Is Your Alarm Ringing?

Technology Alarm Clock! My alarm goes off every morning at 5:05 and I go to school to teach my 6th graders social studies. Nice school, people, students…….I feel good about my classes and oh such great lesson plans…..NOT! My technology alarm clock went off at the NCAECT Conference big time! Will Richardson led me to realize that I can’t hit the snooze button any longer. Our children need what the title of his book says, BLOGS, WIKIS, PODCASTS AND OTHER POWERFUL WEB TOOLS FOR CLASSROOMS now! It isn’t just time to “Take it to the Net”, but to the emergency room! I no longer feel the “want”, but the “need” to do it! Our classrooms are in crisis and everyday we don’t deliver these technolgy opportunities to our students is a day loss in my new mindset. Thanks to all who got me to this conference. I’m reading Richardson’s book. Get it and read ASAP! I have a new vocabulary! I have wikipedia! So long to Jeeves! My learning has changed and I will expose it to my students, team members, and my family. I am still in a little “Future Shock”, but love it everytime I absorb a bit more of it. I am on my way now to understanding the 21st century learning and it has nothing to do with Sally, Dick, or Jane!

Technology Alarm Clock! « socializeit

Bravo! This is something that we’ve been trying to convince people of…it’s not that we should use technology tools because it will engage students, but we HAVE to use technology tools before we lose our students. There will come a time (and I don’t think it’s too far off!) when our students will look at public school and decide that we are so far outdated that they don’t need us.

I mean, really, I can memorize content from any number of places online–if I really want to extend my learning and make it my own by writing about it in my blog or sharing it in my podcast, then I need access all those Web 2.0 tools that are out there.

Sound the alarm–if we want to save our schools, we have to act NOW!

Technorati Tags: techchicktips, action, web2.0, tools, alarm, ncaect07, fortunecookie

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2007 Student Moviefest Competition!

Check this out!!! Student Film Festival competition–

The National School Boards Association, in association with Apple Inc., announces the fourth annual Moviefest competition. Students across the country are invited and challenged to answer the question: “How Can One Person Make a Difference?” How can you change the world? There are thousands of political, environmental, economic, educational, health, humanitarian, and animal issues affecting our world. Create a 60 second Public Service Announcement to share your insights, ideas and inspiration for making positive change happen in one area—as individuals, as members of the local community and as global citizens of our world. Share your story or idea about the extraordinary power of one human spirit to make a difference.

Registration is now open! This year’s contest starts Monday, February 26, 2007 and closes on Monday April 23, 2007. Winners will be announced Wednesday, May 16th, 2007. NSBA and Apple Inc. will select three films created by students, one from each grade category: K-5, 6-8, and 9-12. After the winning films are identified, NSBA will extend an invitation and complimentary registration to the Arts Spotlight at the 2007 T+L Conference in Nashville, October 17-19, 2007 to each winner and their teacher. A special thanks to the support provided by Digital Event Logistics.

T+L Conference / Moviefest

Technorati Tags: techchicktips, digital learning, film festival, competition, movies, apple, barbecue

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Episode #21 Notes

Episode 21

Shout-Outs
Sylvia in FL for being our first K7 caller! Thanks for the feedback–we LOVED hearing our listeners’ voices!
Wayne in CA for also leaving us K7 voicemail and contributing to our mic fund!

Resources
http://www.chacha.com/
Search Engine with a twist! Relies on “human intelligence”–really–if you want, you can search with a guide via chat! HUGE implications for kids! You can do a simple search on your own, or connect to a guide and have someone help with your search. This is definitely not for veteran surfers, but we see huge potential for students and parents who might not be as familiar with using the web. Shout-out to Chris for helping us with our guided search!

http://www.evoca.com/
Online podcast creation tool with all kinds of additional features. Create sound files with a phone, computer mic, or Skype. Organize files with albums, groups, and tags. Share files via phone, email, RSS, blog, podcast, or download to an iPod. Search audio word for word or via tags. Two levels of membership, free and professional. Share your voice–might be a good option for those that don’t have tools readily available for making podcasts or capturing student/parent input. Free level is limited to 60 minutes of recording.

http://www.pow-pak.com/
From new out-of-lurkdom-forum member, Eric Curts of Indiana–free web design, podcasting, blogging, website authoring tool for your web server. Creating blogging and podcasting pages is easy, and even features an auto-generate RSS feeds. Check it out–thanks for sharing this with all educators, Eric!

http://memorizable.org/
This site is the home of memorizable tables, which are an efficient flashcard-like way to memorize information on a web page. Wiki-based tool that is totally cool. Lots of already-created tables and very easy to create your own!

http://tumblr.com/
“Tumblr is your friendly, free, and terrifically easy tool for creating tumblelogs.” Tumblelogs are like blogs, but easier–just click to insert text, images, etc. Very structured, so great for first-time bloggers. One pro/con is that you cannot receive feedback.

http://crowdabout.us/
“Crowdabout makes podcasts interactive and conversational. While listening or viewing in the online Conversational Player, you can talk back and add your own thoughts to those of crowds of other people listening to the same shows. Share ideas, correct mistakes, debate the finer points, offer advice, shout out to homeys, leave some love…whatever your motivation, crowdabout makes the conversation possible.” Our crowdabout site: http://crowdabout.us/digimom/myshow

Integration Ideas for Women’s History Month:

• photo timeline in iPhoto/Picasa (you can either provide images, have students look for their own; products can either be a slideshow or a book)
• photo collage of women who have made an impact in any area (math, science, politics, etc.)
• NetTrekker famous person search is great for finding people to research (subscription-based student-oriented search/resource website)
• biography in comic form–great for writing/summarization (using Comic Life or PowerPoint)

Technorati Tags: techchicktips, digital learning, social web, comic, lemons, women’s history, tumbleweeds

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