Posted by Jon Ketchum at 06:13:04 PM Tue 04/06/2010
A guest blog by Digital Wish Teacher, Mary Williams.
Mary Williams has been teaching chemistry to St. Mary High School students for nearly a quarter century. Although Williams has always loved her job, she claims that she has found new classroom vigor through the tech-tools she now uses with her students.
As a guest blogger, Williams tells her classroom story:
I teach chemistry at the secondary level. I have been teaching for over 25 years, and have been re-energized this year by all the technology available to me and my students. Not only does it make learning fun, but more importantly, I believe it makes it more effective. Let me share a few of my experiences with you.
I found out about Digital Wish this fall and they made me aware of the Flip, a small video camera that is extremely easy to use. Since first acquiring this little device, I have had to lend it out to other staff, almost as often as we use it in class. I have had students who usually run the other way when homework is mentioned, come in after school to make a Flip email card about a chemistry demo for the class. Students now ask to do projects involving video. Some students are natural “hams” and I take advantage of this by having them present chemistry ideas to the rest of the class. In the process they learn (when you have to teach you tend to really learn the material), and it helps the other students learn too.
One of the “hot” words in education seems to be Multiple Intelligences or MI. I’m sure many of you have heard of this theory and I see evidence of it everyday in my classroom. So the question becomes- how do you effectively teach to all the different MI’s in one classroom, in one period? I don’t know if anyone has a complete answer to this, but I have found that using multimedia- visual, musical, linguistic, interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences all blend together and seem to help students.
When I assign a project involving a video, such as animoto, (if unfamiliar with animoto, go to their website and check it out: www.animoto/education.com ) the students really, dare I say, enjoy it! Projects that involve a visual, musical and even the limited written element not only reach several of the intelligences, but also allow students to express themselves, to process what they are learning, and often, to see how learning can be fun. Then, when we share the projects in class, we review the content multiple times. Think about it. I assign a 2 minute video on properties of acids and bases, and when we watch each others videos- we may review that concept 10-15 times. They enjoy making these little videos, as well as watching them and it takes relatively little time.
There are several other websites that I find allow me to address students' multiple intelligences, and keep class interesting. One is www.blabberize.com . When you can get a picture of Einstein to tell the students what they should bring to lab- they tend to listen. Or if you can have a student do a first person biography of Antoine Lavosier (Father of Chemistry) and have Lavosier present his biography to you, it adds a little something to the report.
Another interesting site that is a fun way to present material, either by the teacher or for a student presentation, is www.goanimate.com ( link to http://goanimate.com/movie/0z3GjuMDFR2A?utm_source=linkshare&uid=0JzS0pHb8X-E for an example). This creates animations which you can use to present a new concept.
Do all these things replace the problem sets, lectures, review and traditional teaching methods? No, not at all, but they sure do add to them-and I believe enhance the learning process. For the students it’s like coming to class everyday, and instead of listening to one note over and over again, they can listen to the whole musical scale- and maybe pick up a catchy tune they can’t keep out of their head.
The websites I mentioned- and many many more are listed at www.boxoftricks.net Click on the resource tab for an alphabetically listing of many good websites.
Digital Wish Media Contact: Jennifer Miller, [email protected] Digital Wish
PO Box 255
Milton, DE 19968 866.344.7758
Posted by Digital Wish Support at 05:39:58 PM Thu 03/18/2010
Manchester Center, VT, March 17, 2010- Just in time for the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, Digital Wish and Cartridges for Kids have teamed up to launch Recycle Forward, a new program that allows schools to raise money for technology, by recycling cell phones, used electronics, and ink cartridges. Participating schools can set up a community-wide recycling campaign to collect used equipment from parents and local businesses. 100% of the money earned, is automatically matched with another 2%-10% in funding on Digital Wish to make teacher’s classroom technology wishes come true!
How does the program work? Schools and community members can register for free at www.recyclforwardnow.org. It only takes a few minutes to organize a campaign. Recycle Forward provides all the resources necessary to promote and run a successful recycling drive in any community. Just print posters, set up a collection box, and circulate flyers to publicize the drop location. Pre-paid shipping labels are provided to participants to ship items directly to Cartridges for Kids for processing. All of the money earned from recycling drive will automatically appear in the school’s Digital Wish account.
