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Welcome Back

Its been a while since I posted, but I hope all of you enjoyed your Christmas break. Since we last met my life has changed quite a bit. We sold a house, bought a new one, and my life is currently in boxes. Good thing I found underwear today!

Joe

Photo: Isabella's Little Pink House by Stuck in Customs

OLPC = Very Cool

This is a very short blog post, but done in a very exciting medium. I am blogging from Joe's recently received One Laptop Per Child laptop computer. This is the computer that has been making the news recently as a project to produce a laptop computer for @ $100. If you act now you can buy one for yourself and give one to a child in another country for @ $400. This is an exciting glimpse into the future.

RSS Feed Creator

I just came across this great website that creates an RSS Feed for any web page. The URL for this site is http://page2rss.com/ You just entered the URL for a website and it creats a feed that goes into any RSS aggregator such as Google Reader or Google Home Page. I created one for our district library lesson web page. Now, any time there are changes to the page, I'll get notification and can check it out. Try it soon.
Dana Stemig

Mark Your Calendar!

Coming soon to a school near you (Enochs High School in Modesto) is a fabulous technology conference you and your coworkers will want to attend. The ETC Conference on Saturday, March 1st is a great opportunity for you to share what you have learned as a TEC participant and pick up a few great technology tips to use with your students. For anyone who has not attended this conference, the format is simple and convenient. You will have 3-4 sessions where you can choose from a variety of topics presented by local educators. Currently, some of the session topics include:

• Interactive Technologies for ELL Students.
• Classroom Websites for Beginners
• PowerPoint Flip Deck Animations
• Google Earth in the Classroom
• Blogs & Wikis - Writing Across the Curriculum
• Free Classroom Resources for Math and Science
• Grant Tips for Teachers
• CLRN Offers FREE ELA and History / Social Studies Resources
• And many more...

Due to the popularity of the ETC Conference, registration is limited and may fill up quickly. As a TEC participant your registration is included. However, if you have any friends or colleagues who would like to attend please let them know ASAP.

Happy blogging! See you next week!

Joe

What Are You Thankful For?

Please pardon any typos or grammar mistakes in this blog. During a workshop this week, Joe and I discovered how to post a blog entry by email, so even though I do not have access to a computer right now, I am able to blog by cell phone :)

At this time of year a common activity is to reflect upon the year (or life in general) and note what you are thankful for. I thought that I would blog on this topic with a TEC spin, what technology tools am I thankful for? I am going to try to pick one hardware item, one software application, and one online resource for which I am thankful.

Hardware
I can't decide which piece of hardware appreciate more, the iPod or the Blackjack. The iPod is a great presentation tool; I use it to present PowerPoint slideshows, video clips, and to provide background music during workshops. I listen to a variety of podcasts to stay caught up with current events and hobbies. The Blackjack is a cell phone, email station, and a mobile web browser. I think it is fantastic that I can post this blog entry even when I don't have a computer or access to a wireless Internet connection.

Software
Ironically, my favorite piece of software is Garageband (this ties nicely into the theme of TEC). This piece of software makes it extremely easy to turn any audio recording into a masterpiece. My favorite feature of Garageband is the ease of adding audio loops, background music, and sound effects. It is also very easy to add picture, hyperlinks, or even PDFs to create enhanced podcasts. Unfortunately, this is Mac-only software, but this software alone makes it worth buying a Mac :)

Online Resource
Let me start this part of my blog entry with a disclaimer, my first response to this section would be Google. But that answer includes too much good stuff; such as Google Earth, Picasa, Blogger, and much much more. So I decided to select twitter. When I first heard about twitter (http://www.twitter.com/) I could not understand why anyone would be interested in this resource. What is twitter? In a nutshell, it is a microblogging web site where you have 140 characters to repond to the prompt, "What are you doing right now?" At first I could not think of anyone that I would remotely be interested in getting this type of information from. But, I have started to see how this type of social networking connects people. I have enjoyed getting updates about daily life from family and friends who have joined me on twitter. And I am constantly amazed at the details that people will actually share on twitter. If you decide to try twitter let me know and we can start following each other :)

Perhaps my list has introduced you to something new. In that case, please take some time and explore that resource. One thing is for sure, my list does not match your list. Please reply to this post by commenting and sharing what technology you are thankful for.

Burt

Life Round Here

A great and simple way to utilize blogs and podcasts can be a digital storytelling project. Perhaps you already have a project where students write stories and present them to the class? Wouldn't it be fun to use that same project, but this year have your students present it to the world?

Earlier this school year Chris Craft, a 6th grade teacher in South Carolina, started a project called "Life Round Here." As part of this project students from all over the world created digital stories sharing what it is like to live in their community. These students just completed the first round of projects and all of them are hosted on a wiki for you to view. Take a moment and check them out. While you're there post a comment or two and let them know what you think.

