Check Out My Tools... My 2.0 Tools ;)

Designing Lessons Using the Correct Affordances Can Make All the Difference 

In Summer of 2013, I took an online class in which I had to design a lesson plan for my school or class to implement BUT I could only use web 1.0 tools.  Now, I have to say that when we normally think about the internet and sharing on the internet...what comes to mind? Facebook, Blogging, Twitter, Google Docs, etc. I was unable to use any of those kinds of internet based structures.  

My Plan was this... 

Educational Purpose of Project:  In this project, students are able to have a hands on learning experience to be published authors. The Newsletter Connection provides students with an opportunity to publish their written work.  Students will be motivated to improve and utilize their writing skills in order to have their work published in the school’s electronic newsletter.  Students will submit their work to an online website set up by the school to allow other schools around the world to vote for which articles, poems, songs, etc. to make the next issue.  There will be a two weeks timeline to submit work and two weeks for voting to take place.  Students are able to reflect upon 

their work by reading the comments submitted by the voters. 

I took what I had at the time to produce this lesson and make it happen... NVU ( a web design software program..Cheap version of Dreamweaver) was being used. 

Description of Project Plan:  Newsletter Connection is a project for students to submit work to an online website for other schools to comment and vote for the best work to be published in the schools newsletter. For example, if I wish to have my students at a local elementary school make a newsletter for the schools I would create a profile for my school and select a topic for the students to write about.

Example: Flint Hill Elementary students will now have the opportunity to be published authors! Fifth grade language arts classes will be responsible for establishing the quarterly theme, reading the submitted work and selecting appropriate samples, contacting the authors if changes need to be made, and organizing the published pieces on the newsletter.  All students K-6 are eligible to submit work connecting to the given theme.  Submissions will be collected for a month and then displayed for a month.  Each quarter the cycle will repeat.

            Teachers at a school that wishes to implement this type of project must set up an account to the Newsletter Connection Website.  After submitting a form to the website a confirmation email will be sent back to the teacher letting them know they are all set up to participate and a name for them to use when submitting their entries (flinthill k-6). There will be a strict timeline that all classes must follow.   Students will then be able to submit their work based on the topic that is set up by the school.  Other schools that are signed up on this website will be able to vote for your submission.  The voters are also able to leave positive and constructive feedback to each entry.

            Once the submissions are voted upon and the voting has ended, the website will let the teacher know which articles have won.  The teacher will then be able to place the winning articles into a template to publish or allow a news team at their school to conduct this activity.

            This activity could go on multiple times during the year, either monthly or quarterly. 

Now... step to WEB 2.0 TOOLS..

I could take this design make it into a newsletter that is collaborated on using wikispaces, blogger, google sites... You NAME it I could make my school newsletter by allowing my students to use the tools that allow them to collaborate, communicate and design together or apart. 

With the upgrading of the internet tools, I could take my design to allow people around the world to view our school newsletter, add videos, announcements daily- the skys the limit. 

EdTech.. Digital Classroom

Video in the Classroom...yepp, you read that correctly. Students- Your KINDERGARTENERS!- are using video cameras in the classroom.  Yes!

In addition to being fun and motivating, video projects teach students to plan, organize, write, communicate, collaborate, and analyze.  A successful video project has undergone a process of researching, scripting, organizing, filming, editing, and publishing. Students also have the opportunity to apply artistic and dramatic skills to their academic work.

With the proliferation of webcams, phone camera, flip cams, digital recorders and editing tools already installed on computers, video has exploded in the media lives of students.  Many of them spend as much time, if not more, watching YouTube as opposed to television. As I learned at the Google Summit in Charlottesville, some colleges even include video submissions as part of their application process. As this media further matures, students may need to be able to express themselves as effectively through moving imagery as with the written word.

And you thought, Kindergarten Teachers had troubles getting a student to hold a pencil correctly?!?! 

But as I have learned in my Graduate studies, using video could be as simple as recording a student oral presentation for future review, or as elaborate as producing an original short film or PSA. Depending on the complexity of the project, consider the steps needed to ensure that your students create thoughtful final products that demonstrate their knowledge rather than pieces full of flash but potentially lacking in substance. 

Remember with little ones- a video project does not have to only include actual footage captured by a video camera. Still images can be combined to create an animated slide show or to enhance existing footage that the students took. Many audio tools on programs such as iMovie, or Windows Movie Maker allow students to create a narration to accompany the imagery or add a sound track. Most editing software also includes the ability to add titles or captions to both video as well as image files.

Not every student is the next Ron Howard, but little minds are surely creative... 

OMGoogle! #gafesummit

Presenting at the Google Apps for Education Summit

This weekend I drove down to Charlottesville, VA with my team member Shannon Kuykendall to present at the 2nd Annual Google Apps for Education Summit.

