Presenter: Alice Christie, Ph.D., Arizona State University
Website: Dr. Alice Christie's Workshops for Educators
Web 2.0 tools have brought web and internet creation to the normal person. It's not only able to be done by programmers anymore! Dr. Christie's goal for us today is to create a Mashup.
I am thinking of doing the Alamo to show my students when I get back. I have never been there and it would be nice to have a record of my visit! We are getting a gps receiver to mark the spots where we take pictures.
Wow, what a workshop! I'm so happy with this session! I learned how to mark spots with a GPS receiver and then create a map on Google Maps! It was great. Dr. Christie's website is also great. I will definately be checking it out more in depth.
That is all for now! Good night, it's time to pack and head home in the morn.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
From Comics to Trading Cards: Teaching New Literacies Using ReadWriteThink.org
Presenters:Emily Manning, Denton ISD/Texas Woman's University with Lisa Fink and
Bridget Hilferty
Website: www.readwritethink.org
Power Point: www.Manning_comics_tradingcards.pres.ppt
It's a free site! It's supported by Thinkfinity.org . It has research-based lessons and internet integration.
All of the information from the powerpoint presentation can be seen at the link above. This site has so many resources and activities. We didn't get a chance to look at too many during the session. We looked at Fractured Fairytales and Trading Cards. I will need to play around with the site when I get back!
I also looked at a website online after talking to some ladies in the waiting area for this session. They mentioned www.thinkfinity.org (which is connected with readwritethink.org) which I took a look at and seems to be amazing! It's free, too! It has limitless lessons with different media types and is searchable by many different fields!
Bridget Hilferty
Website: www.readwritethink.org
Power Point: www.Manning_comics_tradingcards.pres.ppt
It's a free site! It's supported by Thinkfinity.org . It has research-based lessons and internet integration.
All of the information from the powerpoint presentation can be seen at the link above. This site has so many resources and activities. We didn't get a chance to look at too many during the session. We looked at Fractured Fairytales and Trading Cards. I will need to play around with the site when I get back!
I also looked at a website online after talking to some ladies in the waiting area for this session. They mentioned www.thinkfinity.org (which is connected with readwritethink.org) which I took a look at and seems to be amazing! It's free, too! It has limitless lessons with different media types and is searchable by many different fields!
Funding Your Dreams: Grant Writing in the Information Age
Presenter: Sheryl Abshire
Calcasieu Parish Public Schools
Lake Charles, LA
e-mail: sheryl.abshire@cpsb.org
This is an ISTE recommended session, so hopefully I'll learn a lot today!
Sheryl says we have to be an entrepreneur for educational technology! There are more opportunities out there for funding than we have time for! Sheryl shared that she has earned over $5 million in grants so far! She then showed a YouTube video, freemoney.com showing there is basically no free money! We shouldn't look for "free money" but educational resources.
Sheryl suggests we should volunteer to be grant readers. This will give one the behind the scenes information helpful to getting grants accepted.
Sheryl's power point presentation and talk contained the following information:
Keys to Great Grants
Funders want grants tied to high standards. In grant proposal describe how it's going to elevate learning in a standards based instructional way.
Funders want innovation, sizzle, edgy, creative ideas. Kick it up a notch!! Think of a way to have innovative solutions. ex:Possibly connect with epals and share projects in an international forum.
Coordination of resources. Funders don't want to see a proposal that is out on a limb by itself and is not connected to anything else used in the district. Find ways that departments of the district or surrounding universities will help and support the grant through research, volunteer time, etc. Universities are a wealth of information. They can help with research and evaluation.
ex. use school improvement plan-if there are areas of need, reference that in the grant. Talk to chamber of commerce, community leaders to find areas of need in the community. Districts are generally data rich, but information poor. Ask people in district for information and use it in the proposal.
Top 10 questions reviewers ask when reviewing proposals:
1. Does the proposal tie into school's overall plan?
team effort, support within school
2. How will the technology be used?
team's vision for how technology will be used to improve student learning
3. How will the proposal impact student learning?
team's plan to improve student learning beyond the norm-more than just a year's growth. Maybe there are children below grade level and it will get them back on track.
