I assigned my students a Civil War webquest to complete together last year and it was a collaborative nightmare. Students worked on their parts and used thumb drives to save their work. When they were done, the student groups put their presentations together. Unfortunately, some lost their drives before they could add what they had done and had to redo them. Making changes after their work was assembled was awful too. Google Docs may be the way out of this collaborative maze. The video below makes it look so easy and logical. I do have questions however. For example, students do not have email accounts. I believe you must have your own email account to edit presentations. If all you need is a username and password it may work. I am going to see if I can make it work. I will keep you posted on what happens.

Thanks to Jason Parrish I clicked around the Parent/Student Mock Election  website. It is sponsored by the National Council for the Social Studies and just about every other heavy weight national education group. Activities and lesson plans for teachers abound. There is a BrainPop video explaining the election process and lesson plans for children K and up.  There is a game that looks very cool where the kids get to run for office and launch a campaign called The Road to the Capital. You can enroll your class and parents or your entire school to participate in the Mock Election being held on October 30, 2008. Your entry must be recieved by early September so better get a jump on it.

 I was pleased to attend the librarian and technology teachers inservice today at Craigmont Middle School. The day started with Bill Bailey , Education Services Manager of the Commercial Appeal. He explained all the wonderful features that will be available at the city’s newspaper as it is going Web 2.0. They have exciting changes that are taking place. I look forward to posting new and exciting things from them here on my blog. It only got better from there. Teachers got to choose from break out sessions that covered everything from Web 2.0 tools to Discovery Learning to expectations of tech teachers. The attendees seemed electrified, charged up, and ready to get their year started with educational technology. I presented with my tech camp friends, LeAnn Dowty and Laura Hanna Smith. We talked about what we were doing with what we learned at Tech Camp in June. Presenting allowed me to confirm what I will be teaching this school year. And I so enjoyed what LeAnn and Laura have done. They inspired all of us. I believe there is just as much knowledge gained from teaching as there is in being taught. So I can honestly say that no one left there more super charged than I did. I believe that the group of teachers at the inservice are going to take the world by storm.