Where is the great programming

Don't forget to check in with CAPSpace and read your listserv messages!

Here is a sample of the great opportunities I saw come across my email box this week:

Title:  World AIDS Day: LIVE from South Africa:

URL: http://projects.twice.cc/?l=collaboration&id=1490

Grades: 9, 10, 11, 12

Dates: Wednesday, Nov 30, 9:00-10:30 MT/11:00-12:30 ET

Title:  Gingerbread Man Project:

URL: http://projects.twice.cc/?l=collaboration&id=1491

Grades: PreK, K

Dates: Between December 7th and December 20th EDT

Title:  Snowmen at Night:

URL: http://projects.twice.cc/?l=collaboration&id=1492

Grades: PreK, K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Dates: Dec- 2011 thru Feb 2012

Win a free program from Connect2Texas

NEW! A chance to win a FREE Connect2Texas program...but HURRY!
Drawing will be held after 5:00 PM CST on Friday, Nov. 18.

All you have to do is one of the following:

1.       Like us on Facebook

2.       Follow us on Twitter

3.       Sign up on our Listserv

Increase your chances and do ALL three!

To find out more about Connect2Texas providers offering content enhancement and professional development programs visit www.Connect2Texas.net.

Morbid but great project. Perfect for Junior High students!

   STUDENTS REBUILD, ONE MILLION BONES AND CARE PARTNER TO RAISE GLOBAL AWARENESS AND FUNDING FOR CRISES IN SOMALIA AND THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

“A Path Forward,” Culminating in Art Installation of One Million Handmade Bones on National Mall, Will Serve as Visible Petition to Resolve Widespread Suffering

Do you ever wonder what you can do to impact faraway problems? From intractable poverty and famine, to war and conflict, the portraits of human suffering we see in the news are staggering. Sobering. Too overwhelming to do anything? Not so.

Welcome to the newest Students Rebuild challenge, A Path Forward: a chance to take a collective stand against humanitarian crises by joining a participatory art installation in Washington, D.C. that will raise awareness and critical funds.

Students Rebuild has teamed-up with One Million Bones, a campaign to cover the National Mall in Washington, DC with 1,000,000 handmade bones in honor of lives lost and in solidarity with those who have survived mass conflict.

Those bones can be made and mailed in by you. And your friends. Make a bone for peace. Make a bone for hope and healing. Make a bone to show our connectedness.

Are you outside North America without the means to ship bones? The instillation will also include digital images of handmade bones and will culiminate in a book and a short film. Everyone will have the chance to contribute.  For more information, visit www.studentsrebuild.org

FREE PD from Cook Children's Medical Center

Diabetes Management Plans

Tuesday, Oct. 25

4:00-5:00 CST

Guiding & Coaching Families of Children with Hearing Loss

Friday, Nov. 4

8:30-4:00 CST

Nuts & Bolts of Listening & Spoken Language Practice

Saturday, Nov. 5

8:30-4:00 CST

Sick Days of Diabetes

Thursday, Nov. 17

4:00-5:00 CST

To find out more about Connect2Texas providers offering content enhancement and professional development programs visit www.Connect2Texas.net.

Free programs from Texas Wildlife Association

For the 2011-2012 school year Connect2Texas provider Texas Wildlife Association will be providing ALL their programs for FREE!
Interactive and view only spots available. Go to www.Connect2Texas.net to register.

Title: Urban Animal Encounters: Awesome Opossums!
Target Audience: Grades 1-5
Date: Tuesday, Oct. 25
Times: 9:00-9:45, 10:30-11:15, 12:45-1:30, 2:00-2:45 CST
Description: The perception of opossums is (hopefully) changing with their animated counterparts becoming more popular, especially in movies! Virginia opossums may be the most unique North American mammal, but perception tends to overshadow their awesome qualities. Opossums are awesome because of... their teeth, they are marsupials, omnivores, and nocturnal, and their ability to play dead, just to name a few. We will also clear up any myths and misconceptions that you and your students have about this awesome animal. Please join us and our critter guest stars!

Title: BATS: LIVE on the BIG screen!
Target Audience: Grades 1-5
Dates: Monday, Oct. 31 or Wednesday, Dec. 14

Times: 9:00-9:45, 10:30-11:15, 12:45-1:30, 2:00-2:45 CST
Description: This interactive presentation allows students the opportunity to investigate the relationship between the anatomy and the ecology, including the dietary habits, of different species of bats. An experience you will not want to miss. LIVE bats take part in this program! Look at their transparent wings, learn how a free-tailed bat gets its name, and watch them munch down on mealworms!

