days past Thanksgiving, but I am still thankful. I was glad to become a global learner, have easier access to technology in my classroom, and have the access to learn more. Well I have become especially thankful for technology since I broke my leg. Teaching with a broken leg is awful and not easy, but technology has made it somewhat better. So as I reflect on these past four weeks and look forward to three more weeks in a cast I am definitely thankful for technology in my classroom!

Collaborative Project

Hi All -

Jennifer Lindberg and I had our students work on a collaborative math project. My students wrote a graphing problem for Jennifer's class.
http://thebrainiacsinroom14.blogspot.com/2009/11/math-challenge.html

In return, Jennifer's class wrote one for us:
http://m13panthers.blogspot.com/2009/11/math-challenge.html

My class had a wonderful time during the entire process. They were SO engaged when we posted our math challenge on my blog, and equally engaged in solving the one from Jen's class. They really loved the idea of working with other 3rd graders (outside of our building) by using the Internet.

From a teacher perspective, this was a very fun and convenient way to connect with other learners using technology. It did not take much time outside of the classroom and provided my students with a learning activity that required higher level thinking, included multiple intelligences, and allowed them to apply the skills that had just acquired.

Jennifer and I plan to keep connecting our students in this method. It was a simple yet effective collaborative project! To see our results of Jennifer's challenge, click on the following link:
http://thebrainiacsinroom14.blogspot.com/2009/11/our-math-challenge-results-for-mrs.html

TOK Tidbits... (Theory of Knowledge)

How do we know what we know?

This is the basis for the IB program and is the unanswerable question. My friend Todd Mayville teaches TOK successfully at the high school and I have "borrowed" the theme for looking into real-time situations where science and society clash! My students have blogged about various themes including:

the scale of chemistry

ethics of stem cell research

what is a scientific theory

understanding the human tragedy of cancer

homeopathy

genetic testing

when medical research goes wrong

and others.....

Still trying to fit in more blogging time and be compliant with the daily pacing guides / T4S strategies..... Am still working on that... ;)

Thanks,

Doug

Jason Project - Coaster Creator

Calling all science teachers and anyone who wants to have a WOW factor in their class. My students are studying Potential and Kinetic energy. And one of my favorite science teachers passed this project on to me. It was amazing!! I've never seen my students so engaged! I used it with my smart board initially, showing students how to build a roller coaster and how by changing hills ~ we can change the outcome of the coaster. Then they each got to build one on thier own in the computer lab. I laughed each time they tested their coasters ~ the simulator screams for every hill. Very funny. The roller coaster simulator acted in a realistic manner and recorded all the data for the students. Students were excited to show their parents during our family night as well. Tons of fun!!

http://www.jason.org/public/WhatIs/cfCoaster.aspx

VoiceThread

I am working on a collaboration project with Melissa and Michelle. We will all post the final projects soon as well as our reflections. Our students drew a monster mama and monster baby and had to tell about the number of body parts on their monsters. We decided a VoiceThread was a good way to go. I scanned in their pictures and recorded their comments individually through Audacity.
This is where I added in an extra piece. Using word, I had each student type his or her name and then choose a font and color. I used ScreenHunter to capture their names, one at a time. In VoiceThread, I can set up multiple identities to use when making comments. I created a new identity for each child by typing in their name and then selecting the picture from my computer with their name. (Obviously, you could use head shots, or drawn pictures, or others.) When I uploaded the audio file that matched each student's monster drawing, I switched from my identity to the one of that student and then commented by uploading the audio file from that student.

Terry Freedman Web2.0 projects

Our global learner cohort 1 acquaintance, Terry Freedman, with who whom we skyped back when Darren Kuropatwa came to Adams14 will be leading a Classroom 2.0 Live Show on Succeeding with Web 2.0 Projects tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 21 at 10:00 Mountain Time.
Who's up for joining me in this show?

Date: Sat., November 23 2009
Time: 9:00am Pacific/10:00am Mountain/11:00am Central/12:00pm Eastern
Location: http://tinyurl.com/cr20live (Links to the meeting room and other time zones can be found at http://live.classroom20.com/.)

We are Thankful....