4. How will desired outcomes be developed?
describe specific indicators, how curriculum development might change. They want specificity. What are the specific indicators? what will students and teachers do differently with this proposal. The funders should see the road map you with this proposal
5. Does this initiative have the potential to be replicated or outreached to a larger community?
how it might have far reaching impact. How might we leverage it and have other schools and classrooms learn from this proposal. Sheryl always writes this piece in the grant, even though it's not always asked. Funders want to be able to talk to others about the funding and what it's done and has the potential to do.
6. Does the proposal tap creativity in tapping other resources already available in the community?
partner with local, state, national groups
7. Is the budget clearly defined?
make a case why private funding should be used. no grant will be funded if there are errors in the budget. Have someone check the budget!!! One of the most important pieces of grant. Explain why school did not fund this. get quotes, exact model numbers, do your homework!
8. Who will benefit from this initiative?
be specific! yes, students, but who else will benefit?
9. How well does this proposal replicate what the grant funder is looking for?
how well do you know the funder? how the corporate goals. write grants to funders who are looking to fund projects like yours. What kind of grants have they funded before, what regions of the country are they funding? Get copies of the grants written to state and federal funders. Copies of these grants are public record. Find out funders' absolute priorities.
10. How committed are you?
They want to see your passion in this proposal. What have you done so far? They want to be partners and know it's successful. (We are a tax write-off) It's very obvious to the readers when grants are written by 3rd party companies. This shows a lack of commitment to the grant.
A grant writer should:
be somewhat of a gambler- take chances
be somewhat of a masochist- resubmitting proposals after being rejected over and over again.
Sheryl submitted the same grant 3 times to the same place and got it the 3rd time. Asked for the readers comments had a conference call, fixed it, same thing second time around, different people read grants each time looking for different things.
be somewhat of a diplomat-standing by quietly supportive, encouraging the grant team to "re-think" and "re-work" the proposal over and over and over. give the grant to others to read-spouses, parents, others in community
be somewhat of a squirrel-
saving every article about grants and every scrap of paper on which notes are written just in case they might be useful someday. Sheryl scans in articles and saves everything on her desktop so its always at her fingertips. Use computer to save, connect and organize stuff.
be somewhat of an inventor-
always seeking new ways to solve the age-old problem of raising test scores and locating research that supports your ideas. it will give strength and support to your idea.
be somewhat of a rhinoceros-
so that the rejections you receive bounce off your hide. when you give up is when you don't get money. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when
be somewhat of a magician-
RFP-rules for the proposal - crafting a proposal that appears to meet every requirement of the RFP and just what the funder asks for.
be somewhat of a butcher-
always cutting, cutting, cutting the proposal making it more and more concise and to the point. less is more.
be somewhat of a financial wizard-
stretching every dollar, doing more with less and garnering matching funds from every imaginable resource.
be somewhat of a night owl-requiring very little sleep to work non-stop to meet numerous deadlines. never miss one! principals should support grant writing. possibly get substitutes for a day here and there, especially close to deadlines. Send it in early!! Make a goal deadline of 2 weeks early to make sure things get done.
be somewhat of a party animal-
always celebrate receiving a grant...finally!!
resources:
http://www.cpsb.org/scripts/abshire/grants.asp
http://www.schoolgrants.org/
listserv- bring home the bacon listerv
must join grant writing community-$25/year
Wow! I'm off to the next session!
Calcasieu Parish Public Schools
Lake Charles, LA
e-mail: sheryl.abshire@cpsb.org
This is an ISTE recommended session, so hopefully I'll learn a lot today!
Sheryl says we have to be an entrepreneur for educational technology! There are more opportunities out there for funding than we have time for! Sheryl shared that she has earned over $5 million in grants so far! She then showed a YouTube video, freemoney.com showing there is basically no free money! We shouldn't look for "free money" but educational resources.
Sheryl suggests we should volunteer to be grant readers. This will give one the behind the scenes information helpful to getting grants accepted.
