Moving My Blog!

My blog is now at http://pritchardspress.wordpress.com

October

What a great and amazing time of year....Fall or Autumn. We were driving along and came upon this scene and had to take a picture. It represents what I like to think as Fall. It is a beautiful time of year and with all the rain this year, the leaf colors are brilliant. It is a time to reflect as the year draws to a close.
Halloween is tomorrow, Thanksgiving in about three weeks, and then, of course, the Christmas season.....Time goes really fast. I remember my uncles and aunts saying that as you get older time flies. Boy, is that true. I can remember a time when I took all day to clean house and I mean I cleaned the whole house. Now, the day goes by so fast that I took all day to clean house meaning that I cleaned the refrigerator out....too funny.


Look at those leaves! Kicking up work with cutting tree limbs and raking leaves.....This was really work, but we truly enjoyed being outside with the fresh air and sun.

Cell Phones Become Learning Tools | theledger.com | The Ledger | Lakeland, FL

 Here is a school that is not afraid to let their High School Students use cell phones and personal computers as learning tools.  The students are using them in the schools...in their classes....

• Cell Phones Become Learning Tools | theledger.com | The Ledger | Lakeland, FL

  
  

  • Cell Phones Become Learning Tools

    At Wiregrass Ranch High, cell phones are used in classroom work.

  • WESLEY CHAPEL | Jennifer Gould ended her class announcements and told her students to take out their cell phones.

  • "I need at least three people who can get a signal in here," Gould said to her advanced placementD.H. Lawrence, and I want you to find some things about him that you don't already know." literature class. "We're going to be studying the works of

    Nearly everyone whipped out a phone and began tapping away. Within moments, the teens were sharing their Internet discoveries.

  • In a world where most high schools have adopted a "we see them, we take them" policy on cell phones, Pasco County's Wiregrass Ranch High School swims upstream. It encourages teachers to allow students to use their phones in classes for educational purposes. Teens routinely use their phones to shoot pictures for projects, calculate math problems, check their teachers' blogs and even take lecture notes.
  • If anyone's complaining, Bonti hasn't heard it. Parents, staffers and students alike have praised the school's many efforts to be technologically savvy, including giving students permission to use their personal laptops on campus, too, he said.
  • "It puts the education in their hands," Gould said.

tags: cell phones, learning tools, schools

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Listening - Principles of Successful Blogging #1

• If you are interested in blogging, here are some tips from Darren Rowse that has been blogging since 2002.....

• Listening - Principles of Successful Blogging #1

  • Listening - Principles of Successful Blogging #1
  • Listen to the culture of the blogosphere
  • Listen for where your potential readers are gathering
  • Listen to what others in your niche are saying

  • My own monitoring of my niches generally happens in two ways:

    1. Subscribing to Feeds of Key Sources of Information - these days most sites have some way of subscribing to them, usually via an RSS feed.
  • 2. Keyword Alerts -
  • Recommendation Sites -
  • Twitter -
  • Listen to what is being said about you
  • Create Listening Spaces on Your Blog
  • Listen to the Questions Your Readers are Asking
  • Listen to what is working (and what isn’t)

  • Some places to start include:

    • What posts are being read most?
    • What posts are generating good conversation/comments?
    • What posts are being linked to by others most?
    • How are readers using your design? (use a tool like CrazyEgg to create a heatmap)
    • What days of the week are people reading your site most on? What times of the day?
    • What pages are people ‘bouncing’ from your site on (bounce rate shows how many people arrive on your blog and immediately leave)
    • What posts are people spending most (and least) time on?
    • What posts are you getting most negative feedback on?
  • How else do you Listen in your blogging?
  
  

  tags: problogger, blogging, Darren Rowse

• Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Langwitches Blog » Blogging with Elementary School Students

Blogging for Elementary School Students:
Here is an excellent article and I love the statement "Blogging is one way of linking writing, reading, and connecting information and learning together" that Silvia Tolisano makes in her blog....

• Langwitches Blog » Blogging with Elementary School Students

  • Blogging with Elementary School Students

    by Langwitches ~ December 23rd, 2008. Filed under: Blogging, Classroom Projects, Digital Storytelling, Elementary School, Geography, Literacy.

