Learning With Lucie

CSSU Workshop

CSSU Workshop:  Using Google Docs in the Classroom

Learn how to use Google Docs, a free online word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation editor that allows you to create, store, share, and collaborate on documents with others. If you know how to use other word processors, spreadsheets, and presentation programs, you can easily use Google Docs. Instead of emailing files back and forth between collaborators, Google Docus allows people to work on a single version of a document together online. The chat feature on presentations makes it possible to create a “permeable classroom” by bringing experts into a lesson to interact with students online. You can also create web-based surveys to collect information from students, teachers, or parents. 

You will learn some tips and tricks to working with files from any computer; get and provide feedback from multiple collaborators, publish papers and presentations to a web audience, create quick and easy online forms and collect data into a spreadsheet, and much more. But most importantly this workshop will include examples of real classroom applications for Google Docs. 

Let's start with fillng out this form.

Then we'll proceed to the rest of the activities.

VBTA Presentation

I'm delighted to be back in my home talk to work with colleagues who have been such an important part of my professional career.  I've organized today's activities using Google Sites  at
http://sites.google.com/site/vbtapresentation/

Let's have fun together as we collaborate today.

Vermont Fest 2008

At this year's educational technology conference for Vermont educators using technology (VermontFest),  I'll be helping educators learn about using Google Tools in  Education in a variety of ways.

• Preconference  Hands On Workshop on Google Apps in Education
• Conference  Session  on Google Tools in Education
• Supporting colleague, Peter DesLaurier on using 21st century tools to
  Redesigning the Assignment : Science Inquiry Project - Consumer Product Testing

Friday Five - Truth or Fiction

Sorry that I didn’t post these Friday,  I was at a meeting all day.  Catching up today on Internet related activities.

After listening to VPR On the Media  story today about the   “Who is Barak Obama?”

 and reading this article dissecting the false images of Sarah Palin’s high school grades posted online

 

I’m compiling today’s Friday Five around a theme both students and  adults should spend some time on --   checking the credibility of information, especially ‘dispelling Internet rumors’

1.  http://www.lite.iwarp.com/CoiroVT2008.html#reliability

Vermont Reads 2008 offered training on this topic during Julie Coiro’s workshop. Julie’s strategies include some excellent strategies and resources for teaching this very important literacy skill at:
 

2. http://snopes.com/

One of the most popular sites for checking out urban legends is:

 

3.   http://www.truthorfiction.com/

Another popular site for learning about rumors, inspirational stories, virus warnings, hoaxes, scams, humorous tales, pleas for help, urban legends, prayer requests, calls to action, and other forwarded emails.

4.  http://factcheck.org/

- a nonpartisan, nonprofit "consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. They monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases. Their goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding.

5. http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/internet/a/current_netlore.htm

 

And finally a section of About.com dedicated to educating the public about how to spot Internet hoaxes, email rumors and urban legends

Friday Five - Choice Reading Online Activities

Friday Five  is focused on promoting reading (off and online)

In honor of the book fair which went on all week at our school and 
Banned Books Week
Celebrating the Freedom to Read
September 27–October 4, 2008

or Blocked Bytes Week (a suggestion from Doug Johnson
who believes that we need the freedom to read more than just books)
http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/2008/9/23/blocked-bytes-week.html

Here is this weeks Friday Five
(perhaps you can use some of these as choice reading activities)

Reading On Line

1. http://storylineonline.net/

The Screen Actors Guild Foundation Reads Stories Aloud to Children. Include videos and related activities and downloadable activities guide.  Great listening centers.

2. http://www.starfall.com/n/level-c/fiction-nonfiction/play.htm?f

A list of online fiction and nonfiction books with pictures for younger readers to read online.  Starfall is full of reading resources targeted for early readers.

3. http://www.roythezebra.com/

Roy the Zebra.com  includes guided reading stories,  whiteboard reading activity lessons  and more. The site is home to a package of interactive games, stories and resources that have been developed to help emerging readers learn to read It's one of the most comprehensive
interactive literacy resources on the net that is freely accessible...

4. http://www.biguniverse.com/

Big Universe(R) is a web community devoted to beautiful children's picture books. READ hundreds of offerings from today's best children's book publishers, CREATE e-books with the help of an easy-to-use Author Tool, and CONNECT with other Big Universe members to share your creations and to learn what books they have read, created, or recommend. Parents, teachers, kids, authors, and others can share and learn while they enjoy this educational and entertaining website.

