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Hello friends!
We've all been really busy here at Generation YES the last few weeks. This month will bring NECC in Atlanta and the airing of the Nick News segment about our GenYES program at Longfellow Middle School in Hill City, Kansas. There's so much more in this newsletter -- see the links so the left (In This Issue) for more news, student project ideas and resources, my update on Liberia, and more.
Forward,
Dennis Harper
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NECC - Visit us! Win fabulous prizes!
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National Educational Computer Conference (NECC)
Atlanta, Georgia June 24-27
NECC is the premiere conference for educators involved in educational technology. We invite you to meet with us at Booth #1952 in the Exhibit Hall, join us for sessions, and win some prizes!
Must See Sessions
Be sure to put these sessions in your NECC calendar:
Tuesday, June 26th, 2007
Technology Literacy for All Students
Dennis Harper and panel 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Join us for a comprehensive, comparative look at how states and nations are defining and assessing technology literacy.
Papert Matters - Thinking About Children, Computers and Powerful Ideas - Spotlight Session
Gary Stager, Pepperdine University 3:30-4:30 PM
Seymour Papert's work has defined the frontiers of education for 40+
years. Hear how Papert's work and legacy remains relevant and necessary in this day and age.
Wednesday, June 27th, 2007
Assessing Student Technology Literacy
Sylvia Martinez and panel 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM
Come hear real solutions for meeting the NCLB requirement to assess technology literacy of 8th grade students.
More sessions - NECC Creative Educator Handout
If you are looking for constructivist, project-based sessions
with ideas for the classroom using multimedia, Web 2.0 tools,
programming for students, and more, look here for more sessions that you'll love.Constructivist CelebrationIf you saw the announcement in our last newsletter about our event the day before NECC, we hope you moved fast and signed up! If you did, we'll see you there for a fun day of playing and learning with other like-minded educators. If not, take a look at the article down below to find out about other opportunities to participate. TechYES students from Barber Middle School in Cobb County, Georgia will be on hand to help out at the Celebration and all throughout NECC.  Win Prizes!
Generation YES and our partners in the Constructivist Consortium will be having a daily prize drawing. The prize package includes a TON of software, a virtual author visit from renowned children's book author and illustrator Peter Reynolds, and TechYES and GenYES licenses. Come by the Generation YES booth (#1952) to pick up an entry card. We hope you win!
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Set the VCR...Nick News at Longfellow Middle School
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GenYES segment to air June 17
Last month, Nick News with Linda Ellerbee sent camera crews to do a profile on one of our veteran GenYES schools, Longfellow Middle School in Hill City, Kansas. As part of their series on Education in America, they wanted to showcase the positive partnerships GenYES creates between students and teachers. Read more on our blog...Set your VCRs and DVRs to:
Sunday, June 17th at 8:30 pm EST - Nick News with Linda Ellerbee
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Update on Student Technology Literacy
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 NCLB Mandate - Are you Ready?
Student technology literacy is a hot topic these days. No Child Left Behind mandates that every students will be technology
literate by 8th grade. Most states are using some form of the ISTE
National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for students to define
what that means. Progressive educators worry that a focus on
standardized reporting of technology literacy will become the tail that
wags the dog. Will they have to abandon their goals to integrate
technology into the curriculum? Will technology projects and
exploration of Web 2.0 tools give way to cramming for standardized
tests about what CPU stands for? TechYES Student Technology Literacy Certification is a way for  schools to address assessment of student technology literacy in a way that is project-based and authentic. As with all Generation YES programs, TechYES puts the student at the center of the process, with innovative materials, well-researched resources and teacher support.
NETS Refresh News
ISTE is set to release a refresh of their student National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) at NECC. Based on this preview in District Administration magazine, we were pleasantly surprised to see the new ISTE NETS-students will include creativity for the first time. TechYES criteria has always included creativity as a requirement, so we congratulate ISTE on this important addition! States Tackle NCLB 8th Grade Tech Literacy
The Georgia Department of Education has provided a comparison chart of
approaches to the NCLB 8th grade technology mandate. TechYES is the
only project-based approach on their list. Find out more...
The Connecticut Regional Educational Service Center ( RESC) Alliance
created a report describing a variety of assessment formats and
products meant to address student tech assessment. Find out more...
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Constructivist Celebration - Coming Soon to a Conference Near You?
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 The Constructivist Celebration @NECC is the inaugural event for the new Constructivist Consortium, an industry cooperative designed to showcase software and curriculum products that support creativity, constructivist learning and student empowerment. Good news/bad newsBad news - it's completely sold out! Good news - there is a real desire out there for support for progressive uses of technology! We've even had a few inquiries about running this event at other conferences - that would be cool! If you would like to find out more about the Constructivist Consortium, the website has more information and a mailing list signup. |
Student Showcase
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 Rose Hill JHS Visits
Its' not too often we get visitors at the main office in Olympia, Washington, but we had a great time! Field trip report and photos
Student Empowerment
This 13 year old girl shows the impact of technology on her life. Watch the video...
