Tech Tips & Timely Tidbits

Another school year is up and running.  I’ve been very busy with training teachers in Moodle and the gradebook system.  I’ve also assisted with almost all of the English classes in taking the STAR (reading comprehension) and TRAILS (information literacy/research skills) testing and will finish up the last class tomorrow!    Now that I’ve got a few minutes to myself, I’ve been trying to clean out my RSS feeds (again).  Here are some odds & ends I wanted to share:

A Plethora of Technology: Trick My Truck - by Barry Bachenheimer - interesting ways to “trick out” your learning activities.

Blogging on the Bay: The Heart of a Teacher - by Bill Gaskins - All teachers should watch this video of a student giving a keynote address to his school district’s teachers.  It’s an embedded YouTube video, so you may not be able to view from work, but PLEASE take the time to watch from home.  You wont be disappointed.

Self Check #260 - by Emily Lloyd - Toung in cheek, “muliticultural” books.  I really love these doses of humor.  I think it would be a hoot to work with this lady!

CNN.com: “Monster mom’ - how to avoid being one” - 7 tips on how not to alienate your son/daughter’s teachers.

Both BBC News and The New York Times have articles about the Harold, TX school board allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons (guns) on campus.  How scary is that!?

Reader’s Digest: “13 Things Your Computer Person Won’t Tell You” - My personal favorite is #10 - get a MAC!  Hehehe! Told ya so!

I’ve taken some time off from the Odds & Ends posts, as well as with reading my RSS feeds. Hey, I deserve some time off for summer vacation, too! However, I’m ready to get back to sharing. Here are some articles and blog posts I’ve found interesting:

Washington Post - “Travelers’ Laptops May Be Detained At Border” - “Big Brother Is Watching”. Just another reason to ensure our students are reading 1984, and discussing the implications of these types of policies to the average citizen. “No, Mr. Smith, I don’t have to give you a reason why I’m taking your laptop/cellphone/iPod. Nor do I have to give it back anytime soon or at all. Just another way we’re stomping all over your civil liberties keeping America safe from terrorists.”

Endgadget - “Local public school students get assigned Zunes” - Students in Missouri are getting Zunes to assist them with their learning. It will be interesting to see the results of the study.

NYT.com - “Holding Back Young Students: Is Program a Gift or a Stigma?” - Thoughts anyone? Getting students up to grade level is important, but at what cost? What concerned me is this statement: “The special classes, which are limited to 15 students and follow a pared-down curriculum of reading, writing and arithmetic, are called the Gift of Time and come with extras like tutoring and field trips to a local farm.” Eliminating arts (again!) as a sacrifice to “the basics” - what student would look forward to that every day?

Washington Post - “The Odd World of E-School Teachers” - an interesting article about virtual schools and teachers who teach them. I’m all for providing opportunities for students to learn at their own pace and environment, but what is the cost to their education? If all of the “classes” are via computers, you’ve lost that face to face interaction that, for me, seem vital to connecting with your students. Maybe they do some Skype type interaction?

Steve Dembo - Teach42 blog - “Aaahhh, the joys of being a teacher” - Just for fun, take a look at these examples of student answers on tests. Boy, I wish I was as creative as these kids when I was in school - who am I kidding, I wish I was this creative now!

Today’s assignment is all about podcasts.

I’ve been downloading from iTunes (podcasts, music, audiobooks, etc.) long before I ever purchased an iPod. I’ll have to take some time and explore the podcatchers linked in “Thing #3″ in that infamous “free-time” we’re all supposed to have! Of course, I already subscribe to so many podcasts that I don’t have time to listen to/watch them all.

Most of the podcasts I find are found accidentally or were recommended to me by someone who knows my quirky tastes. I’ll be searching iTunes for a person (say an author to see if there are any interviews he/she’s given) or a topic (say technology) and come across other shows that I’ll subscribe to on a lark. If they’re good, I’ll keep them, if not, I unsubscribe. There are a bunch in there now waiting for me to give them a listen.

I’ve written a post before on my favorite podcasts, but here are a couple that I’ve discovered recently and/or didn’t include the first time around.

Nancy J. Keane’s Booktalks Quick and Simple - great short book commercials to pique students’ interest.

Old Time Radio - If you’re interested in listening to old time radio thrillers, comedy, suspense, mysteries, drama, adventure, science fiction, etc. search in iTunes for Old Time Radio and you can find a bunch of old radio broadcasts. When I was younger, I used to listen to them from an AM radio station on my boom box. My favorites were Burns and Allen, Abbott & Costello, and The Shadow! No, I’m not old enough to have listened to them when they originally aired, but that didn’t stop me from finding them fascinating as a teenager. The commercials were (are) sometimes even more interesting than the radio shows!

And of course, don’t forget to check out iTunes U to find educational podcasts from prominent colleges and universities. The University of Southern Florida’s Lit2Go: Audio Files for K-12 is a wonderful resource for free audiobooks. Great for struggling readers - they can listen to the audio and read along with the text. They even have a selection of audio in Spanish.

Odds & Ends is back! I took a little time off and my RSS Reader is slam full of articles for me to read. I’m slowly getting through them. I’m not ready to declare RSS bankruptcy as I would hate to miss something good! Anyhoo, here are some nuggets of information, technology, or news I’ve found so far…

Pat Hensley over at the Successful Teaching Blog posted “Just Doing What’s Right” that brought me to tears over the compassion of those teens! Boy, I’m sure getting emotional in my old age. Be sure to read the comments and follow the link to another example of kids doing what’s right! Now if news reports had more of these types of stories to share, I might just watch the news again!

Edutopia: “Young Minds, Fast Times: The Twenty-First-Century Digital Learner” by Mark Prensky

A little math humor “I Will Derive” video from College Humor brought to my attention by FrancyLibrarian at the Gargoyles Loose in the Library blog. Too funny!

CNN.com: “School defends drunken driving hoax” - Okay, I find this disturbing. I can see where the authorities were coming from to want to “scare kids straight,” but I think this went overboard. This probably did more damage to the kids than deterred teens from driving drunk.

And lastly, a few news articles I found interesting from BBC.com:

• “Spain treats child phone addicts” - Guess it was bound to happen sooner or later, but I figured it would start with computer games before phones! My question, what do 12 & 13 year olds need with cell phones? Shouldn’t the parents have been monitoring their usage BEFORE things got so out of hand?
• “‘Non-planet’ Pluto gets new class” - “Sorry, Pluto, you’ve been demoted, but to sooth your feelings, we’re going to call all masses like you “plutoids,” what do you think?” Come on, couldn’t they come up with a better name than that?
• “The changing face of Africa” - visual proof that man is destroying the planet faster than nature ever could.
• “Sudoku-playing jurors halt trial” - What! How could the jurors be so rude! This is life and future you’re going to be deciding! I realize lawyers tend to love the sound of their own voice, and you may have been a bit bored, but please, show some respect!