What is a Pocket Projector?

Greetings,

Today I will be sharing with you one of the newest gadgets that is becoming very popular with people. I first heard about this projector last year. I have listed a review on this product that I would like to share with you.

This review was done by M. David Stone, a Lead Analyst for Printers, Scanners & Projectors. To read his review on the 3M Pocket Projector MPro150 visit the following site: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2361254,00.asp?tab=FullReview To find other reviews google the following information with quotes "The 3M Pocket Projector MPro150"

You can also visit 3M Web site which can be found by clicking on the picture below.


I will be planning on getting one of these gadgets soon. Hope this information helps you out. I will talk to you next week about another exciting topic in technology. Take care.

Free Quick References for You

Greetings

Today I will be sharing with you a web site where you can get access to quick references on various software programs for free. Once you download the quick reference guides, you can print the two pages out as a colorful pdf document. You can also glue them back to back and laminate them. You now have a quick reference guide for all the Microsoft Office and Adobe software titles listed above.

All you have to do is go to http://www.customguide.com/ and click on the Product Tour tab. Look on the right hand side of the screen and fill out the following information below to access the free quick reference guides.

These quick reference guides can assist you in your training needs. Hope you enjoy these free guides. We will see you next week with another exciting topic. Take care.

What is Storyline Online?

Greetings

Storyline online is a great web site that has Hollywood stars read to you. You will find the following stars reading to you: Betty White, James Earl James, Tia & Tamera Mowry, Amanda Bynes, Sean Astin, Al Gore, Esai Morales, Hector Elizondo, Lou Diamond Phillips, Elijah Wood, Jason Alexander, Haylie Duff, Amber Rose Tamblyn and Camryn Manheim. This web site keeps growing. As of today, they have 23 stories all read by the Hollywood stars above. Storyline online is funded through The Screen Actors Guild Foundation.

The books that are read by the stars have related activity questions, ideas and concepts to help your child learn even more. You can also download activities guide that have the story and ideas in a pdf format. They also have a newsletter you can subscribe to where you can get updated information on their web site. You can also purchase the book for a nominal fee. All stories read, last between 5 – 10 minutes. You and your child will enjoy this free web site to improve your child’s reading skills.

When you decide to let the video play, it will stream the video at speeds of 56K for dial up, small; 150K for broadband, medium; 300K broadband, large and 512K broadband, best quality. When the video plays, you can also choose the option to show the captions. The captions allow you to see the words and sentences being read to you. You can also pause it, rewind, fast forward it to your favorite part of the story.

You will also notice as the person reads it to you via video you will see pictures that zoom in and out from the book. This unique video concept will make it a memorable experience. Try it out today at http://www.storylineonline.net/ Hope you enjoy the site. I will see you next week about another exciting topic in technology.

What is Scholastic Study Jams?

Greetings,

I Hope you had a great week. Today I will be blogging about Study Jams. Study Jams is a web site that has streaming video and slide shows on math and science concepts/ideas for grades 3 - 5. This web site use to require a monthly subscription. Due to its popularity and use, it is now free.

On the web site you will also find key vocabulary words, songs and assessments. To access the site simply click on the picture above. You will find over 200 topics ranging from the following topics in Math and Science:

Math Categories

Numbers

Addition and Subtraction

Multiplication and Division

Fractions

Decimals and Percentages

Algebra

Geometry

Measurement

Data Analysis

Probability

Problem Solving

Click here to download a list of over 100 Math Topics

Science Categories

Plants

Animals

The Human Body

Ecosystems

Landforms, Rocks and Minerals

Weather and Climate

Solar System

Matter

Force and Motion

Energy, Light and Sound

Scientific Enquiry

Click here to download a list of over 100 Science Topics.

Hope you enjoy this free resource. These resources will help reinforce key concepts and ideas for your students. Your students will enjoy relating to the characters in the short videos. We will see you next week with another topic.

Teaching with Claymation: Part 3 of 3

Hello

Today I will be discussing animation tips when working with claymation. One of the most important tips I can tell you is to be careful with your background and remember to keep it simple. Here are 10 animation tips.

1. You can simply use construction paper and different color cut outs as well as clay to make scenic items such as clouds, rain, flowers, trees, etc.

2. When you are planning your claymation video, you may want to shoot the scenes backwards with your digital camera.

3. Take 8 - 15 frames per second of finished video (approximately 450 pictures = 30 seconds of video!)

4. Move your character in small amounts at a time.

5. Have handy some wet wipes to keep your hands clean.

6. Avoid moving items in the scene that are not suppose to move.

7. Change the camera view or zoom occasionally.

8. Make sure you set your camera on a tripod and use fresh batteries.

9 Your digital camera needs to be cleared of all pictures before you start taking pictures.

10. Make sure your students have all their materials and supplies before taking the pictures.

Here are 7 video tips you want to be aware of.

