The Technology Integration Specialists' Community RSS feed

Internet Safety & Digital Citizenship Workshop - April 8, 2010 - Graci Gillming

Graci Gillming — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:17:25 GMT

Internet Safety & Digital Citizenship Workshop
April 8, 2010
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
ESU 10 – Kearney

Register: https://odie.esu10.org/workshops

As the digital world changes and new technologies arise, kids eagerly grasp on to the latest tool or web application with no fear or hesitation. During this workshop we'll explore the safe use of the Internet and digital technologies, i.e. computers, cell phones, mp3 players, etc. We'll also discuss social networking, cyberbullying, digital citizenship (the rights and responsibilities in a digital world) as well as related online curriculum.

0 Comments

2010 Internet Safety and Digital Citizenship Contest - Graci Gillming

Graci Gillming — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:42:21 GMT

The 2010 Internet Safety and Digital Citizenship Contest guidelines and entry form can be found at ESU 10 Internet Safety Contest Guideline 10 frm.pdf

Please note the March 8, 2010 deadline. This is 4 days earlier than what was announced in the Connector.

For more information and contest rubrics as well as the 2009 winners, visit
http://nis.esu10.org/ggillmin/InternetSafety

Contact Graci Gillming for questions - ggillmin@esu10.org or 308-865-5664 x-229.

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Basic Clickers Workshop ~ March 24, 2010 - Carol Smith

Carol Smith — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Basic Clickers Workshop ~ March 24, 2010 ~ 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. ~ ESU 10 ~ Kearney

One of the hottest items in instructional technology is the use of “clickers” or audience response systems. Students use remotes to answer questions before, during, and after a lesson thereby allowing teachers to get instant feedback about student understanding. Dustin Frank will lead a workshop for eInstruction clickers using the Classroom Performance System (CPS). If you are using eInstruction clickers or want to learn more about what they can do, this workshop is for you! To register go to https://odie.esu10.org/

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Crane Season Information - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Have you made reservations for your class to come see and learn about an event that happens nowhere else in the world except here in central Nebraska? I’m talking about the gathering of over 500,000 sandhill cranes. People from around the globe come to see this phenomenon and your class should not miss out.

C.S.I. (Crane Scene Investigation) program is approximately two hours long and is designed with your students in mind. It is only available from the first of March through the first of April when the cranes are here on the Platte River. Dates and times are filling fast, so make your reservations soon! Cost is $3.00 per student

Crane Cam will go live the weekend of March 6th and is again being hosted by ESU 10. THANKS ESU 10!

For downloadable educational videos about sandhill cranes, be sure to check out CRANE CENTRAL on our website. Go to www.rowesanctuary.org The DVD is also available in our Nature Store.

NEW THIS YEAR!

Are you looking for a book with just enough good facts and trivia to spark in the novice crane-watcher an appreciation of these fascinating birds and at the same time a book that gives those long time watchers more insight into the behaviors they were seeing? Well, we have the book for you. It is called The Private Lives of Sandhill Cranes. This easy-to-read resource is full of wonderful illustrations and maps and is on sale here at Rowe for $10.00.

For more information, just give me a call. I look forward to working with you and your class.

Keanna Leonard
Education Director
Audubon's Rowe Sanctuary
44450 Elm Island Rd
Gibbon, NE 68840
308-468-5282
___________________________________________________________________________

Make your reservations today for CRANE SEASON!!!

For a Naturally Good Time come to First Sundays @ Rowe!

Know Rowe? Learn more at www.rowesanctuary.org or on Facebook.

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Arnold Laptop Learning Institute March 16-17, 2010 - Graci Gillming

Graci Gillming — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:49:25 GMT

You and a team from your district are invited to attend a 21st Century Learning Leadership Institute sponsored by Arnold, a pioneering 1:1 school. This Institute is your opportunity to see and hear how Arnold's school is achieving academic excellence by putting technology in their students' hands. Every student in Arnold has their own laptop with K-6 staying in the building, and 7-12 talking their laptops home.

There is a way to bridge the digital divide between students and school. A way to engage students and make education relevant. How? Research shows students with routine access to laptop computers score higher in writing assessments, demonstrate better analytical skills, engage in problem solving, and collaborate more effectively on schoolwork - all of which, ultimately, lead to higher student achievement.

The agenda includes discussion on how technology changes learning, the impact of professional development, key success factors, funding, and the digital tools today's students use to create knowledge. You will hear from how the Arnold school is currently using technology in innovative ways to make a difference, have the opportunity to see a laptop learning initiative in action and interact with students, teachers and administrators.

Cost of the program:
Schools are responsible for transportation to the Institute location and hotel accommodations. Apple will cover all meals and activities during the forum if allowable by your state ethics laws.

Who Should Attend?
School Presidents, Superintendents*, Principals, Curriculum/Technology Directors, Board Members, Teachers and other school leaders. You are encouraged to send a collaborative team of 3 or 4 people.

*Attendance at this event by a public official or employee may constitute acceptance of a reportable gift. Please consult your ethics official to ensure that no state laws, local laws or school district rules prevent your acceptance of costs associated with this event.

There will be a dinner at a local restaurant following the event on Tuesday evening.

To register please go to the following site:

http://edseminars.apple.com/seminars/event.php?eventID=2294

If anyone has questions about the agenda for the two days, they can contact Nicole Badgley by email at nbadgley@esu10.org or via the phone 308-848-2226 ext 9

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Short Video Sites - Becky Keilig

Becky Keilig — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:24:03 GMT

I've used Animoto, an online video creation site, and I liked it quite a bit--but only 30 seconds. I sent out http://studio.stupeflix.com/ to another teacher who tried it and the first video was free and 3 minutes. Anyone know any other sites?

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Interactive Whiteboard & Clicker Showcase at ESU 9 Hastings - Feb 3 - Graci Gillming

Graci Gillming — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 06:00:00 GMT

On Feb. 3, ESU 9 is bringing in four vendors to demo interactive white boards, clickers and tablets. If anyone in your district is thinking about purchasing this type of technology, this would be a great opportunity to compare products and to learn more about the new features.

If you are interested, please register at http://esu9.org/ by Friday, Jan 29.

The vendors will be:

            Engaging Technologies: Dustin Frank - Clickers, InterWrite & Wireless tablets
            CCS Presentation Systems: Ed Pullen - SmartBoard and other new products
            Haddock: Dan Reid - Promethean ActivBoard
            Polyvision: Douglas Liszka -  Eno Interactiv

If you have any questions or to register, feel free to email or call.

Wayne Wiens

Technology Systems Support Specialist

Educational Service Unit #9

402.463.5611

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Career and Technical Education 2.0 ~ April 08, 2010 - Carol Smith

Carol Smith — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 06:00:00 GMT

This workshop is designed to demonstrate and utilize technology integration tools specifically for the career and technical education classrooms. Featured throughout the day will be web resources, software, and other technology that encourage the use of 21st Century skills for students.

Conference Rooms E & F - South Wing
9:00 am - 3:00 pm

This workshop is one that was rescheduled from December due to the weather.

Click to register https://odie.esu10.org/

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Internet Safety / Digital Resources Day at ESU 11 - 01/26/10 - Graci Gillming

Graci Gillming — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:07:46 GMT

This is late notice, but if you can attend, I'm sure it will be worth it. ESU 11 has extended an invitation for anyone to attend an Internet Safety / Digital Resources Workshop next Tuesday, January 26.

