In The Clouds

Educational Technology Wordle from David Warlicks 2 cents Worth blog.  

Cloud computing has become an important aspect of the educational community.  Economic times have forced schools to look for services that can be provided which bear little cost for the school.  Cloud computing allows for collaboration and sharing of ideas, projects, etc. between users without having to "store" the file on a specific computer.  Storage on "the cloud" means that anyone can have access to the file without having to open an email attachment.  Many everyday tasks can be completed "on the cloud" and many smart phones provide capability of using cloud computing. 

In my particular setting we use Google Docs for many of our teacher collaborations.  We jointly collaborate on a weekly newsletter and use Google Docs for our jr. high team discipline and missing assignments.  Our students use Google Docs for presentations and to share word processing documents.  

Another site that we've used before that is consider "cloud computing" is Kerpoof Studio!  My younger students use it to create pictures, story scenes and even movies.  They love the interactivity and if they create a login, they can use it at home or at school. Kerpoof offers teachers the chance to create a class login and assign students to different classes.  We've been using this for awhile and it has continued to add more features every year! 

Also, we use Museum Box.  Our 5th graders who study the American Revolution can create boxes about different faces of the revolution.  They can then share their box with the rest of the class.  Along with this project, they are also reading novels about the American Revolution. Use of an online tool like Museum Box allows us again to focus on collaboration and cross-curricular technology projects!

Overall, these cloud computing websites have allowed us to continue to encourage our students and staff to collaborate with each other and share their work!  

I don't regularly use bookmarking sites like Diigo or Delicious.  Mostly because I don't have the time to maintain.  I can generally share sites with my students by linking to our school website, which is easier for me and I don't have any filtering issues.  I can certainly see the value in tagging different bookmarks or blog topics and I do use tagging that is done by others.  It saves time when I'm looking for a specific topic, like "web 2.0" or "elementary".  

Many of our students have created word clouds in different classes.  There are teachers who have had their students create class word clouds about what they hope to learn that year.  Our junior high students created word clouds about the school that were used for an Open House and given to prospective students.  Personally, I use word clouds when giving presentations about technology to other teachers.

Blogging & Twittering

I guess it's time to dust off the blog and begin again! In looking back, the past year has been truly busy for me. So busy that I forgot to blog!! I created this blog a couple of years ago in order to mostly organize what was going on in both of my classrooms. When I began the blog, I was (and still am) very interested in personal learning networks. I think that every teacher has a personal learning network and I had hoped my blog would become part of mine. I spend time each day reading the blogs of others in my field and learning from them, sharing ideas and resources, and generally stay connected professionally to those not close geographically to me, but those who shared my educational technology philosophy. I never really intended the blog to become a tool of communication for the parents of my students. We have numerous other ways that we communicate with them on a weekly and sometimes daily basis. I can see the value in me keeping up with my blog to expand and maintain my professional learning network, which again, is extremely important to me!

I've been on Twitter for awhile and while I don't "tweet" as much as I could/should, it is again something that I use professionally as a part of that PLN. It allows me a quick peek into ideas or thoughts of those I read regularly without having to go to multiple sites. If someone posts a link, I can get to the site quickly and if someone poses a question, I can answer, if I feel compelled! I understand that the communication on Twitter is a two way street and I probably should respond or post more than I do, but again, it's the dreaded time crunch I find myself in all the time! In one of the linked resources for Week 2, David Pogue shares his frustration with Twitter. I think, like David, I eliminate many of the tweets that have to do with people's personal lives and try to remain focused on the professional aspects of the application.

I've mostly chosen to follow other Ed.Tech. people on Twitter, but I do have some personal "tweeters" as well. I do have the app installed on my phone and iPad, so I do check into Twitter regularly! Again, its a wonderful professional tool and an important part of my PLN.

2nd Technology Conference of 2010!

Back from day 2 of the Smart Ed. Services "Ohio Free Tech" conference and all I can say is "WOW"! First, it was free! 2 days of quality presentations, for the most part, and I came away with as many ideas (some more practical then others) as I discovered in the 2 days I was at the eTech conference in early February. I think the biggest difference between the conferences was that the focus in planning seemed to be on the attendees. Pre-registering for sessions allowed them to hold the largest sessions in the largest room. eTech just squeezed as many as possible into 1 room and then shut the doors. I think many of the presenters at the Ohio Free Tech presented a couple of times and that allowed more people to attend their sessions.
I was particularly impressed with 2 of the presenters. Tammy Worcester presented loads and loads of free and practical tools for teachers from a variety of sources. I've "known" Tammy (never met her in person, just followed her in the ed. tech. world) since my beginning days as a technology coordinator and she was a complete ball of energy! She was quick and gave many ideas/resources/concepts in a short time frame. Very organized and I was impressed! Jim Klein is the IT person for Saugus Schools in California and he presented numerous ideas for both Open Source solutions and a variety of Learning 2.0 ideas/themes. I was interested in Jim's session on Open Source software because we run Ubuntu on our data server and I think that when we first built the server, we were almost ready to ditch commercial software for the Open Source solutions. For a variety of reasons and multiple changes in the volunteer department, we didn't proceed. Jim's passion and enthusiasm for what he does is obvious and I now really want to take a second look at what we've planned for and how we could make some important changes. I think the best idea that Jim presented was that all of the technology in the world doesn't "make" students' learn, we must give them a platform to share their learning with the larger community.
The conference also included many other fantastic presenters. Dr. Jamie McKenzie was on hand both days and shared with us his ideas for higher order thinking skills and how technology integration can move on from being "scooped up and smushed" information to creating original content. I've read many of his articles and it was nice to see him present in person.
I certainly give kudos to the Smart Ed. Services people for planning and pulling off events like this one. I hope they continue to do this type of conference and continue to attrack quality presenters like this year. Very well done!

