My Assessment Results

I scored 85 out of 100 possible points on the Table of Essential Digital Literacy Elements self-assessment on the Atomic_Learning website.

This showed me that though I am comfortable with most computer applications that were included in the assessment, I am not comfortable enough to teach some of them to others. And, I'm certainly not ready to publish anything - maybe it's just a lack of confidence - who knows?

I also don't know if I CAN'T show others how to do some of the things listed or if I just don't have time to show them. I hate to admit it, but a lot of times, my attitude is just that it's easier to do it myself.

You will notice that there is no magical scale to go along with this score - numbers don't correspond to a matching technology skill level. This is just a number that you can record to show you where you are, what areas you need to improve in, and a little while down the road, you can take it again and be amazed by your growth.

The most important factor here, as I see it, is that you are willing to do this...to learn more about yourself and your technology skills, and to dedicate time and effort to improve what you know and to increase your comfort level.

Thanks for participating!

Assess Yourself

Another blog assignment for you!

There is a great self-assessment tool on the Atomic Learning site. You can access it through LPS. You will find "Atomic Learning" under the staff tab.

Once you get to the site, choose "curriculum tools". Under the heading "Staff Development Framework" it says "assess yourself". SHORTCUT - just click on the title of this post and it will take you directly there - but I wanted you to know how to get there on your own - there are lots of great things on this site.

You're going to a document with a rubric - this time you get to complete one for yourself! There is a link to the "Atomic Learning Framework Philosophy". In order to access this document, (a little lengthy, but good information) you will need a username (lincolnps) and password (overland).

Complete the assessment and post a blog about your findings.

Digital Photography Online Course

The title of this post is linked to an online digital photography course. It is packed with information and does a nice job explaining all of the things you need to know about pixels, mega bytes, jpeg, and many other terms you may have been wondering about.

Something for your spare time! Actually, you might want to add this to your bookmarks - it's a great resource!

Comiclife & Digital Photos Support Classroom Learning

If you click on the title above, you will be taken to a Read, Write, Think page that includes a lesson plan that is all about using comics to teach writing skills. You might want to take a look at the "Comic Creator Student Interactive". This is a neat tool to help kids sketch out some thoughts before they even take photos to include in their own comic. It is a great organizational tool!

Also, you might be interested in the Comic Life Gallery. Lots of ideas here to show the potential Comic Life has to make creative visuals for educational or personal use! (Ask Kim Z about her Christmas thank-you's!)

On-Task Blogging

Some of our blogging friends have already commented about the success of our Tuesday morning meeting. I had a wonderful time and I hope you did too.

Since that time, I have had conversations with some people about getting "on-task" with their blogging. Remember, the purpose of our blogs is to share what we have tried or what we have learned as we experiment with implementing lessons that use technology.

But, I don't want you to feel guilty for using your blog to post something unrelated to our goal. The process of acquiring knowledge to enable you to infuse technology into your teaching requires that you first become comfortable with technology for yourself -- use it to suit your own purposes, whether it be for word processing, e-mailing friends, organizing family photos digitally, paying your bills online - whatever! (You will notice that I used the word "infuse". When I was thinking about the topic of this blog and the progression of technology competence in teaching, I remembered our first blogging assignment - "list two sites that you use for teaching and two sites that you like to visit for your own enjoyment" I must have thought of the word "infuse" because I remembered one of my favorite sites for my own enjoyment, the Mighty Leaf Tea Company. I visited this site just before I started this blog. You'll have to go there sometime - I think it's relaxing, I can almost smell the Earl Grey drifting from the liquid crystals in my computer screen!)

The next step is to "infuse" technology into your lessons -- use online resources to find lesson plans or printables, find some great websites that illustrate the point you have tried to get across, make your own technology-based resources to teach a unit.

The final and ultimate step is to become aware of the impact technology will have on our students. Their lives will be influenced by technologies that we can't even begin to imagine. It is our duty to start now to make this a way of life for them. I read an article in a class I took last spring that introduced me to the concept of Mindtools. We need to teach our kids to think of the technologies that are available to them as "mindtools". Here's how I see it. I have taken piano lessons since I was 4 years old. I am not a good note reader. I spent 20 years of my life as a frustrated pianist because I did not have the skills to take the beautiful melody that was flowing through my head and tell my fingers how to do it. In my mid-twenties, I started taking lessons from a teacher who had mastered this form of note-less piano playing for himself, and had become so comfortable with it that he was able to teach me how to do it. I'm not perfect, but I'm a whole lot better than I used to be.

The application here is that all it took was a teacher who was comfortable with using the methods for himself to teach me how to take what was in my head and make some sense out of it. We need to help our kids take all of the information they have stored in their heads and use the computer to make sense out of it - make it into something that they can share with others.

Make this blog about you AND your teaching. Little vacations from the topic at hand are perfectly acceptable - they represent who you are, what you like and why you're good at what you do!

Isn't blogging fun?

Change Your Settings

You might want to make a change in the settings for your blog.

Under the comments tab, it asks..."who can comment?" The default option is "only registered members". This only allows those brave souls with a blogger account to comment. If you use the pull-down menu there to change the setting to "anyone", well, guess what? Anyone can comment!

This might be helpful considering the pupose of our blogging experience...to share what we have learned with others!

Also, remember to use the Google Group address to notify our group when you have posted to your blog (EveTech@googlegroups.com) You add this in the "e-mail" tab.

Happy Blogging!

Everett Blogs

Let's just make this easy...

I put a new category in my Linkin' Log for "Everett Blogs".

All of our blog addresses are linked there, so you can just pull up my Linkin' Log if you want to find addresses instead of searching for e-mail messages, copying and pasting!

My direct Linkin' Log address is linked to the title of this post, or you can find it by typing in "links" in the search box on the LPS site and either typing in lfuller or finding my collection in the pull down menu.

Keep up the good work!