Resolutions for 2009

As I logged in this morning to check in on my PLN, I saw a question that Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach was posing. Before you had a computer or used it as much as you do now....what did you USED to do? This really got me thinking.

I'm constantly trying to find a balance in my work and personal life. I am passionate about both so it seems like just as soon as I get caught up I have gotten myself started into a new project or two....or twelve! So, what did I used to do before I worked on a computer?

#1 Needlepoint - I have a huge case of embroidery floss that has been waiting for a project. I started building my stock of colors when I was in 8th grade. The last project I did was several years ago. At this point, I plan on saving it for my 12 yr. old. She seems interested in learning.

#2 I used to clean regularly - Well, this is self explanatory. Now I find myself looking at a dirty floor or counter and saying, "Oh! I need to clean! Better do that today." When I used to just do it regularly.

#3 Board Games - When my older children were little we played Candyland, Uncle Wiggly, Trouble and Chutes & Ladders. When my friends came over I was always the one to drag out the Trivial Pursuit game. Now, I log in to Webkinz or visit Starfall with my kids way more often than we play board games. I haven't played Trivial Pursuit in many years.

# 4 Write letters on paper - I cannot remember the last time I wrote a letter through snail mail. Part of me thinks I never will again. The other part of me thinks of the shoebox of letters I have saved in my closet that were penned to me through the years from my Great Grandmother, my Grandmother and my father. All have since passed away and it is simply dear to me to see their handwriting with the words
... Dear Melanie,
Anytime I am feeling sad, I pull out one of these letters and read the sweet words written to me by these people. Their handwriting is unique and it makes me sad to think that I'm not sure my own children could pick my handwriting out in a group.

SO! Here's my New Year's Resolutions for 2009

#1 Write a handwritten letter to each of my four children at least once this year.
#2 Play board games with my children more often.
#3 Finish my last incomplete needlepoint project (my youngest daughter's Christmas stocking)
#4 Take better care of myself by losing weight and eating healthy.

I hope this post helps you ponder as I have, how your life has changed and where your year is going. Would love to hear your thoughts...

Melanie Holtsman

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Reading to Your Child

With my oldest child turning 19 this month and my youngest two being 5, I've had many years of practice reading books aloud at home. No one showed me how and I wasn't teaching yet when I became a parent, but my own love of reading made me anxious to share it with my children. There's just something magical about pulling your sweet little one into your lap or tight up beside you to share in a story.

Every parent should do their best to make it a priority in their routine. As stated on the Reading is Fundamental website:
Research and practice show that one simple activity — reading aloud — is the
best way to prepare children for learning to read and to keep them reading
as they learn and grow. Reading aloud helps your children develop the
language skills that they will use in school and throughout their lives.

I never really thought about parents not knowing "how" to go about reading aloud to their child, until my friend dayle brought it up. I asked her to remind me about our conversation regarding this many months ago and here was what she said,

"My mother did not read to me as a child so I didn't really have a model for reading for reading to my own child. I had read to the children in my class and had learned to give a performance to keep them engaged, but I had never really applied that to reading to my infant son. I had tried to read to him a few times because all the books said I should but he seemed so uninterested. About that time I happen to see a video of a mother reading to her child, drawing him into the book with voices and questions and conversation. It was so warm and safe. I remember thinking - "oh, that's what it looks like." That single video made all the difference."

dayle's brainchild was to create a bank of videos that demonstrate examples of parents reading to their children. We began thinking about our large faculty and realised that we had teachers with kids of every pre-school and elementary age to possibly use...and that is where I came in. See, my big joke around work is that my job is, "to do whatever dayle tells me" because basically I do! I'm very lucky to share an office with someone with such brillant ideas so I gladly do what she asks. We don't call her "the Queen" for no reason.

So after months of scheduling, taping, editing, posting, etc...the project is finally complete. I didn't always get the lighting and locations I wanted because we had to catch the kids and parents when we could, but the content is what is important. For my techie friends...I edited the footage in Pinnacle and then uploaded to Google video. We wanted to keep each video under three minutes, since this is just a sampling.

View all of the videos on our school website under the page on the left labeled "Read with your Child". dayle has added suggested ideas also, since the videos are just examples of things you can do with your child. I hope you will be able to use them or refer them to someone who may use them. Special thanks to the teachers who allowed me into that personal "magical space" with their child: Haley Alvarado, Meredy Mackiewicz, Randi Timmons, Angela Phillips, Debbie Rossignol, Cheryl Dillard, Rick Pinchot, Julie Johnson, JJ Ossi and Tammi Sani. Below, I'm embedding the most recent taping I did of Meredy reading to her daughter. Happy reading!


Melanie Holtsman

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Geek Up

Even though I am now a Google Certified Teacher and a National Board Certified Teacher, I still have A LOT to learn. Sometimes I feel intimidated by how knowledgable other educators are, but it doesn't stop me from asking questions and learning! Keeping this in mind - I try to remember all levels of learners when I'm explaining something in formal training or deskside coaching.

One of my tasks as a Google Certified Teacher is to share what I learn from being a part of that group. I have some classes planned at my district training center that educators can register to take, but I wanted to provide some kind of regular, just in time learning for my faculty. For me, that means I can learn and tinker with something when it is a convenient time for me. Sometimes that is during the school day, but most of the time that is after my kids are all in bed.

So, as I explained in my December newsletter to the faculty, I'm going to be sending out an email with a link to a Google Site that will include "how-to", tips and tricks to use Google Tools. Twice a month I will mail out the link to the site which will include a new page each time. This site will be called - "Geek up with Google!" If you're interested in being a part of this mailing, I would be glad to include you. Just leave your name and email address in the comment section or email me directly at mholtsman@gmail.com I'd be glad to help you geek up!

Melanie Holtsman

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My Christmas Card

For the last several years, I've made my Christmas cards online and mailed them out to family members with a newsletter enclosed. Unfortunately, there are many family members that we never see and this is one of the few times that we connect.