Internet Safety / Digital Resources
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
ESU 11
412 W 14th Ave
Holdrege, NE

Speakers include:

NE State Patrol
Nettrekker/CyberSmart
Anti-Defamation League
NetSmartz
iSAFE
Wired Safety

Register ASAP at http://www.esu11.org and click on the Workshop Registration link or email Diane at dronnen@esu11.org.

Cost: $10 per person to cover lunch.

For more info, see the flyer at http://images2.esu11.org/resources/internetsafetyflyer.pdf

For questions, contact

---------------------------------------------------------

Robert Hays

Technology/Curriculum Consultant

Educational Service Unit #11

412 W 14th Ave PO Box 858

Holdrege, NE 68949

email: rhays@esu11.org

Phone: (308) 995-6585

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Capspace Project: Poetry Pals - Jason Everett

Jason Everett — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Contact John Stritt (jstritt@esu10.org) if you have questions about the connections, etc.

--------

Title: Poetry Pals:

Status: Open

URL: http://projects.twice.cc/?l=collaboration&id=645

Connections: H.323

Grades: 11, 12

Subjects: Language Arts/English

Dates: March 1 - April 30

Description: Creative Writing teacher with one class of 11th and 12th graders seeks to work with one other teacher and class of students to share poetry. Would like to initially meet via Videoconference and then have students exchange ideas and poetry via email during March. We would culminate the project in a Poetry Slam in April via videoconference. Videoconferences would take place from 12:45 - 1:50 PM EST.

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2010 Olympic Games Project - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 06:00:00 GMT

This looks like a REALLY fun project to do with your students! If you have wanted to try blogging with students or some other collaborative, global projects, this is the one for you! Check out this project web site! Even if you only want to try a portion of this, I think it would be worth your time. This is for students from k-7th grade and it was started by a 2nd grade teacher! Check it out and let me know if you want help!

http://sites.google.com/site/misschatz/home

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Web Sites for you! - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Here are a few web sites that I thought you would like.

Good general lesson plan sites - http://tr.im/KjRO
Science Fair site - http://www.sciencebob.com/sciencefair/index.php
You Tube URL Tricks - http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-youtube-url-tricks-you-should-know-about/
ReTool Yourself (professional development ideas) - http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/25886
100 Web Tools for Collaboration - http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/26378

This last link is a video from a student demonstrating how her 7th grade science class is being run. This looked like a very engaging science class!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEls3tq5wIY&feature=youtu.be&a

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Classroom Instruction That Works Webinars - Carol Smith

Carol Smith — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:33:27 GMT

In this series we are featuring nine webinars on Marzano's instructional strategies. Each webinar will focus on the how to use specific instructional strategies in your classroom as well as technology tips and tricks to integrate along the way!

Each webinar is a one-hour session from 4-5PM. A day or so before the webinar, you will receive an email with instructions and the website for the webinar.

There is no driving or weather worries, all you need is a computer! Choose just one webinar to attend or choose them all! These are great refreshers if you attended Classroom Instruction That Works this last summer! Even if you don't know anything about these instructional strategies, please join us and find out all the easy ways of engaging and reaching your students.

Summarizing and Note Taking - January 19, 2010
Reinforcing Effort/Receiving Feedback - February 2, 2010
Homework and Practice - February 16, 2010
Non-Linguistic Representation - March 2, 2010
Cooperative Learning - March 23, 2010
Setting Objectives/Providing Feedback - April 6, 2010
Generating and Testing Hypothesis - April 20, 2010
Ques, Questions, and Advanced Organizers - May 4, 2010

Register on ODIE at https://odie.esu10.org/

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Great Example of Tech Integration and Self-Directed Learning - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:11:07 GMT

I just read this article from Tech & Learning. It is a must read for all of you! It is an inspiring model with happy learning endings! http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/25762

What do you think of this? Who would you share this article with if you could? How do we model this in our own schools? Please leave your comments!

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Help! Looking for info on extra large projection screens! - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Our AD is looking for a large projection screen for the gym. I would say 14x14 or bigger. Do you know any schools who have that large of screen? Where we can go look at their setup? Etc. can you point me in the right direction.

Thanks
Teresa

Teresa Osborn
Cozad City Schools <http://cozadschools.cozad.k12.ne.us/>

1 Comments

Microsoft/Nebraska Coop Select Program - Stacy Peters

Stacy Peters — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Purchase Microsoft Software for home use!!
See the attached PDF for more information!

Microsoft-NE Coop Software.pdf

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Codec Lifestyle Trainings Level I and II - Susan Sandoval

Susan Sandoval — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:38:59 GMT

John Stritt developed a schedule of trainings for the codec Lifesize unit that are now on the ODIE Workshop calendar. If you are interested in one of these trainings, please register at
https://odie.esu10.org/workshops

Level I ideo conferencing in-service will introduce participants to the Lifesize video conferencing technology. This includes:

how does a Lifesize codec differ from other video conferencing hardware/software
how to operate your codec with your Lifesize Remote Control
how to make a connection

Equipment Requirement: Participating sites must have access to a Lifesize video conferencing unit.
------------------
Level II will review basic remote control functions and advanced operations related to the Lifesize technology. This includes:

introduction to a directory for connecting to different sites
connecting peripheral technology such as a computer to the codec
how to do basic troubleshooting when you have connection problems.

Equipment Requirement: Participating sites must have access to a Lifesize video conferencing unit.

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First Sunday's at Rowe Sanctuary! - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Looking for something other than shopping this Sunday? Come on out and join us for our December First Sunday @ Rowe starting at 1:30 p.m. http://rowesanctuary.org/first%20sundays.htm

With native grasses and fallen leaves rustling in the breeze and the symphony from flocks of birds streaming south, late fall is a great time to explore Rowe Sanctuary. This month’s program will take advantage of this natural music by offering a workshop called ‘The Music of Nature - The Nature of Music’ presented by former UNK professor of music Annabell Zikmund, and Rowe Volunteers Susan Elmore and Jackie Flohr.

Other activities include nature hikes and marshmallow roasting on an open campfire!

For more information:
Keanna Leonard, Education Director
Audubon's Rowe Sanctuary
44450 Elm Island Rd
Gibbon, NE 68840
308-468-5282

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21st Century Skills Teaching and Learning Summit - Ron Cone

Ron Cone — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:00:00 GMT

21st Century Skills Teaching and Learning Summit: Moving from the Why to the How
A highly interactive day is developed to enhance collaboration and partnership among secondary and postsecondary partners, business/industry and across curricular areas.

Purpose: To provide high school and community college professional teams consisting of career and academic faculty, administration, and advisory members a long-term sustainable professional development opportunity which will integrate 21st Century Teaching and Learning into classrooms and schools across Nebraska.

Key Note Speakers
Jim Brazell: www.ventureramp.com
David Thornburg: http://www.tcpd.org

No Registration Cost: Partnerships for Innovation is sponsoring the Summit and participant lunches. Mileage, lodging, stipends and sub-pay are the responsibility of the attending districts and colleges.

Date: January 19, 2010

When: 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM

Where: Northeast Community College: Life Long Learning Center, Norfolk, NE

Teams are encouraged, but not required. Space is limited to 400 participants. Suggested Team Make-Up: Academic Faculty, Career Education Faculty, Administration, Counseling Staff, and Business/Industry Partner

Lodging: A discounted block of 20 rooms have been reserved at the Hampton Inn & Suites ($75.00/night) and Holiday Inn Express ($70.00/night), each for the night of January 18, 2010. These rooms will be released January 2nd. Both hotels provide a warm breakfast. Ask for the Partnerships for Innovation block.