Title: Urban Animal Encounters: Urban Occupants!

Target Audience: Grades 1-5

Date: Thursday, Nov. 10

Times: 9:00-9:45, 10:30-11:15, 12:45-1:30, 2:00-2:45 CST

Description: Over 85% of Texans live in an "urban" area. This program will focus on critters that you and your students are more likely to find around your school, home, and community. Our visitors are quite an eclectic bunch, from those with no limbs to others with four, six, or even eight! You and your students will learn characteristics, adaptations, habitats, and the reasons these critters feel the need to share our space. Join us as we learn about some of the most common urban occupants!

Title: Let's Talk Turkey!

Target Audience: Grades 1-6

Date: Tuesday, Nov. 22

Times: 9:00-9:45, 10:30-11:15, 12:45-1:30, 2:00-2:45 CST

Description: We will discuss turkey anatomy and habitat as well as the various "calls" or vocalizations that turkeys make to communicate. Students will listen to an assortment of calls and will have the opportunity to make their very own turkey call after the program. WANT MORE? Check out our "Let's Talk Turkey" trunk! It's available to educators on a 2-week loan, TEKS aligned, and AT NO CHARGE!

Lori Hamm-NeckarDistance Learning Technician
Region Eleven Telecommunications Network (RETN)
O: (817) 740-7516 | C: (817) 291-3748 | lhamm@esc11.net

Education Service Center Region XI
3001 North Freeway | Fort Worth Texas 76106

Opportunity for Football Classes

Heart of a Hall of Famer Series: Kellen Winslow
Our character education series Heart of a Hall of Famer continues with Class of 1995 enshrinee Kellen Winslow on Friday October 28 at 9:00 AM and again at 11:00 AM ET. Winslow was the premier tight end of his era and was selected to five pro bowls. He currently serves as the Athletic Director at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. Join us as he talks about the traits that made him one of the game’s greatest tight ends as well as successful after his playing career.

Feel free to join us through videoconferencing for a “limited interactive” broadcast. The program is open to grades 9th-12th and is FREE of charge. For more information or if you are interested in registering, please contact our Education Department at EducationalPrograms@profootballhof.com

Historical Writing program from MAGPI

MAGPI is pleased to be able to open up two Deadly Writing! interactive videoconference sessions to NON-MAGPI MEMBERS!! 

In order to register for a program, you must have H.323 videoconference capabilities and be connected to your state/regional research and education network. To register, please click on the "More Info/Registration" link below and create an account at www.magpi.net (if you don't have one already). After your account has been approved (you will be notified in email when it is approved), you'll be directed to register for your desired program.

Deadly Writing: Exploring the Process of Writing Historical FIction with Author Julie Chibbaro!!
Tuesday October 18, 2011

9:30 AM - 10:30 AM EDT 

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EDT 

Targeted for students in grades 6-7

More Info/Registration: http://www.magpi.net/Community/Programs/Deadly-Writing

Julie Chibbaro, author of Deadly, will talk about the writing process, and how she writes historical fiction. She will tell how her idea for her latest novel was born, and the challenges of using real science and real people in her work.

In this presentation, students will be taken back to New York City in 1906, where they will follow an epidemic of typhoid fever. Through the diary of 16-year-old Prudence Galewski, they’ll find out how one girl helped solve one of the greatest medical mysteries of the twentieth century and learn the story of the infamous ‘Typhoid Mary.’ Using photos and writing prompts, Julie will show students how to write their own diaries, and how to think about history as a living story that will one day become theirs. Students will even have a chance to get a jumpstart on their own diairies through an interactive writing exercise! Discussion and a question and answer session will round out this exciting interactive author event!

MAGPI is pleased to partner with JKS Communications to bring our members this exciting event.

New Staff Dev't Webinars from CILC

Aircraft Design:  Bring Aerospace Concepts into Your Classroom
for elem. and middle school teacher
Oct. 12, 3:00-4:00CST

And

Digital Storytelling
for K-12 teachers
Oct. 26, 3;00-4:00CST

Wait a Second....or 9....