This year I wanted to kick it up a notch and do something online as well. I thought that I could include a note or a label that would direct the reader to a link to access something newsletter-ish. My first plan was to put together a video and embed it in the new Google Docs template for a video newsletter, but trying to get my family all together in the same room or trying to find a variety of video clips in my stock became too much... Then I thought I might use the newsletter template and just do an online version of what I normally do, which didn't excite me at all.

After several days of procrastinating, I came up with the idea of using a voicethread. That way, I was able to add what photos I wanted to use from the year and then record each child when I had time. As an afterthought, I grabbed a flip video and filmed a few segments too. I thought the flip turned out a little grainy...but I still used it. I consider this all an experiment anyway. I know some people will never visit the link, but those that care enough will. Here it is, if you care to watch. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

Melanie Holtsman

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Applying for a job

The next time I'm explaining why we need to allow kids to create and collaborate online, I'm going to show this video. It was made by a teenager named Judson Collier, who is applying for a job. He was obviously given the knowledge, tools and time in his education to create and innovate. The most interesting thing to me was visiting his website and seeing how he looked up some other videos for inspiration. Self-directed learning is a skill that all students need to be prepared for. Everytime I want to know something I do the same thing, look up examples of how others did the same thing...

Would you hire Judson or someone with a great paper resume'? Which one better informs you about the person applying? Check out his video:


Stop-Motion App-uh-lu-cat-ion from Judson on Vimeo.

Melanie Holtsman

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Wordle Meme - Documenting your Zeitgeist

I can always count on my friend, Silvia Tolisano, to push me to try something new. (We all need friends like this.) This learning comes in the form of a meme.

Wordle Meme:
1. Create a Wordle from our blog's RSS feed.
2. Blog it and describe your reaction. Any surprises?
3. Tag others to do the same.
4. Be sure to link back here and to where you were first tagged.
5. Create different Wordle clouds of your blog's RSS over a period of time. Do it once a month for the next year.

Save your Wordle screenshots in a special folder on your computer or even better create a set on Flickr to store your archived clouds. See what story your Wordle clouds tell as you compare them to each other. Start documenting your “Zeitgeist” (Spirit of the Times) as mentioned by Chris Betcher in his K-12 Online Conference presentation I like Delicious Things. An Intoduction to Tagging and Folksonomies
6. Share other uses (at least one) you have found for Wordle (for your students or personally) to your blog post

Here is the Wordle cloud for the RSS feed from Once Upon a Teacher on December 1, 2008.


My reactions? Well, honestly, I'm a little embarrassed that the word shopping is so big. But...on my behalf, I did just get back from New York. And, the word "know" looks like the biggest word! Well, that has to be because of things I want to know, not because I know it all!

I think Wordle would be an awesome tool for writing teachers to use with their students for them to evaluate their word choice in their writing. I can also see it being used as a tool for teachers to evaluate current events/news stories to look at key words being used in the media and if students thought those words should be the focus words.

I know I will use it from now on to avoid the word shopping...

I am tagging the follwing people to join in by contributing Wordle uses in the classroom and getting into the habit of “wordling” to document their “Zeitgeist”:

1. Cheryl Chascin
2. Jenny Nash
3. dayle timmons
4. Suzanne Shall
5. Susan Phillips
6. Lauren Skipper
7. Jen Zawis

Melanie Holtsman

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Virtual Becomes Reality

File this one under: Just for Fun.

When I entered Second Life this summer, I didn't know how to do much of anything. So what's a girl to do first in a virtual world? Well, shopping, of course! See, they are nice enough to give you some clothes to start, but this is what I looked like. Plain dress and hair that looked like I just woke up. I don't need a second life to look this way - I can do that in real life! :)

I was fortunate enough to get some tips from a Second Life pro and learned how to teleport and search for clothes, hair, etc... I jumped on twitter to announce my first shopping trip and it just so happened that a fellow twitter-er, Kristin Hokanson, was also learning to do the same. We decided to meet up at a shopping mall in Second Life. I had never met Kristin at the time. I began following her on twitter after seeing her co-present a session on Open PD at NECC. Yet, our avatars met and did a little looking around for new duds. Here's how my appearance changed after my shopping trip. My daughters are horrified (I think they are afraid I will really dress this way...which I will if I ever look this cute.)

Anyway, fast forward five months, Kristin and I both get accepted to the Google Teacher Academy in New York City. Very few of the attendees were staying an extra day for shopping or shows, so we connected up through email and twitter. I reminded Kristin that we had been shopping before...and we had a good laugh on our reality shopping trip.


Thanks for the fun day Kristin - it was nice really meeting you!

Melanie Holtsman

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Connecting with Everyone

When I consider my faculty, I see a multitude of learning levels with technology. Not unlike a classroom of students, instruction for all levels needs to be planned and implemented. I'm available for formal or informal coaching sessions with teachers, but what about the learners that aren't asking for help? In a classroom, do we ignore these students? Of course not, we differentiate the instruction to meet their needs. We meet them where they are. I feel I need to do the same with teachers.

Blogging is a great way to disseminate information, ideas and ask questions. But what if the audience you are targeting doesn't all read the blog? Even if they do have a reader service, what if they are way behind on their reading? They won't know that you are giving them essential information. Sometime when I log in to my reader it's too overwhelming to ever catch up. I try to think of these things when I think of other teachers.

Wanting to find an avenue to connect with everyone is where the idea for the technology newsletter was born. I know it seems kind of old school, but almost anyone will take a moment to read a flyer or newsletter. So...you kick it up just a notch with hyperlinks and a limited amount of information - waaa lah! When I began planning the newsletter I considered doing it in Google docs with a newsletter template, but I wanted it to look as much like a traditional newsletter as possible so I simply created it in Microsoft Publisher and then converted it to a .pdf file. I may try docs or Google sites in the future, but I wanted to start out with this and get some feedback.

