Earth Month

This Earth Day, start talking trash in your classroom!

What happens to the waste we all produce? When does it make sense to recycle? Can trash become energy?

Get answers to these timely topics brought to life at http://cl.exct.net/?ju=fe211672726d017a711c72&ls=fdf513707163037c74137774&m=ff2e16777762&l=fe5e15757167037a7710&s=fe2915727d61027d7c1675&jb=ffcf14&t=, a new K-12 resource from Waste Management and powered by Discovery Education. Complete with standards-based lesson plans, compelling videos, interactives, and Think Green® resources to engage students and extend the learning to the home, http://cl.exct.net/?ju=fe211672726d017a711c72&ls=fdf513707163037c74137774&m=ff2e16777762&l=fe5e15757167037a7710&s=fe2915727d61027d7c1675&jb=ffcf14&t= is a powerful new suite of tools for educators seeking new materials to enliven environmental lessons.

Promethean Humor

In between finding, learning and teaching resources and integration, there are sometimes managerial items that must be handled in order to maintain forward progress in the world of Instructional Technology.

As you know, PISD teachers and students are well on their way through their first year of the PISD Promethean Project. As a part of this project, participating middle school and high school classrooms receive a class set of Promethean Active Expressions (as seen above). These handy devices serve as a communicator to the Promethean board and software. Teachers can present questions, surveys, prompts at the board and students can type or 'text' in their responses which the software instantly calculates and reports on a lovely, interactive graph. It's a brilliant, little gold nugget of a teaching tool!

So, I have these spread across my desk, assigning numbers to each device, preparing them to be distributed among the teachers. In walks a thoughtful 6th grade young man. He asks the common questions, "Hey, what are those? Is that some kind of phone or something?"

"No," I reply, "These are active expressions, students can use them to text their answers to the Promethean Board from their seats. Cool, huh?"

"Yes, so let me get this strait, students can answer with these instead on writing their answer on the board with a marker or something?"

"Yes," I explain, "Students can punch in their answer and the Promethean board will display a graph showing how the students answered the question. This is just one small part of a big project our school district is doing so that students can learn in new and exciting ways."

"Hmmm," he thinks hard, and then- his eyes light up! "Yeah!" he exclaims, "AND our district is saving A LOT of money on MARKERS!"

I smile, my heart warmed by this bright young one. "Yes, I say, eventually, we will be saving money on markers. Good thinking."

As he leaves, he closes, "I hope my teacher get these soon."

Me too, buddy, me too.

TCEA 2009

The TCEA 2009 Conference was a great success. From my humble perspective- it's invaluable to surround yourself with other professionals who value quality and forward progress. Not only do your have the opportunity to expose yourself to new ideas, techniques, and possibilities, but you have the chance to sharpen your skills against the talents of others from around the country and world! This year's TCEA conference hosted over 9000 attendees. I presented a workshop called Wiki Wisdom with some colleges from the wonderful Texas State University.

The workshop was a success, and after much hard work- the wiki is here to stay. Here's the link for the Wiki from our presentation. Feel free to check it out and leave comments or questions. What to attend a Wiki Wisdom workshop- let me know. Have a great day.

http://tcea2009.pbwiki.com/

Safety in the World Wide Web

Within this "technology generation" are bright young minds that seamlessly reach between their many resources to select the tool they are the most comfortable using for any given purpose. This is the ideal- one reason I work so hard- making sure learners have the technology they need to feel that there is nothing that can hold them back in whatever their quest may be. And I love that. However, just as we equip our children to walk down the street on their own, we must equip them to learn the potential dangers that they may encounter surfing through the world wide web.

Remarkably, age makes no difference in the world wide web. A 9 year old is just as likely to run into trouble as a 15 year old, a 25 year old, a 40 year old and so on. We're not talking age here, where talking knowledge.

WWW users must have the knowledge they need to protect themselves against spammers, phishers, and online predators and the devastation they can cause. There's no need for fear here- just as you do not fear walking down the street. You know you may encounter an obstacle or dangerous person on any given street or day- but you have a plan... at least I hope you do.

No matter what age you are or level online knowledge you have - take some time to invest in your own knowledge and/or the knowledge of your children. This investment will help them become wise and critical thinkers, confident explorers and just may save their life.

I recommend doing some reading in the following resources. Then take time to reflect personally or with your children (ALL AGES- Yes, high school, college and young adults too!) on just what would you do IF...

1. What would you do if someone asks you for personal information like phone numbers, last names, addresses, bank account information?

2. What would you do if someone asks you for a photo of yourself?

3. What would you do if someone asks to meet you publicly? or secretly?

For more of these conversation starter questions see the Web Wise Kids Internet Safety Plan
http://www.webwisekids.org/uploads/internet_safety_plan.pdf

For more about scammers and phishers:

Brochure about common international financial scams
http://travel.state.gov/pdf/international_financial_scams_brochure.pdf

Blog where visitors can read and share stories on Internet scammers
http://www.419legal.org/blog/2008/05/05/money-mules-fraud-from-overseas-are-baiting-locals-for-help/

Snopes.com

http://www.snopes.com/

http://www.snopes.com/fraud/fraud.asp

For more about stranger danger:

What to do if someone comes to your house...

http://www.snopes.com/crime/prevent/doorpound.asp

CBS News clip on strangers and college students... a good eye opener for young adults and their parents.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=2042316n

Spiderman said, "With great freedom, comes great responsibility."

Make sure you are responsible for educating yourself and your children on the potential dangers out there and you have a plan if something comes up.

I want you to be safe from the sharks when you surf.

Image from http://www.surfsizenow.com/images/surfing-picture-of-shark.jpg

Blogging Away!

Learning a second language is challenging and rewarding. So many more connections can be made when people speak the same language... as this generation of students communicates seamlessly through technology in their primary languages- why not branch out into the electronic world of communicating in their new language? Writing, thinking, responding, documenting, sharing, reading, reflecting- all in their new language... = BLOGGING! Educators can mold the tasks to their specific lessons and objectives, students can reinforce their second language in an online community of learners.

Why I love it!

1. EASY TO USE

2. Students enjoy learning and connecting this way- engaging!

3. So long to learning within the four walls of a classroom... there are no boundaries in the blogging world...

4. Relevant!

5. Paperless!

6. Free!

More to come on students blogging in their newly learned language...

Image taken from http://www.brandrich.com/blog/index.php

Promethean Boards!

Technology is changing the way we learn and teach! PISD has brought a pilot program to the students and teachers- a program that is exciting, innovative and relevant!

PISD is promoting interactive classrooms from Kinder to High School through the use of Promethean Interactive White Boards, Active Tablets, Active Slates, and Active Expressions. These tools essentially transform an average classroom white board, or projection system into an interactive flip chart with an infinite amount of pages, applications and possibilities.

CIT's a Teachers will be trained on how to use the boards effectively... we are already observing exciting results. I can't wait to see more!

Positive Feedback...

I had a discussion yesterday about the state of schools in America... where we've been, where we're headed, how we are measuring up with the rest of the world... and need I say more?

Between the economy, the election, the war, the media and our never-ending "To Do Lists"- it is sometimes hard to stop and smell the roses. But, the truth is- wonderful things are happening every day in our school system. As educators, AND patriots, we must fill our tanks with those positive happenings and allow them, and each other, to fuel our inspiration and enthusiasm for tomorrow- regardless of how many more tasks are tacked on to the list.

If something has inspired you lately, if you've seen a brilliant success happen in our school system- let us know about it! Someone may need to hear your positive words. Thank you for sharing.