TECHNOS

March 12, 2010

Technos e-Zine

March 2007—Vol. 4, No. 3

This exciting new series is a multimedia teaching resource designed to enhance reading comprehension for K-3 students.

Welcome to the technos.net e-newsletter, published by AIT’s Technos Press. You’ll find valuable information here about AIT products and services and other noteworthy news from the world of education. Please let us know what you think, or what you’d like to see here, by emailing us at: editor@ait.net. Thank you!

Featured Interviews

Nome (Alaska) Green Screen Storytelling Project Team:

Justin Heinrich, Nome Elementary School Technology Coordinator
Robin Johnson, Director of Technology, Nome Public Schools, and Apple Distinguished Educator
Nikki Polk, 4th-grade teacher, Nome Elementary School

Rural Nome, Alaska, is 500 miles from the next-largest city, but it is on the cutting edge of a very exciting educational technology innovation. An interdisciplinary program called the Green Screen Storytelling Project made its debut in a fourth-grade classroom at Nome Elementary School in December 2006.

The Green Screen Project is the brainchild of Jason Ohler, President’s Professor of Educational Technology and Distance Learning at the University of Alaska. Dr. Ohler, who is also a Technos Press Distinguished Author, is an expert in what he calls “digital storytelling”—something that incorporates the DAOW (Digital, Art, Oral, Writing) of Literacy. His Green Screen Project incorporates traditional oral storytelling, sound narrative writing skills, artistic creativity in both drawing and music, and new technologies to make student stories come alive and allow them to be shared with others.

Technos ran a few questions by the principal players in the Nome Green Screen Storytelling Project, just as they were leaving Nome for the Alaska Society for Technology in Education (ASTE) Conference in Anchorage. Here are their responses.

Read the entire interviews.

Featured Article

Jason Ohler’s Green Screen Storytelling Project More than Mere Show & Tell

Scratch a “digital humanist” and what do you find? Probably a hyperactive educational technology instructor and dedicated artist/musician. Someone like Jason Ohler: pundit, professor, presenter, author, and activist.

Jason Ohler, Ph.D., is President’s Professor of Educational Technology and Distance Learning at the University of Alaska. His work as an IT/distance learning specialist has evolved to the level of digital humanist, often taking him far afield from his home in Juneau, physically and technologically. More specifically, Dr. Ohler has devised a multidisciplinary project for elementary students that combines what he calls the 4th R with what he has dubbed DEOST: Digitally-Enhanced Oral StoryTelling.

But enough about Jason…or, if you want to know more, visit his Web site. He has multiple projects in the works, and he presents around the world. Luckily, Jason is also big on sharing information, and you’ll find a wealth of it online at his Web site.

The University of Alaska’s Geography Program sponsors Stories of Culture and Place, which in turn sponsors the Green Screen Storytelling Projects in Alaskan schools. One of these projects recently took place in the Nome (Alaska) Elementary School. (See this month’s Featured Interviews for more.) Kids are encouraged to write stories, plan their oral presentations, and carry out the digital recording of their stories. The technology, a DVD of their presentations, is the end product—but it’s the process of telling stories that is emphasized.

Dr. Ohler and his colleagues insist that students be trained in the DAOW of Literacy: Digital, Art, Oral and Written literacies. Jason believes that it isn’t enough for students just to tell stories; he believes that students should plan, write, illustrate, and present stories—and he knows this is fun, too! He teaches kids a process for planning their narratives and then executing their presentations in a digital form that can be shared. Jason cautions: “No matter how sophisticated our technology becomes, the future of digital storytelling will involve writing and conventional forms of literacy.”

In the Nome Green Screen Storytelling Project, 4th-grade students planned, created, performed, and video recorded original stories before an audience in front of a wall that was painted green, which allowed for “chroma-key green-screen editing” during the editing process. How did this work? Students created original artwork using paper and crayon, which they then “slid behind” their video-recorded performances using chroma editing, and collected all of their chroma-edited performances on a DVD. The kids did all of the video recording, computer work, and DVD mastering themselves, with teacher supervision.

