I've been researching the authors of each chapter of the book. All of them are proponents of education, but know that NCLB is not working. It's underfunded, and has way too many standards that can't be reached. A well performing school can be deemed below standard because it can't make unachievable goals.
Our Gem Girls team discussed all of our responsibilities as we finish the book after class last Thursday. Vicki our illustrator and summarizer extraordinaire has wonderful information already available here on the blog. Sheri is already making the connections between MCLB and Brophy. Thank you ladies! I've printed the rubric so we'll be on track.
Thank you as well Sheri for the request of being able to finish up our Teacher Work Sample during Spring Break. Thank you Dr. Zimmerman for allowing us this extra time!
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Conference Follow-Up
It's seems I've been so busy since we taught a session at the conference on 3/14. We had a great group of 49 participants. Since then we've been busy back to ASU Graduate School classes, getting grades into the computer, lesson planning, teaching, etc...
Unfortunately due to our county's student conference day we missed over half of Thursday's sessions. I greatly missed SMART Board sessions done by middle school teachers on Thursday afternoon.
Most of the sessions I attended were great.
Thursday after the opening session I learned about making my own Wiki. Kimberly Harris taught participants how to create their own wikis. She has been in touch with participants after the conference with more information.
The only other session I was able to attend on Thursday was Get your SMART Board up to Speed. I learned more tools that I didn't even know were available on my new SMART Board. I've already had fun using the timer and spinner with students.
On Friday morning Vicki and I spent the first session time visiting vendors and psyching ourselves up for presenting. It went well!
After presenting on Friday I went to a non-fiction session led by a well known company. Since I don't have the option of spending money on a big program this wasn't very interesting to me.
The last concurrent session I attended was Start SMART: Winning SMART Board Lessons. These two gentlemen were not only entertaining, but also informative. I learned even more about the options of using the SMART Board in my classroom.
The Closing Session and Luncheon were great. Our table was the Goody's 500 so many samples of Goody's on the table. Lunch was great, I even got Vicki to switch desserts and I got the chocolate!
I greatly enjoyed closing speaker Deneen Frazier-Bowen. What an actress! We found that she had been all of the interesting "students" that had visited pre-conference and concurrent sessions and the opening session as well.
A great close to the conference was the it was moving to Raleigh in 2009. The NCaect also moved the bus to a new name-- TIES. Looking forward to an opportunity to attend the conference in '09.
Unfortunately due to our county's student conference day we missed over half of Thursday's sessions. I greatly missed SMART Board sessions done by middle school teachers on Thursday afternoon.
Most of the sessions I attended were great.
Thursday after the opening session I learned about making my own Wiki. Kimberly Harris taught participants how to create their own wikis. She has been in touch with participants after the conference with more information.
The only other session I was able to attend on Thursday was Get your SMART Board up to Speed. I learned more tools that I didn't even know were available on my new SMART Board. I've already had fun using the timer and spinner with students.
On Friday morning Vicki and I spent the first session time visiting vendors and psyching ourselves up for presenting. It went well!
After presenting on Friday I went to a non-fiction session led by a well known company. Since I don't have the option of spending money on a big program this wasn't very interesting to me.
The last concurrent session I attended was Start SMART: Winning SMART Board Lessons. These two gentlemen were not only entertaining, but also informative. I learned even more about the options of using the SMART Board in my classroom.
The Closing Session and Luncheon were great. Our table was the Goody's 500 so many samples of Goody's on the table. Lunch was great, I even got Vicki to switch desserts and I got the chocolate!
I greatly enjoyed closing speaker Deneen Frazier-Bowen. What an actress! We found that she had been all of the interesting "students" that had visited pre-conference and concurrent sessions and the opening session as well.
A great close to the conference was the it was moving to Raleigh in 2009. The NCaect also moved the bus to a new name-- TIES. Looking forward to an opportunity to attend the conference in '09.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Opening Keynote
Shift Happens! Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach has led us on a journey from what was to what is NOW! Web 2.0 -- Web 3.0. Second Life-- AET Zone has some of the attributes of Second Life, but I won't be buying any couches for my avatar's living room anytime soon, of course she would have to have her own living room first. Something to ponder-- Bloom's Taxonomy should now have the top Create. The Top 10 jobs in 2010 aren't even jobs today. To get 50 million users it took the radio 38 years-- digital cameras 8 years-- camera phones 3.5 years.
This conference is so deep into the Shift Happens- Gear Up With Technology-- there has been a constant race theme. There are drivers and pit crews- races and sponsors. We began with "Educators, Start Your Engines!"
"Student" Eddie is sharing with us now and has decided that Sheryl can keep speaking. She seems to know the language. She has three sets of numbers on her shirt-- they stand for the numbers of drop outs over the last three years. All of the numbers are over 20,000. Visit http://learningconditions.blogspot.com
This conference is so deep into the Shift Happens- Gear Up With Technology-- there has been a constant race theme. There are drivers and pit crews- races and sponsors. We began with "Educators, Start Your Engines!"
