"Web 2.0- It's a No-Brainer"

How could anyone who "poo poo's" Web 2.0 tools look at these Tagxedo's by my 5th and 6th graders, and think they are a waste of time? These kids are studying the civil war, and though they do find slavery and the whole battle thing exciting, this art project was high on their favorite's list. First we brainstormed every word that they could think of that THEY knew about The Civil War. Many words were repeated, but that's was ok because Tagxedo changes the size of the font depending how often the words are repeated. We had 4 students recording the words as they were shouted out, then they emailed them to me in a Word doc and I edited, and condensed them into one doc. We went online and looked at some Tagxedo's, namely the one with Abe Lincoln with the Gettysburg Address inside his portrait, and decided on what "shape" they wanted to depict for their piece. After drawing and Mrs. Schaa uploading them to Tagxedo, they got to work, changing the font, color, layout with the words "they" came up with about The Civil War. Lots of ownership here! It is truly an exciting time to be an educator!

I want to flatten my school!

NO TIME

no time, no time

  I got got got got no time  

 No no no no no no no time  

 I got got got got no time

This is what I heard at ITEC and thought about on my way home from ITEC a few weeks ago. My fellow cohorts were talking about it,and I overheard teachers in the halls while waiting for a session saying, "What would really be nice, is if I got back to school and I could take a whole day to try some of these tools out".... I went back to my school so excited and asked my principal if she was going to give me a half day of PD to present some of what I gleaned to the staff. I'll give you 3 guesses as to what she told me....It seems, that schools and "the powers that be" want us to integrate technology but don't want to dedicate any professional development time for it. So- when will these teachers try it out? 

ON THEIR OWN TIME. Many teachers don't dedicate their nights and weekends to learning about new web 2.0 tools. They have families and other things going on, they have lives! This is what frustrates me the most. Wonderful web 2.0 tools, free, easy to use, and no time to try them out, and no time to show them to teachers.....Maybe we need to mandate some PD for tech integration...

who's for it??

Thoughts after ITEC

I went to ITEC in Iowa City and listened to a lot of tech people. Vicki Davis, Cool Cat Teacher was the keynote, and our cohorts were able to have some face time with her. Most or all of the things she said resonated with me. Like how she showed a picture of the biggest stacked sandwich and said this is most school’s PG& D…..wow, she hit the nail right on the head….we are overwhelmed by so much as teachers, and yet those of us who want to continue to integrate technology, there is EVEN more work to do! It is not a bad thing, except all of what we choose to take on, requires time that we don’t have to begin with! She also talked about how we need 3 big things to try to do this year. We can only do what WE can do…She told us to “be a transformer.” My school is piloting a new project where we are using smartphones. It is an amazing thing to watch these kids when they are told to get out their “pocket pc’s” and watch them fly. The teachers told me the other day that IT has happened: the kids asked to stay in for recess to work on them…We allow for “playing in the sandbox" as Vicki Davis called it, 1 night a month for 4 hours after school. We pay the teachers to try out new Web 2.0 tools or find new Smart Board activities.

If we didn’t do that, I am not sure if the teachers would use the tech tools…this all takes TIME!! This is something all teachers have a shortage of. I came back from ITEC with a list of things I want to show teachers from the MANY excellent and informative sessions I attended in additon to Vicki Davis's session, but first, I must “play in the sandbox” myself with some of these new tools and decide how/which tools would "fit" best with what each class is studying. Below is a list of things I'm going to "play with." ToonDoo, Classtools.net, Wallwisher, BigHugeLabs, Titanpad, to name a few! WOW! An amazing, energizing time at ITEC, but also exausting thinking about all I need to do in order to present these to my teachers!

The Best Part of Getting My Masters Is.........

The best thing about getting my Master's in IT is............my cohorts! When I am crabby and I need to vent about the droll reading, or have a question about the homework, I email, tweet, call, chat, skype or text my fellow cohorts! Talk about using technology! Tonight we used adobe connect with John Solis, and that is sweet, as we did not use the camera, just the audio and everyone came through loud and clear... Earlier in the night, we used Skype to "conference call" 2 of my cohorts. It worked awesome also! Some days are better than others in this program....All I know is, I would NOT want to be taking this without my fellow cohorts. It is tougher than I thought, this distance learning, you don't exactly know what the prof's expect of you, as there is no way to tell inflection in their voices, or read their body language, so you ask your fellow cohorts! They'll tell you!!

Blah, Blah, Blah and MORE BLAH

I feel the need to vent a bit about my new grad classes in IT. I have to take breaks from the repetitive, dry sometimes convoluted reading in order to not go INSANE !!!!!!!

I find it SO IRONIC that we are READING about the best types of Instructional Design, yet, are not USING those types in these classes, not to mention that READING material is not a particularly effective learning style for ANYONE!!

IF we are to talk the talk, we need to walk the walk, especially in graduate level classes! I ALREADY jumped through the hoops in undergrad. Been there, don't want to do that anymore!