Read about the step-by-step process that was used in the Nome Digital Storytelling Project.

For more information about digital and traditional storytelling, go to Dr. Ohler’s Web page, where he shares his workshop information as a public resource.
For more information about digital storytelling in general, check out the Center for Digital Storytelling.
Dr. Jason Ohler can be reached at jason.ohler@uas.alaska.edu.

What’s New at AIT?

AT&T Foundation Grant to AIT, Monroe County Historical Society Will Establish Learning Centers and Technology Resources in Local Community

With an AT&T Excelerator grant of $49,911 from the AT&T Foundation, AIT will be able to create learning centers for individual or parent-child use in programs at the Benjamin Banneker Community Center in Bloomington, Indiana. AIT’s headquarters are located in Bloomington. The AT&T Foundation is the philanthropic arm of AT&T Inc.

“The AT&T grant allows us to expand educational services for adults and children in our community,” said Chuck Wilson, executive director for AIT. “It is so important in this day and age to provide technology tools to support and improve educational opportunities.”

The Monroe County (Indiana) Historical Society will use the AT&T grant of $7,881 to support Web-site technology for interactive exhibits at patron kiosks in the museum, also located in Bloomington. The museum has more than 50,000 artifacts used for educational purposes to showcase the cultural and natural heritage of Monroe County.

Since 2002, the AT&T Excelerator program has provided more than 2,500 technology grants, valued at more than $38.8 million, to organizations across the country. In 2006, more than 480 regional and local nonprofit organizations received nearly $6 million through the competitive program. The AT&T Excelerator program is a key component of AT&T AccessAll, a three-year $100 million philanthropic initiative to provide technology access to the organizations that work to strengthen communities. For more information about AT&T Inc. and the AT&T Foundation, go to: www.att.com.

The Agency for Instructional Technology's headquarters are in Bloomington, Indiana.

Lessons ALIVE!

Lessons ALIVE!—Free Online Lesson Plans Feature AIT’s Programs

Our Lessons ALIVE! feature provides free lesson plans corresponding to AIT’s products. We give teachers ideas for going beyond our videos’ teacher guides and for developing lesson plans that combine media from different series or select segments from programs. The lesson plans highlighted in Lessons ALIVE! promote contemporary ideas about structured learning environments and model best practices in teaching. During the month of March, receive a 10% discount on the AIT resources used in this month's Lessons ALIVE! lesson plans.

This month we are featuring an early elementary science lesson that focuses on animals and utilizes three of our series on the natural world.

Wild Things: Exploring the Basic Needs of Animals is designed for students in grades 1-3 and uses the following AIT Products:

Science Is Elementary, program No. 2, “Let's Explore Animals”
Up Close and Natural
Naturimages

All living things have basic needs that must be satisfied in order to survive. This lesson introduces students to the basic needs of animals: air, food, water, and a suitable place to live. Students will watch video clips of animals in their natural environments and consider how these habitats support the animals’ basic needs. Students will then conduct research about the basic needs of a specific animal and create a picture book that describes this animal.

The objectives of this lesson are to:

Explain that most living things need air, food, water, and covering.
Identify the ways in which an animal’s habitat supports its basic needs.
Observe the characteristics and behaviors of animals.

Check out all of our Lessons ALIVE! lesson plans.

Let us know if you’ve created your own unique lesson plans by submitting them to the Technos e-Zine editor at: editor@ait.net. Selected entries will be published in future issues of the e-Zine.

Tech Notes

Tips for Teachers: How to Access AIT Materials without Spending Your Own Nickel(s)

Do you wish you could afford to have more of AIT’s designed-for-classrooms media resources? Here are some ideas that might help you gain access, without having to reach into your own pocket. When you are ready to make that purchase just fax a purchase order or request on school letterhead to AIT at 812-333-4278, go online www.ait.net/catalog and use your school credit card, or call 1-800-457-4509, ext. 4.

