Local District 4 Instructional Technology News

This poem was shared with us at a staff meeting.  I though it was very inspirational and uplifting so I’m sharing it with all of you.  When you finish reading it, read it again starting from the end and work your way back up to the top.

Lost Generation

By: Jonathan Reed

I am part of a lost generation

and I refuse to believe that

I can change the world

I realize that this may be a shock but

“Happiness comes from within”

is a lie, and

“Money will make me happy”

So in 30 years I will tell my children

They are not the most important thing in my life.

My employer will know that

I have my priorities straight because

Work

Is more important than

Family

I tell you this

Once upon a time

Families stayed together

But this will not be true in my era

This is a quick fix society

Experts tell me

30 years from now I will be celebrating the 10th anniversity of my divorce

I do not concede that

I will live in a country of my own making

In the future

Environmental destruction will be the norm

No longer can it be said that

My peers and I care about this earth

It will be evident that

My generation is apathetic and lethargic

It is foolish to presume that

There is hope.

And all of this will come true unless we choose to reverse it.

Now read it in reverse order starting with “There is hope”.

Tags: inspirational, poem

Now through August 2009, LEGO® Education is hosting an activity challenge for educators of all grades and subject areas!

The LEGO® Smart™ Creativity Contest begins with your imagination and ends with great prizes, online recognition, and the chance to share your activity with thousands of students across the nation!

http://www.legoeducation.com/forms/activitycontest.asp

In these difficult economic times, we are constantly looking for ways to save time and money.  This year we are being faced with numerous cuts in staff and resources, yet we are still expected to continue our work and be just as resourceful. We all know how difficult it is going to be to maintain a level of quality instruction with half the resources, so what can you do to continue your work?

In a previous post, I had mentioned the use of Google Tools for Educators.  Many of you might have looked in to it and some of you probably didn’t see the benefit of using this tool at that time.  I’d like to revisit Google Tools for Educators in this post and invite anyone to share experiences and educational uses of this tool.  Below are a few ways in which you can use these tools in education. 

Google Calendar

• Students can keep track of upcoming events, assignment due dates, field trips, etc.
• Parents can keep track of due dates for assignments, Back to School Night, Parent Conferences, Open House, school council meetings, and so on.
• Principal’s can post important school events to share with teachers, parents and community members.
• Create school schedules for the Library, Computer lab, conference rooms, etc.
• List professional development dates

Google Docs

• Have access to office tools such as word processing, spreadsheets, forms, and presentation software.
• Access your files on any computer.
• Share and collaborate on documents in real time without having to email documents to each other.
• No need to worry about using a PC or a Mac.
• Create Forms to gather feedback, give quizzes, etc.
• Share the weekly bulletin instead of printing it out every week.
• Teachers can review student work without having a stack of papers to go through.
• Upload existing MS Office documents and continue working on them online.
• Office staff can work on MEMOS or any document without worrying about having the correct version of the file.

Google Groups

•      Create online meeting places to share resources.
•      Teachers can use Groups to have online discussions with students.
•      Teachers can have students submit their assignments electronically to the group.
•      Teachers can post assignments and share files with students.
•      Grade level teams can share resources with each other.
•      Administrators can post newsletters, agendas, bulletins etc. for the staff
•      Administrators can have online discussions with staff members and/or parents.
•      Work in a secure environment.

 These are just a few suggestions to help us become more resourceful and save time along the way.  With more possible cuts coming our way, we need to keep our options open and be open to new tools to help us get through the madness.  How are you using Google Tools?

Tags: cuts, Docs, Education, Google, LD4

According to WIKIPEDIA ;

A screenshot, screen capture, or screen dump is an image taken by the computer to record the visible items displayed on the monitor or another visual output device.

Basically Screen capture, or print screen is most efficient way to share or demonstrate your program or your reviews about the program via.. computer generated Screenshots.  Screen Capture Tools  do everything which basic tools can’t. like ; Capture and record anything you can hear or see on your PC. It doesn’t matter if the video you want to capture comes from your webcam, the PC desktop, or from inside websites.

http://www.dreamcss.com/2009/05/10-free-screen-capture-tools.html

Samsung wants to help teachers upgrade the quality of technology tools in American schools. Our 2009 “Focus on Learning” Grant Program is simple. We are offering 50 Samsung 850DX document cameras to worthy applicants based on need. Deadline for applications is June 15, 2009. An independent evaluation team will review the applicants and notify the winners. Awards will be received no later than September 1, 2009.

http://samsunggrants.com/

Tags: doc camera, giveaway, grant

Nine Reasons to Twitter in Schools

May 4 2009 10:12AM
URL:http://www.techlearning.com/article/20298
1 TOGETHER WE’RE BETTER 
Twitter can be like a virtual staff room, where teachers can access in seconds a stream of links, ideas, opinions, and resources from a hand-picked selection of global professionals.

2 GLOBAL OR LOCAL: YOU CHOOSE
With Twitter, educators can actively compare what’s happening in their classrooms with others on different continents. GPS-enabled devices and advanced Web-search facility allow searches that tell you what people are tweeting within a certain distance of a location, so if the other side of the world isn’t your bag, you can stick with your own patch.

3 SELF-AWARENESS AND REFLECTIVE PRACTICE
Excellent teachers reflect on what they are doing in their schools and look at what is going well to maintain and develop it, and at what needs improvement in order to make it better. Teachers on Twitter share these reflections and both support and challenge each other.

4 IDEA WORKSHOP AND SOUNDING BOARD
Twitter is a great medium for sharing ideas and getting instant feedback. You can gather a range of opinions and constructive criticism within minutes, which can help enormously, whether you are planning a learning experience, writing a policy, or putting a job application together.

5 NEWSROOM AND INNOVATION SHOWCASE
Twitter helps you stay up-to-date on news and current affairs, as well as on the latest developments in areas of interest like school leadership and technology.

6 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND CRITICAL FRIENDS
One of the best things about training days is the break-out time between sessions, when teachers can get together to talk about what they are working 

on or struggling with. Twitter enables users to have that kind of powerful networking capacity with them all the time. It’s just a matter of finding the right people to follow.

7 QUALITY-ASSURED SEARCHING
Trust the people you follow. Hone and develop the list of people whose insights you value. Once your Twitter network grows past a critical mass, you can ask them detailed questions and get back better information than a Google search would generally provide.

8 COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE
Expressing yourself in 140 characters is great discipline. You can become better at saying what needs to be said in your professional communications with less waffle and padding (even without txtspk).

9 GETTING WITH THE TIMES HAS NEVER BEEN SO EASY!
Twitter is anything but complicated! You simply visit Twitter.com and create your account. A little light searching using key words for your areas of interest will soon yield a list of interesting people to follow. There are plenty of Web sites offering advice on getting started and how to avoid a few common beginner’s faux pas. Your biggest challenge is likely to be getting the twitter.com unblocked on your school network if your main use will be at school.

Tags: twitter schools teacher technology