The Internet Encourages Creativity in Students

I have been amazed at the amount of work I have seen produced from students in grades k-12 when they are taught and allowed access to the internet and all of it's wonderful tools. Many of us have read about the amazing accomplishments of the flat classroom project. On a smaller scale, I recently inquired about a book report a student was doing and even I being an avid technology user, expected to see a word document ready for editing. Instead I was shown a website. A website, I was thrilled. You can check out the unedited portion here. Graphics used well, even a clip about the book and decent content. When I prompted the student as to why they chose to create a website for their book report, the student replied, "the teacher said to be creative, the internet allows me to be very creative, besides building web pages is fun". In checking the website builder weebly , I find that it is a free web building tool with blogging ability and a great text editor. I think I see another post coming....

I just had to share, whether we realize it or not, are students are indeed technology focused and when given choice and an open internet, the possibilities are endless.

The Internet = Creativity

Creativity = The Internet

for my bloglog please ignore

Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification

Motivating Teenagers

Ok, I am talking on a personal level, which I believe I read somewhere is not proper etiquette, but what the heck. I cannot motivate my 15 year old son, seeing his last progress report brought me to tears. We all know the type, smart as whip, doesnt have to study, but can't seem to get that homework turned in. In class work, not completed, for no apparent reason, he is not talking. I've tried everything I can think of and have turned to my teacher toolbox more than one. He was down to just reading books with all electronics removed but he loves to read and gets lost in the a book (just like his mom). My question is this. How am I suppose to motivate a room full of students when I can't motivate the child I raised. I am at a loss, and I don't mind sharing.... If you have any advise, I'd love to hear it. How come 30 kids can sometimes be so much easier than the ones you make?

Voki - A talking Avatar

Now I may be being repetitive here as I'm sure there are many 2.0 users that are already aware of this application, but I just had to take a minute to tell you how cool I think it is. While searching edublog on an unrelated topic, I ran into the following post Adding a Voki Speaking Avatar . Now this is a neat toy and widget, I created mine quickly and easily with lots of options, I didn't have my handy dandy skype head phones so I just used one of the prerecorded voices and typed in what I wanted it to say. Now that is impressive. I can see so many uses for this. I already like mine and can not wait to have more time to customize it and add my own voice. Adding the code for the widget was easy and they give you three different sizes to choose from. Now think of all the fun I'm having. Can you imagine how much fun our students would have at all different age ranges and abilities. An avatar that you create that can talk using your voice or what you type in at the keyboard. If you have ever seen a students/childs laptop, the first thing you may notice is how customized it is just for them. I can see students adding this to websites, presentations, their wonderful my space account the works, they can even email it to friend. I see a lot of potential and am trying to find time to see if I can do a podcast with my avatar from voki. If you have a minute, drop a comment and take some time to play :)

Thank you Cool Cat Teacher

I just had to extend my thanks to Vicky at Cool Cat Teacher for her wonderful post on 8 Reasons Why Bloggers Don't Share their Blog: A Call for You to Share Your Link. I think your 5th reason really resignates for me, "A Feeling of Being overwhelmed - When I started, I often wondered, "what can I add?" There's too much. I cannot do this. I don't have the time.". I am always worried about what I am writing about and if it will be relevant to other readers in the blogsphere. I currently have over 1000 feeds in my google reader, so yes, I get a little overwhelmed sometimes. You helped me to see I am not alone and I thank you. You have also connected me to some great blogs, just in watching your comments, I have found great bloggers who I have a great deal in common with such as:
Connected the Dots
urbanteachertales
Avenueforlearning
R.O.F.L.M.A.O.
and
OnionSkin along with many other's I have added to my reader. What a great idea, Thank you so much!

Connecting With Students

As I write this post I am working from home, and enjoy it most days. So what did I do before this? I was a substitute teacher for years. I enjoyed it so much that I will have my MOE soon and hopefully my own class. Well lately, I've been pondering if I was truly meant to be an educator, let's just say I'm at a cross road with only three classes to go. Well a couple of days ago, I ran into a student I had the pleasure of teaching for three months last year during a long term sub assignment. I'm pretty sure we would have all labeled him a trouble maker, fighting, other things not to be named...., constantly suspended etc... He ran up to me while he was with all his cool buds and about knocked me over with a hug. As I explain that I am not teaching or subbing right now, he gets angry with me. He say's "Mrs. H the students need you. You care, I needed you and I knew you cared, heck you even got me to do homework and I don't do homework. You took the time to get to know us and that is something we don't feel often, you talked about yourself and related to us, besides you are a total goof ball and totally cool, you made learning fun. Now go back to teaching would ya?" I was literally shocked he was so passionate in what he was saying.

Just when I was starting to think I shared too much of myself with students and that I needed to step back if I were to ever do this full time which is my every intention. I have been hurt just as a substitute teacher because I put my heart and soul into the kids which by the way, isn't always politically correct. I decide that this is who I am. Connecting with your students is what it is all about!

Thank you my wonderful student for reminding me that today's educators need to try to learn about our students, talk to our students, not just talk at them. That showing we are real people with real lives, and real emotions is not only OK with them, it is what they need sometimes. They need to see we are not perfect, we make mistakes. I will continue to be me, I will relate, I will be silly, I will tease on occasion, I will be real, and hopefully somewhere along the lines they will learn about technology too :) For an interesting read, check out "What Teenagers Want" by Anne Bromley.

