Useful Webtools for Teachers

Here's a list of useful webtools for teachers. All of them are free of charge. (Some require you to create an account and log in, but the basic tools on these sites are free.) I know many of you already have lesson plans in place, while others may be looking for extra material to direct towards our students. I encourage you to investigate them and use as you see fit.

Library of Congress: Check out the teacher page. This one is completely free! A related site is on flickr (teacher override required) with historical photographs with no known copyrights making it a great source for students and teachers.

For Language Arts and History: shmoop It looks real cool and not just for you, but also with your students. Description: Oh, just look at the website for a good description... no point in me restating what they are all about.

With all those netbooks out there in out LA classes how about a web-based quiz program and instant grading system? Have the results emailed to you instantly. Give ClassMarker a try. Upgrades cost $24.95/year, but the entry-level quiz taker should be fine for most of us.

Concerned with plagiarism? Are kids just copying and pasting text from Google then calling it their own? Use the DOCCOP, a powerful engine that will flag plagiarized student work. Easy to use and totally free!

Lastly, just for students take a gander at these 15 tools. I like #10 etherpad, could be real cool with our netbooks! I've not tested if all of these are filtered from school, but you're only one click away from discovering that so just give it a try and pass them along to our students.

Twitter - What if?

I know we are no where near doing this at Euclid. There's a lot of unknowns with this new communication method. I'm not real comfortable with the privacy issues around Twitter yet myself and since it's blocked at work I'd have to do all my twittering from elsewhere (or my iPhone). So instead of being super abrasive and pushing the envelope I though I'd just sort of mention it and leave you all with something to consider - for when the time is right.


Still, I thought I could stir things up a bit by just mentioning that Twitter is starting to be used at schools (quite a few in Texas where they tend to "set the tone" for a lot of curriculum for the rest of the nation). The link below will take you to a discussion about Twitter in public schools - enough said. Have a look and let me know what you think. Are we ready for this at LPS?

http://macmomma.blogspot.com/2009/07/twitter-in-schools-what-does-it-really.html

Web-olution --> Wolfram Alpha

Get ready to be stunned! Wolfram Alpha will be brought online later today: May 15th, 2009.

Please watch this 13 minute introduction of Wolfram Alpha in action and you'll get a glimpse of a different way we will be using the web to learn and question. Could this be a research tool, YES? I can't wait to start using it. How would you cite it? One thought and concern I'm having about the information it returns is that it might be different over time if you are researching something that's not changing.

With tools like Wolfram Alpha, Wikipedia, Google, and other search engines available what are the essential tools you need to be able to learn from them? If these are in your toolkit are you ready to use them with these essential skills?

• Good spelling ability,(does that even matter anymore?)
  
• ability to come up with essential questions,
• a desire to learn,
• thirst for knowledge...

So do you have any student prodigies, Stephen Wolframs in the making, in your classroom now? Can you forsee a future product they might create one day?

Some background - I remember back in the 1980's a very cool math program called Mathematica. It was available on the Apple Macintosh (maybe other platforms too) and it could do so many mind-blowing things graphically to represent data. I only played with it a small bit on a friend's computer, but I was impressed. The author of that program was none other than Stephen Wolfram.

I titled this post "web-olution" because I thought it captured the BIG STEP that Stephen Wolfram has taken with his project Wolfram Alpha. It's using the information on the web in a way that is quite evolutionary; thus, webolution! (I considered wevolution, but it sounds too much like Elmer Fudd - hehehehe).

Elementary Laptop Visit

It's been several weeks since our visit to three elementary schools. The purpose of the visit was to get a first-hand glimpse of the pilot schools where 5th grade students were given netbooks to enhance their language arts skills.

Well, there's a lot more to it than that. It's not as if the netbooks were just plopped down without guidance, support and training for the staff and their students. I'll not dwell on that part of the task, but sufficed to say that the students and teachers are showing proficiency and expertise. There seems to be a general enthusiasm for the tools and the expanded emphasis on writing for these students.

