Check this video production that addresses the skill set for 21st Century learners. Leave your response after viewing the presentation.

Teachers' Websites

Let's share examples of excellent teacher websites you have explored. Based on one student's contribution to our class's online discussion, I found an excellent model created by a teacher who has been a student at Saint Joseph College. Please take some time to explore Mercier's Magic. There's plenty to explore here. When you first open the site (be sure to have sound on), you will find her current school year site, but under the Home tab, you will see accessible sites from prior years.

Not only does Ms. Mercier group her content by subject area and audience (e.g., parents), she also provides throughout the site links to wonderful websites for instructional purposes. She uses Weebly to maintain her site. Feel free to explore Weebly as a mean to create your own student-centered website.

Ms. Mercier works with symbaloo.com to create customized pages of recommended sites for students. Here are fast links to some of her Symbaloo pages:
multimedia , math, and writing.

To create your own customized resource pages for your students with Symbaloo, open an account, and then you are set to build your pages of recommended sites by discipline, subject area, or general area of interest, using Symbaloo's database of recommended sites.

Ms. Mercier also maintains a blog through Weebly, allowing her students to post comments. In addition, check her Twitter account.

Webbly, Mrs. Scelia is a site designed by another Weebly-user teacher. Ms. Scelia started this site August 2010 to provide resources to her young students.

Let us know what you think of the websites these teachers maintain.

Post your recommendations of teacher websites worth visiting by providing the URL's.

Photo of Ms. Mercier from Mercier's Magic. Photo Ms. Scelia from Webbly, Mrs. Scelia
Logo from Weebly.

Videos Feature Winning Digital Natives

See some wonderful digital media projects created by students, some as young as 8 and 13, and read their profiles to learn more about who they are. Youth Portraits at Eutopia features the stories of students showcased in the Digital Generation Project. This project is intended to help educators and parents understand how students are using digital media. Spend time reading the students' profiles and seeing their digital work. Afterwards, return to this blog and post your comments about the project. Which students' work did you find impressive? What have you discovered by viewing the students' profiles and work? Note what the students have to say about their education and how digital media has motivated them as students and learners. If you have some extra time, explore the Digital Generation: Educators section for specific teaching ideas. Let us know what you fnd of particular of interest to you.

Be Imaginative, Create a Comic Strip

Need some time to relax and play like a kid. Try out the MakeBeliefs Comix.com site. Create your own comic strips easily. Then imagine young children using the site to create comics, practicing their literacy and imaginative skills. In addition to writing in English, students can write in Spanish, Italian, and other languages. There's a Teacher Resource section. Check out "About the Author" to learn about the site's writer and illustrator. Try creating a few panes in a comic strip with the options available: characters, text boxes, think bubbles, objects, sizing, moving, and backgrounds. Remember to give your strip a title and to list yourself as its author. Use the Next feature when you are ready to print, or email your creation to a reader. It takes a little trial and error to get going, but it should not take you long to create your first comic. Have some fun and a few laugh! Let us know what you think.

What Does the iGeneration Mean for Teaching?

Tech-Savvy 'iGeneration' Kids Multi-Task, Connect posted in USA Today offers viewpoints on the effects of social networking on children of today. Although research has largely focused on the multi-tasking skills of preteens and teens, researchers are now looking at how those under 10 are responding to the variety of technological media surrounding them and how this environment will affect how they develop and will be motivated to learn in school.

A 12-year old from West Hartford, CT is quoted, reminding us of the frequency with which people her age post videos on Facebook via webcams. Another youngster of 3 is described as having "a collection of nine cellphones; four are the non-working cast-offs of family members, and the others are plastic, including Cinderella, Tinker Bell and Dora the Explorer. She also has a plastic pink-and-purple Barbie laptop, which has its own mouse and programs that teach math, vowels and Spanish, as well as some computer games."

What is your response to the research findings and reports cited in the article? What do you see as the implications for teachers as the newer generations progress through school?


Photo is from the article with the byline and note:
By Joe Brier, for USA TODAY
Heather Nokes, 18, watches as her 3-year-old sister Kaci, 3, uses a Barbi Learning Laptop for math and spelling practice, while Wendy, 13, holds her cellphone in their Winchester, Va., home. All born after 1990, the sisters are considered part of what sociologists are calling the iGeneration.

New Site Launches Library of Educational Videos

Just launched in October 2009, Watchknow.org provides educational videos for students, ages 3 to 18. The videos are intended for use in the classroom or for viewing at home as an extension activity.

The site is set up like a wiki, and, in fact, Sr. Larry Sanger, one of the co-founders of Wikipedia, initiated the concept. The site offers pages for teachers, students, and parents, and allows for contributing videos and commenting upon videos viewed. As a new site, its evolution and use will be interesting to follow. I just sampled several of the videos. You'll find below the category, title, URL, and site's recap of the video. Check out the site, and let us know what you think, keeping in mind the site launched just a few weeks ago.

Category/Science
“Phineas Gage’
http://www.watchknow.org/Video.aspx?VideoID=12075
“This video was made for the Connecticut College kids judge neuroscience fair. It tells the harrowing story of Phineas Gage and the amazing discoveries gained from his brain injury.”

