Today I would like to take a moment to thank Ms Giron, her period 2 students and my period 4 students for the fantastic job that they all did on the FR Project Think. For this project we did a cross curricular study of the Dan Pink book A Whole New Mind. First of all anything by Pink is awesome, see danpink.com but this book does a great job of showing the students how the world of work is changing and the need for Right Brained thinking is going to be extremely important in the coming decades. If you would like to see what the students did in this groundbreaking endeavor you can see their presentations here-Blog, and their project work, discussions and collaboration here- Wiki.
Great work everyone!
Thought of the Week
I just came across this today. Really cool! Karl Fisch, the famed educator and creator of the Shift Happens videos, proposes an interesting thought on his blog. I am sure that this thought will not be popular with most of you but this is the Revolution! and we are here to think. Mr. Fisch in his most recent post struggles with the notion of homework. He believes in it but he doesn't believe in it. So he is going to try and do this; he is going to give his lectures to students as homework and have students do their homework in his class. Don't stop reading Mike! think this through. Think of how many times the students can't get the math problem right or just don't understand the homework. If you did an audio or video of your lectures and then allowed them to complete their projects/tasks/problems in class so you could help them how would this go? I think it is definitely something to consider and maybe even try. Let me know what you think about this.
Site of the Week
Here is a site from presenter Ken Shelton, Google Certified Teacher, that shows how to use Google Earth in the classroom. He gives quality resources and he is an excellent presenter, I have seen him myself. Here is his Google Site
Quote of the Week
This quote comes from the PSU One to One Conference this week.
"Your use of technology is at the center of defining your commitment and expectation."~ Tim Tyson
Next Act 48 Training Opportunity
Tuesday, April 27th from 2:30-3:30 in Room 213, So You Think You Know Google? I will be showing you things I know you don't know about Google. Stop by and take a look.
Good day
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
Weekly Byte 4.16.10
Happy Friday!
I would like to take this opportunity to say Happy Birthday to one of the big Tech Heads here at the high school, Mr. Michael Landsberg! I have no idea how old he is today but I wanted to give him a shout out from the Revolution.
Ed Tech Article of the Week
I thought this was an interesting article from the Journal. The basic gist is that the role of the teacher is changing from instructor to facilitator to partner in the learning process. A good example of this has been the cross curricular project that Kristin and I have been doing. We are learning alot about the focus text, A Whole New Mind and alot about technology tools that the students are using to create projects and presentations. We have been working right along with them and learning just as much as they are. It is really a cool thing. I think back to a few years ago when I would have just told them to read the chapters and then fill out a worksheet. Now they are collaborating online, creating projects with students that they don't even know and working with teachers to learn new things. Anyways this is a good quick read and please feel free to stop by Room 225 during 4th and 5th periods on April 20th to see our presentations!
Site of the Week
Science.tv, seems like a really cool site to find science resources. You can get to Science.tv from the direct link or through the Promethean Planet site. By the way Promethean Planet adds a ton of resources each week so if you haven't been there in awhile go back and take a look! But it seems like Science.tv has some interesting science videos so take a minute and check it out.
Google Tip of the Week
Google Docs fans sit down for a minute! Are you sitting? Ok, Google Docs has just added some improvements! Now when sharing a doc on google the people sharing can now see pretty much in real time the other people's typing. Very cool if you ever waited 5 minutes for someone's text to pop up on your doc. Also when sharing a doc and collaborating you can use the pop up chat window to discuss the doc you are working on! How great will that be for you and/or your students when collaborating on a project? There are some other changes also if you want to take a look. Here is one article but if you just Google "New Google Docs features" you can find many more.
You have to turn on the new features so here the steps in that process, very simple.
1. Go to your Google Docs Account.
2. Click on Setting, then Document Settings, then Editing.
3. Click in the checkbox next to, Create new text documents using the latest version of the document editor. And that's it.
