Are You Ready? Jump In...

Are you ready to jump into elearning? WE ARE! At our local high school, we have begun building a self paced online learning environment.

As mentioned previously, we are using Edu 2.0 as our LMS platform. Where are we receiving direction? I'm glad you asked! If you have ever thought of jumping into elearning, below are some must have resources. Best of all, they are FREE.

• eBooks via The eLearning Guild


• "How to" via iNACOL


• Standards for Program, Teachers, and Courses


• Content Standards via Common Core

Why are we traveling this adventure?  OUR STUDENTS;)  Even though we are currently running a "rough pilot" of what we will officially begin next year, there have been numerous successes.  In fact my next post will be on just that...student success!

Quick Exit?

Have you been called to a meeting just to learn of a new project so vast it will take years to complete? In the back of your mind, you know a quick exit is in order, but you stay. Why? You know kids will be reached. You see the big picture. Most importantly, your brain has already etched pictures of students needing this opportunity.

What is the project? A self paced eLearning opportunity for students.  Before you start to chuckle to your self, yes, I realize the astronomical amount of work ahead.  Unfortunately, so do my two colleagues also called to the meeting and they both have one foot out the door.  I too was standing on the threshold needing to get a better grasp of the project and more importantly make sure we are on the same page with administration.

Our principal's directions were pretty broad which gave us lots of room for "out of the box" thinking and creating.  Basically, she wanted a self paced academy for students at risk of dropping out. Seat time has been waived by the state of Louisiana, student schedules would be flexible, and a strong career component was needed. Oh, and she wanted it to begin in a little over a month with a few students.

My colleagues (and friends), Caroline Croad and Ashley Hooter, and myself began to brainstorm over the next few days to discover how this would look for our students.  This was followed by general research to present back to administration to ensure we are all on the same page prior to moving forward.

What was our general rough sketch?

• Start small and double in size each year until reach max


• Full running program will take at least three years due to non funding and approximately 200 hours needed to create each course


• Change student focus group from only at-risk to a variety including TOPS and early graduation needs at an approximate 50% ratio between at-risk and non at-risk students


• Courses offered based on Career Diploma and TOPS/Core 4


• Interactive elearning format addressing higher order thinking skills not just software based


• Use of our existing LMS  - Edu 2.0


• Integrate PBL possibly through a cross curricular project per semester


• Existing credit recovery software, A+ would be a supplement while we are developing courses, but they would have resources available via LMS.


• Career component will be a key component

We didn't take a quick exit.  In fact, we are pretty excited about the possibilities.  This gives you only a brief look into our project, but we will update regularly.

Do you have any tips or ideas? We would love to hear them!

Feeding My Addiction

My addiction to High School Reform began many years ago when my then principal, Mr. Morris Busby, purchased the SRN study kit. Nowadays you can find thousands of resources focused on High School Reform from around the world. But most include at least one of the following:

• Data driven


• Small schools (or school within schools) with around 200 students


• Personalization


• Rigor


• Relevance


• Establishment and regular integration of stakeholders

My first large scale high school reform project was the creation of a Freshman Academy which was the vision of my current principal. After a field trip to Zachary Freshman Academy, a group of us knew this was for our school.  We started planning immediately, literally on the car ride back home.  Several months of planning passed including data analysis, research, and too many meetings to count. Though some key planned elements weren't able to be integrated, the first two years were filled with success:

• 82% promotion rate to 10th grade (baseline)


• 92% promotion rate to 10th grade


• 93% promotion rate to 10th grade

My key involvement ended at this time.  Unfortunately numerous elements changed school-wide and items were still not integrated during the third year, and we were back to where we started data wise (actually worse). Three constants still remain dedicated teachers, 1:1 technology integration, and the belief that a fully integrated academy would work. Hopefully when our first Freshman Academy students graduated next year, we will be able to revisit the original plan and  fully implement. The proof is in the numbers;)

What does the Freshman Academy need? Honestly just some of the basic components:  location back on their own wing, class size around 22, scheduling where core teachers share same students (two "teams"), and HEAT, Help Eliminate Academic Tardies (for students not completing work).

So how am I currently feeding my reform addiction?  Well, I'm a computer education teacher.  If you were currently looking for a US public high school without internet access, it might be a case for Sherlock Holmes. Yet in 1994 only 35 percent of all public school had internet access.  Likewise elearning is starting to become a staple in higher education facilities. How long before the same is true in high schools around the world?

Well, that time is now for Minden High School. We are currently creating an online academy.  It is set up as a "school within a school" so we never plan to enroll over around 200, but are starting slow with ten students. Stay turn for a walk through on this experience!  Do you have any experience with elearning? If so, what tips do you have?

Techie Tuesday: Geaux Google

Techie Tuesday is coming to you a day early, because I'll be spending the rest of the week at the lake. It is my second favorite place to relax; the beach is number one!

Google is so much more than a search engine! There are numerous tools you could use daily, some of which will save you time. A gmail account IS NOT required for a Google account.  You can register with Google using any email address!

