http://barblcohen.edublogs.org A blog about using technology at a K-8 independent school Thu, 17 Jul 2008 04:18:23 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I love attending conferences with colleagues. Truth be told, the content and location of the conference are so much less important than the time spent together off campus, with time to free-associate, dream and collaborate together. But as it happens, BLC08 is turning out to be simply fabulous. We're ... http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2008/07/17/blogging-with-colleagues-about-blc08/ I leave SF early tomorrow morning to attend the Building Learning Communities conference in Boston, MA. Five of my MCDS colleagues and I will be attending together. I absolutely can't wait. Haven't heard of this conference? Visit http://www.novemberlearning.com or watch this video: http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2008/07/12/off-to-blc-08/ That's me on the left -- or at least how I've been feeling lately -- a snake all curled up, waiting patiently, ready to pounce at a moment's notice. In many ways, that seems to be my role as a Tech Coordinator with our K-8 teachers. Over 2 years ago, I ... http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2008/04/02/taking-the-long-view/ We're hosting the March face-to-face BAISNet Meeting tomorrow morning, March 10. See the wiki for the meeting by clicking here. http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2008/03/10/baisnet-meeting-mcds/ [kml_flashembed movie="http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=74963" width="480" height="360" wmode="transparent" /] http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2008/03/05/kindergarten-cow-facts/ Our 8th Graders have spent their last two times with Kindergarten buddies using technology to help create projects. Several weeks ago, the "big buddy" used Sketchup to help the "little buddy" create a dream house. This week we used laptops and a Powerpoint template to compose and publish stories together. ... http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2008/02/29/buddies-love-technology/ [kml_flashembed movie="http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=59990" width="480" height="360" wmode="transparent" /] http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2008/02/26/kindergarten-uses-voicethread-to-wonder-about-trout/ Thanks to Andrea Hernandez of Ed Tech Workshop for tagging me for this cool Passion Quilt meme.Directions: Find or create an image that captures what you are most passionate for kids to learn about. I decided to use an image from my own school. This photo came from a project one ... http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2008/02/13/meme-passion-quilt-4/ I am a child of the Seventies. My kindergarten class was the very first group of 5-year olds who entered kindergarten already having watched the first year of the new PBS show, Sesame Street. My kindergarten teacher had to rethink large portions of her curriculum because we all came to ... http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2008/02/10/teaching-with-technology-the-electric-company/ Today my colleagues and I spent the day at The Nueva School in Hillsborough, CA. We were hosted by Matt Levinson, the Head of Middle School, and were there with the intention of hearing about their brand-new 1:1 laptop program in grades 6-8.The Nueva School is a 40-year old K-8 ... http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2008/02/08/11-site-visit-the-nueva-school/ At times I have to remind myself that technology integration often happens on this campus without the Tech Coordinators' direct involvement. Such is the case with one of our 6th Grade Spanish teachers, a self-defined technology resistant teacher, who inquired in the Fall about how to use GarageBand to record ... http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2008/01/29/recording-voices-and-keeping-quiet-about-it/ I've been very anxious to begin playing with the new educational version of Voicethread, and I finally found a willing set of guinea pigs in our 2nd Grade Team. If all goes according to plan, we should begin recording student voices later this week. For $10, it has been relatively ... http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2008/01/23/maiden-voyage-with-voicethread/ As I wrote in "I May Be Nuts, But..." a few months ago, I am now the advisor of a 1x/week blog club for 6th Graders. Although the first meeting attracted boys only, by the end of November we had 7 girls in the club as well. The kids were ... http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2008/01/23/6th-grade-blog-club-a-few-first-glimmers-of-hope/ Here's a super simple way that a 2nd Grade teacher published student work on her class webpage using iPhoto Slideshow: http://www.mcds.org/data/files/Gallery/ClassroomGallery/HanselGretelVersion2.mov  http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2008/01/07/2nd-grade-hansel-gretel-slideshow/ 2nd Graders using 3-D modeling software? No way! See for yourselves...here is a little project our very own 2nd Graders have been working on.  To quote one student, "Now I like going to the Computer Lab even more than lunch!!"  