Adding a Podcast to Your Post with iMovie HD

Although blogging is essentially journaling, there may be an occasion when it is appropriate to actually have your voice on the post. It would be ideal if you were to say, recite a poem, quote or key summary. Perhaps you would like to share a dialect, slang or words from another language.

First you need to create your podcast with iMovie and then you export it to Quicktime. In your post, click on the media icon in your HTML editor and browse for the movie file. It may take "some" time depending on your network and the time of day.

So here is an example of a post from iMovie HD.

Racial Slurs

Let's say you have a table or chart about racial slurs. You will want to type your description of the research, maybe how you came to these questions. Perhaps even describe some of your polling experiences. It might be more significant to point out your findings---did they meet your expectation?

Then you can write more....

Adding a chart or table to your blog entry

It is simple enough to add a chart or table that is created in Word or Excel into your blog post. In the application, simply control+click on the object. Once the object (chart or table) is complete then save it as a .jpg.

In blogger, place your cursor where you would like the image to appear. Click on the image icon from the HTML editor at the top of your posting text box. When the new window appears, select your image, select where in the post you want the image to appear (Left, Center, Right), and select the size of the image (Small, Medium, Large). Then click the upload button. The HTML code will appear in your textbox. Uploading your image should probably be done at the end of the post.

Between the Wires

I Want a Teacher Web Site - What is Available?

Blogs, Wikis, and Google Pages.

"Educational Technology is like a workshop"

My new favorite coined term--taken from Jim Vanides with Hewlett Packard. Jim says he is tired of that term "technology is just a tool". Well, it's not. Forever, I've tried to spread the word that we need to integrate technology with our curriculum for the kids' sake. So students will know how to function in a world without us. Students of today's generation increasingly rely on technology and computers specifically to get their work done. To manage their work, to create and publish their work---this would be using technology as a tool.

We are well beyond that now. Our students need to know that technology today is the space to be in while using all those tools. It is a large enough space where we can assemble a wide range of people and tools in order to bring an idea to life. And if we are taught how to be safe in the environment, how to organize that environment, how to fully stock that environment with the "tools" we may need, much life a workshop...then we are truly teaching our students "How to fish" and not just giving them the fish.

Zac Browser

All special education teachers should know that they can download the Zac Browser for their autistic students. The browser will help eliminate frustration on the web with so many choices. eSchool News reports John LeSieur created the browser for his grandson. So far results are positive.

Highlight a Web Page for Your Students

Thank you, Heather Newman, for showing us this cool site.

http://awurl.com/hvliic71358

IT IS SO COOL!!! Teachers can now post a page off the internet via data projector, through email, or as a hyperlink on their blog with HIGHLIGHTing on it. Just think---you can highlight the areas of the webpage you want students to focus on.

I can see this being used with ESS kids or students who simply have trouble focusing.

Online Professional Learning

Any online learning requires the following:

1. Set time of day to work or "report" to class
2. Designated folder on your computer labeled with the course name to keep files
3. Word Processing application to type or copy/paste notes while learning

Online learning may be self-paced or may require projects and assignments turned in on at a certain time. Some require posting topics on a discussion board with fellow classmates and some require that you reflect in an online journal. Here are a couple of online opportunities worth the investment.

• Knowledge Delivery Systems-Georgia (KDS) offers a variety of online courses for instruction. They are GaDOE approved and one can finish a course in two months. Teachers work at their own pace and turn in final "essay" directly to KDS for review upon completion.

• PBS Teacherline offers a variety of online courses specific to content area or for general instruction. The courses have a built in discussion board and most instructors require the students to interact with others taking the course. Teachers will need to have a weekly committment to this course or otherwise risk getting behind. Even with that being said, the courses are still worthwhile for the content and resources.

Microblogging

From the "Bloggers Café" column in Leading and Learning with Technology, Tim Lauer talks about Twitter and Jaiku. These are forms of "micro-blogging", which is exactly like texting---users write brief text updates of what they are thinking, reading, observing or blogging. They have a chat-looking interface and users may add on Twitteriffic, the OS X application that displays your Twitter presence stream on your desktop. Twitteroo is for Windows users.

