One last post on this rainy Friday afternoon. Hopefully, these left-over April showers will bring May flowers.
I have finally set up a YouTube account. I haven't uploaded many videos, but I intend to add to the knowledge base with some of the digital tutorials I have created. There is ugly stuff on YouTube, to be sure, but there are so many more great resources that it's time we use the tool to our advantage. I don't know what to do about the bad stuff except just avoid it and not watch it.
Anyway, yesterday I was talking about going home to sit by my pond and decompress, and Warren asked me to upload a video so he could see what I was talking about. I recorded this with my HD Vado from Creative using the HD+ setting as opposed to the low-quality setting I used to create the lab video experiment a few posts ago. It took quite a while to upload to YouTube, but it was easy. Here is the link. Enjoy.
I will upload Pond movie again. Some one hacked into my blog and put up a Brittney Spears video. So - nothing is safe.
There is a frog hiding in the green grass clump, but he's so well camouflaged that it is hard to spot him.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Every Day is Earth Day
Last Friday Amity students celebrated Earth Day in a variety of ways. Led by the Student Council, several students participated in a clean-up of a nearby roadway. Some students got involved electronically. Matt Montagne put up a Voice Thread where people from all over the world could share how they were helping to conserve energy and be good stewards of our environment. I was actually the first one to leave a message after Matt's introduction. It was very exciting to have some of Mrs. Habersang's students participate in the thread as well. I will embed it here:
While I think it is worthwhile to listen to all of the threads, I know that would take a long time. To hear those contributions from Bethany, click on me, second icon, then go to the navigation panel in the bottom center and click on the "more" button twice. Look in the right hand panel and find the "hourglass" icon. That will be Mrs. Habersang's recording. Next, click the large white arrow on the bottom right. Chick on the hourglass icon on the bottom right named "Tom" and you will hear a series of different students explaining how they are observing earth day.
Voice Thread is a powerful collaboration tool. Let me know if any of you are using it.
While I think it is worthwhile to listen to all of the threads, I know that would take a long time. To hear those contributions from Bethany, click on me, second icon, then go to the navigation panel in the bottom center and click on the "more" button twice. Look in the right hand panel and find the "hourglass" icon. That will be Mrs. Habersang's recording. Next, click the large white arrow on the bottom right. Chick on the hourglass icon on the bottom right named "Tom" and you will hear a series of different students explaining how they are observing earth day.
Voice Thread is a powerful collaboration tool. Let me know if any of you are using it.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
What a Great Video Find!
Well, folks,
I mentioned in an earlier post that I am following a few folks on Twitter. Kathy Schrock, a technology coordinator from Cape Cod in MA, who has become very famous, has allowed me to follow her. I clicked on one of her links in Twitter and was taken to a video-sharing site (much like the one Warren has introduced us to at Fliggo) called Vimeo. Here Kathy has mounted an interview she had with her superintendent over 10 years ago on the topic of technology and web sites. At this time, the recommendation was given for any parents who wanted the web address to call the school. The superintendent even asks her, "What is a website?" as if he did not know. Of course, this might have been staged so Kathy could frame her response. It is amazing how far we've come in just a decade. It's worth a look. I copied the embed code (html) and will paste it here, so you can watch the interview.
A 1997 Glimpse of Educational Technology from Kathy Schrock on Vimeo.
Kathy's site -just search on "Kathy Schrock" is a wonderful collection of resources, and you should take a look. Kathy also provides wonderful resources for teachers who want to learn more about incorporating Web2.0 technologies into their curriculum projects.
Enjoy and join the conversation.
I mentioned in an earlier post that I am following a few folks on Twitter. Kathy Schrock, a technology coordinator from Cape Cod in MA, who has become very famous, has allowed me to follow her. I clicked on one of her links in Twitter and was taken to a video-sharing site (much like the one Warren has introduced us to at Fliggo) called Vimeo. Here Kathy has mounted an interview she had with her superintendent over 10 years ago on the topic of technology and web sites. At this time, the recommendation was given for any parents who wanted the web address to call the school. The superintendent even asks her, "What is a website?" as if he did not know. Of course, this might have been staged so Kathy could frame her response. It is amazing how far we've come in just a decade. It's worth a look. I copied the embed code (html) and will paste it here, so you can watch the interview.
A 1997 Glimpse of Educational Technology from Kathy Schrock on Vimeo.
