26. April 2006 by MrBall.

The day has arrived. TechPlus is happening.

I have been wowwed by the ability of Concordia students to integrate tech with curriculum while engaging students. The virtual field trips (VFT) they have created some very exciting projects that are really powerful. The VFT is really a WebQuest on Steroids. There was one VFT based around air and aerodynamics which included some exciting video and music. The preservice students whi built it used some footage from video that they created up at CFB Coldlake.

There were two others; one based around the Alberta physical regions and the other about Ukraine. Both were excellent.

After a short break Concordia professor Pat Richardson presented on her project titled “Real Authors”. She and her year one students emailed students from St. Mary’s grade 6 classes to develope student to (pre-service) teacher mentorships. The technology was a stumbling block to start as they had trouble with the freedom of Information Protection Act (FOIP). The email to email was troublesome but I think that they are going to try and use the Writely share feature. I also suggested Blogmiester as a blogging site.

There was a great little lunch! I was excited to be able to eat vegetarian.

Right now I’m in the LearnAlberta.ca session. It’s just about the same presentation as Elementary Math Learning Objects. I can’t say that I am excited but it is clear that many teachers and principals have not yet experienced this site yet. It is valuable and I hope that they continue to get word out about the tools that they have.

Next is the Social Studies presentation. I’ll post on that tomorrow.
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10. April 2006 by MrBall.

Today we were doing one of the more important jobs of blogging. We were sharing our comments about each others’ work. Blogging isn’t just about reading it is about sharing ideas and collaborating with others. I noticed that many of the comments were regarding spelling. I think we all have something to work on in our writing.

I’m excited to see so many students blogging, not just my students. Mark Wagner had a post up about grade ones who were blogging. I hope it builds in them a greater sense of sharing of ideas. I’m also hoping that it will motivate some of my students to be more vigilant in their spelling practice.

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8. April 2006 by MrBall.

I’ve received an invitation to Concordia University College’s Technology Plus Conference. The blog address is above and this is the Concordia index for the conference. It is at Concordia (Edmonton) on April 26th. I’ve taught a couple of classes there and it happens to be where I earned both my degrees. I’ve only been away from Concordia for three years now but I feel a strong bond to its welcoming professors and staff.

If it wasn’t for Dr. McVea I don’t think I would have gotten my first teaching job. She knew the job was available and gave me the heads up. Once I was at the interview I showed off my Virtual Classroom Tour, which she helped me to have accepted on the Microsoft VCT page and the deal was pretty much sealed.

Watch her blog if you have time. It’s only about the preparations for the conference right now but I’m sure she’ll start putting more things up. The Concordia Education website is here. If you want to teach in Alberta this is the place to get your degree.

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5. April 2006 by MrBall.

When I started teaching worksheets was a four letter word (o.k. eight). As I have worked more and more with students I have seen they aren’t as bad as I once believed. They allow students to experience success by showing off their knowledge. Not one of the higher order thinking skills but still the success is good. They also give them down time. The classroom becomes quieter and distraction is lessened. They practice thier knowledge and get a bit of a break.

I love experiential learning but boy is it ever tiring for them and me!

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