Flat Stanley Gets an Upgrade

Most people have heard of the book, Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown, or at least have been part of the journey. Heck, now there is the Flat Stanley online project, and yes there is even an "app. for that". Fourth graders at Coastal Ridge Elementary School have been participating in a Flat Stanley project for quite some time now. The students trace themselves on giant pieces of paper and create their flat self. They then get into contact with family and friends world wide and send their flat self on a trip to discover life in a different area of our world. Family members, friends, and others send back these flat students with pictures, stories and postcards to help students understand the different cultures, people and trends in these areas.

Last year, the fourth grade team decided to upgrade their Flat Stanley project and add an Internet component to it. The students learned about the sport of geocaching with help from the tech. integrator, Eric Lawson. Geocaching is a treasure hunting game played all over the world using handheld GPS units instead of treasure maps. Small containers are hidden throughout the world by fellow geocachers, and a description and clues to the whereabouts are then posted online at www.geocaching.com. Most caches are hidden by the longitude and latitude coordinates of the container, but some can have more riddles, clues or even waypoints to find before getting to the treasure. By plugging in these coordinates, the GPS unit can get a geocacher pretty close to the hidden container. It's just up to the finder to then spot the container. There is a great introductory video about geocaching on the website for more information.

Snowboard Duck Travel Bug

Geocache containers often contain trinkets, or school supplies, that fellow geocachers will trade for when they find a cache. There are also travel bugs located in some caches, which aren't meant to be kept, but rather moved along to yet another geocache trying to fulfill its travel mission. The 4th graders at CRES thought it would be a great idea to create a class travel bug and track its movement across the globe like their Flat Stanley characters. Some classrooms have even created their own student web pages to share their travels and the new cultures, people, and spots they have visited. They are very excited to see where both, their flat selfs and classroom travel bugs, take them this year. To check out a few from last year visit Miss Switzer's Class web site.

Online Global Collaboration

ISTE shares in it's NETS-S and NETS-T standards that staff and students should learn the skills to collaborate online with different people across the globe. This offers global collaboration, but also gives a different perspective to a project. Even though the benefits for this project highly out weigh the setup time and preparation, it is a difficult concept for teachers to fully grasp in my district. It's certainly a shift in thinking by extending the classroom walls out to the globe. Some staff members are just not ready for this shift, and some are scared of the possible problems that may arise in creating and delivering a unit such as this one.

I recently jumped in to an online conference with my Personal Learning Network (PLN), the Seedlings, with the guest speaker, Cherrie MacInnes, a 3rd Grade teacher from Brewer, Maine. Her classroom project started as an online video conference between a few classrooms across Maine and turned out to be a national project. She made headlines when her class was able to Skype with classrooms from each of the 50 United States. Listening to her speak about the project, and the enthusiasm that the students had towards learning from their peers in different parts of the country, was outstanding! This is exactly why ISTE has encouraged online collaboration and video conferencing in their standards for students and staff. Personally, I don't know what I would do as a tech. integrator without my online PLN's and the ability to collaborate online with other tech. integrators across the state, country and world.

Online projects are becoming more and more popular with lead tech. savvy teachers and 21st century innovators. You just have to start with a quick Google search to see what I mean, but there are still those that are reluctant to put the time in to plan a collaborative online project. Project based learning with multimedia is not a new concept. It's been around since the early 90's, however, in the last 5 years the Internet has grown and allowed any user to become a publisher (Web 2.0). Ten years ago, when I first started teaching in my third grade classroom, I did not anticipate that students would have their own web presence, web pages, or post pictures, videos and podcasts for the whole world to view straight from their phones. For the most part, that was still up to the tech. staff to organize these files, or a web master to publish work in the classroom to a web resource. Kids are doing it on their own, and it is up to educators to instruct them and guide them to use these outlets for high quality educational purposes. We can either grab a hold of this and expand our classroom walls, or sit back and allow kids to play on their own. The latter scares me a bit though, as kids don't always know what the right decisions are when they are completely independent.

