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Showing posts from January, 2009

Daily Spotlight on Education 01/31/2009

Download details: SyncToy v2.0 My computer tech highly recommends this for synchronizing important teacher files to the server from their local machine. I'm going to use it here for our teachers to synch to their folder. tags : education , learning , it , edu_newapp Blogs - Flat Classroom Conference Reading the blog posts of students who did and did not attend the conference has been amazing -- we are seeing that although 4 students and 2 teachers went to Qatar - that the majority of our students have now changed their views on the Middle East! It was stunning when I came back and asked the students to tell me what they learned from the conference tags : education , flatclassroom A GeekyMomma's Blog: Do You Vocaroo? Great article sharing about a new easy to use voice service called Vocaroo. This is the definitive post that Craig Nansen and Paula white shared with me on Twitter about this service. tags : education , learning , voice , audio Presentation blogs : Speaking abou...

Announcing the Net Generation Education Project: A New Flat Classroom Project

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This is so exciting.  Julie and I have been working on this for over a month as the replacement for the 2008 Horizon Project.  Here's the announcement.  Lots of opportunities for educators to participate.  Check our wiki for up to date information and how YOU can join in with your classroom or as an educator volunteer.   Read write projects with book authors - what needs to happen with all of our books. Net Generation Education Project Written by Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay As announced at the Flat Classroom conference this past Monday, the Net Generation Education Project is the replacement for the Horizon Project and will include approximately 10 schools with 300 students.  The application process is now open for schools who wish to participate in the project. Last year, Don Tapscott keynoted the Horizon Project 2008 which focused on having students envision the future of education via web collaboration and video.  The reading ...

Does everyone have to go to learn something from a Face to Face Conference?

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Reading the blog posts of students who did and did not attend the conference has been amazing -- we are seeing that although 4 students and 2 teachers went to Qatar - that the majority of our students have now changed their views on the Middle East !  It was stunning when I came back and asked the students to tell me what they learned from the conference. I sat down to talk to my 10th grade and asked: "What did you learn from the conference?" The first answer from a student who DID NOT ATTEND: "I learned to NOT stereotype people from the Middle East, they are people just like us and sometimes the media isn't telling us the truth." YES!!! So, here are some of my favorite quotes from student blogs today.  Let THEM tell you the story of the 2009 Flat Classroom Conference . Kayla (virtual attendee) says: "While I was participating in the Flat Classroom Conference virtually, I began to realize that this project has more meaning than just a class...

Daily Spotlight on Education 01/30/2009

2009 Teaching the Flat Classroom Workshop Registration opens tomorrow for the Flat Classroom Workshop that Tom Daccord and I will be doing on June 25-26 in Boston. This will be just before heading over to NECC - Saturday workshop there on using cell phones in the classroom AND Edubloggercon (which always rocks.) Hope to meet some new friends and have some exciting learning this summer. tags : education , learning Blue Zones - EDUCATION Blue zones education program - this is the education model - this is a great opportunity for younger students and is a "real" live experience that makes a big difference. Fascinating for health teachers and science teachers as well. tags : education , learning , edu_trends , edu_news Welcome to Blue Zones Community Here is some information on the blue zones project that some of you may be interested in participating - I received this over email today: "2009 Blue Zones Quest Fact Sheet Program Name Blue Zones Quest ...

Reflections from the Edge of Learning

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Find more videos like this on Flat Classroom Conference Steve was able to attend from his school in Houston, Texas . This was from his teacher, Estie Cuellar . Find more videos like this on Flat Classroom Conference Here is a reflection from Sean, in Houston, who did not get to attend the conference. Find more videos like this on Flat Classroom Conference I have a long blog post composed on the plane, but not quite caught up in my classroom - will be blogging it soon.

