Teachers Teaching Teachers #215-Lots of overlapping pieces: Laura Fay and Tim Baker on using Scratch in middle school-08.25.10

Paul Allison - Sat, 2010-09-18 23:40

On this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers, Laura Beth Fay, and Tim Baker join Susan Ettenheim and Chris Sloan to talk about Scratch and its uses in junior high.  Susan met Laura and Tim at the 2010 Scratch@MIT conference.  Tim’s interests in environmental education align with our ongoing Voices on the Gulf project; like Susan and Chris, Laura works with her local writing project – in Susan’s words “lots of overlapping pieces.”  Laura Fay is an 8th grade reading teacher at Fisher Middle School in Ewing, New Jersey; her students use Scratch to compose multimedia as part of her journalism curriculum.  Tim is a graduate student in interaction design at the University of Maine, and he’s helped create an environmental simulator for middle school students aid their understandings of ecosystems called Sim Stream.

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On this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers, Laura Beth Fay and Tim Baker join Susan Ettenheim and Chris Sloan to talk about Scratch and its uses in junior high.  Susan met Laura and Tim at the 2010 Scratch@MIT conference.  Tim’s interests in environmental education align with our ongoing Voices on the Gulf project; like Susan and Chris, Laura works with her local writing project – in Susan’s words “lots of overlapping pieces.”

Laura Fay is an 8th grade reading teacher at Fisher Middle School in Ewing, New Jersey; her students use Scratch to compose multimedia as part of her journalism curriculum.  Tim is a graduate student in interaction design at the University of Maine, and he’s helped create an environmental simulator for middle school students aid their understandings of ecosystems called Sim Stream.

Meet Laura, just the way Susan did at the MIT conference: http://kimpearson.net/?p=804 Laura is active with NWP@Rider - NWP@Rider is dedicated to supporting and developing literacy in the Mercer County, New Jersey area. Laura also works with literacy and Scratch and interactive journalism. 

Tim Baker came to MIT from Orono, Maine with his project Sim Stream. University of Maine Undergraduate researchers are developing a grades 6-8 virtual, educational system that poses environmental issues for students to explore in their own ecological system, drawing from diverse areas of study. By learning to use scientific observations, analyze data, and draw inferences in formulating decisions and policies, students develop an appreciation and understanding for natural resources, human-non-human inter-dependencies and the need for civic responsibility.

About Scratch: Scratch is a programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art – and share your creations on the web. As young people create and share Scratch projects, they learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.

 

Scratch Project

Click Read more to see a copy of the chat that was happening during the webcast.

SEEDLINGS 2010-09-16 Show # 91

cheryloakes50 - Fri, 2010-09-17 11:08

Season 3, SEEDLINGS are back! Listen in and see what Alice, Bob and Cheryl have been up to.We talk about Facebook Seedlings, the ACTEM Leader and Educator of the Year, TEDX Redmond-run by students! Wow, we fit a lot in our show.

Next week we have KarenJan, Karen Janowski joining us to talk about her block, her toolkit and her mission to share UDL with the world.

 

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Seedlings returns for season 3!!! Show 91. We are delighted to be back. Our show tonight is a catch up show! Catchup and see what we have been up to and what we have planned for the near future!

 The Links:

http://www.delicious.com/seedlingsgeekoftheweek/2010-09-16Seedlings

Conversations Episode 77

LParisi - Tue, 2010-09-14 08:33

Back from a summer hiatus, Sheila, Lisa, and Maria talked about new beginnings and changes.  International Dot Day from Fablevision and the K-12 Online Conference were also discussed.  

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 Back from a summer hiatus, Sheila, Lisa, and Maria talked about new beginnings and changes.  International Dot Day from Fablevision and the K-12 Online Conference were also discussed.  

The chat:

 MariaK: I'll be back.

EdTechWeekly #167

JenM - Mon, 2010-09-13 11:49

Ending their summer hiatus, Dave, John, and Jen kick off a new format for EdTechWeekly that offers a deeper look into a smaller number of topics each week. This week, the focus is on learning environments. Dave shares links and insight into the new PLENK2010 MOOC (beginning this week) considering personal learning environments and networks. As a postmortem to the demise of most free Ning accounts, Jen asks the group to consider the implications of teachers using free vs controlled online environments. John shares his perspective on using Google Apps in a school setting. Join as next Sunday to meet our first (of several) new guest hosts!

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EdTechWeekly #167 

September 12, 2010

Learning Networks: PLEs, Free vs Owned, Google Apps

Ending their summer hiatus, Dave, John, and Jen kick off a new format for EdTechWeekly that offers a deeper look into a smaller number of topics each week. This week, the focus is on learning environments. Dave shares links and insight into the new PLENK2010 MOOC (beginning this week) considering personal learning environments and networks. As a postmortem to the demise of most free Ning accounts, Jen asks the group to consider the implications of teachers using free vs owned online environments. John shares his perspective on using Google Apps in a school setting. 

Wiki Agenda

Chat log below

Week of September 4 - 10, 2010

Welcome to the EdTechTalk this week's newsletter. Throughout the world, people are commemorating the ninth quintanomedia's flickr photostreamanniversary of the tragedy of September 11th. While searching for images online in honor of 9/11, I came across this quote and believe it is fitting for commemorating September 11th and other pivotal events in our lives and careers :

"There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are messengers of overwhelming grief...and unspeakable love."
--- Washington Irving

While we will never forget what happened on 9/11, we must also not forget the reason we create, write, share and teach others around the world. We all have different talents, skills, and goals and together we are a stronger unified force to shield, teach and inspire our students. With the start of the new school year for many educators in North America, we must always be mindful of our purose and reason for doing what we do. We must never forget.

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