Take a visual trip to Washington DC to the World War II Memorial compliments of the National Park Service. This interactive site provides a moving collection of quotes, photos, and audio capturing the men, women, and events of World War II. Photos of the World War II Memorial are integrated into the footage. [10 mins, 30 secs]
Visit: http://www.nps.gov/features/nama/feat0001/index2.html
Although this is a great site to show your students , it doesn’t compare to seeing the Memorial in person. Thanks to the DEN, I had the opportunity to visit The Mall in DC for a chance to see and experience all the memorials. What a treat is was. Thanks Discovery!
Forecast Earth Summit Essay Contest
The Weather Channel is hosting a chance for students to attend the Forecast Earth Summit in December. Students need to write an essay and complete the information at https://www.forecastearthsummit.org/index.php as part of the selection process. Why not get started on the first day of school?
Leadership Failure
“The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail.” ~ Napoleon Hill
“Losers visualize the penalties of failure. Winners visualize the rewards of success.” ~ William S. Gilbert
“I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure: which is: Try to please everybody.” ~ Herbert B. Swope
“A failure is a man who has blundered but is not capable of cashing in on the experience.” ~ Elbert Hubbard
Get a jump start on your classroom lesson plans for next week. Include DEstreaming video content and make history come alive for your students. Visit the Calendarwithin the Teacher Center of DEstreaming for more videos of history during this week.*
*Note - Before clicking on the links below, sign in to your DEstreaming account
Science - Sept 5 -1977: Voyager 1 launched
Math -Aug 31-1994: Pentium computer beats Garry Kasparov
Social Studies - Sept 2 - 1945: Japan surrenders; World War II ends
Art & Humanities - Sept 1 -1957: Gloria Estefan, singer and songwriter
Image above is of Gloria Estefan smiling as she recuperates after a terrible bus accident while on tour. Find this image, article and writing prompt in DEstreaming.
Gloria Estefan Smiling. Corbis. 2006.unitedstreaming. 24 August 2008<http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/>
Language Arts -Sept 4 -1893: Beatrix Potter tells first Peter Rabbit story
Health & Guidance - Sept 6 - 1992: Baboon liver transplant patient dies
Famous People - Sept 5-1847: Jesse James, outlaw
As you know, some of the posts I add to this site are about leadership and what it is to be an effective leader. In many of my posts I refer to Mark Sanborn. About a month and a half ago, I received an email from one of Mark’s associates asking if I would read his new book and post a review on my blog. I can’t tell you how thrilled I was when I read the email. I couldn’t't respond quick enough with an excited “YES”.
Mark’s new book The Encore Effect will be coming out the first week of September. For those of you who are familiar with Mark’s previous work, The Fred Factor and You Don’t Need a Title to Be A Leader, you will not be disappointed with his new read. Both of these books can be easily applied to any role in education whether you are a teacher, administrator, para-professional or on the custodial staff. If you are not familiar with his books, it’s a good time to become familiar with his work.
Look for a review of The Encore Effect sometime next week.
Web Wednesday* is a feature of the online “Big Deal Book”. This Wednesday’s theme is Media Literacy
Check out the book for more online deals. You’ll find everything from grant opportunities to free and inexpensive finds
TVY7?
Media literacy, just like any literacy, is about helping children to develop the ability to understand, interpret and communicate. Media literacy adds the ability to apply those skills to pictures and sound using different tools, which can include television, videos, DVDs and computers. What do you know about the media literacy of children today? Take this
online quiz and find out. Then see below for ideas on how to integrate media literacy into your classroom activities.
Mind the Message!
The
PBS Parents Guide to Children and Media helps parents and other caregivers discover how television, movies, advertising, computers and video games can shape a child’s development and what they can do to create a media-literate environment. The site is accessible in both
English and
Spanish.
Get the Facts!
Political advertising can be very informative and also very misleading. Candidates use ads to create a positive image and to publicize their positions on issues. They want voters to recognize them and vote for them. Encourage your students to analyze a radio or TV ad by answering the questions on this site.
* Web Wednesday is a feature of The Big Deal Book - Amazing Resources for 21st Century Educators
Start the year off with a reading incentive program from Power to Learn. View requirements and submit your class application now at http://www.powertolearn.com
/reading_lounge/knicks_read_to_achieve/index.shtml
Even if you choose not to enter the incentive program, you can still use the Reading Lounge for a post card club and video books.
Get a jump start on your classroom lesson plans for next week. Include DEstreaming video content and make history come alive for your students. Visit the Calendar within the Teacher Center of DEstreaming for more videos of history during this week.*
*Note - Before clicking on the links below, sign in to your DEstreaming account
Science - Aug 20 -1911- U.S. sends telegram around the world
Math -Aug 19-1939- Alan Baker, mathematician
Social Studies - Aug 21 - 1959- Hawaii becomes 50th State
Photo above is along the Hawaii coast and can be found in the Image section of DEstreaming.
