St John - Blogs

Blogs and Facebook and Twitter, Oh My!
Blogs, including Facebook and Twitter provide a totally new way to share thoughts, ideas, opinions and information. They're one of the most influential forms of communication in the world today, and also one of the Web 2 applications that schools are using in unique and creative ways to enhance education. Explore the "blogosphere". Find two blogs that you like, one for school, and one for you, and follow them this summer. Mary
Send me a comment sometime during class.
Send it as anonymos and sign your first name in the body of the comment.

NING - Making Curriculum Pop

Add a NING to your repetoire of Web 2.0 tools. NING is one of a number of sites that enables you to set up a social networking site to allow you to communicate with others who share similar interests. You can broadcast info to the entire membership, or create smaller special interest discussion groups.
One such site that I have been following is Making Curriculum Pop (MC Pop) http://mcpopmb.ning.com
At MCPop, teachers can share ideas for incorporating popular culture and media into classroom activities. They can ask questions of other teachers or discuss options. There are specific themes dealt with each day, and a summary appears in your email.
Take a look at this site. You'll find it innovative and fun.

Vicki Davis of Cool Cat Teacher Blog puts together an international online Conference and uses NING to support and facilitate it . See how she uses it here:
http://flatclassroomconference.ning.com/

Shift Happens 2010- Kidepede

I'd like to provide an updated version of the Shift Happens presentation. There are now more versions of it than you can count or keep track of. It was so popular that everyone used the theme to create a new version, but not all of them are still related to education. Hopefully this link will work for the next year or two.
Shift Happens 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZjRJeWfVtY&feature=related
Because we have several Middle School teachers, I'd like to feature an online encyclopedia that's designed for Middle School students. Kidepede has an extensive collection of history related sites, with sub-sections on several topics including art, architecture and religion. It also provides resources for science, geology and math.
Let me know what you think of it. Kidepede http://historyforkids.org

Money, Money, Money

I just found three sites that might prove useful or interesting to you. They provide data about school expenses and demographics in Illinois.
Site #1 allows you to check salaries of school employees including teachers, principals and superintendents http://isbe.net/research/htmls/teacher_service_record.htm
Site #2 gives info about school/district spending
http://webprod1.isbe.net/ilearn/ASP/index.asp
Sit #3 provides demographic data about students & schools
http://isbe.net/research/htmls/fall_housing.htm

Movin' On

If any of you doubt that we're "Movin On" or that many of the rapid changes in society are being triggered by technology, look at the use of cell phones. They have very quickly morphed from portable phones to texting devices, to Internet, and now to augmented reality. They're fast becoming essential tools for everyone, especially 8-12 year olds.

Many American schools have been slow to incorporate new technology tools. In this class, we'll explore some of the reasons for our reluctance, and some of the ways to embrace the technology and harness its power. I hope we'll also have some fun. Welcome to class! Mary