Teacher Tech

Students Developing Workforce Ready Skills While Revitalizing a Community

For the past five years, Microsoft’s Partners in Learning program has been working with New Mexico’s Office of the Governor, Public Education Department and four projects to develop programs and opportunities that would help students revitalize their rural communities while also giving them workforce-ready skills to prepare them for life after high school. In Loving, New Mexico students have been gaining hands-on skills in the business of home construction. Today, we are celebrating the completion of the community’s first student-built home that they have worked on over the past year.  

This project was born out of a need; New Mexico has one of the highest rural poverty rankings in the nation, and students continually move elsewhere after graduation to find greater opportunities in urban areas. Through this program, students are learning valuable skills and are also helping to move the local economy in a positive direction. The hope is that through these initiatives they will create a self sustainable community – one where students will want to come back to and build their own lives there. You can read more about the New Mexico project here and learn more about the importance of partnerships in schools and in communities.

This is a huge milestone for the students, teachers, administrators and the community involved with this project. These students have been able to address a real need within the community, which has been a shortage of homes and those with the skills to build them. Students have had the opportunity to manage the whole construction project from start to end – from sketching blueprints, developing timelines for plotting construction progress to managing subcontractors’ schedules, and learning about construction financing from the local bank. The students also receive hands-on technology training and are equipped with Microsoft Office Visio to draft floor plans and Microsoft Office Project to manage all aspects of the construction project.

Please join me in congratulating the students of Loving High School, as well as the community leaders and their teachers for coming along side them!

Rob

7 Things Teachers Will Like about Windows 7

So, I haven't posted in awhile, and what better time to post then on the launch day of Windows 7, which as you might imagine is an incredibly significant and important product release for Microsoft and Windows users everywhere.

I have been running Win7 on multiple machines for many months, including on my primary work laptop, a Windows Netbook and a home machine.  Internally within Microsoft we call this affectionately "eating our own dogfood" (a lovely thought), but the point being is this new version of Windows is truly a leap forward in terms of reliability, overall speed and perhaps as importantly, it is fun to use.

I've mentioned before that I taught 9th grade Social Studies and English and fortunately for the subject-matter and my interests in using technology in the classroom, there was always a lot I could do with students in terms engaging content and integrating technology into my projects and overall my "class system."   Windows 7 will help you across all aspects of using your PC in the classroom simply by making the things you want to do easier.

Which brings me to my list.  Seven things teachers will like about Windows 7:

1. Things work more quickly - starting up you PC is faster, if you let your machine go to sleep, or you are moving around school with a laptop, it resumes and is ready to work with little delay.  Critical for those first few minutes of class when you need to get the momentum going, launch the PowerPoint or web page and start class. If you connect to an LCD projector to display to your class, projecting just works, no delays.

2. Find things on your PC fast - just above the Start button is the Windows Search box.  If you don’t use your PC's search, I suggest you give this a try as it works, and it works fast.  So finding that assignment sheet you created last year (along with accompanying PowerPoint) that you want to tweak for a project (tomorrow!), or an email discussion you had with a parent two months ago, is all indexed and searched by Windows and  the results are presented in one result set - and fast!  See a short demo here.

3. The Snipping Tool - and like it sounds, you can easily "snip" something from anywhere on your desktop (remember Alt+PrtSc?), it is that, but more precise.  If you want to highlight a section of a web page and paste it into an assignment, or direct students to a specific section of an article you want them to focus on, you can Snip It and paste into a Word document along with guiding questions. You can use the new Snipping Tool to capture what you want with your mouse, tablet pen or your finger (if your PC has a touchscreen) and paste it where you want it. Here's a snip of the cool Bing picture of the day (I'm guessing it’s the Guggenheim Museum in NYC?).

4. Reduce desktop clutter - no, not those stacks of assignments you need to grade, sorry :) but on your Windows Desktop.  You ever have too many windows open, too many applications running or web browser sessions?  Or you want to project from your PC to your interactive whiteboard and realize your gradebook is on your screen (oops!)?   There are a few quick and fun ways to clean-up your desktop. The quickest is to move your mouse to the bottom-right corner of the Taskbar click and all windows are instantly minimized (see pointer below).  The other fun way to leave the one window you want to show is called Aero Shake.  You simply move your mouse to the task pane of the window you want to keep (that's the place at the top of an application where it says Microsoft Word, etc.)  click and shake and all other windows are minimized - the kids will love it!  See a short demo here.

(<--- right here, bye, bye clutter!)

