A Vision of Students Today

Lost Generation video

I saw this a few times and thought I would share it. You need to read the text as it is spoken - go to full screen. I like the way it goes forward and backward and you hear a totally different message.

The Crisis in Haiti: What can you do to help?

A metal arts class decided to create jewelry to sell to raise money for Haiti. This experience was described in a video that was presented at a worldwide "The Crisis in Haiti: What can you do to help?" videoconference. Hope you enjoy the show!

100 Apps for Tech-Savvy Teachers

I received an email about the article "100 Apps for Tech-Savvy Teachers". Some I am sure you have not heard of before.

All My Faves website

Have to check out the All My Faves website. This website contains links out to so many favorite sites. Make sure you don't overlook the tabs at the top. There is an Education tab that might be of use.

Blogging

I started this blog back in 2007 and then just did nothing with it. I am now taking an online course where I needed to create a blog so I started entering posts and now am thinking this could be a good way for me to get information out to our staff. I like to stay with Google tools so I am using Blogger. Here is an article that lists the 100 Best Blogs for the Classroom Teacher.

Here are some ideas on how you can use a blog in your classroom:
•English classes/Librarian can use a blog to discuss books they read.
•Work Experience students can use a blog to discuss job related items such as ethics on the job, what makes a good resume, what are good interview skills, etc.
•Science can use blogs to have students make predictions before experiments.
•Use a blog to critique projects – in our web design class we take class time to critique every website created by the students. We could use a blog for students to write their critiques as an assignment and then we can discuss it in class – would get more participation as some students are intimidated by those who are vocal.
•Have students enter journal entries after they come back from a field trip/event.
•Use blogs to share information and things learned/experienced.

Visit our district's Cybercenter wiki on Blogs.

Wordle

Do you want to make a word cloud? Go to Wordle where you can place your text and Wordle will create the word cloud for you. The more the word is used, the larger it will appear. The word cloud shown is the Gettysburg Address. As you can see, the words "nation" and "dedicated" are the largest and most used words in the address.

You are able to change the font and color to make the word cloud exactly how you want it to look. If you click on the "Randomize" button on the bottom the program will automatically change the look of the cloud and you are able to keep clicking on "randomize" to view it differently. If you enter 2 words that you wish to keep together in your cloud, make sure you type the "~" key between the words.

Here are some sites that give examples on using Wordle in the Classroom:
Wordle in the Classroom
Wordle Ideas

Check out our CyberCenter wiki on Wordle.

Digital Natives

Here is a cute video about "What Digital Natives want from their library". This can be found on YouTube.

Converting Videos

I am asked all of the time by students & teachers how to download a YouTube video. Zamzar is a great program to use to not only download a video but also to convert files. Just go to zamzar.com and you just need to go through the 4 steps. Once it is converted, you will get an email informing you that the task is completed and you have 24 hours to download the file. I make sure I tell everyone that if you are using Zamzar on a Friday, that you have to make sure to check your email over the weekend so that you get it downloaded. Zamzar is a wonderful site.

Check out our CyberCenter wiki for instructions on how to use Zamar.

With so much technology....why stores still need to call other stores

This has nothing to do about education but I was shopping over the weekend and just don't understand why when you ask if another store might have an item that they have to call the stores to ask. With all of the technology that we have, why can't they just enter the information into their computer system to see which stores carry the item? I had to ask at 2 different stores Saturday and both stores not only had to call but had trouble calling the other stores. It got so frustrating that I thanked them for their help and went home and called stores myself. In the age of technology, this should be so much easier to do.

iGoogle

I spend my entire day answering technology related questions and working with teachers and their classes on technology projects that I wish there was more time to create things myself. I understood what iGoogle did but never added RSS feeds to create my personal one. I am transformed! I truly love iGoogle. I can now quickly see what is happening in the world without having to go from one website to another one. Now the information comes to me! I have been showing different teachers iGoogle, they are showing their students, and the students are creating their own. I enjoy when teachers see something new and then move ahead with it right away. That gives me great satisfaction.

Here is an example of a tab I created for a family member so that I can share how to use iGoogle and the tab was items that they could use.

RSS in Plain English video
iGoogle: A mini product tour video

If you don't know about iGoogle, please try it out.

Office 2010

Most of the teachers in my school use Macs but the administrators and science teachers have a pc or dual boot Mac computers. I am a total Mac lover and rarely say anything nice about the pc platform. When Office 2007 came out, everyone had problems finding things. I just hated it when I was asked questions and I felt like I had to fumble my way around to figure out how to do the task in question. Where did the File menu go as well as the other menus? Where is Save & Print? We figured things out quickly but what a pain. I just saw a demonstration at a workshop of Office 2010 and boy is it nice. I think everyone is going to be happy when they see Office 2010. Menus are back! Easier to use! I also saw Windows 7 and I will praise that also. OK Microsoft, you will get some good things said about these but no matter what, I am a total Mac lover and will never change.

Xtranormal

My new favorite program this year is Xtranormal. Students love it because they are creating an avatar movie with up to 2 characters. Teachers love it because students are engaged and the emphasis is on the writing. We all know that the movie "Avatar" was a big hit this year so why wouldn't this program be a hit with students. There is a 20,000 character limit but that is a lot of text that can be added to the movie. I like Voki but it does not compare. Xtranormal is great for Foreign Language classes as the students can write in Spanish/French and the avatars can speak in that language. How wonderful! I have never found a program that students enjoyed using so much. The only problem I find is that I feel the site is slow when moving from page to page. Go to this YouTube video for a great tutorial on how to use Xtranormal.

Here is the Xtranormal wiki that is part of our district's CyberCenter - see some educational examples.