On the Trails

I am sitting in the Buffalo Airport waiting for my “ride” back to the Outer Banks in NC and I got to thinking about my discussion today about what kids need to know.  I was in a meeting with HS teachers and technology integrators and we were talking about office skills and what the HS [...]

I remember my second grade teacher, Mrs. Heismann asking us to write about our summer vacation.  (this was in 1974, in St. Mary’s School, Dansville, New York). We wrote it on paper and I am sure that she had to use quite a bit of imagination to envision what we wrote.  Today’s child can blog [...]

Trail #1 - The Secure Teacher

Make sure passwords are alphanumeric and 8 characters long

Password Generation tricks:

Mnemonic sprinkled with numbers

birthday (e.g. 4161966) blended with a word you will remember

Gibson Research Corporation Password Generator

Write down your secure passwords and put them in your wallet or purse

Trail #2 - Firefox, The Instructional Platform

Create a dynamic learning environment for [...]

A few days ago, I wrote a post called the space shuttle endeavor and the two ways to write about that event. I want to refine the thoughts below:
Here are the steps I followed in order to write the new way:

I used Scribefire, a firefox add-on to write this blog post. (I did so, because [...]

Steven Spielberg did not direct E.T. to keep to himself.  He did so in hopes that it would be a film that people would love.  In schools we tend to have students create products for a grade and usually only for the teacher.  That mentality just makes me sad…. ;-(
Well, to counteract the sadness I [...]

a. How do you arrange for and track student time on the computers to guarantee equal access?

Teachers in my school have access to multiple wireless computer carts.  Although in the K- 2 world there are still clusters.  In order to ensure equal access, teachers should NOT think of using the computer as an extra - [...]

We spend a lot of money on keyboarding programs. We do this to track student progress and I fell victim to this a few years back.  I have changed my mind and believe that by doing authentic tasks, students will learn where the keys are and from there, you can guide them toward proper technique [...]

In June of 2005, I wrote a blog post called “Shouldn’t we Start Teaching Keyboarding as Often as Handwriting“.  I really believe that keyboarding can really improve student learning. Using a word processor to write is completely different writing than using a pen/pencil and paper.  I think we should get kids as early as 5 [...]

Use the summer to plan units/lessons/projects
Stop using workbooks
Put kids in groups (use tables or arrange their desks)
Use more jigsaw activities
Stop thinking that grades are more important than LEARNED concepts
Showcase student work on your classroom web page
Use the ideas from Marzano and Bloom to help design lessons
Encourage your school district to create and PUBLISH a curriculum [...]

When I hear this phrase, it makes me wonder about schools. Why do schools have to think about how to make students self-directed? Why don’t schools believe that students are already self-directed? The answer:
The content or delivery is boring!
How many adults do you know sit in a room, in rows, not able [...]

I could write a post about how my kids and I watched the space shuttle Endeavor launch yesterday on the web, but that would just be another blog post about it. I believe that writing is different in this day and age. I really believe teachers can create better learning experiences with a [...]

The Universal Design for Learning, a concept developed at CAST (the Center for Applied Special Technology) was designed to provide:

Multiple means of representation, to give learners various ways of acquiring information and knowledge,
Multiple means of expression, to provide learners alternatives for demonstrating what they know, [...]

I have been looking for reading strategies to teach to kids for a long time. I have found some at: CAST UDL Book Builder’s web site
These are not my words - they are the words from the web site that I would like to remember.  I give full credit to the inspirational folks at CAST.

Reading [...]

Although fiber to the home will certainly change how we entertain/educate/communicate with the world, I believe that wireless access to everyone, everywhere with small computers will have a greater impact than just high-speed to the home.  Here is why?

most questions I have about things come about when I am not at home (I have FIOS [...]

The Monster Exchange Project is an Internet project that has been around for a few years.  I am in the middle of creating a Unit Plan on a PBWiki (so I can add teacher collaborators later). I would like to use this project in the with the district I currently work for and with my [...]

I conducted a workshop this past week for seven teachers who wanted to build an online learning center out of their classroom web site. Here is the result of their work:

K Teacher, Speech/Language Teacher, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, & HS Foreign Language

Prior to us populating their learning centers, I showed them the revised Did You [...]

This post will be completed when I meet with my seven teachers later this morning. I am going to ask them to do three things:

Use my message board to brainstorm teaching with technology concerns
Use my message board to brainstorm solutions to those concerns
Use this blog to create a Gameplan of ideas from teachers - not [...]