1. Take out any pictures where you can see hands.

2. Add background music, sounds and voices. It can be very challenging to use voices to lip movements in stop motion animation; voice-overs are much easier.

3. When adding music use free sources for educators like http://www.freeplaymusic.com/

4. When filming, set the camera on a tripod close to the background. Make sure the background is in the frame.

5. Once filming begins, make sure the camera does not move.

6. Take many pictures. You can always delete excess pictures later.

7. Move characters approximately 1/4 of an inch between shots.

Check out these examples.
Mario's Pizzaria.



Stop, Drop, and Roll!



The Butterfly Cycle


Transformations

After you have all your pictures, audio, and sound bytes, create one folder on your desktop and place all the items in it. To produce your move you want to use a free movie editing program on your computer called Movie Maker 2.
To find Movie Maker on your computer go to "Start" and the program is either in the accessories folder or in your programs file. Look for the little color film real with a tailing filmstrip icon. You want to be familiar with this program. For a free video tutorial please visit: www.atomiclearning.com/moviemaker2 To put the finishing touches on the movie you will add titles, credits, narration and music in Movie Maker 2.
Free Resources
Royalty Free Music Sites
http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/
www.beatmode.com/free-loops/
www.mfwp101.com/freemusic.htm
www.flashkit.com/loops/
www.hooverwebdesign.com/sounds/index.html
http://www.freeplaymusic.com/
Sound Effects
www.pacdv.com/sounds/index.html
Hope you enjoyed the 3 part series on claymation. We will see you next week with another exciting topic in technology. Take care.

Teaching with Claymation: Part 2 of 3

Greetings,

Today I will be discussing how to build characters and props. I will also talk about how to build your backdrop or background. Let's get started, you will need the following items to build your characters.

* Armature for the Skeleton, which will provide strength and flexibility.

* To create the bulk and shape of the character you will need to cover the wire with foil folded into strips. You can also use styrofoam as well.
* Colored nonhardening modeling clay
* You also might want to visit an art and craft store to get plastic eyes, mouths and noses for your character.

To mold the clay on your character you can use your fingers ore plastic spoons to shape the clay. If parts of the character will move, it may be easier to make two or more clay pieces of that part such as a winking eye or moving mouth. You can also use the clay to build props like clouds, lakes, rivers, trees, etc. on to colored construction paper for your backdrop or background. You can also use sand, grass, dirt, rocks, twigs, marbles and confetti etc.
After you have all the supplies you are ready to set your stage.
1. When students are working with claymation there should be no more than 4 to a group.
2. Students will need to create a flowmap of step by step of the movement of the story.
3. Make the characters.
4. Make the backdrops or background - The backdrops can be done in a shoebox, shad.ow box, on a chair, in a cubby hole, base of a chair, on colored construction paper or poster board (Remember to keep it simple).
5. Work on lighting - Do you want the characters to stand out more?
6. Think about the camera view, taking the photos and making the movie.
Next week I will be discussing animation tips, video tips, filming tips, producing the movie, adjusting timing, adding titles, credits, narration and music. I will be sharing free tutorials and additional web sites for more ideas. I will also be posting more examples of claymation projects. See you next week.

Teaching with Claymation: Part 1 of 3

Greetings,

Hope you are doing well this week. What is Claymation? Claymation is short for Clay Animation, which includes the following:

1. Any animation using clay, materials and props.

2. Traditionally time - consuming technique of stop motion video.

3. Using a digital cameras and computers provide accessibility in the classroom.

4. Using Movie Maker 2 or a video editing program.

Claymation can be used for:

* Content on a website

* A prop for a speech

* A multimedia story

* A concept or objective demonstration

* A public service announcement

Why do you want to use Claymation?

1. Motivates, engages and challenges students to be creative.

2. Can be applied to any subject level and area.

3. Perfect for exploring concepts and objectives.

4. Requires planning, organizing and teamwork.

More Ideas for Using Claymation in the Classroom.

* Storytelling

* Creative writing

* Explanations of the Scientific processes

* Human body functions

* Visualizing math concepts

* Recreating historical events & time periods

* Demonstrating physical activities - proper exercise

Please play the video below to see how I have used claymation with a PE Objective in the past.

How do I start making a claymation video?

