Technically Speaking...

I am on vacation, technically speaking. As a teacher, I feel so blessed to have the summer to relax and refuel. Since school has been out, I have thought, planned and toyed with ideas for the upcoming school year, but not seriously because...I am on vacation!

Tonight, however, I met at a colleague's house with some really smart teachers to talk about how to use technology in our classrooms. I was able to play with an Ipad and a Kindle. I learned more about Flickr, Imovie, and Twitter. I even visited some kid created blogs. Two smart teachers in our group each have really smart, tech-savvy kids who created cool blogs about things they care about. We talked about our summer professional development opportunities and planned for upcoming events. I learned a lot and I had fun with my "tribe" even though...I really am on vacation!

Kevin's Meadering Mind Podcast

Kevin's Powerful Meadering Mind:  I didn't get a chance to see Kevin Hodgson because I was in other sessions, but Tony from Learn Me Sumthin and Mary from Teaching in the Tech Frontier raved about his Meadering Mind.  Mine has been working in overdrive since the conference and I flipped over to his blog tonight and listened to his podcast reflection on Tim Tyson's technology movement in his school.  I'm posting the link    (scroll to Feb. 22) because I cannot do it justice...all I can say is WOW and AMEN!!  For those of you wanting to move faster and farther than districts will "allow", Kevin shares what it took for Tim Tyson to go up against district and technology administrators and get most of his teachers blogging weekly.
It's a must "hear" podcast for teachers, administrators, and district officials.
Enjoy!  I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Iweb Wonder Adventure

  Iweb is an intranet site (I think...?) that can be viewed throughout our district and our tech specialist shared some of the possibilities with me.  So Monday, my treasures and I began what I am titling, "The Iweb Wonder Adventure."  She showed us what are some of the possibilities with the project, and off they went.  They have already figured out how to add video and podcasts to their page.

Since I had not created my own, I was learning with them. (After all, they need to see us take risks in our learning, too!)  They chose their theme, created a Welcome and About Me page, and then their own blog page.  My goal is for them to write their narrative as they go through the process on the blog page, and create other blog pages for different purposes.  This will be the place where their poetic literary essay will be published.

Some of the things we learned:
1.  Some themes will only type in all caps.  That's an issue once we begin composing and publishing authentic writing works.
2.  We had some difficulty linking everyone's site together, so that will need to be worked out.

Tomorrow, I'm going to let them play and figure some things out on their own.  They are definitely tech savy!  Has anyone used this application?  Any hints, comments, suggestions would be appreciated!
 

Of Primary Importance for Intermediate Treasures

Throughout the past year, I've been reading blog posts referencing Ann Marie Corgill and her book, Or Primary Importance. While at NCTE, I was fortunate to listen to her speak about an author's apprentice and mentor texts in the writing workshop. She recently moved from teaching primary to sixth graders and I embraced the one line she spoke towards the end: "I have found that whether I am teaching first graders or sixth graders, both age groups need similar structures and strategy lessons. All we as teachers need to do is "bump" it up to the appropriate level."

I went to the library, read her book, and have purchased my own to mark it up. She speaks with sincerity, as she tries to create purposeful writing experiences in her classrooms. While I am currently teaching fourth grade, I am going to use her studies as a GPS for my writing themes in the new year.

Mary Lee, from A Year of Reading, has been sharing her ideas for Literary Essay thinking. Since we both are in the same district, I've been marinating on the Literary Essay study in writing, also. I'm going to approach it through a poetry focus in 2010, while incorporating visual arts and technology. I want poetry to be a genre they are choosing to read and write throughout the year, not during poetry month. We've been studying words: how they sound, how they look, how they mean, and how they feel when we say them. Using this schema, my goal is for them to find words and themes to use in their writing. Ann Marie recommends front-loading and previewing the genre before we write, so my treasures have been sharing favorite poems. We've been using an Elmo machine to project the poems. I'm amazed at how engaged they seem when they are doing the sharing.

The first two weeks back, I'm going to share mentor texts that depict various types of poems and have them try them in their independent time. I want these texts to be touch points for my treasures to reference as they begin to craft their ideas and mold their poetry thoughts. I'm also thinking of ways to use different media as a mode of expressing their craft. Fourth graders still want to use paint, clay, and other art medium, so I want to tap into that intelligence. The technology component is the area I'm working on. Our computer time has been limited, so I'm problem-solving some ways to include this component, also. Thanks, Mary Lee, for sparking my thinking! You always do!

Technology, Target, and the Haircare Aisle

Have you ever gone through the haircare aisle at Target and looked at all the different options you have? There's shampoo, conditioner, gel, mousse, spritz, hairspray, pommade, and many more. Then, you can even look at the purpose for each item: curly hair, fine hair, normal, straight. So many choices, so many uses.

I recently attended a two-day Leadership Academy in our district and many of the sessions focused on technology. As I learned many of the options out there, I needed to marinate on how I would use them and apply them to the learners in my room. Katie at Creative Literacy, and Karen from Literate Lives and myself had conversations about why we would use one software idea over another. There is so much out there that I sometimes feel overwhelmed and unprepared. But, I slow down and step back.

My mission is to teach my kids to understand their purpose of the the project. They need to think about their audience and then decide which program would be beneficial for them. Like the haircare aisle, there's so many choices. Instead, think about the learning style, purpose, audience, and then decide what would be best for that project.