Emerging Technologies

The ChemCollective.org is a website that features tutorials, simulations, virtual labs and real-life based learning problems to help teach chemistry principals.  Virtual labs are a great alternative to having students physically performing the lab themselves when resources or time may be limited.  With the advancement of technology I think it is easy to see how virtual labs and virtual schooling could be the future of science education. 


Ancient Spaces created and maintained by the University of British Columbia in Canada is a website that provides 3-D video animations of ancient places in ancient Greece, Egypt, China, and South America that shows how these sites would have looked in their prime.  Personally I love ancient history especially of the Mediterranean Region.

Other types of technologies that I can see having a big role in my classroom are blogging, podcasting, wiki sites, and google docs.  I'm still looking for the best way to create and share my podcasts.

Assistive technologies

WordTalk
Helps people with reading and disabilities. It is free plug in for Microsoft Word (versions '97 and up)that converts text to audio that can be saved as a .wav or mp3 audio file. Also can work with Microsoft Outlook. The toolbar for the program fits right into the toolbar for Word. This program is based on the idea that students who struggle to read benefit when text is read to them. I create a lot of assignments in word and print science articles from the Internet. I could see copying the text from an article into Word and allowing students to read the text with this program.

Bibme is a free online bibliography maker that allows students to create bibliographies in the proper formats. It also has a search function that allows students to search for the book they are using and automatically fills in the data. It's an easy tool and the search links with amazon.com so there are probably not many books that can't be found. I found the texts we've used in this class and it gave options for the format or how much of the book you're citing. I really could have used this when I was trying to learn the APA formatting!  Here's an example of how a search and citation works.

Educational Podcast

I recently listened to a podcast produced by ASCD- The Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development entitled Developing Students' Global Understanding . This podcast is part of an ongoing series of podcasts The Whole Child Podcast: Changing the Conversation About Education.

In this podcast three educational leaders discussed the students of today, what they understand about the world they live in, how prepared are they to live and work in a global economy.  Global literacy was discussed, a term that describes how our students can learn from and work with different cultures from around the globe to solve the world's problems and how we as educators can help prepare our students for this interconnected world we live in.  Several statistics were mentioned regarding students studying foreign languages and geography.  The most concerning were the statistics from National Geographic survey of young people that showed 85% of respondents couldn't find Afghanistan or Iraq, 60% couldn't find Great Britain, and 29% couldn't find the Pacific Ocean.  The point of these statistiics is that if our students can't find a country on a map, how can they understand the source of conflicts in the world. 
This entire series of podcasts addresses the current issues in education with discussions with educators and educator leaders.





(image from eDiscovery and Information Management)

Teacher Web Resources

I think the very first site any teacher needs to have is a Tumblr page.  It's a free, easy way to keep track of websites online.  What I like about this is that no matter what computer or if I'm on my iphone I can pull up all of my favorite links. 

Science Links

The American Museum of Natural History's OLogy Web Site

A great website to explore all of the "ologies" of science.  Each ology has fun activities to learn about the subject, interviews with scientists in field, videos and games.  My favorite was the biodiversity link that explained working in museum as an assistant and illustrator.

The Smithsonian Institution Online 
Here is a link to one of the most amazing museums in the world, one I hope to visit one day!  Browse the current and permanent collections including the original flag that inspired Francis Scott Key which allows you to see the flag and learn about the various pieces missing by clicking on the interactive flag.  If you only go to this site for a virtual field trip you are missing out on an incredible resource for educators that allows you to select your state standard, grade level, and subject area to find specific resources to use in your classroom!

Teacher Resources
Rubistar
Rubistar is site that provides a variety of rubrics for many subjects but also allows you to create your own rubric.  For those of us who are "rubric challenged" this is great way to learn how to write your own rubric.



Technology for Teachers
Jamendo- Royalty Free Music
This site is filled with an amazing and diverse collection of music that is free and legal to download.  I really enjoyed the Hope album by Kendra Springer, beautiful piano music that works well as background music in a slide show or to have on for a little relaxing time in the classroom.

Make Your Own Widget
According to Wikipedia a widget is

•  a placeholder for a manufactured device,
• in Computer Programming is a reusable element of a graphical user interface that displays an information arrangement and provides standardized data manipulation.
• a character in Marvel Comics

 Also known as a "doohickey" or as I like to call it a web thing that is on a web page to show data.  I made my own Tumblr widget to place here on my blog.
The site is free, it does come with a few ads that are related to your site's subject.  Like most free sites you can pay a fee each month to turn off the ads.  So far I haven't had a problem with the ads.

chasing butterflies

Today while driving, I noticed something yellow caught on my anteanna.
I  realized it was a Swallow Tail Butterfly.
So I stopped, I picked it up off the ground seeing that most of it's abdomen was missing so it wouldn't be flying home, but I carried it back to the truck anyway to let me son hold it.

