What Happens in Vegas….

gets shared in the blogosphere!  At least when what happens in Vegas is the first annual Teachers Pay Teachers Seller’s Conference!  On Friday, July 11th, I had the great pleasure to attend this conference with some of the biggest names at TPT, including Rachel Lynette, Laura Candler and Deanna Jump.  Even more exciting, I was able to meet some bloggers that I have worked with “behind the scenes” for the past three years, but never gotten a chance to meet IRL (in real life), like Angela Watson, Rachel Reyna and Adrienne Melbourne.  It’s amazing to “work” with people you’ve never met – Adrienne and I even created a Playing Card Mats E-Book together a few years back!  Being able to speak to these people in person, made this conference so very special to me. 

In addition to meeting up with wonderful bloggers, I got to attend sessions by some of the best at TPT.  The sessions I attended taught me about providing excellent customer care, tracking my sales data, collaborating with other bloggers, marketing my materials and the importance of time management for those wishing to use TPT as their sole income.  All of this information will help me to provide better resources and service to more teachers, and thereby students, around the world. 

In my last newsletter, I announced my family’s next big adventure.  We have officially left Morocco, and are back in the United States with the goal of traveling around the United States in an RV.  (Check out our blog – RVing with the Raki’s for more information about this adventure.)  My income from Teachers Pay Teachers will make this a possibility for our family, and this conference has given me skills and connections to help turn our dream into a reality.  I can’t think of a better reason for a trip to Las Vegas! 

Now, for the questions I know are coming:

1.)  Did you gamble while you were there?   Nope, I’m not a casino girl.  I spent the time outside of the conference in the pool with my kiddos.  My husband, Khalil of Raki’s Rad Language Resources, did go over with my grandmother for a bit and won $20, so hey, that’s something!

 

2.)  Did you really drive an RV to Vegas?  Yep!  It was a bit of a crazy trip out there, with a few repair issues, but we made it right on time and spent two nights at the KOA that is attached to Circus, Circus.

 

3.)  What’s it like traveling in an RV with 3 kids?  No problems!  My kids are great travelers, and they much prefer the RV, where they each have their own beds, books and toys to a tent, which is how we previously travelled.

 

Have more questions – about the conference, or our new adventure?  Please feel free to ask it in the comment section!

 

Do You Check Facebook While Working? So Do Your Students! How do We Teach Kids to Manage their Internet Time Well?

 

Over the last 2 months, I have been “re-delivering” to you my experience from the ECIS Conference.  I have written about Marc Prensky’s presentation on Teaching Digital Natives, Julie Lindsay’s Flat Classroom program,  Heather Martin’s presentation on Flipped Classrooms,   Chadman Nair’s presentation on Creating Truly Global Citizens, and Calien Hargrave’s presentation on the Importance of Collaboration Skills for our Students’ Future Employability.  In each redelivery post, I have shared a video of the actual speech, all of the keynotes at the conference were recorded and shared on YouTube.  If you haven’t watched any of the other videos, take the next 20 minutes to watch today’s video.  I’ve saved the best for last!

This is Jeff Utecht, and he was my favorite speaker of entire event.  He is a presenter, a consultant, and the author of the book Reach: Building Communities and Networks for Professional Development.  His keynote speech is about the importance of using the internet to create communities.  He also talked about allowing and encouraging students to use the internet to connect and create in their own way.  After his keynote, he also did an hour long presentation on using Google with your students, and how to use it better yourself. 

One of the key points he made for me was how important  it is to teach time management skills.  For adults now, there is almost no line between our work life and our social life.  Be honest, how many times do you check personal e-mail or facebook at school?  How often do you flip between facebook and lesson planning?  If we’re doing it, we know that our kids are doing it.  Many schools are using this excuse to BAN facebook, e-mail etc.  Jeff Utecht says that’s the wrong approach.  He says instead of making it taboo, we need to teach our kids how to manage their time correctly online and to encourage positive connections.  When a school he was working with allowed Facebook to be available at school, the first thing the kids did was use it to create a movement asking the store across the street to ban plastic bags – and they succeeded!

