Final Project

Ahhh, the final project is here. I thought about what I wanted to do and really started to enjoy working with Weebly. Weebly seemed to be the perfect solution for me. I had half a site created in Weebly when I decided I needed to go in another direction. As I stated in my earlier blog, our school is working on integrating Moodle into our curriculum. As the lead technology person, I decided that I needed to start working on my Moodle page.
It has not been easy. I have toned back my plans a bit, but I think the finished project so far is pretty good. I have added links to videos, outside sites, instructions and in class presentations. I has also learned how to add students, create classes and add blogs and chats. I have found that Moodle is a great tool. I am looking forward to learning more about the program and adding self grading quizzes and alot of other great things Moodle has to offer. I have been lucky enough to visit Oyster River Schools and work with thier tech director a day focusing on Moodle. We are also working at haveing Janet Martel from Oyster River (and our class as well) come to train our teachers for a day.
I feel my experience with Moodle and this class has helped me to really get a better understanding of the Moodle concept and has given me some great ideas for future projects and training. You can visit my Moodle page at http://moodle.hampstead.k12.nh.us/course/view.php?id=27&sesskey=MrESg51WbM&switchrole=5

Mobile Technologies

I am a huge proponent of using mobile technologies in the classroom. I often use sites such as polleverywhere.com to involve my students in my class. One thing that truly amazed me was the story about kids buying "cheap" cell phones online and turning them in when they get caught by teachers. Thus, retaining possession of thier own phones. It never amazes me what kids will do to outsmart a teacher. I have this arguement with teachers at my school all the time. Cell phones have changed the way we live our lives. Many people no longer have home phones, just cell phones. Students in elementary school are asking for and often have cell phones. I allow my students to use thier phones, because I use mine. I use my phone to control powerpoints on my smartboard. I use my phone to post messages to my class blog. Why not encourage students to use technology that they know and already are using?

Teaching with the Tools Kids Really Use: Learning With Web and Mobile Technologies by Susan Brooks-Young

Lets start with Chapter 1:

Chapter 1 discusses what 21st century skills really are. I enjoyed this chapter because of 1 single page. There is a small block on page 6 that is one of the best definitions of what 21st century skills are. The author sums it up as follows, "The content knowledge and applied skills that today's students need to master to thrive in a continually evolving workplace and society" Every time I speak about what 21st century skills are, I talk about the standards and try to explain it. From now on, this is how I will explain it to people. If I get nothing more from this book, I will be happy.

Final Project

Clearly, I am a little behind in this step. I at first wanted to use Weebly, but that didn't work as planned. I will explain more in my final reflection. Our district has decided to utilize Moodle as our online tool. This will be a great addition to our school system as students will have much more access to all classroom materials at home. As the computer teacher, I will be "selling" the teachers on this program. I will be creating and carrying out all training as well. For my final project I am going to create a Moodle Class page for my fifth grade students. The class focuses on MS Office and I will have presentations, templates, instructions and other teaching resources available on the site.

Webquest

For my Webquest I decided to try a new website Holly introduced us too... Weebly. Weebly was very uder friendly and I found it to be very enjoyable. You can find my webquest by clicking hereThe purpose of my webquest was to make space travel an exciting adventure. I found some movies on Youtube and embedded them to add a little excitement.

I have found a few things I would like to change, but overall I think the project is pretty exciting from the student point of view.

Moodle for Dummies.... and when I say dummies, I mean me!

Hey class!
Is there anyone out there that may have some Moodle training materials? I am setting it up for my district and it isn't going quite as easy as I had hoped. I am not so worried about the student side of it, more the teacher side. Specifically, setting up thier classes. Any help would be much appreciated!