Great Resource Through Technology Toolkit

While researching web 2.0 tools for new teacher training, I came across a link posted by Dave on our Technology Toolkit website. The link was to a wiki-walkthrough created by . I felt established with my presentation on wiki's and blogs that I decided to explore their "safe" web 2.0 tools. There are a ton of resources listed with detailed information and grade-level recommendations. Check it out - www.teachersfirst.com

teachersfirst - web2.0

flixxy.com

Here is a cool video site worth checking out. Of interest is the 2008 education and technology video (Years it took to Reach 50 Million) which can be accessed here. Not sure if we saw it during gl workshop(s) (probably did, Joe / Dave?) but if so its worth seeing again. Doug

a google site on how to create google site(s)...

Hi all. I have created this site in preparation

for the teacher workshop

I'm giving on the 31st.

Your feedback would be appreciated.

Doug

http://sites.google.com/site/staffdevelopmentacsd14/

Global Voices Podcast

Todd, Liz and I had a Skype conference call in December to create the first installment of what we are calling "Global Voices". During these monthly conversations, our plan is to talk about a specific topic that we are dealing with in our respective classrooms around technology like, SmartBoards, distance collaboration or technology and assessment. We are turning these conversations into podcasts and publishing them here along with any resources that are referenced during the conversation.

Our December conversation was about student blogging. In this podcast we talk about:

1. How we got our students started blogging,
   
2. How to set reasonable expectations,
   
3. What constitutes a good comment and
   
4. Establishing a network outside the classroom.

At the end we talked about a couple of resources we have used for student blogging:
Blogs, Wikis and Podcasts by Will Richardson
Ning: teacher technology resource group.
Global Education Collaborative GlobalEducation.ning.com

We are still trying to find opportunities for the three of our classes to collaborate and hope that these conversations may spark some ideas.

Have a listen and we welcome your comments.

Free online storage sites

Hi all. Hope your break was enjoyable and the New Year is off to a good start. As a gl'er, I find myself with video files too large to attach to emails. A couple of sites offer free online storage with unlimited uploading /downloading. Check out box.net for a free gigabyte and getdropbox.com for a couple of free gigs. Various plans are also available to increase your online storage space on a pay by the month basis.

And yes, if you are like me with multiple email accounts, you CAN have multiple logins / accounts on these sites. ;>)

No more chalkboards?

I thought that most of the classrooms these days had white boards.... but check out this classroom in Nebraska! Her interactive board is BIGGER than our Smartboards....I'm thinking about trying to contact her. They seem up to date with using technology and maybe she's interested in keeping in contact.



Can't seem to find anything on the internet about an "Active Board" as they call it. hmmm... I am intrigued and wondering where it came from.

Classroom 2.0

Just came across another site that might be useful: Classroom 2.0. It's on Ning, and according to its description, it's a "social network for those interested in Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies in education." Figured someone here might be interested in it; I found it through the Global Education Collaborative, also on Ning.

The live blogging continues!

We had another live blogging session in my epistemology class today. The kids have really gotten into it; it's definitely become a part of the classroom culture. Actually, yesterday we had a brief moment of panic when I said we were going to discuss the blog topic but not have an online conversation. The kids misunderstood and thought that I was saying that we weren't going to use coveritlive anymore, and I almost had a mutiny on my hands. Today's conversation was "What is the goal of science?" Before we started the conversation, I asked the students to take out their phones and turn them on. There were a few sheepish looks from the students who already had them on, and general confusion all around. One student looked at me, laughed, and said, "You know they're waiting for the snatch and grab, don't you?" Once the phones were on, I had them send text messages to as many people as they wanted to (preferably not other students), asking those people what they thought the goal of science was. It was pretty amazing... I think many of the students were a bit surprised to be using their cell phones and sending text messages as part of class work, but they certainly weren't complaining. As messages came in, we added them to our class discussion on coveritlive, where John Albright and someone named Angel had joined us.

I love the fact that the students have taken to this so readily and have really become much more active participants in class discussions; it's even bringing out the "wall flowers," especially when they could incorporate text messaging. My only wish now is to get more people participating in the live blog that are not only outside of the building, but outside of the district (and not just through text messaging); I've begun posting the links and notifications on Twitter, Facebook, The Global Education Collaborative, and even MySpace, but we haven't quite gotten the response I've been hoping for, at least not yet. Then again, it's new, so I'm not really discouraged, either... I figure once I make this a more regular thing, I'll get more outside participation. (Cross-posted to my teacher blog.)

Wordle

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, post them to your blog or site, and save them to the Wordle gallery to share with the world. How could you use this with your students? It might be very effective. Here is a wordle generated from our very own GL Blog.

Happy New Year! CPS Clickers Math Lessons

My school is a big fan of the CPS Clickers system, and we regularly squabble over who gets to use the few sets of remotes. We have found it's a bit tricky to share lessons, but here is my attempt to get some of the ones I've written out there. They're rather mixed, but most are general quizzes/reviews that would be appropriate for grade 3 though 5, as I have a 4th grade class. Some of the lessons are labeled by subject, but many are general reviews. One could use them as a engaging review or more serious quiz. In my class we will often assemble into small groups, where each group shares a remote, so that students can cooperate on the questions. To download the database, go to my class' website, and then right click "Save link as." There's probably a better way to post and download it, but I haven't quite figured it out. Happy 2009!