Friday, August 14, 2009

Great Wiki With Great Blogs

Posted by Mr. Atkinson at 8/14/2009 08:06:00 PM 0 comments

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Google Docs - Teachers and Principals Speak



Teachers and Principals Talk about Google Docs



Powered by ScribeFire.

Posted by Mr. Atkinson at 8/02/2009 08:21:00 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Podcasting Resources

Read this today....Click the link to check out all these great resources for Podcasting!
Free Technology for Teachers: 5 Resources for Creating and Hosting Podcasts


Posted by Mr. Atkinson at 7/29/2009 05:28:00 PM 0 comments

Summer Blogging and Podcasting

Posted by Mr. Atkinson at 7/29/2009 12:55:00 AM 0 comments

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Google Teacher Academy!

I am pleased to announce that I have been selected to be a part of the Google teacher academy! I am so excited for this amazing opportunity, and feel blessed and honored to be only one of 50 educators chosen this year.  I will travel to Boulder, Colorado August 5th for the workshop.  Check out some of the cool stuff that will be a part of the experience! 

Here is my one minute video I had to produce as a part of my applications :)

I look forward to sharing the cool stuff I get to learn! 



Posted by Mr. Atkinson at 7/12/2009 10:40:00 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

I Wasn’t @ NECC, but…

Due to the recent birth of our soon, the pinch in the economy, and my desire for an Iphone 3Gs and a Mac Book Pro I decided to skip out on NECC this year.   So, I wasn’t at NECC but, it sure felt like I was at times!  I was able to connect to the experience through the thousands of shares on Twitter (#NECC09), the live streaming of presentations through ISTE connects and NECC unplugged.  A huge thanks to all of you who went and shared, I am sure hoping I will be at ISTE 2010 in Denver! 

Here are all of my Diigo bookmarks that I tagged NECC09:


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Posted by Mr. Atkinson at 7/07/2009 10:37:00 AM 0 comments

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Why Your Student Can’t Skip Reading Tonight!

Why I Can't Skip Reading

I received this from a colleague a few years back and thought I’d share it with you all!  Enjoy, and please check out my post on blogging for higher order thinking skills!
Posted by Mr. Atkinson at 6/04/2009 10:16:00 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Blogging and Higher Order Thinking – A framework to engage students in higher order thinking skills through blogging

I came across a great article recently entitled: “HOT Blogging: A Framework for Blogging to Promote Higher Order Thinking”,  which was published in the May 2009 issue of The Reading Teacher.  This article gave a great instructional framework for effectively using blogging with students to promote critical thinking skills (what we all want to do!). 

Zawilinski does a fine job of providing an easy to follow framework to show how blogging truly can involve critical thinking skills! This startegy is the HOT framework and is used to develop "higher order thinking skills around new literacies.”

The HOT strategy involves the following steps:

  1. Bolster background
  2. Prime the pump
  3. Continue the conversation
  4. Make multiplicity explicit

The article also gave super insights  for beginning bloggers, and would be a great resource for teachers who are not sold on the value of blogging.   

 

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The purpose of this article is to explore ways in which blogs can support literacy programs, especially to develop higher order thinking (HOT) while reading and writing. First, I will provide an introduction to and a theoretical rationale for blogging. Next, resources and ideas will be shared to help spark possibilities for blogging in an intermediate-grade classroom. Four common types of educational blogs will be presented. Finally, HOT blogging, an instructional framework that uses a blog to develop higher order thinking, will be described. - Zawilinski, Lisa. Reading Teacher, May2009, Vol. 62 Issue 8, p650-661, 12p, 8 charts, 1 diagram; (AN 39232973)

 

Personally I want to take blogging to the next level in my classroom this upcoming academic year.   I plan on using it often, in order to give students a solid platform to connect to a large audience, and to think critically on issues with that audience.  Blogging truly provides students with authentic writing experiences.  Check out my blog I used to communicate things to parents and students this past year…I think I will be changing it, just a bit. 2008-2009 Mr. A’s Classroom Blog.  I am a firm believer in using technology to engage learners and move them into higher order thinking.  Blogging can be used to do this!

Blogging for Higher Order Thinking

Some Blogging Resources:

Posted by Mr. Atkinson at 6/03/2009 10:58:00 PM 0 comments

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Who Am I, Why Am I Blogging

This summer one of my goals is to start blogging more seriously.  What do I mean by seriously, well until now I have published content on my blog that is mostly related to new resources I have come across.  i realize that this niche is well covered.  I intend to start to share more of my voice, more of my opinions and insights on the world of technology, teaching, learning and leading. 

What makes me qualified to do such a thing?  Not much I guess. Here are some basic facts:

  • I have taught grades: 3, 4, and 5 in my six years of teaching.  I typically “loop” with my 4th graders to fifth the following year. 
  • My undergrad was completed in K-6 elementary education from Taylor University, and I recently finished getting my Masters in Educational Administration from Ball State University. 
  • I am a tech enthusiast and an advocate for 21st century learning.
  • I have a passion for literacy 2.0, deep thinking, and critical reading.
  • I teach in a high performing district where the majority of families are online.   In my opinion, teachers in this district are enthusiastic about learning and truly have a passion for what they do, but like many places we do not have a 1:1 imitative started

20090523-IMG_1512 So be prepared for some new thoughts and ideas from me being added to the blogosphere, and please subscribe to my feed.  I will look to publish a fresh new post in a few weeks.

Posted by Mr. Atkinson at 5/30/2009 10:25:00 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Want to play a Youtube video minus…

Want to play a Youtube video minus the inappropriate adds that surround the video?  Try http://quietube.com/.  This fantastic service allows you to place a bookmarklet in your browser’s toolbar that will subtract those ads when you open up the video on Youtube then click the bookmarklet.  Follow these steps to ad freedom today:

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Before:

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After Quiettube:

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Posted by Mr. Atkinson at 5/05/2009 09:46:00 PM 0 comments
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