Why You Need to Be Using Social Media as an Educator

Be sure to check Principal Eric Sheninger interview for Connected Educators. In the interview, he describes how as new principal, relatively young in age when he accepted the position, he discovered Twitter and other forms of social media for professional development. Since Eric became a principal a few years ago, he has gone on to win much acclaim as an administrative leader

After reading Eric's interview, be sure to return here to comment on what your own takeaway message is based on his advice. Also, consider following Eric on Twitter: @nmhs_principal

image: http://connectededucators.org/profiles/interview-with-eric-sheninger-principal/

Have You Checked the Teaching Channel Recently?

An excellent place to find videos to use in your teaching and for your own professional development is The Teaching Channel. 

Check the site now, but also bookmark it so you remember to go back to it. You will find videos characterized by discipline as well as by more global areas. You will also find a Teacher page with loads of resources.

Here is a quick glance of the table of contents for the video collection by subjects, grades, topics.

Explore the site to see what it offers, and let us know what you think of this educational resource.

Haiku Deck Learning Ideas

Haiku Deck started as an iPad app. Once you create a slide presentation with it, you can access your presentation on any computer with Internet access and then use the embed code to place your deck on a website, blog, or another online space. You can also search Haiku Deck to find presentations others have created and use those on your sites by getting the embed code. HaikuDeck has a Share option that allows you to share a deck on any number of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter or to email the presentation to someone.

Here's a sample presentation high school teacher Vicki Davis created for her students when they asked how to get more followers on Twitter. What follows are Haiku Deck samples created by 4th graders in Joan Davis's class who used the platform to learn vocabulary words.

Vicki Davis is  known on Twitter as @coolcateacher.

Joan also added these tweets about the effectiveness of students learning vocabulary in this way.

Reflections

Here's the example of a student using the app to express ideas that come to mind to capture her yearlong learning.

To learn more about Joan, see her Twitter profile:

Now that you've seen several examples of Haiku Deck, consider its potential for use in the classroom, and leave a comment. 

Students as Self-Designers of Their Learning

Student creation of blogs, websites, and digital stories epitomizes self-directed learning. Take a look at how some students design their learning. Examples include blogs, websites, and digital stories.

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Spree2010

I collected this list for a workshop for social studies and art teachers, and the student examples are from social studies, English, and art classes. Review a few of the student examples, and let us know what you think of integrating these kinds of projects in the classroom.






Blogs from Mike Gwaltney's Students (created with WordPress)

• OSG's AP Government Blog 
• Directory of US History Student Blogs from Mike Gwaltney's class
• Discussion Boards from Mike's History class
• To learn more about this class, see the About page
• 10th Grade Age of Exploration Blog (course taught fall 2012): combined class blog; for more details about the class, see the About page

Digital Stories:

• See digital story examples on Government Gabfest Blog--Paul Fitzpatrick's students
• Depression Era (iMovie)
• Sept. 11, 2001(iMovie): scroll to bottom of the blot post; the video is the last one in the post.

Student Projects from Mike Gwaltney's Class Inspired by 2013 National History Day Competition (collected on a joint Blogger account)

• Turning Points in American History (students selected to create a video or website)--they posted links to their projects on a collaborative class Blogger account. You will find numerous examples of websites and digital stories. In most cases, students used Weebly for their websites.

Websites (created for high school English classes using Google Sites)

• Summer P. English2 H Website (Google Sites)
• Candace's English Site (Google Sites)
• Leon's English 12 H Website (Google Sites)

E-Portfolio (created with Wix)----shared by Vicki Davis

• Madison T. Art Portfolio

To follow Mike Gwaltney on Twitter: @MikeGwaltney

To follow Vicki Davis on Twitter: @coolteacher

What is Social Media?

Listen and watch how these young children define social media. What do their responses suggest to you about how teachers can help young learners to create their digital foundation?

SOCIAL MEDIA

By Frederic Gonzalo, 

Technology in the Classroom

A couple years ago, a group of educations did a satire on technology in the classroom, using pencils to substitute for technology. Take a look, and enjoy, but also let us know what this skit says to you about technology in the classroom.



