Student Learning and Data Collection

Our district uses an online data warehouse, called EduGence, to collect information on student performance. Edugence records all information on a student throughout the school year. Every time a student takes a curriculum assessment, it is scanned into the system by each campus. A teacher then has the ability to view all answers correct or incorrect that the student answered on the particular assessment. It is also very beneficial for the teacher to see the class results as a whole to view if there was a particular question that the majority of the class missed. Then the teacher can guide instruction to ensure mastery of the specific skill. Edugence also receives TAKS scores for each students as soon as they are released to the district. ITBS, TELPAS, and other benchmark scores are also recorded within the program.

Using Edugence to collect information on students is very useful at the beginning of the school year especially. A teacher is able to pull up the profile of each student in their class and see their performance in each subject from the following years. This can provide immediate information that helps guide grouping and instruction from day one of the school year.

School and District Improvements

What plans does your school building or district have for improvement over the next several years? 

I am leading my campus in a technology boot camp this following year. We identified that our teachers are most in need of professional development in ways to integrate technology into the classroom. So my principal and I sat down to create a plan that was not only beneficial for the teachers but also easy to implement and motivating for the teachers. Let's face it....if it is not easy and exciting....people will not do it. So we decided to create a plan of teaching a new technology tool at the beginning of each month and then allowing the teachers to play and come up with their best example of that technology in use to submit into a contest. We will highlight the best examples each month and share with the staff to collaborate on ideas. With this new structure of technology PD, we are also developing a technology committee to help distribute information and handle any problems or questions within each grade level. 

District plans involve a different focus in technology. Up until now the district sponsored one teacher at each campus to assume the role of the Technology Integration Coach. However this role has been reserved for the 3-5 grade teachers. Unfortunately this has left a huge gap in the technology PD for teachers of K-2 grades. I am very happy to say that in this upcoming school year the district is going to pilot a program where K-2 teachers will also have a technology coach at each campus. I have been very vocal about my opinions on the K-2 teacher being left out of this great technology PD so I would like to think that I played an important part in this decision.

How will they collect data to inform the process or measure the effectiveness of the plan? 

At my campus level, I will be able to monitor the effectiveness of the plan through observations and surveys. As more technology is integrated into the curriculum, I will be able to observe that student artifacts and projects that are displayed throughout our hallways. I would also like to send an online survey, like surveymonkey, to the teachers at the conclusion of the school year to get anonymous feedback from the teachers. 

For the district, many different levels of administration will be able to have a say in the effectiveness of the new TIC role on their campus. Principals meet on a monthly basis to discuss current programs within the campus. Also, the TIC's themselves will be able to express the effectiveness of the program at each individual school to the Technology coordinators. 

Where do you see the future of assessment in your classroom, school or district? 

For my classroom, I see much more authentic and performance assessments being implemented within our curriculum. Technology will play a major role in this as more things are available to us (teachers) each year. Just this year, our kindergarten and first grade classrooms received projectors and webcams. This opens up a new range of projects that can be used now that we have access to the technology. Also, we have gained Classpads in each classroom. This will actually put the learning into the hands of the students. Talk about hands-on learning!!!

Current Assessment Practices

Currently I utilize numerous different assessments at various levels within classroom and district.

Type of Standard Testing
I currently teach in Garland ISD. Our district is very meticulous about testing throughout the school year in order to customize instruction and meet the specific needs of each student. We currently administer a curriculum assessment after instruction of each unit. This is typically every six weeks in reading and around every three to four weeks in math and science. Each of these tests are directly related to the TEKS with detailed grading sheets and analysis online for teachers to reflect upon. Also, in teaching third grade, our students take the reading and math TAKS test every year.

Benchmark Practices
I administer four benchmark tests each school year. About mid-year my third graders take a reading and math benchmark to determine their strengths and weaknesses within the content areas. As a teacher, I use these scores to guide my tutorials and grouping for the remainder of the school year. The students also take two benchmarks at the end of the school year. Students take a released writing TAKS test from 4th grade in order to give a predictive measure of success the following year and a comprehensive science benchmark.

