A must read....

I just saw a really neat article today that I thought I would share. It is entitled "The Wisdom of the Chaperones: Digg, Wikipedia, and the myth of Web 2.0 democracy." The article is written by Chris Wilson. It discusses how they work, what are the pre-conceived ideas that are out there about Wikipedia and Digg; it is quite interesting!

Check it out:

http://www.slate.com/id/2184487/?GT1=10935

Convention and Other

Convention:
Well all I can say is that I enjoyed one day, one session. Brutal I know, but part of it may be my fault and part definitely is not my fault. The part that is mine, is that I should have tried harder to attend the "for sure-ly interested in" sessions, instead of the ones that were where I was all day. The part that was not my fault, is that there were too many sessions, too many locations, and not enough time to take them all in! There were many I seemed interested in, but that were downtown (and I was at Prairieland), or it was backed with another good one, and not offered on a different day. UGH!

I think Mavis can comply with my feelings of UGH because I saw her in attendance at the 'Integrating Technology focusing on digital storytelling and blogging' session. The poor woman presenting had so much trouble it was agonizing to watch! She started out her session telling a packed session, of her issues about 'losing' her PPT presentation the night before; working on it for 4 hours to get it ready for that day. Then, she wanted to show us 5 online video examples of digital storytelling, discuss, etc. But the videos took forever to load, and all she had for speakers was a set of small computer speakers - from audio people at Prairieland, which obviously did not project to the back of the makeshift rooms we had. Needless to say how awful it was to have the Flute session directly to the right of ours going on during this time! Then, she finally got the videos going, got a bigger speaker from the audio guys - only to have it be all crackly! UGH! Ha Ha! Really, by this point in telling my story, all I can do is laugh - instead of cry for her, and this presenters face was flushed, she was obviously frustrated by all the issues she was having, and all the while, people are getting up and leaving! I definitely could not do that to her! I mean who hasn't had a day like that - when nothing works, it all goes wrong and you have tried really hard; who hasn't? So this poor lady trudged on, and finally we ended early and there were only a few handfuls of people left in this session. Quite sad really.

I believe that she was on the right track, that she had some good things to say, maybe not all of them would apply to my classrooms, but the tools were there to adapt to your own needs. I just think that she needed a boost of help, a better session room, some more audio help, and a bit more straight-forward way to state her ideas. It was frustrating to watch, not knowing how to help, and seeing someone struggling with technology. I have been there - I still am there at times!


With our combined knowledge, we are so far ahead! From sharing our ideas, faults, struggles, successes and AHA moments in these blogs, we have allowed a wonderful collaboration opportunity, and unlimited growth. I really enjoy this committee and have learned a lot. It is just difficult, trying to input the new ideas into my classes and programs - easy at times (certain programs/tools), but wanting to give the students the opportunity to try all the cool things that I am is quite a task!

I just wanted to share my convention story and reflect upon all that has happened in the last while. There is more, and I will post more soon - I just needed to start somewhere!!

Resources.....What do you think?

I decided to do some dirty work and find some resources for us teachers. I must admit - not all are perfect - but it's a start. Post comments with more resources if you can - it will help all who read this....

RESOURCES FOR YOUR USES:

Elementary:

COMPUTERS
http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/welcome/

K-5 INTERACTIVE MATH
http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/mathk5interact/

SPSD - grade 1-4 online resources that integrate computers into other subjects - quite good
http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/saskatoonint/index.html

http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/

http://www.lauracandler.com/

ELEMENTARY MATH
http://aplusmath.com/


Other:

http://www.centralischool.ca/wblrd/web_resources.html

http://www.pbs.org/teachers/

Browse for lessons in all teaching areas -
http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/posts.html

http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/

http://www.theteacherscorner.net/teacher-resources/

http://www.statcan.ca/english/kits/teach.htm

MATH RESOURCES - GENERAL - PICK YOUR GRADE AREA
http://www.statcan.ca/english/kits/courses/math.htm




Middle Years:

GRADE 7-9 SCIENCE
http://www.edquest.ca/content/view/48/

http://www.lauracandler.com/

GRADE 7-9 ELA
http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/de/resources/6_9ela/TeacherResources.htm

http://glynn.schooldesk.net/InstructionalTechnology/InteractiveWebsites/ELAResources/tabid/2269/Default.aspx




PAA Resources:

CONSTRUCTION
http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/paasurveyb/constrmod/index.html

FOOD SAFETY
http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/paasurvey/foods10/introduction.htm

DESIGN STUDIES
http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/paasurvey/design/home/home.htm

PHOTOGRAPHICS
http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/paasurvey/photographics/index.htm

DRAFTING 10
http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/Drafting10/index.htm




High School:

HISTORY RESOURCES
http://teachers.net/cgi-bin/lessons/sort.cgi

This one is from the states - for social studies - but may have some value to it....
http://www.socialstudies.org/newsitems/departments/resources

CANADIAN HISTORY
http://www.academicinfo.net/canhistmeta.html



ENGLISH RESOURCES
http://www.teachit.co.uk/index.asp?CurrMenu=65



BIOLOGY:
http://www.bioedonline.org/

http://www.biologycorner.com/



CHEMISTRY:
http://www.educationindex.com/chem/

http://www.csun.edu/~vceed002/chemistry/index.html

http://people.moreheadstate.edu/fs/h.hedgec/sciteach.html

Bloglines, RSS, Interesting Blogs...

