Lisa Highfill delivers keynote

Cheryl Lemke

Go back in history and change what happened and how is today different because of that event?

podcast, art work - scanned in, digitize all of their work so it is public

Self-authorship:

Student Content, Knowledge, Skills
need a single sign on

Instructional Space

Building basic skills, developing social-emotional and cognitive maturity, advanced deep learning

Digital Content:

OER Commons Open Educational Resources, find free to use teaching and learning content from around the world

Need to have a way for teachers to collectively vet resources

math forum through Drexel University

Steger and Horn Blended Learning Models

CK-12  http://www.ck12.org/flexbook/

gooru  http://www.goorulearning.org/gooru/index.g#/home

learn bird songs

Adobe Youth Voices


Reason Ability increased by 32%, processing skill 27% increase
Deck of Cards
Blink
Azada
SET
Perfection
Chocolate Fix
Rush Hour
Qwirkle
Brickbuster

Civilization
Demorcracy2
Scratch
Beetle Breeders
Invasion of the Beasties
Island Hoppers
Chomp!

Research base? multi-modal learning
non-interactive: average kid increases percentile 21% for basic skills

interactive: simulations and modeling: use for higher order skills 32%

Internet communications

Communities of Interest: the Math Forum at Drexel\

Remind101

Subtext: read the same book - together

Instructionally agnostic: online news

data.gov with visualizations

leafsnap - mobile app to identify leaf shape


takingitglobal


meaningful choice: they will go layers deeper than you can imagine
engage the in setting learning goals: what is the purpose? involve them in the standards they are trying to reach
self-regulation: 75% of HS kids are doing some type of self-regulation, start at 4th grade with those habits of mind
Fred Newman:

We need units of practice other teachers can use: aggregate units of practice

Notes from June 24, ISTE 2012

Global Learning

http://www.iearn.org/

"We can't have a world class education without the world." Vicki Davis

Receive, Read, and Respond

Collaborate and co-create, change me into we.

International da Vinci Decathlon 12/13 and 14/15 year olds

http://education.skype.com/projects/2646

http://www.kidstalkradiousa.com/Kids_Talk_Radio/Welcome.html

http://education.skype.com/projects

Sir Ken Robinson


"Any growth requires a temporary loss of security" Madeline Hunter


Do not confine your children to learning in your time, they were born in another time. Chinese proverb

Out of our Minds rewrote the book - "the next 10 years are less predictable than the last 10 years were"

Finding Free Copyright Free Photos and ClipArt

When talking to teachers about the importance of using copyright free media in work they intend to distribute outside their classroom walls, I am often asked for a list of sources.

The easiest thing to show people is how to use Advanced Image Search on Google. Click on Advanced Image Search to the right of the search box. On the page you get, look for Usage rights and choose to search for images that are labeled for reuse.

There are lots of places to find free copyright-free photos and images. Here are a few sources I've collected:

Sources of free copy-right free photos:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/

http://search.usa.gov/images?locale=en&m=false

http://smithsonianimages.si.edu/siphoto/siphoto.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=home

http://www.morguefile.com/archive/

http://pics4learning.com/

http://www.photos8.com/

Sources of free copyright-free clip art:

http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/general_content/free_resources/clipArt.jsp

http://www.phillipmartin.info/clipart/homepage.htm

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/

http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/

http://www.school-clip-art.com/

Discovery Education also has about 1200 clip art images you may use if your school has a subscription. They can be found in the left-hand side Navigation Bar under Media Type. Press on More and find Clip Art in the list.

Please keep in mind that while many images are free to use, the creator/photographer may still require attribution under the Creative Commons license. If this is the case, it is my understanding that supplying the URL under the picture on the page satisfies this requirement.

Google Tasks

About this time in the school year there seem to be so many things going on I am constantly afraid something important will slip through the crack. I've always written lists on paper, but then as often as not, find myself in a different place than my list or rewriting my list as I cross things out or want to add to it. Enter Google Tasks.

Google Tasks helps you keep track of everything that needs to be done by creating lists and setting due dates, and, because it is stored online, it is available whenever and wherever you have access to the internet.

Tasks in Gmail

To use Tasks in Gmail, you'll have to enable it in your Gmail Settings.

Find Settings to the right of your e-mail address at top of the page.

Once in Settings, select Labs, and finally choose to enable Tasks. Don't forget to Save your changes before you return to your Inbox. Once this is done, you'll find Tasks right below Contacts in the left-hand side bar.

When you select Tasks, it'll open at the bottom right of your window. To begin your list, just click in the Tasks window, start typing, and press enter. You can now enter another task. You can also enter tasks by using the + button at the bottom of your list.

Add dates and notes to your task by selecting the arrow at the right of your task.

Here you'll be able to enter a due date and add notes to your task. You can switch tasks between lists using the drop-down list.










Actions will let you create a list with sub-tasks, reorder your list, or sort your list by due dates. Don't forget to check off a completed task, to have that great feeling of accomplishment. You never have to delete a completed task. You'll be able to "Hide completed tasks" to get an uncluttered view of what's on your list. Later, you can chose to "View completed tasks" to see how much you've done.