This past Sunday, I participated in a wonderful online collaborative project, One Day on Earth. If you haven't checked out the web site yet for One Day on Earth, it's worth the trip. There are trailers and explanations of the project, as well as video uploads to browse. The thought behind One Day on Earth, was to have cameras and people tell stories from every country on all 7 continents on one particular day, 10.10.10. These pictures, mobile uploads and high definition films will be mashed up and archived on the web site, and a select few will be combined to create a global documentary about our One Day on Earth on October 10th, 2010.

Living on the east coast here in southern Maine, I jumped at the chance to participate, and thought that filming the sunrise at the beach would be inspiring and calming. My video, Sunrise at Wells Beach, has been uploaded to Vimeo and YouTube as well as the One Day on Earth web site. I also took pictures with my iPhone and created an Animoto slideshow as well. As a classroom teacher, I would have loved to have had my students participate in this project. In addition to my film experience, I have met a lot of great educators, innovators, and filmers from all of the world. It was a truly amazing experience for me, and I hope that I can share my journey with this project and inspire others to jump on board with online collaborative projects as well.

iPhone Apps for Teachers

I'm still looking for that all-in-one app. for teachers that allows you to take attendance, the lunch count, email, collect observable behaviors, and can act as a planner and grade book. As far as I can tell, no such app. exists yet! If I knew a thing or two about programming, I would take on the challenge myself. The closest thing I have found is TeacherToolOne, which is a program designed in Germany. It has some great features and functions, but is not really intended for teachers in the primary and secondary schools. Don't get me wrong, it's a huge hit over seas, but it doesn't quite do the things elementary teachers need it to do in order to make it the top downloaded app. by teachers.

So this poses the question, with all of the great apps. out there for education, what are your top 10 apps. for teachers? I know which ones I use as a technology integration specialist, but I'm guessing most teachers wouldn't have the time or need for all of these apps. The iTunes store now has a special section for teachers called "Apps for School". You can get there by clicking on the app. store icon from your iPhone and then click on featured apps. Scroll to the bottom of this list and you can find "Apps for School".

There is a grading app. for earlier education as well, that's not that bad and for a price of $7.99 it's not too bad for a teacher's pocket either, however, if you already have a grading system in place, it won't sync these two programs. There are plenty of apps. to help students though with math and reading. Everything from audio books and interactive games from Dr. Seuss, to flash cards and quizzes to keep the brain stimulated. I'm guessing most teachers do not have iPod touches in their classrooms, and the thought of giving up their own iPhone for student use, isn't quite there yet due to the price tag on these handhelds.

Here are my top 10 apps. for elementary teachers:

1. First Class
I can make sure I never miss an email, and I can tell a student when a parent notifies me of changes to the pick-up or bus plan for the end of the day.

2. iTalk Lite
It's like having a pocket recorder ready when ever a situation arises to create a podcast. The program is free for the computer as well, and easily blue tooth syncs from one to the other.

3. iCamcorder
I love the Flip video cameras and digital cameras for field trips and classroom events that you want to capture, but I always forget to sign them out of the library or bring mine in from home. Having an app on the phone just makes it handy in case something worth capturing is happening right now.

4. Keynote Remote
I often use my SMART Board to introduce a lesson, however, I have learned this piece of technology works much better when the students are in front of it, and not myself. This 99 cent app. allows me to control the slideshow from any where in the classroom as I walk around and monitor the students' understanding.

5. Twitterific
The easiest way to consult, enhance, reflect, and collaborate with other professionals in a short amount of time. I'm blown away with how quickly I can get a response from other great teachers.

6. The Weather Channel
It may sound funny, but a big part of morning meeting and the routine is having a weather person. It's much easier to have a student look at this app. then having to login to a computer, or disrupt the morning message on the SMART Board to get the weather forecast for the day.

7. Brainpop
Earbuds and an iPhone are great if one child needs a quiet activity, or missed a Brainpop video from a previous lesson.

8. Pandora
My students often ask for soft music while they work on independent projects or writing. The iPhone speaker is just loud enough when the room is silent to be heard by all. It also has a plethora of styles to choose from and can open their eyes, and ears, to new songs from around the world.