5. Easily connect to wireless networks anywhere- if you've got a laptop and you move between school, home, or your favorite coffee shop to grades some of those aforementioned stacks of papers on your desk, you will notice that connecting to a wireless network is much easier and faster. Win7 will remember previous connections and recognize them without you having to go in and set these up.  Some times it's those little things that make a big difference.  See a short demo here.

6. New Jump Lists - think of Jump Lists as Favorites for your PC.  Jump lists allow you to combine (or "pin") documents, web pages, applications you use most frequently to one list.  So if you're always going to your gradebook application, your interactive whiteboard software, your class web site or workspace, a Lesson Plans folder you've created, this can all be accessed from a Jump List you create and can customize.  See a short demo here.  

7. Snap - this is a fun, cool and easy way to look at two windows on your desktop at the same time.  Great for using if you're projecting to large screen and want to look at two different web pages side by side, or if you want to share two examples of student work to the class.  You do this by dragging one window to one side of your desktop and the other window to you’re the other side and snap!  They are lined-up side by side like the picture below (courtesy of the Snipping Tool).   See a short demo here.

There are of course many more new features that you will discover in Windows 7, but the seven I've highlighted I believe will make a teacher's "technology life" a bit easier, mainly by saving time with things you want to do with your PC in the classroom and out.

Further, and what is difficult to describe in text, is that using Windows is more fun and more interesting with Windows 7.  The desktop and user interface has a new look as you can see from the pictures and demos above, trimming down what you see and making it easier to access and find what you want to do.  You'll notice it right away and discover how this makes doing things in class with your PC more fun! 

Regards,

Rob

Create a Class Workspace, reach your students outside of class

Microsoft for some time has had Office Live Workspaces, a free online service being used by over 4 million people around the world.  Today we are making available new resources for teachers that introduce ways teachers can communicate with students outside of class, responding to concerns around the H1N1 virus that is effecting communities.  

Watch the video from Kelli Etheredge, a teacher at St. Paul’s Episcopal School describe the creative ways she has used Office Live Workspace to reach her students outside of the classroom when a number of students could not attend class due to the H1N1 virus. 

We have all had to think about how best to prepare our schools and classrooms in the event the H1N1 virus keeps students from attending class.  The biggest challenges of dealing with any class absences is developing a sustainable system for communicating class work, missed notes and homework.  Further, if H1N1 keeps students away for an extended period of time, this will exacerbate the problem for teachers trying to keep these students from falling too far behind.

This is where having a Class Workspace will be a helpful tool in your teacher toolkit.   Think of your class workspace as an easy place to make any documents and presentations you want to share with students available over the Internet.  All your students need to access your workspace is a web browser. 

One thing I like about Office Live Workspace is that it works within Word, PowerPoint and Excel, whether you're  using Office XP, 2003 or 2007.  You can save assignments, handouts or anything you create directly to your workspace from within these applications  (see picture).

If you have a web site today, you can easily add a link to your workspace, and if you don’t have a web site, this will serve the purpose as a quick and easy way to share information with your students.

Once you've gotten the hang of uploading and sharing basic documents with your students, here are three ideas on how to take full advantage of this workspace:

1. Organize your class and create study groups - once you've set-up a workspace you will have a group of templates available to quickly create workspaces based on what you’d like to do, for example, the basic class workspace template is good for publishing general class information, a syllabus, assignment sheets, and a homework calendar.  There is also a workspace template for setting up Study Groups, so this can be organized initially by the teacher and then used by students.

2. Manage and track cooperative group projects - if you want to ensure each student is fulfilling their role in a cooperative group assignment, you can track individual contributions to a document or presentation within Office Live Workspace by monitoring the "Activity" on the site. Students can also add comments and these could be tracked for participation.

3. Improve the writing process - have students use the Essay Workspace to improve their time management by tracking key milestones for important papers, develop and publish their outlines for a quick review checkpoint and use the essay template to get them started.  Students can also publish their papers online and have peer reviewers comment and edit each other's papers.  Teachers can track activity and individual student input.

Using an online Web 2.0 tool like Office Live Workspace not only builds collaborative skills as students engage with each other online, but demonstrates the benefits of working effectively in groups using online tools to their fullest.  These are skills we all do today in business and at school and are incredibly valuable to practice and master as young learners. Check it out.

Hope you find this useful in your classroom.

Regards,

Rob

Rob Bayuk

K-20 Educator Marketing Manager, Microsoft

I am what I learn – Student Video Contest

Yesterday, President Obama spoke to our nation's students inspiring them to try their hardest in school and to always do their best work.  He poignantly stated how the work  we sometimes ask our students to do, may not always be what they want to do, but the work has a purpose and a point (or at least it should). Though with this contest, I think he is onto something.  As this is a project most kids will want to do, and it definitely has a point.

