tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76830967070148389862011-12-29T14:21:04.186-08:00Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.comBlogger311100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-43493333356657793642011-12-29T14:06:00.001-08:002011-12-29T14:21:04.203-08:00

Will Richardson, Educational Technology Specialist, will be the featured speaker at this year's CLMS Technology Conference in Monterey, CA, Jan. 13-15. I will give a presentation on "Technology to Engage Students' Minds without Losing Yours". In March, I will give a presentation on how to engender students' critical thinking using the free 3D animation program called "Alice." This workshop will

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-62995983909786949662011-07-18T11:41:00.000-07:002011-07-18T11:46:05.631-07:00

Thanks MFL for sending me a link to this amazing video! This past year was my most difficult year as a teacher. I lost my vision and enthusiasm for teaching because the workload was horrendous. I'm sure I was not alone. Asked to do the job of both a regular teacher as well as a special ed teacher (with no certification or training), I worked over 70 hours a week trying to do the best job

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-77158130018587853102010-08-03T01:17:00.000-07:002010-08-03T01:25:28.094-07:00

Has anyone used the free 3D animation program, Blender? Or have your students used it? It looks like a great tool for those interested in delving into 3D animation (especially since it's free!), but the learning curve appears pretty steep. Drop us a comment in the box below and let us know your experiences. I'm thinking of adding some of the tutorials for Blender to my 7th/8th grade

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-65170778473283969092010-07-26T22:37:00.000-07:002010-07-28T08:38:02.650-07:00

Games can be powerful motivational tools in education. I just found a great free game creation tool that's easy to use at classtools.net. They have several different templates. All you have to do is enter your questions and answers. Here's a sample game I created for a review of Ancient Rome for my 7th graders when we get back to school.Click here for full screen versionI plan to embed games

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-34280302390908155192010-07-22T17:00:00.000-07:002010-07-22T17:12:46.990-07:00

I'd like to thank Dr. Sontag for welcoming me to share posts on this blog as a collaborative effort from this point onward.My first contribution to the blog is to share a product which I've seen demonstrated at my school in London. It is very exciting to see the possibility of this new product, which has only recently arrived on the market. It allows any flat surface to become an interactive

losingfocushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00444679106498196257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-25680374166515752362010-07-01T16:30:00.001-07:002010-07-01T16:45:28.947-07:00

After watching videos and reading downloads from the online teaching conference (see the previous post), I was inspired to create some products for my upcoming fall classes. The session on interactive tools prompted me to create a voice thread, telling new parents and students about the CA Dept. of Ed.'s suggested reading list. When school starts, I'll encourage students to also leave voice

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-49431743989935333002010-07-01T14:48:00.000-07:002010-07-01T15:15:06.900-07:00

With budget cuts, little money remains for teachers' professional development. A few weeks ago I went (for free!) to San Digeo (virtually, from my couch in San Jose, CA!) for an online teaching conference. Although primarily targeting online teachers, many of the sessions gave great tips for regular (face-to-face) classroom teachers as well. I especially got a lot out of the session on graphic

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-88815270569894968462010-04-30T04:05:00.000-07:002010-07-01T16:59:28.924-07:00

We want our students to develop critical thinking, and one way for them to do this is to ferret out first-hand, primary sources for all sides of a controversial issue. The recent flurry of opinions and emotions regarding the new Arizona state law seeking to curb illegal immigration in that state provides a great example of how technology can help both us, as well as our students, hone our

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-986214029397342522009-10-09T18:13:00.000-07:002010-02-24T14:50:33.239-08:00

I was excited to learn that my teacher partner and I received a grant from the Silicon Valley Education Foundation to purchase a set of Smart Response devices. These handhelds help students and teachers make assessment more fun and personal. Check out future grant funding dates from SVEF. It's a great organization.The article I had published in the April/May '09 Innovate Journal regarding my

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-52710862111070399982009-06-20T10:14:00.000-07:002009-06-30T11:07:34.971-07:00

The presentation I gave at Duke University last week went well. What a beautiful place! I left my iphone in the taxi on the way to the airport, but the driver was kind enough to take it back to my hotel, and the hotel people are mailing it to my home. Gotta love those North Carolina folk! I talked with the Alice people (Steve, Wanda, Pam, Don) about my idea to get tech/art schools to partner

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-71121863740325081652009-05-06T10:40:00.001-07:002009-05-06T12:03:19.168-07:00

