Winsome Wednesday: Build Your Wild Self

When given half a chance, children love to create and be imaginative. Use the web application, BuiLD YouR WiLD SeLF, and watch kids' creativity and imagination in learning...

run wild....

BuiLD YouR WiLD SeLF is a web application. Anyone can use their imagination or their knowledge of animals to create their own animal for a special habitat using this web application. Provide a platform for your students or children to build an imaginary avatar. Once their WiLD SeLF is created, they can use it as a desktop image, an avatar, or any similar application. Kids can compare and contrast various traits of humans and animals. They will also get a chance to learn about the habitats that some zoo animals would live in their natural homes.

Use this web application as:

A. the anticipatory set for new lessons in science, social studies, language arts, writing or other subject.

B. an example of animal habitat information to be studied utilizing many learning strategies; especially Compare/Contrast You can build a lesson about animals and their environments.

C. a formative assessment to determine if students can describe/explain why they used a particular environment or body part.

D. a reward for effective learning behaviors.

The web application, Build Your Wild Self was created for the Bronx Zoo, New York Aquarium, and other New York City Zoos, in cooperation with the Wildlife Conservation Society.


SHARE SOME FINE EXAMPLES THAT STUDENTS HAVE SHARED WITH YOU:

Tuesday Trait: VOICE

hacia dónde? by movimente
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VOICE! Mine or yours? Immediate or Distant? Weak or Powerful? Voice is as potent as Venus when she took pity on Pygmalion. She spoke and brought his beautiful sculpture to life.

What awards such cachet to VOICE? A colleague's blog, of course. While reading Ken Allan's blog, Blogger in Middle-Earth, I found his first-class blog post One Voice? A Post for Bloggers. Teachers can be guided by his ideas and tips as they develop their lessons on Voice. I'm sharing this post for them, especially secondary teachers who may be looking for ideas for writing in the content area.

Over the years, I've written essays and guides, as well as shared professional development about the Six Traits of Writing. I've discovered that many teachers would like to know more, so I'll focus on the traits in the future. For now, I've found two posts from my blog. One is Six Traits Still Rule, while the other is It's delicious.

I hope these will encourage your thoughts on the topic. I believe you can provide expanded opportunities to help your students find, define and refine their Voice as they develop their writing.

Effective Schools: PART 2 Positive Communication - School, Home, Community

Free 2 Run by Ozyman
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Developing the Effective Schools Correlate: Positive Communication within the School, Home, and Community depends on how we view positive interactions through our understanding and development of compassion, forgiveness and altruism. 

As you, your peers, parents and community members discuss ideas about the core of what makes a positive professional learning network of school, home and community, please consider these questions.

As you answer these questions, analyze your uncensored ideas. You will help yourself learn your strengths and weaknesses as they relate to building positive communication.

1. Are you more or less likely to listen to a differing opinion from:

• a teacher?
• an administrator?
• a parent?
• a student?
• someone with less education than you?
• someone with more education than you?
• someone younger than you?
• someone your own age?
• someone older than you?

2. How do you react when someone in that professional learning network disagrees with you?

3. Should teachers have the locus of control in parent communications?

4. How do you analyze your own biases and stereotypes?

5. If there are disagreements within the complete communication connection, which method would be most effective when resolving conflicts that relate to learning.

6. What questions, about this topic, would you ask?

Orange mood by Pensiero
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Please consider these ideas as you qualify your own position in the positive communication connection.

What makes communications positive may flourish in an environment that focuses on the quality of relationships, not the power of individuals.

Effective Schools Correlates: PART 1 Positive Communication - School, Home, Community

OR by johnwilliamsphd
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What thoughts can you express that evaluate your philosophy of the Effective School Correlate: positive communication in the professional learning network of school, home and community?

Do you agree that Positive Communication between School, Home and Community is a major correlate of effective schools?

Can a school be considered effective without a complete communication connection between school, home and community?

How do you feel when someone in that professional learning network disagrees with you?

These are some preliminary questions that teachers, parents, administration and community members should ask as they work through their positive communications within their professional learning network of school, home and community. What other concepts could be considered?

Winsome Wednesday: Share with SynchTube

mirrors06.jpg by joshstaiger
Attribution License

What is Synchtube? A beta web application that can be used to create a synchronous, virtual group that can view and interact about the same YouTube video.

It's a way for a group of people to synchronize the way they view YouTube videos. Invite a group to watch a YouTube video at the same time. It's an opportunity to discuss, enjoy and elaborate on any video available on YouTube.

Will you try it? What do you think of SynchTube?

I think it could be used for many professional development opportunities, as well as class discussions and projects. The beta project has a bright future. Just use it.

clipped from www.synchtube.com

synchtube is the only place to watch YouTube videos with friends in real-time!