1. Select your idea or objective you want to communicate to your audience.

2. Plan and build a flow map of your idea.

3. Start building your character and background or back drop for your movie.

4. Take photos of movement of the character.

5. Make the Movie.

In the next 2 weeks, I will be sharing with you the following ideas:

How to build your character with clay, armature, foil, styrofoam, construction paper, small eyes, mouths, etc. and props (rocks and sticks). How to set your stage, claymation tips, animation tips, video tips, filming, editing and producing the film. I will also be sharing with you more claymation videos. To produce one video, your students may want to work in groups and it may take 3 -5 days for the project to finish. See you next week.

30 in 48 Days!

Greetings,

Hopefully you are having a great Labor Day today. This week I will be sharing with you the exciting trainings I have been involved in over the summer. Yes, it is true that I had the opportunity to take over $11,000 of advanced technology training classes and received 25 software books with lessons, exercises and online files.

Our technology department was so kind and gracious to purchase Summer PassPort Passes from New Horizons Computer Learning Center for a few of our Computer Lab Teachers. New Horizons is a technology learning center where you can take classes for a nominal fee. I participated in almost 30 advance technology classes. Some of the classes included Adobe CS4 software like Photoshop (web and print), Illustrator, Flash, Dreamweaver and Acrobat. Other classes included, Web Design with XHTML, HTML, CSS and SharePoint Designer 2007.

I can not forget the MS Office 2007 classes I took, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Publisher and Visual Basics Application (VBA) Programming. VBA is a class where you learn how to create macros or type code in MS Office programs. Out of all these classes I participated in, I had the chance to take Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced classes. Most of the classes were anywhere from 7 hours to 14 hour classes and daily classes would be from 8AM - 4PM, Mon. - Fri.

I knew a lot of the MS Office software programs, but this gave me a chance to brush up and review key concepts, tasks and ideas. I did not realize the value of these classes. If you were to take these classes on average it would cost you around $300 and if you were to take the Adobe classes it could run you nearly $700. What an investment! If I had to add the total instructional hours it would total over 200 hours!

I am sharing this information with you not to impress you, but to impress upon you to really achieve, and reach your goals and to continue to learn in whatever field you are in. I now have build up my technology library and created a reference library. These are invaluable resources and references that will assist me to create additional tasks and exercises for all my teachers and students.

I also met some great instructors and students at New Horizons. I hope to continue my education and attend New Horizons next year to take MS Office 2010 classes and Adobe CS5 classes. For additional resources for your training needs, please visit http://www.newhorizons.com/ or you can get a subscription for online learning video classes at www.atomiclearning.com Hope to see you next week. Have a great week!

How to be an Effective Teacher: Part 3 of 3

Greetings,

I Hope you had a great week. I know we had a great first week of school at our school. This is the final part on how to be an effective teacher from Dr. Harry K. Wong's keynote speech. I have been receiving a lot of feedback on my First Day of School PowerPoint I shared last week. Today I will be sharing all the different types of procedures and routines that you need to teach your children throughout the year. These can also be found in Dr. Harry K. Wong's Book: The First Days of School in Chapter 19.

Entering the classroom
Getting to work immediately
Listening to and responding to questions
Participating in class discussions
Keeping your desk orderly
Checking out classroom materials
Indicating whether or not you understand
Coming to attention
Working cooperatively
Changing groups
Working in centers
Keeping your notebook
Going to the office
Knowing the schedule for the day or class
Keeping a progress report
Finding directions for each assignment
Passing in papers
Exchanging papers
Returning student work
Getting materials without disturbing others
Handing out playground materials
Moving about the room
Going to the library or tech center
How to head your paper
Returning to a task after an interruption
Asking a question
Walking in the hall during class time
Which side of the hall to walk on
Responding to the following: fire drill, tornado drill, lock down (when a stranger is in the building)
Saying "thank you"
When you are late or tardy
End of period class dismissal
When you need a pencil or paper
When you are absent
When you need help or conferencing
When you finish early
When visitors are in the classroom
If the teacher is out of the classroom
If you are suddenly ill

Remember there is a procedure for teaching a procedure.

The Three-Steps Approach to Teaching Classroom Procedures (Ch. 20 in First Days of School)

1. Teach -State, explain, model, and demonstrate the procedure.

2. Rehearse - Rehearse and practice the procedures under your supervision.

3. Reinforce - Reteach, rehearse, practice, and reinforce the procedure until it becomes student habit of routine.

The last concept on how to be a very effective teacher is to have very high expectations for you and your students. You want to create an effect on you and then on your students. Positive expectations is the key. Believe in your students and when they say "I can't" point out to your students it means they are not trying.

