Blog Responses

After our Skype call this past week, I had my students take the time to blog about the experience. I think it's a great way for them to reflect on the Skype call. They are able to think about what they learned from the call, and it helps me to make sure they are gaining a value lesson from experience. It also allows them to ask any more questions to the person we spoke with or they may address them to me. If you're looking for another grade, you can always create a rubric that the students must follow as they are writing their blogs.


Here are a few of the great responses I got this week:

We skyped with a guy Miss.Turner used to go to high school with.He owned a bussiness for insurance and he told us about all kinds of things, like math and where he worked when he started.He even told us we can be good enough at math to own our own bussiness. – Brandon G.

When I skyped with Duncan we asked him a few questens about him. He was really nice. He told us about his job and how he works. When we were done we waved goodbye. We all liked him a lot. He was pretty cool when we talked to him. That is my blog!! He’s a friend of Mrs. Turner. He was really nice. – Ashlie G

Yesterday we skyped with one of Miss Turner's friend and he was very nice. I know that because I was the first one to ask him the first queshton. He talked longer than he talked to any body else,  and  he talked to everyone for a second. Then he was finished and now I know where good people go to school because he told us where he went to college. He went to Texas A&M, and thats all I remember of that. The best part is that he was a boss and he owns he owns his own busness. It is like a plant but it needs math to work it . It was very big and he proboly has to pay everyone. C.J.

We skyped with a man named Duncan who works at A+ Finance. He sells things like insurance. He's a boss of his own company. He went to collage at A  and M. Duncan is a friend of Miss Turner. They are the same age. He didn't do well in English class. He has to do math a lot in his job! I hope we skype again. Kate-lyn

It was awesome when we skyped with Duncan.We asked him where he works he said A+ Finance. He uses a lot of math too.We asked him how many times he uses math a day and he said alot. IT was fun skyping with Duncan. I hope we skype with Duncan again. K'Von

More Skyping Fun

Yesterday we had the opportunity to Skype with Duncan Furrh, owner of A+ Finance in Marshall and Longview. He talked to our class and Mrs. Gregory's class about how math is used throughout his day. He told us about the importance of studying and asking questions when we need help with something. 
I'm attaching a couple of videos. One shows several pictures that were taken throughout the Skype call. You can also see a list of the questions that the students were able to ask. The other video is Duncan's response to a question by Brandon, which was about what the students can do if they want to become owners of their own businesses.

News article

I really appreciate the article that was in the MNM today! I'm glad that word of this project is spreading so that more of the community can contribute to helping the children in our area. 


I'd like to just clarify a couple of things that were mentioned in the article. First, I want to mention the foundation that I have started with three other friends. The Green Heart Foundation was formed in order to help local organizations raise funds to continue their efforts in supporting the families in need in Marion County, which happens to be one of the poorest counties in Texas. You can visit our website at www.greenheartfoundation.com to learn more about us and our most recent project that benefited the Marion County chapter of Toys for Tots. 


I do have a passion for helping others, which is why I am glad that LETU incorporates service projects into their curriculum, so that all students get experience with reaching out to their communities. I think being able to work closely with your community can only help someone in an educational administrative position. 


I did mention that Marion County is one of the poorer counties in Texas. When most people think of Jefferson, they picture the downtown community, which is filled with beautiful older homes. They don't realize that the majority of our students don't live in that area, but come from the outer banks of the county. We do have many families in our community that struggle to make ends meet, and projects like this can help fill the void for these children. 


We do have many children that have been bringing in items for the tree, and they have also been collecting new toys for the Toys for Tots program. There have been a couple of students that have brought in items, that will be receiving one of the backpacks. These children understand what it means to support one another and help out as much as they can. I find it encouraging to know that they are learning this valuable lesson at such a young age. 


There are many organizations in and around this area that support families and children in need. Toys for Tots and the backpack program through FUMC Jefferson are just two of the many. The Empty Stocking Fund also does a wonderful job of supporting children in need during the holiday season and could really use your support this year as well. 


I will be collecting the items within our district on Dec. 14 and 15. The tree downtown at the Chamber of Commerce will remain up until Christmas. If you have any questions or would like to help in any way, please feel free to contact me. 817-291-1969 or afturner@jeffersonisd.org


Click the link below to see the article in the Marshall News Messenger today. I have also attached a copy of the flyer that has been sent with students and posted in local businesses. 


