Week 10-The Gift of Knowledge

This week's assignment is optional--you only need to complete it if you missed one of the previous weeks' posts. In the spirit of the holidays, I thought we'd give someone who isn't in our class the gift of something you've learned. Here's how it works:

1. Look over the past posts and find something you think you'd like to pass on to someone else.
2. Pick a person on your staff to receive your "gift of knowledge."
3. Visit that person and say, "Hey, do you have minute so I can show you this cool thing I learned?"
4. Show them. (Don't forget, let them "drive." Only in dire situations should you take over the keyboard or mouse of another person--we learn best by doing.)
5. Come back here and tell us what you shared and why, and a little bit about the experience.
6. Enjoy your break!

Week 9: eBooks

I love RSS feeds! I subscribe to several and I am always finding new ideas for the elementary classroom. I also find some for secondary as well. My two favorite blogs are Free Technology for Teachers and iLearn Technology. I also enjoy free e-books. Richard Byrne, author of the blog Free Technology for Teachers, recently posted a new e-book called The Super Book of Web Tools for Educators. It is written by bloggers, teachers, and school administrators. Click here to read his blog post about the book and links to the authors' website/blog. Two of the authors, Kelly Tenkely (former elementary teacher, current technology integration specialist) and Lee Kolbert (elementary teacher) have blogs that I follow as well. (Click on their name to see their blog.) All three have wonderful ideas and resources for elementary classrooms.

For this weeks post, read through The Super Book of Web Tools for Educators. Read about the resources in the Elementary School section and the Blogging in Elementary School Classrooms section. Tell us your Top 3 resources for classroom use. How could you use these tools with your students?

Week 8-Pixie

Pixie is a K-5 software with many capabilities. At its basic, it can be used as a drawing program. Some advanced features include audio recordings, creating slideshows and publishing videos. Pixie offers a variety of activities/templates for use with students. (While in the program select Open, Activities, and then select a subject) Teachers have the ability to create their own activities for students as well. Tech4Learning, the company that makes Pixie has an image website called Pics4Learing. These images can be accessed through Pixie.

Tech4Learning.com has some great resources for teachers using their software. You can visit the Trading Post to access activities/projects that have been created by other teachers. (You need to register to access them.) You can visit the Connect tab to read their blogs and forum. Here they also provide ideas for using Pixie as well as their other software.

While exploring the website I found some helpful pages regarding features, integration, training, and videos. They also have a website, Recipes4Learning, made up of full and partial tutorials. Read a recipe when you want to learn all about the application OR read a snack when you want to know about an individual feature. Click on Recipes or Snacks, select your level by clicking on the diamonds (1, 2, or 3) and then select Pixie 2. Finally, choose your tutorial. (I would suggest clicking on the PDF icon or Get Printable Version so you can view it full screen. Otherwise it opens in a small window that cannot be maxamized.)

For this weeks post, visit Tech4Learning and explore the resources available. Use any of the links provided above and share how you plan to use Pixie with your students connected to your grade level curriculum. (Remember Pixie is available on classroom teacher laptops and in the computer labs.)

Week 7-Google, More than Just a Search Engine

Last year you looked at Google Street Map as a possible tool for use in your classroom. Google has numerous tools for educational use such as Custom Search Engines, Groups, and Docs.

For this weeks post, review the two e-books (Google for Teachers, Google for Teachers II) and/or Google for Educators-Tools for Your Classroom and share with the group one or two ideas you have for using Google as a teaching tool and/or with your students.

Check out even more tools here! My favorite is Panoramio.

Week 6-Halfway There!

Well, we're at the halfway point. How is it going? For this week's assignment, I'm asking you to do three things:

1. Provide a little bit of information about your experience so far by answering these questions:
On average how much time do you spend on the assignments?
Do you check back after you post your comment to read other comments?

2. Revisit the previous blog posts (find access to the archived posts in the lower right corner hand of this page), and read through the comments. Find at least one thing to comment on and "reply" to that comment by clicking "reply" and leaving an insight, answer, or suggestion to that comment. One of the benefits of blogging is the conversation it allows for. Imagine if we had done this class via email. I could have sent you each week's post in an email and you could have responded to me with a reply to that email. However, notice how much richer it is to see and respond to each other's thinking using the blog instead.

3. Leave a comment to this post with your "mid-term" reflection. Anything you want to share is fine, but here a few questions you might want to consider: How is this set up working for you? How does learning this way stack up next to more traditional ways of learning? Have you learned anything about the way you learn that might impact how you teach? Any suggestions for the second half of the class? Remember--commenting on someone else's post counts.

Week 5-Podcasts

One of the ways Mr. Coley engages students in their learning, keeps parents informed of new learning and provides students with resources is by creating podcasts. Under Podcasting Resources, Mr. Coley explains how a podcast is differnt from an audio/video file and how to create an RSS feed. Any type of audio/video recording of students can be time consuming, but once you get the hang of it and learn how to mange it in the classroom the possibilities are endless!

