My First Conference Presentation

I am extremely nervous about next week, but it is a jump that I've been wanting to take for quite a while. I am presenting at an upcoming Social Studies Conference and I want to share them how I use Web tools in my classroom. I present in front of our faculty all the time, but this is different!! I plan to show them how we used Skype to make connections outside our classroom. In order to make these connections, I will briefly introduce how I use Twitter, Classroom 2.0, and The Educator's PLN. We had contacts in several countries including Thailand, Spain, England, and Australia as seen in this video.

I plan to show them Blogger and how simple it is (not to mention free) to share your classroom with parents and other educators.

Another tool that my kids loved was podcasting. We used GarageBand to create our podcasts, but Audacity works just as well with PC. The project was very simple. The students had to research a famous person from the Civil War. (We put a bunch of names from our standards in a hat and the kids drew one out.) They came up with ten facts about that person and shared them in a podcast. The other students went to our site and listened to each podcast and tried to figure out "who" each student was. This helped with their grammar and reading skills as well. They were very careful to read fluently and correctly when they knew everyone in their class would be listening in. The link below is an example of one such podcast.

Abigail's Podcast 

We also used podcasting to record our reader's theater. Hear an example here. 

I've also created a small collection of links on a portaportal so that they can access all this from one location. I only have an hour to present, so I'm hoping I can get through this in that short amount of time. 

Wish me luck!!! :)

Beginning My iPad Journey

Our school has formed a technology committee this year as a result of the proposal that you all read about in a previous post. Our district technology coach agreed to allow members of the committee to pilot iPads for the upcoming school year. We have 7 in our building that we are currently piloting. I have been very excited about the possibilities that the iPads are providing us with in education and have begun compiling some very intriguing apps.

I brought the iPad home, of course, to play and explore. My children (ages 3, 6, and 9) have completely taken it over. They would play it 24/7 and I'm not exaggerating! The video above is my 3 year old learning from a great app during my daughter's girl scout meeting. Please excuse the watermark. I'm trying out a converter that will take my mobile videos and convert to web format. (Fingers crossed it works!)

I can't wait to see where this device takes us this year!

Tech Committee Proposal

So I've done several technology trainings over the past few years. I get really passionate and pumped up during these summer trainings. I can see the excitement for the teachers that come and every year I thing...this is it...this is going to be the year that we see some new things happen. Then the school year begins and the kids flow in and the lesson plans are due and the testing starts and .... well you know.

We do not have a tech integration specialist in our county. We have a fantastic, supportive tech coach at the district level, but she is just one person completely overloaded with the needs of the entire county. I am the school-based tech coordinator, but that is an extended contract position that I have to fit in whenever I'm not working my full time job. That leaves very little time during the school year to support tech integration.

After reading an article in Tech and Learning, I was inspired to propose a technology committee to my district coach and principal. The coach immediately jumped on board and offered up the iPads to those agreeing to serve on the committee. (I told you she was great!) We were looking for a good way to pilot the program anyway. Here is the proposal:

• Encourage one participant per grade level; possibly special ed also
• Participants will discuss the condition/functionality of technology available at their particular grade level
• Participants will discuss exciting technologies that teachers can introduce in thie classrooms
• Participants will share findings with their respective grade levels during planning/grade level meetings
• Participants will research grants/available funding to pursue projects for his or her classroom/grade level
• Each participant on the tech committee will be given an iPad to pilot in his or her classroom. At each meeting, we will discuss ways to use this new technology in the classroom
• There will be at least six meetings throughout the year

Some of my responsibilities will include leading each meeting, introducing unfamiliar tools, demonstrating ways that the iPad can be used in a classroom setting.

Do any of you have committees like this at your school? Do you have suggestions for us? I would certainly like to hear from you if you do! Also, I'm collecting a list of iPad apps for education if you know of any!

Making Tech About the Content

Well, it's back to school time in my neck of the woods. That means back to the blog for me as well. I hadn't planned on taking so much time off this summer, but...I did. I spent the majority of the summer playing and swimming with my three precious blessings and I don't regret a minute of it. I hope all of you take some time to put work completely aside and enjoy time with your families.

As we get back to school, I have been looking at a lot of new and old tech tools to use to integrate technology in the classroom. I came across this great post by Mrs. Ripp in my reader and it really made me think about tech integration and what I have done in the past in my classroom. So many times the technology that we are using is so new to my students that we get completely caught up in the TOOL and the content gets pushed aside. I'm guilty of it, too. I'm a proud nerd and I love playing with this stuff! In Mrs. Ripp's post, she mentions tools that she is using with her student and very clearly posts the content behind the technology. I would love to see more classrooms use technology in a way that  is second nature and isn't the focal point of the lesson. Here's hoping!!