Recycle Forward streamlines the fundraising process so that 100% of the schools’ funding can be used to purchase new technology directly on Digital Wish, like an online bank account. It doesn’t cost anything to participate, the shipping labels are free, and Digital Wish donates an additional 2-10% back to the classroom after each purchase, stretching fundraising dollars even further.
Schools and individual classrooms are invited to register and run a Recycle Forward campaign. To learn more please visit: www.recycleforwardnow.org.
About Cartridges for Kids
Cartridges for Kids is a recycling program that pays schools cash for cell phones, laser/inkjet cartridges, laptops, digital cameras, iPods, PDAs, video games & consoles, DVDs and GPS devices.
About Digital Wish
Digital Wish is on a mission to modernize classrooms and prepare students for tomorrow's workforce. Digital Wish promotes the early adoption of technology within schools by providing a platform for teachers and educators to develop wish lists, share project plans, collaborate on best practices, and purchase technology in a cost-effective manner. And by streamlining and targeting the process of giving, Digital Wish allows large and small-scale donors to directly impact their local schools. www.digitalwish.org
Media Contact: Lindsay McFillin, Development Manager
Posted by Jon Ketchum at 03:17:59 PM Thu 03/18/2010
Digital Wish has joined forces with one of the country's leading electronics recycling company, Cartridges for Kids (CFK), to offer the Recycle Forward fundraising campaign. Recycle Forward is a program where YOU, the educator, can start your own campaign for your technology wish list items by recycling old electronics and ink cartridges for cash!
Thats right! Just by asking community members and local businesses to move their used electronics out of closets, you will raise money to move the technology you need into the classroom!
Register now: Just login to your Digital Wish account and click on the “Recycle Forward” banner from your “My Account” page. Schools and community members can register for free at www.recycleforwardnow.org.
How does the program work? We provide you with flyers and PR materials for an easy-to-launch campaign to spread the word to community members. Anyone can register for free at www.recyclforwardnow.org. Just print posters, set up a collection box, and circulate flyers to publicize the drop location. Free, pre-paid shipping labels can be printed from the website, and the items ship directly to Cartridges for Kids for processing. All of the money earned from recycling drive will automatically appear in the school’s Digital Wish account.
With the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day approaching on April 22 this is the perfect time to kick-start your campaign!
Posted by Jon Ketchum at 04:54:32 PM Mon 03/08/2010
Published by guest writer and tech specialist, Stacy Bodin
Upon entering Dozier Elementary anyone would instantly see a normal elementary school, however looks can be deceiving. Not evident as you look down the cheerful hallway, is the long road traveled through the last four years in the life of the school.
September 24, 2005 was the date Hurricane Rita hit a neighboring coastal Louisiana parish, sending flooding water in Vermilion Parish. Of the twenty district schools, seven were instantly displaced. One of those schools was Dozier Elementary in Erath, Louisiana.
On October 6, 2005, a long physical journey began for the elementary school as the teachers and students moved the first time. The initial leg of their path began with a platooning system with Cecile Picard @ Maurice Elementary, a campus sixteen miles away. Making a difficult situation feasible for five months, both student bodies worked together to share one school plant by attending long days, three days a week.
With an excited community in tow on March 13th, Dozier Elementary made its second move back to their stripped school for a short lived two month span. Glad to return home, everyone dismissed the bare gray cement floors, empty walls, the absence of classroom doors and ominous feeling in the once “warm” school atmosphere.
With extensive work still needed on the facility, the faculty, staff and student body moved a third time in June of 2006, to FEMA trailers where they remained three years. During that time span, Hurricane Ike brought flood waters back to the community, flooding the three Erath schools once again on September 13, 2008. Fortunately this time, with Dozier still housed in FEMA buildings, the teachers didn’t suffer the loss they experienced with Hurricane Rita. The unoccupied original school plant did flood again.
