Missing: Summer

I miss summer! You are thinking, "Who doesn't?", I know. I miss summer for all the obvious reasons...sleeping later, lots of time to work out, curling up in a lawn chair with a good book, spur-of-the-moment trips to places like KC on say, oh, a Tuesday. Anyone else miss things like that?
I also miss summer because now that I am back to work, I can't seem to keep up. I don't mean with housework because I can't keep up with that in the summer either. There has to be a direct correlation with disliking something and not keeping up. What I can't keep up with is all of the cool sites and tools my Twitter friends share. During the summer, I could spend hours perusing all of the web 2.0 tools that others twitted about. Now, I have to actually do WORK between the hours of 7:00 and 3:00. Ugh!
Luckily, I have a couple of places I can go to check out new tools.

Pollen count for Wichita from http://www.pollen.com/: 9.5 Med/HI

Go2Web2.0
http://www.go2web20.net/ is a directory of Web 2.0 tools. I like it because the links are logos so I can more easily remember if I have seen the tool before just by looking at the logo. You can search by name, tag, or date.

Listio
http://www.listio.com/ is a community based Web 2.0 directory. It is unique in that you can vote for your favorite apps and services, as well as leave comments for others about the applications and services. Free registration required to comment.

Allergy Forecast

For those of us that suffer seasonal allergies, the forecast is not good. I am sniffling, sneezing, itching and wheezing, and today's forecast is only medium. How am I going to feel this weekend when the forecast is stratospheric?
This year, I am swearing off prescription allergy medication. I am tired (literally) of taking it. It turns me into an 80 year old, wrinkly insomniac. I have opted to try a homeopathic remedy this year...honey. I have heard that taking as little as a teaspoon a day of locally-harvested honey provides enough pollens to build up an immunity. We will see. It is truly a sweet test!
Because I promised science sites yesterday, and they were more well-rounded, today I am offering up one of the best science sites that I discovered last year.

Teacher's Domain
http://www.teachersdomain.org/ offers public television content in the form of video, audio, interactives and images for the classroom. Free registration required to access the high quality content.

Weird Science

What a great 80's movie. How funny Gary and Wyatt, those geeky teenagers, were. And the hairstyles of the girls in the movie...I worked hard to get my hair to look just like that! I still have to sit and watch it any time I see it when I am flipping through the channels on my television!
Today's sites are science related sites.

LearnAlberta
LearnAlberta.ca is a not-for-profit learning object repository that is maintained by Learning Technologies Branch of Alberta Education, the Government of Alberta's department of education. It provides access to licensed and unlicensed digital resources designed for the grades K-12. Guest access is available. Videos, interactives, worksheets available for all subject areas. Very comprehensive!

Wisc-Online
http://www.wisc-online.com/ Wisconsin Online Resource Center is a consortium of 19 technical colleges in Wisconsin. The site features learning objects created by college students. Most of the objects are science related; however, other topics are available. Many of the objects are at the college level, but enough of them could be used in middle or high school classrooms that the site is worth a look. Registration is free.

Creature of Habit

I am a creature of habit. I have a favorite dish at each of the restaurants we frequent, and I always order it. I leave all the ingredients on the counter while I am cooking and don't put them away until after I am finished, even though my husband insists it is more efficient to put away as I go, and I still fold my bath towels the way my mother taught me some 30-odd years ago.
When surfing the Web, I have always used Internet Explorer since it was introduced to me after a short time with Netscape. It is truly out of habit. My daughter installed Firefox on my computer this summer and tried her best to get me to use it. She feels it is highly superior with all of its add-ons, themes and plug-ins. It could be. However, as a creature of habit, I find myself continuing to click my IE icon every time I get on the Web. Just because I use IE all the time, I don't LOVE it. My biggest peeve is that it is text-based. I am such a visual person, that I remember pictures much easier than mere words. I would love to see Microsoft change their Favorites from links to thumbnails. With the number of websites I visit each day, and then bookmark, it is sometimes hard to go back and remember a "name" of a site as it is listed in Favorites. One of these days, I might venture out into the world of Firefox to see how it can make my life easier. For now, there's this

SearchMe
SearchMe http://www.searchme.com/ is a visual search engine that displays search results in a rolodex of images. Search sites, video or images. There is a downloadable toolbar to install, if you desire. The beta version is impressive so far!

