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Small Voices podcast is produced by Kathy Shields, a Georgia certified teacher, in order to encourage literacy skills by providing a wider audience for students. I support public education!
small voices, where being small is a BIG deal!
I used to teach Kindergarten, now I teach 3rd Grade. I fascinated by the learning process and live for the special moments when things really click for children. When they get enthusiastic about learning their energy motivates me too. I have my Masters in Elementary Education from Brenau University, a certificate in computer graphic design from Parsons and a background in high tech sales and adult professional development. I offer professional development workshops for teachers through my school. My latest philosophy regarding technology is not to isolate its use and to avoid adding additional hardware when at all possible. I think everything we need should be web based and free of barriers which cause teachers to give up on technology. In other words, to heck with equipment that doesn't work, it out of date and is future landfill material. We do need access but it should be provided cheaply. I have experimented with XO-OLPC laptops but since then, the netbooks have become a viable alternative and are faster and have a more similar platform to make adoption very smooth and transparent. I do love my LCD but I await the day that the portable LED projectors are readily available and can be used effectively in the classroom. I don't want to have to buy another LCD bulb, Agreed?!@ I also highly value interpersonal, hand-on activities in the form of investigations, recording the process is my goal because the process is where all the learning takes place. Up to now I have simply written about the process but I hope to have camera on hand to capture more of the true action, in the next school year. My latest crusade is to open the borders of my classroom experience by engaging in international projects. It's for me too. I'll be honest, I love finding out first hand what's going on in other parts of the world and I love making friends with new teachers because we automatically share a common love of challenging young minds and watching them reach their potential. I became part of three small projects this Spring and my students felt very responsible for communicating information to Taiwan, Australia and Uganda as emissaries for our school. I hope to pursue more opportunities through www.Globalgateway.org.uk and through www.Jenuinetech.com, run by friend Jen Wagner, a national edtech speaker and one who has had the please of managing in excess of 800 students in her web-based projects! I look forward to hearing from you. Posts can be made on my PD blog below because I can moderate, unlike here on Podomatic,unless of course my new PRO account permits moderation, hmmm? I also blog for my own personal professional development at http://ripplingpond.wordpress.com
Each year Mrs. Grabel joins our class to share her Hanukah traditions. We make latkes and dance the horah. We learn to play dreidel too! This is part of our Holidays Around the World celebrations in the month of December. We also have a Gingerbread Man scavenger hunt in our Media Center, decorate a palm Christmas tree with ornaments from other countries and more.
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