Wishing everyone the best school year ever!!

Engineering and Science for Kids

In elementary school, we are constantly looking for ways to engage students in science activities (especially girls). It is important that we instill this love and interest in them early. Thanks to my subscription to the Rutherford County Schools newsletter, I found some great sites for integrating engineering, science, and math.

This site provides some fantastic interactive activities and all of the resources are free!

eGFI is provided by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). This site is committed to promoting and enhancing efforts to improve K-12 STEM and engineering education. There are links to lesson plans, activities, and outreach programs by grade level.

The EngineerGirl website is part of an NAE project to bring national attention to the opportunity that engineering represents to all people at any age, but particularly to women and girls.

There are lots of links here for science and math activities for kids.

Do you have other sites for engaging students in science activities that you can share?

My Summer Inservice (Ideas Needed, Please!)

Ok, today I took the plunge and decided to schedule a summer inservice for my county on developing a PLN. Here is the proposal description that I sent to our Technology Director:

July 22 (1/2 day inservice)- Using Social Networking to Connect Yourself and Your Classroom
Learn ways that educators build PLNs (Professional Learning Networks) and utilize services like Ning, Twitter, Skype, and Blogger to collaborate with other classrooms and educators and to pursue professional development customized to your needs.

I have found my experience with my PLN to be so invaluable that I feel it is absolutely necessary to share with other educators. This will be brand new to most (if not all) in attendance. I don't know of anyone else in our district who uses any of these tools except for Skype. I held an inservice on Skype last summer and most everyone in our county have really used it and loved it. Right now, though, they only use it's IM capabilities to communicate with each other. I want to take the next step and help them realize it's ability to connect their classroom with others. Their problem, though, is that they don't have the connections to do that. I want to introduce them to ways to make connections first and foremost.

My goal is to introduce them to the benefits that come with a PLN, show them ways to start building theirs, and hope that they take off from there. I would really like to have them leave excited about the possibilities. I hope to also have some ideas for them that they can begin to pursue immediately that won't require developing relationships right away. I found some great ideas in Kathleen McGeady's last blog post. I would love to hear other ideas/links that you all have to share with these teachers.

Pass It On

This week, I was notified from Kelly Tenkely at the iLearn Technology blog that I had been chosen by her for this award and it was certainly an honor coming from her. As I was catching up with my reader, I noticed that I had also been mentioned in Suzanne's Blog etechplace. Boy was I surprised because I love Suzanne's blog, too! Thanks so much for taking the time to recognize me. There is no bigger boost to the spirit of blogging than to have your hard work noticed. This award is meant to honor the blogs that we read regularly and find helpful and informative.
So, this is me paying it forward.....

The rules of the award are as follows:
1- Copy and display the picture of the award given to you;
2- Link back to the blog that nominated you;
3- Nominate 10 different blogs yourself;
4- Inform the people you nominated, so they can in turn, continue the chain and spread the word about other great blogs out there.

I get about 100 blog posts a day to my reader. Sometimes I scan through them all, sometimes I only read the ones that have a title that interests me, but there are some that I never miss. This is a few of those in no particular order. I wish I had time to elaborate on all of them, but trust me, they are all worth a visit.

1. Bright Ideas Blog- a fantastic "library blog" sharing resources that can be used across all curriculums.

2. EDge 21- Mr. Bolito shares his "Catch of the Day" and they are always good ones. Lots of math stuff here too.

3. Bits and Pieces Place- Every single time I visit this blog I have to bookmark something. I never miss a post! I even have lots of them saved in my reader to read again later.

4. Notes from McTeach- Always lots of good ideas and tons of links! Great examples straight from the middle school classroom also.

5. Bits and Bytes- This blog is amazing. Ann is so knowledgeable about everything Web 2.0 and shares it here. She is also super supportive of all of her fellow bloggers.

6. A Geeky Momma's Blog- I know that a lot of people look to Lee for guidance in the Web 2.0 world. She was one of the first blogs that I started following and I still enjoy reading her posts.

7. Ozge Karaoglu's Blog- I could go on and on about the resources here. Everyone in education needs to be subscribed to Ozge's blog. I wonder if she ever sleeps!

8. Passport Academy- I love, love, love this blog. This a homeschooling mom who does such great activities with her children (students). She shares these fantastic ideas and resources and we can take them straight to our classrooms.

9. The Pursuit of Technology Integration Happiness- Mr. Zimmer's blog is one that I never miss. I have never read a post that I didn't come away with a new resource or idea.

10. Integrating Technology in the Primary Classroom- I love the ideas and resources that Kathleen shares in her blog. This blog has fantastic resources to use in the elementary school classroom.

It was very hard to choose ten myself because there are so many! Thanks to all of you hard working bloggers who share your knowledge with all of us every day.