CFF News for December 2008

Fairview High School CFF teachers welcomed guests into their classroom December 11, 2008, during a showcase event to share the transformations that are occurring with the help of the CFF initiative. FSD School Board members, administrators, FSD Booster officers and members of our community visited technology-infused classrooms to witness engaging learning environments. Fairview teachers were excited to share the authentic, problem-solving activities in which their students were applying higher-order thinking, learning, and technology skills.

Teachers are now able to engage our students by using online tools like the class Wetpaint wiki and Diigo that you saw in Mr. Brinling’s room or the Wikispace that Mr. Sanford shared. Students can collaborate and peer edit their writing using advanced tools in Word or with Google docs as they illustrated in Mr. Lane’s class. In Mrs. Magraw’s science class, collaborating students were able to use the laptops to access files in a shared network drive to analyze their lab assignments and to determine any errors in their problem-solving. Mrs. Simkowski’s students shared their ideas on the Promethean board. Mrs. Groff’s newly installed Promethean board featured a sliding rail system in “beta version” that Mr. Muye’s team developed and implemented in order to maximize the board space in the classroom.


Mr. Amendola’s students were working together to gather survey data and then analyze that data using Excel to experience authentic applications of living within a budget. Mr. Masterson’s students “flew” across the nation using Google Earth to locate the Bicentennial Tower on Dobbin’s Landing and the building at 100 State Street to determine height through shadow lengths. His students then used Geometer’s Sketchpad to demonstrate their answers for the assignment. These dynamic classes not only are exciting, but also they extend our students' thinking skills into higher-order levels.

Our students are learning in different ways.
Click here to watch a video published on TeacherTube called “Learning to Change, Changing to Learn.”
http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=32622&title=Learning_to_Change__Changing_to_Learn&ref=psteven



Can technology save money, too? Yes! A non-profit organization called CK-12.org has developed an online resource called Flexbooks (as of now in math, physics, and biology) so teachers can select chapters and create their own digital resources based on their curriculum and their students’ needs. These resources can be accessed online or printed on demand. Many school districts spend $100,000 a year on new textbooks; consider what districts may save by using resources that include only the chapters that are required by their curriculum!







Resources:
Mr. Brinling’s wiki: http://fhscp10worldhistory.wetpaint.com/
Mr. Sanford’s wiki: http://sanfords-space.wikispaces.com/
Googledocs: www.google.com (click on More, and then Google documents)
Google Earth tour: http://earth.google.com/tour.html
Flexbooks: http://www.ck12.org/aboutus.html
Promethean: http://www.prometheanworld.com/
TeacherTube: www.teachertube.com (Type in Learning to Change Changing to Learn in the search box.)
CK-12.org: www.ck12.org