"Snorkeling" at the MACUL Conference

I have kicked the nasty pneumonia that kept me from attending the MACUL Conference this year. Thanks for all the get well wishes that so many of you sent during the conference. Since I was not able to attend, I've been hounding everyone in my district who attended to share their experiences with me. The feedback from people in my district who did attend was overly positive as you will see by their comments below.

The first person I bumped into told me that the MACUL Conference was the best conference she has ever attended. She told me that the Alan November keynote was the perfect start to a fantastic conference. Last weekend, she spent some time exploring some of the new tools she was introduced to at the conference and shared a video she made with GoAnimate (a very cute invitation to her son's birthday party).

Many people in my district were only able to attend the pre-conference. They appreciated the in-depth hands on approach. Several were wowed by Jason Ohler's digital storytelling session. One teacher stated "I was impressed with his focus on story over glitz. His framework offers a boost to teachers who believe they do not have the time, money or skills needed to encourage students to create stories of their own." Someone else said "His story mapping models are a great way to help kids organize ideas into something with meaning." Teachers from one of our middle schools have already scheduled a digital storytelling workshop to offer teachers at their building. Another teacher has plans to transform a poetry unit into a poetry digital storytelling unit.

Several people were introduced to Google Docs. "I think that GoogleDocs has lots of possibilities for the classroom. Its ability to have users revise the same document in real time is incredible. Peer editing will be so much fun!" 

"Steve Dembo had tons of cool things to share. His energy and knowledge are inspiring. The most important thing I came away with from his presentations is a better idea of how fast the tool kit is growing and the idea that the educational applications of the new web need to be developed and then shared with others."

 One teacher used a clever metaphor. She said, "I learned about many web 2.0 tools which I liken to snorkeling: I have seen the surface of the web, but there is so much more underwater." My advice is to pick one and give it a try; soon you'll be swimming for more!

Kindergarten Bloggers

I was invited to be a "celebrity" reader in Barb Ozminkowski's Kindergarten classroom at Mary Helen Guest Elementary School.  What a fun morning!  I read the Book Click Clack Moo, a fun story about cows using a typewriter to leave notes for a farmer.  Of course, we had a discussion about typewriters and the class decided that the cows should use a laptop instead.  :-)

After the story, we all headed to the computer lab.  These kindergarteners are bloggers!  Mrs. O reviewed the process for getting to their page on the class blog.  I watched as she went through several steps:  Go to school website, click on Classroms, then Ozminkowski, then Blogminkowski, scroll down to click on the final link to get to the blog.  BUT THERE'S MORE.  They need to scroll the page to the right, click on 2008-2009, click on their name from the list, then find the login button in the upper left, enter their username and password, and click on the Enter button.  They click "Articles" and then are finally ready to write a blog entry.  Gulp.  I didn't think these five year olds could possibly remember all of those steps.  But guess what?  They did; most with very little assistance.  I'll be suggesting that a direct link to the class blog be added to Mrs. Ozminkowski's website to make the process quicker, but I think the students do learn about web navigation as they find their way to their blog page. 

The students were excited to begin writing.  They could write about anything.  They wrote about their pets, their family, a recent "pajama day" at school, and favorite video games.  They one-figured the keys, but using the keyboard was natural for them.  The students sounded out words by speaking slowly and identifying the sounds, then the letters that they thought worked best.  The students were completely engaged in the process and were proud of their efforts.  Some are now blogging from home!

None of this could happen without a teacher who understands the importance of children using technology.  Barb is a teacher who is not afraid to try new things, is one who spends time as a learner herself,  and never lets obstacles get in the way.  

I sometimes hear teachers say that their students can't do special projects because their students do not have the technology skills.  I say hogwash. 

If you'd like to see Mrs. O's class blog, click here.  The platform is Classblogmeister, a free tool that works great for elementary classrooms.  Her students would love a few comments if you have the time.  Scroll down to the section "Student Entries."

President Obama's Speech on Education

All educators should listen or hear to the President's speech given this morning (March 10, 2009).  I'll be highlighting parts of it; the full text is available here.