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Today's Presentation

Here is the presentation from this afternoon's staff meeting. I know we tend to get frustrated, because we don't have the "stuff" to integrate with. However, we need to understand that it's not the equipment that integrates technology. We need to be creative in the ways that we integrate and collaborate with others on our campus in order to ensure we are truly meeting the needs of our students. Remember that Crystal and I are willing to help out when we can. Just email us or stop by and we will try and walk you through whatever we can. I will also work to schedule some other workshops so that we can learn some things that we can do without having to have all of the bells and whistles. Thanks for listening this afternoon!







You can't view the whole thing in this blog, so you can use this link to make it full screen.

Inspiring Video

This is another one of my all time favorite videos! (Sorry for my video addiction the last couple of days!)


For my small town friends, let me explain what this is. Every year before school each of the districts in the DFW area holds what they call a convocation where every single employee for the district comes together for a big pep rally type event. In Coppell, we had a theme each year and each school dresses to fit the theme, but to distinguish themselves from the other schools. We meet in one of the mega churches or in a convention center in order to accommodate the THOUSANDS of employees that work in the district. (Not at all like the few hundred in Jefferson!) We have music, skits, speeches from the TOYs, and usually a great keynote speaker. One year a ton of the districts in the area invited Ron Clark, which is what started my obsession with his philosophy, etc. The goal of these convocations is to get everyone pumped up for the year. It's very different than just meeting for your typical trainings and staff information meetings. They generally seek to inspire you to be the best teacher you can be for the upcoming year.


In 2008, DISD invited one of their students to be the keynote speaker. He has to be one of the best that I have seen!! Everytime I need a lift, I watch this kid! He is the reason we teach, and does an AMAZING job of reminding us of that! I hope you enjoy!!

Pay Attention

Pay Attention

Another great video that I just found on TeacherTube! Take notice of the date on the references! All of them were from before 2007. Imagine how much the numbers and facts have changed for 2010! 
(Click the link above)

Just one more for tonight!

This is another one of my all time favorite videos! Not only are these kids so cute, but they are trying to tell us we are behind the times! And this video was created in 2007! Imagine how much further behind we are now!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i0iPphcgtU

Another Favorite Video

This has been another one of my favorite videos for the last several years. If you haven't decided to make the change to technology integration, this will bring home the point! It's time to reach the kids where they are and play on their field. As teachers, we have to make the leap into the 21st century with our students! 

Technology Integration

I am currently working on a presentation for my campus, as well as a school research paper, and have run across some great videos and presentations that I'd like to share. Below is a presentation that I found on Prezi this afternoon when I was getting ready to create my own. It's nice to find that someone else has already done the hard work for you!! 


This is a great presentation that gives you a little perspective on the difference of just using technology in the classroom and actually integrating technology into your lessons. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! (Thank you to Ben Lusk!!)

Integrating Technology into the Classroom on Prezi

Podstock 2010

Today Crystal and I got to come to Podstock 2010 with Jeremy. The keynote today is Kevin Honeycutt (kevinhoneycutt.org). The workshop is presented by TCEA and Region 7. I'm so glad I'm here today!! I have already gotten so much information. I promise to tell you more later but for now, check out his site and his Ning network. Podstock.Ning.com. Enjoy!!

Cell phones in the classroom??

Yesterday during our district training I mentioned using cell phones in the classroom several times. Many people thought I was crazy but loved the idea of using them as a Classroom Response System. I found another great use for cell phones in education while reading through my tweets yesterday!! (Just another professional development opportunity found on Twitter, which was also mentioned a lot yesterday!)


Here is a blog that discusses phoning in blog responses. You can post a prompt to your students and they can respond to their own blogs or to yours just by recording a message on their phones. 
http://rsu2teachertech.wordpress.com/2010/08/06/cell-phones-in-class-voice-posting/


Don't forget you can also use Cinch for podcasting. You can use the app (Android or iPhone) for Cinch and record a message and upload the podcast to your blog, website, or wiki. You can also phone in a message straight to Cinch. All of the messages are saved on CinchCast.com. The site allows you to assign pictures to your podcasts, edit them, and upload them to Facebook, Twitter, or your blogs. 


Here is a very short and quick podcast that I created as an example for this blog post:

Ahhhhh!!

We made it through our district training and hope that everyone was able to walk away with something new today! Please let us know if you have questions! We will update our websites with today's presentation.

Classroom 2.0 on Prezi

District Training

I am excited to be working with Crystal tomorrow to present Classroom 2.0 to JISD teachers. We will be touching on different Web 2.0 apps that can be used in the classroom and why we use them. This is a poll that will be used at the end of the workshop.

