StUdents Ready For the Future:SURFFers

Flat Stanley Does Haiti Relief

2010-04-23T21:13:00.006-04:00

Flat Stanley Does Haiti Relief is an inspirational video by Carol Claypool that she made after her last trip to Haiti. Carol, who is a first grade teacher at my school, created this video so that her students could gain a better understanding of the needs and lives of the Haitians she has come to love. From watching the video her students also see pictures of the actual families their teacher and friends are helping. All of our K-5 students now see where the school's donations go and more importantly, how desperately help is still needed.

This six (6) minute video is ready to translate into other languages on dotSUB. dotSUB is a web based system used to upload and view videos, create subtitles, translate into other languages and share on websites. It is easy to translate the subtitles from the video transcriptions.

Flat Stanley Does Haiti Relief - now on dotSUB is ready to share, view, translate and even embed on your site. Please consider translating the subtitles and forwarding this request so that more students, educators and parents can see for themselves too.

For those unfamiliar with Flat Stanley, here is a synopsis of Flat Stanley's original story and projects at Dale Hubert's The Official Flat Stanley Project .

Igniting Student Creativity Through Digital Storytelling

2009-11-01T20:52:00.003-05:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation. You will recognize some of your favorite tools and learn about new ones.

Igniting Student Creativity Through Digital Storytelling

View more presentations from Jennifer Dorman.

The BEST Reason to Skype

2009-10-03T23:05:00.043-04:00

Today I told my favorite teacher about using Skype in our classroom. Since she has been out of the classroom for many years, she was really astonished that our computers are used to talk to someone outside of our building - especially for the reason I was telling her. Everyone needs to be doing this - she insisted - you need to tell them. Although I know of others who indeed do, I promised that I would give it a try.

We have many classroom conversations on the web using Skype. In the past years my technology classes have had many good reasons to hold conversations on the web: Native American studie s, water conservation, weather, goals for the future, insects, our state, other states, another country, our schools, field trips, animals, poems, and a variety of books. With kindergarten through fifth grades we have had many ideas to share, and plenty of questions to ask.

This year is different. We have a goal of connecting all of our classes through technology. To integrate technology such as web conferences, videos, podcasting, wikis and blogs - I have busied myself with finding contacts, comparing topics, researching standards, adjusting plans, and scheduling conversations with other educators. But this year is different.

It started being different last month. A fellow teacher came to me with a request from a parent. They wanted to know if we could use Skype to keep one of our students connected to school. The family had set up Skype at home for their child. This precious student will be at home much of this year. He will be in the hospital too. With cancer treatments some days are better than others. For now he cannot physically come to school. But this year is different - he can come to school virtually - thanks to a little bit of technology and encouraging classmates.

We immediately set up the best reason for Skype for his classroom teacher. A few students in our school use Skype at home and others have been in our Technology class video conference sessions. This was our first time to use video conferencing with a classmate who is at home. Everyone was excited.

During his first classroom session, our virtual student learned from his classmates and with his classmates. New and old friends warmly greeted him and then two students gave him a tour of the classroom. They explained the routines of the day and described the special learning areas in the room. Others showed close-up environment models on camera for all to learn about a new social studies project. With his supportive mother by his side, our virtual student shared his time and his smiles with us.

When it was over, we all agreed it was a success and made plans for more. His guidance counselor and I are also ready for more sessions so he can join our class times, and learn with more of his friends. Our virtual student has the option of joining us by video and/or audio. He can turn his camera and sound on and off as needed. Although it was fun for the star of the day, his image can also be on a computer monitor in our room instead of the huge SMARTBoard display.

We are always learning more about teaching with technology. 1) Take turns. Since schools need to be concerned about bandwidth, we all understand that we must keep informed about each other's web conferences. 2) Be nice. Talk with all of the stakeholders about safety, privacy, and etiquette on and off of the web. 3) Be flexible - you may be pleasantly surprised. Sometimes the best laid plans must change, so plan for change. We also found out that our document camera and sound system work very well as a webcam (surprise!). 4) Be clear. Video conferences help us all practice better communication skills.

Students and teachers are still learning together...wherever they are.

PS: Here's to our first favorite teachers - our moms.

Google Voice

2009-08-16T13:49:00.010-04:00

Google keeps the new tools coming. Since one of my New Year's goals is to try more of them, I waited patiently for my Google Voice invitation and number. Thanks to good friends, I am learning more about the benefits of Google Voice. Start here if Google Voice is totally new to you.

Many setting options allow you to tailor it to your changing needs. For your incoming calls you can screen calls and/or listen in to the message. From your computer you can text message, connect other numbers to your chosen phone, personalize greetings, forward phones, share voicemail, and much more. Google offers many ways to learn how you can benefit from its features. http://www.google.com/support/voice/

I have sent my Google Voice number to friends to try out what they offer. One feature that has my curiosity is the voicemail transcript. Callers leave a voicemail, and Google attempts to transcribe it. Fortunately, the audio recording is there too. When you listen to the recording, the transcript follows it word for word by underlining the words as it goes. Pretty neat. Great for ESL (English as Second Language) and many others. With so many dialects to decipher, I imagine (hope) that the more calls I receive, the better it will work.

Feel free to help me try out features. Today I found a call widget to embed in your website. Find it at the top of this message and leave a voicemail for me if you are are interested in collaborating on a project with any of my K-5 Technology classes. I'll probably leave the widget here for a while and see how it goes.

Oh! I just discovered another surprise feature. If - okay when- you misplace your cellphone, you can call your own phone from your computer and listen for the ring. Gotta love that.

Free: Convert Your Presentations with SlideShare

2009-07-23T01:02:00.001-04:00

Convert you PowerPoint presentation with SlideShare. Easily embed in your blog or wiki. Instantly post on Twitter and Facebook. You can edit your presentation at any time. Many other file types are accepted. Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Technology Lab - Ms Gardner

View more presentations from iSURF.

Copyright and Fair Use Slides TO SEND - Google Docs

2009-04-23T21:38:00.000-04:00

On the Road to the Windy City and the Oprah Show!

