Business Idea

Do you know anybody in their 40's, 50's, and 60's who would like learning about all these Web 2.0 tools? Would they also like to know how to use their cell phone features? digital camera? video camera? email? programs on their computers?

I get random phone calls from people I don't even know. The week before class, I helped a 25 year apply for a teaching job in Texas. He had to create a video of him teaching and send it to the HR of the Houston School District. He didn't know how to do it so his sister suggested my name so on a Saturday night, I helped create the video and send it in. He volunteered to pay me but I told him that it wasn't necessary. At school conferences, I talk to the parents about all the technology their son/daughter is using in my class and so many of them say "I would like to take your class and learn all that." That has given me an idea for a business.

People used to hire me to create videos for graduations, anniversaries, highlight football videos, and so on. I would make around $250 but that ended up to be about $5 an hour and I used all my own equipment. Not a very profitable business. Instead of me doing the work, why can't THEY do the work and I help them.

I think that a computer learning center for adults it's what's needed. The learning center could offer classes on a variety of technology like word processing, spreadsheets, Photoshop, videos, picture editing, and troubleshooting. This learning center would have to have office hours where customers could come in and ask for help on a problem their having. The problem is money. How much would you have to charge to make this a profitable business???

Any ideas????

Excited to Learn

It's fun to be around people in our ITEC class who are very eager to learn all the various technology Dr. Z. is introducing us to. We are all thinking about how can we implement these technology tools into our lesson plans.
Wouldn't that be great if the majority of teachers here in Iowa could be just as excited? That would make our administrators jobs a lot easier. I was thinking, how can I help my principal and superintendent with their technology goals for our school? For a teacher quality project this summer, I'm going to work on a document on how to teach technology to educators during our professional development days.
The consensus of the teachers at our school want to know how they can specifically use this technology in their classrooms. They also want someone to to be around for support.

It's all about the kids

Tonight, I left UNI to come back home to watch some baseball games. I watched my 7th grade son play his game and then I watched my students from IFA play their high school baseball game. It's funny how much I miss my students. I wanted to talk to them after the game and ask how their summer is going and what they have been doing. Yes teaching high school students is hard but I know why I do it, it's because I like being around them. I like how honest teenagers are. I like how eager they are to learn. I like how they want their teachers to recognize them for their dedication and hard work. What students want is to be accepted for who they are. Isn't that what we all want?

Yes, teachers today need to know a lot about technology but we also need to know how to teach it so our students have the desire to learn. Dr. Z. is introducing us to a lot of technology we can use to make learning more hands on but he is also teaching us how to bring out student's creativity and higher order thinking skills. I want my students to learn because they want to, not because I'm making them to.
Chicken Dance

CBS Vacation Hotspot - Dr. Z.'s Group Project

Our group, CBS, is interested in where you would like to go on vacation and how you would like to get there. Click this link to answer some questions on our Gooogle doc.

How is Technology Impacting Education? Dr. Scott McLeod

For our professional development day at school, Dr. Scott McLeod from Iowa State, presented about how our teaching strategies needs to change to adapt to technology. Dr. McLeod made this blog for our school Dangerously Irrelevant - Iowa Falls School During our in service, we talked about Facebook. Most of the teachers do NOT want anything to do with social networking. In Gabe's blog, he says There is a large part of me that wants to resist and revolt. I don't want to be a part of the generation that is so self-absorbed that they think "everyone is just dying to know what I am doing at this very minute."

These are notes from the meeting with Dr. Scott McLeod.

• 1st Task - Increase the cognitive level skills (higher order of thinking) of our students - critical thinking, problem solving, effective speaking and writing, collaboration, global awareness, adaptability, entrepreneurship, innovation, synthesis, curiosity, information literacy
• 2nd Task - Start integrating technology into education - we are so far behind (colleges too)

Educational Blogs by Subject Area

We remember things that we have attached meaning to.

When your kids are performing the higher cognitive skills, the lower level skills are also being learned.

In Sara's blog, she says We need new "Learning Centers" that are free, abundant, and promote learning rather than test scores. I would love to teach in a learning center or a career academy school. Is there any in Iowa?

Dr. McLeod asked us these questions? Are you teaching kids to write with the hyper links (connections) to the world? Do they create a multi-media presentation that appeals to readers emotions?

The Pursuit of Technology Integration Happiness

In the textbook Web 2. New Tools, New Schools on page 121, Scott McLeod mentions 12 reasons why administrators need to blog.

I really enjoyed this in service, but I think many teachers are resisting the push to integrate technology into their curriculum. What I would like to see is team teaching. One teacher would know the content and another teacher would know the technology.