You're just beginning a career that truly is one of the most important in the world. Take it seriously, but never take yourself too seriously! Begin each day with a "thank you" and end it with two questions:
1) Did I do my best today? and
2) What will I do tomorrow to make learning more engaging and more relevant for my students?
My wish for you also comes from the great poet, Dr. Seuss:
I appreciate the effort you have put into this course. I've learned from you, and I hope you've learned about technology and the critical role it plays in the lives of students and teachers today! Teaching and learning are forever changed by technology! And technology will only get better, faster, cheaper, more powerful, smaller, more affordable and more available!
Best wishes to you as your continue your education. Never stop learning! Here are some of my final thoughts in an interactive glog.
If you've been around educational technology for more than a few minutes, you've seen the name Kathy Schrock. In fact, I know you've seen it several times during this course. Kathy has been involved in technology for a very long time. In fact, she started a Facebook group called "Digital Pioneers."
Recently retired as technology director for a school system in Massachusetts, Kathy is continuing to put her experience and knowledge to good use with her web resources, presentations, slideshows and webinars.
If you ever get a chance to hear her in person, get there early and grab a seat near the front! Meanwhile, check out her blog and other resources. Here's one of her recent webinars: Connecting Your Classroom to the Future: Predictions and Predicaments. You'll enjoy her sense of humor, her presentation style and her ability to help you keep up to date on current trends and technologies.
Why You Should Begin Your Own PLN by @a
Kathy is part of my PLN, my Personal Learning Network--a group of people I've "collected" and "connected with" from around the globe via Twitter, email, Facebook, blogs and RSS. They are people I learn from every day, and because of them, I can share more things with you. I connect with people who think like I do, but I also learn from people who "think different" and help me look at things in new ways. I learn from people in education, but also from others in business, sports, entertainment and publishing.
We used to learn from our classmates, our friends, our families and--in teaching--our colleagues in the next classroom. But technology enables us to connect with people from around the world. Our best professional colleages and collaborators may be people we have never met in person!
It's time to start building your own PLN. Why? Because you'll be a better, more confident teacher and your students will benefit from that! How? Here are some resources to get you started:
We learn to share early in life....but only recently are things beging produced that are truly designed to be shared. In this video, Michael Jones talks about open content, Creative_Commons and the importance of sharing in today's world. He tells you how to find resources that are free use and designed for you to share.
So you think overhead projectors are old school? The history of technology in education goes back much much farther than that. SMART Technologies developed this short video history (so you know it will include SMART boards), but it ends with a very interesting question!
I hope that's not the case! For some of you, this course has been easy. For others, however, it's been more of a struggle. So why bother? That's a question posed by Scott McLeod in his Dangerously Irrelevant blog.
from Scott McLeod
Excuse 1:I don’t see it as teachers spurning technology, or choosing not to take advantage of those new ideas and tools. I think most teachers don’t even realize that there’s a decision to be made. It’s not a matter of choosing the red pill or the blue pill… if you don’t know that there are even two pills available as options.
… A teacher that has never heard of Blabberize or Glogster or Prezi, has never been introduced to the new world of online applications that are available to them. They likely don’t follow blogs or listen to podcasts. They have probably never been to an EdTech conference or seen a TED talk. In short, they’re just ordinary, average educators who aren’t aware that there’s a whole other world that they have easy access to… if they just ‘take the blue pill’. (Steve Dembo)
Excuse 2:The fact of the matter is that there exist a very large number of effective educators that are simply not able to contribute in any significantly recurrent amount to online discussion. All told, it’s not that they’re incapable of participating and it’s not that they’re unwilling. Rather, this group maintains perceived silence online because their professional priorities prohibit them from spending the time or energy required to provide plausible contribution. (Darren Draper)
Regarding technology, you have to show me how it’s good for kids
not to use technology. Not using available technology is like going to a doctor who says, “Oh, I’ve heard of Xrays.” It’s not okay. The first issue is not your comfort. It’s a no-brainer. These kids are in the 21st century. The question isn’t whether, it’s how.
Teachers need to grow beyond their habits. Doctors take an oath. They don’t say, every September I am going to give you my favorite medicine whether you need it or not. Would any parent take kids to a doctor using techniques of the 70s and 80s? It’s not okay.
The course is almost over, but your learning about teaching and technology is just beginning. My friend and colleague, Doug Johnson, Director of Media and Technology for the Mankato, Minnesota Public Schools, has written a book I'd highly recommend to you. It isn't expensive and it is full of great ideas and practical advice to help you---well--SURVIVE! It's the Classroom Teacher's Technology Survival Guide, available from Amazon in both paperback and Kindle versions.
In the book, Johnson "offers concrete advice on creating high-quality project assessments, handling the potential distractions technologies may cause, and managing issues of safe and appropriate use. He also answers basic questions about computers, software, and networking and outlines practical ways to use computers, the Internet, and digital cameras in the classroom environment."
Read the reviews on the Amazon page and see what other educators think of the book. Johnson's experience and expertise are evident in all of his work--as is his sense of humor. To get an idea of his style and content, check out his Blue Skunk Blog....including "15 Educational Experiences My Granddaughter Won't Have." You can also read some of his other articles here.
Here's a great webinar about some terrific tools for education. Steven Anderson presented this free webinar several months ago, and Simple K12 is making it available to all for free through this recording.
In the webinar, Anderson shows 30 great tools. Some of them were mentioned in the textbook and your assignments. Some were included in the challenges. Some of them you may not have heard about before, but they are all worth taking a look.