As a first grade teacher, one way I used audio was to create a retelling of The Little Red Hen. This story is a part of our Communities unit. I used the built in recorder on my teacher laptop, recorded the students reading and added the audio files to a PowerPoint. Another way I used audio was to record my students singing songs about Australia and added it to a presentation of our Imaginary Flight to Australia using Windows Movie Maker. One way I used video was to create a presentation for Open House connected to our learning of Community Contributors. Using a digital camera, I recorded the students explaining what they want to be when they grow up. I shared this work with parents through my classroom blog. Next time I'd like to take it a step further and created a podcast!

For this weeks post, visit ColeyCast and StudyCast. Share how you would use audio/video recordings to enhance your curriculum. Would you record yourself and/or students? Would you create a podcast or post audio/video files to your SWIFT site/send as an e-mail? How would you poll your parents/students to find which would be best for them?

Week 4-iPod Flash Cards

A few weeks ago Kimberly and I were talking and somehow the idea of creating flash cards came up. She suggested creating flash cards for students to access using their iPods. While searching online she came across Mr. Coley's website. After looking at his site we figured he must be single because how could he maintain such a wonderful classroom website. (His website shows he is married with children. How does he do it?) Mr. Coley has been kind enough to give us directions on how to create flash cards for our students using PowerPoint. He also has a library of flash cards that he has created. I was eager to try it myself and realized that in addition to parents/students putting the flash cards on an iPod, I could e-mail the presentation to parents and they could then open the attachment on their phone and allow their child to practice their math facts or spelling words in the car or grocery store. They could also access them on their computer. There are so many ways to help our students succeed!

For this weeks post:

Explain how you could see yourself using/creating flash cards for your students. How would you provide access to your cards for parents/students? Give it a try using his directions/tutorials and let us know your successes and challenges.

Next week we will explore Mr. Coley's site further. He has so many great ideas!

Week 3-King County Library System

Did you know that the King County Library System has numerous resources on its website for adults and children? By visiting the main page you will see many options for you and your students. Do you have a unit coming up? Don't be limited to the books at your local branch. You can place a hold on books from any location online. You will receive an e-mail when they are ready AND you can decide where you would like your books delivered. Choose from any of their locations!

There are so many ways you can use the King County Library website as a teaching tool and with students. Click on Databases then Kids to access several paid websites for free. Just use your library card number and pin! Visit the Kids Page to access book lists and reviews. Visit Good Books for Kids and rate the stories you have read as a class. Visit the Kidreads blog to comment on the librarians' reviews. Encourage families to read your ratings/comments and to use the site at home.

For this weeks post, explore the website then tell us what you found and what you plan to use in your classroom.

Week 2-RSS Readers and Feeds

What is RSS? RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Using RSS, you can easliy be updated with changes to a website without having to check it on a regular basis. Click here to watch a short video by commoncraft.

Internet Explorer has a built in RSS Reader. It also connects to Outlook. You need a reader to receive your feeds and you need to subscribe to feeds in order to receive them. If you use Internet Explorer or Outlook to subscribe to feeds, they will only be accessable from that individual computer. If you want a reader that you can access on any computer, you can use a third party such as Google Reader.

Last year you participated in Learn & Earn 1. During that time you explored Edublogs.org and other teacher's blogs listed in the Best Teacher Edublog 2009. For this post, I'd like you to explore the Edublog Award Winners for 2009 in various catagories. Then, I'd like you to choose one and subscribe to it using Internet Explorer. Once you are on the website, you can subscribe by clicking on the orange button in the top right corner.



You will be prompted to Subscribe to this feed.




Once you click, your feed will be added to your reader. You can acces it by clicking on Favorites, then the Feed tab in Internet Explorer or by going to Outlook where you find your Inbox, Deleted and Sent folders. I enclosed a snip of the tech blogs I follow in case you would like to search for them online.







For this weeks post, please share which blog you subscribed to by providing the link and tell use something new you discovered on their blog that you would like to learn more about or try with your students.

Week 1-Welcome to the Learn and Earn 2 Blog for Elementary Teachers

I assume that since you are here for Learn and Earn 2, you are familiar with the routine. I'll post new content for you each week on Thursdays. At the end of each post there will be a prompt for you to respond to. You'll have until the following Thursday morning to respond to the prompt by posting a comment at the end of that week's entry. NO LATE WORK. (However, I do know that sometimes life gets in the way of even the most interesting of blog posts, so during the week of Thanksgiving and again during the winter break, I'll post an optional prompt. These two posts will not be required required for clock hours UNLESS you have "make up" work to do because you missed responding to a post (or two).)

Another thing that's new this year is the total clock hours you can earn--I shortened the class length to 10 weeks/posts (actually 12 if you count the two optional posts mentioned above) and increased the total number of clock hours of the class. Now the class is worth 5 clock hours. This change honors the fact that many of you will choose to spend more than 15 minutes a week with each "assignment," especially when you consider the time you may (hopefully) spend experimenting with and implementing some of the ideas you learn about.

Well, let's get started shall we? To begin, I'd like us to introduce ourselves. In your comment below, please include

• your first and last name (or just first initial of last name if you want to be less "google-able"),
• where and what you teach,
• what you find most promising, challenging, or exciting about technology today
• and, finally, anything you'd want me, your instructor, to consider in planning future posts (e.g. are there topics or tools you'd like to see featured?)

If you'd like a a little primer about posting comments, you can watch this video:

Posting a Comment to the Learn and Earn Blog from 10Tech on Vimeo.