This is a series of articles on how and which technologies you might use to support the eight individual intelligences as defined in Dr. Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Here is a sequential outline of the articles:

•  Introduction
• Word Smart (linguistic intelligence)
• Number Smart (logical-mathematical intelligence)
• Picture Smart (spatial intelligence)
• Body Smart (kinesthetic intelligence)
• Music Smart (musical intelligence)
• People Smart (interpersonal intelligence)
• Self Smart (intrapersonal intelligence)
• Nature Smart (naturalistic intelligence)

Your comments, thoughts and ideas are encouraged! Thank you – Jason

Just wanted to share highlights from a recent Edutopia newsletter titled “How to Bring Outdoor Education to Your Class.” You can find the online version here.

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Take a Hike: How to Make Being Outdoors In

As gaming devices supplant games of catch, schools counter nature-deficit disorder with outdoor experiences.

by Susan Brenna

Though his parents once lived in the countryside in Mexico, Juan Martinez grew up in crowded Los Angeles, barely noticing the earth and sky that was masked by the concrete and smog. Six years ago, when Martinez was fifteen, his science teacher proposed he earn extra credit and raise his failing grade by joining the school’s ecology club. He found he liked working in the school garden, which led to a trip to the Teton Science Schools, in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park. It changed his life.

More at Take a Hike: How to Make Being Outdoors In | Edutopia.

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It’s All Happening at the Zoo School: Innovative Education with Practical Applications

At Minneapolis’s School of Environmental Studies, learning is about becoming an expert and solving real problems.

by Diane Curtis

When Mark LaCroix and his classmates at Minnesota’s School of Environmental Studies (SES) discovered patches of buckthorn crowding out native species at a local park, they didn’t just write up their findings as a science report to be read by the teacher and then handed back. They compiled data in a form familiar to government agencies and submitted a technical report to local officials, who used the information to direct park gardeners to eradicate the invasive plant.

More at It’s All Happening at the Zoo School: Innovative Education with Practical Applications | Edutopia.

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Five Tips for Introducing Outdoor Education to Your Class

Follow these easy-to-implement suggestions about how to go outside with learning.

by Andrea Mills

This how-to article accompanies the feature “Early-Childhood Education Takes to the Outdoors.”

Here are five ways to adopt the ideas behind the Waldkindergarten concept:

1. 1. Partner with a Local Nature Center
   2. Connect with a Natural-Education Initiative
   3. Network with Other Professionals
   4. Bring the Forest to Campus
   5. Gear Up

via Five Tips for Introducing Outdoor Education to Your Class | Edutopia.

With the advent of the ESU 10 facility expansion, the need for a kiosk to help guide visitors to their destination was apparent. Four key spots were identified to locate these new welcome centers. One at each east entrance, one in the hallway connecting the two wings, and one at the entrance of the north conference room entrance.

Initially, the electronic welcome centers will have a color map of the building and daily workshop/meeting information to direct our visitors.

There has been much talk about what version 2 (and beyond) of the Welcome Centers could offer. The more they get used and as more potential is envisioned, we will update these devices and hopefully make the experience for our visitors more inviting and pleasurable.

After reading “There’s silver lining to Google’s cloud computing glitch” by John Naughton, I pondered the following quote:

Andy Grove, then the CEO of Intel, said in 1999, “In five years, companies that are not internet companies won’t be companies at all.” He was widely ridiculed at the time. But in fact he was very perceptive. What he meant was that we were entering a period when internet access would become like electricity supply: very few companies generate electricity, but all companies use – and rely on - it.

More and more great services are available “in the cloud” but they require Internet access. This makes me thing about the “Internet OS.” What is next in providing access to all of these resources? Google Gears is a next step but only a stepping stone in my eyes. Operating Systems are going to take on a whole new dynamic in the future and it will be based on cloud computing. What are your thoughts?

An excerpt from an article by the Associated Press. What are your thoughts?

Schools:

A main goal of education spending in the stimulus bill is to help keep teachers on the job.

Nearly 600,000 jobs in elementary and secondary schools could be eliminated by state budget cuts over the next three years, according to a study released this past week by the University of Washington. Fewer teachers means higher class sizes, something that districts are scrambling to prevent.

The stimulus sets up a $54 billion fund to help prevent or restore state budget cuts, of which $39 billion must go toward kindergarten through 12th grade and higher education. In addition, about $8 billion of the fund could be used for other priorities, including modernization and renovation of schools and colleges, though how much is unclear, because Congress decided not to specify a dollar figure.

The Education Department will distribute the money as quickly as it can over the next couple of years.

And it adds $25 billion extra to No Child Left Behind and special education programs, which help pay teacher salaries, among other things.

This money may go out much more slowly; states have five years to spend the dollars, and they have a history of spending them slowly. In fact, states don’t spend all the money; they return nearly $100 million to the federal treasury every year.

