NECC+2008

//CCSD Technology Integration Specialists and teachers that attended the NECC 2008 conference please comment on best practices, tools, and resources to the following://
 * **3 new resources/tools you learned about at conference**
 * **2 resources/tools you plan to share with your schools**
 * **1 resource/tool you plan to implement**
 * **Miscellaneous Thoughts About the Conference**



**Anita - **//I am not as eloquent or long winded as Randy...but here goes!!// One cool resource that was out of the box...Using Photo Booth on a mac with a built in camera. You can set your background to an image such as a lake, and use the "green screen" effect to stand in front of that image. This allows a quick and easy Public Service Announcement capabilities for a unit.

A great website for the TIS's is http://edtechtalk.com/ it is a chat, blog, community...basically Web 2.0 stuff for educational technology users.

I really like the new versions of Kidspiration and Timeliner and I can not wait to learn more about them and show them to my schools! ** Herman - ** As always, it was fun to blog the conference! I only had one session where the multi-tasking was just too much- though I was trying to follow the presentation live, in a video window as it streamed, participate in a text chat that involved people sitting around me as well as people not able to attend from all over the world, and blog- too much!

The three things I learned about: I learned more about Google Earth/Sky kmz files and all the info that they can carry. I also learned that I could use good old html in Google Earth placemarks to do some very useful things. Now, where is that html manual? Finally, Stephanie Sandifer in Marzano & Web 2.0: Web 2.0 That Works reminded me that we have no problem getting teachers to integrate if it meets a need they have.


 * Betsy -** Three interesting new resources for me:
 * www.thematzats.com/itselementary - great list of blogs and podcasts geared to elementary level, with info on stuff from aggregators to a SMART Board Lessons Podcast
 * www.voicethread.com – a conversation tool that permits comment via mic, video, phone, text, or uploads. It’s got a great WOW-factor, and offers free individual accounts for K-12 teachers
 * A resource CD from the Fernbank Science Center (right here in our own backyard) – It’s full of scavenger hunts and webquests for all areas, as well as tons of pre-viewed websites

 

Schools using newer mac's I will show Photo Booth capabilities.
 * Anita -**

Google Documents as a form. Teachers can send it via email to parents to fill out and then it will populate a spreadsheet for teachers to see their whole class in one spreadsheet. This can also be used as a quiz for students where students enter the fields in a form and all of the results are sent to one spreadsheet for the teacher to view. A group of teachers can also do this for students that they need to communicate how well or issues they are having throughout the day. (ie: John had a bad day today, he said he woke up late and Mom refused to drive him to school when he missed the bus. He had to walk in the rain. OR Susan - Congratulate her for getting an A on her Science Project.)

The items I plan to share were mentioned as the top 2 above- they will improve the work done with Google Earth at Harrison and in k-12 science. I also imagine I'll talk with schools about some new ideas for Del.icio.us
 * Herman -**


 * Betsy -**
 * Perhaps others were familiar with these, but they were new to me: __ [|www.4teachers.org] __ – has a great set of tools: **
 * **__ [|Arcademic Skill Builders]  __**** which has awesome games that target math and literacy **
 * **__ [|PBL Checklists]  __**** which helps teachers create age-appropriate, customizable [|project checklists] to keep students on track, and learn through peer- and self-evaluation **

==  **1 resource/tool you plan to implement...**    == Google and Web 2.0 trainings at my schools. Show the schools the advantages of using Web 2.0 resources.
 * Anita -**

Finally, a session called Audio is Great! Video is Cool! iPods Can Do More! filled a need for Tina Jenkins at Dowell. She began using iPods in her classroom this past year and wanted to expand the use beyond audio & video. I expect I'll be helping her and her students create iPod flash cards, quizzes, and notes for use in her classroom and at home. (No, on their Windows computers! iTunes works with those too!)
 * Herman -**

Thanks for letting me go!