Kathy's site -just search on "Kathy Schrock" is a wonderful collection of resources, and you should take a look. Kathy also provides wonderful resources for teachers who want to learn more about incorporating Web2.0 technologies into their curriculum projects.
Enjoy and join the conversation.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Participating in Live Collaborative Web Casts
It's hard to believe that it's Thursday, and we've been on vacation for nearly a whole week. My foray into participating in the live webcasting community began last Thursday evening. I followed a "tweet" from Twitter to the Ed Tech Talk site, and I logged into a live discussion forum. I wasn't connected by voice, but I participated in the chat window and was blown away when the folks who were speaking started to respond to my comments in the sidebar chat panel. I am beginning to understand the whole concept of being connected with others of similar interests and collaborating on how to do our jobs - engaging our students in learning - better.
I joined in again this evening, and was welcomed warmly. In fact, one of the moderators called me on my cell phone, and I was participating live -Everyone logged in could hear what I was saying. It was a little scarey, but really engaging.
One of the topics of the show tonight concerned the live webcast that will take place on Earth Day 09. There is also a Voice Thread set up which I had contributed to last Thursday. When I typed about my participation into the chat, they immediately found my audio response and broadcast it. Amazing. I hope we can get some of our kids to add their voices to the "thread" on Earth Day next week.
Here is the link:
http://earthbridges.wikispaces.com/
Check it out!
Here is the link to the Ed Tech Talk show:
http://www.edtechtalk.com/
On Tuesday nights, there is a great show - Women of Web 2.0.
On Thursday nights Seedlings is on, usually hosted by Bob Sprankle and Cheryl Oakes, two famous educators from southern Maine. Tonight's show was on Google educators. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. EST. All of the shows are archived, both the audio and the chat.
At 9:00 p.m. EST is EdTech Brainstorm, which is the one I spoke on live.
So much to learn; so little time.
Enjoy the rest of your vacation.
I joined in again this evening, and was welcomed warmly. In fact, one of the moderators called me on my cell phone, and I was participating live -Everyone logged in could hear what I was saying. It was a little scarey, but really engaging.
One of the topics of the show tonight concerned the live webcast that will take place on Earth Day 09. There is also a Voice Thread set up which I had contributed to last Thursday. When I typed about my participation into the chat, they immediately found my audio response and broadcast it. Amazing. I hope we can get some of our kids to add their voices to the "thread" on Earth Day next week.
Here is the link:
http://earthbridges.wikispaces.com/
Check it out!
Here is the link to the Ed Tech Talk show:
http://www.edtechtalk.com/
On Tuesday nights, there is a great show - Women of Web 2.0.
On Thursday nights Seedlings is on, usually hosted by Bob Sprankle and Cheryl Oakes, two famous educators from southern Maine. Tonight's show was on Google educators. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. EST. All of the shows are archived, both the audio and the chat.
At 9:00 p.m. EST is EdTech Brainstorm, which is the one I spoke on live.
So much to learn; so little time.
Enjoy the rest of your vacation.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Typographical Error in Movie Title
Oops! I just realized I have a typo in the title of the movie posted below- meant to type "with"- I was tired and careless. At least the experiment worked.
Playing with my Vado Hi Definition Pocket Cam
I am still at school, and it's 6:30PM. I am a crazy lady. I recently purchased a Vado high-definition pocket camcorder. It is a great little tool, and it fits comfortably in my purse. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any program other than the one that came with it to edit my movies. I really wanted to use the recorder for class projects that could be edited in Windows Movie Maker by the kids. So, I did some research on the web and figured out how to record at a lower VGA resolution of 640x480. I did a test movie, and was able to import it into Windows Movie Maker. I am psyched. Now it will be easy to capture video clips and put them together for kids projects.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Classroom Blogging-a nice presentation from a team of experts -includes a slide on students' acceptable use of tools
Check out this SlideShare Presentation:
Classroom Blogging
View more presentations from Michael Walker.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Professional Development Day at Amity
There were lots of technology offerings for our Professional Development Day.
Because I was teaching the Smart Board Notebook 10 software offering, I didn't get to hear about some of the other technology workshops.
Please comment here. Share what workshop you participated in and something valuable you learned at the workshop you can share with our community.
