I just wanted to touch base with you this morning by giving you a "heads up" about class today. An unavoidable conflict has arisen and because of it, I'll have to be out of the lab as close to 6:45 as I can. Rene will still be in the building, so that any of you who wish to stay later, can.
See you this afternoon.
Eric
PS There's a short assignment awaiting you in my office at TI.
In keeping the flow of our last class and moving on to plans, please take a look (or search if you wish) at SMARTboard's SMARTboard Lesson Podcast at Google's special site (also at their archives-http://pdtogo.com/smart/?page_id=28).
This afternoon we'll spend our time planning a possible project as a requirement for this class. I'm glad that the syllabus allows for it sooner rather than later since it's always wise to begin the process as soon as possible.
Although this site is a collection of various teacher created resources and not specific to Google, I offer it up for your perusal with that hope that you may find something useful there.
The levels of sophistication that you will find there you may think uneven. However the teachers that created them came to class with different tool sets. The important thing to keep in mind is that they met the needs of their students.
http://cgi.mec.edu/~groves/
Next, please go to Merlot's Site (Merlot stands for Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching) at http://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm .
This is what Merlot says about itself:
"MERLOT is a leading edge, user-centered, searchable collection of peer reviewed and selected higher education, online learning materials, catalogued by registered members and a set of faculty development support services. MERLOT's vision is to be a premiere online community where faculty, staff, and students from around the world share their learning materials and pedagogy.
MERLOT's strategic goal is to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning by increasing the quantity and quality of peer reviewed online learning materials that can be easily incorporated into faculty designed courses."
It has a searchable database with which you can focus on subject or level.
I found this lesson there: How to be a Webhound by Alan Levine. Take a look and assess whether any of it could be revised for you level.
Now take a look at the following:
Social Studies:
Plan a Trip Across the World
using Web 2.0 Applications
http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=327055.
AT&T's 21st Century Literacies Homepage:
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/21stcent/lonlinesearch.html .
Verizon's Thinkfinity page for lessons:
http://thinkfinity.org/PartnerSearch.aspx?orgn_id=
If you enter the search term, "Google", you'll find 32 lessons mentioning or incorporating (what we're looking for) Google.
HotChalk's Lesson Plan Page
This is what they say about themselves:
"HotChalk's LessonPlansPage.com is a collection of over 3,000 lesson plans from Preschool through High School and beyond, that were developed by Kyle Yamnitz, students and faculty at The University of Missouri, and more recently by the users of this website. Launched in October of 1996, The Lesson Plans Page was developed to assist educators of all types. Elementary school teachers get lesson plans that are ready to use in their classrooms. College students get great example lesson plans or ideas to base their own lesson plans on. Home schoolers can get lesson plans to use at home and parents can get ideas for educational activities to use with their children. Follow this link for more information about the site's author. We have worked hard to develop a good extensive resource for educators."
http://www.lessonplanspage.com/
Here's another great compendium called, Resources for School Librarians:
http://www.sldirectory.com/libsf/resf/techplans.html
Finally, if you've made it this far; your reward: A Search Engine Specializing in Fun . It is called Goby and you have to know why I gave it up last. It was featured in today's Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704500604574485383786620844.html?mod=googlenews_wsj) in the The Mossberg Solution column entitled, A Search Engine Specializing in Fun, written by Katherine Boehret .
Here's what they say about themselves: Goby (GO-be) is a new search engine that's all about finding fun ways to spend your free time, from a weekend to a week off. Whether you're looking for the perfect bed & breakfastfor a romantic getaway, a fresh hiking trail to tackle, a cool newmuseum to visit with the kids or a live show to check out this weekend,create your next adventure with Goby!
Have fun!
Eric