This is what I want my kids to learn
an understanding and appreciation of the natural world
have a sense of awe when they see a big butterfly fluttering by in the back yard
and to never be in such a hurry that they can't stop to admire the little things in the world.

Photostory: Yellowstone trip

Back in May my husband and I celebrated our 15 year wedding anniversary by going to Yellowstone National Park.  Here are the highlights of our trip created in iMovie.

Youtube Playlist

For your learning enjoyment I have compiled a few of my favorite science videos from Youtube.
When I first started teaching science I was given two cds by a man named Michael Offut, a chemistry teacher who wrote some of the funniest songs about science I had ever heard.  I shared these songs with my students who were not near as enthusiastic as I was. But now I can share videos based on his songs along with a couple of really great songs about lab safety and nanotechnology. 

Now imagine you are a reporter for an entertainment show on Nickelodeon.  As the reporter your assignment is to watch one of these videos and write a review to share with the class.  Your report can be written or oral.   Just remember to cover the five W's: who, what, when, where, why.  And then rate the video you reviewed based on a 5 star rating system with one being the worst and 5 being the best.

Go here to check out my play list.

The last hatchling

Today all that remained of finch nest no. 1 was an empty nest and one hatchling
getting ready to fly out of the nest.

Change is inevitable
All things must grow
And to truly grow you have to leave what you know

 empty robin nest

baby robins

Enjoying home, watching all of our baby birds grow, seeing the momma birds feeding their young, teaching my kids to always be looking for nature's wonders.

Lupine

A member of the Fabaceae family (aka legumes).  Tall, purple spike flowers, leaves are palmate shaped, blooms early summer, each flower produces a "bean" type pod with a few seeds.  As part of the legume family these plants are able to fix nitrogen in the soil and are an important part of the natural succession. 
If left alone, these will re-seed and spread year after year just like these in my neighbor's yard.

Nesting House Finches

On our front porch I have hung our bird feeder. The location is perfect because there is birch tree by the porch that provides shelter and perches for the birds, and it’s right in front of the windows over the kitchen sink. After buying new seed from a local garden shop I have found we are getting much more bird traffic than before. And since the neighbor’s roaming feline has since passed onto the kitty heaven, there are fewer predators skulking about. I have noticed for the last few weeks a lot of action in the two hanging plant baskets on the front porch. So on Monday I got a chair and peeked into the basket on the north side of the house. I turned it all around until I found this tiny, tightly woven nest.

 I looked into the other basket but couldn’t see anything. I left the other nest alone and observed the mama bird coming and going from the nest. But on Thursday I noticed more noise and lots of traffic out of the other basket, so I grabbed a chair and camera and really looked into the basket and found another nest with at least 4 nestlings. But they were so snuggled down that it was hard to tell.

The kids and I have really gotten into watching our birds, and we have been onling learning more about them.  Here are a couple of good sites about finches.
Celebrate Urban Birds
All About Birds

Welcome!

I am a wife, mother of boy/girl twins, science teacher, nature explorer, artist, and all-around creative person. My preferred grade level is middle and high school which I have 6 years experience in teaching. I plan on completing my Masters in Education from Northwest Nazarene University in the spring of 2012.

Growing up on my family's farm in Eastern Idaho gave me an appreciation for the natural world and hard work. I grew up feeding cows,riding horses, driving tractors, participating in 4-H and FFA, and raising a small sheep herd that paid for my first year of college. When I'm not teaching, I'm chasing my 4 year old twins, Jack and Clara, working in my garden, working on my latest painting or mixed media collage, scrap booking, or jeeping and camping with my family.

I am also a tech person, I love technology and as of 5 years ago, a convert to all things Mac. Just to prove how much of a "techie" I am ask me how many blogs I maintain? Three. Plus I have a couple of wiki sites I'm working on too!

My teaching style is a mix of structured lessons and stand up performer. When I am teaching I feel that I am on a stage engaging my student "audience", using my knowledge and sense of humor to get my students involved and interested in science. I know that I have done my job well when I see and hear students expressing an interest in how the world around them works.

Whenever possible, I use technology to bring the real world into the classroom. If we are studying volcanoes, I like to take my students here, to see the live web cam at Mount St. Helen's observatory. Or to help students visualize different lava flows we can go here to view real time videos at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.