I just received an email from the editor of Innovate Journal, notifying me that my article on my new learning theory has been translated into Spanish by Universidad de Concepción in Chile! The English version can be found at Innovate Journal. A link to the Spanish version can be found here. To hear and see the Webcast I had with Innovate Journal regarding my new learning theory, visit the

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-22823527953442349212009-04-30T00:42:00.001-07:002010-12-05T18:28:11.136-08:00

In June, I'll travel to Duke University to present a paper at the Alice Symposium (Alice is a 3D animation program), and I'm very excited about this opportunity. I've never been to North Carolina! My goal is to develop collaboration between teachers to create Alice 3D animiation tutorials that can be used by middle school teachers to help engender critical thinking in core subjects that relate

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-84916163665971525022009-04-29T23:37:00.001-07:002009-04-30T00:41:10.727-07:00

The April/May 2009 issue of Innovate Journal (an online, peer-reviewed educational magazine) published an article on the new learning theory and instructional design model that I developed over the past four years while working on my doctorate. The magazine held a Webcast last week, and have now archived it, so by going to the Webcast link and logging in, you can hear it for yourself. Just go

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-21109895679885320512009-02-23T20:05:00.001-08:002009-04-30T00:30:51.579-07:00

For those of you in the Silicon Valley area, join us Saturday, Feb. 28, at The Harker School, 8am-3pm for a mini-CUE conference. More information is available at svcue.org. Besides the great sessions available to you, there will be over $7,000 worth of door prizes given away! Workshops include sessions such as PBL with Office, Google Docs, Moodle Basics, Geocaching, Geography Awareness,

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-84593438243599458482009-02-23T19:49:00.000-08:002009-02-23T20:03:56.269-08:00

The theme for the March 5-7 CUE conference in Palm Springs is "Driving Student Success." I'm looking forward to hearing the Keynote speaker, Dr. Robert Marzano, and attending many of the great sessions that will be offered. See for yourself at http://www.cue.org/conference/schedule/.I will present a session on the free 3D animiation program, Alice - and how teachers can learn to use the program

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-91548306674535596792008-08-07T19:45:00.000-07:002008-08-09T09:45:54.367-07:00

pedagogy19k Jigsaw PuzzleI just heard about a Website that will enable you to make your own jigsaw puzzles for free! Click on the picture above to see how the puzzle works. The site is called jigzone.com. Simply upload a picture file, and you will get a link to a puzzle of your picture that you can post anywhere. I heard about jigzone while listening to Joan and Ben's SMART Board Lesson Podcast.

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-51557366233842403272008-08-05T02:15:00.001-07:002008-08-05T02:46:26.660-07:00

I had the privilege of teaching a great group of teachers at RAFT on Saturday, Aug. 2. One teacher came all the way from North Carolina! Actually, she was in town for the week because she was going to a workshop in San Francisco, and came to RAFT in San Jose for our Saturday class. By the end of our session, teachers were creating their own Jeopardy PowerPoint games to use in their own

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-62203898855771424742008-08-04T18:27:00.000-07:002008-08-05T02:47:00.823-07:00

From July 14 through August 1, I took a workshop to learn the 3D Animation/Storytelling program called Alice. Alice is a computer program developed by Randy Pausch (The Last Lecture)and a team from Carnegie Mellon University. Alice is a free educational software that teaches students computer programming in a 3D environment. We learned the program the first two weeks from two men who have

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-70519426164401500342008-08-03T23:53:00.000-07:002008-08-05T02:42:54.859-07:00

What a privilege it was to meet with educators from around the world at the AACE Educational Media Conference in Vienna, Austria, this June. I met with teachers from South Africa, Singapore, Hong Kong, Austria, Australia, Great Britain, and many other countries. From what I heard at the conference, many countries are way ahead of the United States in terms of technology integration. My

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-6837422671701455882008-05-02T23:09:00.000-07:002008-07-20T23:49:44.154-07:00

The Journal of Computing in Teacher Education (Vol. 24/Number 2, Winter 07-08)recently published an issue that focused on some key aspects technology integration. It discussed the renewed and revised emphasis on the construct of something called TPACK that was recently formulated at the 9th Annnual National Technology Leadership Summit. The construct of TPACK helps to underscore the fact that

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-24372684435694371072008-04-29T12:54:00.000-07:002008-06-12T16:54:16.310-07:00

On April 11-12 I attended the Leadership 3.0 Symposium in Millbrae, CA, put on by ACSA, CUE, and TICAL. I have worked in the classroom for over ten years, and this is the first year I have worked out of the district office. I felt privileged to attend a conference where many of the attendees and presenters were administrators instead of teachers. I almost felt like a "fly on the wall" as I sat