I Hope these ideas on procedures and routines help you out during the school year. Next week I will be sharing with you the exciting trainings I have been involved in over this past summer. I had the opportunity to take over $11,000 of advanced technology training classes and receive 25 books for free. Find out how next week. See you next week.

How to be an Effective Teacher: Part 2 of 3

Greetings,

I know a lot of you are excited as the students return to school on Monday. I know you have all been patiently waiting for me to share my PowerPoint on procedures and routines on the first day of school. Remember this was featured in Dr. Harry K. Wong's keynote presentation all around the United States.

First let me share with you the 7 questions that student will have when they enter your classroom. The following information below was from my notes from the Keynote Address. You can find more of Dr. Harry K. Wong's resources below:



1. Am I in the right room?
This gives them a sense of security to know they are in the right place.

2. Where am I suppose to sit?
This lets them know I want you here and I am inviting you into my classroom and I have planned for you.

3. What are the rules in this classroom?
This helps the classroom run more smoothly.

4. What will I be doing this year?
This is your chance to sell what it is they will be learning this year. Create excitement for your classroom for the upcoming school year.

5. How will I be graded?
What is your grading policy? Let them know what it is they need to do to earn a grade in your classroom.

6. Who is my teacher as a person?
Let the students know something about you and they will have a better time relating to you. Tell them what you like, collect or any hobbies or interests you have. Tell them about yourself. If you do not do this, then they will be inventing things about you.

7. Will my teacher treat me fairly?
Yes I will treat you fair, but your definition of fair may not be the same as mine.

My PowerPoint on classroom procedures and routines is located below. All you have to do is click on the picture below and you can download it and save it. I hope these ideas help you be the best teacher you can be.

Once again, I hope these ideas I have shared with you help you out. I hope you have a great first day of school and I will see you next week. For more PowerPoints from other successful teachers please visit http://www.teachers.net/ 

Here is part 3 of the article: How to be an Effective Teacher: Part 3 of 3

How to be an Effective Teacher: Part 1 of 3

Hello,

Today I will be sharing with you some key concepts and ideas on How to be an Effective and Successful Teacher. I recently had the opportunity to attend Dr. Harry K. Wong's and Dr. Rosemary Wong's keynote presentation on How to be an Effective and Successful Teacher. I have also been collaborating with him over the summer on a few ideas. To see his latest article for August 2010, please double click on the picture below.

Harry K. Wong is possible the most motivating, exciting and dynamic speaker in education today. His presentations result in a positive behavioral effect on his audiences world wide. he leaves his audiences with practical and useful techniques on how to be a successful teacher. He has given more than 3,000 presentations to nearly a half million people in America and Canadian provinces and in South America, Asia, Africa, and Europe.

Dr. Wong's expertise is in classroom management and student motivation. He has been an excellent teacher who has shared his success wit thousands of teacher worldwide. Dr. Wong has won numerous awards and was also featured in a story by Reader's Digest.

During more than 33 years in the classroom, He has developed methods that resulted in having a zero dropout rate, no discipline problems a 95% homework turn-in record, and the ability to demonstrate master level learning by each of his students.

Instructor Magazine (March 2006) announced a reader's poll of the most admired people in the world of education. Harry Wong was on the list along with Maya Angelou, Laura Bush, Bill Cosby, Hillary Clinton, Ron Clark, Marva Collins, Howard Gardner, Mel Levine, and Oprah Winfrey.

Dr. Wong has over 30 publications including the best selling book in the world in Education. He has sold over 3.5 Million books as of 2010. Soon there will be a Chinese and an Arabic Edition; possible a French addition. What's the name of his best selling book? It is called The First Days of School. He also has an award-winning video series, a CD set and an e-Learning course in classroom management. He also writes a monthly column on http://www.teachers.net/wong

What is the secret to be an effective teacher? Here it is get you pen and paper ready. According to Dr. Wong, you steal. Well it's not really called stealing. It's called research. You walk into teachers rooms and you look around and look around for great ideas that you can use in your classroom. It's also called sharing and collaborating with effective teachers.

There is only one way to improve student learning and it is by having an effective teacher. You want to have a positive effect or produce a result with your students. According to Dr. Wong, you need the mastery of the following as a teacher:

1. Excellent Classroom Management Skills (Unit C in book)

2. Lesson Mastery (Unit D in book)

3. Positive Expectations (Unit B in book)

For more information on these key ideas, please refer to the newest edition of The First Days of School, which was published in 2009.

