Karl Fisch and his cadre of teachers

Constructivist Teaching with Technology: Learning with Laptops

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fischbowl.blogspot.com

learningandlaptops.blogspot.com

Karl wrote up a proposal where staff meet once every 3rd week for a 3 hour block, during day, paid staff development- built in collaboration time, reflection and sharing.

Teachers need the passion.

First thing was to change the way the classroom looked. Changed the culture for students, tables, rolling chairs, and told the kids they were professionals and they had a job.

Second, changed the posters in the room. 21st century motivating.

Third, posted kids expectations in the class.

The first successes were noticed with teachers being engaged, during lunch, teachers talking about ideas, no complaining during lunch.Each teacher has a personal blog for reflection. Classes have their class blogs. Constructivist class practice. When Ann has a fishbowl in the class so students are participating, then the outside kids are blogging the proceeding.Skype is better than blogger for commenting on ideas.

Had conversations about what kinds of abilities the students should have by graduation. Businesses said teamwork was essential. When to be a leader, when to follow and how to collaborate. Collaboration is not the same as cooperative learning!

http://www.lps.k12.co.us/schools/arapahoe/21c/necc2007.html

Podcasting is an incredible way to share what is happening, it is a window to the classroom. She had her students write essays for NPR, This I Believe. Success!

to be continued....

Some of the responses are not the best work, but there is a worldwide audience and it is emphasized to produce quality work.

Leaving time for conversation. Thanks to Karl and his team. Check it out!

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Sowing the Seed for a more creative society

Mitchel Resnick

Tag=n07s737 Blog Posts / Blog RSS / Flickr / Flickr RSS

Join me with a summary of this workshop.

Where do we do creativity right? Kindergarten, go Maria Knee,(who I happen to be sitting next to during this session) Kathy Shields and all the rest of you!

Kindergarten approach, explore, create, question. If you only have wooden blocks and paint from kindergarten to high school, we won't create and envision new things.

But rather let's work on more advance ideas with the kindergarten approach.
Look for technologies that are easy to get into yet have lots of diversity of projects, learning styles, and more complex things.

to be continued...

Playfulinventioncompany pico.com
There is a new kit with legos and arts and craft stuff for building. Crickets.

the new materials for kids to build with are sensors and lights.

Scratch sosftware for kids to create online. Put together media to act and react

Demo of the software , awesome. Free download from ScratchMIT

Running out of battery, be back later!

technorati tags:necc07, n07s737

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Daring Conversation: An Actor shares the voices of students

Very dynamic and engaging presentation using student blogs, statistics. Taking It Global Student Video Contest award winning videos.

www.takingitglobal.org

Students are creating content, so they are learning.But how can you /we bring ideas into the classroom, how do they use technology in their lives, how can we use it in schools.

Tag=n07s581

How can we use technology to connect souls and teach brains!

http://www.actwith.com

Daring to Converse with Natives in the Jungle

Great.

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Voices from the Past, session at NECC07

This session was a great demonstration of how a 3rd grade teacher used a blog, start to finish with her students to write, illustrate and provide audio about Harriet Tubman. You can see the website here. http://dowell.typepad.com/harriet_tubman/2006/02/welcome.html#comments
Junior High http://dowell.typepad.com/civil_war/2007/05/welcome.html#comments
4th grade http://tappmiddleschool.typepad.com/ww2/

The room was packed, the information was concise and well delivered.

Presentation by Herman Wood. edtech@typepad.com

technorati tags:necc07, n07s740

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Sunday NECC June 24 ready for the Keynote.

Well, this update will show that you too can live this conference virtually.

I spent last evening at the top of the Westin Hotel with a great group of bloggers. Photos will follow, Lisa! Vicki Davis surely had great southern hospitality and gave all the guest some peanut brittle, plus organized this wonderful dinner reservation.

We circled the city 3 times during dinner. It was an incredible dinner, view, and conversations. No we did not podcast!

Today was spent with the WOW 2 women went in different directions. Cheryl helped with the CRICK software booth and set up. It was amazing how an empty hall can be transformed into a huge and informative exhibit hall. Check out Brian Crosby's blog for the photographic transformation.