All of that being said, I almost didn't blog about this. I pictured people running across this post and thinking, "She's doing a newsletter?!? What's up with that?" but then I decided to take a risk and put my thinking out there for you. I just know this will meet the needs of some adult learners and I'm hoping there will be enough interesting tidbits to keep the interest of my advanced learners. Maybe I'm overthinking it all. Sometimes I think about things to the point where the obvious is not apparent! :)

What do you need as a learner? How are you meeting the needs of the learners you are responsible for?

Melanie Holtsman

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Wireless Please!

I know wireless access may seem like like a luxury when you have wired ports for the internet, but it's becoming a necessity in our growth as digital learners.

Here is an example:
Our first grade teachers meet for all day training in the conference room which is really the only place where they could all meet on a day where school is in session. There is one internet port in this room (which I'm sure they thought was sufficient when the school was built eleven years ago), so we use a port replicator so everyone can get internet access. That works for surfing easy loading websites and checking email, but not for any kind of collaboration.

I came in for a portion of the day to demonstrate how to add links, documents and videos on the wiki the first grade team just started. As soon as everyone started trying to add things on the wiki the connection either timed out or the upload symbol would
continue and never upload anything. How in the world were they supposed to practice what they just learned? So frustrating!

The same thing happens in the classrooms when you try to check out the laptops and do an activity with the students. I don't know what exactly the speed is on our line, but I've been told our bandwidth doesn't support these kinds of tools yet. At least not on more than one computer at a time. Can't really complain to the technology department alone, they don't do the purchasing for the district...but I need to find out how to help the powers that be see the urgent need. We're trying to educate the digital generation and support digitally literate educators. Wireless with more bandwidth, please!!!!

Melanie Holtsman

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Why Am I Surprised?

Even though I know I'm a digital immigrant, I try really hard to keep up with what the digital natives in my house know. This time, my youngest two taught me a lesson!

I recently gave my five year old twins a Nintendo DS for their birthday. They had been playing their sisters' games and enjoying them regularly so I wasn't surprised when they pulled them out every chance they got.
But I was surprised when I heard them giggling at the same time and it occurred to me...if they are playing two different games, then why are they laughing at the same time? I went to investigate and this is what I discovered.

They were texting each other!

First of all, I didn't know that a Nintendo DS had this feature. Second of all, my twins are non-readers and non-writers. So how were they texting? In rebus style!



I shouldn't be surprised. This is why I love technology. Kids do things with technology that exceed my expectations. All. the. time.

Melanie Holtsman

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Early Release Tech Training

In my district, we have early release every other Wednesday to provide teachers some time for professional development. Over the years we have used this time for a variety of topics, but this year we are really trying to regularly use it for technology training.

Like a classroom of students, my faculty members are all working at different levels in their technology learning journey. It's important to differentiate their instruction and offer options for them to move in the direction they are most interested in, so the first step in preparing for this training was a survey.
I took the survey results to our leadership team meeting and we decided on these topics for training:

Excel 101 - How to sort data and view reports.
Web 2.0 - What is it? Cool tools to use.
Voicethread - What is it? How to use it.
Wikis - What is a wiki? How do you add to our school wikis?
Blogging 201 - I have a blog, how do I add gadgets and photos?
Document Camera 101 - How to use it, how to snap photos with it.
Email 101 - Adding a signature to your email, folders in Microsoft Outlook.
Breaking up into SEVEN groups would not be possible without my tech savvy leadership colleagues. Thank you: Suzanne, Rick, Melissa, Debbie, Jessica, KK and Susan. After looking at the training needs we simply let everyone offer to lead a session they felt comfortable running. We asked one classroom teacher to join in when we needed an extra hand. Each group had no more than 15 attendees.
Have you tried to do break out training at your school? I'd love to hear other session suggestions or models of in-school training sessions. We felt like ours was so successful that we're offering it again so people can choose different sessions this time!

Melanie Holtsman

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Three Cheers for the Boss


I think I may have to retitle my blog to be: I'm so Lucky. I'm definitely going through a gratitude phase, maybe it's the upcoming season.... but I HAVE to spout the praises of my principal, Susan Phillips.

If you watched my Google Teacher Academy video you know that my principal has embraced technology to the point where she commited to allowing me to leave the classroom to work full time at helping teachers integrate technology. She is blogging every week. She attended NECC for the first time this year. She purchased the book Web 2.0 New Schools New Tools, for everyone on the faculty. Most importantly, she allows me to keep pushing the envelope and keep moving forward.

Reading the blogs of other educators, reminds me that if the leader doesn't "get it" it can shut down your possibilities. My leader doesn't only get it, she is tech savvy. Every Tuesday morning, I offer a tech help session called BYOL. It was evident to me around 8pm Monday night, that I wasn't going to make make it on Tuesday because my daughter was ill. I sent a text message to my principal asking her if she could cover me for BYOL. She messaged back -no problem! So, no need to cancel, she covered me. I mean, how many tech coaches could have their principal cover for them?

I'm so lucky! Thanks Susan!

Melanie Holtsman

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Thank You Google

The emails went out today for Google Teacher Academy and I AM IN!!!! Thank you to everyone who kept their fingers crossed for me. I can't wait to learn, learn, learn and share, share, share. Watch for more info to come after the GTA on November 18th in New York City.

Melanie Holtsman

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Google Teacher Academy - Please Pick Me!

Several months ago, I noticed that a few of the people I follow and learn from online were Google Certified Teachers. I searched Google, and found out that they had attended Google Teacher Academy which is a one day intensive training offered only a few times each year. I registered to receive emails on future academies and found out that Google would be offering their next academy on November 18th, in New York City.

Google Teacher Academy is an opportunity to get hands-on practice with Google tools and other technologies, learn new and innovative instructional strategies, receive resources to share with colleagues and the amazing chance to absorb the creative corporate environment that is Google. The only thing they ask in return is that you share what you learn with other educators.