Use of Portfolios
Currently the use of portfolios in my campus is very limited. Within the classroom students document writing, math, and science within journals that are continuous throughout the year. However, they do not continue into the following grade level. The only true continuous portfolio that carries with a student throughout their elementary life is with their writing. We pass on student folders from one grade level to the next with examples of student writing. It is very beneficial to see the growth in a student over the course of a year or even the course of several years.

Use of Project-Based Learning
Each grade level within my school maintains its own project based learning within their curriculum. From research projects to living dictionary exhibits, the teachers at my campus try to utilize as many project-based learning opportunities as possible.

Technology Tools for Assessment
We currently utilize numerous technologies that assist in assessment. We currently have one set of student response clickers that are utilized whole group. Students also participate in the Accelerated Reader program school-wide. This monitors their reading and provides useful feedback for the teacher. IStation is a new program that we implemented school wide last year and found it very valuable in giving information about students reading capabilities, especially with the younger grade levels.

Technology Standards Assessed
I believe that this is the area that my campus needs to strengthen the most. We currently do not have any routines, procedures, or policies in place about assessing the technology standards with the students at our campus. Next year I am assisting my principal in a staff development of a technology boot camp. Hopefully we will be able to teach others about the importance of the technology standards so that it can be routinely assessed.

Animoto - Gr8Ness

Animoto is a web application that takes your images and a song of your choice and creates a short video with incredible image transitions that sync with the rise & fall of vocals, rhythm, etc in the song.  Before using Animoto in the classroom, you will have to register. Animoto offers several pricing options for the average consumer, but educators get an all access pass, worth $30 a year, for free. This will allow you to create an unlimited number of online slideshows that are not restricted in length. There are numerous ways that you can use Animoto in the classroom. It is a tool that has applications across the K-12 curriculum, and can even be a great free replacement for PowerPoint. Biographies, field trips, digital storytelling, science projects and more can all be captured with this quick and easy slideshow tool.

I decided to try out Animoto for the first time, and I love it already. Now I can make exciting slideshows that really capture everyones attention.

*BONUS* Animoto also has a free app where you can make videos using your phone. Here is one that I created straight from my iphone! 

http://goo.gl/zhxR

District Data Strategies

To find out more about the way that my district handles data, I talked to the CTA, campus technology assistant, at my school. We discussed many factors that play a role in the framework of maintaining the information for a district as large as mine and this is what I gathered:

The district has set up several difference drives that are backed up onto their servers. Each drive has a different purpose for the various levels of use within the district. Each teacher has a home drive where they can store all any of the important files that they would need for work on a daily basis. Then each campus has a faculty drive where teachers can upload files to collaborate and share. At my campus each grade level or department has an individual folder within the faculty drive for continuous collaboration. For example, my grade level places all of the powerpoint presentations, links to websites, and files needed for specific lessons into our 3rd grade folder for easy access should you need it. Also, our principal has instated a new rule that all lesson plans should be entered into the faculty share folder. This allows each grade to input plans on their own time and flexibility for the principal to access the plans at any given moment. Last, our district has a separate drive for students to maintain data. The entire drive is accessible from any computer on campus to allow student to continue to work on documents from the lab and classroom.

One new feature that my district has recently added is a portal that allows teachers to access their home drive and faculty drive through the internet at home. This is one of the best data strategies that has been implemented thus far! (In my opinion!!) I cannot tell you how many times I started working on a file at work and forgot to put it onto my flash drive so that I could continue to work on it from home. It has been a life saver.

One last thing that we talked about was the data storage and backing up procedures. The district backs up all drives on a daily basis in case something, like the unfortunate accident at my school where an anonymous teacher deleted our entire faculty share, happens to damage it.

