Best Sites

My master’s degree is in library media and it was during my program that I felt pulled into the world of technology. I am a firm believer that technology and library media are tools that students and teachers need to enhance the curriculum. The article Best Sites for the Technology Leader focuses on the Library Media Specialist as a technology leader. Even though I am a Technology teacher and facilitator now, I still am drawn to the overlap with library media. This article gives great sources to help a leader stay current with trends and new emerging technologies.

Current trends and issues
http://www.techlearning.com/

Managing an Instructional Technology Program http://cosn.org/

Research of Technology and Teaching http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/teachtech/research.shtm

Professional Development Tools http://www.edutopia.org/

Digital Storytelling http://www.digitalstories.org/

Podcasting with Tony Vincent http://www.blogger.com/www.learninginhand.com/podcasting

Podcasting with David Warlick and the Landmark Project http://epnweb.org/

The author also suggests following these two blogs:
http://ianjukes.com/infosvvy/index.php
http://www.speedofcreativity.org/

I would add http://educationworld.com/ as one of my favorites to this author’s list. I also think that attending conferences aids in staying on top of the current trends, as well as reminding us of the “tried and true” methods. I feel that continual learning of a leader is a key component in being an effective technology leader.



Troutner, J. (2006, October). best sites for the technology leader. Teacher Librarian, 34(1), 39-40. Retrieved September 12, 2009, from Academic Search Complete database.

Insights About Myself After This Blogging Experience

Reflecting on my blogging future....

I feel I have become a more efficient blogger during this experience. I am more conscious of visuals, linking, making it user friendly, and providing assistance to others. I plan to continue adding to this blog in the future. I will open it to the public, so that I can link with other people in my field, in order to gain more insight in technology.

Photo taken by Kim Mulkey

Applications of Blogs to My Practice

I have been using blogs in my practice since I began as the Technology Facilitator at my school in August of 2007. At the early elementary level, blogs are primarily used to share what it going on in the classroom or school. Most of the student application is in the project before the actual post; however our third grade classes do post and comment using the true sense of blogging. Part of my job is to support my teachers who use blogs. Some examples of our blogs can be found at http://blog.woodward.edu/waps and http://blog.woodward.edu/edmison.

Photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24oranges/2974538924/

Significant Postings from the Blogging Experience

During this blogging experience for my graduate class on technology integration, I have had a few posts that are significant to me. “Copyright or Copywrong?” was one that was spurred on by a need in my school. Since we opened in August of 2007, we had needed to created many policies and procedures for our school. Copyright hasn’t been addressed formally, so I was led in this direction. Another post that stands out to me is “50+ Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story”. I have gone back to this site often since making this posting. I have also referred it to others. My favorite professional article that I reviewed was “Integrating Instruction.” I would like to see more teachers using differentiated instruction.

Photo from: http://www.pics4learning.com/details.php?img=heart30.jpg

Webquests

I read an article about Webquests on Education World's website. It is titled Creating a Webquest: It's Easier than you Think. I like using webquests with students in first grade and up. It is a great way to begin teaching research to these students, and it is a great way to teach putting the answer in phrase form (not copying.) The article tells how to create your own webquest, and the site has many to choose from that someone else created. I have a first grade teacher at my school who does at least one webquest every three weeks to a month. The students usually use the information to write and then type paragraphs. There are many 21 century skills that are incorporated into these assignments. Webquests are a great technology integration tool!

Photo from http://www.pics4learning.com/details.php?img=spiderweb01.jpg

To Google or Not to Google

When is it ok for kids to use Google for Internet research? This has been a debate among some of my colleagues, lately. Our school policy is not to allow our K-3 students to partake in Google searches without an adult present (preferably the adult searches ahead of time, too.) But...many students do it at home, most of the time unsupervised. There is also a copyright issue when using Google. How many times have you seen a child find a great picture on Google, copy and paste it into their assignment, and IF it has been cited...it says http://www.google.com/? Another issue I have with youngsters searching on Google is they do not have the ability to differentiate valid from invalid research. The reading levels present another problem. So...what and how should it be done? I prefer that students are taught how to search using kid friendly search engines such as NetTrekker, Quintura, and KidsClick. These sites can be used to allow young students to safely search for items they can read. NetTrekker (paid site) even has a "read to the student" function. When students are old enough to understand reliable sources, then lessons should be taught on this topic. KidsClick has a page with lessons on searching. The safe search should be activated on any computer that children are using, but with the understanding that filters aren't perfect. This is, of course, my opinion. I am a believer in responsible, safe, valuable, readable, age appropriate searching!

