SMARTBoard SKYPING in Italy

March 10, 2009. This morning we used SKYPE-videoconferencing- to talk with my colleague, Mrs. Rudeen. She is a 4th grade teacher who is in Milan, Italy visiting her daughter. Mrs. Rudeen's students along with my ELL students, partook in an interactivity activity over SKYPE. I projected Mrs. Rudeen and her daughter over my SMARTBoard. She concluded her lesson about Italy on SKYPE. The students LOVED talking with their teacher in Italy. During this lesson the students were shown Euro coins and dollars, and Coca Cola's different cans in Italy. They had a worksheet and were told the temperature in Italy in Celsius and then they had to convert to Farenheit. Another problem that was given was to determine the time difference. Each class spend 30 minutes asking questions and listening to Mrs. Rudeen speak of her travels in Venice, Milan and how she was finishing her trip. I will be videoconferencing more in the future. This is an inexpensive way to make it eay to connect with other people and/or classrooms around the world. I plan on teaming with various teachers around the world. This is just 1 way to use my SMARTBoard.

Getting SMART this Fall

I went to the 1st SMARTboard User Conference in Marshall, Mn on Thursday, October 16, 2008.  I wrote a proposal last May and found out last week that BL-H's ESL program was awarded a SMARTboard.  I have been trying to digest everything I can about using an interactive white board in my classroom. It has so many great features. The students will LOVE this new piece of technology. Another great addition to the ESL program at BL-H was 10 iPod Touches with 8G. The students are using them for podcasts, audiobooks, and of course some gaming! 

My First Book

I would like my Kindergarten students to be able to be read to every day. I will have 15 ELL students next fall and I think that by using a voicethread for different books would be a great way to integrate technology into my class and allow individual literacy stimulation.

Beginning the Race

Well this week starts the race of finishing the 2007-2008 school year. The 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, & 8th graders will finish the MTELL by Wednesday and then there's prom, grandparents day, track & field, and countless field trips. Besides all these events, I want to incorporate podcasting into my classroom. We're getting Smartboards for the classrooms so I'm excited to learn EVEN more about integrating technology into my classroom.

Online Testing

Today my 11th graders started the MTELL (Math Test for English Language Learners). It went well. They did 2 sections and will finish tomorrow. The 3,4,5,6,7,& 8th graders will take the MTELL next week. The ELLs will be so ready for the online Science test due to them having experience taking the online MTELL. It's too bad they have to test instead of exploring and creating online projects during these test windows. I shared my Flickr project with my elementary students. Of course it was a hit with them. Once we are done with all the testing I hope to do some FUN activities with my students. I have gained so much information from my online Hamline University class.

The Next Step

I have been learning so much in the Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and other Web tools class that I am taking through Hamline University - St. Paul. I finally am ready to start my blogging about the resources I have found in the last few weeks.  I am a Digital Immigrant and I have been working on assimilating for a couple of years now. I love watching the Digital Natives and the technology of today is awesome. The connections I have gained through this class are so empowering. I have the PBWiki http://blhesl.pbwiki.com and del.icio.us. I need the gift of time to access the vast wealth of information on the World Wide Web. The expanding body of knowledge out in cyberspace is unbelievable to me.  It is so exciting to be able to gather the information and be creative with the technology tools. I felt like a kid again when I designed a homepage by using JotSpot. http://www.jotspot.com Next I need to share this with my students.