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http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/02/tips-everyones-critic.html You can't swing a cat without hitting on an article that will either condem PowerPoint, make fun of it, or tell you how everyone abuses it and nobody does it right. So, when you're faced with having to use it and you've been reading those articles, you might tend to panic - as I did. OK... No bullets. Fine. No goofy animations - no problem. The message is the point. Less is better. The slides support your point - they don't beat your audience about the head with it. DON'T YOU KNOW?? ARRRGHHHHHH! At last year's NECC conference, Nicholas Negropante made the off-hand comment, "I hate powerpoint" - and the audience applauded. EVERYONE hates it! But, truth be told, 95% of those folks use PowerPoint, and if we had the audience rate each other's powerpoints, I'd be shocked if more than 10% of them would have passed muster. The larger point is that when you have to give a presentation to a group of learned tech folks, the pressure is ON. Everyone is going to be looking at this PPT with the notion (in the back of their minid, at least) that, "Here's another guy who doesn't know how to make a good powerpoint." No matter what we did, it would likely meet with geers and sneers from a large group who "knows" that it wasn't good, although they may not be able to make a better one. So, I'm going to admit up front that I only know what I know. I THINK that my powerpoints only have that which is necessary to support my talk. I THINK that it's void of the bullet traps, and the animation traps, and the ugly colors traps. I THINK I'm getting better. The one I had for NECC last year embarasses me when I think of it,but I THINK I'm getting better. Bottom line, if you are at a presentation of mine where I use a Powerpoint (Keynote, actually) and you think it was awful, PLEASE tell me how to improve it. Give specifics. Take the talk and YOU make the slides. Then we'll run it by a dozen people and see how many agree that YOUR version is not only better but a model for presentations everywhere. I don't think it'll happen. Everyone's a critic.
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/02/tips-chris-jordan-revisited.htm Listen to Chris explain those images and hear him speak passionately about the issue of waste. Remember, this issue will have to be solved by the students that we're teaching today. Maybe, if you were to play this for a group of them, just maybe they would find the spark to become active in this issue. Maybe when they see the pile of discarded cell phones, or the cell phone chargers (many NEVER USED!) they will think twice about what THEY discard. Who knows where this ball will stop rolling.
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/02/tips-ten-cool-google-search-tip I just saw this in Cliotech's del.icio.us links. http://lifehacker.com/339474/top-10-obscure-google-search-tricks
Some of these I HAD seen before, but most I had not. Check out how to convert money, find out time in another city, compare items, and MUCH more. VERY cool tricks.
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/02/tips-who-to-vote-for.html Many thanks to Bryan MacLeod for sharing this one with me via email.
http://www.wqad.com/Global/link.asp?L=259460
This TV station site has a little survey on this page which asks you your views on several issues. You choose your views, then it will tell you which candidate most closely matches those views. How's THAT for a cool starter with the students? It will be interesting to ask them to write down who they'd vote for, then take this survey, then tell whether or not the poll matched their candidate. This would be good for adults, too, wouldn't it?
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/02/tips-issuucom-talk-about-respon Today, two different people sent me a link to http://issuu.com , a site that lets you ... well, here's how it describes itself: "Issuu is the place for online publications: Magazines, documents, and stuff you'd normally find on print. It's the place where YOU become the publisher. Upload a document, it's fast, easy, and totally FREE. Within seconds you'll have a super cool online magazine you can post anywhere on the web and share instantly with your friends." It looked interesting, so I took a look. It DID look interesting, and I was just about to send it out as a tip when I noticed the categories at the bottom of the page. You guessed it. One of the categories was .. oh geez.. if I tell you then this will never reach your inbox. It's the S** word. ;-) Anyway, when I checked that category it was obvious immediately that this site would never see the light of day in public schools in this country. So, when I told that second person of my findings he said he was going to email them right away. I decided that I would, as well. In my email I suggested that it was short-sighted to allow that kind of content in there, and that because of that the kids would never see it - at least in school. I also suggested that there were already plenty of sites that catered to that kind of taste, and that maybe they should raise the bar a bit for their standards. Shortly afterwards I received a response to my email in which the owner of the site agreed with me, and commented that he wasn't aware of that kind of content. He added that there would be a rating system to it very soon, much like that on YouTube. I didn't respond, but I don't know if that will be enough to get it into the schools, but we'll see. In any case, I went back to the site.. and the s** category was missing! He had removed it already, and I was unable to find those offensive examples that I had seen earlier. How 'bout that? So, go check it out. Create a 3-d project and embed it on your blog or web page. (Now, it'll be interesting to see if this ever leaves the mail server. It looks too much the OTHER s word. You know. sp*m?)
