CES: Authentic Learning - Science, Language Arts, ITL

Today I was honored to be the audience for 4 presentations by the owners and employees of 4 different fitness centers. Each presentation focused on the special features that made their health and fitness center an excellent choice for anyone interested in special exercises, diet and individual attention. Although these companies were "not real" and the owners and employees were 5th graders in Ed Wolf's class at Coleytown Elementary, it only added to the obvious learning and sophisticated display and presentation of information. The "owners" presented their companies' missions and special services AS IF their fitness and health centers were legitimate companies.

It all began several months ago when Mr. Wolf wanted to have his students apply their prior knowledge of using wikis (See blog entry -- Jan. 21st - Community of Learners -CES) to a new project dealing with their study of the human body. Instead of researching the systems of the body, he wanted his students to have a strong purpose for using the researched information. He engaged the students in a proposition --
Can you create a "real" website using a wiki for a "real" fitness and health club that provides specific health, diet and exercises for specific people with certain needs, such as a 60 year old man recovering from a heart attack or a 15 year old soccer player?


The Mission Accomplished group, a doctor, diet specialist, fitness specialist and orthopedic specialist spoke about the yoga classes designed for a 23 year old leukemia patient. They described a selective diet with lots of fruits and vegetables. They said that whoever came to their gym received one to one time, and the staff would create personal connections with everyone. They created online diet tables with pictures. They also brought in a former client "Mr. Malon " [aka Mr. Wolf!] who provided a testimony to the great work done at Mission Accomplished!

The Groove Fitness and Health group expalined that their club was more social than any other gym.They offered a special individualized program for every person, and even provided children's programming. They detailed special programs for a 10 year old gymnast, a 40 year old Survivor participant and a 65 year old recovering from a heart attach. They offered cardio workouts, stretching plans and diet recommendations.
The !BAM! group explained that every professional who works in their gym focuses on the needs of the individual. They stated that the staff values respect and responsibility. They worked closely with a 10 year old dancer and provided real videos of turns, leaps and dance routines for their client to use at home. They embedded these videos within their website, and used them to illustrate how they worked closely to meet their clients' needs.

The Shock Fitness and Health group presented their plan for providing ONLINE personal training programs. The strength and diet experts talked about their recent experiences with a 10 year old tennis player, a 65 year old heart attack survivor, an obese 10 year old and a 50 year old smoker. An easy to read grid was organized to tell and show each client various foods and exercise programs. Pictures of the lungs after smoking, and before and after pictures of some clients were shown.

After the incredible presentations which focused on all of the major systems of the human body and what they need to stay healthy, the students answered my question:

What did you like best about this project?

and they responded:

• I learned some incredible presentation skills.
• I learned how to research in a group.
• I liked pitching and presenting about my company.
• I liked gathering information and putting it to GOOD USE!
• I enjoyed creating my own clients.
• I liked working together and getting to know the people in my group better.
  

21st Century Librarians Wiki

Started by Joyce Valenza, library media specialist at Springfield Township High School in Erdenheim, PA, this wiki is for library media specialists, and everyone interested in new strategies to positively impact teaching and learning.

http://21stcenturylibrarians.wikispaces.com/

District: 5th Grade Social Studies Pilots

Today John Bayers, principal of Greens Farms Elementary, led a small group to discuss a summer writing workshop to look at some possible changes in the 5th grade social studies curriculum. The group consisted of Michael Brownstein, technology teacher at LLS; Joe Pullia, 5th grade teacher, CES; Anne Nesbitt, assistant principal, KHS; Nancy Giglio, 5th grade teacher, KHS; Melanie Carroll, 5th grade teacher, LLS; Calla Constantine, 5th grade teacher, GFS; and Dianne Connolly, 5th grade teacher, SES.

The goal of the writing group this summer will be to make some minor changes to the 5th grade study of culture through the exploration of these essential questions:

• How do the cultural universals help us compare and contrast various communities?
• How does human interaction with natural resources influence the development and survival of a culture?
• How do technology and trade affect the growth of a culture?
• What contributed to the development and “cultural diffusion” of Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome?

The group will look at:

• how the four big ideas from the recent social studies curriculum review process are integrated into the social studies units (Global Understanding, Multiple Perspectives, Effective Citizenship, and Historical Thinking)
• the possiblity of including "Big Think" activities that provide students with the opportunity to apply their learning to a "real" problem
• the inclusion of other ancient civilizations that broaden the understanding of "culture."
• the possibility of one or more schools piloting the proposed changes during the 2009-1010 school year.
  