2009-03-28T16:50:00.006-04:00

Mom's Choice Award winning author, Ginger Hodge, took her own mom on a road trip to the Windy City. They had two destinations in mind: the Valedictorian and the the Oprah Show. While I kept in touch with the author of When Donkeys Fly via Skype, others were old school cell phone communicators.
This trip is theirs to tell so....read on here When Donkeys Fly to Oprah and take a peek here:

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Our students love to keep up with where the donkey flies and what the donkey finds to do next. Elementary classes interested in projects about Ginger Hodge's book, When Donkeys Fly, see activities and contacts here . Contact us to collaborate with SURFFers (Students Ready for the Future).

What to Do? No Computers in the Lab?

2009-03-02T16:01:00.013-05:00

Last week we had a day with no computers in the Technology Lab. Were the students surprised? Yes. Was the teacher worried? No - it was a great opportunity to talk about technology and the balance in our lives.

Technology = a tool that helps us work (more efficiently). If the technology makes a job harder, then choose another tool or learn a better way to use the tool. It takes time to learn to use a tool properly. Ask any craftsman, artist, or electrician.

We could ask our parents and grandparents how they worked before computers. How did they play? Outside was for sports, inside- what? no texting, no Wii?! What did they use in school? Paper, pencils, books, what? no SMARTBoard, no computers?!

We then considered the history of paper. Originally made of papyrus, it was considered a great advance in technology for communication. Paper is taken for granted now and many practice ways of recycling it. I wonder what history would reveal about rules of using paper.

The students thought about what they do in school and the games they play without modern technologies. Our south-eastern region is known for thunderstorms. Students told stories about what they do when the lights go out or the dreaded cable TV service goes down at home (audible groans).

Out came the old-fashioned paper, crayons and clipboards for the activity....1) Fold the paper. 2) Illustrate a game that you play. 3) Write a caption. 4) Smile for the camera.

Rules for game choices were: no electricity and no batteries. So here is a sample of
Games We Play! Batteries Not Included

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I tell my young students all of the time: computers are to help you get work done, so you have more time to play outside where you belong!

We may have another No Computer day....for old-times sake.

Images from Flikr

Our Dreams for the Future!

2009-02-26T14:23:00.003-05:00

Bold Dreams? Big Dreams? Tell us too - this story is about YOU! We are waiting on you for this Voicethread project.

Pods, Touch, Phones and Spyglasses

2009-02-12T21:30:00.008-05:00

I was just in another web meeting with educators who use many of THE latest technologies in classrooms. Main topics of the session were mobile technologies: ipods, itouch, iphones or other brands of mobile devices. Concerns of cell phones and cyberbullying naturally came into the chats too. And then there were the spyglasses - yes, spyglasses.

We talked about using mobile phones in education. The cons to mobile devices in the classroom usually stem from control. How do we control behaviors on mobile devices - how to stop the negative? Have you seen all of the shows about mean-girl uses of email, texting and the internet? Much was communicated about cyberbullying: we all need educating and need to educate others more- and more often.
Bullying has been around longer than we have, so our jobs still must include teaching manners, etiquette and the Golden Rule to all ages. Whether with pencil and paper, face-to-face, or electronic means, students need guidance and guided practice. Let's get together and figure it out before it is too late.

Cellphones in the classroom? Scary to us, but we need to jump in where our children are spending their time. I remember the scary feeling before I used a computer for the first time. That first computer experience in the early 1980's took me by surprise and I have been hooked ever since. Now I am trying to overcome the fear (concerns) of mobile technologies and I'm learning to look before I leap.

I was reminded about a new ISTE book Toys to Tools, by Liz Kolb http://www.cell phonesinlearning.com/ and her website. Liz was featured in a WOW (Women of the Web) webmeeting recently. She shared many ideas for practical uses for mobile phones in classrooms. You can learn so much in webmeetings like this one http://edtechtalk.com/node/3502
listen to the show and check out the chat for great resources and links.

Now for the spyglasses - spyglasses in education. NEWS to me. Your kids ages eight through eighty-eight will get a kick out of this. Spyglasses are showing up in classes!They look like sunglasses and are used for - well a little computer that you happen to wear. Need convincing? Go here and see for yourself and then click this picture to find more details.

Another resource that needs to be included here is iTouch in education from Tony Vincent. He is the same one whose resources helped me learn how-to and create class lessons for podcasting.
See Learning in Hand and lets learn more together.

Elementary Projects- Google Maps and More

2009-01-26T20:22:00.009-05:00

If you were to offer 3rd-5th grade students a ticket to anywhere in the virtual world, where would you guess their overall favorite place would be?(*answer below) We have been going all over the map with the help of the updated tools in Google Maps. Driving directions have been the most popular use of Google Maps, but please take a look at what you can find now.

Students wanted to get a close-up look at the Great Wall of China, the Eiffel Tower, and Niagara Falls. Students who have lived in other places got a glimpse of their former hometown, and some even saw their actual home.

These trips took us to Ohio, Tennessee, Florida, Arizona, Georgia, Virginia, Nevada, California, North Carolina, and many more. We also got to see far away places like Rome,Tokyo, Berlin, and Lithuania. Travelers shared vacation spots from San Francisco to Washington, DC. Zooming in on South Carolina in Terrain View helped students in their understanding of our state’s geographical layout.

Explore more at Google Maps Tours Video clips, and detailed tutorials will help your family plan trips, avoid traffic, and help children feel more comfortable before riding unfamiliar public transit systems.

First and Second grade Technology classes joined online projects with classes
nation-wide. Students enjoyed checking the map that shows the schools that
are participating in the Winter Wonderland Project. Students shared their knowledge of places, and they learned many new locations too. See
Google Map of participants

Please click here to see some of our Winter projects listed by class:
1st grade: http://winterwonderland.wikispaces.com/gardner1
2nd grade: http://winterwonderland.wikispaces.com/gardner2

More collaborative projects are coming our way for new Technology
classes this semester!
See other items about our classes:
Foreign Languages on Voicethread and Microscopes in the Technology class.

I wonder if the favorite place of the new semester’s classes will also be their *own home?