Mouse Mischief is here!!!!

Microsoft has just released a new add-in for the PowerPoint program which allows student to play a more active role in learning. Think of it as a convenient, and much cheaper, way to have student response systems in your classroom. At my school we do not have student response systems available however, purchasing 25 wireless mice....no problem. We could even have a set to check out in the library so that more could use the resource!!!

Here is how it works. Once teachers download the free add-in they can create activities such as questions, polls, and drawing activities that all students will be engaged in through a wireless mouse. Students can even work in teams to answer questions!!! Think about the fun games you could play with that!

BONUS: They are currently having a contest to give away a free class set!!!

Check out their website here

The Beginning of my Twitter Addiction

I was always very skeptical of using Twitter. I always hear about Lindsay Lohans newest tweets and what Miley Cyrus said on twitter. So I always just assumed it was just another way for celebrities to talk about their lives to their fans. However, after I attended the TCEA conference in Austin this year, I gained a whole new perspective. At the conference they had live feeds of tweets about the conference continually streaming on television screens throughout the conference. Every presenter that I watched mentioned something about twittter. So, I began thinking maybe there is more to it than just celeb gossip and if Lindsay Lohan can figure it out then so can I!!! I started up a twitter account around February of this year and decided to follow a few of the edtech names I had been hearing so much. One being Will Richardson the author of our Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts book. Some of my other favorite tweeters are:

http://twitter.com/Brian_ThomasTCI

http://twitter.com/web20classroom

http://twitter.com/NMHS_Principal

http://twitter.com/mjgormans

http://twitter.com/ktenkely

http://twitter.com/tammyworcester

http://twitter.com/Jasna_A

As I followed these people I started to make connections to other edtech-ers with great ideas and pretty soon I was hooked. Now I look forward to reading through all of the tweets every night because inevitably I learn about some great new website or blog post every time!

Video Reflection

Whew!!!! I finally got it working. To solve my dilemma, I ended up using an online file converting website to convert the original .mov files to .avi. For some reason my computer attempted the .avi files just fine and kept the audio with it. One downfall of going this route is that by converting the files, I lost some of the quality of the actual videos. They seem more blurry from a distance than the originals. Once I had all of the video clips converted to the .avi file type it was very easy to work with Windows Movie Maker to create our poetry masterpiece. I actually downloaded the newest Live version of the program and was very pleased with the ease of using it.


I did learn a few things during the actual filming of the video clips. I had to film about 16 different shots/clips with different students. While filming it seemed like the sound levels were equal between the various students however once they were loaded onto the movie maker program the volume varies a bit. This could also have something to do with the conversion of the files. Another thing that I learned was that my camera has a tendency to auto-focus at random times. Not sure what makes it do this but I noticed that it only happens when I am actually holding the camera instead of placing it on a stable object. I coud e compensating for my shaky hands. 

HELP!....Video is not cooperating

I have been working on the content video for a while now and I am having trouble. I used my Canon Powershot digital camera because it records in HD. When I upload the files to my laptop they are in .mov format. I have a PC so I was planning on using Windows Movie Maker however it will not accept .mov files. So then, I found a free file converter (Prism Video Converter) online and used it to convert the .movs to .wmms, which worked...except it does not transfer the audio with it. Only the video. ARRRG! Anyone have advice or suggestions for a different file converter, etc?

All-time Favs!

Came across one of my favorite videos today. If you have not seen this, it is SO cute!



Now you and your students can create your own Google Search Story with the Google Search Stories Video Creator. In three easy steps: 1-Write the story, 2-Upload music, and 3-Preview and upload. iLearn Technology has a fantastic write up on how to integrate this new feature into your classroom.

Free Website Building/Hosting

At our last Saturday meeting I told some of you about a free website where you can actually create your own flash based site. It is called Wix. You can create high-quality flash based website for basically any purpose. It does not require any programming. All you have to do is drag and drop!


