ACTEM Top 10 List

My 10 Ten List From ACTEM: What a great day!

1. The Concept of Learning Ecology: I really found this concept fascinating as a way to think about how we want schools to be. The idea appeals to my desire for learning to transform with the idea of ecology as a web network. I found this article super interesting http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/learning_communities.htm

2. Comics in Education – I was aware of the growing field of graphic novels, but not as aware of the growing content literature done with graphic interface. I liked the idea of students using comic life to prepare students for writing a science lab- take photos and then have them narrate as a pre-writing stage. URL for her presentation: http://tiny.cc/OIB0e

3. Creative Commons – I was reminded today that we need to spend some time talking about creative commons licenses and making sure our students know how to publish with this attribute and use it in their work as teachers. I want to look at this resource more: http://creativecommons.org/

4. Scratch – I have used Logo in a few different settings, and had learned about SCRATCH, but not seen a demonstration. I was excited to see how it was being used, and how it is more user friendly than Logo. I would like to play with it more to consider applications in the classroom. http://scratch.mit.edu/

5. Curriki – Wow, this is a new resource that offers so many resources for teachers with actual usable materials – so many sites like this require the teacher to modify and recreate. I was thrilled to find this and will need to play more with it. http://www.curriki.org

6. Google Doc – Enjoyed seeing this overview of the different features, but wished it had gone into more depth with some of the tools and collaboration features, rather than just the file sharing, portability aspects. I was so excited to learn about the ‘form’ function and how you can easily build a survey and install into your blog, and the results come out in a spreadsheet- I can think of so many applications for using this.

7. Concept of GeoGebra- During the math presentation I attended I was introduced to the term GeoGebra and the software that goes along with supporting this concept. I love the interactive tools that were focused on specific skills – so much potential to differentiate. However would need to think about assessment as I am not sure viewing many, many Jing videos done by each child is a realistic assessment tool. http://www.geogebra.org/cms/

8. Google Talk – I downloaded this software and am thinking about how to use this. I am trying to find an alternative to Skype, but have not found video functionality in GoogleTalk. I will keep exploring. http://www.google.com/talk/

9. Jing – I had seen this tool before, but then had forgotten to download it. I did not realize there was also the screen/image capture which is great – because I love this functionality on a MAC and will often use a MAC just for this feature that I do not have on my PC. I have downloaded JING now and can begin to take screen captures instead of screenshots. http://www.jingproject.com/

10. Overall Reaction to the Day – I love conferences! It is always reenergizing to be around other people who have great ideas and want to do work in the same way I do. It is wonderful to see so many people thinking deeply about how to improve the quality of teaching and learning in Maine schools. It was a pleasure to see the UMF students at their first conference and see how professionally they conducted themselves and the observations they made throughout the day. I am very optimistic about the future of education with committed and thoughtful students choosing to pursue this career.

Webquest Ideas

My overall interest in this webquest is to have students study the natural resources of Maine.

1. Why is this town here?

1. Topic: Have students explore the settlement of different areas in Maine based on the natural resources that place has to offer
   
2. Grade Level: 4th
   
3. Task: You are applying to the King for a permit to begin a colony in Maine, you need to write up your choice for location of the colony and what resources you can use to live and make money.
   
4. Roles (at least 3):

- tax collector - you need to keep an eye on if the site will make money
- map maverick - you need to make sure your location is accessible to new
comers and protected from others
- peacemaker - you need to keep an eye on who else is nearby and choose a good
location

2. Move to Our Town!

1. Topic: Students will explore 5 existing towns in Maine and produce short commercials about the town
   
2. Grade Level: 8th grade
   
3. Task: After researching a town students will work in groups to produce a short movie about the town they researched to convince a new family to move to the area based on available resources
   
4. Roles (at least 3):

- Green police - you are trying to show off the environmentally friendly elements of
your town
- Industry - you are trying to demonstrate what industries thrive in this place
- Historian - you are interested in promoting the history of your town

3. What resource is most important in Maine? (this is the one I would like to do)

1. Topic: The year is 1940 and the governor has just announced a giant grant to support one of Maine's natural resources. You are working hard to convince him that your group deserve the grant money because your industry is most significant.
   
2. Grade Level: 7th
   
3. Task: Produce a grant proposal that states why your resource is most and important and how you will use the money to support the resource in Maine.
   
4. Roles (at least 3):

- the negotiator - you need to make sure you do not put down other groups/resoucres
- the money maker - you are focused on the money that your resource produces and
how the grant money should be spent
- the nature lover- you are focused on the natural beauty and value of these resources
4.

1. Topic:
2. Grade Level:
3. Task:
4. Roles (at least 3):