Wordle and the Presidents

2009-01-22T14:35:00.012-05:00

What is a Wordle? My elementary technology students are learning to create and format lots of them. For our purposes, a Wordle is a word cloud that shows main ideas and details of your selected text. We chose inauguration speeches for a hallway display titled Guess the President.

It is becoming a big hit - especially after Mrs. L Smith, a 4th grade teacher, who correctly guessed one of Lilli's (her student) Wordle as Abraham Lincoln's speech. She explained the clues that she used to make her great guess! Her students were delighted that she joined in the fun in their technology class and came up with more ways to use Wordle to improve their writing. Other teachers are also brainstorming ways to use Wordle in their classes.

Today - unexpected music to my ears from a new student who asked, "Can I do this at home too?"

The Wordle above is not from Abraham Lincoln's speech. Can you make a good guess? What are some more ways to use Wordle in your classroom?

Inauguration Watch

2009-01-12T17:58:00.003-05:00

Keep up with inauguration news ! Do you know of any more resources for our classes? We are looking for more for elementary students.
If the widget below is not visible (blocked at your location), go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/

Setting Goals for Technology

2009-01-04T18:19:00.003-05:00

Goal setting is the topic of the new year. In response to a blog in elementarytechteachers I came up with mine, so I need to document them here in my web log.

Before I do I have to mention a refreshing new blog I read today. Penny's take on the SEVEN THINGS meme was to include what I will call simply images with captions. We teach students how to understand more information by reading captions. What a better idea for our goal setting writing assignments she has inspired. Search for images that reflect your goals and write captions. Many web tools are available to learn and apply here. Just pick one...or two.

Last year was the year of wikis, blogs, podcasts, and voicethread to name a few. Twitter got a third try from me over the holiday and I have now realized the value in its use. I even unblocked messages on this blog - I can handle that now. I have tip-toed around Google docs and played with Google Earth. It is time to move on now.

So here are my technology goals for 2009:

1.Google Docs - For collaborating- I need to find those who know and encourage others to go along with me too.
2. Google Earth - I want to build and use more meaningful lessons. Right now I am working it in on two projects.
3. Collaborative Projects - I love to join other classes whether down the street or across the globe. Now it is time to MAKE them happen too. Working on that and crossing my fingers.
4. Maintain & Repair - Take tools and projects that I started, finished or dropped last year to their next level.
5. SMART Board - Build spectacular :) lessons with every tool for every subject and every level for every teacher... (You all get that way too - don't you?)

There they are. How about you?

Have You been Tagged by the SEVEN THINGS Meme?

2009-01-03T17:32:00.004-05:00

Have you been tagged?

I was just tagged by Vicky S in the meme going around the education blog circles called “Seven Things”.

Here are the rules:

* Link your original tagger(s), and list these rules on your blog.

* Share seven facts about yourself in the post - some random, some weird.

* Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.

* Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter and/or Plurk.

My blogger friends probably do not know that I am the middle child of five children. I have an older brother and sister and a younger brother and sister. The things that you have heard about a middle child are probably all true.
I have a delightful 26-year old daughter and a wonderful 18-year old son. Time marches on….I miss following them around for sports and their other childhood events.
My daughter and I love to cook and experiment with ideas in the kitchen. She lives in a few hours away, but we stay in close touch. We love to talk about dishes that we have tried at home or dining out at different restaurants. Must have gotten the loves-to-cook gene from my mother. She is still cookin' at 80-years old.
Photography has been a secret thing that I want to pursue – some day. Thankfully my son has taken an interest in it, so I hope to learn from him. He has taken beautiful shots from the first day. Although I take lots of pictures - I do not have the artist's touch.
Giraffes….for some reason I started collecting them many years ago. Maybe because they are tall, graceful, just a bit unusual, and have very kind eyes. I have them on all desks, shelves and at each computer at school. My students get attached to the one at their station. Digiraffe (short for Digital-giraffe) is our classroom mascot.
I took a few years of piano lessons as a child and wish that I listened to my parents about practicing more. I still play sometimes when no one is at home. We purchased a digital piano – it has a volume control and I can plug up a head set.
Love to sing and dance. I leave singing in public to others (my sisters). Another thing I do when no one is at home is crank up the music to sing and dance like I did when my children were small…and thought it was great fun.

Now...who to tag? Apologies in advance if you have already received this. I am behind in my blog readings, so here goes.
I would like to read the blogs and know more about:
Maddy Shapiro
Kevin Jarrett
Noel Forte
SusanT
Adina Sullivan
AnnemarieS

Great Finds for Microscope Minds

2008-12-01T20:41:00.000-05:00

FREE access to a scanning electron microscope!! What former-science-teacher-now-technology-specialist could resist? While looking for more ideas for our Digital Blue microscopes I found a fabulous website called Bugscope. The "project provides free interactive access to a scanning electron microscope (SEM) so that students anywhere in the world can explore the microscopic world of insects. This educational outreach program from the Beckman Institute's Imaging Technology Group at the University of Illinois supports K-16 classrooms worldwide."

Students mail insects to them, teachers schedule a time for viewing your specimens online, and you all get to have an online chat with members of their team. They provide tutorials and more resources for teachers, so go take a look! By the time classes are ready for insect lessons in the spring, we will have plans and schedules in place. We can't wait to compare the pictures from the different microscopes - and hopefully tiny critters from different regions. Plan ahead and collaborate with us at elementarytechteachers .

Don't forget - microscope projects work great on interactive whiteboards too.

Another great find for microscopes - check these awesome activities, resources, time lines and much more at
http://www.microscopy.fsu.edu/optics/activities/students/index.html

See more reviews and prices for the microscope.

Winter Wonderland Project

2008-11-30T14:42:00.006-05:00

Integrating technology changes with interests, needs and available technology. A great group of educators have come together and designed winter projects for elementary computer labs using Web 2.0 tools. Their ideas are so flexible that computer lab and classroom teachers can take advantage of their site. It is well organized with instructions, descriptions and links to a variety of tools. Web tools provide limitless ways to collaborate, differentiate, integrate, and many other educational best practices that you can throw its way.
Check it out at http://winterwonderland.wikispaces.com/
Hope to see you there!