Simply paste a YouTube link and create a room. You can share this room with others, and watch videos in real-time... well enough talking, just try it already!

Saturday Specifics: What Google Tools?

Google New Year 2010 by COG LOG LAB.
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How many Google Tools do you use? In this nicely written review, 57 useful Google Tools for education are discussed. This article could be updated. What tools would you list today?

clipped from www.collegeathome.com

57 Useful Google Tools Scholars, Students, and Hobbyists

If you’re like most people, you use Google’s products several times a day to search for information or check email. Most people don’t know, however, how many useful tools Google has to make research and time management much easier. Here are just a few of the products Google offers that may be worth trying whether you’re a scholar, student, or hobbyist.

Quantum Aspects of Game Theory

Pass The Pigs by Kaptain Kobold
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Hagen Lindstädt and Jürgen Müller, authors of Making Game Theory work for Managers, explain the ways in which Game Theory can be used to help business, as well as the ways managers may misuse the theory. This is also a good model for teachers to use when developing a plan to implement standards, teach content, affect student behavior and more.

One problem with using any model, is trying to cherry pick the "best, right" answer to a particular circumstance and not deviating from the plan, even when the scenario changes.

As the authors state so well, the best way to use Game Theory is to develop a "...range of outcomes".

As teachers get closer to the points where the various outcomes diverge, there is usually more data that can be used to revamp the model and hone in on the point of actual reality.

clipped from www.mckinseyquarterly.com Making game theory work for managers In times of uncertainty, game theory should come to the forefront as a strategic tool, for it offers perspectives on how players might act under various circumstances, as well as other kinds of valuable information for making decisions. it’s often misused to provide a single, overly precise answer to complex problems. The key is to use the discipline to develop a range of outcomes based on decisions by reasonable actors and to present the advantages and disadvantages of each option.

Winsome Wednesday: "Doing DaVinci"

Doing da Vinci, a new interactive website with a companion weekly show, contains historical and scientific information about Leonardo da Vinci, as well as games and surveys. There are also video clips and information and interviews about the expert builders who brought da Vinci's machines to life, from his notes and diagrams.

One of the more interesting web applications on this site is Leonardo da Vinci's Personality Quiz. Several colleagues, including CoffeeDdaisy, Lona, sciproLdySlpr, Linda (Mrs C) and brina 1300 in our PLN, professional learning network, tried it out. We found it enlightening, as well as entertaining. This quiz would definitely capture the interest of students and teachers. It could be used as a lesson starter, sometimes called the anticipatory set.

This website contains timelines, samples of da Vinci's machines and a host of other applications that could be used by teachers of any subject.

The draw to da Vinci, as the ultimate Renaissance Man, remain his great and varied interests. Try out the website, quizzes, model-building and dramatizations. The companion television show will air each Monday throughout the month of April.



Image Credits:

Wikimedia.org

DaVinci Notes of Geometry of Flower

Leonardo da Vinci Helicopter and Lift Wing

Anticipate and Skype Your Reaction

Impatience by mdezemery
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Integrating technology organically turns the unobtrusive, the familiar into something new and unique.

These are Skype techniques that belong to the Anticipation Reaction learning strategy family.

• If students are away from class, but able to virtually participate, they can watch, text and be viewed through Skype.

• Total class involvement: ask or display a question, statement or problem in class, then students answer through Skype. Begin the discussion after all have answered.
  

• If a student wants to ask a question, they can ask in private, through Skype, without other students knowing, if they are shy or think it would be embarassing.

After all anticipatory answers are received by the teacher and discussed in class, students can skype their reactions(answers)to the lesson. Changing some answers and leaving others as they were originally skyped will encourage student learning in a non-threatening environment using this user-friendly, ubiquitous online web application.

3 Ways to WORDLE Share

Interested in learning more or sharing your WORDLES? Now, you can access the Diigo WORDLE Group.

Haven't used Diigo, the social bookmarking site? Now would be a great time to join.

While you're at it, consider joining the Diigo for Educators site that is protected, so you can use it with your students.

Here are webslide show of many of our group's bookmarks, to date.

Who I Am: a Reflection of Who I've Been

Photo by lionelbodilis
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Each semester, Cyndi Danner-Kuhn starts a new .ning network, Kansas Future Teachers for her educational technology students. She is very collaborative and innovative in her work, and I am glad to help by sharing my teaching and learning experiences with these pre-service teachers at Fort Hayes State University. I have included a copy of my introduction essay for this semester's students.

If you are reading this, you are, most likely, part of my PLN (professional learning network). I would like to invite you to join us and share your expertise.

Remember the saying, "What Goes Around Comes Around?" As the years go by, ...that saying [will] reveal itself in action more and more. This an opportunity to put into practice what we call scaffolding, or the spiral of knowledge that Vygotsky suggested in his theoretical studies of learning. As a life-long learner, I have used that spiraling ...[visualization of learning] to make connections in my education, teaching career and life.