We are having fun using technology in our classroom. My students had fun creating Native American costumes and wearing for our Thanksgiving feast in the cafeteria. On their vests they wrote what they are thankful for and they also shared throught voicethread. They created pattern necklaces and head dresses. Come check out what we are thankful for in Kindergarten.

www.mslopezroom114.blogger.com

Voicethread

Last year I knew absolutely nothing about technology, so I decided to make the Smart board my project. I am pleased to say that I use it daily and love it! This year my project is going to be Voicethread. I have used it once before, but don't feel I am proficient with it. I am going to do my collaborative project with Jon Fisher, and we will be using Voicethread. Thanks to Jon for helping me overcome this hurdle of Voicethread! Stay tuned to see how our project turns out....

Sara

Smartboard

I am a little behind in my blogging, so I am catching up now. I don't know where the year has gone!
In the past month, 2nd grade has been working on story problems. I taught the kids the clue words, we worked on visualizing the story problem, and we talked about how we subtract if we know the total and how we add if we are looking for the total. As you all probably know, story problems can be difficult for students. I know they were for me at that age! I decided to "ease" my students into story problems. I created two smart board lessons that had pictures to go with the story problems. I felt this was a good visual for students as they were learning the clue words. For example, if I had an addition story problem about bees, (3 + 4 ) I had a group of 3 bees and then 4 bees. This really helped my visual learners make the connection, and also helped some students get an idea of what visualizing is. For a subtraction problem I had about ducks in a pond, students were able to actually move the ducks out of the pond.
Overall, I think this was successful. Students seem to really understand the concept of visualizing, which in turn helped them to successfully solve story problems.

Sara

We're learning about wood and paper!

Have you ever wondered where wood comes from? I know my students have. So... we introduced our new wood and paper unit awhile back. To begin to get our brains thinking about wood, the first thing that we did was explored wood samples. Some of us made towers and some of us made words!

October Post in November

As I mentioned in my September post, I am interested in incorporating a blog into my math classes. I plan on starting it off with my Algebra students, however, I am not sure how to use a blog in a math class and have it be relevant. I may be wrong or maybe just closed minded; but I don't think that many of my students will sign in and talk about math. Therefore, do I create a blog and rather than have it be about a specific topic do I just have it about everything that is going on in the classroom from what we are learning to posting pictures of my classroom as well as of my students working. Maybe it could just be a place to discuss what we are doing or if anyone is having any questions. I might have just found a way to get it started by writing this post, however, if anyone has any more suggestions on how to use a blog in math I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

I agree with Dlo... I can't believe that we are already in the middle of November. I have been swept away with one thing after another. I am having a great year in the classroom, however, I just don't know where the time goes. I have been trying to find time to implement new technology into my classroom, but have been having difficulty for a couple of reasons. For one, I get a little nervous trying new things. I know that giving our students a chance to work with technology is extremely important, but at the same time there is a lot of material that I am expected to cover in the curriculum and sometimes it seems like when using technology there is more set up and take down time. Also while using technology it takes my students a longer time to complete a task. For example, I was using glogster with my students, and I wanted them to create an online poster to show how to solve algebraic equations. They had to create a story problem to represent the equation then solve it both algrebraically as well as model the equation using pictures. This is a task that my students can all do with a paper and pencil without a problem, however, when we used glogster there were additional issues that arised (eg: computer issues, problems signing in, finding pictures to match their story, etc.) and in turn quite a few of my students were unable to finish. I know that as we, myself and my students become more comfortable with the technology some of these issues will go away but I guess it all comes back to me being willing to continue to take the risk of trying new things.

PowerPoint SOS

We are currently creating PowerPoint presentations for our IB unit on oceans. I guess I forgot how incredibly challenging it is for 3rd graders to do this. Does anyone have any suggestions for teaching PowerPoint quickly? What about for saving and or uploading images for about 12 computers at once into their presentations ? I really wish we still had technology classes for our young learners! Thanks.

Man! It's November!

Can you believe it? Where did October go? I think that this year I started out strong and was way excited about all the things I was going to implement. Then I got sick and all that went away. I've been most consistent with making and using Notebook files with Storytown for literacy and our ELD times. My blog has been suffering as I haven't updated for a whole month. So many ideas and time is just flying by! As soon as I find a usb cord, I'm going to upload the pictures of the rotting pumpkin outside my classroom. The only downside is that I've been out of my class for a week and will be for another week (b/c my student teacher is flying solo) and haven't been able to execute a very good science experiment... oh, well. At least you can check out our pictures!! Go to roome10@blogspot.com and make some comments! :) My class will check it out when I'm back in my classroom!

StoryTown Resources

If you haven't seen this website: CHECK IT OUT! It's everything you need for StoryTown! I have been in contact with the creator and I am sending them the lessons we have created for the SmartBoard ana\d they are going to upload them to the website! It is really one of the best websites out there for StoryTown Resources! Talk about time saving!!!!