    All of our teachers at my elementary school maintain their own classroom blog.  As I wrote about in Blogs vs. Static Website and Changes in Classroom Blogs, we still have a long way to go as we need to move forward from merely a one sided communication tool to an online learning space that encourages, fosters and supports students’ creativity and learning.

    Being able to read AND express yourself in a digital world is an important part of being literate in the 21st century.

  • Blogging with Elementary School Students

    by Langwitches ~ December 23rd, 2008. Filed under: Blogging, Classroom Projects, Digital Storytelling, Elementary School, Geography, Literacy.

    All of our teachers at my elementary school maintain their own classroom blog.  As I wrote about in Blogs vs. Static Website and Changes in Classroom Blogs, we still have a long way to go as we need to move forward from merely a one sided communication tool to an online learning space that encourages, fosters and supports students’ creativity and learning.

  • Blogging is one way of linking writing, reading, and connecting information and learning together. It seems the perfect venue to introduce elementary school students to the online world world of networked learning. They need to get acquainted to reading and writing hyperlinked text .

tags: langwitches, blogging, Silvia Tolisano

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Social Learning

5 Great Social Learning Resources

Social Learning Models - Social Media In Learning

Jane Hart wrote about 3 social learning models involving technology...
1. The wrap-around model
2. Integrated Model
3. Collaboration Model...

In my opinion, the best model for schools is the collaboration model where students work together to create the project.

Check out Jane Hart's blog; it is full of good information for teachers and students.

 http://janeknight.typepad.com/socialmedia/2009/09/social-learning-models.html

• Social Learning Models - Social Media In Learning

  tags: no_tag

  • Social Learning Models

    When I help organisations understand how to incorporate social media into their formal e-learning content to create formal social learning, I explain this can be done in 3 different ways as shown in this slide from a presentation I use:

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Fall!

Fall is here and it looks beautiful. The leaves are changing colors, pumpkin farms are on the rise, and people are buying STUFF for Halloween. Where did the summer go?
It seems like yesterday it was the first day of spring, now it is fall. Along with this change in weather comes raking leaves and cleaning gardens and basically getting ready for winter.
Don't forget to take pictures of the leaves changing before they are all on the ground.

From Pritchard's Press

From Pritchard's Press

Google Reader

Here are some very good tutorials on Twitter for Teachers.......Check them out! Enjoy!

• Google Reader

  tags: no_tag

  • 50 Terrific Twitter Tutorials for Teachers

     

    from Online Colleges by Site Administrator
     
     

    Using Twitter in education has been all the buzz recently. If you are ready to start using Twitter yourself and need a little help getting started or have already been using it and can use a little extra help, then these tutorials are just for you. From getting started to ways to use Twitter more effectively to using Twitter tools to applications and suggestions for Twitter use in the classroom, these tutorials will provide you with tons of knowledge and ideas to get you going.

    Getting Started

    These tutorials will help you set up your account, introduce you to the basics about Twitter, and more.

    1. How to Set Up a Twitter Account. Follow these five steps to get started with your own account right away.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Google Documents!

Shared by Reuven Werber on Facebook!
21 Interesting Ways to Use Google Docs!



http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dhn2vcv5_8323t58h3ft&ncl=true

Wiz IQ

This was shared on Facebook by Nellie Deutsch and I thought it is a great introduction to WiZiQ. She has been encourage with virtual classrooms and I have too. Check it out!

Did You Know 4.0?

United Breaks Guitars!

The music and lyrics are wonderful. This person did not get mad but got even using his skills and the Internet. Listen and decide yourself!

PR Disaster at United Airlines due to Broken Guitar! : Australian Frequent Flyer Gazette

The Power of the Internet! Check out this article!

• PR Disaster at United Airlines due to Broken Guitar! : Australian Frequent Flyer Gazette

  tags: no_tag

  • PR Disaster at United Airlines due to Broken Guitar!

    September 17, 2009

    

    If you have a gripe, need to rant or vent your spleen in the 21st Century the days of letter writing, word of mouth and talk-back radio are slowly coming to an end.  These days it’s all about the blog, social networking sites, discussion boards and You Tube.  These methods reach a wider audience, can penetrate the mass media direct and can even create an overnight celebrity out of the “gripee”.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Blogging

To Blog or Not to Blog_ Blogging for Beginners

Technology in the Middle » Blog Archive » K12 Online 2009: September 26 LAN Party

Looks like a chance to learn from the experts! Mark your calendars!

