Thumann Resources

21st Century ideas to help facilitate good teaching and learning.

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Gearing up for the GTA NYC

Posted by lthumann on November 16, 2008

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com

Source: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com

I am psyched!

The New York City Google Teacher Academy is this Tuesday, November 18. Though a large percentage of attendees are from the New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia area, many are also coming from Florida, Maine, Ohio, Massachusetts, and Kentucky, to name a few.

Cohort 6 adds 60 new Google Certified Teachers to our growing group of committed educators bringing the total number of GCTs to about 300. I’m looking forward to working again with Erica Hartman, Mark Wagner, Kern Kelly, Cristin Frodella and Allison Merrick as we had a blast at the September GTA. Also presenting this time are Jesse Spevack, Thomas Cooper and Kathy Schrock who I am looking forward to having the chance to work with.

I’ve added some additional Google Sites to the list of exemplar Sites in my Tech Tools rotation since the Chicago GTA. There are some that I removed. The only reason for that was because their documents were not public, so the attendees at the Academy could not view them. Here’s my presentation and the resources I will be sharing.

Click to view the presentation.

Click to view the presentation.

GCT Google Sites Resources:

Exemplar Google Sites:

Kathy Schrock is also presenting on Sites. I LOVE the title of her Inspiring Idea: “Ex-SITE-ing Google Sites for the Classroom”. Kathy will be talking about how Nauset Public Schools are using Google Sites to improve teaching and learning.

The agenda from the Chicago GTA is live right now and Tuesday morning, the NY agenda will become live as GCT’s are known for their collaboration.

I’m sure we’ll be Tweeting, Plurking. and Facebooking all day. Pictures are a no-no inside Google, but we’ll manage to get some at the informal gatherings before and after. :)

If we haven’t met before and you’re there on Tuesday, please make sure to introduce yourself. I like to make the face-to-face connection along with the collaboration online. Thanks in advance!

Posted in 21st_Century_Learning, Google, web2.0 | Tagged: , , , , , , | 13 Comments »

The Six Degrees of GCTs

Posted by lthumann on November 11, 2008

You may be familiar with the game, “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon”. The challenge of the game is to connect every film actor to Kevin Bacon in six cast lists or less. The game was developed in 1994 by some students at Pennsylvania’s Albright College. Today, it exists in several formats including a board game and a web site generator.

6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon Generator

6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon Generator

It all started in 1967 when  Stanley Milgram, an American Sociologist decided to test what he termed the “small-world problem”. He randomly chose a few people in the mid-West and had them send packages to complete strangers in Massachusetts. Each package had an ultimate target destination, which Milgram estimated it would take hundreds of exchanges to reach, but the experiment proved him wrong.  The packages arrived to their pre-determined recipients in (on average) between five and seven exchanges. According to articles published on Milgrim’s experiment,  his findings inspired the phrase “six degrees of separation.”

Lots of others have jumped on this craze though.  There’s John Guare’s play, Six Degrees of Separation which premiered in 1990. There’s also the movie by the same title released in 1993.

In August 2008, Microsoft set out to test the theory of the 6 Degrees of Separation. Using data from their Microsoft Messenger instant-messaging network in June 2006 (equivalent to roughly half the world’s instant-messaging traffic at that time):

  1. They looked at 180 billion different pairs of users in the database
  2. They found that the average length to connect two users was 6.6 hops
  3. 78 per cent of the pairs could be connected in seven steps or fewer

And then there’s the 6 Degrees of Wikipedia.

I choose to go from Google to Education and these were my results:

I would need only 2 clicks - - Google - - Ann Arbor, Michigan - - Education

6 Degrees of Wikipedia

6 Degrees of Wikipedia

6 Degrees of GCTs
There are now over 250 GCTs and we’re about to welcome 50 more. How are we all connected to each other? Before we used Social Bookmarking tools like Delicious and Diigo and Social Networking tools like Twitter, Plurk and Facebook would it have taken 6 hops to get to each other? Maybe. But I think we’ve got a really strong network of dedicated educators who need maybe two hops at the most to reach each other. I’m really proud to be part of such a strong community.

cert_teacher1

By the way, for those of you who were asking about the video I created for my application back in 2007, the old link is active, but it doesn’t come up in any search queries. I’ve re posted it here.