Only 50 people are chosen for the academy and I can only imagine how many apply. Everyone in the world is invited, but preference is given to those located in the region nearest the academy. It may be a long shot, but I think, well worth a try.

Here is how the website defines a Google Certified Teacher:

Educators who attend a Google Teacher Academy become Google Certified Teachers.

Google Certified Teachers are:
*Exceptional K-12 educators with a passion for using innovative tools to improve teaching and learning.
*Creative leaders who understand their local needs and can spread innovation as a recognized expert.
*Ambassadors for change who model high expectations, life-long learning, collaboration, equity &
inclusion and innovation.

Google Certified Teachers are expected to:
*Develop a "Personal Action Plan"
*Lead at least three local professional development activites over the course of 12 months.
*Actively participate in the Google Certified Teacher Online Community.
*Share the impact of their work with other Google Certified Teachers through an end-of-year reflection.

In additon to a free day of training, Google Certified Teachers get:
*Access to the GCT Online Community
*Access to additonal free ed tech resources
*Opportunities to give Google feedback on educational uses of tools
*Invitations to join Google at special events
*The right to post the GCT web badge on their website or blog


The application process is a few essay questions and a one minute video that demonstrates "Motivation and Learning" or "Classroom Innovation". ONE MINUTE! Can I just tell you that a one minute video takes a whole lot longer than a minute to plan, prepare and create....? I probably spent at least a week stressing over what show in a minute. It finally came down to the basics for me. GTA is about learning and sharing. The way I got the position I am in now is by learning and sharing...so I told my story. And, hopefully inspired Google to see that I'm capable of spreading what I learn from them to many others... here's the video submission to my application. I'd love to hear what you think...and I'll let you know what Google says in the next few weeks when they announce the academy members.


Melanie Holtsman

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After I'm Gone

As my eighteen year old daughter and I got ready to head out the door today, I stopped to spritz my hair with hairspray. For some reason, the smell transported me back to the years where I was a little girl sitting on my grandmother's bed watching her tease, hairspray and put her hair up in bobbypin curls. I told my daughter the story and we had a long conversation about old hairstyles and what "teasing hair" means.

Then I thought, I wonder what sights, smells or sounds will be imprinted the strongest in the memories of my offspring. So I asked my daughter, "What kind of thing do you think will make you start thinking of me?" My daughter thought for a minute and then said, "You know the sound the computer makes when you start it up?" Oh well, I guess there are worse things she could remember about me!


*Photo taken in 1990, from left to right: my daughter, me, my mom, my grandmother and my great grandmother

Melanie Holtsman

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A Helping Hand

I think all classroom teachers need a person on staff they can go to for troubleshooting issues whenever they need it. Technology is a beautiful thing....when it works.

Perfect example: A fourth grade teacher at my school wants to do a voicethread project with her large class but there are only two desktop computers to use. So I say, "No problem, we can use our cart of Mac laptops and get your whole class to record their thread at the same time. It will only take 20 or 30 minutes."

So, Day One, I go to the class and set up the wireless routers and show the class how to record their voice with their image in voicethread. As I begin to set up the laptops and have kids log on I realise the signal is weak. It takes at least five minutes to load a site. I try to attach two to land lines eventually and they are doing the same thing. By this time, it has been over thirty minutes and the teacher needs to move on to preparing the kids to dismissal. So I pack it all up and set up a time to return the following day with a plan.

Day Two, I head back to the class with a much less ambitious plan. Main goal is to help this teacher get the project done, so I hook two macbooks to the land lines and try to set up voicethread. Once again, the loading of website is taking forever and failing. After ten minutes, I scrap the idea of using the macs and run back to my office to get external mics to use the desktop IBMs. I'm sure that now...it will work. Log in, go to site....and the SAME PROBLEM.
I finally realize that all student ports are not allowing the use of voicethread. What?!? I call the Technology Help Desk in our county and they tell me that student computers will not allow you to upload any content on the web. Ugh! In the meantime, everytime this class sees me show up they look at me with expressions like, "Maybe today, she'll let us do it." Sigh.
Day Three, I show up before school with the intent to not leave this classroom until they have completed their voicethread. I bring my own laptop this time because I know it is A) a teacher computer B) I can log in to a teacher port and C) I have recorded on voicethread with my computer in the past, so I KNOW it works. I log in easily and call over the first student to get started. She reads what she wants to add to her image and when we replay it... no sound. Really! I have to then send her back to her seat while I proceed to troubleshoot sound settings and then sit on the phone with Technology Help Desk for 40 minutes while they screen share my computer and try to diagnose the problem. I end up with a "ticket" for someone to come out and look in person. (I'm sure at this point the teachers in the classroom are wondering why I have this job!) I borrow the laptop of the teacher in this classroom and log in there and WA LA - it works! No problem, easy peezy. I have the whole class done in under 20 minutes. If you want to peek at their thread you can do that here.
My point to this post is that if I were the classroom teacher in this case, what are the chances that I would have given up and not finished the project? Would I want to do this project again? Who would I call for help if there wasn't a technology person on staff? These are the reasons that I begged to take on this job. I hope I can make a difference.

Melanie Holtsman

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And the World Gets a Little Smaller...

This may only be our first full year as a faculty connecting ourselves to the world online through blogs and social networking, but we have some exciting projects brewing.

Students Teaching Students is a project that is the brainchild of Kim Cofino, from the International School Bangkok, Thailand. It will focus on sharing teacher and student reflection and work in the Lucy Calkins model of Readers' and Writers' Workshop. At the beginning of the summer, I saw a blog post Kim did about how her school was learning to teach in workshop model and I immediately contacted her to share that our school had been in that model for ten years. We are actually a National Model School for America's Choice which is a reform movement that includes workshop model teaching in literacy, math and science. Kim graciously agreed to connect us with two of her fifth grade teachers, Chrissy Hellyer and Aly McAloon, as well as a few other teacher from around the globe. A fifth grade teacher at my school, Jessica Lipsky, has already begun to share her student work and class lessons on her blog. She says the kids in her class feel their work is so much more important because it is being shared with a global audience. Look for more to come on this empowering project - I know these kids will exceed our expectations.