Click here to see the projects. http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2007/12/17/i-love-sketchup/ ..some 6th Grade boys approached me last month with the idea of starting a lunchtime blogging and podcasting club. After procrastinating as long as humanly possible, I finally agreed. We had our first meeting today, and while I was thrilled to see that 12 kids showed up, I was somewhat disappointed ... http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2007/10/29/i-may-be-nuts-but/ It seems like my immediate circle of friends, neighbors and colleagues have discovered the blogosphere and I am having so much fun getting inside their heads and hearing about their personal and professional lives. Here are some of the newest blogs in my community: Loose Parts: Our twin ... http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2007/10/29/bloggers-in-my-world/  Here's a link to another terrific presentation from the K12 Online Conference, given by John Pearce of Geelong, Victoria, Australia: http://k12online.wm.edu/its_elementary/player.html http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2007/10/27/it%e2%80%99s-elementary-kids-working-web-20-with-grade-3-4/ I was peeking around the super-cool K-12 Online Conference website, and I stumbled upon a fantastic session given by Kathy Cassidy from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada. As the title suggests, she describes the ways in which she is incorporating blogs and other tools into her teaching. Here is the link ... http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2007/10/26/using-web-20-tools-in-a-grade-one-classroom/ Over the summer, we continued the process of creating a standard classroom technology setup in our 4th-8th grade classrooms. Almost every classroom now contains a permanent mounted LCD projector, DVD/VHS player, stereo tuner, speakers and lectern. In a growing number of classrooms, we have also installed interactive whiteboards and document ... http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2007/10/26/upper-school-teachers-adopt-classroom-tech/ Why don't we get into each other's classrooms more often, to learn, observe, consult, grow, advise, mentor? Is teaching an inherently solitary endeavor? I certainly don't think so, but I am a member of a new committee at school that is exploring ways in which we can rethink the concept ... http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2007/10/19/deprivatizing-teaching/ We have begun experimenting with document cameras this year, and have been really happy with the Lumens DC-155 XGA Digital Visual Presenter model (seen at left) we're putting in place all over campus. (ELMO is another popular brand -- the name stuck since our new one's red!) The coolest use ... http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2007/10/17/tickle-me-elmo/ In January 2006, I wrote a post entitled "The Demise of the Computer Teacher," wondering aloud about whether the entire format of the tech coordinator's job should change. Almost 2 years later, the MCDS Kindergarten team and I are piloting a new model for Computer Lab this Fall, in which ... http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2007/10/16/bringing-the-computer-lab-into-the-kindergarten-classroom/ We have two other fantastic Kindergarten teachers at MCDS -- Doug and Richard. Both are also veteran teachers here, and as I discussed in the previous post, the whole K team had an incredible trip to Reggio Emilia two years ago that is helping to redefine how they teach ... http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2007/10/16/doug-richard-are-amazing-too/ One of our Kindergarten teachers, Janet D., was a self-described "technology timid" teacher for many years. She is a veteran Kindergarten teacher, who went with her team to Italy 2 years ago to study the Reggio Emilia method of early childhood education. As a result of that life-altering trip, they ... http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2007/10/01/the-amazing-janet/ I recently presented a session at the CAIS (California Association of Independent Schools) Northern Regional Meeting in Atherton, CA. The session was entitled "Hello World! Blogging and Podcasting in the Elementary Classroom." If you attended today's session, please be sure to leave a comment letting us all know how you're intending ... http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2007/08/18/cais-presentation-hello-world/ One of the websites I love using most with my Lower School students is Starfall, a reading & phonics website for small children. Here's a link to a c/net article about why I love it so much! http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2007/08/17/cnet-article-about-starfall/ OK...so if 2005-06 was the year of the Duck Blog, 2006-07 is the year of the Trout Blog! To see our latest endeavor, go to: http://www.mcdsblogs.org/trout http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2007/02/16/the-trout-blog-is-here-2/ It appears that Duck Diaries has been awarded the special Edublog Star Award (Convenors choice) as part of the Annual 2006 Edublog Awards! To check out all of the winners and nominees, go to http://www.incsub.org/awards/ http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2007/02/16/the-trout-blog-is-here/ I just downloaded the demo of this plugin and here are the results -- yet another cool way to publish/document student and classroom work! http://barblcohen.edublogs.org/2006/11/07/using-flickr-export-with-iphoto/