Daily Spotlight on Education 01/29/2009

The foods of Qatar - as experienced during my time in Doha and at the Qatar Academy - Flat Classroom Conference Anne Mirtschin's blog post about the foods of Qatar - she took pictures of the food we ate and described them. Great sharing! tags : education , learning , fc09 , flatclassroomconference , Qatar Project idea / help-- India and identity - Flat Classrooms This teacher, Kelly, is interested in starting a project focusing on India in mid-/February 2009. She's located in London. Anyone interested? She has 8th grade students. If so, please contact her on this page. tags : education , learning , flatclassroom , collaboration , technology Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

Daily Spotlight on Education 01/28/2009

My Experience and Reflection - Flat Classroom Conference Great words from Steve in Houston: "i have made friends from all over this beautiful world that we live on. From Australia to Oman to Ethiopia to this beautiful country of Qatar. And one thing i have to say is that no one, and i mean no one should ever judge someone on their stereotypes. Why is it that i get along with the people from this conference? WHy is it that i can make people laugh over here? It is because we are all humans. Yes i know that there are cultural differences but that doesnt mean that we are completely different. We share so many characteristics. I am extremely happy that i have made friends from all around the world and i hope to see them again sometime in the future." As Chris Chater Said, "The World is Flat and that's how we roll" tags : education , fc09 , learning Flat classroom Confrence - Flat Classroom Conference I love this reflection from Carly about her experience at the confe...

Picture Hope

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I cannot really explain this conference, but perhaps this picture can:

Daily Spotlight on Education 01/26/2009

Flat Classrooms Conference Student Summit, Ustream.TV: Transforming learning through global collaboration. Linking. Education Here are some amazing clips from the Flat Classroom conference - ustreams of what has been happening. There are some great presentations at the end of this from students! tags : education , learning , flatclassroom , all_teachers , edu_news Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

Daily Spotlight on Education 01/25/2009

A flickr CC search toy Another flickr search tool from Jeff Utecht. tags : education , flickr , photography Behold | Search High Quality Flickr Images Searches high quality flickr images - Jeff Utecht did a great job teaching students about giving presentations. tags : education , learning , flatclassroom , fc09 Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

Student Reflection from Estie's Students in Texas about Qatar: This video says it all

Estie's group from Texas recorded this reflection to share with the students back home. It is a tearjerker to me, because this is what it is all about. THIS is the dream for the conference. We're talking about technology and how we can use it to bridge us together - but LOOK at what they are learning. Wow! You can see the pictures and amazing reflections - feel free to join us virtually by viewing the videos and sharing your own reflections.

Having a Bash: Join us for Thomas Friedman & Doha Debates webstreamed live 1/24/2009

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Day 0 of Flat Classroom conference. We have some exciting events tomorrow and welcome your participation.  (Also, check our wiki for ustreams.) Live Webcast Events Day 1 January 24, 2009 Thomas Friedman - Streamed live on EdtechTalk and also on Future of Education in Elluminate 6am Pacific / 9am Eastern / 2pm GMT: Live stream of Tom Friedman addressing students ( international times here ) Doha Debates the Flat Classroom Concept - A joint session between the Flat Classroom Conference in Doha, Qatar and Educon in Philadelphia, PA streamed through the Future of Education - elluminate room Log in at https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2008350&password=M.3969DF... . The Elluminate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. 7am Pacific / 10am Eastern / 3pm GMT: Flat Classroom Debates begin ( international times here ). Check for ustream links here also and please, join our Ning . Conference Schedule Conference Program (updated J...

World Wide Wildcats

We're off to Qatar - been traveling since 5:45 am this morning - board a plane tonight in DC for Qatar and we'll get there tomorrow. My students and I have a blog ( World Wide Wildcats - which they named at Chilis today over lunch)  to let the school travel vicariously with us.  Our curriculum director, Betty has elementary students studying time zones and other things and will be communicating with them via email (and hopefully our blog.) We're excited.  We'll also be on the Conference Ning as well, hope you'll join us!

Daily Spotlight on Education 01/21/2009

Virtual Attendance Assignment (Starts after conference begins) - Flat Classroom Conference Once this conference begins, this is the assignment my students will be doing. If you are in your classroom, you may want more structure for your work. tags : education , learning , flatclassroomconference Virtual Conference Assignment - Flat Classroom Conference Join in our virtual scavenger hunt - this is a quick simple way in 3 days that you can meet students from other cultures and "flatten" your classroom by participating in the flat classroom conference. Start the conversations that need to happen. We're kicking this off now, although once it starts, it can really continue for some time. Maybe some of you will bring your students in to participate virtually. If you do this, please give a shout out by replying to the discussion. Join in if you wish! Just another way to flatten your classroom and there are a growing many! tags : education , learning , flatclassroom , edu_new...

