Christa McAuliffe Technology Conference '08

I attended the Christa McAuliffe Technology conference this year in Nashua, NH. I have attended for the past four years, and I am amazed at the wonderful guest speakers they arrange each year. This year I was so excited to see David Warlick speak. I follow him on twitter as well as keep up with his blog writings. I am a big fan! This year, I convinced my other two colleagues to come with me on the same day, so they could hear David speak as well. They think I am a bit "geeky" because I am constantly updating them with some new article or blog post that I encountered using my PLN! I have to thank Jeff Utecht for this. Had I never taken his class through PSU, I would have never been fortunate to experience the "new world" that exists "out there" for us educators!

David did not disappoint. I sat, close to the front, so I would be able to hear and see everything! I was actually right in front of the video camera. Yikes, I can hear my giggles! Yet another "geeky" move! Here is what David had to say.. Recorded on UStream.

Live Videos by Ustream

I was reading the Free Technology for Teachers blog by Richard Byrne and I agree, being in the audience, almost next to the person who David was talking back and forth with, regarding wikipedia, I enjoyed his response. (I felt somewhat uncomfortable for that poor person!) It is poo-pooed so much not to use wikipedia in schools, but can't it be a jumping off point? I know I let my students use it as one resource. He reinforces that using any of these tools in school are "basic literacy skills".

What struck me as the most important or informational about David's speech, is how we are teaching our kids (teachers standing up and the learners are sitting down) model. We are the keepers of the knowledge and they are the ones with the empty minds we are trying to fill. Are our classrooms Flat? We need to be preparing our students for a future we know nothing about, yet.. The digital divide! I also like when David said, in order to be considered a "21st century educator, we must be a master learner." He also said, "if I could share anything with all of you as teachers, I would tell you to pay attention to your students and ask them about their experiences outside of the classroom with technology."

Watch the video in it's entirety, it is great! Can't wait to see who's coming next year. I only hope I can attend all three days!

Engage Them!

Today was a wonderful day in my 6th grade computer class. Kids were engaged, having fun, learning, working nicely together, collaborating, discussing, asking questions, and posing for pictures for our local newspaper. Today was the final day to submit our holiday cards as part of the Holiday Card Exchange project we participated in.

I can not even remember how I stumbled upon Jen Wagner's website.. oh yes.. I remember, it was through a twitter event. I think I was not following Jen on twitter, but someone I was following was, so I clicked on her name, looked at her profile, clicked on her web address and the rest was history! Wa La! Instant connection. How very cool and powerful! My PLN has grown (one way is through my diigo groups) and it continues to grow each day I read something on twitter or on someone's blog, because within someone's blog is a link to another blog, and so on and so on. One could get sucked in! Hee - Hee!

So, back to my engaging story. I am loving this project for many reasons and so are my kids. One, it was so easy to participate in. Add an email here and an address there and you are a member of the Holiday Card Group. I have to thank Jen for all of her hard work! I was looking on the site and there are now 339 classrooms participating this year! What an amazing connection! These are connections from all over the world. What 10 or 11 year old would not love opening cards from students all over the world, reading them to the class, looking up the address on google maps, then using the satellite feature on google maps to zoom in to the school location, and then taking that information over to our own map of the United States and pinning up their location? All that is left for us to do, is to finish up with reading our cards. We received 5 cards so far, and are expecting 19 more. I looked in my mailbox before I left today, and there were about 8 more cards waiting for the kids! I have to admit, I was excited to see mail in my box.

So, when I was talking to the reporter today about what is it that makes this project educational, I had to say the collaboration, the engagement, the geography lessons, research, as well as overall techology use. The kids created their own cards for each school we sent them to. They also researched our town, Derry, and included interesting facts, weather and locations associated with Derry and New Hampshire. I also told the reporter, what I really liked was receiving the cards through "snail mail". It seems as though the written letter is somewhat obsolete these days. I hope it does not go away. At 39 years old, (and holding), I always look for my birthday cards from my Dad and wish my Nana and my mom were still alive to drop me a note now and again. It made this project that much more special to see the kids handwriting from the cards we received. How cute it was to see the kindgergarten letter and the 3rd graders writing! That is authentic collaboration.

I hope that what the kids take away from this lesson, is that there are so many different people and places out there in the world. The internet makes it possible to reach everyone near and far. It hopefully helps us to appreciate differences and learn new things that we did not know before today. It helps us to learn that the world can be "flat" as Thomas Friedman says, and my 6th grade kids are able to share in some of that notion.

I want my kids to enjoy this day in their educational life. I don't want them to worry about testing for the moment. I want to see their faces and their excitement on Wednesday when I bring in that pile of cards. I can't wait to go down my roster naming each student who's turn it is to read the card, and place the pin up on our in class map.

This my friends, is what a great day in teaching is all about!

I will take some pictures and add soon. Hopefully I can record a podcast with some of the kids thoughts on the project.

Blogging - A daily habit?

It has been a while since I last blogged here. I am missing blogging, but never seem to have enough time to write a few thoughts. I wonder sometimes if I am worried about what some may think of what I write. Often I wonder if blogging is good for me. I read so many others blogs everyday and they seem so interesting and informative. Can I do the same? Then I think to myself, blogging is something I am doing for myself, not to impress anyone else. Right? So, I will start again and write my thoughts. I have a lot to write about. My class is working on it's first ever outside the classroom collaborative project with 24 other schools - Thanks to Jennifer Wagner and her awesome collaborative projects. My 8th graders are working on their very first wiki in the classroom. I have been busy! I also bought my daughter, who is 12, a OLPC laptop for Christmas, that I can not wait to open! Who doesn't love giving and getting?? I am presenting at our technology conference this week, where I will get to see David Warlick speak !! Life is good! :)