Jenny :)

http://www.pcboe.net/les/elderweb/harcourtresources.htm

Happy Viewing!

Purdue University in the Hotseat

I recently came across this article about social networking, specifically Twitter, at Purdue University. (This one, too.) Seems that their IT people have developed their own social networking program called "Hotseat." The students in the classes are able to send out questions, comments, and so forth via this program, and from what I can tell, it also posts to their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

This has some very interesting possibilities within the classroom. I would likely use Edmodo for my classes since it is more secure and controlled, and it would take a good bit of training and reinforcement, but I can see where this might work. As I am delivering the lesson, students could post their comments and questions on the Edmodo account, which would be displayed on a separate screen. The students could then answer each other's questions, posting links and whatnot related to the class discussion.

Of course, this would take some training and practice, particularly with my younger students since the temptation for "What up?" and other non-related and therefore inappropriate messages might be too great. Perhaps if/when I roll this out, I would start with my TOK class, then moving down to the sophomores, either not using it with the freshmen or waiting until perhaps fourth quarter to introduced them to it.

Which brings me to my struggle this year. With the new district policy around pacing, I am supposed to be pretty much doing the same thing as the other classes in the building (aside from TOK, which is unique to IB). At least at first glance, this precludes the use of blogs and other technology in the classroom which is a huge disservice to my students. As Will Richardson has observed, those who aren't publishing (online) aren't a part of the conversation. We saw the use and power of technology in the last federal election cycle and in the protests over the election in Iran; if our students do not know how to utilize those and other 21st century tools, they will not be able to be active citizens in their own democracy. While this may sound like hyperbole, it isn't. It's simple fact. I'm seriously worried.

Teacher Candidates and Technology

My teacher candidate and I have been trying to use as much technology during our English Language Development time as possible to engage our students. We have been working really hard on building background language and vocabulary development. We have been using a lot of Power Points and pictures. But getting tired of the same old thing, she created a wonderful lesson by having the kiddos illustrate a word and then she uploaded it to share with class. We are going to post them on our blog…http://mrswaheedroom28.blogspot.com/. We would love to have more comments!

High Speed Learning

I LOVE that we can use Youtube in the classroom. I used a clip from TimeWarp the show on Discovery to show how potential energy is transfered to kinetic energy. And how energy is transferred to the bat. Check this out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFlEIybC7rU

Thanks to the technology Gods for putting out stuff like this. I could never show this in slow motion in my room.

science rules!

We, Doug Abshire (ACHS), Kristen Edwards (ACMS) and Emily Klein (KMS) recently made a presentation to the Adams 14 Education Foundation requesting vernier science data-collection equipment for elementary, middle and high school science classrooms.

From the vernier website

"Whether you're looking for cutting-edge technology to enliven and support your labs in chemistry, physics, physical science, math or biology, there's a Vernier solution appropriate for every grade level."

We are excited to announce today that we will receive significant funding from the Adams 14 Education Foundation which will allow us to promote digital science data collection, another 21st Century tool for students!

We want to thank the members of the Foundation directed by Tony Uva for their support of science education in ACSD14.

According to the Foundation:

"While the Foundation operates independently of Adams County School District 14, we share a vision of enhancing education for all students. Our foundation funds programs and services not normally funded by the District’s operating budget.

Because of the efforts of the Adams 14 Education Foundation, Adams 14 students are experiencing the joy of learning, the satisfaction and heightened self-confidence achieved by mastering reading, and the promise and pursuit of a better life through education"

"It goes without saying that all of us in Adams 14 share a love for education. But more than that, we possess the desire to help talented and motivated young people realize their dreams. Our role at the Adams 14 Education Foundation is one of helping to nurture and develop the creativity, skill and genius residing within each of our students."

THANKS! Adams 14 Education Foundation! YOU ROCK!

PS... Please refer to a previous post by Emily Klein with a link to her class data collection "hot hands" activity and collaborative blogging / sharing of data.

PPS... Thanks to Dave Tarwater and Joe Miller for their support of 21st C tools in the classroom.

Blogging

At Dupont we have a 30 minute block called Supplemental. During Supplemental time, we work with small groups that are struggling in areas in reading. I form my groups by tracking data on the weekly tests. Often children rush through parts of the test and don't really think thoroughly. This week I had the kids that did a really good job on test use blogging as a reward. They got to blog on our website about their favorite story in Theme 2 and their favorite part. The students thought this was really "cool" and I am hoping it will motivate some of them to slow down and take their time!

