Ranting Like Nancy Grace

Recently, I worked with a student (who was NOT in BGISD), who was working on a project for a social studies class in 9th grade.  The 9th grader was to create a poster board about a country.  The student cut out pictures from the internet, drew a flag, and used rubber cement to paste the pictures and letters on the poster board.  Here is my rant:

1. It took an enormous amount of time to cut the pictures, letters and then glue the paper on the poster board.
2. Rubber cement was all over the student and his work area
3. The student did not have any real interest in the project and just wanted to get it over with.
4. I could not recognize any real 21st Century Skills utilized in the project
5. I hope this student does not get a job cutting out paper and gluing it on a poster board.
6. It appeared there was little opportunity for any creativity.
7. This student had a macbook, ipad, ipod touch, dell pc, toshiba laptop, hd video camera, and a plethora of web 2.0 sites at his disposal, but used scissors, markers and rubber cement.
8. I have not noticed any doctor, lawyer, judge, plant manager, accountant, banker, nurse, fireman, policeman, radiologist, and so on who has recently cut out paper and glued things together.  My bad...doctors are using "glue" to seal cuts and such...

So, that is my Nancy Grace rant.  Here is the thing:

• The National Education Technology Standards for Students can be found at this site.
• Communication and Collaboration
• Creativity and Innovation
• Research and Information
• Critical Thinking
• Digital Citizenship
• Technology Operations
• We are preparing students to be successful in the workforce; not only to "live" for the test.
• We have at our fingertips almost anything we can dream.  "Star Trek" concepts are here.
• At the very least give students options when creating projects.
• Project-Based Learning should have an acceptable window to complete the task and there should be some freedom in how the project is designed.

I am sure this will create some disagreement...That is ok.  My job is to share ideas and get teachers and students to take chances with using technology.  The World is changing; we have to adapt and be leaders in how technology can help engage students.

Please make some comments.  Would love to hear your thoughts.  

Snipping Tool

The Snipping tool is a feature inside of windows 7.  It allows you to capture entire screen or capture portions of your screen.  You can use this tool to save images, copy images and make annotations on a captured image. 


 Check out my video.

SchoolPointe tips and the Snipping Tool

Many of you are using your SchoolPointe website in a wonderful way.  Teachers are sharing assignments, calendar events, and classroom files with students,teachers and parents.  I realize "time" for teachers is very valuable, but now that I have a son in high school I realize the importance of digital communication with the teacher is more necessary than ever before.  Here are a few ideas of how to use your website:

1. Place due dates for assignments and advertise tests well in advance so that students can begin preparing.
2. Upload classroom resource files like:  powerpoint or word documents so that students can view them on their smart phones, access on the internet at home or print out at home (saving the school district money)
3. Embed student projects on your website like:  glogster posters, storybird stories, prezis or animoto videos.
4. Sharing work online allows parents, grandparents and others to see the work the students have created. The students then have an audience for their work.
5. Share valuable information about yourself so that other stakeholders can have an insight into you as a teacher.
6. I like posting all my trainings online so that the website links I use are viewable anytime the learner needs them.  This allows the learner to listen more during my presentations and they have opportunity later to review the websites.
7. You can also upload as many videos and files as you like to SchoolPointe!!!  This can free up your network storage and allow you access to files anywhere with internet connectivity.

Here is a short video on a few tips and tricks I thought you might find useful while working with SchoolPointe:

 Click Here for the SchoolPointe How To Video

Turning Point Tools

Currently we have 93 sets of Turning Point Response card systems in our district.  Use Turning Technologies' student response systems for formative assessment and frequent progress monitoring in order to promote data driven differentiated instruction and to meet the learning needs of each of your students.  This technology is the ideal tool to implement educational and pedagogical best practices effectively.  Here are several ways we can use it at BGISD:

1. Turning Point Anywhere:  This tool allows you to gather input using almost any tool you have in your lessons.  Examples include:  word documents, excel documents, websites, interwrite workspace and more.  Great tool to get started and have immediate success.
2. Turning Point 2008:  TurningPoint allows you to author and poll interactive slides natively in PowerPoint with a minimal learning curve. Tutorials include settings, creating slides, inserting objects, running presentations, enhancing presentations, and more.
3. Polling Support and BrainPop:  This tool works with the popular Brainpop website and allows students to take a quiz from BrainPop and record a grade instantly.
4. ResponseWare:  Using responseware allows students and teachers to share presentations using smart phones and internet presentation models. 