 * Betsy -**
 * I won a book that has 30 Kidspiration: Math Made Visual lesson plans - yay :) It’ll be great to share some of these with, for example, the folks at Powers Ferry as they focus on math this year. **



**Miscellaneous Thoughts About the Conference**
Posted by  __//**Randy**//__//**-**// During the conference, I took notes Neapolitan style...or as my grandad used to call that kind of ice cream- 3 Way.

1) I took notes with my Palm T/X. 2) I took them the old fashioned way; with pen and paper. 3) And I took them perhaps the most reliable way- I just listened.

One day after returning home, I reviewed the notes, and transcribed, translated, augmented and packaged them using OpenMind. I decided to post them to a new page because I was a bit lazy to separate them into the navigation areas already proposed.

If you take a look at any of the notes below and want to comment or question...please do so. Feel free to edit my notes or add anything that you might have taken from the conference...or anything you already knew before or without going to San Antonio.

As noted, I did go to hear the Bernie Dodge and the Alan November sessions. I have seen Mr. Dodge three times over the years and Mr. November now four times. I have felt it an honor and challenge each time I heard them. Same thing this year. But not the same message; always something new.

They rekindled an old philosophy of mine that I would like to attend to for the next year. No Excuses and No Apologies. It will be a challenge to stay true to.

Here's a Neapolitan attachment set for you- 3 Way! Pretty cool, huh? ...But, you do have to have "the Internet" to get 'em! Ha!

[|NECC 2008 Sessions.omp]

[|NECC 2008 Sessions.doc]

[|NECC 2008 Sessions.pdf] I. Keynote- James Surowieki ......................................................................................................... 6 A. Francis Galton story/ Guess the Weight of the Ox/ Crowd's guess was right. .................................................. 6 B. Wisdom of Crowds ................................................................................................................................................. 6 C. Collective Intelligence ............................................................................................................................................ 6 D. The Jellybean Experiment- .................................................................................................................................... 6 E. Who Wants to Be a Millionalire?/ Audience right 91% and Phone Expert right 67% ......................................... 6 F. Prediction Markets .................................................................................................................................................. 6 G. "The most talkative person in the group is not necessarily the smartest. In fact, they probably are not." ... 6 H. Aggregate- Diversity- Independence..................................................................................................................... 6 I. 3 Actuaries Hunting...#1 miss to the right #2 miss to the left and #3 says-Hey, We got it! ............................... 6 J. US Scorpion....Lost...and Found by Craven's team............................................................................................... 6

II. Wonderful World of Wikis- Adam Frey: Wikispaces & Vicki Davis ........................................ 6 A. A Wiki is a webpage with an Edit Button!.............................................................................................................. 6 B. A Wiki is about HISTORY- All changes are recorded! .......................................................................................... 6 C. Wikis allow for collaboration! ................................................................................................................................ 6 D. Have forums in Wikis.............................................................................................................................................. 6 E. //westwood.wikispaces.com .................................................................................................................................. 6 F. Portfolio for each student. EFolio template made standard by teacher.............................................................. 6 G. Use TAGS for every assignment and notes. ......................................................................................................... 6 H. Observe Wikinetiquette .......................................................................................................................................... 6 I. Netvibes RSS reader ................................................................................................................................................ 6 J. Personal Learning Network .................................................................................................................................... 6 K. See Web 2.0 @atomic learning *authored by Ms. Davis....................................................................................... 6 L. Google Cool Cat teacher*** .................................................................................................................................... 6 M. Back Channel- a chat room ................................................................................................................................... 7 N. Flatten Your Class- Use 1 Wiki and 4 pages for four classes. Peer Review...cross class. No Excuses. ........ 7 O. Use Permissions and Assignment Locks.............................................................................................................. 7 P. Greenlist your URL ................................................................................................................................................. 7 Q. BLOGS are for Opinions/ 1st Person writing & WIKIS are for Facts/ 3rd person............................................... 7 R. RSSs are like having a guy throwing you footballs.............................................................................................. 7