Hampton Inn & Suites: 1-402-379-3585

Holiday Inn Express: 1-402-379-1524

Summit Registration: http://www.nde.state.ne.us/nce/ConferencesWorkshops.htm

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iTouches in the Classroom - Jodi Sell

Jodi Sell — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:42:19 GMT

It's me again. I was wondering if anyone is using iTouches in the classroom? We are possibly looking at acquiring some. I would appreciate any comments on how other schools are using them. Thanks!

2 Comments

Donors Choose - An Online Charity for classrooms - Jodi Sell

Jodi Sell — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:56:17 GMT

Last year during National Education Week, my superintendent approached a colleague and I about an article he found in the Omaha World Herald. The article spoke of schools who had taken advantage of DonorsChoose. Cellular One is a MAJOR contributor to this charity by donating 1 million dollars. We decided to participate last spring, had a donor choose us, and received 5 LCD ceiling projector mounts. The process is not too difficult and is outlined on donorschoose. I found this to be a great way to acquire technology and/or tech equipment. If you choose to visit the site, you will see that many schools have used DonorsChoose to aquire items for their schools/classrooms. If you would like to view our request, pictures, and impact letters our project was called Virtual Dawgs.

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Google Sketch-Up PRO provided to Nebraska! - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Hello Educators and Education Technologists,

Nebraska has been awarded a statewide software license grant that is available for K-12 schools from Google<http://www.google.com/>. Google SketchUp<http://sketchup.google.com/> is a 3D modeling software application that is used extensively by schools worldwide. Although there is a free version of SketchUp, there is also a Pro version which is typically a product schools pay for. Google's new SketchUp Pro Statewide K-12 Licensing Grant is now being offered to all states within the USA who want to provide an opportunity for their schools to use this valuable tool, at no cost to anyone.

SketchUp Pro is used in many subject areas<http://www.google.com/educators/p_sketchup.html>, from math <http://www.classroom20.com/forum/topics/now-in-google-earth-sketchup> and science <http://www.bestechvideos.com/2009/02/21/using-google-sketchup-with-earth-for-scientific-applications>, to computer technology <http://www.creatinghartfordvt.com/Creating_a_History_of_Hartford/Introduction.html> and English <http://www.googlelittrips.org/>, to pre-architecture <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K42zcoOwGaY> and engineering<http://sketchupdate.blogspot.com/2009/05/eric-yam-is-my-new-favorite-sketchupper.html> classes. Elementary, middle, and high schools all use it to various extents.. It's also used widely in conjunction with Google Earth, where anyone can model a building<http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=8a7cf3557b319775f3259d1f6ebd58bb&prevstart=0>, upload it to the Google 3D Warehouse <http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/>, and geo-locate it in Google Earth <http://earth.google.com/>. Ask any 7th grader if they have heard of SketchUp and chances are they will give you details about how awesome it is. Shining examples of student work can be found here <http://sketchupdate.blogspot.com/2009/05/eric-yam-is-my-new-favorite-sketchupper.html> and here <http://sites.google.com/site/3dbasecamp2008/all-sessions-2008/making-your-mark-with-sketchup>.

FYI - Our contact at Google is:
Allyson McDuffie - SketchUp for Education Google Inc. allysonm@google.com

Mike Kozak
Administrator, Curriculum Instruction and Innovation
Nebraska Department of Education
301 Centennial Mall South, Lincoln, NE 68509
402-471-0533
________________________________________

Let me know if you are interested! I can send you the codes you will need to license it! -Deanna Stall

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Laptop Schools Meeting 01-19-2010 - Graci Gillming

Graci Gillming — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Join laptop schools' representatives as they discuss all things pertaining to students using laptops for learning at the

Laptop Schools Meeting
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
ESU 10 - Kearney
Conference Rooms E & F - South Wing
9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

For more info and registration,
visit https://odie.esu10.org

Submit agenda items you would like to discuss to Nicole at nbadgley@esu10.org or Graci at ggillmin@esu10.org or leave a comment below.

2 Comments

Calling all TIS! We need some Elementary resources! - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 05:00:00 GMT

I have a TIS at one of our ESU 10 schools looking for great resources for elementary teachers! This particular bunch of elementary teachers is a little reluctant with integration. What are your tips and tricks that you can share with this person to encourage these teachers to make those first steps? What are some great, easy to use elementary sites that would make that transition easier? Please leave your comments here! We need your help!

1 Comments

ESU 10 Now Has GPS Units! - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:00:00 GMT

ESU 10 has purchased 15 Garmin eTrex Legend GPS units for teachers to checkout and use with their classroom! They can be checked out through ODIE!

More can be found in the description on the Media Library:
https://odie.esu10.org/library/MediaItemDetails.aspx?MediaItemID=54607

Also at: http://blog.esu10.org/gps Here you can find out more about the Global Positioning System devices as well as how-to's and instructional materials to go with the GPS's.

Let us know what you think! How will YOU use the GPS Devices with your students? Are you already doing a GPS project that you would like to share? Share this and other instructional materials here on this community!!!

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Video Contest from eInstruction! - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Win a $30,000 ed tech make-over from eInstruction! Check out the details here! http://www.eimakeover.com/

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Free Edutopia eBook - Jason Everett

Jason Everett — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Here is a great new resource from Edutopia.

Ten Top Tips for Teaching with New Media

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Wordpress Updates - Jason Everett

Jason Everett — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 05:00:00 GMT

WordPress Site for updates and information
Check out this website for current announcements, news, account requests, feature requests, training resources, and workshop information. Wordpress @ ESU 10 Blog Site

Mobile Support in WordPress @ ESU 10
Districts purchasing and supporting mobile computing now have the option of making their Wordpress site mobile accessible. Great for providing content to these mobile devices without having to sync them on an continual basis. Read more...

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Typing Skills - Randa Felske

Randa Felske — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Does anyone have a system they use for timed typing tests? Do you go by improvement? Do you grade and use rewards? Any suggestions? Do you hold contests?

2 Comments

iPod Accessories & Information - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Are you digging into the latest mobie technology from Apple? Check out these accessrories for iPods!
http://learninginhand.com/blog/2009/08/ipod-and-iphone-accessories-can-be.html

For more information on iPods and handheld learning devices, check out Tony Vincent's web site http://learninginhand.com/. Tony is a former elementary teacher in the Omaha area district. He was using iPods and
Palms and is now a great national resource on this information.

0 Comments

Downloading video from the History Channel and similar sites - Cameron Hamer

Cameron Hamer — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 05:00:00 GMT

I have students that are trying to use Zamzar.com to get a clip from
the History Channels website or similar site. When the go to convert
it says there is no file extension associate with this file. Has
anyone had any success downloading video from this site or others other
than YouTube?

0 Comments

Print Shop question - Graci Gillming

Graci Gillming — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Nancy Rupp from Hall 1R has a question about Print Shop that I am unable to answer (we don't have it so I can't troubleshoot). So if anyone has had experience using it, please contact Nancy at 308-385-6352 or nrupp@esu10.org.

Thanks.

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Free Images from NASA - Lori Long

Lori Long — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:08:50 GMT

NASA Images was created through a partnership between NASA and the Internet Archive, a non-profit digital library based in San Francisco, to bring public access to NASA's image, video, and audio collections in a single, searchable resource.

The site contains everything from classic photos to educational programming and HD video, and is growing all the time as we continue to gain both new and archived media from all of NASA's centers.

