ARK's Instructional Blog

New School New Tools

2011-09-05T06:03:00.000-07:00

The Cumberland County Schools hold an annual elementary Battle of the Books. The 2011-2012 year is beginning and I wanted a cool way to introduce the books and authors to my 4th and 5th grade students. My hope is that I can "catch" their interest by infusing some technology.

Notes Anyone?

2011-04-08T04:30:00.000-07:00

Really neat tool for note taking and study. As we move to more 1 to 1 technology this would be a great tool to teach our students and staff to use.

Capzles

2011-02-19T06:06:00.000-08:00

Timelines are an important part of daily life. We use them for project planning, trips (iteneraries), and to record our history. For those reasons teaching timelines is extremely important-besides they are also "Tested" skills. Being a teacher and a librarian has me on the outlook for ways to help our students construct their learning. One of my favorite teachers has used a timeline program with her class the past few years but after an extreme amount of problems with the newest edition I set out to find a better tool, and I think I have found it in Capzles. Take a look:

Roll Cameras, "Action"

2011-02-10T04:43:00.000-08:00

Our students are getting into movie making at a very early age. Yesterday, with the help of our new netBooks I had a group of 16 fifth graders giving up their recess to play producers. First we explored the ability of the our new netBooks to record video. That was a hoot to see since I allowed them to just play around and explore. Next I had them put on their headphones and microphones to record sound. Finally, we put the two pieces together. All of this was pretty remarkable since we only had twenty-five minutes from start to finish. All-in-all the students did a great job. The students are ready to form a club and start producing. Since I want them to gain needed skills they will be able to use in the classroom I'm planning a bit more structure to it all and have found Silvia Tolisano to be a great resource.

Books vs ebooks

2011-02-04T16:01:00.000-08:00

There are many conversations among educators about the future of books in our schools. While I support the evolution of reading and the use of ebooks I question the idea that schools can or should get rid of traditional forms of books found in the library. Getting rid of stacks in our higher ed libraries to make room for coffee bars and common areas may be beneficial for high school students as they create their learning communities. However, I share a concern with other educators about our ablility to build the love of reading in our elementary children without paper books. There is just something special about cuddeling up with a good book while someone reads to you.

The video below does a great job of challenging traditional thinking. Let me know what you think about the subject.

Book Clubbing Without Walls

2011-01-23T17:30:00.000-08:00

Picture This

2011-01-04T14:25:00.000-08:00

Ok, I've tried over the past two years to lead students and teachers to paths other than Google for their pictures thinking it would be easier to follow copyright guidelines. We have explored and used Flickr and Creative Commons but alas Google wins out every time. When I ask a student, "Where did your teacher say to go for pictures?" the reply is, "Google". So I'm throwing in the towel! I'm giving up! I'm going Google! Yes, that's right, Google Images. It's not your mother's Google anymore. Already it has become second nature to the students to use the advanced search option and in particular usage rights. They are learning how to set the usage rights to labeled for use or labeled for use with modification. Then I slide in some training on how to give credit to the picture creator. With this new found method students are becoming responsible users of 2.0 tools. This is a big improvement over the frustration students had in finding the other sites,trying to figure out if they could use the pictures found, and not giving credit where credit was due in their work. Thanks Google.

Edmodo.com

2010-02-25T07:30:00.000-08:00

I just had the greatest time working with a group of fantastic 3rd graders using a program called Edmodo. Think social network and you have the idea but with an educational twist. The teacher creates an account, names their group, and then has their students build accounts to join Edmodo. The neat thing is students do not need email accounts and you control who enters by having a group code to give to those you want to invite into the conversation.
Today's class was starting plant study and research so their objective after creating their login was to post a question they had about plants. Right away the student's post appear and the other students are able to respond with an answer or by posting additional questions.
Edmodo would be a great tool to use to engage students while watching a video or student presentations and allow everyone to become actively involved by back channelling.

Summit 09 Edmodo

View more presentations from zemote.