Sara

Blogging with Kearney's GT kids

Hi all -

Since I am the GT Liaison for KMS, I decided that it would be really cool to have all of our GT students at KMS communicate with each other. So, I did my favorite thing of late - created a blog.

Click Here

I only met with the first group of GT learners today - I will meet with the other 22 next Thursday. Please ask them lots of great questions! They are responsible for answering them.
:-)

-Emily

Shakespeare Play PowerPoint Worksheet with Standards

Shakespeare Power Point Worksheet

Musings

Hi fellow global learners...

I just wanted to share that I went to the T + L 2009 conference this year, and I reflected on it at my blogspot. Hope you can check it out!

Thanks,
Mary Davenport
ACHS

October....

Wow, time is flying this year! We launched our blog last month and it went well. Now I am having a lot of trouble figuring how to keep up with our blogs without having to get the laptop cart every time. Any thoughts? We just finished writing our math problems on Storyboard for our collaborative project and I'm working on posting them this week. I will send the link when it is ready for viewing!

Taking Nothing for Granted

Hello, all!

Yesterday, I created and co-led a twenty-minute PD session for my school on (drum roll, please) the care of laptop carts, because we had just purchased a brand new one for our school (yay, tech budget!). I stole...er...adapted a PowerPoint presentation to fit the needs of our staff.

I started the session by having teachers "examine" the cart for any safety issues or concerns (I left the doors open, pulled out trays, and had hidden a few computers). They caught on quickly, which led us into a discussion about the importance of setting routines and procedures surrounding the use of technology.

As I explained the need of keeping the cart plugged in and charging, I bent down and grabbed the retractable power cord and spoke briefly about how the cord stopper worked to adjust cord length so that it wouldn't whip back under the cart. I was trying to emphasize a point and began to apologize for the basic information, when I noticed that some people were looking at me in outright amazement. Many had never known how the retractable cord had worked.

While this scenario might seem outrageous, there is no fault or blame here. These teachers had simply never been trained to deal with the basics of a laptop cart. For me, this was great validation as to why we, as teachers, should take nothing for granted. Be explicit, model desired outcomes, and, for the love of all that is holy, teach people how to deal with a retractable power cord. Just because you know it, doesn't mean everyone does, and while it might seem basic to some, it could be awesome to others (a great reminder for the classroom, too!). We need to support and lift each other up, not condemn for what we believe to be weakness or inability.

Needless to say, I didn't get to the PowerPoint presentation.

Things are Getting Easier

Drew, Dorothy, and I are working on turning StoryTown into a Smartboard project! We have been using screen hunter to capture the lessons from to create interactive and engaging lessons for our students. We are also working on getting our lessons uploaded on the High Quality Teacher Resource Center. While we know not everyone in the district has a SmartBoard in their room, we believe we have created the lesson so that they can be projected onto a whiteboard and controlled by the teacher, via the computer. We find the lessons we do to be highly engaging to our students. I have the high readers in my room, Dorothy has the low readers in her room, and Drew has a mixture of abilities in his classroom; we find that each of the lesson we create work for all levels of students, with very little modification. The student know they have to be engaged if they want to come up and create something on the Smartboard.

This project extremely time consuming, but next year we can add to it! AND it's worth it! I highly recommend you all consider creating Smartboard Storytown lessons for your grade level! Let me know if you want to see a lesson, or if you teach kindergarten, I'd be happy to email them to you!

Have a great day!

Frustration

Hi everyone, I am having some frustration with technology right now. My new laptop crashed twice and had to be rebuilt and last week my new laptop had hardware malfunctions. :-(
I am excited about our Kindergarten blog, my students are excited as well.
Please feel free to take a look at our blog:
www.mslopezroom114.blogspot.com

Hi from Haskin Elem 4th Grade

I have been working very hard at getting my students to type in their blog entries on my Math Blog. We would appreciate anyone who has the time to go to my blog and post an answer to my students math problems You can click on this link to get there.  http://www.classblogmeister.com/  Type in Mr. Hood in the read Blogmeister's box and click on GO.  Thanks in advance for your time.  Good Luck!

Good Day

Hello all,

After having successfully created a blog, my students are unable to access. I have decided to use a different site and recreate. I am beginning to feel very inadequate in technology. (ha, ha).
I have students with siblings in other classrooms where blogs are working efficiently and they are excited about being able to use ours. I have heard only good comments about the blogs and am hoping to have mine accessible by the end of the week.