Through the development of nasaimages.org we hope to promote education and facilitate scholarship in the math and sciences at all levels, and to build general interest and excitement around space exploration, aeronautics, and astronomy.

http://www.nasaimages.org/

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Ten Tips for boosting communication - Randa Felske

Randa Felske — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:41:45 GMT

http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/index.cfm?i=59907&page=1

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Your Favorite Podcast or iTunes U - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Post your favorite media, podcast, or iTunes U file here! Tell us a little about it so we can choose our favorites from your favorites!

20 Comments

Edutopia Newsletter - Going Global in Your Classroom - Jason Everett

Jason Everett — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Thought this was interesting since John is talking about this topic in his presentation...

http://www.edutopia.org/files/existing/edutopianews.html

This Week's Feature: World Class

Globalization continues to shrink not just the wider world but the realm of education, too, and Edutopia.org blogger Bob Lenz shares examples of students working together around the globe and invites you to suggest other ways classrooms can connect and collaborate.

-- David Markus, Editorial Director

0 Comments

Free webinar: Cell Phones as Instructional Tools - Graci Gillming

Graci Gillming — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:03:51 GMT

Free Live Webinar:
Cellphones as Instructional Tools
Thursday, July 23, 3-4 p.m., CST

Free registration is now open at
http://www.edweek.org/ew/marketplace/webinars/webinars.html.

Cellphones have been called "the new paper and pencil" or "the new laptop," and they could be in the hands of as many as 10 million to 15 million schoolchildren in the next few years. For their instructional potential and ability to connect students to the Internet, mobile devices are quietly making their way into schools in the United States and abroad. What does your district, school, or classroom need to make this technology leap? Guests will discuss policy and implementation issues and offer practical curriculum ideas for every subject.

Guests:

Elliot Soloway, professor, School of Information, School of Education, and Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan

Liz Kolb, education technology instructor, University of Michigan and Madonna University; author, Toys to Tools: Connecting Student Cell Phones to Education

Ron Myers, principal, Trinity Meadows Intermediate School, Keller, Texas

Related stories:

Students Turn On Their Cellphones for Classroom Lessons
Mobile Devices Seen as Key to 21st-Century Learning
Adding a Touch of Technology
This webinar will be moderated by Elizabeth Rich, online editor of teachermagazine.org and Teacher Professional Development Sourcebook.

Register for this free, live event at http://www.edweek.org/ew/marketplace/webinars/webinars.html.

0 Comments

Adobe Connect Webinar - System Requirements - Jason Everett

Jason Everett — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 05:00:00 GMT

~~ Also posted on the LAN Managers Community ~~

This next year we will be doing more and more with Adobe Connect, Adobe's webinar software. With this in mind, I would like to share the system requirements for receiving content with this medium. Your teachers and other staff may need to update their computers to have a positive experience with this new method of sharing information.

If the information being shared is expected to be hands-on, it is best to have two computers available: one for the Adobe Connect presentation and one for the participant to use as a hands-on machine. We will also provide a telephone conference option for most presentations as this is the most recommended way to deliver good quality audio. This means that it may be useful to have a phone in the room where the participant will be accessing the Adobe Connect webinar. If you have questions, feel free to contact me (Jason - jeverett@esu10.org)

Adobe Connect Participant System Requirements

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The Great Park Pursuit - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Fri, 08 May 2009 05:00:00 GMT

This would be a great adventure for families as well as classrooms! Check out http://www.negpp.org/! there is a challenge there to visit all of the 15 listed Nebraska state parks! If you want to participate, you must register there on the web site.

This might be a great summer project to continue to engage students in Nebraska Geography! Have your own Great Park Pursuit! Challenge your next group of students (any age would love this) to get to as many of Nebraska's parks this summer as they can. Once they get there, have them take a picture of the park sign and two more pictures from inside the park. They must then email those pictures to you, the teacher. You can create a map in Google Earth and mark their travels using the pictures they took! This would also make a great competition between class sections or maybe between conference schools! (They could even use their cell phones and send those pictures if your cell plan will handle that!)

Most importantly, encourage your students to get out and enjoy Nebraska's state parks!

http://www.negpp.org/

0 Comments

Ocean Now - National Geographic - Jason Everett

Jason Everett — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Hey,

Do you want to see what the ocean looked like hundreds of years ago, before it was disturbed by human activities such as fishing and shipping?

National Geographic is sponsoring an amazing expedition through the Southern Line Islands in the Pacific Ocean -- some of the last parts of the ocean untouched by humans. The crew is going to survey and document these pristine reefs and islands so they can help preserve them for future generations.

The best part is that during the voyage, the crew will be providing constant updates on their discoveries: photos, videos, and stories from the high seas. They'll even answer questions we submit to them.

I just signed up for updates from this expedition. Click here to make sure you're signed up too:

http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/joinus

It's so important to explore these parts of the ocean so we can make sure they're not lost forever. It'll also help us limit and reverse the impacts humans have made on the oceans from decades of pollution, overfishing, shipping, and development.

This promises to be an incredible journey, and now you and I can be part of it:

http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/joinus

Thanks!

0 Comments

Tech Activity vs. Tech Integration - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Here is a spreadsheet that I came across via email from another trainer in Lincoln. I thought this might give some great ideas for you and some of your teachers! See what you think and maybe we can create our own spreadsheet with other lesson ideas!

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p_VM5beL2JAq3B0pk3NrxBw&hl=en

0 Comments

Two training opportunities... - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Please share this! Two things …

1.   Dustin Frank from eInstruction will be here at ESU 10 on Thursday and Friday for training sessions on clickers (classroom response system) beginning at 9AM. These can be taken independently of one another. Please pass along the word to others at your school that might be interested in this training!
•   Thursday February 26, 2009 - Basic Clicker Training
•   Friday February 27, 2009 – Advanced Clicker Training

2.   Science 2.0 workshop is this Wednesday! All teachers of science are welcome! Even if they have been to this workshop before, please come again! We have something new at each of these 2.0 workshops! It is a great opportunity to get together with other science teachers to collaborate and share the marvelous learning being done in our schools of central Nebraska!

Please use ODIE to register for these trainings as soon as possible! https://odie.esu10.org Lunch is provided!

0 Comments

Internet Safety Contest 2009 - Graci Gillming

Graci Gillming — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 23:21:31 GMT

The 2009 Internet Safety Contest sponsored by the State Attorney General's Office and the Nebraska ESUs is underway.

Students may enter in several categories including computer-generated
or hand-drawn posters, audio or video PSAs, or the new "open" category.

Entry deadline is March 16, 2009.

The contest entry form, guidelines and rubrics are available at http://nis.esu10.org/ggillmin/InternetSafety.

For more information, contact me at ggillmin@esu10.org or 308-865-5664 x-229.

Graci

0 Comments

More sites... - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 06:00:00 GMT

if you have teachers or students working together, this might be a great web 2.0 tool for you. http://www.wiggio.com/

Just found this presentation tool and have worked with this a little. Would be very cool tool for students! http://prezi.com

Another site that collects news per curricular area; similar to the last post but with different disciplines. http://classpress.net/

Need to make a list? here you go! Get Toodled! http://www.toodledo.com/signin.php

0 Comments

Web Sites for Teachers - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Found some new web sites for you! Enjoy and pass them along to the appropriate teachers!

