passionately curious

Voice Thread

I recently discovered VoiceThread and can't wait to use it with my students! A VoiceThread "is an online media album that allows people to make comments, either audio or text, and share them with anyone they wish. A VoiceThread allows an entire group's story to be told and collected in one place." Look here to read more about how to use a VoiceThread in the classroom - and they will always be free for educators! Be sure to check out the Browse Page  to see how others (including teachers) have used VoiceThread.  Here's my first attempt - a sneak peek at second grade for my new students.  It needs a little work, especially a better microphone to eliminate the background noise.

Cool Globes

Global warming is a hot topic and Chicago's newest public art project inspires individuals and organizations to take action.  Over 100 sculpted globes (5 feet in diameter) dot the lakefront, from The Field Museum campus to Navy Pier, and artists from around the world have contributed.  The globes will be on display through September. I hope there's time for a fieldtrip!  For more information see the CoolGlobes website.

There are few children's books about global warming, but several are due to be released this fall, including the first one below which is co-authored by a producer of Al Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth."

The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming
(to be released September 1, 2007)
by Laurie David and Cambria Gordon

Why Are the Ice Caps Melting? The Dangers of Global Warming
by Anne Rockwell

Snowy White World to Save (to be released October 1, 2007)
by Stephanie Lisa Tara

Visual Search Engine for Kids

  Quintura for Kids is a visual search engine designed with young kids in mind. It offers broad categories to begin with such as holidays, science and nature, around the world.  In addition to displaying the results, related keywords are organized into a tag cloud so kids can refine their search easily.  It's simplicity, colorful kid-friendly graphics (that change with the season) and design make it very appealing.  Yahoo Kids powers this search engine, so the results are safe and there's no advertising. It's worth a look!

Journey Around

I discovered Journey Around Chicago A to Z  a few years ago in our school library when my students were writing postcards to teach family and friends in other states about our great city.  This book contains wonderful facts, trivia, history and the kids love to search for the hidden cardinal on each page. It's one of a series including other cities and places (New York, Boston, Cape Cod, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Philadelphia and Maine). Each book features its own feathered tour-guide.   Recently, I decided to find out more about the author, Matha Day Zschock.  As a former third grade teacher, she was inspired to write Journey Around Cape Cod and the Islands From A to Z when she couldn't find other books to enhance her students' field trip experiences.  Her sister, graphic designer Heather Zschock, has co-authored a couple of the books in this series and she describes how it all began on her website. 

Educator Astronaut

When the Teacher in Space finalists were announced in 1985, it was big news in my hometown of Boise, Idaho.  Barabara Morgan, a third grade teacher from the small town of McCall, was chosen to be Crista McAuliff's backup.  My high school science teacher, Mr. David Marquart, was also one of 10 finalists.  Two Idaho teachers had been picked from over 10,000 applicants.  I still remember sitting in class, listening to Mr. Marquart describe his experience and the videos of "floating" during zero-gravity training.   

Next month, after a 20-year wait, Barbara Morgan is scheduled to fly her first mission as NASA's Educator Astronaut.  The launch is set for August 7th and will be an assemby mission to the International Space Station.   In 1998, Morgan was selected as a misson specialist and is now a fully trained astronaut.  At heart, however, she is a teacher and hopes to eventually go back to the classroom.  Here are some of Barbara Morgan's answers from a recent pre-flight interview. Read the entire interview here. You can also listen to Barbara Morgan on NPR's All Things Considered.  She is an amazing inspiration and role model.

Kids always love spaceflight. What should they pay particular attention to on your flight? What should they be looking for? And ultimately, what do you think they’re going to learn from this mission?

You’re going to laugh at this, but what I really want them to do is to pay attention to themselves and to look very deep within themselves and dig up all the questions that they can that they have about our world, our universe, and about space exploration. Because this is all about learning, and we’re here to help and we want to know from them -- what is it that they really want to know and learn? Because this is their future and it’s open-ended for them. I also hope that they’ll see an ordinary person doing the things that they can be doing. It’s all about learning and exploring, and we want them to come with us.

If you looked up the word “perseverance” in the dictionary, you see a picture of Barbara Morgan next to the word. You truly are a portrait of perseverance. You’ve stuck with this goal to fly as an educator in space for two decades and through two enormous tragedies that have affected you personally. What is it that motivates you? Why have you stuck with this -- over all of this period of time -- to accomplish this singular goal?

Well, can I go back to the first part of, of your question? And, that’s about perseverance. That’s what describes teachers. They have patience and they have perseverance. That’s what allows them to do their job so well. And that’s what teachers have. I can’t think of anything more important to all of us than our kids and their future. And to me, space exploration is all about open-ended, never-ending opportunities for our young people. That’s what my motivation has been, to help keep the world of opportunities open for our kids.

Your crew patch has a lot of symbolism affixed to it. One of the things that I noticed almost immediately was an object that looks very much like an Olympic torch next to your name. What is it? What does it represent?