By the way, the skit was created with Xtranormal, a site worth exploring for thinking about how you might use it in the classroom to motivate and engage students, or as an introduction or capstone to a unit of study.

Learning in the Cloud

Here's a video created by English teacher Jen Roberts in which she highlights using cloud computing in the classroom. Which of the tools that she mentions have you tried? What are your thoughts about converting to a cloud-based environment in which student work is no longer kept on paper or stored on a computer or computer network, but rather accessible on the Internet from a variety of sources?



Jen Roberts' Classroom in the Cloud from Jen Roberts on Vimeo.

Jen placed this video on the University of San Diego Department of Learning and Teaching Facebook page. Recently, the University posted that Jen won the Classroom in the Clouds Video Challenge. Jen teaches at Point Loma High School in California. To contact Jen, find her on Twitter @JenRoberts1. In fact, follow her to see how one high school teacher uses Twitter.

The Power of Video to Document Student Learning

Imagine teacher-parent conferences where the child leads the session. Also, consider how a video of the child learning can inform the conference. This video exemplifies those concepts. We see the child reading, discussing her reading process, and self-critiquing her learning. We also hear the teacher discuss the child's progress.




Although some might argue this form of a parent-teacher conference is impractical, is it really?

As we think about how to document student learning, how can we move beyond traditional formats and standardized tests? Do you think a child should be present at the teacher-parent conference?

This video was shared by Jill Thompson on Twitter. Here is the tweet. Jill in another tweet acknowledged the child in the video is in the first grade.

Spring Semester; Head Over to Integrating Technology and Literacy

Each spring, I teach a few sections of the course Integrating Technology and Literacy. Head over to my blog for that course.

This blog will be up and running when my Computers in the Classroom course resumes mid-May. In the meantime, though, feel free to browse around while you're here and to leave comments. I am still checking this blog regularly via email alerts for comment posting. As always, thanks for visiting.

Connecting the Dots

Students from University of Saint Joseph, West Hartford, Connecticut, in the course Computers in the Classroom, linked up with 5th graders from the Longfellow Elementary School, Columbia, Maryland, in celebration of International Dot Day. This day, celebrated on Sept. 15, is a way for students from around the world to connect.

Matthew Winner, the librarian at Longfellow, reached out to teachers, via Twitter and other means. He posted on his blog, The Busy Librarian, numerous ways to celebrate. These two posts are examples:

• Dot Day Connectors Map, showing as of Sept. 12, 550,000 participants. 
• Dot Day Lesson Plans, posted Sept. 5, previewing lesson plans by grade levels. Among the ideas listed was the Trading Card project.

That's the project University of Saint Joseph student joined, linking up with fifth graders at Longfellow. The Longfellow students began by designing trading cards. Their cards were based on the book The Dot by Peter Reynolds in which a young child, afraid to be expressive, learns to open up and shares a dot that she has drawn, challenging others to make their mark on the world.

On the front side of the cards, the fifth graders draw a dot. On the back, they wrote an invitation challenging others. On a rainy Tuesday morning, the students Skyped with me, displaying their cards. Mr. Winner then mailed the cards to me to share with the Saint Joseph students, who designed their trading cards. The cards from both groups were organized into a final project, as captured in these two displays.

Trading cards columbia_md_u_saintjosephct from Judy Arzt

Reactions to this Dot Day project are welcomed. What ideas do you have for connecting classes? What are the benefits of International Dot Day? What other days or events lend themselves to cross-class sharing?

Are You Afraid to Use Technology in the Classroom?

Well, you found your way to this blog post, so you are over the hump. But are you ready to implement blogs or other forms of technology in your classroom? Are you afraid that if you try to use a piece of technology, things won't work? Do you see in your experiences of working with teachers that they are afraid of using technology in the classroom or with students?

Today, I came across a post on the Dangerously Irrelevant blog maintained by the popular educational leader Scott McLeod. He wrote a blog post, Struggling with Educators' Lack of Technology Fluency.  He posted it Oct. 20 and by mid-day of Oct. 21, the post already saw over 40 comments,  at least 150 tweet-outs excluding retweets or tweets that did not come directly off the site, and 28 "Likes" on Facebook. Evidently, there's strong reaction to the issue.