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/02/tips-forget-it-dont-go-there.ht Thanks to Shaun who alerted me to the fact that the category may be gone, but the content is still there. And it is. SO, issuu.com is OUT. At least for the foreseeable future until we hear that it’s cleaned up its act. Sorry ‘bout that, folks.
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/02/tips-google-spreadsheet-forms-l Thanks to a post from Tim Lauer (http://timlauer.org/2008/02/06/sharing-formsspreadsheets-in-google-docs/) I learned about the new forms in Google Spreadsheets. Instead of having to share the spreadsheet with the contributors (a real problem if you're talking about students with no email accounts) you can instead create an online form which can be used by the students to enter the data. VERY cool!!
It was VERY easy to create, too. It knew my column headings and the data types I wanted. But, I could choose to make the form have multiple choice values or check boxes, etc. You can even have it so that users can see the data that was entered by others. I sent the form to myself, both to my gmail account and to my work account. It worked perfectly in the gmail account. I entered the data right into the form that appeared IN the email (that was an option to send it that way) and <Presto!> it went right into the spreadsheet.
However, it did add a field called "Date and Time Stamp" and it moved everything over one column - from that row on. So, anything that was in the spreadsheet already is no longer lined up correctly. I managed to insert a column, move some data, and repair the form, and now it works just fine. But, the moral of the story is, if you're going to use a form, START with the form!
Oh, and if you've got an iGoogle portal page, you can drop the forms gadget onto that iGoogle page to monitor your form data. That is VERY cool!!
Remember the days when your students would each do an experiment and write their data onto their own spreadsheets? Can you see how this can REALLY add new dimensions to the labs?
This is SO much fun!
Lessons learned:
1) Don't practice on live/real data.
2) NO mater what you do you can fix it
3) If you want to use a form, START with the form to get the columns aligned correctly.
4) I hope the person who invented Undo is filthy rich!
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/02/tips-exploding-walls-project.ht Who says Twitter is useless? (Ok… but I won’t say it any longer!) Today I had it running while I was working and a twit came through from kjarrett which pointed me to this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjq41_HETdU It’s the “Exploding Walls” video produced by Mr Mayo and his 8th grade English students. Take a look. It does a nice job of showing the effectiveness of using today’s tools to open up learning – OUTSIDE the walls of the school. Nice job, kids! As Pink Floyd would say, “Tear down the wall!” Reminder to teachers: Youtube blocked? Paste that video’s address into the field in step 1 here: http://www.zamzar.com/url/ and in step 2 choose mov (or whatever format you wish). Give it your email address and it will convert the video to your format and send you a link where you can download it.