A BIG Thank YOU to Amber, Nedra and Vicky from Elementary Tech Teachers for this project!!

Visit Elementary Tech Teachers

View my page on Elementary Tech Teachers

Trade- a-Trick With Technology Teachers

2008-10-11T12:47:00.005-04:00

Elementary Technology Teachers teach various hardware, software, and interactive devices and integrate technologies. We spend time teaching how to use technology so that students can apply these skills in other areas. ISTE's National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) are designed for students, teachers and administrators. With these standards as guides for educators, tech teachers support all of these groups in their efforts to use and integrate technologies in their own lessons, classes and schools.

In our school we have found it beneficial for students in the lab to learn about and interact with the SMARTBoard, Airliner Tablet/wireless mouse, Senteo (student voters) and the document camera. Other devices are used in the lab too – cameras, probes, video camera, and computer microscopes. Students learn how to use interactive devices and apply tech skills in their classroom without the "regular teacher" spending as much time teaching tech skills. With the different tech skill levels of teachers and students, both groups have enjoyed teaching each other.

Fortunately, SmartBoard and Promethean lessons for curriculum topics are springing up everyday. In our quest of encouraging everyone to integrate technologies, we find that we do not have many of the tech How-To... lessons for interactive whiteboards. We technology teachers are joining together to create and share lessons in support of our schools’ technology needs.

I have have invited elementary tech teachers in my district to old fashioned face-to-face-make-and-take sessions to create and share Technology How-To... lessons with the new SMART Notebook version 10 tools and the interactive toolkit. Kind of like a Treat-Trade at holiday time - we will Trade-some-Tricks for our technology classes.

We would like some more input and share ideas with you too. Consider the Elementary Technology Teachers ning and join a conversation. Hope to see you there - or share your comments here!

Try a Puzzle on Your Whiteboard

2008-10-05T11:12:00.007-04:00

James Hollis has a great blog where he shares - and encourages us all to share - ideas for whiteboards. Try this idea that was shared on his blog on your whiteboard to generate more interest in your next lesson. See his blog here: Teachers Love SMART Boards

Whiteboard Challenge

2008-09-27T15:55:00.004-04:00

The Seven Wonders of the Whiteboard Challenge - is another great collaborative effort by motivated educators. The use of interactive whiteboards in classrooms has taken off in recent years - and has really exploded in recent months. I just found this wiki and want to help spread the word.

SMARTBoard and Promethean, the two types that I know about, are purchased for schools to make teaching more effective. Many schools have found - as with every educational effort - that it still depends on the teacher using the product. Websites are springing up all over to help new and experienced users make the most of their time learning to use this new technology. The Whiteboard Challenge includes more of the the best resources too. Check it out soon...and spread the word - it's nice to share!

Calling for Collaborative projects for SCRATCH Posts

2008-09-10T19:09:00.001-04:00

Technology classes are preparing projects to post on our pages at wikispaces. At least one section will be favorite projects created in Scratch. Since the conference at MIT, a group of us who met there are planning collaborative projects. Our classes are in states from each US coastline and a few in between.

Consider using Scratch in your classes and sharing Scratch news, ideas, and projects too. Contact me - JoNelle Gardner, Technology Specialist at gardnerj@fort-mill.k12.sc or watch us grow at:
http://isurffer-friends.wikispaces.com/SCRATCHposts

Scratch@MIT Conference

2008-07-27T15:38:00.009-04:00

We just returned from presenting at the Scratch@MIT conference at MIT in Boson. If you are not familiar with Scratch, it is a new programming tool developed at MIT. Students imagine, create, and share games, animations and more. This past year we used the software in my fifth grade elementary technology classes. Also, students formed a club to continue to learn more ways to program using Scratch. I did not realize how important Scratch has become and what a huge impact Scratch has had world wide until this conference.

Participants all over the world ( US, UK, Australia, Russia, Korea, Taiwan, Poland.....) shared ways we incorporate Scratch in schools and groups in elementary through high school levels. Great things happened each hour including new ideas, resources, research partnerships, and collaborative plans for the new school year.

Four students from various countries were featured during Mitchel Resnick’s Opening Keynote (see video). My students will be surprised when I come back with videos and photos of famous Scratchers. More than once these students heard that they were like rock stars of the Scratch community.

The organization of the conference had other choices that were new for me. One way that worked very well was to have three presenters in a room. In one hour, each presenter gave a 10 minute talk. The rest of the hour was a Q&A session with the audience.

My first session choice began with Tracy Ho sharing her case study of student performance using Scratch. I was most interested in her findings of the patterns of events in which students learn, transfer, and apply Scratch. Tracy is a professor in the music department at Taipei Municipal University of Education, Taiwan. Jeanene Bluhm de Carvajal, founder of the Thomas Jefferson Institute, shared how they implement Scratch to help develop student creativity in their schools in Mexico. Krystof Haber, who has spent eleven years teaching Indigenous students with the last eight years at Antarringinya Centre in Australia, shared his unique teaching experiences with the audience. We were incredulous to learn how he uses Scratch to keep students engaged in having fun learning. His Australia Aboriginal students come and go, so Scratch offers the tools of engagement that he needs and that they love.

Friday at 9:30 am, we (JoNelle Gardner and Audrey Cageao) presented with a professor originally from Spain and another presenter from Russia. With three presentations for the hour, the audience got to hear and talk to:
• Teachers who use Scratch in their technology classes. Audrey shared how she introduces, guides, and supports students in their Scratch experiences. I (JoNelle) added how I integrate Scratch with science, math, language arts and technology via student wiki websites http://isurffer-friends.wikispaces.com/Scratch
• Creator (Juan Carlos Olabe) of a supportive website that has and extensive lists of Scratch video tutorials http://learnscratch.org/
• Head of a laboratory and coordinator of www.letopisi.ru (Yevgeny Patarakin) and learn how young programmers in Russia are using Scratch

Other conference sessions were also incredible. It was great listening to educators of all levels and regions of the world who are ready to lend a hand and work together.