Cheryl

Hi from Center 5th grade

Hi doing well. Use board for over 3/4th of my day. Have my class blog up and started. Will share the url shortly when my students have shared more. Interesting note. My class has pen-pals in Anaheim, CA - They have very limited computer usage..... They have a hard time believing we have so much tech and they are so much bigger. Interesting to me. I love the collaboration with my peers at school. Things are going good here. We are doing all subjects on the board. So way cool! My kids love it.

Jeri

Using technology in my classroom every day - Hoping to do more

I've sort of gotten into a routine with my classes for using technology. We're primarily using clickers in addition to the normal SmartBoard, Powerpoint, etc. Each student is assigned a clicker number and I can then use their responses for attendance, anticipatory sets, and even quizzes.

The cool thing is that the students really like using them. We took a paper-and-pencil assessment and used the clickers to submit answers at their own pace - now every time a test is coming up I am inundated with questions about if we will use clickers. Unfortunately our district common assessments have to be done with pencil and scantron (or online, but realistically we don't have near enough computers for that). Obviously short-answer responses are important as well and clickers are limited to multiple-choice style tests.

I'm hoping to find a way to incorporate some collaboration with other classes, even if they are just other biology classes. We don't have a lot of room to deviate from our pacing, so it makes cross-content or cross-school/grade collaboration difficult.

I would like to do a little more with technology now, hopefully with the same student response as the clickers. Thinking about doing an electronic project or webquest for our current unit, but again - it would have to fit in with our common pacing.

I post more frequently on my professional blog, check it out at www.howatscience.net

Blogging With 2nd Graders

Last month we launched our classroom blog. The students have been so excited! Each day we check our blog to record the temperature and check to see if we have had any more visitors. Through our blog we have been able to discuss geography and read messages from others. The students are eager to log on and start blogging on their own blogs. I have noticed that the students are becoming more comfortable with technology and are teaching each other. I am so proud of them!

In addition to the classroom learning that is going on, the students are taking what they have learned about technology home with them. The students have been encouraging their parents to log on at home!

I would like to invite you to visit our class blog and leave us a comment! You can reach our classroom blog at http://www.classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=285494 or by going to www.classblogmeister.com and typing in Melissa Garcia under “Read Blogmeisters.”

So I am still delving into all this wonderful technology out there for my students and me. I am, as well as my whole team, actually making a commitment to using the Smart Board -so the ideas and collaboration are wonderful. I am still trying to manage the independent or small group usage of it and am thinking I am being too overprotective. Do any of you use it for centers? What are some strategies for making sure they are appropriate and safe without hovering? Maybe I am just a control freak? Thanks in advance.

Another wonderful math website

Hey all -

Here is another wonderful math website that I use almost daily with my math kids. In fact, they ask all the time if we can play the games on the Smart Board.... very engaging for them!

www.multiplication.com

On another note, my team members and I level our math groups... and I have the highest (which is a blast). Here is the problem I am having: after trying multiple methods I still have a large handful of students that just don't get rounding. Any suggestions on how I can pull these final students to proficiency with this? Thanks for the help!

I'm confused.....

I'm confused. I need your help and suggestions.....

Now that the HS science department is implementing a daily pacing guide correlated to glets, how can I justify time in class having my students collaborate with students in other grade levels?

If my students and I are investigating the structure of DNA, how can I in real-time collaborate with Kristen's or Emily's MS science classes who have their own pacing guide and are on different topics?

You might suggest that we collaborate on general topics such as the scientific method but then we (teachers) will he held accountable for not being in the correct place on the pacing guide\ at the correct time.

I am trained as a global learner but the structuring of the daily lesson plans (6 pages in length) and the daily pacing guide does not appear to allow me to promote 21st C collaboration between classrooms.

For example: .....If it is Tuesday, my students need to be discussing the double helix nature of DNA, not live blogging with Kristen's or Emily's kids about how science has improved the quality of life.....

I'm not complaining (well kind of... ;)

I am all for restructuring and appreciate many of the approaches that ACSD14 has embraced.

But how do I rectify this apparent discrepancy?

Your suggestions are / would be appreciated.

Doug....

PS I am also an IB MYP / DP teacher and am wondering about how the dailly pacing guide as per the glets will give me flexibility in content delivery to implement the special attributes of IB science and technology?

I suppose that is another conversation for another day.