Thoughts on Second Life

Well I'll be honest, I thought second life was just for kids. I really did. My 15 year old son borrowed my laptop last week and was shocked to see second life loaded. Before I knew it, he was showing me all of the functions, how to talk, transport, fly, buy items. Great, I thought, so why am I trying this again, oh yes, social networking, virtual worlds can also contain a strong social network. Having interest in ISTE and guidelines from my instructor, Jeff, I head to the ISTE island. I've already made my character, so I look around. Within ten minutes there are at least eight other's in the room, some librarians, some technology teacher and some graduate students. Wow, I was literally amazed at how friendly everyone is. It's almost like the virtual world gives you more of a connection that twitter or your blog, you can't always guarantee a reply or post, but in second life, the forum is more open, people respond to your ideas quickly and are quick to expand upon the subject material. I liked it so much that I have become a volunteer in the ISTE area as well as the NECC 2008 area. What a great way way to network and create a social network. Thanks again, Jeff. Feel free to look for my avatar: Sherry Dawner.

Comparing OCPL Solutions

In thinking about the One Child Per Laptop Program, I began to ponder if it was only low cost laptops they are using, and yes, If you read my previous blog on the topic, you know that I think XO's and the OCPL program is the bomb. So do schools use any other types of technology for one to one learning, my research concludes that they certainly do.
1. Palm Pilots: The cost is down to $100 and students can do similar functions as they can a laptop and there are thousands of free applications online. Students in the classroom can take charge of teaching each other new uses. Students can also take notes and schedule homework assignments. For more information on the use of palm pilots in the school, check out The University of Florida's Palm Pilot Project or Education Worlds article, Hand Helds in the Classroom.
2. Tablet Pc's: These are slick and are getting smaller every year and as one teacher puts it "the Tablet PC and the high-speed connection to the Internet gives students broader access to knowledge and allows them to participate more in learning instead of watching him lecture at a chalkboard." What a concept, students participating in learning. I think I like it. One of the first schools to actually use the table pc was in Canada at the Northern Lights Public School. Check out the article I found here. I also found a great blog by Dean Shareski where he takes a community walk with students using tablet pc's and is able to bring in Jeff Utecht in Malaysia via Skype. Very cool. So what's the down fall here. The cost, roughly about $1500. Ouch!
3. Thin Clients: Now this may be the way to go. With all info residing on the educators server, monitoring and software usage become less of a problem. They are aso fanless, noiseless, and use just 5 watts of electricity according to an article by emachines. I can see where a school district might find this beneficial. I also see a huge downside, once the student leaves the classroom, they may be leaving their only option for internet usage and technology. I believe that when it comes to one to one solutions, we are looking to empower our students a little bit more than a thin client will allow.
4. The XO by MIT: The cost alone has me sold and the same benefits as any one to one program. With it's new partnership with Microsoft and it's ability to dual boot, I think this is where I would be leaning in the educational arena.

If you have used other pieces of technology in your class or know of any, I would love to hear from you.

NECC Unplugged

Well I know a lot us of have heard of NECC and ITSE, but did you know about NECC Unplugged? I think this open forum, discussion is great for those of us who cannot get to Texas. I live in NH. It is three days of collaboratively created and scheduled conferences created by the participants, (thats us), held in an open lounge area. What a great idea and a great resource. I was lucky enough to come across it after following budtheteacher's post on "Creating ourselves online". He will be holding a facilitated discussion on this topic at 8:30 on June 30th. I noticed this post on twitter yesterday and am very excited to be part of this discussion. After looking around, I realized what a great resource NECC Unplugged is. So I am now a part of NECC Unplugged and will be doing a brief demo of grazr, one of my favorite web 2.0 tools on the same date at 4:00pm. If you have any interest in education, technology and web 2.0 check out NECC Unplugged, they have some great topics that may be of interest to you. Got a great idea. Present it or do a demo. If I can do it, you can too.

My thoughts on One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)

How can you possible find any flaws with a company and a piece of hardware that promises to bring technology to the poorest children in the world. Yes, I am speaking of the OLPC program and the XO laptops created by MIT. This low cost computer is bringing technology to poor and third world countries. They are not letting the barriers of poverty or language stop today’s students from learning with the tools of the 21^st century. What a truly innovative program. Did I mention that the cost is between $188 to $100 dollars. Now this is something school districts can afford.

The OLPC program has partnered with Microsoft to enhance it’s newest feature, the dual booting XO. Mind blowing. Now students, or users will have a choice between their preferred OS. (Linux, here I come!) To read the May 16^th article, click here.

This is a wonderful initiative who’s benefits can be seen almost immediately. Poor or third world countries have a shortage of teachers, with networked computers, students can learn online, wouldn’t it be great if we had volunteer teachers available to teach these online courses. Many of these countries are educating students of different ages and grades in the same classroom. I think the XO will help to solve the major gap that must be an issue for any educator dealing with such a diverse group of students. The introduction of the laptop will introduce self paced learning. Students will be able to learn grade appropriate material at their own pace and most likely, in their own language. We also need to keep in mind that children in these countries are often brought into the school environment at different points in their life. They do not necessarily start at the same age or level of ability. Having technology available not only in the school but in the home may help these students to catch up to their counterparts if not feel more successful in what they do accomplish. The nation of Nepal was one of first governments to test pilot this program. This is the first ever pilot distribution of the laptop in Nepal, and it is codenamed “Sunrise”. Visit OLPC Nepal blog to learn more about the program, the importance to it’s users and view great pictures of the ceremony and the student with their new laptops.

Thank you MIT for making such a worthwhile product for such a worthy cause. Our children.