Given the timeliness of the post, I encourage you to read both the post and comments following it. Please feel free to leave a comment here regarding your response to the issue of educators' fluency with technology. Do you think there is a lack of fluency and if so, what do see as the cause? Do you even think this is an important issue to consider? Where do you stand on the issue?

What Does It Mean to Be Literate in the 21st Century

Before watching the video embedded in this post, ask yourself, "What does it mean to be literate in the 21st century." Write down your answer somewhere if you think you will forget it after watching the video. Then watch the video, and ask yourself the question again. So what are your thoughts on what it means to be literate in the 21st century? The producers of the video, educators, stepped into teachers' classrooms and asked this question and video-recorded the responses. What did you think of the responses you heard in the video? How do you think students in the elementary, middle, and high school grades would react to the video? What do you think would be their definition of literacy? What literacy skills do you think it is important to teach?

Skype for Dot Day

Today, I Skyped with a group of 5th graders from Columbia, Maryland, at the Longfellow Elementary School, in recognition of International Dot Day. Based on the book, The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds, the concept is to make connections with others and share ideas.

The Skype worked well. The students gathered in a group on rug in the school library. Coincidentally, the rug was a map of the USA, which helped because the Skype was a Mystery Skype. After they asked me numerous questions to figure out my location, I asked them if they had a map. Finally, through process of elimination, they figured out I was in Connecticut.

At the end of the Skype, they shared with me their Dot Trading Cards. They will be mailing these cards, so my class can respond and create their own Trading Cards to send back to the Maryland class. Some photos I took of their Dot Trading Cards are at the end of this blog post.  The students took turns showing their cards and asking me if I tried the idea they offered. For instance, one wanted to know if I ever body surfed. That worked well because I grew up on an island where both body surfing and regular surfing were popular.

I let them know that I live in another location now and offered them these clues: my state has rivers and lakes and borders the ocean. They tried Delaware, Maine, and Rhode Island, all states bordering the Atlantic Ocean. They asked me if my state had "New" in the title. When I told them it did not, that helped them eliminate some other states. By that time, they knew I lived on the East coast in a state north of theirs. Finally, they figured out the state was Connecticut. One of the students offered a sibling attends Yale University in the state.  I showed them some pictures representative of the state such as the Capitol Building and our state bird, the Robin.

Image: http://www.ctmch.com/

Image: http://www.postcardsfrom.com/stamp/stamp-ct.html

All in all, it was a wonderful experience. Both Dot Day and Skype are ideal ways to connect classes around the world. I was privileged to have this opportunity to meet with a class in another location at the press of a few buttons. Technology offers many learning opportunities. I learned of places to visit in Maryland, and we also discussed the National Mall in DC, which is not far from where the students live.

I also suggested that if they ever get to Connecticut, they should visit Mystic Seaport and Mystic Aquarium. I introduced them to Mark Twain and showed them a picture of his house in Hartford. I mentioned the author Lemony Snicket, who some heard of, and told them he went to college in Connecticut. I also squeezed in that Noah Webster, of dictionary fame, lived in the town where my university is located, and showed the students a picture of the Noah Webster House, now a museum. Here two pictures I shared about historic sites and one about Lemony Snicket. I hope they search their school library to find out more about each.

image: http://1850house.com/

Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain_House

Image http://www.lemonysnicket.com/

Students Skyping with other classes makes for excellent geography lessons and information sharing. We even discussed time zones. They wanted to know if I lived in Europe at the start of the Skype. We then discussed what time it would be in England now. There are so many possibilities for learning by using Skype or another video conferencing tool.

What do you see as the possibilities for integrating video conferencing into the classroom setting? Would you be willing to try a Mystery Skype with your students? What areas of the curriculum other than geography do you believe can be achieved through these kinds of contacts? How can video conferencing across classes support curriculum goals and what students should be learning?

For more insight into video conferencing, I encourage you to contact Matthew Winner, the school librarian who arranged this Skype. His Twitter name is @MatthewWinner  if you want to tweet with him. I am sure he will welcome the opportunity, and he might be able to connect you with classes who will Skype with you or your classes.