Next Act 48 Training
April 27th in Room 213 from 2:30-3:30, So You Think You Know Google?
As always if you need any help with integrating technology into your classroom please give me a call.
I would like to take this opportunity to say Happy Birthday to one of the big Tech Heads here at the high school, Mr. Michael Landsberg! I have no idea how old he is today but I wanted to give him a shout out from the Revolution.
Ed Tech Article of the Week
I thought this was an interesting article from the Journal. The basic gist is that the role of the teacher is changing from instructor to facilitator to partner in the learning process. A good example of this has been the cross curricular project that Kristin and I have been doing. We are learning alot about the focus text, A Whole New Mind and alot about technology tools that the students are using to create projects and presentations. We have been working right along with them and learning just as much as they are. It is really a cool thing. I think back to a few years ago when I would have just told them to read the chapters and then fill out a worksheet. Now they are collaborating online, creating projects with students that they don't even know and working with teachers to learn new things. Anyways this is a good quick read and please feel free to stop by Room 225 during 4th and 5th periods on April 20th to see our presentations!
Site of the Week
Science.tv, seems like a really cool site to find science resources. You can get to Science.tv from the direct link or through the Promethean Planet site. By the way Promethean Planet adds a ton of resources each week so if you haven't been there in awhile go back and take a look! But it seems like Science.tv has some interesting science videos so take a minute and check it out.
Google Tip of the Week
Google Docs fans sit down for a minute! Are you sitting? Ok, Google Docs has just added some improvements! Now when sharing a doc on google the people sharing can now see pretty much in real time the other people's typing. Very cool if you ever waited 5 minutes for someone's text to pop up on your doc. Also when sharing a doc and collaborating you can use the pop up chat window to discuss the doc you are working on! How great will that be for you and/or your students when collaborating on a project? There are some other changes also if you want to take a look. Here is one article but if you just Google "New Google Docs features" you can find many more.
You have to turn on the new features so here the steps in that process, very simple.
1. Go to your Google Docs Account.
2. Click on Setting, then Document Settings, then Editing.
3. Click in the checkbox next to, Create new text documents using the latest version of the document editor. And that's it.
Next Act 48 Training
April 27th in Room 213 from 2:30-3:30, So You Think You Know Google?
As always if you need any help with integrating technology into your classroom please give me a call.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Weekly Byte 4.9.10
Enhancing the Art and Science of Teaching with Technology
Good webinar from this week's PDE Conference. Debra Pickering, Senior Scholar from the Marzano Research Lab, gives an interesting session. Her basic premise is that technology will enhance classroom learning when paired with sound instructional practices. She focuses on using interactive whiteboards and student response systems to focus students on the learning goals, improve student engagement, understanding and retention, and provide feedback for instructional planning. Key point, what happens after the the assessments are in, what are we doing to intervene and make sure all students learned what they were supposed to learn. The video is long but if you scroll down the page you can pick which parts you would like to watch, saving you some time.
This link provides access to the video and a pdf of her presentation notes.
Technology Tool of the Week
Finally I have found a way to download a YouTube video that works here at FR. The ones I have shared in the past now don't work. From my readings I have learned that YouTube doesn't like these websites providing easy ways for people to download their videos so when one pops up, like Kick, You Tube then works to shut them down. So the new way should work for you at school or home at least for now.
First, you have to download YouTube Downloader.
Once that downloads to your computer you now can go to YouTube and find your video.
Once you find your video you can go to where you saved the YouTube Downloader, open it and the URL for the video will pop up in the downloader. Then just click OK and it will start to download. It is really very easy. If you need help please just let me know.
Another way that you can download YouTube video from home, if you use Firefox, is to download the YouTube downloader add-on. This will then give you a button in YouTube that will say "Download video". It will give you the option of downloading in whatever format you choose right to your computer. This will NOT work at FR. If you would like to use this one and cannot figure it out please let me know.