SCHOOL LIBRARY
Libraries acquire more than books and periodicals—they also acquire DVDs and electronic media (accessible through your school’s computer network). While school librarians often look for materials that will interest students, they are just as often eager to acquire materials that teachers will use for instruction as well. Get to know your school librarian and ask him or her to budget money to buy media resources that you will use. Offer to host an informal presentation to your peers on how you use these materials in your classroom, to build up the demand for these resources.

SCHOOL PURCHASE ORDER
If your library does not purchase media, ask for a purchase order yourself. Your curriculum team or your principal’s support is required, so be prepared to justify your request by pointing out that AIT materials are designed specifically for instruction and that student outcomes will be positively affected by your access to these resources.

PUBLIC LIBRARY
Your public library probably stocks lots of DVDs, but the demand for instructional DVDs is low, so the public librarian probably doesn’t buy those as often. Speak to your local librarian about materials that you would sign out and use a few times per year. You might also offer to do a short workshop at the library for parents on how to use instructional media at home, as a public service.

SCHOOL REGIONAL MEDIA CENTER
Sometimes called an intermediate school district, or unit, regional education center or board of cooperative educational service, a school regional media center can be a helpful resource for instructional materials. Not all states or all districts are members of the media services provided by these regional agencies, but if your district is, you are in luck. Contact the media services department directly (find the number or email online) and tell the director exactly what you want. If you can encourage one or two of your peers to also contact the department, that will really do the trick—because these service agencies plan their purchasing and licensing based solely on demand from teachers.

PUBLIC TELEVISION STATIONS & CABLE ACCESS STATIONS
PBS stations spend thousands of dollars every year on programming. Many have a special budget just for school videos. Contact the education director at your local station and ask if the station provides educational programming, and then ask if you can suggest some programming. Ask to be notified when the program is aired and for the specific rights for off-air recordings of the program. AIT programs are licensed to PBS stations with 1+ years rights—so, you can record a program today and use it all year long.

STATE EDUCATION AGENCIES
A handful of states provide media services and purchase bulk licenses for the entire state. To see if your state purchases AIT products for you, just write to us at info@ait.net, and we will be happy to tell you. Let us know your state and what materials interest you. We’ll respond to let you know if your state does purchase rights for you and who in your state is the contact person for more information. If your state is a client of AIT’s but does not currently license the materials you want, we’ll let that state know of your interest and encourage its media services to consider buying those materials soon.

PTA, ROTARY CLUB, KIWANIS CLUB
Local service agencies like to support tangible school projects with a fixed price and long-lasting impact. Acquiring a media resource to assist in instruction meets all these criteria. All that is necessary is to compose a short letter explaining the cost and the value to your students and mail it to the president of the organization. Find the president’s name and address by contacting your local chamber of commerce. Point out that instructional media are specifically designed for classroom use and that they provide important context or present information in ways that make it easier for learners to grasp a concept. Also note that these materials are more expensive than consumer DVDs because they are specialty products for a much smaller market and come with rights beyond home-video, so you can use the media anytime you wish without conflicting with copyright laws. Offer to bring the video to a future meeting, along with a few students, and model how you use the video to improve learning.

GRANTS
Write a mini-grant proposal of $500 to $2,500 for instructional media. See the list below for some ideas—and contact us at AIT if you need any help in submitting your proposal. We are happy to provide sample lesson materials or to suggest how the instructional design of one of our products is going to help you to meet your instructional goals.

