Thanks LMC Lady # 11 and more . . .

I finally met with colleague LMC Lady aka CPSHS Librarian Linda (LL-cool eh?) Wise and we went over some very helpful and important information about Google: How to conduct an advance search option to narrow down information that students are looking for; the domains of .edu, .org, and .gov . . . these may have more reliable information than always defaulting to .com; I also picked up on information regarding the link to organize information by asking a question of Google and hence make researching easier. For example -"the year of the Indian Removal Act was"; lastly the cool "cached" option that allows students to highlight key words and/or phrases in long text, etc. So thanks Lady LMC!

CYBER MONDAY!
How many of you went shopping online yesterday? Did you know that Cyber Monday refers to the Monday immediately following Black Friday? Have you ever been to: www.cybermonday.com ? It is the unofficial holiday kick-off of the online-shopping season in the US. So instead of the brick and mortar shopping did you warm up that computer . . . and burn up that wallet? For my part, I shopped on-line last week at Amazon.com and dropped a cool 75.00. on books for our Association. I guess I jumped started Cyber Monday. . . unlike Black Friday. Have you ever foughtI was crowds in downtown Chicago the day after Thanksgiving? I don't know which I could not stand more-throngs of shoppers or the PETA crowds marching along State street protesting the use of animal made products in shoes and clothing! Only in America though . . .

Have a good week all!

Postings- I just found them the other day . . .

I have recently taken the time to create two thoughtful posts, only to lose them in cyberspace. So suffice to say I have been discouraged somewhat. That said, I am going to very briefly summarize a few recent tech events:





11-13 I was sick and unable to learn more about what is available in regards to Google but look forward to rescheduling this with our librarian, Linda.





11-14 Information Literacy meeting aka Mili meeting-it was good to learn of the number of educational sites available to SPPS staff. I especially liked partnering up with a district colleague and learning more about Groliers.





11-19 This was a great Urban Planet workshop with Leslie. We learned the very basics of how to manage our very own school website. I need lots of practice for proficiency here but I look forward to the challenge.





Well I must close. It has been the very best of Thanksgiving weekends! I wonder if had anything to with the fact that I left town for a few days and not much of a care in the world. We need those some days . . .

Lost It! aka Thing 14

I am mad. Yesterday I wrote a great blog singing the praise of the productivity of our our 11-14 Mili Meeting. I worked collaboratively with a fellow district colleague analyzing the pro and cons of one of our SPPS Online Learning Resources-Groliers. I share all of this in a post yesterday and somehow I lost it in cyberspace. So this blog is much shorter. Let me just reiterate that I thoroughly enjoyed AND appreciated the Info. Literacy aka Mili meeting of 11-14.



One more thing . . .tonight CPSHS offered an Urban Planet training so that staff can set up their own school web page. Very cool. I look forward to working more with Urban Planet because this really is an invaluable tech tool!

The November 14 Mili Meeting aka Thing 14

I really must say how productive the Mili meeting was on 11-14. I really like the hands on format and the collaborative work we did. We worked with Grolier's Online. While our Librarian in the LRC had exposed us to the world of Groliers at least two years ago, 11-14 provided us with time to really analyze it more. I feel that while still overwhelmed, Groliers and the other online learning resources we were exposed to will continue to encourage and indeed reinforce me to work with technology AND students in a more efficient way in regards to online research. I did also register for the passcode for Unitedstreaming (with a little help from LRC librarian Linda) on Thursday as well! Whew! Oh . . . and how very handy to have the laptop at conferences! Very good!

Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives

Today was an interesting one in regard to the use of technonolgy. I sent my Hmong Culture and society students to: www.cia.gov for lots of great information on the country of China. I am teaching a two week unit on China and the technology timing could not be better. I was able to share information at the CIA and also share some other websites. Things go so much faster at in the computer lab if one can first demonstrate with the use of a computer and projector.

In my history classes I shared a wonderful short dvd piece that was produced by American Family Insurance called Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives. Very good. It visually cited people who overcame hurdles and went on to do great things. Included were Michael Jordon, Michelle Kwan, and Henry Ford to name a few. Students in all classes wanted to see this approximately four minute piece-twice. I believe the "big scree" appeal was one reason but not the only one. Everyday seems a new techy adventure. I am fortunate to be able to share these great things!

This and that with technology

For about a year now I have had an opportunity to dabble with the use of an LCD projector now and again. Well now that I have one to use all the time, I increasingly use my software that accompanies The Americans the district textbook for teaching U.S. History. Every chapter and section has pre-fabricated power points that are very cool. BUT. . .you can also create your own power-points if you know how and use them with their template. So I am excited to learn as I just had my first exposure to power point at last Friday's staff development day. I need to look more closely to see if these are one of our Things too! I desperately want to learn how to use power point.