I use checklists, and priority lists to help my students manage time in the class during independent work time.  After listening to Jeff’s speech, I have started to incorporate the same strategies into their computer and iPad time.  By knowing what they have to do and checking it off, they are more focused on their task at hand.  I have also added a “Fun Things I Found” section to most of my internet research sheets, because we all know that sometimes we find cool stuff out there that is on our topic, but may not answer the questions we are looking for.

So, my question for today is – are you teaching your students to manage work and play time on the computer successfully?

Here is Jeff Utecht’s speech – it is worth the watch!

Are You Teaching Global Citizens?

At the ECIS Conference, I had the opportunity to see a great variety of speakers.  One of the most controversial speakers was Chadran Nair.  Chadran Nair is the founder of a think tank called Global Institute for Tomorrow, which helps people understand the impacts – good and bad – of globalization. He spoke for us about some of the issues facing Asia today.  He believes part of the problem facing Asia today is that they send their best and brightest students to US and UK schools, where the students learn an economic system that is not compatible to Asia.

His talk was very interesting.  I’ve embedded it below, so feel free to watch for yourself.  However, the most impactful thing he said (for me) was in the question and answer session, when he asked for us to make our students global citizens.  This got me thinking about what makes a global citizen.  Here is my idea of what a global citizen is.

In my classroom, I try to enforce these elements of being a global citizen by teaching my students:

- that there is two sides to every story

- that there are things in everyone’s history which we may not be proud of

- that no culture or group is perfect

- that time can change the way we look at history

- that everyone has the right to look at life through their own context

- that all people have the right to choose what they want to believe in

- that people around the globe can come together to help each other

 

I’d love to know – What do you think it means to be a global citizen?  How do we help our students become global citizens?

 

 

 

Here is Chadran Nair’s speech from the ECIS Technology Conference:

 

Have You Flattened Your Classroom Walls?

On March 16th, I was privileged to see Julie Lindsay speak at the ECIS Technology Conference.  If you’ve never heard of Julie Lindsay, she is the co-author of the book Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds.  Julie talked to us about the importance of connection, citizenship and collaboration in regards to technology.  Her program allows students from around the world to “flatten the classroom walls” and “bring in the world”.  Centered in Australia herself, Julie’s projects help students from around the world connect and become global citizens through technology. 

In addition to ongoing projects, like the Eracism Project, Flat Classrooms also has yearly conference.  This conference is different than most conferences in two ways.  First, it includes both teachers and students, having real life conversations about how to increase international collaboration.  The other way that their conference is different is that during the conference you are creating and collaborating the whole time.  The conference also includes hands on creation.  Their next conference is in Hawaii.

Another professional development opportunity offered by Flat Classroom is a Flat Classroom Certification Course, which counts for 2 college credits.

I have missed the deadlines for this round of Flat Classroom Projects, but completely intend to get my students involved in the next round.  In the meantime, I am working with some other teachers at Global Teacher Connect to flatten my classroom walls through our collaborative projects.  Please feel free to join us in our pursuit of collaboration.

Check out her Julie Lindsay's keynote here:

Leave me a comment about your thoughts on ways you can flatten your classroom walls and feel free to stop by next Sunday for more information the other presentations from the ECIS Conference.

Are You Teaching Digital Natives?

On March 15th, I was privileged to see Marc Prensky speak at the ECIS Technology Conference.  If you’ve never heard of Marc Prensky, he is the author of the multiple books, including Digital Game-Based Learning, Don’t Bother Me Mom – I’m Learning, Teaching Digital Natives, From Digital Natives to Digital Wisdom and Brain Gain: Technology and the Quest for Digital Wisdom.

Marc Prensky is also a wonderful speaker who kept us all very engaged.  He spoke about the importance of using technology to connect with our students, and about teaching students to use technology to connect with each other.  He was nice enough to share some of his slides with me, so I’ll share them with you here.

One of the biggest thing I hear from teachers is that technology is an engagement tool.  However, Marc Prensky says that technology should be more about connecting than engaging.

He also said that the idea of grouping children by age is not the way to reach the needs of our children. 

 

 He reminded us that our students have a completely different viewpoint of technology.

One of my favorite parts was when Marc talked about how technology is not about the cool new tool, but rather about the thinking that goes into using – and creating – new tools.  He also mentioned that most of the time the time spent planning the creation of a technology project provides more learning than the time spent creating a new technology project.

