Blocked Blogger

…as well as Facebook and so much more

Restrictions seem to be continually tightening rather than loosening. I used to be able to sign in to my blog at school, but now blogspot is completely blocked.
Facebook has always been blocked.

Again, let’s not use the latest tools for communication that our K-12 students use so much at home! If you need to tell anything to me in a hurry while I’m at school, please use my regular email or leave a voice message on my cell. ~~K

Busy Bakers

I’m thinking these pictures from today’s third grade classroom says it all.

Cooperation, measurement, science, patience, cleanliness, etc. were all required for this project that took place throughout the day. The school has never smelled better! ~~K

Learnin’ ‘n Loot...

at eTech Ohio 2009 - State Technology Conference - Columbus Convention Center

Decisions, decisions – about 20 different sessions from which to choose for each hour from 8-3:30 for 3 days! I was selfish this year and attended sessions that interested me personally, rather than thinking about what I would take back to other teachers.

Most of you know how much I enjoy geocaching – to the point I incorporated it into several lessons with my 5th graders last year. With that in mind, here are the titles of several of my favorite sessions:
**Earthquests! Teaching Earth Science, Topography, And Geography Using Google Earth
**Educaching: Integrating GPS Technology With The Curriculum

First hand viewing of students designing and creating robots and then competing was a highlight I enjoyed.

After attending several sessions, such as **Don't Fear Facebook! Using Social Networking To Communicate With Students And Parents**, I realize our schools need to rethink many of the restrictions that are currently in place about YouTube, Facebook, cell phones, iPods, and other “tools” readily, efficiently, and continually used by students (but NOT schools). The tools are already there to communicate with students but many administrations refuse to let us use them inside the classrooms.

Along the same lines, I became more comfortable with Google Docs, but forget it – it’s blocked at school. Many times as my students are so excited about PowerPoint they are disappointed upon realizing they don’t have it at home. Within Google Docs they could create presentations at home and even save them in the ppt format; or export a ppt to Google Docs. (The same is true for spreadsheets and word documents.) I was excited and even started planning a lesson on this, but as I returned to school Thursday my excitement turned to frustration as I realized GD is a restricted site. Again, we’ve cut another avenue available between school and home, and dampened student enthusiasm.

But I do encourage you to check out Google Docs at home – I’ve learned more on my own and so wish I was able to use its “forms” at school – it would be an alternative method of assessment or survey.

Wifi and laptops - almost everywhere except classrooms!

OK, enough whining! I’ll be sharing with staff some things I learned, especially **Thirty Three Tech Tips That Translate To Time (re)Trieved** and iTunesU (professional development videos and podcasts). Other topics that revitalized me were Web 2.0, Edu 2.0, wikis, blogs, ANIMOTO, wordle.net, voicethread.com – as I type this I realize there are things I’ve tried at home, but not at school – I better prepare myself for more restrictions.

What’s a conference without goodies? More pens than I’ll ever use, a fine-point mechanical pencil, earbuds, T-shirt, boomerang, magnets, bookmarks, screen-cleaners, a very nice mug, ruler, candy, etc. But the BEST – a 2 gig thumb drive that’s a bracelet!

As I typed this in Word and saw so many "red squiggles" it just reinforces my frustration at how we are not keeping up with the times! So many words that are so current for our students are not in the dictionary – iPod, earbud, Google, FaceBook, MySpace, educaching, earthquest, etc. ~~K

Sunday in Columbus ...

... this is being posted a week after the fact.

As we left home around 3pm we decided to let the GPS direct us down to Columbus. It proved to be a much different route than we normally drive. Taking us down 68 from 23 proved to be slow going as we drove through towns at 25 mph. Once we reached 33 it was smooth sailing; in fact this might be the faster way to get to Dublin. From home to the Crown Plaza downtown took 2 hrs. I think it may have ended up being quicker this way in the long run since we didn’t have all of the stop and go of 23.

Valet parking and check-in was very busy, but our room was ready and several colleagues were already waiting for us. Ours was a recently remodeled room that seemed not quite finished in terms of details (no towel racks).

To save time and crowds the next morning, we walked over to the convention center to check in and pick up our materials. Unfortunately, the skywalk was partially closed and being worked on; but we continued without coats (and kept doing that the rest of the days).

Our conference bags are roomy, but not as nice as the zippered ones we’ve received in the past.

We then walked directly to Max and Erma’s (connected to the hotel) where friends were holding seats for us. Burgers were the meals of choice for all of us – I had mushroom and Swiss. With all the eating and talking I wasn’t thinking of being a photographer, but as we were getting up to leave I took this shot from the balcony where we sat. (Photo-taking was not tops on my mind the rest of the week as you’ll notice in the next several posts also.)

Then it was back to the hotel lounge to see the end of the Super Bowl. Those last few minutes became quite boisterous in the very comfortable, but crowded area.

Deciding which sessions to attend is always difficult for me with so many choices, but I wanted to at least have the 8am session determined before I went to bed. As usual, the first night in a different bed did not yield a good night’s sleep. ~~K

Round, 'n Round, 'n Round...

After school Tuesday I had planned to run down the road near home; but at 3:45 when I checked the weather the wind was 10.4 mph. Since I usually have my gym bag in the car, I changed into my running gear and headed toward the 1/8 mile track on school grounds. I was hoping the track might not be as “windy” since it is sheltered by the school building and is in town.

As I jogged in 73 degrees (this is November?) I was occasionally joined by a child on the track or pleasantly yelled a greeting by a student. It didn’t seem very windy as I ran 2 miles within 22 minutes, but felt quite tired and finished up with brisk walking to fill 30 minutes.

My glutes and inner thighs were unusually “tired” today. Perhaps because I “climbed” for 10 minutes at a 10% incline at about 4.2 mph yesterday at the Y after completing 30 minutes of strength training

Sorry about the window screen grids in the photos – taken from 3rd floor inside. ~~K

Writing Bouquet

Finally, the solution to missing pens and pencils from my desk at school!

The sunflowers are pencils, ivy stems are pens, and the "baby's breath" is the eraser.

I bought 2 bunches of sunflowers at the WalMart ($1 each) for a total of 12 stems; had the ivy and baby's breath, as well as the floral tape on hand - an inexpensive solution to the continuing case of missing (not returned?) writing utensils.

~K