elementary

Teachers Teaching Teachers #117 - Thinking about Classroom Blogging with Sarah Hurlburt - 08.13.08

Paul Allison — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 12:14:57 -0500

In the midst of planning a re-launch of a school-based social network, Youth Voices, we happened upon a paper that clearly and fairly described the problems many of us face when we blog with students in our classrooms. In her paper in the June 2008 Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (JOLT Vol. 4, No. 2), Sarah Hurlburt discusses some of "frustrations and puzzlements" that many of us have had in using classroom blogs over the past several years.

Sarah articulates our reasons for wanting to set up a site like Youth Voices. Many of us have felt the gap between the promise of blogging and the results in our classrooms.

The point at which the instructor feels [classroom blogging] to have failed in some way, is when these individual written elements fail to interconnect – when the social element, upon which instructors place high hopes for a subsequent critical element – fails to materialize.

Defining Tools for a New Learning Space: Writing and Reading Class Blogs

Paul Allison and Susan Ettenheim invited Sarah Hurlburt on to our webcast to continue the dialogue about blogging, and we were joined by elementary school teachers, Lisa Parisi and Linda Nitsche.

Enjoy the podcast, and read Sarah Hurlburt's paper.

Also, we invite you to help us re-launch http://youthvoices.net on Wednesday, August 27, 2008. Join us, right here at EdTechTalk at 9:00pm Eastern / 6:00pm Pacific USA Wednesdays / 01:00 UTC Thursdays World Times.

For the Chat Log, click Read more, below.

Making Connections #22

cwe — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 20:03:31 -0600

A great conversation with Sean Sharp of Floyd County Public Schools, Virginia. We discussed staff development, assessment tools, and student information systems. Sean’s energy, enthusiasm, and passion for technology are inspiring.

It's Elementary #5, Oodles of Moodle.

coordinator2 — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 17:27:43 -0500

It was another great show with James Gates of Tipline - Gates? Computer Tips taking us through Moodle, and it's features. Jim was excited and passionate about this subject as you'll be able to tell from the show audio.

Jim started with a slideshare on Moodle in the classroom:
http://www.slideshare.net/jgates513/moodle-for-elementary-grades

He then talked us through the slides which highlighted the features in a moodle.
It's a great walled garden system that has a number of modules that you can pick and choose from.
There is even a great basic wiki, and word list/glossary builder feature.
There is a free moodle services available at http://globalclassroom.us/

Our Diigo links for this show include some school sites using moodle. Many have guest sign-in that will let you look at pages without editing privileges.

Please join us on September 24th, 2007 for a discussion of social networks in Education with John Pederson.

Chat Log Below

It's Elementary Show #4: Essentials for Web 2.0 in the Classroom

alicemercer — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 22:51:37 -0500

This was our Back to School Special. We discussed the following;

We explored the differences between a traditional classroom and a Web 2.0 Classroom.
We discussed the new NETS standards for technology. We looked at student profiles and what students are expected to do in the different grade levels.
We talked about how we use Web 2.0 tools in our classrooms.
We then opened up a round table discussion.

Other resources from the show:

Our show outline can be viewed here

Our next show will be on Monday September 10 at 4 p.m. PDT/6 p.m. CDT/8 p.m. EDT, on the subject of the use of Moodle in the elementary classroom with our guest, James Gates of http://eduspaces.net/jamesg/weblog Join us then, at http://edtechtalk.com/chat!

Text Chat Log Below

It's Elementary #3 Podcasts - Just Listen to Me!

coordinator2 — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 02:13:58 -0500

We had a very information packed discussion full of insights and suggestions with our guest, Wes Fryer. Our show included discussion of the following:

We discussed what podcasting is and why you would want to podcast.
Examples from each of our classrooms (Kinder on up) of podcasting and our insights from that experience.
Wesley then shared resources on podcasting.
We then opened up a round table discussion.

Wes made his own podcast of the show, and has show notes on his blog, Moving at the Speed of Creativity.

Other resources from the show:

Our show outline can be viewed here
Our Diigo links which include more podcasting resources than we could cover in a 30 minute show. Check them out if you'd like more information.

Our next show will be on Monday August 27 at 4 p.m. PDT/6 p.m. CDT/8 p.m. EDT, on the subject of essentials for Web 2.0 in the elementary classroom with our guest, Christopher Shively, from On the Trails to Teaching and Learning. Join us then, at http://edtechtalk.com/chat!

Chat Log Below

Making Connections # 15

cwe — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 15:27:01 -0500

Rendy King and Freda Ballard share great materials they created for a workshop for teachers @ Meredith College. Learn how to set-up a math webquest for elementary students. Rendy and Freda have shared all their information below.

It's Elementary #2 Webquests, Analyze This!

coordinator2 — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 21:55:20 -0500

We had a great show discussing Webquests in the elementary classroom.

