This is why we are teachers

"Strive to make others greater than yourselves" ~ Steve Farber

10 Steps For Smarter Schools

10 Steps for Smarter Schools - Love these ideas..

Thanks for sharing Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach !

A vision of students today??

A vision of students today - What do you think?

Truly Inspirational

As I was digging around today, looking through a diigo update email. (love that I am part of a group of fine educators who selflessly post to their diigo accounts to share important readings with me!) I came upon this post from Kevin Jarrett's blog site. "Every educator must watch". Of course I had to do what they were telling me to do and I watched! What a truly inspirational and motivating speech! How amazing for such a young child to capture an audience of 20,000 people. Truly amazing. I then began to read over the comments. Was this student coached and taught to "act" out this speech? Was this a speech written by adults and this student was just the "messenger"? I say yes to both. Was this speech touching and did it make the point? I have to say yes to this question as well. At the heart of it all, it is a small child's voice that we are hearing, telling us something very important. Do not lose sight of what is important to us as educators. We are there for the children. We are there because we chose to do this noble profession. We are truly important to the kids we teach, even if we reach just one of them in our lifetime. We can not lose sight of who we are. We also need to not lose sight of our colleagues and respect them for choosing this noble profession. They may not do things the same as we do, they may not like the way we do things, but we should respect each other and know we are all here for the same reason... to change a child's life.
Every educator should watch. Not through a critical and cynical eye, but just because it is a wonderful reminder and affirmation of what we do each and every day.

If youtube is not working, try this link to their site in Dallas.

A Wordle A Day

I was reading Kim Cofino's blog today, and noticed she wrote about Wordle. I am considering myself tagged, and will put my wordle in here to show everyone!

I just finished up a great project with my 7th graders. We wrote an "I Am" poem about themselves, and used all of the words from the poem to create a "visual" poem. It was a lot of fun and really engaged the students. Some even told me they went home and used wordle. Now that is what I like to see! Here is my wordle from my diigo account tags.

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!

Day at Mall for Mom's & Dad's while Kids go to Apple Camp!

Who wouldn't love a nice stroll around the mall, without kids? Well Apple announced today that they are holding FREE workshops at their stores for kids! Yeah! Looks like it will be a nice quiet summer around here! :) But, you know what happens when you let the kids look around an Apple store.. Can I get an iPhone, touch iPod, new laptop, upgrade the computer we have, new digital camera to use with iPhoto, new digital video camera to use with iMovie.. etc.. and so on and so on! So all you parents out there.. hold strong on the new products and take advantage of the great learning experiences for your children.

Give 1 to Get 1

Hot off the presses: According to an eSchool News article, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) has revived their program as of May 20th, and has disclosed plans for a second generation of "XO" computers. If you pay $400.00 , you will purchase one laptop for yourself and then you will provide another laptop to a child in a developing country. The original program was trying to offer the computers to each child for $100.00 each. The price right now is estimated\ at $188.00. So far, over 600,000 of them have been sold and 162,000 were purchased through the "give one get one" program. The second round of the "give one to get one" program will begin sometime this summer and anyone can participate.

I think this is a great opportunity to teach children about global issues our world faces today. What would be better than having some type of fundraiser to raise $400.00 for this program. Why not donate both computers? Just something to think about!

Check out this post from the Open Thinking & Digital Pedagogy blog about the 1:1 initiative and how they might be switching the platform over to microsoft windows!

Some people think that laptops for children may not be a good idea. Read this article. What do you think?