• Technology in the Middle » Blog Archive » K12 Online 2009: September 26 LAN Party

  tags: no_tag

  • K12 Online 2009: September 26 LAN Party

    K12 Online is an annual, free conference by educators for educators around the world interested in integrating emerging technologies into classroom practice. A goal of the conference is to help educators make sense of and meet the needs of a continually changing learning landscape.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Blogging!

Quick Start Tips For Student Blogging Part I: Setting Up Your Class Blog | The Edublogger

Here are more ideas for starting blogs in the classroom. Check out Sue Waters website with many, many more ideas.

• Quick Start Tips For Student Blogging Part I: Setting Up Your Class Blog | The Edublogger

  tags: no_tag

  • Quick Start Tips For Student Blogging Part I: Setting Up Your Class Blog
  • A class blog is always a good starting point.  This gives you to time to increase your skills while gradually introducing your students to blogging and educating them on appropriate online behaviour.

  • Joining the student blogging challenge is a great way of getting your class blog started while being supported by other educators!

    For detailed help refer to Getting started with your blog!

    Check these for ideas on how you could use your class blog:

    1. Examples of class blogs by age group and subject area
    2. Check Out These Cool Ideas From Class Blogs
    3. Looking for Ideas?  Check out our Class blog list!
    4. Using Scribe Posts on Class Blogs

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

The Obama Speech

The Obama Speech

Posted using ShareThis

Twitter Handbook

Twitter Handbook for Teachers

How Passion Can Transform Your Blog

I have always encouraged my students to blog, but sometimes it was very hard to think of things to blog about. This is an interesting article about passion and blogging by Darren Rowse

• How Passion Can Transform Your Blog

  tags: no_tag

  • How Passion Can Transform Your Blog

  • Forcing things makes them worse. It’ll show up in your writing. Readers aren’t interested in reading something you’ve forced, and they’ll go elsewhere.

    Passion is the exact opposite:

  • 1. Write what you’re passionate about
  • 2. Find something to be passionate about
  • 3. Write when you’re excited, not on a schedule
  • 4. Pump up the jams
  • 5. Coffee
  • 6. Write passionately, become a better writer
  • 7. Read others who are passionate

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Keys to Life!

First Days of School

September often brings excitement for the First Days of School. The classrooms, teachers, and students look fresh and ready to go. The students and teachers are usually eager to be at school.  I say usually because there is always an exception to the rule.
However, September means a new start for most students and teachers. As I contemplate what the coming months will bring as a classroom teacher, I am amazed at how fast a school year can go by. It is amazing to see the growth of the students. That is why, I always loved having the students write an essay and draw/color a picture to go with the essay at the beginning of the year. Then, at the end of the year, have the students write and draw again for comparison.
Capturing the excitement of the First Days of School and keeping it throughout the school year, will take patience and skill.  It can be accomplished with support from colleagues and parents.

Virtual Library

Check this out! A virtual library for educators from Springfield Township High School.....  http://www.sdst.org/shs/library/opensource.html

Here is a sample of what you can find on their website.....

• Open Source and School

  tags: opensource, apps, courseware

  • Open Source and Schools

    Applications / Courseware

    • Podcast by Martin: What is open source?
    • Lawrence Lessig
    • Creative Commons: Get Creative

    ---

    A selection of open source applications available for educators:

    Writing /Office Tools

    • Google Web-based tools http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/
    • Cetlx (scriptwriting, storyboarding) http://www.celtx.com
    • Zoho Writer (Web-based word processing) http://www.zohowriter.com
    • OpenOffice (http://openoffice.org) the cross-platform productivity suite includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation manager, and drawing program, works transparently with a variety of file formats, including those of Microsoft Office.
    • AjaxWrite13 http://us.ajax13.com/en/index.jsp
    • Worldlabel.com  http://www.worldlabel.com/Pages/openoffice-template.htm  Free templates for OpenOffice documents
    • JotSpot Live (Live group notetaking tool) http://www.jotlive.com/
    • StarOffice Suite (free to education) http://www.sun.com/software/star/staroffice/index.xml No license fees for education, a leading alternative office suite that offers word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing, and database capabilities, and export to PDF in a familiar-looking interface.
    