The stimulus bill also includes more than $4 billion for the Head Start and Early Head Start early education programs and for child care programs.

Your challenge today is to refine your searches so that you only see a relevant number of results applicable to the search you are doing. When doing searches, it is easy to just take the first couple results and assume they are the best. Google does a good job of putting relevant information at the top but it also can’t read your mind.

That’s where Advanced Search comes in. It lets you think about those keywords that work with your search. With the advanced search, it is easier to find results based on:

• All search terms you enter (AND)
• An exact phrase you type (“quotes”)
• At least one of the words typed (OR)
• Words you DON’T want in your search (NOT)

And more…. let’s consider some examples.

You want to do a search for dolphins and are finding that the football team keeps intruding your results.  Your search could look something like this: 

dolphins “marine mammal“ atlantic OR gulf –miami –football

You will find a host of other options in both the Advanced Search, Search Features and the More Google Products page.

Monday morning, I am getting ready for a workshop in one of our conference rooms. Setting up tables, laying out electrical reels, putting necessities on the tables: all of activities normally reserved for another day with educators. Sue walk in and asks, “How are you feeling?” A little confused, I responded, “Fine. Why?” “I was just wondering how your back was after you and the boys moved all of that sand,” she responded. “How did you know we did that?” I asked. “It was on your Facebook!” she exclaimed.

More and more people are using social networking sites to communicate and share. Not only for personal use but professional use as well. I use some for personal, some for professional use – and always try to keep the two separate, of course. (That’s probably a topic for blogging in itself!) Social Networking has received a bad rapport in schools, I believe, because it has been untamed, unchartered territory. Our students were the ones paving the way and, well, they haven’t had much direction on HOW or WHAT it should be used for.

Let’s get in and explore a couple of different social networking sites and see how it might benefit your or your students.

Twitter – I already spoke to this in a previous blog post. Highlights are personal professional development, networking, social filtering and more.

Facebook – I use this for keeping up with family and friends. Sharing what we are doing, pictures, and fun applications that they have to enhance the online social networking environment.

LinkedIn – This is the “professional” version of Facebook. Professionals all over the world share their experiences, resumes, and create groups to schedule events and collaborate.

Ning – A social networking site that allows you to create your own group to share blogs, upload files and media, participate in discussions, meet new people and much more. This is been a popular site for educators to create interest groups.

ESU 10 Communities – Communities of educators in ESU 10 that allow the sharing of their interests, files, websites, etc. in a blog format. 

ALI or Apple Learning Interchange – Educator driven lessons and ideas to support learning using technology. Lots of groups, collaboration and general information.

These are just a few of the social networks out there. I challenge you to try one of them and see how it might work in your classroom!

Animation-ish, based on the book by Peter H. Reynolds called Ish, is a wonderful cross-platform tool to get started with animation. Fablevision has also created lessons for use in almost every curricular area: Counseling, English, Foreign Language, Handwriting, Health, History, Language Arts, Life Science, Mathematics, Music, Reading, Science, Social Sciences, Social Studies and Technology Education.

Another Fablevision Ambassador, Terry Shay, was integral in developing curriculum ideas. You can see a few examples on his blog. Also from his blog: All about Animation-ish.

buzzz buzzz buzzz – buzzz buzzz buzzz

From: 62262
Polls are open in Nebraska until 8pm. For location info visit: VoteForChange.com

Just a little reminder to go out and vote. (Not that I would have missed THIS election!) Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to send our students a reminder on their phones to let them know of an upcoming quiz or test? Maybe they need to do an extra workout for volleyball on Saturday. Just a gentle reminder to read chapter 4 before tomorrow? Whatever it may be, sometimes a little note to remind us is helpful.

Send them a text message. Collect their phone numbers and create a group on your phone to send them a message. It will take some time to set it up initially but after it is set up, it only take the time to write a text message.

Can’t or don’t want to text on your phone? You can also send an email message to a phone. For example: get your students phone number, format an email message, send it to their phone. If they use Alltel, the email address is 3085551212@message.alltel.com. Try it! Send yourself a message using your phone number in place of the number in the email address. Then, set up a distribution list will all the phone number/email addresses and send one message to the whole group!

Discover – Learn – Share

I have blogged in the past about the importance of RSS or Real Simple Syndication. It is a way to read blogs or subscribe to web pages so you don’t have to visit the site every day to see if there are updates. Google Reader is a simple free tool to keep track of your subscriptions and let you know if there are any feeds you have not viewed.

CommonCraft – Blogs in Plain English

Take a tour of Google Reader.
Getting Started

Google Reader Help
Google Reader Help Group
Official Google Reader Blog

Interesting blogs to check out and subscribe to:
Directory of Education Blogs – http://education.alltop.com/
Directory of Teacher Blogs – http://classblogmeister.com/
Kindergarten Blog – http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blog_id=569849