Copyright and Fair Use Slides TO SEND - Google Docs

Copyright and Fair Use Slides TO SEND - Google Docs

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

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?

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 Originally made of papyrus, it was considered a great advance in technology for communication.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!

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

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.cellphonesinlearning.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

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

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?