Google Earth - Toni Chant

Ok, so if you were to ask my husband about my geographical abilities, he would probably (but kindly) agree with me when I say I am, at times, geographically challenged (GC). I know, that's not very good for a sailor, but that's why I married a geographer. Anyway, if you keep sailing you are bound to hit land sometime! :-)

That reminds me of when I was a kid and had to learn about geography. Aside from the fact that English is my "third" language, anyone who has seen "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" might attest to the idea that Greeks think about family and food first. Thus, my parents were never really good at navigation either.

A hard and cold reality was established when I was nine. My brother and I were sent ahead to Los Angeles, California to live with our dad until my mother could join us. On the flight there, my brother was chatting with another passenger and I overheard my brother say that we were moving to L.A. "What, we're moving to Louisiana?" I muttered. I guess memorization of the 50 states and their initials did not serve me well.

Here we are -- many, many years later -- and this wonderful thing called the Net is available to us. With it comes a plethora of resources and opportunities to help those of us who are GC. One such resource is Google Earth.

Google Earth has taken my students and I on many virtual adventures. We have explored hometowns, favorite theme parks, and constellations, just to name a few of our highlights. We have also watched as day breaks in our part of the world. We explored the origins of natural resources and the products that emanate from them. We have traveled around the world as we learned about how others celebrate their holidays. Most recently, due to the cold weather, the topic of manatees and their need to migrate to warm water was examined.

So, what can Google Earth do for you? Click on the link to see the latest and greatest options available to teachers as the world comes alive, spins and whirls at the click of the mouse. What's New in Google Earth 5.0

Using a Wiki to Support a Grade Level - dayle timmons

Wikis are collaborative web pages. The most well-known of course, is Wikipedia. The idea is that everyone can contribute and add to the common knowledge.


Wikis have lots of uses. For first grade, we was looking for a way to house all of the Resources that are used by first grade. We decided on a wiki because we wanted all of the teachers on the grade level to add to the combined knowledge.

The idea of a Resource Book for the grade level is not new. Years ago we created a three ring binder of paper copies of resources, but, over the years, notebooks disappeared and if a teacher wasn't organized about putting in new pieces, soon some notebooks had things others didn't. Next we tried using the shared file at school which worked for files, but didn't really have the capacity for video, links, blogs, etc. Besides it was not online. If you were working at home, the files were not available.

The first grade wiki houses links to reasources such as books, files created by teachers, videos, photo and slide shares, web sites and blogs. Teachers still need to get in the habit of adding things as they create and find them. However, I think as they begin to use and depend on it more and more, the wiki will become part of what we just do as a way to share and collaborate. For the first grade wiki, all teachers that teach first grade at Chets Creek will have access as an author and collaborator of the site. It is open to the public to review but the public does not have access to edit. While we could have opened it up to everyone for editing, we decided to hold the editing for now, to just our community. Take a look and tell us what you think!

Blackboard - Karen Meissner

My “Blackboard Journey” began after receiving an official e-mail notifying me of my Out-of-Field Status for ESOL. In a “state of panic” I registered for my very first online class through the Schultz Center.

On November 17th, I arrived at the first mandatory session at the Schultz Center with filled with anxiety about taking the class due to my limited knowledge of technology. The facilitator had us log onto the Schultz Center’s website (http://schultzcenter.org/) and instructed us to click on Distance Learning and click on Blackboard. She then instructed us to sign on with our user name and gave us the “password.” She instructed us to click on ESOL-Applied Linguistics-Fall 08-Cohort 2. This was all happening very quickly and, being the “technically challenged” person that I am, I was barely keeping up as she went through the Blackboard “menu items.” I remember her talking about how to add a “thread” on the Discussion Board (and thank goodness the word “thread” stuck in my mind or I would have never been able to post my first response). I was totally overwhelmed, but quickly wrote down the due date for the Modules and kept telling myself that I had to do this to fulfill the ESOL requirement.