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/02/tips-amazing-kids-at-pete.html If you attended the PETE&C conference this week, and did NOT get a chance to visit the student showcase, you DID miss something special. PLEASE don't let this go by next year without stopping in to talk to the kids. You will be impressed and maybe even moved by the things they are doing. I saw some second graders who took turns reading their lines that explained their project to me. They were nervous, but they were SO excited to be telling their story. I knelt down (on a very sore knee) to hear their presentation and to be able to hear them talk. What a joy it was. I also visited some 5th graders who had done a WONDERFUL research project in which they tested the water at various locations along the river that runs through their town and recorded their findings., They also entered their data into a spreadsheet and made a graph to show the results. But, what was fun was when I pointed to a couple spikes in the graphs and asked them why they thought those marks were so different. It seemed like they hadn't thought of that before. For example, one chart that measured Chlorine showed a spike at station 5. When I asked why they thought that might be happening, they didn't know, but one said something like, "That's the Stratford plant near the Stratford swimming pool. Maybe that has something to do with it." Maybe. Maybe not. But I liked the way they put that together. Then the other said something like, "Then station 6 (downstream a ways) should be higher, too." Indeed. I saw some OUTSTANDING flash animations, full of great wit and even some excellent references to news items. Does the phrase, "Don't taze me, Bro'!" mean anything to you? I can't hyperlink in this version of my email (Don't get me started!) or I'd link it to the video. Wait.. here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkMkGOpAF4s Anyway, one student had a scene in his flash animation in which his character was standing out in front of a house, when several giant lasers focused in on him. He cried, "Don't Laze me, bro!" He said I was the first to catch the reference. Whether I was or I wasn't is not important. But, he obviously saw the video on YouTube and it's now a part of him. Youtube is more than just entertainment, maybe, eh? I also saw a project that some Senior girls had done. I wish I had my papers with me (I'm at the cabin) and I could tell you their website. They were also quite good. But, when I first walked in the door, I recognized Kristen and Hanan (I think). These are two of the girls I had met last May at the PA Rotunda during the Student Showcase. Remember this post? http://tipline.blogspot.com/2007/05/tips-what-great-bunch-of-students-i-met.html I didn't get to talk to them this time - except to say hello and welcome them to the show and remind them that I had met them before. But, I was able to talk to their teacher. He told me how my words of praise and encouragement last May prompted him to enter his students in this conference and how it meant so much to think that someone thought their work was special. I told him that I had blogged about his students and that I'd send him that link if he reminded me. (I was pretty involved with the event this year and my mind was a bit frazzled.) I did send him the link and he just wrote to tell me about how they had printed it out and had read it at their board meeting. The kids haven't seen the article, yet, but he's pretty sure that once they do they will talk of little else for some time. I can't BEGIN to tell you how WONDERFUL that is to know. To think that my (genuine) enthusiasm for their work has mean so much. They don't know me from Adam. They obviously don't read this blog. But, to be recognized for doing such good work meant quite a bit to them. I just hope that they had a crowd that stopped by to hear them talk. I know that when I got back to their table they had already packed up - MUCH to my dismay. Listen closely. Next year, if it doesn't snow and chase 3/4 of the crowd away, MAKE SURE you go in to see the kids in the Student Showcase. Talk to them. Let them tell you what they're doing with technology in class. Listen to how easily and confidently they describe their work. Feel their excitement. Watch their eyes light up when you tell them what a great job they did. Can you imagine the THRILL it would be to show YOUR work at a STATE conference and have people tell YOU that your work was excellent? Wouldn't you LOVE to be able to know what impact it had on them throughout their lifetime? Don't forget. This is a MUST DO next year.
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/02/tips-videos-to-see.html I think most of the folks who read blogs have already seen these videos, but I know some haven't. And, I keep thinking that I've mentioned them before so when I want to find them I search for them in my blog and can't find them. So, this is for you AND for me. http://plethoratech.blogspot.com/2008/01/world-is-changing-are-you-changing-with.html This blog is quite good. You'll want to check it out for the posts. But the reason I'm pointing you here is for his videos. This page shows one of them, but if you look on the right side of the page you'll see links to his others. Take some time to watch them all. They include 1620, 42, 180, and "Cut and Paste." Which one stayed with YOU the longeset after you saw them all?
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/02/tips-new-features-in-google-doc I was just in Google Docs and I noticed the red, "New Features" link. Wow! You're going to be amazed at what this free application now does. VIsit that link and read the long list of new features. Which one is YOUR favorite?
