Digital Marzano: My 1st Attempt at LiveBlogging, Evening Session

Many of my teacher friends will immediately recognize the name Marzano. And I know that if any of my coworkers are reading this they are probably breaking out in hives at the mere mention of his name. I am spending tonight (Friday) and a bulk of the day tomorrow (Saturday) at a conference on Digital Marzano. Why, you ask, would I subject myself to such a thing after the many hours we have spent at my school in staff development studying, reviewing, relearning Marzano?

If I really like one aspect of teaching above others, it's watching kids learn how to use technology in the classroom. I say how, I mean that literally. Because I teach in a rural area, some of my students do not have access to the internet, or even a computer, at home. Our staff has worked really hard on raising money to increase that access at school, and I'm taking full advantage of it :) So I'm at this workshop to hopefully get some new strategies and tools to take back to school and use in my classroom and share with my colleagues.

I'm attempting to live-blog this evening session so I can remember what goes on for when I (hopefully) get to share back at work.

1. Moodle: I've already advocated for it at work, because it's so user friendly once you get it set up right. I think it's the best platform for course management online, and it's free! Teacher Academy is using it, and lots of Universities are using it, so why aren't we? http://online.teacheracademy.org --> Digital Marzano Drive In Fall 2010 --> login as guest --> avatar, enroll me in the course

2. 9 Strategies Shuffle: an interactive word document. Can't WAIT to see my colleagues try to match them up. I only got the first 4 right, and there are definitely 9.

3. Dropbox: I think I like this idea, a free space online to store files. No more shuffling flash drives for students!! I will definitely want to experiment with this platform for storing files online for collaborative planning, storing lesson plans and other artifacts for teacher evaluation. Then, once I feel like I have a grip on it, I'll want to try and use it with students, too. www.dropbox.com

Update: The instructor has asked that we write notes in a word document. Is that really necessary? I don't think I need to be coached on note-taking, or encouraged to do so. Sigh. I'm live-blogging it instead for my own "running record" (teacher funny!!).

4. Wiki for all these resources: http://strategiesthatwork.pbworks.com
I really like pbworks for use with my honors students, but I'm afraid that echalk is going to fulfill that function for us in the district (and probably go mandatory at some point anyway). So frustrating to get kids working on a platform and then see it go away like that, so I may hold off on using the tool itself, but definitely tucking this url away so my colleagues can access it. This wiki specifically is rich in resources, so I'm looking forward to browsing it when I'm working on lesson plans.

**Break**
Timed using www.online-stopwatch.com
Playing a game that resembles the old $100,000 pyramid show hosted by Dick Clark with the categories and the clues. They constructed powerpoint slides that had the clues so students would stand facing opposite directions and one would give the clues and the other would guess the words. Love it! I'm also checking Gametracker now for the UNC score...yikes. Carolina isn't nearly as far ahead as they should be! Come on, Heels!!

Back to Business:

5. Cute idea for elementary schools: digital books that are illustrated and narrated by students. This example: kindergartners wrote a book about robins using powerpoint and rehearsed narration. I like it! Could my students publish their Gothic stories in this format? Side note: I need a diet dr pepper in the worst kind of way right now...

6. Downloading Avery templates (free!) to create manipulatives and interactive Word documents. www.avery.com/wizard
You can also view and use templates in the mailing options in Microsoft Word. I'm not sure how many of them are the same or different, I'll have to check it out when I have time.

**Side tangent about movies: moviemaker vs. photostory. My 2 cents: I think photostory is easier to use than moviemaker, and more difficult than animoto, so I think with a combination of the 3 applications there's something for each student in any ability level.

7. Searching for images: http://images.google.com
Some images (when teachers or students create powerpoint presentations) can appear pixelated or grainy if they aren't the right size. Beware of saving thumbnails as opposed to full images!
An awesome archive within google images: http://images.google.com/hosted/life I found some amazing portraits of F. Scott Fitzgerald and his family for my upcoming unit on The Great Gatsby. I also found this discussion of the book online.

Side note: it's 8:28, we are dismissed at 9, and we have only covered one Marzano strategy out of 9. Needless to say, I'm a little worried...

8. Taking powerpoint to the next level: recording audio with your awesome images. In the latest version of powerpoint, go to the Slideshow menu and select Record Narration. I tried this for myself and I certainly do not have a radio voice.

Wrapping up for the night. I think the session has been helpful, but I'm wary of covering all the content by the end of the session tomorrow at 3.