WilliamsonConnects! » WC!

“I Need My Teachers to Learn”

dawne — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:14:08 +0000

I entered this song in “Quickpress” a few days ago and thought it would show up here. I don’t know where it went, but will try again. This is an original song. Kevin Honeycutt ( KevinH ) on Plurk , has given me permission to post it. It is sung from a student’s perspective. They are frustrated that their teachers do not support their learning using technology. If the upload doesn’t work, I’ll share it at a meeting. It’s on my phone. I Need My Teachers To Learn

Learning Fair Project

wcmlyons — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:44:57 +0000

Ok, I just completed my Learning/Technology Fair Project. I chose to begin a classroom blog as another way to share information about what we are doing in first grade with the rest of the world. I decided to record my students reading their constellation stories with my Flip video recorder. It is very easy to use. I then uploaded the videos with the Flip software. In order to load the videos to teachertube, I had to first save them to a file on my desktop. If I uploaded to youtube, I could have done it directly. So, teachertube had one extra step which was fine once I figured it out. Then I loaded the videos from teachertube to my blog by the html. It was a little time consuming, but now that I know how to do it it should be much faster next time. It was definitely a great learning experience and feel that I am just touching the surface of how a blog can become an integral part of classroom communication and learning tool. If you would like to see my blog it is wcmlyons.edublogs.org

Importance of the Tech Integration Specialist

wclmiller — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 02:03:11 +0000

Quite a few of the tech integration specialists in my personal learning network are being told their positions are either being eliminated or reduced due to budget cuts. I’m wondering why – does this mean technology integration is considered a luxury if it is one of the first things put on the chopping block? I think not.

We have been told that our job is to prepare students for the 21st century. Technology is and will continue to be in their personal and professional lives. As educators, it is our responsibility to be sure students are prepared to effectively use that technology and it is the integration specialists who are helping us accomplish this goal. They are staying current with the latest technology, providing necessary training and supporting the classroom teacher with the implementation of technology to enhance the students’ learning. The learning curve for teachers is greatly reduced with this support – I recently read an article that said without professional development, it takes about seven years to implement a new technology and with support, about two and a half years. Without the integration specialists, technology integration will surely slow or take a few steps backwards.

It is my hope that administrators throughout the country will rethink their decisions to reduce or eliminate tech integration specialists. Our students need their expertise if they are going to be “tech literate” upon graduation.

Learning How to Podcast

wclmiller — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 00:45:03 +0000

We met on Friday to record our podcast and decided to just share our feelings about our topic rather than have a planned script. We discussed how students have changed related to the technology they use in their social and educational life. The podcast probably isn’t our best work as far as content, but we now have an understanding how to produce a podcast. We didn’t do any editing of the recording in Audacity – that will be another task to be learned at a later date. On the recommendation of a friend on Plurk, Gcast was used for our podcast. (One feature of Gcast is that you can record your podcast using your phone!) Keeping our fingers crossed that this works.
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Can Plurking encourage Blogging?

dawne — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 19:40:51 +0000

This is my first “true” blog entry! I thought that I had begun weeks ago, but was merely commenting about other’ posts. I now understand how frustrated students become when everyone else “gets it” and they are missing a critical element. I have always been very independent. Plurk has changed the way that I approach learning, in a way that other experiences have not.

I have only been “Plurking’ for four weeks. I have learned more about teaching , learning , and myself,from this activity than I thought possible. It’s about connectivity, the core of Williamson Connects! My interest in photography has been stimulated and encouraged. I joined Flickr and am doing the 365 photo-a-day challenge. Sharing the links from educators, photographers and scientists added to and supported the exciting additions to my expertise made possible with WilliamsonConnects! Plurk offers an opportunity to have international associations with people I never could have met, and: Surprise!, interactions with highly gifted colleagues with whom there is never time for anything other than a passing comment. Another benefit is the social interaction which adds levity and support to each day.

Plurk seemed not only foreign, but somewhat offensive to me a few weeks ago. Now, I realize that stubborn independence does not produce effective results! I wanted to blog so much today, that I finally reached out to colleagues. Response was immediate! Plurk led the way. Now I want to further explore diigo. I’ve been bookmarking for weeks, but never go there.

Interactive educator: Future Proofing Students

wcjscoppa — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:08:44 +0000

After reading an article from SMARTtech, our group discussed the ideas of social networking and using the Internet in the classroom. This is crucially important for preparing our students for the future. The following questions came about.

HOW CAN WE ACCOMPLISH THE FOLLOWING IN THE CLASSROOM?

a) Promote social networking integration that is school appropriate and will not be proxied?

b) Help educate our students how to use the web in a responsible and discriminating manner?

What are your thoughts?

New Round of WC!

jamielpeters — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:34:46 +0000

It’s been almost a month since our first WC! meeting of the 2008-2009 school year. I’m excited, energized, and ready to learn with all of the new participants. At our first meeting, we discussed the article, “What a Difference a Century Makes!”, WC! expectations, staff guidelines for district-owned laptops, and Google Docs. We learned how to use Google Docs and how easily it can be used with students. It was interesting to note how many student excuses (regarding homework) we can extinguish with the use of Google Docs; no more lost disks, broken printers, stolen papers, etc.

Skype with 3rd Graders!

jamielpeters — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:45:56 +0000

I just returned from Skyping with Carol Fox’s 3rd grade class and another class in Tennesse (thanks to Cindy Brock!). It was such an awesome experience to see the students connect with one another over sports, days off, playground, math, spelling tests, etc.

Thanks to Cindy and Carol for help coordinating! I think we have all the kinks worked out with our Asus eeePC — it should be smooth sailing from here!

Tags: skype, web2.0, wc!

SKYPE!

jamielpeters — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:59:21 +0000

I have been spending time with Carol Fox in the Elementary School “playing” with Skype. We have successfully used two to connect with a video conference. Once we realized the potential, we posted a request on both of our twitter networks (http://www.twitter.com/jamielpeters & http://www.twitter.com/carolfox) looking for other schools to Skype with. We have had three replies! Carol will start skyping with another school in Tennessee this week!

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Tags: eeepc, twitter, wc!, ES

PhotoStory 3 | WCS Technology Integration

jamielpeters — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:43:23 +0000

PhotoStory 3 | WCS Technology Integration

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