Dean Shareski's Blogging Mentor Project is a project where he requires his pre-service teachers in Saskatchewan, Canada to follow classroom blogs and comment regularly thereby making themselves a presence in that classroom. We were honored to be included in this project. Developing relationships with these future teachers will be a win-win situation for first grade teachers, Maria Mallon and Cheryl Dillard, second grade teachers Melissa Ross and Carrie McLeod and fourth grade teachers Meli Launey, Dorry Lopez, Rick Pinchot and Angela Phillips.

We had the pleasure of virtually meeting these students last week through Elluminate, which is a virtual classroom environment. Due to the time difference, we huddled around my coffee table at 10 pm (with snacks and socializing while we waited) as we introduced our class blogs and teachers and listened to others do the same. It was interesting to follow the students' back channel chat during the meeting. They seem really excited about the project and we're looking forward to getting to know them better. I wish someone had done something like this with me when I was in college!


The year is off to a great start, and especially since we're on a Virtual Learning Adventure, Around the World in 180 days, this year.... we'll be looking for more friends to connect with around the globe. If you have an interesting project you think we might collaborate with you on - let us know!

Melanie Holtsman

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My Donors Choose Project


After being inspired by a colleague of mine, I wrote my first Donors Choose grant. Donors Choose is an awesome website where teachers can create an account, submit a request for materials and donors can log in and choose what programs they want to donate to. After Melissa recommended the site to my faculty, many others have applied and received book sets, microscopes, radios and variety of other classroom tools.

What I really wanted to acquire is some Flip cameras for teacher checkout, so I took about 25 minutes and wrote up my proposal. I'm excited to see if it will get funded. I know that if I can get those cameras available for the teachers to use they will stay checked out. Try Donors Choose and see how easy it is to get some cool tools for YOUR classroom!

Melanie Holtsman

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The Questions in the Middle

In my new position as Instructional Technology Coach, I am still trying to decide what needs teachers have and how to best fill those needs.

In my own professional development, I know that when I learn something new I walk away excited and when I try to attempt my new skill I have a glitch, come up with a question or sometimes it just isn't as easy as I thought! Not being able to go back to the training facilitator or friend who taught me something new makes it easy to give up.

The questions in between the learning can sometimes BE the learning for me. So, keeping that in mind, I decided that I wanted to have one morning before school each week where I will be completely free to be ready for "drop-in" help.
It was from this idea that BYOL (Bring Your Own Laptop) was born. I have the wiring set up for teachers to drop by with their laptop and plug in show me what they need help doing on their computer.

Just as I thought, the needs varied at our first BYOL session:

#1 Google Reader - A week ago, I delivered a short inservice on how to start with Google Reader
so a few people needed help with setting theirs up as well as how to toggle back and forth from the list to the reader to copy and paste the subscriptions.

#2 Setting up a Distribution List - My principal demonstrated this at a faculty meeting recently, so one person needed more help with how to get started setting hers up.

#3 Changing emails and passwords associate with accounts - A task that may seem simple can be tedious if you've never done it before and don't know about toggling back and forth with your email to verify changes before moving forward.


#4 Downloading Flash Player - Many of those updates that are necessary for seamless use of technology in the classroom can't be updated by anyone but school technology contacts.

I'll be continuing BYOL sessions Tuesday mornings every week as long as I feel they are needed. Hopefully answering the questions in between the learning will help move the learning forward in our building.

Melanie Holtsman

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Hey Blogger - What's up?!?

I have used blogger as my blog service for over a year now. I have never had a problem I couldn't quickly figure out. Over six months ago, my leadership team members and I ventured into the world of team blogging when we began our professional development blog. We had great success sending back instant professional development from whatever conference we were attending as we all sat in our separate break out sessions.

This year, I developed two new blogs to be used as team blogs. One blog is being used to highlight faculty members innovatively using technology and the other blog is being used to document the travels of a special ambassador for our school. The problem is....these are meant to be team blogs and blogger invites are not working!

Adding team members is supposed to be a simple process, you enter the email address of those who you would like to invite to author on the blog and it sends out a message requesting acceptance from that person. I have sent multiple invites (even to myself to see if it is working) and the invites won't work!!! When you click "help" on blogger it suggests you leave a message at their help center, which I have done. In frequently asked questions, it suggests that you log in on different computers or browsers. I have done that. FOR TWO WEEKS, OVER AND OVER!

I don't know what else to do. I would like to keep all of my blogs with blogger, but the lack of support is unacceptable. I'm hoping someone from Blogger will see this post and help. If not, I guess I need to figure out how to switch over to another service without losing anything. Ugh! What an aggravation! If you have any solutions to relieve my pain - please help!

Melanie Holtsman

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Help Me Rebuild My Laptop

I work in a Windows environment, so when my shiny new Macbook Pro arrived 6 months ago I wasn't quite sure where to start. I fiddled with it for about a month and ended up putting it away a lot and getting out my trusty IBM. I just wanted to get my work done and was frustrated with how to do similar tasks on my Mac. So, I signed up for Apple's One-to-One classes.

Slowly but surely, I began to only use my Mac. I ended up taking my Macbook Pro to NECC and leaving my IBM at home! Then one day, about two weeks ago, my Mac crashes. I mean...dead, gone, black screen...nothing. I take it to my local Apple store and the Genius tells me, "Your hard drive crashed, you'll have to get a new one. I hope you didn't save anything on it." I smugly replied, "Oh, I never save anything on my hard drive, so I'll be fine." Then I realized...I'll have to remember all of the applications people told me to download over the last six months. Some of which I'm not sure what they did, but maybe they were essential? Oh boy!

SO, THIS BLOG POST IS A PLEA...