    Other resources:
    • PrimoPDF http://www.primopdf.com/
    • Amaya (http://www.w3.org/Amaya/) Web editor tools hosted by W3C
    • Blender (http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Gallery.55.0.html) 3D graphics creation suite for modeling, animation, rendering, game creation and more.
    • BlueFish (http://bluefish.openoffice.nl) Web editor tools

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

School Begins!

For many school districts, today will be the official start for teachers with students coming back on Wednesday. In reality, teachers started during the summer months getting their rooms ready. They have spent many days working on unpacking their materials and decorating rooms that were stripped and cleaned during the summer. Speaking from experience, it is a lot of work to get classrooms ready for a new school year. It takes time and patience to redecorate rooms that were packed away for the summer months. At the same time, it is exciting and refreshing to begin new. August is back-to-school time to enjoy that new group of students that come into your room with high expectations for everyone. It is a very busy time but rewarding time.

Enjoy your first days of school...Don't forget about Harry Wong's Book called The First Days of School. Excellent resource!

http://www.amazon.com/First-Days-School-Effective-Teacher/dp/0962936022

Blogging!

* Blogging is a fun way to have students write for an audience.

* Blogging is an easy way to have students publish their writing.
* Keyboarding skills allow the students to keep up with their thoughts as they write what is on their minds.
* Anything can be blogged, such as notes, thoughts, information, ideas, journals, summaries, story elements, persuasive writing, expository writing, narrative writing, etc.
* As students write summaries of stories they have read in class, they can blog it.
* As students write stories of their own for class, they can blog it.
* As students write short poems or answer comprehension questions, they can blog it.
* Students can develop rough drafts using word processing skills and turn those creative documents into blog posts.


Remember Anything can be blogged.....

Moodle - A course management system!

• Moodle Services - moodle.com

  tags: no_tag

  • Welcome to the Moodle Service Network!
  • Moodle is a course management system designed to help educators who want to create quality online courses. The software is used all over the world by universities, schools, companies and independent teachers. Moodle is open source and completely free to use.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Fractions

Host Your Own Webinars | LearnCentral

• Host Your Own Webinars | LearnCentral

  tags: no_tag

  • Created by Steve Hargadon

  • LearnCentral allows educators to use a free public Elluminate room to hold large webinars or group meetings.  To qualify, the events must be 1) education-oriented, 2) free (you're not charging those who attend), 3)  recordable, and 4) open to anyone to attend.  We're really excited to see what you do with this capability, and are hoping that it allows you to regularly gather other educators around curricular interests in "historic" ways.

    The current instructions are below.  This is a new service, so your feedback and help are greatly appreciated!

  • We ask that you go through the live or recorded free Elluminate training (http://www.elluminate.com/support/training/index.jsp) before hosting a session, and suggest strongly that you attend another session as a participant to see how an Elluminate session works.  Please don't go in without any actual experience--it won't be good for you or your attendees!  :) This is an honor system, but we do ask that you are prepared as we don't want these free sessions to reflect poorly on Elluminate!

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

http://tweetteach.jottit.com/elementary_suggestions

This article is about using Twitter as a resource for teachers to keep parents updated on classroom activities and more........

 

http://ow.ly/iM80

Web 2.0 Tools and Applications - Go2web20

If you are new to Web 2.0 tools, this is a website to bookmark so that you can refer to it. This website is loaded with numerous resources for you to use. This was shared by Ced Paine from my diigo group called Web Tools by Teachers. Check out diigo as well as these awesome tools.

• Web 2.0 Tools and Applications - Go2web20

  tags: no_tag

  • Web 2.0 Tools and Applications

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Use Issuu for publishing a Magazine

Web 2.0 tools
This looks like a great tool for the classroom or school to use to publish their newsletters online. The examples look professional. Check it out!

• Issuu: Publish your own Issue - issuu.com

  tags: no_tag

  • Issuu - Publish your own Issue

    
    Issuu is the place for online publications: Magazines, documents, and stuff you'd normally find on print. It's the place where you become the publisher. Upload a document, it's fast, easy, and totally free. Within seconds you'll have a super cool online magazine you can post anywhere on the web and share instantly with your friends.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Twitter

I have increased my participation on Facebook and decrease my participation on Twitter. I really enjoyed using Twitter but I agree with Kathy Schrock that Twitter should be used to "post quick items of interest or respond with a short message to someone seeking help on a topic". I tend to use Twitter to inform not as my personal text messaging or email space.
Here is what Kathy Schrock wrote:

