Create an Interactive Whiteboard

There’s a huge demand for interactive whiteboards in our classrooms, but the cost of providing them for all teachers who want them is often prohibitive. To the rescue comes Epson with its IU-01, a cost-effective alternative for providing interactive whiteboard technology in classrooms. The gadget will be available in October 2010 at a price of approximately $600. It’s truly an innovative solution to providing 21^st Century tools in our classrooms, for it can transform your school projectors, walls, and whiteboards into interactive tools.

iPads for the Elementary Grades

TiPb, an iPhone, iPad, and iTouch online forum runs a competition to encourage members to explain how they use these devices at work. Winners receive a $20 gift certificate to the iTunes Store. A recent winner was an elementary school teacher who says the iPad brings a “new dimension” to her teaching of music, English, and theater. Courtfrogger, the teacher’s name in the forum, works in a small K-12 public school, where she uses the Planets app with her kindergarten students to inspire rhymes about planets;  “A Doll’s House” script available free through project Gutenberg and displayed through iBooks to help her young actors keep track of their lines, and Pandora, where she can enter ‘Tito Puente” and get instant Latin jazz for movement and dancing; and YouTube for videos of famous musicians. Courtfrogger says, “With the cleaner interface, I don’t have to worry about R-rated ads showing up alongside the content I want.”

Lady Ada, a Fashionista Programmer

In case you don’t recall, Lady Ada Lovelace, born back in 1815, is considered not just the first woman programmer but the first programmer. She worked with Charles Babbage on his analytical engine. Over a century and a half ago, Lovelace grasped the idea of artificial intelligence and that computers were capable of generating graphs and music. So—as a mathematician and innovator, did she wear unfashionable attire, attempting to look less flashy in a world of men? If you check out her image online, you’ll find she was quite the fashionista for her era.  That didn’t stop her from pursuing her interest in math. Math tutor and writer Rebecca Zook, in her blog Triangle Suitcase tells us to look at the latest Barbie—Engineer Barbie with her pink shoes, pink computer, and pink glasses. Remember “Legally Blonde”? Maybe a discussion of Lady Ada would be helpful in encouraging girls today to see that its okay to be fashionable and smart, too. Is Engineer Barbie the wrong image or is it a push forward for girls in careers that continue to be dominated by men? Zook urges us to encourage girls and, in fact, everyone—to be themselves. It’s okay to wear pink if that’s you.

Real-Time Security form M86

All of us worry about the security of our digital systems through malware attacks by cybercriminals. According to M86 Security, our use of Web 2.0 technology in schools means that we need “multilayered protection” for our networks and students. M86 says that “84% of malware attacks are from legitimate Web 2.0 sites”, sites that educators consider safe. With the number of malware attacks on the rise, school districts have experienced significant problems with suspected viruses that allow criminals to access bank account information and to instigate network disabling cyber attacks on school systems. M86, along with Sophos, the Google Security Team, Kaspersky Bulletin, and Websense Security Labs all show huge growth in malware. Details are available on the M86 site about the problems schools and districts are encountering. To learn about the dangers of malware and how to avoid these attacks in your school system, go to the M86 site, where you can find information on threats such as Trojans, spyware, scareware, botnets, blended threats, and others.

Learn Math Online for the Summer—and School Year, Too

It’s summer vacation time, but it’s also time for kids to work on skills they’ll need for success. No kid wants to do worksheets, but many enjoy learning through fun areas online. Math tutor and writer Rebecca Zook offers these suggestions for great math sites to visit: Multiplication Hip-Hop for Kids, a rapping way to learn the multiplication tables; Rockin’ the Standards, fun sing-a-longs for math learning; DreamBox Learning, over 500 math games for K-3; and KidCalc 7-in1 Math Fun, animated calculator and flashcards for iPhone and iPad. Curious about whether kids would want to head to these sites or apps over vacation, I went to each of them and tried one of the activities. Well, I admit I’m not exactly a kid, but I had a great time and I think the kids will as well. I’m still singing some of the songs.

What Are You Purchasing This Year?

