techApps

SMART Board resources

2010-08-04T18:02:00.011-05:00

We're all getting interactive SMART White Boards in our classes at school, so I've been looking for specific resources to help those who want to get a head start on using these cool tools. There's a lot out there - watch out for InfoWhelm!

Probably the most important resource is the SMART website itself. This very well could be the only site you need.

Interactive White Board
This is a list of archived blog entries tagged "interactive white board" on a site called Technology in Class. The TiC site is well worth checking out beyond the white board posts!

SMART Exchange
Find lesson plans, templates, activities and applications, all searchable by state standards, subjects, and grades. There are also open forums for teachers to connect with each other by asking questions, finding answers, getting training, as well as specific user groups.

SMART Board Website Resources
This is a list of interactive websites for SMART Board use, covering social studies, science, math, communication arts, classroom tools and game templates.

On the SMART website, you can choose from several complimentary publications that serve a variety of purposes, depending upon your needs.

And, if you REALLY want to get a head start and maybe even be able to help your colleagues, check out the Training and Professional Development page for a variety of training opportunities to learn the basics of the software, learn how to install and maintain the SMART Boards as well as how to become a certified SMART Trainer yourself! This page lists regularly scheduled free online training for "SMART Board interactive white board Basics" and "Troubleshooting and Maintenance."

The WhiteBoard Blog

2010-06-04T11:50:00.007-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

I don't know why it's taken me so long to finally check out The Whiteboard Blog.

Well, yes, I do know. I was intentionally avoiding anything about whiteboards because I felt like I would be taunting myself - "we'll never have these at my school..." Well, ha! We're getting them! I don't know any details yet, but I can certainly pass along resources for using them!

So, The Whiteboard Blog is exactly that - a blog about all things whiteboard related. I plan to spend a lot of time there this summer, learning about the power of whiteboards so I can be a resource for the teachers at my school. Whenever I post anything here about a whiteboard, I'll tag it with "IWB" - Interactive White Boards. (I saw that acronym on the Whiteboard Blog....)

The Whiteboard Blog site is navigated by either a great list in the left column or with tabs across the top. The "Guides" tab has links to training videos, "help sheets" and emerging technologies. "IWB Files" give links to tools created specifically for use with whiteboards. The "Site Map" page is a complete list of everything that the site addresses - lots of cool web2.0 apps listed there! I've blogged about a lot of those apps here.

Of course, if you use some IWB sites, share them with us all!

Behaviors - medical issues, bad parenting or simple choices?

2010-02-07T17:50:00.002-06:00

Image by Alex Dodd via Flickr

"Medication is necessary to treat illnesses and sometimes to keep us alive. But for inattentive and out-of-control students, are we turning too quickly to medication instead of expecting individual accountability and self-control?"

The Medicalizing of Education

In regards to the frequencies of disruptive behaviors that we see in our classrooms, author James Burns says that "society has raised its tolerance for deviance." He believes that we have allowed society to create mental illnesses from the results of poor parenting.

"Now, parents and educators seem to be relieved that the problems that exist with behaviors such as disrespect, irresponsibility in the home and in school today can now be looked at as a type of mental illness that requires a treatment plan, rather than individual accountability and self control."

So, what do you think?

On one hand, I agree - parenting styles have changed quite a bit in what seems to have been a short period of time. Permissiveness seems to abound, perhaps in the name of protecting a child's self-esteem, or simply out of laziness. But that's just old fashioned me! I don't know. I was raised with the expectation that I would respect my elders, those in authority over me with cooperation and without "talking back." As I grew older, I began to learn appropriate ways to respectfully question those in authority over me, in an effort to better myself as a student and as a person. I was not allowed to talk back to my parents and I taught my own children to obey the first time. But then, I trusted my parents and teachers, that whatever they asked me to do was for my own good, and I think that my own kids had/have that same trust of their father and me, as well as their teachers and mentors.

I have one student who cannot accept a simple instruction without arguing and challenging my authority to ask for that simple instruction. I remember spending time with her mom before I was a teacher. Her mother would brag about about how she was teaching her daughter to question authority. Then I had her daughter in one of my first classes as a teacher. Wow. And her mom supported her daughter's questions (challenges?) every time. She is a proud mom!

A colleague is having a series of meeting with the parents of individual students who daily bully her and challenge her authority. She is dreading these meetings because our colleagues who have dealt with these students and their parents have warned her that these parents will defend their childrens' actions to the bitter end. Fortunately, we have great administrative support in these situations. She won't be in these meetings alone. And that behavior won't be tolerated. (Dealing with those behaviors is a whole other blog topic!)

We know that everything we do stems from a choice that we make, whether consciously or not. Those bullies are totally capable of controlling their behavior, but they choose not to - and somewhere along the line, their parents stopped expecting them to make the right choice concerning those behaviors.

Some kids though, it seems, don't have that choice - they literally cannot help themselves. This is where I beg to differ with Mr. Burns.

I am an officially diagnosed adult with attention deficit disorder. I've had it my whole life. I struggled in school, just barely graduating from college. I didn't know that I had a problem, although I wondered why some tasks were so easy for most other students. In my ignorance, I learned to not fight it and developed coping skills to hide my deficiencies. I don't know if any of my teachers saw those ADD tendencies in me or not. If they did, they never cut me any slack! Oh - I take that back. In graduate school, I was allowed to perform my piano juries with my music because I could never manage to memorize any of it to the point where I could even attempt to play from memory. It was just assumed that I wasn't trying hard enough or I wasn't practicing enough, which I knew wasn't the truth, but I accepted it as truth too. What other explanation could there be?