First of all, I enjoyed hearing the comments about President Lincoln.  I've been working with our 8th grade social studies teachers, as they kick-off a unit that centers around the transcontinental railroad, and all the challenges of that time period was compared to the challenges that we face today.

"I know there's some who believe we can only handle one challenge at a time. And they forget that Lincoln helped lay down the transcontinental railroad and passed the Homestead Act and created the National Academy of Sciences in the midst of civil war. Likewise, President Roosevelt didn't have the luxury of choosing between ending a depression and fighting a war; he had to do both. President Kennedy didn't have the luxury of choosing between civil rights and sending us to the moon. And we don't have the luxury of choosing between getting our economy moving now and rebuilding it over the long term."

The President believes that education has great importance to our nation, saying that the future belongs to the nation that best educates its citizens, and America isn't doing as great a job as it could.  He feels that politics has often gotten in the way of progress.  He says "What's required is not simply new investments, but new reforms."  He believes that merit pay to reward good teachers is a reform that could help, an idea that has historically not been popular with teachers and the Democratic party. Personally, I would be open to the idea, not knowing all the details that need to be worked out.  He also wants to focus on early childhood education, the years before children enter kindergarten. 

Coming next is the portion of the speech that totally excites me. He talks about high expectations and 21st century skills.

And I'm calling on our nation's governors and state education chiefs to develop standards and assessments that don't simply measure whether students can fill in a bubble on a test, but whether they possess 21st century skills like problem-solving and critical thinking and entrepreneurship and creativity. 

He then goes on to call out young people to enter the profession of teaching, to "serve our country in our classrooms."  We need young teachers that are creative, smart, and open to new ideas.

Next, he tackles three more difficult topics:  charter schools, school calendars, and higher ed!  All deserve some investigation and analysis. 

He pleas for parents, students, teachers, communities, and the entire nation to work together to make some positive changes. 

All of this makes me feel hopeful, despite the bad economy, the high class sizes, and the overwhelmed teachers.  What are your thoughts?

Image with Creative Commons license by tsevis.

iTouch/iPhone Applications

Do you have an iTouch or iPhone? I just got one and LOVE IT!  iTunes has an apps store that makes it super easy to download software. With a few taps on the screen, you can have a program ready to use in seconds.  The following applications are free:

• Pandora: Internet Radio
• Google Mobile
  
• Flipbook Lite
  
• i.TV
• Plurk, Facebook, Twitterific
• Backgrounds (search Flickr backgrounds)
• RSS Reader
• Google Earth
• Kindle eBook reader
• Ustream.tv
• Wordworp
• gFlash  (create quizzes using Google Docs)
• Evernote
• The Weather Channel
• Remember the Milk
• TED
• iSodoku Lite
• Tap Tap

What are your favorite apps?

Scribefire

I just learned of a Firefox extension call Scribefire from a post Steve Dickie wrote on the MACUL Conference Blog.

It’s a blogging extension for Firefox. I find it is incredibly useful during conferences. First off, you can use it in a split screen mode, so you can still surf on the top half while taking notes in the bottom half.

I'm trying it out for this entry.  Hope it works!

Gadgets Galore!

I think I have a disease.  I am a gadetaholic.  I have all this stuff and I still want more. 

Look at all these gadgets that I'll be bringing to MACUL with me!  I'm facilitating a half-day preconfernce session in a blended PC/Mac lab, so I'm taking both an Apple and a Windows laptop to be ready for anything!  Other smaller items include:  a USB microphone, a flash drive, a digital camera, an mp3 player with built-in voice recorder, a portable GPS, a mini digital videocam, a webcam, a palm, a portable external hard drive, and some ear buds.  After the MACUL Confernce two years ago, a invested in a rolley bag to help me carry all this stuff. 

What gadgets are on my wish list?  An Apple iTouch (I really want an iPhone, but the monthly fees are beyond my family's budget), and an HP 2140 mini PC.  I've been using a demo model to test how it will work for our district's laptop program, and LOVE IT.  I'll probably come home from the conference with a new and improved wish list after cruising through the vendor area.