Place Spotting

2010-02-17T14:33:00.000-08:00

Call me crazy and I'll have to agree, especially after taking on the monumental task of introducing all of my primary classes to our new Apple MacBooks using the website: Place Spotting. The objective of the lesson was to find the seven continents of the world using the quizes I made earlier. Once you are logged in it and working with a quiz it is a bit like Google Earth. Kids seem to love it and most take to it well. However, it does require that students have had some exposure to computers, using the mouse, arrows, and listening to directions. The help of classroom teachers is so appreciated especially when working with the youngest group since they range from the very timid or the over anxious "key pusher" who quickly put up their hands while yelling, "Mrs. R..." in what seems like a chorus.
Well, back to Place Spotting. I really enjoyed using it with the students and like I said most take to it well. It seems to be a good tool to use in teaching map skills, longitude, latitude, and general shapes of the continents and where they are located. Also, it would make a good pre-cursor to Google Earth and the many additional educational applications available with the use of that program. Here's the link: http://www.placespotting.com/myplaces.php and to see my page just login using the login of: tcelibrary and password: sbisd

Dinosaurs

2010-02-17T09:07:00.000-08:00

Cool tool: Weblist

Yes there is an easier way to share a multitude of web pages-Weblist. It allows the user to see a visual of the web page to determine interest or relevancy before they click on the link. The one I have attached is set up for our Kindergarten to use with their Dinosaur unit. The web pages on the Weblist page were taken from the district science portal, although many listed were no longer working.
While building this Weblist on dinosaurs it would let me edit the page, such as deleting links that no longer worked and then to save the changes. However, when I would open a new window the Weblist still had the pages I tried to delete. To solve that I just noted the links that didn't work and built a new list with only the working links.
A good reason to use Weblist is it allows me to keep students focused on sites and not allow them to waste time on dead web links or going to the wrong sites due to typing errors. Give it a try at: http://weblist.me/

Dinosaurs

SKYPE

2010-02-11T07:49:00.000-08:00

Recently I have had a few opportunities to assist student studies outside our school, our district, and our state through the use of SKYPE. Our first adventure began with an email request for a 2nd grade class in another state to exchange information. I jumped on the chance because I knew our school had adventurous teachers who try to integrate technology into their lessons and that would be willing to collaborate on this type of lesson. After several SKYPE sessions with the librarian in Nebraska to set up "meeting" dates, to share questions the students would want answered, teach my teachers about SKYPE, and even having a test run date we were ready to share the knowledge between students. With our MacBook connected to the projector we were able to invite the whole 2nd grade to observe while each class had representatives answer questions about living in Texas. Our students learned that Nebraska students did not see armadillos or wear just a t-shirt to school during the winter. Our students were amazed to find out that the temperatures with the wind were below 0 degrees. You should have heard the rumble in the library when the librarian in Nebraska took them outside to see well over a foot of snow!
Another opportunity came along when a librarian in our district and I helped connect two of our bilingual classes up for a book talking session. The students were reluctant at first but eventually even the most shy students wanted to be involved in the questions and answers. Both teachers were able to expand student understanding of the text that was read through a discussion with peers. The teachers see this as an opportunity to expand student learning and are looking forward to their next book discussion.
If you haven't tried this 2.0 tool yet...get busy! What better way to give students who may never have a chance otherwise the opportunity to experience the world beyond their daily boundaries. The world our students live in is just a call away and they are depending on educators to facilitate the learning.

Thing 11 1/2

2009-08-08T18:29:00.000-07:00

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
Many are favorites:glogger, Skype-although it would be even better if we could build a "network" of users to communicate with, YouTube/Teacher/Tube-and the many video sites using these tools; Touch apps-using my LG Vu; screencast; slideshare; and digital citizenship.
2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
Taking part makes me explore areas I would never find either due to time or interest. It forces me to step outside that box of comfort and explore.
3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? Yes, I had tried Skype before but wasn't successful. However, I enjoyed conversations with a couple of my fellow colleagues this time and really enjoyed using the program. Now, I have encouraged my son to load the program so we can stay in touch easier when he deploys. Also, I've been reading how more and more authors are willing to visit using Skype. Screencast was fun, easy, and so useful and I will be using it this year for sure.
4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
I would like to continue the summer learning - it is such a convenient and sensible way to learn new skills while getting flex hours. If we can work on building learning communities that work together on projects that might be very interesting.

Thanks for another great learning opportunity that keeps us ahead of the pack.

Thing 11

2009-08-08T18:03:00.000-07:00

I spent a lot of time on this topic because I plan to improve the lessons I taught last year on Digital Citizenship. My goal was to find student friendly sites where I can have students actively participate while constructing their learning. While many sites were good I found Cool Cat Teacher and http://www.kenton.k12.ky.us/internet_safety/default.htm
(thanks to VaughnL) to be the most useful.

