Sweet Tweets from the Classroom

Teachers in our district have started using social media, such as blogs and Twitter, to provide families with a better picture of what goes on during a typical day at school. Twitter is a social networking/micro-blogging platform that allows users to post short (up to 140 characters) updates (called tweets) about any topic they want. Before Rock Creek fifth grade teacher Melissa Flatt started using Twitter, she surveyed her parents. “. . . only 10 percent of parents indicated their child provided them a clear picture about their learning.” Now Melissa tries to “tweet” two or times a day, which, she explains, “over the course of a month provides parents a lot of information about our classroom happenings. For me, Twitter takes less time than a newsletter. The greatest challenge is getting reluctant parents to check out Twitter.”

Nonetheless, Melissa gets confirmation that parents are appreciating her efforts. One email she received gets to the real power of using social media like Twitter to connect with parents: “Honestly, I had mixed feelings about the Twitter page at first. But since I have seen your postings, I think it is fantastic! It is great to have a starting point to talk to [my son] about his day. Instead of asking the old question, 'What did you do in school today?' and getting the same old response, ‘Nothing’ or ‘I don't know,’ nowI have something specific to refer to when posing the same old question!”

Brandon Betlach, fifth grade teacher at Glacier Park, has had a similar experience. Brandon was excited to hear that some of his students liked that he was using Twitter because “it reminds them what they did so they can talk with their parents later!” Like Melissa, Brandon and his students “tweet” two or three times a day. Both teachers enjoy having the students help them craft the message that will go out to parents.

To learn more about how teachers can use Twitter in education, view this slideshow http://www.slideshare.net/hopkinsdavid/twitter-in-education and/or listen to this NPR story featuring a Seattle area teacher who uses Twitter: KPLU: Twitter in the Classroom (2009-05-26)


ActiVotes: All in Favor Say Yea!

ActiVotes are great tools for engaging students in learning. They can be used to activate students’ prior knowledge, assess student learning, check for understanding, poll students’ opinions, as well as a variety of other things. ActiVotes provide students and teachers with instant feedback. Traditionally when teachers want to know if their students understand variables, multiplication or division, vocabulary word meanings or the theme of a story, they have students respond using paper and pencil. But thanks to the generosity of Glacier Park’s PTA, teachers are using a device that is engaging for students and creates an atmosphere that aligns with 21st century learning. At the beginning of the year, Tim Talmage’s class at GPES was focusing on classroom expectations. For the students to take ownership in the expectations, they created a list of expectations they felt were necessary to follow in the classroom. Students then used the ActiVotes to determine which expectations the class would adopt and follow for the entire year.

Last year, Rock Creek purchased two sets of ActivExpression voting devices. These are the newer version of the ActiVotes that allow for more than just A-F multiple-choice responses. The devices look similar to a cell phone, with a screen and a key pad. They allow for a variety of different responses, such as true/false, yes/no, multiple-choice, sort in order, Likert scale rating, numeric responses, and text responses. These devices can work in conjunction with an ActivBoard, but teachers don’t need a board to use them. They are actually tied to a USB hub that can be used with a special version of the software that doesn’t need an ActivBoard.

Teachers who are using ActiVote and ActivExpression devices report that they are enhancing instruction, providing a quick way to monitor and assess understanding, and making a very positive impact on student learning! Have you tried the ActiVotes at your school? Every school has at least one set (some schools have several) that can be checked out and used by any teacher. Check with a 10Tech Teacher Leader in your building to find out how ActiVotes are handled in your building.

Windows 7 Coming Soon to a Laptop Near You

Yes, it’s true, Windows 7 will soon replace Vista as the operating system on staff laptops. For most staff members the transition will be barely noticeable. Windows 7 retains much of the look and feel of Vista, but offers better battery life, faster processing, and improved organization. The most significant change is how you connect to a projector—in Windows 7, you do so through the Start menu. The change will not affect the Office 2007 products.

When can you expect to see this change? Beginning sometime in February, any laptop that needs to be reimaged will be reimaged with Windows 7. Then, later this year we’ll launch a reimaging campaign to get all staff laptops converted to Windows 7. If reimaging scares you, fear not; User State Migration is on its way! User State Migration allows your personal settings (like your Outlook signature and other personal preferences) to reappear after reimaging. Yes! This means the future of reimaging looks far less painful. This feature is still in development but will be ready to use when we move all staff over to Windows7 later this year.

Excited? To learn more about Windows 7, visit http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/help/getting-started .

Authors from Ohio and New York Visit Tahoma Classroom

Global Academy students at Tahoma High School have been studying sustainability issues and systems thinking, both topics that the novel Vapor Trails explores against the backdrop of Hurricane Katrina. On December 15, the students spoke with the authors, Bob Siegel and Roger Salient, via video conference. Sailant joined the class from Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio, and Siegel tuned in from Rochester, NY. The connection with the authors was made through http://www.tokbox.com/, a free video conferencing service. Students gathered in the lecture hall to speak with the authors, who were projected on the large screen. All that was necessary to create this successful and meaningful activity for students was a teacher laptop, an inexpensive external microphone (which allowed us to turn off our microphone when the authors were talking to reduce feedback), and a little testing to make sure everything would work BEFORE trying it in front of 86 students. If you are interested in connecting your students with the world outside your classroom via video conference, let Kimberly Allison know; she can help you set things up.

E-Mail Safety: Be Cyber Smart!

Doug Eash, Technology Supervisor, recently alerted staff members to a particularly deceptive email. We thought we'd follow up with some information about email safety.

Our spam filter does a great job of blocking most spam. In fact, according to Ben Hyatt, Technology System Engineer, this week alone we have received over 156,000 e-mail messages. Of those, only about 1/5 of them were deemed clean and delivered to the user. Of the 4/5 that were rejected as spam, nearly 100 of them included viruses. Sure, occassionally spam makes its way into our inbox, but thanks to our spam filter, staff members don't have to deal with the majority of it. However, when spam does makes its way to our inbox, it's important that we act appropriately by not clicking links, not opening attachments, and deleting the message. In the case of the spam that Doug alterted us to today, the spammers ingeniously made it seem like the e-mail was coming from someone connected to our tech department. No way, Jose! Our tech department will never send e-mails like this. (Same for your bank--never click on links to reset your password that appear to come from a reputable source unless you've requested to have your password reset.) Clinking on links in spam e-mail can have a range of negative effects from increasing the spam you receive in the future to more nefarious consequences such as viruses and identity theft. If you'd like to learn more, read about e-mail safety here.

10Tech Learn and Earn (Clock Hours) On-line Class

What? Both an elementary and a secondary version of this class are being offered.
When? Begins February 2, ends in May
How? 15 minutes a week for 12 weeks = 3 clock hours
Where? You decide. Your living room? School? Starbucks? Wherever you can carve out 15 minutes to read and respond to a weekly prompt/activity.

In an effort to introduce teachers to the wide array of technology tools and resources that they can take advantage of and how blogging can be used as a method of communication, we will be hosting an online conversation for Tahoma School District educators beginning in February. To participate, simply send Kimberly Allison and email telling her to sign you up and indicate whether you want the elementary or secondary version of this class. Each week we will be exploring a tech tool with potential for classroom use. We hope this experience will give you an opportunity not only to learn more about educational technology and blogging, but also to share your thoughts and ideas in a public forum.