Next Novels for Literature Circles

Still trying to finalize which novels the 5th and 6th graders will be reading in the next few weeks. I've consulted with our History teacher and the 5th graders are studying the Revolutionary War so I think we'll go with that theme. Novels I'm considering currently include: "My Brother Sam Is Dead", "George Washington's Socks", "The Fighting Ground", and "Hope's Crossing". I still need a couple more choices for the 5th graders.

I had titles ready for the 6th grade, but then decided that maybe featuring African-American authors might be a great theme. Some titles for the 6th graders include: "Elijah of Buxton", "Bud, Not Buddy", "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry", and "A Friendship for Today". I think those titles provide some variety for the 6th graders to choose from. I'd like to find a few more choices. I still have a few days to decide. For the 6th grade novels, I'll be including some author activities as well as having the students study where the novel takes place. That along with their regular Literature Circle jobs should lead to interesting discussions. For our last class novel, we didn't do the Literature Circle jobs and I think the kids liked changing things up a bit!

And I've decided...I'm a book junkie! I could spend hours at the library finding books and even more hours reading them!! Have a great week!

Reflecting on eTech Ohio 2010

I had to return a day early from eTech to attend a funeral, so unfortunately, I missed 1 day of motivation and exciting presentations. One of my colleagues and myself attended both Monday and Tuesday sessions last week. One of the things that I find the most interesting about attending a conference is the amount of new energy I return with and the willingness to jump in and try new ideas. Because this was a technology conference, I was particularly interested in how I can energize my teachers with new project ideas and resources.

It had been a couple of years since I last attended the eTech conference and I was pleasantly surprised at the availability of wi-fi throughout the conference center. I only wish that sessions that were totally filled could've been live streamed for those of us who couldn't get into the room. I attended a few sessions on making movies in the classrooms using a variety of resources. While we've used movie making before as a project outcome, it was helpful to see other options and ideas. I really like the idea of building "digital backpacks" for students to utilize when they tackle a movie or digital picture project.

Twitter was another popular topic for a few of the sessions at the conference. I use twitter mostly as a professional development resource. I follow lots of other educational technology folks and I learn alot from them, even though I don't always "tweet".

Monday's keynote for the afternoon was David Warlick. I've followed David for a few years now and he's certainly someone who knows of what he speaks(although now when I read what he's written I hear it with a southern accent!)! I could've listened to him for another hour. He talked about building your Personal Learning Network (PLN) and showed us some new and some not so new tools for adding to your network. To me, personal learning networks are the heart of my personal professional development. They are key to helping me discover new, sometimes better ways of accomplishing tasks. They provide resources and support when needed. I'm a firm believer in not re-inventing the wheel and my PLN helps me greatly!

Overall, I was glad to have attended the conference and hope that my enthusiasm continues. It is the kind of "re-charging" I need in February! Now, if we can only find the funds to do what we want!!

Independent Reading with Middle Schoolers

I believe that one of the biggest contributing factor in developing good readers (in terms of fluency, critical thinking, etc.) is that students have enough time to read. While I see both of my Language Arts classes for several blocks each week, I want them to read outside of class. They have a library time each week and they seem to spend most of that time trying to figure out how to get out of the library.

Our librarian, beginning to get frustrated with them, searched for an idea to make them want to read. No, we didn't bribe them with gifts, cash, or extra recess! We came up with the "Passport to Reading". We gave them a goal and we gave them choices. We came up with the required genres that we would like them to read (including a free choice or two), they will choose the order and they can read the stories that interest them.

After they read their selected novels, I will have them fill out a "book talk" sheet with basic information including what they liked and/or didn't like about the book and if they would recommend to another student. To meet curriculum requirements, they will then present a short live "book talk" to the class. After completing this requirement, they will get their passports stamped. Each passport entry (both their summary sheet and their live book talk) will earn them points for class. They'll have the rest of the school year to work on their passports and if they read above and beyond their goals, they can earn chances for extra prizes at the end of the year.

They seem really excited about this new activity. I hope we can keep that great spirit going for a few more months!!

It's My Journey

I've really struggled with where to take the direction of this blog. Technology resources, teaching experiences, professional development, or my personal educational journey? I guess it really doesn't matter. All of these topics are important to me. They are what I've built my career on. My job isn't just a job, its my career. Finding technology resources, learning more everyday about best practices in education, sharing my enthusiasm with other teachers and learning from them, deciding on the next path on my journey...all part of my career. So, I guess it's ok to jump around and talk about what is important to me, it's my blog, after all.

So, while I don't really know if anyone in the blogosphere is reading...it really doesn't matter. This blog is an important part of my educational journey.