Try this audience polling system at Poll Everywhere

Try this audience polling system at Poll Everywhere

TCEA 2011

Crystal and I recently found out that we are getting to present at the TCEA Convention 2011! We are so thrilled about this opportunity! We are presenting on Skype, so I'm sure you will be seeing a lot of new information on Skype popping up on the blog! In fact, we will be starting a new blog and wiki to cover everything we are using. Be on the lookout for some great stuff!

Student Blogs

I am so excited about a new site that I found last night! I was on my Twitter page when I saw a link from one of my teacher connections about blogging. The title was "Ten Things Your Students Can Blog About Today." I clicked on the link to get some ideas for my students and was very happy with the result! A Geeky Momma's blog provided me with great ideas, but even more exciting was the new site that she introduced me to!

I clicked on her link to kidblog.org and was soooo happy to finally find a way to set up my students with their very own blogs without them having to have an email account!! So many times I have found great sites to use, but it would require my students to have an email address. Since my district doesn't provide them with emails until high school and most of my students don't have computers at home, that is very difficult for me to do. KidBlogs.org let me set up my entire class with individual blogs and lets me keep them all in one place! I can preview their posts before they are published and I can approve comments as well!

I was so excited that I set up my class right away and we have already started posting!! I introduced blogging to my students this afternoon and showed them some great examples. We talked about the purpose of blogging and how it can be used for the learning environment. They were all so pumped up that we went straight to the lab and started typing away! I don't think I've seen them this happy in awhile!

We would love for you to swing by and read some of our posts! Please feel free to leave a comment. I set up our class so that I have to approve comments and you have to log in to leave a comment. I have set up parents with their own username and password, but I also created a guest username. You may chose "Team Turner Guest" from the drop down menu and enter "guest" as the password. Please make sure to leave your name in your comment so that we know who you are!

Turner's Learners Blog

More Twitter

Here are a few more Twitter resources to help you along your new journey! =)

* This first link is an article from Tech & Learning magazine that was published last April. This article was written by Laura (Walker) Doggett and provides educators 9 reasons for using Twitter.

http://www.techlearning.com/article/17340

*After reading her article again the other day I found her blog, which was full of great information on Twitter. This particular link is from her blog and provides a link to a "How To Guide" created by another fabulous educator Tomaz Lasic.

http://lauradoggett.com/2009/04/twitter-howto-teachers/

*This blog post is about what to do after you have signed up for your Twitter account.

http://lauradoggett.com/2009/04/twitter-now-what/

*This last link is an article on the productive tweeting. It provides you 4 ways to ensure that you are getting the most out of Twitter and social media.

http://mashable.com/2010/01/12/zen-social-media/#

Hopefully this will get your started and I'm sure it will keep you busy for awhile!

Why Tweet?

I'm sure most of you have heard of Twitter, but how many of you know what it actually is?

Twitter is a social networking site that gives you 140 characters or less to keep your followers updated. Still unsure? Watch this short video created by CommonCraft.com, which by the way is another AMAZING resource to help guide you in your technology integration. (I'll explain more about them later.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o

So, you can see from the video that Twitter is a great way to keep up with your friends and family, but I have actually found it so much more beneficial. In fact, I haven't been using Twitter for the personal aspect as much as I have to help me with education! I have learned so much just this week from the connections that I have made via Twitter. I learn something new every day and sometimes it's much more. This has been a great tool for collaboration and can be used even with your students. Many people are using them for their students and creating Twitter accounts specifically for their classrooms. There are many possibilities!!

Here are a couple of links that you may want to take a look at.

1.) http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1902604,00.html This is a great article about Twitter by Time Magazine.

2.) Twenty-Nine Interesting Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom Great presentation with ideas for using Twitter in the classroom.

Now that you are all super excited and want to rush over and set your account right now, add me when you get there. =) You can find me at: amandafaye. Once you've added me, take a look at some of the people I'm following to find some great educators that you may wish to follow as well. I've created two lists, one of which is for education. If you click on my education list, you will see who I am following that helps me in tech integration. There are a few great teachers that are in my friends lists that you may want to follow as well. They are always providing me with great resources!

I will add some how to videos to get you started and if you have questions, let me know. I'll be glad to help you out!

Polls

One of the great ideas that was discussed in many of the workshops I attended at TCEA, was about using polls in your classes. There are several different websites that you can use to create and administer polls and surveys for your students, parents, and fellow teachers.

One that I have used for several years is Survey Monkey. It's a free site that let's you create surveys and keeps track of all of the results for you.

However, it seems that this is now an "oldie but goodie". There were tons of other options presented recently. Vizu, Poll Daddy, and Poll Everywhere were among the most discussed.