Following this speech was the announcement of the "I am what I learn" student video contest, where students are challenged to submit a video of up to 2 minutes  that answers the following question:

• Why is your education important to fulfilling your dreams?

My guess is that for many students this will be a challenging question to answer.  On the surface, and for many, the most obvious answers will come quickly:  so I can get a job, go to college, make lots of money.  But underlying this question is a bigger, deeper question asking our children to think about their dreams?   If they could do anything, be anything, what is it they would be?  What would they want to do?  Tough stuff.

I think this is a great project to kick-off the new school year.  It is a nice way as teachers to learn more about your students and what inspires them.  I recall doing short questionnaires of students which were insightful, but had I asked them to make a video I wonder what I might have learned?  

Students will love to use their digital video cameras, camera/video phones or if your school has video cameras they can checkout they can create their personal masterpiece!   This project will give them a chance to concept, develop and create a finished product about a topic all students know and love:  themselves.  Not to mention the opportunity to produce their video as a class assignment!  A direct application of those 21st century skills we talk so much about:  creativity and innovation, critical-thinking, and being a responsible digital citizen.

Seems like a great time to introduce a mind mapping or brainstorming activity to help students generate and connect their ideas. A good skill for students to develop and there is some great software that can help with this.  Two products that will help with this:  1) Mind Mapper and 2) Cmap Tools.  Both take slightly different approaches to the same idea, that is, helping to generate and link ideas or concepts to form a bigger more complete picture around an idea, concept or essential question.  Mind Mapper offers a free trial download that works with Microsoft Office (adds in as a ribbon in Office 2007) and Cmap Tools is a free application.   These might be good tools to checkout to kick-off this project.

I blogged about a week or so ago that Microsoft has released a new version of Windows Live Movie Maker (works with Vista and Windows 7).  One of the key features of this release is its integrated sharing feature for YouTube (all contest submissions need to be posted there).   I also included in this post a couple of good links to help with video creation.   If you're using Windows XP there are a number of good resources here for using Movie Maker.

If you decide to have students participate in this contest as a class project, it would be great to hear your ideas about how you're using this project in class?  How you might tie this into other work or projects you are doing?   It would also be fun to see some video submissions from your students. Please post some links here to your student work.

Good luck to all with this, a fun time to be a student (and a teacher)!

Regards,

Rob

Rob Bayuk

K-20 Educator Marketing Manager, Microsoft

What I learned from watching teachers learn

Earlier this month I had the fortunate opportunity to attend the new Microsoft Teaching 2.0: Educator Workshops aimed at K-12 teachers, curriculum & technology specialists and technology teachers. This was a hands-on, 3-day workshop organized around five themes:

1. Creating Collaborative Teams in Classroom (with students and teachers)
2. Creating Organizational Efficiencies in the  Classroom
3. Engaging Students in the Classroom
4. Communication Tools for Educators
5. Train the Trainer (how to share the above with colleagues)

It was great to see this engaged group of teachers actively and enthusiastically participating in the student-centered projects that were introduced.  More importantly, listening to them coming up with their own creative "ah-hah" moments of how they might use a new tool or technology, whether it is one our free tools like the new version of Windows Live Movie Maker , or a cool new tool like  Worldwide Telescope they just learned about, which by the way recently made it onto Time Magazine's "50 Best Web Sites 2009" along with Microsoft Photosynth.

Here they are working away (mashed together courtesy of Microsoft AutoCollage) another cool free tool we offer for easily making collages with your digital pictures.

And here is a short video of Julie, a teacher from Woburn, MA, sharing how she plans to use what she learned:

So, what did I learn from this?   My job is to figure out how Microsoft can best help teacher's improve their abilities to integrate technology in the teaching and learning process.  So in considering this, I was reminded of a few things:

1. Don't assume all teachers "know the basics" and having step-by-step tutorials are helpful to cover the basics.   We will keep producing more of these, similar to the "How-to" articles we have here with plans to add short video clips.
2. We need to make more learning content available on-demand, as there is seldom "extra time" for teachers to learn a new skill or figure out how to do something. This could be delivered via a webcast, video clip or how-to descriptions.  Here are some previously broadcast webcasts  and we will produce more throughout the school year.
3. The in-class collegial discussion and collaboration of teachers generating new ideas and sharing what they've done is perhaps the most difficult to replicate online, however, in the next month or so we will launch new online discussions forums (ssshhhhh!  Don’t tell our web team that I revealed this new feature!).   More to come!

I would love to hear from the community on the following (or any other topic for supporting your professional development around technology):

• How can Microsoft best support you with information, training or understanding of the technologies you want to use in the classroom?