Now, my behavior wasn't affected by my ADD, at least not to the point of being disruptive (although I think I may have been a Chatty Cathy in elementary school...). I do believe that some children do have "faulty wiring," if you will, in their cognitive processes.

I'm not quite so certain though when it comes to the hyperactive element of a child's attention deficit disorder. I still think that behavior is a choice, and with a parent's or teacher's loving guidance, a student can learn to control those impulses and even learn to channel that energy into something productive.

It's so frustrating to hear a child (or a parent) blame his/her poor behavior choices on the fact that s/he has ADHD, that s/he "can't help it," or that s/he didn't take their meds that day so s/he, therefore s/he cannot be responsible for his/her behavior choices.

So, this is the case: we have students who are on various forms of treatment for AD(H)D, a diagnosed "mental illness," and those who are not. Can we teach them to resist those impulses that result in disruptive behaviors and interfere with their own learning process? Are those issues really no one's responsibility until after the disruption has occurred? Is the problem the "faulty wiring" that can be "fixed" with the appropriate treatment? Could this even possibly be a result of the changing pace of life around these students? Life is on fast-forward any more, with technology all around us making things happen nearly instantaneously. Are we not keeping up with that quick pace in the classroom, therefore contributing to the problem?

Incidentally, I'm on my second treatment for my ADD and am very pleased with the results. I could tell within an hour of taking that first dose that something had indeed been very wrong for a very long time. The difference was almost unbelievable. I still have to do my part though! Life is not automatically organized and easy now - I still struggle with reading and finishing things, but I know that I am capable of accomplishing those tasks now because of my treatment. Every once in a while, I "fly without a net" just to be reminded of the difference.... wow!

Even if you come across this post in years to come, I'd still like to hear your thoughts!

Internet Skills

2009-11-20T12:02:00.021-06:00

That title makes me think of Napolean Dynamite, "Girls dig guys with skills." I dig students with skills.

I've been teaching my high school students about the internet. "Well, duh," you might say and you would be right. That's what they say too. But, it's the most awesome tool that we as teachers and students have and if you don't understand it and how to make it work for you, you're totally loosing out. That's part of the reason for this blog (but I digress)....

I came across an excellent website that I think gives the most information about what students need to know about the internet, InternetTutorials.net. It covers of these topics:

Web Overview
* Understanding the World Wide Web
* Multimedia on the web
* The Web and You
* RSS Basics

Search Tools
* How to Choose a Search tool
* The World of Search Engines
* The World of Subject Categories

Search Techniques
* Boolean Searching on the Internet
* Basic Search Techniques
* Best Bet Search Tips

Finding Content
* The Deep Web (aka the invisible web)
* Finding Scholarly Content on the Web
* Keeping Current

Although it is titled Internet Tutorials, there are no exercises to complete, as one would expect from a tutorial. The information though is given in a logical order and the visual layout of the information is very useful, especially in the Boolean Searching tutorial.

I came across this site I think over the summer when I came across a lot of other useful sites, so this one was filed away in my SearchTools folder. While looking for resources to post for my students, I rediscovered it. I was very happy to learn that I had been teaching them the right information and in basically the same order - a nice little pat of the back for me! (Who doesn't need affirmation?) I plan to go back and tweek my own lessons now and work these tutorials into a required reading list.

I think that one of the most important things we can teach our students with technology and about technology is research skills. There is no other skill set that will help them successfully further their formal education as well as to give them resources for personal learning in life.

And beyond teaching research skills, I hope that I'm also teaching them to think for themselves and ask more questions. I get frustrated with their lack of asking the questions that I think should be natural while learning about different things - they just accept what Google gives them on the first pass. I grade my kids on the depth of their resources to hopefully encourage more higher order thinking and move them right up Bloom's list!

For the most part, I don't think my students appreciate these skills I'm showing/teaching them, but I hope that one day they have a little "aha!" moment and remember that Mrs. Maddox said something once about directories and they will then [re]discover that magic for themselves.

Blogging Revisited

2009-09-23T10:11:00.011-05:00

I talked about blogging in an earlier post - my purposes for using blogging as a tool with my students are many:

1. To learn how to intelligently express an opinion,
2. to learn how to make meaningful responses,
3. to lay a foundation for collaboration,
4. to practice keyboarding skills,
5. to foster a bond in each class,
6. to unleash some creativity in them,
6. to I can learn more about them myself, and
7. more learning opportunities will crop up as we continue this process, I'm sure!

We're using ClassPress.com. It is a subscription site, but $49 for the year lets you set up however many classes or groups that you want. I have ultimate control, even down to approving every post and/or comment. I can allow classes to see each other or not, invite guests to see classes and even allow some posts to be published to the web, meaning it becomes searchable in the search engines. Otherwise, the site is blocked from search engine spiders.