If Google is one of your favorite search engines, you have probably been to the site numerous times, but have you looked at more than the search engine?  Though we wont cover ALL things Google, look along the top bar and follow the "more" and then "even more" link.  WOW and this list doesn't even touch all the tools in the lab!

The full Geaux Google online professional development is located at eTechie.  For this blog post we will just look at a few highlights from the PD:  Advanced Search, Books, iGoogle, Scholar, and Voice.

The Advanced Search option can tremendously cut down flipping through pages of Google results.  When I search "digital citizenship," I get over 1.5 million results, but I'm actually looking for a PowerPoint.  By using the advanced feature, I can just view the PowerPoint files, and I quickly get my list narrowed down to less than 1000.  Believe it or not, I can narrow it down further by only looking at .edu domains.  Now I have right at 100 results!

Google Books is basically a huge source to preview books/magazines or even access full books/magazines. When you search for a topic, you will get the results similar to a typical Google Search. On the left nav bar you can limit your findings such as Full View and time period! Do a sample search and see what you find!  Would you believe there are over 10,000 free full view algebra books on Google Books? I could take up a small manuscript with ways to incorporate this into your classroom, so I better stop here;)

iGoogle is our next stop! take a look at the introduction video.


How is your Voice? Do you have friends trying to track you down on different phone numbers between home, work, and your cell? How about annoying phone calls that you answer on accident? Google Voice is now open for everyone for free (other than international calls)!

Scholar is a great option to search for professional articles. One of the best features is the advanced search in which you can really narrow down your results. Most of these articles are free and you can even sign up for an email alert when new items are added on your search topic.

I searched what would be a relatively new topic, "iPads in the Classroom" and still found over 400 results. When searching "IPads in Education," there were over 10,000 results. This is a very powerful tool that most of us would have loved when writing research papers.

If you want to access the full Geaux Google online professional development just follow the Geaux Google PD link!

What are some of your favorite Google Tools?

Techie Tuesday: Get Glogging

Most of you have heard of blogging, but what about glogging?  Glogster is a fun way of easily making a poster with the ability to embed images, music, and videos.  Many teachers assign topic related projects such as posters, essays, and PowerPoints.   Instead, why not give students the option of Glogging? Teachers are even using it as a presentation tool (follow the two links for examples).

In my multimedia class, we have been studying the use of iTouch/iPhone in education.  This week they used web 2.0 tools to present some of their  findings.  Several students opted to present using a glog.  Here are a few examples for their "mini project":

Algebra 2

High School Trig

Dance

The above student examples are actually their first attempt at using Glogster. Creating your first glog is pretty easy.  Just make sure to create an account first or it will be hard to find what you created! Jazz up your next class project with Glogster!

What tools do you use to jazz up your projects or presentations?

Techie Tuesday: K-12 Online Conference 2009

Have you ever wished you could attend a particular conference or workshop only to be short time and money? There are numerous conferences with backchannels to allow you to attend on your own schedule via Ning, Twitter, Wiki, video, or website.

This week is part of the K12 Online Conference 2009. The theme, Bridging the Divide, might be termed perfect as they invite participation around the world.  As with most large conferences this one started with a pre-conference keynote.  This is followed with two week's of over fifty presentations.  The K12 Online Conference is much more than a backchannel for an existing conference.  It is an entire conference held online.

You can attend the K12 Online Conference via live events online.  What if you missed one of the scheduled events?  That is the great part!  You can watch the video or read through their ning-blog-wiki.

The K12 Online conference will also continue to host live events twice monthly during 2010 through K-12 Online Echo webcasts on EdTechTalk.  Go to their site now and check it out! http://k12onlineconference.org/

What other educational online events do you enjoy?

Techie Tuesday: A- Z Resources

While digging through some old files, I came across an old PowerPoint, ABC Teacher Resource Websites.  Of course it was fun going through the old resources, but it also got me to thinking about all the numerous websites currently available.

I sent out a few tweets, dug through my Diigo files, and the result is a current A - Z of Awesome Resources!  @melching5 also sent an awesome link to numerous resources!

Would you like to add to the links?  Visit my wiki page to continue building this list of resources!

A - Assignaday, Animoto, Alltop, Audacity	H - Hulu, Hotmail, Headerbar	O - Open Source	V - Voicethread
B - Blogger, Blabberize	I - iPhone/Touch Apps	P - Posterous, Podomatic	W - Wikispaces
C - Cozi, Calendar	J - Jing, Jog the Web	Q - Quia	X - Xtranormal
D - Diigo, Delicious, Doink	K - Kerpoof	R - RSS	Y - You Tube, Yaca Paca, Yahoo
E - Edu 2.0, Edublogs, Evernote, Elluminate	L - LessonWriter, Linkedin	S - Slideshare	Z - ZDNet, Zoho,
F - Flickr	M - My Note It, Mixbook, Moonk	T - Twitter, Trailfire, TeacherTube
G - Glogster, GOOGLE	N - Netvibes, Ning	U - UStream

Techie Tuesday: What's your Inspiration?

Inspiration Software has been around for several years, but have you been inspired to check it out?  For this week's Techie Tuesday we will look at Inspiration and how it can be used in the classroom.

