Integrating Technology & Genius Hour: My Journey as a Teacher & Learner
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Reading. Thinking. Planning. (about my next field study inquiry question)

12/13/2011

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Read an interesting blog today...

Here is the link:http://whatedsaid.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/10-ways-school-has-changed/

It talks about how classrooms are changing & the way in which we teach is changing.  One point that really grabbed my attention (as I am thinking about doing my next field study on the topic of genius hour) was:"We used to teach everything we wanted students to know… Now we know learning can take place through student centred inquiry"

This is what I want to do next term.  Give the students an hour a week to research their own inquiry project, and let their imaginations and interests guide their learning (instead of me).


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My plans for next term

12/7/2011

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We had our last class for the Fall term yesterday...it went really well.  We all shared our field studies and talked about what we have learned this term.  I really enjoy just sitting around with colleagues and talking about teaching...wish there was more time during the week to do this.  

I am thankful that Marlowe gives us time with our cohort to talk....collaboration really is so wonderful.  I learn so much from my fellow teachers.

During the evening I shared what I plan on doing for my next field study:
genius hour and e-portfolios

As I was talking about genius hour and explaining what it is to my group, I got a tweet from a teacher in Massachusetts about how she plans on doing genius hour with her grade 4s..it was such perfect timing as I was in the middle of talking about it myself...twitter is an incredible tool for collaboration too!  

I can't wait to start genius hour with my class next term (in January)


:D
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I thought I was literate...

12/4/2011

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From my journal some time in October 2011...

Last class we learned about media literacy...I was blown away by all the things the director did in the movie that I did not even notice...I guess I am not that media literate :( need to start paying way more attn!!!

And if I need to start paying more attention, then so do my students!!!  Time to review my CAPP program and make some changes!!!!
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I am a tree.

12/4/2011

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Had to present my growth to my class today
As Barbara Walters often asks, "If you were a tree what kind of tree would you be?"
I am trying to think of how to show my growth... I don't have any clever quilt colour pattern to show it and I feel like I should. I think that stresses me out more than learning technology...and in thinking that I realize something wonderful. I am a medium sized tree. I am partially grown. I understand a lot and pick up technology quickly (show me once, and I will usually get it right away) & so I don't have any huge growth to show cus I came into this already a medium sized tree & we are only a couple months in. In May 2013 I plan on being a full grown tree.
_
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and more 2.0

12/4/2011

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_Well...I am just thrilled with how many online programs there are that are useful to teachers...here are some more:
  • Glogster
    Great way to share posters and images you’ve made with friends
  • Edmodo
    Social learning environment and one of the best ways to teach with tech
  • Bubbl.us
    Free application to brainstorm online
  • Twitter
    The micro blogging service that many love or hate.
  • WordPress
    Content publishing system. It’s gone way beyond just blogging.
  • Prezi
    Innovative way to share presentations without PowerPoint
  • Wallwisher
    An online notice board maker (or bulletin board if you choose)
  • Animoto
    Make beautiful videos from images in a snap
  • Blabberize
    Make your images talk…that’s right.
  • Weebly
    Create your own website or blog, very easy to use (LOVE wee
  • Flickr
    Popular photo-sharing site now lets you print
  • Slideshare
    Don’t waste your presentation after it’s over, share it with millions!
  • Audioboo
    Easily record and share audio
  • VoiceThread
  • GoogleDocs
    The top real-time document creating and editing cloud-based system/ tends to slow down A LOT if a whole class is logged on
  • GoogleSites
    Make your own website while knowing nothing about websites!
  • Diigo
    Popular social bookmarking site
  • GoogleEarth
    View anywhere in the world anytime
  • Wordle
    Create a beautiful aggregation of any amount of text
  • Wikis
    Crowdsourcing at its finest. Like Wikipedia, Wikispaces is very helpful
  • Wix
    Easily make your own flash-based website
  • Primarypad
    Web-based word processor
  • Spicy Nodes
    Innovative way to organize your web visits
  • Delicious
    One of the top social bookmarking sites on the web
  • Myebook
    Virtually publish your book and sell it
  • Voki
    Get your own avatar and even have it talk with your voice
  • DoInk
    Create animations using this simple website
  • Warning Sign Generator
    Make your own caution and warning signs in a flash!
  • Scratch
    Create and share stories, games, art, etc.
  • Kerpoof
    Cool way to make a movie, card, picture, and share it all
  • Tagxedo
    Like Wordle but a step farther as text can be used to build bigger images (a better wordle I think)
  • SmartKiddies
    Creative math and other educational problems to help everyone learn
  • Bitstrips
    Make and share your own comic strips with thousands of others
  • Popplet
    An easy way to share visual ideas/ can slow down if too many kids are on at one time
  • Storyjumper
    Easy way to create your own stories for kids and bring them to life
  • Aviary Myna
    Make your own music or remix just about anything else
  • TimeToast
    Fantastic timeline visualization tool to understand history
  • GoAnimate for schools
    State of the art animation tools for schools
  • PBWorks
    Thousands of educational wikis and workspaces (build your own!)
  • Schoology
    Learning management, online education tools, and much more
  • Google Timeline
    A unique way to view the news
  • Online-Convert
    Convert anything to anything (audio, video, text, etc.)
  • ReadWriteThink
    Tons of classroom resources and PD goodies
  • Storybird
    Build your own stories (with images) and share them with others
  • Word Magnets
    Phonics reinforcement and sentence building exercise
  • Museum Box
    Innovative way to understand history/ great for projects!
  • Atmosphir
    A build-your-own video game
  • Empressr
    Rich media presentation tool
  • Zoho
    A great alternative to Google Apps
  • EasyBib
    The free automatic bibliography and citation maker
  • ToonDooSpaces
    Easily publish custom comic strips
  • Crocodoc
    Annotate and edit PDFs
My Favourites are in red
Thank you to whoever started this list...I had it saved to my computer and I am not even sure where it has come from!!!
So thank you mystery person!!!



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Loving the web 2.0 tools available to teachers

12/4/2011

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Have been thinking a lot about prezi and powerpoint lately and which one I like better....I taught prezi to a colleague's grade 7 class the other day and they really enjoyed it, and so do I...but powerpoint is a little more user friendly (in my opinion). 

I like what my colleague, Mr. McDonald, did though...he gave the students the choice.  He taught them about ppt and I taught them about prezi and he is going to let the students decide which program they want to use for their presentations.  

Giving students choice..always a great thing :)

On a side note, I am still thinking about Museum Box and it can be used in the 5/6 classroom in a useful way.
I recommended it to an LST teacher at my school as she was looking for 
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    My name is Gallit Zvi and I am an Elementary School Teacher and Vice Principal in Surrey, BC. I am also a blogger and co-author of The Genius Hour Guidebook.
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