I attended a workshop yesterday that was held at the Schultz Center, facilitated by renowned Apple Curriculum "Evangelist" Dr. Mark Benno, titled, "Remaking Student Projects That Are Out Of This World". It was great to see all of the wonderful activities and ideas that Mark pulled together to share with us. We learned about some free Internet resources, and got an overview of the new iLife and iWorks suites, and the ease with which students can create amazing products. We learned about document sharing online using the new iWorks.com website, and even joined a wiki where we all shared ideas for integrating technology into curriculum. The hands-on portion of the workshop had us working collaboratively on an enhanced podcast, using iWorks, iPhoto and GarageBand. We had a blast and you could see the wheels turning in everyones' heads and the "light bulbs" burning brightly.
Probably the best part of the day was when a teacher, who just happens to be a media specialist and the district's Teacher of Year, shared some student work with us. She and her classroom teachers planned an activity that addressed "author's purpose", that integrated technology, the study of fables, creative writing, and visual art. It was great! The students learned about and read fables in the media center, as they worked on author's purpose and genre studies in their classroom. They began writing original fables, which they illustrated in their Art class. The media specialist facilitated their reading their original fables, recording and editing them in GarageBand. She scanned their original artwork and brought those into iPhoto. She also provided them with transitions ("and then they", "because of", etc.) for their podcasts. The finished products were wonderful! The best part about it was that these 2nd grade students completely understood the concept of a fable and the author's purpose because they were engaged in their learning and motivated by the use of technology. They had complete ownership of their learning! Isn't this better than giving quizzes and tests?
Another teacher from Chets Creek Elementary shared that their teachers had all been working collaboratively using Ning and also had wiki's and blogs. Most of the teachers post homework assignments and use their blogs to keep the parents and community informed. No longer can a student say that they didn't do their homework because they misplaced the sheet, when it's available online. The faculty and staff of this school were early adopters of technology and have been doing amazing things! Visit their site, then click "Resources" and then "Blogs, Wikis and Websites".
At the end of our afternoon, participants shared their thoughts and feelings about integrating technology. A principal of an elementary school made some remarks that really resonated with me. She said that using technology with her school's ESE students allows them to "wind up where they've never been before". She said that the ease of use of these wonderful technology tools allows her exceptional needs students to create products that look sharp and professional, and as "good as work done by other students". Her ESE students never have to feel like their work is not good enough when they are using technology tools to create their original products. How awesome is that?
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To follow Mark Benno on Twitter: http://twitter.com/markbenno
November 10, 2009
October 22, 2009
Digital Citizenship and Netiquette
A member of my personal learning network (PLN) on Twitter (@stevekatz) shared his presentation on digital citizenship and netiquette, which he presented to parents. It's a great presentation - please enjoy:
Digital Citizenship & Netiquette
View more presentations from Steve Katz.
September 18, 2009
September 17, 2009
Changes to FCAT from the Florida DOE
On September 16, the Florida Department of Education sent out two memoranda describing changes to FCAT Writes and FCAT for incoming 9th graders. To read the memo's:
September 8, 2009
Word Cloud of Obama's Back To School Speech
July 17, 2009
Great Presentation - Tech Tips for Not So Techy Teachers
This is an excellent presentation and shares many different tech tools for teachers. I would recommend presenting one of these tools per faculty meeting or early dismissal day. There are enough to last most of the year! Enjoy and share!
April 29, 2009
22 Smart, Inspirational Quotes From Bloggers In 2008
Click the play button to watch the presentation below. I found this to be very thought-provoking.
April 22, 2009
FETC 2009 Blog
FETC was 4 months ago and I haven't had a chance to share all of the wonderful tips and tricks that I learned! I finally decided that the best way to share the information was to blog about it. I'll be updating the blog over the next few days until everything that I learned is posted. There are a few posts there now. If you become a follower, you'll receive an email each time I update the blog with new info. The URL is http://fetc2009blog.blogspot.com. I hope you'll find it interesting and also find something that you can use in your work!
March 21, 2009
Podcasts and Blogger
Lots of educators are using Blogger to extend the school day and communicate with parents. It's great to have a classroom blog where you can post information for your students and parents, display pictures of some of the events in your classroom that day, share study tips, homework help, and so much more. As a result of the online podcasting courses and our Tech Tuesday podcasting workshop, many more teachers are creating podcasts and want to share them on their blogs. A good way to do that is to create your podcast using Audacity or GarageBand, edit it, convert it to an mp3 file, upload it to Internet Archive, and then embed it in a post on your blog. Sounds pretty easy, right? The presentation below will take you through the steps:
How To Embed A Podcast Into A Blogger
View more presentations from Paty.Savage.
February 26, 2009
Great Video About Students and Technology
If you've attended any of the Schultz Center's technology workshops, you have probably watched the original "Did You Know" video on YouTube. Well, some middle school students have posted an updated version that shares their own views in their own words about the place that technology has in their lives. It's eye-opening and thought-provoking. The technology in the video is all about Web 2.0 tools. Click the video below and enjoy!
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