According to their company website, Inspiration is an essential tool to visualize, think, organize, and learn.  What makes this software special?  With the explosion of web 2.0 sites, there are numerous free online graphic organizers such as bubbl.us and Mindmeister.

If you simply want to create semantic maps/webs, one of the free online organizers would probable fit your need.  If you want more, keep reading for highlights on Inspiration Software.

One nice component of Inspiration is how you can create a graphic organizer and with one click it can be changed into a formal outline.  Students can create a web with shapes and/or clip art filled with information.  Then it is transformed into an outline using the hierarchy of the web.  These graphic organizers include concept maps, webs, and idea maps.  The outline can be built upon using other components such as a dictionary.

Other key components include the following:

• Video and sound integration


• Templates


• Curriculum Packets

To get a varieties of class integration possibilities, I asked my fellow teachers for ways to integrate Inspiration in their classroom.  Of course bribing them with a free copy of Inspiration always helps them respond quickly:)  Here is a list of ideas to integrate Inspiration into your classroom:

• Draft and Revise writing assignments


• Research


• Visually explain math concepts and problems


• Planning (project, web site,etc)


• Semantic web of a Country


• Transform the semantic web to an outline


• Use the audio part for students to review


• Concept mapping


• Brainstorming


• Story maps


• Character analysis


• Book reports


• Creating storyboards for PowerPoint presentations


• Defining new terms


• Assist teachers in planning lessons or units


• Plot Summaries


• Historical Cause and Effect


• Cycles (recycle, weather, etc.)


• Developing a course or workshop


• Lab Procedures


• Show relationships


• In foreign language classes create an organizer that shows the English word on one side and the foreign language word equivalent on the other side with pictures as hints.


• When studying a poem, in the center concept list the name of the poem and the connecting lines contain phrases from the poem. The sub-concept explains the words in the phrase and the literary technique used such as personification.


• Faculty/district - responsibilities of committees

So are your Inspired?  What other software or sites for graphic organization are your favorite?

Techie Tuesday: Flying with Eagle

This week's Techie Tuesday focuses on a new online assessment tool provided for Louisiana teachers.

Louisiana, the Pelican state, has created an EAGLE:  Enhanced Assessment Grade Level Expectations.  This program provides immediate feedback to teachers of their student's knowledge of designated GLE's.

Don't worry, we are still the Pelican state!

Basically a teacher logs into the Eagle system, creates a test, and distributes it to his/her students.  All test items are aligned to GLE's and teachers can use the Eagles pre-made tests or create one using the item bank.

Creating your own test from scratch takes four easy steps.  After you fill out a test overview:  select the area of content (ELA or Math), grade level, and test name, you select "assemble test".

• Select your Content Standard, Comprehensive Curriculum, or Passages (ELA only).


• Pick a standard/unit, GLE, and items that correspond.


• Click "add to test".


• Repeat this process to add additional items.

So, you don't have time to create a test from scratch?  EAGLE has you covered.  Just go to the "Edit Test" tab and click "pre-made."  Select the subject area and grade level and this opens a list of pre-made tests including one for each Comprehensive Curriculum unit.

Tests can be pre scheduled giving teachers the option to set class and individual goals, time limits, and calculator options.  Scores are immediate for multiple choice, short constructive response, and interactive items.

You can analyze your student's performance using any of the six progress reports.

• Content Standard


• GLE's


• Test and Content Standard


• Test and Question Type


• Test Questions


• Instructional Need by GLE

Are you ready to get started?  Each Louisiana Parish has trained personnel.  Contact your Region TLTC or parish school board office.

If you aren't from Louisiana, do you have a similar program you would like to share?

Techie Tuesday: Feeling Bloggy?

A Blog, web log, has a variety of purposes in education. Why don't all educators blog? Probably one of three reasons:  they don't feel "tech savy" enough, aren't aware of the various uses, or think it will be time consuming.

Blogs are one of the easiest ways for an educator to interact with students, parents, and the community.  You are able to post information, keep an online journal, disperse information, and share.

Are you still asking yourself, "What is a blog"?  Visit this video, Blogs in Plain English,  before proceeding further.

So, what about the need for technology skills?  If you are able to send an email, you are able to blog.  Free sites such as edublogs and blogger have made it easy!  For either, you basically create an account, activate the account via email, and sign in.  For those with technology phobias, edublogs has you covered with a quick post option right when you log in.  Simply type and publish.

Are you not sure of how to use a blog?  Here are some ideas to get you started:

Share materials and resources
Create a class website
Hold online discussions
Start a book club
Invite guest student posters
Set-up student blogs
Establish a newsletter via blog posts
Create an administrator blog for your thoughts and invite guest posters
Personal webpage on your favorite topics

Check out other blogs for ideas.  Do you need even more ideas? Check these out.

Now, how about time consumption?  If you focus on your thoughts and not the coolest theme or pictures to add to posts, then it only takes as long as it would to send a detailed email.  Some of the best blogs are the simplest in form.

Are you feeling bloggy?

Techie Tuesday: Top Ten Favs

As an educator,  it is often hard to narrow down favorite websites much less find new one's to test-out.  So, this week Techie Tuesday is bringing you ten favorite sites to check-out.

