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“Podcasting with 70 Middle Schoolers”: CUE 2010

heather — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 00:53:25 +0000

Thank you to everyone who attended my session today at CUE on “Podcasting with 70 Middle Schoolers.” As promised, here is the keynote itself to peruse at your leisure. As with everything on my site, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License .

Bottom line: please feel free to use it in the classroom and for educational purposes. It’s my pleasure to share.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4234943/CUE%20podcasting%20FINAL.key.zip

-Heather WG

aka Tweenteacher

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CUE Conference: Podcasting with 70 Middle Schoolers – RU Crazy?

heather — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 06:36:26 +0000

So here’s my Keynote presentation for all of you who wanted to flip through it for some reminders. To open up my handouts, click here.

Hope you all enjoyed the session, and feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions.

-Heather

aka Tweenteacher

CUE Presentation10

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Post tags: CUE, Curriculum, curriculum design, Ed Tech, education, middle school, podcasting, teaching, technology, Title I, Writers Project, writing

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Top 10: How to Take Control of Your Teaching

heather — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 07:00:00 +0000

Occasionally, I repost this article so that new readers can find it more easily. Based on some very enthusiastic feedback, it has since morphed into a book proposal called The Top Secret New Teachers Handbook. I’ll share more as it evolves…

I’ve been developing this Top 10 list of ways to take control of your teaching even in the face of, well, teaching. It’s an advice list on how to encourage respect, and, if necessary, how to demand it as a means to make sure you aren’t being taken for granted.

Let’s face it, if you are feeling appreciated, you will be happier in this difficult job. Consequently, your students will be happier, and quite frankly, if they are happier, they will be more successful. After all, an unhappy teacher’s room has the smog of misery in it, and for a student, it hovers like a stench that affects their own victories. And while it benefits a school to keep its teachers happy, it is a teacher’s responsibility to demand those things that make this challenging job better than tolerable.

I think that finding those tricks or strategies to keep in your pocket is important in any career; but in education you need them even more so. Otherwise, the day-to-day duties of the job will eventually grind your enthusiasm to a halt and it won’t just be you who is affected, your students will be affected as well.

I will be expanding on each of these over time, but in a nutshell, here’s my TOP 10:

(...)
Read the rest of Top 10: How to Take Control of Your Teaching (1,396 words)

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Post tags: 100% accountability, 2008, achievement gap, America's Choice, Art, assessments, blog, budget, Careers, carnival of education, Character Education, collaboration, competition, CORE, CST, CUE, curriculum design, curriculum development, data, differentiation, Ed Tech, ELA, failing, induction, integration, iPods, k-12, k12, LA Times, Language Arts, merchandizing in schools, merit pay, middle school, MP3, NCLB, new teachers, New York Times, ny times, online, performance pay, PI, podcasting, powerpoint, Proficiency, reform, school accountability, school funding, teaching, technology, Technology Entertainment and Designers, TED, Title I, TLN, top 10

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The Death of Teacher Conferences or I Can’t Believe I Miss My Canvas Bag

heather — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:43:59 +0000

So, CATE (the California Association of Teachers of English) just came to an end. The hotel was lovely. All ran smoothly. We were greeted with smiles aplenty, and everything ran on time. Sheridan Blau, Kelly Gallagher, Carol Booth Olson, Taylor Mali, Jim Burke. They all presented there.

But despite it all, CATE is clearly a conference (along with others) that is struggling for breath amidst budget cuts.(...)
Read the rest of The Death of Teacher Conferences or I Can’t Believe I Miss My Canvas Bag (479 words)

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CUE update of my sessions

heather — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:58:33 +0000

So I will be presenting again at CUE this year. My session, “Podcasting with 70 Middle Schoolers – RU Crazy?!” has received some great comments in the past and as I’ve tweaked the class, I’ve updated my presentation as well. This time I will be presenting it twice, once on Thursday and again on Saturday. I wanted to share some of the past comments here in honor of the upcoming 2009 conference in Palm Springs, to toot my own horn, and to encourage you to stop by and say hi.

“Charming, excellent, quick paced, funny, irreverent, spot on – everything you want in a presenter. PLUS, content is so accessible. Great job. Provided what is often missing @ CUE – practical, hands on, how-to of what tech looks like in day-to-day classroom.”

“This was the best presentation of the conference. Thorough, articulate, motivating.”

“Very useful information! Enthusiastic and informative presentation. Thanks for sharing your expertise in an easy to understand format. Great!”