Vicki was preparing more for her presentations and more. Sharon was attending a workshop called Sidebar Envy , given by David Warlick. Jen went to Stone Mountain and spent the day with Discovery Educators.

We are waiting for the first keynote with Anderw Zolli. Look for the blogs with this tag, from David Warlick.

Well, this is Day 2 and the real conference is about to begin. People are recognizable by their lanyards and name tags. The badge of honor. I am seated at the Bloggers Cafe, great wireless and good folks all around.

Over and out.

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Just got to Atlanta for NECC 2007!

Just arrived in the Peachtree city of Atlanta. I am at Edublogger Con having just met up with Vicki Davis and Sharon Peters. Waiting to meet Jen Wagner then the Women of Web 2.0 circle will be complete.

Just got to meet Julie Lindsay and Cheri Toledo too. Very fun to finally met people I've learned so much from through virtual blogs, wikis and chats. Stay tuned.

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Thanks for answering the WOCSD district survey!

Thanks for answering the WOCSD technology survey. This will allow us to have specific professional development options to support our staff. You can learn about these options through an email and by checking back to this site. Enjoy the journey, take one step at a time and check back for support.

This is a great ebook about Just in Time Professional Development.
Thanks to Jo Ann McDevitt for this great resource. This helps explain how we will provide support for professional development in technology.

Our district has a whole district/staff/student/community/Adult Ed subscription to Atomic Learning tutorials. You will receive information about this in an email or through classes. There are over 33,000 short tutorial movies that explain how to use different technologies and software.You can use the time you spend in Atomic Learning as documentation for your Personal Learning Plan for certification. This is a great way for you to have students learn how to use Keynote for your classes too.

Also another great resource is built in to your workstation or laptop. In each and every program you use on the top of your screen is a menu and HELP is usually the last menu item on the top right. When you select HELP you are able to search a huge table of contents for you problem. Once there you will find directions and screen shots about how two solve your problem or how to learn to use a new tool in your software. Try it right now in your browser and see what you have available to you!

Good luck! Watch for more announcements about learning new technology tools.

Thanks, Cheryl Oakes, Collaborative Content Coach for Technology

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Kick back and make a plan! Win the Best Buy Award.

Take time this summer and think of a great technology winning idea. You could win 2,500.00 from Best Buy.Don't wait until Sept. 30, 2007, write it up during the summer and post it before August 30, 2007 our first workshop day.

Rewarding Schools for Making Learning Fun
At Best Buy we believe technology can excite and engage students, creating a more valuable educational experience. Through Best Buy Teach Awards we support schools� creative use of interactive technology to make learning fun.

Best Buy Teach Awards reward schools using interactive technology to make learning fun.

• Over the past four years, more than 4,800 K-12 schools have received over $14 million in Best Buy Teach Awards.
• Awards go to K-12 public, private and parochial schools using interactive technology in classrooms.
• Schools must be within 50 miles of a Best Buy store to apply.
• Educators must apply online between July 1 and September 30.
• See examples of how teachers are using technology to make learning fun.

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What has the District Technology Committee been doing this school year?

You will see we are using technology. We podcasted our first meeting. The sound isn't that great, but you can hear most of the speaking. The minutes will be posted along with the link to the podcast.

Here is the link for the podcast of the May 31, 2007 meeting.

Here is a link to the Summary of the District Technology Committee

District Technology Committee Meeting May 31, 207

Members in attendance: Saul Lindauer, Jamie Cox, Mary Bouchard, John Bailey, Bob Gilpatric, Bob Sprankle, Cheryl Oakes, Cheryl Mills, Marty Cryer

Agenda:

Celebrate the Technology improvements throughout the year.
     WHS, WJHS, WES,Adult Ed, Central office
Hear a short presentation about Moodle –

Bob G. and Cheryl presented a quick intro of Moodle for the group. We are waiting to hear if the per diem request was accepted for WHS. We will know by June 18, 2007. Moodle will be introduced throughout the district next fall in staff meetings, small group meetings and will be a requirement for teachers to have a presence on the Moodle.

See the Technology Checklist for WOCSD

·         The Checklist was sent out to the staff as an online survey. Next time the survey questions need to be tweaked so support staff can answer not applicable to the questions about Web2School, for example.