I hope these resources assist you in becoming a great teacher, role model and leader in your school or community. Next week I will be sharing with you parts of my PowerPoint on procedures and routines on the first day of school that was featured in his keynote presentation. I will also be sharing with you the 7 questions students want to know when they walk in your room on the first day of school. Now if you can't wait until next week, you can always refer to the book. See you next week.

Here is part 2 of the article: How to be an Effective Teacher: Part 2 of 3

How to Access Free Movies, Music, Books and Audiobooks!

Greetings,

Hope you are doing well. This week I will be discussing a place where you can access free resources within your community. You can get popular DVDs, Cd's, books, and audiobooks at your own local library. It's amazing of the statistics of how many people actually have a library card, it is about 2 - 5% of the population. That's maybe one one out of twenty individuals who have in possession a free library card.

All you have to do is visit your local public library, and search for the resource you are looking for. Once you find your resource then you will need to sign up for a free library card. You can even do a search online in some cases. If they do not have the resource you are looking for, then you can place a request for them to get it through interlibrary loan. They search hundreds of libraries for you throughout the country.

I have received resources from as far as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles to name a few. You may have to wait a few days or weeks. Some of the movies I borrowed recently include the following: Avatar, Julia and Julia, Wall-E, The Power of One from the 1990's, The Karate Kid part 2 and 3 back from the 1980's. A few books and audiobooks I have checked out include books by John Maxwell, John Wooden, Stephen Covey and Eric Jensen to name a few.

Hope this helps you out as you look for the resources you want or need in the future. As summer comes to a close, millions of children will be returning to a new school year within the next month. Over the next two weeks I will be blogging about how to be an effective classroom manager. I will also be sharing with you a few slides of my First Day of School PowerPoint. This is the same PowerPoint that was recently featured in a Presentation by Dr. Harry K. Wong. Hope to see you soon.

How to Get a Free E-mail Account

Greetings,

This week I am blogging about how to get a free e-mail account. There are a lot of teachers and people who do not know that they can get an email account for free. I personally use http://www.mail.yahoo.com/ http://www.gmail.com/ and http://www.hotmail.com/ accounts. The reason you want a free e-mail account is you can send pictures, audios, videos and interesting web sites to all your family and friends. Remember it's all for free. You can also choose your own e-mail screen name.

I like googles email account (Gmail) because you can send an attachment up to 25MB in size. Do you remember about 10 -20 years ago when we use to use save documents on plastic 3.5 inch floppy disks?

25MB is equal to almost 18 3.5 inch floppy disks. It's amazing how far technology has advanced.
Another reason I like using yahoo.com is because yahoo has an instant messenger (IM). With the instant messenger download application you can chat in real time with family and friends that have the same yahoo instant messenger. You can also use it with your web camera and see the other person in real time while chatting with them. I hear you can use http://www.skype.com/ to do the same thing.

Try these free e-mail accounts and let me know which ones you like best. Next week I will be blogging about how to access free books audio books, music Cd's, DVDs and more. See you next week.

How to Search Google?

Greetings,

Hope you are doing well today. I will be blogging about how to do a Google search for documents, pictures, and videos. When you go to http://www.google.com/ you need to type in the search box you topic of interest, and then you type the following file extension in quotes:

1. For MS PowerPoint Documents you type “ppt”

2. For MS Word Documents you type “doc”

3. For MS Excel Documents you type “xls”

4. For Adobe PDF Documents you type “pdf”

5. For Flash Videos you type “swf”

6. For a specific phrase you need to type it all in quotes

If you want more options, then click on the right side of the box under Advance Search. Next, you will see the following options under Advance Search.




Then you can follow the instructions in the search boxes. If you go to the last topic on Need more tools, you can pull down the drop down arrow boxes to get more options on your search. You can even narrow down the file search to a particular type of file.


For example, let’s say you are looking for an interactive flash web site when teaching a concept or objective; all you have to do is pull down the drop down box and choose Shockwave Flash. Once you chose this option, then all you will find are flash video sites. Try it out with the water cycle. If you want more search options, please visit the following: Advanced Search Tips

To look for pictures you need to go to http://www.google.com/ and hover your mouse on the top left side of the screen, and you will see a blue Images link. Click on the link, and then type the name of picture you are searching for in the search box. You will do the same for Videos. Hope these helpful tips help you out. I will see you next week with another topic.

What is the Hat?

Greetings,

Today, I will be blogging about the Hat. The Hat is a random number/name generator you can use with your students. This application makes sure each person is randomly drawn equally. What's neat about this application is once you download it, you do not need to be connected to the internet.

