Category Archives: Technology Resources

How I used Tech this School Year

Date
Posted by
Comments4

(from a student)

The school year finally came to an end yesterday (Kids left on Thursday) and I am left in a bit of a reflective mode, even though the end of the year rush has not yet settled in for me. (Plus, I have two summer camps to get ready for — Claymation and Webcomics). But, I am thinking about my increased use of technology in the classroom these days and so, here, I present a brainstormed list of some of the projects we did that integrated technology into my curriculum:

  • Before school even begans: Blogging at The Electronic Pencil
  • First two days of school: Dream Scenes digital stories
  • Writing Prompts that became Podcasts
  • Using Wordle to demonstrate power of words of collective student writing
  • Using Google Forms to collectively brainstorm social action projects and then vote on ideas
  • Using Webcomic platform (Make Beliefs Comics) to pose questions for presidential candidates
  • Stop-Motion Animation movies at Longfellow Ten site with literary themes (authentic publishing and collaboration with other schools)
  • Origins of English Language: collaborative, across-years wiki/podcasting with Wikispaces — The Crazy Dictionary
  • The Heroic Journey— using Google Maps and Picasa to tell a story of a heroic journey (after reading The Lightning Thief novel and The Odyssey graphic novel)
  • Podcasting letters to the new president (in collaboration with social studies teacher)
  • Podcasting Expository Writing (how to do something)
  • Narrative Paragraph Writing — as digital storytelling
  • Blogging with high school students as part of our transition process (moving from our elementary school to a regional high school next year)
  • Digital Picture Books: cellular mitosis as frame for fictional story (in collaboration with science teacher)
  • Podcasting Poems for Multiple Voices
  • Creating Webcomic poems with ToonDoo networking space
  • Claymation Movie Projects — on the theme of tolerance
  • Hyperlinked Digital Poetry Books

Wow. That seems daunting even to me. But it all did seem to come pretty natural and the students were very engaged in all of this work. Technology was a huge hit with my students and I saw many benefits to their learning process.

Peace (in reflections),
Kevin

Using Voicethread for a Tolerance Project

Date
Posted by
Comments0

This comes via my inspirational friend, Gail Desler, who worked with elementary students on a project around tolerance using Voicethread. I love her narrative, as it gives a great overview of the work and rationale behind the work of the students.

There’s more about this project at her Blogwalker Blog.

Peace (in the thread),
Kevin

The Internet Mapping Project: My Perceptions

Date
Posted by
Comments0

Kevin Kelly has an interesting project going on — asking people to visually map out their perceptions of the Internet World and then sending it in to him for a collection. I decided to use Boolean and Mr. Teach to get at my own perceptions of the passive and active divide I see with my students — at home, they are passive; in school, they are active. These are broad generalities, of course, and there are many exceptions to the rule. I added in Funk to remind us not to forget about those kids being left behind in the digital revolution.

Be sure to visit Kevin Kelly’s site. It’s a fascinating look at people’s perceptions.

Peace (in the map),
Kevin

Spotlight on Digital Youth

Date
Posted by
Comments0

Thanks to Gail P. for sharing this video and this series. It’s a fascinating look at kids with digital tools from Edutopia. This video is of Jalen, who is a cartoonist, gamer and more.

Peace (in the digital world),
Kevin

Boolean Squared versus Google Squared

Date
Posted by
Comments0

So, Google has a new search tool called Google Squared, which presents search information in a grid formation of related concepts. Given its name, I thought it would be fair to square off (excuse the word pun) the search engine with my webcomic, Boolean Squared.

Alas, my comic didn’t even show. Too many math references to Boolean Logic, I guess.

Here is one of this week’s comics:

Peace (in the engine),
Kevin

An audio-art-image of I Dream in Twitter

Date
Posted by
Comments0

Some time ago, I wrote this poem about using Twitter and how conflicted I often am about it (love it, wonder why I love, etc).

This morning, I saw a link (on Twitter, of course) from Larry Ferlazzo to a Brazilian website that integrates the audio of voice with the use of the mouse as a paintbrush to create an online painting. I decided I would give it a go with the Twitter poem. (I have no idea what the name of this site is but here is the link to try it yourself).

As your tone and pitch change, so does the color sequencing and also the spread of the “ink” on the “page.” It would be cool if the site recorded the audio along with the image, so you could listen to the voice and art unfold at the same time (I guess I am never satisfied with the cool stuff I experience out here, eh?)

Here is the poem I used:

I Dream in Twitter

(listen to the podcast)

I dream in Twitter
in 140 characters
that cut off my thoughts before they are complete
and then I wonder, why 140?
Ten more letters would serve me right
as I write about what I am doing at that moment
in time,
connecting across the world with so many others
shackled by 140 characters, too,
and I remain amazed at how deep the brevity can be.

