Basically Speaking

STAR Discovery Educator quick media access(must be logged into DE) 

Song Stats.001.jpg  &  I_See_an_Elephant_in_the_Sky.mp3

Interest in this came right from my PLN via Plurk, Twitter and the blogs.   I saw a quick post that linked me to an unusual flickr group, not that an unusual flickr group is that hard to find, but this is something that makes perfect sense: SONG CHART.    The majority of images in this group are charts/graphs showing data from various songs.  Take the example I created above.   I took a song from DE streaming, “I See an Elephant in the Sky” by Twin Sisters, listened to the lyrics and created a graph that highlights some of the data in the song.  This is a great way to introduce the importance of graphs by illustrating a use outside of the norm.   Would love some feedback on this.  Have you ever used graphs this way?  If you’ve used this with your students, how’d it go? 

Students are always thinking, lets focus and tap into those thoughts.  With Olympics over and schools all over back in session, it’s a perfect time to reflect on all the things that have happened over the summer.  Using video and images from DE streaming combined with Voicethread’s ability to create a digital story, your students can share their summer experiences via text, voice, images and videos.  Check out our video tutorial below for a detailed how-to.

DE streaming, Voicethread and Assignment Builder from Mike Bryant on Vimeo.

Please remember to make your Voicethreads Private if uploading DE streaming video content.

Ever try to sync audio with a power-point presentation? It can be frustrating, wait is frustrating.  1.5 seconds on slide 1, then 5.8 seconds on slide 2, 2.4 seconds of slide 3 and so on. There’s an easier way.  MyPlick.

Check out the below video to see how easy it is to take one the hundreds of songs found in DE streaming and sync it with your power-point for an amazing presentation.

DE streaming Audio, MyPlick and the Assignment Builder from Mike Bryant on Vimeo.

Always make sure you set your project to private when adding DE streaming content to the web.

Having a blast at the Discovery Educator Network LC Institute. Quick post today to get my keynote up and out to the group. The images, movie and sound do not work, but you’re more than likely looking for the embed codes anyway. View the slideshare below or click on the link, DEN Leadership Council Institute DE streaming & Google Earth, to download the ppt. Remember the Quicktime embed only works for macs right now.

Think VH1’s “Pop-up Video”. I’ve come across two sites recently that allow you to upload, then annotate you’re own video. I’m sure by week end there’ll be 50 - 60 more, that’ll offer a similar service, but will stick with these two for now.

1. YouTube: I know you shuddered, hear me out.
2. Graspr: Relatively new and probably not blocked.

YouTube.com: (If YouTube is blocked scroll down to the next section)

If you don’t have an account, create one it’s free. Despite what you may have heard, there are actually educational videos on YouTube. Curious about RSS, here’s an explanation from our friends at CommonCraft. See, although your head may be spinning, you learned something.

YouTube recently added the ability to annotate videos. Add speech bubbles, notes and spotlights at the points you pick in a video. Check out my example by clicking here.

To make this example, I simply downloaded a video segment from the Discovery Channel series “When We Left Earth”, available through Discovery Education streaming. I uploaded the segment to YouTube. For this example, since this quick preview segement from the series appears publicly on the Discovery.com website, I choose the the broadcast option of making this segment open to the world. Videos you upload will need to be made private, viewable only by those with a license to Discovery Education streaming.

Once my video was uploaded, I was able to click on the “Add/Edit Video Annotations” button in the top right. There are a few tutorials right on the page, but with a mouse click you be able to add annotations at any point in the video. Play around with it and let me know what you think.

Graspr.com: (New on the block and a different way to annotate).

Like YouTube, create an account, it’s also free. Graspr looks to build a video sharing community around instructional content, a lot of tutorials and how-tos. They aren’t flashy. Not a lot of ads. A relatively small community. I not for the whole annotation component I would have never gone back. I like the way clicking on a note takes you to that point in the video segment.

Again I’ve used the before mentioned segment from Discovery Channel’s “When We left Earth”. I downloaded the segment as before from Discovery Education streaming and uploaded it to Graspr. I choose to make this video public, as I discussed above, however you will need to make any video downloaded from Discovery Education streaming private. Check out the example here.

I added notes to the video, that if clicked on will take you right to that spot in the video. A little different than YouTube’s vision, but I like it. It feels a little less complicated.

I see both services being used as home extensions; a way to get the exact message and content across to a student home sick or that needs to catch-up. These could also used if you have stations set-up in your classroom. YouTube will more than likely be blocked at your school, so Graspr may work best for you. I’d love to hear what you think about these two ways to annotate your videos and invite you to share any sites you know of that do something similar. Add your comments below.

