For the past few years, I have drifted away from teaching my students the fine details of using Word and Excel to doing more projects that integrate those programs and doing more ‘fun’ stuff, like digital stories with PhotoStory and Movie Maker. I don’t want to abandon the ‘fun’ stuff, but as I was working with my Reading kids on typing and printing a book report, I realized that they do not know the basics of setting up a document. I told them what margins and line spacing they needed to have and most of them had no idea how to change those settings. I think that next year I’m going to have to go back to teaching the basics and maybe even testing those skills. I do only see about half of the 6th and 7th graders each year (one class of 20 – 25 students in each grade four times a year – and probably 50% – 75% of the 7th graders had my class in 6th grade) and then I only have one class each year of 8th graders (about 25 kids). It is entirely possible that I could have kids in my reading class that have never had one of my computer classes. But it still made me think about what I was teaching in my computer classes. I have to admit, too, that I have become lazy in those classes; pretty much everyone gets an A. But that makes me think that I’m not challenging the kids enough. I AM exposing them to new technologies, which I intend to keep doing, but somehow I need to work the basics back in. In a 9-week class thats tough, though. I added an Online Safety component a few years ago too and that takes a couple of weeks. I usually end that unit with a digital story of some sort. After we’ve done all that ‘fun’ stuff, the kids don’t want to sit still for boring Microsoft Word parts of the screen and how to set margins and line spacing. If anyone has any ‘fun’ ways to teach that, I’d love to hear ideas!

I decided to finally look closely at Open Office today for the first time. I have recommended it and I knew it was great, but for some reason I had never downloaded it.   I also found out that there is now an online version – check out Ulteo.

Anyway – I took a Power Point that I created as a pre-reading activity for a novel we’re abotu to start – The Maze by Will Hobbs. It takes place in Utah and since we live in Florida, I figured my students needed a lot of background info. Below is the Power point saved as flash using Open Office Impress.

canyonlands.swf

On Wednesday, I’m heading to FETC. I have been to FETC 4 of 5 times in the past 7 or 8 years. I love this conference; every year I find something new to use in my classroom. Sometimes it’s just a great idea and sometimes it’s something that costs money. I’m lucky that I have an administration who believes in technology and usually these things I find are purchased for me. In the past few years I have received a Mimio for my whiteboard and software to monitor all the computers in my classroom.

For the past few years I have toyed with the idea of being a presenter at FETC, but I never know what to present. It seems that the things that I know how to do are ‘old news’ by the next year. However, looking at this year’s offerings, maybe not. They may be old news to me, but there are so many teachers out there who are just learning about some of things that I have been doing in my classroom for years. One of the things that I like best about FETC is hearing how other teachers use technology, and one of the things that I like about teaching is hearing how other teachers teach the same skills and concepts that I teach. Hearing a new perspective is refreshing and makes my job more interesting.

While in the shower (don’t all great ideas come to us in the shower? ) I thought of a way to combine both of those collaborative ideas. At my school we have bi-weekly in house training sessions with the curriculum specialist. We have tried to make these trainings into a best practices sharing activity, with the principal’s blessing, but they are still more teaching than sharing. What I would like to do is to set up a wiki or blog page for teachers to share best practices and possibly infuse some training into the process.

If it was a blog, teachers could post what they did, or are planning to do, in their classroom, and other teachers could post comments on ways they have done that same thing, or give advice on how to improve on the lesson. If someone did a lesson that went really well, they could post that so that other teachers could try it too. I’d also love to see teachers giving advice on how to adapt lessons for other subject areas. Just this weekend I was talking to a math teacher who was saying that the short, full staff training we had last week that used a reading passage wasn’t helpful to her. I pointed out that the training wasn’t about the reading passage, but about the process and then proceeded to tell her that it was a process she used when teaching math (Modeled instruction, guided instruction and independent practice). She totally did not see that until I pointed it out!

If it was a wiki, then teachers could add to the posted lessons, but I’m almost afraid they would change someone’s lesson too much, and we’d lose the process of helping someone, or sharing best practices. If one person liked the original lesson, but then someone else changed it, the original lesson would not be there any more.

I would then like to present the process and outcomes at FETC 2009. I would get teacher responses to the process, either on video, in the form of quotes or even as a panel to present with me.

This is obviously in the very early stages of planning and I have a lot of thinking to do, but I’m kind of excited about it already. I need to think it out more (though posting here helps me do that – and already has [blog vs. wiki]) and present it to my principal. I could pilot it at the end of this year (after state testing) and then continue it at the beginning of next year. Piloting it this year would let me know if it would work and give me data and samples for the FETC proposal which is usually due sometime in July.

If there is anyone out there still reading this blog, I would LOVE to hear ideas and input.