Photo from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Lupa.na.encyklopedii.jpg

Differentiated Instruction

One of my favorite speakers (and her website is listed in my favorite websites for teachers) is Tammy Worcester. She presented at GaETC about teaching using Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences theory. She has created this resource that is divided into web resources by each type of learning. One website that she demonstrated was called Bloxorz. It is under the kinesthetic realm, but is also a problem solving activity. Give it a try!!!

Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/wfryer/358334177/

Big Huge Labs and Spell with Flickr

Big Huge Labs and Spell with Flickr are two sites that I learned about today at a GAETC session. Steve Dembo of Discovery Education showed great innovations for the early childhood classroom. Big Huge Labs will allow you to make a movie poster, sports trading card, a calendar, framer, and more. Spell with Flickr takes pictures from flickr and allows you to change each letter until you get the ones you desire. For more great suggestions from a former kindergarten teacher, please go to his website teach42.com

Ron Clark

I had the privilege to go to the Georgia Educational Technology conference today and hear the keynote speaker, Ron Clark. He was amazing! It was inspiring to hear someone speak about education with such enthusiam and excitement. He kept saying the words, "creativity and innovation." These are words that are constantly used in the technology world. I left the presentation wondering, "Am I making a difference in the lives of the students at my school." I don't feel that I teach them on a regular basis to directly affect their lives; however, I hope that with what I do with the teachers trickles down to make the students' learning the best it can be. I plan to go out and purchase Ron Clark's book this weekend to learn more about how I can be creative, innovative, and make a difference.
To read the bio about Ron Clark go to http://www.gaetc.org/speakers08/keynote08.htm

Photo created at Big Huge http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/

The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle

On Monday, November 3, 2008, I will present a workshop at the Georgia Independent Schools Association conference in Columbus, Georgia with two fellow colleagues. The presentation will be about an integrated lesson that we created for a first grade class. It integrates language arts, math, science, art, and research skills with technology throughout. Here is the PowerPoint presentation, and for the documents we used, go to http://firstgradegrouchyladybug.wikispaces.com/

Technology Integration In Elementary Educationforblog

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

Nine Excellent Reasons for Technology in Education

In this article by John Page on the website Tech and Learning, he gives nine reasons that teachers should be using technology in their classrooms. I liked his ending summary, "If education is about knowledge and intellectual skills, then information technology lies at the heart of it all. We have only just begun this transition. School will eventually look very different. Get ready." I believe we are still at the beginning of an exciting transition into a new realm of education.

Photo from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Computer-blue.svg

Copyright or Copywrong????

How young is too young to start teaching students about copyright? Can Kindergarten students truly understand that it is important to cite sources? I believe that it should start in Kindergarten. As alluded to in the title, we can teach them the “right” or “wrong” way to “copy” or use others’ materials. I read an article titled, Kindergarten Copyright, by Rosemary Shaw at the Tech Learning website. It discusses simplistic ways to explain copyright to young learners, clarifies fair use, and gives examples of ways to teach citation with elementary students. I have also included a link in the "Student Links" section (in the side bar to the left) for an elementary guide for citation.

Photo from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Question_copyright.svg

BeeBots

"Did you ever see a BeeBot, a BeeBot, a Beebot?," (sung to the tune of "Did you ever see a Lassie.) One of our kindergarten classes had a 4 week unit with our computer teacher on programing. These great tools, called BeeBots, help students to learn how to give a command, and then the "computer-BeeBot" follows the command. The students practiced directional commands such as right, left, forward, and back to make their BeeBot dance. Take a look at the video I created (using a video camera and Movie Maker) of their final project.

maps.amung.us

I added a new feature to my blog this week. It is a map to the left that places a marker where someone is located that accesses my blog. Students like to see markers from around the world that indicates someone has been to their blog. It is a great time to review basic geography. I have used Cluster Maps in the past, but we have had some issues with inappropriate advertising popping up during class. This one, so far, has been safe. To add this to your blog, go to http://maps.amung.us/ and create your map, copy the code at the bottom and place it into a text widget in your layout feature of your blog.

Graphic Novel Resources

While researching Graphic Novels, I created a list of resources. There are millions out there, but I tried to keep the ones that may pertain to elementary education.
Can X-Men Make You Smarter?

Creating Comics

EEKS! Comics in the Classroom

Comic Book Project

OllieBray.com

Graphic Novels for (Really) Young Readers

WikiHow

Online Comic Creator--free

Comic Book Creator--$50.00

Comic Life--$25-30

Graphic Novels...Can they be used with Elementary Technology?

This past week a second teacher asked me to help them with a project for their students to create graphic novels in his classroom. As I normally do when starting a project, I started researching graphic novels. School Library Journal has one titled Graphic Novels for (Really) Young Readers, By Allyson A. W. Lyga. It discusses the need to include graphic novels in libraries and gives an outline of how to create one.