First, we shared the wiki that we used to plan this show. Then we defined what a Webquest is and talked about Bernie Dodge, who is the "father" of Webquests.

Lisa shared a Webquest template and Jose Rodriguez, shared the Webquest he is using with his summer school class. We then went through some resources, which can be found on our Diigo list.

Here is a great slideshow on Webquests:
[slideshare id=73726&doc=webquest-template4036&w=425]

We were then joined by Lisa Parisi who discussed work she had done with her students using the internet for inquiry based research.

Chat Below

It's Elementary #1 - Blogging, Just Do It!

coordinator2 — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 19:59:45 -0500

Our first attempt at Webcasting! Hosted by Alice Mercer, Lisa Durff, and Jose Rodriguez.

We were joined by Paul Harrington, Jason Hando, and Maria Knee talking about their blogs.

Paul shared about his blogging with Allanah King in New Zealand and his blog.

Jason shared about his first blog, "24 Stars". Work done on an outreach trip with students to Thailand.

Maria shared about blogging in Kindergarten on her blog.

Please join our next webcast on July 23, 2007 at 23:00 GMT on the edtechtalk channel where we discuss webquests.

Teachers Teaching Teachers #59 - 06.27.07 - Welcoming new voices

Paul Allison — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 09:55:40 -0500

Joining Paul Allison (NYC), Lee Baber (Virginia), and Susan Ettenheim (NYC) on this show were two new voices on Teachers Teaching Teachers and one regular guest (with a side of him we haven't seen before):

Karen McComas was finally able to join us. (She has had a class on Wednesday evenings.) Karen is Associate Professor of Communication Disorders at Marshall University, in West Virginia. She is an ASHA-certified Speech-Language Pathologist and Audiologist. Karen also serves as the Chair of the Technology Liaison Leadership Team of the National Writing Project and as a Teacher Consultant for the Marshall University Writing Project . For her, writing is an historical and political act. She writes to understand and preserve the story of her life. She has also been an inspiration for teaching with technology in the National Writing Project for many years. Here's Karen's blog ...in mind's eye...

Betty D. Collum was able to get on using her cell phone. Betty is a 5th/6th writing teachers in Webster County Schools, Eupora, Mississippi. She is also the Mississippi State University Writing Project Tech Liaison, and a member of the National Writing Project's Tech Liaison Leadership Team. This year Betty's students have been contributors to a podcasting project that includes teachers and their students from all over the country, Youth Radio: Connecting Youth Voices to the World.

Bill O'Neal also joined us. Bill has worked with us for several months on YouthVoices.org. He is an English teacher at Trenton Central High School, West, and he is the Tech Liaison for the Trenton Writing Project. After show #58 (06.20.07), Bill wanted us to know that he also has a life in music! When we asked if we could highlight his website about his musical life he wrote:

"The music on my site has little to do with education... but whatever. This fall I am, however, reviving a guitar workshop for the students. I limited enrollment to eight. The district sent us to a weekend workshop (a few NYC teachers also attended) for a not-for-profit group called Little Kids Rock. They will provide the guitars. Lack of instruments was my biggest hurdle the last time I ran a workshop: Very few students owned guitars. Their web site is: http://littlekidsrock.org."

Bill's music site is: www.billoneal.com

Enjoy this a low-key, summer show. We recorded this webcast in the middle of electrical storms that kept knocking out our Skype connections, something you will probably barely notice because of Susan Ettenheim's amazing editing skills!

Please add a story of your own about something that you did in your classroom this year, something that you want to do better in the fall... or something that you want to continue doing.

read more

Making Connections #6 - 5/15/07

cwe — Tue, 15 May 2007 21:39:16 -0500

We connected with a very small group tonight, but that did not stop us from sharing some great sites. During the past week we had 4^th graders experimenting with diigo and 3^rd graders creating internet safety comics with Comic Maker.

Here are a few examples:

21st Century Learning #42: Tim Lauer, Principal, Lewis Elementary School

alex.ragone — Thu, 10 May 2007 10:57:32 -0500

EdTechTalk: 21st Century Learning #42
Tim Lauer, Principal, Lewis Elementary School, Portland, OR
Leadership and Technology
May 8, 2007

This week we discussed Leadership and Technology with Tim Lauer, Principal of Lewis Elementary School in Portland, OR. Tim is a model Principal who has a wonderful sense of appropriate use of technology in education. This is a must listen for those of you who envision being in a leadership role at a school.

Next week, we'll be celebrating our one year anniversary two weeks late. The week after, we'll be discussing faculty professional development with Jeff Ritter, from St. John's School in Houston Texas. See you all then.

To contact us, please submit a comment on this post or send us e-mail at 21 [at] edtechtalk.com.

Click here for the show notes