The next weekend, when I logged on to check it out, I immediately knew I was in over my head. The “Welcome Karen” page offered Quick Tutorials for using Blackboard, but I didn’t even know where to begin and had faith that someone at Chets could help me figure it out the next day. So on Monday afternoon I logged on again and called K.K. for help. She was busy and told me to walk across to Melanie’s office. And so, within the next 30 or so minutes I had walked back and forth to Melanie’s office three times with her coming to my aid each time. Melanie quickly taught me to use the “menu” to “navigate” in the Blackboard program (and it is called the “Navigation Bar,” not “menu”). She showed me how to “widen” the text so that I could read it on my “old” laptop without maneuvering the arrows (and this was especially helpful when I learned to print the materials so the words weren’t “chopped” off). Then she helped me with Discussion Board by helping me find the “thread” and showing me how to click, drag & highlight text for copying and pasting from the instructions to the thread message box. Besides showing me how to navigate, the most useful thing that Melanie taught me was to just “do it” and not be afraid to “click” on something to check it out.

Other friends who’ve been helpful to me and have mentored me on my “Blackboard Journey” are Michelle Nelson and Toni Chant. They both have helped me learn to print just about everything from Module pages, to documents, to assignments. Toni even showed me how to print a Course Map (it has all the course info and folder contents—AWESOME! I just wish I would have understood it all a little sooner.). By no means do I deserve to be a “Geek from the Creek,” but I have learned so-o-o-o much since that November 17th class. And, as I currently work on Module 4 (out of six) of the course with the unending help, support and patience from my peers, family and facilitator, I know I’m going to finish this course and be at the last meeting at the Schultz Center on February 23rd. If you need help don’t hesitate to ask any of the before-mentioned people—just kidding!—I’m eager to help someone else! Happy Navigating!


Karen’s Blackboard Bullets:
“Welcome Page”: To access your course Click on it in the My Courses box.
Navigation Bar: It’s found on the left side of your screen (the folders are brown rectangles).
Announcements: Click on the View All tab so you don’t miss anything posted by the facilitator.
Syllabus: Course requirements and an “assignments due dates” sheet are found in this folder.
Pre-Test and Post: There may or may not be anything in this folder, as it is my understanding that these are used at the discretion of individual facilitators.
Module Folders: The assignments and necessary materials (documents, power points, movies, etc.) are found in these folders.
Discussion Board: Click on this folder for complete instructions and to add a response. The Thread icon is found in the top left corner to add a response. After you type your response in the Message box you can then choose to Cancel, Save, or Submit. If you choose Save to edit your draft later, click on the Display box arrow to Show All and click Go to find your draft.
ESOL Resources: This folder is filled with ESOL strategies, websites, and lesson plans.
Communication: This folder has different tools for communicating in it. (I haven’t had a need to use it so far.)
Bb Tools: This folder is where you access your grades for the course you are taking. It also contains the actual Blackboard Academic Suite User Manual and other organizational tools.
Bb Support: This folder has the needed Plug-In Links to view multimedia content and the needed technical requirements to complete this course. And some additional help for opening and saving PDF or ZIP files.
Tools: This small box under the Navigation Bar contains a Course Map that when you click Expand All gives you a complete view of all folders and their contents. I found this helpful to have a visual of all the assignments in the Modules and Discussion Board.

Scrapblogging - Julia Lewis

I am notorious in my family for collecting thousands of dollars worth of scrapbooking materials...but never actually scrapbooking! While browsing blogs to get ideas to "beautify" my blog last summer, I came across digital scrapbooking on http://www.scrapblog.com/. I spent an entire day playing with the site and creating my first digital scrapbook! There are several different things you can do on the site:

1. Create a digital scrapbook including pictures and/or videos

2. Create a calendar
3. Create an image to use for things like newsletter headers, blog headers, a sign, etc.
4. Make holiday cards

I am sure there are other useful tools that I have not yet discovered on the website!

To get any of the projects started:

1. Go to www.scrapblog.com and create a FREE account so that you can save your projects.
2. Click "create new scrapblog."
3. You can then choose whether you want to start with a theme or with a blank page. If you choose a theme, you can still add to it or delete objects and pictures already on it.
   
4. Next, upload the photos or videos you want to use by selecting where you want to take the images/videos from. Then select the images or videos and click "upload."
5. You are then free to create! You can choose from hundreds of stickers, backgrounds, and frames. To add anything to your scrapblog project, you simply click and drag!
6. You will want to click "save" every now and again. After you click "save," it will ask you if you want to publish it. Click "no" to continue working on it, or "yes" if you are done. (If you want to save your work as an image, click on "file" then "Export as JPEG."
   