• What topics or technologies would you like to see us cover in terms of webcasts or how-to videos?

I look forward to your input and thoughts.

Regards,

Rob

Rob Bayuk

 K-20 Educator Marketing Manager, Microsoft

Follow me on Twitter @TeachTec

Why showing movies in class is a good thing

I think this debate has raged on with educators since we've had those filmstrips teachers used to feed into the projectors.  Should we or should we not use movies or video as an educational tool?   If we do, how should these tools be used to gain the most benefit to the learner? 

As we engage with our "digital natives" in the classroom, who walk around daily with gaming devices and iPhones while logging countless hours on their Xbox 360s, it is clear that these technologies are fundamental parts of their lives (and  ours), so in my view embracing this trend is a must, with the challenge to us of guiding the use and application of these tools toward the learning goals we set.

This week Microsoft released a new version of Windows Live Movie Maker available free for download.  The goals of the new version of this popular tool is to make it easier to turn videos and photos into great-looking movies and slideshows.  It accepts just about any camera type and file format on the market today.  The other interesting tidbit about MovieMaker is that it is used by 35% of students worldwide, which I believe is a testament to the product's goals of being easy to use and enabling students and teachers to create professional looking movies and videos.

One of the key enhancements that teachers and students will like is the sharing capability. Once a movie is complete, it can be easily shared with other teachers, students or even friends and family across TV, PC or mobile device or by uploading them to video-sharing sites like YouTube or TeacherTube.

Perhaps the big question is:  so what?   Why do I want to bring this into my classroom?

When I think about the use of digital photos or images, this is a great opportunity for students to show what they’ve learned in a visual and auditory way, producing and demonstrating their learning.  Not to mention the level of engagement you will achieve simply by the fact that you’re asking them to create a movie.

For social studies teachers, this could mean assembling images from a point in history or around a significant event you've been studying and producing a movie that demonstrates the key turning points of these events.  These images could also be put to music of the period or perhaps  you challenge students to find a modern song that might have a similar theme (we know they love their music!).  The Library of Congress has an amazing Digital Collection as a starting point.

For language arts, students could take on roles of characters in a book and act out an important scene, and the rubric used could emphasize the need to embody the character's personality, motivations and while incorporating important quotes from the book.  Students would need to produce scripts, organize their group and "produce and direct" this movie, and you can only imagine how they will enjoy seeing themselves on the Big Screen as the culminating achievement - this is real project-centered, student-driven learning, using a fun and easy to use tool like Windows Live Movie Maker.

Lots of great ideas out there for applying MovieMaker in the classroom, in a quick search (and yes, I BING'ed it), there are great resources across all subjects:

• University of Missouri - College of Education - some ideas for science and animated cartoons
• A Virtual Classroom by an art teacher that includes storyboard and film rubrics, and sample student work
• YouTube has a vast selection of Windows MovieMaker tutorials
• And, of course, Microsoft has got some good step-by-step how-to information and videos

As we think about the use of videos and movies in the classroom, when the students are producing the movies you can (almost) not go wrong, and I have to believe they will be engaged and motivated to participate (never a bad thing).  I would love to hear other ideas of creative lesson or project ideas?   Please comment and I will compile a list.

Regards,

Rob

Rob Bayuk

 K-20 Educator Marketing Manager, Microsoft

Follow me on Twitter @TeachTec

Winners of the U.S. Innovative Teachers Forum Announced

Two great days of learning and collaboration at the U.S. Innovative Teachers Forum last week…and now it is time to unveil the winners and who will go on to the Microsoft Worldwide Innovative Teachers Forum in Brazil and represent the United States. The U.S. Innovative Teachers Forum recognizes and rewards learning teams practicing the elements of 21st century learning in their own professional learning and then incorporating these skills into the student learning environment. Judges reviewed entries from 16 teams of teachers from all across the U.S. (see my earlier blog post for details on the teams).

Congratulations to Autumne Streeval and Harriet Armstrong from Columbus East High School in Columbus, Indiana!

The judges thought their project called “Industrial Revolution Tic Tac Toe” was the strongest one and that it connected students to real world learning in a creative and engaging way. A strategy of universal design for learning was used to create the project which allowed the teachers to think of differentiation while the project was developed. Autumne and Harriet will be recognized at the Worldwide Innovative Teachers Forum in Brazil the first week of November and be able to participate in unique networking and professional development experiences. Check out their reaction to winning in the video below!

The judges called out a few more teachers’ projects and the 35 teachers voted on who they thought was best.

