EdTech Ripples

September is here and once again the adage “too much to do and too little time” applies! I’m sooo excited about sooo many things… hmmm… that tells me it’s going to be a GREAT year! (If I can just organize myself and focus on what is a “must do” instead of what is a “want to do”!)  I do “want”, however, to get back to updating this blog and I have the perfect reason… 6 of our teachers received a Dell laptop and we are attending our first workshop at the upcoming ProD day!

I have my own laptop at home, so I am familiar with using one, but the school has only recently added a wireless hub so I have stuck to using my (personal) desktop computer at school.  There are so many restrictions and “red tape” to using a district computer, that when I upgraded my home computer, I brought the old one to use at school.  (For example, we are not allowed to add or choose our own software at school.) I originally said that I would let someone else have the 6th laptop, but our principal said that most of our teachers wanted to wait until the next laptops come.  Additionally, he was hoping that I would be the “go to” person for the laptop initiative at our school.  There… doesn’t that sound like a good excuse to get a new laptop???

I have to say that I am absolutely THRILLED with the portability of a laptop in the classroom.  Last year I bought a horribly expensive long cable so that my desktop computer could be attached to a projector which needed to be in a certain spot to fit on the pull-down screen.  In order to use it, I had to squash behind my desktop CPU to undo the monitor and attach the cable, then bring my wireless keyboard and mouse over to the projector because I could only view the picture on the screen (the monitor was now blank).  Afterward, everything had to be put back again.  I was excited to be able to show my students webpages on a large screen, but the setup was a real nuisance .  WELL… on the first day of receiving the laptop, I was able to roll out my projector, attach the laptop and VOILA, we were looking at the classroom webpage!  Just like that!

Something I am looking forward to learning about at the workshop is Smartboard-like applications .  When the laptop is turned on, it immediately tells me that it can’t find a Smartboard… how rude to remind me that we don’t have any at our school!!  However, an interesting little menu bar/toolbox appears on the side of my laptop screen and that indicates  that there may still be some applications I can use.

After the workshop, I will blog about the successes we achieve and the impediments we run into. The six of us are at various levels of tech. comfort and range from Gr 3 to Gr. 5 teachers.  I had to laugh when a teacher from another school said how fast her new laptop is, after hearing from one of our “Mac users” say how slow the new laptop is!  It’s all a matter of perspective.  (I plan on finding out what “cool things” my friend’s Mac does and then trying to reproduce them on a Dell!)  Hopefully some of our 6 teachers in this first initiative will add their own comments to this blog!

 Let’s see whether other readers have laptops in their classroom.

I will be interested to see the results!

This blog will actually showcase someone else’s work…
because Michael Zimmer has done a great job of putting together a publication that explains some useful, current tech tools.  I am familiar with many of the tools, but others are  new to me.  I’m REALLY excited about one of them (Dropbox) because I think it may solve a file transfer issue I have.  Hopefully YOU will find a tech tool that will excite you too!

21st Century Teacher Tools

BTW, the purpose behind this post is to ENTICE YOU to go to Mr. Zimmer’s publication to find out more!  I have gone to the trouble of listing all the tools he discusses so that you might come across one that has intrigued or puzzled you, or perhaps one that you think might enrich your own technology!

Here is a brief synopsis of this information you can explore in depth
at “Tools for the 21st Century“.

TWITTER
Twitter is a social networking tool which has allows educators to quickly share very short comments, valuable links, questions, and helpful answers.  It’s how I found THIS useful resource!

BLOGGING
Blogging is a great way to share your interests online (eg. Edublogs, Blogger, WordPress).  Classroom Blogs provide an interactive way of communicating between school and home, as well as providing a wider audience for student work.

GOOGLE READER
Once you become interested in reading, or hopefully creating, blogs you need a way to organize your favourite blogs and a way to find out when new information becomes available.  RSS feeds bring the updates to you, instead of you having to go searching yourself.

DIIGO
As I mentioned in my last post, social bookmarking is an important tool to organize and share your favourite links.  “Delicious” was one of the leaders, but “Diigo” offers extra features.

GLOGSTER
Glogster is a “digital poster board”, so you can add images, audio, and video to your creations.  I was inspired when I saw it used  in a teacher website, and my computer club has been trying it out at school, via a “Glogster Education account“.

