Last week I had the pleasure of working like a scientist. I was apart of a design team of rising 5th and 6th graders. We worked on designing things that would “cheat air” as we studied, “How Things Fall.” We had 4 challenges. The first was to build a better book support using only index cards, paper clips, and rubber bands. The second challenge was to control the way water fell so that we could get as many drops of water on the head of a penny as possible. The next challenge was to design a toy helicopter for a cereal company that would fall as slowly as possible as it twirled in the air. The last challenge was to design a parachute that fell slowly.

To complete these challenges we worked together. We offered ideas on how to improve our ideas in meetings called Solution Briefings.   We took each others ideas to make the best product we could that met the criteria set under the constraints we had to work in. When we developed a final product we held an Investigation Expo to explain to other scientists what we had done. My group won second place in the whirligig contest. It hovered and twirled over three seconds in the air!

What do you think a President should do? What kind of person should he be?

Techie Teacher’s Weigh In.

I assigned my students a Civil War webquest to complete together last year and it was a collaborative nightmare. Students worked on their parts and used thumb drives to save their work. When they were done, the student groups put their presentations together. Unfortunately, some lost their drives before they could add what they had done and had to redo them. Making changes after their work was assembled was awful too. Google Docs may be the way out of this collaborative maze. The video below makes it look so easy and logical. I do have questions however. For example, students do not have email accounts. I believe you must have your own email account to edit presentations. If all you need is a username and password it may work. I am going to see if I can make it work. I will keep you posted on what happens.

Thanks to Jason Parrish I clicked around the Parent/Student Mock Election  website. It is sponsored by the National Council for the Social Studies and just about every other heavy weight national education group. Activities and lesson plans for teachers abound. There is a BrainPop video explaining the election process and lesson plans for children K and up.  There is a game that looks very cool where the kids get to run for office and launch a campaign called The Road to the Capital. You can enroll your class and parents or your entire school to participate in the Mock Election being held on October 30, 2008. Your entry must be recieved by early September so better get a jump on it.

 I was pleased to attend the librarian and technology teachers inservice today at Craigmont Middle School. The day started with Bill Bailey , Education Services Manager of the Commercial Appeal. He explained all the wonderful features that will be available at the city’s newspaper as it is going Web 2.0. They have exciting changes that are taking place. I look forward to posting new and exciting things from them here on my blog. It only got better from there. Teachers got to choose from break out sessions that covered everything from Web 2.0 tools to Discovery Learning to expectations of tech teachers. The attendees seemed electrified, charged up, and ready to get their year started with educational technology. I presented with my tech camp friends, LeAnn Dowty and Laura Hanna Smith. We talked about what we were doing with what we learned at Tech Camp in June. Presenting allowed me to confirm what I will be teaching this school year. And I so enjoyed what LeAnn and Laura have done. They inspired all of us. I believe there is just as much knowledge gained from teaching as there is in being taught. So I can honestly say that no one left there more super charged than I did. I believe that the group of teachers at the inservice are going to take the world by storm.

I have posted a free audiobooks site before, but I would like to add this one. I found Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Cooper’s Last of the Mohicans. As a parent I find that audiobooks help readers who enjoy a good story but get tired when reading.

Using wikis in the classroom

I read this article by David Smith who is Director of ICT in London. His advise has helped me gain a greater understanding of what I want Web 2.0 tools to do for my students. A quote of his that resonantes with me are, “learning is inherently social, and any tools that can promote this will be the most effective. ” Yet what pulls me back is what David Smith has obviously recognized.

“My mode of conducting the class was, to a large extent, the limiting factor in how people engaged with the wiki. Yet I still wonder if, for our purposes, I was required to conduct those classes in that manner due to the subject matter and time restraints, especially because participants had little time outside of classroom hours to contribute or participate in any extra tasks? No answers, only questions … Perhaps time and access are important factors that cannot be overlooked.”

I know that having 5 classes back-to-back is an obvious constraint. Somethings got to give if positive change is to take place. In fact what we techies are fertilizing in our heads could overthrow long established educational thought. Click on the link below to read this article to find out more about the Revolution. 

http://www.preoccupations.org/2004/05/using_wikis_in_.html

Here are a few more links to help you recognize the Revolutionary in you.

http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2005/12/wiki-wiki-teaching-art-of-using-wiki.html

TrialI know this seems vain to have so many pictures of myself, but I used these just to try this out. as so easy to use I had to share it on my blog. Wow your parents and principal with this professional looking action filled presentation.