Ch, Ch, Ch, Changes Coming to Trantwood

Posted on August 17th, 2008 in Uncategorized by SheilaT

(Delight)My Trantwood Technology 2.0 session is quickly approaching.  I’m both excited and worried.  If I try to show too much, I will lose them.  If I don’t do enough, I will not make the impact I’m hoping for.  There is a very fine line! 

 My Presentation Goals:

1.          What is 21st Century Learning/Teaching?

2.          What is the urgency of creating a digital classroom with “Higher Order Technology Integration”?

3.          New ISTE goals, New VBCPS Proficiencies, and our New Trantwood 2.0 Plan

4.          I want our staff to agree upon a common technology vision and determine which needs are most urgent to reach our technology goals.

5.          (Discoveries) Model some of the new Web2.0 tools we will utilize this year-

a.      Edublogs

b.     21Classes

c.     Wikispace or Wetpaint Wiki

d.     Voice Thread

e.      Epals

f.       JingProject

g.     Pageflakes

h.     Twiddla

i.        Sharepoint

j.        Windows Messenger

k.     Video Conferencing

I’ll be highlighting some of these tools and will provide a link to my wiki for further investigating.  I’ll be shifting the rest of my support documents to this wiki real soon.  http://elementarycrs-vbcps.wikispaces.com/  Currently, you will find the handouts I used in my Scratch presentation at our summer conference and handouts for my Edublog and Podcasting PDP course for Virginia Beach teachers.  I have lots more to move over to this “PD Parking Lot”.
(Discovery)I believe we all have a responsibility to learn on our own and to share what we know.  I’m hoping Jing will allow some of my students and teachers to create and share helpful tutorials.  Have you used Jing? http://www.jingproject.com/ . 
Here is one I created:
How to Load Scratch http://www.screencast.com/t/vxODDNnk7

(Disaster)I copied and pasted the post above from Microsoft Word.  Yikes!  It looks terrible. The text has different styles/fonts and the bulleted list looks atrocious. What you see is not what you get.  I won’t be pasting directly from Word anymore. 

One Thing Leads to Another

Posted on July 31st, 2008 in DelightsDiscoveriesDisasters, Uncategorized by SheilaT  Tagged , ,

(Delight) I was connecting with my personal learning network on  twitter, which led me to a blog http://www.ncs-tech.org/?p=1414, which shared a youtube video that made me think.  Which led me to write this post.  WARNING:  When using the internet, often times- one thing leads to another.   
At first, i thought- WOW this is so on target with why education must change for our 21st Century learners- i must use this in my staff presentation on the 25th of August. But, when I listened to it a second time something happened.  I realized that I started a journey up the “new” Blooms Taxonomy pyramid.  First, I remembered the website, name of the video (Learning to Change, Changing to Learn), and it’s main developer (coSN).  Then, I decided to share what I understood about the article in this blog post.  Next, I started questioning and thinking about the different points of view. I felt the need to analyze and compare/contrast these opinions with my own.   I started taking the video apart in my mind- evaluating and judging the information/opinions.   I agreed very strongly with so much of it, but a few parts I found dismal and somewhat untrue.  Now, i want to discuss it and connect with others to see what they got out of it- both pros and cons. Perhaps i need to start a blog club and model it after a book club.  
(Discovery)This is an example of a journey I would love for my students to take when learning!
Well, here is the video “Learning to Change, Changing to Learn”-


My take on the video:

Yes!

Yikes!
Every turned off device is potentially a turned off child The level of business  ”I.T. Intensiveness” rank education last.  (Education is not a business and I cringe when it is compared.  I.T. Intensiveness does not make a successful learner- many other factors do!)
Technology is not a choice, it has created a world, it has invented a completely different learning environment “Bricks and mortar classrooms” (This sounds so cold and uninviting.  Many of our current schools are safe, nurturing, and warm places!
It’s about creativity, connectivity, access, synthesis ability, communication, teamwork ability, multi disciplinary, multicultural, collaboration, problem solving “It’s the Death of Education and the Dawn of Learning.”
(To me, education is going through a metamorphosis, it’s not going to die, and it will emerge more powerful and beautiful than ever… if I have anything to do about it!)
The best quality teachers will help make the bridges, start with the teacher  
Kids will be using cell phones to collect and share data  
We have a classroom system when we could have a community system, open the door to connecting and opportunities  
The jobs our students will be having will NOT call for a right answer vending machine approach  
As nclb fades away, it will allow for innovation  

 (Disaster)

I had such a hard time inserting the youtube video above! Tried to use the add media button…no, also tried to use the insert embedded media button…no, also tried to use the add video button…no.  Finally, simply used the HTML edit tab and pasted in code after completely finishing post.  Helloooooo! It took me over an hour to do this.  Live and learn I always say!Technology Delights, Discoveries, and Disasters w/SheilaT

 
 

 

 

Happy Independent Thinking Day

Posted on July 4th, 2008 in Uncategorized by SheilaT  Tagged , , ,

Mixwit

(Delight) The mixtape above is for your listening pleasure as you read this post-  It’s 4th of July and a very proud day for many reasons.  It’s also (tech) Leadership Day 2008 for many educational bloggers out there.  
We are getting closer and closer to big changes in how our students are provided with thinking and learning opportunities.  We have made amazing progress toward recognizing 21st Century Skills that we think will be needed for future jobs that don’t even exist today.  We do know that creative thinking, communicating, and collaborating are among the key components of success.  We need the continued support and leadership to make the shift needed for new curriculum, assessment techniques, and supplies needed for our 21st Century learners.  If you think about it like a car with 5 gears, I would say we have only shifted into 2nd gear at this time, still let’s recognize that we are moving  in the right direction! 
I recently bumped into a former student and her parents at our local Relay for Life celebration.  She had just completed her first year of college.  Her parents asked if I was “still teaching”.  (I get this question quite often and I just don’t know why.)  They asked it as if I have been doing the same old thing in our computer lab since their daughter left our elementary school.  I was so proud let them know that YES I was still teaching, but told them about the school blog, podcasting, video conferencing with others near and far, google apps, voicethread, and other web 2.0 tools we are using.  (Discovery)They were shocked and amazed at my response and to be honest so was I.  Until I put it all together, I realized that however small my steps are, I am making a difference with our students.  With the help of school leaders, we can perhaps get into more powerful gears even sooner!
(Discovery) I remember making “mix tapes” for special occasions growing up in the 80s.  I recently stumbled upon www.mixwit.com that can do the same thing in a wonderful web2.0 way.  Here is a mix tape for school leaders to deal with the change needed to help our students succeed in our creative, connected, digital world-
http://www.mixwit.com/sheila_teri/mixing-it-up-for-21st-century-c 
(Disaster) I tried to embed the code for my mix tape and it didn’t work, so i posted this link instead.  I will work on this later and try again.  That’s technology sometimes!)
*Update July 6th – Yeah, i got it to work!  I just embedded the code at the top instead of here at the end.