2010-03-11 Seedlings with Podcasting Principal Melinda Miller
All three Seedlings are here with Principal Miller. Principal Miller just returned from Google Teachers Academy for Administrators. Listen in and find out what the difference is for administrators! We have some awesome Geeks of the Week to share with you and the chat room rocks as usual.
“Geek of the Week” Links for 2010-03-11
Principal Miller's Links:
The Chat:
19:18:21 cheryloakes~seedlings Welcome to Seedlings, getting ready
19:28:28 cheryloakes~seedlings Welcome to all
19:33:13 cheryloakes~seedlings welcome Matt
19:33:22 melindamiller MATT Hello!!!
19:33:35 matt montagne howdy cheryl, melinda, et al
19:33:47 bobsprankle hi matt
19:35:28 alicebarr Hi Matt!
19:35:35 bobsprankle hi carol!
19:35:37 alicebarr Hi Carol teach!
19:36:05 carolteach4 Hey! Was lurking but decided to come in. Been using Google apps a lot in the past few weeks.
19:36:06 matt montagne hey carol
19:36:09 alicebarr Melinda just finished Google for Admin
19:36:13 matt montagne *carolyn
19:36:31 cheryloakes~seedlings Hi Carol4teach, how was NYC
19:36:48 carolteach4 Hey, Matt. Yes! I sent you a tweet today about the filkm for EarthDay - talk with you later.
19:36:55 carolteach4 NYC was awesome!
19:37:04 carolteach4 film
19:37:05 matt montagne definitely carolyn
19:37:36 matt montagne I heard the news regarding all of the school closures in Kansas City Public Schools...
19:38:38 carolteach4 I was listening to the story about Kansas public schools on PBS while driving home -too bad state of the art buildings are to be closed. What a shame the economy is taking such a tole on education -
19:39:00 cheryloakes~seedlings hello mslaneeus, welcome
19:39:04 alicebarr Welcome mslaneeus
19:39:09 mslaneeus Thank you.
19:39:24 alicebarr Kansas City... sad
19:40:12 matt montagne I guess KC also had a dramtatic demographic shift over the last 10 years as well...apparently they lost quite a few students.
19:40:30 carolteach4 I'm not great typing on the iPhone. Cheryl asked me to blog from Celebration of Teaching and Learning. I did, but it was only two lines long. However, my next post from school a few days longer was the longest I've written.
19:40:45 carolteach4 http://evolvingclassroombethany.blogspot.com
19:41:06 matt montagne I LOVE the video essay requirement
19:41:12 cheryloakes~seedlings I read your short posts!!
19:41:27 matt montagne I would like to see video essays required for teaching positions
19:41:34 carolteach4 Try to read my longer one, please.
19:41:39 cheryloakes~seedlings http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AQoj2vZ_S0
19:41:46 cheryloakes~seedlings I will carol!!!
19:41:53 alicebarr Interesting Matt, Juniors are now getting solicited by colleges saying they can apply with video
19:41:56 carolteach4 If you give a mouse a cookie
19:42:08 cheryloakes~seedlings yes Carol, check out her video
19:42:26 alicebarr Ben N got one today from Carnegie mellon
19:42:45 cheryloakes~seedlings very cool Alice
19:43:56 carolteach4 I just looked at your video, Melinda. It's really cool. I love it.
19:45:32 bobsprankle hi mslaneeus
19:45:41 mslaneeus Hello.
19:46:23 carolteach4 I taught English for 10 years before my boys were born, but I took a leave when they were born. I was not able to multitask the way Melinda obviously can. I knew I was so obsessive about my job that I had to leave the English teaching and make the boys my job. I also had no support system in CT. Everyone was in Maine.
19:46:41 matt montagne being able to convey a message in mixed media is an increasingly valuable skill
19:47:08 cheryloakes~seedlings Carol, I did the same thing, home for 7 years and now I am back!
