Atomic Learning is offering Free training for the Office Suite 2008. This is free until September 11, 2008. If there is something you have always wanted to learn in the Office Suite, now is the time to sign on to a video tutorial and master a new skill. After this tutorial is over, you may want to visit Atomic Learning periodically because they often have free tutorials available. Who knows they may post something you have been dying to learn.
You will be seeing many many links for lessons, videos and propaganda for the fall election. Cable in the Classroom has produced an issue with many excellent resources for education. Among the links are included: How to watch a presidential debate, Using sports figures to boost media exposure, podcasts, interviews and game of politics. You should subscribe for free to receive this monthly periodical. Perhaps your librarian or media specialist has a copy in your local library.
That was the DuPont Company from 1935 through 1982. We heard it all the time on television. Now you can view videos about each element on the Periodic Table. There is a special Olympic video about the elements of gold, silver and bronze. They have been created by the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. The videos are quite short, although I didn't watch ALL of them, and can be used for many purposes. Assign them as a homework activity or have kids create their own video about combined elements.
I read this on Plurk today. It is a widget that you can put on your blog or site which has dots on a globe. When you click on a dot, it takes you to a current event story about that location. The information is provided by NPR (National Public Radio).
Thanks to a plurk post, here is a blog that gives some good examples of using wordle for other activities. I have used my delicious account to make a wordle, but never thought of it for use in other forms of writing.
This is great: I can get a reminder email or phone call to watch a certain Olympic event! In my case I want to see the USA vs. Argentina Women's Field Hockey preliminary match. So I will get a message 30 minutes before the event! Visit the NBC site (below) to see what I mean! For this event I opted in for the phone call to my cell phone! Maybe it is a text message, now I am not sure.
I am enjoying the second half of the Opening Ceremonies with about 10 other people I have never met. We are all on Plurk and commenting on the same show while watching in the comfort of our pj's in our own homes! I love this stuff. A comment about the US team hats led several people to quickly look up the information and post a web reference. I missed the entry of Hungry, but one of the plurkers posted this image so we could all enjoy their outfits again! Photo credit to Reuters.
A former student from our school is Kate Barber, the captian of the women's field hockey team and I hope I can get to see some of that on TV - fat chance. I like the smaller sports. I like the popular ones as well, but the smaller ones get more press at this time.
More links to follow the games:
- Lenovo sponsors the schedule of events page
- NBC TV schedule page
- A Beijing site
- Huffington Post - coverage on 7 Networks
- USOC - biographies, photos, news medal count
Thanks to Jackie Blackman's blog for many useful IWB (Interactive White Board) resources. If you explore her site a bit deeper you will find many more links to educational ideas including, graphic organizers, ethics videos from YouTube, documentaries, comic strip maker and more.
I found this link on Jackie's plurk post this morning and wanted to pass it along since this is a great month for teachers looking for a new hook for their lessons. This one if for graphic organizers called Exploreatree.
Leave Jackie a note if you use any of her resources. She writes from somewhere in the UK so those are not spelling mistakes, just King's English!
I found this link on Jackie's plurk post this morning and wanted to pass it along since this is a great month for teachers looking for a new hook for their lessons. This one if for graphic organizers called Exploreatree.
Leave Jackie a note if you use any of her resources. She writes from somewhere in the UK so those are not spelling mistakes, just King's English!
This site offers the viewer access to use the book: Using Moodle: Teaching with the Popular Open Source Course Management System, by Jason Cole. O'Reilly Community Press. I have a hard copy of this book and refer to it often when I am setting up a course. Having it online will definitely help me when I leave it at school and need it at home! Excellent resource to have available, FREE.
Found this emoticon selection through plurkers: FreeSmileys.com. Look for animated emoticons of all different themes, animals, tv and movie characters and more. Check it out, you won't be able to get away quickly!
Only 12 days and counting until my first teacher day back in the saddle. As I reflect on the summer of learning I have a brain full of new tools, a list of new online friends, hundreds of web sites to share, and not enough time to get projects completed before starting back. I have a whole new vocabulary, as many of you do including, diigo, twitter, twitterverse, plurk, ning, web2.0, DEN, DEN/Star, KTI, NECC, PETE&C, kmz file, and more. Perhaps I should create a dictionary, or point to one that has these words and more within.
Delicious is not a verb, but a noun, plurk is not what you do to your eyebrows, but communicate with others while micro-blogging (there is another one for the dictionary). Twitter is not a bird song, but an action word, diigo is not using a shovel, but sharing and highlighting websites. Just because I ning, does not mean I can't spell (but I really can't), rather that I have joined a wide universe of edTech professionals who share their toys. The DEN is not an exclusive private place to hibernate, but another collaborate site connected to DiscoveryEducation. More, more, more and more.
I have already written my first version of September newsletter TechTalk for our parents and teachers. It will include two web2.0 tools each month, new acquisitions in our library and a tech tip or two. We will see how it is received. I will publish a version here when it is finalized.
Get ready, get set.....start your engines and prepare for the start of a new year. I am always excited to return. How about you?
Delicious is not a verb, but a noun, plurk is not what you do to your eyebrows, but communicate with others while micro-blogging (there is another one for the dictionary). Twitter is not a bird song, but an action word, diigo is not using a shovel, but sharing and highlighting websites. Just because I ning, does not mean I can't spell (but I really can't), rather that I have joined a wide universe of edTech professionals who share their toys. The DEN is not an exclusive private place to hibernate, but another collaborate site connected to DiscoveryEducation. More, more, more and more.
I have already written my first version of September newsletter TechTalk for our parents and teachers. It will include two web2.0 tools each month, new acquisitions in our library and a tech tip or two. We will see how it is received. I will publish a version here when it is finalized.
Get ready, get set.....start your engines and prepare for the start of a new year. I am always excited to return. How about you?
I have been prodded to try plurk.com in addition to, or in place of, Twitter. I liked Twitter, I could post or lurk and learn. There are people who contribute some really good tips and sites to use in education. Generally after a workshop or conference I find I want to follow some more people and continue to learn from them.
Twitter is easy. I log in leave it floating on my MAC desktop with Twitterific and glance at it once in a while. Sometimes I reply or post, but not very often.
Plurk.com is a bit more engaging. I love the fact that you can follow a thread. But some of it is a bit confusing. It is much more interesting if you follow about 30 or more people. Choose wisely so you can find some quality posts. I know there are a few people in my personal learning network I want to follow. I visited their plurk page to see who they were following and added a few of them to my list. Right now I am following about 40 people and will be adding a few more today.
PBS recently showed a documentary on Jewish-American Immigration. This is a companion site which offers biographies, lesson plans, resources, and historical information about this significant population to emigrate to the US. The information is geared towards middle and high school students. The information is connected to standards in education to help educators mesh this information into their curriculum materials.
If you are looking for a global experience for your students or yourself, this might be one to check out. Girls Helping Girls: "The Empower-a-Girl program is a grassroots sister-team initiative that partners girls in the United States with girls in schools and community organizations in developing countries to work together toward the achievement of our four global goals, which together distill and reflect the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals. The only initiative of its kind run by girls, for girls, Empower-a-Girl’s unique and engaging program encompasses four main aspects: cultural exchange, a global education, social change projects, and investment in girls’ development." Quote and image from: www.empoweragirl.org
I wish I had known about this when I was a Girl Scout Leader. This would have been a great experience for girls to directly make a difference in the world.
