Just one those strange happenings or a Halloween visitor!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Just one those strange happenings or a Halloween visitor!
Friday, October 30, 2009
My Week, 10/26
It was a quieter, "let's catch up on some things" week.
On Monday, I attended MS Office 2007 Training, which we are switching to next year. We discussed new features and also plans for training in our buildings. The rest of the day, I spent catching up from my day off, going through emails, and updating our Six Kingdom website, which took more time than I thought it would.
Tuesday, I worked on completing my agenda for our next airliner integration session that occurred on Wednesday, and finished up the lesson for the CTE e-portfolios for Thursday and Friday. I also did some research on DE Streaming Science.
On Wednesday, I did the airliner session during grade level planning periods and a few other odds and ends around my office.
Then on Thursday and today, I am working with the 8th grade CTE students on their home pages for their e-portfolios using iweb and then helped staff with some questions and/or technical difficulties.
Overall, a good week! I am on the hunt for some new units to help plan soon! What do you have coming up in your curriculum that you have ideas for? Or do you need ideas? Share in the comments below. I'd be glad to help out!
On Monday, I attended MS Office 2007 Training, which we are switching to next year. We discussed new features and also plans for training in our buildings. The rest of the day, I spent catching up from my day off, going through emails, and updating our Six Kingdom website, which took more time than I thought it would.
Tuesday, I worked on completing my agenda for our next airliner integration session that occurred on Wednesday, and finished up the lesson for the CTE e-portfolios for Thursday and Friday. I also did some research on DE Streaming Science.
On Wednesday, I did the airliner session during grade level planning periods and a few other odds and ends around my office.
Then on Thursday and today, I am working with the 8th grade CTE students on their home pages for their e-portfolios using iweb and then helped staff with some questions and/or technical difficulties.
Overall, a good week! I am on the hunt for some new units to help plan soon! What do you have coming up in your curriculum that you have ideas for? Or do you need ideas? Share in the comments below. I'd be glad to help out!
Photo "Elements of My Perfect Little Notebook" found on Flickr, uploaded by Patrick Ng.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Trails Optional
I have a new blog addiction. Trails Optional written by blogger and educator Jen Deyenberg is inspirational to me. I found it while searching for some ideas for "Smart" Tips and saw the ones Jen had created. They were very straight forward and to the point, exactly what busy educators need. Then I started reading some of her other posts and realized she just started blogging with her students, as well. That's something we've just started doing at my school too (more on that later). It was great to read and "hear" the challenges and benefits of blogging with students.
I like her candid humor as well, describing in one post, "What have I done? I’ve created a groups of kids that rolls their eyes if I pull out a worksheet. Ok, so I roll my eyes when I pull out a worksheet". It's the typical catch-22 educators who overtly use technology find themselves in. We know there will not always be a time when we can use technology, in fact, when we most certainly should NOT use technology. There are times where it's more beneficial for an activity to be hands on, however, it's also a world where students have technology all around them. Okay, enough of my soapbox.
I'm looking forward to more thought provoking posts from this blogger and can't wait to see where Trails Optional heads to next!
Photo of Rock Garden Trail, in Glacier National Park, found on Flickr, uploaded by kweaver2.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Update Your Lesson Activity Toolkit to 2.0
We're learning more and more about that Smart Notebook software! This week during my airliner training I'll be discussing the Lesson Activity Toolkit within this software. I'll be showing examples and where to find activities. These will come from the Lesson Activity Toolkit. However, most of you (in my building) still have the old version of the toolkit and we need to update it to 2.0. Follow these directions and you will be all set!
