Related Links
Teacher Assignments
Conditions of Use
|
|
The Pre-Test
Article posted October 26, 2009 at 03:28 PM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 6822
|
|
The last day or so you have completed a pre-test on using Office 2007 and general computer literacy. Log in to your blog and do the following:
1. Create a new article. Name it: The Pre-Test
2. If you want to use a spell checker, use Word to type your blog and do the spell check. Then just paste the article into your page.
3. Answer the following three questions. Copy the questions and paste them into your article before answering. This assignment will count for a grade. Articles that do not demonstrate appropriate writing skills will not be approved.
A. What parts of the pre-test were easiest for you?
B. What parts of the pre-test were hardest for you?
C. Since you know your score when you finish, what do you think your score says about your skills in Office 2007 and general computer literacy?
|
|
Article posted October 26, 2009 at 03:28 PM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 6822
|
|
Technology and You
Article posted August 8, 2009 at 07:09 PM GMT0 •
comment (3) • Reads 14862
|
|
Today we are creating a blog for you. Once you have set up your blog, your assignment is to create a new article and submit it for publishing. You will have one class period to do this.
The title of your article will be: Technology and Me
Your assignment is to write about how technology affects you in your life. Tell me what technology you use and how you use it. Do you have access to a computer at home? How do you use it? Belong to any social networks? Myspace? Facebook? Explain to me how you use technology in your life.
|
|
Article posted August 8, 2009 at 07:09 PM GMT0 •
comment (3) • Reads 14862
|
|
Technology Committee
Article posted January 6, 2009 at 12:43 AM GMT0 •
comment (1) • Reads 1879
|
|
Monday, January 5
We just finished our first meeting.
We agreed to read the first seven goals in the new Nadaburg plan and make comments on them in this blog. Under this article you will see a "Comment" tab. Click on it and you will be able to add comments as long as you wish. Actually the easiest way to do it is to write your comment in Word, then just paste it into the comment box. Don't forget to read other's comments too.
Thanks for taking time to do this!
The 7 goals are as follows:
1. Goal: Improve student academic achievement through the use of technology in elementary and secondary schools with a target of fully integrating technology into the academic curriculum.
2. Goal: Ensure that quality teachers, staff, and administrators are involved in Arizona educational institutions and that they are proficient in the use and integration of technology through professional development activities.
3. Goal: Ensure that all K-12 educational institutions have the capacity, infrastructure, staffing, and equipment to meet academic and business needs for effective and efficient operations.
4. Goal: Ensure that all K-12 institutions will be positively involved in collaboration and partnerships that are supportive of technology use and curricular integration.
5. Goal: Ensure that all K-12 resources are available for all students, regardless of race, ethnicity, income, geographical location, or disability, so they can become technologically literate by the end of eighth grade and achieve their academic potential.
6. Goal: Develop a continuous process of evaluation and accountability for the use of educational technology as: a teaching/ and learning tool, a measurement and analysis tool for student achievement, and a fiscal management tool.
7. Goal: Develop a schema of current and future financing requirements to support the LEA’s Technology Plan. (The national strategic plan focuses on performance. It states in unambiguous language the measurable goals and objectives the department intends to achieve. It creates the base of an accountability system for the State and all LEAs, as it works to imbue accountability throughout the nation’s education system.
|
|
Article posted January 6, 2009 at 12:43 AM GMT0 •
comment (1) • Reads 1879
|
|
Desert Oasis
Article posted December 19, 2008 at 03:59 AM GMT0 •
comment (2) • Reads 431
|
|
As soon a Christmas break is over we will be starting a new instructional progam in the district. Teachers will bring their classes to the computer lab one day a week for instruction by me or the lab assistant. That will tie the lab us for two full days. The other three days will be booked by teachers using a shared calendar.
Our hope is that the lab will be used more with this system. In the three weeks I have been in the district the lab has been empty a good deal of the time. With the addition of a full time lab assistant and the ability to schedule your own lab time the lab should be used more. Time will tell.
|
|
Article posted December 19, 2008 at 03:59 AM GMT0 •
comment (2) • Reads 431
|
|
Littleton
Article posted July 21, 2008 at 06:00 AM GMT0 •
comment (4) • Reads 1790
|
|
Welcome Littleton teachers!
If you are reading this the chances are that have signed up for a professional development class for prospective Technology teachers, or you just want to learn more about using technology in the classroom.
Your homework for the first day of class will be to respond to the questions in this blog. During our first class we will be creating a bloging site much like this one for you to use with your students and as a place to put your homework for today. As you will see, you can use a blog site for lots of things. One of them is homework.
A natural question at this point might be "How much detail are we supposed to go into in this assignment?" That's hard to answer, but you should spend less than an hour doing this. Don't write a book and don't give three sentence answers either. Here are the items you need to respond to in your first blog article on your blog site:
1. What do you hope to learn from this class?
2. Describe what we did in class the first night.
3. From what you know right now, what are some ways you might use what you learned in our first class in your classroom?
4. Before you leave this site, use the "Comment" button to leave me a comment of some kind.
Happy bloging!
|
|
Article posted July 21, 2008 at 06:00 AM GMT0 •
comment (4) • Reads 1790
|
|
The New Web Project
Article posted January 31, 2008 at 02:01 AM GMT0 •
comment (2) • Reads 498
|
|
I have retired from active classroom teaching and entered the world of "highly paid consultants", minus the "highly paid" part. I am involved in helping the Dysart Unified School District create live morning announcements broadcasts on television at eighteen elementary schools. More about that later.