ClassPress.com a totally cool feature called the Drop Box. This is just an online repository for documents of any kind that are accessible to anyone who has access to that student's Drop Box. I have them name their assignment files a particular name and upload them to their Drop Box. If it's a work in progress, they can make a note about that so I know not to grade it yet. I can also make comments on their work and save it back to their DropBox. I'm having them keep their unfinished assignments there so they have no excuses to not doing homework! I'm encouraging them to use it for other classes as well.

The only problem I've encountered, and maybe someone out there could help me with this, is exactly what content to allow. At the beginning, it was a new toy, a new way to brand themselves and they were using it like FaceBook. So, I gave them an assignment to have them come up with some rules for our blogs. I don't know what I expected, but they were just no profanity, nothing sexual and be polite. They need more boundaries than that.

On one hand, I want them to blog as much as they want to, but sometimes the content seems a bit over the line. On the other hand, I want this to be just for our class and just about our class. My original idea was that they only blogged for the specific blog assignments I gave them. I don't know why I didn't forsee the social aspect of it!

I must say though, our first topic was about President Obama's speech to the school children - what is (was) all the fuss about, what is the truth and what do you think about it all? They had all heard rumors - it was required, it was propaganda, etc. so I wanted them to look up what the facts were (and cites sources) and then write their opinion. They needed to support their opinions with facts/evidence. I also wanted them to make some "meaningful" comments on the posts of others - if they said "I agree," they were to define what they agreed with and why.

I was rather impressed with many of their posts, but also a bit taken back by some of the attitudes that emerged. But then, I did ask for opinions about a potentially volatile subject! I saw some very intelligent interactions between students challenging one's facts or opinions, or simply raising another question. I saw some great potential for collaboration! So, we'll be learning to write in different ways for different types of electronic communication - how to express an opinion in a non-threatening way, how to respond to an opinion, etc.

I've given my kids some free blogs, as well as prompts. I want to keep them writing and communicating and interacting with each other in a digital world. I'd love to hear some other ideas about using blogs in the classroom!

Pay Attention

2009-08-28T16:32:00.011-05:00

In case someone needs some persuading...(not you, of course!)

We're finishing up our first week of school here - it's been a long one! I hope yours has gone well! I have to remind myself that I'm teaching because I love these kids I love these kids I love these kids I love these kids I love these kids - did I mention that I do love these little sweetie-pies? I josh with you. I do love them! I feel much more confidence in my classroom management skills this year and my students have noticed....hmmmm, what's up with Mrs. Maddox?

I'm encouraged greatly by the fact that we have some new teachers who are all about technology integration in their classrooms! We're almost in crisis mode already with requests for the COW and projectors! My classes are full with only one or two empty workstations. Business is good! I guess the "problem" is that I am the one that ends up dealing with these needs in addition to teaching. My husband tells me it's not my job, but in a way it is if I'm to truly be a technology evangelist, right?

So, I'll try to set myself on a schedule for posting here and also for reporting my experiences with some of these apps I talk about here. Next week, I'll be setting up my high schoolers and 8th graders with blogs and Diigo accounts. I'll for sure report on that! If I don't, someone remind me please?

Stop Watch

2009-08-09T15:58:00.013-05:00

I'm really bad about letting time get away from me. This is a very cool online app - just a digital stopwatch. Pretty cut and dried there. Just click on the "count down" side and set it. I'm going to show this through the projector...

Online Stopwatch

ReMix and Mashup

2009-08-05T16:25:00.012-05:00

Image by maven via Flickr

"Remixing", also known as "mashups", is one of the cool things about this new Creative Commons licensing. CC licenses can allow for one to take that particular work and mix it up, re-do it, alter it or whatever with another work - remixing or mashing. People create works specifically for this reason, believe it or not.

Enter FreeCulture.org, a student organization with a purpose:

A free culture is one where all members are free to participate in its transmission and evolution, without artificial limits on who can participate or in what way. The free culture movement seeks to develop this culture by promoting four things:

* creativity and innovation;
* communication and free expression;
* public access to knowledge;
* and citizens' civil liberties.

Checking out FreeCulture.org first though is probably putting cart before the horse, the horse being this whole process of remixing, or mashups. Students do this sort of thing already - they use images, music and videos from online to be a part of their projects in a unique way. I suppose it could be called a multi-media collage or mosaic.

The danger in what students are already doing is that more than likely, they are ignoring copyrights - if I pretend there are none, than ignorance is bliss, right? Or, I'm using them for educational purposes so that makes it fair use, right? Or, there was no copyright logo there! No, nope and no way. Anything that is in a fixed format is automatically copyrighted, right? Absolutely.

One of the reasons that the copyright law was put into place was the intention to encourage and protect creativity in the artistic culture. But it seems to be stifling creativity now, doesn't it; for example, students can't use Disney characters in their artwork, even if they draw it themselves.

This is a problem! Enter the Creative Commons Licensing that gives specific permission for users to copy, distribute, create derivative works, remix and mashup, in whatever creative way that the user chooses. Usually all that is required is an acknowledgement. Note: the exact stipulation of each work's CC license must be examined in order to be used properly and then followed, or, it is plagiarism.

Remixthisclassroom is a wiki website that focuses on how to teach a remix generation. It has been created as a resource for teachers who want to add remix and mashup assignments to their classrooms. And even if you're not interested in doing that in your own classroom, this is a fantastic site for resources to copyright free and Creative Commons multi-media files - images, audio and video. There are also some great discussions and resources about copyright issues.

