The Fine Arts Teachers' Community RSS feed

Music: Sound Tree Web-Training - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:06:54 GMT

Just saw this web site with trainings on it! This is music with technology trainings. See what you think and let every one know here in the comments!

http://soundtree.com/web-training

0 Comments

Basic Clickers Workshop ~ March 24, 2010 - Carol Smith

Carol Smith — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Basic Clickers Workshop ~ March 24, 2010 ~ 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. ~ ESU 10 ~ Kearney

One of the hottest items in instructional technology is the use of “clickers” or audience response systems. Students use remotes to answer questions before, during, and after a lesson thereby allowing teachers to get instant feedback about student understanding. Dustin Frank will lead a workshop for eInstruction clickers using the Classroom Performance System (CPS). If you are using eInstruction clickers or want to learn more about what they can do, this workshop is for you! To register go to: https://odie.esu10.org/

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Fine Arts 2.0 Today! - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Today's agenda and notes can be accessed at the following website! Thanks everyone for attending!
http://tr.im/finearts2010feb

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Music Education Via Video Conference - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 06:00:00 GMT

I was just sent this by the distance learning department. This is fantastic! Check it out!
How can we do this in Nebraska? How can we use this school for our benefit? How can this be applied to the visual arts?

Best Practices: The Manhattan School of Music (MSM)

The Manhattan School of Music hails as the first conservatory in the country to incorporate video conferencing into its music performance curriculum. Offering master classes, professional development and much more, MSM demonstrates best practices in distance learning.

Learn more <http://app.info.polycom.com/e/er.aspx?s=1078&lid=1283&elq=32609e7a0c1d4ead94a7249008b7ca01>

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Finding Black colored pencils - Deb Miller

Deb Miller — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Does anyone know where I can find packages of black colored pencils. My students use a lot of black and I have looked to replace with just packages of black pencils but have been unable to find any. Looking for suggestions.

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Web Sites for you! - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Here are a few web sites that I thought you would like.

Good general lesson plan sites - http://tr.im/KjRO
Science Fair site - http://www.sciencebob.com/sciencefair/index.php
You Tube URL Tricks - http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-youtube-url-tricks-you-should-know-about/
ReTool Yourself (professional development ideas) - http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/25886
100 Web Tools for Collaboration - http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/26378

This last link is a video from a student demonstrating how her 7th grade science class is being run. This looked like a very engaging science class!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEls3tq5wIY&feature=youtu.be&a

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Classroom Instruction That Works Webinars - Carol Smith

Carol Smith — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 06:00:00 GMT

In this series we are featuring nine webinars on Marzano's instructional strategies. Each webinar will focus on the how to use specific instructional strategies in your classroom as well as technology tips and tricks to integrate along the way!

Each webinar is a one-hour session from 4-5PM. A day or so before the webinar, you will receive an email with instructions and the website for the webinar.

There is no driving or weather worries, all you need is a computer! Choose just one webinar to attend or choose them all! These are great refreshers if you attended Classroom Instruction That Works this last summer! Even if you don't know anything about these instructional strategies, please join us and find out all the easy ways of engaging and reaching your students.

Summarizing and Note Taking - January 19, 2010
Reinforcing Effort/Receiving Feedback - February 2, 2010
Homework and Practice - February 16, 2010
Non-Linguistic Representation - March 2, 2010
Cooperative Learning - March 23, 2010
Setting Objectives/Providing Feedback - April 6, 2010
Generating and Testing Hypothesis - April 20, 2010
Ques, Questions, and Advanced Organizers - May 4, 2010

Register on ODIE at https://odie.esu10.org/

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First Sunday's at Rowe Sanctuary! - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Looking for something other than shopping this Sunday? Come on out and join us for our December First Sunday @ Rowe starting at 1:30 p.m. http://rowesanctuary.org/first%20sundays.htm

With native grasses and fallen leaves rustling in the breeze and the symphony from flocks of birds streaming south, late fall is a great time to explore Rowe Sanctuary. This month’s program will take advantage of this natural music by offering a workshop called ‘The Music of Nature - The Nature of Music’ presented by former UNK professor of music Annabell Zikmund, and Rowe Volunteers Susan Elmore and Jackie Flohr.