To access my presentation: Please click on the link here. Comment below if you have any questions regarding Google Apps in the Elementary Classroom.

Erase Law?! What the Social Networking!

As I ponder what I am going to be writing about I click on the Fox News Icon on my Facebook Page and what story appears California allows minors to delete social media posts, with 'erase' law. 

Teens using Social Media from Fox news

This is the first law in the country and is being hailed as a good step toward giving "under-18 internet users a chance to remove regrettable postings and preserve their reputation".  James Steyer, founder and chief executive of Common Sense Media has said, "This puts privacy in the hands of kids, teenagers and parents, not under the control of an anonymous tech company."

I must say that I do not agree with this new law.  I'm a true believer that everything you do shows your true character.  I don't believe that teenagers should be able to put down someone on the internet through any form of media and then be able to take it back.  I understand that it will help the victim in the case, but why help the reputation of the child that decided bashing someone online was a good thing to do in the first place.  They should be able to feel the repercussions for their actions. 

Besides this new form of legislation that begins in January 2015, a bullying outbreak in Instagram has begun in recent months.  Have you ever heard of the Elimination game? 

Did you know that there are Beauty Pageants on Instagram? That 'besties' are doing this to each other? Wow! I'm sickened by what I was reading on the internet after I typed in a few words about the Elimination Game! 

See, right now, as I sit here typing this, there is a tween girl with an iPhone somewhere making a grid out of four pictures of her besties using Instacollage. When she's finished, she will post that grid on Instagram, and then write something along the lines of: BEAUTY CONTEST! VOTE SOMEONE OUT! Did you just throw up in your mouth a little? 

But wait. That's not even the worst part. Because what happens next is this: People will actually vote for who they think is the least attractive in the comments, and whichever girl's name is written the most will be awarded a big fat X drawn across her face. Do you want me to repeat that last part? Of course you don't, but I'm going to anyway. Whichever girl's name is written the most will be awarded with a big fat X drawn across her face.

Then the question will be repeated two more times, until there is only one gorgeous X-free girl left standing, the fairest of them all!

Can you believe that teenager girls are doing this to their friends?!? I'm sorry, but a friend that is going to put you up on a 'contest' like this is no friend at all. 

Some states are fighting back.. check out this investigation at Ladue Middle School in St. Louis. 

With all of this happening on Social Networking sites today, I'm sure more laws about internet bullying with appear in a few years.  Bullying has become more mainstream with the use of the internet, because students who are too afraid to say it to a person's face can hide behind a computer screen and say it there.  

Teens need to remember that Beauty if Only Skin Deep and that whatever you say on the internet, even with a law, can never be erased from the person's mind that you wrote about.  Think before you write. 

Communication Overseas?!? Can you hear me now?

As I sit in the audience of the Justin Timberlake Concert at the Verizon Center and realize, I haven’t written my blog about Podcasts! (mind you I say  this outloud) The man beside me turns and says “this is why I’m here tonight.” Not understanding what he means by that, I question him a little more. 

“Well you see, my wife is in Afghanistan on a private mission through the United States Government, she had tickets to go to the concert with her girlfriends.  She couldn’t make it tonight, so what better way than to use my technology skills I have and make it like she was.” 

Wow, I was so excited and had to ask what intro and outro music he used… the ITS nerd came out ;)

The man, now named Markus Steele, since I asked, told me that he uses their wedding song to introduce the podcast and that he has been making these ever since they got married, 10 years ago! I didn’t realize that Podcasts had been around that long.  He tells me that he only records the songs that his wife loves, mashes them together and puts it on a private website. 

Now… the hunt is on to find this website!

P.S Best Concert Ever! 

I'm so going to write something on Wikipedia and see if you notice!

Yeah right! Wikipedia says go ahead and try to 'edit' their pages.  You need sources upon sources to change even a misspelled word on one of their sites.  Unlike years ago, when anyone could change the spacing, add a few minor white lies, or change the page completely...Wikipedia has stepped up their game.  Why not use it in a paper? Who's to say it can't be a sited source of perfectly good information? 

But yes, I know what you're thinking- there is more to Wikis than just Wikipedia. Wiki's are very common.  They are online tools that can be used for many people to collaborate, gather, and share information.  What is neat about them is that you can give access to people to use it, so it is a controlled environment. BUT (always a but) once the person had the ability to sign in, he or she can edit, correct, add or change anything in the wiki at any time.