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/02/tips-powerup-game-to-save-world This was on the ASCD SmartBrief: From the site: "Teachers, do you dream of a learning resource that will grab your students’ attention and engage them as thoroughly as the video games they play at home and on their mobile phones? Are you looking for a classroom resource that will motivate your students to apply science and math concepts to real world problems? Would you like to spark your students interest in pursuing a career in Science or Engineering? Enter the world of PowerUp, a free, online, multiplayer game that allows students to experience the excitement and the diversity of modern engineering! Playing the game, students work together in teams to investigate the rich, 3D game environment and learn about the environmental disasters that threaten the game world and its inhabitants. Players meet Expert Engineer characters and experience the great diversity of the field. Conversations with these experts and engaging interactive activities allow players to explore ways engineers design and build systems to harness renewable energy sources as alternatives to burning fossil fuels. Players take on the role of Engineers, working together designing and building energy solutions to save the world. " --- This is a 3d multiuser game that teaches while they play. Give it a try. Sorry Mac folks, this one is for Windows only. Hey - it's from IBM. What did you expect?
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/02/tips-schools-blamed-for-society http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080215/OPINION04/802150313
This is a brief article, but an interesting one. It's probably something that we've all been thinking - or maybe even saying to anyone who would listen. That is, NCLB is punishing schools for the problems of our society. Is there an achievement gap? Yes. Is it the fault of the schools? Read the brief article for one man's opinion.
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/02/tips-email-no-no.html For the fourth time this week I have received an email in which my name appeared - along with about 100 others - in the TO: field of the email. This is a DEFINITE no-no!
If you need to send an email to a lot of people there are lots of ways of doing that while still protecting their privacy. In the to: field, put your OWN email address, for example. Then, in the BCC (NOT the CC) field, put all the other addresses, That way nobody else will see all those addresses.
Have you ever received a forward from someone and you've had to scroll down through several pages of headers that contained dozens and dozens of email addresses? Talk about a spammer's dream!
There is a website (that I've mentioned before) called ThanksNo (http://www.thanksno.com) that you might consider sending to the person who puts your email address in with all those others for all to see. The site does a nice - polite- job of telling the person what they did something wrong. It isn't quite as firm as I'd prefer, but it's a good start. So, simply reply to that person and include the address listed above. That way your own frustrations don't come out in the tone of your email when you reply to tell them to remove your name from their list if they're going to INSIST on ... er. well.. you see what I mean. :-)
This is NOT just a pleasantry. It's not a LAW, either. But, it IS proper email etiquette that everyone SHOULD abide.
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/01/tips-twenty-for-tech-podcast.ht http://www.twentyfortech.com/?p=7
Many of you read Dave Solon's blog, the k12geek (http://k12geek.com/blog). Dave is a teacher in PA and a GTO (Getting To One) mentor. Well, he has begun a weekly podcast called Twenty For Tech. Twenty minute podcasts - short enough that you can listen to them on the way to work.
This week I had the pleasure to talk with Dave for his podcast. I was pleased with how it turned out. Usually when the mic turns on my brain turns to silly putty (look it up) but I didn't stammer too much this time. :-)
Check out his podcast for a few weeks. I think it's going to be a good one.
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/02/tips-new-library-search-tools.h This one came to me in the "Neat New Stuff" mailing. Sign up for yourself at, http://marylaine.com/neatnew.html
- - -
http://www.collegedegree.com/library/college-life/25-awesome-beta
From the site:
"If you're tired of using the same old search box on your local library website for research projects, it might be time to broaden your horizons. Try out one of these in-the-works betas sponsored by world-class libraries around the world. From academic libraries like that at MIT or renowned research centers like the Library of Congress, the following beta research tools feature innovative tricks to connect you with the most relevant, valid results on the Internet and in their card catalogs. Melvil Dewey would be proud."
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/02/tips-another-great-ted-video.ht http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/223
This one isn't about education or discovery or technology or about ANYTHING - except fun. These two jugglers are flat out amazing - and pure fun.
When you get a few minutes for yourself, watch it. I laughed out loud and even applauded.
Enjoy!