Sheryl's power point presentation and talk contained the following information:
Keys to Great Grants
- Integrated program elements
- Aligned components
- High quality and continuous improvement, professional development, evaluation
- Tied to high standards
Funders want grants tied to high standards. In grant proposal describe how it's going to elevate learning in a standards based instructional way.
Funders want innovation, sizzle, edgy, creative ideas. Kick it up a notch!! Think of a way to have innovative solutions. ex:Possibly connect with epals and share projects in an international forum.
Coordination of resources. Funders don't want to see a proposal that is out on a limb by itself and is not connected to anything else used in the district. Find ways that departments of the district or surrounding universities will help and support the grant through research, volunteer time, etc. Universities are a wealth of information. They can help with research and evaluation.
ex. use school improvement plan-if there are areas of need, reference that in the grant. Talk to chamber of commerce, community leaders to find areas of need in the community. Districts are generally data rich, but information poor. Ask people in district for information and use it in the proposal.
Top 10 questions reviewers ask when reviewing proposals:
1. Does the proposal tie into school's overall plan?
team effort, support within school
2. How will the technology be used?
team's vision for how technology will be used to improve student learning
3. How will the proposal impact student learning?
team's plan to improve student learning beyond the norm-more than just a year's growth. Maybe there are children below grade level and it will get them back on track.
4. How will desired outcomes be developed?
describe specific indicators, how curriculum development might change. They want specificity. What are the specific indicators? what will students and teachers do differently with this proposal. The funders should see the road map you with this proposal
5. Does this initiative have the potential to be replicated or outreached to a larger community?
how it might have far reaching impact. How might we leverage it and have other schools and classrooms learn from this proposal. Sheryl always writes this piece in the grant, even though it's not always asked. Funders want to be able to talk to others about the funding and what it's done and has the potential to do.
6. Does the proposal tap creativity in tapping other resources already available in the community?
partner with local, state, national groups
7. Is the budget clearly defined?
make a case why private funding should be used. no grant will be funded if there are errors in the budget. Have someone check the budget!!! One of the most important pieces of grant. Explain why school did not fund this. get quotes, exact model numbers, do your homework!
8. Who will benefit from this initiative?
be specific! yes, students, but who else will benefit?
9. How well does this proposal replicate what the grant funder is looking for?
how well do you know the funder? how the corporate goals. write grants to funders who are looking to fund projects like yours. What kind of grants have they funded before, what regions of the country are they funding? Get copies of the grants written to state and federal funders. Copies of these grants are public record. Find out funders' absolute priorities.
10. How committed are you?
They want to see your passion in this proposal. What have you done so far? They want to be partners and know it's successful. (We are a tax write-off) It's very obvious to the readers when grants are written by 3rd party companies. This shows a lack of commitment to the grant.
A grant writer should:
be somewhat of a gambler- take chances
be somewhat of a masochist- resubmitting proposals after being rejected over and over again.
Sheryl submitted the same grant 3 times to the same place and got it the 3rd time. Asked for the readers comments had a conference call, fixed it, same thing second time around, different people read grants each time looking for different things.
be somewhat of a diplomat-standing by quietly supportive, encouraging the grant team to "re-think" and "re-work" the proposal over and over and over. give the grant to others to read-spouses, parents, others in community
be somewhat of a squirrel-
saving every article about grants and every scrap of paper on which notes are written just in case they might be useful someday. Sheryl scans in articles and saves everything on her desktop so its always at her fingertips. Use computer to save, connect and organize stuff.
be somewhat of an inventor-
always seeking new ways to solve the age-old problem of raising test scores and locating research that supports your ideas. it will give strength and support to your idea.
be somewhat of a rhinoceros-
so that the rejections you receive bounce off your hide. when you give up is when you don't get money. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when
be somewhat of a magician-
RFP-rules for the proposal - crafting a proposal that appears to meet every requirement of the RFP and just what the funder asks for.
be somewhat of a butcher-
always cutting, cutting, cutting the proposal making it more and more concise and to the point. less is more.
be somewhat of a financial wizard-
stretching every dollar, doing more with less and garnering matching funds from every imaginable resource.
be somewhat of a night owl-requiring very little sleep to work non-stop to meet numerous deadlines. never miss one! principals should support grant writing. possibly get substitutes for a day here and there, especially close to deadlines. Send it in early!! Make a goal deadline of 2 weeks early to make sure things get done.
be somewhat of a party animal-
always celebrate receiving a grant...finally!!
resources:
http://www.cpsb.org/scripts/abshire/grants.asp
http://www.schoolgrants.org/
listserv- bring home the bacon listerv
must join grant writing community-$25/year
Wow! I'm off to the next session!