I got my computer back this week. I've re-downloaded Second Life and Flip4Mac, but please help me by telling me must-have applications I need to download to get my Mac back in fine working order. I'm writing them down somewhere this time as I download them!

Melanie Holtsman

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DRA 2 - Online for you!

This year, our county transitioned from using the DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment) to the DRA 2. School started a week ago, but we just got our kits! The teachers were ready to assess but needed training on this new tool. One week into the school year it is impossible to have all of the reading teachers take a few hours off for some training ...sooooooooo, technology to the rescue!

One of the reading teachers at my school, Jenny Nash, was the designee who received the training on DRA 2 for our school. I arranged for her to be out of her classroom for a few hours while I filmed her explaining and demonstrating the DRA 2. I spent a little over a day editing the footage with Pinnacle and then uploading it to the web. Instant professional development! I hope we will be able to use video and internet applications like this for more professional development this year.

Melanie Holtsman

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A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

It's been several months since I read Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds, but I think I needed that time to reflect, process and enact change before sharing my thoughts.

I've never been a big fan of powerpoint. It always seemed more like a prop for the speaker than something that added to the speech. In Presentation Zen, Garr uses Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind as a framework for explaining how presentations should target the left brain and right brain. A presentation is really storytelling and storytelling is made more powerful with the images. I learned so much from this book about images. How negative space in an image conveys part of the message...how choosing the right image can change the point of the message. A book well worth reading, and one I will return to for reference.

With Presentation Zen in mind, I built my first Keynote presentation. Searching for the right image to convey a message became my mission when I began working on the presentation for my principal's opening day message. I really enjoyed perusing through stock photos and thinking about how particular images changed the message. Here's how it ended up:



Opening Day 8 11 08


View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: web2.0 teachers)

What I didn't expect was for my personal lens to change as I chose photo shots of family, school life and nature. I'm as amateur as you get when it comes to photography, but now I think about composition before I shoot and I find myself searching for the camera when I normally wouldn't have taken a photo. Today was the perfect example, I took my kids shopping at the party shop and they hopped up on these fun little stools. Normally I would have smiled and said "let's go", but today I saw the image in head and began reaching for the camera from my purse.

I've joined a group on the photo sharing website, flickr, called 366photos. They take a photo a day from their life, a snapshot in time each day over the year. I can't wait to see how I grow as a photographer and a storyteller. I hope you'll follow along...

Melanie Holtsman

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Back to School - Blogs are Born!

Last year at my school, a handful of us became bloggers and blogevangalized to everyone who would listen. This year, our school theme and focus is technology and meeting the needs of our 21st century learners. Most everyone is wanting to dip their toe in the pool on blogging. So, during our first few days of teacher planning I offered Blogging 101.

What do we do in Blogging 101? It's really quite simple.
#1 What do you want you want to name your blog?
I tell teachers that they can name their blogs whatever they want, but to be smart about the blog description listed under the title. Blog readers that are surfing to find new blogs to subscribe to might not go past the description, so tell them what or who will be doing this blog (your students, you, a group of teachers, etc. ).

#2 Consider something easy for your blog address.
When I created my blog I didn't know any better. I thought it had to be the title. Now I know if your blog is titled, "Mrs. Moore's Third Grade Mathematicians" it would be much better to have an address like math3.blogspot.com rather than mrsmooresthirdgrademathematicians.blogspot.com. Make it easy for your readers to remember where to come if they don't have a blog reader service.

#3 Follow the steps on Blogger to create your blog.
(There are many other platforms, but when training a group it is easier to stick with one and we know it is unblocked where we teach.) It literally only takes a few minutes.
#4 Make a post before you leave!
I like teachers to make a post telling something interesting about themselves or telling about their summer adventures. This gives us the opportunity to learn about hyperlinking and looking for images for the post. Also, it gives the reader something to read when they go there, because they will give out the address right away!
As I went through my Blogging 101 sessions last week, one of my seasoned blogging teachers said, "Hey, what about me?" I said, "You already know how to blog!" She said, "Teach me something I don't know how to do!" So.... Blogging 201 formed.

Here's what I decided to do in Blogging 201:
#1 Ways to build your readership.
Read other blogs and comment so they will track back to you and read yours. Blogs are for two way communication, leave thought provoking posts with open ended questions at the end of the post soliciting responses. Make sticker labels to put in students' daily planners to remind parents to read the blog ad comment.

#2 Tagging
If you tag your posts they will be easier for people to find and link to you. You will also be able to sort through your old posts easier.

#3 Images
One of the first things I noticed as I continued to read blogs was the images that other bloggers were using in their posts. It always seemed like everyone found better images than I did. Most teachers know how to use Google images to find a particular image, but most don't know about stock photos. Here are my favorite free sites:
Stock.xchng
Stock Vault
Public Domain Photos
Every Stock Photo

#4 HTML Code
Now, I don't know much about html code, but I handle it like I do everything else...I fiddle until I figure it out. I've had many people ask me why a widget or video posted on their blog was too wide. Sometimes I can't fix it. But...many times if you look through the code and find something that says: width 350 x 550 or something like that, you can tweak the numbers until it fits. The key here is writing down the original numbers in case you need to go back to the beginning.
101 and 201 Bloggers alike have started off this first week of school with their blogs which are all linked on our school webpage under Websites, Blogs and Wikis. We'd love for you to follow us!

Melanie Holtsman

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Second Life with Daniel Pink

One of the reasons I wanted to know more about Second Life was the professional development opportunities there. Recently, Kevin Jarrett put out on twitter that Daniel Pink would be presenting about his new book, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko. Last year, I read A Whole New Mind and loved it - so I couldn't wait to hear about Daniel's new book.

I followed the link to his event and my Second Life avatar showed up in an area with a large screen and an avatar with Daniel Pink's name. (In Second Life, your name appears over your head.) See the photo with all the audience members? That's me in the maroon shirt, near the bench.
It was an interesting experience. The screen shows the slide show and as the presenter is speaking you can speak to other avatars and ask questions. I can't wait to try it again!