Update on staff development in the district

·          Waiting on the survey results and the district calendar.

Update on the collaboration with Kennebunk and Virtual High School

·          No word yet.

   Update on collaboration with Kennebunk/Wells and the summer staff development class.

There are 18 people signed up to take a summer technology class and there are 4 teachers from Kennebunk joining our staff.

 

Questions, comments, suggestions!

 

• The Boosters are planning on selling USB memory sticks at WHS and WJSH next year. This will enable students to take their documents and presentations back and forth from home to school.
• Take all the information from the Technology Committee this year and find another way to get it out to the community. I will work with Reg Bennett. The information is listed on the District page, the Wocsdtechtalk page and to the administrators.
• A recommendation was made to have a page where the parents, students and community can find information about open source software which will enable students to use similar software at home as at school.
  
  This has been a rocking committee and I look forward to another year with this group.

technorati tags:wocsd, coakes

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Student and Teacher Survey for MLTI

Hello all,

Please have your 7th and 8th grade students fill out this survey.
Then please take time and fill out the survey for teachers. This information is being compiled for the MLTI project.
Students!
Student Survey: http://www.cepare.usm.maine.edu/surveys/mltistudent.htm



Teachers!

Teacher Survey: http://www.cepare.usm.maine.edu/surveys/mltiteacher.htm

Literacy Strategies at the High School level

Here is a project that was developed in Maine for high school literacy. It is called the Region III Literacy Project.

This Literacy Project is part of the State Moodle were lots of great information is stored.

The purpose of the project grew out of a need for high school students to be reading at a Lexile level between 730-960, a college freshmen reading between 1100-1310, and a typical Lexile reading level for textbooks and manuals at the Technical Education Center between 1010-1210.

Once this purpose was defined Region III instructors began integrating literacy strategies into their lesson plans to ensure student comprehension of the required reading material. What are you using in your classroom to ensure student comprehension at the target Lexile standards?

technorati tags:literacy, highschool, cheryloakes, lexile

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Thanks to Target for their efforts in Education

I've been meaning to write this blog post for a month. Since we just are coming off a vacation I figured I better just do it!

Target, announced a "first of many thanks to teachers for this year!" Taget thinks that teachers should feel appreciated all year round. Here goes!

Here is an easy way for our schools to realize funds from Target. Through the Take Charge of Education Target donates up to 1% of every purchase you make on your REDcard to the eligible K-12 school of your choice. This is one way you can benefit our schools.

Target has made a site with downloadable materials for teachers and students where diversity is celebrated.

Next September 2007, teachers can apply for Field Trip Grants for trips in our local community. Check out this link for more details.

Finally a contest for students Redesign your school! This contest, for students grades 9-12, began in March 2007 and the submissions are due June 30, 2007.  Students can win scholarships, prizes and the opportunity for their ideas to influence future schools' designs.

Checkout these ideas, all it takes is a little time.

Over and out!

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Juniors at Wells High logon to PrepMe

On April 12, 2007, all juniors in attendance at Wells High School were able to take part in an introduction to PrepMe. Here is the paragraph from PrepMe.com's website from Feb. 1, 2007.

Today is a big day for both PrepMe and the State of Maine. We just announced that in conjunction with a philanthropist, we will be making $4.5 million per year in PrepMe test preparation available to Maine’s public high school juniors for the next three years. Maine took the bold step of replacing its state assessment test with the SAT because it believed that every student deserves to have access to a college education and with the partnership announced today, PrepMe hopes to play a substantial role in making college accessible to Maine’s students.

It is not often that a whole grade level in a state can take part of something so influential and important (besides the laptops). I was in the computer lab all day at WHS and explained a little bit about PrepMe, test taking strategies and how to take advantage of the services that PrepMe has offered. Ms. Jennifer Lacher-Starace and I worked with the staff and students to get them involved with this process. I have to say that the support that PrepMe has been comprehensive and very reactive. I've been able to communicate with their company with questions and support.

