Welcome to the Generation YES Express
Starting the new school year always brings together wonderful memories of years gone by and the anticipation of new adventures to come. Over the summer we led workshops and consulted with many new Generation Y and Generation TECH schools. These schools join our ever-expanding family of schools where students are valuable partners in creating the learning environment. These collaborative learning communities value all stakeholders in the education process and create meaningful experiences that will enhance student learning for years to come.
As always, Generation YES is committed to helping you and your students have another amazing school year.
Forward.
Dennis Harper
What's New at Generation YES
TechYES Launch at NECC - A Huge Hit!
TechYES - Student Technology Literacy Certification was launched at the National Educational Computing Conference in New Orleans in June. We enjoyed meeting old friends and new, and want to thank everyone who came by the booth to visit. We were nearly overwhelmed by the amazing response to this new program. Seems like everyone has been discussing the NCLB 8th grade technology literacy mandate and many are in the midst of planning to address it. TechYES offers a student-centered, project-based approach that can be customized for every school and after-school situation. For more details and pricing, see https://www.genyes.org/programs/techyes
Generation Y Expands In Year 9
The Generation Y model of professional development enters its ninth year. Over 1,000 schools have taught students in grades 3-12 to support teachers as they integrate technology to improve student learning. Best of all, every one of our Gen Y initiatives funded through the federal EETT program have been expanded for the upcoming year! These initiatives are found in Maryland, California, Wisconsin, Texas, Illinois, Kansas, New York and other states.
Minnesota Federation of Alternative Schools Receives TechYES Grant
The Minnesota Department of Education awarded a group of Minneapolis-St. Paul alternative schools a Title II (D) grant to use the TechYES program to ensure all their students are technology literate. TechYES is our new Student Technology Literacy Certification program for students in grades 6-9. More details can be found at: https://www.genyes.org/programs/techyes.
Michigan Laptop Initiative Launches a Generation TECH Pilot Program
Four middle schools participating in the Michigan wireless laptop initiative will utilize the Generation TECH model of student tech support this upcoming school year. Including students in the support of the Freedom to Learn initiative will give these schools more resources to keep all their new hardware running in top condition. In addition, it helps reinforce the student-centered nature of the laptop computing effort. Students will be assisting teachers with technical support and also support teachers in the classroom with technology integration. More details about the Generation TECH student tech support curriculum can be found at: https://www.genyes.org/programs/gentech
Northwest Regional Education Laboratory Completes Annual Gen Y Evaluation
The NWREL (LINK) recently completed an extensive external evaluation that covers both the 2003-2004 school year and the entire eight-year history of the model. Thousands of Gen Y students and teachers were surveyed and interviewed. The evaluation continues to find that teachers and students working together produce high quality work that supports technology integration in the classroom. Of the partner-teachers responding:
Complete results can be found at:
https://www.genyes.org/programs/genyes/natsurveydata0304
Up and Coming Events
T+L2 Conference: Technology + Leadership + Learning => Turn Up the Power
Come visit the Generation YES booth at the T+L2 conference October 27-29, 2004 in Denver, Colorado. T+L2 is always an excellent conference, and we will be doing a session on TechYES - Student Technology Literacy Certification. And don't miss out on the special offers on the conference website, including free airfare and admission to special VIP events!
https://www.nsba.org/t+l/
Wisconsin State Education Technology Conference
Dr. Dennis Harper will speak at the GWETC conference in the Wisconsin Dells on October 12-14. His session on student empowerment and technology is always a surefire hit, so stop by and say hi! The conference keynote, Dr. David Thornburg, is on the TechYES Advisory Board and contributed to the design and development of TechYES.
https://www.gwetc.org/
Student Showcase
Free! New Generation Y Student CD
The fourth annual Generation Y student CD provides numerous examples of technology-infused lessons created by Gen Y students and their partner teachers during the 2003-04 school year. Every project features the full project description, procedures, lesson objectives, state standards addressed and contains an accompanying video. For your free copy, visit https://www.genyes.org/scripts/cd_request.php
Gen Y Student Exercises Her Power in Health Class
Kamie at Center Point Middle School in Texas partnered with a Health teacher to create a movie to explain healthy eating and exercising habits. Kamie then went on to create an interactive PowerPoint activity that all health students will use to identify healthy foods and exercises. More Gen Y student projects can be found at:
https://genyes.org/news/
Tech Tips Plus
Blogs, Wikis and RSS
Translation needed? Blogs are web logs, wikis are editable web pages, and RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a way to subscribe to blogs, news, or web information without email, spam or visiting a lot of different web sites. These new emerging technologies are made possible when web programmers use common code to build websites and share information across the Internet. Educational uses of these concepts are just beginning, but they offer a wealth of possibilities, from student collaboration and parent information to adaptive technology. More information is available at:
Free! iMovie Plugins and Special Effects Tutorials
Cool special effects and converter plug-ins for iMovie can be found at imovieplugins.com. Many of them are free, and the rest are priced very reasonably. Be sure to check out their extensive "how to" PDFs on creating digital special effects like music video style top and bottom bars and every watermark variation you could ever want.
https://www.imovieplugins.com/prodmainframe.html
News You Can Use
Global Kids International Film Fest
New Guide on Using Technology for Students with Disabilities
Opt-in/Opt-out Note
And, of course, additions to the list are more than welcome! Our Generation YES Express sign-up page makes it easy for friends, family, co-workers, colleagues and acquaintances to join the Generation YES community.
Considering Filtering?
In the April issue of Phi Delta Kappan, the authors of Just Give It to Me Straight: A Case Against Filtering the Internet cite four reasons why parents and schools should reconsider the use of Internet filters. First, and most simply, filters don't work as advertised.
https://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k0405cal.htm
Students will be able to screen films on-line and vote for their favorites. Science, technology, culture and the arts come together at the Global Kids Film Festival to provide a unique and rewarding experience for all those involved. The festival will take place 11-16 October 2004.
https://globalkidsfest.com
NSBA's ITTE: Education Technology Programs released "Technology for Students with Disabilities: A School Leader's Resource Guide." The guide is designed to give school board members, superintendents, technology coordinators, and other educators authoritative and practical advice on a broad range of issues, including supporting teaching and learning with assistive technology; funding AT programs; and understanding the legal and regulatory context. The guide can be purchased at
https://secure.nsba.org/pubs/item_info.cfm?ID=714
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