I had the honor of experiencing this first hand during the "SnowChi" storm in Washington, DC over February 12th.  We are receiving 12+ inches of snow and our professors thought otherwise of having us travel to campus when, you know, we are learning about collaborative online tools- WHY NOT USE THEM. So I came home, hoped into my PJs with a glass of wine and edited a Wiki! Yepp, but I had to wait until the other person in my class, who happened to log on first to edit the page, when finished.  I could 'steal the lock' but I thought otherwise- as even though this was online class this week...its face to face next week. 

Overall, it was a good experience and I learned plenty of things about collaboration using this online tool. Here's a few items I came across as I was working with my classmates during the snow storm. 

Connections

• Build greater connections between new and old knowledge by allowing student-created structure for the information and ideas.
• Build on the best of Bloom: Students use synthesis and evaluation constantly and consistently when they work on a wiki.

Creativity

• Build creativity skills, especially elaboration and fluency. Build creative flexibility in accepting others’ edits!
• Encourage “hitch-hiking” on ideas (a type of creative elaboration and analytical thinking: If X is true, then what about Y?).
• Introduce and reinforce the idea that a creative piece is never “done.”

Engagement

• Increase engagement of all students.
• In lieu of being passive “consumers” of their peers’ presentations (where they doze and ignore), wiki makers respond, change, and improve.
• Culminating projects no longer have to end.

Interpersonal

• Develop interpersonal and communication skills, especially consensus-building and compromise, in an environment where the product motivates interpersonal problem-solving.
• Develop true teamwork skills

Writing

• Improve the most challenging phase of writing process: revision, revision, revision!
• Increase flexibility to consider other ways of saying things.
• Build an awareness of a wider, more authentic audience.

Metacognition

• Stimulate discussion and self-awareness.
• Help students articulate issues about ownership, finding, different conceptualisations of the same content.

Blogs in Plain English

Breathe. Know that the Internet has no eraser.

As my title may elude, the internet has this thing about making EVERYTHING permanent. So why add personal thoughts to this spider webs of tattoos? 

I'll tell you why... I've never blogged before and quite frankly I've been enjoying it! 

Blogs are... well ALL ABOUT ME... and there lies the biggest problem.  If I don't have something worth sharing- I suppose I don't have a need to share anything, right? 

Many bloggers could take note of that, but what fun would blogging be if we had a "no one wants to read about that" attitude.  Blogs are inherently an open forum which allows users to be a part of the writing process, which in turn makes a blog an unfinished book that will never have an ending.  If a reader comments, one can engage and comment back- thus creating a discussion (or argument). This is unique to blogging.  But the reader must remember that the author may post whatever strikes their fancy and therefore may have no validity behind it.

More thoughts on this topic to come....

Why?  Because blogs are PUBLIC.  Anyone and everyone on the internet (unless you create special settings) can read it.  SO you must ALWAYS think to yourself... is this okay for EVERYONE to read?  My parents?  My grandparents?  My coworkers?  My BOSS!?

So go ahead create a blog...no pressure. 

If you want to know what someone fears losing.... watch what they photograph

Smile for the Camera! 

My Sister's graduation from Penn State University. 

Karl Lagerfeld once said, “What i like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce.”   If you want to know something about me... look through my camera lens.  

I grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania called Latrobe.  It's the home of professional football, Rolling Rock beer, Mister Rodgers, and the first banana split.  Growing up in 'farm country' I needed to pick up a hobby so I wouldn't become a 'hillbilly' as the native call it, so I picked up a camera in 2nd grade. Of course my first camera was one that I could instantly take the picture and do the Polaroid shake to develop it.  I moved on from the shake to the famous little kid instant sticker photos.  My parents were always finding stickers on the walls, couches, and even, yes, even on the bathroom toilet.  I wanted everyone to see my pictures.  As I grew older, I was allowed to use my mom's camera on vacation.  I was so excited to be using a 'professional' camera- I took 2,000 pictures of Disney World!! 

Of course, my parents finally bought into the 'puppy eye' looks when I was 18 and I received my first professional camera... of course they hung this over my head so I wouldn't ask for a car.  (little did they know, they would have to drive me around to ALL the places I wanted to take pictures of..hehehe) 

My first camera... and my first photo... 

My neighbors horse... my parents house is in his eye 

 I bet you were thinking I took a picture and it got photo-bombed... in this case, I actually knew how to use a camera.  Now, a story behind the picture... I got in trouble for climbing a fence on private property and feeding an unknown horse carrots so I could get a 'cool' picture of his eye!  BUT the owner bought the photo and it now sits in his living room. 

So as for me... I'm a 4th year Kindergarten Teacher in Northern VA, pursuing her Masters Degree in Integration of Technology in Schools and a lover of Photography and telling a story through pictures.  

Sapphire, NC 

A picture is truly worth a thousand words... 

Coolest blind turtle I met while working at Seaworld Orlando