I met educators and high school students from Arizona who are involved with Kimberly Scott’s wonderful program called COMPUGIRLS. http://compugirls.asu.edu/home.php These girls use Scratch with themes of social justice – very inspiring. We exchanged contact information to video conference with my computer club this year.

During Karen Bennen’s (from MIT Scratch Team) Scratch-Ed session, she brilliantly led the group in sharing, learning and supporting professional development for an upcoming new website for the community of Scratch educators.

I’ll describe more sessions in the next blog entry. Until then you can see more about the conference at http://scratch.mit.edu/conference/index.html
Conference Program: http://scratch.mit.edu/conference/Scratch_Final_Program.pdf

A HUGE THANK YOU to the Scratch@MIT TEAM!! Mitch and his team are marvelous. They all are an enthusiastic bunch and show a genuine joy for what they are doing and sharing with us.
And ooooh my… to the fabulous caterers too - you are the best!!

Great Games That Make You THINK

2008-05-23T14:45:00.007-04:00

Students LOVE games, and in school we want more learning games.
Zoopz.com
provides many games that make you THINK. With a wide variety of levels, it is challenging, fun and appropriate for all of our grade levels - YEAH! So far we are playing Inch Worm I and II and Frog Jumpin'. These games involve strategy and trial error in a fun engaging environment. I set up games and competitions in the technology lab. I allow students to either "play and practice" a Zoopz game OR compete with classmates.

Competition Rules (or rules that have evolved so far:))
- No help from others.
- Players must be in this classroom to be in the competition.
- Students may play and practice outside of this class for the next competition.
- I choose one or two games for the day.

Play and Practice:
- Students who choose to "play and practice" may help each other, but not be in the competion for the day.
- You may play any of the games in Zoopz.

Top Scorers in each class get their cut-out name prominently displayed in the hallway. A list is displayed for high scores too - I decide for each class what scores get to sign the TOP SCORES list (eg. all students who beat at least level 10) I created a Word document with table and clip art and edit it for each class.

Please leave your comments here to share your top Zoopz.com or other great games for technology labs.

Collaboration Projects with Voice Thread

2008-05-13T14:17:00.005-04:00

Collaborative projects outside of our classroom walls has been a goal this year. This week we added more to our growing list. Some classes are collaborating with other elementary technology classes. Other technology classes are collaborating with Lou Anne Cornwell and her high school marketing class in our community. View the Voice Thread below and you will agree that this is an idea for all ages. Consider projects for your classes. Voice Thread has updated and now includes video and more! Give it a try!

When Donkeys Fly

2008-05-07T22:54:00.009-04:00

Look- she emailed us. It's Ginger Hodge! Yeah!!!

She sent us pictures. Whoa!!!!

Will she videoconference with us? Whoooooo Hoooooo!!!!!!!

These remarks along with many excited squeels were heard in the 3rd grade technology class over the author and her book called When Donkeys Fly. It is a new inspirational book for all to enjoy - along with absolutely beautiful illustrations. Our students love the story, it is great for a read-aloud read to one or to a big crowd. The message at the end reels the children in even more.

We are fortunate enough to be in on some of the production and pre-printing processes. Ginger Hodge and C.B Markham, the author and the illustrator, have let us in on some of the steps of writing and editing a book. Some of my classes have received messages from the author and pictures from the illustrator. The curious students come up with quite a range of questions and comments. Ginger answers them through email and has even visited the school.

Students are impressed that we are using a paperback book stamped with SAMPLE COPY - Final Printing will be hardcover with spine. They feel special- they get a sneak preview of a book that will be out this June - and they are seeing it weeeeeks ahead. We are using C.B.'s illustration examples and they are allowing students to do animation projects with the digital images. How cool - using a real illustrator's pictures in class projects! We can't wait for finished products - the book and our projects.

Toward the end of today's class period, the students asked if Ginger will have a videoconference with our class. I had just told them that she lives near our school, but this class has not met her yet. What fun it would be. A videoconference - students will see the real author in her real place where she writes real books.

"How authentic can you get?" thinks the teacher in me. "How saaa-weeet!!!!" scream the children.

http://whendonkeysflybook.com/

We are Crazy for More Crazy Talk Animations

2008-03-20T22:52:00.010-04:00

We are all going crazy for Crazy Talk animations. Students ride a roller coaster of emotions when their voice combines with animated characters. Many young students are hearing a recording of their own voice for the first time - this is new enough. Add watching a frog's mouth actually move in sync with their words, and see the facial moves show emotion....it gets crazy!

Sally practiced a poem that she chose about taking care of the earth. Click below to enjoy her video.

Many classrooms on the Kg-first grade hall have trees painted on the walls. Mrs. B's tree has transformed into a singing sensation. Students can't wait for their turn to bring their tree to life! Jack's classmates cheered his job well done with Way Up High in the Apple Tree.

Other educational uses of videos and animations:

Our technology class in SC joined a collaborative project in Oregon about where toys are made. They are developing their scripts, recording each other, editing their work, and are looking forward to seeing their toys come to life on a video.

Students who needed more incentive to learn their math facts practiced and practiced to be able to earn their turn with Crazy Talk. Each student recorded themselves reciting math facts and chose their crazy character. The video clips were combined to make a very crazy math facts movie. After joining in with so many characters reciting their nine-times-tables, students can surely say them in their sleep now.

One class has brainstormed an impressive list of video topics. Many second graders want their character to teach a lesson like tornado safety, fire drills, or how to be a good friend. Videos clips of each student was combined to make a class video of good friends who like to stay safe.

Another class has big plans to enhance a language arts projects on personification - I guess we can just say that this time their ideas will be super-personified.

To see more of our CRAZY TALK5 video clips go to http://isurff-friends.wikispaces.com/CrazyTalk We hope these spark ideas for your school. Share your idea with us -we would love to hear from you!

contact JoNelle Gardner, technology teacher at gardnerj@fort-mill.k12.sc.us

Get Your Cat to Teach Reading - Crazy Talk 5

2008-03-06T18:23:00.009-05:00

"Get your cat to teach reading," my email to the district office read. I had previously received a picture of a cat, Steve McQueen, via email and in return I made a video clip. The animated video is of Stevie the Cat reciting a poem about....cats. This clip is making the rounds in classrooms and sparking many ideas of how to motivate students.

