Technology as a Second Language

Geek's Guide to Teaching in the Modern Age
Technology and the Law

Summer Reads 2008

These are books I couldn't put down:

Heart of a Champion by Carl Deuker
"I wondered if it was better to have a father like that (one who screams at his son), or not to have a father at all." Seth's father had died. Jimmy's father was very much alive, pushing Jimmy to be the best baseball player by screaming at him. Seth and Jimmy have been friends since a chance meeting on a baseball field in sixth grade. Now they are in high school on the varsity baseball team and learning how decisions they make off the field impact their lives.

Perfect by Natasha Friend

Driver's Ed by Caroline Cooney
Three teenagers agonize over what they should do after they steal a stop sign. A woman is killed by driving through the intersection. Can they keep the secret and live with the guilt?

Code Talkers by Joseph Bruchac
Navajo Indians joined the Marine Corp during World War II to become Code Talkers, sending and receiving military communications using their Navajo language. The story follows starts on the Navajo reservation and takes you onto the battlefields of World War II. If you like historical fiction about World War II, be sure to read Code Talkers. Historical Fiction

Mississippi Trial, 1955 by Chris Crowe
A historical fiction based on the true story of the murder of 15-year-old African American Emmett Till in Mississippi in the summer of 1955. The author's extensive research adds rich details to this event that helped spark the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. Historical Fiction

Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick
Steven is a normal 8th grader: a drummer in an honor band who has a crush on the hottest girl in school (who doesn't know he exists) and whose little brother annoys him constantly. His world is turned upside down when his brother gets sick and he has to cope with that as well as the other pressures of his life. Realistic Fiction

City of Ember
People of Sparks
Yonwood Prophet by Jeanne DuPrau
The lights in the City of Ember start to flicker and Lena and Doon, two teens who have just finished their education and entered the world of work, join forces to figure out what is going on. City of Ember has a cliff-hanger ending that makes you want to read People of Sparks to see what happens next!

Sizzling Series:

Found (#1 in Missing series) by Margaret Peterson Haddix (recommended by Mrs. Christiancy)

Thirteen-year-old Jonah has always known that he was adopted, and he's never thought it was any big deal. Then he and a new friend, Chip, who's also adoped, begin receiving mysterious letters. The first one says, "You are one of the missing." The second one says, "Beware! They're coming back to get you."

Jonah, Chip, and Jonah's sister, Katherine, are plunged into a mystery that involves the FBI, a vast smuggling operation, an airplane that appeared out of nowhere -- and people who seem to appear and disappear at will. The kids discover they are caught in a battle between two opposing forces that want very different things for Jonah and Chip's lives.

Do Jonah and Chip have any choice in the matter? And what should they choose when both alternatives are horrifying? (Barnes & Noble synopsis)

Award-winners:
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
(National Book Award Finalist, Michael L. Printz Award)

Winner Intermediate Golden Sower for 2007-2008: The World According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney

Honor books:  The Stupendous Dodgeball Fiasco by Janice Repka, illus. Glin Dibley
          The SOS File by Betsy Byars, Betsy Duffey, and Laurie Myers



Winner Young Adult Golden Sower for 2007-2008: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Honor books:  Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
            The Perfect Shot by Elaine Marie Alphin

Ipods for Special Education Students

Notes from NETA 2008 session "Leveling the Playing Field for Special Ed Students with iPods"
by Lanita Recob, Misty Beair, Rose Brewer

• Leveling the field for the sped, ELL, SAT students
• accommodations for sped students
• Allows students to be independent in general ed classroom.
  • Hand them the ipod as you hand them the print test.
• Accommodations read only 2 or 3 answers instead of 4
• Matching: give 2-4 word bank for each question
• Essays: you can individualize accommodations and cues (remember to…)
• Kids can skip questions and go back to questions.
• Students are able to take a test at their own speed w/o assistance of staff members.
• Sped ed teacher reads the test into the ipod for each teacher
  • Dyslexic: "I already know the material I just need it read to me because the words get mixed up."
  • Motivation for kids to study for tests because they like staying in the classroom
  • Colleges uses ipod for accommodations.
  • Safe—can put tests on and off ipod
  • Sped teacher can help other students instead of reading tests
• OTHER USES:
  
• Recording lectures for missing students or to review
• Speech practices so students can listen to it
• Learning lines for plays, class presentations
• Memorization work for classes
  
• notetaking: students read and summarize notes from class lectures
  
• Take language sample from all speech kids in fall to be able to compare in spring
• Kids read at least quarterly to monitor fluency
• word list of 10 words with their problem sounds for practice
• kids do self monitoring to compare throughout the year
• IEP meetings let parents listen to progress
• end of year motivation for summer goals

Once it is set up it is easy to maintain.

How to finance:
• Medicaid reimbursement facilitated thru ESP
• Sped funds

Equipment
• Ipods w/cases
• laptops dedicated to ipods project
• usb headsets w/mics

preparation:
• choose resource teachers who are open to change
• familiar with technology
• collaborate to learn the technology
• paid staff $15/hour to take after-hours workshops on how to do it.

• Session 1:learn how to use an ipod, computer, Garageband
• Session 2: create a podcast test, transfer podcast to server, sync with ipod
  

technology issues:
• wanted to find a secure location to save the tests (teacher password protected)

• Consider that you will need to replace the ipods eventually
  
• Griffin or belkin recording devices make sure they match w/ipods

future:
• paras create and sync the tests on an ipod
• assessments, norm ref and classroom evaluations are syced on ipod
• use for iowa basics test instructions (check copyright issue)


open imovie
create titles
create title slide
**************************

• Make the question 1 screen from ppt; save it as a jpg file in ppt

NETA Notes 4.24.2008 keynote

I attended the annual Nebraska Educational Technology Conference in Omaha on April 24-25, 2008. As usual, I picked up many great ideas, lesson plans and resources from the presenters.

Will Richardson, keynote speaker http://willrichardson.wikispaces.com

• Web has become a publishing tool allowing every computer to become a printing press.
  
• ustream.tv produce and broadcast video
• Blogs are all about networking; can change the way one looks at the world.
• blogs are global.
• many educational blogs out there.
  
• search for Secret Life of Bees blog.
  
• Reading is not a passive activity anymore...blogs allow us to reply to the articles we read.
• People are using the web to find out what other consumers are saying about products. It's about the buzz about the products, not just the product itself.
• According to the National School Board Association over 70% of students have a social networking account; but only 3% of educators do. We need to know what our students' online world is all about and instead of just blocking these sites, teach them how to ethically use them.
  
• We need to prepare students to the fact that what they put up on the web remains there even after they "remove" it and employers are searching the Web to see what prospective employees have posted.
• Instead of dumping information into kids, teach them to find the content and how to interact with it.
• Show them how to find good information.
• Wikipedia: most information is not erroneous...they do a good job of catching mistakes in a matter of minutes. Print material cannot be updated that quickly.
• We are not consumers of information. We are now EDITORS of information.
• Kids won't look past the top 5 Google results.
• Great podcasts at radio willowweb (Omaha)
• Website: flat classroom project