I’m really glad you asked about our patch, because it’s something I’m very proud of. I think we all are. That is the flame of knowledge, that torch that carries the flame of knowledge. If you look closely at the patch, you’ll see the trajectory or the orbit that the shuttle is taking as it circles around the astronaut symbol that’s going up to the International Space Station and beyond. That orbit emanates from that flame of knowledge. It’s education, it’s great education, that propels all of what we’re doing in space exploration and as we learn more about our universe. That’s so important because to us one of the primary purposes of all these missions is gaining knowledge, and it’s gaining knowledge through exploration. The other thing that’s near and dear to our hearts is that flame of knowledge really is there to honor teachers and students everywhere.

Teachers are not exactly the best-paid people in the world. It’s not a profession that people go into thinking they’re going to walk away wealthy. What is it that draws somebody like you to teaching? What is the benefit that you derive from teaching?

Teaching is its own reward. People who go into teaching and stay with it, go into it and stay with it because it is its own reward. It’s challenging. It’s inspiring. It’s invigorating. And, it’s rewarding to create an environment where you are trying to help every single individual in that environment come together as a family and also reach his or her best, greatest potential. It’s an enormous responsibility, it’s an enormous challenge and it’s enormously rewarding.

You’re sort of a recruiting poster for education. But for people who are either about to go off to college or are in college or are not quite certain about what they want to do for a profession, why would somebody want to be a teacher? What is the lure for somebody who might consider education as a profession?

We depend on the future, and the future is those kids who go to school every day. We need teachers. We need folks who want to and are motivated and inspired to go in and do the challenging, hard work and rewarding work of helping people reach their full potential. So I would say, "Go for it! You’ll love it!"

Did You Know 2.0

          

An official update to the original "Shift Happens" video from Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod, this June 2007 update includes new and updated statistics, thought-provoking questions and a fresh design. For more information, or to join the conversation, please visit http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com. Content by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod, design and development by XPLANE. (thanks to Lucy Gray for the link)

Although Karl Fisch's intended audience and purpose of this original presentation was "high school teachers thinking about the world [their] students [were] entering and wondering how best to help them prepare," the message has become widespread, reaching worldwide audiences in education and beyond.  After watching this, I was left with more questions and frustration about my own teaching.  What do these statistics mean for teachers of young children?   How can we use technology in the classroom and our curricula in a meaningful way?  How does pedagogy and curriculum need to change?  What age and/or developmental considerations do we need to keep in mind when using technology?   What kind of professional development do we need and are our schools providing it? 

One quote especially caught my attention:

More than 70% of U.S. 4 years olds have used a computer.

This reminded me of my own daughter, who at age three, learned to use the trackpad on my laptop faster than I did.  Now at four, she can drag and drop, use the space bar, and open her own folder with links to online games.  What will she know by the time she enters second grade?  What will my students know when they enter my classroom in September?

In my own classroom ten years ago, I used to sit down in front of the computer at the beginning of each year, three or four children gathered around at a time, and teach them how to use the mouse, how to open computer games, save, print, quit, etc.  Now, most of my the children begin the year already knowing these basic skills.    At home, they play games, look up information online, send email and listen to books and music on their ipods.  We need to acknowledge that, as David Warlick writes,

Our kids are connected. Technology is part of their lives.  But. . . . it’s not technology, it’s information. These gadgets are their links to information. These gadgets represent intellectual appendages to our children. They are the hands and feet that carry children to new experiences...

The world of blogs, wikis, Web 2.0, etc. is new to me and I've become passionate about learning all that I can.  I am fortunate to teach at a school that has the resources and tools (computers, projectors, access to sites often blocked by schools such as flickr and youtube, digital cameras, microphones).  I bring the world to my students with my laptop - we chart the real-time migration of whooping cranes, we email poets and authors, we watch videos of cicadas emerging, we search for the answers to our questions at a moment's notice, we check the web for current weather conditions.  Yet, I want to do more.  I want my students to be active participants, not just observers.  I want them to interact, communicate, connect, share - but what's appropriate for second graders?  How do I find the extra time in an already busy day to teach basic computer skills needed to use new software or online tools/resources?  What do I give up in my curriculum or what do I need to change?  What else can I learn as a teacher and how can my administration best support my professional development?  Where do I begin? I don't have the answers, but the questions keep me searching.

White is For Blueberry

When I taught first grade, I loved using Gerorge Shannon's Tomorrow's Alphabet with my students.  After looking at several kinds of alphabet books, this one offered a new twist.  The children really had to think about and guess the picture that matched each letter.  It was an engaging alphabet puzzle.  The first few lines read:

A is for seed..., tomorrow's apple.
B is for eggs..., tomorrow's birds.
C is for milk..., tomorrow's cheese.

Yesterday my son recieved this beautiful picture book for his second birthday.  I didn't immediately recognize George Shannon as the author, but as soon as we started reading White is for Blueberry , I was reminded of Tomorrow's Alphabet.  Each page is a color riddle accompanied by the rich, colorful illustrations of Laura Dronzek.  The first pages reads, " PINK is for crow...when it has just hatched from it's egg."  One of my favorite pages is," PURPLE is for snow...when the snow is the shadow of us."  Earlier this winter, my four-year old daughter noticed her own purple shadow on the snow.  This was a great connection for her.  I will definitely read this book to my second graders and see if they can solve each clever riddle before we turn the page.