Johnny Bunko is a different business book that Daniel Pink has written entirely in manga . Here's a video to tell you more about it.

Melanie Holtsman

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Back to School - Jeff Utecht Style

Today was the first day back to school for teachers in my district. At my school, our theme and focus for the new year is technology. We're going on a "Virtual Learning Adventure"! We arrived at school this morning ready to board school buses to be shuttled to our county's professional development center. The room was prepared for a day of learning and connectivity with laptops at each table.

After our principal welcomed us all back to the new year, we were fortunate enough to receive a skype call from Jeff Utecht. Jeff was able to capture his screen and show us on Google Earth a mini-bio of Jeff Utecht, from Washington to Bangkok. What a great way to connect right away to this amazing international educator. The room was silent as Jeff shared his thoughts about harnessing online tools for education and giving students a global audience for their work. In the short time span of about ten minutes he was able to show them some websites with powerful collaborative possiblilities and global audience.



The impact on my faculty was evident in their notes to Jeff:

Jeff,
This morning's presentation by you was perfect. You punctuated so many of my points for today - I think our faculty really loved hearing from a REAL teacher! Thank you for taking the time to visit with us.
Susan Phillips, Principal

Jeff, You made my head spin with all of the possibilities that we each have as educators. This morning you gave each of us the confidence that "we could empower our students in the world of technology".
My thanks to you for a great 1st day.
KK Cherney, Media Specialist

It is very nice to know that in a very fast-pace changing world, we will always have someone to teach and guide us along the way. I am very excited about infusing technology into my first grade classroom this year. However, I know that I have to take it one step at a time and I'm very thankful that we have instructional help from teachers such as yourself that are willing to walk us through the process, no matter where each of our own individual start lines are. Thank you for taking the time to share with us!!
-Haley Alvarado 1st Grade Teacher

It was great to have the opportunity to learn from an expert who had such a modest and personable presence. I really enjoyed hearing about all of the places that Jeff has traveled to as well as some of the "rough" conditions he experienced :) He spoke in a practical manner and gave applicable every day ideas and suggestions that I am eager to try out in my classroom. Not to mention, I had a major mojito craving by the end of the conversation! [Jeff said that on the first day, teachers were probably thinking about the mojitos they wish they were having]
Jen Zawis, Teacher of the Gifted


I would just like to thank Jeff, first of all for his time. He didn't have to stay up late, but because he is so passionate about what he does, and about educating others, he did. I thought his message, the fact that we were actually speaking to him half way around the world tied in our theme and excited the faculty. He shared many new and informative sites, ideas, and I loved his message, '"being safe in a new learning landscape" because so many of us have those concerns.
Christy Constande, 4th Grade Teacher

As I sit hear tonight and think about all the possibilities that Jeff opened up to us today, I am still simply amazed that we were able to hear and interact with someone in Manila! As commonplace as that must be for so many people around the world, it still blows me away. I think Jeff made me believe that there is nothing that we can't do if we can imagine it. I'm already thinking about an Australian wiki for first grade teachers as they study about the country during their Author Study of Mem Fox and skyping in a friend that is playing baseball for the Canadian team at the Olympics so he can have a conversation with 5th grade students learning about China and... the list goes on and on. I just can't thank Jeff enough for taking his time to help me believe in what I once would have thought was impossible!
dayle timmons, Exceptional Education Teacher

Jeff, I was completely enthralled with your presentation this morning as we viewed you from the Schultz Center. What a great way to start the new school year by hearing from someone so knowledgeable and real as you! I had heard of you from Melanie, as she just thinks that you walk on water. Now, I can see why. You are a very cool guy who is not only on the cutting edge with technology, but you are a very real and normal guy, with a terrific sense of humor. You explained things to our faculty, in a way that is easy to understand without making anyone feel ignorant or incompetent.You made us feel like any of us could do what you were explaining. Thank you for being so motivating, inspiring, and for believing in us and making us feel that one day we might know what you know in technology. One of the many quotes from your presentation that I wrote down was, "Create content through a medium they love to use." This statement really hit the bull's eye with me. As teachers, we are always trying to find ways to connect to our students and motivate them. Technology is meeting them where they are and taking them further. I got so much out of your presentation. Thank you for taking your time to share your knowledge. It will reach more people than you could ever imagine as we use it to accelerate our students' learning.
Dorry Lopez, 4th Grade Teacher

Jeff, I loved listening to you this morning. You are such a great motivator and I really enjoyed getting my brain started to think about how I can push myself to new limits along with my students. Thank you for sharing your passion with us.
Debbie Harbour, 1st Grade Teacher

What fun to speak with Jeff this morning. He was such a nice "everyday" teacher, it made the whole concept of web 2.0 seem more attainable to many of us, I think. I loved some of his simple ideas that he relayed with us for elementary level applications (i.e. publishing via personal page of class blog). Like Jeff, I, too, loved the comment from the child's father. How powerful is that? What a special treat for a child to receive such public praise and current connection from their loved ones!
I'm looking forward to making connections with other students, teachers, and other interesting people around the globe this year. I have recently felt the power of how the internet can bring people together (via Facebook). I've been fortunate to reestablish connections with old friends and family who, now, have scattered themselves around the world. I am excited and inspired to draw them into my classroom and share their global knowledge and experiences with my students.
Thanks, Jeff, for your time today! I've added your blog to my reader and look forward to tagging along on your journeys!
Jenny E. Nash , 3rd Grade Teacher

Dear Jeff, I want to thank you for your time and insight into the world of technology and its impact on education today. You had a wonderful impromptu presentation - it was interesting and insightful.
Thanks again, Maria Mallon, 1st Grade Teacher
P.S. I skipped the Mohito and had a Margarita instead :)

