Closing down Blogspot site

After Friday, 1/8/10 the Blogspot site (and website syndication) will become inactive.  Blog posts will ONLY appear on the HASIP UEN page.  Please visit the UEN page daily for updates, news, event information, links, and resources.

Thank you!

Updates for 1/7/10

A few important reminders as we come to the end of our first week back after break:

1. TEACHER TALK will happen today (1/7) starting at 3:30 in Amy's Wimba Room.

2. Goal Review and November/December Lesson Reflection are due TOMORROW, 1/8/10.

3.  I must know by NOON TOMORROW (1/8/10) if you want to enroll in the next USU online course.  I have replied to everyone to has asked to enroll so far - if you sent me you info and haven;t heard back, please call me!

4.  Please let me know if you are attending UAGC, and if so, how your registration was paid. Remember, you can deduct $40 as a HASIP participant (or be reimbursed $40 if you already paid the full amount for whichever days you are attending).  Be sure to note on your registration that you are a HASIP participant  [this includes COACHES as well!].

5. Please expect to be contacted by Drs. Jim Carroll and Joe Montecalvo of the Maxwell School of Social Sciences, Syracuse University AND/OR Dr. Carolyn Callahan of the University of Virgina - they comprise our external evaluation team and will be beginning the survey process soon as part of the evaluation.  The first evaluation report is due to the state legislature in February, so it's important that we're all prompt in our responses in to their inquiries. Paricipation in the external evaluation process is required in order to maintain your stipend eligibility at the end of the program year. The surveys are NOT difficult or time-consuming (yay, Survey Monkey!); their will also be some phone/internet interviews as well.  Coaches are also part of the evaluation protocol.

Visit the HASIP UEN page daily for updates, and have a great rest of the week!

Updates 1/4/10

I hope that everyone's winter break was wonderfully relaxing! Now it's back to the routine of teaching and learning, which is a GREAT routine to be in.

As I mentioned in emails/blog posts prior to the break, the HASIP servers were moved to the Washington school district's new data center in late December. The move took our VPN offline, closing your "tunnel" and preventing access to secure iChat and Confluence. Now that are servers are located in a new location and are part of a different network, they have new IP addresses.

These new IP addresses necessitate that we reconfigure the security protocols on your HASIP MacBook. You will be hearing from Matt and Trent in the coming days with specific information and instructions for what will happen. Until your machine is updated you will continue to have a "closed tunnel," no secure iChat, and no Confluence access. Thus, it is essential that you watch for the information to come from the HASIP tech team, and that you respond according to their instructions. We want to get you back to full operating capacity ASAP!

Some other reminders:

1. If you want to take the next endorsement course (beginning the second week of January), I need to know NOW. USU is currently enrolling our course, so I need your names (and A#s)! I have responded to every email I have gotten so far about registering, so if you emailed me and didn't hear back, PLEASE email me again (the way that Gmail "stacks" responses to a thread sometimes causes me to miss individual email, despite my paranoia!).
2. If you plan to attend the UAGC conference at the end of the month, please make sure that I am aware so that I can add you to my reimbursement list.
3. Goal Reviews and November/December lesson reflections are due on January 8th. I have also acknowledged each of these emails, so if you sent something in and haven't heard back, let me know.
4. Please check the HASIP UEN page daily for informational blog posts and reminders.

Have a GREAT first week back at school!

Friday Hot Links for 12/18/09 ~ Vacation Animation Edition

Click below for good info on helping kids stay safe online:

Thinkfinity has some great resources on helping kids to understand copyright issues.  As we have our high-abiloty students participate in independent research, this is important information for them to understand!

Pete's PowerPoint Station is THE place on the web to find fabulous presentations! This is a great resource for teachers as you lesson plan (yeah, over vacation!), and there are interactive games for kids to try out as well.  BEFORE you spend hours making a cool PowerPoint to teach your content, stop by Pete's first!