During the first week of August in 2009, Dozier Elementary educators moved a fourth time to return home to its renovated school. As anyone could imagine, filtering through the halls, were familiar whispers of the famous line Dorothy spoke in the Wizard of Oz, “there’s no place like home!”
With the school in a basic survival mode for four years, the goal now lies with regaining smaller technology items and acquiring new resources and/or tools. With district wide budget cuts coming, the school also hopes to begin replacing older computers with the help of donors or grants.
Though money was donated for damages at the district level, understandably earmarked funds were spent on replacing larger and higher priority technology items for all district schools, but the smaller and personal items were not.
In February, Dozier Elementary decided to move forward using their “Eye on Technology” theme and venturing out with a new idea linking the Digital Wish Foundation. With the spotlight on their website @ http://www.vrml.k12.la.us/dozier, the school launched a “Digital Wish/Technology” campaign in hopes of refreshing their technology program and gaining needed resources. Principal Karla Toups and the tech committee set up a school wide page asking for grade level cameras, accessories, flip cameras and software. Individual teachers also each have personal digital wish accounts with needs listed, in hope that parents, grandparents, and/or businesses would help their classroom needs. Letters were sent home by many classroom teachers to communicate current needs for continuous technology growth.
Educators are seeking instructional software for reading, writing and math which would benefit daily technology centers and intervention programs. With the goal of moving forward through creative technology lessons, many teachers are interested in digital storytelling tools. With the help of the Digital Wish/Technology campaign, it is the faculty’s hope that donors could assist in rebuilding, as well as helping them move in a positive and productive way.
For the teachers, students and faculty members who experienced the flood waters and moving four times in four years, memories of hardship do emerge however, coupled with that struggle, lies triumph, strength, endurance and a strong commitment toward education. Each educator, student and parent who endured the four year journey would quickly admit two things “It has been a long, hard road for the school” and that “there really is no place like home!”
Additional Links in case you need more photos, etc…
You can see Erath Flooding photos Hurricane Rita @
Posted by Jon Ketchum at 09:00:05 PM Wed 03/03/2010
Published by: Jon Ketchum
This school year John Downs, the Technology Facilitator at Jefferson Middle School in Winston-Salem NC is helping to rally his 80 fellow teachers to start their own classroom campaign for technology. With slimming state budgets and a need for new tech-resources within the school, Downs has asked his colleagues to join Digital Wish.
As Jefferson Middle School's first hired Technology Facilitator, Downs holds weekly grade-level and subject-specific tech-tutorials for students and staff. Beginning in 2000, these workshops have helped his school become more proficient in current internet trends such as wikis, google docs and blogs.
"My job is to serve this school in everything technology and I try to offer as much as I can," Downs says.
Although Downs claims that Jefferson Middle School has a high commitment to technology, he also notes that his staff is severely underprivileged when it comes to tangible tech-resources.
"You know in some ways I feel like we are five steps ahead and in others I feel like we are five steps behind," says Downs. "Most of the money that we receive for technology goes to my salary, which I am happy about, but in the same sense it doesn't help us get new technology each year."
To counter the school's need for new tech-tools Downs and Mike McDowell, Jefferson Middle School's Improvement Team Chairman suggested that the faculty take individual measures put technology into their curriculum. To do this McDowell suggested that every teachers should register on Digital Wish to begin a classroom-campaign.
"A lot of the teachers, were pleasantly surprised around Christmas when parents and community members donated to their Digital Wish classroom after we sent a mass email," Downs says. "In the email the teachers insisted that instead of receiving Christmas presents they would prefer a contribution to their classroom wishlist."
With twenty-five Jefferson Middle School teachers now registered on Digital Wish Downs hopes that he will soon be able to educate his staff using new classroom technology. His vision is to one day have a strong enough infrastructure at Jefferson Middle School so that each teacher can have a whiteboard for their classroom. As read in his Digital Wish profile, Downs believes that the best way to educate 21st century students is with 21st century tools.
He writes, "We live in a digital age, and students have become accustomed to learning in digital ways. As teachers we need to have access to the latest technology in order to connect with our digital learners."
To learn more about John Downs' school-wide technology campaign you can visit his profile here.
