Caffeine for the Classroom: Intriguing idea

One of the most productive and interesting sessions I attended at the NECC Conference in San Antonio this summer was Dr. Cheri Toledo's from Illinois State University whose topic was the use of online discussion questions. I have tried this using turnitin.com's discussion board and found it had merit and was successful but now I have a greater appreciation of this technology tool and have gained some valuable tricks of the trade. This will be one of the new ideas I try after the first year of the grant since I am locked into those lesson plans. However, it is possible I can use this more immediately as I see how time allots itself. In the meantime, I feel I gained a valuable new insight and idea for technology use.

Attending NECC in San Antonio, TX

Our newly assembled grant writing team (slightly different people from the original group) attended the NECC convention in San Antonio, TX June 29-July 2, 2008. We had a wonderful time and worked very hard. I attended about 5 sessions daily from developing wikis to new models for modern 21st century high schools. This year each team member had a laptop computer and carrying case on wheels. In some sessions we had to balance the laptops on our laps and over the course of the conference I developed a crick in my neck which has taken a few days to cure. But it was all worth it. Our level of confidence was much higher this year as we had already been working with Web 2.0 tools and worked hard in writing the grant. We met many interesting educators from all over the country and even the world, particularly Australia. Now as a team we will work on implementing all these new tools into our lessons as the grant starts in August. In fact, the equipment begins to roll in around the first of the month. It will be an intense but challenging year.

Google for Educators

In perusing the edublogosphere tonight I found a link to Google for Educators and plan to keep checking the site periodically. Google tools seems to lend themselves well to web 2.0 applications. In the meantime the class wiki my American History students are using has had its high moments with some of the ideas I have tried. At least by this fall I will have had some working experience in using one. Hope continues to spring eternal that I will master some of these educational technologies.

Frustration of technology when it doesn't work

Today was not a good day in the technology department. The server at the elementary crashed which means it eventually affected us at the high school. By fourth period we could not connect to the server so there was no internet as well as the inability to get to the student files. Tomorrow is a question mark; these things never seem to be solved in a prompt and timely matter. So, a quick Plan B has to be devised for tomorrow's classes which is not the real problem so much as the deadlines for the projects cannot really be adjusted as they are set pretty much as late in the semester as possible. There is a level of frustration which must be dealt with and endured and worked around once the committment is made to use technology. Actually, I deal with it much better than I used to; we have had major problems in the past and somehow it all works out. Still, next year when we are doing all Web 2.0 technologies it will be more difficult to work around infrastructure failures. Hope springs eternal that tomorrow will be a better day.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/patrickm/71965759/

RSS for Educators

My new copy of RSS for Educators just arrived purchased from ISTE with Social Studies Department funds. I anticipate learning a lot about blogs, newsfeeds, podcasts, and wikis and how to use them in the classroom; particularly in conjunction with attendance at the NECC convention this summer in San Antonio, TX.

Speaking of which, I am practicing using a wiki with my American History class this semester so I can get the feel of it. This wiki can be found at http://historytrek.wikispaces.com although it is set to private. Mainly I am getting comfortable with managing the wiki and trying out a few collaborative ideas. We will see how it goes.