 

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS SITE

Tools for You

Schoolpointe - our district website.

All teachers have been encouraged to use this valuable tool.  Your website should provide a valuable opportunity for positive communication with our parents and students, and serve as that one place students can go to find information pertinent to your classroom.  As a parent, I appreciate teachers who allow my son to download documents, provide calendars for assignments and provide resources at a glance so learning can continue at home.  Here are some thoughts I would like to share about using a classroom website:

• calendars and assignment details are available 24/7
• assignments can be submitted to schoolpointe
• unlimited documents, links and videos can be uploaded to schoolpointe
• folders containing lesson materials such as:  powerpoints or documents can be hidden or shared
• web links can be displayed and organized so students do not have to waste time searching through websites which may not be useful
• student projects such as:  animoto, storybird, prezi, glogster and videos can be embedded so that parents and grandparents can view their projects

If you are not using your classroom website or have not updated it recently; today would be a great day!

Today's Webinar and Archived Webinars

It has been a standing joke in my district that I am the Webinar peddler. I have tried for a few years to get people interested in using them to improve instruction and provide professional development. A "few" have inquired and a "few" less have watched them. I realize the challenge of sitting in front of your computer and participating in an event like a webinar. However, the knowledge and opportunity for collaboration is so great, I will continue to be peddle...

Archived webinars are available to BGISD Staff @ http://tinyurl.com/BGISDWebinars

The webinar today is:
Making Connections: Smithsonian American Art Museum Across the Curriculum
April 13, 2011

3:00 Central

You want great resources? We've got great resources! Join us for an engaging exploration of how accessing the Smithsonian American Art Museum's online collection energizes curriculum development, student research, and class projects.

Presenter: Adrienne Gayoso and Victoria Lichtendorf


Here are instructions to log into today's webinar.
To join the Webinar, please follow the link below. Enter as a guest by typing your name in the first field, and click “Enter Room.”
http://iste.acrobat.com/smithsonianmakingconnections/
***Please note: You will be able to enter the room 15 minutes before the Webinar begins.***

The audio portion of this Webinar will be presented over VOIP (through your computer speakers).
To ensure the best webinar experience, here are some tips:

1) Users should run the Connection wizard to make sure they have the latest version of Flash and install the Connect Add-in if possible – also note their Connection speed for the next step: https://admin.acrobat.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm.
2) Note, many folks sit on a LAN, but because of network traffic, length of cable, wi-fi (not recommended for webinars) or other factors – only get DSL or Modem speed throughput to their client.
3) Once in the room, webinar participants should go to the Meeting drop-down menu and under “Manage My Settings” select “My Connection Speed” and select Modem/DSL/LAN depending on what the Connection wizard told them.
4) Please close all other applications running in the background during the webinar, particularly web applications (email, chat, etc…). These compete for CPU and client bandwidth to the internet. In some cases, people will be running applications that are using the camera or microphone driver already which restricts Connect from using the same driver in the meeting room.

Student Email

This is for the Faculty of BGISD

All students grades 5-12 have a student email account available to them, provided they have returned the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). Early on in my career, I was not all that keen on using email with students. Today's world is quite different and the necessity to allow students access to their student email accounts has increased. Students now are sharing files with teachers and other students in efforts to complete homework and/or deliver presentations. I encourag you to always use student email accounts to set up educational accounts such as Prezi or animoto. Using student accounts will often give them free access to educational tools.

I would also encourage you to have students use their email address as "the" way to log onto the computers on our network.

Student email addresses follow this pattern: firstname.lastname@stu.bgreen.kyschool.us