Digital Citizenship covers so many teachable topics such as:
Internet safety-surfing safety, personal safety, courteousness, and cyberbulling
ethics-plagiarism and copyright
literacy-finding and using information AND evaluating resources

While I believe that as a librarian it is my responsibility to educate students about being digital citizens I also believe that students need these ideas re-enforced by their classroom teachers and most importantly their families.

Thing 10

2009-08-07T19:42:00.000-07:00

Virtual World has been around for awhile but I have hesitated to explore prior to this summer. I joined a list serve to get ideas that I could use in our school library and it was an email from the ALA that enticed me to go out and explore SecondLife. Because I was interested in the book The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger I wanted to hear the short excerpt from the book created by SecondLife. In the process of going to Story Hour Garden I created my avatar, Elana, and learned how to walk, sit, fly, and move about different locations within SL. While I am sure students would enjoy the adventure, the sites I looked at required a minimum age of 13 to actively participate, which prohibits my elementary students from creating a SL. However, that doesn't mean they couldn't enjoy short presentation of books using the same idea. I am just not sure I am ready to dedicate the time needed to become proficient at SL, instead I think I will wait for them to simplify the process or for me to learn more technology.

Thing 9

2009-08-07T19:14:00.000-07:00

PowerPoint was new when I was an undergraduate and I remember presenting one of the first student created PowerPoint presentations in one of my classes. At that time we saved things on floppy disk and after creating the PP and saving it I still wasn't sure I would be able to play it on the computer in the classroom because it may not recognize the program version I had used. Well a lot has changed since then and PP has become a widely used media tool for presentations. In the classroom I often had my students create PP presentations about the materials they were learning. A common problem with PP presentations was the ability to share the created PPs because of differing versions or computer platforms. Well Slideshare will help eliminate this problem since those I share a PP with will not have to be concerned with the version or platform I used because they will be able to access it online without a problem. Tools like Slideshare will make it easier to import PP presentations to any location that has Internet connections without having to take a file with me on some form of storage device. Students today will find this useful as they collaborate with classes around the world on various social network sites. They will be able to borrow ideas from others student PPs or even collaborate with students from around the world. It's that "flat" classroom idea where students around the world work together to construct their learning.

Thing 8

2009-08-05T21:00:00.000-07:00

WOW, I had so much fun with this and I can't wait to put it to work this fall to create tutorials for students and teachers! Last summer I took a technology course that required me to download and use CamStudio for one of my projects. I found it to be complicated and intimidating. Not so my experience with Screencast-o-Matic! Not only did I not have to download yet another program onto my computer, it was so very simple to use, re-record, save, and download. I enjoyed the whole experience and I can imagine students and teachers will find it easy to use as well. The hardest part for me is knowing what I want to say, saying it without error, and then being able to be ok with my voice-well, it's hard to listen to yourself! What I've attached is the start of a tutorial I plan to forward to one of our new librarians so she can easily edit her school webpage.

Thing 7

2009-08-05T19:48:00.000-07:00

Well I spent too much time exploring videos but I enjoyed watching them and getting ideas of things to do with our students. While exploring a video site for the youngest viewers, totlol, I found a video on shadow art. When I tried to copy it to put into my blog I was sent to YouTube. Since YouTube isn't viewable within the district yet I had it converted using Zamzar.

Later I tried a blip.tv and I found a video my kindergarten teachers might be able to use for their five senses unit the first of the year.

Thing 6

2009-07-07T15:56:00.000-07:00

I went to the Apple store and even signed up for a class but when I got there they were so busy and the workers I did talk to didn't know where I was to go to for the class. I got so frustrated that I just left. Many people are buying the iTouch and iPhone so I have had a chance to watch people play with their "toys" and it is amazing what can be accomplished with these small tools. So much so that I probably will make it my next phone when my plan is up for renewal. During my recient library internship I had hoped to help students and small groups that were using the iTouch for Problem Based Learning so I could become more familer with the tools before they were put into my own library but I never had the opportunity. I am still not sure elementary students are ready for this type of technology yet since they still lack some very basic computer skills. Even students at my home school lack these skills, and our teachers do a great job of exposure to technology and making sure they are learning how to use MS products like word, powerpoint, and even publisher. They creat products using Flickr, animotos, and trading cards and these basic skills are helpful for students to understand and use tools like the iTouch. However touch screen computers might be a better fit for elementary with the shift to iTouches later in middle and high school.
For now I have a poor woman's version, the AT&T LG Vu, and that has been enough of a learning curve although limited since so many apps are intended for the iPhone. I will continue to play with my touch screen phone and try to become more familiar in preparation for our new tools this fall.
Having wikipedia off limits for awhile due to mischevious students is very sad. We may have to handle this type of problem on a greater scale once we have more technology available for students to use and why AUP's even more vital.

