Category Archive
The following is a list of all entries from the Uncategorized category.
VoiceThread in Art!
Patty Sheridan (elementary art) teamed up with Cassidy Dailey and her first grade class to create a VoiceThread project. Their cave art project was a cross-curricular project, combing art and vocabulary.
Tags: voicethread, ES, art
PhotoStory 3
Another popular tool our WCS teachers have embraced is Microsoft’s PhotoStory 3. This tool has proved to be very quick and easy to use! Edgar Brown has used PhotoStory to create art lessons to post on his webpage as well as individual student projects.
Here are a couple links to Edgar’s PhotoStory projects:
Principles of Art
The Colorwheel
Tags: photostory, MS
Iditarod VoiceThread
Carol Fox’s third grade class created a VoiceThread for their Iditarod project. I love that one of the Iditarod mushers commented on their class project!
Tags: voicethread, ES, iditarod
Wow. Long time, no post…
It has been months and months since I last posted to this blog. I was hoping to use this as a tool to keep the WCS community updated with the projects and ideas surrounding technology integration at Williamson.
I’m hoping to take a little time today to get these projects and ideas posted. The teachers currently using technology in their classroom deserve the recognition!
Google Reader
As you know, (sorry for not posting in months!!) I am an avid Google Reader fan. I just came across an excellent tutorial that I thought I’d pass along.
Enjoy!
Gimp vs. Photoshop
I attended another technology committee meeting this morning where multiple teachers asked questions regarding the availability of having Photoshop in their classrooms. Why? Why do teachers who want to resize their photos and remove redeye think they need Photoshop to accomplish this?
I like open source software. So many people overlook this option when buying software for their computers. Gimp Shop (an image editor) is FREE and works great. It has so much Photoshop functionality built-in.
I was reading this post about GIMP vs. Photoshop and think the author makes a lot of valid points.
The vast majority of the people that pirate Photoshop do not need it.
The people who legitimately use Photoshop use a fraction of its
capabilities. Honestly, unless you’re putting out a print publication,
you really don’t need Photoshop. You can just as easily use the Gimp to
float text over a Dragonball-Z picture to post as your image signature
in a web forum as you can with Photoshop, which is what most people end
up using their pirated copy for anyway. Oh, and to create bloated,
image-heavy web layouts that slow down an already overworked internet
connection. What great reasons to pirate a grand worth of software!
The Class of Web 2.0
An article at solution watch says:
I often found, and many teachers have noted this as well, that the students would publish to their school blogs even when not instructed to. Students really enjoy reaching out to the world and they are so motivated by it that they want to write even more. They would describe how there day was, what they learned in class, or even things they learned or read on the news that day. It’s amazing.
I’ve noticed the same thing. Why are kids so motivated to post to a blog? They are reading, writing, internalizing, posting, thinking, reacting. Why does the internet make this so much easier? Or doesn’t it?
The ‘Net’ Generation
This morning, I read an article about the next generation of students in schools, the ”net generation.” Dan Farber writes:
During a session at the Web 2.0 Summit, author and consultant Don Tapscott shared results from a research project on the Net generation, the first humans to grow up digitally. An estimated 80 million people in the U.S. alone are coming into the workplace and marketplace with a far different set of experiences and skill than previous generations. “Kids are lapping their parents on the info track,” Tapscott said.
We, as educators, are certainly aware of this change. Part of our pilot program with BOCES and Will Richardson is to examine the shift educators must make to meet the demands and ideals of this new student. We need to understand how this generation thinks, how they act, and what they like. According to the same article:
The Net Generation also wants the freedom to schedule. In the survey, 42 percent of those survey watch TV asynchronously, time-shifted viewing.
Relationships and collaboration are part of the Net generation psyche. Hence, the rise of social networks, or ‘n-fluence’ networks, in which the Net generation influences each other and other generations.
Does this mean online classes would be more appealing to the net generation? What do you think?
Technology Integration
I found a little blurb on the Education World website about tech integration.
Integrating technology into the curriculum is a priority — if not a
mandate — in most schools today. Most educational technology experts
agree, however, that technology should be integrated, not as a separate
subject or as a once-in-a-while project, but as a tool to promote and
extend student learning on a daily basis. The challenge, of course, is
in finding ways to use technology — and to help students use it –
that don’t take time away from core subjects.
This couldn’t be more true. I strive to accomplish this everyday. As a huge technology fan, I find that it’s hard to get others excited and motivated to integrate it.