 

The most important thing that I took from Marc Prensky’s presentation was that teaching students to use technology is equal to teaching kids to read in today’s world.

Finally, Marc talked about video and the sharing of short videos on YouTube to increasing the connection process.  He says you should try to post one per week.

Have you ever seen Marc Prensky speak or read one of his books?  If you haven’t I’d definitely recommend it.

Here is his keynote from the conference:

Please leave me a comment about your thoughts on Marc Prensky’s ideas and feel free to stop by next Sunday for more information the other presentations from the ECIS Conference.

ECIS–Technology Conference De-brief

What an amazing weekend this has been!  I arrived in London – actually Cobham, 40 minutes outside of London - on Wednesday (March 13th) for the ECIS Tech Conference titled: Learning to Love the iGeneration, and it’s been a whirlwind of activity and thinking for me ever since.  Here is a brief overview of what I’ve been doing:

Wednesday – We got in late, so we stayed around the hotel and ate fish and chips at the local pub – The Fairmille.

Thursday – I didn’t have meetings, but my colleague, Jen Kadiri, went over the first day of leadership meetings.  I will have a full report from her in a blog post coming soon.  While she was in meetings, I walked to the train station and went into the city where I got to walk around and see some of the key monuments.  Here is some of what I saw: 

  

    

 

Friday – We began the conference, which was located at ACS International School in Cobham.  (I have collected so many ideas and suggestions that it will take me MONTHS to give you everything I learned.  So, each Sunday, I will be posting a Conference debrief with further details on one of the speakers I saw.)  Here are the speakers I saw on Friday:

 

Morning Keynote:  Marc Prensky, author of the book Teaching Digital Natives.

 

Breakout Session 1:  Speaking their Language – where I learned about some cool programs to use with students who are language learners

Breakout Session 2: ME!  This is when I presented my workshop on Using Technology to Create Community.  It was well attended and went very well.  You can see what the participants had to say about the 16 websites HERE, and what your fellow blog readers had to say HERE.  By the way, if you are one of those who took the time to critique the websites before today, check our e-mail box for an e-mail from TransferBigFiles, as you will ALL  be receiving the 12 teacher resources in the Goodie Bag Giveaway.

Breakout Session 3:  A panel discussion on how curriculum should change to include technology

 

Afternoon Keynote:  Chandran Nair, a key spokesman for environmental and economic issues in Asia and author of the book Consumptionomics.

 After all of the exciting learning, we attended a wonderful dinner at a local winery and spoke to teachers from Germany, Doha, Italy and England.  We also learned about the fabulous world of geo-caching, so look for a post on that soon!

Saturday – We headed back to the conference full of excitement from the first day’s activities.

Morning Keynote Speakers: 

Jeff Utrecht, who spoke about how students are using technology to change the world and author of the book Reach: Building Communities and Networks for Professional Development

Julie Lindsey  who is a founder of the Flat Classroom movement

Breakout Session 1:  Sorting to Searching with Jeff Utrecht, an amazing session on how to teach kids to use Google to the full of its worth

Breakout Session 2:  Using iBook in your classroom, an example of using this program to create a book about the Olympics

Breakout Session 3:  Flipping the Classroom and Differentiation, a session with Heather Martin, who creates amazing videos and posts them on her YouTube channel in order to flip her classroom.

Afternoon Keynote Speaker:  Caliean Hargrave from IBM, who spoke about the technologies that IBM are creating and the programs they have to work with kids

 

As you can see, this has been an amazing amount of information.  I have provided links to each of the people I have links for, feel free to check them out, but also feel free to stop by each Sunday for more detailed information about each presentation.

6 More Days to Help Me Build Community

and to win that amazing goodie bag!

Hey guys, sorry I’ve been so absent this week – I had a big birthday party to plan for my two birthday boys.  My sons will be 2 and 9 this week, and as all my fellow working moms know, those mommy moments must take precedence!

  

In addition, I have been busy making last minute arrangements for the ECIS Technology Conference, as I leave for London Wednesday morning!  Wow did that sneak up on me!