7. After you have published your scrapblog, it will ask you if you want to share it now. Click "yes, share now," then click on "copy and paste" to get the html code to embed into your blog! If you choose "share elsewhere" then "Blogger," scrapblog.com will automatically put your scrapblog on your blog!
   

There is a quick video that shows you the basics of how to get startedunder the "quick tour" section! There are more detailed videos under the "Get Crafty" section.

I will warn you that this can be highly addictive! If you have any questions, feel free to ask me!

Technology a day keeps the doctor away - Jen Zawis

“How the tables have turned…” my software developer husband commented upon hearing of my newly crowned/necklaced “Geek at the Creek” status. Prior to the past two years, I could most often be heard hollering for my husband to come to my rescue as I was at the mercy of our computer, unsure of what to do next and overwhelmed by how to approach a technology situation. I have undergone a complete technology makeover, however, thanks to my fellow geeks at the Creek and have taken ownership of learning about technology for myself, and even more so, for my students. I push myself to try new technologies, using the “I think I can” mantra. I’m determined and optimistic, and I think that that is half of the battle.

I do try to use technology in my classroom on a daily basis. As more research comes forth about how the United States is “failing our geniuses” and that we are continuing to lose ground in math, science, and technology relative to the rest of the world, I feel that it is my duty to provide my gifted students with as many opportunities to learn about and be successful in as many new technology applications as possible. These children represent some of the brightest minds that are up and coming. If I don’t provide them with a multitude of technology opportunities, I feel that I am not doing them justice. They enjoy it and absorb it, and more often than not, we go above and beyond my expectations in building technology skills.

One of the main avenues that I use in my classroom on a regular basis is blogging. I have a blog for each of my classes and the students are the sole authors of these blogs. I have taught my students a number of tools to use when they wrote a blog post, including how to upload images and photos that correspond to their post, as well as how to create links within their posts to other websites.

I have taught my 4^th and 5^th graders how to use wikis as a way to collaborate on various projects. For example, one of the lessons in the scientific approach portion of both the 4^th and 5^th grade gifted curriculums is to learn about eminent scientists. In order to make this lesson more enticing, I taught the kids how to make an eminent scientist wiki, so that they could learn about multiple scientists, and if more than one student wanted to write about the same scientist, they could easily do so via the wiki. I taught several lessons on the Seven Wonders of the World, and had my 4^th graders add their research findings about each of these wonders to the appropriate continent wiki on the CCE website. I tried to teach them about as many features available to them on the wikis as I could. The bells and whistles always interest the kids most of all.

The other ambition I am working on is having my 4^th graders type (another practical skill) their own “Choose Your Own Adventure” stories and link their adventure choices and endings together.

I recently taught my 5^th graders how to use Microsoft Photo Story, which I find to be very similar, but a bit more kid- friendly than Movie Maker. I had taught them a series of lessons on bridges, and wanted them to create some sort of final project. I decided to teach them how to use Photo Story and produce a slideshow demonstrating what they had learned about bridges. I wanted them to learn something that they could use for future projects, should they choose.

My goal is to try to teach my students as many practical technology applications as I can- whether it is via Voicethreads, Wordles, Movie Maker, learning how to complete effective internet searches, or simply reviewing how to save images and documents to their share drives. I try to bear in mind that they need to learn things that they can use in the future- whether that is when they work on projects in middle school, or simply to further deepen and broaden what they are working on at Chets Creek. As I tell my students “Practice makes better”- perfect is a word we try to avoid in the gifted room for sure. We aren’t going to be able to learn it all at once and be good at everything, but through trial and error, we’ll get there. My students deserve to learn these things, and I will do my best to get them thereJ

Creating a Flickr Streaming Slideshow - Lauren Skipper

I love taking pictures and I love being able to share them. I was introduced to the world of blogging a year ago by dayle and Maria So, The Skipper Blog was born! I loved the slideshow idea and I quickly became addicted to Slide.com and then Photostory and Moviemaker. I share this little side story with you because I want you to know that it has taken some time to become familiar with blogging and playing around with some of the "toys" that are available to bloggers. The idea for creating a streaming slideshow came from our #1 Geek(and I use that term lovingly) Melanie. I wanted to something different for my blog and so the she led me to flickr.