Maze Generator - http://www.xefer.com/maze-generator

Academic Earth; Thousands of Lectures from the World's Top Scholars - http://academicearth.org/
(Kind of like iTunesU)

To Do List creator - http://www.toodledo.com/signin.php

List of the Best 2.0 Applications - http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2008/09/11/the-best-web-20-applications-for-education-2008/

List of TIME's 50 Best Web Sites - http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/1,28804,1809858_1809957,00.html

The Photography Channel - http://www.photographychannel.tv/

NASA; Do-It-Yourself Podcasting - http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/diypodcast/index.html

0 Comments

Video Confernecing Websites - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Video Conferencing Database Sites:
http://tinyurl.com/vcsites

Global and distance connections are very popular right now due to it being an inexpensive way of taking a field trip. The following sites are great resources for connections that can be made using distance learning equipment. Several of these you could also connect to using http://skype.com or other video connections.

http://www.vccontentproviders.org/searchprogram.php
http://news.twice.cc/
http://projects.twice.cc/
http://bcisdvcs.wordpress.com/
http://cilc.org/
http://www.cesa10.k12.wi.us/services/educational_technology/.field_trips.htm
http://www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl/fave/http://www.kn.att.com/wired/vidconf/vidconf.html
http://globallean.edublogs.org/2009/02/09/the-global-lean-music-video-project/

0 Comments

Arnold's Laptop Learning Initiative Days - Feb 18-19 - Graci Gillming

Graci Gillming — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 17:49:21 GMT

To see a laptop school in action, attend Arnold's Laptop Learning Initiative Days on Feb 18-19.

Register at http://edseminars.apple.com/arnold or http://edseminars.apple.com/seminars/event.php?eventID=1460

Registration will close on Monday, Feb 16 at noon.

No cost, meals provided.

So many questions, so many answers.

Official Invitation

21st Century Learning Leadership Institute

You and a team from your school are invited to attend a 21st Century Learning Leadership Institute sponsored by pioneering schools like Arnold Public Schools. These Institutes are your opportunity to see and hear how these schools are achieving academic excellence by putting technology in their students'
hands.

There is a way to bridge the digital divide between students and school. A way to engage students and make education relevant. How? Research shows students with routine access to laptop computers score higher in writing assessments, demonstrate better analytical skills, engage in problem solving, and collaborate more effectively on schoolwork – all of which, ultimately, lead to higher student achievement.

What You’ll Learn.

The agenda includes discussion on how technology changes learning, the impact of professional development, key success factors, funding, and the digital tools today's students use to create knowledge. You will hear from schools currently using technology in innovative ways to make a difference, and have the opportunity to see a laptop learning initiative in action and interact with students, teachers, and administrators.

When and where.

Wed., February 18 - Thurs., February 19, 2009
12:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. - Wednesday
Dinner - Wednesday evening
7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. - Thursday
Arnold High School, Library Media Center
405 N. Haskell
Arnold, NE 69120
308-848-2226

Cost of the Program.

There is no cost to attend. Schools are responsible for transportation to the Institute location. Apple will cover all meals during the Institute.

Who Should Attend.

Superintendents*, Principals, Teachers, Curriculum/Technology Directors, Board Members and other school leaders. You are encouraged to send a collaborative team of 3 or 4 people.

Registration.

Go to http://edseminars.apple.com/arnold. If you have questions, please contact Julie Francis at (312) 902-7335.

*Attendance at this event by a public official or employee may constitute acceptance of a reportable gift. Please consult your ethics official to ensure that no state laws, local laws or school district rules prevent your acceptance of costs associated with this event.

0 Comments

Learn Web 2.0 Tools - Jason Everett

Jason Everett — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Check out this site on learning web 2.0 tools. http://ctapcl2.blogspot.com/

0 Comments

What's Happening this Spring at Rowe Sanctuary? - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Rowe Sanctuary
Iain Nicolson Audubon Center
44450 Elm Island Road
Gibbon, NE 68840
Tel: 308-468-5282
www.rowesanctuary.org
www.audubon.org

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM OFFERINGS
C.S.I. (Crane Scene Investigations) (Approximately 2 hour program)
The largest gathering of sandhill cranes in the world happens right
here in Nebraska! You and your students are invited to become Crane
Scene Investigators and learn about these unique birds. We then take a
hike to a viewing blind. C.S.I. is designed with your students in mind
and only available from the first of March through the first of April.
Dates and times fill fast, so make your reservations early!

For downloadable educational videos, activities and lesson plans about
sandhill cranes, be sure to check out KIDS & CRANES on the CRANE
CAM sponsored by National Geographic and Rowe Sanctuary. Go to
www.rowesanctuary.org and click on CRANE CAM. The DVD is also available
in our Nature Store.

Earth Connections
Join award-winning artist and educator Caryl McHarney as she guides you
and your students through her hands-on approach to nature. No batteries
are required and no previous experience in drawing or journaling is
needed!

Caryl will be available March 23 through 27. Please call the education office for details.

OTHER PROGRAMS
Nebraska’s Waters & Wildlife
Let us design a program to meet the needs of your students. A variety
of outdoor activities and projects centered around the Platte River,
associated land and wildlife are available and have been correlated to
the state standards. Activities can include art, language arts, science
and social studies. This program is available throughout the year
except during March (See Crane JepBirdie). Program length is variable
and determined by you.

SPLASH (Senses Providing Language Arts Skills Help)
The focus of this program is to develop writing skills in a natural
way. We begin the day sharpening observations skills, and then turn our
attention to outdoor activities that include creative writing,
vocabulary building and word choice, and emphasis on figurative
language, similes, metaphors, personification and alliteration.
Activities include a river dig, hikes, and just getting dirty! Call for
more information.

PLEASE NOTE - Program Costs
Program cost is $3.00 per student for the first two hours and $1.00 per student for each additional hour.
For more information, please contact Keanna Leonard at 308-468-5282 or by email at kleonard@audubon.org

0 Comments

365 Photos! - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 06:00:00 GMT

This looks like a great project and would be fun to do with your
students. The idea is to take a photo each day! You could gear this
toward a certain type of curriculum or theme if you wanted! The kids
would get into the routine of this and you would be pulling out that
camera more often! For more on this project go to:
http://photojojo.com/content/tutorials/project-365-take-a-photo-a-day/

Also see The 10 Most Stunning Photo Blogs - http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/the-10-most-stunning-photo-blogs/

0 Comments

Class2Home - Jason Everett

Jason Everett — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 06:00:00 GMT

Fablevision's Stationery Studio is an extremely popular writing, handwriting, and word-processing program geared for children in kindergarten through fifth grade. It’s also popular among middle school students and grown ups too, using the program for letters, signs, cards, and writing projects.

Some schools may opt to mark up the price to help with PTO fundraising, or to subsidize the program for low-income families (i.e. free and reduced lunch program students) while others are free to resell at the same low price. Most schools participating in this or similar programs utilize a revolving account of some type in keeping with the financial requirements of the school district.

Are you interested? Please let us know at your earliest convenience!

How it Works:

If you’re interested in participating in Class2Home, please contact Carol Donahue, Director of Learning Solutions by email (carol@fablevision.com) or call 781.742.0306.
We will ship out in increments of 10, and require payment (purchase order or credit card) prior to shipping. The school is responsible for shipping charges.
The standard retail price of Stationery Studio (single license) is $69.95. The Class2Home version will be available for $10 each (set of 10 for $100.) plus shipping and includes the CD-ROM only. No book or box is included.
When promoting this program to your school community, it’s imperative that students and families understand the Stationery Studio Class2Home version is absolutely for home use only.
Schools are required to provide the name and address (and email if available) of each student family that purchases Stationery Studio for future software upgrades and upcoming downloadable templates. We also need to know if the student has access to a PC or MAC at home.
Please Note: This offer can be withdrawn or changed at FableVision’s discretion.