How did the digital photo transform into an animated video? With CrazyTalk 5 you can transform photos and images into animated characters with suprizing ease. As with most technology I have found that you can use a little or use a lot - the results are impressive. Upload an image and then manipulate the face with a few puppeteering tools. Use Crazy Talk's recording tools, text-to-speech or even your own sound file for the voice. Another click of the mouse and characters reward you with their crazy moves.

What about the part regarding motivating students? Animated characters are a given for motivation. Admittedly no big news there. The big idea is to integrate creating characters to motivate students to build their communication skills of reading, speaking and writing. Students create scripts and practice recording - writing, reading, and speaking. It is up to us to help our students build these skills well.

So many ideas have come out of Stevie the Cat. Biographies, poems, storytelling, story characters, speeches, my pet, your pet, and many more.

I took pictures around our school to make clips of a cast of characters to play on our morning newscast. Who am I? Where do I live? Can you find me? Interest is building, questions are being asked, ideas are blooming. But they have to wait to find out, "How did she do that? When can I do that too!"

Here is the first announcement below. More applications with examples next time, but first meet Digiraffe- our own digital giraffe!

Podcasting, the Super 3 & Tech Lab Activities

2008-02-14T20:17:00.004-05:00

Podcasting can improve your child’s reading and writing skills. It’s true. The steps in the Super 3 plan / do / review creating good podcasts require many skills. Students communicate with peers, think through ideas, write (or type) scripts, record, evaluate, and edit-edit-edit. Their favorite part seems to be the challenge of making a satisfactory recording. Students repeatedly listen and record while building fluency skills with each edit.

Some of our 2nd and 3rd grade technology classes are practicing these skills to make their audio and/or video projects. Topics students have chosen include riddles, similes, vocabulary, science, websites, and software. Find more ideas here.

With new 2nd and 3rd graders going to Ms Gardner for technology classes, let’s repeat safety on the Internet. Find out more about potential dangers online. http://www.netsmartz.org/ is a positive place to learn Internet safety. There are no links to outside sites. Go with your child to http://www.netsmartz.org/ for more information.

Students have learned how to format clipart, borders and text in Microsoft Word.
Our hallways are newly decorated with student-made Valentine's Day and signs for Jump Rope for Heart.

Many 4th and 5th grade technology classes are using technology to use reliable resources on the Internet, create electronic presentations, and evaluate their work. Project presentations integrate technology with classroom topics such as presidents, national parks, geometry, and the Revolutionary War. Students learn basic and advanced features in Photo Story 3, Microsoft Word, and Power Point.

iSURFFers say, THANK YOU PTA!!!!!!!!!!!
Students Ready For the Future -iSURFFers - are learning how to save their work with flash drives thanks to our generous PTA! With the purchase of 30 flash drives to use in the lab, our PTA has made it possible for our technology students to practice proper care and functions of flash drives. THANK YOU PTA!!!!!!!!!!

Field Trip, Videos, and Wikis

2008-01-10T20:11:00.000-05:00

Last month Gold Hill 4th graders spent two nights at Barrier Island, an environmental camp on Seabrook Island, SC. Included in the three days of classes were lessons and activities about early Native Americans. Students learned about the history and culture of Cusabo tribes along the rivers and the coast of SC. In other classes, students learned about regional plants and animals, their adaptations and how Native American tribes respectfully lived among and used their natural resources.

We incorporated lessons learned into our On theTrail of the First People Project led by Karen Kleigman in NY at MidLink Magazine. Karen's organization of the project offered many new technology choices. The detailed instructions made this highly collaborative project easy to follow.

We set up a videoconference with Adam Dugger's class in NY- Hi y'all! During the Q& A it was evident that ALL students were amazed at the weather difference (unusually warm December in SC), the wide sandy shores, the frequency of bottle-nosed dolphin sitings, the palmetto trees in the maritime forest, the huge horseshoe crabs, and sleeping in cabins on the beach!

Back at school, our students created videos with Photostory3, a free download from Microsoft. Per Karen's instructions, I uploaded an example of student work on Google Video (Beta). I had a gmail account so this part went quickly.

Also with Photostory3/Google video I added a video documenting how we started using wikispaces.

See these videos and the project wiki for more information of starting wikis and other projects at your school. Better yet...go see see Karen Kleigman's presentation at FETC 2008

Authentic Audience

2007-11-28T22:14:00.001-05:00

We have first hand experience with the many faces of authentic audience. Fourth grade research projects have brought about audiences in our classroom, down the hallway, up the highways, and across the oceans. Student classwork is seen by many more eyes than just their teacher (with a red pen). Their research,writing and voices are being shared with partners, other classes, on the web, and through video conferences.
Let me explain. Students are researching and using web 2.0 tools (which are different from web 1.0 by creating for the web with more collaboration and interactivity).

If you have used a webcam then you know what it is like to have a video conference. We have had varying degrees of success with live conferencing. This week one of my 4th grade groups had a video conference with a partner class in New York (with Karen Kliegman, Noel Forte, and Adam Dugger)while using Skype. Although we have had “video guest speakers” this was our first time with two classes together. After a few technical snags, we got the hang of it and had fun with Q and A's.

Today we experimented with a newer video conference service http://oovoo.com/ between two classrooms in our own building. This service was suggested by Karen Kleigman (Trail of the First People Project). ooVoo looks very modern and we can see both cameras on our screen while we talk together. Fourth grade students were searching for pictures to use from http://www.pics4learning.com/index.php to go with their Native American project. Video conference participants traded tips and information about their research. They gave good tips on pictures that they found for the regions they were studying. Research groups from different classrooms teamed with each other. From their conversations I can say that our students were great examples for authentic audience and collaboration.

For the next phase, student groups will choose how they want to combine their previous research and the pictures for the Native American project. Choices are PowerPoint, Photostory3, or learn how to create projects in Voicethread. All of these can be put into wiki pages that some of the students are sharing with our partners in Australia and in New York. I am looking forward to the products of our journey with Web 2.o tools.

