Sunday, March 6, 2011

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

Saturday, March 5, 2011

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.

Friday, March 4, 2011

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.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

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!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Help from my classmates!

Ok, is anyone else confused about what we are posting where and when? Also, what is due when? Haha, I am a bit overwhelmed! HELP!

Monday, January 31, 2011

Fakewall.com

What a great site! I have stumbled across fakewall.com. It allows students to create a fake facebook page for anyone. I could see this working as a great book report alternative. Students can upload pictures, ad posts and even insert the dates. I have already talked with a social studies teacher and we are going to pilot this program. This is an excellent way to integrate technology, with social media and learning.

I have added the link to Fakewall here as well

Web based application

So for our project Denise and I have chosen to use Animoto. The website offers a free teachers account to give you unlimited access to creating videos. You can also set up student accounts for up to 50 kids. Animoto is great for elementary students as it is one of the easiest movie creators I have seen. We will be showing you how to use Animoto and giving you a task to create a story with pictures about a hobby you enjoy.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

As technology teachers/integrators one of the most important things we can do is to attend professional development conferences. The best ideas come from these conferences. When you attend these conferences, you can not only learn from the nations best, you can also speak with colleagues from all over the world. In my opinion, any educator that does not attend professional development classes is losing out!

Saturday, January 8, 2011

My Wordle activity



You can create a Wordle like the one below by clicking here

What do I want to learn in class?

I received my certificate in Computer Technology Education in 2004. As we tech junkies know, a lot can change in a matter of 6 months never mind 6 years. I am really just looking for some new ideas, some different classroom practices that I may not be aware of. We a re a room full of teachers, experience has taught me that some of the best lessons come from colleagues. I am looking forward to some very exciting thoughts and ideas from some great educators.

January 8, 2011

Believe me when I tell you, I love my job. This is the first week back after Christmas Vacation and let me just say it has been a LONG week! Funny, you give the kids a week off and they come back as if they are still on vacation. Running around like they are outside playing in the snow. Bouncing in their chairs, chatting about what Santa brought them or what they got on the sixth night of Hanukkah Looking at you like a monkey with six heads when you mention the dreaded "W' word, that's right, no word is is quite as shocking as WORK to a middle school child fresh off of vacation.