:Enhancing Instruction Through Technology

Google just announced this week that they have added Street Level maps to Google Maps. At this point the Street Level maps are only available in New York City, Miami, Denver, Las Vegas, and San Francisco. This is really cool. Too bad this view is not available in Google Earth. To see the Street Level maps go to Google Maps and click on the new button Street View.

You will see cameras show up on the cities where Street Level maps are available. Click on the map and enjoy. Here’s an example from New York City. I navigated to Times Square for the picture below.

You can navigate along the road by using the arrow keys on your keyboard or click the buttons on the screen.

The technology behind this is done by Immersive Media. The camera that is used has 11 lenses and can record 360 degrees of better than high definition video.

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Categoried in the shameless self promotion category…

WMTW stopped by HMS last week to interview students and staff about our laptop program. The story entitled, Laptop Program Bucks National Trend, was a spinoff of the NY Times article about schools dropping laptop programs in New York.
It was nice to see them take a positive stance on the work that has been done here in Yarmouth with our laptop program. We really are seeing differences in the classroom due to the access to technology. Teachers are adapting their pedagogy to optimize the use of this powerful tool. The common misconception of the implementation of 1:1 programs like ours is that it will instantly increase test scores. Unfortunately, laptops are not the silver bullet that will help schools move forward under NCLB to lift scores. It takes teachers who can see what the technology brings to the table and how it can help them reach more of their learners. The teachers who use the technology to challenge their students will get the best results. When students are not engaged in their learning, they will get off-task. This is not any different than how things were before technology. When I was a student, that usually meant hiding a Sports Illustrated magazine in the spine of my social studies textbook. For our students it means hiding a favorite web page in their dock while they should be doing something else.

This shift in teaching pedagogy doesn’t happen automatically. The recipe for success isn’t too difficult to come up with. I list a few ideas below. They are not in any particular order.

• Teachers must be provided on-going professional development in using technology in their lessons.
• Teachers must be provided support for their work in and outside of the classroom.
• The infrastructure must be provided that will support the number of devices on your network.
• The devices must work. Make sure you have enough personnel to take care of repairs.Teachers who do not feel they can depend on the technology will not use it.
• Technology departments must do all they can to eliminate barriers between the technology and its use in the classroom. While we need a secure network, we do not need a network if no one uses it because of an over zealous network administrator. Keep things as open as possible.
• Administrators must be clear about expectations of use. Some teachers will run with the technology right away while others need a gentle push.
• Teachers must learn how to say, “I don’t know”. This is something that many teachers are tremendously afraid to say. It’s ok not to have all the answers. The key is making those moments when you’re not sure teachable moments for  yourself and your students!

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The 8th grade team has started a new project having students create content using a wiki for their civil rights unit.

The wiki has been noticed on the Internet by Penny Richards of the Disability Studies, Temple U. blog. She has written a nice post about the work being done on the wiki .

The team is looking for feedback for the student’s work from within the school and community. If you visit the wiki, Megan and Rod have placed directions on how to make comments. It would be great for some of the students to get feedback from former teachers.

If you’re reading this and wondering what a “wiki” is…
According to Wikipedia (the world’s most famous wiki), a wiki is a website that allows visitors to add, remove, and edit content. A collaborative technology for organizing information on Web sites. Wikis allow for linking among any number of pages. The ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for mass collaborative authoring.

The use of a wiki allows students to create their own content in a format that is visible to the world. Creating a larger audience for student work is one of the greatest ways of leveraging technology for student success.

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Bibme is a new free online bibliography maker. It has some nice features I haven’t seen in any other free citation services. The nicest feature it has is the ability to search for your resource. Just type in the author, title, or ISBN number of a book and it will pull up most of the information for you. At this point MLA, APA, or Chicago formats are supported. Register for an account to save information.

When you’re done with your resources just click on the link to Download your bibliography. It downloads in Rich Text Format (RTF) so it may be opened in any word processor with all the indents, etc. still in tact.

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