I was introduced to the idea of the Six Word Story during the digital storytelling topic in #ETMOOC. For those who do not know, there is a legend that Ernest Hemingway once composed a six word story in order to win a bet. His winning story: For sale: baby shoes, never used. Today, there is [...]
You’ve set up a classroom blog. It has an eye-catching theme, and you’ve included tons of pages to help the students and parents know the expectations of the classroom. You even write a post updating the latest happenings. Maybe, you have your students writing posts, too. So how come no one is reading it? I’d [...]
As the end of the school year draws to a close, I’m trying to be proactive in the area of future software purchases and upgrades. What will we need next year? And most importantly, in what do we really need to invest those limited budget funds? If we upgrade our Macs to OS 10.7, one [...]
So much preparation, energy and enthusiasm goes into projects. Teachers identify a curriculum need. They plan and collaborate with the technology specialist. Lab times and equipment use are scheduled and coordinated. Thoughtful mini-lessons are executed. Students work hard to learn and demonstrate their core curriculum knowledge via a new tool, method or medium. AND THEN [...]
Will Richardson’s article “Publishers, Participants All” in the February 2011 Educational Leadership really struck me this week. We all tell our students and children not to talk to strangers. Safety is paramount whether we’re on the street or online. However, if we really want to get students embedded in a global community of sharing, we [...]
This month, I’m very excited to start working with VoiceThread with students. VoiceThread (VT) is a medium that works like an interactive scrapbook. A creator uploads pictures and can add written, verbal or video comments. A VT can be shared with others who also may leave comments. Moreover, there is a doodle tool that lets a [...]
TweenTribune is an online newspaper that is written exclusively for “tweens”, 8-14 years old. The goal is to get kids hooked on reading and seeking out news on a daily basis. To promote this behavior, TweenTribune updates daily with stories that are kid-friendly from reliable sources (such as AP and CNN). Two other appealing features [...]
Dear Reader,
Here’s some info about this blog.
Jan. 2010 – June 2010 This blog served as a technology professional development portal. It was a chance for us to explore what was (and still is) out there. As we know, a lot of the latest tools and resources only take a few minutes to preview and learn. Making the time is often the trickiest feat. Therefore, I proposed Tech Tuesday. Every Tuesday something new was waiting for you to check out on this blog. On select Tuesdays, there even were face-to-face session in the Abbot lab @ 7:45 A.M. In under 30 minutes, I demonstrated the new tool, and participants got some time to play. It was requested that participants gave the tool a little more thought or another “go”, and then follow-up with a comment on this blog, reviewing the tool for a grade level or subject. The ultimate goal or end product was that one tool or resource would be implemented fully into teaching practices to benefit student learning. We also had a great resource blog for people to consult in the end!
October 2010 – ?: I am going to continue to update the Tech Tuesday blog on at least a monthly basis. There’s still so much to learn and share. So always check in on Tuesdays to see what’s going on, or better yet, subscribe! 