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/01/tips-something-very-cool-studen I have to tell you about the experience I just had yesterday afternoon as I "live blogged" with Anne Smith's 5th period class of 9th graders. It was outstanding! Her 9th graders, as well as fellow English teacher Maura Moritz’s classes, are reading, "A Whole New Mind." Yes, THAT one. Not exactly on the top of a 9th grader's reading list, is it? But they did just fine. Today we discussed the Story chapter. Oh, and before I forget, they even managed to get Daniel Pink himself to pay a virtual visit to the class to discuss the book. Can you say “MAJOR COUP?” A few weeks ago, their Technology Coordinator, Karl Fisch, sent out emails to folks he thought might be interested in in participating in this experiment. He described the project and our potential roles in it. I jumped at the chance (in my mind, at least, as I had neglected to confirm it with him, but I was still able to participate. Whew!). When you see the posts you will, I’m sure, recognize many of the names of those who participated. I was in the room with Dan Maas and Christian Long. We were to join via the mebeam.com site, one I'd not heard of before. In my session, since I was the only one with a camera (built-in isight camera in my macbook), I was the only one that the kids could see. I could both see and hear their class, however. The connection was choppy at times, but really quite acceptable. The class was a live literary circle, with a moderator who began with the questions. They were the inner circle. As they responded with their feelings of what this story chapter was about, the outer circle posted their thoughts to each other and to the outsiders via the comment feature in Anne's blog. We had the comment window opened to full screen to make it a little easier. We would post a comment, then refresh the screen to see what others had typed. We'd respond to those folks, often using the @mattw convention found in twitter. I was very impressed with the willingness of the kids to talk about this chapter. Sure, maybe sometimes they were missing the point, but they are 15 yrs old and I’m sure they were feeling the pressure of the camera and live audience. They would soon come back to the focus of the book. (As you would expect in ANY class, yes?) The blog discussions were a different story, I think. I think we had a very good discussion. Overall, the willingness of the class to speak freely and candidly and intelligently about this topic was impressive. Here’s some of the exchange: Me: I like this comment from the book, "when facts become so widely available and instantly accessible, each one becomes less valuable.
Do you agree with that? Cite an example? Macm: Mr Gates-
I do agree that rarity increases the value of items. It's the basic theory of supply and demand. But with ideas and facts the case could be different. Perhaps having a bunch of facts that coincide are more valuable and certifiable than a single fact on a subject. I think that when you put them together they increase each other's value. Morgant: Mr. Gates- I definitely like that quote. It jumped out at me when I was reading. It is very true. I don't know if I can cite an example, but I can try to bring real life into it. If someone finds out a fact, say about a celebrity, and nobody else knows about it, then that is a valuable fact. But, if someone knows a fact about a celebrity, and everyone knows it, that's old news. Everybody knows about it, so it is not as valuable. Me: @macm - but the point is, everyone has access to the facts, so the person who stands out will the one who can put it together, right? Macm: Mr Gates-
Exactly. And to relate it back to the book I believe that putting together facts and seeing the big picture is a strength of the right brain. Morganw: @ Jim Gates -
While knowing facts straight facts becomes considerably less important, or well-to-do, with the increase of technology I believe that the facts themselves become much more important because everyone has access to them. We tend to over-look them. Just because we have more facts out there doesn't mean we don't need them. But with this comes the problem of knowing the facts. That’s where twenty-first century learning comes into play. We need to incorporate story, play, meaning, design, empathy, and symphony into our learning so we can remember and apply all that we have learned.
An example of this would be problem-solving. You cannot teach problem-solving, but in order to problem-solve you need a background of facts and knowledge to work from. Melissaz: Jim- I think these 2 quotes from the book can support that idea.
" Story represents a pathway to understanding that doesn't run through the left side of the brain."(115)
"...what stories can provide-context enriched by emotion, a deeper understanding of how we fit in and why it matters." (115)
These quotes I see show how stories have more value than a plain fact. Stories add other aspects that facts can't supply. Also,
"Story is high concept because it sharpens our understanding of one thing by showing ot on the contex of something else."