This webinar is definitely worth 50 minutes. And check the bottom of the webinar page for a link to some more free resources from Simple K12.
Webinars like this one are super ways to keep up with what's new and to learn from other teachers. You are responsible for your own professional development. What do you need to know? I'll bet there is a webinar or website or online tutorial or and app for that!
Here's an opportunity for you to learn more about technology, teaching and learning. Join hundreds of other educators from around the world for one or more of these 24-hour round the clock sessions on April 25-26. Yes, right after the final exam!
Here's a few of the sessions:
Using Your iPad to Make Movies on the Go!
Publish a Book as a Class Project
Picture This: Grabbing Attention with Talking Pictures
Digital Writing: Collaborate, Reflect, and Publish
Be the Change You Want To See In the World
Dos and Don'ts for Creating Good Presentations
Using Google Maps for Virtual Journeys
Register and get more information here. I hope you'll check it out!
Hunger Games, as you know, has become extremely popular, and with the movie playing to sell-out crowds, more and more young people will be reading it.
Teacher-librarian Cathy Jo Nelson, Dorman High School in Spartanburg, SC, developed this presentation to encourage her high school students to read more. Because she can't always reach every student in their classrroms or when they come to the library media center, sharing it on Slideshare allows students to access it from any computer and she can embed it in her blog or on her library media center webpage.
Better than that, others can use her good work....like me....and YOU!
I thought some of you might be interested in this free ebook. Just enter your name and email address, then confirm and download. It's a PDF document with some good stuff! Did I mention it is free? Did I mention I adore teachers who share what they know and do!?
Remember earlier in the semester when I said I was sure you will have etextbooks and online teaching in your future if you're going to be teacher?
Discovery Education is making the etextbook part come true for science teachers already. Discovery Education’s new “Techbooks” expand on an instructional delivery model that Discovery launched for K-8 science in 2010. Much more than just digitized versions of static textbooks, the Techbooks include videos, embedded assessments, and other interactive features that leverage the power of the internet, the company says.
Florida is one of the states that Discovery is targeting. "Built from the ground up to address Florida Next Generation Sunshine State Standards, Discovery Education SCIENCE TECHBOOK is the new primary instructional resource for Florida’s elementary schools. Dynamic, interactive resources support the 5E model of instruction and capture digitally native students’ attention. Coupled with a real-time assessment component that measures students’ progress, it recommends individualized resources that reinforce classroom instruction."
Utah's Office of Education has announced plans to develop open
online textbooks for language arts, science, and mathematics. The press release
also reveals that early pilot programs were able to provide 3,800 high
school students with science textbooks at $5 each, a drastic savings
from the average of $80. (--via EdSurge)
Do you think there will be ebooks in your future? For sure!
By the way, I've been very impressed with the state of Utah's web presence. Take a look!
You heard about TurnItIn during the FLVS webinar. It's a tool for detecting plagiarism that FLVS teachers use. UCF also uses TurnItIn. Why? Because with the web, copy and paste sometimes takes the place of original writing and critical thinking.
The TurnItIn folks recently completed a study related to plagiarism. You can see the details in this infographic and, if interested, download the whole report. Be sure to see the bottom with ideas for combatting this growing problem.
I read all three of these today, and they each inspired me and made me think about teaching. I hope one or all will inspire you or make you think about teaching and learning in a different way. Enjoy!
None of you have said you'd like to be a school librarian, but all of you will soon wotk with a school librarian. What do you know about what they can do for you as a teacher? Maybe this video will give you some ideas:
One of this year's events was a video contest for students. The wilnners will be announced on April 17 but until then, take a look at all of the submissions on the School Library Media Month 2012 SchoolTube channel.
Yes! Your school library media specialist (librarian, media specialist, teacher-librarian) can be your best friend. Next time you're in a school, go visit them and see what services they offer for teachers!
All those backups seemed a waste of pay.
Now my database has gone away.
Oh I believe in yesterday.
Suddenly,
There's not half the files there used to be,
And there's a milestone hanging over me.
The system crashed so suddenly.
I pushed something wrong
What it was I could not say.
Now all my data's gone
and I long for yesterday-ay-ay-ay.
Yesterday,
The need for back-ups seemed so far away.
I knew my data was all here to stay,
Now I believe in yesterday.
So putting these two celebrations together, library media specialist Diane Cordell offers "Picturing Poetry" with her photographs illustrating selected poems. Enjoy!
Keeping examples of student work is important in documenting student achievement. You want to be able to show progress--to the student and his or her parents.
Often
teachers find it problematic to manage the huge number of student
assignments and quizzes they get. At times like parent-teacher meetings,
pulling out a student's quiz from a big stack can be time-consuming.
Here to help is a tool called Three Ring.
Three Ring is a free to use smartphone application that offers
versions for Android as well as iOS devices. The app helps teachers
organize the quizzes and assignments of their students by taking
pictures of the papers and then uploading those pictures online. When
teachers upload the images, they can tag them and sort them class-wise.
When you want to find the image, simply log in to the service and use
the tag information to pull the images.
Features:
A user-friendly phone app.
Compatible with Android and iOS devices.
Lets you store student's work online.
Lets you tag photos you upload for easy browsing later.
Did you know that many newspapers offer free teaching materials? One of my favorites is the New York Times. Check out their teacher resources and ideas for helping students learn more about the Titanic.
