T+L Conference Denver 2009

This afternoon I travel to Denver with a team of teachers from our school district to attend the T+L Conference in Denver. I look forward to attending some valuable sessions, and I will share much of what I learn here and elsewhere. Check back and see what I have discovered!

I need this video today…

“Did You Know 4.0?”

I will never forget…

8 years ago I stood and delivered information and became involved in one of the most important classroom discussions with some wonderful, scared, and bright students.  September 11, 2001 changed each of us that day, and it was an extra honor to be my student’s social studies teacher that day.  We shared shock, sadness, love, and respect for all those that were directly touched by the events of that day.  We all were influenced in a meaningful way, and I will never forget those that lost their lives that tragic day.

Resources and such…

The following is a list of sites that have been shared with me over the past several days.  Generally, you will see all kinds of findings in my Delicious links on the top right hand side of this blog.  Enjoy!

What to read?

Library Thing Suggest

What Should I Read Next?

BookLamp

WhichBook?

Math

That Quiz Math Test Activities (Science & Geography too!)

Social Studies/Current Events

Know Thy Congressman

NewsMap

National Geographic Little Kids

Science/Health

NSF Scrub Club

iSpecies

Digital Citizenship

Creative Thinking Home

World Languages

Foreign Internet Radio

Virtual Field Trips (All Subjects)

SimpleK12

Miguel Guhlin shares some great videos!!!

As always  I have found interesting information at Miguel Guhlin’s blog Around the Corner!  The following three videos are worth reflecting on.   Thanks Miguel!

In this first video I hope the answer is YES!!!

Since I reside in Nebraska I wish I could have caught this act, but alas tragedy struck!!!  It’s kind of like my trees the power district cut down and the one they butchered (I have to let this go, but this song captures some of what I feel!).

It seems amazing to me that we would need to create a sense of urgency in education, but the ideas presented here are valid for any organization.

Map of Future Forces Affecting Education

Now that we are two years in on the KnowledgeWorks Foundation and Institute for the Future 2006-2016 Map of Future Forces Affecting Education where are we now?

“No Future Left Behind”

In February I had the opportunity (I took the opportunity and it is there for the taking!) to complete the Quest Atlantis professional development.  The following video produced by Suffern Middle School students utilizes several clips from QA, Second Life, etc. to drive home a very important point!  Enjoy and do!

Read this: “Writing in the 21st Century”

Online Resources…

The following are some new and old online sites that you may find useful as educational resources and fun instructional tools. I have included links to each site, a brief description, and information quoted from each site. I have known about many of these and learned about a few at an Educational Service Unit (ESU) meeting I attended in Ogallala, Nebraska.

Lesson Plans, Resources, and SO MUCH MORE!!!

Thinkfinity http://www.thinkfinity.org/

Remember the Marco Polo site? Thinkfinity is Marco Polo in its new incarnation.

“Thinkfinity.org makes it easy for educators to enhance their classroom instruction with lesson plans, interactive activities and other online resources. Thinkfinity.org also provides a wealth of educational and literacy resources for students, parents and after-school programs.

All of Thinkfinity.org’s 55,000 standards-based K-12 lesson plans, student materials, interactive tools and reference materials are reviewed by the nation’s leading education organizations to ensure that content is accurate, up-to-date, unbiased and appropriate for students.

At Thinkfinity.org, you’ll find primary source materials, interactive student resources and grade-specific research lists to help you tailor materials to meet your needs. Start exploring now!”

Web Tools

Tiny URL http://tinyurl.com/

Have a long web address/url/or web site “number” as VP Biden calls it ? Tiny URL can assist in creating a much shorter url for you to use or remember.

“Are you sick of posting URLs in emails only to have it break when sent causing the recipient to have to cut and paste it back together? Then you’ve come to the right place. By entering in a URL in the text field below, we will create a tiny URL that will not break in email postings and never expires.”

Web 2.0 Sites

Glogster http://www.glogster.com/

This site has some possibilities and there is an education version: http://www.glogster.com/edu/

I envision students using this to create posters, collages, etc. for various classroom projects.

“Mix graphics, photos, videos, music and text into slick Glogs. Glog yourself every day!

Amaze your friends – send others links to your Glogs.

