Which came first?

Much like the chicken and the egg question, and continuing with a poultry theme, I got to wondering today: If birds of a feather flock together, which of those birds looked around and made the decision they were "of a feather"? I mean, one of 'em had to take stock of surroundings and say something, right?

Well, that question got me thinking about how leadership can show up in just looking around and speaking up about an observation.

I'm at this conference which is all about identifying the strengths in every learner, be it academic or otherwise. If we start doing this for our students, why aren't we doing with our staff? Should we focus less on targeting the weaknesses and instead use strengths and interests to build confidence and skill in areas of weakness (aka: technology)?

Would a teacher who is not very tech savvy be more inclined to use and practice using Glogster, for example, if in a training session, they were allowed to create something on their recent trip to Greece, rather than creating something on Earth Science? Would the teacher who isn't sure how to create a lesson in SMART Notebook be more inclined to practice with the software if I encouraged them to make an "All About Me" activity, rather than a math lesson?

In sitting in some technology sessions at this conference, I've been truly surprised at how many have access to at least 1 computer in their classroom, but never put it in the hands of students. At a conference hosted by "Gifted and Talented Gurus" there is defintely a need for a technology strand alongside all the other invaluable information being absorbed this week.

I'm no GT expert. I'm not an expert in much of anything, actually. I'm just a bird, looking around, making an observation.

Bringing the Funk to GT

This week I am attending Confratute at the University of Connecticut. Confratute is the annual Conference/Fraternity/Institute hosted by Dr. Joseph Renzulli and Sally Reis. Joe and Sally are largely responsible for the entire concept of the gifted student and the push for recognizing the need for gifted education in school. The main message of this week is that there should be opportunities for all students to have their gifts-academic and otherwise-recognized and addressed at school. It is only the 2nd full day, and already I'm overwhelmed with excitement in what we are going to be bringing back to the learners in Coppell.

My only surprise has been in the lack of technology integration in many of the courses and even the basic knowledge of the availability of technology for all learners, across the country. I sat in a class yesterday where 10 out of 25 participants had never heard of Skype. I've looked at several course descriptions that toute "Learn about all you can do with PowerPoint!"

I'm actually attending a course titled "60 Tools in 60 Minutes" that is giving Web 2.0 tools to attendees. I'm really looking forward to seeing what they are going to present. The class doesn't start for anothe 10 minutes, and we already have people standing in the back!

I'm thinking I may submit a similar course for next year, but have it focus on Web 2.0 tools that aid in differentiation.

Folks, I may be a Confratuter yet.

Adventures in Safari

The time has finally arrived for our district to put away the 32" Zenith monster TV's that have been hanging lifeless in the corners of classrooms for the last 20 years...we're onto bigger and better things with Safari Montage!

Safari Montage is a video distribution and creation system. In addition to the continually updated bank of videos Safari offers, we have the Creation Station piece which will allow us to upload videos we create, documents, and SMART Notebook files to share with one another...on our own campus and across the district!

Any material a teacher uploads through Creation Station can be selected to be available on Home Access, meaning that students can access these creations at home. Home Access automatically makes Safari video content available.

Safari has an Online Community (Safari Montage HD Network) where teachers can share content, get ideas, seek assistance from teachers all over the country, and win awesome prizes (hello, iPad!) for submission ideas.

Many of the videos include Teacher guides, Blackline Masters, and Quizzes (around 5 questions) that complement the video content. Many of the videos have English and Spanish language tracks as well as Closed Captioning which is great for ELLs.

All videos are broken into "Chapters" that are around 2-7 minutes. Safari encourages teachers to use these Chapters to cover only what is needed out of the videos to meet the immediate objective of the current lesson. Each Chapter is further divided into "key concepts" that are typically less than 1 minute long!

Teachers can create Playlists to help organize their classes, content areas, and lesson objectives. Safari playlists can consist of Chapters from various videos for a particular lesson. Playlists can be shared within a campus or within the district. If sharing a playlist, discussion about naming the playlists needs to take place(including the TEKS, grade level, subject, etc.). Playlists can be played in "automatic" (plays all videos, in order, back to back) or "manual" mode. Manual plays the video, then at the end of that video it will stop and show a "next" button, so that when the teacher is ready to proceed with the next video, they can move on at their own pace of instruction. Playlists can also be connected to Eduphoria (Forethought) through the "permanent link" button. Using the "copy" feature can help teachers differentiate by adding or taking out clips for a particular group of students. Teachers can add a quiz to a particular Playlist.

http://www.safari.coppellisd.com/ is the intra-site address. Teachers in CISD can use their network username and password.