Holiday Lessons

Holiday lesson plans from Thinkfinity

Online G/T Endorsement Class Registration

(THIS INFORMATION IS A REPEAT OF MY EMAIL ON 12/14/09)

The time has come to start the registration process for the next online G/T endorsement course.  We're working on refining the system to try to make the registration process go more smoothly. Here's the scoop:

1. Somehow, I don't have the day of the week/time information!  I have emailed Dr. Hunsaker, and am waiting to hear back from him with that information. I know, I know... it's pretty important info to have when you are figuring out of you are going to enroll in the class!  I'll let you know as soon as I hear back from him. (Perhaps this was discussed in a class session that I missed???)

2. The course syllabus was attached to my email, so that you know what the expectations are.  This information is also posted  on the UEN site, in a folder called "Online G/T Endorsement."

3. If you were enrolled in the first course (6420/30), and wish to enroll in the Spring course (6480/90) ALL YOU HAVE TO DO is email me with your FULL "USU" NAME (whatever they have you enrolled under) AND your A-NUMBER.  I must have your A#!!! Hey, if you took the forts course is should be burned in your memory by now, since you needed it every time you logged in for class.

4. If you were NOT enrolled in the first course, but wish to enroll in "Methods and Materials in Gifted Education" for the Spring semester, you may do so. A registration form was attached to my email, and is also posted on the UEN site.  It is a type-on PDF. I tested it - using my HASIP Macbook - and was able to download, type-on, do a save-as, and email as an attachment to myself.  My fervent hope is that this WILL WORK regardless of what computer you use.  The form will also be on the UEN site in the "Online G/T Endorsement" folder.  So, new enrollees, DOWNLOAD THE FORM, COMPLETE THE INFORMATION, DO A SAVE-AS (and save it with the title of your last name), AND EMAIL THE FORM BACK TO ME.  Follow the instructions form USU at the bottom of my email for completing the form (it's also in the blog post on the UEN site).

Hopefully this all makes sense!  If not, get in touch with me.  It would be great if we could have this registration done as much as possible before the winter break (in order to save stress as soon as we're back after the new year).  The first week of classes is 1/11/10, so let's get this done! :)

A note about the financials: HASIP pays your tuition. If you drop OUTSIDE of the drop period, or fail the course, you get to pay HASIP back approximately $900. Bah, humbug!  You DO pay a $90 credit recording fee.  I should have been collecting this during October and November for the fall course, but that's another thing that fell through the cracks during my FMLA/bereavement leave.  I am NOT going to ask you for this money during the holiday season!!!  BUT - do be aware: The reckoning is going to have to come this spring.  I KNOW who was enrolled in the Fall course, and I'll know who was in the Spring... you're going to need to pay your $90/course fee ($180 total for both courses) before May.  Please start planning for that!!! You can send a check to me at the address below (made payable to "Washington County School District") ANY TIME (if you owe for two courses you can pay each separately in different months).  I have the record-keeping set up, so pay when you're ready.  But don't forget about it... reminders WILL be sent.  Also, receipts will be provided for tax purposes.

Directions for completing the registration forma  for new students were included with my email, and are posted on the blog on the UEN site (since this forum is publicly accessible, I won't be posting specific course information here).

UAGC Conference Credit Information

Here is the information I have related to USU credit for attending the UAGC conference:

• 1-3 credits will be available depending on how many days are attended in full and the work a person chooses to do after the conference.
• Attendance, reflection, and application are the requirement variables depending on how much credit a person wants to earn.
• Sign up is at the conference.  The cost will be $30/credit + $15 processing fee.

Friday Hot Links for 12/11/09 ~ Baby, it's Cold Outside!

Welcome to Friday Hot Links for 12/11/09, the "Baby, it's cold outside" edition!  Last week I think I overwhelmed you with SO MUCH to see and do, it seemed like a good idea to cut back a little this week.

Just a note - there will be Hot Links next week (12/18/09), and then we'll be on hiatus until 1/8/10.

Remember, if you come across something in your Interwebz wanderings that you think other teachers could use in their classrooms, please email the link to me!