PrepMe is designed for students to take diagnostic tests and then have a series of practice sessions individualized for them in preparation for taking the SAT's May 5, 2007. Parents may also take part in this process by accessing their student's account and by observing the kinds of topics the students need to work on. Each student went home with a flyer about PrepMe and an email about the process. If you have any questions about this process visit PrepMe or ask you student or your student's English teacher or Ms. Lacher-Starace. You can always email coakes!
How could I forget the most important part? The students were very serious about this test. They liked getting their scores immediately, getting feedback on their answers and about knowing what they need to work on next. Thanks PrepME.

technorati tags:PrepME, WHS, CherylOakes

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Online gaming in virtual worlds!

 Join the Women of Web 2.0 at 9 PM Tuesday as we discuss  many webtools. This week, April 10, we are discussing the following.

The Horizon Report 2007 states that virtual worlds are going to be a significant trend on college campuses in the next 1-5 years but there are some educators already doing it.

The Guests
Beth Ritter-Guth is a pioneer who is teaching literature in Second Life (SL). (Shakespeare in SL, to "prim or not to prim?")  She has taught me so much and is very patient!  We have a lot to learn from her.

Dr. Allan Webb is the founder of literaryworlds.org  and has an amazing story to tell about how a difficult book became very teachable in a 3D environment.

This is not technology focused as both of our interviewees are teaching literature!  It will be exciting!

We have agendas for these shows.  I'm going to share a pared down version with you:

If any of the following interests you come along tonight. If you can't make it you can listen to the podcasts which will be posted by Thursday at www.edtechtalk.com

WOW2 April 10, 2007 Agenda: The Potential for Virtual Worlds in Teaching

First 5 minutes - our WOW's of the week (where we share the coolest new stuff we've found!)

I. Guest Intro
(Brief bio, what doing now, and how they first got into virtual worlds and what they do now in virtual worlds.)

II. The current uses of virtual worlds in teaching
Observations from those who are doing it.
Dr. Webb -- How he first started literary worlds and the improvements he saw.
Beth - How she first started using second life and she you uses it in the classroom now.

III. Where do you see this going?
Beth - What do you think can be done in SL or other worlds that will help teaching? Are you seeing things happen in SL that will change things?
Dr. Webb - Where do you see sites like virtual worlds going in the future?
Beth's response

IV. Current Trends and Reports and your Reactions -
The Horizon Report 2007 listed virtual worlds and massive multiplayer gaming as becoming important parts of the college educational experience in the next 1-5 years? Do you agree with the time frame? Do you think college profs will agree or disagree with this?

A new report has emerged questioning the validity of software in helping achievement... do you think this has the potential to also stymie the growth of virtual worlds and give ammunition to the incredulous?


V. Safety
SL and Teenagers -- What can we do to safely use this tool. Beth, let's start with you, we want the audience to understand the issues about bringing K-12 into SL and the limitations.
Dr. Webb - are there safety issues in virtual worlds?

Over and Out! Cheryl

technorati tags:onlinegaming, CherylOakes, womenofweb2.0

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There is no such thing as a free ride!

There is no such thing as a free ride. Nothing in life is free. Many of us have heard these sayings  before. Well then, what about Free Speech? This week in the blogosphere we have watched a conversation take place that demonstrates the human cost of free speech, the lasting impression of a few irresponsible words and images.
As 21st Century Citizens we have a responsibility to model responsible, respectful and ethical behavior while using the Internet.
Today and often,  be sure that you talk with your staff, students, parents and community about cost of Free Speech. Our words are powerful. We have a responsibility to use our words to promote our ideas and we have a responsibility to share this knowledge and model good behavior while using the Internet.

All of this conversation should center around how to stopcyberbullying. Today March 30, 2007 is Stop Cyberbullying Day. I expect  this really is the beginning of  stopcyberbullying,  a way of life. Free Speech?  Responsible, respectful and ethical speech.

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Web 2.0, The Machine is Us/ing Us

When you view this, you will get a taste of how the web is changing. Think: how the learners are changing.
Think: how teachers should be changing.

clipped from www.youtube.com

Great links of this week!