Creating a flickr blog widget is very easy once you know how to do it. The first step is actually uploading your pictures to flickr. You will need to sign up for an account, which is free. Why flickr? I found that flickr has the most options when it comes to using pictures for your blogs in creative ways. It is very easy to transfer the pictures to other applications such as Slide.com and even Movie Maker.

When you upload pictures to flickr it gives you options on tagging and creating "sets" when you save your pictures. This is important because you will choose which pictures actually feed into your photostream. I have three blogs, therefore I needed three seperate streams. When you click on the link above that allows you to createyour widget it will take you through an easy to follow step by step process.

There are so many fun flickr applications you can use with your students. Big Huge Labs has some creative things that you can easily do with your pictures from flickr. Applications such as jigsaw puzzles, magazine covers, mosaics, and motivational posters. The possibilities are endless!

Wikis Supporting Author Studies - Jenny Nash

I love author studies. Last year, we dove head first into our Allen Say author study while still in the early weeks of the school year and deeply involved in teaching rituals and routines. I was thrilled to see my students interests peeked so quickly in good, quality literature that challenged them to think deeper and stretch farther. I also noticed how an author study can quickly become an all-encompassing project -- involving not only reading and writing, but history, geography, and research skills. With an author such as Allen Say, whose works are widely historical and cultural in nature, I found it necessary to build my readers' schema and record our findings for future readings.

This year, I've found a way to make it even more effective and motivating for my students. A wiki.


With Melanie's help, we created a skeletal wiki. Pages were created for each book, as well as various other topics related to our study, such as vocabulary and historical references. The vision was that this wiki could serve as a publishing method for our responses and an opportunity for extending higher learners' thinking.

For example, during the course of our author study we studied the genres and elements of literature. Therefore, within each book's page students have recorded literary elements such as genre, characters, and setting. Another focus of our study was determining the theme of a text. So, this, too, is included on each book's page. We also, in part to prepare us for the DRA2, practiced writing short summaries of books - focusing on what is important, without telling "too much". You will find that student's short summaries for the Allen Say books are also included.

As I mentioned earlier, I find that, with this author study in particular, students need to develop a strong understanding of historical events and periods, specifically, World War II and Japanese-American Internment Camps. I conducted some searches and found a few websites with information I thought would be appropriate, meaningful, and useful for my students. I included links to these sites within the wiki, as well.

The author study includes a vocabulary component, too. On each book's page, students have identified "interesting language/new words". Additionally, a separate page was created to house a master list of vocabulary. Originally, the vision was to have students synthesize the meaning of these words by selecting an image from the internet to represent each word and insert within the page.

There are more creative opportunities, too! For instance, I created a readers' theater script for Under the Cherry Blossom Tree. My students rehearsed this in small groups and independently at home. I recorded their readings with my Flip Video and can add this to my wiki! Additionally, my students created a piece of original artwork, designed to represent their favorite book or piece of the study. These pictures were photographed and added to a VoiceThread. Students then recorded their "mini-response" to their reading to create a class response. This, too, will be included in the wiki, as well as our class blog.

This project, being the first of what I hope will be many, was not without obstacles. In retrospect, I think I bit off a bit more than I could chew! I had high hopes of creating a broad tool to serve a multitude of purposes. However, my students and I were just not ready for this degree of implementation. There was training to do and wrinkles to iron out. For one, hardware. With only the two student stations and one laptop available for my students during the school day, adding information was slow. I investigated the laptop lab, but was told there were issues with using it to upload content in mass. So, I invited students to join the wiki, get their own user name, and work from home. Unfortunately, they are at home with little, if any, technological support, so few students took advantage of this opportunity. I expect that with more experience in the classroom, and continued support for students and parents technological learning, my students' (and parents') confidence in technology will increase and so will their participation at home.

Ultimately, I remain convinced that this is the next step in my teaching. It has motivated my students, as well as opened avenues towards learning experiences that I only imagined were possible. My advice to those interested in trying it is -- JUST DO IT! Tackle it one step at a time.

Do not let your first be your last! My classes will soon embark on another author study together, for which we will create ANOTHER, entirely unique wiki. My purpose for this new wiki will be similar, but not identical, and the wiki will reflect that in its design.

In closing, begin with the end in mind. What is your purpose? What is your vision? What is the most essential piece? Begin there, remain focused, and you will be pleased.