Wordle and Animoto in the Classroom

Last month a coworker asked if I would be a guest presenter at her daughter’s school.  Each child in this 3rd grade classroom had the opportunity to invite a guest.  I accepted the invitation, met with her daughter and we planned a presentation of animoto and wordle.  Two of my favorite tools.

We started with animoto.  Due to CIPA I couldn’t allow this group of students to create their own animoto videos, so we decided to do a class video.  I allowed my coworker’s daughter to choose the topic.  She chose rain forests.  I pulled up my schools.clipart.com account and typed rain forest into the search engine.  The students then took turns selecting images from the hundreds available.  I saved those images and we imported them into Animoto.   The video was created while the students worked on their next project- Wordle.

Our next project was wordle.  I have posted on wordle more than once.  It is one of my favorite tools to use with students.  They love using it, it is very simple and quick to explain, and they can customize to their hearts content.  Since they were down to their last few days of school, I gave them the topic of summer.  They creations they made were wonderful.  For 30 minutes, you could have heard a pin drop.

This is the one thing I love about technology.  Once the kids get into it, they become completely engaged.  I would love to hear how you have used either (or both) of these tools in your classroom.

Blogs or Wikis

This week I have taken a class on blogs and a class on wikis.  I have wanted to use one or both in a classroom setting for the past year, but due to the change of my position last year, I didn’t get the opportunity.  I will be using one or both in my classroom this year.

During one of these classes, a colleague asked which is better, a blog or a wiki.  Wow!  What a tough question.  I guess the answer lies in how you want to use the tool in your classroom.

Both Blogs and Wikis have advantages and disadvantages.  There are thousands of great examples of teachers using each tool (and thousands of not so good examples).  As with anything, these are tools.  The content of the lessons in which the blog or wiki are used are truly what makes it a great tool or just something else to do.  I am including some links below to a few of the better sites I explored this week.

Blogs

Blogs tend to be more of a conversational tool.  The teacher or students post information and others comment.  The blog may also have links, widgets, and other tools for the students to use.  Blogs are a more universal format and teachers and students are probably somewhat familiar with their layout and how they work.
Blogging Bears
Mrs. Cassidy’s Classroom Blog
Tamiki Primary School Blog
Mrs. Trefz’s 5th Grade Class

Wikis

Wikis tend to be more of a collaborative tool.  Students can more readily create content and add their own flare to the project.  Many teachers are using these as a classroom website.
Mrs. Abernathy’s Global Gorillas- Love this one!
Arbor Heights Elementary
Go West

School’s out for summer?

School is out for summer, at least for our district, but my learning isn’t over yet.  I am in the middle of a blogging class, one of four classes I am taking this week.  I have many colleagues who ask why I take classes during my summer vacation.  The answer: I love to learn!

I love technology and most of the summer class I take are put on by our instructional technology department.  This week I am learning more about blogging, wikis, Web 2.0 tools, and Dreamweaver.  Once they hear the classes I take, then I get the question “Why are you taking those?  You teach those same things to us at inservices.”  This is true.  So why do I take the classes anyway?  Because there is ALWAYS something new to learn.

I learn new tools, new ways to use old tools, and fun ways to implement the technology in my classroom.  Plus, for the past two years, I have been looking at technology from a different viewpoint.  Now I need to take a new, fresh look at how to use these things with my students.

I sincerely hope that everyone who teaches likes to learn new things.  How can we pass on a love of learning to students if we don’t have that love any more?  Not that classes are the only way to achieve this.  Many teachers work on lesson plans, read education publications, and talk to other educators during their time off.  They may learn by taking vacations, spending time with their kids and grandkids, or reading novels.    I hope that all teachers out there are doing something (however small it may be) to learn something new this summer.

“When you stop learning, stop listening, stop looking and asking questions, always new questions, then it is time to die.”  Lillian Smith

Back in the Saddle Again

As the title says it, I’m “back in the saddle again.”  Due to some budget cuts and increasing class sizes, our school needed to add a fourth 5th grade teacher and my tech position was cut, therefore, I am the new 5th grade teacher.

I’ve been asked countless times if I am excited or not.  My truthful answer is that I’m getting there.  When the possibility first came about a few months ago, I was very excited.  As time went on and the possibility wavered back and forth, I became frustrated, and the excitement waned.  About two weeks ago, I found out this was a definite move.  The excitement is slowly returning.

Last week we did a big room shift with a total of 4 rooms being affected.  I have been moving into my room and getting settled since Friday.  I am working on where to put everything, how many tables I need, how to decorate, and all of those other fun decisions that come from moving into a new room.

One of the things I am most looking forward to is the opportunity to work with the students on tech projects.  I have so many ideas of things to do.  I will have to keep you all posted on all of the things we try.

One other very important thing to mention:  We are out for summer

Google Teacher Academy Returns

The newest Google Teacher Academy is going to be held in Boudler, Colorado on August 5, 2009!  Applications are due by midnight on July 3rd.

The Google Teacher Academy is a wonderful, FREE, opportunity to meet and collaborate with educators from all over the country- and world! It is also an opportunity to learn about all that google has to offer educators.

More information is located at Google’s Teacher Academy site. The application process includes a written application as well as a video application.

When I applied, I was so nervous about the video application.  I had never really created a video and wasn’t even sure what tools to use.  Since creating that video, I have gone on to create many more.  If you would like some inspiration, here is my video as well as several others. All of these people were selected to attend the Mountain View, California Google Teacher Academy last June.

No Time for Technology?