1. Open Smart Notebook.
2. Click on the Gallery.
3. Check to make sure your lesson activity toolkit says "1.0".
4. Select the wrench.
5. Select "Check for Updates"
6. Select Lesson Activity Toolkit 1.0
7. In the new window, make sure Lesson Activity Toolkit 2.0 is checked.
8. Click next.
9. Wait for it to update.
10. Click Finish.
1. Open Smart Notebook.
2. Click on the Gallery.
3. Check to make sure your lesson activity toolkit says "1.0".
4. Select the wrench.
5. Select "Check for Updates"
6. Select Lesson Activity Toolkit 1.0
7. In the new window, make sure Lesson Activity Toolkit 2.0 is checked.
8. Click next.
9. Wait for it to update.
10. Click Finish.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Six Kingdom Posters Finished
Yesterday I finished up the website with the completed Six Kingdoms Posters the 7th grade students made in Comic Life. Last week, I previewed a little bit about this project, which the students had a great time with! They did a little bit of research of some of the kingdoms and used their recall skills from class lectures with others. They then did an image search to find images that best represented each kingdom. I had the students use Safari on our macbooks to send their images straight to iphoto, which then automatically came up in their Comic Life library. After that was completed, students then went into Comic Life, found a template to add to their page, and then dragged their images from the library to each box. They then added speaking bubbles with two facts about each kingdom. They labeled the kingdoms, added a title and their name and then were allowed to do special effects, colors, fonts, background, shadows, etc.
This was one of the best projects I've done and I'm really happy with the results. However, there are a few things I learned from this project.
1) Have students put their name on it first. For some reason, we had a hard time getting student to put their names on their posters.
2) No matter how many times we told the students to put their information on their poster first, then look at the effects, we still had students who didn't finish because they were changing all the effects. I would hate to do this, because I want students to learn time management and be responsible for getting their own work done on time, but maybe next time I should break this up into two parts. In the first part, students have a checklist (which they had) and they must show us everything is checked off before they can move onto the effects. I saw some great posters with lots of variety and they would have been awesome--had they been finished. There were also other students who went beyond what we asked and put in whole paragraphs about each kingdom or had additional "comic" comments after the information had been added. They were fun to read as well as informational.
3) I would do this type of project again. It took the students about a period and a half to create their posters, but they won't be forgetting this assignment anytime soon.
This was one of the best projects I've done and I'm really happy with the results. However, there are a few things I learned from this project.
1) Have students put their name on it first. For some reason, we had a hard time getting student to put their names on their posters.
2) No matter how many times we told the students to put their information on their poster first, then look at the effects, we still had students who didn't finish because they were changing all the effects. I would hate to do this, because I want students to learn time management and be responsible for getting their own work done on time, but maybe next time I should break this up into two parts. In the first part, students have a checklist (which they had) and they must show us everything is checked off before they can move onto the effects. I saw some great posters with lots of variety and they would have been awesome--had they been finished. There were also other students who went beyond what we asked and put in whole paragraphs about each kingdom or had additional "comic" comments after the information had been added. They were fun to read as well as informational.
3) I would do this type of project again. It took the students about a period and a half to create their posters, but they won't be forgetting this assignment anytime soon.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
My Week, 10/19/09
What a busy week! I keep saying that, don't I? This week was full of professional development and some really cool Science posters!
On Monday, I had a staff session on Social Bookmarking, where I explained to teachers in my building that social bookmarking is a way to organize and store your favorite websites and share them with others. We talked about Google bookmarks, Portaportal, Delicious, Diigo, and StumbleUpon. I haven't quite figured out that last one and really stick with Delicious and Diigo. Is there anyone out there that uses StumbleUpon? If so, why do you use it or what is that you like about it? Come convince me!
The teachers who attended thought this was a great way to share resources! Here are some of the comments they had to share:
From our guidance counselor, Amy:
From one of our 8th grade teachers, Deborah:
My presentation from Monday is uploaded here.
Last week, I hinted at using the program Comic Life for this week. So on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I worked with the 7th grade Science classes using Comic Life to create posters of the Six Kingdoms: Archeabacteria, Eubacteria, Fungi, Protista, Plantae, and Animalia. See what I learned this week? The students had a great time and I loved seeing them help one another with the program. Each poster was truly a spirit of themselves and their creativity-there isn't one that looks alike. They discovered fonts I didn't know about. Three or four students found fonts that looked like animal tracks or had borders to go around their letters for the title. I think all of us thought they did a great job and now that they know the program, we are already thinking of what they can use it for next!