Pimp your profile! – share your creations on Myspace, Facebook, Hi5, Friendster, Bebo or wherever you want…

Find new friends by their style

Have fun browsing Glogs, comment on other people’s Glogs and get inspiration”

MorgueFile http://www.morguefile.com/

This is a place to free photos and there is also a classroom section where you can learn the basics of photography.

“Morguefile, where photo reference lives. This morgue file contains free high resolution digital stock photographs and reference images for either corporate or public use. The purpose of this site is to provide free image reference material for illustrators, comic book artist, designers, teachers and all creative pursuits.”

Gigapan http://www.gigapan.org/index.php

See the “Gigapan” from the Nebraska vs. CU game (For my fellow Nebraskans, click the following link and zoom in to find yourself if you were there!): http://tinyurl.com/88ao9d

“GigaPan consists of three technological developments: a robotic camera mount for capturing very high-resolution (gigapixel and up) panoramic images using a standard digital camera; custom software for constructing very high-resolution gigapixel panoramas; and, a new type of website for exploring, sharing and commenting on gigapixel panoramas and the detail our users will discover within them. The GigaPan website allows hosting and sharing all kinds of panoramas, and so the robotic GigaPan mount is recommended but is certainly not required to be part of this community.”

Picnik http://www.picnik.com/

Online photo editing and more.

“Picnik makes your photos fabulous with easy to use yet powerful editing tools. Tweak to your heart’s content, then get creative with oodles of effects, fonts, shapes, and frames. It’s fast, easy, and fun.”

BeFunky http://www.befunky.com/

Create artwork with your photos.

“BeFunky Photo Effects allow everyday people to easily create photographically rich and artistic results from their digital images without the need for any technical knowledge. These “one-click” photo effect options produce desired results effortlessly and each effect comes with the option to make simple adjustments.”

Netbooks (are here!)

Several netbooks (ASUS Eee PC 904HA) have entered some of the classrooms in our district.  I mentioned this particular make and model earlier as I treated myself to one of these small wonders for my birthday in November. It is a nice little machine and can hold its own for many projects that students can be doing.  The key words in my previous statement are “that students can be doing.”  With these tools in teacher’s and student’s hands they should be doing.  We can’t wait forever to get what we think we need to educate students because forever never comes and time and resources are wasted.  In 1997 I had one computer in my classroom and a school wide, shared, dial up Internet connection.  I didn’t wait for a lab of computers in my classroom.  I didn’t think about what I could do if I had the right equipment, I just did with what I had.  I really, honestly did!  

Waiting for something to happen is a terrible thing, and I hope that if any educator reads this and you have been waiting, please STOP!  That is your first step in doing! You cannot wait.  There has to be something that you can do and someone if you need help to get started or restarted.  There are many like myself that are willing to help you; so, please let us help you help the students.  I have five young souls in my home that walk the halls of public schools each day.  They ALL want you to help them, to teach them, to utilize tools that they are familiar with.  They have technology in their hands whenever they need it at home, and they expect you to utilize it at school.  Many of their teachers do, but these students can do so much more.  Even little Heather, a kindergartner, is ready more that many will ever know if she never gets the chance to share what she can do and create at home using technology.  I’m glad there are some netbooks in a couple of schools now (there needs to be more portable, digital devices and that shall come to pass) but how sad will be the day if these devices aren’t in young hands. Please put them there and let them show you what they know.  They can!

Happy New Year!!!

The new year is upon us and I have decided it is time for my first post of the year!  We have many initiatives going on in our school district at this time.  The main technology initiative is to create new building level technology plans that are student centered (as they should always be!!!) by the end of February.  We began the process with administrators in October and now various staffs throughout the district are in the process.  We have three Continuing Education Days (Dec., Jan., and Feb.) where schools have been given time to attend tech workshops and to develop the various plans.  It is an exciting process and not without hard work and some serious thinking as to what we want to do and prepare for over the next four years.

On the side, I have been researching and developing a gaming in education initiative that has explored various digital games that have educational value.  There is a lot of research out there, and I have been finding time to sort through as much of it that I can.  With limited budgets, I have especially been looking at free and open source games that can meet our student’s needs.  The following link will take you to some of the gaming information I gathered for a recent presentation:  NPPSD Gaming Research.  The project is not over by any means!

