Friday, February 18, 2011

Getting Teachers to Adopt Technology- What To and Not To Do

FETC 2011
Wed, Feb. 2, 2011
Notes by: Laura Hall, 3rd grade teacher
St. Luke’s Lutheran School


Session 4: 1:50-2:45
Getting Teachers to Adopt Technology- What To and Not To Do
Rushton Hurley - teacher, trainer, nonprofit guy


Free resources:


We need to tap into the talents that kids have that we might not even know about.
  • Plus, it’s fun!


One teacher’s perspective on technology:
  • It should help my students learn.
  • It should make things easier for the teacher.


Part 1: Training Do’s and Don’ts
  • Don’t: limit by requiring oneself to be a technology expert
  • Do: remind teachers of their expertise
    • ex: you don’t have to know how to do the video project yourself
    • the point is that they can can convey their knowledge of the topic
    • give them plenty of time (ex: give them 6 weeks to make the video, but have them turn in the script for the video by week 2)
    • They’ll come up with a way to figure it out, even if they’re not the best at technology.
    • Give them the opportunity to work alone or with a group of peers
    • (IKEA lamp video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I07xDdFMdgw
      • a lot of us feel like the older lamp
      • We need to remember that we’re not the lamp; we’re the light!
  • Don’t: start with standards
    • don’t use jargon
  • Do: show something fun
    • Tag Galaxy - connects to the flicker database
    • puts the pictures on the “globe”
  • Don’t: sit everyone in a lab for training
  • Do: allow regular (and short) sharing time
    • ex: what he did with Tag Galaxy - just a quick preview, etc
    • shared story of history teacher having kids write letters “home” from WWI
    • maybe to a 2 minute share time at staff meetings
  • Don’t: limit technology to labs
  • Do: show what’s possible with one or two computers in the classroom
    • Ex: Wiki
  • Don’t: buy expensive software a teacher has never tried
    • It has to be personal
  • Do: learn what’s freely available
    • let them get comfortable with free things, then they’re more likely to use other stuff
    • If you can use free things at school, then kids can go home and use it, too.
    • Using personal things (the pictures of the cats) can help connect you to the kids.
  • Don’t: blanket the campus with expensive hardware
    • Teachers- allow yourself to play with the technology a bit.
  • Do: use targeted spending to focus purchases
    • You don’t have to get the same technology for every classroom!


What’s possible, part 1 (part of his nonprofit stuff)
  • Light bulbs: online library of videos made by and for teachers and students
    • has a collection of Career videos
  • Global Views:
  • Seeing Service:


What’s possible, part 2
  • Showed video that rival schools in Washington made -”You Make My Dreams Come True” Shorewood Lip Dub: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7TI-AJi2O8
    • Kids had to actually say the words backwards!
    • video done in one shot, not edited together
    • EVERYBODY in the school was involved!
  • edmodo.com/FETCeval session: FC0012

Thursday, February 17, 2011

OMG, I CNT BLIEV WE R REALLY GTTNG THS IN SKUL

FETC 2011
Wed, Feb. 2, 2011
Notes by: Laura Hall, 3rd grade teacher
St. Luke’s Lutheran School


OMG, I CNT BLIEV WE R REALLY GTTNG THS IN SKUL
Anthony Luscre - Director of Technology Mogadore Local Schools
Clear Summit - www.clearsummit.org  - download presentation and see links to other resources

Follow your district’s AUP (Acceptable Use Policy) regarding cell phones in the classroom.
  • Douglas Adams- author of The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
  • Telegraphs consisted of the short, vowel-less letters that many kids text with today.
  • Problem with texting now: there is no consistent format.
  • Using multimedia in the classroom -
    • Consider the Digital Story of the Nativity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZrf0PbAGSk
    • Use same idea in classroom. Ex- when studying the Civil war
      • Have students research what type of transportation was available, where the people were (google maps), how they might have sent e-mails to each other, etc.
    • Can use for multiple subject areas.
  • www.emodo.com
  • Twitter project ideas:
    • short story (140 characters), poem, or Haiku
    • Vocabulary word-of-the-day
    • In Literature or History
      • Fake Newspaper Headlines for a historical or fictional event
      • a few words from a famous character’s perspective
    • Health
      • give examples of healthy foods and exercise
    • Special Education
      • helping keep track of their goals
    • Homework
      • instead of writing assignments on the board, Tweet them
  • Texting Ideas
    • Encourage written communication
    • Learn about appropriateness of variety of writing types for specifically audience and situations
    • as an example of how a language lives and changes
  • Safer texting and social networking tools used by schools
    • School-hosted blogging packages, Word Press, Moodle and other CMSs
    • Google Apps for Education
      • instead of printing out your paper, google it!
      • Then teachers can edit it/make comments
    • Gaggle
    • ePals
  • More ideas:
    • Book Reports or Class Projects by Wiki
      • Wiki = websites that are updated by many people
      • ex: Wikipedia
    • Class Blog- large variety of uses
    • Student/Teacher run Community Projects
      • Historical information (people, places, buildings, events, etc.)
      • Clubs/Teams
      • Peer learning
      • tutoring
    • My fake Facebook
    • My real Facebook
      • With real walls! One teacher had the students post pictures and comments on large pieces of paper posted on the walls! Then they could go around the room and (literally) write on each other’s “walls.” :)
  • Google Earth Project Ideas
    • Virtual Field Trips
    • Geography- where, near what, size, distance, navigation, etc
    • Historical imagery enables you to go back in time and browse the visual historical record of our planet (including hurricanes, earthquakes, etc.)
    • City planning and Construction
      • can reconstruct ancient cities using Google Sketchup
    • Google Literature field trips
      • Find places talked about in books or movies
      • USE BEFORE L.M. ELLIOTT VISIT!!
    • Try searching for “Google Earth in the Classroom”
  • “There Should be an App for That” project ideas
    • school work
    • science projects
    • social issues
    • family chores
    • hobbies
    • recreation and sports
    • etc.
    • Students don’t need to do the actual programming; just get the conceptual idea
    • Have students create “sudo” Apps
      • Create written descriptions for
        • What it is for
        • What is does
        • How it does it
      • Draw a Flow Chart/Diagram of Operations
      • Write technical specifications
      • Write User instructions
    • Freeware and/or Open Source
  • E-Bay Project Ideas:
    • Economics
    • Entrepreneur
    • Social Studies/Geography
    • Web Page Design
    • Writing
    • Math: Mean, Median, Mode, and Range
    • Statistics
  • Spreadsheet Project Ideas
    • Auto Filtering & Sorting
      • Ex: Romeo and Juliet- create spread sheet of the characters, who they were friends with, if they died, etc. then sort by friends of Juliet who died
      • gives a good visual
  • Online Simulations
    • Science and Engineering
      • Edheads - Excellent simple machines and design activities
      • Blender
      • StarLogo TNG
      • Gamestar Mechanic
      • Alice
      • Kodu Game Lab
      • XNA
      • Diginspired
      • GeoGebra
      • TeachEngineering
  • Virtual Worlds, Avatars & Sims
  • Misc. Project Ideas
    • Pod Casting
    • eHow- How to do just about everything! Videos and articles
    • Online Foreign TV and Radio Stations
  • Resources:

