End of Year Technology Survey

I always like to get a feel for what my students enjoyed doing the most at the end of the year. I created a 5 question Zoomerang survey about technology integration.

Their favorite Language Arts project that involved technology was Photostory (57%). The comments mean more to me than the numbers:

"The project we used the most technology on was the photo story. It was a whole new experience for me. We wrote a fairytale and recorded it onto photo story and we had to choose a picture that described the scene.I think it was a good project and i enjoyed it because it involved creativity and wasn't just an assignment that everyone else was doing the same."

	"the language arts project that enjoyed the most with technology involved would be the photo story. it was sooo fun! i loved how we were able to talk in the microphone and then you would hear it and it would be you saying what you just said. it was my first time doing this kind of project and i cant wait to do it again!"

Wikispaces came in 2nd (34%). Here are some comments:

"The best technology tool i learned about this year was wikispaces because when we were reading the book Esperanza Rising we would have to answer questions on the wikispace but other people would answer them too so you could compare your answer. I think that is an effective way of teaching while reading a book."

" The best technology tool learned this year would be wikispaces! itwas the best because it was on the coumpter and i love the coumpter. I answered every single question and made some of my own."

Voicethread came in 3rd, followed closely by Google Docs. We only had one working computer in the classroom, so I am sure the results would have been different if we had 4 or more computers. The two projects that involved Voicethread and Google docs were done in the classroom and students were very frustrated with the lack of computer access.

Their favorite NEW web tool was classtools.net (the fruit machine!), closely followed by polleverywhere.com and Notestar.

Okay, class take out your cell phones...

David Pogue listed a bunch of cell phone freebies in the New York Times on June 6th. Many of them can be used in the classroom. For example, Jott is a personal transcription service- students can record their homework assignments into their cellphone and it will automatically send a text message to the phone and an email to the account that was used to sign up. Having a disagreement in class? Just call ChaCha - 800-2CHACHA. She can answer any question, such as who wrote the lyrics to "Walk Like an Egyptian?" For some reason we were having that discussion in class today.
Last week a bunch of teachers were writing curriculum for a new class and Patrick Higgins took a poll using Poll Everywhere.
He asked us what we were most apprehensive about regarding the new curriculum. Everyone took out their cell phones and answered. Bam! Animated graphs display real-time results in PowerPoint or in your web browser as people vote.There are endless possibilities for the classroom.

Horses are Cool

One of my students created her own wiki, Horses are Cool, and it really is wonderful. I love her disclaimer, "By the way, this wiki is for educational purposes so please don't put peoples names or gossip about people on here. If you want to do that, go somewhere else and get in trouble by yourself. Thank you." She updates it weekly and is also one of my Hartman Hoopla class bloggers.

Going to Google!

I got the best news yesterday, I am going to the Google Teacher Academy at the Googleplex! I am so excited and have already "met" a bunch of people who are going. However, I need to thank a bunch of people who helped me get here, especially my students in Period 7/8 who pretty much came up with the concept of the video. Also, Pat Chodkiewicz for being an excellent Director of Photography and Patrick Higgins for teaching me all things tech! I will be forever grateful to them. Check out the video!

NJAET Conference

Just found out I will be presenting at the NJAET conference on Tuesday, October 14 at Georgian Court University. Here is a short description:
Presenter: Mrs. Erica Hartman
Position: 6th Grade Language Arts Teacher
Organization/ Business Name: Sparta Middle School
Email: erica.hartman@sparta.org
Workshop Type: Hands_on
Workshop Length: 70 Minutes
Workshop Title: 21 Free Tools to Engage 21st Century Language Arts Students
Workshop Description: Trying to make it all work in a one computer classroom? As teachers we need to be in
the continuous loop that is Web 2.0 technology. The priority is to reach and connect with students. Here are 21
FREE web tools/sites you can use to stay one step ahead of your tech savvy students. They are short, fast, easy,
and free. All you need is one working computer in your classroom.
Hope to see you there! I am a bit nervous because it is my first big presentation by myself!

Teacher for a Day

Edutopia just released it Reader's Survey for 2008. I was so happy to see one of my favorite blogs, The Cool Cat Teacher blog make the list. Not only do they list the best tech tools, blogs, etc., but they also list "Who from the past or present, You'd like to teach your class for a day?"
After thinking very long and hard, I chose my dad. He didn't want me to become a teacher and often asks me what I do all day!? I think he would make a great teacher and would come to like it if he actually tried it. He is just crazy enough that the students would dig him. Who would you pick to teach your class for the day?

Must SEE Video of the Week

I received a email from Barbara Feldman about this video made by Don Crowther.
Like I always tell my students, "It doesn't matter if you win or lose, it's how you play the game."
I am going to show this to my 6th graders in homeroom to pump them up for the NJ ASK tomorrow.
They keep asking so many questions about the NJASK such as: "Why do we have to take it?"
"Does it count?"
"What does it mean?"
I tell them this their one chance to show how much they have learned and how much they know. The only person it really matters to is YOU! If, at the end of testing, you feel like you did your personal best, then that is what counts. So I guess it really is about "how you feel at the end of the day."