• Kathy Schrock's Kaffeeklatsch

  tags: KathySchrock

  • Friday, May 01, 2009

    Twitter is not for email

     

    During the past month or so, I have realized people are beginning to use Twitter as their main form of communication. I am a regular Twitter user and follower, but do not keep it open on my desktop all day. I use it how it is intended to be used-- to post quick items of interest or respond with a short message to someone seeking help on a topic. And I think carefully before I answer, to determine whether the response is only useful for the questioner (and DM the answer) or if others might also benefit from the answer (and reply with the @questioner). I try not to clutter up the list with responses that are meaningless to most others. That is part of the Twetiquette (Twitter etiquette).
    
    (Addendum: I was not implying above that people should not post "meaningless" (read "fun") items to Twitter. What I was referring to is the practice of replying to a post via an @username on the list when the actual answer only makes sense to the person who asked the question. It often does not make sense when one sees only an answer.)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Kathy Schrock's Kaffeeklatsch

Reading through some articles on the Internet and I thought this was pretty interesting for schools to consider.

• Kathy Schrock's Kaffeeklatsch

  tags: KathySchrock

  • Google Apps

    for Education overview
  • Google Apps for Education works the same way as Google Apps Premier, with a tad less online storage space per user. The wonderful things about it is that any user can limit any publication to just those who are on the domain, if they wish. We use this when we are publishing something for only district staff. In addition, users can always selectively choose outside users (like our students on the other domain) to see their Docs, Calendars, Sites, etc.
  • When you administer Google Apps for Education, you can chose to allow access (or dis-allow access) to the suite of tools -- Email, Calendar, Docs, Talk, Sites, Video, and Web Pages -- for all users. Google Groups and Blogger are not in the suite, but, of course may be easily used.
  • The use of these Google Apps has moved technology ahead rapidly in our district. Between shared calendars for school-based meetings to internal Google Sites acting as mini-Moodle packages, both teachers and students have made good use of the apps for communication, collaboration, and creation.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Google Docs

Have you tried Goggle Docs? The types of items that Google Docs allows you to make are documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and PDF files. These have been very useful tools. For example, I wanted to email my family addresses that were typed in a spreadsheet. I chose instead to make the spreadsheet into a PDF file. It was very easy and needed only a few minor adjustments. Have some fun and try it!

Retirement and Blogs

As I go through the process of moving and finding a new job. One of my goals is to keep this blog as a source of technology for the classroom by inserting items that are useful to the classroom teacher. For example:

• You can see to the left of the screen how easy it is to use Picasa to add a slideshow to your blog.
  

• You can use diigo or delicious as bookmarks
• You can add photos or videos to posts
• You can use Google Reader to share information found on the Web
• You can use twitter to share text information
• You can share personal information...For example:As many of you know, I am
  officially retired from District 130 in Blue Island, Illinois. As I
  start my retirement journey, I have been organizing my personal
  belongings by packing, packing, and packing. My husband and I plan to
  move sometime this summer. We have bought a house in Macon, Missouri.
  This is an exciting new adventure in our lives. We are moving to the
  country where we will be able to have a garden and just enjoy the
  country life. After the move, I plan to come out of retirement mode and into the teaching mode again. 

• You can use Blogs for informing and sharing information with others
  

Blogging

In my opinion, one of the most important things a teacher or parent can do for their students/children is to teach keyboarding or word processing skills. The generation growing up now need to be able to type efficiently and learn word processing software. Many teachers want their research papers and reports typed. Students can take notes using a laptop. When creating stories or taking notes from lectures, the fingers can keep up with the mind if the person typing is efficient and has excellent keyboard skills.

Israel

Greasemonkey

What is greasemonkey?

Friends!

It was great to spend the morning with friends. Actually, ate breakfast twice with two groups of friends. We had such a great time together. These ladies will be missed when I move. They will definitely be visiting me in Macon.

Testing This Again!

I am testing this to see if this post will show up in Facebook!

Greasemonkey

Google Docs to My Blog to Facebook!

I really like using Google Docs to write my blog posts then send the information to my blog. Today I am going to try to send this information to my blog which in turn sends the information to Facebook.This morning I was reading this interesting Article by Sue Waters, so I decided to blog this article. 