Besides the workshops, I had also signed up for a webinar from Discovery Streaming at 7:00 this evening. The featured speaker was Don Tapscott, the author of Growing Up Digital, written about 12 years ago. He has recently published Grown up Digital, about these digital natives who have now entered the workforce.
While there were some glitches in the audio, it was a pretty interesting session. There was also a team of experts on hand answering questions and responding to messages sent from participants in the "live chat" window.
Vicki Davis, who runs the "coolcatteacher" blog was on hand. She is also one of the teachers who set up the now world-famous wiki - Flat Earth Project. She responded personally to 2 or 3 of my posts to the chat - very exciting.
I must admit, I did have a hard time paying attention to the speaker and his presentation and following the chat at the same time. Others didn't seem to have the same problem; they were also on Twitter.
Anyway, go to Don's blog, "NetgenEd,grownupdigital" for more information.
http://netgened.grownupdigital.com/
Good Night!
Because I was teaching the Smart Board Notebook 10 software offering, I didn't get to hear about some of the other technology workshops.
Please comment here. Share what workshop you participated in and something valuable you learned at the workshop you can share with our community.
Besides the workshops, I had also signed up for a webinar from Discovery Streaming at 7:00 this evening. The featured speaker was Don Tapscott, the author of Growing Up Digital, written about 12 years ago. He has recently published Grown up Digital, about these digital natives who have now entered the workforce.
While there were some glitches in the audio, it was a pretty interesting session. There was also a team of experts on hand answering questions and responding to messages sent from participants in the "live chat" window.
Vicki Davis, who runs the "coolcatteacher" blog was on hand. She is also one of the teachers who set up the now world-famous wiki - Flat Earth Project. She responded personally to 2 or 3 of my posts to the chat - very exciting.
I must admit, I did have a hard time paying attention to the speaker and his presentation and following the chat at the same time. Others didn't seem to have the same problem; they were also on Twitter.
Anyway, go to Don's blog, "NetgenEd,grownupdigital" for more information.
http://netgened.grownupdigital.com/
Good Night!
SmartBoard Use in the Classroom is Transforming Education
I am offering a professional development workshop this morning featuring how to use Notebook10 software. There is so much to learn about this wonderful tool. I have only begun to scratch the surface of what it can do to make the classroom a more engaging place in which our students can learn.
Here are some important links for teachers to use when they need to review how to use this software.
Here is where you go to download the software. It is a free application for any teacher or student whose school uses SmartBoards:
http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Products/SMART+Board+software/default.htm
In the training center, you can watch short videos on various aspects of using SmartBoards:
http://smarttech.com/trainingcenter/tutorials.asp
Here is a hub where you can access thousands of lessons created in Notebook10 from teachers all over the world:
http://education.smarttech.com/ste/en-US/Ed+Resource/Lesson+activities/Notebook+Activities/
As you experiment with creating lessons using SmartNotebook10 software today, please leave comments on this blog post to share your learning experience with others.
I will also set up a folder on our shared "Y" drive for teachers to share the lessons they have created.
All of the training materials for this session are located in that drive, as well.
Here are some important links for teachers to use when they need to review how to use this software.
Here is where you go to download the software. It is a free application for any teacher or student whose school uses SmartBoards:
http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Products/SMART+Board+software/default.htm
In the training center, you can watch short videos on various aspects of using SmartBoards:
http://smarttech.com/trainingcenter/tutorials.asp
Here is a hub where you can access thousands of lessons created in Notebook10 from teachers all over the world:
http://education.smarttech.com/ste/en-US/Ed+Resource/Lesson+activities/Notebook+Activities/
As you experiment with creating lessons using SmartNotebook10 software today, please leave comments on this blog post to share your learning experience with others.
I will also set up a folder on our shared "Y" drive for teachers to share the lessons they have created.
All of the training materials for this session are located in that drive, as well.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Time Flies
I cannot believe I haven't posted since January of 2009. Many exciting technology integration things have been happening at Bethany. I wanted to post something quick just to get back to the blog.
I will make a comment on the previous post. Once I removed the toolbar with "next blog", my place to sign in to edit the blog also disappeared. I had to go to blogger.com and sign in in order to access the blog. It's worth it, I guess.
I will make a comment on the previous post. Once I removed the toolbar with "next blog", my place to sign in to edit the blog also disappeared. I had to go to blogger.com and sign in in order to access the blog. It's worth it, I guess.
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