GHESchool Tour Video

2007-11-28T20:20:00.001-05:00

Digital storytelling comes in many forms. In our technology lab we focus on how technology helps us learn and digital stories fit the bill. Technology students have been roaming the hallways with a digital camera and inquiring minds. Students took photos inside and out, and then narrated each one. If their picture was a person, they asked about their job. We discussed choices that did not include a person, such as the purpose of the teacher's workroom. We found people and places that we had never seen before -our school is huge!

Back in the technology lab, students practiced their lines with expression and enthusiasm. The challenge was to construct sentences that began with words other than, "Here is...." or "This is..." We combined narrations with the photos and chose music to fit the mood. Some students even directed the video transitions, effects and text. These steps can take 2-4 class periods depending on the teacher's purpose and preferences of integration.

Each class now has a video of different sections of the school. By combining parts of each video, we also have a video overview of our school.

This project included second and third graders. I have found that older elementary students enjoy the video creating process and are quite creative on their own when given ample time. We have more video projects in the works. One of our next projects will include posting videos on dotsub.com and translating subtitles. Students are creating vodcasts on several topics, so stay tuned for more (or subscribe to this feed).

Let Us Put YOU on the Map!

2007-10-22T20:49:00.001-04:00

We have become fascinated by the growing number of red dots on our ClusterMap.

ClustrMaps is the widget you can always find on the right side of this webpage. Go ahead and look for it- double click it and see the details too. It shows locations in the world where someone is checking out this blog. I know who and where a few of the dots are because we are collaborating on projects - more news on those projects as they progress.

By our calculations, we are averaging 4-5 new locations in the world each week!

We need more projects to help our students learn more about their geographic world (and not just to prepare them for any eventual question on a game show – or a pageant….). This is where you come in to the picture – literally.

If you are reading this outside of Fort Mill or Tega Cay, SC, please drop us a line - we would love to hear from you. We want to put YOU on the map! Our classroom has a world map on the wall, and it will grow as our ClusterMap grows. If you are inside Fort Mill/Tega Cay - drop on into our technology lab. We would love to hear from you too.

-JoNelle Gardner, Technology Teacher/Specialist gardnerj@fort-mill.k12.sc.us

Inservice Day - My "Day Off" with "No Students"

2007-10-15T22:17:00.000-04:00

Parents: While your child stayed home and played like they were supposed to, teachers had an Inservice Day. What is that exactly? Usually meetings. Today was different. Thanks to our pricipal we had a choice of where we wanted to visit. Below is a blog post from another education blog that I maintain. If I have any techie-type parents, you may want to help out in the technology lab this year. It's not what it used to be! Please read on...

We had an inservice day today - teachers actually visited schools of their choice. This was not your typical day of meetings that may-or-may-not be geared toward your needs of professional development. I jumped at the chance to find a school/teacher experienced in integrating web 2.0 tools in their curriculum. Although a tad over my elementary level, I found an excellent resource not too far away from home in Mr. Chris Craft. Many of us who have researched international collaboration projects have seen much of his work and read his blog http://www.crucialthought.com/

Chris Craft (love the name) came highly recommended and it was all true and then some. I got to see him in his element and I must say - his students adore and respect him. All of his sixth graders came in calmly with smiles and stayed that way the entire time. What wonderful classroom spirit. He loves them and they know it. He respects their identities and their uniqueness and they know that too. After all of the techno-talk I absorbed, I was struck most by his manner about his students and one quote in particular. "I teach children how they want to be taught," he told me. Think about that some more.

What about the techie talk? I learned more about Moodle, PBwiki, Gcast, WordPress, and Google Earth. New for me are great video resources from Dan Meyer at http://blog.mrmeyer.com/, www.trymango.com for self-paced Spanish lessons, www.livemocha.com , WiziQ for a virtual classroom, and bluehost. So many tools...and it is not summer break.

We talked about EdTech 2007 - SC's technology conference October 24-26. We are both presenting. My presentation is "We Vote for Movie Making! Motivate your students using cameras and Classroom Performance System (CPS). " I submitted this before I jumped on the Web 2.0 trail, so now I'll tweak it more to include some.

One of Chistopher Craft's (this how his name is listed on the site) presentation is about presentation design - how cool is that? Another is about Google Earth - yeah! The third is presenting his research "Games and Simulations, is there a place in k12 education? " What a fountain of information he so generously shares.

What a jam-packed Professional Development day for me! What did you do on your last inservice day?

Programming in Elementary with Scratch!

2007-10-09T21:26:00.000-04:00

Scratch is programming for students! Who wants to learn programming with fun animations and sounds? Elementary students can do it with Scratch- and it's free from M.I.T. We will introduce programming in Scratch with 5th graders.

How will learning programming help our children? Students learn valuable problem solving and logic skills; communicating understandings and ideas helps students builds writing and speaking skills;and teaming with others builds collaboration and cooperation life skills and much more.

You can learn about Scratch too...download Scratch and let us know what you think! email JoNelle Gardner, Technology Specialist gardnerj@fort-mill.k12.sc.us
see examples in this video

We Have Made it to Wikispaces!

2007-09-28T09:28:00.001-04:00

Students in fourth and fifth grade Technology classes now have their own secure wiki webpage. Wikispaces is a special website where students have a secure place to learn and share. Members only in this cyberspace - only our teachers, students and their parents may enter. Teachers monitor the site daily. We are incorporating safety and etiquette rules that we have learned to create the first pages. Soon each student will have a mystery partner in our school to build our first Technology/Social Studies project on Native Americans. We are working together to prepare for a project with 4th grade students in other states. This collaborative project will also help our students build character education and communication skills in Language Arts in our new world of ever changing technology.

