Out like a Lion and a little Mouse Mischief

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dtchristner/

I seem to recall a phrase that if March comes in like a lamb it goes out like a lion. Not really lion-like weather but it is a rather chilly end to the month here. Feels more like fall than heralding in the warm Texas spring.

Remember that commercial where the man hits the end of the internet? I feel a bit like that today. I attended a really nice tech conference on Saturday and, other than one very cool thing (which I will review here shortly), I really didn't walk away with anything that earth shattering. Makes you think if now that we have all these amazing web 2.0 tools, just how are we going to use them that is different from all the other ways? A definite challenge. I'm weary of hearing about how "fun Wordle is" (and it is!), or "use Wallwisher as an exit ticket from your class" (would love to but it is blocked at our school) or "everyone knows about wikis"(I know, I have one!). So now what? Our challenge is take these great web tools and get our kids to do something wonderful. I still think we are too focused on teacher centered use of these tools and not enough on what can you do with your students.

Okay- so the really cool idea I did learn about:
Mouse Mischief
This is a free download from Microsoft. All you need are wireless mice and the software. Now there are a few conditions and you'll need to read about this on their site, but if you have ever wanted to use the clicker response systems in your classroom, well, well now is your chance. Someone put it as the economical clicker response system (or the poor man's crs!). One of the presenters was a first grade teacher from our diocese and her students absolutely love using Mouse Mischief. They can be used individually or as team response. So even if you can't afford enough wireless mice for a whole class set, you can buy enough to make teams and that would cut your costs considerably. Looks like a very do-able thing to do. I think I am going to recommend this to our teams at my school. I suggest if you are reading this you take a look too!

Spring Break and Unplugged

Daylight savings, Spring Break, first day of Spring all in one week and I totally took the week off. My computer use was limited to play time only! It felt good and relaxing but I now feel the pressure to hop back on the proverbial horse and ride again. I don't have any links to offer today but I will later in the week. I did no web tutorials, no conferences, no Skype. I admit I did a bit of Facebook but nothing professional.

But Monday looms and it will be a quick blink of the eye and May will be here. Enjoying the last beautiful day of my break and then off we go!

Where did February go? and a Collaborative Adventure

Well I admit I have been a bit behind in my blog postings. I suppose though that having only 28 days in February is not a good excuse? It was certainly a busy, busy month. I attended two conferences in one week. We missed nearly a week of school because of snow and ice. February disappeared rather quickly.

So to update my world here, I want to share an experience I had during my days off school from the weather first. It was an amazing example of true collaboration.

The day began with a phone call and text messages from school telling me what I already knew, that school would be closed. Sitting down with a cup of coffee, I logged on to my laptop and took at look at the postings on Facebook. One of the postings was from Discovery Education about live streaming from the the Florida Technology pre-Conference event. Hall Davidson was speaking so I jumped on over to LiveStream and logged in to view. I only caught the end of his talk and then Kathy Schorck was speaking. At a point during her talk she gave the people attending an assignment. Divided into groups, they were given the rest of the day to create a presentation of some sort with a science focus.

This is where the fun began.

There were about 12-15 of us logged in at LiveStream and a constant back channel was happening with conversations ranging from the topic, to links, to the weather which was keeping many of us at home. I am not sure who suggested it, but someone said "Let's be a virtual table and do a project also." And we were off!

Each of us collected a picture of what was outside our door, the weather report for our area. A google form was created where we entered information. We then created a google presentation where we inserted our pictures and weather information. We also had a tag in flicker to upload our pictures to also. We found lessons and activities from different sources about weather and included them on the end slides of the presentation. It was a wonderful collaborative presentation.

At the end of the pre-con event, all of the "live" tables presented their projects. I am not sure who presented ours, but someone shared it at the event. I must say the room was quite surprised that people who were not even there were able to participate in the activity. It was quite awesome!

I was so excited after this. It really represented what can be done collaboratively using web tools with people from all over the United States. I am thrilled that I was able to be a part of this true collaborative effort.