1. UEN online brain games - Keep your brain power, even during the cold winter months. Warning - these brain games are addictive!

K-2:  http://www.uen.org/k-2interactives/index.shtml

3-6: http://www.uen.org/3-6interactives/index.shtml

2. From the  Gifted Exchange, a blog post on "Motivated Kids."  The key comment: "What all this boils down to is creating conditions where students want to learn something because they are personally interested in the answer."  Read the entire post here.

3. The Creative Connections Group in Ohio is sponsoring some gifted-topic webinars (they begin at 7 p.m. Eastern time, which is 5 p.m. Mountain). Sign up here.

Coping with Perfectionism - Tuesday, December 15, 2009 

Web Tools for Gifted Education - Thursday, December 17, 2009

4. EdHelper is an absolutely ROCKIN' site to download tons of free printables. Their graphic organizers are FANTASTIC, and there's material in every subject area. LOTS of stuff is available for free, and $20 or so buys you a year's membership to get access to everything.

Image credit

Social Studies News

From the Tom Sutton, the USOE Social Studies Curriculum Specialist:


The Anne Frank Exhibit:  In April and May of next year a wonderful national exhibit made by the Anne Frank Foundation will be at the Salt Lake City Downtown Library.   The free national exhibit, Anne Frank, A history for Today will show at the Salt Lake City Public Library, Main Branch (210 East 400 South) from April 13 through May 11, 2010.  School and group tours must be reserved by contacting Jewish Federation of Utah:  annefrank@ShalomUtah.org or 801-581-0102. Individual tours can be reserved in advance by visiting: www.ShaomUtah.org.  


New K-2 Social Studies Core approved by state board on Dec 4, 2009: Check the website for the approved document: http://www.schools.utah.gov/curr/socialstudies/default.htm 

Interest/Learning Style Surveys

A large number of documents related to interest and learning style surveys have been added to the UEN site (there is an "Interest/Learning Styles" folder in the Documents list).  Take a look, and see if there's something you'd like to use with your class after returning from winter break - it's a great time to re-evaluate and re-visit who your students "are!"

Larry H. Miller History Seminars

For those of you who teach American history/literature (5th, 8th, and 11th grades), or for whom American history and literature are a personal passion (me! me!), check out this press release from the Larry H. Miller Education Project:

The Larry H. Miller Education Project and Zion’s Bank are pleased to announced the following History Seminars for the summer of 2010:

Foundations of American History and Literature: June 10—June 16 : 2010

Lewis and Clark: 2010: June 24—June 30 : 2010

Civil War: The Eastern Theater: July 8—July 14 : 2010

Teachers may begin applying immediately by visiting  the Larry H. Miller Education Project website at www.millereducation.org.  The deadline for application is January 8^th, 2010. 

In addition to having all their expenses covered, participating teachers also receive teaching materials and may receive Weber State University graduate credit.  Teachers who are selected are required to attend a pre-seminar meeting and a post-seminar meeting in the Salt Lake area.

The seminars aim to improve teaching in history throughout the state by providing hands-on instruction at historically significant sites.  These seminars focus on the “what” and “how” of teaching by coupling intensive on-site education (the what) from distinguished professors with pedagogical strategies (the how) from experienced classroom teachers.  The seminars are designed to inform, inspire, and support excellent classroom teaching. 

"Myth" Articles from Gifted Child Quarterly

Sage Publications, publisher of the Gifted Child Quarterly journal, has made several articles from their October 2009 issue available as PDF downloads.  The articles attempt to "de-mythologize gifted education," and are written by the preeminent experts in the field: Sally Reis, Joseph Renzulli, Carolyn Callanhan, Sandra Kaplan, Donald Treffinger, Carol Ann Tomlinson, and others.

These articles will support your individual professional development, and may assist you in your endorsement classes.  They are available for download directly from Sage Publications (where you can generate citation information), as well as from the "Myth Articles" folder in the Documents list on the UEN site.

