Faith is experimenting with Wordle

Faith is experimenting with Wordle with her student library advisory board. They will be creating "word clouds" using Wordle.

She wanted a way to get their creations from the web page into her blog.

I tried one. Let's see how it looks.

Faith likes it! I am so pleased.

A Newer, Broader Definition of Copyright and Fair Use

Last year a long and involved document called "The High Cost of Copyright Confusion" was published by the Media Education Lab of Temple University. They are funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Fortunately, in November of 2008, the center released new, more liberal guidelines which will empower students and teachers to use copyrighted materials for "transformative" applications under the "fair use" provisions.

Here are some links that will explain the new guidelines:



http://www.slideshare.net/reneehobbs/finally-the-end-to-copyright-confusion-has-arrived-presentation?type=powerpoint



http://wwwdev.ncte.org/positions/statements/fairusemedialiteracy



http://www.mediaeducationlab.com/index.php?page=293



This is really an exciting triumph for educators and students. Please take a look at the links. So many of the existing guidelines for teachers on copyright use are very restrictive, and these new guidlines should help to reduce anxiety.

A very inspirational video - Benjamin Zander speaking at TED

I came across this video presentation last Friday night into early Saturday morning. I should have gone to bed, but I was researching on the web, and we all know how one link leads to another. Actually, I was looking at a wiki that Toby had sent me, and somehow I ended up on a blog entitled "Learning in Maine" written by Jim Burke Here is the link to his blog:

http://learninginmaine.blogspot.com/

On his blog, I was fascinated reading about twitter, watching the tutorial on how to use "Google Docs", reading the cartoons, scrolling down, and then I came to the post entitled "Leaders Empower Others". There were two videos from YouTube of Benjamin Zander, an orchestra conductor, speaking at the TED conference where the finest, most creative minds from all over the world gather to share their insights. The first selection runs 10 minutes and is worth watching, but it is the 2nd selection which runs 20 minutes that is a must. It was already 1:00am when I clicked on the video. I figured I'd look at it for a couple of minutes and then give up and go to bed. Well, I was so captivated that I watched the whole thing and have since watched it again. When it ended at 1:30am or so, I had tears running down my cheeks, and I was applauding loudly with the rest of the audience. It's a good thing my husband was sound asleep in the bedroom, for he surely would have wondered what was going on.
Please take the time to watch this video.
Here it the direct link to it on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LCwI5iErE

Enjoy! Please leave me a comment on this blog.
Carolyn

Daisy the Pig helps Bethany Middle School Celebrate Reading Achievement

The presentation by Farmer Minor and his companion, Daisy the Pig, was exceptional. Everyone had a good time. What a nice way to celebrate our students' reading accomplishment!

Using a Cluster Map to See Locations of Visitors to Your Site

Here I go again, experimenting.
I listened to the recording of a webinar from Edutopia with Will Richardson on Making Global Connections and on how the web is changing our lives and opening up our world.
He showed how one young girl's blog has reached out to audiences world wide. When her grandfather died in Dec. of 2007, she decided to make a difference in her community for each of 25 days. Then she decided, with her mother's permission and guidance, to blog about it. Her project has grown into nearly 365 days of making a difference in her community and has touched and inspired others all over the world to do the same.
Here is the address of her blog:
http://twentyfivedays.wordpress.com

I looked at her cluster map and decided to try on for my blog. I doubt I'll have the coverage she does. The site gave me .html code to paste into my blog to get the map. So here goes. Hope it works:

Links to teacher blogs

At the PTO meeting on November 6, 2008, I want to have easy access to the blogs I'd like to show the parents. So.....I am putting them in my blog. Now they are all in one place and accessible.

Mrs. Miller's blog:
http://amitybooktalk.blogspot.com/
Mr. Norton's blog:
http://www.tominct.blogspot.com/
Mr. Fragione's blog:
http://amsb.wordpress.com/
Mr. Doyle's website:
http://www.amityregion5.org/tdoyle/
Dr. Dellinger's blog:
http://dellingerblog.blogspot.com/

A Link from Kathy Schrock

At NECC (National Educators' Computer Convention) 2007 in Atlanta, Kathy Shrock was a featured speaker on the topic of Web 2.0 tools. Here is a link she provided to educators to help them do further research on how these tools can be used to increase student engagement and achievement.
http://kathyschrock.net/web20/

These tools can be really fun to use. Start small. Experiment with just one, and share what you learn and how you'd like to use it.

Halloween

It is hard to believer that tomorrow is Halloween, and I haven't posted since August.
Lots of exciting projects have been going on at school, and we are integrating technology more than ever before to make our lessons even more engaging for kids.
I took pictures of all the lockers decorated for Halloween this afternoon and will try to post the winners here tomorow.

CEA Summer Leadership Training at Mohegan Sun

I arrived at Mohegan Sun for the annual CEA Summer Leadership Training shortly after 9:00a.m. What a beautiful location for a conference! I am taking Microsoft Office applications. The version we are using is still Office 2003, but the things I'm learning should translate to Office 2007 nicely. I have learned a lot of things in using Excel that I did not know, especially in learning how to use the sort feature and the subtotal features. No matter how much you think you know, there is always more to learn.
I know many of our staff will be a bit dismayed with the upgrade to Office 2007 because, at first glance, there are so many options, and the menus we are familiar with using are hidden. Don't panic. We'll find a way to make the interface easier.
The summer is flying by; make the most of every day.

A great link to a wiki with Web 2.0 tools

Toby sent me this link last week. To quote her, "Amazing stuff - would take a lifetime to do it all."

Take a look. Maybe pick two or three tools you'd like to experiment with over the summer and see if you'd like to use the tools with your classes.

Enjoy.

http://webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com/