http://it.seattleschools.org/blog Resources for using technology in the classroom Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:35:08 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Students in Dustin Wood's  classroom used a webquest to explore current environmental problems facing Earth. Students worked in teams to develop presentations about a particular topic (e.g., extinction, landfills, air pollution...). In the scenario for this activity, each student team is vying for $1 million in funding from the fictional ... http://it.seattleschools.org/blog/2009/11/lowell_webquest/ Ning is a social networking site that allows anyone to create an online network for almost any purpose. The Instructional Technology group has created a Seattle Schools social network on Ning to allow educators an online space to connect and share with others. This social networking space has been created ... http://it.seattleschools.org/blog/2009/11/seattle-schools-group-on-ning/ On Tuesday November 3, 2009 a group of Seattle Schools librarians met at McClure Middle school to share ideas and work on setting up blogs for their building libraries. Eric Caldwell, Library Services Manager, purchased a campus pack of the popular blogging tool Edublogs based on Wordpress platform in ... http://it.seattleschools.org/blog/2009/11/seattle-schools-librarians-using-edublogs-to-promote-their-work/ On Wednesday October 28th 2009, staff at Adams Elementary used early release time to familiarize themselves with PTA-funded classroom kits of digital cameras. Staff participated in a hands-on activity led by Instructional Technologist Meredith Blache to learn how to use the kits with their students in support of teaching and ... http://it.seattleschools.org/blog/2009/10/adams-elementary-staff-create-classroom-kits-of-digital-cameras-for-student/ Student social networks are banned in most schools as disruptive distractions or potentially unsafe and unmoderated spaces that can put students at risk. However, students themselves use technology tools like cell phones and social networks as integral parts of their world, a world that includes school and classroom learning. Students ... http://it.seattleschools.org/blog/2009/09/banned-social-networks-can-mean-missed-opportunities-for-student-and-adult-learning/ Kristi Dahlstrom, Language Arts/Journalism teacher at Ingraham high school created a collaborative poetry project with one of her Language Arts 9 classes.  Students have been writing and refining their poetry over the last few weeks in preparation for publishing to the class blog. Besides learning to write poetry, students  learned ... http://it.seattleschools.org/blog/2009/06/blogging-poetry/ The 2nd graders in Kayleen Diaz's class at Lafayette study ocean animals.  The classroom is transformed into an amazing underwater world! We worked together to come up with a technology project that they could do while writing their reports.  The students created bubble maps, researched their animal and organized the ... http://it.seattleschools.org/blog/2009/06/ocean-reports/ If you have received your new teacher computer you have worked with various professional development modules from Instructional Technology. Many of you have asked for an example of how to put all of the learning together in a presentation that uses the presentation station as the primary delivery device for ... http://it.seattleschools.org/blog/2009/05/putting-it-all-together/ Whether for expository writing in MS word, or for some other electronic project, many students rely on the use of digital tools to create products for school that demonstrate their learning. With the District commitment to create secure school networks that are free from malicious or inappropriate content, one of ... http://it.seattleschools.org/blog/2009/05/slashdrive-a-student-solution/ Barbara Beers, 8th grade geography teacher at Whitman Middle School, was tired of using Power Point for student projects. (She's not alone, a fun video - How Not to Use Powerpoint.) With the support of her librarian and Instructional Technology Specialist, she decided to try Photostory for the first time. ... http://it.seattleschools.org/blog/2009/05/a-middle-school-teacher-uses-photostory-for-the-first-time/