·         OVERALL WINNER: Columbus East High School, Columbus, Indiana

·         BEST PRACTICE AWARD: Byng Junior High School, Ada, Oklahoma

·         BEST PRACTICE AWARD: St. Paul’s Episcopal School, Mobile, Alabama

·         TEACHER’S CHOICE AWARD: Keith Valley Middle School, Horsham, Pennsylvania

Again, details on the projects can be found in my earlier blog post. We’ve also set up a video channel on Vimeo where you can see some of the teachers talk about their projects. And don’t forget to check out the Innovative Teachers Network (ITN) where you can connect with a global community of educators and gain access to lesson plans, how-to articles, ideas for student projects and communities where you can collaborate and discuss issues and topics with your peers. You can even view this year’s submissions for the U.S. Innovative Teachers Forum by logging on and clicking the “Communities” tab; then look for the “2009 U.S. Innovative Teacher Forum”, and then View “Community.” ITN will be your hub for news this school year as we roll out more innovative teachers events in the U.S.

Regards,

Rob

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Rob Bayuk

K-20 Educator Marketing Manager, Microsoft

Follow me on Twitter @TeachTec

Dispatches from the Innovative Teachers Forum

Spent the morning looking at some of the fascinating projects I mentioned earlier today in this blog at the ITF Project Exhibition.  I wanted to give you a feel for some of the people participating, so I am including a fun picture of the morning events.

To note, I am using another cool (and free) picture presentation tool that comes out of Microsoft R&D called AutoCollage. Think of it like a mash-up of any digital pictures.  You point AutoCollage at a folder of pictures and it combines the pictures in all sorts of funky ways for you. This one took me about 5 minutes to create, including importing the pictures from my digital camera.

When I think about using this in the classroom, I think it would be a great way for student or group of students to start or finish a PowerPoint presentation to capture "the team" in action throughout the project.  Great way to put those cell phone cameras to an academic use.  Or in Social Studies maybe a project of images collected across the web of a famous point in history or an individual, or in a community service project documenting who the students worked with.  Lots of ideas - pictures are fun!

Created in Microsoft AutoCollage – check it out.

Have fun!

Rob

US Innovative Teachers Forum, Open Talk with Prof. Linda Darling-Hammond

So I made a couple wrong turns on the way from hotel in San Jose to the Microsoft campus in Silicon Valley on my way to the event (my bad), so arrived late for Prof. Darling-Hammond’s opening talk.  What I heard was on the mark and thoughtful.  Good thing a colleague taped it!

Here’s a PhotoSynth of the event to get a sense for where we are.

If you haven’t used the Photosynth tool yet from Microsoft R&D and the University of Washington. Check it out.  Easy way to stitch pictures together in a fun way.  Imagine using in a geography assignment or as a reflection tool following a field trip or even summer vacation.

Regards,

Rob

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Rob Bayuk

K-20 Educator Marketing Manager, Microsoft

Follow me on Twitter @TeachTec

Ready to be inspired? Great teachers and cool ideas at the Innovative Teachers Forum

It's been a busy  week, as I have been fortunate to spend time with teachers who are investing their time in wanting to learn more about relevant and effective ways to apply technology in the classroom.  Last night I left the Microsoft Teaching 2.0: Educator Workshop in Boston (more on that in a future post) and was inspired by their energy and passion for trying new things. 

Now I’m in Mountain View, California for this year’s U.S. Innovative Teachers Forum on the Microsoft Silicon Valley Campus today and tomorrow. Thirty-five teachers from 13 states are here to network, learn and collaborate with leading educators from across the country. They will see how other teachers are inventing new ways to engage and teach students, and find out how technology can connect classroom learning to the real world. The forum aims to improve K-12 learning outcomes by building educator communities  that allow them to collaborate with colleagues, access quality content, and challenge them to think beyond the walls of their classroom into the wider world of learning.

The teams of teachers were selected to participate from applications submitted to the U.S. Innovative Teachers Network (ITN). One learning team will be selected to represent the United States at the Worldwide Innovative Teachers Forum in Brazil this November. It’s a great professional development opportunity offered through our Partners in Learning program, a global initiative designed to help increase technology access for schools, foster innovative approaches to pedagogy and teacher professional development, and provide education leaders with the tools to envision, implement and manage change.

We’ve got an exciting lineup of speakers, including Linda Darling-Hammond , a Stanford professor who has been named one of the nation’s ten most influential people affecting educational policy over the last decade, and served as the leader of President Obama’s education policy transition team. She’ll be talking about effective classroom practices related to her book Powerful Learning. I can’t wait to learn something new!