  

CES: Crouch/Greenberg 2nd grade/3rd grade Westport/Bridgeport

Today, for the second time, Stacey Crouch's 2nd grade students at Coleytown Elementary School communicated via Skype with Bob Greenberg's 3rd grade students at Columbus Elementary School in Bridgeport. Bob Greenberg had attended last year's ITL Summer Institute because he is a regular user of Classblogmeister, created by our keynote and workshop leader, David Warlick.

Ms. Crouch and Mr. Greenberg planned the focus of each session and a wiki was created on which the students could asynchronously communicate. The teachers had their students come up with a list of 5 questions to ask their friends while on Skype. During the two 35 minute sessions all students had an opportunity to talk on camera at least once, and most twice.

Before the second session all students read the book City Mouse, Country Mouse and discussed which mouse they felt most like. Students were coached by their teachers to think of other questions to ask each other. One more Skype session is being set up for this year.

The collaboration was designed to complement Westport's 2nd grade social studies unit on understanding urban, suburban and rural communities. Next year Mr. Greenberg will be a 2nd grade teacher, so the grade levels will be the same. Ms. Crouch and Mr. Greenberg are hoping to have their students Skype again next year.

BMS: When/How Do You Use Google Spreadsheets?

Today Rita Hennessey, LMS and I with Jeremy Royster, 6th grade social studies teacher, worked with a class to test a 6th grade orientation session for next year. This was our second time working with a 6th grade class to create their own rubric to assess websites. We used a Google Spreadsheet with the students, ONE for each of the 5 groups.

We learned something that was not surprising -- if you introduce Google Docs to a group of students for the first time as a vehicle to accomplish a task; the task may not be as important compared to the fun of playing with Google Docs --- changing other people's answers, adding random colors, etc. We decided that the next time we use Google Docs we will limit the number of students in a Google Doc during the first session and provide better guidelines for its use.


(NOTE ABOUT GOOGLE SPREADSHEETS: Last summer I started having a serious problem with Google Spreadsheets. I would prepare a spreadsheet for a workshop, and even after selecting "open for viewing and editing without the use of a password" -- particpants in the workshop would click on the link and reach a password protected page. It became so problematic that I stopped using Google Spreadsheets with groups that I knew did not necessarily have gmail accounts. It was impossible to use them with students. Recently Scott Johnston who works for Google (a friend of Bryan Davis's, a social studies teacher at CMS) solved the problem. It is a bug that will be fixed in the future, but for now, if you are using a Google Spreadsheet link that has been opened to edit without a password, you have to FIRST go to GOOGLE (http://google.com), which places a cookie on your computer. Then you can click on the Google Spreadsheet link and it should open. If it does not repeat the process a few times, and it will!)

TAG GALAXY

As I was sitting pondering the Blog entry du jour, an e-mail from Janna Bell, assistant principal at CES, delivered the answer.... TAG GALAXY..


What do you get when you blend folksonomy, Flickr and an interactive solar system interface??? TAG GALAXY!!! Once you enter an initial tag it becomes your "sun" and is surrounded with revolving related planets/tags.
Click on a planet and a new world is created -- with a surface of images from Flickr!!! Click on each image to get some information.

For more information, read this Blog post and/or go directly to TAG GALAXY.

"Apple yanks iMovie 6 download, ends era of appeasement"

Apple no longer allows for the download of iMovie 6 now that iMovie 9 is available. (Many people have known this for awhile, but I didn't really believe it until today, when I discovered that all roads to the iMovie 6 download have been permanently SHUT DOWN!) iMovie 8 was such a drastic change from iMovie 6, with fewer editing capabilities than its predecessor, that for a year Apple allowed users to download the OLD version for free. Not any more!

You can read the full article in Macworld at:
http://www.macworld.com/article/138476/2009/01/goodbye_imovie6.html

This means that, for those of us involved in video editing who have been using iMovie 6, we will have to learn iMovie 9. Some students have been using iMovie 9 to produce videos , and have found it to be easy with some "very cool effects."

Yet another example of rapid change where a possible solution to learning the new technology is allowing the kids to teach their peers and their teachers.

BMS/SHS: Final Student ITL Committee of the Year

Julia Roberts, Staples High School library media specialist, visited the final BMS ITL Committee of the year to recruit students to the soon to be created SHS STUDENT ITL COMMITTEE. This student run committee will focus on the use of information and technology by the SHS community. The committee members will also look at current student use of technology in and outside of school and examine how it could be used for educational purposes. The committee will meet one to two times per month. There will be one or more representatives that attend the teacher ITL committee.

