Why Re-create the Wheel? (Due March 15)

Hello Bloggers,

There are times when I come to a lesson and think one of two things: 1) How can I make this lesson more relevant for this group of students or 2) I have taught this lesson roughly five gabillion (yes, that's number) times and I want to change it up a little before I go insane. In an attempt to remedy one, or both, of these dilemmas I often get on the web and open up Google. I always think I can scour the web for a quick addition to a lesson plan, but more often than not this consumes much more time than than originally allotted. This leads us to the focus for this week.

Teachers First is a teacher resource site that can eliminate the pain and agony of investing a great deal of time trying to figure out how to spice up a lesson. The resources found on this site are endless; from entire grade and subject-specific lesson plans to the "websites of the week" section, this is a website that should be on your favorites list. In fact, earlier today I was curious if this site had student-friendly games related to electricity (my current science unit). From the home page I just scrolled over "classroom" at the top. Next, I clicked on "by keyword." Then I typed in Electricity. Bingo! Several suggested sites popped up, each with their own description. Before long I found a site dedicated to electricity games. This is a link I can email my parents so they can play the game together with their child at home.

Your assignment for this week is to check out the website and post about a tool, lesson plan or idea from the site you found useful or that you could possibly use in the future.

Seek and Ye Shall Find (a Threaded Discussion Add-on for Your Blog)

Some of you are using the discussion feature on your SWIFT site to communicate with parents. (If you want to learn more about using the discussion feature of SWIFT, see page nine of the SWIFT User Guide.) However, one of the limitations of the SWIFT discussion feature is that the discussions aren’t threaded. This means that as parents post comments, the comments simply appear in chronological order, making it difficult for the teacher to respond to a particular comment that may have appeared early on in the discussion. Threaded discussions allow people to respond to particular comments; they allow the conversation to branch off into different directions. Specifically, your reply to a particular comment appears directly below that comment, tabbed over.

Unfortunately, Blogger (the tool we’re using for this class/blog) also doesn’t offer threaded discussions, making it difficult for me (or you) to reply directly to someone’s comment. However, a solution has been found! I have added a program to our blog that will now allow for threaded commenting from this point forward on the blog. Sweet. You’ll notice when you comment this week that the interface looks a little different—but fear not, all you’ll need to do is type in your name and email address when you post your comment. (And, if you see someone else’s comment you’d like to comment on, go ahead—that can count as your comment.)

So this week’s lesson has two themes (see below). Chose one to comment on this week (each theme has two prompts to choose from).

Theme 1: Using online discussions (SWIFT or other tool) with students or parents
a. If you have experience with online discussions, what tips do you have to share? What have been the benefits?
OR
b. What might be some ways you could incorporate online discussions into your class? If you’re new to this tool, what questions do you have for those who already use it?

Theme 2: If you believe it should be possible, it probably is—all you have to do is look.
(Back story: I knew Blogger didn’t offer threaded discussions, but I figured that I’m not the only person who wished it did, so I Googled “adding threaded discussion to Blogger.” That led me to a blog post about third party applications I could add to the blog to increase interactivity. That’s where I learned about Intense Debate—the application I’m using to provide threaded discussion for our class on this blog. The rest, my friends, is history.

I offer this as evidence that there is a solution out there for most of our challenges if we look and are willing to invest in a little risk taking. If I had seen this issue as a problem, I might have just begrudgingly accepted my plight (no threaded commenting) and would not have investigated further. However, I felt comfortable taking matters into my own hands and did some self-directed learning—something I think we (and our students) are going to be expected to do more and more of in this new digital world. In my role, I am confronted by this reality day after day, yet every time I am amazed and delighted. What about you?

a. Share a time you went online with a question/challenge and “taught” yourself how to do something new.
OR
b. Do it now . . . what’s a question/challenge you have in your class right now? Go online and look for your solution. How did it go?

What's Better Than a Field Trip? A Virtual Field Trip! (Due March 2)

A virtual field trip is a guided exploration through the web that organizes a collection of pre-screened, thematically based web pages into a structured online learning experience. It is an inter-related collection of images, supporting text and/or other media, delivered electronically via the World Wide Web, in a format that can be professionally presented to relate the essence of a visit to a time or place. The virtual experience becomes a unique part of the participants' life experience. (Nix, 1999)

It's always easier to use someone else's definition than to come up with one of my own. We have been hearing the importance of incorporating technology into lessons in order to make them more engaging for students. However, this can prove to be a difficult, time-consuming task, often leaving one foaming at the mouth shouting expletive deleteds at the computer. Virtual field trips can help curb this anger.