Differentiated Instruction- One Click at a Time
Presenters: Kathy Andrzejewski and Vicki Green
Red Clay School District
Wilmington, Delaware
Website: http://click4dinecc.edublogs.org/
This is a model lesson. I was here 30 minutes prior to start, but did not get into one of the 20 chairs at the tables with laptops on them. It will be taught from the blog, though, so hopefully I'll be able to participate.
Kathy is using the Fist of 5 (spelling?) when asking questions. She asked about student knowledge of certain topics and students put up fingers from 1-5, 1 meaning they have low understanding 5 meaning they feel they are very knowledgable.
After that informal assessment we went to the site http://www.berghuis.co.nz/abiator/lsi/lsitest2.html to take a learning styles quiz. I found out I was equally a auditory and kinesthetic learner, with visual not far behind. After I got the results I went to the corresponding section on the site(hands or ears).
I have been playing around with the different activities and they are nice and interactive . I haven't really learned much about how it's going to help me in my classroom, though, as there weren't many reasources given. I was hoping for a broader example of ways to do this in any classroom. I don't think I could give the learner test to my Kindergartners as is, but some older children could definately take it.
Red Clay School District
Wilmington, Delaware
Website: http://click4dinecc.edublogs.org/
This is a model lesson. I was here 30 minutes prior to start, but did not get into one of the 20 chairs at the tables with laptops on them. It will be taught from the blog, though, so hopefully I'll be able to participate.
Kathy is using the Fist of 5 (spelling?) when asking questions. She asked about student knowledge of certain topics and students put up fingers from 1-5, 1 meaning they have low understanding 5 meaning they feel they are very knowledgable.
After that informal assessment we went to the site http://www.berghuis.co.nz/abiator/lsi/lsitest2.html to take a learning styles quiz. I found out I was equally a auditory and kinesthetic learner, with visual not far behind. After I got the results I went to the corresponding section on the site(hands or ears).
I have been playing around with the different activities and they are nice and interactive . I haven't really learned much about how it's going to help me in my classroom, though, as there weren't many reasources given. I was hoping for a broader example of ways to do this in any classroom. I don't think I could give the learner test to my Kindergartners as is, but some older children could definately take it.
Hopefully, I will get a little more out of my next session on Grant Writing!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Energize your Classroom with Google Tools
Presenter: Cristin Frodella
website: http://www.google.com/educators:)
The session began with presenters describing the discrepancy between regular Consumer Technology and Educational Technology. Google's goal with Google apps and docs is to bring user satisfaction for Educational Technology, up with user satisfaction for everyday Consumer Technology.
They began talking about the Cloud idea of getting work done. For example, in the past one might have created a document, sent it out to colleagues for review, received multiple versions back with revisions, another version is created and sent out for review again, etc. With the Cloud idea, documents, data, and projects are interchangeable and accessible, now, to everyone.
Google Apps:
website: http://www.google.com/educators:)
The session began with presenters describing the discrepancy between regular Consumer Technology and Educational Technology. Google's goal with Google apps and docs is to bring user satisfaction for Educational Technology, up with user satisfaction for everyday Consumer Technology.
They began talking about the Cloud idea of getting work done. For example, in the past one might have created a document, sent it out to colleagues for review, received multiple versions back with revisions, another version is created and sent out for review again, etc. With the Cloud idea, documents, data, and projects are interchangeable and accessible, now, to everyone.
Google Apps:
- Free for all users
- No advertising for students, staff, faculty
- 6.8 GB (and growing) mail quotas
- 24 hour support
allows you to communicate, collaborate, simplify, and innovate as Google innovates.