If one can take the facts and add a story, it shows an even higher level of understanding to be able to apply it to another aspect. Me: Try this: How does THIS NOTICE from NASA apply to the idea of stories? Christian Long (adult blogging): @melissaz: When you speak to Dan Pink, ask him about the combination of right and left-brained skills/senses...rather than a left vs. right decision. My gut tells me (as well as having read the book several times) that Dan is in favo of an 'and/and' choice where we are 'response-able' to use both/either sets of senses to respond when we need to any situation in the future. I like your "need each other" point very much. Morganw: @Jim- I agree with you, the creative person would get my vote to be hired, but his creativity would have been a waste had he not already known the 50 states. What I mean is, facts do not become obsolete, they merely take a step back to creativity. Dan (adult blogger): @Alexf
You got it! Your GPA, your test scores, your transcript gets you the interview (the left-brain piece still matters, as Dan Pink suggests), but it is the story you tell in the interview that gets you the job, the scholarship, the college entrance...
Here's another thought to trip your noodle. The interview questions are not terribly important. I see them as openings for you to tell your story and why you are the best choice... Me: @macm - Did you catch this line: "Creativity. Ambition. Teamwork. A sense of daring. And a probing mind. That's what it takes to join NASA,..." Macm: Mr Gates-
I did actually. That was the line which was the most surprising, because to me, jobs in NASA are left-brained. Although, if you have read the book Deception Point by Dan Brown, there is much more to NASA than meets the eye. Is it a good thing that they want to hire people with creativity and ambition instead of those with expertise? This could mean the loss of important discoveries or the loss of lives. This is really cherry picking from the comments, but isn’t it an interesting exchange? The actual list is a bit harder to read as you must scroll to find the original posts, sometimes. But, after all the sifting is done, are you as impressed as I was with the conversation? Check this out for yourself. Here is Anne’s blog: http://smith9h0708.blogspot.com/2008/01/awnm-story-period-5.html You can see all the sessions with Anne's classes so far here: http://smith9h0708.blogspot.com/ Read the comments, of course. That's where it all happened. Here is Maura’s blog: http://moritzhonors0708.blogspot.com/ Check out the names of the folks who participated in this. What did I learn from this? First, I didn’t do a good job following the conversations of the other two adults in the “room.” I was too concerned about trying to follow the students and being able to reply back to them quickly so that my conversation wasn’t lost in the shuffle. I really wish I could have responded to some of the things that THEY had said. I missed as much if not more of the conversation that I picked up. Second, I would like to know if Anne and Maura will go back through the comments to find some of the good points that the kids had made and bring them back to the whole group when they debrief the event. Third: the technology for showing the live broadcast is GREAT to have! Want to hear what some of the others had to say about their experience? Here are some of the other links: http://drapestakes.blogspot.com/2008/01/live-blogging-pink-fisch-style.html http://123elearning.blogspot.com/2008/01/world-is-fishbowlcome-on-in.html http://edutrails.edublogs.org/
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/01/tips-converitlive-live-blogging I just read about this in Vicki Davis' blog (http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com) in reference to some live blogging being done at EduCon this weekend.
http://www.coveritlive.com/#
This tool lets you embed your live blogging right into your own blog page, and the result is there to be watched live or replayed later. Embed polls, videos, images, links on the fly.
This is a cool tool for a couple of reasons. For those of you who are lucky enough to allow your students to have a blog, think what this would do for your literary circle lessons. Think of how this tool can turn your students into "on-their-toes" thinkers. Imagine a mob of bloggers at a conference (like PETE&C??) informing the world of the great sessions they're seeing.
VERY COOL!
P.S.
My bet is that this will become a VERY popular tool. Live blogging has been a popular pastime of MANY bloggers. It's now become easier. This is taking us one step closer to documenting everything!
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/01/tips-another-inspirational-ted- http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/209
How's this for a teaser: The speaker, Bill Strickland, has Herbie Hancock playing a little piano accompaniment to his speech. Want more? Bill tells his story about growing up in one of the worst sections of Pittsburgh, PA. He was befriended by his art teacher who got him into college. Now he's building centers in those same poor neighborhoods that inspire and bring hope to the same kinds of kids that he once was.
Watch this video.