Joe

Photo: 20070923 Water Wealth Contentment Health by tspauld

Hello from Room 38!

I am thrilled to be a part of this class. I have been blogging for a while on my own but it has all been self-taught. I am hoping to pick up some helpful tips to make the process even easier. Podcasting is entirely new to me so I am really looking forward to that as well.
Last week I started a class blog. Our class read the book Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown. After reading the book we learned about the components of a friendly letter. Using our newly learned letter writing skills we wrote letters and sent out over 40 Flat Stanley's around the globe and will blog about them as they return to us. This is a great project for us because it incorporates many 2nd grade skills such and reading, letter writing, map skills and math (measurement) Come on over to Room 38 is Great! and check us out.

See you in December!

First Night

It was great meeting you all last night!

I noticed a few people joining the blogging ranks on their own. That's great!

Over the next month, take a look at some of the blogs and podcasts you added to your Bloglines or iTunes account. The more you read and listen, the more ideas you will have for December 5th, and the more useful your time will be that evening. Should you happen to create your own blog before our next meeting, add a link in the "Our Blogs" section on the TEC Blog. If you stumble across an idea that you would like to share, post an entry on this blog.

Have a great few weeks!

Joe

Photo: April Watching DVDs on Flickr

Blogging Literature Circles

Every now and then I really wish I didn't teach science. Using blogs with literature would certainly be one of those examples. I can't figure out which standard could count as my literature standard.

I have read in a few different places about students using blogs to discuss a piece of literature they are currently reading in class and I personally love the idea. For example, last school year 8th grade history students in Liberty, Missouri read Guerrilla Season as part of a Civil War unit. Their online discussions involved not only fellow classmates, but also parents, school board members, students in California, and even the book's author, Pat Hughes. Take a moment to check out the video above and the Guerrilla Season Blog. There are also two other articles in USA Today and School Library Journal. Perhaps you have a similar idea for your own blogging project?

Joe

Hello Everyone,

My name is David Rogers. I've been blogging for about 5 years now, I got the idea after my son was born. I was looking for a way to share pictures of him growing with my family who lives in North Carolina. So I started playing with Blogger to see what I could do. I'm looking forward to the class and learning different ways I can incorporate technology and blogging in the classroom. See you on Wednesday night.

David

What I Know Is...

According to The Acronym Finder, wiki means "What I Know Is..."
In an effort to promote sharing of the collective wisdom of this group, we have created the 2007 TEC wiki. (Don't worry about bookmarking this link, the tasty badge in the sidebar of this blog links to the wiki.) As part of the TEC project, you are being asked to created two lessons that integrate blogging and/or podcasting into your curriculum. Instead of asking you to create the lesson plans in a word processor, print them, and make enough copies for everyone; we thought this wiki would be a nice way to share. You each have a page in the wiki that you can use to post your lesson idea. Feel free to edit, adjust, and customize the wiki to match your personality and lesson ideas.

Web 2.0 Tools

I'm hoping to start a blog for my library students to post book reviews. My district is in the process of approving this.
I participated in a program over the summer called School Library Learning 2.0 though the California School Library Association. I learned about blogs, podcasting, and other Web 2.0 tools. I thought the TEC would be a good chance to implement the tools that I discovered. The assignments for School Library Learning 2.0 are on a blog at http://schoollibrarylearning2.blogspot.com/ There is a classroom version at http://classroomlearning2.blogspot.com/
I'm looking forward to meeting all of you Wednesday night.

Welcome to TEC!

Welcome to the 2007 TEC Project! Thank you for taking the time to participate in the TEC Project. As classroom teachers we know how precious even one evening a month can be. However, as former TEC participants we also know how valuable this experience will be for both you and your students.

Over the next few months you will join the rapidly growing global community of bloggers and podcasters. During our first meeting we'll take some time to discuss real simple syndication (RSS), subscribing to blogs via Bloglines, and subscribing to podcasts via iTunes. Take a few moments to read through the blogs listed in the Blogroll. Next time we meet you will be setting up your own blog, so peruse the list of blogs for ideas. Perhaps you need a classroom website or a creative way for students to write? As you can see, blogs can be found in a variety of formats.

After checking out a few blogs, head over to iTunes and investigate some educational podcasts. Perhaps you have some students who would be excellent digital story tellers or you're looking for a way for students to demonstrate their knowledge in a recorded format? Just like blogs, there are hundreds of different ways for using podcasts in the classroom.
One last thing - blogging really is a two-way conversation and this blog is your blog. Please comment and comment often. Secondly, feel free to create you own blog post - as a contributer you are also an author.

Joe

Photo: Welcoming by Butterflysha on Flickr