The teachers will present their best practices and classroom projects to a panel of judges later today. We’ll be uploading videos over the next day or two, so you can see and hear for yourself the fresh ideas that are enriching the learning experience in classrooms across the country. The ideas are here for the taking and we hope you will share your ideas too. We will announce the winner here on Friday, so keep reading and join the dialogue!

In the meantime, here’s a glance at the teachers and their projects…

Dallas, Texas – St. John’s Episcopal School – Susan Hopper, Jenny Kraemer

Digital Literacy Online is an online class for 6th and 7th grade students. Digital Literacy uses core curriculum projects through learning modules to create a learning environment where students become problem solvers, work independently/interdependently, acquire new technology and communication skills, and produce quality presentations.

Newport News, Virginia – Warwick High School – Ed Lansford, Judy Spalding

In Pyramid Pizzas, students evaluated sources of nutritional information, both in the traditional classroom and in a computer lab, compared nutritional needs using MyPyramid.gov, and planned and prepared balanced meals in a lab setting.

Lakeland, Florida – Lincoln Avenue Academy – Mijana Lockar, Jan May

This applied, project-based unit called “Making A Difference,” integrated various academic subjects and afforded students an opportunity to engage in solving real world issues, including service to elderly citizens of our community. They investigated the issue, planned and executed the course of action, and reflected on implementation results.

Mobile, Alabama – St. Paul’s Episcopal School – Kelli Etheredge, Molly Wagner

Students learn how to read poetry and explore the literary devices contained in poems.  They critically analyze poetry for its meaning, and convert poems into movies that reflect the mood and theme of the poem studied.

Port Angeles, Washington – Stevens Middle School – Pat Durr, Rob Edwards, Dwayne Johnson

In this project, teachers create websites and integrate digital curriculum, and students build digital portfolios. This project provides relevant technology training for teachers and increases student performance through the use of technology.

Ada, Oklahoma – Byng Junior High School – Deborah Cornelison, Linda Lancaster

Students identify a community problem, investigate it using math, science, and technology, and propose and implement solutions. Their project steps included researching literature, contacting experts, hypothesizing, experimenting, analyzing data, and proposing and implementing solutions. The featured project involved health risks from vitamin D deficiency.

Sun Prairie, Wisconsin – Sun Prairie High School – Janice Mertes, Amanda Jushka

With construction of a new high school, this community designed and set up “the model classroom of the future”.  They have begun to assemble a core group of students to act as technology mentors for the 2009-2010 school year. This summer, Sun Prairie High School is running over 100 hours of staff development for their teachers to transform classrooms and instruction.

Auburn, Alabama – Wrights Mill Road Elementary – Jennifer Dempsey, Sharon Goodman

As a culminating project, teams of 5th grade students select areas of technology in which they have achieved a level of mastery and wish to teach to other students. After developing lesson plans, students collaborate with mentor teachers to further develop and practice their lessons and learn "teacher talk."  Students then present their lessons to 3rd and 4th grade students, parents, and interested community members.

Tremont, Illinois – Tremont Grade School – Susan Bishop, Tracey Harrell

Students created a website that is an example of an international collaborative learning project. They are partnering with schools in Australia, Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States to build a science study of plant growth habitat. Students at each school will study and plan for a garden. Students will research, experiment and collect data, or facts, about gardens near their schools and will share that information with all of the other schools.

Horsham, Pennsylvania – Keith Valley Middle School – Valerie Fasy, Diane Heitzenrater, Stacy Rotchford

Students work collaboratively to design a Rube Goldberg-like machine which completes an everyday task.  Students are challenged to include the six simple machines in a ten-step design and make it “work” using advanced custom animation tools in PowerPoint.

Columbus, Indiana – Columbus East High School – Autumne Streeval, Harriet Armstrong

Students were given a tic tac toe project guide that focused on the Industrial Revolution. The projects were varied to allow for differences in learning styles and to allow students to use various technologies. A strategy of universal design for learning (UDL) was used to create the project. This allowed teachers to think of differentiation as the project was being developed instead of as an afterthought. UDL gives students multiple options to learn content in creative and engaging ways.

Abington, Pennsylvania – Overlook Elementary School – Michael Johnson, Laurence Goldberg

Children learn differently, so schools need to provide an environment that fosters these different paths.  This project shows some examples of using a technology-rich classroom to enable students to learn in ways that are relevant and meaningful to them, to develop both creative and critical thinking skills, and to collaborate and problem solve with their classmates in a stimulating environment.

Clarkston, Georgia – Atlanta Area School for the Deaf – Zoom Bakari, Chantel Watkins

Students discover links between science, people, resources and communities. They identify a local problem caused by climate, analyze climate data about it, and discover what their community is doing about it. Students then create an innovative solution based on the information they gathered, and investigate if others, on a local or global level, could use their innovation to solve the problem. Finally, they share their research and solution, and learn how they can have an impact on their community and the world.