Virtual field trips can look quite different, depending on their creator. There are virtual field trips that create a 360 degree atmosphere where you can navigate the page, almost like you are walking on the Great Wall of China. Then there are virtual field trips that are several pages, much like a powerpoint presentation, that incorprate pictures, words, sounds and/or videos.

The assignment for this week is to take a look at one or both of these websites (http://oops.bizland.com/vtours.htm www.theteachersguide.com/virtualtours.html). These websites contain several virtual field trips.

Your blog post for this week should answer the following questions: How easy/difficult would it be for you to incorporate a virtual field trip into one of your units/lessons? Did you find a particular virtual field trip that you might use in the future?

The Best Classroom Blogs

Greetings fellow bloggers! Your posts made for an interesting and informative reading session at Starbucks over the weekend (after I finished reading The Blind Side of course). It is exciting that we are now underway with discovering ways to funnel technology into use in the classroom.

Many of you stated that you would like to either a) learn about the benefits of setting up a classroom blog or b) how to improve the classroom blog you already have in place. This common curiosity leads us to the focus for this week. Edublogs.com is a website designed specifically for educators who are interested in incorporating technology into communication with students and parents. Each year they choose the top blogs for several different categories, such as best student

blog and best teacher blog.

For those wanting to know more about the benefits of blogging, you should check out the top ten reasons to use blogs to teach. Technically, this link will lead you to the top reasons to use “edublog” to teach, but they are applicable to any blog you may create from any site. Also, you don't have to search far and wide to find good blogs; just take a look at what our very own Christine Thurston has created for her first grade class at Shadow Lake.

After looking over these reasons, check out the awards for the top teacher blogs for 2009. For the post this week, please tell us about which teacher blog you found to be your favorite and why. In your post, please include the link to that blog. Before you post your comment, please be sure your first and last name is on your post or your first name with your last initial. This immensely helps the process of making sure you get checked off for class credit.

Although the discussion for this class takes place on a blog, the primary focus for this class, ironically, is not blogging; we are merely using this blog to foster discussion and unearth new technologies that may be useful in your classroom. If there is enough interest, there may be a separate class in the future that focuses primarily on blogging. If you currently have or are planning to create a classroom blog, please take a look at these helpful hints, guidelines and other policies through sharepoint: https://owa.tahomasd.us/owa/redir.aspx?C=5e4e8dd7441749f08be4ef7bbe4d057d&URL=http%3a%2f%2fintranet%2fcentraloffice%2fTL%2ftechnology%2fTeacher%2520Tech%2520Resources%2fblogging%2fdefault.aspx

Welcome to the Elementary Learn and Earn Class!

Welcome, everyone! Over the course of the next 12 weeks (excluding breaks, of course), I'll be sharing a variety of technology tools and resources with you. I'll be using this blogging format to post a new "lesson" each week (on Tuesdays). Along with reading and following the directions in each week's post, I'll prompt you to offer a comment related to that week's lesson. Since we're using a blog for this class, this week's lesson is intended to help you become familiar with how blogs work. Begin by watching this short video from the geniuses (I think) at Common Craft:If you liked the way the Common Craft folks explain things, check out their other Explainations in Plain English; you'll be glad you did. (I particularly like Zombies in Plain English, but I digress.) As mentioned in the video, one of the perks of blogging is the community it creates. One way we'll be taking advatage of that feature is through commenting. Commenting on a blog is easy. Simply look for the comment link at the bottom of a post. Click on it to leave your comment. After you've typed in your comment, you will be asked to identify yourself. For our purposes it is important that you DO NOT identify yourself as "Anonymous." Either create and use a Google account that idetifies you accurrately (if your username is iluvsoccer72, we won't know who you are) or select the Name/URL option and type in your name.

So there you have it! This week's lesson is nearly complete. But before we're done, you need to post a comment. Since we're just getting started I'd like your comment to introduce yourself. Include why you're taking this class and what you're hoping to learn. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them. Just a reminder, comments are due by Monday morning, 8:00 a.m. Have a great week!