Throughout my 4 short years in education, I have heard one phrase repeated over and over: “There isn’t time for technology.”   While my last 2 years have been dedicated to educational technology- one year in the computer lab, and this year as a coach- I was previously a classroom teacher.  I taught 5th grade for two years.  I had to teach the same standards with the same time and resource limitations, yet I did incorporate technology on a daily basis.   They made powerpoints, movies, brochures, used Palms, and did research.  There are so many more projects I would incorporate now.  Things that weren’t around 3 or 4 years ago.

Technology is not, and should not be, a stand alone subject.  It should be incorporated into everything, just as it is in the real world.   I have repeatedly heard that teachers don’t have the time to fit in a lesson on technology.   I have spent time today catching up on my RSS feeds, and have read post after post about the new 1 to 1 initiative in Maine, flattening the classroom, paperless classrooms, and how we tend to worksheet our kids to death.

It does take a little more time up front to incorporate technology into the classroom.  You do need to cover basic computer and typing skills, online ettiquette, and how to appropriately use the equipment.  You also need to gain parental permission to use blogs, wikis, email, etc.  and teach the kids to use these tools.  But that can all be covered in August and September.  Then there are many more months that can be dedicated to using the technology to learn, create, and share all kinds of new concepts.

Our kids will live their entire lives in the future.  Technologies that are little more than science fiction to us now will become tools used daily in their futures.  Who would have predicted 50 years ago that people would carry around  a device that could take digital pictures, surf the internet, and call someone across the world, and yet would be the size of a thin deck of cards.  Yet today, millions of people do.

We can’t predict the future of our students.  What we can do is our very best to prepare them for what awaits.  To give them the skills to think for themselves, search for the answers and verify that the source of those answers is credible- these are what will be valuable to them.

Much of what college students learn today will be outdated 2-3 years from now.  What does that say of the elementary social studies textbooks that are now 10 years old? Written before September 11th.  Written before many elementary students were even born.

There needs to be a complete paradigm shift in education, maybe the biggest shift in the history of education- or at least since we found out that the world was indeed round.   It is a shift that will require everyone- teachers, students, parents, administrators, school districts, communities, government, literally everyone.   Change is scary.  Change takes courage.  If not now, then when?  We owe it to our children and those children on down the lines to think outside the box and to really prepare them for the future.

So I ask this…No time for technology?  How can you NOT make the time?

**Ok, I will step down from my soapbox for a little while**

Lost Generation

About a year and a half ago, the AARP hosted the U@50 Challenge. Participants created a video “ that describes how you envision your future.”  Applicant’s then posted the videos on Youtube.  I ran across one of these videos this week on Presentation Zen’s Blog and had to share.  It was simply done, but required a lot of forethought.   I found it very inspiring and wanted to share it.  The video won second place.  I have posted the winners list below.  Most of them are still posted on Youtube if you would like to take a look.

Top 5 Winners
Grand Prize — “When I’m 50…” by rockyourd
Second Place — “Lost Generation” by metroamv
Third Place — “ME@50″ by triciOC1986
Fourth Place — “Jenny AT 50!” by Jennycarreiro
Fifth Place — “The College Years: Episode 50″ by davethebrave987

Glogster

Thanks to Free Tech 4 Teachers, I found a wonderful new tool called Glogster.  This Web 2.0 tool allows students to make a “poster” with added information. A ‘glog’ is basically an online poster/web page.  Students can combine text, pictures, graphics, video, and audio to create an interactive online poster.  It has a very simple to use interface.  The final glog can be hosted by Glogster or you can embed it into a wiki, blog, or class web site.
This sure would be a much more fun an exciting way of doing a report than simply typing and printing it.  There are some great examples of posters on the site.  Here are four of the highlighted projects.

Google Gab- Doodle 4 Google

Google has announce its latest Doodle 4 Google.  Google frequently replaces its typical logo with a creative one.  They do this for holidays and other special days.  I’m sure most of you have seen some of them.  Doodle for Google allows students to design their own Google logo and have it published.  Th

ey can also win some great prizes including a $15000 scholarship (yes, 3 zeroes). They also have prizes for school districts in the way of technology grants.

This years theme is “What I Wish for the World.”   How appropriate given the dynamics in our country.

Please head over to the Doodle 4 Google page to find out more!

Finding Balance

Technology has always been a love of mine.  Last year I began to really allow technology to infiltrate my life both personally and professionally.  I joined many social networks, twitter, facebook, and started this blog.  I began scouring the internet for the most valuable technology websites and resources for the classroom.  All of this computer time had some unintended consequences.

I began spending more time on the computer than with my kids.  I am a mom to three kids (2, 6, and 9).  One of my kids has some significant emotional and behavioral concerns.  His needs increased by a lot this fall, and I I needed to refocus my priorities. I stopped using the computer at home except to occasionally check email.  I neglected this blog, and most other social network outlets.

As I sat down to write some new year’s resolutions over the past few weeks, I realized that I need to continue with my “online life.”  I had taken more or less two months off and needed to get back into it.  In my position as a technology resource teacher, I need to stay on top of the latest tools and resources.  Twitter, my RSS feeds, facebook, and several message boards are the main source of professional development that I get.  If I completely neglect them as I have lately, I am not growing.

I need to find a balance.  I have not found that yet, and probably won’t for a while.  My blog and twitter posts will be sporadic, but not as sporadic as they have been lately.  I am going to be more diligent in posting about resources I am finding.  Einstein once said “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.”  While I have been at a standstill for a while now, I intend to keep moving and in doing so, find and maintain a balance.