9. Calendar
This one comes free with the iPhone, but I don't know what I did without it. I used to carry a small calendar with me to remind me of meetings, calling home, and quick lesson plan ideas, but the built in notification just adds so much more. The sync feature to iCal on the computer is quite handy as well.

10. Dictionary
It is so much easier to look up the meaning of a word with this app. then the standard Webster's hard cover. It also has voice pronunciations to help students read the word out loud.

What are your favorites?

Classroom Blogs

Today in the computer lab Mrs. Foster's Class, from Coastal Ridge Elementary School, will be learning about blogs and starting their very own student blogs. The blogs will be used to publish student writing and poetry, but could also be used as a way to communicate and reflect on other students' work. To practice we will start here.

What will you include in your very own blog? Click on the comment button below my blog entry. You can sign in as anonymous, but don't forget to include your first name or initials in your comment so I know who wrote it. Remember, it's never a good idea to use your full name. I look forward to hearing from all of you.

Going Green

The shift in technology integration has proven to be very valuable to learning, but it has also been valuable to the Earth. I have observed many computer lab lessons in the past in which the students worked very hard on a product such as a picture, document, slide show, etc. Just before the class ended the teacher said, "Okay, time is just about up. Everyone stop what you are doing and click save and print." How much paper did we waste with these lessons? I can only imagine. Well, the number was ridiculous when we looked at our spending on color prints in one year in York. It was such a high price, that we have stopped color printing all together for the rest of the school year. This took place shortly after the winter holiday break. Of course, there were some arguments and frustrations, but this initiative has really inspired teachers to look towards new forms of multimedia products. It has forced many teachers to publish web sites, develop project based learning with multimedia and enter the world of Web 2.0.

Projects created in the lab are now appearing on web sites across the globe. Early elementary students are creating single slides for class slide shows using programs like Clicker Paint, Kidpix and Hyperstudio 5. They are blogging about their writing and books they have read in class. Second graders are creating biographies using Comic Life, Time Liner XE and Keynote. Third and fourth graders are using GPS in the classroom to learn about places on the Earth and even entering the world of geocaching to create virtual Flat Stanley travel bugs that are currently traveling all over the globe.

Of course our communication has changed too! The office no longer sends home folders full of packets and announcements. Instead every flyer, announcement or brochure is published to the school web site and email reminders are sent to parents across the district. Podcasts, online radio shows, and live broadcast news programs are recorded right here in our elementary school buildings, and published on our web sites for the entire local and global communities.

Our fourth graders have even researching renewable energies and created public service announcements using digital video cameras and iMovie. Last year students entered the Maine Recycles Commercial Contest, and submitted short PSAs to persuade community members to recycle. All of these videos can be seen on our "Going Green" web page.

This shift hasn't just happened in our computer labs, however. Recent field trips have been video taped or recorded as a podcast with student interviews and reflections too. The students also observed that we were throwing away too much trash in the lunch room as well. This observation, along with a great deal of research, promoted the soil production project at Coastal Ridge Elementary School. Each pod, or group of 4 classrooms, now have worm bins outside their doors. There are also a couple worm bins in the lunch room. These worm bins are used to break down biodegradable trash with the help of some hungry worms, and produces very fertile soil. Our hope is to build a greenhouse outside of the school this summer and plant vegetables to help make our school lunch program more sustainable.

Something as simple as cutting down on printing out projects has truly inspired a revolution here in York. The students have found new enthusiasm and a real world connection with many of these projects. There is also a great sense of pride not only in the finished products, but also in knowing they are helping their community. What types of "green" projects have you been working on in your schools?

Social Networking

Should social networking be allowed in our public schools? Can they be used in meaningful ways in education? If a teacher has a Facebook page, should they "friend" their own students? What if the page was only setup for educational purposes?

Summer Activities

This summer I am taking a master's course from Lesley University on designing curriculum with state and national technology standards integrated into them. I am also hoping to be working for a company that travels to different summer rec. camps around the area to teach children about solving real world problems using technology. At the end of August, I will be helping to organize a summer technology camp for the teachers in York. We will start off with a giant treasure hunt all around York using GPS units. What do you plan to do this summer?