I hope you see now how FreeCulture.org, the student movement to promote Free Culture in the creative world fits into the whole picture. Definitely check out Remixthisclassroom, at least for some great assignment ideas! And, as always, let us know what you think about it all.

Videos

2009-07-31T14:16:00.013-05:00

I spent some time today focusing on videos - and then actually watching them! I started out looking for videos designed to motivate educators to integrate technology into their curriculum and came upon this one.

This is by José Picardo, the creator of the Box of Tricks website - be sure to check it out! José is a great example of a teacher who fully embraces technology in his classroom. This video a review of what he and his students did in the spring 2009 semester of his Languages class at his school. I expected a video of student work, but it turns out to be a review of the Web2.0 apps that they used in his classroom. Cool! He talks about these apps and you can see his practical applications:

Diigo - a social bookmarking site
Edmodo - a private communication platform for students and teachers.
Glogster - create interactive posters.
Animoto - a presentation app that takes pictures and audio and puts them into a video.

Half term review - April 2009 from José Picardo on Vimeo.

I really appreciate José's comments about what his students thought of these apps - we think that some of these apps are so cool that the kids will love working with them, but he discovered otherwise, and the results are not at all what one would expect. We have to remember - and accept - the fact that our kids are very different from us! What we find engaging might not be the same for them. But, you won't know that until you try it!

I already use Diigo with all of its features and my students will be using it as well. I had already looked at Edmodo and didn't really see how I could use that in my classes, but after watching this video, I will definitely re-visit it. I had also already checked out Glogster and Animoto and have already worked both of these apps in my classes, so we'll see if my students give them the same review that his students did! If you use any of these, I'd sure like to hear what your students thought/think about them!

My Diigo entry from January 19.

Oh, also check out the website where this video is located: Vimeo. This is a great alternative to YouTube for educational videos as is SchoolTube. I will also mention TeacherTube, but not post the link because one of the videos on their website is setting off my virus protection alarm. If you've got virus protection that you trust, check it out sometime. I've seen some great educational videos there!

Well, that's a lot to chew on! School is coming quickly, so get at it!

Free Books etc. Online

2009-07-28T17:16:00.006-05:00

As much as I would like to make myself look so extremely resourceful, encouraging you to be in awe of my hunting and gathering skills by "stealing" a great blog I saw today, I'll just give you the link. Someone else has already done the hunting and gathering, so props to Karen Schweitzer for posting this most excellent list of 30 Places to Find Free Books, Book Summaries, and Book Reviews Online. And uber props to GeekyMomma for posting it in her blog, which is way is worth checking out anyway, so go on....

(incidentally)

2009-07-27T14:31:00.003-05:00

I seem to be unable to figure out why the line-height in my posts with blockquotes are all single spaced when they should be about 1.2 em. And even the spacing between paragraphs - sometimes it's the normal double space, sometime there's an added space.

Any ideas?

Handwriting?

2009-07-27T13:40:00.008-05:00

"Mourning the Death of Handwriting"

What? My first thought was well, of course. Everyone types everything anymore. But the "death" of handwriting?

I entered third grade in 1990, the year of the great alphabet change. My teacher, Linda Garcia at Central Elementary in Wilmette, Ill., says my class was one of the last to learn the loops and squiggles. "For a while I'd show my kids both ways," she says. "But the new alphabet is easier for them, so now I just use that one."

I entered third grade in 1970. First of all, I think we started learning cursive in 2nd grade back then. I remember the line of cursive writing examples above the chalk board all nicely lined up by the 3 lines that guided the placement of the loops and squiggles. I remember those cool 3 lined tablets that we had to use - a big step up form the Big Chief tablets! And I remember the horrible cramps I'd get in my hand from hanging on to my pencil so tightly in order to guide it in the right directions in a simple stroke. Ow.

Garcia, who has been teaching for 32 years, says her children consider cursive a "rite of passage" and are just as excited to learn it as ever. But once they leave her classroom, it's a different story. She doesn't know any teachers in the upper grades who address the issue of handwriting, and she frequently sees her former students reverting to old habits. "They go back to sloppy letters and squished words," she says. "Handwriting is becoming a lost art."

I asked my now 16 and 18 year old daughters about their experiences of learning cursive. The 18 year old remembers learning it in 2nd grade and being told to practice because the "next year," everything would have to be written in cursive. Of course, though, that "next year" never happened for her. She said that when she took the ACT that they all had to write an honor's statement on their essays in cursive. She said it was tricky - how do you make an "r" in cursive? Even her "official" signature is printed, although I think she's dropped the cute smiley face part of it.

The 16 year old, who had the same teachers, says that she's sure they did cursive in 2nd grade but she vividly remembers their 4th grade teacher giving them workbooks that had to be completed in cursive. Her official signature emulates her dad's signature style - a series of random squiggles and circles that only she can reproduce.

It's been a while since I've seen either of their handwriting, except for the occasional cards and notes, but their handwriting is pretty bad and isn't in cursive. As a teacher, I'm requiring my students to do all of their writing assignments in a word processor - it was taking way too much time to decipher their handwriting!

I suppose that along with the death of meaningful, face to face conversation and the re-definition of "friends," that the death of handwriting is to be expected. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in my school, especially as technology becomes more and more integrated into our classrooms. Of course, we'll all have to have a signature, right? But even now there are ways for a digital signature to be considered official and legally binding. Hmmm.