Thought of the Day
Check out this blog post from Seth Godin's blog. It is titled "Rights and Responsibilities". This would be a great post to share with your students about taking responsibility before arguing for your rights. Good stuff!
Good webinar from this week's PDE Conference. Debra Pickering, Senior Scholar from the Marzano Research Lab, gives an interesting session. Her basic premise is that technology will enhance classroom learning when paired with sound instructional practices. She focuses on using interactive whiteboards and student response systems to focus students on the learning goals, improve student engagement, understanding and retention, and provide feedback for instructional planning. Key point, what happens after the the assessments are in, what are we doing to intervene and make sure all students learned what they were supposed to learn. The video is long but if you scroll down the page you can pick which parts you would like to watch, saving you some time.
This link provides access to the video and a pdf of her presentation notes.
Technology Tool of the Week
Finally I have found a way to download a YouTube video that works here at FR. The ones I have shared in the past now don't work. From my readings I have learned that YouTube doesn't like these websites providing easy ways for people to download their videos so when one pops up, like Kick, You Tube then works to shut them down. So the new way should work for you at school or home at least for now.
First, you have to download YouTube Downloader.
Once that downloads to your computer you now can go to YouTube and find your video.
Once you find your video you can go to where you saved the YouTube Downloader, open it and the URL for the video will pop up in the downloader. Then just click OK and it will start to download. It is really very easy. If you need help please just let me know.
Another way that you can download YouTube video from home, if you use Firefox, is to download the YouTube downloader add-on. This will then give you a button in YouTube that will say "Download video". It will give you the option of downloading in whatever format you choose right to your computer. This will NOT work at FR. If you would like to use this one and cannot figure it out please let me know.
Thought of the Day
Check out this blog post from Seth Godin's blog. It is titled "Rights and Responsibilities". This would be a great post to share with your students about taking responsibility before arguing for your rights. Good stuff!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Thought of the Day 3.31.10
I found these comments about this New York Times article interesting and thought provoking. Take a few minutes to read one or more of the comments. I have also attached the link to the NYT article as well.
Enforcing School Standards, at last (article)
Article Comments
Should we be "enforcing state standards"? Should even have state standards? Should teachers be held accountable for student achievement?
Just something to think about.
Have a nice break!
Enforcing School Standards, at last (article)
Article Comments
Should we be "enforcing state standards"? Should even have state standards? Should teachers be held accountable for student achievement?
Just something to think about.
Have a nice break!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Weekly Byte 3.29.10
Here at the Revolution we are about changing education through the use of technology how people think. This past week I had the pleasure of taking a field trip to the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University. What an amazing place! If you want to see a 21st century learning experience reserve a time and take your classes there.
What do I mean by 21st Century learning? I'm glad that you asked. In the 21st century classroom students should be working on authentic, student driven, projects that require problem solving, critical thinking and creativity. At the ETC they are all project based. They work in small groups, large groups, on short term and long term projects. It is an amazingly creative, fun environment to learn. Shouldn't all classrooms be the same?
Article of the Week
I have always thought that a true teacher mentorship program would really help teachers in the classroom and if done properly would improve how the district and community view educators. Here is a mentorship program that has merit.
Site of the week
I thought that this site might be useful to you. Ever find a website or online article and you didnt have a printer handy. And you really wanted to take notes on it or highlight the text? Well then use Awesome Highlighter and you can highlight text and post notes to an online page and save it for viewing later.
Video of the Week
Taylor Mali does a great job of making fun of people outside of the classroom. Take 3:09 to laugh.
Have a great day!
What do I mean by 21st Century learning? I'm glad that you asked. In the 21st century classroom students should be working on authentic, student driven, projects that require problem solving, critical thinking and creativity. At the ETC they are all project based. They work in small groups, large groups, on short term and long term projects. It is an amazingly creative, fun environment to learn. Shouldn't all classrooms be the same?
Article of the Week
I have always thought that a true teacher mentorship program would really help teachers in the classroom and if done properly would improve how the district and community view educators. Here is a mentorship program that has merit.