I actually used this website to create a digital resume. Check it out here.


Another site that I was recently informed of is Kafafa. It is also very simple to use and create based upon pre-existing templates. However, it is more of a flat website without as many animated features.

Classroom of the Future

I would love to describe my elaborate and detailed dream of a classroom of the future.

It would be stocked with tons of technology for the teachers and students to utilize. Every student would be issued a laptop to work on their assignments and to be able to collaborate with others. Since each student has this laptop, worksheets would be obsolete. Students can turn in assignments through programs like Blackboard or in other digital lockers. Their textbooks would be digital. This digital environment would consequently reduce the amount of paper being used and protect the world from deforestation. Also, since students would have access to their worksheets and textbooks via their laptops at home, it would motivate them to complete their homework every night!

Every classroom would have interactive whiteboards to engage students. This technology would allow students to participate and play a more active role in their education. In result, all students would begin to pay attention better in class and become more successful, eliminating the need for high stakes testing and monitoring.

Teachers would be provided technology that assisted in classroom management, such as the GradeCam seen here:

However, by this time the software will have advanced to grade all types of assignments including essay content submitted from the students' digital lockers. Teachers will no longer need to take home papers to grade and finally feel what it is like to come home to relax.

OK...that is enough of my sarcasm for one post. While this 'classroom of the future' would be absolutely fantastic, let's get serious and think about the reality of the education industry. MANY things need to happen before we can come close to achieving a technology infused classroom, but most importantly the following two issues.

1. Shift in mentality- The majority of teachers today are very apprehensive of new technology and do not understand the capabilities or benefits of using new technologies. School districts would need to implement a multi-year plan to train, educate, and assist teachers so that they are able to finally view the gloriousness that is technology.  :)
2. Change in Funding- While I do understand that the government allows a certain amount of money to provide technology for schools, it is VERY limited. Plus your school must qualify in numerous ways in order to benefit. Otherwise, you basically have to beg your PTA or write grants in order to obtain any sponsorship. This type of allocation is what leaves schools such as mine, which is middle of the road suburban, with only one desktop computer as 'technology' in each classroom. No interactive whiteboards, no cart of laptops, no student response systems, and one digital camera for the school to share. We do not qualify for additional government funding nor is our PTA able to 'gift' items to the school. Yet, the government continues to spend more money on other quite shocking things. Check out this statistic about government spending presented by Alliance for Excellent Education. (2006, August). Saving Futures, Saving Dollars: The Impact of Education on Crime Reduction and Earnings. Washington, DC.

Cyber-Safety for Kids

I am very passionate about teaching my students how to be cyber-smart. Since I have taught the students about so many great website and introduced them to blogging, I feel obligated to teach them so that they are protected. Many teachers skip over teaching the students how to be safe on the internet because the school district has a 'fantastic filter' that it used so that it never puts the children in harms way. However, what about when they go home and get onto the internet? Or what if the filter is down one day? Why not teach children from the beginning how to use it properly so that when they encounter something in the future (which they will!), they will know how to handle it. 

I recently heard some DJ's on the radio station talking one morning about these new bad things going on in middle schools. One lady was describing the meeting that she had attended the night before. It was a meeting hosted by parents of current middle school girls to inform parents who have children about to be in middle school. One thing they described was how the color of the lipstick or lip gloss a girl wears tells boys what she is willing to do. They went on to describe numerous scandalous 'things' that could happen to your daughter and the DJ who attended was saying how she was so freaked out to send her daughter. Then, the other DJ pointed out that there are a million situations that could be presented to your child at school and that it would be impossible to sit your child down and go through them one by one. However, if you have raised your child with firm values in place they should be able to handle any of those situations thrown at them. So, why am I blabbering on about middle school scandals? I believe that it relates so well to the topic of cyber safety. If we can teach our children the real 'values' with using the internet then they should be able to handle anything that encounters them. We all know how vast the internet is. There is no way that we will be able to visit each website to let children know what is and isn't appropriate. Let's teach them the 'values' to protect themselves!