What is a wiki? Watch this brief video on Wikis in Plain English

SALUTE to Dr SEUSS

2007-09-21T19:13:00.001-04:00

Ask a group of students, "Who has a favorite Dr Seuss book?" and hear, "MEEEEEE!" Many of my 2nd and 3rd grade Technology classes have joined Technospud's nation-wide web project- Salute to Dr Seuss. Classes are choosing a variety of ways to share they favorite Dr Seuss books with others. Students are taking turns reading pages for a video. Some students prefer to let Queenie, a stuffed animal giraffe, be their on camera stand-in while they provide the narration.
Macinzi, a second grader says that her favorite part of the project is to be on the video! She even helped me write this:)

Be a Friend - Be Nice & Be Safe

2007-09-11T16:55:00.000-04:00

Another way to view friends? Much has been said of the way we view the word "friends" now. Our students have "real-life friends" and some now have "internet friends". Some of these friends are both. Can we always tell the difference? Learn all that you can to help guide children in their sometimes murky internet decisions. We want our children to be respectful, mind their manners, have fun and be safe.

Fun ways to learn internet etiquette and safety are here. We want our students to learn good manners and stay safe with their "real-life friends" as well as their "internet friends". For years, our students have loved learning with Disney's SurfSwell Island - and you should see it on the SMARTBoard...cool! There is also a special section for PARENTS.

Older students enjoy earning their license to navigate the internet at PBS kids Get Your Web Licence . Our fourth graders learn more about privacy issues, policies, and passwords. 5th graders renew their license here. All students print out their OFFICIAL PBS KIDS WEB LICENCE to keep. Please ask about these at home and visit the site together to reinforce etiquette and safety.

Internet Safety

2007-09-05T09:26:00.000-04:00

In technology classes we are learning how to keep safe on the internet. This is important even if you do not have or use the internet at home. Our district filters help and so does educating us all about keeping CyberSmart. Parents, your students may sometimes come home with a paper from Technology Class. Please go over the information with your family. Learn ways to keep your computer and your family safer.
More information: StaySafeOnline GetNetWise

VoiceThread - a Web 2.0 Tool for projects

2007-09-01T09:08:00.001-04:00

VoiceThread is a tool for enhancing pictures by adding audio recordings. We are getting to know more about each other and learn some geography too by using this tool in Technology class. Keeping saftey in mind - our participants have an icon and username. Viewing is public, but you must be member of the class to make comments. Classes will be working on this project soon, so watch it grow. If you would like an invitation to join us, contact JoNelle Gardner at gardnerj@fort-mill.k12.sc.us subject: VoiceThread

http://voicethread.com/view.php?b=5353

Calls From the Classroom

2007-08-31T23:05:00.001-04:00

We had just flown through the plans for the semester- I had so many web 2.0 tools to tell my students about. Blogging, podcasting, wikis (showed them the great video below) and Skyping with the webcam. My students were lining up to leave the technology lab on their first technology class since returning to school. We heard the now familiar noise over my sound system - my students pointed to the invitaion displayed on the SMARTBoard: ACCEPT or DECLINE the call. I hesitated- I had never seen this before. They yelled ACCEPT IT-ACCEPT IT!! Then I saw it was a friend in my educator's network - from Australia. We are in South Carolina - a 14 hour time difference. Simon talked to the students and they were thrilled. After they left, Simon told me that my video was not working - the students did not even know (and still don't-shhh) that he did not see all of their excited waving and smiling.

I worked on the mystery of no video on my end- no luck. The next day a different class had just finished a video email on our Logitech webcam that we sent to their homeroom teacher when Skype notified me that I had a caller on the web. I switched over to Skype and once again Simon from Australia talked to a group of excited elementary students. Still no video on my end. How was it working when we just made a video email and not now??

Techies probably know the ending.....Later that day, I was on to something entirely different when I stumbled on a valuable bit of info: Make sure you have only one application for your camera running at a time. Yes - I can now Skype successfully. A note has been going home this week to 2nd-3rd grade parents..."Send an email to me to be on my list" and you too can receive Calls from the Classroom! Students can't wait - me too!

Learn Keyboarding at Home

2007-08-27T10:45:00.000-04:00

At GHES we use Type to Learn and Type to Learn,Jr keyboarding programs. You can have fun keyboarding at home and learn proper finger positions. Go to Dance Mat Typing. Begin at Level 1 and build your skills through Level 4. In technology class we are learning how to use the site - remember- no peeking at your keyboard:)

Podcasts and KidPix

2007-08-24T22:24:00.000-04:00

What do podcasts and Kidpix 4 Deluxe have in common? They are two technologies that help our students learn in all subjects while having fun. There are two ways you can help!

Podcasts are great ways to boost reading and writing skills. Students will create podcasts or webcasts - audio and video "shows" that will be posted on the internet. Parents will even be able to subscribe to their shows. These shows can be heard/seen on your computer, an MP3 player, an ipod, or even burned to a CD. We have what it takes to make basic webcasts in our room - and we want to do even MORE! With help from donations to this project, we will create our podcasts outside of our lab - we can create anywhere.
DonorsChoose is a special not-for-profit web site where "teachers submit project proposals for materials or experiences their students need to learn. These ideas become classroom reality when concerned individuals, whom we call Citizen Philanthropists, choose projects to fund." On behalf of GHES technology lab, I have submitted two proposals for your consideration. One for creating podcasts/webcasts, and the other is for KidPix 4.

KidPix 4 is a versatile software that is great for all subjects. Read more about what we can do with this excellent program in our technology lab! Ask your student about KidPix projects!

Please help get the word out about DonorsChoose - a great way to know exactly where your donations go and how they help your child learn.

Why are Technology Classes Changing?

2007-08-19T01:57:00.001-04:00

What is a WIki? Watch this and find out!

2007-08-02T22:34:00.000-04:00

Welcome to GHES Blogger

2007-07-10T23:59:00.000-04:00

We have exciting goals in Technology for 2007-08!
Blogging, podcasting, and wikis are new additions to Technology this year. Not sure what these mean? We will explain these here in our blogs and in our podcasts. For now just double-click on a word to find an answer!

Stay tuned and learn along with GHES. Communicating and learning with our terrific GHES families are important to us. The next few entries will explain how this will work for students, parents, and teachers this year.

While you are wondering...help us name our Blog and our Podcast. So far we have

GHES iSURFFers
for
GHES StUdents Ready For the Future

We also need a logo and a mascot!
Sounds like we need some input from YOU!