III. Wikipedia in the Social Studies Classroom- Thomas Hammond/ Leheigh University........ 7 A.// hammond.seedwiki.com ...................................................................................................................................... 7 B. Wikipedia is the 7th most freq visited -"at least it gives us something to talk about." ..................................... 7 C. Wikirace- given a site to race to from a starting site/ also given. Fewest clicks wins....................................... 7 D. For SST classes- use not only as an info source but as an info structure......................................................... 7 E. Compare Wiki sites from different languages, different cultures...different ideas. What can you know? What can you not know? ............................................................................................................................................ 7 F. Is the entry written by someone INSIDE or OUTSIDE the topic???..................................................................... 7 G. Article layer...Discussion layer...Edit layer...History layer. .................................................................................. 7 H. 1) George W.Bush 2)Wal-Mart are good examples to investigate- .................................................................... 7 I. Meaningful- Challenging- Integrative- Values Based ............................................................................................. 7 J. Boston Massacre/ Crispus Attucks- Use of pri vs secondary source ................................................................. 7 K. Compose- Opportunity to work with Local History .............................................................................................. 7 L. Close Study...Multiple Perspectives ....................................................................................................................... 7

IV. 21st Century Poetry Slam:Online Student Poetry Collaborations- Bonnie Thurber/ Northwestern University ................................................................................................................ 7 A. //collaboratorynunet.net ......................................................................................................................................... 7

V. Lit2Go: Read Along and Edit Copyright Free Books: Gordon Worley/ University of South Florida ............................................................................................................................................. 8 A.// fcit.usf.edu............................................................................................................................................................. 8 B. //homepage.mac.com/worley/necc08/lit2go.pdf.................................................................................................... 8 C. Mixcraft and Sessions ............................................................................................................................................ 8 D. Soundbooth and Soundtracker .............................................................................................................................. 8 E. Flashkit.com............................................................................................................................................................ 8

VI. Energize Your Classroom with Google Tools- Laska Koleva/ Google ................................. 8 A. You had to be there! ............................................................................................................................................... 8

VII. Achieving Digital Literacy through IC (Microsoft Office and Adobe Certification)- Debbie Collins/ Independent Contractor ................................................................................................... 8 A. 3Rs to 3Cs...computing-communicating-calculating............................................................................................ 8 B. www.certiport.com/ic3............................................................................................................................................ 8 C. Pivot Tables?........................................................................................................................................................... 8

VIII. Sheer Profundity ("the David Crosby" term) brought to you by carlthefish...................... 8 A. Sessions I Wish I Had Attended!!!......................................................................................................................... 8 1. Immersive Collaborative Simulations in Augmented Reality.................................................................................. 8 2. Web Site Investigator: An Introduction to Information Forensics ........................................................................... 8 3. Literacy Isn't Enough: Digital Fluency in the Age of InfoWhelm............................................................................. 8 4. Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Will Fundamentally Change Learning ........................................................ 8 5. From Comics to Trading Cards: Teaching New Literacies Using ReadWriteThink.org.......................................... 8 6. Wikis on Fire: Confessions from a First Year Wikier.............................................................................................. 8 B. Announcement-....................................................................................................................................................... 8 1. I Need a Theme Song...A Sig Tune....................................................................................................................... 8 2. It has been determined.- "Rods and Cones" by Blue Man Group.......................................................................... 8 C. A Poem I Wrote... .................................................................................................................................................... 8 1. Shhh... .................................................................................................................................................................. 9 2. 4 Letters- The Infinite Syllable ............................................................................................................................... 9 3. The sound of one mouth shutting .......................................................................................................................... 9 4. The mouth of one sound shutting .......................................................................................................................... 9 5. the sounds of all mouths....................................................................................................................................... 9 D. Heard it here for the first time................................................................................................................................ 9 1. Email Jail .............................................................................................................................................................. 9 E. Best PowerPoint slide ............................................................................................................................................ 9 1. Google session..................................................................................................................................................... 9 F. Best Throw Down Delivered................................................................................................................................... 9 1. ...also at the Google session ................................................................................................................................ 9 G. Best Question Asked at a Presentation................................................................................................................. 9 1. "Do you have to have the Internet for that because we don't always have the Internet...?"................................... 9