OK...off my rant. When I first began my class blog with my students I required each of them to watch the following video that I created. It went through the key points that I believe children should know when blogging. I even posted this as my first blog entry and asked my students what other rules we should follow.

Another great website that I had my students play with is Internet Safety with Professor Garfield. This is an interactive ‘choose your own fate’ site that allows students to act out several situations that they might encounter online. There are lessons on online safety and cyberbullying. It is very kid-friendly and presents the information in a easy to understand way. 

Also, I really enjoyed the attachments that were in this module. I liked them so much that I sent shared several with the parents of my students, such as the Netiquitte Family Plan. I really hope that they take the time to create a family discussion on this topic.

Video Production

I found this assignment to be very informative. I really enjoyed getting to learn all of the different types of shots and movements. I never realized how technical it really is! Now that I have completed my video I find myself trying to recognize the camera shots in TV shows and commercials.

The actual filming was interesting to say the least. In my first attempt, I used my 1 year old niece as an actor. Numerous retakes later, I decided it might be a little easier to use someone that didn't run out of shot or stick their face into the camera. Ironically that person was easily my dog. Dog treats work wonders for sitting still.

The only real problem that I ran into was uploading the video files from my camera to Windows Movie Maker. I recently bought a new digital camera at Christmas and knew it would be perfect for this because it records videos in HD with sound. For some reason, the sound did not transfer with the video. When I play it back on my camera you can hear everything. My quick fix was to add narration in Windows Movie Maker and a background music from Soundzabound.

Looking forward to the next video, I will need to investigate my camera and how to fix the sound issue before I begin. I look forward to the video because I know it will be a blast to create.

Wallwisher

Ever have one of those weeks where you keep randomly running into the same person? That has been my week with Wallwisher! I first heard about it through a tweet and thought it looked interesting. Then Dr. Smolka mentioned it in our meeting on Saturday. Now, I received a tweet with interesting ways to use wallwisher in the classroom. Anyway, I found this very helpful and wanted to share. 

Geotech 2010

One of my favorite new technologies that I learned in my day at the Geotech conference was how to geotag pictures. I was very curious how it would work since it seemed to be something that I could use in both my personal life and in teaching in the classroom. I learned about several different websites that allow geotagging. 


Flickr- This site was my favorite because it was very visual and easy to maneuver. It's motto is "Share your photos. Watch the world." As I am writing this post Flickr has reported '

4,390 uploads in the last minute, 558,832 things tagged with urban, 2.4 million things geotagged this month'. 

Panaramio- Once I began reviewing this site I found a really neat contest that they are having involving geotagging. Check it out!!!! 


Everytrail- This site also has a free iPhone app that you can download to your phone and begin geotagging by using the GPS and camera feature in your phone. I tried it out on my way home from the conference and it literally tracks your every turn and allows you to geotag pictures instantly. 


A few other random things that I learned that day:

• do not always rely on your iphone to give perfect directions or you might end up a Lew Sterrett :(
• pressing 'ctrl' and 't' opens a new tab on your browser
• I am very uneducated about the geo-world! Who knew there was SO much information available!!!!

Teacher Tube Laughs

I have scanned through Teacher Tube on several previous occasions and each time I am amazed at the wonderful and dedicated educators that exist in the world. As I watch the different videos related to my content, I always seem to come across some crazy, zany teacher who has dressed up to teach a lesson or skill that leaves me laughing hysterically. Please don't think that I am laughing at them, but more so with them. It makes me think of my crazier moments in the classroom and the true passion that teachers really have for their students and their jobs. So, crazy, zany teachers on Teacher Tube...I applaud you and your efforts to educate the world. With this being said, I have to share the videos that I enjoyed watching tonight. In honor of the big, bad 4th grade writing TAKS test tomorrow, I have found some great teachers who created videos to motivate their students to do their best on the test.