“For a young child to read a graphic novel, much less a wordless one, many essential literacy skills are required, including the ability to understand a sequence of events, interpret characters’ nonverbal gestures, discern the story’s plot, and make inferences. Best of all, these skills don’t merely apply to graphic novels. They are the critical skills that govern all reading comprehension.”

Even after learning the educational aspect of graphic novels, my question of where technology fits still exists. The guide she gives for creating one essentially is the beginning portion of DST, or any other book or story creation. The author suggests that the art teacher help in the creation of the pages. I have found several sites and programs that digitally create the graphic novels, but I am not sure they are for the really young student.

Photo taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/jay_dugger/238819528/

50+ Web 2.0 Ways To Tell a Story

Digital Storytelling can be achieved using a variety of technologies. There are many programs for purchase to achieve the digital format (I have used Premier Elements and Pixie,) but there are also many free options. PhotoStory3 and MovieMaker are free downloads from Microsoft. Visit Cogdogroo by Alan Levine to see more than 50 Web 2.0 ways to create various stories. I like the way he used the same story for most of the examples. By clicking on his "Dominoe" stories in each tool, you can see the various elements included in each. My favorite new sites (that I haven't seen) were One True Media, Slide Roll, Photoshow, Vuvox Colage Sliding, and Toufe.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I created this video in less than 10 minutes with pictures from my photography class. It doesn't deserve an academy award, but gives you an example of how quick and easy it was to create.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Voicethread

Voicethread is a web site that allows you to create one or more audio threads for any given image. I have used Voicethread a few times. At my school, we plan to purchase the Ed.voicethread option. The free version works great for small projects, but we plan to create individual portfolios for each child. We are going to pilot this in each grade level the first year. Please view the one I did this week with a selection of kindergarteners at http://blog.woodward.edu/waps. Please comment with your thoughts of other possible projects that could be done using this format.

Photo from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Spool_of_white_thread.jpg

Smile for the Picture

I have two great new websites to share for photography use in the classroom.

The first is called Cameroid. You need a web camera for this one. I am going into a Kindergarten class tomorrow to turn each child into Humpty Dumpty. We are going to put the JPGs into PhotoStory3 and they will read their poem to go with their Humpty Dumpty portrait. Go to http://blog.woodward.edu/waps to see the finished project.

The next site is called Befunky. This would be a great way to use a child's picture on a blog or website, but turn them into a cartoon or drawing.

"Click" for the Correct Answer

SRS (student response systems) are becoming very popular. I have been in several classes over the past week aiding the teachers in the use of our Senteo system. Three of our 3rd grade classes involved the parents using them during Parent Night last week. They played a game that they called "Are you Smarter than a 3rd Grader." The parents were able to experience the response systems their child will be using during this school year. Our science teachers are using them to relieve "test anxiety" for our first and second grade students. They are giving the same test they have always used, but most of the students are less stressed by using the clicker. They also are able to print the results for documentation of the students' progress. I found this article to give more detailed information about SRS. The article Survey Says... by Jeffrey Branzberg from Tech&Learning explains SRS and compares the various products.

Photo from http://flickr.com/photos/shareski/2262366910/

Can Technology Be Integrated into Early Childhood Classrooms?

I read an article about how a two teachers in Charleston, South Carolina integrate technology into a classroom of 4 and 5 year-olds. They use digital cameras, document camera and microscope, the Internet, and an interactive white board. The students incorporate language, science, and technology skills in this example. If it works with this age children, it can work with any age child. One quote from the article that made sense to me and my personal definition of technology integration is,
"The choice of technology should
be based on how well the tool serves
classroom learning and teaching
needs. Technology does not drive
purposeful learning; teachers’ intentional
instructional planning does."
Read the article for yourself and let me know what you think.
http://journal.naeyc.org/btj/200809/pdf/OnOurMinds.pdf

AATE

On Tuesday, September 16th, I attended the Atlanta Area Technology Educators meeting held at Westminster. This is a group of private school educators and technology personnel that get together to discuss technology issues and resources. The topics of our meeting included assessment, resources, staff development opportunities, and sharing time from the host school, Westminster. The AATE wiki has an enormous amount of valuable information for anyone in the technology realm. The notes from our meeting will be posted there. One of my favorites ( I had forgotten about this one) is http://www.go2web20.net/. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Learning In Hand

I had the opportunity to attend a workshop by Tony Vincent today. He is the author of the website Learning in Hand. In the workshop we learned about podcasting. While teaching in Omaha, Nebraska, he started a kid's podcast called Willow Radio. All of the information on how to create a podcast with students is on his Learning in Hand website. We used Audacity to create a sample podcast in the class. I also learned about a program called Levelator. The purpose of this application is to take a WAV file of varying volumes and create a finished file with the same volume. I encourage you to visit his website and to listen to some of his students' podcast. He is currently hosting a collaborative effort called Our City Podcast.

