What a great site for improving the craft of Professional Development!
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Sunday, April 03, 2011
quietube | Video without the distractions | Youtube, iPlayer, Viddler, Vimeo and more
quietube | Video without the distractions | Youtube, iPlayer, Viddler, Vimeo and more
What a fantastic way to show YouTube videos in classrooms without the distractions and comments.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Blog Starters
- I just read an article by ...
- Today’s tip is about ...
- We've outlined many of these steps ...
- There are a lot of ways to ...
- What I like about our school is that ...
- Most of what I’ve written ...
- For those who don't know already ...
- I'm thoroughly impressed with ...
- Do you really want to make a difference ...
- We have an exciting new announcement ...
- There are many proven and time-honored strategies ...
- Thought it would be fun to share ...
- An interesting thing happened recently ...
- The older I get the more I realize that ...
- Sitting out here by the sea ...
- One of the best ways to ...
- Ouch. Not really even a fight ...
- There's a tremendous swell of interest in ...
- More often than not ...
- In case you missed it, I finally ...
- Have you ever tried to figure out why ...
- Here is a different twist on the ...
- You've heard me say that ...
- It looks like there is ...
- Knowing what it means to ...
- One of the earliest lessons I learned about ...
- Entering the mind of a ...
- Are you looking for a change?
- Every so often, I talk with students who ...
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Differentiating Instruction
I'm on a quest to learn and teach about Differentiated Instruction and Technology. There is an overwhelming amount of research, information and opinions through which I've waded and I think I'm coming to a pretty firm stand on DI. The webspiration page linked here is an outline for workshop instruction about DI.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Webquests
We are going to be using webquests as a platform to help teachers move into integration from tech skill aquistion. There are several components to the design that we are working through including task selection and New Bloom's taxonomy pieces all in attempt to use technology to differentiate instruction and provide engaged learning opportunities. (How's that for cramming a zillion tech buzzwords into one sentence?!) Here are a some websites that we will be referencing:
Tasks: http://webquest.sdsu.edu/taskonomy.html
Webquests already created: http://www.suelebeau.com/webquests.htm
New Bloom's Taxonomy: http://www.apa.org/ed/new_blooms.html
Tasks: http://webquest.sdsu.edu/taskonomy.html
Webquests already created: http://www.suelebeau.com/webquests.htm
New Bloom's Taxonomy: http://www.apa.org/ed/new_blooms.html
Monday, February 23, 2009
Jing
The thing called Jing! I don't think I've ever been known as "cutting edge" -- more of a 1-2 generation back kind of person. Soooo...I listen to the hub bub about new "toys" and I ponder about the classroom value.
Here's the thing about Jing. Someone emails or calls me asking how to do a certain techno task. I can't explain it---I need to click and point and comment...ugh! Oh but then there is JING!!
I just flip on the Techsmith company's tool called Jing and shazam---I can record my mouse movement with ease and talk through the process as it uses the laptop's internal mic to pick up my commentary. And....if I hate it....I trash it and do another quick tutorial.
but...but....it gets better..........now I upload it to their "magic place in the clouds" and simply send a LINK to my friend in need! Sure, I could save it to my laptop---and sometimes I do---but I love being able to save it on someone else's server in the "sky" and grab the link whenever I need it.
Jing is the jewel for me to make quick tutorials to share with distant clients, team members, family and friend.
Jing---may your best new thing too!!
Here's the thing about Jing. Someone emails or calls me asking how to do a certain techno task. I can't explain it---I need to click and point and comment...ugh! Oh but then there is JING!!
I just flip on the Techsmith company's tool called Jing and shazam---I can record my mouse movement with ease and talk through the process as it uses the laptop's internal mic to pick up my commentary. And....if I hate it....I trash it and do another quick tutorial.
but...but....it gets better..........now I upload it to their "magic place in the clouds" and simply send a LINK to my friend in need! Sure, I could save it to my laptop---and sometimes I do---but I love being able to save it on someone else's server in the "sky" and grab the link whenever I need it.
Jing is the jewel for me to make quick tutorials to share with distant clients, team members, family and friend.
Jing---may your best new thing too!!
Please touch the WetPaint!
Why the heck didn't anyone ever explain to me what a wiki was? I have been building/hosting/managing websites since forever (well at least since the late 90's) and the world of wikis has just made my life a whole lot simplier! I can NOT imagine building another Sharepoint website for a school or classroom---NEVER!! The average classroom will love the freedom that wikis allow. School IT Directors have to love the fact that it's hosted somewhere else and they don't have to deal with that side of it. And teachers have the privilege/responsibility for the management.
I don't know about the school(s) that you work with, but several with which I'm involved still do NOT allow students to use email during school hours---and some don't allow teachers either. My mission this spring is to sit with the administrators of each and every one of those districts, review the state Technology Media standards and put together a proposal for their school boards that explains that students/teachers are expected to be able to able to communicate electronically. I suspect there will need to be a discussion about Gaggle email for kids too.
All that to say---that wikis are not intended to be internet bulletin boards of pretty sayings and cute crafts. They are designed to be POWERFUL collaboration, research and dissemination tools for students and teachers. If admins and boards have been reluctant to allow email---hopefully I can show them the power of e-communication through wikis. So go ahead---touch the WetPaint!
I don't know about the school(s) that you work with, but several with which I'm involved still do NOT allow students to use email during school hours---and some don't allow teachers either. My mission this spring is to sit with the administrators of each and every one of those districts, review the state Technology Media standards and put together a proposal for their school boards that explains that students/teachers are expected to be able to able to communicate electronically. I suspect there will need to be a discussion about Gaggle email for kids too.
All that to say---that wikis are not intended to be internet bulletin boards of pretty sayings and cute crafts. They are designed to be POWERFUL collaboration, research and dissemination tools for students and teachers. If admins and boards have been reluctant to allow email---hopefully I can show them the power of e-communication through wikis. So go ahead---touch the WetPaint!
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Green Screens with Windows Movie Maker
I had a teacher recently ask me about using the "green screen" feature in MovieMaker. Hmmmmmm.....haven't done that before...in fact I don't use MovieMaker too much...BUT... of course Google and I are pretty decent friends so off I went. There were plenty of sites that had written directions, but my learning style tends to push me toward YouTube!
The video has written directions on it---turn the music off and just follow the tutorial!
As soon as my Flip cam gets back from Honduras I think I'll try some crazy green screen video action....watch out Superman!
The video has written directions on it---turn the music off and just follow the tutorial!
As soon as my Flip cam gets back from Honduras I think I'll try some crazy green screen video action....watch out Superman!
Stellarium
Do you remember this FREE program? It is wildly amazing. We recently watched the "Star of Bethlehem" movie and the man uses a high-powered piece of software to look at the stars and to roll back star time to the birth of Christ---good stuff. It inspired me to go look at Stellarium again. You can set a date like 7BC and take a look at the skies...go try it out. It may not be as powerful as other programs--but it makes me pretty happy.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
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