From an email shared by a colleague

 Learner Engagement Soars! The other day, I was asked by a journalist for the one tip that I would give to people wanting to improve learning and training.  They probably thought that I would give a very "Learning 4.0" type answer.  Instead, I focused on the number of seconds between the time an instructor asks a question and the next sound that they make!  Unfortunately, most teachers ask, "Any questions?" and in less than 3 seconds start to speak again, often saying - "OK, let's go on!"  It takes a learner many seconds to recognize that you have stopped teaching, asked for a question, reviewing what you said, evaluating what they would like to ask, formulating the question, raising their hand and then asking it!  Not possible in 3 seconds!!!!  So, extend your wait time to at least 9 seconds - and the levels of learning engagement will soar!

STOMP - if you have a stomping group - great VC op!!

Title:  Guatemalan STOMP Festival:

Status: Open

URL: http://projects.twice.cc/?l=collaboration&id=1414

Connections:

Grades: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Subjects: Performing Arts

Dates: October 7th  from 18:00-20:00 CST

Description: Our school, Centro Escolar Entrevalles, a private all-girls K-12 located in Guatemala Central America, is organizing its first STOMP Festival. We have invited five Guatemalan schools and would like to connect with three schools from other countries. We are asking each school to record a 10 minutes or less STOMP performance and connect live during the festival to present their video and school.

To learn more about STOMP you can visit the official site: http://www.stomponline.com

New VC from Connect2Texas

Title: The International Year of the Solar System

Target Audience: Grades K-12

Cost: FREE

Dates: Sept. 26, 27, 28, 29

Times: 9:00-9:45, 10:00-10:45, 11:00-11:45, 1:00-1:45, 2:00-2:45 CST

Description: The Frank N. Bash Visitors Center at McDonald Observatory invites students and their teachers to celebrate Astronomy Day and the International Year of The Solar System during this special interactive videoconference program. This year, Astronomy Day from McDonald Observatory means more than ever. NASA has proclaimed 2011 as the International Year of The Solar System. Students will make live observations of the Sun using McDonald telescopes, participate in a fun and yet simple activity related to the early formation of our Solar System and asks their questions to facilitator Marc Wetzel. We hope that our Astronomy Day videoconference will excite your students about science and technology.

Register: http://www.connect2texas.net/

Materials: http://www.connect2texas.net/mcdonald_observatory/

To find out more about Connect2Texas providers offering content enhancement and professional development programs visit http://www.connect2texas.net/.

Lori Hamm-NeckarDistance Learning Technician
Region Eleven Telecommunications Network (RETN)
O: (817) 740-7516 | C: (817) 291-3748 | lhamm@esc11.net

Great offer from GNG

SAVE THE DATE & SAVE A BUNDLE!

• Register for our FREE WEBCAST in partnership with the New York Times Learning Network on Thursday, September 29th at 12 PM EDT!!  Learn about the crisis in Somalia and hear from a panel of guest speakers! (Basic Internet connection required.)

• Sign up by the end of today and we will offer you $50 off of the normally priced membership fees, as well as a FREE view-only program ($75 value)!

Want to VC about 9/11?

I had a friend share that 9/11 was such a difficult event for all of us to deal with that as a history teacher, it was not something she would consider discussing with her Junior High students.  Most of them were toddlers at the time....

If anyone can do this session welll....it will be GNG:

9/11: TEN YEARS LATER – LIVE FROM NYC!

https://webmail.dataprojections.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=dbb1ee0506e24075b78e7d6381eb5817&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.gng.org%2fprograms%2ffall2011%2f9-11-10-Years-Later.html

Ten years ago on September 11th, US national security was compromised, international relations became strained and lives were changed forever.  In what ways have the events that took place on September 11th impacted the lives of so many and how have they changed US relations with the Arab world?

In this 2-Part PULSE program, students will reflect upon the impact of 9/11 in light of the Arab Spring and discuss how current events will shape our future.  Students will have the opportunity to share their personal experiences and learn an important piece of our history while discussing politics, international relations, and U.S. security.  Through individual reflection and classroom discussion with an exciting guest speaker, students will share their thoughts and ideas for the future.

Great upcoming VC Opportunity

FREE professional development presented by the National Archives at Fort Worth.

Title: It’s the Law: Teaching the Constitution

Target Audience: Social studies teachers, librarians, etc.

Date: Thursday, Sept. 15

Time: 10:00-11:00 CST

Cost: Free

Description: Wondering what to do with your students to observe Constitution Day and Freedom Week? The National Archives has many fun and educational options available to educators for FREE! Sign the Declaration of Independence, hold a Constitution Workshop, or explore the Bill of Rights in an online exhibit to celebrate our nation's founding documents. Join National Archives education specialist, Jenny Sweeney to explore these activities and many more!