The Price of Gas

I heard on the news this morning that Snickers and m&m's prices are going up. The story cited spiraling costs as the reason, based on the rising cost of gas. It seems as if every day I hear a news report blaming the price of gas for rising prices.
Thank goodness that the Internet doesn't use gas! I would have to take out a second mortgage on my house if it did. It's funny how quickly the Internet became integrated technology, in that in the business world, it is expected, just as telephones are. While there are still many homes that don't have service, there are many places a person can go to get connected for free.

Wordle
Wordle is a fun little Java applet that allows you to make a "word cloud" out of text that you input. The website calls it a toy, but I feel the possibilities for teachers and students make it much more than a toy. I used it to make a design for my class reunion. Its fun...check it out!

Hello, My Name is Marcia

and I am a Tweetaholic. There! I have finally taken the first step in admitting it! I know exactly when my downfall with Twitter began. It was a sunny day and I was just sitting on a bar stool visiting http://www.twitter.com/. Nevermind that the barstool was at my breakfast bar in my kitchen. One of the tweets mentioned a gadget called BeTwittered that could be added to my homepage. I cannot blame anyone but myself! I should have never gone in search of that gadget, never should have tasted it's sweetness. But I did, and fell HARD!
I am not bitter. I am happily woozy on getting my daily twitter fix in the privacy of my igoogle page. I am not a loud or obnoxious twitterer; most of the time, I am content with sitting back and following the conversations of some of my best tweets!
Speaking of best tweets (a best tweet is like a best friend, twitter-style!) there are two that I adore, even tho they have no idea who I am! I visit their sites regularly to get great ideas to share with staff. The blogs are The Cool Cat Teacher Blog and Angela Maiers. Another best tweet is skipz. He brings interesting sites and articles to BeTwittered, and I enjoy his trademark "Good morning, Twitterati" with the current weather report in VT.
I really appreciate all of my best tweets and all my other Twitter friends for providing me with sites to share with my staff. Twitterers are the best!!
Oh, by the way, my Twitter name is MarciaHersh. Maybe we can become best tweets too!

Mathtrain.com with Mr. Marcos
A sixth grade teacher put together a wonderful site of math lessons, called Mathtrain.TV, presented by his 6th grade students. There are links to other teachers' sites, as well as a few games. I have had trouble going straight to Mathtrain.TV, but you can access Mr. Marcos' site at http://www.mathtrain.com/.

Brain's a'Poppin!

We got a school wide subscription to BrainPop http://www.brainpop.com/ this year. Yesterday was the first chance I have had to deal with it, and found it to be one of the easiest subscriptions that we have to implement. What a pleasant surprise to find out that EVERYONE in the school has the same login. No need for me to upload student and teachers. Sweet!
The teachers here are very excited to use the resources available at BrainPop, as many have signed up for the free trial in the past. Anyone out there have classroom implementation ideas to share with my middle school staff?

School Supplies

I took my son to Wal-Mart last night to get a few remaining school supplies he needed for his Sophomore year. We bought some tab dividers, a zippered bag to put in a 3-ring binder to hold the graphing calculator that I had to sign a contract stating that I would pay $100 for if it got lost or damaged, and a 2-gig flash drive.
What ever happened to Big Chief tablets and the 8-pack of fat Crayolas? I didn't really mind buying the flash drive because I know it will make my son's life tons easier when dealing with homework; however, I sympathize with many parents out there that also have a child who is disorganized, to say the least. Although my child could also misplace a Big Chief tablet, it would be cheaper to replace, and it would be less likely that an entire semester's worth of school work would be stored on it when lost. Because it's minuscule size, it is almost a certainty that my son will lose his by Labor Day.
Any good ideas out there for helping a mom figure out a way to ensure that a kid keeps hold of his school work, short of duct taping it to his forehead?

