I just found this site that might be of interest: IEAR.org. The group appears to place a significant emphasis on earlier years and on small Apple devices: the iPhone, iTouch (as they call it), and the iPod. Their site design is clever.
Since I'm frequently asked by the elementary teachers about technology integration by subject area, this might be a good resource. They have an accompanying Ning and a Wiki. You can follow them on Twitter, and visit their Delicious. Check it out.
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Susan Wells, principal at Grey Culbreth Middle School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, has a vision for implementing the power of the affordable iPod Touch into every curriculum area of the school. The teachers and community are embracing this initiative whole-heartedly. And the students? Well, you can imagine! This link on their web page provides a number of podcasts about their vision and efforts to date. Notice their videos are hosted through Google as well as their Blogger blog--a completely free implementation!
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I love to see entire schools seeking to implement systemic change in professional practice. This Broward Country school Nova Blanche Forman, will be an elementary school to watch as they explore new ways of teaching and learning with technology infusion. They are finding creative uses for the iPod Touch in their instructional Practice.
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Learning in Hand is Tony Vincent's web presence for using handheld devices in education. Tony is well know and respected for his pioneering working in using podcasting in the elementary classroom when he worked in Omaha, Nebraska. You will certainly want to check out Radio WillowWeb, also pictured in this post. Radio WillowWeb is a collection of podcasts created by elementary school students from second through fifth grades.
On Learning in Hand you will find Tony's blog, and the following sections: Podcasts, PDAs, iPods, Netbooks, Mobile Web, as well as others. He provides educators with a great resource on mobile learning!
Cathleen Richardson, Director of Technology at the Atlanta Girls' School, has an incredible student project combining the use of the iPod Touch with a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math at AGS.
From their website: "iSTEM is a program that will combine the use of iPod Touches, various software applications, and Cocoa Programming/Objective C to pique the interest of Atlanta Girls' School students in the STEM areas. The program will begin in eighth grade with a science curriculum infused with technology applications and will end in twelfth grade with AGS girls becoming Cocoa programmers. Eighth graders will be getting the chance to use the iPods beginning the week of February 16. Four eleventh grade girls will begin the week of February 23 working directly with Director of Technology, Cathleen Richardson, to be a beta test group for programming the devices. The curriculum for this project will be aligned with National Science, Math, Engineering and Technology Standards and guided by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills Framework."
Knowing what an amazing, innovative, and creative educator Cathleen is, I will be eager to watch this project unfold! Be sure to explore their site at this link or by clicking on the image in this post.
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Darren has set a high standard for us with the way he uses blogging with his math students. Brilliant. I particularly recommend this post, the first of two, as he steps his readers through how he sets up a new class blog for his students. His suggestions are practical and the product of a lot of experience.
In this post, he recommends sitmo as a realtime, interactive equation editor tool for math teachers and students. I frequently hear math teachers express a need for this!
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Ms. Hayes' Navigators, a fifth grade class blog from New Zealand state, "We will navigate our journey of leadership in our school through service. To be effective leaders we will draw on the virtues of co-operation, excellence, diligence, unity, creativity, enthusiasm and courage. Be our support crew by leaving us a comment." The class has its own photostream at Flickr.
Mrs. Drexler's 3rd grade class Wordpress blog at Shorecrest Preparatory School in St. Petersburg, Florida.
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"We are a 5th grade class that is piloting a 1:1 laptop program using iBook computers. We blog, Skype, make Wiki pages, produce digital videos, podcasts and vidcasts." A Blogmeister project featuring the work of Mr. Brian Crosby's students.
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Mrs. Perry's 4th grade blog features links to numerous pictures of students in class, scans of student work, her weekly web picks, and student contributions.
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From Ms. Gauley's main page: "Here we are! We go to school in Bengough, Saskatchewan, Canada. We want to share what we are doing in our classroom. Come and see! "
This blog makes frequent use of BubbleShare to welcome people to the learning of these young students. The teacher says, "This is my 19th year of teaching. I am still fairly new at using blogs and podcasting, but think that it is an exciting way to share what we are doing at school! "
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From the information page of Ms. Mercer's Computer Lab Class blog: "This is blog is to support learning on the Internet at our school. You can find assignments for Ms. Mercer’s Computer Lab class, and links to activities and resources.
Goals of this blog are to help you explore the Internet and the themes and subjects you are studying in your classroom. A blog is different than Web pages, because you don’t just read what’s on the blog, but you get to add to the page, by writing comments."
The blog uses slideshare to go over the rules, what a blog is, and information about the Acceptable Use Policy.
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This is a blog hosted through Blogger. This text from the site banner: "2M's Blog of all that's happening in our classroom. You can read, watch and listen as we share our learning journey - a journey where we 'learn to blog' and 'blog to learn'. Please visit regularly to see what's new and join in the conversation - we'd love for you to be part of our learning."
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The students at Primary 6 at Loirston in Aberdeen, Scotland write regularly on their class blog. They have these blogging rules:• NEVER give out personal information.
• Only use first names.
• Don’t include a name if there is a photograph of that person in the post.
• Report anything that you are worried about to a teacher immediately.
• Do not reply to comments unless you have cleared it first with a teacher.
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