Don't You Hate It When...

...you feel like the cheese standing alone...stupid cheese at that?? I couldn't figure out the surge protector today. I even had to get hands-on help because apparently verbal directions weren't enough for my limited capacity.

I'd love to say I just wanted to experience what some of our less-tech savvy teachers experience.

I'd love to say that, but I'd be lying.

Give a Hand for Handhelds!

I happen to work with 2 campuses that do not currently have iTouches or iPods for student use. We are, however, chomping at the bit to join the other campuses in our district in the world of handhelds in education!

No handhelds? No problem: you can use anything that has an Internet connection!

Use student cell phones and texting to take a poll on a site like PollEverywhere or Poll4.
Wiffiti can be used as a brainstorming tool that would show the free flow of ideas from the class.

Gabcast (beta) is used for podcasting through cell phones. When you register, you are given a Channel number. The channel used to place each of your recordings (up to 20 minutes each) in the correct place. Each recording is an "episode". When you finish your "episode" press # for options. You can select to make it private or public, to publish it immediately, or to moderate. What a great idea for a Field Trip journal! Or have students assume the identity of a historical figure and create a "Sorry I missed your call" message!

Use camera phones to have the class work on a collective project (Public Service Announcement) by uploading their pictures to a group photo album such as one you create on PhotoBucket. When you set up a Photobucket account, in Account Settings, you get your mobile settings (address) you post to have the photos sent to you.

Its important to note that teachers need to model what is "formal" and "informal" language when using texting in the classroom. Also important is working with students who don't always know the difference between "cheating" and "sharing" to have concrete examples.

Glogster: Alternative to the Almighty PowerPoint

Glogster is a great alternative to PowerPoint! You can insert graphics, video, and audio easily. A great idea for classroom management is to have students "storyboard" their Glog before attacking it online. They can gather online images, write scripts for audio narration, and select an appropriate theme prior to logging on to Glogster. Teachers can use Glogster to introduce concepts, review material, post agendas, and share websites for a webquest.

Using Social Networking to Influence

Research shows teachers are most influenced by 3 things: Administrators, assessments and data, and other teachers...the greatest of these is OTHER TEACHERS!

So, can we use social networking (FB, Ning, Twitter, blogs, wikis, Skype) to develop and expand traditional in-house/district professional learning?

YES!!

• Use social bookmarking, such as Diigo, to share websites of interest with your PLN (Professional Learning Network).
• Use Skype to hold meetings across the globe.
• Use Slideshare to share presentations with your PLN.
• Use YouTube to post/comment lessons or vodcasts re: your PLN's focus
• Twitter is INVALUABLE for professional learning, whether in a PLN or flying solo.

Find a balance between the resources that work for you and for inspiring your teaching...don't try to do it all, but at least try a few different approaches.

VoiceThread'ing

A lil' summin' summin' I came up with using VoiceThread:


VoiceThread Resources:

• Slideshare.net (search for "voicethread in education")
• Voicethread4Education
• Voicethread Ning
• 100 Uses for VoiceThread
  

Classroom Uses for Blogs

• On-going lesson summary as a log for absent students, review, and reflection
• Individual student reflection on concepts
• Students can create a blog for other students to use that contains content relevant to TEKS
• In Math, students can embed the Problem of the Day/Week and then the explanation or how to for the problem
• For writing, teacher can post a picture as a story starter...each blog post can be a continuation of the same story
• Teacher can use a broad concept (ie: "Freedom", "Measurement") and ask students to post pictures or video as illustration of that concept
• Gathering data (polls, posting observations, posting pictures)
• Teacher posts a statement and students can debate the issue
• Students can use their own Blog to "journal" as a main character of a novel, or a historical figure to demonstrate research they have done about the time period, novel, setting, etc.
• Using sites like gabcast, VoiceThread, or Vocaroo students can record audio and post on their own Blog, or on the class Blog, depending on the objective

Trying Out Some Embedding

Can she embed some classy video? We shall see:

And what about pictures? More class?

Nothing says "class" like cake...this we know.

Be Careful What You Wish For...

Almost 2 years ago I embarked on a new direction in my educational career. I had been in the classroom for 8 years and wanted "new challenges". Famous last words.

This is a blog of how I'm trying to keep my head above water in the sea of technology integration. Maybe you'll be entertained. Maybe you'll commiserate with me. And maybe, just maybe, we'll stay afloat together.