004.09 Did You Know 4.0: Stats about Our Current World

Ok, it is time to be reminded that what we have been doing in the 2.o world is NOT being done in isloation...we are playing and learning and testing and learning and practicing and learning the very things that more and more of the world is doing every day as a part of its normal, everyday world.

Is it a perfect world? No. Is it a totally safe way to do the business of everyday life? No. But neither is the other world!

It will take you a little more than 3 minutes to catch up with the latest and be reminded that it is ok to move forward and think differently, communicate differently, react differently, and most importantly in our little education corner of the world, learn differently!

Enjoy the current update of the wildly popular Shift Happens.

P.S. I'm intrigued by the method used in creating the text strips and some of the graphics. Pretty cool and worth the time as well!

In case the embedded video is blocked in district, here is the link. You should be able to see it through teacher sign-on of your computer.

027.8 A Good List of Librarians

If you want to check out what blogging librarians are talking about these days, here's a Top 50 list...although it really is a Top 40s + 10 Tweeters...and I won't go there tonight...still trying to wrap my head around that concept. Suffice it to say, the Tweeters have plenty of important (and fun) things to say too!

I have read and follow regularly 9 out of the top 10 plus a bunch further down the line. And I am pleased to say that I have had opportunity to hear many of these fine folks in person...an extra treat! I have a feeling I'll be adding a few more once I give myself time to completely work through the list. 

There are a few missing from the list in my opinion. Among them are Blue Skunk and Library Stuff who have been teaching me a lot over several years! But it's not my list. Enjoy what is there!

Take a look...you'll learn something...all the time!

371.3 Educational Technology: A Summer Adventure

Technically, this the last day of my 33rd year in this adventure called public school education...from the teacher's side of the desk. Then there is that traditional 13-year run that I did as a student. So 46 years. And of course, I spent a good part of the remaining 10 years of my life on this earth preparing to make the transition from one side of the desk to the other.

I was barely started WAY back when that little historical event called Sputnik plunged us into an educational revolution of sorts. "New math" was the biggest trauma I remember from those days. There were very pleasant experiences as well, but I only remember the effects "new math" in 7th grade had on me...and more importantly, on my poor dad who tried to help.

More recently, I have been immersed in a different kind of educational revolution. It's not new. It actually has been bubbling up since about 1980...at least in my little corner of the world. For me, I think this summer marks, not the pinnacle because it's not stopping, but at least a very significant stop on this exciting journey.

My district made an important decision this last semester...laptops for all campus certified personnel. But more importantly, I see it as the keys to a vehicle that will take us collectively as an organization, a system, a group, a team on a very exciting ride thru this thing called Web 2.0, Learning 2.0, Library 2.0. Yes, we are all on different levels, but at least now, we are riding in the same bus!

The web and all it implies has also finally been accepted as a legitimate means to learning success...NOT the ONLY means, but a very important tool in the toolboxes of our students and teachers. Many of us have known this for a long time and have worked hard, very hard some days, to use it in spite of roadblocks on many levels. For me, it all seems to have come together at this point in time...a "perfect storm" effect so to speak, but a positive storm!

Personally, I have had some great experiences this past semester working with various groups in discovering new tools and ways to use them. I have been charged up, jazzed up, or whatever you want to call it by the enthusiasm surrounding me. Summer promises even more opportunities to continue my rejuvenation.

Now to the graphic....

I am attending NECC this summer...mostly because it's so close, but more IMPORTANTLY, I finally am treating myself to an education technology experience on a national level. I want to see it (and all the exciting people that go with it), taste it, smell it, hear it, touch it...just because I can. I can't wait...it couldn't have come at a better time for me. And I promise it will be fodder for some posts! (yes, I heard those groans from some of you.)

The graphic represents the winning button that will symbolize the experience...it's going to given away in limited quantities from what I understand and I plan on getting one. (BL--you might say I am obsessive about getting one..finally I am obsessive about something!)

More about it. The Creator (who has given CC license to the design so I can post it!)

612.8 Hearing: Further Proof I'm Old!

Have read (and heard and seen!) about the ring tones that only young people hear...and more to the point, how students have added them to their cell phones so teachers can't hear. Sometimes also know as mosquito tones or teen buzz.

Here is a website that allows you to test what levels you can hear. And some more info available from the TechnoTuesday blog.

My results were pretty typical for an old dinosaur...but not the worst, so that made me feel a little better...hey, I'll take any little tidbit of age advantage I can at this point!

[the test doesn't open in district...everything else including the video does}

You can't remember my teens

But you can just about hear some of these tones that those youngsters are on about so you're feeling moderately smug. The highest pitched ultrasonic mosquito ringtone that I can hear is 10kHz

Find out which ultrasonic ringtones you can hear!

P.S. Drove my poor little Copper-boy to bury himself deeper and deeper into the couch cushions until I realized what was making him try to climb my back! (It was funny for just a minute and then I stopped the torture!)