I also LOVE watching student made videos. Here is another motivational TAKS video that some middle school students create don their own. I know that my third graders would think it was very cool. (No laughs on this one)

Audio Appreciation

I will admit it. I am definitely a newcomer to the world of Audacity and utilizing audio clips in the classroom. I was excited for the opportunity to complete this assignment because it forced me to use Audacity and play with all of the features that I never had before. I always had good intentions of incorporating audio into various places within my lessons and classroom however, it just never came together.

Audacity was so simple to use that I would recommend it to anyone. I have never used any type of audio editing software and I was able to literally open the program, hit record, and begin. I was that easy. I then played around with the cutting and pasting features to customize my recordings. I knew that I wanted to make this project something that I could actually use in my classroom right now. So, I decided to change an upcoming assignment, that was a pencil and paper worksheet, into an interactive audio that students could listen to on the MP3 player in my classroom. This way they could actually do this assignment in a center while I work with other students in groups.

The last thing I did was add background music to the clip. My district subscribes to a royalty free music clip website called Soundzabound. It was very easy for me to download a music clip and add it to my audio in Audacity.

Animation Anguish

What a process! At first I was very scared of animation because I thought it would be very high tech and complicated with programming language. Then, I downloaded Alice and received a little bit of hope. Alice seemed to be user friendly by implementing drag and drop features instead of writing codes. As I watched the tutorials, I began thinking "Ok, I can do this! Animation doesn't seem to be that hard." Right after I told myself this, I accidentally moved a method to the wrong place in the tutorial and it got on to me telling me that I wasn't following directions carefully. This should have been my sign of things to come.

I began with a simple idea of creating a food chain because this is what we are studying in science right now in my class. I did enjoy the ability to easily drag actions into the world and constantly preview and tweak it. I did like how Alice provided the graphic animals for me to use in my world. Even though they did not have a huge variety of animals available, they had enough so that I could get the point across. I also like how they had numerous of actions for each object added to the world already programmed. I played with Alice for numerous hours and constructed my basic plot and animation actions. I became stuck with I tried to add my name into the final frame of the video. Once I added the words, they remained in the middle of my animation. Several hours later, I finally became so frustrated with the 3D text and camera angles that I decided to try a new animation software and see if I had any better luck.

I had played around with Kerpoof at school before so I decided to try out its' movie/animation feature. Kerpoof was also a drag and drop format. I was able to quickly insert characters and objects, add animation, create special effects, and add a final slide. I really liked how Kerpoof gave the option of adding music to different parts of the animation. I did find a few drawbacks to using Kerpoof. First, I did not like that I could not open all of their graphics to select the ones that I wanted to use. I had to continually click on the sidebar until a graphic that I could use appeared. Also, I didn't like that I cannot save the file to my computer as a movie to play back. The only was to share the file is by sending a link to the movie on the Kerpoof website.

Ultimately, I decided to go back to my almost finished Alice animation and try it again with a new day and a clear mind. By this time I had also received some great help from classmates on how to move the 3D text around in the world so that it is not right in the middle of my animation. It worked!!! YEA!!! I almost had a heart attack when my computer froze up when I was trying to save the world right after I got the text to work with me. I actually had Alice slow my computer down quite a bit when it was open and other programs were running. Last, I just had to tweak some of the timing to shorten the length and add some details to make it more interesting.

I learned a lot about animation through this process, like how to manipulate actions into what you want them to be, but I think that the most important thing I learned, was that animation is definitely not in my future.