To select sites, I simply sent out a quick tweet to my Twitter PLN, Personal Learning Network, and as always within a few minutes my top ten list was formed.  Humm, was this just a quick way for me to get this week's blog post out?

Well I must admit, the post and subsequent message board are usually completed on Monday night, but no, this was a great way for me to get other people's website ideas.  This blog wouldn't be as fun if you just listened to me!

Let's get right to it.  Here are ten sites for you to check out including a brief description:
1.  Blabberize blabberize.com


Any picture can be turned into a blabbering picture.  Just select a picture, pick a mouth, record sound, and your picture is blabbering! What could students blabber about for your class?  How about that book you had them read or maybe last week's report.  They could even give you current events from the news or review for a test.


2.  Trailfire  trailfire.com

Do you have a list of favorite websites for a particular lesson or unit?  With Trailfire you can place a sticky note on each website.  These notes can be questions or other dialogue for your students.  Each note connects to the next webpage you want them to visit thus making a trail.  Need a variation?  Maybe your student could make the trail and add notes for key facts.


3.  Lesson Writer lessonwriter.com


Are you reading across the curriculum?  This is your one-stop-shop:)  You simply find a text you would like to use, copy and paste into Lesson Writer and it creates vocabulary, grammar, comprehension questions, and graphic organizers for you from the text.  Maybe you need help differentiating.  Yes you can even differentiate instruction!


4.  VoiceThread  voicethread.com

VoiceThread allows you to group conversations in one place from anywhere in the world.  Load documents, images, videos about a topic and share!  Comments can be left via telephone, websites, audio file, video, or voice text.

5.  Posterous posterous.com

Have you wanted a class website or maybe even a blog, but thought you weren't tech savy enough?  Can you email?  Then Posterous is the site for you!  With a simple email you add to the site.  YES, really!  The subject is the title of the latest post, and what you type is the body of information. You can add pictures straight off the internet with a simple drag drop of you mouse onto your Share on Posterous toolbar. You can see where I checked out posterous here.


6.  SlideShare slideshare.net

Have you been wanting to use slideshows in your class, but just don't have the time to make them?  SlideShare is the place where people all over the world share their slideshows.  You simply search for the topic for which you are searching.

7.  Wikispaces www.wikispaces.com

A great wiki site with the option of an educator site, so you don't have ads appear.  Check out last week's post for more wiki information.

8.  Diigo  www.diigo.com

A great social bookmarking site that allows you to not only organize your bookmarks but also to share with others, post stickies, and more. Here's another previous post for more Diigo information.


9.  Ning  www.ning.com

Have you ever wanted your own social network? Nings can be used by students or teachers. When you make a Ning it is focused on a particular topic such as a unit or subject.  Members are then allowed to join the Ning.  Together everyone adds information through posts and message boards.


10.  Twitter twitter.com

Now what top ten would be complete without a mention of Twitter especially since these suggestions came via tweet.  A special thanks @kimwoodard @sheasmith @ericcole @teachntech00 and @wavewash

What is your favorite site?

Techie Tuesday: Wiki Anyone?

Most teachers and students have heard of Wikipedia, some in controversial circles.  But have you actually taken a look at wikis from an educational perspective?

Close to the same time Web 2.0 was coined, Wikipedia was blossoming into the current 2.5 million articles.  What made this encyclopedia different than any other?  The ability for everyone to collaborate in building it!

How could you use a wiki in your classroom?  Let's start from the beginning.  What is a Wiki? Basically a wiki is a website that uses wiki software.  This software allows you to edit pages in real time.  Wikis are used in a variety of collaborative tools.  For this post we will focus on uses in a classroom.

You can limit wiki membership, so only your students are allowed to add and edit information.  You can also open membership to other classrooms for collaboration.  Wiki's are for the geeky and challenged techie alike.  If you can type in Word, you can have a wiki.

There are so many uses of wikis in the classroom.  What better place to cover wiki information than the collaborative education queen, Vicki Davis aka @coolcatteacher (see below).

Wikis in the Classroom View more presentations from coolcatteacher.

One of my favorite ways to use a wiki in the classroom in as a collaborative "binder".  Previously I referred to this as a notebook, but it is so much more.  Each student has an account and instead of keeping a notebook, they are required to add to the class wiki on a weekly bases.  Each unit has a page, but today they started asking to add additional information such as "Welcome to the Classroom" to help students that enter after school starts, email directions, etc.

It will be interesting to see the changes over the next few weeks.

Here are a few more ideas for wikis in the classroom:

• Class Website


• Writer's Corner


• Research Paper


• Student (or teacher) portfolios


• Project

What is your favorite classroom wiki idea?

Techie Tuesday: Take Your Student's Online

Are you looking for a way to both save time and better meet your students' needs? How about an online classroom?

Better yet, how about a FREE online classroom?

Edu 2.0 could be the answer!   Edu 2.0 is similar to Blackboard or Moodle.  The only difference is that it is 100% FREE and super easy.  You can even create a school site to manage all your teachers and students.  There is a thorough discussion board for help as well as superb one-on-one assistance!



