426,000 Cell Phones

According to Tom Foremski (2007), this is the number of cell phones Americans throw away each day.  The following link provides a television-static-like image, which zooms into to show just how many cell phones makeup the image.  I'm sure 426,000 grows when Apple comes out with a new phone--currently the iPhone 4S.  How many people will upgrade to the iPhone 5 and how many will discard their "old" phones?

Here are some other interesting cell phone facts:

• 4.6 billion mobile phone users worldwide
• 255,000,000 (2007) active accounts in the USA

Of course, 426,000 is an old number, and numbers can be inaccurate.  I am not trying to discredit my information, but the numbers are only important to illustrate my point.  My focus isn't on the environmental impact this is having on the world; instead, I want to point to this social fulcrum as a teaching tool.  It creates a "teaching point" and cell phones can engage students with mundane content taught merely to appease the standard-police (older cell phone blog post).

Why discard the cell phone from the classroom?  Why can't it be used?  Put cell phones on silent rather than putting them away.  Use cell phones to engage students with the lesson being taught.  Lastly, teach students how to use them appropriately within school.  Students have been using them inappropriately within class, but now is the time to directly teach how to utilize them effectively.  Here is a video of a teacher "getting upset" (understatement) with a student's cell phone usage within class.



After that video, one more cell phones was thrown away, which makes the count 426,001.  Who is at fault here?  The professor is mad that the student is blatantly disrespecting his lecture, and the student is obviously oblivious to appropriate cell phone etiquette.

With Digital Learning Day, February 1st, approaching, how can the cell phone be used?

Textbook companies need to embrace cell phone apps for the classroom.  Apps that can be used within class.  Dictionaries, researching, or referencing (for proper citations) apps to assist students with reliable information.  Phone companies should sponsor text services, which could allow students to send text messages to the classroom's interactive whiteboard.   This could be the catalyst needed to engage students in discussion on a regular basis.  With 426,000 cell phones thrown away daily, it is rare to find a student without a cell phone.

Podcasting in the Classroom: Photo Story 3

This podcast was created to provide students an overview for using Photo Story 3.  But most importantly, my 4th grade students are publishing their stories, while participating in digital storytelling.



Connie Malamed provides a great blog post to validate the use of digital storytelling.  I am looking forward to engaging students within the world of digital storytelling.

Student projects to come...

Digital Storytelling Grant

The following grant was written to provide students and teachers with training on digital storytelling. The project was designed to apply 1:1 computing and hands-on technology to enhance student's digital literacy. The program engages students in e-reading, e-writing, and video production, while using the iPad 2 Learning Lab.

Open publication - Free publishing - More ipad 2 grant

The digital storytelling initiative(final1)vb

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Social Bookmarking: The New Webquest

Social Bookmarking

Social Bookmarking is like your browser's (i.e. Internet Explorer, Fire Fox, Safari, etc.) favorites button, but it’s on the web. So, you get an on-the-go favorites list. One presenter compared compiling reliable websites to creating digital playgrounds for student exploration. In a sense, social bookmarking provides students with a guide to acquire worthwhile and appropriate information. Basically, it is like a web quest with a sharable URL. Diigo and Sqworl both provide a snapshot of the websites homepage, which follows what research tells us about facing book covers toward students.

1. Diigo (check out this Diigo starter sheet)
2. Delicious (check out this Delicious starter sheet)
3. Sqworl
4. Scoop.it
5. MentorMob

With the holidays approaching, my wife and I have been having a difficult time finding a gift for our nieces and nephews.  Our nieces and nephew's list has been distributed to several people, and after a purchase is made we find out someone else has already bought the item.  This can get annoying; so, I suggested social bookmarking for the kids gift list.  Let's see if this works.  Now, I just have to train people how to use the web tool. 

What other forms of social bookmarking are out there?  How are you utilizing it within your classroom?

Writing in Math on the State Test

Here is an instructional unit I developed to improve students' writing in math on the state test.  The unit was created using the Kemp model for instructional design.  I know it is sad that I have to do this, but tests scores are politician's bread and butter. 

Writinginmath

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This is the report with an introduction to the instructional problem, needs analysis, facilitator guide, and student guide.

Open publication - Free publishing - More istep

Open publication - Free publishing - More istep

Student Products

To present the information to students, I created a Student Guide, Prezi presentation and Xtranormal video.

Open publication - Free publishing - More istep

Writing a Response on Prezi