"Student" Eddie is sharing with us now and has decided that Sheryl can keep speaking. She seems to know the language. She has three sets of numbers on her shirt-- they stand for the numbers of drop outs over the last three years. All of the numbers are over 20,000. Visit http://learningconditions.blogspot.com
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Driving Questions session--sites we visited
Here are just some of the sites / programs we examined in Kevin Honeycutt's session at NCaect. They're cool tools we can use to help reach all our kids. (Not all of the sites are for the use of those kids, though--some of them are just for us teachers, and the rest need to be used judiciously with supervision and guidance....like any other teaching materials, really.)
- Apple - iTunes - iTunes Overview
- Apple - iWork - Keynote - New in Keynote ’08
- Art Snacks
- Celestia Home
- Classroom 2.0
- EarthBrowser - Interactive Earth Globe
- Flying Meat VoodooPad
- Google SketchUp - Home
- Jing Project Visual conversation starts here. Mac or Windows.
- Joost - Free online TV - Comedy, cartoons, sports, music and more - Download today
- Kevin Honeycutt
- Lulu.com - Self Publishing - Free
- MabryOnline.org
- NetSmartz.org
- podOmatic Podcast Portal Create, Find, Share Podcasts!
- Second Life Official site of the 3D online virtual world
- Skype official website – free download and free calls and internet calls
- Solar System Simulator Product Product home
- TeacherTube - Teach the World Teacher Videos Lesson Plan Videos Student Video Lessons Online Teacher Made Videos Teac
- The Teaching Company Educational Courses on DVD, Audio CD, and Audio Tape- Lecture Series by College-University Professors
- There - the online virtual world that is your everyday hangout
- Twitter
- USTREAM.TV Shows Free LIVE VIDEO, Webcam & Video Chat Rooms, Streaming Broadcast, Stream Video Clips, Internet Radio Cams, Web
- YourTeacher Online Math Help Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1, Algebra 2, & Geometry
- YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.
- Zamzar - Free online file conversion
- Apple - iWork - Keynote - New in Keynote ’08
Several books also came up, including The Curse of Knowledge, Made to Stick, On Intelligence (available on Audible.com), and Coloring Outside the Lines.
Driving Questions session @ NCaect
So many links, so little time! I'm a little overwhelmed at all the information we've seen, all the ideas for engaging and creating opportunities for kids to learn. If you're interested, check out http://kevinhoneycutt.org/ for the basics. I'll add more later.
Audra, Sheri--Kevin was really interested in AETzone. I demo'd it for the session. :)
Audra, Sheri--Kevin was really interested in AETzone. I demo'd it for the session. :)
Connect, Explore, & Share
I'm learning a lot about the issues and concerns that Instructional Technology Specialists face each and every day. Resources, budgets, professional development... and of course the desire of teachers and administrators.
I've been to Moodle, Ning, and have made a new blog for my students. So many sites are available on the Burke County Schools Instructional Technology Specialists Wiki- http://bcpsits.pbwiki.com/ -- Enjoy!
I've been to Moodle, Ning, and have made a new blog for my students. So many sites are available on the Burke County Schools Instructional Technology Specialists Wiki- http://bcpsits.pbwiki.com/ -- Enjoy!
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Chapter 2 "Food for Thought"
- What message is NCLB sending if everyone is just looking for a way to get rid of the kids who will bring down the scores? ~~I have actually witnessed this at my school. We are supposed to be checking all of the children's races, because one of our AYP subgroups that we don't usually do well in is black and we just happen to only have 43 students that fit into this group. Therefor I am being forced to 'check' and be sure that all students are in the "correct" group.
- Can we really blame those schools and principals, especially since those scores could affect their jobs?
- Why does no one but the teacher seem to see that the program that was set up to protect these poor, handicapped and children of color is more often than not, hurting them and forcing them to be left behind? Are the higher ups ~government officials~ oblivious, clueless or do they just look the other way?
- Is NC doing something wrong by mandating recess? Our kids are doing no worse since requiring recess each and everyday, so for once are we doing something right?????
- I have now seen "Mile Wide-Inch Deep Curriculum" in Many Children & Brophy, do we think someone may be catching on, or is it just coincidence?
Friday, March 7, 2008
NCaect Conference: CyberHunts for the Middle School Learner
Two-thirds of the Gem Girls will be presenting our CyberHunts session at the NCaect Conference on Friday, March 15. We're scheduled for Piedmont B from 9:15-10:00. We've got a couple of posts on the Technologyties blog pointing back here, and we plan to blog about the sessions we attend. We've gone public, people!
Sheri, wish you were coming with us. Of course, if our pre-conference brainstorming and planning session at Holbrook was any indication, we'd just spend the whole 45 minutes cracking each other up. ;)
Sheri, wish you were coming with us. Of course, if our pre-conference brainstorming and planning session at Holbrook was any indication, we'd just spend the whole 45 minutes cracking each other up. ;)
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