Look above. No! Really! It is an amazing tool. We often get caught up in the latest and greatest: hey did you checkout Reproba? Reproba can grade essay questions for you. We tend to forget why we’re using some of these tools or we get lost in a sea of apps and web2.0 sites. I’m not saying cool apps and web2.0 sites can’t be useful. I’m just asking you to take a deep breath, turn off your computer, grab a trusted pen and put it to paper. Your experience, whether right out of college or a 20+ year veteran, is what will help make a connection with your students.

Great lessons start here - In your head. Write down your lesson ideas. Get a clear and concise view of what you want to convey in a lesson before you go to the computer. Once you have a clear vision, then you’ll be able to pick the best tool/app/media to help convey your message to your class. So, grab a pen and pad. Head outside, find that comfy spot on your sofa or jet over to Starbucks for some brain juice and let the ideas flow.

This week I’m in Orlando, FL on vacation. So why am I writing a work blog? Simply found a very cool site that I had to share. Web2.0 Web2.0 Web2.0 It’s what everyone’s been talking about for several years now, but how do I find web2.0 site? This site, Go2Web20, has a ton of web2.0 sites for you to explore.  You can even sort by tags, name, date, etc…  Ok, going back out to the pool now.

Chris Ryan in our office brought this site to my attention. Thanks Chris.

The internet is full of data. Maybe it’s in the form of a report, a spreadsheet, an online database, … this just keeps going. In-house, we use dabbledb to help capture, organize and report data. It rocks and if you’re looking for a easy to use database, you know get rid of the 20 or so copies of that one updated spreadsheet, then I suggest giving dabbledb a chance. The one component of Dabbledb I wish was a little slicker is the visualization of the data.

In comes, Many Eyes with a very cool interface for visualizing large and small amounts of data. Check out my quick visualization above, Many Eyes is a part of IBM’s alpha works.  A ton of data has already been uploaded by users. Data you can pick through and create you’re own visualization with or, like I did, upload your own data set. The data set I uploaded comes from The National Center for Education Statistics.

I’d love to hear what you think about the site as well as see some visualizations you create.

 A huge thank you to all that participated in the webinar this afternoon.  Great group with great questions and I look forward to working with them as Discovery Educator Network STAR members, as they are all logging on now and registering.  (here’s the link in-case you’ve misplaced it)    I have to give a shout out to Frank Miracola with the Macomb ISD and my teammate  Matt Monjan, without their work today’s  webinar would not have been possible.  Matt’s work on the streaming A-Z blog is jam packed full of DE streaming tips and tricks, including information from today’s “The Rise of The Video Game” webinar.  The “Earth Day” assignment can be found here, on the Digital Passport’s blog.  This blog is all about web2.0; specifically web2.0 apps we find useful for educators.   The assignment incorporates VoiceThread, the site we discussed during the webinar and incorporated into the Writing Prompt.   Below you will find links to the powerpoint, the entire archived webinar from today and a quick, 5 minute overview of voicethread.  I’ve also placed links for some powerpoint sharing websites other than slideshare. 

 Building a Bigger Builder 

 PowerPoint Presentation

Archived Entire Webinar 

Macomb ISD Advanced DE streaming Webinar 04/09/2008 

 5 Minute VoiceThread Overview

Quick video overview using Jing on Voicethread.com

Slideshare.net alternatives 

• www.authorstream.com Overview of Service
• www.photoshow.com
• docs.google.com provides word processing, spreadsheets and presentation tools

Remember if you have any questions please contact me and if you’re in the Macomb area, look for more information from Frank Miracola for a professional development opportunity in August. 

The World is Just Awesome!!

Lets not trash it, heat it up or waste it.  Look around you.  Look around class, the school, the community and your own home.  How can you make a difference?  Get a little info by watching, reading and listening to others.  The share your thoughts.  The only wrong answer is no answer.

I created an assignment in Discovery Education streaming for Earth Day.  I also incorporated the use of a great site, voicethread.com.  If you haven’t heard of it check out the assignment below by clicking on the link.

Teacher Printable Version: Earth Day streaming and voicethread assignment

Student Link to Discovery Education streaming Student Center.

Direct VoiceThread link.

Teacher Notes

Extension Hands-on: Trash sorting Lab
Never heard of it? It’s simple. Collect trash for a few days. (Important: No animal by-products! Don’t want to send anyone to the emergency room. Plant material perfectly ok, but put that left over pot roast in Fido’s bowl or simply another trash bag) Bring trash bag into school and have students sort it. You can give them sorting categories or even better have them come up with their own. Also throw in come process skills here, how do you measure how much? Let them figure it out.
Main Point: A lot trash, well just isn’t. How much(grams, volume, other) needs to go to the landfill?
Extension Media:
Got DE Streaming Plus? Have them watch a Planet Earth segment. The world rocks. Any will do, but “The Future” one is on topic. Don’t have DE Streaming PLUS.

Psst!! You can become a STAR Discovery Educator and get it for free through the end of this school year.  No really, just another benefit of being a STAR. Find out how here.