Integrating Slideshare into PowerPoint.....

I just learned about an add-on you can install into PowerPoint called the Slideshare ribbon. It makes using slideshare even easier....to learn more check out 'Jane's E-Learning Pick of the day' http://tinyurl.com/5ky5vy or go directly to Slideshare's website to download http://www.slideshare.net/developers/apps/pptribbon

Syntax Smyntax

I attended the Christa McAuliffe Technology Conference today in Nashua and whoda thunk a blog worthy comment would relate to syntax?

For the few human beings who know me, you know I am a type-A chick who loves the blend of technology and education. I spend ridiculous amounts of time playing with technology tools in the hopes that one of these tools will come in handy when I am in midst of the business of educating our youth. I start playing with a tool the minute my masters program professor mentions it in class...I drive my co-workers and co-students nuts. I am sorry! It is just the way my brain operates.

So it is interesting to me that the piece of information I walked out of the Moving Beyond the Basics: Using Web 2.0 Tools in Your Blog or Wiki session today wasn't a cool Web 2.0 tool....instead, it was the mission to learn more about syntax....syntax for internet searching, syntax or Google Spreadsheets, SYNTAX....how mundane, but how important for a technology teacher!!

We can assume that students know how to search the internet just because they use Google...but how many of us have spend too much time searching the net for info that we could have acquired quicker by visiting our informed local librarian? Searching the web for relevant reliable information is not as easy as it seems. Students must e taught that syntax of careful web searches.

Similarly, using web 2.o tools to the degree that they relate to the appropriate age-group and curriculum area we want to cover is also more difficult than we may think. The presentors of this session showed us some powerful Google Spreadsheet tools that they just learned about, but the message that connected with me was that we were just learning the tip of the iceberg...the trick of really 'getting it' was to determine how to learn all of the syntax of the tool and to share that with the teachers I am asked to influence....I am on it!

Highs and lows of technology Integration

Well. I must admit I experienced a big word cloud 'low' and 'high' today in Nashua at the Christa McAuliffe Technology Conference . I bumped into a friend of mine who had just used Wordle in her elementary classroom. I was convinced she would be raving about the success of her endeavor. WRONG! My friend had created an appropriate word cloud about thanksgiving, but when she used the site it displayed a word cloud created by someone else that contained inappropriate language. RATS! I had planned to use Wordle as a concluding activity in a lesson on Microsoft Word Basics for my elementary students. What is a risk-taking technology teacher to do? Keep listening! I no sooner had digested the bad news, when I heard my director tell me about an alternative word cloud generating site recommended by David Warlick called TagCrowd....

The site is a bit simpler than wordle, but the good news is that it still generates a word cloud that can be printed OR embedded into a blog/wiki, but it seems to avoid displaying anything other than YOUR word cloud which could be a blessing to elementary educators....sometimes LESS IS MORE. Susan...don't loose hope, check this out!

Small World....from online conference to lunch!

Today I was fortunate enough to spend the day in Nashua at the Christa McAuliffe Technology Conference I left a session early and hoped to catch the end of a Voicethread session. Unfortunately, it was over and the presenter was chatting with a coworker of mine. I was disappointed, but headed off to lunch. Interestingly enough, the presenter was sitting at the same table as another friend of mine....

We started chatting and I realized the woman's name was familiar...it was Sharon Betts....online presenter of Never Too Young at the K12 online conference I had participated in a few weeks earlier as a part of my MESPA Instructional Technology masters program. Cool! Even better as we chatted she let me know about a solution to the 'You Tube blocking' issues educators have been grappling with....edublogs/tv.

This website will allow you to host You Tube videos on a website that typically is not blocked in a school setting. This is beyond exciting for an education-techo-nerd like me!

I tried it today and I cannot lie...I could not get it to work! Argh! I will try again from my mac. I will not be denied! This will work for me! I have found online tutorials to show how it should work (pretty easy)...so I think there is a hiccup somewhere....More later...

RSS Feeds

Check out my RSS Feeds on the right hand section of the blog. As I mentioned in class...I am a Bob Sprankle cyber-stalker!

Interesting article in eschoolnews called 'On the way: Nation's first tech-literacy exam' http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/index.cfm?i=55483

K12 Online conference...We Like Our Blogging Buddies

I watched a more detailed K12 session in the Prove It category....
“We Like Our Blogging Buddies: The Write Stuff with Blogging Mentors”

This is exactly the way I was hoping to use blogging. I am interested in having 5th grade students write in a blog. I would love to hook up with a high school English teacher and have their students comment on the 5th graders work.

The teachers in this session teach 1st grade and at the university. The university students are learning to be elementary teachers. Reading the 1st graders blogs helped them understand invented spelling and helped them come up with positive comments and constructive criticism. The first graders were given an authentic audience for their writing and a wealth of feedback.

K12 Online Conference...Never Too Young

I enjoyed watching “Never Too Young” by Sharon Betts of Maine who highlighted the uses of Voicethread, Dipity and Blogging in the early grades. On the downside, the session did not instruct a user on how to use an application (I was hoping to pick up some VoiceThread tips), but it did a good job explaining the practical uses of Voicethread (cool ap that combines audio-video-text-etc to allow teachers and students to deliver a message), Dipity (online timeliner tool) and blogging in the elementary classroom. I was glad to see that Maria Knee's blog was used as an example of how elementary teachers can integrate technology into the classroom. I was priviledged to have met Maria Knee at the Christa McAuliffe Technology Conference last year. She co-taught a hands-on workshop on using an ipod and recorder in education that I attended. She also was awarded the 2007 Technology Award. She is seasoned teacher who is currently teaching Kindergarten in NH!

The session is worth a look if you work in elementary education.