Posted in Google, PLN, web2.0 | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

21 Ed Tech Leaders You Just Have to “Meet”

Posted by lthumann on October 13, 2008

Tomorrow, October 14, I’ll be making two presentations at NJAET’s Annual Conference. Their theme this year is “21 Years Growing Up Digitally”, so I was asked if I was willing to make a couple of presentations related to that theme.

I’m fortunate to be co-presenting one of the presentations tomorrow with a friend of mine, Heather Sullivan. Heather and I have presented together before on Web 2.0 and I’m sure we’ll present again as we have a good time. We created a wiki for this presentation, 21 “Must See” Web 2.0 Websites for Educators. You can view the wiki at http://web2pointo.wikispaces.com/.

Click on the image to view the presentation.

The other presentation is 21 Ed Tech Leaders You Just Have to “Meet”. When I agreed to present on this topic I had no idea how small the dumber 21 was. I Tweeted out a link to a Google Form I created (thank you again to those who submitted) along with a link to the published results here. I read through my Google Reader and looked at who was in my PLN.

Speaking of my PLN, I talked to a few of my Ed Tech buddies about the list I was putting together. Actually, Liz Davis alluded to our conversation recently on her blog when she wrote her Ten Tips for Growing Your Learning Network post. Everyone I spoke with had some similar variation of the list I was thinking of using. We all agreed that goin g back and reviewing my subscriptions was a good place to see where I got my most valuable information from.

So, you ask. What’s the problem?

The problem, for me, was that in the last 18 months I have met (virtually and face-to-face) so many intelligent, generous, and enthusiastic educators, that I hate to limit the list to only 21.

So, I decided to begin the presentation with six or so names the attendees might have already heard of.

I still needed more.

So I added another dozen names to the end of the presentation.

I still needed more.

But I am only really supposed to present information about 21 ed tech leaders who are advocating for the education community to effectively use technology to improve teaching and learning.

Theses are the 21 Ed Tech leaders I included in the 70 minutes I was given to present:

Larry Ferlazzo
Peggy Sheehy
Chris Lehmann

Lucy Gray
Steve Dembo
Darren Draper
Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach

Patrick Higgins
Kevin Jarrett
Liz Davis
Bud Hunt
Bob Sprankle
Kim Cofino

Darren Kuropatwa
Tom Barrett
Sylvia Martinez
Dean Shareski
Lisa Durff

Cathy Nelson
Joyce Valenza
Mark Wagner

If you don’t see your name there, I sincerely apologize. I really am sorry.

Add it here by leaving a comment.

If you don’t see the name of someone you feel should be on the list, feel free to leave a comment with their information.

I hope someone shows up to hear me present. :)

Posted in 21st_Century_Learning, Google, PLN, web2.0 | Tagged: , , , , , , | 33 Comments »

Project 10 to the 100th

Posted by lthumann on September 30, 2008

www.flickr.com/photos/81035653@N00/2242177289

www.flickr.com/photos/81035653@N00/2242177289

“New studies are reinforcing the simple wisdom that beyond a certain very basic level of material wealth, the only thing that increases individual happiness over time is helping other people.”

Project 10100

Project 10100 is a call for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible. Google asks that if you have an idea that you believe would help somebody, to submit it to them. They are committing $10 million to fund up to five of the final ideas.

To submit your idea, complete this form and upload your 30 second video using YouTube or Google Video.

You can submit as many entries as you want.

Ideas must be submitted by individuals, not organizations.

Submit your idea focused on one of the following 8 categories (Pay attention to #8):

1. Community: How can we help connect people, build communities and protect unique cultures?

2. Opportunity: How can we help people better provide for themselves and their families?

3. Energy: How can we help move the world toward safe, clean, inexpensive energy?

4. Environment: How can we help promote a cleaner and more sustainable global ecosystem?

5. Health: How can we help individuals lead longer, healthier lives?

6. Education: How can we help more people get more access to better education?

7. Shelter: How can we help ensure that everyone has a safe place to live?

8. Everything else: Sometimes the best ideas don’t fit into any category at all.

On January 27, 2009, the public (THAT’S YOU) will select twenty semi-finalists from 100 of the project submissions. An advisory board will then choose up to five final ideas for funding and implementation.

