Now it’s time to start thinking about next year.  I have to do the usual: labeling folders, taping down desk tags, running off worksheets, sorting out books that got packed in a hurry, etc.  I will also have a mounted projector and smart board for the first time, so I will be figuring out how and when I will use it.  I am very excited about this opportunity, and I have lots of help from the tech staff here as well as my Classroom 2.0 colleagues and others I have met on the web.

Stay tuned for posts about my summer curriculum grant and our new classroom blog.

This has been an amazing project. It has touched on many important skills such as researching, writing, recording, selecting appropriate articles and images, and using the online library catalog. I have especially enjoyed the opportunity to work with a specials area teacher.

So, here it is for the world to see. Please comment on the slides and if you are a teacher, have your students comment as well.

3rd Grade Colonial and Revolutionary War Project

Thank you to Lane Young for creating with me, Vinnie Vrotny for leading me to the k12 Online Conference which led me to VoiceThread, and David Green my co-teacher for encouraging and supporting me with this project.

However, there were often obstacles to being able to save this shared information in any meaningful way. I have sometimes stopped calling on kids because I have run out of whiteboard space – not because they have run out of ideas. Or what about the times when I had to erase for the next lesson before I had time to copy down what was written? To counter against this, I have used chart paper for recording ideas, but then the large pieces of paper are hard to store long term.

Today I led a brainstorming session using Microsoft Journal, a smart cart, and my new Tablet PC. Now I could write their ideas down and click for a new page if I needed more space. I could project what I was writing on the board so they could all see it. Then I showed them how I could convert the writing into text so I could insert it into our Friday Newsletter, turn it into a poster for the room, or just to save for another day.

I was afraid that the technology would distract them from getting into the writing activity, but they had the same great ideas they would have had if I had written them on the board instead. Now I would be able to catalog their ideas in ways I couldn’t before.

But, to be perfectly honest, the best part was how excited the kids were about doing it this way. And who can blame them? Thank you to my school for getting me this great teaching toy . . . OOPS . . . I mean teaching tool.

This summer I spent some time getting “wired” myself. I was inspired by a presentation made by our Director of Academic Technologies on an inservice day in February. Next, I was invited to a technology conference in May. I didn’t have my first computer experience until I was taught Basic on an Apple IIE in 5th grade. Today’s kids are different, and if I don’t figure some of these things out I will not be able to help my students navigate through “Life 2.0.”

Here is what I’ve been up to:

1) I set up this blog. Those people who know me best know that I am always someone with something to say. Therefore, putting it into writing in the form of a blog was a natural fit for me. For those of you who are intimidated by the idea of blogging – take heart! There are still many way to get “wired.”

2) I set up a wiki as a space to write, share, and further organize notes. I was given a summer grant which involved a lot of reading. It was a new and different way to take notes. Now I don’t have to retype them later, and I can edit them as many times as I like. Click on the link to see what I have accomplished so far. This is a much more efficient way to work with a group than by emailing documents back and forth.

3) I joined Classroom 2.0. This is a great social networking site designed for educators. I set up my own page and was surprised by how quickly I began to connect with other teachers across the world. For those of you who are reluctant bloggers, it is a way to write short blurbs without the pressures of maintaining your very own site.

4) I began reading other people’s blogs. I use Netvibes as my RSS aggregator (a way to organize the blogs I subscribe to). I am in the process of linking some of these blogs to this blog so you can check them out yourselves. I have a mixture of blogs written by teachers and class blogs where the writing comes from the students. I hope to set up a blog for my class in the future as part of our writing curriculum.

5) I set up my family road trip on GoogleMaps. I was able to figure out the best route from place to place and link placemarks to webpages for lodging, attractions, restaurants, traffic information, etc. I could also share the link to my map with my family members ahead of time so they could comment on what excited them. Click here to see where we went!

So you can see why I am energized for this year in a new way. Far from being overwhelmed by technology (as I used to be)I am now inspired and trying out a “can-do” mentality. I know that embracing these things has enhanced my life, and I will begin to translate some of these new ideas to my teaching this year.

Think of it as an adventure!