Other activities include nature hikes and marshmallow roasting on an open campfire!

For more information:
Keanna Leonard, Education Director
Audubon's Rowe Sanctuary
44450 Elm Island Rd
Gibbon, NE 68840
308-468-5282

0 Comments

BAND: Free until Christmas 2009! iSchoolBand - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Check out iSchool Band (http://ischoolband.com/)! Just saw this one on Twitter and I had to get it out to you! This looks very cool! it is like a Blackboard for school bands and orchestras. I haven't dug into it too much (since I don't have a band to try it with) but it really looks like a nice site. They have a year for free if you get an account before Christmas 2009. After that it is $2.50 per student. What a great opportunity to try this out for nothing! I am just impressed that this is made just for bands! You don't often see that in other tools. (Usually band has to adjust to the terms of everyone else!) Check it out and let us know what you think of this tool! I am anxious to see how you guys would use iSchoolBand!

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Share Your Favorites! - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Everyone has a favorite lesson that they do with their students. Share YOUR favorite web site, tech tool, lesson, or activity! If you aren't sure, share something that have you seen and would like to implement at some time during the school year!

Learn and Share!

15 Comments

Fine Arts 2.0 Today! (notes and links) - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Agenda: (http://tr.im/fineartsagenda)

9:00 - Welcome & Introductions: Focus on You!
9:30 - Sharing Time: Share Your Favorite Tool, Web Site, or Lesson Ideas

Community - http://finearts.esu10.org
Pete's PowerPoint Station - http://www.pppst.com/
Online Stopwatch - http://www.online-stopwatch.com
Slacker (online music) - http://www.slacker.com/
Live Binder - http://livebinders.com/

12:00 - Lunch
Explore:

2:45 - Wrap-Up

What do you want to see at the next Fine Arts 2.0? Leave your comments!
Let's set a date for the next Fine Arts 2.0? FEBRUARY 16, 2010

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Music Education + Technology Podcast - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 05:00:00 GMT

I found this podcast that I thought many of you may like. It's focus is on combining music and technology for education! http://www.techtempo.com/MATS/ What do you think? Leave your comments!

0 Comments

ESU 10 Now Has GPS Units! - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:00:00 GMT

ESU 10 has purchased 15 Garmin eTrex Legend GPS units for teachers to checkout and use with their classroom! They can be checked out through ODIE!

More can be found in the description on the Media Library:
https://odie.esu10.org/library/MediaItemDetails.aspx?MediaItemID=54607

Also at: http://blog.esu10.org/gps Here you can find out more about the Global Positioning System devices as well as how-to's and instructional materials to go with the GPS's.

Let us know what you think! How will YOU use the GPS Devices with your students? Are you already doing a GPS project that you would like to share? Share this and other instructional materials here on this community!!!

0 Comments

wordpress Updates - Jason Everett

Jason Everett — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 05:00:00 GMT

WordPress Site for updates and information
Check out this website for current announcements, news, account requests, feature requests, training resources, and workshop information. Wordpress @ ESU 10 Blog Site

Mobile Support in WordPress @ ESU 10
Districts purchasing and supporting mobile computing now have the option of making their Wordpress site mobile accessible. Great for providing content to these mobile devices without having to sync them on an continual basis. Read more...

0 Comments

The Great Park Pursuit - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Fri, 08 May 2009 05:00:00 GMT

This would be a great adventure for families as well as classrooms! Check out http://www.negpp.org/! there is a challenge there to visit all of the 15 listed Nebraska state parks! If you want to participate, you must register there on the web site.

This might be a great summer project to continue to engage students in Nebraska Geography! Have your own Great Park Pursuit! Challenge your next group of students (any age would love this) to get to as many of Nebraska's parks this summer as they can. Once they get there, have them take a picture of the park sign and two more pictures from inside the park. They must then email those pictures to you, the teacher. You can create a map in Google Earth and mark their travels using the pictures they took! This would also make a great competition between class sections or maybe between conference schools! (They could even use their cell phones and send those pictures if your cell plan will handle that!)