Toyota USA Foundation. For projects to increase the productivity of students and/or educators primarily in the areas of math and science.
Dollar General Community Contributions. Supports nonprofits in company operating areas for literacy programs and youth development initiatives.
Starbucks Foundation. Grants of $5,000 to $20,000 for projects that integrate literacy with personal or civic action.
Lowe’s Toolbox for Education Grants. Earn up to $5,000 for your school.
Payless ShoeSource Foundation. Up to $5,000 for communities with a Payless Store.
Allianz Classroom Awards. Grants of $1,000 each for health-related projects.
Verizon. For projects that support education, especially literacy.
Target. For literacy, arts, and the prevention of family violence.

etc. (News You Need)

The 35th Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race—82 teams of about 1,000 howling dogs traveling over 1,150 miles of beautiful and rugged Alaska terrain—begins on Saturday, March 3. The race starts in Anchorage and travels north through some of the most gorgeous and treacherous land areas in the country to the finish line in Nome. Learn more about The Last Great Race on Earth, run by teams of 12 to 16 dogs bred for the grueling event of carrying a sled and their musher through wintry conditions, at this Web site: http://www.iditarod.com/learn/, where you will find links to the history of the race, profiles of mushers and their teams, current standings, and information for teachers. You can also follow the progress of Kim Slade, the 2007 Wells Fargo Teacher on the Trail, who provides "Trail Tidbits" updates, including photos, and lesson plans. The Iditarod Race commemorates the time in rough-and-tumble Alaska settlement days, when the Iditarod Trail was a life-saving highway during an epidemic of diphtheria in Nome. In 1925, serum was brought in by dog mushers and their hard-driving dogs.
“Working Together: School-Family-Community Partnerships, A Toolkit for New Mexico School Communities” is designed to assist educators and education partners with information, resources, and strategies to help strengthen parent and community involvement. With emphasis on multiculturalism in New Mexico, this toolkit is designed to make schools places that foster community collaboration and make parents and families feel welcome. Created by the Center for the Education and Study of Diverse Populations at New Mexico Highlands University in cooperation with the New Mexico Public Education Department, the Toolkit is divided into three sections: Teacher Tools, Family Tools, and Professional Development Tools—each of which includes six modules: Improving Communication, Promoting Positive Parenting, Enhancing Student Learning, Increasing Volunteerism, Supporting Decision Making and Advocacy, and Collaborating with the Community. Its lessons, while derived from and targeted to the diverse population of the State of New Mexico, can be applied to other communities and schools. A free, downloadable PDF of the Toolkit is available online.
TechGYRLS is a program begun in 1997 by the YWCA to steer girls toward careers in technology and engineering. The free program for girls ages 9 to 15 raises awareness, confidence, and competence in crucial areas of technology while helping develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Local YWCAs set up their own TechGYRLS groups with funding from various sources. In Chicago, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity has joined with Microsoft Corp. and the Motorola and Sara Lee Foundations to underwrite costs. For more information, go to www.ywcachicago.org; the pull-down menu under “Programs” links to “Economic Empowerment” and “TechGYRLS.”
The National Research Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development at the University of Connecticut Web site offers resources for those who seek more information and resources to plan effective programs and curricula for gifted students. A new link at this site offers access to the February 2007 issue of The School Administrator, which focuses on the challenges of providing “G&T” education. The Center is sponsoring a one-day workshop on May 11, 2007, in Storrs, CT, on the topic of Successful Practices for Designing Programs and Services for High-Potential Students.
From Education Sector, and right on time, comes “Eight for 2008: Education Policy Guidebook for Presidential Candidates.” Reflecting the opinion of Americans that education remains a Top Ten priority, this report offers eight education ideas for the 2008 presidential campaign: 1) Unlock the Pre-K Door; 2) Offer Teachers a New Deal; 3) Create a National Corps of “SuperPrincipals”; 4) Open New Schools in Low-Income Neighborhoods; 5) Launch Learning into the 21st Century; 6) Reward Hard-Working Immigrant Students; 7) Give Students a Roadmap to Good Colleges; and 8) Help Students Help Others. Education Sector is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, and independent education policy think tank located in Washington, D.C.
The Holland + Knight Charitable Foundation Holocaust Remembrance Project is a national essay contest for high school students in the United States and Mexico designed to encourage and promote the study of the Holocaust. Participation encourages students to think responsibly, be aware of world conditions that undermine human dignity, and make decisions that promote the respect and value inherent in every person. First Place winners participate in an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and other historic sites. In addition, scholarships of up to $10,000 will be awarded to the first-place winners. Deadline is April 30, 2007.
Teen Tech Week 2007—Young Adult Library Services Association, a division of the American Library Association, announces Teen Tech Week 2007 to be held March 4–10. For more information, visit the ALA Web site.