Here is image of tweet conversation with Matthew Winner following the Skype:

Another way to get in touch with Matthew Winner is through his The Busy Librarian Blog.

On the blog, he has posts about Dot Day and Skypes. Here is a link to one of his posts: Dot Day Connectors Map

Enjoy the pics of the students'  Dot Trading Cards.

Mystery Skypes: Add Adventure to Your Classrooms

Many resources exist to help teachers understand the power of Mystery Skypes.

The Mystery Skypes 2012-2013 is a good starting place. There you will information about how to locate classes interested in signing up for Mystery Skypes and two videos about Mystery Skypes.

For more information about Mystery Skypes, check Pernille's blog post: So You Want to Do Mystery Skype. She gives detailed information about how to run an effective Mystery Skype and provides an video. Also, check the comment section.

Now that you have checked a variety resources about Mystery Skypes, consider these questions:

• How do you think students will react? What skills will student gain from the Skype? What might they learn?
• What kinds of advanced planning do you think a teacher needs to take to make the concept work?  What should a teacher do after a Mystery Skype for follow up?
• How can a Mystery Skype complement the curriculum? 
• What questions do you have about Mystery Skypes? 
• Would you be willing to try one in your classroom?
• What the two recommended resources, The Mystery Skypes 2012-2013 and So You Want to Do Mystery Skype helpful to you? If so, how? 

Blogging in the Classroom

image: http://kidblog.org/why-kidblog/

If you're not yet having your students blog, consider the possibilities. KidBlog, a popular platform, has just added new features sure to entice teachers. Check out 14 New Kidblog Features You're Sure to Love.

Image: http://edublogs.org/

Edublogs is another popular blogging site. Just like KidBlog, Edublogs is free and easy for teachers and students to use. Check out more about Edublogs at its home page.

What have you heard about these tools? Do you use either, or would you?  Do you know teachers who use one of these tools? Have you seen samples of blogs students have created with Kidblog or Edublogs?

Digital BackPack

Image; http://sharingtechnology.blogspot.com/

Sharing Technology is Deb Norton's blog. She's a 5th grade teacher with a master's in technology and lots of ideas to share.

In one blog post, Sharing Technology: Digital Backpacks, Deb showcases the digital tools she will be using this year. These tools work well for a variety of grade levels and subject areas. These are the tools she lists. Check her descriptions of each. Which of these tools have you used? Which would you like to use? What do you think of her list?

Google Apps for Education
SMART Notebook 11
Kidblog
Wallwisher 
Glogster
Spelling City 
Lead 21 Online Portal
Prezi 
Bubbl.us 
Today's Meet
Course Director
Educreations
Blogger 
Class Dojo
Wikispaces 

Exciting Your Students for the New School Year

I found this video via Twitter by accessing a blog. I thought I would share it with you. I am also leaving links for you to download the video to edit it for your own liking to reuse. Thanks to Yolan Lee for sharing this on his blog post: Welcome to a New School Year.

Download the .mov file here.

Download the Keynote file here.

 Would you consider making a video like this to introduce your students to the new school year? What did you think of the many messages Mr. Lee conveyed in this video? Note Mr. Lee invites others to use this video with students as well as to download it, edit it, and make a remix to one's liking.

Introducing Yourself to Your Students

While browsing around the Web today, I came across this blog post by Melissa Seideman about using Animoto to introduce yourself to your students. Check her post: Instead of Telling Your Students Who You Are, Show Them. She suggested using Animoto to do this.

Animoto is online tool for creating quick videos by uploading saved images and then adding a soundtrack. You can also add text slides to the presentation. I have included three examples of Animoto introductions that I found on Melissa's post. Below the Animotos, I included examples from others who used additional tools for creating introductions.

I thank Melissa for this excellent suggestion and encourage following her on Twitter, where her user name is @mseideman.

Mrs. Seidman, High School Social Studies Teacher



Here is Mrs. Jee’s Video



Here is Mrs. Lindinger’s video



Here is another created with Animoto, but then uploaded to YouTube.