I sincerely hope this is not what we have in store for us for the next two years. I will be a very sad and angry woman if that is the case........

OK, back to more reading.

Just "Hangin" Out This Summer!

image coutesy of http://www.stoneridgepress.com

So I've had just about a month of decompressing from my self-imposed sabbatical from anything "techie" and enjoy what's left of my summer.... just couldn't quite do it. I read Cool Cat's blog everyday, check out Free Technology For Teachers, am dedicated to Creating Lifelong Learners, and browse Edutopia's RSS and Edte.ch daily.

We have four elementary classes (K, 1/2, 3/4, 5/6) in addition to art, music, and exploratory that I am constantly looking for ways to integrate MEANINGFUL tech into! You see, I am the one person (besides my principal) who has the passion to want ALL areas in my little school to have tech integration. I've seen how it effects the kids, how it excites the teachers, and makes me want to be a better teacher EVERYDAY.

So- here is what I have been doing while I'm not supposed to be doing anything "techie."

Pennies For Peace- took the leap, am going introduce this to my K-6 students in exploratory class.

Book Builder- checked out how to create a book for my all students.

GOKNOW- am working with the AEA to get a grant to fund this pilot program that uses mobile learning, am hoping to use it with our 3/4th grades- the teacher has read about it, and is pumped (half the battle won!)

Google Earth- am going through the online classes- an application that all my kids would benefit from!

Windows Movie Maker- I tested/created a movie of my daughter, using the Flip and added sound, as I am hoping to make movies with the 5/6th grades about ANGLES this year, among other things.

TimeMaps- checking it out to use with my 5/6th graders as they put all the wars they will be studying into a better "perspective" for them to understand...

Free Rice- FreeRice is a website committed to the cause of ending hunger around the world. It is run entirely for free and at no profit. All money (100%) raised by the site goes to the UN World Food Programme to help feed the hungry. It was suggested to me by JKies one of my wonderful peers in the UNI IT cohort.

And I'm working with Julie Lindsay & Vicki Davis of The Flat Classsroom Project to start up an Elementary Flat Classroom Project!!!

Just hangin out...

Reflections.

I am "decompressing" from my classes at UNI. Having gotten back into my routine at home, and training (kind of) for RAGBRAI and a team tri later this summer, I have had some time to reflect on my learnings at UNI with my cohorts.

First, I need to wholeheartedly agree with one professor, Joe Marchesani, who said "There is nothing like face-to-face contact when it come to learning." At first when we started this "distance learning cohort", I thought, "yes, this will be ok." However, having been with classmates, and then looking back at the "chatting" and "adobe connect", there is no comparison.

We had to deal with lag time, not being able to "see" or "read" body language or "hear" sarcasm in people's voices....there's got to be a better way, especially when people are grouped and then need to communicate with each other for weeks while they planned projects....

I am missing my new friends/ classmates and am hoping we will continue to "communicate" throughout this school year to find out if the projects we made, were able to be put to use, hear about the feedback, and learn from it.

For now

Lisa

So Much To Do.....

After we skyped with Julie Lindsay today, one of the co-founders of the Flat Classroom Project, I began to thing about what I want to try to do for my little school located in small town rural Iowa. Thoughts kept popping up that some of these kids will NEVER even go to Adventureland in Des Moines, let alone out of the state. I began to think that EVERY chance I get to expose them to different cultures, places, people is an opportunity to change their life and possibly our future. That said, I have begun a "bucket list" to send to my principal: Pennies For Peace, Global SchoolNet, Around The World With 80 Schools, My Hero , The Global Education Collaborative and I'm sure there are many many more that I have not yet heard about!

photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/oxfam/523541609/

All Work and No Play.....

OK, So it may "look" like we are not working...

but, we took a second and posed for a photo "op."

We were all blogging for our homework that is due today at midnight. We are multi-tasking, if I can quote Carrie Jacobs, "We can drink and blog at the same time." Learning so much Dr. Z, I am blown away. ;)

photos courtesy of Lisa Schaa

Second Life

"Played" with Second Life yesterday and am not quite sure if it is something I would use with Elementary students...though I'm told in Sarah Sighs she did some research on "virtual worlds" and am hopeful I will discover an application that I can take back to my school.

After all, I am "all about" any tech that will dovetail effortlessly into my classrooms back at Stratford. I WILL say- that I am learning so much in this class, and am SOOO excited for every new day! ;)

AAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm in Cedar Falls, Iowa at UNI for the Masters program in Instructional Technology, and IRONICALLY

I had no access to the INTERNET!!

Our professor, Dr. Z wanted us to blog about the class last night, so I will quickly say (we are 5 minutes to class time) it was a great first day, my head is rotating at about 265 m.p.h., but it is great because it is relevant to my job!!!!!! Go time!

Whew! They'll Still Need Us!

