Web Wednesday wrap-up

Our first ever Web Wednesday saw eight teachers venture to the computer lab to share web tools and ideas. Although we had hoped for a bigger turnout, I was happy with how it went and thankful for those who did come. We sent out a follow-up survey to acquire feedback on how to improve for the next Web Wednesday and received some valuable feedback. One teacher suggested having short mini-lessons to show just how exactly to use a web tool in class. Another suggested that we all "bring a friend" to the next workshop. All in all, it was a positive experience. Thank you to those who came and shared ideas!

"Web Wednesday" Coming Soon!

As another initiative of LiME, we are trying to organize "Web Wednesday", a once-a-quarter collaborative technology workshop, for teachers by teachers. Click here for the invitation that we plan to send to the entire district faculty. We would like to get your input and comments on the whole idea before we send it to the rest of the staff.

-What do you think of this "Web Wednesday" concept?
-Does the invitation seem welcoming enough and provide all necessary information?
-Is the sign up link accessible enough?
-What tech tools would you be comfortable sharing?

LiME gathering, anyone?

Before Brad's schedule gets crazy with basketball (November) and before I leave to have a kid (January; I'm still not used to that idea!), I'd love to get together in person and have a technology share-a-thon.  I'm offering my place.  It's not super big, but it's in Bordentown and close to the school.  We can all bring our laptops, a dish of food to share, favorite beverage, and our best ideas.  Anyone interested, and, if so, are there any evenings in October that the interested parties are available?

"Reform is Happening": A message about TSETC from NMHS Principal Eric Sheninger

On his blog, "A Principal's Reflections", Eric Sheninger reflects on the Tri-State Education Technology Conference.

Hello! I wanted to share this lesson plan with you all (and the rest of the world). It is an outgrowth of my experiences at #TSETC. I am planning to share it with my twitter followers and anyone else for review. In Economics, I have a one prep class - this allows/encourages me to experiment more than my other courses.

STEP 1: Students will take practice quiz about demand from the book. They will work with a partner and have access to their top 12 slides from Monday. On Monday, they were given over 55 slides about section 1 on demand. They were asked to pick the 12 slides that should have made the "cut"; in addition I asked them to draw their 13 slide.

STEP 2: Then I am going to ask them to visit schmoop.com and take notes on there collectively using TitanPad. I will expect to see each person post 8-10 thoughts on Demand from that reading.

STEP 3: Students will visit a reading on economics and be asked to create a zooburst with 5 pages - one per determinant. The last step is to complete another practice quiz.

Please feel free to pick this apart and offer a few suggestions.

Thanks-

Brad

TSETC

It's Monday night and I'm still overloaded with inspiration from TSETC. Check out this Google doc for all TSETC resources. It's constantly being updated so check back frequently!

Lunchtime reflections at TSETC

TSETC is finally here!

Brad and I have just eaten a delicious lunch and are now in the "Bloggers' Cafe", waiting for our next session to start. Between the two of us, we've seen 4 different presentations this morning.

The morning started with a keynote speech by Lisa Nielsen. The title of her talk was "Thinking Outside of the Ban: Taking Risks to Prepare Students for Success". Lisa works for the NYC DOE and told us her story about the challenges she faced regarding using technology in the classroom. Lisa has been featured in the New York Times as well as countless education blogs. You can find her Prezi from this morning here. Lisa gave us a challenge for the day, to create our "sentence." Inspired by author Daniel Pink's video "Two Questions That Can Change Your Life". Brad and I are still developing our "sentences"!

The first session we attended was entitled “10 Web 2.0 Tools to Make Your Classroom Rock!” by EduTecher.net's Adam Bellow. THIS WAS AMAZING! Adam is brilliant and introduced us to 3x3links.com. To see the 3x3 he made for us today, go here. You will find INCREDIBLE websites from ZooBurst to Museum Box and PrintWhatYouLike.com.

Brad attended a session entitled "Digital Storytelling", presented by Samantha Morra. Her presentation can be viewed here. One site she highlighted was this cartooning site.

Meanwhile, I attended a session entitled, "“iGlobal Class Projects: Extending Learning Beyond the Classroom”, presented by Shelly Terrell. For this session, we Skyped with Shelly, who lives and teaches in Germany. Her Prezi can be found here.

We have many ideas to share with you and our other colleagues and still four more sessions this afternoon!

This is part of the Tri-State Education Technology Conference (TSETC) Blogger Café Contest sponsored by edSocialMedia. TSETC is brought to you by Schoology.