IX. Designing Rigorous and Globally Connected Assignments- Alan November .................... 9 A. Ten years ago I thought that technology would transform education. I don't think that it has yet. ................ 9 B. Blocking everything from our students...Schools have become the Learning Police. The irony of protecting our children from... ................................................................................................................................... 9 C. I have a few ideas...I hope they are good enough to criticize. ............................................................................. 9 D. Who owns the learning? ........................................................................................................................................ 9 E. Learn how the Internet works. ............................................................................................................................... 9 F. Site:tr........................................................................................................................................................................ 9 G. View:timeline........................................................................................................................................................... 9 H. Assessment? Give students problems to solve that are not centered on their memorization........................ 9 I. Google more...by using it to create search engines............................................................................................... 9 J. Teachers should have their own SEARCH ENGINE> ............................................................................................ 9 K. Design it and give it to students...to communities ............................................................................................. 10 L. Develop CIOs in the classroom. Rewrite jobs for the learners. ........................................................................ 10 M. Why is sharing the work...cheating? ................................................................................................................... 10 N. Move to placing/ sharing content on DVDs. More poor people have TVs than computers............................ 10 O. jingproject.com..................................................................................................................................................... 10 P. We are spending too much time teaching technology to teachers. If you have to, don't do it unless the teacher brings 2 students to the training and one of them has to be the worst kid in the class. The teacher also has to bring papers to grade. ............................................................................................................................ 10 Q. Audiobooks...provide different viewpoint of the content. Kids voice vs. Teacher voice. ............................... 10 R. We have underestimated what kids will do. ........................................................................................................ 10 S. We are using a computer as a $1000 pencil. ....................................................................................................... 10 T. Instead of assigning 1 ppt to each student, why not have several produce 1 ppt? ......................................... 10 U. Have student work add value to the world. Assignment- Make a contribution to Wikipedia. ........................ 10 V. Wikipedia is a publishing company...not an encyclopedia. ............................................................................... 10 W. Before- once the assignment was done; it was done. NOW- the assignment should continue. .................. 10 X. kiva.org .................................................................................................................................................................. 10 Y. novemberlearning.com......................................................................................................................................... 10 1. http://novemberlearning.com/images/stories/Documents/Articles/thedigitalfarm.pdf ........................................... 10

X. Angles and Answers: Using Origami and Art to Teach Geometry- Dale Hilton/ The Cleveland Museum of Art............................................................................................................. 10 A. Albrecht Durer- Melancholia I (1514) and Piet Mondrian Composition w/Red Yellow and Blue(1872) and Chamion von Wiegand- Power Plant II (1949) and Casement Window- FL Wright (1904).................................... 10 B. Art that takes advantage of mathematical concepts. ......................................................................................... 10 C. www.clevelandart.com ......................................................................................................................................... 10

XI. Math A-Z: Applets to Zeta Functions: Math Fun for the Classroom- Julie Lott/ Gilbert Public Schools (AZ) ...................................................................................................................... 11 A. julia_lott@gilbert.k12.az.us.................................................................................................................................. 11