Category: Science/Earth Science
“Why Study Earth Science”
http://www.watchknow.org/Video.aspx?VideoID=367
"A geoscientist stresses the importance of learning earth science. He also explains the changes on our planet through geological time. The scientist also stresses the importance of learning earth science. It is a six minute video and contains nice photographs and good narration. "

Social Studies/Geography
“The Geography Tutor? What is Geography?”
http://www.watchknow.org/Video.aspx?VideoID=4744
"A Geography Tutor Video. Video answers the questions: What do geographers mean when they talk about culture? Culture can be defined as a way of life that distinguishes a people from another group. Cultural traits can be explained in religion, language, system of government, customs, and beliefs. Also discusses; culture region - which is an area occupied by people who share one or more cultural trails, culture hearth - which is a place where important ideas began and from which they spread to other areas. Video is of good quality and appropriate for students in elementary school and middle school." Ages 7 – 13

Math/Fractions
“Basic Math Lesson: Fractional Expressions
http://www.watchknow.org/Video.aspx?VideoID=12332
"Concepts covered: Decimal Fraction, Percentage, and Ratio. "Ages 10-18

Languages/Spanish/Spanish Vocabulary
“Rolling R’s Days of the Week”
http://www.watchknow.org/Video.aspx?VideoID=885
"Instructor Larry Keim explains the days of the week in Spanish. Find out how to say the days of the week and how to talk about the different days of the week using some simple grammar and phrases."

Languages/Spanish/Native Conversation in Spanish
“Spanish Activities and Transportation”
http://www.watchknow.org/Video.aspx?VideoID=889
"Watch as the instructor tells about her childhood and the different activities that she liked to do, and different modes of travel and transportation. This lesson can be used for intermediate to advanced learners as a tool for listening comprehension."

Learn about the Site: http://www.watchknow.org/About.aspx; check the WatchKnow.org Press Release

Why Let Students Blog in the Classroom

This video provides numerous reasons for letting students blog in your classroom. View it, and please take a moment to comment. Does the video spark your interest in using blogging in the classroom ? If so, how and why? If not, why not?

Easy Moviemaking with Photo Story 3

Starting with this tutorial (see below embedded video), you can learn about Photo Story 3, a free download from Microsoft, and how to use it. After viewing the first tutorial, which shows the basics of assembling your photos and adding basic features, you can go on to the second and third tutorials, which show how to set timings for each visual in a movie, how to add transitions between the visuals, and how to add music. Although the three tutorials don't show how to add narration, for students using Photo Story 3, I highly recommend they add narration, as in writing their script, they will also gain practice with writing. They will also enjoy hearing their own voices in their movies. After watching the embedded video below, use the hyperlinks below it to access the second and third tutorials. I have also left links to two completed videos created by the person who authored the three tutorials. In addition, there is a link to another Photo Story tutorial that is worth viewing because it uses young children engaged in creating at art project, which might appeal to elementary school teachers. Let us know if you find the tutorials clear, even if all you do is watch the first tutorial. Although the tutorials are certainly helpful, downloading Photo Story 3 and just playing around with it, is probably all you need to get started. The program is easy to learn and rather intuitive, and an excellent introduction to movie making for young students in the elementary school or for any users who wants to create a movie from digital photos, scanned pictures, pictures found on the Internet, or a combination of the three.



Photos Story Tutorial # 2
Photo Story Tutorial # 3
Final version of Yosemite Park Photo Story based on the 3 tutorials
Photo Story of the author's bio (includes narration)
Photo Story 3 tutorial created with children engaged in an art project
To see a tutorial on how to add narration, view this tutorial, the first half of which reviews how to customize motion and the second half of which explains the ease with which narration is added: Narrate Your Pictures and Customize Motion
For those of you interested in using Photo Story to string together pictures already found on the Internet, perhaps by using the "Image" search feature in Google, this tutorial will give tips on creating a Photo Story with found images on the Internet. This video is very helpful for working with students who will find pictures on the Internet and want to know how to save them and what the minimum resolution (500 pixels) should be for the pictures not to look grainy (fuzzy) in the final movie. Because this video is so helpful for learning how to use Photo Story in the context of an actual movie that students might create for a class project, I have also embedded the YouTube. The topic for the movie was the culture of China. If you only have 8 minutes to learn about Photo Story 3, I suggest you start with this tutorial, viewing it from my blog or the YouTube link provided. In this way, you learn about Photo Story as well as see a finished product all within 8 minutes.

I know there a bit to absorb in the blog, but want to emphasize how much can be done with simple free tools like Photo Story 3. You will find a host of movies made with Photo Story at YouTube, TeacherTube, and other online video hosting sites. If you find ones worth sharing, please post their URL's. Happy hunting, and enjoy!

Phenonenal Use of Blogging by 6th Graders

Last spring, I posted a blog about this site, Tell the Raven. Check out the blog, maintained by an Alaskan teacher and his students. The teacher, Mr. Noonan, writes: "Tell the Raven is a community writing project for my Grade 6 (grade 4 material is in the archives) students in Fairbanks, Alaska. The Raven totem pole stands in the middle of our playground. Our stories go out to the world." Note that in addition to the class blog, each student maintains blog, accessible by clicking on the student's pen name at the end of an entry. Visit a few of the the students' blogs to see what they have been writing, and check the teacher's list of online resources and the blog's archive. The archive reveals how the blog has been used by former students. This blog project illustrates ways to integrate Web 2.0 tools into the classroom. Post your comments after browsing the blog, looking at students' blogs, checking the archive, and using the resource links. What purpose do you envision blogging having in the K-12 setting? Would you consider maintaining one? Why, or why not?

Image from: http://www.tellraven.us/denali/node/36