Daily Spotlight on Education 01/20/2009

The Best Ways to Watch the Obama Inauguration - AppScout Here are all of the ways that you can watch the Obama inauguration. Most interesting to me: nickelodeon is going to cover it. Current and twitter are teaming up and the user tweets will be shown in current's inauguration day coverage. National Public Radio and CNN and Facebook all are offering coverage. Also, Wee World, and avatar network will have an online inauguration party and I've heard of some in SL as well. At 9;30 am EST - take time to show your students what is important. Tune in and speak up. tags : education , learning Home - Joost Watch inaguration live on Joost - many places to watch tomorrow online. tags : education , learning Twitter / quote_daily A quote a day for inspiration on twitter. tags : education , twitter Letters to the President Students writing letters to the president. tags : education , inauguration Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

Do yourself a favor

Do yourself a favor today - do one or more of these: If you have a mother, dad, or family member you haven't talked to in a while... give them a call. Write a note to someone just to thank them for something they have done. Smile at a stranger and give him/ her an honest compliment. Take time to do something really crazy with the kids that will shock them. Fix a great dinner with all his/ her favorite things to eat as a suprise. Call your spouse  or girlfriend / boyfriend and say "Just calling to check on you - is there anything I can do to help you? and DON'T ASK THEM TO DO ANYTHING." Do the one chore someone you live with hates doing most. Write a note and hide it in the pocket of someone you love so they can find it later. Do something thoughtful for someone you love. Do something thoughtful for someone you're having trouble getting along with. Think of something that one student who is struggling in your class does well -- and compliment them on it...

Inspiration from a Coffee Cup in a Hospital Room

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Sitting here in Mom's hospital room, chatting away about this week's Flat Classroom Conference in Doha, Qatar... my eyes focused on the steaming Starbucks coffee cup sitting on the cold, speckled cabinet beside my chair. "The Way I See It #130 It will do us little good to wire the world if we short-circuit our souls. There is not delete button for racism, poverty or sectarian violence. No keystroke can ever clear the air, save a river, preserve a forest. This transformational new technology must be an extension of our hearts as well as of our minds. The old rules still apply..." Tom Brokaw, American Journalist" There it is... the summary of the purpose of this week's conference on the side of a steaming hot cup 'o joe.

Daily Spotlight on Education 01/17/2009

Image Choices | Finding Common Ground Very nice article about the places you can get great images. Very nice! tags : education , learning , images , creativecommons ms_teacher: Teacher Tip Tuesday #28 I love how this teacher is looking past what she sees in the classroom to realize that students who are hurting often have their grades suffer. My hat is off! tags : education , learning , inspiration Twitter / BarackObama Follow the president on twitter and keep up with him. Let your president tweet you! tags : education , learning vFlatClassroom » home Virtual flat classroom wiki - this is for the conference! We're so excited! Join us. tags : education , learning , flatclassroom , flatclassroomconf_2009 , edu_news Diigo Blog » Diigo vs. Google Notebook (& importer…) - Annotated Diigo is going to work out a way to pull in your notebook into Google Lists. Time and again, Maggie Tsai and this company work to bring really cool things for educators. They are a hard working crew ...

This Week at Westwood (Links to my classes, lessons and info)

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Today, I've been working with my students in Twitter - (set up a separate account for that and had them make updates private) - this is so they can follow the conference virtually. The ninth grade assignments are on the class wiki . The students have been building on their Digiteen Island in Reaction Grid - after four days the progress is amazing.  It is not quite as hard I thought it would be.  This is made possible by Trevor Meister , my student's new hero.  While many made fun the kids - he said, I'll help them do this.  Thank you for supporting the Dream Team - you showed them that even if you don't get what you want, sometimes you get something 1000 times BETTER!!!!! They are thrilled and although they still miss Lively, many of them are beginning to think that this platform has much more potential.  You can see the assignment from Day 2 and it is fascinating ot learn how to work in there - the student teams all have meeting places in the island as th...