The SHS ITL Committee has a former BMS ITL Student Committee member as the first student on the committee, and a few other SHS students have expressed interest. Two 8th graders from BMS are planning to join the high school committee next year.

Meg Tiley, BMS assistant principal, and I have been co-chairing the student committee for 3 years. The student group meets approximately 6 times during the year... 3 official meetings and 3 sub-committee meetings. Students model and create opportunities for other students to use information and technology. This year students continued an idea from the last two committees, and created a live call-in information literacy contest on BAM, the morning TV news program. Another group created a video on how they use technology at home (including the use of Wii, Nintendo, ipods and iTunes). The video was used to promote a contest in which students would create their own videos about personal technology use at home. There were no student entries in this contest.

Next year most of the 25 student members are planning to continue on the committee. New members will be recruited from the elementary feeder schools. There will be an increased use of web 2.0 technologies including Skype, Google Docs, Scratch and other ITL areas of interest to students!

Wolfram/Alpha

By now you have probably heard from someone about Wolfram/Alpha a new "computational search engine," and if you haven't then you have now!

I have read about it in the following people's blogs, and you can too -- just click on their names:
Kathy Schrock
David Warlick
Joyce Valenza

Enter two towns and it creates a chart comparing population, elevation, and time zones.
Enter formulas, and it computes.
Type in "3 peanut M&Ms" (or any quantity of any food) and you will get a detailed nutritional analysis.

It is just the beginning of a new way of turning objective data into computable data!
Watch a Screencast,
then...
Give it a try!
http://www78.wolframalpha.com/

Today Deb Perry, technology teacher at CMS, and I visited Suffern Middle School in New York, primarily to see students working in Second Life (on Ramapo Islands) with Peggy Sheehy, library media specialist. (If you do a search on Peggy Sheehy on this blog you will find links and more information about her in two other ITL posts.) We learned a great deal from our visit -- about student use of Second Life and so much more!

(Peggy Sheehy, LMS, working with a class in Second Life)

Early in the day we met:

• Dr. Robert MacNaughton, school superintendent
• Mrs. Judy Barbera, assistant superintendent for instruction
• Mr. James Yap, director of instructional technology and data
• Eleanor Schuster, library media specialist
  
• Brian Fox, principal
• Teresa Ivey, assistant principal
  

We learned that the superintendent's vision includes exploring new technologies that support his view of a "flattened world." This includes trusting Peggy's abilities to align curricular goals and objectives with the student work in Second Life.

James Yapp has provided considerable support and has worked with Peggy Sheehy to find solutions to any problems that had to be considered over the 4 years since Peggy introduced Second Life as a learning vehicle in the school.

We observed two groups of students working with Peggy Sheehy and Gayle Yodowitc, Family Consumer Science teacher, working on their private islands in Second Life. Students brushed up their avatars, sent an IM to become a member of a new group, and heard the plan for their upcoming work to prepare for a debate on" Should teens have credit cards?" Both teachers worked with students in Second Life, and it was clear that the work in Second Life was motivational and focused students on their debate research.

(Student preparing avatar for a debate.)

We learned about other technology initiatives in the library media center and the school. There are 3 class sets of computers available in the LMC - one MAC lab and one PC lab in the LMC, and one more MAC lab in a separate room in the LMC. A glass wall will soon be built around 2 of the computer areas in the LMC to make the labs more private, and another class set of computers is going around the more flexible area in the LMC where large group activites can take place with a Promethean board available. The former TV studio in the LMC is being rebuilt as a video conference center. The school is completely wireless with many laptops available.

There is a 40 week technology program for all students called Gateway to Learning: Gateway to Technology. Two former wood-working rooms now have full computer labs in them. 6h graders have 10 weeks of technology classes, with a class every day. 7th graders have 20 weeks of technology classes with a class every day, and 8th graders have 10 weeks of technology classes with a class every day. The focus is on critical and creative thinking and problem solving.

During our visit students were creating podcasts in Garageband with the 2nd library media specialist, Elenaor Schuster.

We also learned about Saywire,which is currently being implemented K-8. Saywire is a secure social/academic network. Peggy talked about her use of Quest Atlantis as another MUVE (multi-user virtual environment). We learned about Peggy's work with Bernajean Porter, author of the book DigiTales: The Art of Telling Digital Stories (who visited Suffern Middle School and worked with 75 students for 4 days last year). We viewed an amazing and powerful digital story that Peggy created in a DigiTales workshop, called All that Glitters.

