Grants for Environment and Technology
Each year, The Charles A. and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation provides grants of up to $10,580 (a symbolic amount representing the cost of the "Spirit of St. Louis") to men and women whose individual initiative and work in a wide spectrum of disciplines furthers the Lindberghs' vision of a balance between the advance of technology and the preservation of the
natural/human environment.
You're It! - Tagging in the Elementary Classroom
Tagging in the Elementary Classroom
This article will explore “tagging” and its use in an elementary environment. First, a word to the kids who may read this article. Why should we try tagging and what is tagging? Tagging is simply keeping track of web pages that you use. It is like using bookmarks but some tagging programs allow you to share your favorite sites with family and friends. Some popular tagging and bookmarks programs are:
· flickr –“Flickr is a way to get your photos to the people who matter to you. With Flickr you can:
- Show off your favorite photos to the world
- Blog the photos you take with a cameraphone
- Securely and privately show photos to your friends and family around the world . and much, much more!”
Some ideas for using del.icio.us for our students
- Working on a research project – “Your teacher assigns a project that involves internet research. You and your friends each start a del.icio.us account. You decide to split up the research into various areas and each take a section. Then you use the for feature in del.icio.us to send your information to each person on your research team! Now that’s what I call “teamwork”!
- To explore your passion. Your passion is what makes you want o get out of bed in the morning. What are you passionate about? Soccer, penguins, movies, painting? The possibilities are endless. A good place to start is del.icio.us using the search feature. Why? These are tried and true sites. Sites that people like you found on the web and thought it was worth book marking.
- Planning – Are you going on a trip and wanting to plan ahead? Use del.icio.us to plan your trip, find hotels, research sight seeing possibilities. This is an easy way to help your parents and a not as hard on the back as mowing the lawn or taking out the garbage!
- What do you think? Can you give me some more examples of using del.icio.us in your life?
The book mark program listed above and also ideal for the features I have listed for del.icio.us but are not as easily shared with family and friends. I have an ikeepbookmarks account and a mybookmarks account. What I like about these sites are that they keep my bookmarks accessible from anywhere I have web access and they are easy to organize using folders.
Tagging for Teachers in the Elementary Classroom
I am finding that more Technology Tools that Middle Schoolers and High Schoolers use with ease can be adapted to elementary level teaching. Some tools need to be adapted for the student (See Using Moodle in the Elementary Classroom) and serve as wonderful organizational aids.
Tagging as an organizational tool can be used to prepare an unit rich in internet content. Because tagging is made so simple with del.icio.us you can tag as you surf. It’s as easy a clicking the del.icio.us tag button that you can add to your browser. Later you can organize your tags into bundles. For information on the specifics to doing all of this see del.icio.us Help
You can use del.icio.us in some of the same ways listed above for students. From the del.icio.us site I am cited the following:
“What is del.icio.us?
del.icio.us is a collection of favorites - yours and everyone else's. Use del.icio.us to:
- Keep links to your favorite articles, blogs, music, restaurant reviews, and more on del.icio.us and access them from any computer on the web.
- Share favorites with friends, family, and colleagues.
- Discover new things. Everything on del.icio.us is someone's favorite - they've already done the work of finding it. Explore and enjoy.”
What are some ways you can use del.icio.us in your classroom?
Generation Yes
Generation Yes
In the Beginning…(years one and two)
I started my first Gen Y or Generation Yes Program five years ago. Some of our projects that year included:
· Software Sales – This was our first project. At that time we had only five computers in the library and two computers in each classroom. Of the five computers in our library, three had an internet connection. We also had a bookcase full of educational software. One of our first projects were to go through all the software and divide it according to grades. I allowed the children to bring home the software and install it on their computers and play it at home. They then filled out sales sheets that spoke of hardware requirements, audience, curriculum integration and special features. The students scheduled a meeting with the teacher for that grade. I had a brief case for them and they packed the brief case, pre-loaded the software onto the classroom computers and demonstrated the software to the teachers. This was a way to engage the interest of the teachers in the software that we had on hand for the students. It also promoted interest in the students to request the software on their classroom computers.
· Individual Projects – Those first and second years we also spent time with each teacher and produced a Technology Project for each grade. The projects were basically Power Point Presentations, which included some sounds. (For example, a Penguin Power Point Presentation with sounds of the various Penguins, etc.)
Learning
What the teachers learned:
· Availability of the software we already owned at the school
· An awareness of the knowledge of the children concerning Technology even though we didn’t have a lab at that time.
What the Generation Yes Students learned:
· How lessons are planned.
· The preparation involved in lesson planning
· A review of content they may have studied in an earlier grade.
· Language Arts, especially writing, reinforcement.
Generation Yes continues…
After our second year, we had a new lab and computer access school wide. This sparked a year of research and skills especially concerning the internet and what was available already online. This year, our projects were connected with our school theme.
One of our main projects was based in an advertising scenario. Our theme that school year was character building with various traits for each month. We divided the monthly themes into groups. The children wrote lesson plans around the character traits and discussed how they were going to “advertise” that theme school wide. A teacher was assigned to a month and the students prepared bulletin boards, brochures, web links, power point presentations, etc for their month. Here’s one of our students describing her project…
Year Four – Our concern this year again revolved around our school theme. This year it was caring for the Earth. I could see the teachers somewhat limit the theme by turning it into simply a recycling program. That wasn’t necessarily a bad things but it was more involved than that. As I spoke with my Gen Y students, we began to see the interconnectedness of all things. We began to speak of the circle of life… We started a web site about the “Earth and Caring for the Earth.” We invited in a local artist to share her “new stories of creation”: Marion Honors. Now we have her art work displayed in our school… a timeline of life on Earth.
From our website we were contacted by Jeff LaTour from
Saratoga Computer Recycling. See
full explanation of e-wasteDefinition of e-wasteArticle about e-waste.
Year Five, our story moves to a world beyond ourselves..
Blogging for Peace.. Website etc.
Now investigate and brainstorm some ideas of your own? What projects might be out there waiting for you to discover them?
Now onto
tools for teachers blog..
Give time to investigate…