Most importantly, encourage your students to get out and enjoy Nebraska's state parks!

http://www.negpp.org/

0 Comments

Jam Studio! - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Mon, 04 May 2009 05:00:00 GMT

If you haven't seen this site yet, you have to check it out! Jam Studio is a great site for creating your own music. Teachers can get an all access pass for their classrooms but there is a limited number available! Check it out at http://www.jamstudio.com/Studio/index.htm

Maybe this would be a great idea for an ESU-wide, contest or concert for the 2009-2010 school year! Let me know what you think?

0 Comments

Free Voice Lessons - Jason Everett

Jason Everett — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Now this is one you'll want to pass along to your students. In these tough times, not all families can afford to pay for lessons and so more and more are turning to the web.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWt2YJCJleY

Let me know what you think!

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Monday humor for our musically inclined... - Jason Everett

Jason Everett — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 06:00:00 GMT

C, E-flat and G go into a bar. The bartender says, "I'm sorry, but we don't serve minors." So E-flat leaves, and C and G have an open fifth between them. After a few drinks, the fifth is diminished, and G is out flat. F comes in and tries to augment the situation, but is not sharp enough.

D comes in and heads for the bathroom saying, "Excuse me. I'll just be a second." Then A comes in, but the bartender is not convinced that this relative of C is not a minor. Then the bartender notices B-flat hiding at the end of the bar and says, "Get out! You're the seventh minor I've found in this bar tonight."

E-Flat comes back the next night in a three-piece suit with nicely shined shoes. The bartender says, "You're looking sharp tonight. Come on in, this could be a major development." Sure enough, E-flat soon takes off his suit and everything else, and is au natural.

Eventually, C sobers up and realizes in horror that he's under a rest. C is brought to trial, found guilty of contributing to the diminution of a minor, and is sentenced to 10 years of DS without Coda at an upscale correctional facility. On appeal, however, C is found innocent of any wrongdoing, even accidental. The judge rules that all contrary motions are bassless.

1 Comments

We need the arts! - Jason Everett

Jason Everett — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Arts Education is crucial!http://tinyurl.com/az48rh

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Global Music - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 06:00:00 GMT

check out this lesson music teachers! What a fun activity! Use the mp3 files of Lean On Me to create your own version to share globally! For more information read...
http://globallean.edublogs.org/2009/02/09/the-global-lean-music-video-project/

0 Comments

Doodle for Google - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Here is a contest for you! your students can play with the Google logo and enter contest!
http://www.google.com/doodle4google/

0 Comments

What's Happening this Spring at Rowe Sanctuary? - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Rowe Sanctuary
Iain Nicolson Audubon Center
44450 Elm Island Road
Gibbon, NE 68840
Tel: 308-468-5282
www.rowesanctuary.org
www.audubon.org

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM OFFERINGS

C.S.I. (Crane Scene Investigations) (Approximately 2 hour program)
The largest gathering of sandhill cranes in the world happens right
here in Nebraska! You and your students are invited to become Crane
Scene Investigators and learn about these unique birds. We then take a
hike to a viewing blind. C.S.I. is designed with your students in mind
and only available from the first of March through the first of April.
Dates and times fill fast, so make your reservations early!

For downloadable educational videos, activities and lesson plans about
sandhill cranes, be sure to check out KIDS & CRANES on the CRANE
CAM sponsored by National Geographic and Rowe Sanctuary. Go to
www.rowesanctuary.org and click on CRANE CAM. The DVD is also available
in our Nature Store.

Earth Connections
Join award-winning artist and educator Caryl McHarney as she guides you
and your students through her hands-on approach to nature. No batteries
are required and no previous experience in drawing or journaling is
needed!

Caryl will be available March 23 through 27. Please call the education office for details.

OTHER PROGRAMS
Nebraska’s Waters & Wildlife
Let us design a program to meet the needs of your students. A variety
of outdoor activities and projects centered around the Platte River,
associated land and wildlife are available and have been correlated to
the state standards. Activities can include art, language arts, science
and social studies. This program is available throughout the year
except during March (See Crane JepBirdie). Program length is variable
and determined by you.

SPLASH (Senses Providing Language Arts Skills Help)
The focus of this program is to develop writing skills in a natural
way. We begin the day sharpening observations skills, and then turn our
attention to outdoor activities that include creative writing,
vocabulary building and word choice, and emphasis on figurative
language, similes, metaphors, personification and alliteration.
Activities include a river dig, hikes, and just getting dirty! Call for
more information.

