High School Edition - March 2010
Tech Classes
Yeild Results
You will recall that last October
we offered two technology inte-
gration classes. I am happy to
report that our classes have made a
positive difference. Here are some
testimonials.
From the SMART Board class:
―I use the SMART Board software
each day with my classes … My
goal this semester was to pull po-
werpoints, pages of worksheets,
etc. into my lessons per topic to
help organize them. I have used
the scanner to bring together many
of the materials… My students
love the games and activities and
it makes the lessons more excit-
ing. Once I have the lessons orga-
nized, then I can add the bells and
whistles that the students like
best‖
Donna McAvene – Spanish AHS
―Although I do not have access to
a SMART Board, the lessons that
I created proved quite useful in
class on the LCD monitor, … Stu-
dents grasped the concept of
switching languages and under-
standing what was required the
first time round. It saved me from
a lot of repetitious explanations. It
is amazing how visual lessons
grasp their attention.
I also used the technology website
…. This is an audio/visual
SMART Board presentation on the
introduction of Francophone Cul-
ture. It is so well made. My
French One students loved it last
semester, and I am planning on
showing it again.‖
M. Therese Tseng – French NHS
From the Wikis and Blogs class
―I am very excited about using
blogging. I did not expect the
positive reception from my stu-
dents…First, I set up the assign-
ment which has to do with teach-
ing Formal Commands in Spanish.
The day before I explained and
taught the grammatical structure to
the students. Yesterday, I took the
whole class of 31 students to the
library where each student had a
computer…I was truly amazed
how the students were all able to
write their responses in Spanish
for this assignment. There were
few mistakes and everyone un-
derstood how and when to use
formal commands in Spanish…a
concept which normally takes me
much longer to teach.
I can say that my first blogging
experience was very positive and
the students were all very enthu-
siastic about a very dull topic be-
cause they were able to use tech-
nology.‖
Christine Darby – Spanish NHS
―My students are excited that the
pages they are creating are show-
ing up as links to other students’
pages. In just a matter of a few
days, they went from a blank page
to a cross-referencing document
about their musical preferences. In
other projects, I've found the stu-
dents will try to get by with the
least amount of work. With this
project, they're wanting to add
more to make the wiki more com-
plete….
The wiki is a perfect means for
exploratory learning. The students
are basically creating a notebook
together, teaching each other, and
learning research skills.‖
Chris Matthews – Band AHS
Here is a final note from a teacher
who did not take the class, but has
started using blogs this semester.
―In the past my Multi-Media De-
sign classes have kept journals in
Microsoft Word. This semester,
with some hesitance, I switched to
having my students keep online
blogs. To my surprise, this was
easy to set up and convenient to
grade—allowing me to give them
faster feedback. I anticipate that
the students will respond to this
with improved journal entries.‖
Barbara Witt – Business, CHS
Let me add two remarks of my
own. The first is the observation
that it would appear the foreign
language department constitutes
the vanguard in the integration of
technology. Perhaps you core
teachers tend to be somewhat re-
luctant out of fear that the inclu-
sion of ―21st century skills‖ will
take time from the teaching of
SOLS. From the quotes above,
you can see that, if structured
right, technology engages the stu-
dent and they can learn more in
less time.
My second remark is actually a
confession-- this article is partially
an elaborate plug
for the technolo-
gy integration
courses we are
offering in April.
Registration is at
3:45 Thursday in
the AMS library.
The subject, once again, is Video
Creation for the Classroom.
Updates
Underway
In my December newsletter I told
you that one of my upcoming
projects would be to update our
Technology Resource Web Pages.
I’ll never be able to say that I’ve
completed that project—these
pages will always be an ongoing
endeavor. However, I can say that
I’ve added a large number of new
resources to most of the resource
pages (I haven’t gotten quite as far
with the Social Studies as I have
with the others). If you visit the
pages you’ll see that I’ve clearly
labelled the additions which I’ve
made this semester. Click here to
check it out.
A Timely Offer
You may not be aware of it, but I
am the sole proprietor of
Blodgett’s Biological Products.
As such, I supple Eastern Shore
gardeners with top quality, locally
produced, organic fertilizer.
My stockyard Production line running
full steam.
Production worker taking a well deserved
break.
Contact me if you would like to
order a pick-up load of fertilizer
for your garden.
Web Picks
This one is a site where sticky
notes can be posted. I’ve put a bit
more information on a sample
page which you can see by click-
ing here.
―World’s most versatile flashcards‖
What I love about this site is that
you can type in one set of match-
ing terms, and they will automati-
cally be formatted into ten differ-
ent review games (oops, I meant
to say activities.) Check out a
sample I’ve created or register for
your own account by clicking
here.
Both of the above websites are set
up to be shared through Face-
book—which we may not be able
to use at school, but, I’ll bet the
majority of your students use at
home.
―Kidblog's simple, yet powerful
tools allow students to publish
posts and participate in discus-
sions within a secure classroom
blogging community. Teachers
maintain complete control over
student blogs…
Provide your students with an au-
thentic, engaging, and interactive
learning experience with Kid-
blog.‖
Two big differences between this
and other blogging sites, is that
this one is so simple to use, and is
created specifically for teachers to
use. The teacher has complete
control over who may see the
posts, as well as who may post and
comment and whether or not the
comment must be approved before
it goes on line.
ShapeCollage.com
―Create picture collages in less
than a minute with just a few
mouse clicks. Photos are automat-
ically and intelligently placed….
Use photos on your computer or
from the web to make collages.
Make collages in any imaginable
shape or form.‖ You can do it on-
line, on Facebook, or download
the program and do it on your
computer.
Click here is another good source
of professionally produced,
downloadable videos. Searchable
by subject.