Thing 5

2009-07-07T09:40:00.000-07:00

I began to use Facebook as another way to keep in touch with friends, family, and collegues and I really have fun participating. However, recently I have found that my network has grown in ways that I'm not feeling as comfortable with and I may need to make some changes. It goes along with the idea of including our students as "friends". Social networking has blurred the line between aquaintence and friend. Friends who I am able to visit with and who know me well enough to be understanding when I have a bad day, laugh when I crack a joke, or just "talk" in a casual tone together are different than those people who are aquaintences. Aquaintences are people I haven't kept up with over the years, don't know well yet, or feel I need to maintain a more guarded relationship with-students and their families. I wish social networks created various levels to include people in instead of just accept or decline. Since they don't, I may need to migrate to more than one account so I can separate the groups.

I tried Twitter just to see what was going on...and I too don't care when someone is eating or other too personal details to mention in my opnion. However, at the encouragement of our library director I have been spending time exploring special people, groups, and interest and am finding wonderful resources. I can see this as a great tool for students to learn from specialist in content they are researching or have an interest in. Our son use to tell us he didn't need to go to college because if he needed to learn something for his job he could just go straight to the pros to learn what he needed. Well I tend to agree it is a wonderful way to learn and broaden our horizons to learning. Although, that piece of paper you get when you graduate from college makes finding the good jobs easier-as he found out!

Back-channeling is still new to me but I have tried it whenever I have had the opportunity. I think it could be used for staff/student trainings as a way to answer those questions some people just can't wait to ask during presentations or trainings. I think it could help eliminate that talk that gets meetings and class off task and help keep us on schedule.

Thing 4

2009-07-07T09:05:00.000-07:00

While still in the classroom I had used Teacher Tube to post student work.

Texas Project

When I posted this my students felt so proud of their work and enjoyed sharing with their families. It is great validation of student problem based learning.

Since I felt comfortable using YouTube and TeacherTube I thought I'd explore the U.S. Government Tube and found this site that would be great to use with grade level study of ocean life:

Ocean Explorer

With so many of our classrooms having the ActivBoard and projector teachers could project these sites in the classroom and students would feel like they are there. While actual experience is the best this certainly is a great alternative for students who often lack real life experiences and for schools where field trip money is dwindling.

Thing 3

2009-07-07T08:17:00.000-07:00

I've tried Skype once before and had problems with it slowing down my home computer. I thought I'd try loading and using it on my school computer. I didn't have any problems loading it onto the computer since I did it from home. However, I have noticed that my computer seems slower loading and processing my commands. I've changed the settings so it will not automatically load when I start my computer in hopes to help with this problem.
Finding other people to converse with over the computer was much easier this time since it has been included as one of the 11 1/2 Things. I was delighted to connect with another "beach" player and not just type text but actually have a live conversation. I had to admit to the other player that I wasn't sure I'd want to invest in the webcam since I often work on the computer in my PJ's, no make-up, and my hair not combed. Mrs. Jetson had the idea of a mask she could hold up in front of the video camera while on the phone...I may have to check into that if I get a webcam!
While reading some of the other links it seems Skype has had problems with user "buy in" and use of the free product. This is the main drawback to using it as a tool at school. While reading The Learning Librarian's wonderful post and instruction manual she mentioned that finding classes that are evenly matched in age and experience was the biggest problem with her first efforts to create collaboration between two classes. For now it might be easier to accomplish within a district where you could collaborate with between various buildings but the same grade levels to share common learning. I would love to try it with a staff meeting to introduce our technology this fall or maybe district leaders could "visit" our schools to welcome up back in August instead of everyone trying to go to the Coleman Coliseum at the same time...anybody have some ideas they would like to work on together?

