Lesley 6008 - Wunderland

 

There have been variations in the weather over the past ten years but not a real change.  This is a dry period in Honolulu.  The precipitation is up from 0 to less than .1 and some cases this was just a trace.  The wind speed appears to be higher than ten years ago, but there is also a lot of fluctuation.  I would not make a conclusion based on this data.  I also looked at data for the week that included May 8 over ten years and the data was very similar. It can be deceptive to base a conclusion on climate change based on one day of the year.

This site would give valuable information on the weather in different locations around the world.  Combining this with other information students could compare how various factors (coastal vs inland, elevation, surrounding terrain - mountains, etc) effect the climate of an area. They could then go on to compare and contrast like and unlike areas as to natural vegetation, crops grown, housing, etc.

Lesley 6008 - Story

This site is for elementary but can be used by older students as well.  Photos must be a certain size to be uploaded to the program.  This could  be a problem for early elementary students.  However, if the teacher saves the photos for the students any adjustments could be made prior to saving.  For older students they can easily make the adjustments and re-save the photo using Picnik.com.

As a teaching tool, I would make books for different topics.  The book can be used to help introduce the topic then reviewed by the students as needed.    My book is about organization in the library and the use of spine labels. This could be expanded to include photos of the various sections in the library. Other topics might be: parts of the book (back cover, front cover, etc OR index, table of contents, etc), reference books and their purpose (dictionary, thesaurus, atlas).

As an assessment tool students could make a book to teach a topic or concept to a younger group of students.  Students can use this as a reporting tool after a field trip or at the conclusion of a unit, summarizing what they have learned.

Lesley 6008 - Wikipedia

I  looked up three topics on both Wikipedia (English and Simple English) and Britannica: First Lego League, Golden Gate Bridge, and Hay Springs, NE.

Only one of the three showed up in all three, Golden Gate Bridge.  The Wikipedia-English article had the most information. I also looked Golden Gate Bridge up in the WorldBookOnline (Advanced, Student, Kids).  WorldBookOnline had a separate article in the first two, but in the Kids version only mentioned the bridge in an article on bridges.  Most of the factual information was the same.  The biggest difference was a large section in Wikipedia (a couple sentences in Simple English) about the suicides from the bridge.

I attempted to add a notable citizen to the Hay Springs, NE article and link it to another article in Wikipedia.  It was removed several hours later.  I didn't have an account and wonder if the effect would be different if I had an account. I read about posting new information.  Personal knowledge isn't enough.  There has to be a printed source to verify the information.

Lesley 6008 - Wiki

I like using a wiki for class comments on a topic.  Students are more willing to write on a wiki that a piece of paper to turn it.  It is also easy to get comments back to them and ask questions.  With an online format there is no "I didn't get it." or "I lost it."

I used this with Journey North-Mystery Sites for students to keep track of their findings and clues over a period of several months.  Besides all the comments being in one place the students' personalities came out in the font and color they used.
 I can also see using this with the Robotics group to keep track of ideas and share them with each other.  They can access it at home and put the ideas up when they think about it rather than wait until the next meeting and possibly forgetting it.

A wiki could be used when reading a novel as a group.  Students could give comments on a chapter or a topic, debate issues, connect to their lives.  Students can  use initials to show who posted what.

Lesley 6008 - Google Docs

This program would be better for group projects than Windows powerpoint.  It has fewer bells and whistles so students could concentrate on content more that background and other extras.  Also since it is created all at the same time and in the same template there is not problems putting each student's part into the whole.
 Any project that can be done in powerpoint can be done collaboratively using this program.  I have done a class book with kindergarten and first using MSWord and a starting template.  Google docs would work just as well and has the added benefit of being available to family and friends just by giving them the link.  Grandparents living far away would love it.
The information in Wikipedia was about the same as the other sources I found.  Wikipedia is a good general reference, especially for factual material, e.g. country or state background information or biography of an historical person.   The photo in the Wikipedia entry is in the Library of Congress collection of images.

Lesley 6008 - Tech Issues

The Good:  We have a great tech person on site.  He is there when we need him and answers all our dumb questions.  Students are starting to work with computers in Kindergarten, not just for drawing and word processing but creating, using learning tools, communicating.  Teachers  have laptops, which is great for me when I switch between my desk and the computer lab.  We are half way to having SmartBoards in all classroom.  I have one in my library computer lab.  We also have Distance Learning both in a DL classroom and mobile carts.  These are not only used by high school for DL classes, but also have been used for virtual field trips.

The Bad: Trying to figure which applications and programs to teach which students.  The cost of some programs can make some things unavailable to our very small school. Waiting for the WiFi to kick in when I change locations.  Keeping track of everything and giving information to staff and students when they need it not just at a beginning of school tech talk.

The Ugly: When everything shuts down for no apparent reason just when class is ready to start.

One down ten to go AND a trip to St. Louis

I had about given up on Lesley University's Masters in Education, Technology in Education cohort group ever getting started, but if finally did.  I have made it through the first class - Computers, Technology and Education.  The first weekend was a little stressful.  Getting back into student mode and on top of that the girls' basketball team state championship game started at the same time the first class started.

I sent everything in, submitted it to the right site (with some help from friends) and await the final grade.  This is looking to be a great program.  I have already passed on ideas or websites to teachers from the classes.

The Trip
We started to panic a bit this weekend when the tornado hit St. Louis.  I am traveling on Wednesday morning with a group to the FIRST LEGO LEAGUE World Festival.  We were selected to go to the festival out of several new teams in Nebraska.  The students are getting excited about the trip.  A few have never been on a plane.  We plan to use the St. Louis metro service - another new experience.  They have also looked at the other teams coming and decided who they want to meet.

Then it is just three weeks until school is over.  Will I be ready for the end?