Site of the week
I thought that this site might be useful to you. Ever find a website or online article and you didnt have a printer handy. And you really wanted to take notes on it or highlight the text? Well then use Awesome Highlighter and you can highlight text and post notes to an online page and save it for viewing later.
Video of the Week
Taylor Mali does a great job of making fun of people outside of the classroom. Take 3:09 to laugh.
Have a great day!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Thought for today 3.25.10
Here is a post from Seth Godin's blog. I thought that it was interesting and provides some points for us to ponder as educators.
What you can learn from a lousy teacher...
If you have a teacher (of any sort) that you cannot please, that you cannot learn from, that is unwilling to take you where you need to go because he is defending the status quo and demonstrates your failure on whatever report card he chooses to use, you could consider yourself a failure. Or you could remind yourself...
1.Grades are an illusion
2.Your passion and insight are reality
3.Your work is worth more than mere congruence to an answer key
4.Persistence in the face of a skeptical authority figure is a powerful ability
5.Fitting in is a short-term strategy, standing out pays off in the long run
6.If you care enough about the work to be criticized, you've learned enough for today
What you can learn from a lousy teacher...
If you have a teacher (of any sort) that you cannot please, that you cannot learn from, that is unwilling to take you where you need to go because he is defending the status quo and demonstrates your failure on whatever report card he chooses to use, you could consider yourself a failure. Or you could remind yourself...
1.Grades are an illusion
2.Your passion and insight are reality
3.Your work is worth more than mere congruence to an answer key
4.Persistence in the face of a skeptical authority figure is a powerful ability
5.Fitting in is a short-term strategy, standing out pays off in the long run
6.If you care enough about the work to be criticized, you've learned enough for today
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Weekly Byte 3.21.10
After this beautiful weekend it is going to be tough to go back to school. I had a nice weekend outdoors with the family and watching some basketball with friends. I did find some interesting tech tools that I would like to share this week.
100 Ways to Use Flipcams in the Classroom
Here is another quality resource from Mr. Byrne. He has been gathering lessons on using flipcams in the classroom from anyone who wants to collaborate. His goal is to get 100 different ways. By the way if you would ever want to try to use flip cams in your classroom I can get my hands on a few for your project. Just let me know.
Ms Giron and I will be taking them with us this Friday on our field trip to the Entertainment Technology Center at CMU. Our students will be using them to gather video footage of our trip and then put together a multimedia presentation for their projects.
Video of the Week
Since we are talking about the ETC at CMU I had to include this Randy Pausch video. Mr. Pausch helped to found the ETC and was also the author of "The Last Lecture". If you haven't read it pick up a copy this summer and check it out. Well work your time.
Upcoming TWR Workshops
On Tuesday, March 23rd we will be holding ActivInspire training in Kristin Giron's room, from 2:30-3:30. If you stay the whole hour you will earn 1 hour Act 48. Kristin is our first ever guest presenter at the TWR Workshops. Please stop by and learn about this new software that we will all be using next school year. Kristin's Wiki.
Next TWR Workshop will be on Tuesday April 6 from 2:30-3:30 in Room 213. The focus will "So you think you know Google?"
Site of the Week
Here is the National Educational Technology plan released last week. This is the plan from the Obama Team for the future of school. Its quite lengthy so I have just attached the link to the Executive Summary of the plan. It gives a nice overview and breaks it into sections so you can read about any of the parts and skip the others.
Have a great week!
100 Ways to Use Flipcams in the Classroom
Here is another quality resource from Mr. Byrne. He has been gathering lessons on using flipcams in the classroom from anyone who wants to collaborate. His goal is to get 100 different ways. By the way if you would ever want to try to use flip cams in your classroom I can get my hands on a few for your project. Just let me know.
Ms Giron and I will be taking them with us this Friday on our field trip to the Entertainment Technology Center at CMU. Our students will be using them to gather video footage of our trip and then put together a multimedia presentation for their projects.