How To Import Your Blog Posts Into Facebook May 31st 2009 by Sue Waters in Working With Web 2.0 Tools -Whether you are a fan of Facebook or NOT really doesn’t matter.What does is most people have Facebook accounts. Reading updates and commenting in Facebook is what they are used to whereas posts on blogs isn’t.Importing your blog feed into Facebook means that people who are most comfortable using only Facebook are more likely to read your blog posts.

How To Import Your Blog Posts Into Facebook | The Edublogger

The is another great article by Sue Waters

• How To Import Your Blog Posts Into Facebook | The Edublogger

  tags: no_tag

  • How To Import Your Blog Posts Into Facebook

    May 31st 2009 by Sue Waters in Working With Web 2.0 Tools -   

    Whether you are a fan of Facebook or NOT really doesn’t matter.

    What does is most people have Facebook accounts. Reading updates and commenting in Facebook is what they are used to whereas posts on blogs isn’t.

    Importing your blog feed into Facebook means that people who are most comfortable using only Facebook are more likely to read your blog posts.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Happy Father's Day Grandpa

Web 2.0 Tools to Inspire

Check out this SlideShare Presentation from Judy O'Connell

Web 2.0 Tools to Inspire

View more Microsoft Word documents from tippydawn.

Amber and Bugs!

Amber hates bugs! We spent a week in Missouri with our granddaughter spring cleaning. She decided that she does not enjoy bugs. She was trying to help her grandfather tear down a ramp that was in front of the house. It was a very long day for her.

Colleges Consider Using Blogs Instead of Blackboard - Chronicle.com

http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i38/38blogcms.htm

This exciting article tells the tale of Colleges and schools around the country that are looking for ways to save money. Blogs are free! Read to find out what one college is saying about blogs.

Untitled

pritchard-may1

Moraine Valley
Community College presented The Emperor’s New Clothes! The
fifth grade students thought this was a wonderful play. This is a
picture of part of the scene from the play…….

This year Whittier
School was involved in hatching chickens. We were took six chickens
to the Children’s Farm in Palos Heights, Illinois for the
summer.

Google Toolbar

Try the new Google Toolbar for Firefox or Internet Explorer........

 

The new toolbar has many features but the one I especially like is the way Tabs changed. Once the tab opens it shows the most frequently visited sites as thumbnail images. Then, all you need to do is to click on your favorite sites. This saves a lot of time.

 

The tabs are at the top of the page in Internet Explorer and Firefox.  

 

http://www.google.com/tools/firefox/toolbar/FT3/intl/en/

Diigo

Diigo allows you to bookmark, highlight, tag, and use sticky notes as you read.

Check this Screencast out feature Diigo and Screen-o-matic! Fantastic.

Google Reader

As I was updating the Interesting Websites section on my blog, I came across Durff's shared items on Google Reader. This is a very interesting list of tools that are being used in schools around the world. Are the terms below familiar to you????? Check them out!

• Google Reader - Virtual Worlds/durff's shared items

  tags: Durff, googlereader, tech

  • Delicious
    Blogger
    Wikispaces
    PBWiki
    Diigo
    G-Mail
    Google Docs
    Google Earth
    Wordpress
    Kerpoof
    Webspiration
    EdTechTalk
    Twitter
    Plurk
    Skype
    Facebook
    Bloglines
    VoiceThread
    Nings
    ustream
    YouTube
    Flickr
    Bubbleshare
    Weebly

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

ISTE | Digital Stories

 I was reading about the digital stories contest and wanted to share this on my blog. I have been wanting to try out diigo and see how I can highlight information then send it to my blog.

Diigo is pretty easy and a very handy tool. No more going back and forth. I can now read an article, highlight what I want to share, add my comments, then post to my blog, or send this in an email. This will make things a lot easier especially when I am reading articles and finding information to share with my students and friends.
Enjoy and check out diigo.....

• ISTE | Digital Stories

  tags: iste, Necc

  • ISTE's Digital Stories Contest
  • NECC 2010 in Denver!
  • To celebrate our 30th Anniversary, we’re inviting educators to submit videos that tell stories of student/educational transformation using technology. All videos will be featured on ISTE’s new video portal, www.istevision.org, and will be entered into monthly drawings for fabulous prizes such as mini notebooks, ipods, flip cameras, and ISTE books. 