5.  Books in the Public Domain (print and audio)

http://www.gutenberg.org/
Project Gutenberg is the first and largest single collection of free electronic books, or eBooks. (i.e. Huckleberry Finn, Alice in Wonderland, Sherlock Holmes… and many many many more.) Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.

There are several sites that offer audio versions of these books:
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:The_Audio_Books_Project

Bonus: http://free-reading.net/
And open source reading curriculum (with resources for grades k-3)

Friday Five - Free and Open Source Software

I'm sitting here in Indianapolis at the K12 Open Minds Conference surrounded by evangelist of free and open source software in education so I thought I would make this the theme of this week's Friday Five.

Did you know that there there is great software that is free and legal for us to use in your classroom AND even give a free copy to our students.  Using free software and making it available for our
students is part of my our mission at St. Alban City School.

I could not limit it to 5 sites.... so I recommended sites around 5 categories.  I can help you use any of these in your classrooms.

#1 Free Software For Primary Grades
-----------------------------------------------
G Compris = free software for primary grades
gcompris.net/-Screenshots- Free Software for primary grades

Child Play by schoolsplay.org = free software for elementary education
www.schoolsplay.org/

-----------------------------------------------------
#2  Free Software to Make Thinking Visible (graphic organizers and mind mapping)
------------------------------------------------------

CMap Tools -graphic organization
www.k12opensource.org/oss-cmap.html make thinking visual

FreeMind - free mind mapping software
freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Screenshots

---------------------------------------------------------
#3 Free Software for Making Podcast and other Audio Recording Needs
---------------------------------------------------------
Format Factory - Conversion program
format-factory.en.softonic.com/

Audacity: a free recording software
audacity.sourceforge.net/about/screenshots

---------------------------------------------------------
#4 Free Software for your Artistic Need
---------------------------------------------------------
Inkscape. a painting program that allow you to Draw Freely.
www.inkscape.org/screenshots/index.php

Tux Paint - paint program for young children
www.tuxpaint.org/screenshots/

Paint.NET - a photoshop like program
www.getpaint.net/screenshots.html

---------------------------------------------------
#5 Free Software for word processing, spreadsheets, and Presentation
(for those who don't want to buy Microsoft Office)
-----------------------------------------------------

OpenOffice.org - The Free and Open Productivity Suite
www.openoffice.org/

NeoOffice - an open source productivity tool
www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php

Friday Five - Self Image

Today was picture day at school. As I walked into the gym I saw the girls peering into small compact mirrors fixing their hair and adding a bit of lipstick. Therefore I thought I'd make today's Friday Five about children and self image. If you haven't seen the Dove REAL Beauty Videos, they are a MUST see for all who care about our young people's development.

• http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U
  Dove Evolution - a 1 minute video displaying the use of cosmetics and technology to create a warped perception of video in today's young women
• http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1731400614466797113
  A powerful 1 minute video that shows that young girls are not immune to self image issues
• http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=8klueT2OK_I
  Another short video similar to the Dove Beauty Videos, but featuring a young man.
• http://pdtogo.com/smart/?p=91
  A Complete Lesson with Accompanying Smartboard Files relating to Female Body Image
• http://pdtogo.com/smart/?p=92
  A Complete Lesson with Accompanying Smarboard Files relating to Male Body Image

 

Friday Five - Election Theme

I've decided to model on of my fellow edubloggers (Lucy Gray)  and offer a Friday Five+ (a list of websites that might help you integrate technology into your classroom).  Here is this week's list.

Friday Five – Give your Lessons and Election Theme Across the Curriculum 

In light of the recent activity on the political scene, I decided to give this weeks Friday Five an Election Theme.  Here are more than FIVE websites that can help you add a election theme to your lessons.  Some of these include lessons in math, language arts, and other areas besides social studies. You can also get to all of  these (and any new ones I find)  through my Online Bookmarks at 

http://delicious.com/techsavvygirl/election

 

• PBS Vote 2008 PBS

  http://www.pbs.org/vote2008/

Probably my number 1 recommended site for Election Theme Widgets, Gadgets, Games, Interactive Tools.  Scroll down to see some really cool ones towards the bottom of the page.