Video of the Week
Since we are talking about the ETC at CMU I had to include this Randy Pausch video. Mr. Pausch helped to found the ETC and was also the author of "The Last Lecture". If you haven't read it pick up a copy this summer and check it out. Well work your time.
Upcoming TWR Workshops
On Tuesday, March 23rd we will be holding ActivInspire training in Kristin Giron's room, from 2:30-3:30. If you stay the whole hour you will earn 1 hour Act 48. Kristin is our first ever guest presenter at the TWR Workshops. Please stop by and learn about this new software that we will all be using next school year. Kristin's Wiki.
Next TWR Workshop will be on Tuesday April 6 from 2:30-3:30 in Room 213. The focus will "So you think you know Google?"
Site of the Week
Here is the National Educational Technology plan released last week. This is the plan from the Obama Team for the future of school. Its quite lengthy so I have just attached the link to the Executive Summary of the plan. It gives a nice overview and breaks it into sections so you can read about any of the parts and skip the others.
Have a great week!
Friday, March 12, 2010
Burrell Social Studies Technology Day
Today I am enjoying the Social Studies Technology collaboration day at Burrell Senior High School. These collaboration days are an awesome opportunity to learn and share technologies being used in the Social Studies classrooms around Westmoreland County.
A special thanks to Brandon Aganad and Tina Sauers for taking a day out of their busy schedule to attend this workshop. Please feel free to ask them for any resources or opinions on today.
Here is the Wiki being used to house all the resources and discussions from today.
westmorelandsocialstudies.wikispaces.com
Superintendent Shannon Wagner greeted the group with this, "We at Burrell firmly believe that giving teachers technology without the support, training and time to learn is not going to work." They have a full time technology coach for K-12. They provide time for teachers to learn and integrate new technologies into the classroom in a number of creative ways.
Cool Diversity Project!
http://bhsdiversityproject.wikispaces.com
Cool sites from today
I learned another tool today just from talking to someone at this workshop. Try this one, 60secondrecap.com. This site provides a 60 second video of a variety of books or chapters from books. Some of the books covered here are; Lord of the Flies, Fahrenheirt 451, Hamlet, Animal Farm, Frankenstein, Great Expectations, Night, Catcher in the Rye and more.
Another cool site shared today, tagul.com
This one is like Wordle on steroids. It allows you to create text inside of text, facny rollover effects, custom colors and shapes, and its free!!!
Really some good tools shared today. I would check out the Westmoreland Social Studies wiki to get access to resources for social studies.
If anyone needs help using any of these tools and/or applying these in your classroom please let me know.
I want to apologize for not adding links for all sites but here at Burrell they block blogger.com.
Thanks and have a great weekend!
A special thanks to Brandon Aganad and Tina Sauers for taking a day out of their busy schedule to attend this workshop. Please feel free to ask them for any resources or opinions on today.
Here is the Wiki being used to house all the resources and discussions from today.
westmorelandsocialstudies.wikispaces.com
Superintendent Shannon Wagner greeted the group with this, "We at Burrell firmly believe that giving teachers technology without the support, training and time to learn is not going to work." They have a full time technology coach for K-12. They provide time for teachers to learn and integrate new technologies into the classroom in a number of creative ways.
Cool Diversity Project!
http://bhsdiversityproject.wikispaces.com
Cool sites from today
I learned another tool today just from talking to someone at this workshop. Try this one, 60secondrecap.com. This site provides a 60 second video of a variety of books or chapters from books. Some of the books covered here are; Lord of the Flies, Fahrenheirt 451, Hamlet, Animal Farm, Frankenstein, Great Expectations, Night, Catcher in the Rye and more.
Another cool site shared today, tagul.com
This one is like Wordle on steroids. It allows you to create text inside of text, facny rollover effects, custom colors and shapes, and its free!!!