Some teachers are starting to experiment with the micro-blogging to share what's happening in the classroom with colleagues or friends/family at home and at work. This year's NECC attendees used twittercamp as a digital bulletin board to share messages about interesting conference related topics or just to meet up for lunch.

As blogging evolves, people will use the web and mobile devices to communicate. Both Twitter and Jaiku have the capability to set up on your mobile phone. Check it out and twitterme...? Setup your twitter account and invite me as a friend using kboswell@csdecatur.net.

Blogging - Getting Started

We have a new class Spring 2007. New bloggers! We have a variety of uses for our blogs today:

• teacher web page
• posting thoughts
• class blog
• information blog
• blogs to support learning

I look forward to reading your posts.

"Sticky" Web Sites

I think I first heard the term "sticky" while referring to web sites two years ago while attending the High Schools that Work conference. I really cannot remember who delivered the session. I felt bad not providing her name as a reference, but then I google searched "sticky" web sites. This is not exclusive to education. All businesses of every kind need to learn how to build a "sticky" web site. Teachers are no exception. Parents and students need a source of information to take them on a journey through the class and content.

What does "sticky" mean? A web site that can get visitors to stay longer and return often is known as a sticky web site.

A-ha! Patty Turbeville. It was FETC 2006. Here's Patty's advice for teachers:

1. Before you start, make a web of how your site will be used in Inspiration (webbing software).
   
2. Keep the information current.
3. How will you archive?
4. Publish student work
5. Communicate, communicate, communicate
6. Check your links
7. Check your spelling
   
8. Revise your pages often

Some other suggestions might be to review an article you recently read related to parenting you child or the latest research in your content area. Empower your parents. Share your joys of teaching their children. Be sure to provide links on your site that preview what the students are learning/seeing in your class. We want to encourage discussion about the content beyond the walls of your classroom.

Password Advice

I can't say it enough. Make a strong password and change it every six months.

The best passwords start as a sentence you've created about a significant event. Then use the first letter of each word to compose your password. It is always best to have a date in your sentence as well so you can have numbers and letters.

Sample significant event sentence:
My son started using the potty January 2007.

Sample password from sentence above: mssutp0107

From Laptop Vandalism to Technology Management Policy

Recent events have prompted me to re-evaluate how this pilot program is working. The question is, "How do we get kids to accept responsibility for the appropriate care & use of technology equipment and software?"

Throughout the year, I have been working hard to individually correct inappropriate behavior, and have regularly asked kids to reflect on technology and its use in class. We have regular class discussions about what is appropriate and not appropriate, and yet, two weeks ago, there was an incident where a student thought it would be funny to rearrange the keys on a laptop computer. That in itself shows me that the individual has a lack of respect for the property, but what really frustrated me was the number of students who stood by and watched & didn't do anything...not even get me... What does that say about the success of my current methods of helping students feel ownership & responsibility for the technology that has become a daily part of their lives?

To me it says that I've been mostly unsuccessful. So, again, I ask what can I do to help them get engaged in the ownership & care of technology? Well, with the help and advice of Dr. Esther Silvers and Kim Boswell, I believe we may have an appropriate hands-on, interactive, engaging activity, the final result of which could provide us with valuable teaching tools. Kim & I are designing a unit where the students are creating short "how-to" i-movies for different aspects of the care & use of technology and software.

We are currently in week 2 of the project, still brainstorming & organizing the group structure, but the students seem to have really taken this task to heart. We first told them that the movies would be used as instructional tools for next year's seventh graders, but after further thought & discussion, Kim & I realized that we could also use these i-movies to show the teachers the appropriate behavior they should expect from their students as they are using technology.

After all, the use of technology is no longer limited to a few classrooms. There are several of us who have been using technology long enough to make the management of the hardware & software standardized across the school. All we need is a creative way to share the standards. This may be it...At least we hope so.