Suddeth, Claire. "Mourning the Death of Handwriting." Time Magazine. Time Magazine, 04 Apr. 2009. Web. 27 July 2009. .

HotChalk

2009-07-25T20:35:00.006-05:00

One of the hardest things for me to communicate and enforce in my tech classes is the directory structure for their student accounts on the school's server. No matter how much I stress the importance of properly naming files and saving them to the appropriate location, they just don't do it. Even if it means getting a "0" on an assignment because it's not where it should be.

Another difficulty with everything we do being on the school's server is that we have to be at the school in order to access it - we can't remote in. This is a great pain, especially for the technology teacher whose students work is all on the school's server. I've often thought of setting up a cot and bedding, I've been at school so much grading work!

Enter HotChalk. HotChalk is an online content management system the same as our students' computer accounts, with the exception being that everything on HotChalk is online and accessible anywhere anytime. Storage capacity is unlimited and data is there until the user decided to delete it, whereas our school's storage capacity is limited by the size of our servers and student data is deleted at the end of the year. HotChalk isn't a bandwidth hog either; they recommend a T1 connection which most every school has these days.

HotChalk provides an organization system that makes assignments, completed assignments which can be uploaded, annotated graded assignments, messages/announcements and a calendar available for each class that a student has.

HotChalk also provides services for student and teacher collaboration along with some awesome teacher tools! Some of the teacher tools include an online classroom, called MyClassroom that allows for effortless finding and management of lesson plans, distribution of homework assignments, communication with parents, keeping student notes, and managing the grade book and schedule.

MyLibrary is exactly that – access to a vast digital library of educational content that is aligned with standardized curriculum. Content includes already created lesson plans, worksheets, textbooks, articles and a wide selection of multi-media content for lesson enrichment.

HotChalk provides easily accessible educational resources with a focus of enhancing our teaching skills – news items, articles, product updates, teacher tips, teacher blogs, as well as the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues. Hotchalk also provides opportunities for professional development through McGraw-Hill, where CEU’s can be earned through online courses.

Personally, I'm sold, if for nothing else that 24/7 access to all my files and resources. Oh, did I mention that it's FREE? Well, it's FREE.

New Blogs to the Roll

2009-07-16T18:35:00.018-05:00

Today I came across a few blogs that I'm adding to my blog roll list:

Reflections of a Techie
Evaluating My Teaching Practice and New Ideas.
This is written by a math teacher who regularly integrates computer applications into her classroom work. She talks about what works, what doesn't and why, among other subjects.

Hongkiat.com
Online Tips for Tech Users, Designers, and Bloggers.
Lots of material to explore and get lost in! Watch out for infowhelm....

CogDogBlog
Alan Levine's Place to Bark about Instructional Technology.
Alan's posts are random, but all dealing with educational technology.

And, I'm gonna add one more: The Edurati Review
Where Policy Meets Pedagogy.

The Edurati Review is a collaborative blog providing diverse commentary, independent analysis of public education policy issues, and innovative pedagogical concepts.

There's lots to devour there - probably enough that you don't ever need to read another blog again ever - except for this one, of course. I've added these to my bookmark toolbar in my browser (FireFox) so that they are handy to check out when I have a minute or two.

Assessing Computer Skills

2009-07-15T13:10:00.010-05:00

This year, the first thing I want to do with my students is assessing what they already think they know, what they do know and what they want to know. I'm not exactly sure about the kinds of questions I should be asking, so, I've been doing some searching to guidelines.... This are a few resources I found that I think will help me out:

Computer and Technology Skills Kiosk. The state of North Carolina has strict rules about computer skills that students must have in order to graduate. This link is part of the NC WiseOwl (NC Online Windows for Learning).

Our mission is to ensure that all of our public and charter school students have access to a collection of online resources for use in research projects and homework assignments, without regard to the economic status of their local school system.

There are other sources at that website besides technology and computer skills - be sure to check it out! Note to self: create one of these for my school!

Computer Skills and Remediation Material. These are materials used for the North Carolina Test of Computer Skills in Catawba County Schools.

North Carolina Tests of Computer Skills (Graduation Requirements). There are links here to the NC public schools Student Handbook, depending upon when they entered the NC school systerm. These are .pdf files.

An Internet Hot List on Computer Skills. Yes, another NC public school, Wilson Middle School. These links are listed by specific applications and lead to a variety of sources, all as a resource for preparing their students to that the NC Tests of Computer Skills.

When I get my assessment written, I'll post it here to share and to also get some comments!

Overkill....? ya think?