XII. Smart Boarding in the Classroom 101- Bret Gensburg/ University of Akron................... 11 A. Checklist of Actions ............................................................................................................................................. 11 1. Write ................................................................................................................................................................... 11 2. Erase .................................................................................................................................................................. 11 3. Change Colors.................................................................................................................................................... 11 4. Save Time .......................................................................................................................................................... 11 5. Text..................................................................................................................................................................... 11 6. Lines................................................................................................................................................................... 11 7. Shapes ............................................................................................................................................................... 11 8. Shape Recognition ............................................................................................................................................. 11 9. Properties ........................................................................................................................................................... 11 10. Fill ..................................................................................................................................................................... 11 11. Clone ................................................................................................................................................................ 11 12. Tool Bars .......................................................................................................................................................... 11 13. Slide Sorter....................................................................................................................................................... 11 14. Right Click ........................................................................................................................................................ 11 15. Group................................................................................................................................................................ 11 B. If you teach right handed...your board should be slightly to the left as the audience faces you...vice versa for lefties. ................................................................................................................................................................... 11 C. Passion Can Be Misunderstood as Reimbursement .......................................................................................... 11 D. Chapstick in the tray to disengage sensors........................................................................................................ 11 E. UNDO- Favorite Button/ Don't ERASE...Undo is cheaper than the fix............................................................... 11 F. Change size of eraser to small...ENCLOSE & TAP acts like the "snowplow" eraser. ...................................... 11 G. Are You PRESENTING content or TEACHING content? ppt vs SmartBoard................................................... 11 H. Pen UP..Pen Down...become the Mouse.............................................................................................................. 11 I. "I reject your reality and substitute my own!!!" .................................................................................................... 12 J. Control-1 Defaults to Mouse................................................................................................................................ 12 K. Go Back to Page Sorter...always .......................................................................................................................... 12 L. The 23rd student- 22 present/1 absent...teach like you are teaching for the 1 that is absent. ........................ 12 M. Use New Page rather than Extend Page.............................................................................................................. 12 N. Write Vertical and Rotate to Horizontal................................................................................................................ 12 O. Don't STEAL ideas...Harvest them!...................................................................................................................... 12 P. CLICK * HOLD * DRAG * DROP............................................................................................................................ 12 Q. Infinite Clone......................................................................................................................................................... 12 R. Stay in Page Width mode...View menu ................................................................................................................ 12 S. 1st Endgame-> Export as .pdf.............................................................................................................................. 12 T. www.eagleti.com ................................................................................................................................................... 12 U. Bret@eagleti.com ................................................................................................................................................. 12

XIII. Using Authentic Problems to Scaffold Decision-Making Skills- Bernie Dodge/ San Diego University...................................................................................................................................... 12 A. Don't Just Flip a Coin...scene from NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN ................................................................... 12 B. #1- Use PMI- Positive. Minus. Interesting. ........................................................................................................... 12 C. #2- Use Weighted Sum Decision Making ............................................................................................................. 12 D. Does it INTUIT? ..................................................................................................................................................... 12 E. Does it FIT you Intuit?? ........................................................................................................................................ 12 F. #3- Use Decision Trees ......................................................................................................................................... 12 G. Personal Causation...book by Richard DeCharm ............................................................................................... 12 H. www.mindtools.com............................................................................................................................................. 12 I. #4- Use Six Thinking Hats- deBono ....................................................................................................................... 12 J. Have students-#1 Create a solution to a problem. #2 Change the situation and create a new problem scenario OR #3 Recommend a solution to an existing problem. #....................................................................... 12 K. Nothing is more difficult and therefore more precious than the opportunity to decide.- Napolean I............. 13 L. http://webquest.org/worksteps.dom..................................................................................................................... 13
 * Randy,

Thank you for sharing the Alan November [|link]! I was unable to attend that session. The entire article was interesting and shows me that I am right on in a lot of my thinking and direction. I find his Conclusion right on target!**

//Conclusion In some ways, the idea of the digital farm and the jobs outlined above is counter to the current policies of many schools where community tools are routinely blocked on the network. The opportunity before us is much too valuable for this to continue. If our children are to grow up to make important contributions to our society, it is essential that we provide them with powerful tools and experiences across the curriculum. This will require a new culture of teaching and learning that engages students as contributors. Our students have already chosen tools such as My Space and Facebook for their own communications and social interaction. Now is the time to take elements of these tools and provide students with the appropriate role models of how to use them to make important and rigorous contributions to their own school and beyond. If we do not teach students social responsibility and ethics, then our worst fears of children abusing these tools will come true//.

Anita**
 * Thank you!!