One of the great features of this application are the fun special effects. The generator will make a toggle noise and a drum beat noise as the names are being shuffled and selected. This tool has given me another option to use, besides my traditional popsicle sticks in a cup. The popsicle sticks in a cup still works, except this generator has sound effects and is very visual. This makes it more exciting for the students.

To download this free and fun tool you can visit the following web site: http://www.harmonyhollow.net/hat.shtml
Here is what it looks like after you have downloaded it.

The fist thing you want to do is input the students names manually.


Once you select the Add Names Manually button, you will see the following window screen. You will need to type in your students name to add them to your list.

After you have all the names of your students in your class. You have two choices.

1. You can shuffle the names and the names will jump around from top to bottom to different position. You can either chose the name on the very top of the list or the bottom of the list. Then you can chose to delete the name.

2. You can chose to draw the names randomly out of the Magic Hat. The student will see his or her name appear on the middle part of the hat.

I personally like using the Magic Hat, that way the students are selected randomly to answer questions when I am presenting a lesson to the students. The names can only be chosen one time, so it is a true random sample.

Once you have drawn all the names of the students, you will see an indicator that says all the names have been drawn out. Then you can reshuffle, and continue to draw out the same names randomly.

If you have more classes you can chose to delete the names, clear the list or import the names into the generator.

You can also go into the options setting and change the interface or sound effects if you would like.

I hope you enjoy this fun and useful tool. I know your students will enjoy it. Remember download it and play with it, and you will be ready for your students when you need to ask questions to your students randomly. Hope his helps you out. See you next week.

What is Cool Timer?

Greetings,

Hopefully you had a great Fourth of July spending time with family and friends. This week I am sharing with you a timer you can download to use as a stopwatch or a count down timer with your students. All you need to do is visit the following site to download it for free: www.harmonyhollow.net/cool_timer.shtml

Once you download it you will not need an internet connection to run the program. Here is a screen shot of what it looks like, once you have downloaded it.

Your students will enjoy watching the countdown timer when they are in working in small groups, or independent practice. After you have downloaded the program, you can choose different built in alarm sounds to sound off when the time expires. You can even personalize the timer by having a short message scroll across the screen.


Another feature on this free timer is you can change the colors of the digits, buttons, and backgrounds to match your needs.

You and your students will enjoy all these unique features on this free timer. Hope you enjoy this tool. I would recommend you downloading this program to your home computer so you can play with it. Once you have learned all the different features I mentioned above, you will be ready to download it your computer at school.

Next week I will be sharing with you a fun random number generator you can use with your students to make sure they are picked randomly when you ask them questions. Yes, you can even type their name in the random generator to personalize it. See you next week.

Happy 4th Of July!

In observance of Independence day, I will resume my blog next Sunday. Hope you have a great Fourth of July Holiday. See you next week.

Part 2 of What is IVC?

Greetings,

This week I will be sharing more of the free activities we participated in during the event. Remember you can also participate in these activities with your students. Here are 7 of the most popular ones:

1. Monster Match Exchange

2. Animal Exchange

3. Community Exchange

4. Read Around the Planet

5. Math Marvels

6. Mystery Quest Beaches

7. Whirlidurb: Shane Sings

1. Monster Match Exchange Project: Two classrooms are paired up and each class will have the opportunity to draw their own monster. The first class will communicate or write a description of their monster and post it online. The second class will then get the opportunity to draw a monster that matches the description of the first classroom. Both classes will meet via video conference to compare and contrast the original drawing of their monsters. For more information on this exciting project please visit: www.humbleisd.net/monster/ and http://disdvideoconferencing.pbworks.com/Monster+Exchange

2. Animal Exchange Project: Two classes are paired up and will select an animal that is found in their state or region. Each class will prepare a presentation about an animal to share with the other class. The presentation should be about 5 minutes long and include the habitat, movement, description and what it eats. The presentations may include the following a visual, sound, act out motion/movement, or a song/poem about their animal.Each class can break up into groups and each group will will research the topics listed above. Both classes will meet via video conference to give their description to the other class. Next, both classes will research online what the other classes animal is. Both classes will take turns to meet via video conference to guess the other classes animal.

3. Community Exchange Project: Both classes will prepare a presentation about a community to share with the other class. The presentation should be about 5 minutes, and include visuals. Here are a few ideas that you may want to include in your project: information about demographics of community; cultural institutions, zoos, museums; schools including size, curriculum, structure; a map of the community/city/state; type of food that is popular, favorite sporting events and trivia. After each class presents via video conferencing there will be time for questions and answers.