Alright, it is time to get some more work done. :-)

My bloglines account is http://www.bloglines.com/myblogs and I have added (I believe) all of the in school tech support blogs. If I missed anyone, just let me know because I check them out ALL the time to see what's going on with everyone!
I have also added the Cool Cat Teacher blog and Cool Tools blog, which I find some good info. that is useful.
The other two blogs that I have added (so far) are "Connecting in a Connected World" (http://rajmmiller.blogspot.com/) , and a "Quote of the Day"
(http://www.quotationspage.com/qotd.html).

I have added this because I have a "Quote of the Week" on my classrom whiteboard....
Our school is implementing Michelle Borba's Building Moral Intelligence, and as part of my idea to inspire students to become moral humans, I have been putting a quote of the week up and have been getting a big response. The students really notice it, although you may be shaking your head and thinking "ya right Priscilla! Those kids just talk to you about it because they want to get you off topic in class" - Well.....maybe....but when you have students come up to you and ask you privately why you have not changed the quote (the few times I do forget), then it makes it all worth while. Just like our job of teaching; it may seem as though no one out there knows, until someone mentions what it means to them, and that makes it all worth the effort.
I find that having it RSS'ed to me daily really helps me to keep it updated and not have an excuse to say - oh well, I do not have any time to find another good quote. It holds me accountable!!

The Connecting in a Connected World blog - is by another teacher from Australia. Her blog is insightful and helpful. She comments on a lot of the same things that we discuss and I find it really interesting to read about the perspectives of other people around the world, as they struggle and succeed with technology implementation. She has some great posts on Facebook, e-learning, and Google-Bots, plus many other things. :-)

That is my two - so far - and I am looking for goodies to keep adding, so let me know if there are any!

Check it all out!

My Staff PD Experience...

On Jan. 25th I gave a short PD session to my staff. It was a bit rushed and I had a few troubles, but I believe it to be a success.

I started with discovery learning. I got every staff member to log in and go to the website. I showed them how easy it was to find videos, what grade levels, different subjects, the whole works. A few of them were quite impressed. I have to kinda chuckle at that, because for the amount of times I have sent out notes, told each of them individually or in staff meetings about Discovery Learning, they seemed really shocked - it is as though they never looked at it before - funny huh?

Then I continued on with the Luseland School website, Miss Cameron's website, then the Luseland School Library Wikispace - which is really well done by one of our resident computer wizards Mrs. Olfert! Kudos! I showed them how a wikispace works, and lead into my own wikispace. I showed them the links I have - which was the links from our in school tech support wikispace - thanks Donna! I have added some of my own as well, but the majority came from there. The teachers seemed really impressed! The wow's I saw and heard were satisfying.

I showed my staff imagechef, cartoon machine, animoto, Piczo, bubbleshare, and a few more. I left that for them to play with. Maybe I will do some more on that stuff once I get more time during another PD. But I did tell my staff about how relevant it all is, how I have used it in my classes, a couple examples of how they could use it in different subject areas. Since I was running short on time, I talked to them about how there is a teacher in Nova Scotia/New Brunswick area that is using Piczo as his website as he teaches a music class online, over the Internet to students across that area. That got some "cool"'s and some "I never knew you could do that"'s. Again, very satisfying.

Then I talked to them about my classblogmeister. How I have used it, how it is protected, how everything goes through me, how to address issues of privacy, etc. Then I got into my professional blog. There have been only a few that have really looked on my blog and now there are many more. It is great that more of my staff know how to get on here and read my posts. I showed them how to comment, and how to make a Google account so that they can post comments. I wanted to get more into it but was again, running short on time. Next time!

Lastly, I showed them Centralischool. The web resources, how I use it for science 9, how another teacher in my school has been using it for History 10,20,30. Wonderful things, those online resources. My older post about re-inventing the wheel gets into it more....

Now for reflection.....
I am only going to be positive. It is a start. I cannot judge myself too harshly on my first ever staff PD experience. It is a growing thing that will only get better with time. The reactions I focused on were the positive ones, and I will thrive from those. The ones that were not so positive, and mostly nonchalant, I will ignore until I get more time to focus on technology that will hopefully intrigue those few. My teaching skills grow with each new experience as a teacher in general, and as a presenter. I know I felt a bit nervous in front of my whole staff, trying to not stumble on my words, to be prepared and not make a total fool of myself. I do not present in front of adults often so it was definitally a learning experience. Of course I became more comfortable near the end, and the next time will be much better. I just needed more time. I really feel that giving my staff too much too soon would not have been better, but that if I had more time to concentrate on a few specific things, then that would have been beneficial. All in all the experience was a good one, and I am actually looking forward to doing it again soon. If you have not done this with your staff yet, my only suggestion would be to take no more than 2-3 things and concentrate on that, and leave the other things until next time. Overwhelming leads to resentment. Keep it short, simple, and be enthusiastic!!! It is infectuous!