50 Ways to Anchor Technology in your Classroom Tomorrow!

On top of all the other cool stuff at TCEA, there was one more addition to the schedule...me! I was lucky enough to have my proposal accepted to present a session today. A friend, also from Garland ISD, and I decided to compile a list of 50 easy ways to incorporate technology into your lessons and classroom. We both teach at non-Title 1 schools in average suburban neighborhoods, which means we really don't have a budget for technology. All of the technology currently in our classrooms has only been possible through writing grants. So needless to say, we have become pretty savvy at finding free resources to use with the students. Our list is made up of free websites to use as teaching and learning tools, free websites to use for management, Web 2.0 tools for projects, digital camera ideas, digital storytelling ideas, powerpoint tips, and Gogle tools for the classroom. 

We decided to pick some of our favorite websites to demonstrate for the audience, since there was no way we would be able to show them all. Here is a short summary of each of our favorites that we demonstrated:

Fur.ly- Use Fur.ly to enter in multiple URL addresses.  It will then convert the addresses into 1 short, simple URL.  This would be great for student projects, webquests, and more! We used it to present each of these websites. That way we could easily navigate back and forth through each of them.  http://fur.ly/f48/

Super Teacher Tools- Create seating charts, groups, and randomly pick names within seconds!  This site also has fantastic flash versions of Jeopardy and Millionaire games. To maximize your use of this tool, take a couple minutes to create a class list that will be saved. They will e-mail you the number and then each time you access a feature of the site you just have to enter your number for all students to reappear. 

Dove Whisper- This site contains Internet games for all elementary grades and subjects. Use Dove Whisper as a computer center in your classroom or add these links to your class website for students to practice skills.  

Build Your Wild Self- Have students create their "Wild Self".  Use their creations for an intro into animal adaptations and habitats in science, or use them as a creative writing prompt. I love using these as avatars for our class blog.

My Avatar Editor- Have students create a mii.  Use their avatars in various ways, such as decorations, "all about me" assignments, and goal setting and tracking. This site is great because it gives you the ability to save as a jpeg or png file. 

MyStudiyo- Create multimedia quizzes in minutes!  You can attach them to your blog or class website.

Tools for Educators - Create custom game boards, customized dice, and many other printables to use in a variety of lessons.

Rubistar-  Create a rubric quickly with this site.  Also, you can browse and edit pre-made rubrics.

Last, I want to share our presentation website. It has ALL of the 50 ideas hyperlinked, as well as a pdf that you can print out if you would like. Check it out here: https://sites.google.com/site/anchortechnologytomorrow/

Let me know what you think! And if you really like it, share it!!! Our hope is to continue adding to our list as we encounter new and interesting sites or ideas. 

TCEA Begins...

I am currently in Austin at the TCEA conference and I have already learned so much! This conference is one that I look forward to every year because the energy level and excitement from everyone here is through the roof. This year is the 30th annual convention and exposition for TCEA and they pulled out all the stops. Along with the hundreds of free sessions, they are offering interactive model classsrooms, Web 2.0 lounges, iPlaygrounds for gaming and Second Life, and bring your own laptop sessions. TCEA also hosted an exhibit hall with over 900 booths that offered hands on demonstrations. It was so big, it covered the size of FOUR football fields!!! This was one of my favorite places at the conference because I was able to get my hands on all of the latest technologies for the classroom and play with them right there! I attempted to capture just how big the exhibit hall was with the video on my iPhone. (There is LOTS of noise/screaming because numerous companies have drawings and give-aways all day long)



TCEA also had several speakers throughout the week. They opened by having Christopher Gardner give the keynote speech. Sound familiar? He is the inspiration behind the movie 'The Pursuit of Happyness"! He was able to convey his dedication to conquering life's obstacles in a motivational and inspiring speech.

This is truly the geeky tech-lovers dream. I plan on sharing all of the information that I have received, as I have done with the Voki, however it is so much that I need to organize it all first. I will be getting back with you soon!!!

Voki Fun!