4. Read Around the Planet Project: This is a project that celebrates National Education Association's Read Across America. Classrooms use interactive video conference to connect with other classrooms "around the planet" and read to each other. The presentation should be about 5 minutes and can be related to reading or promoting literacy. Here are a few ideas that a project may include: skits or plays, raps or songs; puppet show, readers theater, poetry, sign language, illustrations, dramatizations, student-centered books, original poetry, songs and trivia. For more information on this project please visit: www.twice.cc/read

5. Math Marvels Project: Both classes will prepare problem solving and communicating solutions/strategies using higher order thinking skills. Students will create math problems to communicate via video conference to each other to solve. The two classes will use good math problem solving skills and use various strategies/discussions. Students will need to create problems that have an answer of a number before the video conference. After each class has had time to solve the math problem, they will share their response via video conference. For more exciting information about this project, please visit: http://katyvc.pbworks.com/Math-Marvels

6. Mystery Quest Beaches Project: Both classes will prepare a 5 to 7 minute presentation on a mystery beach. Each class may divide researching the clues for their beach. When creating the presentation, students will need to clearly communicate effective clues to the other class via video conference. You may use the following ideas to create clues: region, location and place.

Beach Clues:

Region

1. Describe how land and sea areas define the country's borders.

2. What other landmarks are close to the beach?

Location

1. What is the latitude or longitude of the beach?

2. What is the relative location of this beach?

3. Which direction from the country capitol do you travel to reach the beach?

Place

1. What body of water is closest to the beach?

2. What is the area of the country in which the beach is located?

3. What is the primary language of the country in which the beach is located?

4. What is the population of the country in which the beach is located

5. Name and describe a tourists attraction near your beach and illustrate if possible.

6. What is the population of the nearest city?

7. Describe one or more notable physical landforms in or near this city.

Once all the clues have been communicated from both classes via video conference (30 min.), then the research begins on the Internet (20 min.) to figure out the location of the beach. After all questions are answered, then each group will present their answers to the other class. Both classes will need to create a visual poster with the correct name of their beach. The correct mystery of the beaches will be revealed by students at the end of the video conference.

For more information on this project and to get a notes template, please visit: http://mysteryquest.wikispaces.com/

7. Whirlidurb Project: Introduce video conferencing to you early childhood classes through different animated characters that will be singing and asking them questions. The different animated characters are created with animated avatars that the presenter uses to communicate with your class. Your students will absolutely love this activity. For more information on this program, please visit: http://shanesings.whirlidurb.com/

These were just a few activities and projects you can participate in with video conferencing equipment. I hope you get the opportunity to conduct a virtual field trip or a video conference event with your students. We will see you next week with another exciting topic.

What Is IVC?

Greetings,

What an awesome week we had this past week! I had the great opportunity to participate in a 5 day (IVC) boot camp. If you were not able to partipate in this Conference then you are probably asking, what does IVC stand for? Well it stands for Interactive Video Conference.

By using videoconferencing technology, two or more people at different locations can see and hear each other at the same time, sometimes even sharing computer applications for collaboration. This rich communications technology offers new possibilities for schools, colleges, and libraries, who are now using videoconferencing systems for a variety of purposes, including formal instruction (courses, lessons, and tutoring), connection with guest speakers and experts, multischool project collaboration, virtual field trips, professional activities, and community events. Remember all activities are live.

We were able to collaborate with 7 different sites or locations from all over the world including the following cities:

1. Berrien RESA, MI
2. Killen ISD, TX
3. Hays CISD, TX
4. Torfaen LEA, Wales
5. Kamloops, BC
6. El Paso ISD, TX
7. Edu Tech, ND

18 out of over 50 Teachers were selected from our Texas site to participate in this conference. This IVC project allowed participants to create project simulations and learn effective collaboration techniques to enrich curriculum with interactive experiences for many curriculum areas. This conference focused on leadership in K-12 videoconferencing. Participants created a plan for a student project for the next school year.

The goal of the conference was to get to know participants all over the world and to learn how to put together a video conference project. The 10 collaboration outcomes included the following:

1. Shared objectives
2. Sense of urgency and commitment
3. Dynamic process
4. Sense of belonging and connecting
5. Create an open communication
6. To develop a mutual trust and respect
7. Complementary, diverse skills and knowledge
8. Intellectual agility
9. Share valuable resources
10. Create memorable experiences

If you get a chance to participate in an IVC in your area, I encourage you to sign up fast because the experience was very enlightening. We were able to collaborate with the NASA Kennedy Space Center and learn all their fantastic virtual field trip programs they have to offer. To learn more about virtual field trips please visit: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=2507464n and http://vcoutonalim.org/2007/05/05/vc-on-youtube/ We also learned about the many collaborative features of Google Docs, Google Site, Skype, Flickr, Email list serves and more.