If you are looking for ideas to promote learning about the Civil Rights Movement, please check out this site. http://www.visionaryproject.org/teacher

Have you been looking for a collaborative calendar? Here is a free online calendar for organizations that will streamline the scheduling and communications process for your members!

http://www.famundo.com

Marco Polo, a standards based curriulum web site for teachers has merged with Verizon Literacy Network. With those two powerhouses, you can't go wrong. Check it out if you are looking for  lessons plans, interactive student activities across seven disciplines.

http://www.thinkfinity.org/home.aspx

The US Department of Education has unveiled their newly remodeled versions of Federal Resources for Education.   http://www.free.ed.gov

Last but not least! Check out the ALA podcasts, listen to library related news at  http://blogs.ala.org/districtdispatch.php

Read my latest blog at TechLearning.com it is all about Daylight Savings Time and the web.

Over and OUT,Cheryl

technorati tags:wocsd, Cheryloakes

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SMARTboards and differentiation

Joe Scrivens presented about how he used Notebook to differentiate lessons for multi levels of ability in the classroom.Notebook also allows for different learning styles, the cloner for example lets you build words from parts. All the learning styles can be built into the lesson. By using colors to jazz up the bullets, it may make it easier for some students to read and remember. Now we have time to build our own lessons in Notebook.

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A great time at SMARTboard Training, Wocester 2/2007

Thanks to Pamela for sharing these great photos!

This album is powered by BubbleShare - Add to my blog

Day 2 of SMARTboard training in Worcester MA

John Blaser from Eastchester, NY, presented his rollout and training of staff in his school system. Critical Factors for Integrating SMARTboards into Classrooms, Schools and Districts. His district has 2800 students and has integrated SMARTboards , 125, into their classrooms for the past 2.5 years.There are still more SMARTboards to add to the district. As part of John's presentation he interviewed many teachers(40), administrators(8), and many email anecdotes. He asked 2 questions:

What was necessary or what contributed to the successful integration of SMARTboards into your classroom, school or district?

What are the benefits of integrating SMARTboards into your classroom, school or district?

Critical factors from the interviews:school committee support, support of administrators,training during the school day, must have substitutes, train right in the classrooms PROFESSIONAL development is KEY, will make or break how it is used in the classroom, trained by teachers and technology integration specialists

Implementation: Deployment and Configuration-

Integration Plan, Professional Development Model- teacher training in the building and knowing the people in the building to go to for support. Classes for inservice credit. Informal training in small groups at a grade level. Start with small goals and small implementation plans. Provide options for training, one size does not fit all.

Administrative Support-need to understand the enormity of the SMARTboards

Professional Development-key

Time Interest and Dedication-Allow teachers time during day, course work, afterschool all good options.It will take about a year to get the SMARTboard integrated into the teachers day.

Go to JohnBlaser.com for some of John's resources. 2/27/07 -823

Stephanie Carson, a product developer for SMART presented the newitems that are coming out. The Notebook is the mainstay of the productdevelopment.

Bridgit enables multiple users to connect easily and share real-timevoice, video and data with out making reservations, installing softwareon the desktop or uploading preesntation materials in advance. It alsouses VoIP. Allows the user to hand over the desktop and you canannnotate over the screen.*

SynchronEyes is a classroom management software.

SmartIdeas the concept mapping software. It is complimentary with the board.

The SMARTboard 600 series needs a seperate projector and has theability to move up and down. USB audio, wireless bluetooth, gowire.

The 600i series has an arm that projects 3.5 feet, which is theprojector. Purchase all through SMART. You can also run without acomputer. You can use a USB key to run your program. People can do theinstall on their own.

The Airliner wireless slate allows the teacher to teach from aroundthe room as well as having students participate using the board.

The Senteo Interactive response system.You can use for quizzes on the fly and immediate graphs are ready to use.

Sypodium is a product that allows inteactivity on a huge screen, not an interactive white board.

SMART is committed to education by providing professional development and unlimited support.

Many training opportunities are available at the SMARTTECH site.

SychronEyes- is a classroom management system great for labs, orgroups of laptop classrooms. You can push out files, so you can get theurl page all on the student computers.Windows compatible.

SmartIdeas concept mapping software. It is very intuitive and agreat resource. It is great for visual learners. It has great levelsand links well with Notebook. There are lesson plans already made onthe website.