We were able to chat with students at each school and observe their writing. It was a fantastic opportunity for our 6th grade LA teachers to get an advance look at the project AND the students who will be attending our school in the fall. I found the trip to be rewarding for many reasons. It got us talking together as a team about the netbook project, it gave us an opportunity to see it in action, and it helped our teachers to bond with other teachers who have been doing this and paving the way. In a way it showed our teachers, who are already doing a lot with their smartboards, other ways in which LPS is making 21st Century Learning a possibility for all students.

Here's a few pics taken during our visit. If you click on them, they will get bigger.

Vision

On my bike ride yesterday I stopped along the Platte River at a bench and saw the following sign on a rock. I snapped a photo with my cell phone, emailed it to me work account and went on my way. This rock seemed to be telling me something with the sign and I'm glad I saw it when I did. The message on the rock is: "Vision without action is merely a dream".

I believe the message on the rock was meant as a follow-on message to my prior post on this blog about our Mission at EMS. As our plans for the fall solidify we definitely have a mission and a vision for where we want to be in years that follow.

Have you ever had something cosmic like this happen? A coincidence that seems like it's more than just happenstance. That's how it felt when I leaned back on the bench and saw this rock.

Finally, I'll ask the obvious question: What is your vision for education in this 21st Century?

The Mission - Future is Now

This post is all about the mission defined by our district, Littleton Public Schools, and how technology supports and helps make that mission possible. I have had a fair amount of experience with mission and vision statements. I'm a founder for a successful web-based start-up, I've led teams in quality-driven corporations where understanding the corporate mission is vital to success, and I've held numerous positions as 'leader' throughout my life.

As an employee of LPS and a proud parent of students here I believe in our Mission - stated below.

The District Mission is defined as:

To educate all students for the future by challenging every individual to
continuously learn, achieve, and act with purpose and compassion.

LPS' Information Technology Department's Mission is defined as:

To define the 21st Century Learning Space, to assure Universal Access to that space, for all learners to master new frontiers in communications, information and literacy.

and IT's vision is:

LPS will support the necessary technology for world-class student learning and professional practice.

I believe these missions and visions are in alignment. They are all forward-looking. They have great potential for everyone involved and "on board" with our Mission. These phrases aren't just words, they are a call to action to all staff and students. We are in a time of rapid change. We are embracing that change in a positive way if we execute our mission. It is my belief that everyone needs to be part of this mission or make way for those who are. The time is now!

The three statements are all forward looking as I mentioned earlier. They all have as their end-game a focus on the future. But as we are aware the future is just out of our reach, but it's the 'carrot' that is dangling outin front of us and it moves us forward. All we have is the present to grasp and deal with. We must focus our immediate energies towards in the present. So I ask you staff and students: What are you doing today to make the Mission as success?

How does the district ensure success? Our district leaders must "walk the talk". The mission must be communicated clearly. The district leaders (at all levels) must not just say the words. They must also embrace them in their actions and they must convey a sense of urgency to everyone.

Who are the leaders in a public school district? I answer this question by stating that everyone is a leader at some level.

• Naturally, we have a superintendent of schools and the school board who are leaders at the highest level.
• We have building principals and the administrative staff that establish school vision and lead the school to success.
• We have teachers who lead their students every day in the classroom.
• And we have students leaders as student-body presidents, classroom leaders and squad leaders on sporting teams.
• Each student must self-lead in their learning - -they are responsible to themselves for their learning too.

So what I'm saying is that everyone is a leader and a responsible team member in the Mission. I think this is THE most exciting time in our school district. The future is now!

The Age of Composition

I don't think I can add much insight to this post by Jeff Utretch. If you have time read both his post and the NCTE article that is linked there/here. I think they both hit the target with what we're talking about at Euclid with writing, netbooks and our plans for 6th grade LA in the fall. BULLSEYE

We can talk about it more if you like, but it seems to combine where I think our vision is taking us WITH what we value at Euclid.



I love the notion of "The Age of Composition" in the 21st Century. It feels like a renaissance is taking place in our lifetime. Jump on board and enjoy the ride! I think this is going to be fun...

[Okay, so I did add a little]...