PLEASE NOTE - Program Costs
Program cost is $3.00 per student for the first two hours and $1.00 per student for each additional hour.
For more information, please contact Keanna Leonard at 308-468-5282 or by email at kleonard@audubon.org

0 Comments

Print Blank Sheet Music - Jason Everett

Jason Everett — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 06:00:00 GMT

From a friend on Twitter:

cliotech Cool site for music teachers - print blank music sheets http://hellotxt.com/l/cT6s

0 Comments

Workshop Assignment - Sharing ideas - Jason Everett

Jason Everett — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Please share your ideas, lesson plans, web sites or whatever other neat things you are doing with your students.

17 Comments

Pointillism - Trudy Else

Trudy Else — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 06:00:00 GMT

We go over the history of Pointillism and Seurat. You can make a great slide show from examples on line.

We made 3 - 3 feet x 5 feet pointillism murals with an artist in residence, Julia Noyes, that are hanging in our building. We study those, one is a portrait of Robert Henri, so we also review Henri's life since he is from Cozad.

Then the students create their own pointillism pictures. We use heavy cardboard or scrap wood I get from the local lumber yard and tempera paint. When the students are finished, we spray with acrylic to preserve their work.

Next the students use Apple works paint program and create a pointillism picture, many try to recreate the one they painted, using the 'spray paint' tool.

Students then analyze and compare the likes and differences of the hands on painting versus the computer painting.

We discuss the pros and cons of each and when one technique would be better for a project than the other.

It does take quite a bit of time as pointillism is time consuming, but it is great for integrating technology into the art program.

0 Comments

365 Photos! - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 06:00:00 GMT

This looks like a great project and would be fun to do with your
students. The idea is to take a photo each day! You could gear this
toward a certain type of curriculum or theme if you wanted! The kids
would get into the routine of this and you would be pulling out that
camera more often! For more on this project go to:

http://photojojo.com/content/tutorials/project-365-take-a-photo-a-day/

Also see The 10 Most Stunning Photo Blogs - http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/the-10-most-stunning-photo-blogs/

2 Comments

Google Art! - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 06:00:00 GMT

Check it out! Make holiday art using spreadsheets in Google! http://www.google.com/google-d-s/holiday08.html

0 Comments

Google LIFE Photos - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:00:00 GMT

Google is hosting photos from LIFE! Search millions of photos from LIFE's archives from as early as the 1750s. Go to http://images.google.com/hosted/life or add "source:life" to any image search on Google.

Let us know what you think!

0 Comments

Kiln in a Can - Cindi Holmes

Cindi Holmes — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:00:00 GMT

I am looking for directions on how to use a coffee can as a miniature kiln. I have heard about this and seen some fun clay pieces that were fired in this way but need more info before I try it. Can anyone help?
Thank you! Cindi Holmes cholmes@esu10.org

0 Comments

Global Connections - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 06:00:00 GMT

Last summer at NECC in San Antonio, TX, we listened to the keynote on the second day and were inspired to go beyond what we were already doing in education. The keynote was a pair of teachers from Canada who were not necessarily comfortable with technology but they were burning out in their classrooms. They learned about Skype and about iEarn and were refreshed! Their classroom activities were renewed as was their spirit!

What they were talking about is the latest buzz word in education, global connections. Teachers are connecting with other classrooms around the world! The tool of choice seems to be Skype. Skype is a free download. With this program you can instant message but you can also make audio and video calls to another computer for FREE! You can also make audio calls to landlines and cellphones for a small fee. Skype is also a tool that you can use on any platform; Mac, PC, or Linux.

How do you find schools to share such a connection? One of the most important issues is having a purpose in your connection. You want to make sure this is a learning experience for students. Using iEarn, schools can find projects to participate in or post their own project. The projects come in all shapes and sizes. There are projects from the US and some from Pakistan.