100+ Free Internet Resources for Real Teachers in Real Classrooms!

FETC 2011
Wed, Feb. 2, 2011
Notes by: Laura Hall, 3rd grade teacher
St. Luke’s Lutheran School

Session 1- 9:15 - 10:10am
100+ Free Internet Resources for Real Teachers in Real Classrooms!
Pamela Kenney
  • Pamela is the principal at a school with a lot of behavioral issues.
  • www.edmodo.com/fetc - social networking site for teachers and students. group FC0321 - their website is attached to it on Facebook
    • can leave comments on their site.
  • Purpose of session: sharing technology that is easy to use for all teachers.
    • Will be giving a quick overview of websites.
  • https://sites.google.com/site/meetthegeeksii/Home is the link for the resources if you don’t have an edmodo account.
  • These are the websites she showed us in the following subject areas:


Digital storytelling
  • PhotoStory 3 -free program for PC computers
  • Be Funky - simple photo editing site that kids love
    • Free site- don’t have to sign up
  • Find Sounds
    • Searches Internet for sounds
    • Files can be saved as MP3 on computer
  • Pics 4 Learning
    • Copyright free images students can use for projects


Language Arts
  • 911 Writer’s Block
    • If the child is stuck, press different numbers for different helps/topics
  • Between the Lions
    • PBS kids site for PreK-3
    • offers audio books, games, etc.
  • Dialectize a Web Page
    • Change the dialect of any website to Elmer Fudd, etc.
  • Grammar Girl
    • For middle school
    • has an iTunes app
    • Contractions, verbs, etc. in a way that kids find humorous
  • Spelling City
    • for elementary students
    • tricks kids into learning those spelling words without realizing it. :)
      • “Teach Me” option
      • games
  • The Week in Rap
    • For middle and high school students
    • by a group called Flocabulary
    • teaches kids about current events in a way that keeps their interest and uses vocabulary they like
      • Very cool!!!
  • Visuwords
    • an online graphic dictionary
    • be careful- a word will pop up, but it’s not necessarily one you want on the screen
    • Open it up on your computer first, then project for kids!


Math
  • www.funbrain.com  
    • free website- don’t have to register
    • Allows kids to play math games
  • Illuminations
    • Done by NCTM
    • Has lesson plans, student activities
    • aligned to state and national standards
  • Kids Bank
    • sponsored by Sovereign Bank
    • learn about money from pennies to checks and EFT


Science
  • Energy Quest
    • teaches kids in a fun way how and why they should save energy
  • Everyday Mysteries
    • finds answers to those random, crazy questions kids ask!
  • Science Monster
    • talk about Solar System - lets them ask questions like, “Can I live there?” “How much would I weigh if I lived there?”
  • The Weather Channel Kids
    • presents info about weather in a kid-friendly format


Social Studies
  • Eye Witness to History
    • shows the other side’s point of view
      • Ex: type in “Pearl Harbor” and get the Japanese point of view
      • will give news articles from Japan from that time
  • History Now
    • interactive American history through video clips
  • Kids Past.com
    • can search for quotes by Abraham Lincoln, etc.
    • has different historical quotes for different people
  • Student News
    • a student version of CNN - actually broadcast by children
    • is a more child-friendly way to learn about current events


Teacher Tools
  • Badge Maker
    • make badges for line leader, table wiper, etc.
  • Florida Center for Reading Research Activities
    • pre-made activities for reading centers
    • has FL standards attached
  • Graphic Organizers
    • you can subscribe, but they have a good deal of free organizers
  • Holiday Insights
    • could use for morning journaling, etc.
  • iRubric
    • has pre-made rubrics
    • you can also make your own
    • includes a public gallery of rubrics people have already made
    • can search by activity, etc.
  • Online Stopwatch
  • Primo PDF
    • free document converter - download onto computer
    • when you go to print, choose Primo PDF and it will save the document as a PDF
  • Tag Galaxy
    • a picture search engine
  • Zamzar
    • allows you to convert photos from .jpg to bitmat, etc. then e-mail it to yourself
    • can also convert documents and video