2009-07-11T16:55:00.009-05:00

I've spent the last day or two playing with the layout and adding widgets - can you tell? ;o) I hope it's not too busy. This is the tour:

the column with the orange headers:
* Labels: aka Tags for my posts on this site.
* PLN: my Personal Learning Network. Some people also call this a PLC(ommunity). I will refer to PLN - mine and/or yours - quite a bit, so this is my list of what sites are on my own PLN. I made a note there that all of these sites have a subscription email list so the info comes to you. (That also gets into RSS feed, which I'll talk about in another post)
* My Blog List: These are a few of the blogs that I follow! You can also subscribe to these as well if you'd like, which leads me to the bottom of that column....
* Subscribe to Posts/Comments: This is how you can subscribe to this blog! I would love it if you would do so!

the other column:
* Blog Archive: exactly as it says.... blog posts so good, they made the archive ;o)
* Add This: Bookmark/Share: This link will drop down a guide so that you can add this webpage to one of the social bookmarking listed or email this page to someone.
* Add to Diigo: As you might expect, this link will add this webpage to your Diigo bookmark list. For some reason, Diigo isn't part of the Add This service.... shame on Add This.
* My Diigo Tags: What you see is called a tag cloud, made up of the tags from all of my Diigo bookmarks. They are ordered by how frequently I use that tag. Most of the time, frequency of a tag is indicated by the literal size of the word, but to save space, I just ordered mine in descending order, indicated by the color.
* About Me: ahhhh....... there I am! Just so you know a little aout me - the objective stuff. I'm sure you'll come to your own conclusions about me!
* My Intentions: aka, Mission Statement. At least, that's what it is right now. Hopefully it will change as I learn more while pursuing my intentions.
* Facebook Badge: I LOVE Facebook!!! I'll post about my thoughts on FB, teachers and students.
* Blogger Templates: This layout basically came from this website, although I've changed it quite a bit. But that's the beauty of custom layouts, right?

So, all of that is for if you don't have much time to stay and read (as I post more and more....) Oh yeah, the links across the header up there.... Well, I'll get to those soon enough! I want to add a page of resources for things like royalty free media files, copyright links, interesting articles that I come across and such. You could find all of that by surfing my Diigo links, but having it all in one place might be more useful (hmmm, another reference to RSS feeds... Maybe I should write something about that next.)

Until next time!

Updating my Template.....

2009-07-09T13:19:00.002-05:00

Give me a day or two to find the *perfect* balance.....ok?

Never Was About Technology

2009-07-07T16:38:00.005-05:00

Food for thought, especially for a technology teacher like myself.....

What is the whole motivation behind teaching technology?

Why make the effort to learn new technologies to use in the classroom when we've been doing just fine?

Are we using technology to teach the same stuff that we did before technology?

Is technology just a new way to do what we've always done?

Or, do we use technology to teach new things in new ways?

Check out this article: Never Was About Technology - Time to Focus on Learning?. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts about it.

I find that it is very easy to get tunnel vision when looking at all the awesome technology out there, to the detriment of overlooking the absolute bottom line - education. My goal is to teach technology because that is my subject, but mostly to teach my students to think for themselves, to learn to ask the right questions and to learn how to find the answers. Using technology along the way is just frosting on the cupcake. Learning about cool techApps means nothing if one can't make a meaningful application with it.

All that being said, I will still continue to supply my colleagues with links and information about useful apps that could enhance classroom experiences or that could put a new spin on a "tired" subject!

PLN - Personal Learning Network

2009-07-02T19:24:00.007-05:00

I think I first learned about a PLN maybe a year ago. At the time, I had just discovered Web2.0 and was focused on finding the coolest web2.0 apps to use in my classroom in hopes of capturing my students' curiosity and sparking some creativity. I hadn't made the whole technology/education connection yet.

So, I started my PLN. If you've followed me on FaceBook and/or Twitter, you've seen me periodically whine about infowhelm - there's just too much out there! How can I possibly know if I am accessing the cutting edge of edTech? Even if I am, how do I integrate that into my technology classes? (That seems like a silly question, doesn't it? I have an N for that....)

One of the N's in my PLN showed up today with a link to this article, Stages of PLN Adoption. Although slighty tongue in cheek, it's very true, and oddly comforting as I am again pushing the edge of the infowhelm envelope:

http://www.thethinkingstick.com/stages-of-pln-adoption

Perhaps this will encourage you to keep finding N's in hopes of finding the perfect N for your PLN. It's summertime - you should have plenty of time to check them ALL out! As a courtesy, I'll list some of the N's in my own PLN over there in the right column....

on the urgent need for technology in education

2009-07-02T19:22:00.003-05:00

Public Domain Images

2009-07-01T10:10:00.016-05:00

Copyrights create a lot of questions about the use of images found on the internet. These are some websites with images in the public domain that only need a citation or credit attributed to the website or photographer. Be sure to check each site for the format of the citation! These links will open in a new tab or window.

National Digital Library: US Fish and Wildlife Service

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Photo Library

National Space Science Data Center (NASA)

Department of the Interior: Bureau of Land Management
Image citation requirements clearly posted on the index page.

Agricultural Research Service (USDA)

Library of Congress: American Memory

Library of Congress: Learning Page Especially for Teachers
Not necessarily images, but an overall great resource for lessons.

[catching up]

2009-06-30T17:45:00.004-05:00

I've been negligent, to say the least, in keeping up this blog. Believe me, I think about it all the time when I come across an app, an article or a website that I think would be beneficial to our students. I was just extremely distracted by extra-curricular activities because I am not a good planner. Lesson learned!

I just finished an online class through region XI that kind of re-ignited my intentions for this blog. It was a class that dealt with computer user agreements, ethics, etiquette, copyright issues, internet research strategies, and validating information found on the internet. These are all topics I deal with in my classes, but that teachers need to know about as well - how can we expect our students to comply with basic computer user ethics and etiquette if we don't know them ourselves?

