G-E-T IT Blog

Kidspiration - Staff Development

2009-01-26T11:37:00.001-08:00

What is new in Kidspiration 3.0?

New Math View

- Color Tiles

- Pattern Blocks

- Base Ten Blocks

- Fraction Boxes

Examples of Kidspiration in use can be found here.

http://www.inspiration.com/Examples/Kidspiration

Thanks to Molly O'Hara for keeping me posted about changes in the Inspiration community. Teachers can find lessons and ideas at the Inspired Learning Community found at http://www.inspiration.com/community/

Google Docs

2008-08-01T13:35:00.000-07:00

Using Google Docs:

1. Sign up for a Google Account.

2. Login to Google Docs (http://docs.google.com)

3. View "Google Docs in Plain English" video.

Creating Documents

2008-08-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

4. Create a word processing document, spreadsheet or presentation.

5. Google Docs Help Center - http://docs.google.com/support/?hl=en

Bookr

2008-03-03T09:48:00.001-08:00

I played with a new (to me) Web 2.0 tool today called Bookr. This tool allows you to search Flickr tags for photos to organize in a book.

Take a look at the book I created simply by using the term Yellowstone in my search. I added a few pages, some text, and now I have a finished product.

Imagine what you can do with this in your classroom! There are many things that come to mind . . . creating books to introduce a topic, reinforce a topic, organize objects or items, writing prompt. This is a quick, easy to use site that has great potential.

21st Century Skills and Web 2.0 Tools Survey

2008-01-24T20:22:00.000-08:00

Please take 5 minutes to complete this short survey for today's workshop

http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB227DDRGD2CU

Thank you!

21st Century Skills

2008-01-17T04:57:00.001-08:00

There is quite a bit of discussion about 21st Century Skills in publications on the internet and in print. Two recent articles in T.H.E. Journal Online address 21st Century Skills. The first, 21st Century Skills, discusses the role technology plays in preparing students for the 21st Century work world. The second article, 21st Century Workforce, discusses the skills students need to prepare for work in the 21st Century.

A group called The Partnership for 21st Century Skills comprised of business, education and government leaders is working to provide a framework for skills students will need to succeed in work in the 21st century. This Partnership encourages schools, districts and states to advocate for the infusion of 21st century skills into education and will work to provide the tools and resources to facilitate this process.

Six states have adopted the 21st Century Skills Framework and are working to integrate these skills in academic standards. The states include Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Wisconsin has currently has four initiatives focused on 21st Century Skills. These initiatives include Global Literacy, Summit on 21st Century Skills, High School Task Force and Personal Financial Literacy Standards.

For more information, visit The Partnership for 21st Century Skills.

Web 2.0 Tools

2008-01-09T10:39:00.000-08:00

What is Web 2.0? Great question. Try a Google search for the phrase "Web 2.0". Results 16,1000,000 hits. WOW! Narrow the search by adding the term "education" and the results fall to 2,250,000.

As you can see, there are many resources to learn about Web 2.0 in education. Instead of searching the entire Internet for relevant sites about Web 2.0, try these for a starting point:

Kathy Schrock's Web 2.0 page: http://kathyschrock.net/web20/

What is a Blog and should I use one?

2007-12-21T12:07:00.001-08:00

When first asked "What is a blog?", the simple answer is, "A blog is a web log." Well that doesn't tell me much more than before I asked.

Let's examine blogs in more detail. According to Wikipedia:

"A blog is is a website where entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs." (Blog - Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog Accessed December 21, 2007)

So a blog introduces a component of interaction and collaboration that is not present on traditional websites. When setting up a blog, the creator can choose to be the sole administrator, assign authors and allow comments from a select group of individuals or from everybody who reads the blog. All of the decisions as to who can see the blog, add entries, and add comments are up to the creator of the blog.

Why do people create blogs? Well, let's take a look at some examples of blogs to try to determine why people create blogs.

Technorati lists the Top 100 popular blogs during the past six months at http://technorati.com/pop/blogs/

The Best of Education Blog Awards were presented in March 2006 at the Florida Educational Technology Conferences as reported in eSchool News (http://tinyurl.com/2ckcye)

The "Best Classroom Instruction Blog for Students" was Frank LaBanca's Applied Science Research blog at http://appliedscienceresearch.blogspot.com/

EduWonk at was the winner in the category "Best K-12 Administration Blog."

MacKenty.org (at http://mackenty.org/), a blog written by Bill MacKenty won in the category "Best Instructional Blog for Teachers."

What do each of these blogs have in common?
Each blog has a specific focus.
Each blog meets the reader where the reader is - connected and online.

G-E-T IT Blog

2007-12-21T11:53:00.000-08:00

This is the first entry for the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau Instructional Technology Blog. I hope to place valuable resources on this blog for district staff members to explore and comment on. Feel free to add suggestions and criticisms to the items placed here. The only way to know if a resource has value is to solicit feedback from those who use it.

Any suggestions or ideas for posts are also welcome.