So, what are some of the features?  I'm glad you asked.  Check them out below:

• Class/school calendar which is exportable and all items (lessons, tests, etc) are automatically added to the calendar


• Lesson plans with ability to add files, websites, etc with just a click of a button


• Various Web 2.0 components such as blogs, wikis, collaborative groups, debates, feed, and chat


• Threaded message board


• Various assessment options such as quiz, free form, discussion, survey, and offline.  There are automatic grading options similar to Quia.

With Edu 2.0, students are able to access directions as many times as needed.  They also have access to lessons and resources at school and home.  Teachers are able to save time with auto grading and by having lessons readily accessible for absent students.

Is it time you took your students online?

Have you Diigo'd today?

With the explosion of web 2.0 sites, it is sometimes hard to pick and choose sites most beneficial for you.  When it comes to social bookmarking, Diigo is a great option for not only you but also your students.

Social Bookmarking is replacing our basic web browser bookmark function or "add to favorites".  One problem with the typical bookmark function, is the fact that your bookmarks are saved on that particular computer.  With social bookmarking you are able to access your bookmarks from any computer and there are numerous extra features!

Have you Diigo'd with your students today?

Diigo includes the social bookmarking features found in most services such as one click browser bookmarking, tags, rss feeds, and sharing.  It's the special features of Diigo that makes it stand out over other sites such as del.icio.us and make it particularly useful in the classroom.  These special features include highlighting and adding sticky notes to websites!

How can you use Diigo in the classroom?  First you will want to get familiar with it yourself.   There are numerous tutorials on the web if you would like to get an overview before jumping into Diigo.  During this time you will also want to check on your district technology policies.  Next, you will want to use the basic functions with your students. The following is a possible avenue for introducing Diigo to your class:

• Discuss Internet Safety and Digital Citizenship if not previously covered*


• Send Home Required Contracts*


• Create Student Diigo Accounts: You can apply for an educators Diigo account and create the accounts for your students which is especially important for younger students because you have control of their account, or have them create their own account with parent permission.


• Add Teacher as Friend (as needed)


• Bookmarking and Tags: Walk students through using the Diigo website to bookmark and create tags.


• Sharing: Share a bookmark with your students.  Have them share one with you.  Then have them share one with a peer.


• Diigo Toolbar: Students need to become familiar with the Diigo toolbar or Diigolet depending on your browser.  This might be an item you want to reserve for older students depending on computer access and technology knowledge. If they are not signed into a computer account that only they use, they need to sign out at the end of each class.

Next is the fun part, integrating into your lessons.  Here are just a few ideas:

• Find a website (or two) that are great resources for a unit/lesson and add sticky notes to the websites.  This is a great way to add questions for students to answer and integrate higher order thinking skills.


• Teach students about picking out key information by highlighting it on a website.  Then have them do the same on another site.


• For your next group project, have students share bookmarks for information.  Better yet, pair up with another teacher maybe out of state or country and have those students build resources together for a collaborative project.


• Point out copyright information with the highlighting or sticky note feature.


• Share a great web resource with your students for each unit/lesson by sending them bookmarks.


• When students use online resources for a written project such as a research paper, have them highlight the sections they used in their paper.  Then they can create a list.


• You can also pose a problem or have students take sides of a debate.  Then they collect bookmarks, highlight key points, and add stickies to support their side.

What ideas do you have to Diigo with students? I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas!

* It is especially important to make sure students and parents are aware of the potential danger of any online site that incorporates friends, public vs. private accounts, etc.

Sticky Note Image:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/winning-information/ / CC BY 2.0

Tweet, Tweet, ... tweet?

From the blogosphere to the cover of Newsweek, you are bound to have at least heard of Twitter.  You may have even created a twitter account just to find yourself talking to .... yourself and really not understanding the twerrific tweet fascination.

Why are some people's Twitter experience totally different from others?

Let's start first where we ask our students to begin when posed with a question--research. Before you get started in twitterverse, shouldn't you know a bit about it?

I'm a teacher, so I wanted to find out how Twitter could be used in my classroom or to make me a more effective teacher.   I started simple enough by just creating an account and watching the twitterverse from the main Twitter page.  I must admit I wasn't instantly impressed.  There had to be more to the whole "Twitter Phenomenon". How were teachers using this when every other tweet wasn't appropriate for the classroom?

Surely Google could help me out with this one!  I started searching for educational uses for Twitter and realize that my use of Twitter was probably going to be more to build my effectiveness as a teacher and not necessarily as a classroom tool for students.  Now, there aren't any set rules for using Twitter, and this was just how I decided to use Twitter.

One great finding in my research was Twitter Groups.  I was able to easily join a variety of educational groups as well as groups that would help expand my resources for various units such as photography:) Day by day I started having people follow me from the various groups.  Day by day I read through great ideas and resources.  Day by day I continued to research.

One of the best suggestions came from @suewaters  One of her suggestions was to ask one of your favorite tweeters to ask his/her followers to follow you (not her exact words:).  Which also leads me to a great Twitter resource, Sue's Blog.