Teaching Email

Where and when should students receive and learn the etiquette for communication? How should we teach it? I was having a conversation with the Business and Information Technology teacher at the middle school today to get a better idea of what he teaches by grade level, and more importantly, what would he like to teach at each grade level.

Currently the 6th graders are NOT proficient with keyboarding --this we know and are trying to implement a plan to change status quo. Keyboarding should be proficient by 5th grade (or so the National Educational Technology Standards state). To raise the bar in our district, it is my hope and the wish of the our middle school business and information technology (keyboarding currently) teacher to have 6th graders get an introduction hardware and software and an introduction to the basic software. 7th graders would have a more intermediate knowledge set of the those same basic software applications and the 8th would learn the advanced features.

Originally I thought the high school students and the 8th graders should have email and begin working with and practicing email etiquette, but as I reviewed the QCC's for the Business and Information Technology I realized that the exact communication objectives we need to email already exist. As well, the teacher of that class felt he doesn't need to teach memo writing to the extent he did in the past because those days are obsolete--we send memos in an email.

It gets better...that list of objectives for communication is no longer present in the 7th and 8th grade!!! Meaning--we need to teach those communication objectives in 6th and move on (there's other stuff in the curriculum for 7th and 8th).

This would be so ideal for the middle school students to get their email address in the 6th grade as they enter the Bus & Information class. Then they would have it permanently until they withdraw. The registrar could enter it upon enrollment.

Teachers would know that a student has an email account and if they want to use it to communicate with a student, they simply need to provide them with access to their account within class.

From the knowledge that students are learning these technology skill sets in Business and Information Technology class, they could build upon it by assigning work that requires use of these skills.

What may change all of these thoughts (better or worse)is the state standards, which use to be the QCC's. I just went to the Ga DOE web site to pull those up so I had them electronically and noticed they are no longer the QCC's--the standards are in place.

Going well...

The only problem Ms. Cantergiani is running into is students are not finishing during class and so the students are coming in afterschool--which is actually working out well, but the students need to make sure they catch up.

If it were regular work they may not be so encouraged to come in afterschool to complete the assignment.

Blogging today 11/29/05

Every one is working hard today on their blog, doing a great job!!! Keep it up.

Almost December

Goode's students are presenting their research projects starting Monday. I'm really looking forward to seeing them. I sense pride and confidence in the students so I can't wait.

Cantergiani is living her fourth "Technology Day" today. She loves the one on one she is able to achieve from the email, which is mainly being used by the students to turn in their reading letters. It is a lot of reading and writing to respond to the letters, but how else would students gets this kind of timely response from a LA teacher!!!

Technology Helps Behavior

After a full week of illness and professional development, here we are. The 7th graders are excited today because Kiernan reminded them that it is "technology day". When I expressed that we really want to make the technology a seamless function of the classroom, she directly responded that it makes a BIG difference in their behavior. They are good because Kiernan has explained the behavior guidelines for using the technology, and she said, "they are just flat out excited [about using the technology]."

week 3

I became very ill last week after Tuesday, but was able to sit in on Goode's 3rd period, our DHS pilot class. They were so quiet and busy at work. I believe some were working on their citations for the research project that Ms. Goode is supervising through their blogging (another very effective way to integrate technology).

We have some students at the high school thinking that the gaggle email is an email account they can use to enter a dating service site???!!! Hello! Besides, you are in high school-- surrounded by coeds, why do you need a dating service?

Anyhoo, we restricted the culprit to emailing administrator only or should it be taken away completely? Will that be like taking away the student's pencil? They are using the blog to comment on each other's work, but the email is use to confer or offer suggestions to students that are not posted to their blog.

I think we agree that at least one month restriction. Although the opportunity at the high school is more frequent because the lab is more available. Maybe we should try to step up the number of visits at the middle school? What do ya think?

To me, the entire incident above is just another excellent point for the record that students do need email at school so we can show them exactly how to utilize a "work" email. He would've gotten fired! Am I right?