Public Service Puppetry

My colleague, Lindsay Jacobson, Lowell Inclusion Specialist, has been collaborating with a student from a local college on a wonderful project. They have been working with a group of fifth grade students to create Public Service Announcements (PSAs) on topics such as peer pressure & bullying, street signs, street danger, and what to do in an emergency. The students researched PSAs, created and designed their own puppets and their personalities and voices, worked on scripts, and performed the PSAs. Their work was videotaped and is available for viewing on the Public Service Puppetry blog.

The goal of the project was to utilize puppetry and technology to teach the students about different ways they can be safe. Lindsay says that the students are now able to give examples of how to be safe and understand what steps they need to take if they are put in an unsafe situation. They are hoping to take their show on the road to some of the younger grades in our school to teach them how to be safe also. So, clearly the project goals were not only met, but exceeded!

Please check out the results of all their hard work and take part in their favorite video poll.

And, for more information about using PSAs in the classroom, check out Kathy Schrock's PSA web site.

FreeRice

Apologies for not posting for two weeks. I was on a self-imposed media blackout over April vacation. It was an extremely relaxing and rejuvenating week. Now, it's posting time!

The news this past week (okay, I wasn't on a complete media blackout!) reported on global rising food prices (CNN reports, Food price rise 'global crisis,' says U.N. chief – 4/25/08). Rice prices specifically are at an all-time high.

This seems like an appropriate time to introduce (or reintroduce) you to a web-based vocabulary game that is doing its part to help end hunger. FreeRice.com launched on October 7, 2007 with two goals: "(1) to provide English vocabulary to everyone for free; and (2) to help end work hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free." The site presents visitors with a word and four definition choices. For each correct answer, 20 grains of rice are donated for the hungry through the UN World Food Program. As of April 26, 2008, a total of 29,600,638,050 grains of rice have been donated.

CBS News did a follow up story on FreeRice.com on the evening news on Friday, April 25, 2008. This video illustrates how through FreeRice.com students in Bloomington, Indiana are building their vocabulary while helping to feed students in Uganda.



So, check out FreeRice.com and build a better vocabulary and a better world.

Blog Humor

"That’s cool!" It may be short and sweet, but most importantly the comment just left on my VoiceThread post is from my five-year-old niece, Camdyn. The next generation of bloggers has begun!

In honor of Camdyn's first blog comment, I am posting a little blog humor. Camdyn is a big fan of my two cats, Boadicea and Matilda =^..^= >^..^<

VoiceThread

We are having so much fun with VoiceThread! VoiceThread is an easy to use online media album. You can share your albums with others who can comment via voice, text, audio file, or video. Best news of all, educators can upgrade to VoiceThread Pro for FREE!

Here is a thread I've been working on with some of our first grade students:


For examples of how my Watertown colleagues are using VoiceThread with their students, please check out the fantastic Work with Wings blog.

Awareness Test

I've been working on a joke, it goes something like this: if a blog falls in the forest and no one comments on it, is it still a blog (as you can see, it still needs a little work). So, imagine my excited surprise to see comments on my two first posts! The exchange of ideas through writing, reading, and reflecting is at the heart of a blogs purpose. Thanks to the brave few who have offered comments. I hope others will join you. Your thoughts inspire me to keep learning and keep posting.

Today, however, we will pause for a commercial break…

http://www.dothetest.co.uk/

Homepage Startup

Three posts in three days. This will never happen again (my goal is a weekly post). Call it beginner's enthusiasm. I wanted to be sure to have some content up before I shared the exciting news about the birth of this blog!

This is supposed to be a blog about technology tools for educators, but I have yet to feature one. Today is the day. I was recently asked by a teacher how to access web sites on her classroom computer which she had bookmarked on her home computer. I explained social bookmarking sites (like del.icio.us), but after going to Lori Cooney's "Best Free Web Sites" session at the MassCUE Technology Leadership Symposium I think there may be a better choice for elementary school teachers. Lori showcased a site called Homepage Startup. This site provides you with fast access to your favorite web sites in a visual form. You can create multiple tabs to organize your sites and customize things like background color and number of columns and rows. Accounts are free and you can easily share your Startup page with others. I've been playing around with the site - here is a link to what I've created.

If you are interested in checking out more of the sites Lori showcased, visit her NetVibe's page (another cool tool), which has links to all the sites she showcased in her presentation.

What is Web 2.0, Anyway?

So, what's all this talk about Web 2.0? What does it mean, anyways?

This video, entitled "The Machine is Us/ing Us" by Professor Mike Wesch, offers a fascinating illustration of the World Wide Web's transition from a linear source of information to a dynamic, collaborative, creative community.



Blogging, social networking (sites like del.icio.us or Flickr), RSS, wikis (the most famous being Wikipedia) and more allow individuals to take charge of and customize how they receive, create, and deliver content, with the end goal being connecting, communicating, collaborating, and creating communities around the world. How will you use your voice in this new reality?

Taking the Plunge

Welcome to the first posting of my Technology Tools for Educators blog. I have been toying with the idea of a blog about technology tools for educators for quite some time. The migration from Web 1.0 (using the web as a source of information) to Web 2.0 (using the web to share, collaborate, and create our own information) has prompted me to ponder and struggle with concepts of voice and audience. In this new reality, I also have been grappling with the idea of putting my thoughts out there for the world to see. I have been rather stuck, informed and inspired by other people's work and yet rather anxious about taking the plunge myself.

Recently, I had an ah-a moment with a group of second graders who just started using FASTT Math. Some students were anxious about the program. It was the first time they had used a fluency-building program that customized work to their level. We talked about how new things can sometimes be a little scary. But, we spent more time discussing how the program was just a tool to help them get better at math facts. Who doesn’t want to get better at math?

So, why am I over thinking this? What’s to be anxious about? This blog is just a tool to introduce some new (and old favorite) technology tools and discuss how colleagues and myself are integrating these tools into the teaching and learning process. If second graders can get over their anxieties, so can I. Are you ready to take a plunge with me?

Sharpless, Seth. scuba.jpg. 12/12/1990. Pics4Learning. 1 Apr 2008