Really some good tools shared today. I would check out the Westmoreland Social Studies wiki to get access to resources for social studies.
If anyone needs help using any of these tools and/or applying these in your classroom please let me know.
I want to apologize for not adding links for all sites but here at Burrell they block blogger.com.
Thanks and have a great weekend!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
The Downside of Good
This is an excerpt from the Seth Godin book, Linchpin.
The Downside of Good
Being pretty good is extremely easy these days. Building a pretty good web site, for example, is significantly cheaper and faster and easier than building a pretty good storefront was twenty years ago. Same goes for writing a pretty good email message, one that can compare with something from a giant corporation, or shipping a package across the country.
The record you can cut in your basement or the food you can prepare with ingredients from the local market--all pretty good. You can buy a world-class CD player for twenty-nine dollars and hire a great lawyer by investing in a few clicks and a phone call.
Employees are encouraged to deliver products and services and inputs that are good. Good as in within the boundaries defined by the boss. Showing up at the beginning of your shift and staying to the end is good. Meeting spec is good. Answering the phone in a reasonable amount of time is good.
The problem with meeting expectations is that it's not remarkable. It won't change the recipient of your work, and it's easy to emulate (which makes you easy easy to replace). As a result of the tsunami of pretty good (and the persistence of really lousy), the market for truly exceptional is better than ever. That's what I want if I hire someone for more than what the market will bear -- someone exceptional.
So yes, good is bad, if bad means "not a profitable thing to aspire to." And perfect is bad, because you can't top perfect. The solution lies in seeking out something that is neither good nor perfect. You want something remarkable, nonlinear, game changing, and artistic.
Work is a chance to do art. Good art is useless and banal. No one crosses the street to buy a good art, or becomes loyal to a good artist.
If you can't be remarkable, perhaps you should consider doing nothing until you can. If your organization skipped a month's catalog because you didn't have anything great to put in it, what would happen the next month? Would the quality and user delight of your product line improve?
Raising the bar is easier than it looks, and it pays for itself. If your boss won't raise your bar, you should.
Are we raising the bar at Franklin Regional? Are you raising the bar in your classroom or are you merely being good?
Just a thought....
The Downside of Good
Being pretty good is extremely easy these days. Building a pretty good web site, for example, is significantly cheaper and faster and easier than building a pretty good storefront was twenty years ago. Same goes for writing a pretty good email message, one that can compare with something from a giant corporation, or shipping a package across the country.
The record you can cut in your basement or the food you can prepare with ingredients from the local market--all pretty good. You can buy a world-class CD player for twenty-nine dollars and hire a great lawyer by investing in a few clicks and a phone call.
Employees are encouraged to deliver products and services and inputs that are good. Good as in within the boundaries defined by the boss. Showing up at the beginning of your shift and staying to the end is good. Meeting spec is good. Answering the phone in a reasonable amount of time is good.
The problem with meeting expectations is that it's not remarkable. It won't change the recipient of your work, and it's easy to emulate (which makes you easy easy to replace). As a result of the tsunami of pretty good (and the persistence of really lousy), the market for truly exceptional is better than ever. That's what I want if I hire someone for more than what the market will bear -- someone exceptional.
So yes, good is bad, if bad means "not a profitable thing to aspire to." And perfect is bad, because you can't top perfect. The solution lies in seeking out something that is neither good nor perfect. You want something remarkable, nonlinear, game changing, and artistic.
Work is a chance to do art. Good art is useless and banal. No one crosses the street to buy a good art, or becomes loyal to a good artist.
If you can't be remarkable, perhaps you should consider doing nothing until you can. If your organization skipped a month's catalog because you didn't have anything great to put in it, what would happen the next month? Would the quality and user delight of your product line improve?
Raising the bar is easier than it looks, and it pays for itself. If your boss won't raise your bar, you should.
Are we raising the bar at Franklin Regional? Are you raising the bar in your classroom or are you merely being good?
Just a thought....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)