This post does not cover all that we experienced and learned on this incredible site visit, but you get the idea! It was amazing. We plan to further synthesize our experience and determine if and how we can implement a student presence in a virtual environment.

Thanks to Peggy Sheehy and all the incredible staff who welcomed us to Suffern Middle School today!!!

CMS: All My Faves

At the CMS ITL meeting this week, chaired by Deb Perry, technology teacher and David Rosvally, Science Teacher, All My Faves was demonstrated during the Tech Tip portion of the meeting.

This site is a great tool for teachers. It provides the top ten sites in 8 categories (see 8 tabs on top: Home, Education, Entertainment, Games, Kids, Shopping, Travel, and Weekly Faves - Image below is from the Education tab.)

(Click on image to display larger view)

Inside each tab there are numerous categories with the "best" 8-10 sites listed with the companies icon. The rating of best is based on use.

MACHINIMA

Deb Perry and I attended a Machinima presentation in Second Life this week sponsored by ISTE and given by Knowclue Kidd, who in real life is Marianne Malmstrom, a technology teacher at Elizabeth Morrow school in New Jersey. (A previous post from April 1st focused on her work with Peggy Sheehy on the video, No Future Left Behind.)


Knowclue (shown in the picture above) explained the value of students creating videos or machinima inside a virtual world (such as Quest Atlantis or Teen Second Life). Costuming, sets and storylines are "free" and not limited by reality. Students are highly motivated by this environment, as can be viewed in some of the projects below

Knowclue shared some of her students' videos.Some of the videos did not play, but the links provided an opportunity to see the videos outside of Second Life. Here are some of the links she provided so you can get a sense of the work she is doing.

• http://knowclue.pbworks.com/Machinima
• http://www.knowclue.com/movies/ISTE_SL_sample.mov
• http://www.knowclue.com/movies/6_Aphrodite_Web.mov
• http://www.knowclue.com/movies/Collier_sample_Web.mov

Deb and I will be visiting Suffern Middle School in New York on Monday to see Peggy Sheehy's work with students in Teen Second Life, so you will be reading another post on this topic next week!

SHS: PTA Book Fair leads to a Stratford/Westport Collaboration

Last year Kristin Veenema, English teacher at SHS created a proposal to use some of the profits of the school Book Fair. This proposal has since become a reality!

The purpose:

• To provide students with an authentic audience for their thoughts on a text
• To provide a reading experience that mirrors “what real readers do”
• To broaden students’ awareness of others beyond their respective districts
• To identify how differing backgrounds contribute to text interpretation
• To foster inter-district and inter-community connections

Proposal:

The money collected from Book Fair 2008 will be used to purchase two class sets of one text, one that will stay at Staples HS and one that will be loaned to an area school. Through a Google application or a Voice Thread, all participating students (Staples and other school) will participate in an online discussion forum about the selected text.

Barnes and Noble / Staples Book Fair 2009 will host a gathering for all participating students as part of this year’s fair, which will occur after the online discussion so students can meet one another in person after interacting online.

This project can be continued in a variety of ways:
• Other classes, beyond the pilots in both schools, can read the books as an outside reading option or as participants in their own online forum.
• Continue the online forum by purchasing two class sets of another text.
• Continue the online forum but choose a new partner school with which to discuss texts.
• Eventually extend the program to online discussions between schools in different states or countries.

Presently Kristen Veenama has created a private wiki (PBworks) called shswallflowers to implement the project. Students from Staples High School and Stratford High School are regularly commenting on the wiki and relationships are being developed. On Monday, some students from both classes will meet at a Barnes & Noble event here in Westport. This is an unexpected and incredible learning opportunity that has been created from the profits of a Book Fair! We need more proposals and activities like this, I think!

(Click on the image to enlarge.)

Google Custom Search Engine

I know that many teachers have learned to create their own custom search engines (CSEs), but this post is for those teachers who haven't heard about this... or, those who want to find out how they have improved!
The Google Custom Search Engine has many applications. Teachers can create a search engine that will only search sites that have been pre-selected. Middle and high school students can create search engines to help others find information on their research topics.

