Collaborate with corkboard.me

I came across corkboard.me the other day. WOW! I love it! It is a great tool that allows you to add notes to your corkboard. The site is clean looking and incredibly easy to use. You do not need an account, but you do need to bookmark your link to save it. It can be shared with others for collaboration. You simply click on the board to add a note and type the message. You can drag the notes around to organize them and you can change the size of the notes. If you add an image link, the picture shows up instantly. You can easily delete notes. You can drag around the corkboard to see all the notes or use the map icon at the bottom. I have plans to use this for a professional development planning session this week. I can think of many ways this site can be used by teachers and students to collaborate and be more efficient.

Click here to try it out: http://corkboard.me/rPl7zQEFXe

 

Thank You!

There seems to be a great deal of talk about Netiquette lately. In my position as an Instructional Technology Specialist, I am asked to present on the topic and I have discussions with colleagues about our pet peeves when it comes to online behavior. When I started planning netiquette workshops, first I reflected on general etiquette “rules” like holding the door, putting your napkin on your lap and using good manners. Many of the general etiquette rules can be adapted to our changing world. Invitations can be sent through social networking sites and email allows us to RSVP and send thank you notes quickly. In conversations with others, I discovered that some people feel that it is inappropriate to send thank you notes through email. Actually, many people feel very strongly about thank you notes and how and when they should be sent. I remember my mother forcing me to write a thank you note for EVERY gift I ever received. I dreaded sitting down to write them. I just felt as though were a waste of time. The thing is…now I write thank you notes and I have my children write them too. I have also thanked people through email.

So, what do you think? Do thank you notes have to be sent? Do you expect thank you notes when you give a gift? Is it okay to thank someone through email? Do you have to send a thank you note if the gift giver was present when you opened the gift? Do you send a thank you note for Christmas presents sent in the mail by family? Can a thank you text be sent instead of a note? Would a phone call suffice?

New Year, New Challenge

Last night, as we rang in the New Year (Dillsburg style-We drop a Pickle!), many of our guests were sharing their resolutions. I am not much of a resolution kind of person. There are things that I want to do to live a better, healthier life but I have trouble with choosing a certain date to “start.” I try to do it all at one time and in turn, set myself up for failure. So, this year I am approaching it a little differently.

I have the same idea as many people do about losing weight, eating right and exercising on a regular basis. I know I can do it. I have in the past, but I seem to be on the “up” end of my yo-yo like experience with this never-ending endeavor.

When I saw the Fit42 Challenge, started by Steve Dembo (@teach42), I was interested. I checked out the site and could relate to the “accountability issues” and “peer pressure (support)” that many people mentioned. When I saw the goals section, I immediately thought of the usuals: eat healthy foods, exercise regularly and lose 20 pounds. For some reason, that did not excite or motivate me at all.

I told my husband, Dave, about the challenge and this led to a great discussion. I feel that being “healthy” relates to more than just weight, exercise and nutrition. We talked about what we can do to feel more happy and healthy about all aspects of our lives: overall health, weight, eating habits, physical activity, personal relationships, stress relief, family matters, self confidence, etc.

Dave wanted to make 12 goals for 2011. He thought we could focus on one goal each month and do this as a team. I loved the idea, so I handed him a paper and pencil and we both brainstormed a list of possible goals on our own. We shared them with each other and found many that were similar.

Here’s what I came up with:

• Get to bed early.
• Read more.
• Blog weekly.
• Spend time playing with my children.
• Don’t eat after 7:00pm.
• Plan “Date Nights” with my husband.
• Meet friends for dinner, lunch, or Happy Hour.
• Stick to our budget.
• Volunteer.
• Keep my clothes organized.
• Acknowledge something I am truly thankful for everyday.
• Don’t spend pointless time on the computer.
• Eat healthy food in appropriate portion sizes.
• Use the elliptical everyday (even if it is only for 5 minutes).
• Take a class to learn something new-yoga? piano lessons?
• Remember to take my daily vitamins and supplements.
• Get up and exercise in the morning.

You may wonder how things like sticking to a budget and organizing my clothes could help me to be healthy, but relieving stress and freeing up time will allow me to use my energy for other, more beneficial activities!

I knew for sure that there was no way that I was going to wake up this morning and start doing all of these things. That would have been a disaster. My only concern about doing one each month, was that I felt like I would have to make myself wait to start some things I am ready to do. So I prioritized my list and assigned months to really focus on each item, but to start them when I felt ready.

So…today I wrote a blog, balanced my budget, organized my closet, took my vitamins, ate healthy, played with my boys and I plan to read a little before I hit the hay nice and early. Not bad for the first day.

I hope that you are all able to take some time to reflect on your life, think about what you want out of it and find out what you can put into it. Here’s to a happy, healthy new year!

Seasonal Sites

Portable North Pole

On this website, you can put in information and answer a few questions in order to customize a message for your child (completely free!). You include name, age, grade, favorite food, location,  something they have been working on doing well, something they need to do during the holidays and a gift you know they want and a few other details. Then an email from Santa is sent to you. You can view the video message (even in full screen). It is as if Santa is actually talking to the child. My boys absolutely loved it!

Norad Tracker

This site will track Santa’s route during his Christmas deliveries. You can view the site in different languages. There are activities, videos and a Christmas countdown on the site. During the tracking time, you can visit all the places Santa is traveling to with a click of the mouse. You can see pictures of places, view videos and read about the places. It is a great way to learn about the world!