What equipment will you need? You will need a computer with an Internet connection. You will also need speakers and a microphone. If you are going to do a video conference, you will need to have a camera. Many of the Mac's come with built-in cameras which work very well. Web cams are not very expensive and can be picked up at your local Wal-Mart, Target, or KMart. Keep in mind, you get what you pay for in a web cam. If you have a regular video camera, you can plug that in and use it as a web cam! That adds the zoom and pan actions into your video conference.

This is really an exciting tool for education. Even here at the ESU, we are using Skype to answer teacher questions and other tools such as Adobe Connect Pro to do workshops and trouble shoot technical issues. Go home today and try these ideas for yourself! Some of you may be able to try this right away with kids but many of us need to try it for ourselves first. It is a great tool to visit those grandkids or children. Use Skype to find a college friend and visit with them. See what YOU think...

Here is a link to the presentation I did yesterday for the Library/Media Specialists group on global connections! It contains more links to other sites such as iEarn! http://tinyurl.com/globetips

1 Comments

Music Teacher Blogs - Jason Everett

Jason Everett — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 17:59:06 GMT

I ran across this blog post from a preservice teacher at UNK and thought I'd share it here.

In the post, she lists 5 blogs worth checking out:

The Music Teachers Blog - http://musicteachersblog.com/
Music Teachers Helper - http://www.musicteachershelper.com/blog/
Sfrack's Weblog - http://sfrack.wordpress.com/
Music and Education - http://llprior.wordpress.com/
My Music Tech - http://mymusictech.blogspot.com/

0 Comments

Inspirational Quotes for the Beginning of 2nd Quarter - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 05:00:00 GMT

A Couple of quotes have caught my eye lately so I thought I would share those with you.

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." -Nelson Mandella
"You must be the change you want to see in the world." -Mahatma Gandhi

Here are a few more for you to check out on Darren Draper's blog (as a side note, he is a great person to follow on Twitter):http://drapestakes.blogspot.com/2008/10/my-turn-inpirational-quotes.html

0 Comments

Websites - Jason Everett

Jason Everett — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Post a website you find useful in your classroom.

What is it?

How do you use it?

With students?

7 Comments

Digies 2009 - Jason Everett

Jason Everett — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 05:00:00 GMT

THE DIGIES

http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/group.php?id=17119

Seventh Annual Apple Nebraska Digital Media Competition

Apple is hosting the Seventh Annual Nebraska Digital Media Competition, the "Digies".
We intend to showcase the best digital media work by the K-12 students in Nebraska. We
will have many digital categories and two age groups for the competition. The open
category is for those projects that may not fit in one of the other categories. All of the
time limits and other restrictions apply to the open category as well.
Please note that students may only enter one entry per category.

And the categories are:
Best Senior Video, Highlight Video, Yearbook or other Group Related Video
     Best Informational, Persuasive, or Curriculum Related Video
     Best Community/State/Tourism Promotional Video
     Best Comedy Video
     Best Digital Music Composition
     Best Digital Animation
     Best Digital Still Image (Photoshop, Freehand or other graphics application)
     Best Digital Still Picture (image from a digital camera)
     Open (this category will help with those projects that don't fit the above categories)

Each category will have a K-6 and a 7-12 winner.

The date and location of the awards ceremony will be announced soon. I would expect
mid to late April in Lincoln again this year.

Prizes:

A "Digie" will be awarded to each of the winners of the categories to
recognize their outstanding work. After all of the winners are announced, we
will place all of the winner's names in a hat to choose the grand prize
winner.

The Details:

Please Note that another new rule has been added this year.

The maximum number of students entering any single project is now 5 students. Please
do not submit a class project with 25 students all participating in a single project. A class
project is very unfair to other competitors when it comes to the grand prize drawing.

Each student or group will be allowed only one entry per category. For example - Susie
can not enter 10 different pictures in the Digital Still Picture category. The student must
choose their best work in a category and only submit that entry. Susie can still enter one
entry in every category if she chooses to. Classes can still have multiple entries in the
same category, but the same team or student can not enter more than one entry in a
category.

All projects must be received between February 13th (yes it is a Friday) and March 21st,
2009 (late entries will not be accepted). The entry address and any necessary forms or
instructions will be posted as the deadline approaches. This years submission will be
done using Snail Mail (plain old mail service). I know this is not the high tech way of
doing things, but it will increase the quality of the final projects. I will be posting the
Finalists and winners on the new Nebraska Learning Interchange Site at the end of the
competition.