Which brings me to Friday! Well...I'm taking a break and I'm headed to Radford, one of my favorite places and my college. Have a great weekend!
On Monday, I had a staff session on Social Bookmarking, where I explained to teachers in my building that social bookmarking is a way to organize and store your favorite websites and share them with others. We talked about Google bookmarks, Portaportal, Delicious, Diigo, and StumbleUpon. I haven't quite figured out that last one and really stick with Delicious and Diigo. Is there anyone out there that uses StumbleUpon? If so, why do you use it or what is that you like about it? Come convince me!
The teachers who attended thought this was a great way to share resources! Here are some of the comments they had to share:
From our guidance counselor, Amy:
"I think it's great! I'm always finding pages and bookmarking them and then I can't find them when I go to a different computer. These will be wonderful!"
From one of our 8th grade teachers, Deborah:
"I think it will be a convenience to me because I will have material readily available to me whether I'm at work or at home".
My presentation from Monday is uploaded here.
Last week, I hinted at using the program Comic Life for this week. So on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I worked with the 7th grade Science classes using Comic Life to create posters of the Six Kingdoms: Archeabacteria, Eubacteria, Fungi, Protista, Plantae, and Animalia. See what I learned this week? The students had a great time and I loved seeing them help one another with the program. Each poster was truly a spirit of themselves and their creativity-there isn't one that looks alike. They discovered fonts I didn't know about. Three or four students found fonts that looked like animal tracks or had borders to go around their letters for the title. I think all of us thought they did a great job and now that they know the program, we are already thinking of what they can use it for next!
Which brings me to Friday! Well...I'm taking a break and I'm headed to Radford, one of my favorite places and my college. Have a great weekend!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
FETC Fall Virtual Conference Tomorrow!
The FETC Virtual Conference is tomorrow! I blogged about this back in August and here's your friendly reminder about it! Visit http://virtual.FETC.org from 10am - 6pm EST tomorrow for some great FREE professional development opportunities. Register here.
I'll be working with students tomorrow most of the day, but I'll catch you up on what sessions I was able to get to.
Here's the schedule:
10:00 - 11:00 Dedicated Exhibit Hall Time
11:00 - 12:00 Keynote Presentation: Unleashing Teacher Creativity and Effective Instruction in the Digital World*
12:00 - 1:15 Unleashing Teacher Creativity and Effective Instruction in the Digital World* A Panel Discussion with "Beyond Textbooks" Advocates
1:30 - 2:45 Three Types of Immersive Interfaces: Implications for Learning and Teaching*
2:45 - 3:15 Live Chat hosted by Pano Logic in the Networking Lounge
3:15 - 4:30 Beyond Drill and Practice: Developing Automatic Recall of Math Facts for All Children*
4:30 - 5:00 & *5:00 - 5:30 Tight Budget? Learn how K-12 Districts are Saving Up to 60% with Parallels and Achieving Their Student Technology Needs
5:00 - 6:00 Building 21st Century Classrooms in the Clouds! - A Desktop Sharing Presentation*
I'll be working with students tomorrow most of the day, but I'll catch you up on what sessions I was able to get to.
Here's the schedule:
10:00 - 11:00 Dedicated Exhibit Hall Time
11:00 - 12:00 Keynote Presentation: Unleashing Teacher Creativity and Effective Instruction in the Digital World*
12:00 - 1:15 Unleashing Teacher Creativity and Effective Instruction in the Digital World* A Panel Discussion with "Beyond Textbooks" Advocates
1:30 - 2:45 Three Types of Immersive Interfaces: Implications for Learning and Teaching*
2:45 - 3:15 Live Chat hosted by Pano Logic in the Networking Lounge
3:15 - 4:30 Beyond Drill and Practice: Developing Automatic Recall of Math Facts for All Children*
4:30 - 5:00 & *5:00 - 5:30 Tight Budget? Learn how K-12 Districts are Saving Up to 60% with Parallels and Achieving Their Student Technology Needs
5:00 - 6:00 Building 21st Century Classrooms in the Clouds! - A Desktop Sharing Presentation*
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