With Google Custom Search Engine, you can:

* Create a CSE at any time and Google will give you a landing page with a unique URL. You also have the option of applying your own site's look and feel.
* Invite friends and colleagues to collaborate and contribute to your search engine, enhancing its usefulness to your community.
* Provide your own search refinements within results pages so it's easier for your users to find the information they're looking for.
* Easily add more sites to your search engine's index as you surf the web.
* New! You can create a CSE on the fly simply by cutting and pasting a few lines of code into your website's HTML. Your new automatically generated CSE will let people search the websites you've linked to, as well as the sites they link to. For instance, if you've created a directory, a blog roll, or a list of online resources, your CSE will enable your users to search across these sites and the sites they reference.
Google For Educators - Custom Search Engine (11 May 2009)
http://www.google.com/educators/p_cse.html

Look at Mrs. Gray's Sample

http://snipurl.com/hu3zh
If you create some custom search engines, please share them.

CES: Using the GROUPS feature for Discussion Boards

Joe Pullia, 5th grade teacher at CES, conducted a unit of study with his students on the Newbery Award. He chose to use the Discussion Board tool in Blackboard as a way to motivate students to have "conversations" about five books that received the Newbery Medal. Utilizing the Manage Groups feature in Blackboard [Control Panel/User management/Manage Groups], student groups were created.
The 5 groups were set up to include their own discussion board with specific students enrolled in each group. When a new button was set up for the groups a Tool Link was added, with the tool type being Groups.
Mr. Pullia noted that the discussion boards have motivated students to write more, share more, and go deeper into various issues and characters in the book. He said that that one huge advantage of the groups feature is the ability to differentiate instruction, since a group can be created for even a single student. Janna Bell, assistant principal, has been included as part of the discussion groups and often responds to posts and asks questions to promote dialog.

Here is a sample section of one books discussion with student names erased (click on image for larger view):
One student said that she really enjoys using discussion boards and especially the Newbery discussion board because she can "talk" with her classmates even when she is home. She said that she gets some ideas about the book that she didn't even think about, and she gives other kids new ideas about the book too!

The GROUPS tool adds another way to manage discussion boards and provides a system for supporting differentiated instruction.

Visitors from Irvington, NY

L to R: Christina Rosenblatt, LMS K – 3; Greer Fischer, Assistant Superintendent;
Jackie Richardson, LMS 4-5; Joann Malloy, LMS 6 – 12;
missing from photo - Jesse Lubinsky, Technology Coordinator

Today five visitors from the Irvington, NY public schools (pictured and named above) visited four of our schools to observe the ITL program. They specifically wanted to see instances where technology was integrated into the library media program and/or examples of collaboration between a library media specialist, a technology teacher and a classroom teacher.

OUR DAY:

8:30 AM -- We all met at Long Lots School. Barbara Eilertsen, LMS, and Michael Brownstein, technology teacher, worked with 12 5th graders who produced the daily school news program in their TV Studio. Spanish teachers explained the history of Cinco de Mayo, students read poetry, happy birthdays were given, and summer programs were advertised. Brian Fagan, assistant superintendent, welcomed the group and time was spent discussing our ITL scope and sequence and curriculum, our ITL committee structure in our schools and the process of TV production at LLS.

9:20 AM -- The 5 visitors and I, in role as the EARTH MIGRATION BIOME DECISION-MAKING PANEL from the planet SHTAM (named with the first letters of each of the 4th grade teachers involved: Sullivan, Harper, Taft, Ackerman, Malbin) observed four presentations from Phaedra Taft's 4th grade. Michael Brownstein and Barbara Eilertsen had collaborated and worked with Phaedra Taft and her class on a study of biomes. This activity had been planned as a "Big Think" -- a final activity designed to promote higher level thinking. Each presentation focused on which biome should be colonized by the people needing to leave the overcrowded planet of SHTAM, and the Smartboard with Notebook software was used in the presentation. Two groups chose the Andes mountains, and two groups chose the rain forest. The "SHTAMIAN PANEL" questioned each group and could not decide between the mountains and the rain forest. Students were asked if they could add new facts to persuade the panel to change their decision. (Some new content was provided in a very emotionally charged final plea to colonize either mountain or rain forest regions.) Ultimately the panel decided to give the SHTAMIANS a choice to settle in both regions, with the thought that trade between the two regions would be beneficial. The students suggested that mountains and rain forest exist next to each other in Bolivia. Watch out Boliva -- The SHTAMIANS are coming!

10:50 AM -- Bedford Middle School for a very quick visit. In the library media center we spoke with Rita Hennessey, LMS, about the 7th grade Science research project that was in progress in the media center - Techford Area. We moved to the technology lab where Kathy Fleming, technology teacher, was working with a group of 7th graders on video editing.