Since I began teaching in 1975, I have learned, taught and experienced a multitude of theories, trends and issues as they appear, disappear and reappear.

One thing that I can say with certainty is that my professional teaching life has been healthier and happier when I "go with the flow", when I
* see an opportunity for professional growth in NEW THEORIES that are really old wine wrapped in a new flask
* understand that bad situations make sad communities and you just have to "walk away", kick the dust off your sandals and never look back.

I am healthy and happily working online, building my Professional Learning Network (PLN) and providing professional development resources "...in service to the community".

Having taught many grade and subject levels from Kindergarten to college level students, I enjoy teaching. My areas of expertise began with Microbiology, then elementary, then high school and later, special education K-12. My resume' is quite extensive, yet I have had the privilege to learn, grow, and work with many teachers, parents and other community members who were even more insightful, knowledgeable and collaborative. My career has taken me from the forested region across Lake Ponchetrain in Louisiana to the desert plains of the Llano Estacado in Southeastern New Mexico to continue here in Kansas.

Through living the life of a teacher's child, I always sought the camraderie and professional advice of those who were the most experienced at the schools where I taught. I still do that, yet it is a bit more difficult now because I am frequently the "grand dame" of the school.

Of course, in teaching, it's all about the kids, but you MUST take care of yourself. You must be healthy and happy. If you aren't, if you keep your "nose to the grindstone, you will end up with no nose!" You will become worn out...you will be unable to accept change....you will not GROW as a teacher.

The take-away message here is to remember that you are part of a TEAM of people, including students, parents, teachers, and the larger community of learners. It is my belief that you will be a better teacher when you work in a collaborative, not competitive environment where people's self esteem comes from providing for students, not gathering accolades for all the "stuff" you belong to or control. When you and your community are really teaching and learning, the accolades will follow.

If you have decided to become a teacher, you know you won't make much money, you know you will work long hours and you know that you must live a tightly controlled life, BUT THIS IS ALL WORTH IT, iff you have the OPPORTUNITY to teach kids who learn and develop in your care. That's right! Your care, your guidance, your teaching is the key! That is what it is all about! The pure joy of watching children of various ages and stages learn and grow as you teach.

Who I Am in the Here and Now

Who I Am w/caption
Originally uploaded by n2teaching

This is the mosaic I developed from various pictures from my area and life to share in @bookjewel's excellent idea to help promote and share our PLN (professional learning network) as she detailed in her latest post, ‘PLN Reflections’: sharing ideas and building relationships.

Each person from our PLN who volunteered to share in this presentation, added a slide to a Google presentation file. I selected one of Mahatma Ghandi's inspriational quotes.

Take charge of what you can do to change your world. There is so much potential for professional development and in teaching students in this wonderful project idea. Thanks to @bookjewel.

Tristan and the Shark

Get a Voki now!



My nephew Tristan and I were sitting in his mother's (my sister) hospital room the day his sister was born listening to all the other conversations. While we weren't directly involved, I thought I would find something online from my sister's laptop that Tristan would enjoy. We didn't have much time, so I opened up Voki. He picked his own avatar and told me what to write(it was too noisy to record his voice). This was accomplished very promptly, so we were ready when everyone else was ready to eat lunch.

Tristan loved Voki and told me he wants to get a Pokemon avatar next time. He would like to record his voice also.

Getting to Know You - First Days

Photo by woodleywonderworks
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In the first days of a new school year, teachers want to draw each student into their realm of learning and be included in each child's realm of learning. While there are as many ways to do this as there are teachers and students in our schools, I would suggest picture books can easily engage students. Presenting stories of our common experience, books reach out to students and teachers, across time and space, drawing them together, encouraging valuable learning opportunities.

Select this link to read a short discussion among my Personal Professional Learning network about children's literature we use to start the school journey. n2teaching thinks it is time to read Tar Beach and When the Relatives Came- Plurk.com

Two books, Tar Beach and The Relatives Came, share the common themes of family and story-telling. They engage children and fascinate adults. During the first days of school, these are the types of books you can use to encourage your students to become a family of learners with you.

Whether a child's family lives in the city or the country, these books will draw them in with a sense of awe and wonder for childhood past and present.

You can use these books to prime the pump at the well of common experience. The stories draw out each child's favorite family stories like cups of fresh water. In this way, children and teachers join each others’ common experience.

Photo by Carla216
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A shared experience, enhanced through storytelling, helps everyone believe in the value of the students and teacher’s common learning. It helps people make choices based on the belief in their reciprocal values. What are these reciprocal values? Even though our family groups may seem different, there are common factors between all.