New UEN Site

Friends, I'm always trying to make the HASIP experience better for everyone.  Getting the documents, resources, and information you need should be EASY, and it should be something you can do from ANY computer - most especially, from whatever machine you have available to you in your classroom.  

I KNOW that many of you can't access my beautiful Blogspot site from school, and the public website syndication of the blog hasn't entirely solved that problem.  I also know that accessing the Confluence intranet site is only possible from your HASIP MacBook, which for some of you, means that you can't tap into those resources while at school.

So... let's try something different and see how it works. We can ALL access UEN from any school computer, as well as from personal computers (and HASIP MacBooks).  I have set up a UEN page for HASIP which has program documents, curriculum resources, website links, and a BLOG for regular communication.  You should be able to access this page from ANYWHERE, including the computer on your desk at school. Right now there's not a ton of content, but I'm adding more and more.

Please visit the site DAILY in order to keep receiving all the important HASIP info you need!  And, I welcome feedback on format and workability of this UEN site.

Our VPN will remain in place, and Confluence will continue to be available for access to previously-shared resources, the JIRA trouble ticket system, etc. I will continue to maintain the Blogspot blog with syndication to the public website (so now, there's THREE place for you to get info - use what works for you!).

The address of the new UEN site is:  http://my.uen.org/myuen/86555/4

Let me know if this improves accessibility for you!

~Amy

UAGC Conference Information

The UAGC Annual Conference will be held at the Davis Conference Center this year.  You can go to www.uagc.org for details.  As was described in September 2009, HASIP is able to provide a $40 supplement toward the cost of conference registration for either the UAGC Fall Seminar OR the UAGC Annual Conference.  

If you are planning to go to the UAGC Annual Conference in January, go ahead and fill out the registration form for whatever combination of days you are attending.  Determine your total cost for attendance, and then deduct $40 - the remainder is what you or your school/district must pay.  Write a note on the registration form that you are a HASIP participant receiving the $40 supplement.  Send in the registration form and your part of the payment to UAGC.  Then, send me an email that you are attending the conference. UAGC and HASIP will coordinate lists to complete the process. (NOTE: If you pay electronically via PayPal, you must pay the full amount. HASIP will then reimburse you. Contact me if you are in this situation.)

The UAGC Annual Conference is a fantastic experience, and I hope to see may of you there!  I wish that HASIP had the resources to pay the complete costs for all out participants to attend, but that's not possible.  If your district is not in a position to send you for the full three days, please consider attending the Saturday Institutional Leadership Day.  This is a great opportunity to develop your knowledge and leadership abilities in the area of gifted education.

As always, if you have questions, don't hesitate to get in touch with me. I have placed a downloadable copy of the registration form in the "Conference Information" folder on the UEN site.

December Lesson Reflection and Goal Review

Due to my FMLA and bereavement leave, we didn't do the intended professional development activities in November.  However, we do want to wrap up the first part of the year in a organized and productive way.  So, please make sure that you do the following:

• Have a "goal review" conversation with your coach either before going out on winter break, or during the first week back.  By January 8th, send me the Goal Review form (completed).  The form is available in both word and Pages format - just type right on, and send it back as an attachment to an email. The form is located in the "HASIP Goals and Lesson Reflections" folder on the UEN site.
• Complete ONE Lesson Reflection activity for November/December - this can be on something you've done recently, or something you have planned in the next couple of weeks.  By January 8th, send me the Lesson Reflection Log (completed).  The form is available in both word and Pages format - just type right on, and send it back as an attachment to an email. The form is located in the "HASIP Goals and Lesson Reflections" folder on the UEN site.

You need to submit BOTH of these items (Goal Review and Lesson Reflection) to keep your eligibility for your end-of-year stipend.

Audiobook of "A Christmas Carol"

Check out this FREE download  (audiobook) of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," available from Learn Out Loud.

Friday Hot Links for 12/4/09

So much great stuff, I hardly know where to begin!  I know it's a lot, but perhaps there's a little something for for YOU buried in here.




See the WINTER 2010 Online Issue of Gifted Education Press Quarterly - great articles!

