Technology in Education: Notes from the Closet

Happy Social Media Week!!  This week is Social Media week around the world.  The 5th-8th grade students will learn some social media basics using the following presentation: Social Media Week 2012 on Prezi NETS Standards Covered: 3d: Process data and report results 5a: Advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology 6b: Select and use applications effectively and productively Students:   Please give me your insight!  What social media tools that you saw in the presentation do you use? Do you use them to help with school work, for personal connections or both?  Are there any social media tools that you didn't know about that you would like to learn more about?  Do you think social media tools should be used in schools?  Please reply using your first name, last initial, and room #.   1st-3rd: Our first and second grade students are doing an excellent job of navigating around Microsoft Word!...

Welcome back, students! Kindergarten-1st Grade Since we were not in session last week we'll take one more week to practice our mouse skills.  We'll use ABCya.com and Starfall.com to do this. NETS Standards addressed:  6a: Understand and use technology systems 6b. Select and use applications effectively and productively 2nd & 3rd Grade We'll continue working on our mouse skills this week. Third grade students will begin technology lab as they always do by working on nonfiction comprehension skills through Kidbiz3000.com NETS Standards addressed:  6a: Understand and use technology systems 6b. Select and use applications effectively and productively 5th-8th Grade With the short week we'll talk about the strike and examples of media literacy that were present.  We'll use the Lesson Plans blog from September 10th as our guide. A reminder that middle school students also work on reading nonfiction text in lab using the Chicago Su...

image screen shot from ABC 7 news This week Chicago Public School teachers went on strike for the first time in 25 years.  I participated in the strike by joining my colleagues in front of our school to have our voices heard.  I also participated in two of the organized rallies.  The responses we saw in front of the school and on the viaduct over the Eisenhower Expressway were overwhelmingly positive.  That being said there were also a few motorist who chose to express to us they were unhappy with the situation. The strike is a great example to use to explain media literacy.  I encountered radio ads that chose to focus on only the unkind aspects of the strike that were portrayed in the newspaper instead of both sides.  The Mayor chose to use "repetition" in every speech he gave.  He also left out some facts when referring to other Union agreements (remember no one tells us the whole story). As I've stated to you on several occasions the g...

Happy Short Week!  I hope everyone had an awesome Labor Day! Kindergarten-1st grade : Kindergarten and first grade are acclimating nicely to technology lab!  We are continuing to work on our mouse skills using games on ABCYA.com .  Students enter lab and review the basic parts of the computer. We are getting really good at turning on the monitor, launching Internet Explorer, and typing in ABCYA.com on our own or with help from our neighbor next to us!  This group will be ready to move on soon to some new educational websites. NETS Standards addressed: 6a: Understand and use technology systems 6b. Select and use applications effectively and productively 2nd-3rd grade : Third grade continues to begin their lab experience each visit with time spent on KidBiz3000.com to strengthen their nonfiction comprehension skills. Second and third grade students will focus on some basic word processing skills.  Students will work this week to change font colors an...