On the Trails

My Dad sent this to me. He and my step mom, aunt and uncle are traveling west in an RV. Two former school teachers/principals and two Italians (I means Sicilians – but they are such great ladies) – can’t wait to read their daily posts
Day 2 – Sept 29th
Last night went [...]

Here is what happened to them this week at school. Bryce is in 2nd grade and Brooke is in Kindergarten.

Well, Bryce went to music and library and he got a book out on hermit crabs.
Brooke sat with her friend Issac.
Bryce went to art and he made a picture with crayons. The picture was about a [...]

While on my trip to Outer Banks, many questions arose that I did not know the answers to, they were:

Why did the ocean turn foamy on Thursday, when it was not that way the prior five days?
Hpw does the dew point affect a person’s comfort level?
How did the Wright Brothers get themselves to the Outer [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

David Warlick wrote about a teacher who understands the use of blogs – Angela Roy Gets It.
I would concur with David, we blog to become part of a community. They are a way to keep in touch with what is happening in our world or in our area. With that thought in mind, I [...]

I have been collecting web resources for many, many years. I use these resources when I help strategize learning experiences with teachers and students. Below is a typical middle school scenario:
A math teacher wants to do a lesson that addresses this performance indicator (PI) and question type:

PI: Apply percents to: Tax, Percent [...]

Please add some web resources to our PI (performance indicator) Wiki. You can get those resources from:

your own personal stash
my del.icio.us library
my learning center

When bookmarking web resources please follow this format:

You must use Del.icio.us – if you need an account – click here.
When bookmarking:

Notes Section: MUST INCLUDE A PERFORMANCE INDICATOR from the NYLearns website. [...]

In theory, anyone with an Internet connection anywhere in the world can look at your web site, your blog and…your ideas. Think about that!
Do you want to get some perspective on that thought?Well, Dr. Scott McLeod and Karl Fish have created a presentation that will show you how connected we are because of the Internet.

If [...]

I think our world is getting a little closer to my vision with technology with devices like the iPhone and other mobile devices.  I think the vision for technology is simple.
The End Result:
One must be able to access information, process information and do something with that information at anytime and at any place.
Self-Directed Learning.

When [...]

New York State Learning Standards for Mathematics

Process Strand: Problem Solving
    Performance Indicator 7.A.2 Add and subtract monomials with exponents of one [Band: Variables and Expressions]
 
This is a question, from the above standard, that one school district in Central New York did poorly on from the 2006 [...]

To moderate or not too moderate, that is the question. I have been experimenting with an eduBlogs blog the last few weeks and here are my conclusions.

To Moderate
To Not Moderate

Ensures that inappropriate comments are not posted by students
Slows down the collaboration process because you need to be logged in to Word Press in order [...]

My four year old daughter wants to sell lemonade and “butter” cookies at the end of my dead end street – that is funny in itself
She says to me, because the laptop is on my outdoor table,
Hey, we could look them up on the web!
So, I ask her, how are we going to [...]

I was at the printer this morning and found a lesson plan template for a 2nd grade teacher.  As I glanced down, I noticed that the kids did journal writing every day.  And a “oh, yeah, I used to do,” that thought popped into my head.
When I taught 3rd and 4th grade we used to [...]

What did you learn today? Post your thoughts in the form of a comment.

bTcacTus written as Graffiti

addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fbtcactus.edublogs.org%2F2007%2F06%2F03%2Fgraffiti-blog%2F’;
addthis_title = ‘Graffiti+Blog’;
addthis_pub = ”;

Many teachers use a “ticket out of the classroom” system that concludes a lesson.  The teacher requires that kids write down something they learned. 
So, what not make that learned thought – public and archived. How……how about having kids post a comment to your blog.
When I taught third grade, I used to have the kids [...]

I was working with a fifth grade teacher today who wanted his kids to write reflections of their recent trip to Washington D.C. His students had typed a draft in Word already (yeehaw – someone gets it). As he conferenced with his kids, he did not feel that the kids were “getting it.” [...]