Digital Wish Media Contact: Jennifer Miller, [email protected] Digital Wish
PO Box 255
Milton, DE 19968 866.344.7758
Posted by Heather Chirtea at 09:13:41 PM Thu 02/25/2010
So many users have taken advantage of the Flip Video Matching Grant, that Digital Wish is now offering the Flip Video Accessory Lab for teachers to safely store their new camcorders. If you already have all the Flip camcorders you need, but lack the accessories, software, and rolling crate, this package provides a great solution for running a school-wide video program.
This Accessory Kit includes:
* 10 Empty Camcorder Slots (fill them with your own Flip camcorders) * 10 Flip Video Tripods * 10 Flip Video USB Cables * 5 AA Quick Charger with 4 Ni-MH Batteries * Tool Factory Movie Maker Software with a 10 User License (Windows only) * 10 Adventures in Technology! Incredible Lesson Book/CD Sets * 1 Hardshell, Waterproof, FAA Approved Carry-on Crate
Posted by Heather Chirtea at 09:02:20 PM Thu 02/25/2010
If your school is using technology acquired through Digital Wish, we would love to hear about it! With our new 'Share your Story' teacher-feature, users can now submit classroom stories to Digital Wish for potential national press coverage.
For most Digital Wish teachers, sharing Flip Videos is a great way to showcase teacher ingenuity. With nearly 20,000 Flip Videos put into classrooms through Digital Wish, now is the time to show the nation what can be done with a Flip! Submitting your story easy. Simply login to your account on Digital Wish and link here:
Posted by Jon Ketchum at 01:44:17 PM Tue 02/09/2010
Published by: Jon Ketchum
Jamie Mullenaux and her class of 4th grade students began their New Year with a resolution to put an Interactive Whiteboard on their classroom wall. In less than one month at Mechanicsville Elementary in Virginia, Mullenaux's students have raised nearly 70% of their targeted goal.
Mullenaux has been teaching fourth grade at Mechanicsville Elementary for nearly four years however this is her first year teaching an 'all-girls' class. According to Mullenaux, her school has been organizing single-sex classrooms since she began in an effort to better understand the achievement gap between genders in the elementary school. In turn Mullenaux has taken her new role as a personal challenge to engage and teach her group of eighteen girls using new technology.
"It is our job to prepare these students for the future," says Mullenaux. "This is especially important for me as an educator of an all-girls classroom because I feel that females aren't currently as prevalent in technology oriented jobs as some males may be."
Staying true to her goal of infusing technology around the calendar, Mullenaux continually booked the media lab so her students could use the school's only tabletop Whiteboard. Although partially broken, her students habitually returned from the lab asking their teacher when they could get a Whiteboard for their own classroom. Just before the Holiday Season, Mullenaux showed her students Digital Wish and asked them brainstorm ideas of how they could fundraise for their class. Soon after the students collectively decided to run a letter writing campaign asking friends and family for contributions towards their Whiteboard.
"It was great because it was also something that we could tie into our persuasive writing curriculum," Mullenaux says. "After I edited each letter, the kids sent them out and they immediately started seeing results."
Although Mullenaux admits that she didn't expect much of a response from the community when the letters first went out, she claims that she was beside herself when checks from local donors began rolling in.
"The first response we received was a check for $500 from one of the student's grandfather who owns a local business," says Mullenaux. "From that point on the kids kept receiving checks and we all began to realize that getting a Whiteboard was very possible through the support of family and friends."
With more checks in the mail Mullenaux and her students are certain that they will be hanging their new Whiteboard on their classroom wall in the near future. When that day arrives Mullenaux claims that the first order of business will be to play Nintendo Wii with her students.
"Honestly, all of my recent Digital Wish success can only be attributed to my girls," Mullenaux says. "Needless to say this experience has definitely surpassed my expectations."
Digital Wish Media Contact: Jennifer Miller, [email protected] Digital Wish
PO Box 255
Milton, DE 19968 866.344.7758
Thats right! Just by asking community members and local businesses to move their used electronics out of closets, you will raise money to move the technology you need into the classroom!
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