Today I learned all about Voki. I actually first heard about this about a year ago but never had the chance to play with it. It is a website where you/students can customize an avatar, record their own audio, and have the avatar look like it is the one saying it all for FREE. I had lots of fun playing around with all the different options that this site gives you. One big benefit of this site is that students can publish their work on the internet without having to use actual videos and pictures of themselves. I did a little demo that you can watch below:


Get a Voki now!

Lesson Accelerators

Any time that I encounter new technology or ideas I try to figure out how it would fit into my classroom and teaching. The search options within Atomic Learning made it very easy for me to narrow down their list to the projects that I could apply in my classroom. I was able to select the grade range that I teach and only chose the applications that I have access to at school. Don't you hate when you learn about some awesome, new technology or lesson and then realize that you could only do it if you had a specific software that you do not own? So to shield myself from that disappointment I chose two projects that I knew I could implement easily.

Internet Safety: Be Aware!

This lesson would be the perfect project to use at the beginning of the school year. It combines teaching the basics of internet safety with the basics of using Word. The students create a 'Be Aware' poster to publicize internet safety. In this lesson they learn to create text boxes, insert graphics, edit and crop graphics, and much more basic functions of a Word document. I currently teach with numerous older teachers that are very apprehensive with technology. I am sure that all of these teachers are able to use Word for basic typing however are unfamiliar to do some of the other functions shown in this project. I believe that they would benefit by just watching the tutorials. I think that this is a great project that could be modified for every subject level. In reading, you could teach character analysis by having the students create posters of characters from novels. In math, you could teach fact families and have students create a poster of the fact family in their house. I can think of numerous ways to use this project science and social studies. 

A Frog's Life: Sequence It!

This lesson could not be more perfect for my class right now! We have been studying amphibians in science and I would love to have them complete the stages in a PowerPoint presentation. I am going to pull up these lessons for my students on Monday. The project covers the basics of using PowerPoint and how to insert graphics, text, and background colors. I think that my staff and students could both benefit from the tutorials given in this project. I would probably modify this project to include slide transitions and possibly audio files or hyperlinks added to each slide. Also the teacher overview gave an idea of extending this project by putting the slides out of order and having the students sequence them. This would be a great project for sequencing a story in reading or exploring cycles in science. 

Riding the Ski Lift...

Today was our first face-to-face meeting and it was a good one! I was amazed at how quickly the 4 hours flew by. After discussing the upcoming projects required in this course, I was struck by a metaphor that Dr. Smolka used. In the midst of her story she asked if we felt as though we were "...riding the ski lift up the mountain...". This struck me in two ways. First, I have been dying to go skiing and it has literally been constantly on my mind and second, I could literally feel myself in that situation with all the butterflies inside. 

On the way home I began thinking. You don't climb on a ski lift unprepared. You spend time purchasing the clothing and equipment to protect you for your decent down the mountain. The same should apply to the upcoming projects. So, with butterflies in my stomach and the motivation still surging I stopped and bought a microphone. I decided to purchase the headset so that I would be able to multi-task with headphones and a microphone. Knock out two birds with one stone :). 

Next, I began practicing on the 'bunny slopes' (i.e. playing around with some of the programs). I feel like I have a handle on Jing and have already begun thinking of ways to use it in the classroom as well as with this course. Since I am the least knowledgeable about Windows Movie Maker, I also decided to play with it and see if I could make a movie just for fun. I got pretty good and the dragging and dropping. I even figured out how to split a frame, cut a section smaller, and add extras like animations and titles. However, as luck would have it, right as I was pressing play to preview my masterpiece, it froze. After waiting patiently for a minute...it played!!! It was MUCH easier than I thought it would be!!!!! Now that I know how simple it can be I cannot wait to begin using this with my students. 

Put me on the ski lift, I am ready for some blues! (Notice how I didn't say and black diamonds...not that confident yet) I am looking forward to all of the new programs that I will learn this semester. As I was telling a classmate this morning, I am excited because this course will force me to learn many of the programs that I have wanted to try for a while, but have just been to scared or busy to try.