Thing 2

2009-07-05T16:07:00.000-07:00

Wordle is something I've been exploring this summer and I used it to teach a group of summer school students technology skills making spoonerisms using their names.The sample above is a recent effort to describe the middle school library where I was doing my internship. This is a tool that can be used for writing, to describe things, spelling, vocabulary, exploring main ideas with groups and so many other ways.

The voki was fun but I had trouble getting the hair just right. When I have more time I'll go back and work on "me" a bit more...or maybe dye my hair. I'm thinking it could change email having a voki "talk" to the recipient. I may try that with staff when I have a library announcement :-)

Gloster was interesting and I have hopes that I can add it to my blog easily as a link between the blog and my library webpage in an effort to advertise activities and the library webpage. This would make a cool way for kids to create an interactive poster on a topic being researched such as Texas regions, birds, ets.

Booker was cool to explore. I liked the fact that some teachers were using it for student work. The poetry book I looked at was a good use of poems in a book that can be shared electronically. This could easily replace making a book in publisher and then it has the advantage that it can be shared without the worry of compatibility.

Followers

2009-06-20T05:18:00.000-07:00

While following some of the new 23 Things class members for 2009 I liked how easy it was to become a "Follower" on each blog and then read their blog additions on Google Reader. Since I didn't have that widget I thought I would add it in case others wanted to follow my blog. Next, I'm going to set the blogs I am following up so that I can read them right from my blog page thus making my life a bit easier.

Thing 1 Inspiration and Registration

2009-06-14T07:12:00.000-07:00

The student in the video had a great learning architect. Stop and think about the steps it took to get the student proficient enough to build his learning network and create his own “textbook”. It didn’t happen over night or suddenly by becoming a high school student. The skills used took time to learn. Start with typing, he had to learn the alphabet and how to read first. To determine fact from opinion he had to be exposed to more than himself, his beliefs, and to discover facts from opinions. Then he had to be able write out his findings and share ideas in a way that others would understand what was being said so they would buy into his ideas. I see the teacher’s role as the learning architect who must determine the timing and flow of the needed core knowledge as guided by the TEKS. The librarian’s role is to help connect the resources with the core knowledge. Teacher and Librarian can then bring the two together using technology.
I am about to find out if a librarian can also play the role of learning architect when the new school year begins since I will have a more flexible schedule that will allow me to work with students and teachers. I believe that teachers are a vital piece since they have to see the importance and understand that connecting the learning can and will meet the TEKS. If I don’t include them in the learning they will only see my lessons as another interruption in their daily lessons, especially those who are not tech savvy and are reluctant to use the connectivism methodology of the 21st century learner.

So many blogs, so little time

2008-06-15T01:16:00.001-07:00

Ok, your interested in blogging as a way to keep in touch with other bloggers and to enhance your classroom instruction using technology but you just do not have the time to keep up on everyone's blog or media updates. One way is to use a tool called Technorati. This web tool tracks blogs and other forms of user-generated web based media. If you sign up for the service you can mark your favorite blogs and media. Technorati will provide you a list with last updated dates so you do not have to click on each blog or media to check for updates. I have provided a link on this blog's page.

Blogging can be bad!

2008-06-15T01:08:00.001-07:00

Setting time limits would be advisable for anyone interested in blogging. Adults will find that it can be addictive, as you can see from the posting time on this post. Also, I do not want my students staying up late blogging and then coming to school the next day unable to stay awake and learn.

What are BLOGS?

2008-06-15T00:22:00.000-07:00

Bright Idea 1

2008-06-14T23:51:00.001-07:00

Before we go any further let me introduce My Bright Idea! Creating blogs or other web based materials will result in numerous logins and passwords for websites. Make life easier and save time by creating a login book using an address book. Record the login and passwords according to the website being used will save you frustration later. Trust me...it took me awhile to grasp the idea.

Welcome to my instructional blog

2008-06-14T23:11:00.000-07:00

This blog is being developed to meet a requirement for my summer UHCL Applications for Technolgy (INST 6031) class. I already maintain my 23 Things SBISD blog, contact other bloggers, and build blogs with my students so my time is very valuable and limited. With this in mind I probably will not maintain this course required blog's content after finishing the class. However, I do plan to include something useful so the process will not be a total waste of my time.

Because I believe that the use of technology in the classroom helps better prepare my students for the future I will be adding instructional information on blogging to share with my students later.