From the Digital Education blog:

At The Tech Awards, hosted by the Tech Museum for Innovation in San Jose, Calif., on Nov. 20, 

Salman Kahn was honored for the virtual learning site he developed, The Kahn Academy. The site features more than 1,200 instructional videos, on a You-Tube platform, that can explain everything from basic arithmetic to college level calculus, physics to finance. It's a popular K-12 resource in a number of countries because the lessons are offered in a variety of languages. 

From the ms_teacher blog:

20 Places to Learn More about History and Social Studies Online

 

The many resources that are available freely on the web can make learning history and social studies a fun and engaging experience. From primary documents to interactive historical games, the resources can be utilized by students and teachers alike. Here is a list of 20 sites that are perfect for learning more about history and social studies online:

 

History Matters - History Matters is a gateway site to Internet resources, teaching materials, primary documents, and guides for the purpose of teaching and analyzing American history. Through this site, you will find evidence, blackboard resources, audio, syllabi, and more.

 

History Channel - The History Channel offers informative study guides, programs, speeches, videos, and much more. The site also links to Biographies.com so that visitors can dig deeper into famous personalities throughout history.

 

Library of Congress - The Library of Congress, which is the oldest cultural institution, provides historical information through primary documents. The library also features an extensive teacher's site filled with ready-to-use classroom materials, lesson plans, collection connections, and news.

 

Digital History - The Digital History site uses the technological advances of the Internet to make historical documents more assessable to everyone. Within this site, users can find online textbooks, primary sources, ethnic voices, teaching resources, active learning resources, visual history exhibitions, and multimedia learning resources.

 

BBC - The BBC, a large online provider of educational material, offers online history resources for teachers and students. This site gives you a look at British and world history through biographies, ancient history resources, archaeology, interactives, message boards, and more.

 

HistoryTeacher.net - This site, created by a New York History teacher, offers over 2,000 pages of information on history from around the world. Through HistoryTeacher.net, you can find information on ancient, current, American, and world history.

 

National Council for the Social Studies - The National Council for the Social Studies features a wide range of social studies information including classroom resources. The classroom resources offer lesson plans, maps, book lists, and information on curriculum standards.

 

Voice of the Shuttle - Voice of the Shuttle is a humanities research site with a large world history page. Within the history resources, you can find information on everything from African to U.S. history.

 

Education World - The pages of this educational site hold 26 subcategories and 369 entries all pertaining to history. The Education World entries cover associations, directories, discussions, journals, museums, teacher resources, events, documents, people, and much more.

 

SchoolHistory.co.uk - SchoolHistory.co.uk is a historical resource site for both teachers and students. This site features worksheets, lessons, interactives, quizzes, and a teachers' section with guidance, advice, exercises, and a forum.

 

eHistory - This site provides a huge collection of historical resources for researching, learning, and teaching history. On eHistory, you will find multimedia resources, origins, timelines, online books, reviews, maps, images, and history links.

 

FREE - FREE, or Federal Resources for Educational Excellence, provides free online resources for U.S. history topics, time periods, and world studies. The pages of these resources feature images, primary documents, facts, and teaching materials.

 

EDsitement - EDsitement offers lesson plans and websites perfect for all age levels for most subjects including history and social studies. The lesson plans and website can be browsed or navigated by subject and grade level.

 

The National Archives - The National Archives is a huge database of historical information that offers historical resources, primary sources, and activities for students and teachers. Throughout the pages of this site, users will find lessons, training, research, workshops, regional resources, raw history, and many other materials.

 

Ease History - This site offers an accelerated visual experience for over 400 historical events, campaign ads for 1952-2004, and core values of events and campaigns. Ease History also comes with a learning guide that offers over 20 lesson plans.

 

Flight to Freedom - Bowdoin provides a free interactive game called Flight to Freedom. The game makes it easy for students to understand history after making decisions for historical figures and seeing the outcomes of their decisions.