Twitter has become one of the best ways I have expanded my PLN.  Here are just a few ways I have use Twitter since my first tweet:

• Ask questions


• Hash Tag posts while posting on f2f workshop


• Save favorite tweets


• Attend various meet-ups and PD internationally


• Check out resources


• Answer questions


• Pretend I was attending NECC by following others NECC experience


• Post resources


• LOL


• Search for unit and class resources using "search"


• FOFL (usually @philhart or @johart )


• ReTweet and be ReTweeted


• COLLABORATE


• and my favorite....shared a pic of my boys and 81 yo grandfather climbing a "mountain" hunting for shark teeth in Kansas.  Who would have thought someone in my PLN was actually interested in visiting Kansas?!

So, are you wanting to become a more effective teacher?  Maybe you would like to save hours of searching for the right resources.  Jump into the Twitterverse!

Why Let Students Blog?

The ringing in of 2009 also marked my students true endeavor into the world of blogging. Though their first official post, Welcome, wasn't until late in the month of January, we began our blogging adventure several weeks prior.  To say that this adventure has been "everything I imagined" would be an understatement.  Instead this blogging adventure has become more than I could have ever imagined.

Why let students blog?  The list is infinite:  ownership of writing, connection to the world, motivation, authentic audience (not just teacher), multiple learning styles, prepare students for digital citizenship, gallery of class projects, students as teachers, parent connection,....

If you would like a true list of reasons for students to blog, it wouldn't take more that an afternoon of reading blogs to run across everything from the top 20 reasonsto winning a T-shirt:) You can even hear about blogging straight from the mouth of students.  Why did my students start blogging?  I wanted them to be part of social technology outside of myspace.  I wanted them to actually see "outside of the box" outside of their town, their state, and their nation. I wanted them to take ownership in their education.  And I wanted my student from a town of less than 15,000 to see that they truly are part of this world and this world is open to them.  Any classroom can have a great journal with provoking higher order thinking questions, but that journal can't interact with the students, it can't ask questions, and it can't expand students view and knowledge.

Over the last few months, my students have connected with other teachers and students around our nation and around the world.  After earning their blog, they were first introduced to Ann Michaelsen's blog as well as her students. This helped us to start small and "straighten out the kinks" such as internet filters.  This collaboration has earned a post of it's own on a later date, but basically we started with both of our classes posting about their hometown.  The students visited each other's blogs and commented including many questions.  Ms Michelsen's class was learning about American government so my students' next posts were on our government including more detail about levels and branches of government. It has been GREAT! Both of our classes are now participating in Challenge 09, in which we complete various challenges each week.There are over 1000 students from all over the world participating in this challenge.

This post actually is leading up to the week 5 challenge to teachers.Ms. Wyatt is presenting at a conference in July, Blogging Safely in the Big Wide World".  She asked teacher's involved in the challenge to answer the following questions.  I have been wanting to post on blogging for quite some time, and felt it perfect timing to incorporate these questions and responses:

• Why did you choose the blogging platform you are using? I choose Edublogs for our class blogging platform for several reasons.  First would definitely be the fact that everyone on Edublogs seems to be focused on education is some fashion.  I wasn't able to find any blogs on topics that were inappropriate for my students.  Another great safety feature is that there are different levels of blogging.  This gave my students the freedom to create their blogs yet I receive copies of all comments and posts. I also like the gmail shortcut in which I could use my own email address and add a "+#" to the end.  That way none of my student's email addresses were attached to their blog. Our technology coordinator also approved of the site and unblocked it for our freedom of use during school hours.  Last but certainly not least, would be the fact that Edublogs has a tremendously helpful group of people:  James, Dr. Mike, and Sue Waters.  James and Dr. Mike answer all you technical issues and keep everything running smooth.  Oh and fix thing that you mess up;)  Sue is the Edublog educator geru! Her blog is filled with tips, tutorials, and tons of ideas!  No matter which platform you choose, you will find Sue's blog helpful.


• What have you found most easy or difficult in blogging with students? The two hardest things for me would be internet filtering and letting go of perfection.  When we paired up with Ann's class it took alittle over a week to get her blog unblocked.  Then each one of the student blogs had to be individually unblocked (another week).  We thought we were "good to go" until a student tried to post a comment and we found that all the comment pages for each student had to be unblocked:) The other difficulty for me was letting go of perfection.  It was hard to have students post without me correcting their writing.  But I wanted the post to be their writing NOT mine.  So we stuck to the original plan:  They write a post and have a peer check.  If at anytime they have a question or want an opinion, they can ask me.  Otherwise I just hold mini writing workshops at the beginning of "blogging time."  Their writing has improved tremendously over the last few months!  Especially their attention to editing.


• What have you done to make sure your students are blogging safely? We have had several mini workshops on digital citizenship. Students have posted and commented on social and ethical technology issues. One great resource is iSafe. Students post first name last initial only. All accounts were created using teacher email.  Copies of all posts and comments are sent to teacher.


• What do you think students get out of blogging? confidence, digital citizenship, global connection, writing ownership, education ownership, collaboration, .....


• How do you find ways for students to get their global audience? There are thousands of ways to get a global audience.  I choose to stay more within an area I already knew, Sue Water's Blog. She posted a list of classes wishing to connect.  Another thing I feel helped grow our audience was getting involved with twitter.  Several of my "twitter friends" have taken the time to stop by student blogs and comment. Check out our class ClusterMap of global visitors!


