Staff+Meeting+October+19,+2010

Staff Meeting October 19th, 2010 Please view after 2:30 pm on the 19th.  Welcome! Let's see if this will work for us! For anyone who is unable to edit to add comments, you are always able to add a comment on the discussion tab. There are 7 steps!

Step 1 - Open the agenda

Step 2 - Read the Kudos and then move to the Big Picture Items

Step 3 - Under the Big Picture Items # C Please click on the link below to check out how other educators are using Wikis. Have a look at some of the interesting wikis. A good one to look at is the one from New Zealand called Room 9 Nelson Central's Learning Hub (just go to the R section and scroll down until you find it) There are lots of other ones too!

links to Educational Wikis created by teachers and students

Add your comments here and any names of ones that others should have a look at. You can add the direct link if you wish.

I just spent some time looking through some of the list and found one called "Ms. Lew's Looney Land ofLiteracy". Here's the link: http://mslew.wikispaces.com/home It looks like it might have some good links, like Wordle, that might be worth checking out. (Janet) (Did you see the WallWisher app that Ms Lew had in her Wiki? The kids put up the titles of books they liked with digital sticky notes! - Karen) I hadn't noticed that but liked the PuffPress link, where children can publish things from cartoons to magazie articles http://www.prufrock.com/client/client_pages/prufrock_jm_ck_wg.cfm (Janet)

I found a really great site to improve wikis. And a link under the Nelson School wiki in NZ. "tutpup" is the site name, and it seems a very good spelling game for young and older students, as there are multiple levels. (Margie)

The Room 9 site had lots of good Lit. stuff but the Math wouldn't connect. Would like to see it. There are so many Wikis listed it would be nice if they were organized differently, by grade. "Ya, you can learn from Twitter. You can learn everyone's TWEETS", says Erin. There were many crossovers on the 2 100 Tools sites.

Lots of interesting links on the wiki sites to supplement and encourage learning. (Heather) There were TONS of neat looking sites - Amanda & I liked this one http://bookleads.wikispaces.com/  - it had lots of digital book sites, author sites, etc. I also saved this one, http://kids-book-club.wikispaces.com/ , as it focuses on the love of reading for reading.

I wanted pink for my fonts but feared I'd be copying. So I went with 2nd best...purple. I still have my pink duotang from The 7 Habits though. I like Twitter myself too. If you can't say something in under 140 characters, save it for your blog. I really like the "Add to our tall tale" idea on the Room 9 site. I think I'll try that with my class at some point this year. There's also a tonne of amazing games on this site too! You're right Janet, I like the spelling game: Tutpups. I'm getting out my bookmarker. I think we should have a staff chalenge for this game on the "uh oh" level. Thanks for finding this awesome resource Karen! (Matt)

<span style="color: #ed1212; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 160%;">Step 4 - Under Big Picture Item # D - 21st Century Tools - read the following and have a look at one of the items below - I put both the 2009 and the 2010 in because the format of the 2009 was easier to read, but thought that you would like to see the 2010. This should be a quick review for most. Leave your comments below.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;">21st CENTURY STATEMENT OF TEACHER RESPONSIBILITIES by Peter Pappas <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 108%; text-align: center;">In order to adequately prepare today's students for their future, teachers must effectively participate in professional learning networks, share and model the use of current internet tools, lead authentic, integrated project-based learning activities, assist students as they establish their own learning networks and digital footprint, learn alongside our students as they create, collaborate, and share, provide sufficient learning opportunities for students to become digitally literate and fluent, while also inspiring each child to be quality, digital, global citizens. <span style="color: #800080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Our awesome staff at KCS has already heard of a lot of these tools - and we're using a lot of them too! Good work peeps! (Matt)

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<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">Add your comments here

This is a really neat resource - so nice to have these items in one place! And, with our fabulous 21C committee, it will be easy to get the support we need to make some of these tools happen in our classrooms! (Kim)

<span style="color: #ed1212; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 160%;">Step 5 - Read the discussion items and share your thoughts. Anything that would have a student's name should be sent via email.

<span style="color: #ed1212; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 160%;">A Comment: Re homework: I would like someone to help me set up a Read-at-Home parent/child recording system for my struggling readers, to ensure they read every day. Margie <span style="color: #ed1212; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 160%;">("I don't mind lending a hand, Margie" -Janet) Margie, There are lots of templates available for this. If you need one let me know. My Wiki is still under construction and after viewing some from the above link I am rather discouraged. I will keep at it though. I am having some trouble with the Homework. There are some children not doing their reading and I'm unsure of how to encourage them further. Also, some parents do not understand the choice of books we are giving their children and feel they should be reading higher level books since their child can read all of the words. We need to help parents understand fluency and comprehension and the importance of these skills in their child's reading development. Erin, on the other hand, has had some positive comments from parents and the majority of her students are reading at home. She also finds that her students are talking about the games on her Wiki. We will be looking more closely at the Room 9 Wiki and adding sites to our Wikis. Cathy, Erin and Darcy

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 160%;">My homework policy has been working. I've been finding two things: <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 160%;">(1) Students are taking work home that they need to get caught up on because they feel they are getting behind. <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 160%;">(2) My major projects in the class are being worked on at home and students are actually enjoying the work AND spending time with family. (Example) "My Family Recipe" - Click on the link below to view a project that I am having my kids do to promote family time, cultural awareness, and various Lit. and Math outcomes (Matt) Our students are actively participating in our Read at Home program and many of them are using the wiki regularly to practice their Jolly Phonics. I wish my son's school had the same homework policy as we do! (Kim)

<span style="color: #ed1212; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 160%;">Step 6 - Department Reports, if any, should be sent via email - Leah has posted her Phys Ed report to the Discussion Tab on this Wiki. Thanks Leah! <span style="color: #ed1212; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 160%;">Step 7 - You are finished!