Educational Technology @ Hotchkiss

Teens and Texting

BethRitterGuth@gmail.com (Beth Ritter-Guth) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 06:27:22 PST

Mr. Maier, Math Teach Extraordinaire, sent this article to me. It is a fascinating look at teens and texting!

We Didn't Start the Fire

BethRitterGuth@gmail.com (Beth Ritter-Guth) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 06:55:19 PST

Time Magazine's Top Ten Lists

BethRitterGuth@gmail.com (Beth Ritter-Guth) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 06:53:21 PST

Time Magazine has dished up its top ten lists for 2008.

The lists are interesting!

ISTE NETS-S Wiki - Awesome!!!

BethRitterGuth@gmail.com (Beth Ritter-Guth) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 11:45:29 PST

http://nets-implementation.iste.wikispaces.net/

One Hip Cool School

BethRitterGuth@gmail.com (Beth Ritter-Guth) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 11:44:57 PST

New Technology High School

Online Safety

BethRitterGuth@gmail.com (Beth Ritter-Guth) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 11:21:03 PST

All About Diigo

BethRitterGuth@gmail.com (Beth Ritter-Guth) — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 22:27:18 PST

I had the excellent fortune to speak at the 2008 TABS (The Association of Boarding Schools) conference in Baltimore this past Friday. My talk, "Geek Speak Unveiled: A Technology Primer for All," is located here (the mp3 and video will be available later tomorrow).

After the session ended, many folks asked which tools are the most useful. Hands down, the Google Suite is the most complete. But, aside from Google, Diigo is the best educational tool I have come across in a long time.

Diigo is a social bookmarking tool. It allows me to bookmark my own things, share bookmarks, annotate/clip them, twitter them and post them on Facebook. I also subscribe to a boat load of groups and, thus, get all their posts, too.

Diigo is easy to use; at least it seems easier than Del.icio.us or Digg. I have the toolbar installed on Firefox, and when a goodie is worth sharing, one little click gets the process started.

For students, collaborative research is easier than ever before. I can't WAIT to use it in a classroom!!!!

Educational Fair Use

BethRitterGuth@gmail.com (Beth Ritter-Guth) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:03:09 PST

How to Search Google

BethRitterGuth@gmail.com (Beth Ritter-Guth) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 06:37:06 PST

Here are tips straight from Google:

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The Connected Learner

BethRitterGuth@gmail.com (Beth Ritter-Guth) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 06:28:43 PST

This is an excellent video on learning in 2008:

Are these the 21st Century Skills Our Students Need?

BethRitterGuth@gmail.com (Beth Ritter-Guth) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:03:52 PDT

Wes Fryer posted this great video on the skills he believes will be essential in the future. He says the top three skills needed are for students to have the ability to create, communicate, and collaborate. Watch his video here:

ISTE Sets New Standards for Teachers and Technology

BethRitterGuth@gmail.com (Beth Ritter-Guth) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:35:47 PDT

The International Society for Teaching and Education sets the rubric for national computing standards. At the recent National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) held is San Antonio, TX, ISTE released its newest technology standards.

Cool Tool Alert! Diigo

BethRitterGuth@gmail.com (Beth Ritter-Guth) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:38:22 PDT

Diigo is a new tool I learned about at NECC. I also learned about using Chatzy as a virtual room.

Here is a video about Diigo:

Cool Tool Alert! Link Checker by SEO Tools

BethRitterGuth@gmail.com (Beth Ritter-Guth) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 10:04:42 PDT

SEO Tools offers a free link checker! This is a great tool for sites like College English.........there are over 5000 links in the many, many pages of that site!

SEO is fast and easy to use.

Wordle

BethRitterGuth@gmail.com (Beth Ritter-Guth) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:28:22 PDT

Way too much free time? Try Wordle! it is kind of fun, actually. I did a Wordle of my Del.icio.us links! Thanks, Loony!

Time's Best Websites

BethRitterGuth@gmail.com (Beth Ritter-Guth) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:34:54 PDT

Here are Time's Best Websites of 2008! This is an interesting list.

NMC 2008 @ Princeton

BethRitterGuth@gmail.com (Beth Ritter-Guth) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:51:04 PDT

Here is a link to my NMC presentation at Princeton: Rez High the Virtual Rooftops

If you want to access the wiki, it is located here.

Leadership Day!