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Wikipedia

What in the world is the encyclopedia called Wikipedia all about?????????

     According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About 

Wikipedia can be defined as a multilingual, web-based, free-content encyclopedia project.

What does that mean?

    Well, to start off with, Wiki means "a collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki).

    A wiki  is a webpage with layers or tabs. There are four tabs called article, discussion, view source, and history.

The article page is where the contributor submits the article. The discussion page is the talk page where discussions take place between the contributors of the article page. The view source page is the protection page for the articles. The history page shows the revision history.

    This makes the Wikipedia Encyclopedia unique in that it allows anyone to contribute information. Yes, this means anyone in the World that has Internet access can contribute.

    According to Wikipedia, this encyclopedia is "written collaboratively by volunteers from all around the world; anyone can edit it. Since its creation in 2001, Wikipedia has grown rapidly into one of the largest reference Web sites,  attracting at least 684 million visitors yearly by 2008. There are more than 75,000 active contributors working on more than 10,000,000 articles in more than 260 languages. As of today, there are 2,820,558 articles in English."     

    The important part of contributing is that the contributor needs to follow the five pillars of character which are:

        Wikipedia is an encyclopedia,

        Wikipedia must has a neutral point of view,

        Wikipedia is free content,

        Wikipedia has a code of conduct, and

        Wikipedia does not have firm rules.

 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_pillars_of_Wikipedia

 http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/microsoft-encarta-dies-after-long-battle-with-wikipedia/

  http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WelcomeVisitors

 

Abbott and Costello Meet the Computer!

When I read this skit, I just loved it. I found only one reference for the skit so I am providing that website link. Enjoy!

http://www.ourtownforum.com/forum/m.aspx?m=2435&mpage=1&key=


You have to be old enough to remember Abbott and Costello, and too old to REALLY understand computers, to fully appreciate this. For those of us who sometimes get flustered by our computers, please read on...

If Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were alive today, their infamous sketch, 'Who's on First?' might have turned out something like this:

COSTELLO CALLS TO BUY A COMPUTER FROM ABBOTT

ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?

COSTELLO: Thanks. I'm setting up an office in my den and I'm thinking about buying a computer.

ABBOTT: Mac?

COSTELLO: No, the name's Lou.

ABBOTT: Your computer?

COSTELLO: I don't own a computer. I want to buy one.

ABBOTT: Mac?

COSTELLO: I told you, my name's Lou.

ABBOTT: What about Windows?

COSTELLO: Why? Will it get stuffy in here?

ABBOTT: Do you want a computer with Windows?

COSTELLO: I don't know. What will I see when I look at the windows?

ABBOTT: Wallpaper.

COSTELLO: Never mind the windows. I need a computer and software.

ABBOTT: Software for Windows?

COSTELLO: No. On the computer! I need something I can use to write proposals, track expenses and run my business. What do you have?

ABBOTT: Office.

COSTELLO: Yeah, for my office. Can you recommend anything?

ABBOTT: I just did.

COSTELLO: You just did what?

ABBOTT: Recommend something.

COSTELLO: You recommended something?

ABBOTT: Yes.

COSTELLO: For my office?

ABBOTT: Yes.

COSTELLO: OK, what did you recommend for my office?

ABBOTT: Office.

COSTELLO: Yes, for my office!

ABBOTT: I recommend Office with Windows.

COSTELLO: I already have an office with windows! OK, let's just say I'm sitting at my computer and I want to type a proposal. What do I need?

ABBOTT: Word.

COSTELLO: What word?

ABBOTT: Word in Office.

COSTELLO: The only word in office is office.

ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows.

COSTELLO: Which word in office for windows?

ABBOTT: The Word you get when you click the blue 'W'.

COSTELLO: I'm going to click your blue 'w' if you don't start with some straight answers. What about financial bookkeeping? You have anything I can track my money with?

ABBOTT: Money.

COSTELLO: That's right. What do you have?

ABBOTT: Money.

COSTELLO: I need money to track my money?

ABBOTT: It comes bundled with your computer.

COSTELLO: What's bundled with my computer?

ABBOTT: Money.

COSTELLO: Money comes with my computer?

ABBOTT: Yes. No extra charge.

COSTELLO: I get a bundle of money with my computer? How much?

ABBOTT: One copy.

COSTELLO: Isn't it illegal to copy money?