Meet Mr. Lee:


Here is one that was created with VoiceThread. (Excuse the comments on the first slide, which still need to be deleted.) Just go through the full VoiceThread, using the arrows as needed, or just letting the show proceed on its own.

Introduction to Jamme Freitag, Elementary School Teacher


This one was created with PhotoStory but then uploaded to Google to be placed in a Google Site. You will need to access it from a Google Site web page: Introduction to Colin Murray

Now that you have seen how teachers are using Web 2.0 and multimedia to introduce themselves, what are your thoughts on the idea? Would you consider introducing yourself to your class in this way?

On another note, I found out that Melissa uses Animoto for her students to create projects for their  history course. Check this blog post, which has a link to the assignment directions and an example  of one student's response to the project. Animoto: Video Slideshows. The text slides in this student example were created with PowerPoint, and the PowerPoint was saved as a jpeg file, so the slides could be uploaded to Animoto similar to how images (or photos) would be.

How can you see yourself using a tool like Animoto for student projects? What kinds of projects might you integrate into your own teaching?

Learning a Little More About You

I came across a high school social studies teacher's blog, Sites and Apps for Students, in which she learned about her students by asking them about websites they use. Check her post and the student responses at: Learning a Bit More About You.

Leaving a Digital Legacy by Corey Dahl, via Flickr www.flickr.com/...

Basically, the assignment asked to select 3 or 4 websites or apps they use regularly and to think about what information an historian in 50 years might learn about them based on the kinds of site or apps they were using.

Because I liked the assignment, I have duplicated her questions below. Use the comment section to indicate your responses to these two questions:

1) What websites or apps do you use regularly?
2) What might an historian looking at your response learn about you?

As the teacher did the assignment herself, I thought I would do same by way of also introducing myself to you.

The websites and apps I use the most are Gmail, Google Apps (including Google Doc and Google Sites), Twitter, Facebook, Dropbox, Diigo, Pinterest, and Flickr.

The use of the Gmail and Google Apps speaks to my interest in keeping frequently used tools all in one place. I can access email through Gmail and immediately see toolbars to access Google Doc (Drive), Google Search, and other Google apps. An historian would see that I like convenience, sharing, and organization.

Twitter has been an excellent tool for professional development and finding information for my teaching. I follow enough educators and others to have available to me daily a wealth of information. I have connected my Twitter account to Buffer and Shareholic, but prefer Buffer because it allows me to repost others' tweets and add to the tweets and to tweet easily any information I find online including shortening the URL for the information. Once a URL is included in a tweet, another follower can click on it to access the information. My use of Twitter would show an historian I like to keep current of educational trends and to share information with others.

My use of Diigo and Pinterest helps me archive website and other information. An historian would see that I a good curator, who organizes and saves resources. Diigo is text based whereas as Pinterest is visually based. I enjoy having information in both a text and visual format.

Dropbox is used like Google Doc to archive files as backups and so I can access my files from any computer. I tend to use Google Doc more so for collaboration and Dropbox for storing my own files, including word processed documents, spreadsheets, and pictures. Flickr is another site I use to archive photos, but I also like to use this site to find pictures that people have stored there that others can freely use. This is convenient for finding free images that the user grants others permission to use.

As for Facebook, a historiam would see I like to keep in touch with friends, but would also see that I follow sites that have professional information and post photographs. I have a strong interest in photography and wonder where this art form will be in 50 years from now. I also wonder what an historian will need to do to access electronic files we created in 2012.

What about you? What are your favorite websites and apps that you use regularly? What will an historian looking back on what you list learn about you as a person.

101 Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers

image: http://www.goedonline.com/101-web-tools-for-teachers

This list with descriptions and links of 101 Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers will be worth looking through to familiarize yourself with some possible tools to use in the classroom. Some will be completely new to you, whereas others might ring a bell or be ones you have tried. Look through the list and see what sounds exciting to you. If you find ones of interest, let us know what you think of them and how you might use them in your teaching. Even if you can't find something of immediate interest to you now, bookmark or save the page some other way for future reference. There is a wealth of ideas offered for use now or in the future.