19:47:15 cheryloakes~seedlings hello Rocky
19:49:41 carolteach4 We have connected our two middle school using Google docs and Google Sites. The kids in our Mandarin Chinese teacher's classes are building web site on the Chinese New Year traditions and celebrations in small groups of 4 to 6 kids. These kids have never met face to face even though they are only separated by about 10 miles. It's the first time we've gotten outside the school walls. It's a start.
19:50:19 matt montagne definitely a start, Carol
19:50:19 alicebarr Very cool carol
19:50:36 cheryloakes~seedlings Carol, mandarin way cool.
19:50:53 matt montagne I find that it is sometimes useful to connect with others in our own building/nearby before anything else
19:50:55 carolteach4 We also have done a Voice Thread with kids from Bethany and kids from Orange. Again, it's a first for us.
19:51:32 matt montagne I'm pretty happy to get some more admiistrators in the GCT Online Community
19:51:52 cheryloakes~seedlings Yes, Matt, it will help all with our perspective.
19:51:59 matt montagne I'm looking forward to the admin voice in our discussions
19:52:21 alicebarr @matt Me too!
19:52:21 carolteach4 The only other time we used Voice Thread before was when a few of our students participated in Matt's Voice Thread for EarthCast09
19:54:01 carolteach4 @Melinda - have you been able to get other administrators involved in connecting with others online through webinars, Nings, Google? I am trying to get other teachers involved at my school, but it's tough.
19:54:53 carolteach4 I got my media specialist involved in last night's PBS webinar on Fair Use and Copyright, and she just didn't like it.
19:55:05 cheryloakes~seedlings great for you!!
19:55:30 cheryloakes~seedlings we need to take people in and out of their comfort zone
19:55:50 cheryloakes~seedlings some media people don't want things to change
19:56:41 carolteach4 Oh, it's not that. She is very forward thinking, but she finds trying to listen and chat very hard. I did too, at first. She'd rather get her info in print.
19:57:04 carolteach4 I haven't played much with Google Calendar, at all.
19:57:07 cheryloakes~seedlings oh, now i understand, i heard that today too. people don't like webinars
19:57:32 alicebarr Calendar is how many teachers have bought into Google
19:57:49 cheryloakes~seedlings good point Alice
19:57:56 carolteach4 I, on the other hand, get soooooo energized by participating in these webinars. I learn so much and it keeps my energy high.
19:58:07 carolteach4 Now I want to learn more about calendar.
19:58:10 cheryloakes~seedlings I agree Carol4teach
19:58:19 alicebarr So easy to add items and embed
19:59:33 carolteach4 I am trying to help my teachers see how powerful Google Docs is - I tell them they should encourage their students to use Google Docs and share the assignments with their teacher. It puts the onus for leaning on the kids.
20:00:38 carolteach4 @Melinda - do you have Google Apps for schools - or do your teachers have to have their own individual accounts.
20:00:39 matt montagne google apps is an empowering platform in so many ways
20:01:04 matt montagne our school engineer made a really nice site for his department
20:01:08 matt montagne and nobody new about it
20:01:10 cheryloakes~seedlings carol4teach, Melinda's HS had google domain, she wants to add the domain to her elementary school
20:02:11 carolteach4 If I had it to do over again, I'd have two domains for my middle school -the one we have has all students and teachers lumped together. I'd like a separate educational domain for the teachers with more priviledges.
20:02:13 matt montagne we have that problem bob
20:02:19 matt montagne we have hundreds of calendars
20:02:55 matt montagne but, it is a good problem to have
20:02:55 cheryloakes~seedlings Hm, I see carol4teach, we always are making changes and improving right
20:03:03 carolteach4 I could NEVER keep track of all those calendars. I have enough trouble rememebering to check three email accounts.
20:03:43 matt montagne carol...it can be difficult to choose an implementation strategy
20:03:51 matt montagne Just know that there are NO BAD choices...