With the economy going along the way it is, it’s difficult for schools to keep up with technology needs, let alone to move forward as they’d like with tech integration in classrooms. More teachers are asking for interactive whiteboards, upgraded computers, and sets of devices such as iPads, but many schools are finding that funds are needed to keep up with licensing, broadband connections, supplies of ink and paper, network/service equipment needs, and repairs. So what do we do? We can use what we have and be innovative. We can search for grants and other funding opportunities. We can try again in our schools to limit printing and go along the greener paperless path. We can make use of software such as Google Docs, MS Office Apps, and other free and Open Source software. We can explore classroom and lab needs and not give every classroom the same types of technologies and software. For example, which classrooms and labs require computers that are capable of high level video-editing, graphics and Web and newsletter design and which classrooms simply need to connect to the Internet for resources and lessons? —And we might put to work some of the digital devices that students already own.

Youth Writing Competition

The Writers’ Guild of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware each year hosts a summer writing competition to encourage young people to work on their creative skills in poetry, short stories, and factual writing. The competition is free to enter and is judged by professional writers, editors, and educators. Categories are available for students, ages 10-13 and 14-18. Winning entries are published in the Delaware Beach Life Magazine. First, Second, Third, and Honorable Mention prizes are awarded in Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, and Poetry. For additional information email [email protected] or call 302-226-8210. The deadline for entries is 08/06/10. Students do not have to be Delaware residents.

Great Summer Ideas from Edutopia

Edutopia offers a free download of its 10 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Summer. It’s called a Summer Rejuvenation Guide to help educators relax, reflect, and recharge before the new school year. Sign up with your name and email address to download and get ready to party with the stars.

Resources for Your Students on PTL

Cablevision’s Power to Learn features a Computers & Homework section that includes a wonderful abundance of homework and project ideas for students grades 2-12. If you are working with your classes on creative writing and have asked your students to write poems or stories, direct your students to “What Do You Think About Writing Stories & Poems”. Depending upon the age of your students. have them link to the elementary, middle school, or high school versions of this resource, which provides motivation both for students who love to write and those who hate to write. If you click on All Articles in Computers & Homework, you’ll find resources for all types of homework. All PTL resources included elementary, middle school and high school versions. Don’t forget to browse what’s there. Here are just a few of the resources you’ll find: What Every Kid Needs to Know about Digital Editing, And Your Survey Says, What’s Cheating? What’s Your Responsibility? State and Country Reports Travel Online, Putting Animations and Pictures in Presentations, Making a ‘No-Yawn’ Presentation, Proofreading Secrets, and Survival Manners.

Sites for Encouraging Writing, eBooks

Iwriteit is an interesting new site that we educators may want to watch. Until 07/01/10, there’s a competition for submitting content in a writing tournament that includes a number of rounds, and according to Tech&Learning offers a $30,000 prize. If you visit the site, you’ll find free eBooks, which other users have uploaded. Keep in mind that the site is new and that there aren’t lots of books in the different categories at this time. When I clicked on the categories “Internet” and “Drama”, for example, there were no entries. The idea behind the site is that users upload their own ebooks, which others read and evaluate. The ebooks posted are free to download. A site such as this, and the others listed below could be a nice resource if you find appropriate content or books to download, but you’d need to be careful in your selections, for although these sites may say in their Terms of Use that they can remove inappropriate material, you certainly can’t count on filtering appropriate for schools. You’ll need to do that. This site, like Book-in-a-Week, NaNoWriMo, and Fifteen Minutes of Fiction encourage posting of writing online. The National Novel Writers’ Month site (NaNoWritMo) includes an area for students 17 and under. So, if you are going to use any of these sites with your students, it’s advised that you be very careful about checking the content on the sites before using them. In addition, if you would like your students to upload material, make sure they are in the age group specified (if there is one) and that they, their parents, and you know they’ll open themselves up to criticism and open comments about their work. It might be better, if you’d like your students to share their writing, to share it through a portal you can control. Maybe sharing through your school network or Moodle would work? You’ll also want to look for competitions like Scholastic’s Art & Writing Awards.