I have been in the throes of Student Exhibition, and still have more work to do, but it’s about time I updated!
Last week, I attended the Memphis City School Annual Technology Conference. I also presented both days of the conference, hoping to get techie teachers excited about the possibilities blogging can open up for their classrooms or schools.
Suzanne and I presented on Thursday, and I went solo on Friday. Overall, it seemed that many of the session attendees were keen to get started on Edublogs, which was the site and guide that we provided for setting up a teacher blog. I am hoping to hear from people there and to see what they are blogging about, or how they are involving their classes in blogging.
On Thursday night, I also attended a webinar hosted by Edutopia (GLEF). “Small World: How to Bring Your Students in the Global Online Classroom” was a conversation with Will Richardson, author of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, and the hand behind Weblogg-ed. It was inspiring! If I was committed to changing what is possible for my students in the 21st century at Downtown Elementary, I am even more. At least, I feel energized. It was very motivating to meet with about 200 other like-minded educators and share questions with Mr. Richardson. I’ve already got some ideas brewing for blogs and wikis, thanks to his examples.
Student Exhibition was yesterday, as well as Family Math, Science, and Technology Night. Those deserve their own posts, methinks.
I just found out that our proposal to present at the Tech Conference has been approved! Suzanne Garverick and I will be conducting a workshop entitled “Blogging: A Powerful Tool for Classroom Communication.” It will be on both days of the conference, so if you are in the Memphis area and planning to attend the conference, I hope to see you there.
The Memphis City Schools 14th Annual Technology Conference will held November 6 and 7, 2008 at the Teaching and Learning Academy at 2485 Union Avenue.
This conference gives educators from around Memphis and the Mid-South, public and private,an opportunity to share experiences, best practices and success stories relating to technology integration, data-driven instruction, and the use of imagination and creativity to produce technology-based projects. It will also showcase cutting edge technology that is likely to impact teaching and learning in the future.
Many informative and exciting sessions are being planned that will include the use of practical applications across all grade levels to support all teachers in successfully integrating technology into the classroom.
I really look forward to working with iMovie in the lab this year. It is definitely going to be something the students will enjoy. I know several other teachers at the school use iMovie in their classrooms, and some even get their students using iMovie for projects.
What I really foresee as being beneficial to the school is making sure that teachers who use iMovie effectively in their classrooms can help those who do not feel comfortable with it. It all comes down to realizing the impact it can have on shaking up things in class and getting the kids excited. I am considering doing a voluntary training session or two with teachers in the lab this year.
Here’s an article called iMovies in Education, which really shows the whole scope of possibilties.
Why am I thinking about iMovie?
I took a refresher course in the very basics of podcasting today at the TLA. Of course, I am hooked on the idea of getting all sorts of fabulous equipment to really have a high tech podcast production center. Right now, I think that is getting a little ahead of myself! To be honest, I think that what we have right now in the lab (i.e. our eMacs) has just the right equipment for guiding students in making basic “podcasts.” To do podcasts for the school, we will definitely need a bit more. Right now, I think a Snowball (microphone that is both uni and omni-directional) will be the best bet for reasonable funds with good functionality. Now the only question is, how can podcasts help promote Downtown Elementary?
- Informational: Interviews with administrators and faculty detailing our Optional Program, as well as other programs and opportunities our school has
- Community Involvement: Interviews with parents and community members–informational interviews (such as science, social studies, or math topics with parents or other professionals); motivational interviews (with positive messages or tips for students); literature focus (parents or community members reading excerpts from favorite children’s books)
- Student spotlights: Featured students read an excerpt from their favorite book
- Teacher spotlights: Interviews with teachers, or teachers reading from their favorite books
- Tips: Homework and school work strategies for success
Podcasting seems to be a great medium for communicating with not only students and parents at home, but with the community. Podcasts from the school could possibly be made ready for download, which would be a bonus. I will continue to brainstorm this summer and see if a more organized plan can be created. Perhaps once the school year starts, teachers, parents, and community members who are interested in making Downtown very Web 2.0 savvy can help with planning and production.
…For now!
This is a great picture and I think representative of the relaxed atmosphere. Now this was my kind of professional development: smart people, cool tools, very high expectations for learning, and fun.
I took a lot of notes today! The morning started with RSS (Really Simple Syndication), which was something discussed in classes for my library media specialist certification. Today was the day that it really dawned on me how useful they could be. Now I have iGoogle set up and Google Reader, and have quite a few RSS feeds coming in. I’ve also got some feeds coming up in a widget on the blog.
We also went over the basics of podcasting, and more importantly what equipment our school needs and how to go about procuring it. I’ve taken the podcasting class before, but I am signed up for it again this summer. I’m determined to get this going with the upper grade students, so I really need to sharpen my podcast production skills.
A refresher of netTrekker was much needed, and we worked more on our blogs. I also set up a wiki, which is still in a very fledgling stage. I hope to get the faculty interested in editing it throughout the year to come up with a sort of comprehensive vertical grade planning wiki. More to come on that later…*crosses fingers*
What a great week! I’ve even got a book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms by Will Richardson, and a nifty framed certificate complete with the Nerd Herd avatars. 