0 Comments

Google LIFE Photos - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:00:00 GMT

Google is hosting photos from LIFE! Search millions of photos from LIFE's archives from as early as the 1750s. Go to http://images.google.com/hosted/life or add "source:life" to any image search on Google.

Let us know what you think!

0 Comments

Professional Development 2.0 - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 06:00:00 GMT

During this semester, we have been hosting curriculum 2.0 workshops. We added the 2.0 label to indicate that these workshops were a little different. They are a new version of professional development just as Windows 3.1 was a new version of Windows 3.0. The inspiration for this workshop title is the Web 2.0 label we have now. Web 1.0 is the version of the web where we went to the Internet to GET information; we were consumers of information. With the idea of Web 2.0, we are all producers of information because we are putting information on the Internet for others to access. The Internet itself hasn’t changed but the way it is used has changed.

Yesterday I was reading an article by Scott McLeod that has had me thinking. In his blog (Dangerously Irrelevant) he talked about professional development and how it needs to change. Maybe Professional Development 2.0? In this version of PD we actually have students becoming the producers of information or the trainers. I can see how this would work in a variety of ways. I have heard about workshops where teachers were invited only if they brought two students with them. I could see a student or a group of students in front of teachers doing the training. And the last scenario, I could see students as mentors in the workshop, helping all the teachers as they need.

This concept in theory seems like a great idea. I could see teachers reacting differently in each scenario above, however. When I first heard about this, I felt it wouldn’t work and I would never come to a workshop if students were going to be there. Now I am wondering if that wouldn’t be a GOOD situation for teachers? Because of their presence, would teachers give up that coveted control of the learning? Would they be the life-long learnings that they have preached about for so many years?

Tell me what you think? Concerns? Ideas?

0 Comments

Global Connections - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 06:00:00 GMT

Last summer at NECC in San Antonio, TX, we listened to the keynote on the second day and were inspired to go beyond what we were already doing in education. The keynote was a pair of teachers from Canada who were not necessarily comfortable with technology but they were burning out in their classrooms. They learned about Skype and about iEarn and were refreshed! Their classroom activities were renewed as was their spirit!

What they were talking about is the latest buzz word in education, global connections. Teachers are connecting with other classrooms around the world! The tool of choice seems to be Skype. Skype is a free download. With this program you can instant message but you can also make audio and video calls to another computer for FREE! You can also make audio calls to landlines and cellphones for a small fee. Skype is also a tool that you can use on any platform; Mac, PC, or Linux.

How do you find schools to share such a connection? One of the most important issues is having a purpose in your connection. You want to make sure this is a learning experience for students. Using iEarn, schools can find projects to participate in or post their own project. The projects come in all shapes and sizes. There are projects from the US and some from Pakistan.

What equipment will you need? You will need a computer with an Internet connection. You will also need speakers and a microphone. If you are going to do a video conference, you will need to have a camera. Many of the Mac's come with built-in cameras which work very well. Web cams are not very expensive and can be picked up at your local Wal-Mart, Target, or KMart. Keep in mind, you get what you pay for in a web cam. If you have a regular video camera, you can plug that in and use it as a web cam! That adds the zoom and pan actions into your video conference.

This is really an exciting tool for education. Even here at the ESU, we are using Skype to answer teacher questions and other tools such as Adobe Connect Pro to do workshops and trouble shoot technical issues. Go home today and try these ideas for yourself! Some of you may be able to try this right away with kids but many of us need to try it for ourselves first. It is a great tool to visit those grandkids or children. Use Skype to find a college friend and visit with them. See what YOU think...

Here is a link to the presentation I did yesterday for the Library/Media Specialists group on global connections! It contains more links to other sites such as iEarn! http://tinyurl.com/globetips

1 Comments

Backpack - Jennifer Remmereid

Jennifer Remmereid — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:03:18 GMT

http://goodhue.k12.mn.us/school242/genie224/images/files/backpack2008e.html

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pVyDenGgwSDWh7RlE_IHuIA

0 Comments

Writing Novels with Students - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 06:00:00 GMT

I was just recently reading Nicole Badgely's blog http://lifeinadschool.blogspot.com/ and she was talking about writing in general. She found this site where kids are challenged to write a novel in 30-days. The site she is talking about is http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/. You will have to check it out and if you try it with students, let us know so we can read your novels!

0 Comments

Laptop Schools Meeting - Graci Gillming

Graci Gillming — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:24:19 GMT

Requested post by Nicole Badgely...

Laptop Schools:

On January 23rd, 2009, at ESU 11 in Holdrege, a meeting for all laptop schools will be held. This group is open to those who provide technical, administrative, or integration support to Nebraska’s laptop schools in which every student has their own laptop. The agenda for meetings focuses on different aspects of having a laptop initiative and is largely platform independent. Typically the group addresses issues where technology is the object rather than the subject of the discussion. We have a loose agenda, hopefully compiled by the participating schools.

Location: ESU 11, 412 W 14th Ave., Holdrege, Nebraska
Date:      January 23, 2009   9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Pricing Information:    $5.00 per person (to cover expenses for the room)
Materials Required:    Samples of policies, agendas, and other
documentation pertaining to your laptop initiative to share with the group.
Materials Fee:    $0.00
Lunch:     paid for by the Nebraska Educational Technology Association
Registration:     by email to Robert Hays, ESU 11, rhays@esu11.org or Phone
(308) 995-6585.
            (Just let him know of your intent.)

Possible Items for discussion:
•     How do we continue forward to keep improving?
•     What are your results and successes after implementing a laptop
initiative? (How can we be accountable for its success and improve our
scores?)
•     What current projects and lessons are going on in your districts that
you might share for others?
•     What obstacles are you having, and how are you overcoming them?
•     What did you do to prepare your teachers for this initiative to start?
(What trainings, workshops, etc.)
•     If your district were to do the roll-out again, what changes would you
suggest?
•     What would you like to implement in your district if you could?
•     Pros and cons of taking laptops home
•     Problems when updating laptops, ie. to a new OS or new Office suite
•     Privileges given to teachers and students--how much is enough or too much
•     Question and Answer time for new participants

While this group was originally intended to be support for schools with laptop initiatives already in place, we want to invite schools considering this to come listen in on the discussions. That is why we have included the Q and A time for potential or new schools at the end of the agenda.

The minutes of the last meeting are posted at http://laptop.communities.esu10.org so you can see what we have talked about. (If you have an Odie account you can simply log in, otherwise please make a free account and login.)

Often administration wants to see an agenda of what we plan to cover before approving leave so if you have any suggestions of what we might need to add to the agenda, please send them to nbadgley@esu10.org. We will send out a reminder in January with the compiled agenda.

Please share this information with other interested schools in your area.

0 Comments

Cool Search Tools - Graci Gillming

Graci Gillming — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:02:33 GMT

You and your students will really like these search engines. They are very refined and seem to just know what you're looking for. As much as we all love Google, we may find these sites to be even better for education.

http://www.searchme.com - Searchme lets you see what you're searching for. As you type, categories appear that relate to your query. You can scroll through the screen images by clicking on them or moving the bar below the images. Click on an image to go to that site or use the mafigying glass to zoom in on a page before you click to go there.

http://kartoo.com/ - Kartoo is a visual meta search engine that displays a visual interface. Results of the search are displayed in categories in a list to the left and in a map on the right. Moving your mouse over the map will show relationships between the search results as well as a brief description of the site at the left.

http://cuil.com - Cuil searches more pages on the Web than anyone else—three times as many as Google and ten times as many as Microsoft. Rather than rely on superficial popularity metrics, Cuil searches for and ranks pages based on their content and relevance. The results are displayed with brief descriptions on the page as well as related categories in tabs just under the search bar.

