NECC 2009

It's 4:45 in the morning. There is not much that could get us up this early in the morning, but Suzanne Shall and I are excitedly waiting to board our flight to Washington, D.C. to attend NECC 2009.

The National Education Computing Conference is the premiere technology conference. Last year we were fortunate enough to attend, and it changed the practice of our school completely. I wouldn't have my current position as Instructional Technology Coach at our school, if we hadn't attended this conference last year and seen the possibilities. So...our expectations are high for this year's conference. What will we learn? Well, stay tuned here each day next week because the blog posts will be plentiful. We want to share all we learn with you and hear from you...can't wait to get started!

Inquiry Science and Technology in a Primary Classroom

Using Technology in an Inquiry-based, 5E, Primary Classroom

Presented by Melissa Ross

Chets Creek Elementary, Jacksonville, FL

“Men love to wonder, and that is the seed of science.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

I presented this session yesterday. I teach inquiry science in my classroom using a variety of technology each day.

Inquiry Science is the hands-on, minds-on approach to science. Students are the scientists. They have many questions (oh boy, do they!) and the want answers. Inquiry science is their chance to explore and find the answers themselves. Students connect their previous knowledge with new ideas and findings.

Today’s demo lesson involved a “Yikes, Stripes!” lab. Ever wondered why the stripes on a zebra are considered camouflage? If you have a newspaper and several pieces of white construction paper, you're ready to find out. (Place 4 white rectangles and 4 newsprint rectangles on top of a piece of newsprint. Have students look at the newsprint for one second and count the number of rectangles seen. Have the students look at the newsprint for one minute and count the number of rectangles seen.) As promised, here are the materials from the session.

Second Grade Lab Report K Lab Report PowerPoint

Technology I literally don’t do a lesson without it! From the projector and document camera to the Cricut and podcasting the possibilities are endless. I have discovered some great tools that I would love to share with you.

Melissa’s Favorite Things

(Okay, so they may not be as popular Oprah’s list, but I guarantee once you try these, you will be hooked.)

1. Cricut Expression personal electronic cutter from Provocraft. This machine has been a time savor on many lessons and projects! It has many teacher-friendly options such as setting the size and quantity of items to be cut. A class set of anything you need cut is completed at the touch of a button. Each cartridge comes with several hundred variations of shapes and sizes to create and explore. They have an entire line of cartridges designed for teachers. The latest Cricut project includes a Cricut Classroom where teachers can share and explore standards based lessons using the products of the machine. This site is set to "go live" on March 1. Check often for creative, standards based lessons you and your kids are sure to love. Rumor has it they will be giving away a machine a month to people registered on thier site. (Good luck!)

2. CPS Clickers from eInstruction. These personal computer response pad systems allow students to answer questions and have reports compiled based on results. With a wide variety of question types, reports to print, and even imported state standards, these clickers are great way to assess students or to survey them to check for misconceptions. Question types range from multiple choice up to 8 choices, true/false, yes/no, and numeric values. These can be used for any subject and are a valuable assessment tool.

3.Virtual Fieldtrips from DigitalFrog. These computer programs will allow your students to research and explore different habitats from your classroom. They are very kid-friendly and very easy to use. The set includes a virtual fieldtrip to the desert, rainforest, and wetlands. The students can explore different plants, animals, etc. Almost every word is defined with the click of a button and some even pronounced. Students also have the option of creating their own habitat.

4. Podcasting is great tool that allows audio feed to be recorded and used in a variety of ways. The program is free to download online. All you need is a microphone. The ones that work best are the headphones with the microphone attached so that the student stays the same distance away from the microphone the entire recording.

5. Cool Timer is what I use is students need to be able to keep track of the time during their lab. It is free, and a great visual. They also have really cool tools like the sorting hat to randomly order and sort your students.