75% of Abeline ISD Eigth Graders Fail Technology Test. Yeah. Read it and weep. Especially me! Needless to say, this is forcing me to re-consider my middle school techApps classes! Although we don't have a technology budget for tech improvements, I have no excuse for not taking advantages of the free sources that are available that can help my students become tech savvy and to improve their learning in all of their classes.

So, onward and upward. I do hope that readers will feel free to make comments and/or ask questions. I hope that readers try some of these resources and report back with their experiences. Really!

YouTube alternative

2009-04-28T10:02:00.003-05:00

I know that many teachers use video as an option for student projects, and some of you, like I, am a bit wary of using YouTube as a repository for these videos – you never know what kinds of “suggested videos” will pop up when yours is finished.

There are a few options, such as http://schoolTube.com, but my kids can’t even stand for me to say the name of the site – how can SchoolTube be even remotely as cool as YouTube? I’m working on that one… Incidentally, SchoolTube is an awesome site to check out – great educational resources for teachers too. I should make a post about that website too.

Fliggo, though is a great alternative YouTube. You create your own video site, name it what you want, create your own URL and you can control who joins, who visits, privacy settings, and many other features. If a student has uploaded his/her video to YouTube, the link to that video will not link back to YouTube, so the “suggested videos” danger is gone, while at the same time preserving the cool factor of having a video on YouTube.

http://www.Fliggo.com/

I am planning to use this for my music video assignment that is quickly approaching. I'll post a link here when we get them finished!

What Type of Blogger are You?

2009-03-03T14:22:00.003-06:00

Typealyzer is just a fun little app that analyzes what type of blogger you are. Follow that link and enter this blog's url (http://fwafatech.blogger.com) to be analyzed. It says that my blogging style is that of an ISTJ - The Duty Fulfillers. Makes me giggle a little - it's nice to know I'm accomplishing something here, or at least, I could be. My personal blog is almost the exact opposite. Go figure!

Virsona - Create Virtual Personalities

2009-02-14T14:39:00.000-06:00

Virsona is a social media application that allows one to create a virtual "you," allowing one to "achieve digital immortality." The site suggests applications for collaborative educational projects, such as creating an historical figure or a character from a book. The site also suggests using it to create personal memories for your family.

I first saw this site on my Twitter feed. The comment was intriguing! I went to the website and took the virtual tour, but still wasn't quite clear. My mind couldn't quite wrap around what Virsona claims to do, which is, it allows you to create virtual personalities that can communicate with you. The FAQ page, explains it much better, I think. But then, I'm not a auditory learner! The virtual tour might tell you exactly what you need to know about Virsona!

I'm just going to quote Virsona's web page to explain what it does. (Cue: "Twilight Zone" theme)

Q: How does a Virsona get created?
A: A Personal Virsona is created when people build a personal life archive of letters, journals, emails, memories and photos and invite family and friends to access and interact with the Virsona and its content. Community Virsonas of famous people and icons are created when users populate the persona with information and content. Virsonas of corporate-owned brands are created and maintained by the company that owns the brand.

Q: How does a Virsona become achieve human-like traits?
A: The more information that is added to a Virsona, the more it can reason, remember, and react like the real person it was designed to emulate. This human-like capability is accomplished with Virsona’s patent-pending artificial intelligence technology.

This sounds very curious! I do plan to implement this in one of my classes as an experiment with a Web2.0 application. Remember, Web2.0 is about using the web as a platform as well as for social collaboration, and I guess, just for fun, too!

I can think of great applications for educational purposes; our seniors do an author project each year rather than a research paper. How cool would it be to create a virtual author? Or for literature, building a virtual character based on what one learns about that character in the book. An history teacher could create some virtual historical characters, like maybe Genghis Kahn, so students could interact with the characters and maybe then add to the data base for that character.

Of course, this really could be a cool thing for your children and their children, etc. "Digital immortality" sounds kind of cheesy, but the future is all about digital, right? (Cue: "Twilight Zone" theme and fade)

Social Bookmarking and more - Diigo.com

2009-01-19T12:52:00.016-06:00

"Bookmarks" are simply links to webpages that you've saved to your browser so that you can go back at a later time to view that same website. "Social bookmarking," which I'll refer to as SB after this point, is exactly as it sounds - a list of your bookmarks that are online and available to yourself, specific people, and/or the general public.

These are some advantages of using SB over your browser's bookmark list:

24/7/365 availability!

SB allows you to annotate your bookmarks so that you can remember why you saved that page without having to open it up and view it.

SB allows you to add "tags" to each bookmark so that it may be included in several different lists/categories, rather than being pigeonholed in one folder in your browser's bookmark list. (I'll talk about "tagging" another time. For now, a tag is simply a label.)

SB makes it possible for you to do a search of your bookmarks using keywords or tags, again, allowing flexibility in the way you organize your bookmarks.

The "social" part of this bookmarking comes in play when you wish to find resources on a particular topic. Rather than going to a search engine and weeding through all those results yourself, do a search on a social bookmarking site. Sites bookmarked there have already been weeded through plus having the added bonus of annotations, comments and additional links in related topics.

There are many SB sites that are listed on this Top 30 Social Bookmarking sites, including these popular services: DeLiCious, Technorati, IKeepBookmarks, Furl, and StumbleUpon.