Snowline

This is a game that my 7 year old loves to play. You have to get Santa to the checkered flag after collecting all the presents. You use the paint to make a line for Santa’s sled. Then you press play to see how you did. There are obstacles and some levels are quite challenging.

The Rain Deer Orchestra

This seems like just a silly site where you play holiday tunes with funny looking reindeer, but it could be more than that! Put this on the Interactive Whiteboard. Then have students practice their math facts. You could tell them a fact or show them a flashcard. They have to answer by tapping the correct reindeer’s nose.

The Gingerbread Man with Everything

Decorate a gingerbread person. You can use the colored icing to decorate. There are also so many colored candies of different sizes and shapes to add details to your gingerbread person. When you are done, you can save your gingerbread friend. Students could write a story about the adventures of their gingerbread friend. Click here to view the VoiceThread that the first graders created using their gingerbread friends.

Storyline Online

Listen to Lou Diamond Phillips read the Polar Express. This is one of my favorite books of the season and my boys always enjoy watching it being read to them!

JibJab

I had to edit this post to add these Holiday eCard video messages. We did the Elf one last year and this time we went with the disco theme. You upload photos and do some quick and easy editing to make them fit correctly. Then you watch and LAUGH! Click here to watch our video.

Light it up!

Last month, I left the district where I had taught second grade for ten years and worked as an elementary integrator for four years. When my time at the school was winding down, I took a lot of time to reflect on the past and my teaching experiences there. A colleague asked my “What was your favorite thing to teach?” That is quite a question! I had taught so many different topics, concepts, lessons, etc, that I was not sure I could answer that.

Then I remembered …

We learned about electricity in second grade. During one of my lessons, I would separate the students into groups and give them a D battery, a flashlight bulb and a strip of tin foil. I would simply tell them to “Light it up!” Of course, someone would always raise their hand and ask “How?” My reply, “Figure it out.” What happened in the next 30-60 minutes was awesome. Students tried. They used strategies like guess and test. They talked to each other. They drew pictures. They jotted down notes. I learned so much about the students just by watching them work. Finally someone would yell out “We got it!” The excitement was amazing.  We gave hints to groups who were stuck and eventually every light bulb was lit. It didn’t matter if they were first or last, they all had a great feeling of accomplishment . We went on to discuss circuits and make switches to turn our bulbs on and off. So many of them would come into school the next day telling me that they challenged their parents and siblings to try it at home. (I’m sure the parents were thrilled to find flashlights with no bulbs left in them.)

So…think about it. What is YOUR favorite thing to teach? Do YOU have a favorite lesson? I would love to hear about it!

Write On…

200 classes, 600 pictures, 21 states, 8 countries, 40 stories, 40 VoiceThreads=Lots of great teaching, learning, collaborating, sharing and connecting!

It all started in the Spring of 2009. I wanted to find a way to connect students with others outside their classroom and show teachers how technology could be used to enhance instruction and make learning more meaningful for their students.  Many teachers had told me that they wanted something to make writing more exciting and engaging for themselves and their students. I thought about my goals and their needs and came up with the Progressive Story Project. I started small. Eight second grade classes at my two buildings were involved. I made two groups and we started. One class began the story and then passed it to a class at the other school. It was passed between classes until the last classes finished the stories. Illustrations were done, a VoiceThread was created and students were recorded. The teachers and students loved the project and my goals were met.

In the fall, I decided to extend an invitation to members of my PLN via Twitter. To my surprise, 50 second grade classes signed up and we created 10 very creative stories. We were now connecting classes across the USA and even Switzerland. In the spring of 2010 there were 100 participating classes (grades K-5) from around the world. This fall it has grown to 200 classes! I am thrilled! I love this project and I want to continue to organize it for teachers and students, but…

At times it can be a bit overwhelming. I am saying this as I take a break from downloading pictures sent to me, organizing them by story and section, keeping track of what is missing and creating a VoiceThread for each story.

I have no problem with the registration process and forming the groups. It is time consuming, but manageable. During the writing process, I just have to be sure people stay on track and help with Wikispace directions. So…I must find a way to continue doing this project, but in a more efficient and effective way.  Here are my thoughts at this point:

• I considered cutting out the VoiceThread altogether. Classes could write their section on the Wikispace and then add pictures to go with their section of the story. I do love seeing the stories illustrated and hearing them read by their authors, so this would be hard for me to do.
• I considered creating the VoiceThreads and then sharing them out with all the participants so that they could add their own pictures. That could still be a lot of work with creating and then sharing each one out with the appropriate teachers.
• I could limit the number of participants to 100, but I would have trouble turning people away who really want to be involved.
• I also thought about asking for “Lead Teachers” for the stories during registration. I would include a description of the responsibilities, so they could make an informed decision about doing that job. They would be in charge of collecting the pictures from the classes in their group (about 15 pictures), creating a VoiceThread and embedding it on their Wikispace page. I’m just not sure if I would get enough people to take on that job.

I would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions! This project is very important to me and I want it to continue. I have so many people who express interest and want to get involved. I’m not going to give it up!

Progressive Story Project: http://writeyourstory.wikispaces.com/

I did it!

I did it! I did it! I did it! (finally)

I have wanted to start my blog for years. When I attended my first ISTE conference in Washington DC in 2009, I found myself spending a great deal of time in the Bloggers’ Café. It was great to connect with people in my PLN, share ideas and resources and engage in conversations about education. While I was there, someone gave me an Edubloggers ribbon for my tag. Now I can finally wear that ribbon! I have so many ideas for blogs. I can’t wait to share and collaborate with others!