Photo fromhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/derkt/1419793862/

A Vision of K-12 Students Today

Are we creating 21st Century learners? According to the video 63% of teachers do not allow students to use technology for their education. I hope that number is going down. The digital natives of today want to "create, consume, remix, and share." They want to be engaged. This video basically shows students begging to be taught to think with the use of technology.

Integrating Instruction

In the article, Integrated Instruction: Multiple Intelligences and Technology by Ian J. McCoog, the author discusses the importance of matching technology with students’ strengths. He states that “technology integration is not only changing the way we think but also the way we teach” (2007, p. 25). Reading this article affirmed that all students learn differently and should be allowed to learn the content in the manner best suited for them. In the elementary level of education, many teachers have specialized plans for individual students. The new attraction is infusing it with technology. That is what the article is about. It also sparked my interest further into wanting to know more about differentiated learning, so that I can better integrate.
Technology Integration Practice as a Function of Pedagogical Expertise by Melissa E. Pierson was another article that intrigued me. It forced me to examine my staff and assess problems that have occurred during the past school year. Many of the “experienced” teachers have been more resistant to using and implementing technology into their lessons. The veteran teachers that have not resisted are far more successful in achieving curricular goals than the less experienced teachers. It will be interesting to see in ten years how the “technology natives” will teach when they get more experience in the classroom.

Be the technology: A developmental model for evaluating technology integration by Steven C Mills and Robert C Tincher was a study that examined the levels of current technology use by teachers. This would be an interesting study to do in my school. In retrospect, I wish I had done it at the beginning of last year when we opened the new school with an enormous amount of technology. It would be exciting to see the advancement to now. I also think it would make the teachers aware of the different levels of technology use. Many teachers feel that just using the student computers (for games and word processing) are effective methods of integration. If they assessed themselves with a rubric that explained various form of technology integration, then they would be aware of ways to progress to higher levels.

Improving the Student Experience:_How can the Library Help? by J. Sykes interested me, because my master’s degree is in Media. Though I am not in agreement with eating and drinking in the library, I do agree that our students today multitask. My 14 year-old daughter is evidence of that phenomenon. The statement about “pushing” information out to students is apropos in light of the way Senator O’bama announced his running mate using text messaging this past week. I do believe there will always be a need for a library. They may look different, but will always have the purpose of delivery of information and hopefully the enjoyment of reading.



References
The article is in a private database. It can be accessed in Galileo with the current password.

McCoog, I.J., (2007). Integrated instruction: Multiple intelligences and technology. Clearing House, 81(1), 25-28.

Welcome!

Hello, my name is Kim Mulkey. I am the Instructional Technology Facilitator at the Primary School of Woodward Academy in College Park, Georgia.

What is Technology Integration (TI)? Is it teacher or student centered? What is appropriate for different age levels? Why teachers and not just Technology Specialists? What is the difference between Technology Instruction and Integration? These are questions of which every teacher should know the answers.

My definition of TI includes the answers to the above questions. TI should be both teacher and student centered, adaptable for all age levels, should be included in all classrooms, may include technology instruction, and is the responsibility of all teachers in the school.In my opinion, curriculum is the most important ingredient in TI. Technology is a tool that aids in the accomplishment of content objectives being met. All teachers are as responsible for technology as “computer” teachers. Integrating technology follows the same plan for creating lessons as has traditionally been done in the past. As teachers create their lesson plans for instruction they need to first determine the curricular objectives that need to be met. The next step would be to determine the best available tools for delivery of the instruction. Interactive Whiteboards, Powerpoint presentations, digital photography, videos, printed outlines and many more are technological aids for instruction in the classroom. The third step of any lesson would be to give the student the opportunity to practice the concept(s). Once again the teacher would need to choose the best available tool to give the student maximum practice. This may or may not include technology, depending on the age level and objective. For a first grader learning the writing process, they may use a pencil and paper to write all of the drafts but the final. At this time the student may type the finished product. If the objective is math facts, then a web or software based program for repetition may be used. Once the students have had the opportunity to practice the skill, there should be some type of assessment. This does not have to be a formal assessment. Senteo is a great tool to use throughout a lesson to check for understanding, or it can be used as a final test. There are also many programs available to keep track of student achievement. Many are costly, but some are affordable.

I also like culminating activities to assess multiple objectives and skills that should improve over time. There are many technology examples of these type activities. At the elementary level, examples may be using a paint program (Pixie2 is my favorite) to create a class book (printed or online with audio,) blog projects on a topic, videos, photo stories, and many more.