Notice that many of these tasks have keyboard short-cuts for the busy person.






Most people like to keep their lives segmented, keeping their work to-do list separate from their home chores list, etc. You can create as many lists as you need by clicking on the list icon in the bottom right-hand corner. Google Tasks helps you keep track of it all.




Probably the coolest thing about using Tasks in Gmail is automatically adding a task to your list while reading an e-mail. While the e-mail message is open, press Shift + T and the title of the message will automatically be recorded in your list of tasks. You can then edit it for due date and add notes. Right beneath the task will say "Related email." Click on in, and you'll be taken back to the original email, saving you time!

Tasks in Calendar

Any task lists you have created in Gmail will automatically appear in your Google calendar. When you choose the Tasks link, the Tasks list will appear on the right side of your calendar.

You add and manage tasks much like you would in Gmail, but with a few added features. Tasks that have due dates will automatically appear on your calendar in the All Day section. To add a task with a due date, click in the All Day section of a day, or on the date in Month view. You'll get an "Edit details" balloon. Select Tasks to enter information. It is easy to change the date of a task in Calendar. Just drag the task to the new date (just like you would with any calendar event).

Even More

If you like keeping track of things on your iGoogle page, you can choose to add Tasks as a gadget. You'll have to search for it; just type [tasks] in the "Search for gadgets" box. It'll return "Tasks (Labs)." Choose "Add it now" and it will appear on your iGoogle page.

Not only can you now access your tasks from any computer or device that is connected to the internet, you can even access and manage your Tasks list from your iPhone or Android mobile phones. Now there is no longer a need to carry scraps of paper with notes around.

For more information about Tasks check http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=106237

Where Was I a Year Ago?

I listen to a podcast, Bit by Bit, and one of the questions they love to ask their guests is,"Where were you a year ago?" Today, when I saw that Google is having another GTA, the thoughts of a year ago were vivid. I had just found out that Google was sponsoring a Google Teacher Academy, and it was going to be in Mountain View! If I did get in, it wouldn't involve travel or any expense. What did I have to lose?

I knew the competition would be fierce (little did I know how fierce, thank God, or I would have been too intimidated). And I had to submit a 60 second video - hell, I didn't even know how to make a video. Still, I was determined go give it my best shot.

Well, Google has changed my life.

The most significant thing is I have become part of a professional learning community. While the teachers and staff at school are wonderful, I have been inspired by the teachers I met at the GTA. I have learned so much and felt part of a group that is striving to move education forward, into the 21st century. While I have mostly lurked, being intimidated by many of the heavy hitters who are part of the GCT group, I have grown tremendously.

Along with Colette Casinelli, I have co-authored a weekly tech tip, designed for the reluctant educator to introduce them to Google tools to use in their classrooms, intergrate into their curriculum, and assist in their personal lives. We each e-mail it to our staffs, and I mail it to an additional 20 folks I have "picked up" over the year. This has exposed me to many of the tools Google offers, most of which are now part of my technical toolbox. Denis, my husband, helped me set up a standard Google Apps account which I turned over to the school district. It took them a while to get it going, and there really wasn't a lot of interest, but one of the middle school teachers decided to try it out. She told me last week that she can't image teaching without it. It has helped with collaborative assignments, and she loves the fact that she doesn't have to carry paper back and forth when she wants to edit or revise. One small step....

I stepped outside my comfort zone, and presented Google Docs at the Technical Institute sponsored by the Union School District, at RAFT, with the support of Dr. Dan Russell from Google, and at the Silicon Valley CUE, with the encouragement of Dr. Marie Sontag, from the Union School District. In June, I'll present Google Tools at RAFT, too!

My class has a blog. While I started out posting their work, 4 students are now active in posting their own work (remember, they are third graders). The important thing here is that they are excited about creating content to share on the internet. They have posted writing, PowerPoints, and video, all curriculum related.

I have become more comfortable with the technical resources in my classroom, and love the SmartBoard. I guess we'll see how the kids do on the STAR test, but I believe they are just as prepared as the other third graders in the school, and have had more fun doing it.

I applied for my first grant and, not only got it, but also, somehow, got named Teacher of the Month by the Silicon Valley Education Foundation and a local radio station, KBAY.

While I am continually overwhelmed by the amount I don't know, I am excited to see how far I've come in a year. Thanks to all the amazing people who have supported me or I have met or come in the past year for helping to make this happen.

What a Long Strange Trip....

As I sit here and think about the past year I can't believe all that has happened and how much I've learned. It all started when Denis went to work for Google. Up until then I liked Google, pretty much exclusively used Google Search and had Google e-mail but beyond that, I never really had paid much attention to the "more" or "even more" tools.

Sure, I enjoyed technology, and even thought I was quite forward thinking (well I was compared to the other teachers) when I had my third graders using ppt and animation, but I had no idea what other teachers outside the district were doing in the area of educational technology.