Virtual School

Image Attribution: http://www.flickr.com/photos/teachingsagittarian/3317178695/sizes/m/

I love Thailand and ISB. I have lived here for almost 6 years and I have tremendous mixed feelings about leaving here after this school year. There's no doubt that I'm excited about my new job, my new challenges, and new learning opportunities. However, I know that I will miss playing and working with my wonderful friends and colleagues that will remain here. Even after 6 years, I am still impressed with my teaching colleagues level of dedication, knowledge, and passion for teaching/learning. Even during these difficult political times in Thailand, I know that ISB will continue to move forward in it's mission to provide the highest standard of education to its students. Hopefully ISB will not have to implement its Virtual School in the event that the campus closes to ensure student safety. However, it is great to see that learning will continue to take place even if it is done via distance learning. As a precautionary step teachers are now updating their Blogs and Panthernet posts with information on how students at home can remain active learners. It is interesting to think that perhaps in the not so distant future that distant learning could be the norm rather than the exception. Certainly the Cotail courses have helped many teachers become more familiar and comfortable with using technology in a meaningful way. These teachers are now using these skills in their classes, and they will be prepared to use their skills in the event that Virtual School is implemented.

Dare to (Interpret) Dream

Image Attribution: http://www.flickr.com/photos/oskay/265899766/sizes/m/

Have you ever woken up from a strange dream and wondered if the dream had an underlying message or meaning? If so, this website may find interesting: hyperdictionary. Fortunately, I remember most of my dreams when I first wake up. Unfortunately, I rarely remember them 10 minutes later. However, for those dreams that really stay with me for the entire day I like to see how the hyperdictionary may interpret them. I have been quite surprised about accuracy of this site. Of course it is not 100% and the interpretations should be taken with a grain of salt, but it has forced me to reflect on some of my own dreams.

By the way, here is what hyperdictionary says about Fish being present in your dreams:

"Seeing fish swimming in your dream means insights from your unconscious mind. Thus to catch a fish, represents insights which have been brought to the surface. The fish is also an ancient symbol of Christianity and Christian beliefs. Consider also the common phrases "like a cold fish", "fish out of water" or something that is "fishy" about a situation. It may also imply a slippery or elusive situation. Dreaming that you are Seeing or eating fish, symbolizes your beliefs, spirituality, luck, energy and nourishment. It is food for the soul. Seeing a dead fish means disappointment and loss of power/wealth. Dreaming of cooking fish indicates that you are incorporating your new realizations with your spiritual feelings and knowledge. Dreaming that you are cleaning fish, suggests that you are altering your emotional expression in a way that will be presentable to others. You are censoring yourself and not expressing how you completely feel."

TED Talks

Image attribution: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/3258393831/sizes/m/

TED is a fantastic website. For the past 9 months I have not had cable/satellite TV. I thought that I would miss it, but I have found that I now spend less time surfing channels and more time surfing the net. Surfing TV channels is very passive. Even with about 100 channels to choose from you are still limited to the choices of material. Surfing the web, and also contributing to the web through Blogs, etc. makes me feel like a more active participant. More importantly, I have more control in choosing material that I'm truly interested in learning/viewing. TED has a wealth of interesting topics to choose from, and allows you to search speeches/presentations by subject. I highly recommend this site.

Flickr Photos and Student Videos

My grade 5 students recently finished their PSA about Sustainability. The students worked in pairs and made I-Movies about various Sustainability issues such as Energy and Water Conservation. This entire project was a unique learning experience for both the students and myself. The students first researched their topic and wrote a script about: The Problem, The Causes of the Problem, and What You Can Do to Help. They were very tempted to use google images to find photos, etc. for their project and this lead to some interesting "teachable moments" about copyrights. Chrissy Hellyer was very helpful in providing information on how to use Flickr's advanced search feature to find Creative Commons photos. The students found that searching for images in this manner was still very simple. They were also very good about providing image attributions at the end of their videos. The videos will be downloaded to our local ISB YouTube. The students really enjoyed working on this project and their only complaint was they often had difficulty saving their work and the computers freezing up on them. I'm sure that if do a similar project again, they will run into less difficulties. I enjoyed this project because it allowed me to see how well these students could work together in small groups. It also allowed me to teach research, organizational and presentational skills.

I-Phoney??

Image attribution: http://www.flickr.com/photos/s0mpho/3114260702/sizes/m/

There was a recent incident in the US where a young Apple employee accidently left his I-Phone in a bar. Losing personal items (especially at a bar) is common. What was not common about this incident was that the I-Phone he left behind was actually a prototype of the (not yet released) next generation I-Phone. I have a feeling this young engineer is currently working on updating his CV. The "lucky" finder of this phone soon discovered that his newly found treasure was not a typical I-phone and that in fact it was quite unique. He contacted Gizmodo, told them about the phone and was given $5,000 to send it to them. Gizmodo then proceeded to Blog about the phone much to Apples dismay and frustration. Click Here to see a video review of the new phone. Most recently a special police department named REACT-Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team) raided one of Gizmodo's editors home and confiscated 4 computers and 2 servers. Their warrant said they were looking for property that was used in a felony. So the question is: Who committed a crime? Is it the person who found and sold the phone or is Gizmodo guilty of possessing stolen goods. Gizmodo has not released the name of the person that found/sold the phone and the new question is: Does a Blogger qualify as a journalist since journalist can use the "shield law" to protect their sources. It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out in the near future.

Final Project

I am looking forward to working with my students and colleagues on the Sustainability Project. This project will help student realize that change can start with one person, one family, one grade, and one school. Hopefully this message and new habits will continue to spread to one, community, one country, and one world. I know that some of the students are already interested in using their technology skills to communicate their learning via a Public Service Announcement. This authentic and engaging project will enable the Grade 5 students the opportunity to not only showcase their technology skills and their learnings. It has the potential to also reach larger and more authentic audience that will hopefully recognize the importance of their cause and join it. This Sustainability Link directs you to a page with more detailed information about the project.

photo credit: http://www.buffalo.edu/greener_ub/images/env_student.jpg

Peripherals

Image Attribution: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mastermaq/2555680503/

We are so fortunate to work at a school that truly embraces technology. We have access to some great tools. Here is a short list of some of the Peripherals that I use on a regular basis:

1 Document Camera-I use the document camera on a daily basis in conjunction with the projector to display a wide range of things from plants to coins. It is a great tool to use to display student work for everyone to see. With the new Math Program it allows students to share their various problem solving strategies.

2 Digital Camera-I use this for a variety of reasons including documenting the school year. I always put together an end of the year slideshow which the students and parents enjoy and have access to on either their flash drive or a CD. It is also great to use on field trips and to take photos for digital story telling.

3 Flash Drive-Each student in my class has their own flash drive which they use to transport mainly word documents to and fro school and home. This allows them to complete assignments outside of the classroom.

4 Microphone-The students will use microphones when they want to record quality sound for projects such as Podcasts.

5 Flip HD Recorder-The new flip cameras are great since they are light, compact and record high quality video on flash memory. They are simple to use and I have used them to record my students presenting science projects. I then downloaded to video and the students watched themselves and self-accessed their presentation skills. i think this was an enlightening experience.