I find it unsettling to eavesdrop on conversations
between two
when you can only read one
and it startles me to think that someone else out there
has put their ear to my words
and wondered the same about me.
Whose eyes are watching?

Twitter is both an expanding universe
of tentacles and hyperlinks that draw you in
with knowledge and experience
and a shrinking neighborhood of similar voices,
echoing out your name
in comfortable silence.

I dream in Twitter
in 140 characters,
and that is what I am doing
right
at
this
moment.

Peace (in artful convergence),
Kevin

The Wonder of the Google Wonder Wheel

Date
Posted by
Comments1

I don’t mean for this to be an advertisement for Google, but I has been hearing about the Google Wonder Wheel for a few days now and decided I wanted to see what it is. Although still in the beta stage (I think), the Wonder Wheel is part of the search engine, showing semantic connections in a search query. In other words, you can see concepts branching off from the main query.

For example, I used Google to search for “Graphic Classroom” and the wheel expanded in any number of directions — showing me sites with lesson plans, books for reluctant readers and more. As I began to journey on the wheel, I found “adult graphic novels” and followed the thread to Neil Gaiman.

How do you get to the Wheel? This blog site gives a nice overview, but essentially, on the Google Search page, type in your keyword, and then one of the links at the top of the pages will be “show options” and then down on the left column, you can find “wonder wheel.”

Pretty nifty use of visual search technology.

Peace (in the wheel),
Kevin

A Policy Brief from NWP: Teaching in a Digital Age

Date
Posted by
Comments4

The National Writing Project provides a wealth of information and experience and connections and this policy briefing/report just got published on the NWP site. It is a research briefing from a company hired by NWP to look at data from technology work at sites within the NWP. (A disclosure: our Western Massachusetts Writing Project site was one of the sites included in this study of a project known as the Technology Initiative).

You can read the full report — entitled “Keeping the Promise of the 21st Century: Bringing Classroom Teaching into the Digital Age” — here but I thought I would share out some of the findings, in my own words:

  • Teachers learn best from other teachers who are using technology, not from some canned professional development;
  • It takes time for teachers to think about and integrate technology, so one-shot professional development is less effective than long-term supportive work;
  • Technology is best used and most effective when students are engaged in real classroom projects with authentic learning standards;
  • Teachers who effectively use technology are engaging and motivating their students;
  • Access to technology is a real issue – either to the equipment or through “firewalls” set up by school districts;
  • Students in poorer school districts often have the least access to technology and technology-inspired curriculum, although they may need it the most;
  • State and federal standardized mandates offer little incentive for teachers to engage in use of technology.

The report also adds some “policy implications” for its findings:

  • Teachers have to be the leaders and demand more professional development and access to technology for their students. It can’t rest with administrators;
  • K-12 teachers should connect more with Universities and other institutions for access to technology and expertise;
  • Teachers need hands-on experiences using technology themselves and then time to consider the implications of the classroom;
  • Provide students in underserved communities with access to technology and related curriculum opportunities;

And more …

This report is worth the read and it once again makes me proud to be part of the NWP, as it moves to think about writing in new ways that engage our young learners and makes writing relevant in their lives.

Or, as the report notes:

NWP is distinctive among professional development providers. It is a network of teachers who build leadership and knowledge of teaching and learning from systematic study of their own classroom practices and the practices of colleagues, as well as from research. These leading teachers—called teacher-consultants—share their professional knowledge and practices with other teachers through local NWP professional development programs. . . .

Peace (in-between the numbers),

Kevin

An Easy Webpage Creation Tool

Date
Posted by
Comments3

‘

This resource comes via Larry Ferlazzo (I get a lot of ideas from Larry and you should, too): this site will convert an uploaded file into a static webpage and then host it. I like the concept because I sometimes struggle with how to get my students’ work online when they don’t have email (we don’t provide email for them in our school). I have used Google Docs and also Weebly, but it always such an administrative headache for me.

This site — called File2.ws (catchy, eh?) — allows you to upload without any registration, and then it converts your material into a static page and gives you the web address. I experimented this morning with one of the poems I am doing with Bud the Teacher this month and it worked pretty easily. I created a Word file, added my poem and the picture from Bud’s site, and uploaded and within 20 seconds, I had a webpage created with my poem.

Take a look at my Hope Flower poem on the web

When we get to poetry, I can see this as an easy tool for my students to use to publish their own work.

That said, I read through the FAQ of the site and note that there does not seem to be advertising (but that may change, so that is something we should keep an eye on) and that if a site does not get enough hits (not sure what the sweet number is), the page can be automatically taken down to make room for other pages on the site. So, this may be just a temporary home for writing, which is fine if you view it that way, right?

Peace (in publishing),

Kevin