Today one of Clarence Fisher's thoughtful posts at his blog, Remote Access, caught my attention. The topic was work-arounds. As often happens, I found myself writing a response that grew and grew until it was too big for a comment. So I cut it in half and resolved to author my own post which builds upon what I understood Clarence to be saying:
He wonders.
Should we be teaching work-arounds as a digital skill?
detourThose of us who teach in labs do it all the…
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Added by L. Suzanne Shanks on June 10, 2009 at 5:30pm —
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This meme is circulating around the edublogosphere and I thought it was very motivating. I first heard about it on Twitter, and then again from LoonyHiker at Successful Teaching and Clif Mims at ClifNotes. I wasn't tagged -- but they say anyone can participate! I invite all my readers to do so. (Are there any readers? LOL)
FishEyeLearningDirections
Summer can be a great time for professional development. It is an opportunity to learn more about a topic, read a particular…
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Added by L. Suzanne Shanks on June 7, 2009 at 5:30pm —
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Recent research shows that some of our most prevalent ideas about web safety are just plain wrong. The very small percentage of children who are victimized in ways related to the Internet are those who: enter private chat rooms, discuss topics of a sexual nature, or meet offline with strangers. Internet offenders pretended to be teenagers in only 5% of the crimes studied by researchers. Visiting popular social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook do not appear to increase children’s…
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Added by L. Suzanne Shanks on April 17, 2009 at 5:30pm —
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I've been home on medical leave for about 10 days now and just couldn't stay away from work/educational technology any longer. My substitute needed some inspiration for this week, so I spent some time finding a great deal of online, interactive educational sites for him and then grouped them according to middle school grade level curricula at our district. Some would require more lesson planning and/or supervision than others and many are well-suited for interactive white board use. Some are…
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Added by L. Suzanne Shanks on March 30, 2009 at 12:00pm —
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I could give an excuse here about why I haven't been blogging, but the truth is I have never achieved blogging regularity and I especially wasn't motivated to do so during the summer. I continue to battle with the reality that I have nothing new to say - whenever I am inspired on a topic it seems that 5-10 people in the edublogosphere or Twitter have already discussed it and I rarely have a more original thought than theirs. I'm not sure what to do with that fact. I still plan to reflect here…
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Added by L. Suzanne Shanks on August 8, 2008 at 12:00pm —
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I could give an excuse here about why I haven't been blogging, but the truth is I have never achieved blogging regularity and I especially wasn't motivated to do so during the summer. I continue to battle with the reality that I have nothing new to say - whenever I am inspired on a topic it seems that 5-10 people in the edublogosphere or Twitter have already discussed it and I rarely have a more original thought than theirs. I'm not sure what to do with that fact. I still plan to reflect here…
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Added by L. Suzanne Shanks on July 30, 2008 at 12:00pm —
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It's only mid-June and I have already attended an international train-the-trainer event (held in the U.S.), presented at a tech conference, and am eagerly anticipating my state's big tech conference next week. I'll be facilitating some online and face-to-face trainings this fall so I'm preparing for those. And oh yes, I'm looking forward to teaching in my own air-conditioned classroom!
As you can see, I am totally pumped very enthused about the coming year and all that I hope my…
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Added by L. Suzanne Shanks on June 19, 2008 at 12:00pm —
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I wrote recently to a couple of the higher-ups in my district to ask about next year's 21st Century Learning plans and directions because I had heard nothing since the first and only mention of it (within my hearing) last April. You already know about that Summit if you've been reading my blog.
The back-story is that I have not been able to get anyone from the district to provide me with any kind of mission or goal statement about educational technology for at least two years because…
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Added by L. Suzanne Shanks on June 19, 2008 at 12:00pm —
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Where are you starting your journey with PBL? I’m already excited about PBL and have done parts of it before; never in a formal sense that included all the usual steps. I think many elementary-trained teachers do this instinctively but it is more rare to think like that at the junior high level. In the era of true “middle school” there was a lot more teaching with integrated units & projects, so although that’s sort of gone away in the era of high-stakes testing (at least around here), I’ve…
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Added by L. Suzanne Shanks on June 15, 2008 at 12:00pm —
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During the next few weeks I’ll be writing quite a few posts about my journey through the book Reinventing Project-Based Learning – Your Field Guide to Real-World Projects in the Digital Age by Suzie Boss and Jane Krauss. I determined that studying the book would be part of my Self-Styled Summer Professional Development Plan. Many of you have heard of the book and have been exposed to these two talented ladies’ work. I was lucky to participate in an Elluminate! session with them via Bud Hunt's…
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Added by L. Suzanne Shanks on June 15, 2008 at 12:00pm —
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I was honored to present at the Technology and Teaching Conference last week in Bismarck (notes in previous post). I also had the opportunity to attend several great sessions by leaders in the field. I will be sharing some of the information I gleaned with you. Much of the material in today's Byte is derived from a session by Chris O'Neal who works at the University of Virginia. I'd like to publicly thank him for the insights and resources he presented. (More about Chris.)
