So I’m trying out the gallery feature for the first time, something I learned from Rannie’s presentation on Saturday. Hat tip to verneho’s flickr photo set for the images!
Photos: WordCamp Toronto Logo, Swag, Matt Mullenweg (founding developer of WordPress)
I’m excited about attending a geeky opportunity this weekend – WordCamp Toronto. WordCamp is a gathering of WordPress users held regionally around the world throughout the year (see this page for other WordCamps). Over two years ago I switched to using WordPress to power this blog, and never looked back. 🙂
One of the main attractions at WordCamp is a talk by the founding developer of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg. I think it’s just cool to be able to connect with someone like this in this setting. Looking at the list of attendees, I think I may be one of the only educators, but I’m looking forward to the conversations.
You may just see a whole pile of tweaks and changes to the blog after this weekend is over!
Science exams are full of diagrams and models, and terminology associated with them. Following are 2 examples from the 2008 8th grade science exam (click each image to enlarge):
Marzano’s work in Building Academic Vocabulary certainly would be helpful in these examples, as the distractors are set up to trick students who might confuse circulation/respiration or refraction/reflection. How might technology help?
No Tech
Students maintain vocabulary notebook ala Marzano, including their own diagrams of examples of science terms and processes.
Some Tech
Using interactive whiteboard, students create pictures which are saved and shared electronically with the class.
Total Tech
Using drawing software, students create pictures which are saved and posted to a class wiki where they are organized to highlight exemplary samples by individual students.
Keyboard shortcuts are nifty ways to get things done quickly on the computer. On any keyboard with the Windows key (just to the left of the Alt key, with the Windows logo), here are a few shortcuts you may find helpful:
| Press | To |
 |
Display or hide the Start menu. |
| Windows key + D | Show the desktop |
| Windows key + M | Minimize all windows |
| Windows key +Shift+M | Restores minimized windows |
| Windows key + E | Open My Computer |
| Windows key + L | Lock your computer |
The above shortcuts (and more) can be found in the Help and Support Center (Start Menu | Help and Support) by searching for keyboard shorcuts. Happy shortcutting!
Sometimes a program will stop responding (such as Internet Explorer), while you have work open in other programs. The Windows Task Manager lets you choose a specific program to end, while leaving other programs alone.
To use the Windows Task Manager:
Note that ending a program this way will not save any changes, just stop the program from running.
The Task Manager has more tabs (Processes, Performance, Networking) that provides quite a lot of “under the hood” computer information if you are interested.
The 2007 5th Grade listening section had a very cute story about a photographer who encountered a rare lioness:
After 2 readings, the following questions were asked:
Two of the questions have reasonably tricky distractors, and the question asking for supporting details from the story could be a stumper if not paid attention to while listening. Students are directed NOT to take notes the first time they listen – I understand why but to have them cram notes the second time only – yikes.
Anyway – what to do, and how to support it…
No Tech (which is how students take the test)
Teacher reads a variety of stories of a similar nature, directing students to listen and take notes as they would on the exam.
Some Tech
Teacher records story using recording software (Audacity), and also has one or two other adults record the story, so students can get used to a variety of oral deliveries. Students listen and take notes as they would on the exam.
Total Tech
Teacher records story using recording software (Audacity) and posts it to the WITS class notes page. Using the discussion forum, students listen to story and take notes in forum as they listen. Students then review notes taken by other students to compare and gain ideas for listening cues. Teacher posts readings done by other adults as well, to provide a range of oral deliveries.
Document and Image citation:
Elementary/Intermediate State Assessment. New York State Education Department. 16 September 2008. <http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/elintela.html>.
You can create a PDF (Portable Document Format) file of any computer file. PDF files are easier to share with other computer users as there is less worry if they have the same software you do. Click on the link below to see how to create a PDF file. Hat tip once again to Nancy Wilhelm, district trainer, for this tip.
For more tips on using many different applications, be sure to visit the Tips and Tricks section within the Public Documents section of WITS:
In what I plan to be a new regular feature, Content Tech, we’ll look at examples in various content areas of what students are to know, and how tech may (or may not) help. For the first stop in this endeavor, we take a look at Social Studies.
Here is a set of questions from the 2006 8th grade Social Studies exam (click the image to enlarge):
Clearly, sorting, organizing and some level of independent thinking is required to correctly answer these questions. During the course of the year, what tools would help students think in these ways?
No Tech
Some Tech
Total Tech
Would the use of technology drastically improve the ability of students to do well in this example?
Welcome to the 2008-09 TTT (Tuesday’s Technology Tip)! This tip is designed to give a quick “how-to” to hopefully make your computing life easier.
Nancy Wilhelm, our district trainer, has created many helpful documents about using Office and other programs. Here is her tip on the reading pane in Outlook 2003:
Reading Pane The Reading Pane shows more of the message on the screen. It can be positioned on the right or bottom of the screen. This reduces scrolling and minimizes the need to open and manage many separate windows for different email messages.
To use the Reading Pane: From the View menu, choose Reading Pane. Click Right or Bottom, and note that you can also turn off the reading pane here.
To see this tip (with graphics) and others, see the Public Documents folder in wits titled Tip and Tricks (click below to go there now)
My son started his school learning journey today. He was very excited when he woke up, hopped on the bus (yes I was a doting dad with the video camera) and had a great day. We had a bit of extra excitement at the end of the day when he did not get off the bus as he should have. Turned out that he was put on the wrong bus, and the driver did not notice the extra passenger for a little bit. Mommy and Daddy got many new gray hairs, but he just enjoyed an extra long bus ride.
Anyway, the joy in the eyes of a kindergartner going to school is so invigorating. I have to be honest and say that, while I may look more tired than excited, I feel that sense of excitement everyday. I look forward to the new opportunities that each day brings. The learning playground that I get to go to “work” in every day is a pleasure. Is every moment easy? Nope. Are there things that I wish I did not have to do? Yup. Is having a job of learning coach an awesome opportunity? You bet.
How do we manage that kindergarten enthusiasm so it lasts right through the tough years (middle school), drag years (high school) and beyond? How do we inject that elixer so professionals feel charged up and ready to seize every day with every student?