1 Comments

NETA Opportunites - Jason Everett

Jason Everett — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 05:00:00 GMT

http://www.netasite.org/awards/index.html

Teachers

The following opportunities are available to teachers. Please review the information on each contest as the contest deadlines can vary. Not all guideline details are listed here. Please refer to PDF files available for download or the September issue of NETA Newsletter.

Click to find Teacher Contests:
NETA Conference Drawing | Teacher Trek | Leading with Technology | Teaching with Technology | Grants

-----------

Students

The following opportunities are available for students. Please review the information on each contest as the contest deadlines can vary. Not all guideline details are listed here. Please refer to PDF files available for download or the September issue of NETA Newsletter.

Click to find student contests:
Graphic Imagery | Conference Logo| Interactive Digital Media | Movie Contest | Open Class

0 Comments

Article Link: Avoiding the 5 Most Common Mistakes in Using Blogs with Students - Lori Long

Lori Long — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:49:03 GMT

Good morning!

I thought this article on student blogs might be of interest to some of you:

http://www.thejournal.com/articles/23434

0 Comments

More information on Twitter - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Came across this article this morning on Twitter. I know some of you are getting into Twitter and thought you might be interested in checking this out. This is just a little of the "extra" things you can do in Twitter.

http://www.labnol.org/internet/twitter-guide-do-everything-with-twitter/4916/

0 Comments

Inspiration for the Beginning of 2nd Quarter - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 05:00:00 GMT

A Couple of quotes have caught my eye lately so I thought I would share those with you.

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." -Nelson Mandella
"You must be the change you want to see in the world." -Mahatma Gandhi

Here are a few more for you to check out on Darren Draper's blog (as a side note, he is a great person to follow on Twitter):http://drapestakes.blogspot.com/2008/10/my-turn-inpirational-quotes.html

0 Comments

Google Earth Ideas - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Just found this Google presentation on the web that I thought you might like to share with your teachers. This slideshow is Twenty-One Interesting Ways to Use Google Earth in the classroom. Check it out and see what you think! Let us know by posting a comment! http://tinyurl.com/2q4da8

0 Comments

Techniques for laptop based classroom - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Just saw this article in Technology & Learning magazine and thought many of you might be able to use this with your teachers. This is the Ten Techniques to Use in a Laptop-Based Classroom http://techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php?articleID=196605456

0 Comments

VOTE ON OUR NEXT TIS MEETING!!! - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:00:00 GMT

0 Comments

Science Teacher's use of technology - Marcie Kostrunek

Marcie Kostrunek — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Please see the e-mail below from the Middle School Science teacher from Adams Middle School in North Platte. She does amazing things with Science and technology in her classroom. Enjoy!!

     My new website is http://tlwindham.wordpress.com

     We are working on our wiki stuff and you can get to that from my website along with my Webquest, delicious account, Google calendar, and Quia account. In order to access Quia:

     username: classvisitor127
     password: visitor

     I am constantly updating. My students are working on movie, powerpoint, and web page projects at this time. These will be linked later. I am also working on the site weekly to improve it. Any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks for your interest.

Tanya Windham
8th Grade Science
Adams Middle School

http://tlwindham.wordpress.com

0 Comments

Grant Opportunity - Jason Everett

Jason Everett — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 05:00:00 GMT

===========================================

WIN A "GREEN COMPUTER LAB" FOR YOUR SCHOOL!

===========================================

INSPIRE your middle and high school students to be leaders in the Green Schools movement--and your school could win a state-of-the-art computer lab! The "Green Light Contest" essay competition, sponsored by PC Mall Gov, in partnership with HP, InFocus and T.H.E. Journal, is seeking entries from students in two categories: grades 5 - 8 and 9 - 12. In essays of 1,000 words or less students are asked to describe how they and their teachers can utilize technology to protect the environment, with the grand-prize-winning composition being awarded a 30-seat "green" computer lab for the author's school. Two additional first place winners (one from each grade-level category) will each receive a "green" laptop. Winning essays will be published in T.H.E. Journal and winners will be recognized at FETC, January 21 - 24, in Orlando, FL.

***APPLICATION DEADLINE is December 1, 2008. Winners will be announced at FETC, January 21 - 24, 2009, and notified by mail no later than January 31, 2009.

***Complete essay and submission criteria are available online at:

http://www.1105info.com/t.do?id=1685344:15284187

0 Comments

A few online resources to try... - Lori Long

Lori Long — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:57:35 GMT

My focus is more elementary-level because those teachers have scheduled time in the computer lab and are required to meet with me weekly. Here are a few links (some are for secondary as well) that you might find helpful to jump start collaboration with your teachers...

Internet4Classrooms - Helping Teachers Use the Internet Effectively -- http://www.internet4classrooms.com/
Be sure to check out the Online Practice Modules and Links for K-12 Teachers -- searchable by grade and subject!

Great K-3 SMARTboard sites -- http://www.juliethompson.com/SMART.html

Smartboard Freebies -- http://www.b-dag.com/freebies

K-2 Social Studies WebQuests -- http://www.rockwood.k12.mo.us/itech/webquests/wqmatrix/socstud.htm

1 Comments

Survey - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:33:08 GMT

0 Comments

Your Personal Professional Development - Jason Everett

Jason Everett — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:20:03 GMT

How do you learn about new technology integration opportunities to share with your teachers?

19 Comments

Katie's Keynote - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Here is the link to Katie's Keynote presentation!

http://docs.google.com/Present?docid=d9gbr9z_64d8jg3fdv

1 Comments

Justo Lamas concert - Marcie Kostrunek

Marcie Kostrunek — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Please spread the information

Justo Lamas concert in Cozad on October 30th!!!

Justo is a singer from Buenos Aires Argentina who focuses his songs and concerts towards learning the Spanish language. He is energetic and focused on helping your students learn more Spanish.

You can check out his website justolamas.com -- tour date in Cozad is October 30th from 10-11:30

You may also contact me, Marcie Kostrunek, concert host, at mkostrun@esu10.org

I am really wanting to get many more students and teachers energized about learning Spanish!

Further questions: Marcie Kostrunek 308-784-2746 or cell 308-325-3905

Gracias Señora Kostrunek

0 Comments

TIS Sounding Board - Jason Everett

Jason Everett — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Two questions for you to ponder and share with the group:

What are you doing with 21st Century Skills in your district?
What are your teachers asking for in terms of integration?

1 Comments

Diigo - Join us! - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Diigo is a social bookmarking site. It is like Delicious but ... on steroids! Join Diigo for yourself and see what you can do with your classes.

We have created a new group on Diigo just for this bunch! You can find it at http://groups.diigo.com/groups/techinteg. Another Diigo group you might be interested in is http://groups.diigo.com/groups/CITW08 which is a group we created for the Classroom Instruction That Works workshop this summer. The workshop is based on Marzano's strategies. Join either or both groups!

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21st Century & You! - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 21:59:21 GMT

What do 21st Century Students look like?