• What recommendations would you give to new teachers to blogging? 1)  Get involved in blogging yourself.  2)  Look at numerous teacher and student blogs for ideas. 3)  Have a detailed plan.  Here's my class about blogging info. Ill be adding a page on this during the summer. 4)  Get involved building your own PLN through twitter, nings, etc. 5) Start small

It's hard to put into words the benefits of blogging in my classroom.  The writing element itself is enough to win over an educator.  Just take a look at any student blog and compare their first post to one of their more recent posts.  The same is true about the comments they leave on other blogs.  It has been so easy incorporating other subject matter into my class through the incorporation of blogging.  The students connection to the world would be one of the greatest advantages!

Why did you choose for your students to blog?  What benefits have you seen in your class?

Techie Tuesday: All Aboard? Survey Results

Towards the end of January, I wrote an All Aboard? post asking for opinions on helping other teachers "see the power" of learning more about web 2.0 and creating their own PLN.  This post included a Poll Daddy survey of the following:

• Where would you suggest a teacher get involved first?


• What is your favorite PLN or Web 2.0 website for newcomers?


• What web 2.0 tools should a teacher not be without?


• List an activity you would include in a workshop for teachers.

Are you ready for the results?

Some interesting facts about this survey include the fact that all of the respondents took a little over 6 minutes to complete the survey and represented at least 5-8 countries.  The exact number of countries can't be determined because three respondents were listed as an unknown location.

Here is the breakdown of the results:

• Where would you suggest a teacher get involved first?
  
  
  
  • Workshop x 3
  
  
  • Twitter x3
  
  
  • Other x 4
  
  
  • Blog
  
  
  • Forum
  
  
  
  


• What is your favorite PLN or Web 2.0 website for newcomers?
  
  
  
  • Del.icio.us
  
  
  • Classroom 2.0 x 3
  
  
  • Wordle
  
  
  • Sue Waters PLN sites x 5 Edublogger Personal Blog PLN Wiki Mobile Technology in TAFE
  
  
  • Don't have one- difference for different participants
  
  
  • Michele Martin
  
  
  • Tech4Learning Connect
  
  
  
  


• What web 2.0 tools should a teacher not be without?
  
  
  
  • Del.icio.us
  
  
  • Diigo
  
  
  • Twitter
  
  
  • Digital Camera
  
  
  • Blogs:  example - Edublogs
  
  
  • Google:  igoogle, google docs, google earth, etc.
  
  
  • Voice Thread
  
  
  • Skype
  
  
  • Virtual Classroom:  example - DiscoverE
  
  
  • Wikis:  example - wikispaces
  
  
  • Forums
  
  
  • ask500people
  
  
  • Audacity
  
  
  • Notaland
  
  
  • Prezi
  
  
  • Photo storing and sharing:  example - flickr, animoto, bubblr
  
  
  • Podcasting:  example - audacity, podomatic
  
  
  • Wordpress
  
  
  • PBwiki
  
  
  • Screencasts
  
  
  • Ning
  
  
  • Facebook
  
  
  • YouTube
  
  
  • RSS reader:  example- google reader
  
  
  • Zoho
  
  
  
  


• List an activity you would include in a workshop for teachers. For these responses, I copied their ideas below.
  
  
  
  • Activity 1:  Pass out or take out your digital camera. Ask participants to form into small groups and give them a simple photography assignment. Give them fifteen minutes to go take the photos and then report back. I've done this, you can't get them back in the room! They laugh, they have fun, they run all over (we took over the hotel lobby where I was doing the workshop!) and they learn how energizing, interactive and useful it can be to use digital photography and visual literacy in the classroom.
  
  
  • Activity 2:  Voicethread...learn how to develop one and try it out with students. Share it with parents.
  
  
  • Activity 3:  Create and add to a collaborative wiki. (suggested by two survey participants)
  
  
  • Activity 4:  I have never done this, but I just think it is the greatest idea.  I can't remember where I learned it from- giving out your twitter name and mobilenumber and getting delegates to text your twitter account with instant feedback throughout the day.
  
  
  • Activity 5:  Start a blog with a local topic flavour.  Get them to begin posting and commenting before they leave. Then show them examples of educational blogs that are in use.
  
  
  • Activity 6:  Live interaction with others worldwide - eg through Twitter, Skype or virtual room
  
  
  • Activity 7:  Use blogs and wikis for teaching
  
  
  • Activity 8:  I would literally walk participants through setting up a blog and writing a post so that they could see how easy it is.
  
  
  • Activity 9:  Voicethread - find up to 3 images (use creative commons search if that doesn't make it too difficult) and use it to describe a belief that you have about how students learn. Include text and voice recording. Invite someone in the room to make a comment on your voicethread. (Or, a small group could create a joint Voicethread of their main beliefs.)
  
  
  • Activity 10:  Form small 'creative clusters' so that people join with a friend or two to practice something new like Delicious or Google Docs. The biggest impact activity we have done recently is to Skype in another educator to join the chat.
  