I have the opportunity to attend a student leadership activity and will be working with 5th grade student leaders from all over western Nebraska.  I am excited about this opportunity, and we will be creating a short podcast/PSA from the event.  I have also had the privilege of working with 6th, 7th, and 8th grade high ability learners on a monthly basis this year.  Our December activity was a service project for the local Salvation Army.  We will be starting a gaming unit when we meet in a couple of weeks and also in February.

There are plenty of other things I could mention here, but there are so many things to do and so little time!  It has been a wonderful school year, and I wish we had more time in each day to accomplish all that we hope to achieve.  Rome wasn’t built in a day; so, patience will have to rule! 

Peace!

RCA Small Wonder EZ205 Digital Camcorder How To…

I have had the Flip Ultra and RCA Small Wonder digital camcorders since this past summer, and I like various features of both cameras; however, in the end I decided that the Small Wonder is the best of the two for educational purposes because of its ability to take digital still pictures as well as video.

The following is an introduction and getting started video that I created for staff members:

I also have a video tutorial on how to access video and pictures from the Small Wonder without utilizing the camera’s software as this is a better way for students and educators to get to their content without having to have software installed (The software is on the camera; so, it can be installed directly from the Small Wonder if needed.):

Getting to the media of the RCA Small Wonder

RCA Small Wonder EZ205 Spec Page

RCA Small Wonder Support Page

Reflection on “The Dip”

Well, here we are again closing in on the end of the first quarter of a school year and deep in the grips of things that always seem to take our valuable time.  What are these things? Paperwork, government guidelines, red tape, laggards, etc. Requirements, necessary evils, challenges, dips whatever you want to call them.

Seth Godin shares the following about his ideas in the book The Dip:

“Every new project (or job, or hobby, or company) starts out exciting and fun. Then it gets harder and less fun, until it hits a low point-really hard, and not much fun at all.

And then you find yourself asking if the goal is even worth the hassle. Maybe you’re in a Dip-a temporary setback that will get better if you keep pushing. But maybe it’s really a Cul-de-Sac, which will never get better, no matter how hard you try.

What really sets superstars apart from everyone else is the ability to escape dead ends quickly, while staying focused and motivated when it really counts.

Winners quit fast, quit often, and quit without guilt-until they commit to beating the right Dip for the right reasons. In fact, winners seek out the Dip. They realize that the bigger the barrier, the bigger the reward for getting past it. If you can become number one in your niche, you’ll get more than your fair share of profits, glory, and long-term security.

Losers, on the other hand, fall into two basic traps. Either they fail to stick out the Dip-they get to the moment of truth and then give up-or they never even find the right Dip to conquer.”

David Jakes provided great insight on “The Dip” last year and here is a review with his education spin:

“So my question to all of you is this. Have you thought about the approaching dip? Because it’s coming…

To the teachers out there: What will you do to work through the dip? What can you do to anticipate the factors that will contribute to the dip? What alliances do you need to form or develop that can help to mitigate the dip? How must you alter what you do to provide the time necessary to nurture, develop and extend the things you have learned so that they become a seamless part of what you do? How will your past practice, behaviors, and methodologies contribute to the onset of the dip? How will you avoid these? How will you lean into and push your way through the dip to be the best?

To the administrators out there: What will you do to help teachers through the dip? Do you know what they learned over the summer? Have you learned the same things? What do you have in place to support teachers on those new initiatives? Have you built organizational readiness to support teachers, or will you be a contributing factor to the influence of the dip? In September, will you think of November, when the initial energy of the start of school is a distant memory? Are you planning to help teachers maintain the energy? Are you providing the dollars, the infrastructure, and the leadership to help your school become the best? Teachers can only do so much; administrators have the ability to open the door to more.

And the technology people out there: will you supply that lost or forgotten password ten times, and do so with a smile? Will you answer that email in a timely fashion because behind every email is a whole bunch of kids that need to know. Can you get that site unblocked for that teacher that wants to do more and take kids to the next level?

Look at all the questions. Look at all the potential excuses. It’s easy to see why the dip occurs, and why it’s difficult to get things changed in education.

Start leaning now.”

Again, I’m leaning, I’m leaning!

Project Inkwell Sister Schools: Uganda & North Platte, Nebraska…

An update by Principal Parks on the collaboration between two of our North Platte, Nebraska elementary schools, Lake Maloney and Osgood, and Yesu Afaayo Jubilee Christian School in Uganda, Africa: