Teachers Love SmartBoards!

Our SmartBoard classes are among the most popular we offer on the Eighth Floor. Every semester, classes fill with long waiting lists. SmartBoards are just one of those kinds of tools that everyone can use. We have SmartBoards in two of our classrooms, and I find myself walking over to them when I want to REALLY show or discuss something on the screen. This is much better than making everyone's eyes jiggle when I shake the mouse pointer at whatever I think is so important. So, in order to get better at using the SmartBoard when I am teaching, I've been taking the SmartBoard classes we offer - I know, you guys think Scott and I already know everything, don't you. I'm gonna come clean, we don't. Well, actually, Scott might . . . I DON'T. The classes are fantastic and the teachers are fantastic!! Pam Burgess and Shaun Beard teach the bulk of our Smart classes.

Okay, so why am I tell you all this? SmartBoards are a deep and wide tool. Once you get a taste of what is possible, it's almost like you can't get enough! Sometimes, when you want more information on something, it can be hard to find a solid resource with a lot (not a little) for just about everyone. Earlier this week in the What About Blogs? class, Deana McCloud from Pryor shared a blog with us, and now I am going to share it with you. I poked around for a bit - it's cool. :-D

http://smartboards.typepad.com/ - called, Teachers Love SmartBoards!

It looks like the author posts about once a week - so not so overwhelming that you can't digest the ideas he shares. If you know how, I recommend subscribing, - if not, at least save it to your favorites and visit it about once a week. If you decide that you think it is a worthwhile resource, share it with others!

If you have a Smart resources that you just love, PLEASE share it with us!

Just Sharin'
Lee Anne

What About Blogs? - February 2009

What About Blogs?
Welcome to the Eighth Floor class about blogging in education. As a collaborative and constructive tool, blogs have found their place in education. As educators, we are using them as learning tools not only for our students, but also for ourselves. Our objectives for this short workshop are to become familiar with blogs as a Web 2.0 tool, explore uses for your classroom or professional development, and set up a practice blog of your own.

Blogs in Plain English


Lee LeFever of the Common Craft Show


So What’s a Blog?
Let the 6 & 7 year olds from Room 9 at Nelson Central School educate you about what they think a blog is and why they love using them!





Top 10 Reasons to Use a Blog in the Classroom



Education Professional Development Blogs
Weblogg-ed - A blog by Will Richardson
Moving at the Speed of Creativity - A blog by Wesley Fryer
Blog of Proximal Development - a blog by Konrad Glogowski
Blogs about Educational Blogging - a wiki by Support Blogging.com

Classroom/Student Blogs
Arthus - NewlyAncient (high school student blog)
AP Calculus AB (An interactive log for students and parents in my AP Calculus class. This ongoing dialogue is as rich as YOU make it. Visit often and post your comments freely.)
The Good Habits Blog (blog for students and teachers)
Mrs Cassidy's Classroom Blog (elementary)
Blogical Minds (This is a blog created to explore what happens when 5th graders blog and converse about literacies in class and beyond)

Google Search for Blogs
http://blogsearch.google.com/?hl=en&tab=wb

Check out the following education/safety focused postings and articles:
MySpace Education
Change Agency BlogSafety.com
Blogs, Fair Use, and Paying to Play

Blogging Tips and Tricks:
Web Blog Basics Blogs - Anatomy
Blogs for Learning
Evaluating Blogging
Blogging Best Practices Top 10 Blog Writing Tips
Use of Blogs in an Online College Classroom

Let’s Talk About Blogs

• How is a blog different from a website?


• How is blogging different from other types of writing or online communication?


• Why do you think you or your students might be attracted to this as a form of expression?


• How might you use a blog in your classroom or for your professional development?


• What obstacles might you face using blogs with your students?


• The first step to being a good blogger is to be a good blog ____________?

___________________________________________________________
QUESTION!

Since this is a class about blogging, we thought you might want to do a little, well, blogging. So, what are some advantages to using blogs? What are some disadvantages? What can you do to minimize the disadvantages? ___________________________________________________________

Add your comment to this post. Take a minute to think about the above questions. (Or share something else, if you choose, like an idea your already have for using blogs) Click on the "comments" link below and then type your answer. You can comment as "anonymous or other." Be sure to include your name somewhere so we know who you are. Read others’ comments and feel free to comment on their comments!

Thanks!
Lee Anne

Animoto is Awesome!

Last week I posted a Top 10 List of Web 2.0 tools. A couple of the tools, I had not played with before. Animoto.com was one of them. Well, I'm in love with this tool! Here are my reasons why:

• Too easy to use!
• Perfect tool for digital picture projects
• Has an educator's version!
• Level of effort hardly reflects the sophisticated result.

I have applied for my educator's site on animoto. They take a couple of days to respond/review. But, in the mean time, I played with the regular version. This is a 30 second video. You can create 30 second videos or full length (haven't tried full length yet). Animto walks you through the process - it really is quite easy. Frist, I grabbed some pictures that looked like they had to do with the Eighth Floor. Second, I choose music that they provided. You can supply your own if you want, but they have a pretty good collection. Finally, I hit finalize and waited a few minutes for this:



I can't wait to get into the educator's version. If all goes well, I am going to incorporate this tool into the Digital Picture Projects class.

If you do one, share it!

Thanks!
Lee Anne
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Digital Picture Projects
Feb 25 from 4:00 - 7:00 pm
Apr 22 from 8:30 - 11:30 am

We Shouldn't Ignore the Wiki Challenges

I wanted to share an article from Campus Technology, “3 Challenges to Wiki Use in Instruction”. I was impressed that they narrowed it down to three! (smile). I’ve been using and teaching the use of wikis in the classroom for several years now. I knew when I started developing classes using Web 2.0 tools that we were perhaps ahead of the curve – and we may still be – but not surprisingly, being ahead of the curve is part of our mission. I’ve been sharing the benefits of wikis for some time, things like collaborative environment, shared construction of knowledge, self-directed teams, facilitates higher level thinking, etc. I’m not so sure I always share the challenges. And I should!

The author, Ruth Reynard, gives it to us something like this:

Create meaningful assignments. Often teachers are unfamiliar with the potential of the tool. That’s okay, that comes with experience, but we need to keep in mind creating a connection to the overall purpose.

Grades reflect the process along with the product. I’m not sure this isn’t more of a “Boomer” need than a “Net Gen” need, but never the less, a great deal of work and learning happens in order to get a result in this sort of collaborative environment. It’s much easier to grade a product, don’t I know, but the process is actually just as important here.

Collective knowledge use. How will this be used to reinforce learning? Reynard says, “rather than simply an argument or debate, a paper, or a project, a wiki-based assignment can illustrate stages of development in thinking, collaboration, synthesis, and application. This helps to contextualize the learning that has taken place for immediate benefit to students and for future use in learning.” Is this project relevant?

I like this discussion of challenges. It’s relevant!

Just Sharin’
Lee Anne
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eighth Floor Class on Wikis:
Wiki When You Wanna
Feb 17th from 1:00-4:00 pm
April 1st from 8:30 -11:30 am

I love Top 10 Lists

I enjoy a well thought top 10 list, don't you? Here's one from The Journal that I think is particularly well done: Top 10 Web Tools for Young Learners.

Gail Lovely, an education technology consultant and speaker at the FETC 2009 conference in Orlando, FL in January, developed a "top 10 list" of go-to technology tools to help inspire young students and empower under-funded teachers. (Raise your hand if you know an underfunded teacher! )

You will notice that the Eighth Floor offeres classes on a number of the tools on her list, blogs, wikis, VoiceThread, etc. I have played with Voki and love it. I use Skype quite often for instant messaging and voice or video calls - it's quite groovy. There are a couple on the list that I am going to MAKE time to check out: Glogster, Aminoto, and YackPack. If you have used any of these I'd love to know what you think?

Just Sharin'!

Lee Anne

Is there an Emily Post for social networks?

I’ve been making great use of my snow days this week. Yeah, right! I have been working a little, but I don’t want to talk about that. I want to talk about my Facebook adventures again. I think I mentioned before that networking sites, like Facebook or Classroom 2.0, are an earnest facet of our networked world. I am finding that this new social environment requires some new social skills. I’m serious. Which fork do I use? Did I just lift my red wine glass and ask for white? I’ve been winging it and relying on my instincts – which consist of everything my mother tried her best to teach me, bless her! But what I am wondering is if I look like the country cousin come to online town? Is there an Emily Post for social networks?

I searched for some discussion of Facebook netiquette and found a few that were pretty good, some that offered smatterings of direction, and others that were just downright socially retarded I don’t care what network you’re hanging out in. I had some specific questions I needed answered, like when you make a new friend should you immediately write on that person’s wall – kind of like a hug – and who should be the first to write, the initiator or the accepter? How good of a F2F friend do we need to be before it’s okay to comment on pictures they post? How do you politely deny a friend request? My Facebook world has become real for me. I’m starting to care how things go there. It has defined itself as more of a personal network consisting of family and very old and very new “non-work” friends. I point out the non-work, because I started playing with this for professional reasons. But, it’s personal now. I believe the line between the two is defined by each individual – as Scott always says, “That’s why they call them personal computers.”

So, here’s some of the stuff I found.

Friending: According to LifeHacker Blog you shouldn’t friend someone with whom you have no connection whatsoever. If you do, you are a “creeper.” Operative word here is CREEP. Okay, I’m good with that. However, it begs the question, what is a connection? I joined the New England Patriots fan club. Is that a “connection”? For me, no. The Envirostats site recommends purging friends once a season. Really? Man, I wish we could do that with family. Aahhhh . . . and this brings up an even more important question. What is a Facebook season?

Speaking of “creeps,” there is much chat about not being perceived as creepy. This is stuff I want to know. What is considered creepy in Facebook. I’m finding that the standards are much more sophisticated than we may have been lead to believe. For example, most sites recommend “poking” with moderation. “Poking” in Facebook is much like it sounds – like walking by a friend and just saying HEY. However, one site said that poking someone was considered flirting. Oops! I hope my nephews don’t get the wrong idea. Another site said that poking was “old school.” Geez, the last thing I want to be is “old school.” Honestly, I like getting pokes! Just as I am thinking about my friends when I poke, I assume they are thinking of me. (Hopefully, not in a creepy way!)

Here’s a friend issue that is kind of delicate. When is it okay to mention something you learned about a friend from his or her Facebook profile? Can you say, “I saw on your Facebook that you and Harry broke up. You doing okay?” Can you say that? If they have written it on Facebook, then one could assume it is there to be shared. Is it okay to look at someone’s pictures they’ve posted – moreover, can you comment on their pictures? I’m guessing that is why they are there. Many sites mention a thing called “Facebook stalking.” Where’s the line between stalking and getting to know someone via their profile? Here’s my M.O. When I have a new friend, I check out their site and usually leave a comment on their wall. It is a rare thing for me to travel back to their profile 10 times a day to see “what’s new.” But that’s just me. I assume that my friends are checking out my pictures and whatever else may be going on – isn’t that the point?

Another topic that popped up often was the size of your friends list. (I . . . nevermind.) I’ve tried to avoid concern about the size of my friend list. Supposedly in Facebook, the number of friends you have is not a measure of your popularity on networking sites. Who are we kidding here? We all know the anxiety that comes with eating in the school cafeteria. But I have really tried to not friend just anybody in an effort to grow my list. I genuinely want quality, not quantity. I also find that these “fillers friends” can get in the way. I don’t have all day to hang out on Facebook. I want my wall to be populated by information about my “real” friends.

There are several pieces of advice that pop up over and over, and I think they make good sense.

• 
  Don’t post anything you don’t want your mother or an employer to see. And that includes future employers. Your 18 year old job at the Corn Dog Hut is not the Fortune 500 job you hope to have years later.
• 
  Do not post shirtless pictures or pictures of you drinking or doing drugs. (Well, I guess I need to take all those shirtless pictures of me smoking crack off now, but I am leaving the shirtless pics of my dogs smoking crack cuz they are just funny. Besides, it's not like they are gonna know!)
• 
  Do not list personal contact information.
• 
  Don’t get caught up in other people’s inappropriate behavior.
• 
  Treat everything you put on there as a social/media resume.
• 
  Only have friends you have met in person.
• 
  If someone comments on your wall, Facebook manners dictate you reply – unless they start to get creepy and then you “de-friend” them.
• 
  It’s okay to ignore or de-friend someone. (I’m still thinking about purging them once a season.)
• 
  Keep it clean! No profanity, no negativity, no hateful comments.

I still don’t have answers to some of the finer points, like who writes who first in a new friendship or even if you are expected to. However, most of my research showed that if we just stand by common courtesy and social savvy, we are doing the right thing. So I am going to keep “just winging” it and pray that no one thinks I am CREEPY.

Just Sayin’

Lee Anne

On Classroom 2.0: New Webinar Series with PBS Starts Jan. 28th

I wanted to share an email I received today from Classroom 2.0 (and educator's networking site). They are offering a series of webinars that are a great opportunity for anyone interested in Web 2.0 tools. I've reprinted the email below.

FYI - if you are not as familiar as you would like to be, I am teaching a class for our consortium members - Web 2.0: The Lightning Round - An Introduction, this Tuesday, January 27th from 1:00 - 4:00 pm here on the Eighth Floor. If you need enrollment information, just let me know.

Here's the webinar information:
A message to all members of Classroom 2.0 PBS Teachers® and Classroom 2.0 are partnering on a series of free monthly webinars designed to help preK-12 educators learn new ways to integrate online instructional resources in the classroom and engage students in curriculum lessons. The webinar series features leading education experts, authors, and PBS producers who will discuss timely and relevant curriculum-related topics, and share their knowledge and ideas on using digital media to create rich learning experiences for students.

Our first event will be "Changing Views of History, Changing Views of Race" with speaker Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Wednesday, January 28th, at 8:00pm Eastern Time (US).
Dr. Gates will discuss how Americans’ understanding of President Lincoln and African American history and culture continues to evolve, and ways to approach this topic with students. Dr. Gates is the host of the documentary "Looking for Lincoln," which premieres in February. The program addresses the controversies surrounding Lincoln about race, equality, religion, politics, and depression by carefully interpreting the evidence from those who knew him and those who study him today.

To join the event and get the link to the Elluminate meeting room, go to http://www.classroom20.com/events/pbs-cr-20-webinar All our events are "beginner-friendly," and there are instructions on this page for getting set up to attend. For those outside of the U.S. there is a link to a specific time-conversion page in my comments.

I hope you'll consider joining us!

Steve Hargadon
Founder, Classroom 2.0
www.stevehargadon.com
steve@hargadon.com
Visit Classroom 2.0 at: http://www.classroom20.com

Just Sharin'!
Lee Anne

100 Days and Counting

With Oklahoma schools starting before Labor Day, it is quite likely that you have reached your 100th day in class this year. If you have, then by all means, you should celebrate!

You don't even need to come up with your own ideas - Teacher First has done it for you. Check out their blog post: TeachersFirst 100th Day Activities: 50+ Ideas for the 100th Day of School

Just Sharin'
Lee Anne

How do you connect coffee with your online network?

If you know me, then you know I am nothing without my morning half dozen cups of coffee, so I can make coffee connect with pretty much anything! But seriously. How DO you make a connection between coffee and your online communities? Biggby Bob makes it look pretty darn easy. A good friend of mine owns a chain of coffee houses, mostly in the Michigan area down to the Florida area called Biggby Coffee. No, I'm not trying to promote a friend's business here! I want to use one particular blog post from the Where is Bob? blog to exemplify the breadth and depth of social media and Web 2.0 tools - their use in business, as well as why our students might need to know a little about them . . . and why you might want to know, too!

In the post, a recruiting manager is interviewed about what job seekers can do to set themselves apart. View the short video on Bob's blog. Can you count the number times the Internet, social media, or web 2.0 tools are mentioned? (I get about a dozen.) Does this give you any ideas how you could build your professional network online?

FYI - There is a Biggby Cafe on Facebook. Not only has Biggby Coffee created a face-to-face community of people who come in and BUY their yummy coffee, but they have a hugely populated community online. (check them out on Twitter, too!) This totally fascinates me. How are coffee and online communities connected!!

Just sayin'
Lee Anne

On Demand Writing

“On Demand Writing.” As a part-time writing teacher I have to admit, when I read this phrase, I was a little disconcerted by the idea of writing being expeditious. Actually, it’s not so much the idea, but the need for writing to be expeditious. Once again, I point my finger at the internet. For me, writing still holds its glory as a scholarly art form – for others, not so much. But here’s the deal, writing is becoming important again. I’m excited to see that happening. It’s not the writing of the days of yore, but I definitely see an overall interest in writing skills from my students that I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing before. No kidding.


I stumbled across this blog post in one of my bunny-trail adventures, and it got me thinking about how I can help my students become better, on-demand writers: (The post is by Michael Hebert, A Few Principles of Writing Instruction -- Taken from “The Writing Teacher: Tips, Techniques, and Strategies for Teaching Writing


“Prepare students for on-demand writing. As many writing assessments require students to write on-demand, time should be set aside for this kind of writing in the classroom. Children must be taught strategies for writing to prompts, or they will falter when asked to do so for assessment purposes. Some teachers may disagree with this on the grounds that teachers should not be driven by assessment, or that this philosophy places writing in a context that is unnatural. However, college admissions essays and job reports are examples of everyday on-demand writing. We must provide our students with experience writing in this context if we expect them to be successful in the everyday writing demands of our society.”

I’m just going to pull this one little part out because I love it: “ . . . this philosophy places writing in a context that is unnatural.” Really? When is writing unnatural? Wouldn’t any situation that required writing be a natural writing situation? Am I missing something?

It is true that most of the writing we do is “on-demand” writing. How are you helping your students be better on-demand writers?

Just thinkin’
Lee Anne