PREZI
I’ve heard about Prezi from several different sources, but I really need to do more exploring here!  Mr. Zimmer says it is one of his favourite new tools, so it must be good!  He describes it this way: “The best way to describe Prezi is to think of it as 3D Infinite Canvas for creating a presentation.”

DROPBOX
Dropbox offers free online storage for 2GB (think of your flashdrive size).  This is the one I’m going to sign up for right after I finish this blog!!!

EVERNOTE
Evernote is another way of organizing your information.  It can be information that you find on the internet, but it could also be notes you are taking at a conference or something you would jot down on a post-it, a napkin, or the palm of your hand.  There is a free app for using it with your phone too.   Hmmmm…..  this sounds interesting!!!

QUIZLET
Quizlet allows you or your students to create online flash cards.  I just took a peek at it… it looks worth a longer look!!!

WALLWISHER
Wallwisher is like a virtual bulletin board where you can stick your post-it notes, photos, videos etc.  I had heard of this before, but thought “why would I want to do that?”  Mr. Zimmer provides some good reasons!

TITANPAD
TitanPad allows you to collaborate with others in real-time.  Evidently there are several such programs out there, but this is one of the more popular ones.  Each person gets a different colour of type, so you can easily see who is adding information to a document or conversation.

SKYPE
Skype is a hugely popular and  free video conferencing web-based software.  Basically, it allows you to talk to others in real time, just like on the phone, but free!  Lots of people just use it for personal reasons, ie. talking with relatives.

WORDLE
Wordle is a very popular program that allows you to make “word clouds”.  The title page of Mr. Zimmer’s publication is a Wordle.  Basically, it ranks the number of times you use a word in your article (the, and, etc are removed) and then highlights these in larger font.  It’s fun and attractive too!

WEBSITES
There are many ways to create your own (free!) website.  Mr. Zimmer lists his favourites:  Google Sites, Weebly, Wix.

WIKISPACES
Wikispaces is a place to store as well as share information, links, videos, photos, and files.  I have tried out Wikispaces with my grade 5 computer club and want to do more with it.  Mr. Zimmer has created a “Wiki Wednesdays” post to highlight useful wikis he finds.

THANK YOU SO MUCH, MR. ZIMMER!

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your publication and plan to follow up on several suggested programs.

I hope that this blog will inspire others to do the same!

Picture a classroom filled with engaged learners really using technology to enrich their learning. Look around the room to see students creating their own blogs, finding information by posting wikis, documenting their learning with digital photos, writing scripts for video productions, engaging with SmartBoard learning but also using this tool to Skype other “keypal” classrooms to exchange and discuss project work, being able to explain how their Nintendo DS set helps them learn social skills, articulating how they sometimes write in their journals but they are more excited to post their thoughts because it makes them better writers, being able to navigate through the classroom website to educational activities and then following up on those activities at home.
Now… put all this Technology in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan in the hands of a Grade One class.

Am I inspired… wow, yes!  Am I jealous… you bet!   Am I somewhat intimidated… absolutely!

But let’s be positive and go with the first one… Let’s see what I could actually do in my own classroom right now.

* Let’s take my classroom website and bump it up a notch.   I  already post educational links, homework activities, photos of activities and so on.  That’s all MY work and MY input… it’s time to think about more “student input”.  Not just photos and scans of their work, but students working ON the website.  Our district has created a Sharepoint website that has both a “Public” and an “Intranet” location.  Our district is (overly?) concerned with keeping student work enclosed in a protected environment, to the point of questioning whether a student/parent should be allowed to view another student’s work.  I will have to reflect on this viewpoint and consider its ramifications.  How would I ever have become inspired and motivated by the Grade 1s in Moose Jaw, if I hadn’t been able to actually view their work?  How could those students invite “the world” to share and make comments in their wikis and blogs, if each student’s work or even the classwork as a whole, was invisible to anyone but themselves.  This will require much consideration on my part… before I can post any student work at all.    This is an “academic” consideration, in that every year I obtain written permission from each one of my parents to post photos and schoolwork.  So… I have the permission of my parents… but… not the “good graces” of my school district. The underlying educational goals will have to guide me.