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-90337543568367720712008-03-08T01:30:00.000-08:002008-07-21T02:20:39.853-07:00

Saturday, March 8, I will present "Inserting Photoshop Backgrounds" at the 2008 Palm Springs CUE Conference. The handout for this presentation can be found at http://tinyurl.com/29q3ye, or download here. A video of the presentation can be found on TeacherTube at http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=e3457b2718a29dc0018c.Using the Clone Stamp on Photoshop, students can easily immerse

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-44938845399323338482007-12-01T12:58:00.000-08:002008-04-29T13:11:06.550-07:00

I did get to ask Marc Prensky about the debate surrounding his terms of digital natives and digital immigrants. He said he has asked CUE for an opportunity to respond to Thornburg's article, so I'll be looking for that in a future CUE publication!

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-67350129380039308502007-11-26T21:47:00.000-08:002008-04-29T13:09:48.755-07:00

I will present two workshops at the CLMS/CLHS/CUE Technology Conference Nov. 29 - Dec. 1, 2007. On Friday, Nov. 30 from 1-2pm I will present "Virtual Worlds for Language Arts and Social Studies". The workshop includes time to participate as either a Native American or a white settler in the online virtual world of "Yosemite Valley" during the 1850's. Teachers will learn beginning steps in how

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-89164054153694647322007-10-26T15:10:00.001-07:002007-11-06T23:28:03.929-08:00

In the Fall 2007 publication of OnCUE, David Thornburg published an article titled The Myth of the Digital Native. He took issue with the notion of digital natives vs. digital immigrants. He says, "I've since come to find that the distinction is deeply flawed. This brief article is, therefore, my apology for having been suckered into a presumed cultural difference that could be expressed as a

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-58722844123431943632007-10-20T23:14:00.000-07:002007-10-28T15:56:47.093-07:00

How safe are students on the internet? I attended a CyberCitizen Summit conference at Yahoo on Friday, Oct. 19 and heard speakers such as Dave Warlick and Nancy Willard address this issue. Here's a quick news clip from the conference.For more information on CyberCitizenship check out CTAP4's website . It has links to games and great videos for students informing them about cybersafety. Another

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-30446587585472151832007-08-31T10:57:00.000-07:002007-08-31T11:04:19.830-07:00

I just attended a workshop on the EETT Formula Program to learn more about creating a new Technology Plan for our district. The workshop was very informative and provided great resources, such as the CTAP 5 Grant Resource Center. The Santa Clara County Office of Education will hold a similar workshop at SCCOE September 13, 2007. Contact Diana Paradise at diana_paradise@sccoe.org for more

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-3378687979328823422007-08-21T18:35:00.000-07:002007-08-21T18:58:42.807-07:00

Is your district's Technology Plan up-to-date? Districts in California need to apply before December 7, 2007 to be approved for their Tech Plans and to participate in the E-rate program. See schooloop for more information regarding the E-Rate program. See the California Dept. of Ed.'s site for Technology Plan information.

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-10193140344458936552007-07-02T02:32:00.000-07:002007-07-02T09:01:13.717-07:00

If you haven't thought about presenting or attending the 2008 CUE conference in Palm Springs, you should seriously think about it. Besides having great hands-on workshops and sessions on ways to integrate technology into the curriculum, this year they are also offering short 20 minute "CUE" tips. I've submitted to present a Cue Tip on how students and teachers can add backgrounds to photos,

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-22994603876320329532007-07-02T01:43:00.000-07:002007-07-02T09:00:16.914-07:00

I found a great blog site posted by Mark Wagner at edtechlife. He posted a lot about what he learned at the recent NECC conference. One very useful post was about RSS links to educational journals, and how you can have these links automatically feed to a free Google Reader. Just go to Google, get a free gmail account, and check out the Google Reader. You then simply add "subscriptions" (RSS

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683096707014838986.post-1874556079960991732007-07-02T01:02:00.000-07:002007-07-02T02:18:42.532-07:00

Monday, July 9, I'm off to Madison WI. I was invited by the Dept. of Education to sit on a review panel and listen to presentations by grant recipients who are developing games and simulations for the Dept. of Education. One product I will review is under the direction of Kurt Squire. I read some of his work while developing my dissertations's literature review, and also saw him moderate panels

Dr. Sontaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14156869114123923349noreply@blogger.com0