  
  • Activity 11:  Just Tweet:)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  What does this tell me?
  
  
  First, I want to visit some of these sites that I haven't incorporated.  I have checked out a few, and they were blocked by our Smartfilter:( Second, I should have found a way to incorporate "other" with a place to type the "other".  I wonder if those three people in question on were referring to the same great place, and I just missed out on it.
  
  
  I'm really glad that "workshop" was one of the desired methods to lure other teachers.  We have one this summer and I hope it is met with a great response. I'm trying to get a few twitters out of the faculty before school lets out.  We have one so far, @ccroad.  She hasn't had time to see it's full potential yet, so drop her a line or two, and a follow.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Lastly, I am extremely thrilled with the fact that the results show that I am on the right track with web 2.0 integration!  To think, this journey really just started in November.  The activity ideas are great, and will be implemented in same fashion.
  
  
  Was anyone surprised by del.icio.us ranking as one of the favorite web 2.0 site, but Diigo didn't?  I am a Diigo user, so I would like to know if I'm missing something by not using del.icio.us.

Getting Connected!

Have you ever wondered what life was like outside of your hometown?  None of my multimedia students have traveled outside of the US and most have travel experience limited to the southern states.

How can you travel the world in a US high school?  One class at a time:)

During December, Sue Water's wrote a post on connecting classrooms through Skype. I eagerly signed up even though I wasn't sure if we could connect via Skype due to current blocking by smartfilter.  I even purchased an iphone over the holidays to be used as an alternative. You can imagine my surprise after the holidays when I discovered that Twitter had been unblocked.  I quickly contact one teacher I had corresponded with about the alternative to Skype.  The celebration was short lived as Twitter only remained unblocked for about a week:)

Thank goodness I signed up for comment responses to be email to me!  Ann Michaelsen contacted me January 21st through Sue's original skype post. She had difficulty using Skype due to time differences.  We both corresponded on various ideas.  Ann's students in Norway are working on English in Social Studies.  They were ahead of us with blogging which served as great examples for my students.

All my multimedia students now have blogs and wrote their first post,  welcome message, Monday. We are working on a photography unit, and the students are excited about adding some of their own photos to their hometown post.  Ann's students are also writing a hometown post this week.

Due to internet filtering, we are having difficulty correctly seeing Ann's blog as well as her students.  Our parish unblocked the site, but their is a hang-up with the theme or something.  They are working on it, but it won't slow us down.  Starting today, my iphone will be used for students to post comments on the Norway students' blogs.  Many of my students have already stopped by this morning to show me the pictures they took to add to their own hometown post.

It is so exciting seeing the students really light up about this opportunity.  I hope you will stop by to visit their newly created blogs.  You can access them by following the tab, student blogs.  Their hometown posts will vary according to their likes and hobbies.  My students are showing our hometown "Through Their Eyes."  If it is someone that enjoys the outdoors, then you will probably learn about out trees, hunting, etc.

I am so excited to the world being opened to us through web 2.0:)

B3: Be Better Blogger

A new year's resolution I can keep, B³ :  Be a Better Blogger :)

While catching up on some of my rss reads, I happened across a post, Life is One Big Top Ten, on Sue Water's TAFE site .  In it she mentioned Steve Dembo's 30 Days to Be a Better Blogger. Ok I must admit I am a total geek, but it runs in my genes.  How many people have a 88 year old grandfather that blogs? I have been totally ecstatic that our parish finally opened up a blog site!  I have been waiting for years to have an interactive site for my students.

Since the unblocking (November '08) of Edublogs, I have been focused on the integration aspect of blogging:

• Organization of blog pages


• Steps for students to earn blogs


• Trial runs with students


• Finding great widgets


• Daily Journal dilemma (keep old, use edublogs, revamp)


• and so on..

I hadn't really focused on how my blog looks to the rest of the world.  My students love it, so it has to be great, right? LOL  Ok, maybe not:)

I am officially making a New Year's Resolution to complete Steve Dembo's 30 Days to Be a Better Blogger.  Wow!  a resolution I can actually keep:)  I didn't even take a sneak peak at what was going to happen over the next 30 days of this journey. I have already completed day one which involved revamping my about page.

UPDATE:  Great suggestion @suewaters, I am going to also work through the original challenge,  31 day challenge.  From what I can tell, it won't be too time consuming to complete both.  It is also broken into two categories, so challenges are different for beginners vs. intermediate.  Pretty cool!

Student Show and Tell

Today was Show and Tell for Web Design students.  I only have one word for it, AWESOME!  I can't believe how far they have come in such a short time:)

We are working on a Game Programming unit using Alice.  This unit will be moved to the multimedia class in the future, but for this semester I was testing it out with my web design students.  Each student was required to show the current Alice world they are working on.  Then they demonstrated a "how to" on something they included in their world.

It was great to see so many of the same functions/events configured in different ways and thus producing a different end result.  Most of the student already have the inactive component incorporated in their world.  All of the Show and Tells gave students ideas.

Way to GO!

Hey, someone needs to add an Alice page to our wiki.  That would be a great place to collaborate information.  I sure wish you all could stay for next semester:)