I am posting an example of a Poll Daddy poll that I created just for you. You can also check my website for one that I created for parents.

Each of these sites gives you the code that you need in order to add it to your website, blog, or your actual lesson or presentation. One of the cool features with Poll Everywhere is that when you create a poll or survey, you can use it with a live audience. They can text or Twitter their response to the poll and the website tracks the information for you! I plan to use this in the next staff meeting to show you exactly how it can work.

Shelfari Bling

My previous post today is an example of a way to "Bling your Blog". Last year I started a Shelfari account to post on my school website. I kept this Shelfari bookshelf loaded with my favorite chapter books, along with another bookshelf with picture books, on my website so that my students from K-5 could see what I liked to read. It helped to encourage them to read some of these same great books!

I'm working on adding another bookshelf to the left of this blog (right above "followers"). This is the one that I'm using this year with my 4th grade class. I created a group for my class to keep a list of each of the books that we have read together this year.

If you start an account with Shelfari, you can network with other educators in book clubs. Your students can become part of the discussions and recommend even more great books. If you join, add me! I'd love to share.

Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog

One more for tonight!

I promise I am done with the blog for tonight after this post!

I was also introduced to another website this week that will store my podcast. It's called PodOmatic. I've set up an account and you can view anything that I've created so far. I will continue to update it as I go. Students also have access to view these podcasts when they need to. I can also search and share with other members.

Here is the link to my profile on the site: http://www.podomatic.com/profile/turnerslearners

Spelling Podcasts Examples

Here are the two spelling podcasts that I created tonight using the method that I just explained in the last post. They aren't perfect, but it's a start.

I'll use this first one on Monday to introduce the new words. Then I will allow students to view it on the iPods throughout the week.

This next one can be used to actually give a spelling test to my students. However, I probably will only use this if a student happens to be absent. They will be able to sit at a table with the iPod and take the test without me having to call the words out. They have the ability to pause the recording and play back anything that they may have missed. This isn't anything fancy so keep in mind this is a very simple podcast that is only going to be used for a spelling test.

Spelling Podcast

Tonight I decided it's time to start creating some podcasts for the year. Yes, I realize I'm getting started a little late in the game, but I figured that it's better now than not at all.

I decided to start with something fairly easy and I chose our weekly spelling list. First I created slides in PowerPoint with each word listed. Then I saved those slides as JPEG's to import them into Windows Movie Maker. Once I was in Movie Maker, I recorded my voice to read along with each slide. After saving the file, I was able to convert it into an MP4 so that I could import it into my iTunes account. From here I can put the file on our class iPod so that students can follow along with the reading. I can also save the file to our class website so that students can practice the words at home.

I followed the same process for creating a spelling test. However, instead of giving a slide with each word listed, I just created one slide and called the words in random order. Now if I have a student absent on Friday, they can make up the test on their own using the iPods without needing me!!

I know that many of you probably didn't understand everything (or anything) that I just explained. So, I created a couple of short videos to help you understand the process. I will be glad to walk you through any of this at school if you would prefer.

This first video explains how to save your PPT slides as a JPEG.

After you create your podcast in Movie Maker, you will want to save it as a Movie Maker Project, and then publish it as a .WMV (Windows Media Video). Saving the podcast as a MMP allows you to go back into the project and make changes. After you save the file as a .WMV you will have to convert the file to an MP4. I use either Jodix or Any Video Converter to do this. Once it is an MP4, I can import it into my iTunes library. The next video will explain importing to iTunes.

New Site

Hello! I've been working on a new site that I learned about today. You can find some of my notes and info from the conference at http://turnertcea2010.weebly.com. I'll keep adding info as I can. One more workshop in the morning on iTunes and then to the closing session to hear Eric Wahl!

Visual Storytelling

This morning I've been in a workshop called "Visual Storytelling Using Five Picture Stories To Facilitate the Writing Process". We got to go out on a mini safari to take some pictures and create a story. We are only allowed to choose five pictures and tell a story without words. Here is the sample that I created during class! It was so much fun and can't wait to share some more ideas with you.

TCEA 2010

Today is day 3 of the TCEA conference in Austin! I've gotten lots of great tools and ideas to share with everyone when I get back. I'm excited to show you some of things that I've learned over the last few day, and I've got some great workshops again on Thursday!

I've already done podcasting, wikis, blogging, broadcasting, and much more. This morning I got to hear Chris Gardner speak at the Opening Session which was awesome! Right now I'm sitting in a session with Tammy Worcester on blogging. She has several books out and speaks all over. Check out her site at www.tammyworcester.com!

More to come.....