What will the Advisory Board look for in your idea?

Reach: How many people would this idea affect?
Depth: How deeply are people impacted? How urgent is the need?
Attainability: Can this idea be implemented within a year or two?
Efficiency: How simple and cost-effective is your idea?
Longevity: How long will the idea’s impact last?

What will your idea be? How can you use this with your students to make the connection between their lives and their community, their country, or even the planet?

There’s about 20 days left. Click here to read more about Project 10 to the 100th.

Posted in CMSCE, Google | Tagged: , , , , , , | 9 Comments »

The Google Teacher Academy Returns to New York City

Posted by lthumann on September 23, 2008

I’m excited to pass along the news that the Google Teacher Academy is returning to New York City on November 18. Applications are due October 10.I’m truly honored and excited to be leaving today for the Google Teacher Academy in Chicago where I will be presenting on Google Sites.

I get the impression from the number of people who expressed interest at the NJECC meeting this past Friday that competition is going to be fierce! Google only accepts 50 teachers in each cohort, so take a look at my friend, and fellow GCT, Kevin Jarrett’s post for some tips on how to apply. (BTW - I also posted the announcement on NJECC’s Blog.)

Below is the official announcement and invitation to apply:

Google Teacher Academy - NYC
New York, New York
November 18, 2008
——————————————————–
Applications Due: October 10, 2008
http://www.google.com/educators/gta.html
——————————————————–

We are pleased to announce that another round of Google’s FREE training program for K-12 educators is coming to The Big Apple! Outstanding educators from around the world are encouraged to apply for the Google Teacher Academy taking place on Tuesday November 18, 2008.

The GTA is an intensive, one-day event (8:30am-7:30pm) where participants get hands-on experience with Google’s free products and other technologies, learn about innovative instructional strategies, collaborate with exceptional educators, and immerse themselves in an innovative corporate environment. Upon completion, GTA participants become Google Certified Teachers who share what they learn with other K-12 educators in their local region.

50 outstanding educators from around the world will be selected to attend the GTA based on their passion for teaching, their experience as leaders, and their use of technology in K-12 settings. Each applicant is REQUIRED to produce and submit an original one-minute video on either of the following topics: “Motivation and Learning” or “Classroom Innovation.” Applications for the event in New York City are due on October 10, 2008. If possible, please use Google Video or YouTube to post these original videos. Participants must provide their own travel, and if necessary, their own lodging. Though we will give preference to K-12 educators within a 90-minute local commute of an Academy event, anyone may apply.

Learn more about the program and the application at http://www.google.com/educators/gta.html

The GTAs have been a wonderful experience for everyone involved, with 97% of all attendees rating the GTA as “outstanding.”

Here are a few quotes from GTA participants:
—————————————-
“The academy was everything I hoped for and more! I can’t wait to plan out ways to use the tools we learned about, to share my experiences with my colleagues and to re-connect with the other academy participants!”
—————————————-
“The focus on innovation in education, and not just about the tools, was right on target.”
—————————————-
“I appreciate the opportunity to be connected to a group of educators that are passionate about preparing students for the 21st century. I feel inspired and able to meet the challenges that lie ahead!”
—————————————-
“Until now, I had never attended a conference where I was so engaged and loving every minute of it.”
—————————————-
“This was easily the most important professional development experience I have ever had as an educator. World-class tools demonstrated by world-class people at a world-class facility. THANK YOU!”
—————————————-
“I love [the Google Certified Teacher community] for the ideas and inspiration that comes flowing to and from it…folks share professional development strategies (technology or otherwise) that have worked. It’s nice to have a variety of ways to assist others and having that variety also provides spice for those of us responsible for doing the providing.”
—————————————-
Feel free to send any questions to “gteachers@gmail.com”, and please spread the word to anyone who may be interested in joining us.

We’re looking forward to another great event!

- The GTA Team
——————————————————–
Google Teacher Academy - NYC
New York, New York
November 18, 2008
——————————————————–
Applications Due: October 10, 2008
http://www.google.com/educators/gta.html


Posted in Google, PLN | Tagged: , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

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