Yikes! I just looked at the school calendar and realized that Interims for 2nd quarter go home a week from tomorrow. That means that I will have to have the grades entered into the computer program by Thursday afternoon. I am so far behind on grading (my biggest weakness as a teacher). I have brought a bag of work home each weekend for at least the last three weekends and not touched it! I do get some grading done at school; sometimes during class while the kids are working independently (computer classes mostly) and I will stay after school to get stuff done. I do tend to work better under pressure, so this week will be a pressure-filled rush to get everything graded

Yup – I got an ipod Touch today! it’s soooo freakin cool! I still have my video ipod and I’m going to keep that for a while since it’s 30GB and the touch is only 16. I have a ton of audiobooks, so I kept those in the video ipod (along with everything else) and put music and videos on the touch. The coolest thing about the touch is the wi-fi access! I have a wireless network in my house, so I’ve been playing with that. It’s going to be really cool to not have to pull out the laptop, or lug it around in places with free wi-fi. I’m especially looking forward to using it at FETC in January. Maybe I’ll even do some live blogging. The keyboard is a bit sensitive, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it.

To keep this post somewhat education oriented, I’ll talk about another new toy I’ve been using – Classblogmeister . It’s a great tool to keep kids safe online while allowing them to blog. I used Learnerblogs for the past few years, but all of a sudden last year I couldn’t access them at school. They weren’t being blocked, but the IT guys could not figure out why the pages wouldn’t load. Learnerblogs was cool because of all the different templates, but in order to have security for the kids I had to set up individual accounts for each student using the gmail+name system. That was time consuming. With Classblogmeister I copy and pasted names from my class roster into their system and had classes set up quickly. Classblogmiester doesn’t have many templates to choose from, but my students will live I have been having some issues with Classblogmeister, but I’m forging ahead with it and I’m going to introduce it to my students tomorrow. I just hope that I can actually access it at school……..

I would like to teach my students how to use Diigo (I need to see if it’s blocked or not, but the IT guys know that I will make sure that it is used properly and they will usually unblock things for me). I think that Diigo will be a great tool for my kids to do some group research on our next unit (The History of Computers). I’m thinking about splitting up the class into generations of computer development and having them do a presentation. I’m even considering Voice Thread for the presentation – again I have to see if I can access it at school.

What I need are tips/tricks to teach my students how to use Diigo. I understand how it works and I can use it, but these are 8th graders and I need to present it well for them. Since I have just started using Diigo today, I was hoping some more seasoned people would reply with their experiences about using the tool.

Thanks!

This weekend was a blast. Even though the Red Sox lost horribly in the 11th inning, the game was great up until then and the experience was priceless. The energy at Fenway Park was electric. Everyone was psyched to be there. The weather was actually pretty nice. We dressed for a blast of cold, and when we got to the park I actually took off my turtleneck; I still had long underwear and a sweatshirt on. I was wearing long johns under my jeans and I had wool socks on, too, with all weather work boot type shoes. I also had an ample supply of winter hats, gloves and a scarf in my bag. Around 11pm it got chilly. I went to the ladies room and put a pullover fleece on under the sweatshirt and I was fine. I also had gloves on for a bit, but I was texting with friends and that’s hard to do with gloves on

We did not stay until the bitter end; we left when the score was 9 – 6. By the time we got out of the stadium and around the corner the score was already 13 – 6! We had to take the T back to where we left the car in Quincy and then drive back to RI. We arrived back at the house at 3:10 am! Needless to say we slept in the next morning; I think we got up at about 11:15am. In the afternoon we we watched the Patriots game – at least THEY won!

Here’s a link to my pictures from the game. Enjoy! Red Sox Game

All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go……

I took today and Monday off in order to go to Boston for the Red Sox game! Actually, I’m flying into Providence and staying with friends in Rhode Island for the weekend. One of those friends is coming with me to the game. We both feel bad that her husband can’t go with us, but not too bad! LOL Actually, they have tickets for next Saturday’s game – if there is a game next Saturday. As much as I’d like to see the Red Sox win it in 4, I’ll root for 6 so that my friends can go to next Saturday’s game.

I’m packed for cold weather – after 11 years in Florida 60 degrees is winter to me! And 60 could be the HIGH this weekend in New England. The game is a night game, so I’m expecting near freezing temps during the game. I have a turtleneck and a couple of fleece’s and a Gor-Tex rain coat and warm shoes and gloves, but I can borrow stuff from my friend, if needed – Red Sox winter hat and sweatshirt come to mind

No matter what happens (yeah – right – NOT!), this weekend is a once in a lifetime experience for me. I have never to a post season game of any sort. The last time the Marlins were in the World Series I was trying to get tickets even though it might not have been the Red Sox coming down here (That was the year the Marlins beat the Yankees for the Championship). I was willing to pay a lot more than what I paid for these tickets just to see a World Series game, but I never did get tickets to that game. I’m a die-hard Red Sox fan, but I’m also a BASEBALL fan!

Then I had to get airfare (I live in Florida). I ended up with GREAT flights that weren’t too horribly expensive. If the Red Sox don’t make it to the next series, then I’ll still go up and spend the weekend with my friends. I do have to take off Friday and Monday, but everyone at work was so supportive and happy for me – they know what a big Red Sox fan I am. The kids who I had in class when I made the purchase – nice to be the computer teacher and able to be in front of a computer all day – were so great when I told them – the were SO happy for me!

Then, I had my friend’s log in because she got picked to try for tix too – and at 3:10 – 5 mins before the final bell – I got in again and got her tickets for Game 6. Standing room only tickets and that game may not even be played, but she was happy. So she’s going with my on the 13th and then maybe again on the 20th!

I’m still flying high from the excitement! Woohoo! GO RED SOX!!!!!