After Reading, "Power of Social Interaction Technologies in Teacher Education" today, I am relieved to know that teachers are not going to become extinct as Chelsey worried about in her latest blog, Will computers ever replace teachers???

They talk about some of the challenges in integrating technology are: participation gap (access to the technology), transparency problem ( students need guidance in reflections), and the ethics challenge (students will need help developing ethical norms to cope with online environments.)

Another issue that was raised in the article was keeping up with the ever changing technologies, which is a legit concern for me as well. "Reingold (2008) claims, "Just because they're digital natives on Facebook and chat online during class and send text messages with one hand, does not mean that young people are acquainted with the rhetoric of blogging, understand the way wikis can be used collaboratively, or know the techniques necessary for vetting the validity of information discovered online." WHEWWW! We're safe!

Using Social Media to "sell" our school!

Our school is located in a the center of Iowa, in a small town called Stratford. We, along with most other rural Iowa schools, are seeing a continuation of declining enrollment. With the advent of Open Enrollment, every student in the state of Iowa is "fair game."

While at a graduation reception a week ago, I spoke with a young mother who lives in a neighboring school district. She "checked" out the pre-school in her school district, and our school district. She decided it was worth the drive to bring her child to our pre-school as we are very progressive with the use of Smart Boards, project based-learning, etc.

I asked her if I wanted to communicate to other young mothers about our fabulous school, how I would do it....I asked, "do you take a newspaper?" "No," she said. "Do you listen to the radio?" "No," she replied.

"Do you watch commercials on TV?" "No, I DVR my shows," She said.

I asked, "How am I supposed to tell others about our wonderful gem of a school?"

"Put it on Facebook!" was her reply. A lightbulb went off in my head, (albeit a dim one.)

After selling it/talking it over with my Supt., & after about 2 hours of adding text, photos and soon-to-be-added videos, showing how progressive we are, our school, located in small town Iowa, is on Facebook! Hoping it will "go viral" and we have to build another school to accommodate all the new students, and the town will be struggling to find housing for all the new families, I have finally found a positive use for FACEBOOK!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Stratford-Elementary-School-We-use-21st-Century-Skills/125187437510676?ref=ts

"What Works in Education"- they're preaching to the choir!

Had to use this cartoon I found....

Watched the video on Edutopia, Transformed by Technology: High Tech High Overview | Edutopia and heard a few great quotes I gotta share! (my poor teachers at my school are going to hate me before this is over!)

At this school "thoughtfully applied technology is transforming public education." Thoughtfully applied......

"Assessment is not an endpoint, it is ongoing, moment to moment, teachers are constantly checking for understanding, asking them to describe what they are working on, what they've discovered, what their plan is for the next day. Assessemnt is folded in." Folded in..........

There are no finals here. Instead they do POL's: Presentation of Learning, where they stand up in front of the class & teachers, using a presentation tool, describing what they learned, how it can be applied to the real world, how they've developed their critical thinking, etc. No finals...........

WOW.

Our First Attempt at Blogging with Elementary students

Our 3rd grade teacher wants her students to read over the summer and she knows that reading declines for students when they are not in school. We wondered if they blogged about what they are reading this summer, if that may be the "carrot" to get them to read more. We tested it out in class the other day to demonstrate how to blog, and she posted a question about what they thought about blogging for this reason. They went crazy! They did figure out in a hurry that they could post to someone else's post, but we discussed using the 3-B's applies with blogging also. I am afraid we may have created a monster. The kids were asking me how soon Mrs. Baker would be responding to their post...kids being able to communicate freely via the Internet was a first for the entire class! A quote taken from their blogging- "Mrs.Baker, I think this is going to be so much fun this summer even if we don’t see each other. But we will all have fun blogging."

Voice Thread

I am constantly looking for new ways to integrate technology into our elementary classes in Stratford, so when Dr. Z suggested I check out Voice Thread, I did, and after looking at some, I could easily see how I can use it in my classes....but first- I had to make one of my own to see how it works. I did one on my youngest daughter Maddie, and then sent the link to all her relatives and friends asking them to post a comment...still working on getting everyone to comment, but- so far so good! Check it out at http://voicethread.com/share/1140576/

iGoogle

Am trying to "organize" all the "tech gadgets" on one page using iGoogle. Hope it helps! :0

Spillin' about the Adobe Connect

Last night was great doing the Adobe Connect thing with my new UNI cohorts. I can see it has its limitations though. Wonder how many people can be "on" before you get the delay issues we had last night? Although I heard everyone as they were talking in real time, no delay...

I can definitely see the use in the education and business world, saving time and $$ on travel to have a "meeting."

In "my world" of elementary education, I can see an individual student or small group of students, using this a way of collaborating on a project in classroom across the globe. For example, my 1st/2nd graders skyped and now communicate via "snail mail" with Passamaquady Native American in Maine. We could group students from both locations and give them an project, like a book that they are to write, and this would be a great way for them to collaborate! The kids would LOVE it!