Phoenix, Arizona – Arizona Charter School – Michael Brown, Dean Rice

This project developed a sustainable research-based high school science curriculum, and prepared students for college with realistic simulations of the workplace and environment. Students worked to develop an inexpensive DNA test (microsatellite system) that can be used by Arizona Game & Fish and the Phoenix Zoo to assist in conservation efforts and hopefully make a difference in the effort to save the Chiricahua leopard frog from extinction.

Arleta, California – Bert Corona Charter School – Sally Truong, Jonathan Tiongco

Students collaborate with their peers to demonstrate their understanding of a literary piece through the creation of a CD album.  The project includes CD front and back covers with song titles, a CD blanket of commentaries on song titles and story elements, and song titles and lyrics that reflect the plot, theme, characters, setting, and/or conflict of the selected text. Students read their selected text carefully, undergo the writing process with their responses to the literature, engage in teacher conferences, and finally assemble and present their final project through various multimedia resources.

Sacramento, California – George Washington Carver School of Arts and Sciences – Dana Jenks, Art Dewaard, Barret Drawdy

High school students earn college credit as they do service learning for the environment. Students are introduced to environmental science in class, on field trips and camping trips, and during the planting and upkeep of organic gardens. Students select a service learning project, such as a habitat restoration project, that they can continue through college.

What strikes me about this list of projects is that it is not about the technology, it is about finding creative ways to reach students, it is about integrating curriculum, it is about differentiating the instruction to reach as many learners as possible, it is about engaging students on subjects that are important to them, isn't that what "student-centered learning" is all about?  Great to see. I hope my son has a teacher like one of these at some point in his schooling.

Sure, technology has it's role, it is hard for it not to have a role in our 21st century world, but it acts as a tool in the learning process.  Teacher's have many tools they use, though in my humble opinion, incorporating  technology in the class engages even the most disinterested or jaded student, because it is a fundamental part of their lives.

I look forward to posting more details on these projects over the next two days.  As always, I would love to hear your innovative ideas for how you've used technology in effective and relevant ways in the classroom.

Regards,

Rob

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Rob Bayuk

 K-20 Educator Marketing Manager, Microsoft

Follow me on Twitter @TeachTec

It’s Back to School time again – does that scare or excite you? Maybe it's time to Tweet!

Summer fun coming to end.  Work starting again.  Maybe you're just yearning to try something new to engage your students.

One thing to get excited about is how you might try (or try something new) in the world of Web 2.0 technologies for the classroom.  Twitter, Facebook, or maybe create your "Class Blog" for communicating with students and parents.  And if you don't have a class web site yet, you need one! 

Class web sites are a great place to provide copies of class handouts (lost the handout, go get it yourself :), publish a homework calendar (parents will love it), or create a spot for students to work together online (spice-up peer essay reviews, perhaps?).   If you use Microsoft Office , you might want to try Office Live Workspace, a free online spot to create a basic class web site. You can easily add a PowerPoint or Word documents to your Office Live Workspace and then your whole class can access it from anywhere with an Internet connection.

One of the most interesting things on the web lately is Twitter.  The basic thing to know about Twitter is that you can let people who "follow you" know what you're up to - in 140 characters or less - think of it like a text message blast to a group of friends.  It's free and easy to set-up and you can even receive "Tweets" as a text message on your mobile phone.  Here's a good New York Times article on it.

Microsoft has a Twitter "handle" called TeachTec where we send a occasional "tweets" to teachers interested in knowing what we're up to around technology in teaching and learning.  Today we have about 1,800 people "following" us on Twitter.  Following someone , a favorite actor or musician, or a company like Microsoft, you'll get the idea of how it's being used. Perhaps more intriguing is that Aston Kutcher (actor, Twitter handle: @aplusk) achieved 1 million followers in April, at the time surpassing CNN as the most followed.  We'll start modestly with TeachTec, but come follow us!   Search for "TeachTec" on Twitter and you'll find us.

So an interesting discussion is:  how can Twitter be used in the classroom?   This is where it might start to get interesting.   So now it's time for me to brag.  My son finished kindergarten last year at Meridian School in the Seattle area.  His kindergarten teacher started using Twitter as a way to provide parents a quick update on something interesting they did in class , often quoting a student or story they read. Here's a little video clip from our local news station describing what they did.  Simple, but effective. 

Have any other ideas?   I would love to hear them.  