11:30 AM -- Staples High School. Julia Roberts and Robin Stiles, library media specialists, prepared several handouts and a DVD for our guests. While we enjoyed lunch, Robin and Julia talked about a new assessment program for ITL skills (TRAILS) that they are piloting with some 9th grade classes this year, which will hopefully be given to all 9th graders next year. They talked about some of the features of their library media program. Natalie Carrignan, director of instructional technology, gave an overview of some district ITL accomplishments and described some works in progress (such as the implementation of an Internet Safety Curriculum in the 2009-10 school year).

1:00 PM -- Coleytown Middle School. John Horrigan, library media specialist, provided an overview of a 6th grade French class working with French teacher, Sharon Gardner, on a study of Quebec. Students used a rubric to prepare a topic, conduct research and present results in a Photostory. [For information related to the class: http://cms.westport.k12.ct.us/cmslmc/foreignlanguages/Quebec.htm]

At 1:25, after visiting the TV Studio we went to a computer lab where Deb Perry, technology teacher and TV coordinator, worked with 8th grade students to setup an electronic portfolio in Blackboard using the content of their recent research projects on green technology topics. John Horrigan worked with the students on this project as well.

2:00 PM -- Irvington Public School visitors returned to New York. It was great to share information and technology literacy stories and activities with each other.

GFS: Time, Continuity and Change

Recently at GFS the 1st grade teachers, Mary Ellen Barry, Ellen Mason, Shannon Utecht, MarySue Welch and library media specialist, Kelley Auringer and technology teacher, Sally Wanamaker with guest presenter, Michael Urban, owner of Urban Antique Radio & Vintage Hi-Fi created a TRIP THROUGH TIME for all the 1st grade students!

Michael Urban shows 1st graders antigue radios.

Students had a passport that needed to be stamped as they made their way to different "artifact stations" where various tools and equipment were displayed and presented to students.

Mary Ellen Barry shows 1st graders a washboard.

Kelley Auringer, LMS, shows 1st graders a typewriter.

Students later researched the artifacts and created a digital photostory in the computer lab. Through these activities students were engaged in thinking about this essential question:

How would your life be different if you were a member of a family living in an earlier time period?

CMS: Music Movies

Amy Laurino, Music teacher at CMS, recently challenged students to create an iMovie on the Eras of Jazz. Students were required to begin with at least two images dealing with American Roots Music and Blues Music. They then had to cover each of these Eras and present information on each composer and style listed:

1. Early Jazz Era (1850-1910)
Jelly Roll Morton and Scott Joplin

2. Hot Jazz Era (1910-1944)
Boogie Woogie, Swing, and Progressive Swing Music.
Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman, King Oliver

3. Cool Jazz Era (1944-1970)
Bebop / Charlie Parker and Thelonius Monk
Cool Jazz / Miles Davis
Also Afro-Latin Jazz / Dizzy Gillespie
Hard Bop / Art Blakey
World Fusion / Keith Jarrett
Free Jazz / John Coltrane

4. Modern Jazz Rock Era (1970-2009)
Jazz Rock Fusion / Pat Metheny OR Chick Corea
Neo-bop / Wynton Marsalis OR Wayne Shorter

5. Add a conclusion, where do you think Jazz is headed?

Here is one sample of a final product (it is 29 minutes):

GFS: TV10 visits McMahon Communications Center at Quinnipiac University

On Tuesday, April 21, 2009 the 5th grade members of the GFS TV10 club visited the Ed McMahon Mass Communications Center at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT. Kelley Auringer, LMS, arranged and managed the visit.

Quinnipiac students in the School of Communication led the TV10 crew through a tour of Quinnipiac's state of the art television studio and broadcasting program. The TV10 crew was allowed to use Quinnipiac's professional level technology and equipment to produce their own news show. The students' favorite part was working with the green chromakey wall and producing the weather. There was a lot of laughter, excitement and fun as the learning took place. By all accounts the field trip was wonderful and will be considered by many to be a highlight of the TV10 year.

LLS: ITL Committee Meeting

I was fortunate to attend the Long Lots School ITL Committee meeting yesterday afternoon from 3:00-4:00. Steve Cerney, ITL committee chair, and Nick Brophy, Assistant Principal, unveiled the four new ITL committee objectives to work with through the end of this school year, but more importantly, to guide the group for the 2009-2010 school year.

An overview of the current status of the 21st century skills was provided utilizing the Voicethread embedded in the ITL homepage. A discussion by group members determined that grade level teams would decide which 21st century skill to focus on in each unit of study. Strategies for teaching the listed 21st century skills would be documented during the 2009-2010 school year.