Needing another project to occupy my free time, I decided to create a comprehensive listing of: Web 2.0 applications or sites, project based learning resources, free software appropriate for educational use and open source software appropriate for educational use. At the time, it didn't seem like such a big deal. Little did I know.
Being a clever fellow, I thought the first thing I should do was to create a Google Alert for "Web 2.0". That was easy. Then I looked for commonly available Web 2.0 sites such as del.icio.us, Blogger, Edublogs and so on. About this time I could see that this might get out of hand. To simplify the process I went to the ISTE website and purchased several books, including books about Podcasting, Web 2.0 and "best websites". By now I was nearly suicidal, overwhelmed with information. Nevertheless, I kept plugging away t it.
I found many 2.0 sites that looked great, but not applicable to educational use. Lots of online applications, some of which were not educationally appropriate. But overall I was (am) amazed at the scope of "web 2.0" sites and applications that are appropriate for educational use. As more information became available through the Google Alerts, periodicals, books and so on I created a new database in FileMaker Pro to keep track of it all. Once the entries started to level off a bit, I started importing the sites into my website http://www.bgoodman.com . Organizing the entries was a bit more of a challenge. This is what I have so far. For Web 2.0: Custumizable homepages, Image management and editing, video creation, office tools, collaboration, social networking and project management. For Free Downloadable Software I have lots of entries, but no organization to them as of yet. I also have Project Based Learning resources, real time and primary source data resources. In the area of transformative sources, I have blogs and wikis.
I could use a bit of help with the organization of this mess. The datebase is easing the pain of keeping track of all of this. As the database is in FileMaker Pro developer, at some point I'll be able to publish the db for public consumption. Let me know if you are interested.
|
|
Article posted January 31, 2008 at 02:01 AM GMT0 •
comment (2) • Reads 498
|
|
Web 2.0
Article posted November 22, 2006 at 09:09 PM GMT0 •
comment (1) • Reads 456
|
|
Our latest project is exploring web 2.0. One eighth grade class was given the assignment to investigate online storage, online wiki pages, project planners, calendars, aggregators, online word compatible software, oneline word processors and so on. They used a blog (see Mr. Gessner's class) to report their findings several times in the three seeks of the assignment. They created PowerPoints that had links to the subject being investigated, a review of benefits and weaknesses for each from both a student and teacher's point of view and a final summary of that tool as to wheather or not it would be useful for schoo.
For most students in the class it was an eye opening experience. After just a few days, students were using online presentation software to work at home, then downloading the presentatins in class to show the class. Others were creating documents at school, storing them online and accessing them from home. Many problems studnets have with technology were addressed by these tools.
There were a few problems with one student "undoing" what someone else had done on a wiki page. From a teacher's point of view, I created an account at each site so that I controlled the passwords and access, and checked each one regularly. Overall, I'd say it was pretty successful.
Our next project will be to go back to Vyew.com and see if we can productivly use it to create shared knowledge about the Bill of Rights. What I hope to end up with before the end of this school year is a presentation for teachers that will summarize web 2.0 and how it can be used in the classroom. I'll keep you posted.
|
|
Article posted November 22, 2006 at 09:09 PM GMT0 •
comment (1) • Reads 456
|
|
Blogs and Podcasts
Article posted September 28, 2006 at 02:25 AM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 372
|
|
In the last three weeks, the technology program at Cimarron Springs has been in the newspaper, on television and on the AzFamily.com website.
What this really means is that our staff here at Cimarron Springs is using technology at a very high level. We have teachers at many different grade levels using blogs, podcasts and websites to improve instruction in their classrooms. Students here at Cimarron Springs actually create and post daily podcasts. We have taken an important first step in transforming instruction with technology.
Another important next step in this transformation is to get teachers and students so accoustomed to these new tools that they become primary means of instruction. As they do so, they will create a demand from other students and teachers to use these new tools in more classrooom.
Another step we need is to start collaborative projects with schools outside our city, state and country. When we truly realize that we can collaborate with the world from our corner of the earth, we'll make the jump into transforming how we teach. This blog will be picked up by Technorate. Is anyone out there of a similar mindset? Let's hear from you!
|
|
Article posted September 28, 2006 at 02:25 AM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 372
|
|
The First Three Weeks
Article posted September 9, 2006 at 06:03 PM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 365
|
|
The Arizona Republic called yesterday to interview me about the use of blogs in the classroom. In the course of the interview I tried to get across the idea that it's not just blogs, but wikis, collaboration of all kinds, podcasts, etc., that will change the way students learn and teachers teach. I sent the reporter a list of four links that show exactly what I was talking about that the studnets here at Cimarron Springs have produced this year. Yep, this year. We have blogs, web sites, podcasts and a website up for general viewing right now. You may not realize it, but we are doing cutting edge stuff right here. Keep it up!
|
|
Article posted September 9, 2006 at 06:03 PM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 365
|
|
The New Year
Article posted August 24, 2006 at 01:31 AM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 357
|
|
Here we are again; the first week of school. As a technology (computer) teacher in an elementary school I see about 1300 students throughout the year. We will be blogging with 5th and 7th grades this first three week period. This will be our second year to experiment with blogging. Wish us luck!
|
|
Article posted August 24, 2006 at 01:31 AM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 357
|
|
My Classes & Students
About the Blogger
I am the Computer Literacy Coach for the Nadaburg Unified School District in Wittmann, Arizona. The job includes teaching Technology classes in grades 1-8 and helping teachers integrate technology into their daily life.
|