However, I had to stop by and remind you guys that you have another 6 days if you would like to add to evaluate some of those community building websites and enter to win the 12 amazing teacher resources that are a part of the Goodie Bag Giveaway.  Click HERE for all of the details.

Another cool technology project that has just been completed is the FREE 20 Terrific Presentation Tech Tools for Kids, which has recently been put together by Laura Candler of Corkboard Connections.  She includes many of the websites that we are reviewing – including one of my favorites – Storybird.  Stop by and download her free document.

Don’t forget to stop by and review some of those websites and enter to win the Goodie Bag Giveaway.  Hope you have a great work week!

Using Technology to Create Community

Recently, I announced that I will be presenting at the European Council of International Schools’ (ECIS) Technology conference on March 15th. My presentation is called Using Technology to Create Community, and you are welcome to look at the Power Point by clicking HERE. 

During the presentation, we will be talking about which websites can be used to create community for students.  However, we are also going to start by creating community among the teachers.  One of the best ways for teachers to create community amongst themselves is to share their thoughts on available resources.  I have compiled 15 websites that can be used to build community and I am asking the teachers at the conference to answer the following questions about each resource:

1.)  What grade levels is this site appropriate for?

2.)  What makes this a good community building website?

3.)  What are the benefits of this site?

4.)  What are the downfalls of this site?

 

The participants will fill in their answers on a Google Document, which has been set to allow everyone to edit it.  This will allow all of the participants to walk out with not only their thoughts, but the thoughts of others, all in one form.

After designing this presentation, I got to thinking.  There is a well developed teacher community right now in the “blogosphere”, and I’m sure that if we got together, we could create a similar document and help each other out.  So, I’m bringing the same 4 questions and the same Google Document to you.

In addition, I’m offering YOU a chance to receive the same Conference Goodie Bag that my participants will be receiving.  All you have to do is leave feedback on at least 5 of the 15 websites.  After you have left feedback on the Google Document, fill out the form below and you will be automatically entered to win the following goodie bag.

 

The websites we’re reviewing are:

www.docs.google.com

www.wallwisher.com – www.padlet.com

www.stixy.com

www.cacoo.com

www.todaysmeet.com

www.edmodo.com

www.mybigcampus.com

www.moodle.org

www.storybird.com

www.edu.glogster.com

www.livebinder.com

www.prezi.com

www.voicethread.com

www.edublogs.org

www.kidblog.org

 

You have until the day after the conference – March 16th to enter.  Then, on March 17th, I will send out the Conference Goodie Bag to 10 people, chosen randomly from all who participate.  I will also send everyone who enters a link to the completed Google Document, so that everyone can share from the collaboration.  Remember two minds are better than one!

 

Here’s the Goodie Bag you are entering to win – all donated by teacher bloggers, who work daily to increase our learning community:

Multiplication and Division Word Problem Task Cards - As the name implies, these task cards are a great way for students to practice reading word problems to try to figure out if they need to multiply or divide. Then they practice those computational skills!! 

from My Journey to the 5th Grade

 

Missing Subtraction Addends – A Differentiated Activity for Your Math Centers - This is a missing addends activity for grade 1/2 to practice missing subtraction addends differentiated for 3 different levels. The first level - yellow is subtraction facts to 10/The second blue and green are subtraction facts from 15 /The third - red is subtraction facts from 20.

from Tamma Trotti

Ultimate Forms Kit - The ultimate forms kit is perfect for helping you get organized for during the back to school season. This kit includes: ~forms that can help you plan and schedule activities/projects and class schedules ~contact forms ~student information sheet ~hall passes ~class information sheets ~reminder forms (for parents and students) ~missed homework forms ~communication log ~themed writing paper ~student interest survey ~a student reading interest survey and more! This kit is perfect for organizing classroom forms. This set coordinates with the Monster Themed Behavior Punch Cards (and other behavior forms). This item will be marked down until September 1st.

from The Not So Wimpy Teacher

Multiplication 0-12 Magic Square -   These multiplication magic square puzzles give students a fun and easy way for students to practice their multiplication.