Daily Spotlight on Education 01/16/2009

Welcome to the BrainyFlix SAT Vocab Contest - Brainyflix Enter your videos to help teach SAT videos and win prizes. Get 1 free itunes download for every 5 videos you share. This could be neat - I have a couple of older ones that I'm going to upload. tags : education , sat , edu_news ECONBLOG Information to help Georgia USA teachers teach economics. tags : education , learning , economics Future of Education - Charting the Course of Education and Learning in a Networked World From Steve Hargadon: "I've started a new community at http://www.FutureofEducation.com to providing an opportunity for those who care about education to share their voices and ideas on charting the course of education in a networked world. It's a place for thoughtful discussion on an incredibly important topic. The site will launch officially at the end of the month with the start of a weekly interview series, but I'm inviting some participation now because of an email Carol Broos (http://...

Daily Spotlight on Education 01/15/2009

Linden Labs and IBM team up for virtual teleportation | Geek.com OK, as I bookmark this, I find that I have to correct the previous comment, it doesn't look like I can move items from sL inventory to open sim inventory - but then again, I AM SUCH A NEWBIE-- so if this can be done, I'd love to know how. tags : education , secondlife , digiteen , learning Why? Interoperating Virtual Worlds: SecondLife and OpenSim | Your2ndPlace WE are exporting my inventory from Second Life into the OpenSim application and this tells us how to do that. WE are on Reaction Grid and learning a lot. We're teaching each other and appreciate Trevor Meister making an island on the green tags : education , learning , virtualworlds , digiteen Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

Daily Spotlight on Education 01/13/2009

OK Go Dances with You(Tube) Contest Back with OK go had a dance contest, these were the winning entries. I find it fascinating to see all the work that went into these. tags : education , web2.0 YouTube - OK Go - Here It Goes Again Granbury High School Here are some students at a highschool who redid the viral video. tags : education , learning , web2.0 YouTube - OK Go - Here It Goes Again I laugh at this viral video every time I see it. This is one of the most viral rock bands to emerge from youtube. Great video with them dancing on treadmills. This is actually a redo of their original, I belive - there are more treadmills. tags : education , learning , web2.0 Yuan.CC Maps A way to let you mashup a variety of sources to geotag photos. tags : education , learning , photography , flickr Flyr - Flickr Geotagged Photo Search If you're looking for photos that are geotagged, you can use this little search engine to find geotagged photos. There are great applications for geotagging....

Youtube: Everywhere but the Classroom (And How you can Bring it There Anyway)

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Your talent shows, itouches, cell phones... bathrooms, halls, lunchrooms - youtube is everywhere... but the classroom. I had to smile when I saw this high school take off on the popular OK go band. First, view a bit of the OK Go band's dancing on treadmills video: Then, take a look at these students from Granbury High School. I just find it so interesting that youtube is everywhere.  I keep trying to wonder what people are trying to protect children from.  Yes, there are some things on youtube that aren't great, and I also wonder why there is no ratings system.  Youtube is about to carry television programs that will be rated, and yet the other content isn't - I think they will have difficulty justifying it.  Once youtube is rated, it will make it much easier for us on the filtration end. How to take them there NOW! For now, if you want to take that great youtube video to school with you - you have two choices: 1)   Rip it and send it to y...

Daily Spotlight on Education 01/10/2009

Building a Digital Locker: Personal Learning Networks Explained | Edutopia In this piece I just authored for Edutopia, I talk about Personal Learning Networks and how we use them in my classroom. It includes some great quotes from my students retrieved when I asked them to reflect upon personal learning networks as they use them in class. tags : education , pln , learning GovTrack: S. 1492 [110th]: Text of Legislation, Enrolled Bill A school receiving e-rate funds must now: "‘(iii) as part of its Internet safety policy is educating minors about appropriate online behavior, including interacting with other individuals on social networking websites and in chat rooms and cyberbullying awareness and response.’." tags : education , erate , law , digiteen , safety , bestpractices , digitalcitizenship ERate Central information on current CIPA compliance for eRate recipients The eRate requirements have been updated, if you're not aware, you should print this and take a look at i...