“Great, fascinating, well-organized, excellent presentation! Nice job!”

“Very practical and real world.”

“Excellent presentation! One of the best I’ve been to! Creative way of incorporating multiple strategies to achieve student success. Great teacher presentation!”

“Good use of visuals, good energy in presentation. Excellent presentation and materials.”

CUE is a “brain spa” for three days. In that time, you can go (as I did) from tech-tentative to a tech enthusiast.

I am once again a proud presenter, but more importantly, I can’t wait to learn from my colleagues and audience as well.

Hope to see you all there.

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Post tags: CUE, Ed Tech, education policy, ELA, ELD, k-12, k12, middle school, podcasting, technology, Title I, TLN, tween

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The Carnival #178 is in town!

heather — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:49:35 +0000

An (aspiring) Educator is hosting this week’s Carnival of Education #178. I’ve tweaked my How to Take Control of Your Teaching list and although it’s still in an evolving state, you can read it here. Enjoy the Carnival and the post.

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Post tags: 2008, achievement gap, assessments, blog, book review, btsa, budget, Careers, carnival of education, character, Character Education, classroom library, collaboration, computers, concrete, contract, CORE, credential, critical thinking, CUE, Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development, differentiation, Ed Tech, education policy, ELA, electives, essay, essay starters, jobs, k-12, k12, Language Arts, life long learners, merit pay, metacognition, middle school, NCLB, new teachers, online, peer teaching, performance pay, PI, podcasting, powerpoint, professional development, Proficiency, school accountability, school funding, speeches, standardized testing, technology, tenure, Title I, TLN, top 10, union, voice, websites, Writers Project, writing

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It’s the End of The Internet as we Know It (and I feel…)

heather — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 22:36:20 +0000

Check out this kinda frightening prediction from early Time Magazine sources. It seems that there is an attempt to create blocks of media packages starting as early as 2012 or earlier. That is, very much like TV cable packaging, the Internet would only be sold in blocks to purchase access much as you would your HBO Basic or Plus packages for cable.

Just imagine the even wider achievement gap that would occur if schools had to pay for their Internet packages.

If it’s true, we need to get more media attention on this attempt to stomp out the global communication that we have all come to know, love, and support.

I can’t say I know a lot about this subject, but it’s definitely worth looking into. Of course, there’s no way Google’s gonna let this happen, of course. After all, they’re a juggernaut in the business of universal information access.

Have you heard any updates on this topic that our Ed Tech community should be aware of? What steps should we take to ensure that it doesn’t happen?

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cue conference

heather — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 03:31:25 +0000

CUE Conference

March 6-8, 2008
Palm Springs

I will be presenting at CUE this year. My seminar is called “Podcasting with 50 Middle Schoolers – Are You Crazy?!” Six years ago I went to CUE for the first time on the lower tier of the tech savvy ladder. There, I was inspired.

I took what I learned there, left with the fairy dust of “What-if?” and created Bulldog Radio, a student-created, written, performed, edited, produced, published, and publicized radio network. I say network because the students, in fact, produce 3 different shows: The Daily Bulldog with School News, Globetrotting World News, and Teen Talk.

CUE is one of those conferences that re-charges your batteries. Come and see some of the most innovative teaching around. Even if you are a person who can’t change a battery and still has a beeper who thinks this whole cell phone thing will all die down, even if you still love the ole’ slate and chalk system, the CUE conference surrounds you with people looking to engage students and achieve standards. You meet teachers of every subject, from every grade level, from every school model, and all they talk about is how to make education better through communication.

I mention this because getting your butt out of the classroom for conferences and other professional development is not on many teachers’ list of “Cool Things to Do.” But some of them are really worth it. It’s worth it to get the sub, create sub plans, go to the conference, come back to find nothing was done, and re-teach the plans. CUE is worth it.

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Post tags: CUE, education, k-12, k12, podcasting, technology

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tweenteacher.com » podcasting

“Podcasting with 70 Middle Schoolers”: CUE 2010

CUE Conference: Podcasting with 70 Middle Schoolers – RU Crazy?

Top 10: How to Take Control of Your Teaching

The Death of Teacher Conferences or I Can’t Believe I Miss My Canvas Bag

CUE update of my sessions

The Carnival #178 is in town!

It’s the End of The Internet as we Know It (and I feel…)

cue conference

CUE Conference

March 6-8, 2008 Palm Springs

March 6-8, 2008
Palm Springs