That aside… what can I do with what I already have?

1. Computer lab time:  Can we use some of this time to have the students write wikis?  The district has created a simple way to do this, or I could use WikiSpaces (a favourite wiki of mine, that I’ve used with my Gr. 5 Computer Club).  I stopped using computers to write “weekly journals” because Gr 2s don’t have the typing skills, but let’s scale down the expectations and go from “journal” to “comment” instead.  They need simple “practice” to start… so why not have the first 10 minutes of lab time go to “wiki writing”… it would be just like an “entry activity” at the start of the school day.

2. Classroom computer: I have purchased several educational games, but have not used them at all.  Time constraints with the “real curriculum”, worries about high distraction for those “not” on the computer, concerns about arguing over turns and the maintaining of records for who had a turn, and so on.   ”Super Phonics” seems to be the only regular classroom computer time I have “sort of” maintained.  It’s way past time that I got something better going here!

3. Classroom camera:  I have used this for several years up to now.  (I’ve had other concerns to deal with this year!)  Once a week the “News Reporter of the week” got to use the camera around the room.  Last year I set up a Publisher template where the Reporter chose 3 photos out of the 30 taken, and we printed them out.  The Reporter then wrote a comment/ mini story for each one, and read it to the class as part of author sharing.  First of all, I need to get that camera out again!  Next,  I should consider whether “once a week” really makes good use of it.  Also, can I find a simple way to share those photos without too much work on my part.   I don’t have a simple uploader, because the camera was an economical one (no memory card) but maybe I am underestimating the tech ability of the “modern Gr. 2″!

3. Audio recordings:  I have an old, but good, microphone from home and the Audacity program is free and already one of our school programs.  Why don’t I have students recording?  Why don’t I have one student recording during “silent reading”?  Gosh…. WHY don’t I?   I know… it’s simply because I need the time to “set up” the routine/equipment/expectations etc.  But if I ever get that going… wow!  Good inspiration for students to read better and a good assessment record for me!

4. Video:  All my digital cameras have video capabilities and I sometimes take little videos at special events.  Sometimes I don’t even seem to have the TIME to show the students!  I need to do some more investigation on how to upload the videos to the classroom website.  I’ve done it before, but now I forget how!  Again I need TIME… and I need to write simple directions to myself.   Hey… didn’t I write about that in a previous blog… “take NOTES” for YOURSELF!

5. Keypal connections:  I have started a new “stuffie exchange” with a teacher in Michigan.  We plan to send a class letter back and forth… but haven’t started because I haven’t sent my “Woody Beaver” stuffie to her yet… Yipes!   Perhaps we could investigate using Skype to connect the two classes???

6. My personal Classroom Computer:  I already have this set up to be a “demo computer” (ie. it is not on my desk, it is at the “group carpet area”.   We have used it a fair bit this year.  I’m pretty satisfied with it.

7. One school “document reader” (Elmo???)  is housed in a room elsewhere in the school but the other one is mobile.  I simply have to make the EFFORT to get it down to my room ( or take the class to the other room)  and make more use of it!

That’s enough thinking for one Sunday morning!  It’s about to turn into “afternoon” and I still have to get “Woody Beaver” packed and sent off.  Thank you, Kathy Cassidy, for inspiring me!

Nora

One of the challenges of using “new technologies” is actually figuring out “what” the technology is all about. Thanks to Paul Aiken for providing the link to this introductory video on blogging. http://paitken.edublogs.org/

After attending the CUEBC Horizons 2009 conference on Friday, my mind has been awhirl with how to organize and share the exciting information that seems to inundate my travels on the internet. As well, I also follow several EdTech podcasts, listening to my iPod on the way to school in the morning, and I am slowly starting to investigate Twitter. So much “good stuff” to explore!

Now, with all those wonderful resources out there, why should I bother to do my own blog? Perhaps it is exactly BECAUSE there is so much information out there, and because so much of it is beyond or outside of my “elementary school” needs. This blog will be a way of collecting those resources that seem suitable to my own school’s situation, and as well, a vehicle to share them.

and there you have it… that’s the start of my first blog!

Nora B