Issue 24, Volume 8 February 21, 2008     Thought for the Week If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough. -- Mario Andretti   Technology Integration As A Transforming Teaching Strategy True technology integration is rare. It involves students constructing their own learning while using both hardware and software tools and allows for student-centered approaches for both teacher and student. Technology integration means viewing technology as an instructional tool for delivering subject matter in the curriculum already in place. Educators need to understand technology integration more completely. This article discusses a study of technology integration in the classroom involving 42 observations in 16 classrooms, 20 interviews, and 27 responses to an online survey. Teachers were selected with a common educational background in integrated learning and technological knowledge. Results revealed that technology integration varied according to individual teaching beliefs, perceptions towards technology innovations, and how the teacher practiced and put technology to work in the classroom. Constructive teaching strategies were found in only 50% of the classroom observations. If technology integration is a first step towards transforming teaching and learning, then understanding pedagogical possibilities can… assist teachers in transforming their classroom practice. Read more about this study at http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php?articleID=17701367. Featured Blackboard Site The featured Blackboard site was created by Marlise McCarthy, a third grade teacher at Combre-Fondel Elementary. Mrs. McCarthy created the site to serve as a resource for all of her students and as well as a communication resource with parents. Visit Mrs. McCarthy's site. Tech Support Wants You! CPSB Tech Support Center is asking everyone for your assistance in making sure that the school email distribution lists are current. If you send out an email to staff at your school using the school distribution list in Outlook and notice name(s) of people that have transferred to other schools or have retired or left the system, we need to know about it. Please send an email to tech.help@cpsb.org using the subject line “Remove User(s)” and that has the person’s name and what school they transferred or when they left the system. We will update the school distribution list with your assistance to make sure that it is current. Ask A Scientist Do you have a science question you want answered, but you just can’t find the answer? Ask a Scientist might have the answer you need. Since 1991, expert scientists have volunteered to field and answer questions from K-12 students and teachers. If you have a question, first check the archives to see if it has been asked and answered before. The site already has answers to more than 20,000 questions. What kind of questions does Ask A Scientist answer? Ask A Scientist focuses on questions from K-12 students and teachers that are not commonly found in libraries, reference books or text books. Want to see how Ask A Scientist works? Check out the Question of the Week for the latest example. The URL: http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/aas.htm What Do You Mean "Page Not Found"? Start looking around on the Internet and it's not too long until you get an error page. It often says: This page cannot be found or HTTP Error 404 Page Not Found. This means that the server (the computer on the Internet) cannot locate the page that you asked for. This can happen for a number of different reasons. Many people immediately assume that they've done something wrong, but that is not necessarily the case. What are some possible reasons for Page Not Found? It could be a fluke...a brief mix-up between computers. Sometimes they just get confused. Refresh the page using the Refresh button in the standard toolbar. There could be a misspelling or mistyping in the web address. Look for mistakes in the address. Did you hit the comma instead of the period? Is the address spelled correctly? Website addresses are like phone numbers; you don't expect to get the right person if you dial even one number incorrectly. The web creator or owner may have changed, moved, or deleted the page you are looking for. Even if the web site exists, old pages may be removed or the name may have changed - and you receive an error when you look for the original. Old links may be inaccurate. When one web site links to another, the links must be constantly checked and updated for accuracy. This doesn't always happen. Some websites, created years ago, are not maintained. Suppose they link to sites that no longer exist? When you click to follow such a link, you receive an error because the non-existent page cannot be found. The server computer could be having problems. If you know the address is correct, try again later. It may just be offline temporarily. Free, Internet-based Content For English ReadWriteThink, established in April of 2002, is a partnership between the International Reading Association (IRA), the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), and the Verizon Foundation. NCTE and IRA are working together to provide educators and students with access to the highest quality practices and resources in reading and language arts instruction through free, Internet-based content. One on many great tools house at the site is the Bio-Cube. Students review information they learn after reading a biography or interviewing a person. When the student prints out, the information is in an outline of a cube that kids can cut and glue to make a 3D cube. The URL: http://readwritethink.org/materials/bio_cube/ What You Should Know About AT This article from the Alliance for Technology Access (ATA), provides a brief overview of AT (Assistive Technology). It contains information about laws related to AT, examples of devices, and a mini-assessment for teachers to complete concerning current assistive technology use within your class. Find out more at http://www.ataccess.org/resources/atk12/whatknow.html. Crayon Physics A neat little educational game, Crayon Physics requires you to figure out how to make a ball roll to a point using basic physics. Don't let the title fool you! This is playable by anyone of any age and requires critical thinking skills. The website for Crayon Physics is http://www.kloonigames.com/blog/games/crayon. Just download it from there using the crayon.zip file. For links to more free quality software, visit the Links page at the CPSB Tech Help website at http://help.cpsb.org/links/links.cfm. ThinkQuest International 2008 Website Competition ThinkQuest inspires students to think, connect, create, and share. Students work in teams to build innovative and educational websites to share with the world. Along the way, they learn research, writing, teamwork, and technology skills and compete for exciting prizes. Sponsored by the Oracle Education Foundation, the competition offers a unique project-based learning experience to students and teachers across the globe. Everybody wins by having their completed websites published in the ThinkQuest Library, a rich online resource visited by millions monthly. Even if you don't compete, you must check out the Thinkquest Library for award-winning, student-created resources. With an annual competition, it's never too late to join the 30,000+ students worldwide who have participated since 1996. Start thinking… and check out the details at http://www.thinkquest.org/. The entry submission deadline is April 2, 2008, so there is still time for a team to collaborate and create an innovative website within one of the categories. The top 5 teams in each age division receive laptop computers and a cash award for the coach's school. In addition, the top 3 teams in each age division travel to ThinkQuest Live, an educational extravaganza celebrating their achievements. A special award is also presented to the team best demonstrating global perspectives. Best on the Net!! -- Visit this site for hundreds of websites for teachers! We would love to hear from you about the best educational sites you have found on the web. Please submit, via email, the sites you feel merit inclusion. Send to tech.connect@cpsb.org. Please include the URL and a short sentence about the site.  Featured Sites: (These sites were submitted by teachers in Calcasieu Parish) Mind What You Do Online-Booklet http://www.bytecrime.org/ask_mcgruff/bytecrime_booklet.html McGruff the Crime Dog provides free access to this downloadable booklet, which has valuable tips and information about cyber safety. Stay safe from computer viruses, worms, spam, spyware, phishing, identity theft and online predators.   World Of Teaching http://www.worldofteaching.com/ Find hundreds of free PowerPoint presentations to download on all subjects and aimed at all grade levels. All PowerPoint presentations are submitted by teachers for teachers. Teachers are free to use and alter any of the available presentations or any PowerPoint template used at this site. Teachers may also submit a PowerPoint presentation for other teachers to utilize. It's all about sharing and helping others.      Study Stack http://www.studystack.com/ Enter information that you need to study at Study Stack. The site will then display the data as flashcards, matching game, hangman, word search, and crossword puzzles. The flashcards can also be exported to a cell phone, PDA, or iPod. An official publication of the CPSB Technology Department If you have any questions or comments please e-mail the Webmaster. For Technical Support:  tech.help@cpsb.org Calcasieu Parish Homepage  Technology Department  Best on the Net Tech Guides  Computer Purchasing Information  Tech Connect Archive