20:04:01 matt montagne and there are NO PERFECT choices
20:04:06 alicebarr That's great advice Matt
20:04:37 cheryloakes~seedlings BUZZ
20:04:56 cheryloakes~seedlings Matt, that is right, there isn't a one size fits all
20:05:09 matt montagne Carol...there will be more user policies in Google apps networks in the future...
20:05:19 matt montagne so you'll be able to give certain permissions to teachers, etc
20:05:25 cheryloakes~seedlings that is good to know Matt
20:05:42 matt montagne I'm just so excited about the apps marketplace right now
20:06:04 alicebarr Yeah the market place is cool. What apps do you recommend?
20:06:23 matt montagne Imagine moodle, wordpress mu, ed.Voicethread, etc, all fully integrated into our g apps networks providing users one point of authentication
20:06:26 carolteach4 Our year book coordinator did his superlatives this year using a form from Google Apps in our school domain. He was really excited about how much easier it was than collecting hand-written ballots from each of the kids by homeroom. Yeah!
20:06:50 matt montagne @carol...we've only installed aviary, the image editing suite
20:06:59 matt montagne *alice
20:07:24 matt montagne I like Zappos' corporate policy on social networking
20:07:29 cheryloakes~seedlings Our yearbook person did that too Carol. she loved it
20:08:15 cheryloakes~seedlings matt that is my dream, moodle, integrated to goggle domain!
20:08:16 carolteach4 @ Matt. I will be waiting for those, Matt. I am frustrated by not being able to limit some of the priviledges in Google Sites for collaborators. I'm working with middle schoolers, and I'd like to have more control as an owner. For example, I don't like the idea that they can turn comments off and on. I wish that were an owner (teacher) features.
20:08:17 alicebarr Matt is that something worth sharing with admin?
20:08:29 matt montagne Zappos simple corporate social networking policy: "Be real & use your best judgement."
20:08:40 alicebarr We are meeting tomorrow about social networking with admins
20:08:45 carolteach4 I have heard that Google is supposed to work with Moodle, but none of the details.
20:08:53 alicebarr Oh I LOVE it!!
20:08:59 matt montagne yes, that is a weakness of sites, Carol...
20:09:15 cheryloakes~seedlings Yes, someone is using it and likes it. Carol, I find out who.
20:09:36 matt montagne carol...there is a google moodle tie in, but you go to moodle first...I'd like it to be the other way around as google's up time can't be beat
20:09:56 matt montagne Is buzz going to be integrated into Google Apps education edition?? If so, any idea of when??
20:10:50 carolteach4 What is BUZZ again? Quick explanation?
20:10:53 cheryloakes~seedlings carol, email the google sites support and let them know, they are responsive
20:11:07 cheryloakes~seedlings BUZZ is like a twitter built into gmail
20:11:12 carolteach4 @Cheryl. I did today - hope they got it.
20:11:26 matt montagne buzz inside of google apps EE will be pretty nice...brings social networking to our schools (although I would contend that in many ways google apps EE networks are social networks right now)
20:12:21 alicebarr @Matt no idea. Kern would know
20:12:34 carolteach4 I don't think our teachers would buy into Buzz at our middle school. We even turned off chat. Many of our kids really aren't mature enough to handle it.
20:13:26 matt montagne we enabled chat...we've had a few problems, but I find that it really isn't that different than email. People can horse around in email just as easy as chat.
20:13:34 matt montagne But, I understand your position Carol
20:13:52 carolteach4 I try to keep everything very professional in webinar chat and in twitter and my blog.
20:13:56 alicebarr Same here Matt. Kids use it all the time after school. noyt many problems either
20:14:32 carolteach4 @Matt - I though you were working with older kids.
20:14:42 carolteach4 Mine are 12 and 13.
20:14:58 matt montagne we did have an issue earlier this year where adults were essentially blaming chat for the problem...as it turns out, the problems had nothing to do with chat and everything to do with healthy relationships
20:15:15 matt montagne Carol...we have grades 6-12...