Master Jeff in a sort-of Jedi way,
Your message really made me feel like I am going in the right direction with my teaching (blogging, web page building , emailing (ruarkt@duvalschools.org )...). I do agree that the powers that be need to worry less about the flow of inappropriate information at the expense of the flow of meaningful info. We must model and then trust kids to do the right things. I would love for my kids to have an open and genuine wiki for homework help, but I fear that if I over-manage the endeavor, the kids will not engage, and without engagement you have nada. I am all ears, if you or others have suggestions.
Thanks for your time and your insights. I love to listen to people that simply have the will to make things work out, gives me hope!
Peace to all,
Tom Ruark, 5th Grade Teacher

Jeff, Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences with us. We're so excited about expanding our classroom to, virtually, the world! I especially enjoyed the Google Earth tour. My father-in-law is a huge fan of GE and shows us all kinds of places when he comes for a visit. (For example, the house he grew up in back in Ill.). Now I have something to share with him - the compound in Saudi Arabia was my favorite. I hope you have a wonderful school year and I look forward to reading your blog.
Sincerely, Lori Metzger, 3rd Grade Teacher


I absolutely love watching technology in action in the teaching world. It is amazing to me to see how easy collaboration becomes through Skype, Wikis, etc. What a great way to bring the world and so many different cultures into our classroom at the click of a mouse. Thank you Jeff for taking the time to share your world with us.
Melissa Ross, 2nd Grade Teacher

A mentor once taught me that nothing will ever change until there is a sense of urgency established. Too often, it is my fear that teachers don’t feel that sense of urgency the way say business executives trying to drive up profits would. However, I feel that the tide is changing. Technology and Web 2.0 have made the world so much smaller, so much more connected. That is why I was so excited when Melanie said that Jeff had graciously agreed to Skype with our faculty on opening day. Teachers not only got to hear about how connected the world truly is, but got to experience it first hand. I hope Jeff realizes the aftermath that his conversation is having. Teachers, today, when they could be doing any number of other things, are setting up wikis, creating blogs, and sharing ideas about infusing technology to promote student engagement. They will most definitely have students writing to a world wide audience this year. They will know their voice is heard. Thank you Jeff for planting the seed of urgency and possibilities! I know this year will most certainly be a Virtual Learning Adventure!
Suzanne Shall, Standards Coach

Thank you again, Jeff, for your time and inspiration - as you can see, talking to you was just the ticket to get our year started!

Melanie Holtsman

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Latest Videogame: Your Classroom!

Video games...kids love them. They can't wait until they get home to play them. They hold their attention for an extended period of time. They hate it when they get them taken away as punishment. Kids that can't sit still for a fifteen minute mini lesson sit glued on the spot while interacting in the video-virtual environment.

How can this behavior translate to a classroom? What teacher doesn't want her students to love their classroom? Look forward to coming every day? Pay attention to every morsel of information delivered in the lesson? How can we make our classroom more like a video game?

David Warlick, in Web 2.0 New Tools, New Schools, says we need to study the experience of video gaming for a child. Here are the elements that keep the kids returning with gusto for more:
1. Responsiveness
2. Convert-able and convers-able rewards - Kids work to increase their own level. This is desirable for bragging rights and also to share strategies/short-cuts used to achieve their level. Also, when moving up levels the game environment changes.
3. Personal investment - Video game developers learned that kids return to games they have invested in. This can be done by generating currency in the game, health points, extra powers or an inventory. Kids have to invest time, skill and learning into the game to increase their level.
4. Identity building - Customizing your video-game presence. Personalizing the player's experience.
5. Dependability - Most video games give a sense of the solution to the problem being attainable in some way.

This got me thinking...how can a classroom environment harness these powerful elements? I think the easiest thing would be identity building. As a classroom teacher, every summer I worked hard to decorate my classroom and label each desk with names. Everything matched and looked great. I never thought about the fact that it was an identity I assigned. Each desk could have an identity the kids assign. Some easy ways to do that? Allow the kids to cover their desk with a piece of gift wrap from home ( or bring an assortment in ), by the time they tore off it would be time to choose a new identity. They could put stickers, notes or photos taped on the wrap. Students could bring little pillows from home to sit in their chair. Or...have a class project to bring in a favorite fabric pattern and sew them in class. Allow students to move around the room to work if they work well that way. Many of the teachers at my school allow kids to choose an area of the classroom for their "book nook" for reading.

Think about what kind of personal investment your students have in your class behavior system. I think the biggest mistake teachers make is never varying what they do throughout the year. Change the rewards involved or offer alternatives. Allow students to earn non-tangibles such as special priviledges (helping out in another class for 30 minutes, inviting someone from another class to recess, eating lunch with the teacher one on one...if you need new ideas, ask the kids for suggestions). Offer rewards "points" for coming to school on time, kindness, 100% effort, neat personal spaces, etc.

Most teachers probably feel their class encompasses dependability already. We feel like we give students strategies to attack problems and comprehend...but many students still aren't getting it and they know they should because everyone else is understanding. Do they know what to do? They don't want to raise their hand or admit in public a lack of understanding. Provide a private way for students to communicate. Have a teacher mailbox on your desk for notes. Let them know the solution is attainable and they can ALWAYS say they don't understand.

Convert-able and convers-able rewards is a BIG new idea. Bragging can seem negative, but what if we allow students to be "experts" on certain things. You can make a chart on your wall that labels experts on topics such as: naturally good spellers, organizers, multiplication facts, artist, welcoming committee for visitors, musical, book reviewers, etc... Students would then have permission to go to those students for needs in those areas and would generate an opportunity for bragging when the student explains why they are an expert. It could be possible that one day a week you allow an "expert" to teach a strategy on what they are good at doing.

The only thing I think about responsiveness is that sometimes the relationship you have with your students can be more powerful and life changing than any other thing you do all year. Think about how well you know you students. Is there a way you can know them better?

I hope this idea of looking at your classroom the way a child looks at a videogame has impacted your thinking like it has mine. I can't wait to hear your thoughts and your ideas...

Melanie Holtsman

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