• Maybe have students follow you and you send important homework reminders? 
• Start a class discussion on Twitter around an Essential Question from class?
• 140 characters forces students to synthesize their ideas
• And students love to text :)

At Microsoft we have been working on creating professional development resources and workshops for teachers to help them integrate technology into the teaching and learning process.   I am attending a Microsoft Educator Workshop in the Boston area this week and it is great to see teachers excited to use technology in the classroom for all different reasons.  I will Tweet as we make resources available throughout the year, though you can also check back on our web site.

I look forward to an ongoing discussion about how technology can be integrated in effective and relevant ways in the teaching and learning process.

Regards,

Rob Bayuk

 K-20 Educator Marketing Manager, Microsoft

Who the heck is Rob Bayuk?   I could bore you with a blog post on my background, or you could  view my profile on LinkedIn. (only slightly less boring)

How to go "paperless" in your classroom and collaborate along the way

Recently, I've heard about more teachers using technology move away from pushing tons of papers to students, parents and adminstration. This is a pretty cool idea because when you go "paperless" you can 1) save a tree, 2) save time running to the printer and copier, and 3) get more organized because you don't need to file all that paper! 

Unfortunately, that means students today don't have the pleasure of smelling that just mimeographed paper (ahhh... those were the days!), but moving from paper to paperless is a great way for them to be more oganized too. It can also be a terrific opportunity for students and teachers to create collaborative work environments. 

Want to learn more?  Check out the upcoming webcast Learn Ways to Create a Paperless Classroom on Tuesday, February 17th at 4:00 PM Eastern.  John DuBois from the Microsoft Solution Special team will explain and demonstrate how educators can use Microsoft Office Live, Office 2007 and OneNote to collaborate, share and distribute - virtually!

Don't worry... there won't be any handouts to print!

 http://www.educationwebcasts.com/Webcast.aspx?i=4267 

A Vision of K12 Students today... a sobering message.

A few minutes ago I just watched an amazing video about how K12 students use technology and how they want to use that technology to learn.  It was very sobering to see the statistics about how many teachers don't use technology in the classroom to engage their students during the learning process.  Why is that? 

Now, I don't know the source of the statistics so that could arguably in question.  That said, it is consistent with what I hear when I speak with teachers.  My focus is to help educators understand the value of using technology in the learning environment. A great accomplishment would be to create a new video a few years from now where the statistics of incorporating digital learning into classrooms show it to be the norm rather than the exception.

 How do we get there?

How would you build technology into your classroom... if you had unlimted funds???!!!

There are many discussions about the types of technology available to schools (or, the lack thereof due to budget limitations), but what if you could design the classroom of your dreams (or maybe just the "ideal" classroom) with any technology you'd want to include if you had an unlimited budget? 

 Would you stick to the traditional tools or go all out an bring in every wiz bang technology available?  Would you include your students in the decision? 

From the educators I've spoken to most would like to adopt more technology into their learning environments, but it is always a struggle to 1) find the time to research what is available (forget about finding the time to get training on anything new!), 2) get stuck with whatever the IT Admins have provided, or 3) simply don't have the resources to figure it out.  On one hand there is a desire to create the most engaging environment for your students and just trying to keep your head above water with all the obligations you have to meet standards.

 Well, I'm curious to know... what would your ideal classroom look like?  Dream big - who knows, maybe it isn't that far away!

How do you use technology in the classroom?

Welcome to the Teacher Tech Talk blog!

I set up this blog as a conversation vehicle for teachers coming into the Microsoft Education site to learn about technology and Microsoft solutions to leverage in the classroom.  Please use this as a tool and an opportunity to share ideas with other teachers as well as with Microsoft to help us understand what you need in the classroom and how we can address questions you may have about how to apply our solutions into your learning environments. 

Many teachers I speak to have a varying degree of technology knowledge from those who set up podcasts for individual learning and creating web pages to those teachers who are still trying to find the power buttom to the  PC their IT manager gave them six months ago. There are just as many ways teachers apply technology to the learning environment and a lot of it is based on the type of technology available to them such as:

1. Do you have a PC?
2. Do your students have a PC in the classroom?
3. Do you have an electronic whiteboard?
4. Do you podcast?
5. What software do you have access to?

These are just some basic questions and I'm sure you'll agree there are just as many variations to how technology is applied based on the variations of equipment and technology available.  So, based on what you have, what do you use?  This is just to initiate the conversation.  If there are other topics you'd like to see covered in the blog please let me know! 

Send an email to teachtec@microsoft.com with your suggestions.  In the meantime, when I have information that I think you'll find helpful to use I'll bring it to your attention.  Also know we have set up the Teacher Tech Tuesday webinar series to highlight great technology to use in the classroom and to learn how to apply it in a learning environment.