TIE Conference Update

Here is an update from Sunday at the TIE Conference -

This afternoon I went to an In-Depth Session at Hill City Elementary titled Elementary One to One Laptops - How to Implement, Organize and Excite Students About Learning In a One to One Classroom. The class was led by Sharla Steever & John Hohm.

The workshop focused on ideas to use in classrooms where the student to computer ratio is 1:1.

John Hohm talked about SharePoint. SharePoint is free through the South Dakota K-12 site. All South Dakota educators should have a log in to the K12 site. (Unfortunately, I know I have one, but I have no idea what it is. I stopped logging into it when I got my TCSD address. I emailed the State help site to find out what it is.)

SharePoint can be used like a website, but it's only accessible to those with permission. You can also load documents on the site. Students can download them, work on a project, and then upload the completed document. Sharla Steever talked about having "paper free" assignments. They use tablet computers, so she can open an assignment and use her stylus to grade right on the document. Very cool!
You can request a SharePoint Site at the link below.
Members Site - State of South Dakota

Sharla said the keys to using one-to-one computers is starting small, having a routine and setting goals. She said that she has done many tech projects that have failed, but her students and herself learn from the experience. She suggested teaching kids to troubleshoot. She has tables in her room and she has a "tech helper" at each of the tables. These students helped the other students before they come to her with their questions.

Sharla talked about the following sites:

• IXL - A math site that requires a subscription
• Math Flash Cards - These are actually downloaded on to each student's computer. No Internet needed after they are downloaded. Sharla said she has the kids make an Excel file to record their daily scores. They practice for a minute on each - addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. After they have recorded a number of days, they make a graph in Excel to see their progress. (I'm not sure if these will work on a MAC.)

Another cool idea from Sharla - They have Math Minutes and Ranger Reading. Students do math and read for 15 minutes a night. (They get to take their computers home.) They chart this info. Students that reach the goal number get to go on a special math field trip. I think this is a really great idea. It would be interesting to explore how this could be used to encourage students to read at home in the evenings.
More Sharla sites:

• Delicious - Delicious puts your bookmarks online and then you can share them with others. I use this program myself, although I don't share all my sites publicly. It's a great way to back up your bookmarks in case your computer crashes. It's also a good way to share bookmarked sites with your coworkers.
• Here is a cool language arts site for upper elementary grades.
• Achievement Series - Sharla uses this periodically to assess her students to see what they need to be working on in reading and math. It is from the same company that does the DACS testing. You need a log in to use this site. Do we have access to this site?
• Typing Pal - A site to practice typing skills. Needs a subscription.
• Type With Me - VERY COOL! A word processing program that allows more than one student to work on the file at the same time. Great for doing group research.
• Create your own Google Search - Want your students to research a certain topic, but you want them to only use certain sites. Create your own Google search.  You do need a Gmail address.
• Diigo - Sharla didn't talk about this one, but it was suggested by one of the teachers in attendance. It lets you highlight and sticky note pages and they stay there when your students visit those pages. 

That was just the afternoon session. The key note speakers were Rushton  Hurley and Ken Shelton. I'll blog about them in the AM. It was a good day.