• PBS Teachers | Access, Analyze, Act: A Blueprint for 21st Century Civic Engagement | PBS Teachers /
  http://www.pbs.org/teachers/vote2008/blueprint/
  
  Related to the PBS site, but a direct link to an interactive curriculum that taps into the this generations increased access to social media.  VERY 21^st Century.  VERY cool.
  
  
  

• • Election 2008: Lesson Plans | Scholastic.com /
  http://content.scholastic.com/browse/collection.jsp?id=63

  
  Special Report on Election 2008, you will find a series of lesson plans designed to complement presidential election coverage for Scholastic News and Junior Scholastic magazines and Scholastic News Online.
  
  
  
  

• • Elections Theme - Lesson Plans, Thematic Units, Printables, Worksheets, and More from A to Z Teacher Stuff /
  http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/Themes/Elections/

  
  Lots of Units and Lesson Plans that integrate election themes across the curriculum for all types of grade levels and reading levels.
  
  
  

• • Education World® : Special Theme: Primaries, Voting, and Elections /

  http://www.educationworld.com/a_special/election.shtml

Although this site is 4 years old, I found some great links here and there are some updates for the 2008 elections available at Education World

• Video: Electing a US President in Plain English | Common Craft - Explanations In Plain English

http://www.commoncraft.com/election

3 minute video on Electing a President. Commoncraft has a great reputation for making really Short Simple in Plain English Videos on a wide variety of topics that people enjoy. Check out their other videos.

• Making the Election Video: Behind the Scenes | Common Craft - Explanations In Plain English

  http://www.commoncraft.com/making-election-video-behind-scenes

A blog post on how to make a Commoncraft type video, using the Electing a US President Video by Common Craft .  Perhaps you students can do this with other topics.

•   Hot Chalk and NBC Video
  http://www.teachermagazine.org/tm/section/curric-resources/2007/10/23/cn_nbchotchalk_web.h19.html

  
  www.hotchalk.com

Announcement re: NBC News made available to teachers more than 5,000 chunks of news video and still photos from their news archives, for use in the classroom. Lots of GREAT election theme videos here. The service requires a free subscription to HotChalk through December. After that, a school subscription to HotChalk is necessary, starting in 2008.

• Elections '08 Map Gallery Google Maps /
  http://maps.google.com/help/maps/elections/

Keep up-to-date on the 2008 election with Google Maps Browse through these political maps to learn about this year's race for the Presidency and show off your favorites by embedding them around the web for the world to see. Feeling ambitious? Design and create your own elections map with our getting started guide.

• Elections 2008 Gadget /
  http://www.google.com/webmasters/igoogle/election.html

  
  Fun Gadgets you can add to your I Google Page, Wikis, Blog, or even our own school web page if we want.

• • How to use Google Docs for Live Polls and Quizzes ~ Chris Pirillo
  http://chris.pirillo.com/2008/03/23/how-to-use-google-docs-for-live-polls-and-quizzes/

  
  Tutorial (print directions and video)on how to create a poll using Google Spreadsheets.  If you need more help using Google Spreadsheets I’d be glad to come and do this with you.
  
  
  

• • Poll Everywhere | Simple Text Message (SMS) Voting and Polling, PowerPoint Audience Response System (ARS) /
  
  http://www.polleverywhere.com/

  
  
  A great tool for setting up 'votes' or polls where you can collect votes by cellphone or website.

NECC Workshop - Show me the Tools

NECC 2008  Show Me the Tools! Collaborative Tools for Global Distributed Learning 

Yvonne Marie Andres, Global SchoolNet Foundation
       with Lucie deLaBruere, Infinite Thinking Machine   or LearningWithLucie.com

Wednesday, 7/2/2008, 8:30am–11:30am; HGCC 206 B

The workshop materials can be found on this workshop wiki.

NECC 2008 - Presentation (Monday)

Wikinomics:  How Mass Collaboration Will Fundamentally Change Learning

Yvonne Marie Andres, Global SchoolNet Foundation with Lucie deLaBruere
Monday, 6/30/2008, 2:00pm–3:00pm; HGCC 206 A

The bestseller Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything sends educators a critical message. So let's take a look at the hottest collaborative tools, content, and implementation strategies.

Presentation