What Cool Tools You Have!

The cool tools segment in class has quickly become my favorite.  On Thursday I enjoyed grabbing the reigns for a few minutes and becoming the teacher for my demo.  Using the share app. is a bit shaky and slow however, I definitely recommend sending the uniform resource locator (yep, I read!) to the chat window as a back-up.  

I do feel as if my little colonies site greatly pales in comparison to the other sites that have been showcased thus far.  I am a huge fan of Nikki and Katy's virtual field-trip sites.  The fact that you can keep an online journal about the different countries. Plus, on top of that taking photo tours and the like is really powerful.  Sarah's ePal's site has got to be my favorite though.  I've been wondering about finding student pen pals for my class from other strange and exotic lands for a long time, and after doing some extra browsing on this site, it looks really legit, and the best part is that it's free!  Very awesome, now all I need is a class.

We've only seen a few so far, but the bar is raised very high.  I'm very excited about what is on the way with these!

Breaking the LoTi Code

Over the last two weeks I have been greatly challenged by a.) getting my assignments done on time, and b.) the LoTi levels.  So after a long day of watching my Dolphins get hammered by the Falcons, and being shocked by Kanye West's antics at the VMAs, I have decided it's high time I put the LoTi levels into words and examples that I can understand and share with my fellow bloggers!

I've taken the last hour and half or so to look back over examples we've given, archives, and articles about these Levels of Technology Implementation in order to get the grasp.  What I decided to do is share them in silly examples, and please feel free to use the comment section to call me out on how off I am, or praise me for championing your cause in finally understanding it. Enjoy:

Level 0- All eyes on me and this chalkboard class.  If ya'll are good I may change things up and use the overhead projector.  Bam-Bam, leave Pebbles alone!

Level 1- It's Friday boys & girls and grades are due in an hour, time to watch Bill Nye the Science Guy on VHS! While ya'll are busy I'll be importing your grades on IGPro and checking my Lotus Notes, so you better ask your questions right now.

Level 2- Class, big news today, we're gonna type our papers on President Carter on MS Works in the computer lab!  Please raise your hand when your ready to print.  I'd let you do it yourself but the LSTC is giving me the evil eye.

Level 3- After you log in today class, go to the shared drive and fill out the spreadsheet you'll find in our class folder with the data that you have collected from the library.  

Level 4a- Ok gang, today we are gonna try out this Webquest on the Civil War that Mrs. White from down the hall put together for the grade level.  If something doesn't make sense I'll go ask her what the deal is, I guess.

Level 4b- Ok gang, today we are gonna try out this Webquest on the Civil War that I put together for the grade level.  If something doesn't make sense I can definitely help you!

Level 5- When we get to the lab today class, check your email to see if your pen pal from our sister class in Scotland answered your questions about how their family conserves energy.  You can use that information to enhance your Powerpoints.

Level 6-  The essential question for your project is:  What can I do to end global warming?  We'll be going to the library every Tuesday and Thursday for the next 3 weeks, where you can use their computers and check out the video equipment if you like.  Remember to save the transcripts and emails of any scientists or businesses that you contact, and that your multimedia presentation must be between 10-15 minutes. Oh and have fun.

Initial Project Idea

For my initial project idea I would like to use one of the lessons that I choose called How Much Water Does Your Family Use?  This project will began an investigation into the amount of water one student's home uses on a typical Saturday afternoon.  Following an extensive data collection recorded on an Excel spreadsheet, they will become better informed about their family's water usage and will come up with a multimedia presentation that they formulate to share the ways in which they can begin conserving.  The ideas given are for an oral presentation with Microsoft PowerPoint slides backing it up, or for students to use Microsoft Publisher and create a brochure.  I would even consider letting students use video, if their family has the equipment, and allow them to do a documentary short at their own home, since that's the source of the data collection.

According to the lesson plan, it is written with middle schoolers up to high schoolers in mind.  I would like to modify it in order to use it with upper elementary students, which is what I'm very familiar with.  I'm going to have to figure out a place where I can implement this lesson, because I'm not currently a classroom teacher, so that is a mountain that I will have to climb later.