Constitution Day

I was asked to share my Constitution Day resources... still building...

http://sheldonworkshops.wikispaces.com/Constitution+Day

Testing Posterous!

Testing 1-2-3, blogging just got easier! Thanks to my pal, Kristin Hokanson, for introducing me to Posterous!

The Summit

At this time last week I was in my element, surrounded by like-minded folks, immersed in topics of learning and technology, two of my passions, and loving every minute of it! If you have not yet seen Sir Ken Robinson talk about the "element," you can check out this TED talk or see his book here.

The 2010 Keystone Technology Integrator's (KTI) Summit was an amazing experience! Having attended the summit in 2007, I decided to leave the classroom and attempt a new role, of technology integration coach. This time, attending as a mentor, I was looking to soak up as many good and new ideas as humanly possible. While I could go on and on forever about the experience, I have boiled down my week into my own "top 5" list!

The Top 5 Take Aways from the 2010 KTI Summit

5. The Livescribe pen has so many practical classroom applications. (post more on that later)

4. My friends are inspiring!

3. It is time to turn up the H.E.A.T. in our lessons!

2. Connections, connections, connections lead to further learning. PLNs are crucial!

1. It's not about the technology.... it's about learning! FOCUS ON THE LEARNING!

I will expand on these in more depth, each one will take a post of their own! Spending an entire week in my element, exploring ways to better engage students... it doesn't get much better than that!

Keystone Technology Integrator Summit 2010

During the week of July 26th, I am attending the Keystone Technology Integrator Summit at Bucknell University. I attended the summit for the first time in 2007, and that became a life changing experience for me. (I will save that for another post.) This year my role is "Keystone Mentor." Today I will find out what that means exactly, but I know one thing for sure.... I am in for a fabulous week. I will post my reflections and learnings here.... looking forward to an exciting week with many new adventures!

STEM Resources

Patti Duncan, Science and DEN Guru shared some amazing STEM resources. Here is a overview of STEM and the list of resources. Thanks, Patti!

From PETE&C Den Preconference:

Science
Technology
Engineering
Mathematics

~ Changing the way we teach to integrate more of them together.
~Prepping our kids for futures in these industries. "workforce ready"
~Making kids aware of the careers available in these areas.

Students will be problem solvers, innovators, inventors, self starters, logical thinkers, technologically literate...

STEM Resources:

http://stem.discoveryeducation.com/
http://www.pbs.org/teachers/stem/
http://www.nsf.gov/nsb/stem/index.jsp
http://www.stemschool.com/
http://www.mn-stem.com/ (Includes future careers!)
http://www.pasteminitiative.org/
http://k12s.phast.umass.edu/stem/
http://www.girlscouts.org/program/program_opportunities/science/
http://www.mos.org/eie/ Great for elementary grades!
Log in to DE Streaming....STEM Connect
http://www.eweek.org/Home.aspx
http://fuelourfuturenow.com/

A most amazing presentation!!!

If It Isn't Broken....

If you haven't yet read Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson, MD, it is well worth the hour or so it will take. Change is inevitable and healthy. However, when you have something that works, why change it?

Perhaps one of the most eye opening experiences for me in my new role as K-12 Technology Integrator, is the dedication teachers have to certain applications. As a third grade teacher I could not wait to try something new, which is probably why the Technology Director asked me to test out Palm Pilots with my students. Having said that, with the ever increasing demands of standardized tests, new reading programs, additional benchmark testing, etc... sometimes teachers simply do not have time to check out newer applications.

Many of our teachers have loved the legacy application, ClarisWorks for Kids. When this school year ends, the program will be pulled from our images, along with its older sibling, Appleworks. Teachers have argued that there just aren't replacements that do what these programs do. I beg to differ. It might take a little time, but with the Web 2.0 world at our fingertips, and a Technology Integrator ready to assist, replacements can certainly be found.

I held off on publishing this post, and have made many edits before publishing because my intent is not to upset people, but to educate them. I finally decided to post when the Technology Director was going through some old software licensing documents and uncovered a letter dated 2002, stating that ClarisWorks for Kids had been abandoned by Apple three years earlier. It "might" work on OS9, although that was not the original intent. We are in the year 2009, running OS X and beyond. It is time to seek alternatives and move forward.

Oh, if you haven't seen Kidspiration.... it is worth a close look.....

ENO Pointers

Our district recently purchased several ENO interactive boards, these boards are everything the teacher could possibly want.... durable, wireless, and magnetic! The computer connects via bluetooth to the stylus. The board itself is so durable that it can withstand dry erase and even permanent marker. Sounds great, right! Well, after installing 6 boards, we were having issues with everything just freezing up on us.

After getting in touch with Polyvision, I was given a number of troubleshooting steps to try, including changing batteries on the pen, trying a new driver, using the Polyvision bluetooth dongle instead of relying on the computer's build in bluetooth... PC, Mac, it did not matter. Problems persisted.

Polyvision sent a technician to assist us in our troubleshooting efforts. We discovered some minor tips that make a tremendous difference in the functionality of the boards. My only wish if that these tips were posted in BOLD on the ENO website. Our problems could really have been handled over the phone.

In an attempt to assist our teachers, I posted the tips here, on my wiki. I am pleased to report that we are up and running nicely! We run Smartboards, Promethean boards, and Polyvision Walk and Talks in addition to the ENO. It is crucial that boards "just work." Teachers do not have time to troubleshoot beyond the basics. For the sake of our teachers and students, I am hopeful that these basic steps have eliminated our problems.