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/01/tips-supertimer-and-blabberize. MANY thanks to Alma Row (no E) for sharing these. I laughed out loud with both of them. Supertimer is great for when you’re giving your class a fixed amount of time to complete a task. Sure you can have a bell on a timer, but Supertimer is too much fun. Set the time, select the kind of music you want, and click start. The music plays while a balloon inflates closer and closer towards an awaiting push pin. When the time is up they make contact and POW! Time’s up. What fun! Bookmark this one to keep it handy. Blabberize lets you upload a picture, say of a pig, highlight the lower lip and jaw, then record your message. When it plays back the jaw moves with the words. Watch the demo. Am I just punchy tonight or is that funny? (I’m willing to accept either answer to that question) The only problem is that you must adjust your microphone carefully, since louder sounds make the jaw move a greater distance. With my voice the jaw was dropping off the bottom of the image. But, it’s hysterical. Just takes some practice. Oh, and you can embed your message into your web page, too.
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/02/coveritlive-blogging-session.ht OK. Karl can't have all the fun. I just HAVE to try this! So, On Tuesday morning at 9:00 I'll be giving a 45 minute presentation to about 175 science teachers in the area. The topic will be on the need for change, and what the change might look like, etc. At one point in the talk I mention CoverItlive. Now that I've actually seen in I'd like to try it. I'll have a guest author assigned to my blog who will take notes and moderate the coveritlive chats, making them public when appropriate. We'll just have to see how it works with the filter. It may end being a total flop - which is why I'm not telling anyone but you. ;-) So, come back here on Tuesday if you'd like to try this out with us. Who knows, someone may even hold an audio skype call so others can hear, too. But, the important thing here is to see how this works. This is where it will be. Want a reminder? Fill in the form there. Y' gotta LUV it!
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/01/tips-stop-you-cant-use-google-m I just heard this story and I'm hoping that by the telling it will lower my blood pressure a bit.
A group of middle school teachers got together to create a cross curricular lesson. Each one would appoint a scribe for the day who would post information to a google map. The basis was that kids were going to "Walk to California" for wellness. They would do laps around the track, adding up the miles they walked and then plotting it on a google map where they stopped at each day. Other areas of the curriculum were involved, as well. Geography. Social Studies. Foreign language. It was going to be all the 6th, 7th and 8th graders building this project. Teachers were primed and ready to go.
In steps the tech director who says, "What if someone posts something inappropriate on there - and other kids see it? It's on YOUR web page!"
Full stop! End of idea.
A couple teachers wanted to go ahead with it, offering some suggestions on how to deal with that possibility. No go. It died a quick death.
By the way, that person who raised this fear factor is NOT an educator and never WAS.
Did you hear me screaming?
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/01/tips-very-creative-site.html http://producten.hema.nl/
Make sure your speakers are on (and turned down a bit) when you go here. You'll laugh out loud at it.
Many thanks to Ken Pruitt for sharing this with me just now on Skype.
This won't raise any test scores - just the corners of your mouth.
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/02/tips-another-great-assignment.h I’m a lucky man – for many reasons. But one reason is that I’ve been lucky enough to have found some excellent blogs written by some excellent educators. I’ve written about Anne Smith before. I won’t bother linking to all the posts I’m written that mentioned her and her students. But, here’s another great assignment that she gave to her students. http://learningandlaptops.blogspot.com/2008/02/self-portraits.html English teachers, take note of this one. I’d LOVE to hear what you think about it. Send it along to your favorite English teacher. I think they’ll appreciate the thought. Anne’s post also pointed me to another teacher’s blog and I really enjoyed this post: http://21cgaffney.blogspot.com/2008/02/my-guilty-conscience.html See what you think.
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/02/tips-would-you-fall-for-this.ht You get a phone call from a man with a heavy Indian accent. He says that he accidentally withdrew $480 from your account and he’s SO VERY sorry. But, the honest chap will gladly put it back. All he needs to make it happen is your bank account number. PLEASE tell me that you wouldn’t fall for that. NO WAY, right? Well, give this a listen. http://consumerist.com/360921/man-records-phishing-call It’s almost 9 minutes, but you’ll get the idea after just a couple, I’m sure. YOU may be smart enough to avoid these scams, but your son or daughter or parent who is new to the web may NOT be. PLEASE have “The Talk” with them. Tell them that even if it IS true that they got your money, it’s cheaper to let them have it than to risk divulging your account number.