Let's be…
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Added by L. Suzanne Shanks on June 8, 2008 at 12:00pm —
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The show linked here does not include narration but you will find the notes below my contact information.
The address of the wiki with all the notes and the slideshow is http://thinkoef.wikispaces.com
Contact:
Suzanne Shanks, MA
Classroom Teacher,
Technology Integration Coach
PO BOX 8256
Colorado Springs, Colorado
On Think.com: Ms.…
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Added by L. Suzanne Shanks on June 4, 2008 at 12:00pm —
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Everybody's Using Google Maps to Tell Digital Stories - And Not Just in Geography Class.
Tech Bytes LogoThis week's Tech Byte gives you a chance to try a taste of a great, free online resource for making map(s) which tell a digital story.
Below is an excerpt from an excellent tutorial by Technology Integration Facilitator Silvia Tolisano from her blog "Langwitches." She is an amazing blogger who has written quite a few other excellent tutorials about edtech. I hope that…
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Added by L. Suzanne Shanks on May 29, 2008 at 12:00pm —
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Today our Tech Byte gathers inspiration from Jeff Utecht, a widely known and respected educator and presenter who teaches in China. He discovered that his school's Wikipedia entry had incorrect information in it so he writes about the broader implications of that. (FYI - this week's Byte is not about wikis again.)
reputation_look.jpgJeff's post begets another equally important question, "What is your personal online reputation?" I am frequently in the business of teaching youngsters…
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Added by L. Suzanne Shanks on May 27, 2008 at 12:00pm —
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I remember back on April 4 when my district held a big fancy festival with all kinds of local dignitaries, Superintendents, Apple sales reps, smartboard sales reps, document camera reps, etc.: the 21st Century Learning Summit. Four teachers from every school were paid substitute time so they could go. I was lucky enough to be one of them. It was impressive, but just one day and a few mini-seminars on podcasting, web site/blog hosting, that kind of thing. Just a taste of TwoPointOh topics. I was…
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Added by L. Suzanne Shanks on May 16, 2008 at 12:00pm —
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NBC News now has a community for middle and high school learners. NBC Learn,the educational arm of NBC News, has partnered in the project: a patented, MIT developed, cue card-based platform called iCue (Immerse, Connect, Understand, and Excel). The site will be a combination media player, game arcade, discussion forum, note-taking space, and trading card venue. The students can watch streaming videos from NBC News and flip the stories' Cue-Cards over to find out more and discuss the…
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Added by L. Suzanne Shanks on May 14, 2008 at 12:00pm —
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I'm starting a new habit of sending what I'm calling Tech Bytes; short, informative email snacks about tech. Sometimes I'll quote other articles or blogs and sometimes I'll write my own content--whatever I can to to whet the appetite or increase knowledge. My audience will be friends, family, and educators who have shown a craving or slight hunger for tech-knowledge. I don't know if anyone will actually read these but I'm sending them anyway. It's not really any different than blogging; we are…
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Added by L. Suzanne Shanks on May 14, 2008 at 11:30am —
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Don't tell anyone, but this cheerful but aloof teacher had a serious moment of grief yesterday. It happens every year--don't tell me you haven't experienced it, too. These kids I've known since they were 11 and who are now 14, going off to high school, saying goodbye. . . it makes my eyes leak! A lot! Sometimes I even have to hide from them for a few minutes on the last day of school; I don't think it will help ease their transition for them to see me this way. Now I've admitted it. I'm…
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Added by L. Suzanne Shanks on April 27, 2008 at 11:30am —
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Many of you know that my school has been working an extra 65 minutes a day this year so we could clear out early for the demolition/remodel. Now we are conducting all the activities that happen at year end at the same time as we are conducting all the activities that happen in April. A couple of us were chatting today in the counseling office how great it might be to have a job that was only 50 hours a week (and no homework beyond that would be awesome, as well!). Obviously we are tired and so…
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Added by L. Suzanne Shanks on April 22, 2008 at 11:30am —
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**UPDATE**
I only lasted 2 days. Oops.
I heard about Screen Free Week through a post on Jeff Utecht's U Tech Tips. The idea is to abstain from using any screen except for must-do work tasks. Apparently the event happens once a year. Because I am someone who struggles with work-life-web balance, it seemed like an inspired idea. TV zombieNo Twitter. No reading non-work blogs. No personal email (except for emergencies, in which case, wouldn't phone call would be better…
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Added by L. Suzanne Shanks on April 21, 2008 at 11:30am —
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