Technology in the Classroom

An Adolescent Literacy Program: Hot Linked and Online
Presented by: Dr. Elaine Weber

In her presentation, Elaine explained how to use simple, free, easy–to-access technology to make your teaching more efficient and effective and get your students more engaged in learning.
Elaine began her presentation with a pictorial look at the timeline of “A Day In The Technological Life of an Adolescent”. She went on to share the ABC’s for a new way of instruction.
º Abundance of Information
º Better Access to Technology
º Changing Role of Teachers
1. Downloader
2. Uploader
3. Connector
When Elaine spoke about “Abundance” she recommended that we read A Whole New Mind. It was good to know that at Chets, a small group conducted a book study with this text in 2006 and at the beginning of the 2007 school year our entire faculty was given the book! Dr. Weber shared different ways that today’s teacher must be a “Downloader”. We must know how to use the internet to search for resources to impact instruction. We were so excited by all of the sites that she turned us on to. Many of them are accessed through www.protopage.com/assessmentsystem. This is a free website that Elaine says is easy to use with assessment, instruction, activities, podcasts, videos, and polls. Be sure to take a look at “Stack the Deck for Good Reading Comprehension”. This is a card game to use with students in the classroom. The photopage website will give you a link to slideshare to download the cards. Other interesting sites she shared were Grammar Girl and Teachertube. Dr. Weber showed us Lit2Go. If you visit this site you can pick a book title and find a read aloud of the text. We learned more about Voicethread and its capabilities.

Dr. Weber’s next focus in her presentation was the importance of the teacher as a connector. Blogging is the way to go! She asked us to share about our Live From The Creek blog. We look forward to seeing the results of our blog. It is interesting to read the comments that were already written.

Using CPS for a Balanced Math Lesson

Technology and the Balanced Mathematics Lesson
Presentors: Michael Dantona and Victoria Moscatelli
Queens, NY

Michael is a vice principal at IS 5 Elmhurst. Victoria is a classroom teacher at Elmhurst that uses CPS in her classroom.

I was very excited to go to this session. The session focused on using the CPS clickers in math instruction. I personally own a set of these “clickers” and they have quickly become an essential tool in my classroom. I am presenting a science/technology session tomorrow in which I will take a little different spin on the clickers and use them for an actual lesson with participants.

What is CPS?

CPS is a Classroom Performance System, a package of software and hardware developed by eInstruction Corporation. The hardware consists of a receiver unit and 16, 24, or 32 response pads. The software and hardware work together to create and deliver course-relevant questions. The software reports student performance data.

The CPS system consists of a response pad and coordinating receiver unit. Each uniquely numbered pad transmits responses that the receiver unit records, and that the CPS software automatically attributes to the corresponding response pad number listed in the class. You must have a computer and LCD projector in order to use this system.

My favorite component of the system is the report generator. You can immediately generate data through a variety of reports that you can use to evaluate your students’ performance on a given assessment. Reports can be printed as an entire class, by question, by student, etc. You can review the report assessment, print your assessment, or export the assessments to the following file types: plain text, HTML, Excel, or PDF.

The clickers can be used during any part of the workshop. The most common time to use it, however, is the opening or closing session. The immediate feedback can be used to diagnose students strengths and weaknesses as well as any misconceptions students have.

Participants were shown how to insert questions into the system. Questions can also be used through PowerPoint.

LA Ink

Okay, I know I live in a different generation from many of the teachers that I coach (who are the ages of my grown children) and am far, far, far removed from the generation of my grandchild. That was never more apparent to me than last night as I am traveling around Los Angeles with the teachers that are with me at the conference (all my children’s ages). As we are going down a somewhat “seedy street” (my description, probably not theirs), the principal and a teacher recognized LA Ink which is a tattoo shop! I was a little appalled at the sight of all those tattooed leather-bound guys and gals but even more appalled to learn that my principal and good teacher pal wanted to get out, peek in and have their picture made! They actually watch the reality show that features this tattoo shop!

Why is this even important (except that it makes me feel so old!)? It is important because these next generation teachers and the children that I am teaching are living in a world that I know little about. They are growing up with technology that I am struggling to understand and use in my educational practice, but I am committed to learn how to incorporate it as a tool. This is a first step - maybe a baby step - but a first step none the less.