If you’re coming to the Midsouth Technology Conference, I will be a presenter at these sessions:
Dec 9: DIY Edtech-Edupunk-Why and How
(Assisting Aaron Fowles) This presentation will address the why and how of DIY educational technology, sometimes called edupunk. Rather than list a number of resources and how teachers can use them, we aim to identify the requirements of a modern education and the technologies that can help fulfill those requirements. Furthermore, we want to show teachers how many resources are available to them at no cost because we feel that many providers exploit teachers’ lack of knowledge in this area.
Dec 10: Creative Writing with Kerpoof
Learn the basics of the online creative application for kids and see how this powerful tool can be used to enhance creative writing. Get tips on how to best use the “Make a Story” and “Make a Movie” features, while also exploring management strategies for online student accounts.
Dec 10: Great Open Source and Free Resources for Your Classroom
Presenting 25+ open source software and web application resources for students and teachers that you can download or use completely free of charge. High quality, user friendly, time-saving programs that teachers and students will get a lot of use from. From classroom management to creative tools, from skill-building to file conversion–whether small or big, resources may be useful to teachers and students in grades K-12.
We have not really had a moment to breathe this year–it’s been a whirlwind operation from the get-go. Technology training? No time! Since several teachers had approached me wondering if we could meet up at school during the summer so I could “show” them a few things to enhance technology use in the classroom, I decided to devote two weeks this summer to in-house casual professional development. But I’ll extend the invite to any Downtown parents and any Memphis area teachers that might accidentally stumble upon my little bitty corner of cyberspace.
Here’s the deal:
JUNE: Week of 6/15-6/19
JULY: Week of 7/13-7/17
All dates will start at 10 AM and though it might not go until 3PM, I’ll stay till then in case you want to practice or play with stuff.
Mondays will be digital photography and iPhoto (bring a digital cam with an SD card, if possible).
Tuesdays will be video importing and editing in iMovie.
Wednesdays will be eBeam and Kerpoof for the classroom.
Thursdays and Fridays will be play dates. This means I’ll just be here from 10 to 3 and at your service. You can come in to practice any of the things we’ve done M-W or ask for specific help on anything you’ve wanted to learn or brush up on.
Of course, the July dates will be after I return from NECC, so I might be chock full of even more good ideas. *smile*
If you need to get in touch, just send me an email: SmithTeacher@gmail.com
Recently, two third grade teachers asked me for help. They have projects planned for students to work on and the topic is landforms; however, they needed me to guide the students into researching and taking notes. So, we used NetTrekker, KidsClick, and FactMonster to locate information about various landforms, using Word to save a bibliography and take notes. The students then put the notes in their own words, using speech bubbles and text boxes in Kerpoof’s “Make a Picture.” So many of the backgrounds available include landforms that third graders were studying: mountains, valleys, plateaus and mesas, river deltas, peninsulas, coasts, plains, etc.
So, the product was simple: Choose a background that represents your landform (or is a close stretch of the imagination), and add text boxes and/or characters with speech bubbles that discuss facts about the landforms. Of course, I allowed some additional “atmosphere” humor, such as dinosaurs shouting “Run for your life! The volcano is erupting!”
Here is a PDF with fairly simplified instructions:
Of course, additional directions would be needed for doing the research as well as using a word processor! I’ve only focused on getting to the finished product.
My Kerpoof lesson plan is up!
It’s here on the Kerpoof Scholastics page, retitled Fairy Tales with a Twist.
Wow! A revamp of the site! They’ve added a new feature, Doodle Pad, which will be a hit with kindergarten for sure. It’s got a new navigation system, a new way of organizing stuff in your “bag,” and it might just be me, but the graphics seem more animated and vibrant. It makes me wish I was a software designer. Kerpoof’s technical team must really have fun making such cool-looking features with the notion that kids (and even us big kids) will get so much enjoyment from it.
Anyone who has been checking out Kerpoof, go and have a look. They’ve even decorated for Valentine’s Day.
