2009 January

Jan 31

Daily Links From The Arlington Public Schools Instructional Technology Coordinators 01/31/2009

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Public Performance Site Licenses for Schools - Show Copyrighted Movies in your School Legally

Movie Licensing USA provides one-time and annual Public Performance Site Licenses so that K-12 schools can show movies legally for non-teaching activities such as Family Movie Nights, Before- After-School programs, Student Rewards, Holiday Events and more.

Tags: copyright, legally, licenses, copyrighted, movies, legal
- FYI this is the one that covers our schools. - By Fred Delventhal
Huffduffer

Tags: links, podcast, create, generate, make, podcasting, subscribe, podcasts

Posted from Diigo. The rest of APS ITCs group favorite links are here.

Jan 30

My del.icio.us bookmarks for January 28th through January 30th

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These are my links for January 28th through January 30th:

Huffduffer -
Public Performance Site Licenses for Schools - Show Copyrighted Movies in your School Legally - Movie Licensing USA provides one-time and annual Public Performance Site Licenses so that K-12 schools can show movies legally for non-teaching activities such as Family Movie Nights, Before- After-School programs, Student Rewards, Holiday Events and more.
Use tools running on M-Lab to test your Internet connection. | M-Lab -
BigPictureSmallWorld: Home - Inspired Learning for the world. Serious Fun.
Experiential programs for your school include:
Pipl - People Search -
Give Your Professional Development a Second Life Technology -
ISTE | Giving Second Life a Second Chance -

Jan 30

Session on Best Practices in Ed. 2009 SL Conference

Second Life, Uncategorized No Comments »

Phelan Corrimal presented on the conference that is upcoming for educators using virtual worlds. http://www.vwbpe.org
posted by Riptide Furse on Supporte using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]

Jan 29

Daily Links From The Arlington Public Schools Instructional Technology Coordinators 01/29/2009

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Portrait Illustration Maker : Free Illustration Generater!

Best ‘n’ Free Avatar Generater! Available for blogs and SNS!

Tags: avatar, graphics, design, fun, icons, avatars, generator
Give Your Professional Development a Second Life Technology & Learning - February 2009 - (28)

Tags: education, den, deninsl, sl, secondlife, discoveryeducatornetwork
- Article on using Second Life for professional development. Uses a couple of my photos. - By Fred Delventhal

Posted from Diigo. The rest of APS ITCs group favorite links are here.

Jan 28

The Discovery Educator Network in 2009

Second Life, Uncategorized No Comments »

What’s coming this year for the DEN. Tonight at 5PM SLT http://slurl.com/secondlife/Eduisland%20II/71/62/25
posted by Riptide Furse on Eduisland II using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]

Jan 28

the DEN in 2009 Tonight 5PM SLT

Second Life, Uncategorized No Comments »

What is coming with the Discovery Educator Network in 2009.
posted by Riptide Furse on Eduisland II using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]

Jan 28

Education Support Faire 2009

Second Life, Uncategorized No Comments »

Stop by the gymnasium and get your Linden Bear and Faire Fish! sledfair09
posted by Riptide Furse on Supporte using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]

Jan 27

Daily Links From The Arlington Public Schools Instructional Technology Coordinators 01/27/2009

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Visual Fractions - A Fraction Tutorial

FRACTIONITIS frak’sheni’tis An increase in anxiety caused by the appearance of a numeral in fraction form.
Symptoms: A blank stare, avoidance of math courses and math teachers.
Cure: Associate fractions with a pleasant object, such as 1/4 of a pizza.

Tags: fractions, math, manipulatives, interactive, education, Mathematics, tutorial, Lessons, worksheets
Education | Glogster

Poster Yourself

Tags: web2.0, glogster, presentation, posters
Open Source Schools

The website provides information and articles about open source software, advice on getting started, case studies of its adoption in schools, a directory for exploring what is available, and a glossary.

Tags: opensource, schools, education, software, school, casestudies
Introducing Webspiration | myWebspiration

Inspiration on the web. Still in Beta form.

Tags: inspiration, Web2.0, collaboration, mindmap, curriculum, technology

Posted from Diigo. The rest of APS ITCs group favorite links are here.

Jan 26

What I Learned about on January 26th

links No Comments »

These are my links for January 26th:

Open Source Schools - The website provides information and articles about open source software, advice on getting started, case studies of its adoption in schools, a directory for exploring what is available, and a glossary.
click! Photography Changes Everything - Organized by the Smithsonian Photography Initiative (SPI) as a series of integrated programs, click! photography changes everything invites the public to consider ways in which photography enables us to see, experience, and interact with the world.
Visual Fractions - A Fraction Tutorial - FRACTIONITIS frak’sheni’tis An increase in anxiety caused by the appearance of a numeral in fraction form.
Symptoms: A blank stare, avoidance of math courses and math teachers.
Cure: Associate fractions with a pleasant object, such as 1/4 of a pizza.

