“I Learn, You Learn, We Learn” Blog

 Web Wednesday is a feature of the online “Big Deal Book”. This Wednesday’s theme is Global AwarenessCheck out the book for more online deals. You’ll find everything from grant opportunities to free and inexpensive finds

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I think I know that …
Today’s 21st century student needs to master a complex set of skills to succeed in work, school and life. One of those skills is global awareness. How globally aware are your students? Encourage them to take the GlobeMaster weekly quiz, designed to help students learn about global concepts in an entertaining way. Then see below for ideas that will help you integrate global awareness into your curriculum.
 

Here on This Earth
Panwapa is a collection of educational resources for preK–grade 2, designed to introduce and model the skills needed for global citizenship. (Panwapa, in the Tshiluba language of the Congo, means “here on this earth.”) Panwapa begins with new Muppet characters—such as Azibo the Monster and Athena the Owl—who share their stories about learning to build a community on Panwapa Island. The stories feature real children and their experiences in different parts of the world. The collection includes movies, exercises and lesson plans designed to help young children understand and appreciate different cultures.

One Life at a Time
Through statistically accurate events, Educational Simulations’ Real Lives brings to life different cultures, political systems, economic opportunities, personal decisions, health issues, family issues, schooling, jobs, religions, geography, war, peace and more. As your middle and high school students make decisions for their characters and experience the consequences of those decisions, they will learn about the world and gain an increased appreciation of their own culture and the cultures of other peoples

 * Web Wednesday is a feature of The Big Deal Book - Amazing Resources for 21st Century Educators

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

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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

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 is a nice site which allows you to create calendars, planners, checklists and more. With the click of the print button, you can have a quick and easy paper copy of many organization tools.  Although it doesn’t let you customize a document on the site, I like it because you can copy and paste into WORD and then use your WORD features to customize it.

Check out ePrintables.com at http://www.eprintablecalendars.com/ 

If you haven’t seen this site before, it is worth the time it takes to poke around and print the quick guides for Microsoft Office applications, Adobe, Mac and some miscellaneous applications.

A great site for training handouts - http://www.customguide.com/quick_references.htm

Last Thursday I had to opportunity to attend a day long (free) event sponsored by Technology & Learning, HP and Intel.  The day was filled with opportunities to actually see, and try on my own laptop, applications and tools which can be used in the classroom.

The event was structured to emulate a day in school. Participants experienced a period by period schedule of the day by attending Math, ELA, Science and a professional development class. During each class we learned of new software, gizmos, gadgets and opportunities to integrate into those classes. We were actually in the role of a student.

 Some of the products we were able to explore were Adobe Elements, Premiere  and Contributor; the use of theSmartboard, HP laptops and tablets, PASCO Science tools, k-12 School Solutions by Spectrum, planning and instruction information by KNS;  DYKnow applications  and a great Math gaming program by Tabula/Digita.  If you are planning on attending NECC in San Antonio, be sure to visit these booths.

Upon convening in homeroom before the end of the day,  there was a give-away of some terrific prizes. ( No, I didn’t winL) There was also some information about HP’s Teacher Experience Exchange.  You can sign up at http://h30411.www3.hp.com/.This event was the last in a series offered this year. If I heard correctly, they will be offered again next year. Check out the event schedule periodically at http://www.guide2digitallearning.com/  to find out the dates for next year. If you can possibly attend, it is a worthwhile day.

For additional information and some great blogs go to http://www.guide2digitallearning.com/blog/archives.

Here is a list of 100 popular tools for learning compiled by the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies.  They are categorized in the following three areas:

1. Personal Tools - to manage your own personal learning 
2.  Authoring Tools - to create, host, deliver or manage learning/performance support solutions
3. Operating Systems and Platforms

Thanks to the Discovery Educator Network, I use over half of them and I am familiar with about 90% of them.  How about you?

Check out the list at http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/toolbox2008.html.