BethRitterGuth@gmail.com (Beth Ritter-Guth) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 10:08:20 PDT

Leadership Day is up and coming! Thanks to Dr. Scott McLeod, we can all participate by blogging about education.

Please read Scott's post about the state of technology in education. It is a GREAT read!

Join in on Leadership Day! Blog your thoughts on July 4, 2008! Tag your work, so that Scott can track it.

Technorati Tags:

leadershipday2008, schooltechleadership

Luke Glendening off to Michigan!

BethRitterGuth@gmail.com (Beth Ritter-Guth) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 23:03:29 PDT

Hotchkiss post-grad, Luke Glendening, is off to play hockey for the University of Michigan. Good luck, Luke!

Cool Tool Alert! VideoFetcher

BethRitterGuth@gmail.com (Beth Ritter-Guth) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:09:32 PDT

VideoFetcher finds videos in 100 different spots! This is great if you are looking for videos to add to your course.

I searched for Thoreau, and this is what it looks like:

Thanks to Paul Glazowski for the tip!

Turning the Pages

BethRitterGuth@gmail.com (Beth Ritter-Guth) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:25:21 PDT

The British Library publishes actual e-texts of British literature, and you can literally flip through pages and see them as they are in real life! Thanks, Larry Ferlazzo, for the tip!

9 Reasons for Technology in Education

BethRitterGuth@gmail.com (Beth Ritter-Guth) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:12:51 PDT

Tech Learning has an excellent article about the 9 Excellent Reasons for Technology in Education. Read the full article, but here are the 9 reasons:

1. Expansion of Time and Space
2. Depth of Understanding
3. Learning vs Teaching
4. New Media for Self Expression
5. Collaboration
6. Going Global
7. Individual Pacing and Sequence
8. Weight
9. Personal Productivity

Thanks to Ray for the post!

True Team Spirit

BethRitterGuth@gmail.com (Beth Ritter-Guth) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:28:26 PDT

Loony Hiker posted this video about doing the RIGHT thing even when a championship is at stake. I was incredibly moved by the story, and I hope you will be, too.

Countless games go by without the praise of all the world, but two players from Central Washington, Mallory Holtman and Liz Wallace, deserve sincere praise for their sportswomanship. They carried Sarah Tucholsky, a player from the opposing team (Central Oregon), to second, third, and home base after she was injured smacking her first (and only) college home run. These two women deserve all the very best for demonstrating true team spirit!

I also praise the Washington's coach, Gary Frederick, for coaching a team with so much compassion. When I look back on sports I played, I am not sure my coaches would have been happy with a move that would cost us the game and the championship, but, clearly, his players knew that doing what is right is more important than winning.

Hot Tot Vacation Spot

BethRitterGuth@gmail.com (Beth Ritter-Guth) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:30:28 PDT

Need a groovy place to visit this summer that is fun, wholesome, and family friendly? Try out Lancaster and Strasburg, PA!

Next week, Strasburg Railroad is hosting "A Day out with Thomas." We just returned home from a quick jaunt, and we stayed at the Red Caboose Motel...it was AWESOME! All of the rooms are rebuilt (and decorated) cabooses! They have all sorts of packages for families, couples, and groups. In the heart of Amish country, there is a cool train car restaurant (with great food), an awesome gift store with something for everyone (train nut, quilter, etc.) with a running train display, a petting zoo with the looniest goat I ever met, a watch tower, and a very cool playground (our kids wouldn't leave until sun down!). Sleeping in a caboose was simply fantastic. The boys slept in caboose bunks, and we stayed in a double. Most importantly, the staff at the Red Caboose is the friendliest staff I have EVER met at a hotel. I have stayed at 5 star hotels all across the nation, and none of them can even hold a candle to the folks at the Red Caboose!

So, if you are looking to do some shopping at the Liz Claiborne outlet, see the Toy Train Museum or the PA Train Museum, wanting to ride a gorgeous restored train from the Victorian era, or take a buggy ride through the heart of Amish country, check out Lancaster/Strasburg!

The Amazing Spirit Within

BethRitterGuth@gmail.com (Beth Ritter-Guth) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 10:54:06 PDT

Vicki Davis shared this video of Paul Potts. It is TRULY inspirational. From the outside, Paul looks like any guy on the street...it is only when he starts to sing that we realize that he is not just an ordinary man.