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Generation YES Express
Back to School 2009
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Welcome!
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It's back to school time here in North America. As always, it's a time for new beginnings, new students, new teachers, and new hopes and dreams. In particular, new students always inspire me to renew my committment to student empowerment, student-centered learning, and most of all, to building a better world.
Only with the help of these students can we build that dream. Together, we are stronger and smarter. As they say, "we are smarter than me."
Forward-
Dennis
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California Kids Use - and Teach - Digital Storytelling
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Veteran fourth-grade GenYES teacher Don Kinslow often hears colleagues say they would use technology if they had the time to get training. At Parkview Elementary School, in Chico, California, he has found a practical solution to this dilemma: He engages students as technology mentors.
This article appears in the September issue of Edutopia magazine as part of their stimulus funding series, High Tech at Low Cost. The story captures the essence of what many schools see when they include GenYES students in their technology outreach to teachers and the whole community. Says Don, "It's a simple idea, but it's had huge outcomes." >>Full article |
| Back to School Tech Tool Roundup
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Back to school means new pencils, new rulers, and new notebooks, right? Well how about stocking up on some 21st century versions of back to school tools? And yes - all FREE! - Etherpad - collaborative documents with no login or email necessary. Has a cool timeslider feature so you can watch your document as it changed over time.
- Scratch - an easy to learn programming language for ages 8 and up. Programming is simply one of the best learning experiences for students. It builds logic, higher order thinking skills, and really, it's just plain fun!
- Audacity - an oldie but a goodie. A really useful audio recording and editing tool that can be used for any kind of multimedia project.
- Wikispaces - educators can sign up for a free, ad-free wiki for classroom or personal use.
- Gaggle Student Email - free email and more. Gaggle has been a Generation YES partner for years, and our schools love the easy to use, protected email for students.
- Google Earth - if you haven't seen Google Earth lately, take a peek! Google Earth is a super-charged version of the web-based Google Maps. Take a tour of the earth, space, moon, or undersea, or add 3D buildings with SketchUp.
- Prezi - tired of boring old one-slide-at-a-time slideshows? Try zooming instead. If some of your students have "done PowerPoint" - let them try Prezi. It might make you dizzy, but the kids should pick it up pretty quickly!
- Zamar - easy online file conversion. Not only does Zamzar convert document and graphic file formats, but also movie formats. It even can save YouTube and other online movies to files for use at a later date.
And if you are looking for a technology class curriculum that is project-based and up to date, check out the all new TechYES TLC - Technology Literacy Curriculum. |
Video: Student Reporters Cover Weyerhaeuser Student Science Leaders
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In June 2009, the first 300 students participating in the Weyerhaeuser Student Science Leaders program got their TechYES Science technology literacy certification.
Students at Mill Creek Middle School in the Kent School District in Washington State completed projects that demonstrated their proficiency in science and technology literacy. The Student Science Leaders in the club assisted their
classmates in learning technology and evaluating projects, while
science teachers participated in professional development training
and benefited from new equipment provided by the grant to help engage their
students in authentic 21st century science.
Watch the video of the student newscast on the successful completion of year one!
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New York State Student Technology Leaders to Expand
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The New York State Education Department (NYSED) has funded a three-year expansion of the successful New York State Student Technology Leaders (NYSSTL) model. The EETT grant will provide about $2.1 million to meet three goals: (1) expand NYSSTL to 21 additional districts in middle schools, (2) expand NYSSTL to the high school level in 46 districts, (3) develop and pilot a NYSSTL toolkit to expand the NYSSTL model to 105 New York districts by the third year of the grant. Researchers from Harvard and Albany University will provide the external evaluation. With this grant, NYSSTL becomes the largest statewide student-centered technology support effort in the United States. Take a look at these NYSSTL student video, podcast, and website projects! |
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A Busy, Busy Summer: Out and About with Generation YES
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This summer saw a lot of action both at home and abroad. Hope you are keeping track on the blog! Here are just a few highlights:
NECC Washington DC - In the nation's capital, we figured it was time to play politics, or at least play with politicians! The real ones were busy, so we brought in stand-ins. TechYES students from nearby Arlington, Virginia took digital photos and went into photo button production mode. With this popular attraction, we had lines of people waiting to get their photo buttons made. But have no fear, everyone got their buttons -- these kids knew what they were doing!
Speaking of popular, Sylvia Martinez's talk - 30 Years Later: The Best Professional Development is still up on the ISTE Vision video archive website as one of the top ten most watched sessions from NECC.
World Conference on Computers in Education - Brazil
Generation YES founder Dennis Harper attended his sixth WCCE in Brazil in July. Dr. Harper presented research results from the Malaysian Student Technology Leaders effort and several new countries are looking closely at the STL model to bring together 21st century learning and leadership.
Brooklyn Tech Camp - Programming and robotics meant a week of fun and learning this summer for 15 Brooklyn 7th graders (and their teachers too.) These students were all TechYES Peer Mentors in the EETT funded Brooklyn Science TIP program. Bringing students and teachers together for a collaborative, constructivist learning experience resulted in some great projects!
By the way, if you would like Generation YES to help you plan or run your own student/teacher tech experience, just give us a call!
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In closing - while recently watching the Ted Kennedy retrospectives, one statement that the Senator made stuck out. When speaking about how his staff contributed to his success he said, "I'm not a very smart guy but knew enough to surround myself with people smarter than me."
This statement rang true to me -- the success of Generation YES has been built by people smarter than I, and many, if not most of them have been students. There is a long list of remarkable GenYES students that we have hired over the past 13 years. These students create and maintain our company website, design many of our printed materials, and help create our curriculum.
As another school year begins every administrator and teacher should realize that they have hundreds of readily available people smarter than they are right in their own district. Of course, I am talking about K-12 students. The primary vision of Generation YES has always been to provide the preparation and resources necessary for schools to tap into the energy, passion, and smarts of students so they can collaborate with educators to truly reform schools through the use of modern technology.
I remain optimistic about children as powerful change agents, and as Senator Kennedy said so eloquently, "... the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope lives on, and the dream shall never die."
Forward -
Dennis Harper
Generation YES
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