And still loving the wirelessness of my laptop in my condo! See everyone tomorrow!

More thoughts on information literacy and technology

Several things I would like to ramble on about briefly


Tuesday, November 6 (Election Day)



Several weeks ago I was asked to be the building coordinator of the on-line version of Kids Voting (check out http://www.vote.spps.org/) this year at Como Park. From the get-go I had the sense that most staff were probably not to enthused as to bring their students to vote in our computer lab at Como Park Senior on Election Day. Non Social Studies teachers (unfortunately) really don't make connections with their classes and the need for Civic involvement and responsibility in many cases in my opinion. It is like me not getting all worked up about "green" stuff like Global Warming, etc. in my classes and Advisory.



After about one or two weeks I decided to move participation into the relm of Social Studies teachers. I requested that they send their students to the computer lab during their respective classes. I received no opposition to this at all in the days since my request was made. Well come right before Election Day (a day or two before) sure enough, there were several reasons why my Social Studies colleagues could not bring students to the lab to vote. So I "let go" and brought my students. A few other colleagues did as well. It seems that Como Park's participation mirred that of other high schools. See below:



'Kids Voting St. Paul' mock election has its lowest turnout ever

Pioneer Press

Article Last Updated: 11/07/2007 12:36:24 AM CST
First-time candidate Keith Hardy got the most votes for school board, and fellow newcomer Kevin Riach edged incumbent Tom Conlon in the Kids Voting St. Paul mock election Tuesday. Melvin Carter was the top vote-getter among City Council candidates.
A bit more than 3,000 secondary students in district and charter middle and high schools participated Tuesday. The voting was done online at school sites.
This year's turnout - about 17 percent - was the lowest ever for Kids Voting St. Paul, executive director Roger Barr said. It's hard to generate interest among students - or their parents - in a year where there are only local races and no mayoral contest, he said. "I think our turnout is going to mirror the city turnout."
Kids Voting St. Paul, which was formed in 2000, is a chapter of Kids Voting USA, which seeks to educate K-12 students about the electoral process and allows them to vote in simulated elections.
The students' picks for the board were Hardy (2,089 votes), incumbent Kazoua Kong-Thao (1,835), incumbent Anne Carroll (1,493) and Riach (1,098). The four not making the cut were Conlon (1,045 votes), David Peterson (936), Jennette Gudgel (831) and Bernard Ruppert (790).
The City Council results were as follows:
Ward 1: Melvin Carter, 431; Debbie Montgomery, 69
Ward 2: Bill Hosko, 286; Dave Thune, 140
Ward 3: Pat Harris, 340; Gerald Mischke, 107
Ward 4: Russ Stark, 190; Terrance Bushard, 60
Ward 5: Lee Helgen, 208; David Haas,





So the bottom line is that I will try to market Kids Voting more in advance next year. I do think I will run it again through the Social Studies classes. Additionally, I am well aware that there will be much more excitement furing a next year's election because it is a "Presidential" year.





The last few items briefly:



Friday, November 9 (Staff Development Day)



I took crash courses on how to create a Power Point (I have lots to learn) and how to create a Podcast (sorry I had to leave early Leslie). Then I showed interested staff how to put music onto a computer from a cd and then transfer it from the computer library and load onto an IPod. This was a bit challenging because I have loved owning an IPod but much of my musica was initially put onto the machine by a former student. My participation Friday reinforced my skills in how to do this.



Friday evening I purchased a Microsoft LifeCamVX-6000 camera for my computer AND A Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router. Now I can see my friends "real time" that I correspond with in Vietnam on my desktop computer AND I can go wireless with the MacBook all over my condo. Very cool toys/accomodations. . .expensive but cool.



Whew! This has been the week of technology!



Bye for now!

Thing # 10 Google/You Tube

Well I took the real You Tube plunge this weekend. You see I have shown students some You Tube clips in recent weeks including Shift Happens, and some campaign '08 soundbites from the candidates on their Road to the White House trail. I found out (at home this weekend) that some You Tube searches could not be viewed due to the mature nature of the subject entered into their search engine. This led me to registering (and creating a User Name and Password) with You Tube so I can access those. I do feel however that I cannot and will not show any You Tube clip requiring me to log-in. This means the due to the mature subject matter my audience at school is too young and thus it is inappropriate. This makes sense to me perfectly. Additionally, I would never share a clip with students before viewing it first myself.


Lastly, why can't we share video clips from CNN? Frequently they have the clips I really want to share but cannot show at school due to the firewall that has been put up in SPPS to block their videos.

In any case, it is all very informative and also important for me to continue to learn how these search engines work. Also we all might want to discuss the nature of ethics and the appropriate use of these videos in our school.