Students Fix Computers for Community
4th graders in Kevin Jarrett's class refurbish old computers and give them to local families. 4th graders? Yup. Read more...Nevada, Iowa Students Help Others with TechYES Technology Projects 173 fifth and sixth graders all recieved TechYES certificates at Nevada Middle School in Nevada, Iowa. Projects were designed to help other students or community members
and to learn more about something they had interest in.
TechYES advisor Ann Malven reports "The TechYES program
has totally transformed the way we teach technology in the 5th and 6th
grades." See TechYES projects here.
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Ideas and Resouces for Student Projects
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 Classroom collaboration opportunity with the International Space Station
Grades 3-12 teachers and students can collaborate with astronauts,
scientists and engineers, and other classes from around the globe. Read more...
Student-made help videos
Informational videos are a often overlooked part of multimedia literacy, and are useful for teaching other students or teachers about school-specific technology. See a great example and why this is a good model for students in...
RSS in plain English - Ideas for student-made help videos
 Student-designed video games
Programming video games involves higher-order thinking skills, mathematical ability, planning, collaboration and more. Aren't sure you know enough to get students started? Take a look at these game-making with students resources on the GenYES blog.
Free, open-source and Web 2.0 tools for student projects
Alix Peshette of Davis school district in California (6 GenYES schools) posted this great list of free and open source tools for student projects online
Google - Free and easy to use
Google is continuing to expand its amazing set of FREE tools and applications suitable for student use. Want to share documents and spreadsheets with students? Read more about Google Apps. Ready for Google to organize the Internet just for you? Read about iGoogle.
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Constructivist and Project-based Teacher Resources
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Why is constructivist teaching so easy to love and so hard to do?
Maybe because it's easy to get hooked on instruction.
What does constructivist teaching look like?
Sometimes it's tough to explain what constructivist, student-centered teaching "looks like". This video shows it well, and as a bonus, shows what it looks like at a distance. Constructivist teaching - virtually
Minimally Invasive Education
In 1999, Dr. Sugata Mitra installed a single computer in a wall between his New Delhi school and the slum outside. Read about the "Hole in the Wall" experiment, the impact on the children, and the implication for technology instruction in your school.Treasure trove for classroom technology projects
Dr. Alice Christie from Arizona State University has a wonderful site
packed with great resources and articles for project-based learning with technology.
The educational technology resource page
lists subjects like geocaching, webquests, podcasting, multimedia, and
more.
Not only are there great examples and ideas, but links to many
school websites showing these ideas in action.
Finally, teachers and grant-writers looking for research to support student-centered, project-based programs like GenYES should definitely
look at Dr. Christie's research and publication page. |
Second Life
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 Virtual 3D Worlds - Is this the future of education?
Sylvia Martinez has been invited to join CAVE (Center for Virtual Education), created as a virtual think-tank about the possibilites of using the Second Life virtual world for education. Read more about Sylvia's Second Life, her first Second Life lesson. and thoughts about this new world. |
Liberia Renaissance School Update
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Groundbreaking day
Dennis was in Liberia again for almost 3 weeks in April and May, meeting and negotiating with contractors, government officials, business people, and other groups working towards the opening of the Liberian Renaissance School. The culmination of the trip was the groundbreaking ceremony for the school, presided over by the President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. President Sirleaf said, "The technological revolution has come from the vision of
those people who saw beyond the ordinary. And so Dr. Harper, you are thinking
beyond the ordinary even though us old people get a little bit anxious whether
it will work. But that's what innovation and creativity are all about. We
look forward to seeing right here on this spot, children in Liberia coming
from this new vision with a new way of doing things, with new talents, new
skills, new approaches, new contributions."
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Personal message from Dennis
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My favorite time of year...
June -- the end of the school year. In the past few weeks I've signed thousands
of student certificates celebrating the great projects that students
do to support teaching and learning with technology! From my early
teaching days, the end of the year was my favorite time--seeing the
progress students had made, their growth and capacity for life,
tempered with a bit of sadness to see them move on.
But fall is
my other favorite time--when a new fresh-faced group brings with them
the unlimited potential of youth to change the world.
Enjoy your summer!
Dennis
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That's All For This Issue of the Generation YES Express!
We hope you've enjoyed this email newsletter. If you have stories to
share or news clips about technology in education, student empowerment,
or funding for technology, please send them our way and you might see
them in the next issue (or on the blog)!
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