 

 

 

from HoJo’s Teaching Adventures

 

 

End of the Year Classroom Awards - This file contains 30 full-color, fully customizable 8 1/2" X 11" award certificates. All fonts can be downloaded for free from www.kevinandamanda.com/fonts Awards incliude: Most Understanding, Hardest Worker, Neatest Worker, Fastest Runner, Boy/Girl Athlete, Most Cooperative. Best Reader, Best Speller, and more...

from Confessions of a Teaching Junkie

 

Problem Solving Task Cards - A total of 24 task cards that focus on solving both single and multi-step story problems such as those that will be seen on standardized tests. Great for math stations/centers, small group RTI instruction, problem of the day mini-lessons, math problem solving journals, and whole class assessment review.

from the Third Wheel

 

 QR Coordinate Graphing - Students will be amazing and engaged while practicing how to locate points on a coordinate graph. This activity will require a QR app from any smart phone. This can be used as a center, a whole group activity, or an assessment! Enjoy!

from Ciera Harris of Adventures of Room 129

 

 

 

 

Fraction Wars - Fraction Wars is played by first dealing out the whole deck of cards evenly among the players. Everyone flips over a card at the same time and compare their fractions. The person with the highest valued fraction wins all the cards in that round. Each card has a colored picture representing the fraction, the fraction in words, and the fraction represented with a numerator and denominator. Great for partners, small group, and math centers! Great activity that have been classroom tested and has had positive results.

from Miss Math Dork

 

Problems with Pets - 20 full color task cards – mixed operations word problems with a pet theme (2 sets of 10 – different problems in each set) plus 4 open-ended fact cards for students to create their own word problems. (includes multiplication, division, addition, subtraction, measurement, fractions, area, perimeter) 20 black and white plain templates of the same (for those who prefer a simpler look or for Math journals). Student answer booklet for task cards. 4 pages (12 problems) of mixed operation word problems in a more “grown-up” format. (different problems from those on task cards) The Fantastic Aquarium Project – open-ended problem solving activity.

from Fun in the Fours

 

QR Code Task Cards for Mean, Median & Mode - Students practice putting numbers in numerical order and than computing the mean, median, and mode for the given set of numbers with this set of 32 task cards. Cards can be completed all at once or only a few at a time using the answer sheet to record which have been completed and which still need to be done. Once they have solved the problem, they use a device to scan the QR code to self-correct their work. (Note: You must have a device (iPad, Smartphone, iPod, etc) that has an app which can scan QR codes) Cards can be printed in black and white or color.

from Mrs. Lyon

 

Affiches des Codes pour taper les Accents Francais - Cute and colourful set of 6 printable posters to use in your FSL class room, library, computer lab, or anywhere students will be typing in French. Includes all 5 vowels with lowercase and uppercase accent codes as well as the letter c.

from Madame Aiello

 

 

 

Telling Time to the Hour and Half Hour Bingo - This bingo game focuses on telling time to the hour and half hour. It includes 24 bingo cards and each card is 3X3. There are 2 different types of caller's cards included (analog and digital).

 

 

from Diving into Learning

 

 

Mystery Unit - This is a complete unit. The kids learn a lot while having a great time and learn using puzzles.  This is a large file. In the file you will find: * 50 riddles, one per page to print out and hang around the room * a student paper to record answers for the 50 riddles * teacher answer key for the 50 riddles * application for a "detective agency" allows kids to practice filling out forms * detective badges for students to earn upon admission to the "detective agency" * a detective worksheet on dictionary skills * an interest inventory to use to create clues about each student (this will be used for the silhouette activity) * a list of ideas for a mystery unit * an "official" search warrant for groups to search for their "prize" * puzzle clues and answers...you will need to make them fit your environment * a secret code worksheet * a certificate to be given at the completion of the unit * a teacher badge to hang beside or on the door * a SMART Notebook file containing: * 16 coin clue puzzles * a silhouette activity * 24 sudoku puzzles (8 each of easy, medium, and hard) * 6 logic puzzles (2 each of easy, medium, and hard) * 5 online mystery websites.

from Joy Hall of Joy of Teaching

 

 

Earth’s Material Glog Project – Research project where students choose an earth's resource to research.
There are questions in this project to help guide their research. Students should use books, kid-friendly search engines and websites to complete their research. Once students have completed their research, they will create a glog using the website http://edu.glogster.com.

from Raki’s Rad Resources