ABBOTT: Microsoft gave us a license to copy Money.

COSTELLO: They can give you a license to copy money?

ABBOTT: Why not? THEY OWN IT!

(A few days later)

ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?

COSTELLO: How do I turn my computer off?

ABBOTT: Click on 'START'.............

Bob Love Chicago Bulls

Today, at Whittier School located in Blue Island, Illinois....Bob Love gave a speech on "Follow Your Dreams!" The students were extremely interested in everything that he had to say.

Mr. Love delivered a very positive and persuasive speech that provided the students with information that they will be able to use to make the right "choices" as they grow into adults. Read more here: http://www.sterlingspeakers.com/love.htm

http://www.stutteringhelp.org/default.aspx?tabindex=578&tabid=591

Google Reader

Google Reader

Twitter

Being a fan of Twitter, I was trying to explain what Twitter was all about and I came across two blogs that explained it perfectly. This is an excellent video that I found on Rachel Boyd's blog. Enjoy!
Rachel Boyd




More information about Twitter can be found at http://edorigami.edublogs.org/2009/03/02/twitter/

Why Blog?

One of the strengths related to blogging is that it reinforces writing and reading skills. Bloggers read, write, proofread, rewrite, reread, and write more. Bloggers write for a real audience and this is important for any writer to know that someone is going to read their hard work. Bloggers usually write daily regarding their thoughts, ideas, or concerns. Bloggers build their communication skills by writing clearly and concisely. Bloggers inform the public about issues that are happening now. Bloggers use critical thinking skills to analyze and synthesize informational articles on the web then sharing their impressions and concerns. For example, Will Richardson writes for educators  http://weblogg-ed.com/ . Bloggers write their personal thoughts like a diary; such as, Adora Svitak has a fantastic personal blog http://www.adorasvitak.com/ .

Blogging, Reading, and Writing

 If you want your children/students to become better readers and writers then let them read and write.

One of the best strategies for improving reading is ..........reading.

One of the best strategies for improving writing is ...........writing.

You need to provide many opportunities for learners to read and write. This can be accomplished by allowing the learners to blog and use the Internet.

The Internet is full of facts; for example, on web sites, blogs, and wikis that can be used to learn a broad range of information. By using the Internet, knowledge is a keyboard stroke away. It is fun to be engaged in a conversation with family or friends, discussing information, then someone mentions a topic or something they have heard but do not have all the facts. So, a family member or friend sits down at the keyboard, enters the Internet or World Wide Web, and searches for the missing information. The group discussion can continue, no waiting. This adds knowledge immediately. No waiting until someone has time to go to the library to look up the information or searching through old newspaper articles to find the topic.
The speed of access of information that is provided by the Internet is very exciting and very useful. As educators and parents, we need to tap into this informational age and embrace this new way of learning.

Here are a few definitions for Internet and World Wide Web.
Internet: global informational system
Wikipedia has an excellent definition of Internet!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/I/Internet.html
http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~hgs/internet/definition.html

World Wide Web
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web
http://www.tekmom.com/buzzwords/zdwww.html
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/World-Wide-Web-WWW.html
http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/fs-1037/dir-040/_5901.htm


   

Learners blogging is another great way to support and encourage writing. Blogs can be private or public. It is your choice. Creating blogs requires research and reading many information articles from the World Wide Web. Being a blogger requires reading and writing skills. The more one reads and writes the better they are at reading and writing.

Blogs to Read:
Adora Svitak is a very young blogger. Read her story.
http://www.adorasvitak.com/
Benefits to Blogging for Kids
http://www.rss-specifications.com/kids-blogging.htm
Blogs for Teachers http://blogsforteachers.info/

Lois Lowry

The following is an example of how to write an informational article and supply links to what you are talking about. Links in your writing help the readers learn more about the information. It is a good idea to provide additional information by using links. Readers love the convenience of reading more about a topic they are interested in by just clicking on a link.



Lois Lowry is the author of two books we are reading in fifth grade. Here is an autobiography about her which is very interesting
http://www.loislowry.com/bio.html


Here is a list of her books. http://www.loislowry.com/books.html


As you read, Lois Lowry has written a lot of books over the years and her interests started when she was very little. During her life, she has gone through some trials of her own; for example, losing a son. She continues to write for her audiences and supplies her readers with many pleasurable hours of reading. I hope you enjoy reading about her.