We were introduced to The ASK Program. For more information on this program please visit: http://www.misd.net/DistanceLearning/ASK/ASKProgramOverview.htm Here is one of the ASK Program activities that we had the opportunity to participate in:

ASK Specialist: The Wall by Eve Bunting
Grade Level: 5-8
Topic: Memorial Day, the Vietnam Memorial and War

This simple picture book will introduce your students to the Vietnam Memorial and will help you teach them about Memorial Day and Vietnam. Materials about "The Wall" and the Vietnam War will be included in the kit.Students will interview a Vietnam Veteran.

This experience was very touching and emotional with some of the participants. We had the opportunity to interview 2 outstanding Vietnam Veterans (http://www.lestweforgetusa.org/) We were able to interact with them, see them and ask them questions via video conferencing. For more information on this program and others please visit: http://www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl/ASK.htm This is just one activity we participated in.

Next week I will be sharing more activities and details about the conference. Remember if you are interested in participating in a conference like this, talk to your Computer Specialist, or your Campus Technician on your school campus. See you next week with more exciting details.

The 18 Best Subscription Based Web Sites for Learning

Greetings,

Today I will be blogging about the best 18 subscription based resources that I personally suggest to our parents at my school. Now remember, these sites require either an annual fee, or a monthly subscription.

I will list all 18 of them in no particular order. Once again, I have researched numerous school web sites throughout the country, and these are the top ones I have found. All of these sites are very excellent. You can choose which ones you like. Simply click on the link, and you can explore the web site. Some of the sites even have free trials before you subscribe.

1. Brainpop and Brainpop Jr.

2. Atomic Learning

3. Discovery Education

4. Safari Montage

5. Learn 360

6. Lynda

7. Enchanted Learning

8. Ed Helper

9. Scholastic Study Jams - For Free for a Limited Time!

10. Rosetta Stone Classroom

11. Learning

12. Ebsco Research Database

13. Gale Infotrack Online

14. Brittanica Online

15. Worldbook Online

16. Teaching Books

17. Tumble Books

18. Proquest

Hope these help you and your son, or daughter out to excel in their learning over the summer months. See you next week.

Remembering Coach John Wooden

Hello,

Today I will be blogging about one of my mentors, who passed away yesterday. That’s right, his name was Coach John Wooden. He only won 10 NCAA basketball championships. What you probably haven't heard, is that he continued to work hard and smart at his craft for 18 years, before he won his first NCAA championship.

While most coaches would have quit, or changed schools, he continued to develop his leadership philosophy with his teams. He taught life skills to all of his players. He was demanding and challenging of all his players, but was also fair.

He also developed The Pyramid of Success, which is a pyramid that has 15 principles for Success. Listed below is a picture of the Pyramid.


Starting on the bottom level, from left to right is the first block, Industriousness.


The next principle is Friendship.

After friendship is loyalty.


Then comes Cooperation.


At the end of the right side of the first bottom level of the pyramid is Enthusiasm.
On the lower second level of the pyramid we have Self-Control.

Moving again left to right we have Alertness.


After alertness comes Initiative.

The last block on the lower second level is Intentness.


On the lower third level we have Condition.


After Condition we have Skill.

On the lower third level the last block is Team Spirit.

Now, we will focus on the two blocks on the second level from the top. We will start with Poise.


Next, we have Confidence.


Finally, the top level of the pyramid is Competitive Greatness.

Now we will focus on the 12 lessons in leadership.
1. Good Values Attract Good People
2. Love Is The Most Powerful Four-Letter Word
3. Call Yourself a Teacher
4. Emotion is Your Enemy
5. It Takes 10 Hands to Make a Basket
6. Little Things Make Big Things Happen
7. Make Each Day Your Masterpiece
8. The Carrot is Mightier Than a Stick.
9. Make Greatness Attainable By All
10. Seek Significant Change
11. Don't Look At The Scoreboard
12. Adversity is Your Asset
To learn more about the Pyramid of Success and other resources please visit: http://www.coachjohnwooden.com/ To get your own free copy of the Wooden on Leadership Pyramid of Success, please visit: http://www.coachwooden.com/pyramidpdf.pdf
"Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable." Coach John Wooden
See you next time.