AIT Products & Services

Check out our sizzling hot Winter 2007 Specials at our online catalog!

Hurry to get a 10% discount on your purchase of any of the featured lessons in our March Lessons ALIVE! science lesson for early elementary grades…

Science is Elementary, program #2, “Let’s Explore Animals”—This program considers the differences in animal sizes, movements, and homes; and investigates animals’ needs for survival and their usefulness to people. Grades 1–3. 15 minutes. Product Code: 352-002-V-CC.
Up Close and Natural—This AIT Classic brings the field, lake, and forest into the classroom and develops students’ appreciation for and sensitivity to the wonders of the natural world. It helps students sharpen their skills of observation, description, and classification; and encourages them to explore the anatomy and behavior of animals that live in the wild and the various elements of habitats that help animals survive. Fifteen 15-minute programs for grades 1–4.
Naturimages—This collection of 52 six-minute programs for Kindergarten through 2nd grade teaches about the characteristics and habitats of a variety of species. The production is fashioned using a narrator’s voice to explain key biology concepts. This program is available in digital format.

PLEASE NOTE: We’re still featuring the programs from our February social studies Lessons ALIVE!—Express Yourself: How Can Citizens Participate?

Solve It, program No. 6, “Understanding Mean, Median, and Mode”—Sixth-grade students discover three types of average (mean, median, and mode) and learn to select and apply the most appropriate of these averaging methods. 15 minutes. Product Code: 268-006.
Democracy It Is!, program No. 4, “Choices and Changes”—This program begins when three young friends realize their favorite hideout has been trashed, again! They realize they have a choice: they can let the problem continue and lose their favorite hideout, or they can make a change. Students in grades 2 through 4 will see Haley, Trent, and Lily making a change as they research the problem and prepare a proposal to their city council. Using one scripted piece and three real-life stories about young people, this fourth installment of the democracy it is! video series focuses on making choices to create changes in your own school, community, and state. 15 minutes. Product Code: 519-004.
Club Write Kids, program No. 4, “Writing to Persuade”—Club members write persuasive letters to stop their neighborhood playground from being razed for construction of a new drugstore. 15 minutes. Product Code: 455-004-V-CC.
The Letter TV III: Vowel Combinations series includes thirteen 5-minute video programs on two VHS tapes. The teacher’s guide can be downloaded for free from the Letter TV III Web site. The third series of Letter TV programs focuses on phonemic rules for readers in grades K–2, mostly related to vowel combinations. With only 26 letters to represent more than 100 phonemes, learning to read means learning how to decode all the sounds represented by certain combinations of letters. The rules presented in each episode will help learners unravel the complicated web of reading, build confidence, and expand vocabulary. Rules are explored in detail and the story provides a natural context for viewers to remember the correct application of the rule. A team-oriented explanation segment clarifies and simplifies the rule for learners, and a catchy song reinforces the concept. Over and over again, viewers see the characters reading as part of the story, effectively modeling positive attitudes toward reading. Available on VHS and DVD. Contact info@ait.net for more information.
The Inventing Flight for Schools Curriculum Kit includes six 10-minute video programs, additional science tutorial and “how-to” video segments, a DVD resource disk, a teacher’s guide, student worksheets, and Internet resources. $295.00. Product Code: 464-KIT-V-CC. Visit the Inventing Flight Web site.

Find out more about AIT’s programs at our online catalog. Check out AIT’s sample video clips.

You're welcome to download a .pdf version of AIT’s 2007 product catalog.

Read previous issues of the TECHNOS e-Zine.

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