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/02/tips-google-going-wiki.html This just in... http://www.ncs-tech.org/?p=1170
Two things about this post. First, there's the google sites news itself. This looks incredible! Note the google pages site - this is... well, read Jarrett's post and then go check it out for yourself.
The second thing about this is how I first heard about it. I went to Twitter to find someone to ask a question and I read his "tweet" about this post.
Y' gotta luv it!!!
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/01/tips-shelfari-check-this-out.ht Just read this in Robin Martin's blog: http://cfpmsram.blogspot.com/2008/01/new-widget-shelfari.html
Shelfari. Look at her sample on the left margin when you scroll down the page. This is something that you should send to your favorite English teacher or librarian. You can post a virtual bookshelf on which you show the book covers of the latest books you're reading, or those you are recommending to others. What a cool tool!
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/01/tips-free-blogging-workshop-on- Want to know more about blogging? This workshop may be for you. Starting tomorrow (Feb 1), this course: http://www.atomiclearning.com/blogging will be offered FREE for the Month of February. There are over 100 short movies in that course, ranging from some basics, to setting your options, and much more. It focuses on the blog tool at Blogger. The movies appear to average about a minute and a half in length each, so they’re easy to digest. If you’re new to blogging, spend some time here. MANY of your questions will be answered right up front.
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/02/tips-open-pd.html http://drapestakes.blogspot.com/2008/02/openpd-what-why.html Darren Drapper (The guy behind the “Paying Attention” video) has been conducting Open Professional Development sessions for some time. He uses the social tools to teach ABOUT the social tools and it’s been an amazing success, with people from around the world tuning in to participate. That link includes a video he just released that talks about this efforts and includes clips from those who have been participating. Something to think about… we’ve got the tools to collaborate and learn ANYTIME and ANYWHERE. When we think about education in 100 years will it be some form of this model?
http://tipline.blogspot.com/2008/01/tips-stop-learning-science-stud http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2008/01/30/s1b_skscience_0130.html?imw=Y
That article was mentioned in today's ASCD Brief. It talks about one school that is scrapping fully seven weeks of the usual science study to focus on reviewing for the FCAT test. How sad is that?
As the one administrator says, it's not what they WANT to do but that test is their reality. Score low on that test and it costs you money - and a WHOLE lot of time for a whole lot of people.
I mentioned this to some teachers yesterday when referring to our state's 21st Century Teaching and Learning program which is part of the Classrooms for the Future program. Bottom line - if it comes down to teaching content while honing collaboration skills, or creative expression, or authentic assessments, etc - all at the expense of NCLB considerations, then it's no contest. The NCLB HAS to win. It IS their reality - much as we might disagree with it.
But, it ISN'T a mutually exclusive proposition. One can still teach the content while using current tools and teaching collaboration and teamwork, etc. And, I think that it might be good for us to remember the line from Daniel Pink's "A Whole New Mind" which says, "When facts become so widely available and instantly accessible, they become less valuable." The reason is, of course, that ANYBODY with an internet connection can locate and recite those facts. What does THAT mean to anyone? Will Richardson and others have spoken about this before, too. Why teach the state capitals when the students could find those using their cell phone browsers? It's the valuable person who can make the connections between those capitals and their history and who can then tell why the state may always vote a particular way, or what role geography played in the decision to put the capital there, etc. Yet, until we find a way to test that, we'll test the student's ability to recall our facts. It's just the way it is, I suppose.
So, while we can all stand by and condemn that school for its decision to scrap the new content in favor of reviewing for the test, we all know WHY they're doing that. Let's just hope that they are also spending the time and resources to train their staff on how to COMBINE the teaching of the facts with the ability to use the tools which will get them a LOT farther along in their life's goals than the recollection of those facts will.
What do you think?
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