Google Docs:
Free, web-based, productivity software. Documents are saved online and can be accessed from any computer with an internet connection. Multiple people can work together on the same document. No need to email documents back and forth. No more "I forgot my work" excuses. Saves automatically on a regular basis. Each change is tracked as a new revision.
This is a platform for collaboration. Students can work together to write, edit, and publish works, easily.
Much of the information in this presentation was aimed at high school or jr. high level classes, but I am already thinking of ways to integrate it into my class. We'll see! TTFN (Ta Ta For Now!)
PS: something must be wrong with the site, because I am currently unable to upload pictures! I'll keep trying and see if I can later on!
Lit2Go: Read Along and Edit Copyright-Free Audio Books
Gordon Worley
Dr. Shannon White
Florida Center for Instructional Technology
Website: http://fcit.usf.edu/
Click the title above for the NECC session information.I waited outside from 1:35 (I was lucky my last session was so close!) The pic is all of us 96 people waiting for 25 minutes to get in the room for this session!!! :)
handout website: http://homepage.mac.com/worley/necc08/lit2go.pdf
So far I've been in my seat about 6 minutes and already have 2 cd's filled with maps, sounds, and printable pdf's for use in my class! Hey! There's another cd! This one has 3D glasses that came with it!
The first topic for the session is Lit2Go. It is a bunch of free audio books! I am accessing it on ITunes for the audio portion, but the website also has all of the books in PDF format. All the books on Lit2Go can be put directly on IPods!! How exciting! I will be able to put books on the IPods I'm getting through the Community Foundations Grant. The stories and files available are all beyond copyright issues.
Gordon, the presenter then poses the question: So what? So my students can listen to books. Once downloaded on ITunes, I can just drag it and drop in on the desktop to use it in other projects like Audacity or GarageBand. He went on to show how to manipulate files in Audacity.
On the handout website I linked above there are links to sites with free files to download and use! Check them out!
If you have any trouble using any of this technology, they have a "Tech-Ease" site.
Tech-Ease for Macs: http://etc.usf.edu/te_mac
Tech-Ease for Windows: http://etc.usf.edu/te_win
Next Gordon showed a site with free clipart, etc. All of the link information is available on the handout website link above!!!
Well, it's 3:00 and the session is over!
Collaborations Around the Planet: Social Networking for Educational Videoconferencing
Presenter: Janine Lim, Distance Learning Coordinator
Berrien County ISD
Michigan
Websites: http://www.twice.cc/
http://bcisdvcs.wordpress.com/
Click title above for NECC session description.
Janine is presenting using the powerpoint available at this link:
http://www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl/necc/CAPspaceNECC2008.ppt
Project:
Read Around the Planet
Verification and Registration Opens Nov. 1
Teacher Registration Opens Dec. 1
Teacher Registration Closes mid Jan
Matches Announced end of Jan
February 23 - March 6
Through the Read Around the Planet came Collaboration Around the Planet (CAPspace).
Janine asked us to create an account on the CAPspace site and while we had that down time, I was talking with the lady next to me, Margie. She mentioned she was the tech integration for the teachers in the Digital Literacy workshop I just attended!! Margie offered to have Kelly, the 1st grade teacher video conference with my class! How cool! I will need polycom video conference equipment, which is very expensive (I'm told) or iChat on a mac. Hopefully we'll be getting the MacBooks in the fall and I'll be able to do this without needing lots of money!!
The next part of the seminar is looking around on the CAPspace site. She showed us how to find "friends", how to find collaborations (which are the video conference projects), and also gave us other websites for finding collaborations. They include:
Global Leap, UK
http://www.global-leap.com/
Internet2 K20 Muse
k20.internet2.edu
Wiki
http://www.collaborativevcs.pbwiki.com/
Well, my next step is to figure out if I can get my hands on some of these tools to participate!! If nothing else I made a great connection to Margie. She offered possibilities like setting up wikis with classes in her district or other activities if I don't get the chance to VC! I'm off to the next session!!!
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