Lighthouse along Pacific Ocean coast in Hawaii. Paul Fuqua. 2003.unitedstreaming. 9 August 2008<http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/>
Art & Humanities - Aug 17 -1939: The Wizard of Oz premiers
Language Arts -Aug 23 - 1912: Gene Kelly, dancer/actor
Health & Guidance - Aug 20-1922: First athletic competition for women opens
Famous People - Aug 21-1936- Wilt Chamberlain, basketball player
Once again, Steve Dembo made our heads spin with his expertise of Web 2.0 tools in last night’s webinar 50 Ways to Spin a Digital Story.
Before we began the formal webinar, Steve provided us the opportunity for us to see him facilitate this webinar by streaming a video of him through his cell phone through Qik.com. This added another dimension to the webinar for us visual learners. The space invaders on his “studio” ceiling added a special touch.
Steve provided an explanation of the difference between Web 1.0 and 2.0. It was great he reminded those of us who use Web 2.0 we may take for granted that others will know what it is all about. Not true; there are still many educators who don’t know what Web 2.0 is, let alone the power of some of those sites. In a nutshell, the difference between the 2 is, Web 1.0 are those web sties that just provide information. You go to it, read it and take away what you want. On the other hand the Web 2.0 sites are those sites on the internet that provide a level of interactivity, are free and allow some sort of participatory environment such as blogs, wikis, photo sharing and networking sties. Thanks for the clarification Steve.
On to the 50 ways……….
First , Steve took us to a site called CogDogRoo developed by Alan Levine. It is a wiki which focuses on 50 of the best Web 2.0 sites. People can go in and add examples of how they use some of the sites. It’s a great resource. Steve’s idea of 5O Ways to Spin a Digital Story came from this site.
Although an hour is just not enough time to get through all fifty ways, Steve did show us a few very cool tools you can use to enhance your digital stories or create them. Are you ready? Here are a few he mentioned:
1. Create biographies using DEstreaming images and Blabberize
2. Develop a family history using Toon Doo
3. Make a timeline using Our Story
4. Share PowerPoint presentations at MY Plick
5. Students can use VoiceThread to expand on a book read in class
Hopefully the webinar will be archived or posted soon so you can view the presentation at your leisure.
And speaking of webinars…… what a line up Discovery has for the upcoming school year! Check out my next post for an overview of what webinars are on their way.
” In my 63 years on this earth, I have come to realize the difference in success or failure is not chance, but choice. Because when adversity strikes, it’s not what happens to us, but how we react to what happens that will determine our destiny.” ~ Mac Anderson of Simple Truths
Every once in a while I like to view and be inspired by these short movie clips. Here’s one called Finish Strong . View the movie at http://www.finishstrongmovie.com/
Oh my! I’ve been experimenting with a new blog theme with the help of Steve Dembo. I’m not all that familiar with HTML, but know enough to tweak here and there. I still had to bug Steve a few times during the day though for some help and suggestions.
A new theme is a nice visual change, this new iPhone theme is cool. I don’t have an iPhone, but I’ll settle with the theme for my blog for awhile. Each STAR who uses his/her blog will soon be able to choose other themes as well. I can’t wait to see some of the changes in themes that each of you decide to use.
A HUGE thanks to Steve for being patient with me through this change. 
Although Picnik has been around for awhile, it is worth mentioning again for all of you who don’t know about it. You don’t have to create an account to use it and it is FREE! Upload a picture and customize it in many, many, many, different ways. You’ll have loads of fun!
Here is a photo I created for the DEN Leadership Council Institute Attendees. I uploaded it into Picnik and was able to make the border B/W and keep the important part in color.
Why don’t you give it a try?
This looks like something fun. Over on Dangerously Irrelevant, Scott McLeod, is asking for you to get those creative juices going and create a song or poem about technology or instructional technology.
This could be a good activity for those students who have started back to school.
Submit your ideas at http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2008/08/contest—techn.html.
Get a jump start on your classroom lesson plans for next week. Include DEstreaming video content and make history come alive for your students. Visit the Calendar within the Teacher Center of DEstreaming for more videos of history during this week.*
*Note - Before clicking on the links below, sign in to your DEstreaming account
Science - Aug 14 -1994: Hubble telescope tracks Uranus’s rotation
The image above can be downloaded from DEstreaming.
Hubble Space Telescope. NASA. 2008. unitedstreaming. 3 August 2008<http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/>
Math -Aug 11-1956: Pierre-Louis Lions, mathematician
Social Studies - Aug 11 - 1965: Riots break out in Watts
Art & Humanities - Aug 15 -1969: Woodstock Festival begins
Language Arts -Aug 16 -1954: Sports Illustrated debuts
Health & Guidance - Aug 12-1865: Dr. Joseph Lister uses disinfectant after surgery
Famous People - Aug 10-1874: Herbert Hoover, 31st U.S. President
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