You have seen them walking down the street in any town, big or small, with pockets full of gadgets and talking on their cell phones. All that technology that we adults can't even identify. These are the 21st Century students. These are the next generation of earners, families, and voters in the United States. As I was reading the article Syncing Up With the iKid: Connecting to the Twenty-First-Century Student by Josh McHugh in Edutopia, I was thinking about when I was a kid and boom-boxes were a hot item. Everyone had one and they were all shapes and sizes. But it was a little embarrassing on those Saturday nights when my parents would bring out the record albums to torture us with this outdated technology, not to mention the polka music they were playing. Thankfully, the Walkman came along and I could listen to what I wanted, when I wanted. That meant, no more polkas for me! It also meant that I missed out on the family time together and the opportunity to let my parents know that I didn't like their music. In reminiscing, I realized that is probably what today's kids think of the adults in their lives. They want the latest and greatest technology for reason's they aren't sure about; they want it personalized; of course, they want to be able to tell you that you are old and out of touch with the world; and they still want to be accepted and part of the family.

A group called Partnership for 21st Century Skills developed a vision of 21st century student success. Nine states have taken part in this initiative. Nebraska's Department of Education has been in talks about it as well. The skills, knowledge, and expertise students should master to succeed in work and life are outlined on their site.

Core Subjects & 21st Century Themes - The core subjects they have included are English, reading or language arts, world languages, arts, math, economics, science, geography, history government and civics. They also include that interdisciplinary themes of global awareness; financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy; civic literacy; and health literacy.
Learning and Innovation Skills - These skills include creativity & innovation; critical thinking and problem solving; and communication and collaboration.
Information, Media and Technology Skills - Because of an abundant amount of information the skills students will need are information literacy, media literacy, and ICT literacy (Information, Communication and Technology)
Life and Career Skills - Employers will be looking for these skills in any area and in all their employees. They are looking for flexibility & adaptability; initiative & self-direction; social & cross-cultural skills; productivity & accountability; leadership & responsibility.

In order for us to get students to succeed with these skills, four things must be in place. First, standards and assessments are critical; that's not a problem in Nebraska. Second, curriculum and instruction should support these 21st century skills. Third, teachers need to be provided adequate professional development in these areas. And lastly, where students learn affects what they learn so learning environments which support 21st century skills is the final critical piece of the puzzle. Statistics say that students of today will have fourteen different jobs by the time they are 38 years old. It is vital that our students have these skills in place before they leave our schools. Did You Know 2.0 and A Vision of Students Today are great video representations of many statistics like these.

What do 21st Century Teachers look like?

Why upgrade to color televisions if the black and white worked just fine? Why get a cassette tape player when your eight-track player did the job? Well, ok, the eight-track may be a bad example. I bet you can come up with a few of your own examples. The world has upgraded in every way, shape, and form. 21st Century Teachers are going to look different as well. We must upgrade to provide a quality education for our students.

International Society of Technology Education (ISTE) created standards for educational technology for students and teachers. In June of 2007, ISTE unveiled the NETS-National Educational Technology Standards for Students. This last June, ISTE released the NETS for Teachers. In June of 2009, ISTE will complete the NETS for Admininstrators. You are probably thinking, "More standards? I'm going to scream!" Before you do that, let's think about what these standards are really asking us as teachers to do for our students. Here are some explanations and ideas you can try in your classroom to promote 21st century learning in your students.

Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity - Many of you already do this every day with kids. The word facilitate is really a tough one to truly put into action. How do we let go of the reigns in our classroom and still control the behavior, student interaction, and learning while they are there? My kids always want to be responsible for the big stuff like mowing the yard instead of just doing the dishes. The same applies to students in the classroom. If you want kids to do something, they need to know it is important enough and that you trust them enough to be in charge of it. Allow students to be in charge of their own learning! Give them guidance so they know how to do the research and let them find all the resources they can. Let them create their own visual model of their understanding so you can see it too. You will be surprised at how deep the learning will be! If you don't know how to use the technology, ask someone to help you or be willing to let the kids figure it out on their own. Letting go of the reigns is an exhilarating feeling for you and your students!
Design & develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments - For weekend work, have students take pictures that represent your current vocabulary words and share those pictures with the whole class. Think they don't all have cameras? They will take the pictures with their cell phone or will borrow a camera. Have you ever had your students make a movie for your class? If you aren't ready for Final Cut Pro, have students use their digital cameras to take enough pictures to create a movie (kind of like making a cartoon). If you want to dive in a little deeper, try out Movie Maker on Windows or iMovie on the Mac to have students create commercials, public service announcements, or summary videos of classroom events.
Model digital-age work and learning - Most schools now have some sort of information system such as Power School so many of you are using that for keeping grades. Try adding one new tool to your repertoire this next school year. If you get stuck, ask a student! They will be glad to help you, and it is a great way to build that trusting relationship with students. Keep your bookmarks on Delicious or Diigo and then share them with your students. Take pictures of your class and post them on Flickr or Picasa. Save your Power Point slides as .jpg or .png and post them to Picasa so students can access them anytime.
Promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility - Talk to kids in every class about internet behavior. Preteaching is the best! Tell them ahead of time what they can expect on an assignment and then, how you expect them to complete it and how it will look. If they are doing research, teach students how to do responsible research on the internet. Take the next step and talk to them about the difficult stuff. Talk about the internet, social networks, and what might be out in the world. This is no different than talking about drugs, alcohol, or relationships. Even if kids hear it from their parents and then hear it again from you, keep talking!
Engage in professional growth and leadership - Going to workshops is always a good thing but we here at ESU 10 are very aware of the obstacles you face when trying to take time for professional development. What can you do then, if you are unable to take those days? For starters, find a small group of people you trust. They don't have to teach in the same curricular area that you do or even the same grade level. Gather your group frequently for short sharing sessions even if it is only 10 minutes a week maybe in the morning or after school. Start by sharing your favorite web sites, next teach each other how to use a web tool. Finally try longer training sessions for instructional strategies or applications. You might even try learning a new tool together with the help of online training such as Lynda.com. or Atomic Learning. Your new group (PLN - Personal Learning Network) will keep you going through the school year. ESU 10 also offers many workshops in Kearney. Those trainings can be brought to you and your school by our trainers at ESU 10! Please call or email if you are interested. We will also be implementing a new training delivery method in the form of a webinar. We have four planned for October and November covering Google tools. They are one-hour sessions after school. We hope this new technology will make it easier for you to get the training you need, when you need it. Additionally, there are online communities just for teachers! From the makers of ODIE, ESU 10 is developing communities for workshop participants and member schools. (More communities are in the works!) These communities will be used for collaboration, sharing resources & lessons. There are also web sites such as Classroom 2.0, a Ning site where teachers gather to collaborate and share. If you are really ready to dig in, try Twitter! Twitter is a microblogging site where you follow and are followed only by the people you give permission to. Read more about Twitter and how it is being used in a new article on Edutopia! Professional development is viral so pass it on and cheer each other on!

If you are wondering where you stand with your technology integration, ISTE has created a classroom observation tool that can be downloaded. You will need to sign up for a free account. Use this tool when making lesson plans or observing teachers. The last two pages of the .pdf might trigger some other great lesson ideas for your classes.

21st century kids may look a little different than we did at that age but they didn't get there by themselves on purpose. They are the result of a changing society. America and the world will continue to change, grow, and develop new technology. For our students to be ready for that change, ready to be proper citizens, run a government of which we can be proud, we must be willing to work toward these skills for ourselves first.

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