SEEDlings

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In keeping with the spirit of SEED TLLs we are organizing a monthly dinner meeting which will take place at various host schools. The purpose of our meetings will be to:

• Share online technology treasures, or “Geek of the Week”
• Provide support for technology integrators and leaders
• Discuss educational technology needs, resources, and best practices.
• Eat
• Have a good time

Our meeting will take place at Rowe School in Yarmouth, Maine. We will meet on Thursday January 18th from 5PM to 7PM. If you would like to order takeout from Clayton’s Cafe e-mail Ryan Palmer at rpalmer@sad61.k12.me.us by noon on the 18th. A link to the menu can be found HERE . If you don’t wish to order takeout, feel free to brown bag it or get takeout from somewhere else before you arrive.

If you have any questions about the meeting, group, or location, email Alice Barr or Ryan Palmer.

A few notes from the session:

We are learning about the flattening world and how information is changing.

Model blogging
Use TEXT EDIT or NOTEPAD to write your post. In Text Edit you can select a passage, write click and have it read back to you.
Blogging: Taking Technology out of the picture

Wiki Conference model: What are the essential questions you want to know about a wiki? Everyone responds on a wiki to cull the questions. Then the questions become the conference session.

Wikipedia entries: Back up with another source
Part 1 Learn from Wikipedia about this topic
Part 2 find another source that supports the article
I want to know how bookmarks AUTO update to a web page

Read The Long Tail Where Wikipedia fits in to our culture.
Technorati indexes the blogoshpere.

CreativeCommons

Blog Tag Generator

by Will Richardson

What happens to time-worn concepts of classrooms and teaching when we can now go online and learn anything, anywhere, anytime?

Read the article

Five days back in the classroom.

Five things I’d forgotten.

1. Eating lunch in gulps isn’t much fun.
2. Not being able to go the restroom on demand isn’t much fun either.
3. Discussing with a teenager with or not a t-shirt is appropriate for school is more fun than I’d like to admit.
4. How hard it is to find time to check your email during the day.
5. What it’s like to have people think your first name is Mr.

Five things that were as I remembered them.

1. Every teacher wants to be in their room before school starts, but they aren’t.
2. Custodians get a big ovation within the first eight minutes.
3. The kitchen staff have to be found and given another nice round of applause.
4. There are more things to do than their is prep time to do them.
5. No day goes by faster or feels better than a day of teaching.

I recently was given a copy of Omnidazzle to play with and I’m so impressed.

I’ve seen other apps that do similiar things, but this one does some fun things.

You can use it to zoom portions of the screen (just like option, apple and +/-), you can turn you mouse into a spotlight (just like mousepose), you can use it to draw (just like John Madden or Jerry Remy), and if you use several screens or a big screen it’s very handy to find your mouse.

Check out the demo version (which runs for an hour at a time).

I just saw this and thought it would be interesting to try out. I think I want to clean up some stuff on my machines first. Please comment on this post if you try it out and let us know what you think.

Google Browser Sync for Firefox is an extension that continuously synchronizes your browser settings – including bookmarks, history, persistent cookies, and saved passwords – across your computers. It also allows you to restore open tabs and windows across different machines and browser sessions.

Please note: Google Browser Sync must update your browser settings whenever you start Firefox. This will increase the start-up time of Firefox (the time between clicking on the Firefox icon and loading your start page) – please bear with us as we work to decrease this delay.

I bought my new iPod in Febuary in a fit of spending and I’m very happy with my purchase.

However, I was stunned to discover, post “Buy with 1-click”, that there wasn’t a audio recorder available. I did some digging and the Internet told me that a product called Micromemo would be available in the spring.

This morning I checked on the MicroMemo again which was schedule to ship this spring. However, that’s been delayed again. Sigh!

Knowing that the universe provides I went about my day and while taking my blog tour I discovered Belkin’sTuneTalkStereo will be available later this month.

I feel another fit of spending coming on.

I really enjoy reading Anne Davis’ blog, Edublog Insights. She had a great post today where she discusses blogs and pedagogy. I’d suggest you all give it a read. If you’re short on time here are some of the highlights of her post.

She begins by discussing the definition of pedagogy.

The Wikipedia definition of pedagogy is the art or science of teaching. Pedagogy is also sometimes referred to as the correct use of teaching strategies. I also found these definitions of pedagogy on the web. There are several at this link.

This one resonates with me:

The strategies, techniques, and approaches that teachers can use to facilitate learning.

From there she outlines the benefits of using blogs for developing pedagogies.

Audience & Comments Having a worldwide audience who can read what students write brings forth recognition for students that can be quite profound. Students are used to the teacher being the only audience for their work. The realization that others think that what they have to say is important is empowering. They are amazed. I recall one student whose highlight for the year was having a high school student say that his writing made a difference. In another scenario I had a group of elementary students who were concerned that their writing would not be good enough for a group of high school students who were reading their blogs. It’s not that they didn’t want to try but what was important to them is that their writing be good in the eyes of their audience. We cannot create that with an audience of one.

Voice – Blogging can give students a totally new perspective on the meaning of voice. They can explore their own learning and thinking and their distinctive voices emerge. Student voices are essential to the conversations we need to have about learning. Blogs give students a place for that voice to be heard by many. Many students that would be hesitant to speak in a classroom will share their ideas on a blog.

Conversations & Dialogue – The dialogue that goes on in our classrooms about our learning through blogging is the key to getting conversations and then postings that promote critical thought by students. Here the teacher is the catalyst for helping develop an atmosphere that encourages and respects the learner and their ideas. Ideas have to be nurtured, explored and discussed. Blogs put us on a learning path together with our students where we can shape new learning environments for the future. Blogs also offer incredible opportunities for dialogue and the social construction of meaning.

Ownership & Choices – Blogs help lead us away from students from seeking to find what the teacher wants in terms of an answer. Students feel more compelled to write when they believe many others may read and respond. They want to do better. Giving students a choice in making their own connections about their learning on blogs paves the way for blogs to be constructivist tools for learning. These attributes are compelling and powerful motivators that help us shape the pedagogy.

Archives – Having records of the learning that is ongoing facilitates learning and evaluation in a much easier and efficient matter. One student put it to me that he could easily find his thoughts on a matter and he could see how his thinking had changed and why. This lets us approach evaluation in reflective ways.

I feel that technology can be leveraged to do many of these things without necessarily using blogs (but blogs do make it a whole lot easier). It is so important that we provide a larger audience for our students work. Our students will truly benefit from the experience.

I assume many of us read the same blogs and one of them is Wes Fryer’s Speed of Creativity. I’ve enjoyed reading Wes’ work for a few months and have been amazed at the sheer volume of postings.

Wes is off the Net this week I presume trying to save his marriage because he blogs way to much and Mrs. Fryer is fried and his put the blog in the hands of Miguel Guhlin.

I just need to say if forced to reduce my blog reading to a minimum I’m keeping Miguel and thanking Wes for the gift. I’m loving Miguel’s style and contributions.

Has anyone else had a similiar experience?

Miguel’s natural home Around the Corner

What’s up with the title?