20:15:27 matt montagne but still, I completely understand your positiion
20:15:35 carolteach4 OH! Wow!
20:16:16 matt montagne what is great about chat is that students are learning to manage time...and to manage their time online.
20:16:37 alicebarr Matt, Ben and ben call it the 24/7 school library
20:16:48 carolteach4 If you get a chance, watch the show from Frontline - Digital Nation. They address virtual worlds. It's a fascinating 90 minutes. I'll try to find the link and put it in.
20:17:07 matt montagne I'll check that out, Carolyn
20:19:49 carolteach4 Here is the link:
20:19:52 carolteach4 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/?utm_campaign=home...
20:20:05 cheryloakes~seedlings Thanks carol4teach
20:20:45 matt montagne IT people are incredibly scared of it
20:21:18 matt montagne there are certain elephants in the room when you add a free platform that isn't installed on their network.
20:22:25 carolteach4 We did have an inappropriate post on one of the weather sites the kids are building. Luckily, we were aware of it right away and could remove it. Also, it was clear who made put in the inappropriate material. It makes things so difficult when kids do not follow our rules for being ethical.
20:23:38 mslaneeus Big changes here too. Loss of schools.
20:24:18 carolteach4 There is so much negative press and headlines about teachers - getting rid of bad ones, etc. We do so much preaching to the choir. We need to get our message out to the general population of how much we do and how dedicated we are.
20:24:30 cheryloakes~seedlings oh, mslaneeus, sorry to hear that, it is a tough time
20:24:31 matt montagne agreed, Carolyn
20:24:35 bobsprankle http://sites.google.com/a/saline.k12.mi.us/cloud-living/
20:25:01 matt montagne great show, all!
20:25:08 cheryloakes~seedlings thanks Matt!
20:25:42 alicebarr http://teachingwithted.pbworks.com/TEDxNYED
20:26:03 carolteach4 This looks so interesting. I'll be anxious to see how it compares with our experience. We are really still rolling it out.
20:26:46 carolteach4 I got to see a few of the presentations live on Saturday - exciting.
20:27:07 cheryloakes~seedlings http://www.wordsift.com/ http://www.teachhub.com/news/article/cat/14/item/393
20:27:28 carolteach4 So much was going on in NYC on March 4 and March 5 - I haven't seen much from anyone about Celebration of Teaching and Learning
20:27:53 alicebarr I saw Lucy who had been at T & L
20:29:37 carolteach4 I just played with it briefly, Cheryl. Awesome.
20:30:04 bobsprankle http://www.guide2digitallearning.com/blog_jim_vanides/what_s_edtech_hori...
20:31:02 cheryloakes~seedlings hello jasonmkern!!
20:31:17 carolteach4 I printed off some of the National Ed Tech Plan today -now to find time to read it.
20:31:40 cheryloakes~seedlings Carol, maybe we will talk about that next time!
20:32:04 carolteach4 Arne Ducan spoke at Celebration of Teaching and Learning and encouraged teachers to comment; it's where we can make our voices heard and hopefully, listened to.
20:32:36 jasonmkern hello
20:32:52 bobsprankle http://naesp.typepad.com/blog/2010/03/federal-update-draft-common-standa...
20:33:11 carolteach4 Duncan was quite eloquent about how NCLB has to be changed. How we have to reward school - for growth - on individual basis -not punish. I hope he means it.
20:33:17 cheryloakes~seedlings we are just finishing up the show, it is a podcast Friday morning at bobsprankle.com and edtechtalk.com/seedlings
20:33:24 cheryloakes~seedlings thanks to our chat room!
20:33:47 bobsprankle thanks to all!
20:34:06 matt montagne I hope they were honest
20:34:16 carolteach4 Nice to listen, Melinda
20:34:17 matt montagne well, chow all!
20:34:23 cheryloakes~seedlings Thanks to you all!!!
20:34:41 carolteach4 Thanks, Cheryl.
20:34:46 carolteach4 Night.
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