 

History Mystery - History Mystery is an interactive game that allows you to investigate history through studying historical items, documents, and more. This is the perfect way to engage younger children in history.

 

ThinkQuest - ThinkQuest provides 62 world history websites created by students from around the world. The websites offer games, interactives, and facts that can be used to learn and teach history.

 

MoMO - The MoMO (Museum of Online Museums) is a site that features exhibitions from online museums around the world. Just a few famous museums that can be found on MoMO are the Met, MoMA, Smithsonian, and the Art Institute of Chicago.

 

History Now - History Now from The Guider Lehrman Institute of American History features on online journal with lesson plans, activities, and interactives.

 

Guest post on the ms_teacher blog from education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes about online school for OnlineSchool.net.

From NASA: The Space Place 

  

The Space Place is an extensive, content-rich Web site for upper elementary-age kids, their teachers, parents, and anyone else who likes a simple, readable, fun presentation of a wide range of space and Earth science and technology topics. Most of the site is great for kids to explore on their own, with interactive games, hands-on projects and fun facts. A Spanish version of most of the site is also available. 

  

The Space Place: 

http://spaceplace.nasa.gov 

  

The bi-monthly Space Place Newsletter for educators has lots of suggestions on how to use the resources from this Web site in the classroom: See the "Teacher's Corner" at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/educators 

  

Rocket ahead with Cub Scout achievements and electives at The Space Place: http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/cubscouts/index.shtml 

 

"SciJinks" is a highly interactive Web site that provides middle-school students and audiences of all ages an amazing science education opportunity. Provided by NOAA and NASA, the Web site transports visitors to the wild world of weather to learn about predicting global weather patterns. 

 

SciJinks: 

http://scijinks.gov 

  

Click on the Educators link at the bottom of the page for suggestions on how to use the SciJinks resources in the classroom: http://scijinks.jpl.nasa.gov/en/educators/ 

UEN links:

UEN professional development calendar for December 2009 - May 2010

Become a fan of UEN on Facebook!

Set up your own Wimba classroom through UEN!

And finally, not rally gifted-related but cool nonetheless, you school can sign up to receive an NFL Play60 Wellness Kit - it looks awesome!

If you have something great to share, pass it on!  Email Amy and we'll add it to next week's Hot Links!

Friday Hot Links for 11/20/09

Interesting read: From the T.H.E. Journal “Is American Education Neglecting Gifted Children?”

Got a cool idea for a classroom project, but need some financing to get off the ground? Try Donors Choose!

The co-founder of Wikipedia has launched a Web site designed to offer free access to thousands of education-related videos for students ages 3-18. Larry Sanger, who helped create Wikipedia and has since left the organization, says the new site, www.watchknow.org, will allow students and teachers to sort through a library of online videos by content, and pick out what they need. Topics range from math and science to history. The site is meant to house and organize videos that are free and available online, yet which most people don't know how to find.  (via the Curriculum Matters blog).

Free historical figure books marks – Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Dwight Eisenhower, and more!

Ever wonder if your internet provider is really giving you the speed they promised?  Frustrated by "dropped" and "failed" connections?  Check out http://www.speedtest.net/  and http://www.pingtest.net/ to get the TRUE story of what's really going on with your internet service.

Got a great resource to share?  Email Amy, and I'll include it with next week's Hot Links!

***No Hot Links during Thanksgiving week - we'll return on December 4th. Have a great break!

Image credit

Teachers Talkin' Turkey

Teacher Talk will happen TODAY, Thursday 11/19, from 3 - 4 p.m. in Amy's Wimba Room. Stop by with your questions!

Image credit

Advance notice - system down 11/17/09

The city of St. George is doing some electrical work in the early morning hours of Tuesday, November 17th.  The resulting power outage WILL affect the HASIP servers, both on the public website and the intranet system (Confluence and your "tunnel").  If you are unable to login to Confluence, if your tunnel goes dark, or if you are trying to reach the public website unsuccessfully - don't be alarmed.  Our servers will be back online as soon as power is restored in this part of the city.