I use Diigo.com for my online bookmarking. When you sign up for a Diigo account, you'll have the option of downloading the Diigo toolbar, which will allow you to take full advantage of the tools that Diigo provides along with the bookmarking. A Diigo link will be added to your browser's menu so that rather than using the Bookmarks link, you use the Diigo link. That opens up a dialogue box where you can customize your bookmark by adding a description and tags.

The true magic of Diigo is unleashed when it is used as a research and collaboration tool. This video demonstrates how an AP U.S. History teacher uses it in his classes for research projects.

This is my own Diigo list, in case you'd like to see what kinds of things I keep track of! I hope this will be a useful tool for you!

Bloom's Digital Taxonomy

2009-01-14T17:15:00.000-06:00

As educators, we all have learned about Bloom's Taxonomy. As a new teacher, I work hard to use this in developing lesson plans. I'm not so good at it, yet.

Technology brings us a new literacy and I think it definitely needs to be addressed as part of what and how we encourage our students as young thinkers and learners. I found an article that introduces an updated version of Bloom's Taxonomy that includes the use of emerging technologies in the classroom. I find it to be very interesting - I thought you might too.

Bloom's Digital Taxonomy (.pdf file)

VoiceThread.com

2009-01-13T09:06:00.000-06:00

VoiceThread.com is an online application that allows group conversations around videos, images and documents. It is similar to a blog I suppose, but rather than reading a text post and posting a text comment, users view a video, an image or a document and can reply using an audio file, a computer microphone, telephone, by doodling on the subject matter and by "old fashioned" text.

I'm definitely going to try this out in my techApps classes and I can see great opportunities especially for classes in the fine arts. This is also a great tool for digital storytelling. The website is full of great and creative ideas of ways to use VoiceThread in the classroom. You can browse the conversations by choosing "browse" on the menu.

Practically speaking, the website gives very clear, well organized instructions in writing as well as in video form about the process of using VoiceThread; the VoiceThread list of FAQs may be read by clicking on that link, and the first video in the browse category is called "What is a Voice Thread?" explains and demonstrates how VoiceThread works. Having read and viewed that information, I feel confident that setting it up won't be difficult. I will post more on this once I'm using it!

VoiceThread is an excellent example of a Web2.0 application - it moves beyond the 1st generation typical point and click visual web experience and gives users a tool for personal creativity, expression, interaction and collaboration with anyone from any corner of the world. It is accessible for all users to view and to participate with, not just those with webcams and microphones. It is truly a tool that can bring the world to a desktop.

I would be happy to learn how you might use VoiceThread in your class!

Blogger.com

2008-11-20T09:05:00.001-06:00

Obviously, Blogger.com is a great place to share information and conduct community conversations. My goal for this blog is to do just that, especially with my colleagues at the Ft. Worth Academy of Fine Art s.

Blogs can be set up to be public or private. This blog is public. I have a private blog as well where I record my thoughts about being a teacher and other personal things. I am able to allow access to only the people with whom I wish to share those thoughts.

As a teacher, creating a private blog to share only with your students is a great way to integrate technology into your classes. You can give assignments or post questions and then have them respond with their thoughts. This can be a great tool for stimulating conversations in greater depth than can be done in the classroom. It also can lead to higher level of thinking and problem solving since the students are in a safe environment and have some time to organize their thoughts.

We all know that our students today are very comfortable with cyber-relationships, that they feel almost more comfortable texting, posting or chatting online than they do with face to face interactions. That is a sad fact, but it is a fact that we need to learn to accept. Blogging can be a useful tool for developing and fostering relationships with students that might not be possible in the regular classroom. Some students express themselves more clearly in writing. This can also create a record of a student's development as a student and as a communicator.

Practically speaking, setting up a blog is very easy. I've only worked with Blogger.com because it meets all of my needs as a blogger. Setting up a blog simply requires creating an account and then following the instructions. I find Blogger to be very user friendly and haven't had any problems with being able to do what I want to with it. There are many other online blogging services and independent blogging apps that can be installed on your own server - that is up to you.

I'd love to hear from you if you're already using blogs in your classroom or if you set one up for that purpose!

Hello out there!

2008-10-26T14:47:00.000-05:00

My plan is for this blog to be about the discoveries I've been making in the new world of Web 2.0 and how it can be and is being used in the classroom. I've also been thinking that these same tools can be just as effective in ministry - student ministry. Since my heart is about students, ministry opportunities abound with this new technology as well.

I am by no means an expert on any of this. I'm "just" a second year technology applications teacher who is teaching on a probationary certificate after having gone through an alternative certification progam -Texas Teachers. I'm just discovering the tip of the iceberg of web tools out there that can make life so much simpler and save teachers time, as well as engaging students as active learners.

Yesterday I went to a Texas Computer Teachers Association Regions 10/11 Conference. This is a link to all of the material that were covered on that day. Personally, I took a seminar on Moodle, NoodleTools and Twitter. I was in the Geocaching class, but the teacher literally ran out of them room (sick, pg) and wasn't able to come back.... Anyway, not all of the presenters have posted their notes there yet, but Twitter, uStream, and "A Student Web 2.0 Backpack" are there at this red hot moment.

I plan to spend lots more time exploring the wealth and then pass along what I've learned, and my observations to you and hopefully establish an exchange of ideas and tips. Thanks for trying this out with me!