Each entry must be 10 minutes or less and must list a teacher/sponsor and the school
name.

Apple will have right to use any of the projects submitted as part of this contest for a
period of five years.

All works must be entirely original works.

Copyright

Any submissions with copyrighted material will be disqualified. Submissions with
copyrighted material with a letter of permission will not be accepted.  We want this to be
original student work. Background music and sound effects from tools such as Garage
Band, Sound Track, or SmartSound will be accepted.

Thanks and Good Luck

Posted by Mark Billington12/31/69

0 Comments

21st Century & You! - Deanna Stall

Deanna Stall — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 05:00:00 GMT

What do 21st Century Students look like?

You have seen them walking down the street in any town, big or small, with pockets full of gadgets and talking on their cell phones. All that technology that we adults can't even identify. These are the 21st Century students. These are the next generation of earners, families, and voters in the United States. As I was reading the article Syncing Up With the iKid: Connecting to the Twenty-First-Century Student by Josh McHugh in Edutopia, I was thinking about when I was a kid and boom-boxes were a hot item. Everyone had one and they were all shapes and sizes. But it was a little embarrassing on those Saturday nights when my parents would bring out the record albums to torture us with this outdated technology, not to mention the polka music they were playing. Thankfully, the Walkman came along and I could listen to what I wanted, when I wanted. That meant, no more polkas for me! It also meant that I missed out on the family time together and the opportunity to let my parents know that I didn't like their music. In reminiscing, I realized that is probably what today's kids think of the adults in their lives. They want the latest and greatest technology for reason's they aren't sure about; they want it personalized; of course, they want to be able to tell you that you are old and out of touch with the world; and they still want to be accepted and part of the family.

A group called Partnership for 21st Century Skills developed a vision of 21st century student success. Nine states have taken part in this initiative. Nebraska's Department of Education has been in talks about it as well. The skills, knowledge, and expertise students should master to succeed in work and life are outlined on their site.

Core Subjects & 21st Century Themes - The core subjects they have included are English, reading or language arts, world languages, arts, math, economics, science, geography, history government and civics. They also include that interdisciplinary themes of global awareness; financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy; civic literacy; and health literacy.
Learning and Innovation Skills - These skills include creativity & innovation; critical thinking and problem solving; and communication and collaboration.
Information, Media and Technology Skills - Because of an abundant amount of information the skills students will need are information literacy, media literacy, and ICT literacy (Information, Communication and Technology)
Life and Career Skills - Employers will be looking for these skills in any area and in all their employees. They are looking for flexibility & adaptability; initiative & self-direction; social & cross-cultural skills; productivity & accountability; leadership & responsibility.

In order for us to get students to succeed with these skills, four things must be in place. First, standards and assessments are critical; that's not a problem in Nebraska. Second, curriculum and instruction should support these 21st century skills. Third, teachers need to be provided adequate professional development in these areas. And lastly, where students learn affects what they learn so learning environments which support 21st century skills is the final critical piece of the puzzle. Statistics say that students of today will have fourteen different jobs by the time they are 38 years old. It is vital that our students have these skills in place before they leave our schools. Did You Know 2.0 and A Vision of Students Today are great video representations of many statistics like these.

What do 21st Century Teachers look like?

Why upgrade to color televisions if the black and white worked just fine? Why get a cassette tape player when your eight-track player did the job? Well, ok, the eight-track may be a bad example. I bet you can come up with a few of your own examples. The world has upgraded in every way, shape, and form. 21st Century Teachers are going to look different as well. We must upgrade to provide a quality education for our students.

International Society of Technology Education (ISTE) created standards for educational technology for students and teachers. In June of 2007, ISTE unveiled the NETS-National Educational Technology Standards for Students. This last June, ISTE released the NETS for Teachers. In June of 2009, ISTE will complete the NETS for Admininstrators. You are probably thinking, "More standards? I'm going to scream!" Before you do that, let's think about what these standards are really asking us as teachers to do for our students. Here are some explanations and ideas you can try in your classroom to promote 21st century learning in your students.

Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity - Many of you already do this every day with kids. The word facilitate is really a tough one to truly put into action. How do we let go of the reigns in our classroom and still control the behavior, student interaction, and learning while they are there? My kids always want to be responsible for the big stuff like mowing the yard instead of just doing the dishes. The same applies to students in the classroom. If you want kids to do something, they need to know it is important enough and that you trust them enough to be in charge of it. Allow students to be in charge of their own learning! Give them guidance so they know how to do the research and let them find all the resources they can. Let them create their own visual model of their understanding so you can see it too. You will be surprised at how deep the learning will be! If you don't know how to use the technology, ask someone to help you or be willing to let the kids figure it out on their own. Letting go of the reigns is an exhilarating feeling for you and your students!
Design & develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments - For weekend work, have students take pictures that represent your current vocabulary words and share those pictures with the whole class. Think they don't all have cameras? They will take the pictures with their cell phone or will borrow a camera. Have you ever had your students make a movie for your class? If you aren't ready for Final Cut Pro, have students use their digital cameras to take enough pictures to create a movie (kind of like making a cartoon). If you want to dive in a little deeper, try out Movie Maker on Windows or iMovie on the Mac to have students create commercials, public service announcements, or summary videos of classroom events.
Model digital-age work and learning - Most schools now have some sort of information system such as Power School so many of you are using that for keeping grades. Try adding one new tool to your repertoire this next school year. If you get stuck, ask a student! They will be glad to help you, and it is a great way to build that trusting relationship with students. Keep your bookmarks on Delicious or Diigo and then share them with your students. Take pictures of your class and post them on Flickr or Picasa. Save your Power Point slides as .jpg or .png and post them to Picasa so students can access them anytime.
Promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility - Talk to kids in every class about internet behavior. Preteaching is the best! Tell them ahead of time what they can expect on an assignment and then, how you expect them to complete it and how it will look. If they are doing research, teach students how to do responsible research on the internet. Take the next step and talk to them about the difficult stuff. Talk about the internet, social networks, and what might be out in the world. This is no different than talking about drugs, alcohol, or relationships. Even if kids hear it from their parents and then hear it again from you, keep talking!
Engage in professional growth and leadership - Going to workshops is always a good thing but we here at ESU 10 are very aware of the obstacles you face when trying to take time for professional development. What can you do then, if you are unable to take those days? For starters, find a small group of people you trust. They don't have to teach in the same curricular area that you do or even the same grade level. Gather your group frequently for short sharing sessions even if it is only 10 minutes a week maybe in the morning or after school. Start by sharing your favorite web sites, next teach each other how to use a web tool. Finally try longer training sessions for instructional strategies or applications. You might even try learning a new tool together with the help of online training such as Lynda.com. or Atomic Learning. Your new group (PLN - Personal Learning Network) will keep you going through the school year. ESU 10 also offers many workshops in Kearney. Those trainings can be brought to you and your school by our trainers at ESU 10! Please call or email if you are interested. We will also be implementing a new training delivery method in the form of a webinar. We have four planned for October and November covering Google tools. They are one-hour sessions after school. We hope this new technology will make it easier for you to get the training you need, when you need it. Additionally, there are online communities just for teachers! From the makers of ODIE, ESU 10 is developing communities for workshop participants and member schools. (More communities are in the works!) These communities will be used for collaboration, sharing resources & lessons. There are also web sites such as Classroom 2.0, a Ning site where teachers gather to collaborate and share. If you are really ready to dig in, try Twitter! Twitter is a microblogging site where you follow and are followed only by the people you give permission to. Read more about Twitter and how it is being used in a new article on Edutopia! Professional development is viral so pass it on and cheer each other on!

If you are wondering where you stand with your technology integration, ISTE has created a classroom observation tool that can be downloaded. You will need to sign up for a free account. Use this tool when making lesson plans or observing teachers. The last two pages of the .pdf might trigger some other great lesson ideas for your classes.

21st century kids may look a little different than we did at that age but they didn't get there by themselves on purpose. They are the result of a changing society. America and the world will continue to change, grow, and develop new technology. For our students to be ready for that change, ready to be proper citizens, run a government of which we can be proud, we must be willing to work toward these skills for ourselves first.

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