Shelfari
Shelfari http://www.shelfari.com/ is a social book site that lets users build a shelf to display the books they've read, want to read or are reading now. The user gets to be the critic by rating and reviewing other user's books so their Shelfari friends can see what they think. Users can also create groups to participate in literature circles. For readers, it is an awesome site to share what they have read or learn about books they might want to read. For reluctant readers, Shelfari can spark new interests and help them find more meaning in what they are reading.

The New Tech Coordinator's Job

If you are a Tech Integration Consultant, a Tech Specialist, a Tech Coordinator, whatever the job title, and you are in charge of making sure students can use curricular materials related to technology, I would guess your job has changed in the past few years.
Gone are the days of huge student data base software programs. When I started in this position 8 years ago, I would begin each year by loading student information into various software programs. The teachers would be notified when they could begin using the software programs with the students and then, voila! The server would slow down to a snail's pace because everyone in the school started using the software-based programs at what seemed like the exact same moment. Like terrorists in action thrillers, they would synchronize watches so that the school would crash at exactly 0900 hours.
Gone are the days when the tech department would call the secretary a minimum of a dozen times a day to make the announcement over the intercom that, "All students need to log out of (insert program name here) until further notice."
Today's curriculum is delivered via the internet on beefed up, high-speed networks, if your district is lucky enough to be able to afford it. The only difference to students is that they can access the curriculum at home, if they desire. The only difference to the tech coordinator is that they upload the student data to a website instead of the server. The biggest difference is that the secretaries can now get more work done because they no longer have to jump up every 30 minutes to make the dreaded announcements. Hooray for technology!

Technology - Gotta Love It!

My first classroom presentation of the new school year bombed! I was supposed to show the new sixth graders how to logon to the network. 25 fresh faces watching me expectantly, and eacher to try out the new "responsible" middle school way of getting connected.
Land mine number one: a power strip in the laptop cart was not turned on. Eight of the little babies wouldn't turn on.
Land mine number two: Server glitch just as the students were choosing their new passwords that they would use to login to the network all year long.
It really didn't bother me whatsoever, except that I could see the disappointment in many fresh young faces. Little do they know that by the end of the year, they will be wondering, "What was I thinking when I chose THAT for a password? It is so babyish!"

Talking History
Virsona is a site that I am anxious to share with Social Studies and English teachers. http://www.virsona.com/ Students can create and interact with "virtual personas" of living, historical or fictional characters. The virtual community environment appeals to middle schoolers to help them learn more about the person or character they are studying. There are also lesson plans available.

New Year, New Victims!

I am posting on the second day of school because the first one was just busy, busy, busy! I am really looking forward to this year because I plan to entangle more staff in my Web...2.0, that is! One of the things I really focus on at the beginning of a school year is the new staff. We have seven new staff members this year. They range in age from 20-something to 4o-something. They represent a cross-section of typical technology users.
In our district, Technology Integration Consultants, TIC's meet once a week with each new teacher, for at least the first nine weeks, to help them learn all of the technologies and resources available to them. I love this facet of my job, because it gives the teacher not only a chance to explore the resources, but a reason to explore them and learn how they can incorporate them into their curriculum.
Just like students in a classroom, some new teachers are raring to go and try out something like podcasting in the first weeks of school. Others need a bit more prodding to even let their students open the laptops. By working with teachers one-on-one, I can take them from where they are and move them forward at just the right pace for them.
Sometimes, I just need to give them the information they need to access the resources, and off they fly! Other times, I get to go in and do model lessons so the teachers are learning with the students. I feel that this is one of the best forms of staff development for teachers because they are getting training right on the battle field, so to speak. When there are 24 or so students learning from me, the teacher gets to see all the little "unexpecteds" that arise. They can watch how a person can handle those minor problems before the teacher has to do it the first time themselves.
Often times, a teacher that is not that strong in using technology has the sense that their lesson failed if the technology fails. Breaking away from that idea brings movement along the continuum. No matter where a teacher begins, in today's schools, they will gain new knowledge in regards to technology. My hope is to be able to help not just the new teachers, but all of the teachers that I work with, to use that knowledge to impact student learning.
Happy 2008-2009 school year!