Jan 26

Bad Teaching - Losing Touch

Misc 1 Comment »

Fox Trot

In the Sunday comics today was the following strip by Bill Amend.

http://www.gocomics.com/features/66/feature_items/407134

I know I’m making a grand leap to using this as an example but stay with me. If you asked a student if they thought teachers knew what students did outside of school, what do you think the answer would be? Right! A resounding HECK NO. Quite a few teachers don’t stay in tune with what kids are interested in outside of the walls of school. What is the most popular TV show your students watch? What books fly off the shelves in the library? How many students have video game consoles or ipods?When I was growing up home life looked very similar in most of the households in the area including our classroom teachers. We had 3 TV channels. So everyone watched almost the same shows. Music, movies, shopping and more was almost the same for everyone in the school based on the community it was located. So having those shared and common experiences allowed students and teachers a line of communication that facilitated learning.

Currently in my building I would put money on the fact that I have some teachers who have never read a Harry Potter book or a graphic novel or even heard of The 39 Clues. Yet these are the books that let children discover the joy and fun in reading. When teachers don’t read the boks that students flock to, they are losing the ability to make connections between student experiences and learning new content.

Another example, I had a conversation with a teacher who was talking about how some of the boys just couldn’t do the math. I decided to try something. I new the kids had been playing a certain video game in their free time. It was a game like the old, old, really old game called Galaga. I asked them to show the teacher and myself how to play the game. They had a great time telling us their secret moves and which kind of enemies were worth more points than the others. At one point I asked them to pause their games. I asked each one how many spaceships or lives they had left. I then asked them how many points they needed for an extra life. Each one was able to tell me just based on their total score. Next question: Would they have enough points if they killed the enemies that were on their screen now? Varying answers of yes and no were received. Here is the kicker though, each one was able to tell me how much value was assigned and add those up in their head to justify their answers.

One teacher converted to keeping in touch, so many more yet to go.

So how do you keep connected with your students? Is it a conscious decision?

Jan 25

My del.icio.us bookmarks for January 22nd through January 25th

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These are my links for January 22nd through January 25th:

DonorsChoose.org: How It Works - At this not-for-profit web site, teachers submit project proposals for materials or experiences their students need to learn. These ideas become classroom reality when concerned individuals, whom we call Citizen Philanthropists, choose projects to fund.
Visual Understanding Environment - VUE provides a flexible visual environment for structuring, presenting, and sharing digital information. Annotated link http://www.diigo.com/bookmark/http%3A%2F%2Fvue.tufts.edu
Kids’ Vid: Scripting Your Movie - Scripting
This is the process of writing down on paper what the video is about. Is your piece a comedy? A Drama? Are you interviewing someone? Are you documenting an event? These questions and more are answered during the scripting process.
Online ID Badge maker - low cost and professional - Our state of the art online application is quick and easy to use and gives you full control in designing process.
Create your ID badge from the scratch or use one of our most popular ID BADGE TEMPLATES.

:: Save your ID card in your account. Duplicate your badge for each employee or member by simply replacing your photos and editing text lines on your saved template. Annotated link http://www.diigo.com/bookmark/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.easyidcard.com%2Fid-badge-home.asp
Classwish - ClassWish, a nonprofit, makes it easy for teachers and schools to create Wish Lists of the supplies they need for students to excel. Parents and others in the community see exactly what is needed and contribute online. Together, we can make a powerful difference in our children’s lives
ImageCodr.org - HTML code that includes the creative commons attribution.
RSS Suggestions Based on Similarity - SuggestRSS - SuggestRSS will analyze your OPML and suggest new feeds for you.
from cliotech

Jan 25

PBS Teachers Shindig

Second Life, Uncategorized No Comments »

PBS Teachers are having a great time at the Alamo. http://slurl.com/secondlife/ISTE%20Island%204/225/177/30
posted by Riptide Furse on ISTE Island 4 using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]

Jan 25

Daily Links From The Arlington Public Schools Instructional Technology Coordinators 01/25/2009

links No Comments »

DonorsChoose.org: How It Works

At this not-for-profit web site, teachers submit project proposals for materials or experiences their students need to learn. These ideas become classroom reality when concerned individuals, whom we call Citizen Philanthropists, choose projects to fund.

Tags: grants, elementary, money, funding, education, teachers, classroom, den
Kids’ Vid: Scripting Your Movie

Scripting

This is the process of writing down on paper what the video is about. Is your piece a comedy? A Drama? Are you interviewing someone? Are you documenting an event? These questions and more are answered during the scripting process.

Tags: storyboard, technology, digital_storytelling, education, elementary, script, planning, movie, video, languagearts
- The hardest part of teaching movie making is making teachers and students realize that planning, scripting storyboarding make EVERYTHING go faster and easier. - By Fred Delventhal
Classwish

ClassWish, a nonprofit, makes it easy for teachers and schools to create Wish Lists of the supplies they need for students to excel. Parents and others in the community see exactly what is needed and contribute online. Together, we can make a powerful difference in our children’s lives

Tags: grants, classwish, supplies, teachers, teacherresources, education, elementary, money, funding
- ClassWish, a nonprofit, makes it easy for teachers and schools to create Wish Lists of the supplies they need for students to excel. Parents and others in the community see exactly what is needed and contribute online. Together, we can make a powerful difference in our children’s lives