Betty’s Bytes

Blogging has become so common that it is nearly impossible to keep up with the blogs that may pique your interest. I subscribe to RSS feeds of some of those that interest me, and yet I still have difficulty reading all the few subscriptions. On the whole, I try to keep up with ITRT blogs and news feeds, but that is impossible. There are just too many sources of information to begin to read them all, so I just pick and choose and few, occasionally adding a new source.

This week I am presenting blogging to the Library Media Specialists in Virginia Beach. My goal is to cover the basics in 2 hours and have each participant leave with a “work in progress.” As I reviewed the procedure for establishing a blog, I was reminded that it takes very little to actually have a blog up and running; other technical people have done most of the work. Basically, you need to sign up, sign in, make a title and post your first article. VOILA! You have a blog!

Reviewing the procedure over the course of the last two weeks, I am reminded that there are many links on a blog that seem very similar and some that you really do not need to use or even visit on a regular basis. It is, however, fun to make the blog your own - adding pictures, backgrounds, Voki’s, and widgets. With time, we’ll explore some of what makes each blog unique.

As a parent and an educator, I am outraged at the lack of common sense exhibited by the Virginia Department of Education in its refusal to grant a waiver to the SOL requirements to Ms. Lauren Cootes at Frank W. Cox High School in Virginia Beach. Please read the following article if you are unaware of the situation involving her illness and inability to take an SOL test. “Give the girl her diploma.” Does anyone at VDOE have any common sense? Is there no compassion in Richmond? What in the world is wrong with educated people in power that they have no ability to use common sense in an exceptional situation?

Congratulations to Kerry Dougherty of the Virginian-Pilot for shedding light on this travesty. SOL standards have been established to ensure that our graduating seniors have a minimum amount of knowledge as they leave our high schools; certainly this is not the case here. I have asked the governor to please “use [his] influence to overturn the decision made by some idiot in the Virginia Department of Education. Failure to graduate Lauren Cootes from Frank W. Cox High School would be a mockery of what we in education expect of our students.”

It is a busy time of year for all of us in education; but it is difficult to believe that it has been almost a month since my last post. The last weeks have been filled with a variety of activities including:

Developing the Web site reminded me of ways to integrate technology. The new Web site has an embedded Animoto short video of pictures taken with my Blackberry Storm after a tour of the new building under construction; free technology online is engaging — capture the attention of your students with a short Animoto video to introduce a lesson! One of the treasures here is the ability to integrate technology with little work or time involved on your part; or better yet, have your students take the pictures and create the video! I also worked with the new Renaissance Academy logo in FireWorks 8, a powerful program for editing graphics; our school has a site license of an older version, which is still very powerful.

Today a colleague and I were trying to meet a deadline; input was needed from both of us in a hurry, and we were miles apart. Hurrah for Google Docs and Spreadsheets! Collaboration online was a cinch! I uploaded  her spreadsheet and sent her the link with edit rights. VOILA! We were both online, editing, and working simultaneously. FREE and in real time! WOW!

Now, educators, imagine the impact on your students who live miles apart but are working on the same collaborative team on a group project for your class! Changes are made in real time; I watched as my colleague changed entries, figures, etc., and the spreadsheet updated for me as quickly as for her. Even students in the same classroom can work collaboratively on their own laptops or desktops  to create and edit. There is no need to make changes, wait, email, then wait, update changes and make more, then email, then wait… Work together in real time online! Does it get any better than this? Certainly it will, and Google or someone will find a way to do it and do it even better!

While reading during Spring Break, I found one of my favorite newsletters - the Classroom Connect “Connected Newsletter”; the June 2008 edition was the final issue. Online I have been able to find little from years of publications other than the final calendar with links; once opened, you can use the arrows at the top of the calendar to go backwards to visit previous calendars with links. The final issue did have a variety of information for educators with an especially good one for math teachers. Quia, which our school has made available to our teachers, hosts one of the top ten math sites; following are the recreated links that I could not find online for the article entitled “The Ten Math Sites You Absolutely Must Bookmark”:

In addition, the final issue of the Connected Newsletter had an informative article on differentiated instruction, connecting technology, pre-assessment, and student interest. I was unable to locate the actual article, but in my search, I came across a site on differentiated instruction that you will want to read by Internet4Classrooms.

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One criticism of Wikipedia has been that it contains many articles and submissions that have not been verified. Now there is Wikipedia for Schools, an authenticated version of Wikipedia ; as expected, the articles have been checked for accuracy, suitability for school use, and may be viewed online or downloaded as a complete volume.