 Web Wednesday is a feature of the online Big Deal Book.  This Wednesday’s theme is using the visual arts to help increase information literacy and media literacy.

Check out the book for more online deals. You’ll find everything from grant opportunities to free and inexpensive finds.

 ENJOY!  

I See What You Mean
Visual literacy helps children to learn to read—and to enjoy reading. A visual text makes its meanings with images or with meaningful patterns. View examples of visual texts that are used to convey information. Then see below for suggestions on how to integrate information literacy and media literacy into your curriculum. 

Picture This!
The J. Paul Getty Museum’s Education Department has created A Guide to Building Visual Arts Lessons. Included are ideas for preparing lessons, a step-by-step guide for teaching visual arts for each grade level and ideas for evaluation and assessment approaches.

The visual arts experiences described below encourage students to seek and construct meaning through encounters with photographs.

Picturing Stories
Using images of children in Dorothea Lange’s photographs, students study how Lange tells stories related to the children. Then they practice telling their own written and visual stories in response to Lange’s images.

Picturing History
After analyzing one of Dorothea Lange’s photographs from the 1930s, students make connections to its historical context by creating a one-page written and visual response

And of course, you can’t forget DEstreaming for thousands of ways to incorporate visuals into your lessons!

Visuword is a free online graphical dictionary and thesaurus that shows you the word , synonym and relationships in-between. 

 Just type in a word and watch the site generate a visualization right before your eyes. This would be great for a large screen classroom presentation!

Cross posted from Nicole Brondum’s Blog
Have you received a document that was created in Microsoft 2007 that you couldn’t open?  The solution is simple.    Go to http://www.microsoft.com/downloads . 

1. Under the title New Downloads, click Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats.  This will bring you to the download page.
2. Click on the silver Download button
3. Click Run
4. Follow the Install prompts. 

 

Now, when you need to open a Microsoft 2007 document, it will automatically be converted to Microsoft 2003.      

Already using Microsoft 2007?  For the ease of others, please save your work as a Microsoft 97-2003 document.  Here’s how to do that…

1. Click on the Office Button located in the top left hand corner.
2. Click Save As
3. Click Word, Excel, or PowerPoint 97- 2003 document
4. Continue to save your document as you normally would 

Now when you send something to someone who does not know about the compatibility pack and does not have Microsoft 2007, they can open your documents.  Once you get used to saving your 07 documents this way, it is really simple and quickly becomes habit. 

Here’s a great blog on getting through life. Organization, practical business skills, stress reduction,  good reads  and even Outlook tips and tricks are covered. Don’t let a day go by without reading Susan Sabo’s blog. (Don’t forget to enjoy a beverage of your choice while doing so. )

Website: http://www.productivitycafe.com

In an effort to streamline my existence in the craziness of cyber space, I find myself relying more and more on the great tools that Google offers. I think I’m becoming a Googleholic.
Most recently I tried my hand at creating a Google Web Page.  I must say it was very easy. Although not as robust as other web page creators, Google provides the basics. They even host the page for you.
This is great tool for creating simple hotlists, treasure hunts, or student project pages.
Here’s the one I created with a listing of some of the cool tools demonstrated during the DEN Virtual Conferece: http://tstandha.googlepages.com/denvirtualconferencecooltools

Google and Weekly Reader have partnered to bring educators a practical and meaningful way to teach revision: a critical piece of writing.  Even if Google is not available through your district, there are some terrific resources on the following sites from Google and Weekly Reader.
Websites: http://www.weeklyreader.com/googledocs/
                  http://www.google.com/educators/weeklyreader.html

“Interactive Whiteboards are phenomenal tools. ” And so is this website!  It is chalked full of information and resources for teachers who are novices as well as experienced in using whiteboards as teaching and learning tools in their classrooms. There is something for everyone.

Website: http://www.fsdb.k12.fl.us/rmc/tutorials/whiteboards.html