Required materials: envelope with 1 die & 12 paper clips

Register: Click here

Staff Development

Last week I was blessed to spend lots of time on campuses working with teachers as they were preparing for the 2011-12 school year.  What a great opportunity to see all of the excitement that teachers have for quality learning.

This is my first year in over 24 years to be in a position outside of public ed.  I love that I was still able to be part of the "back to school" fun.

Good luck to all my friends and colleagues. 
DFTBA (Don't Forget to Be Awesome!)

Success!

Those of you who know me well, will nod your head vigorously when I state that I am a praise junky.  This is a week that I can celebrate with much internal praise as some great projects are coming together beautifully.

I am excited about the opportunity to host author Neal Shusterman for secondary librarian in preparation for Banned Books week.

I'm also looking forward to working with Kelly Drinnen and Shelly DuPuy with Flower Garden Bank National Marine Sanctuary.

These little steps will work together to create a path.  My hope is this path leads to education that is higher quality and more engaging for students (and teachers)

To Use the Tool?

I am crediting Chad Jones, Ed. Tech. specialist in Lamar Consolidate ISD with a recent post.

Please click here to view.

I love his premise and agree 99.9% Technology Tools should ADD to your lesson.  We don't use technology just to get the check box on the principals' walk-thru form or our mental checklist of tools we've applied this year.
1.  Does adding the technology make your task faster?  Example might be analyzing and communicating data by creating an excel graph from a data set.
2.  Does adding the technology bring an experience to your students that would otherwise be difficult to share with them?  Example might be the Nautilus live website:  http://nautiluslive.org/.  Who among us will ever be able to travel on a Robert Ballard research ship in the Black Sea?

Additional comments?

SMART User Conference

Thanks so much for Katy ISD and SMART for putting on a great Houston area user conference.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE teaching teachers as I always learn WAYYYY more than I could ever teach others.  Teachers conference that my premise  is correct, no matter the grade level/content area:

all teacher give students some sort of prompt and expect some sort of response...

Thanks so much to Kimberly Bojko, Kindergarten teacher at Griffin Elem.,  for helping me with this concept and how it translates to the SMARTboard for the benefit of students:

1.  Create your prompt on a page in SMART Notebook. 
2.  In 2 page view, pin the page.
3.  Student groups add new pages, record names on the new page and record responses.
4.  If possible create manipulatives (keep it simple) on the prompt page that are infinitely cloned.

Great strategy for easily setting up you SMARTboard to be used as a meaningful workstation.
Please let me know if you need more details!

Other things I learned...teachers want to know how to incorporate websites and videos.  They didn't expect to LOVE the new/improved ability to print to SMART Notebook in version 10.8.

LM

JAZZ 123 VC

This is my third or fourth year to participate in JAZZ.  With only 4 participants at our local site, I am more exhausted this time than ever before. (What's that all about?)  But what a great group of people. 

I was reminded of the hurdles that folks who are new to VC face:

• technical phobia
• buy-in from colleagues
• funding
• quality use to meet student needs

JAZZ does such a great job of empowering participants to overcome these issues.

• Technical phobia is resolved through trial by fire.  Participants are handed the VC remote on day 1 and we learn together in a safe environment with techno-comfortable people standing by for reassurance.
• Buy-in from colleagues and administrators is a tough hurdle.  JAZZ builds excitement for video conferencing in general and empowers the group with knowledge of a varity of formats for quality video conferencing.  The session also offers lots of support and encouragement.  Facilitators contact participants a month or so after school starts to follow up and prompt follow through.
• Funding is an issue throughout public ed., especially with the financial crisis within the state of Texas.  JAZZ highlights quality content from a variety of content providers but the focus is on building quality video conference projects that can be developed at no additional cost to the campus.
• Quality instruction is something we desire for all students.  JAZZ immerses participants in a variety of tech tools authentically and facilitates many discussions through out the week about interactivity for students and the kinds of activities that engage kids.  The focus truly starts with curriclum.

How do you provide training for video conference implementation?
What other hurdles do you think educators face in using video conferencing?

Interact

Thanks to Lamar CISD for sharing Interact with me!  I love the way that strategies instruction is incorporated with technology tools.  What an awesome blessing for teachers.