Thumann Resources

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

« Previous Entries

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 »

My Web 2.0 Whirlwind Needs to Pick Up Some Momentum

Posted by lthumann on August 24, 2008

Back in April I wrote a post the day before I was teaching a small group of educators about Web 2.0 applications. I was undecided as to whether I should completely abandon the eBoard I had been using as a resource in my workshops.  I decided rather than tackling that huge project, I would post the ten tools I was going to be sharing during the workshop that day and asked for your feedback.

During the workshop, I Tweeted out each tool as we went over it. Many of the people in my PLN were so generous as to share their experiences with the tools in their classrooms. I also asked the participants to help create a Google Doc and shared the URL on Twitter so that I could further include my PLN in the day.

Well, it’s time to get some momentum going as I prepare for not only tomorrow’s Web 2.0 workshop,  but as I beef up my Google Site for my sessions at the upcoming Google Teacher Academy on September 24 in Chicago and for one of the sessions I am facilitating on October 14 for NJAET’s Annual Conference titled 21 “Must See” Web 2.0 Websites for Educators.

Here is the Google Doc we will use during the workshop. I’m still working on the wiki pages. It took me longer than I thought it would. There are some blanks in the table and I’d like to add some graphics. (It’s a bit of a sore spot with my husband and my kids right now.) But since everything is always a work in progress, please let me know if you think I missed anything.

Thanks in advance for your help. And BTW - that day in April was the day I first met Christy Tvarok who ran full speed ahead with creating her own blog and bringing her school into the 21st Century - many of you have had the pleasure of meeting Christy F2F or on Twitter. Heather Johnson was also with us.  Heather is one of the Center’s consultants.  She is knowlegeable, energetic, and a National Board Certified Teacher, and this past year she has spent some time with me and her new PLN, learning the tools necessary to take good teaching and learning to the next level. I applaud her thirst for technology literacy! And finally, that same day I met Megan Smith who ultimately joined the Center’s 21st Century Learning Initiative along with 23 other NJ educators. Megan is emmersed in Diigo, Twitter and many other tools gearing up for the 2008-2009 school year.

Posted in CMSCE, PLN, web2.0 | Tagged: , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Del.icio.us Gets a Facelift

Posted by lthumann on August 1, 2008

The New and Improved Del.icio.us

The New and Improved Del.icio.us

Was I excited when I saw that Del.icio.us, one of my favorite social bookmarking tools, had undergone a major overhaul.  Besides the aesthetic changes, they also have added some new AMAZING features.

I’ve outlined some of my favorite new features for you below. If you are a current Del.icio.us user, you have to take a look for yourself to really appreciate the improvements. If you don’t currently use social bookmarking, please watch this video from the folks at CommonCraft to see how this Web 2.0 tool will be  beneficial for you.

The improvements that immediately caught my attention were:

You can now search a Bundle!! – I use Bundles in my professional development workshops, but I was frustrated that they were not searchable, so this is something that I was really hoping for.

They’ve changed the way the number of times something is tagged is noted. It’s now very obvious how many times something has been tagged. See the screen shot below.

Really know the people in your Network. See their Top 10 Tags in their sidebar and if you’re confused by their funky username - assign them a nickname.

Check out the video from the Delicious Blog Flickr Photo Stream and make sure to note that Delicious has officially changed it’s domain.

And to read about what’s new from Del.icio.us themselves, just visit their website resource at http://delicious.com/help/whatsnew.

What’s your favorite part of the new-and-improved Del.icio.us?

Posted in PLN, web2.0 | Tagged: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Gearing up for the beginning of a journey…

Posted by lthumann on June 24, 2008

On Friday, June 27, teachers from four districts across New Jersey will gather at the Center for Mathematics, Science and Computer Education at Rutgers University to begin the first year of a new initiative I am pleased to be working on. These educators will spend the day getting to know each other and begin immersing themselves in online professional learning networks.

I’ve outlined the day as follows:

  • Topic 1: Why do we teach what we teach?
    • Grade levels
    • Subject areas
    • Areas of interests
  • Topic 2: Focus on the learning not on the tools
    • What skills do you need as an educator?
    • What skills do you need as an individual?
    • What skills will our students need to be successful in higher education and ultimately their careers?
  • Topic 3: Developing your professional learning network
    • Who do you want in your network? Why?
    • What will you offer to educators in your network?
    • What tool(s) do you want to use to develop your network?

I’ve collected some resources I’d like to share with the group:

Council of 21 Concludes its Year-long Study: Preparing Schools and School Systems for the 21st Century

You Tube - Did You Know 2.0 Video

Dangerously Irrelevant: Key Question

21st Century Learning: 9 Principles for Implementation

I’m very much looking forward to meeting everyone and participating in the discussion among this group of educators. Before we reconvene on July 28, participants will have a chance to communicate with each other via Twitter, Diigo and any other form of online networking they choose including Nings, wikis and blogs to define their vision for 21st Century Learning.

Posted in 21st_Century_Learning, CMSCE, PLN, web2.0 | Tagged: , , , , , , , | No Comments »

This I Believe…

Posted by lthumann on May 25, 2008

“This I Believe” meme started by Barry Bachenheimer is patterned after National Public Radio’s “This I Believe” and is an opportunity to share one’s philosophy of education.

I’ve been tagged by my friend Liz Davis. Thanks for the invite Liz.

Before you read my list, check out this video from the author of The Digital Sandbox on TeacherTube called “Introducing the Conceptual Age of Web 2.0“. I really like how the creator lays out the differences between what was accessible to us on the Internet then and now.

I believe…

  • it’s better to identify the objective of the lesson before selecting the type of technology to use.
  • schools need to relieve teacher isolation by opening doors and loosening filters.
  • we need to nurture all learners – our students, teachers and the community – always encourage the opportunity to learn and grow.
  • one of our biggest barriers in education is time. Use it wisely.
  • that we should allow students to use daily supports when being assessed at a comfortable and appropriate stage of difficulty.
  • subjects should not be taught in isolation – when students can relate to the content they will be more engaged and committed to learning.
  • as CAST says, “Motivation is the essential engine of learning”.

There’s so much more I believe. But that’s where my thoughts bring me to now. In the meantime…

  1. Karen Janowski
  2. Kevin Jarrett
  3. Christy Tvarok

YOU ARE IT!!!

Posted in PLN, web2.0 | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

« Previous Entries