005.2 Animoto Samples

I have gathered several examples of the kinds of things you can do with the free program Animoto and placed them in a link over on the blogroll. I will update as others share with me!

In the meantime, have fun yourself...all it takes is a group of visual files and a few minutes.

759.54 Anyone Need a Christmas Present Idea?

Diamond ear buds

Designed by Mr. Thomas Heyerdahl / Heyerdahl Jewellery / Oslo / Norway. “iDiamond ear” is made of 18 karat massive gold, set with a total of 204 diamonds / 1.65 carats.

$6,400.00

Hurry...only 1000 pairs available!

741.6 TypoGenerator: Making Graphics the Fun Way

Created these jpeg files with a simple little program called TypoGenerator. Uses are only limited by your imagination and how much patience you might have to keep re-submitting your words to have them re-mixed.

There is a larger file choice available also. Will be helpful in printing the objects, I imagine. I haven't tried printing yet...been too busy just trying different combinations of text, color, and background. You can find something that suits your taste or your needs!

I see using them in blogs and wikis and other webpages as titles, banners, place markers, or simply artwork "decorating" the space with words. I see making a special one and turning it into a button pin or even a magnet...maybe a "brand" to be shared and displayed.

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What about creating one or two files as verbal cues to be included in Animoto videos that introduce concepts or celebrate students and their successes?

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And how about printing some out and using them as signs pointing to books and other materials? Use keywords to point out popular types of books. Depending on how you style them, I bet the kids will follow them better than breadcrumbs to things they want!

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Thanks BB for sharing.

428.007 Using Technology with ESL Students: It Can Be Fun

I worked with some teachers of ESL and LEP students after school today. I had been invited to show them how to use some of our online resources and some technology to aid in improving the students' English. We looked at things across the curriculum---lots for reading and things like vocabulary-building, but we also looked at several things helpful for social studies, science and math.

We took content samples from our subscription databases including Facts on File, Teaching Books, Tumblebooks, Discovery Education videostreaming and worked in PowerPoint. Not that we produced slideshows, but we looked at how users can use visuals...be they clipart, photos, maps, etc. and manipulate them for use in PPTs and other things. The participants also found out how easy it is to download and use pieces of videostreaming.

One of the things I also emphasize in this type of staff development is to look "outside the box"... think about how a historical photo can be used to teach word meanings or use a science video to explain a particular idiom. And my favorite part...using picture books to introduce a concept or ideas for end products the students can create themselves!


Another idea that came out was that by including lots of visuals and silly bits of video, a teacher will have captured the attention of his or her students so that even MORE learning can take place. Our kids are visual learners these days and it is a shame not use as much "stuff" as possible.

And yes, we had an oops moment...something to always expect when working with technology. You gotta learn to roll with the punches. What was our oops?...the screen shot I made would NOT paste to the PPT so we could manipulate it. That was a first for me! But that's ok..we still practiced with the crop tool and the grouping technique and turned our "pretend" screen shots into the weirdest new bird---a wingless chicken with a Sphinx head! Names anyone?

One other thing I did...I challenged the group to "play" 15 minutes a day...mess around in an online resource, play with PPT tools, READ blogs (yep---showed them the blogroll!), but do SOMETHING with technology or explore an online resource EVERY day. Sounds simple enough, but I know...even 15 minutes will be hard to squeeze out of the days of most of these people...their plates are very full...but it WILL be worth it...they will benefit...and more importantly, so will their students!

How did we end this action-packed day? Animoto of course!
Sample: http://animoto.com/play/a6df2b2069bf9260b24c6c822387db3a
(I can't get it to embed!!)

I hope some of the participants will share their classroom ideas here in the comments...

...and you know what else...these things will work with ALL students!

023.8 TLA Distirct 8: Professional Development & a Little Social Networking!

The area TLA District 8 meeting was yesterday...around 275-300 members attended, I hear. It was a nice opportunity to learn and share information and visit with professional friends.


At the general session, among the welcomes including TLA president Steve Brown, we heard a little bit about the coming of Encyclopedia Britannica Online to all the school libraries as an addition of TexShare things we get as a result of the the recent legislation change. That is quite exciting!

The speaker for the general session was Rene Saldana, children's author and education professor at Texas Tech University (his blog). His new book is A Sky Full of Stars, a book about friendship. In his remarks, he shared with us some of his favorite books as a child. He spoke fondly of things like The Hardy Boys and admitted he liked Nancy Drew stories even more because of "one chick being able to do more than 2 guys" and he also loved the Little house books as well.


The most enduring moment for me was when he told us how he takes his 4-yr. old son to the public library only one a month because the child checks out 50+ books at a time (yea for that librarian/library) and that on the first day of "real" school, he intends to take his son FIRST to the library to meet the librarian before going to the classroom or filling out the "mountains of forms" required of parents!

If you would like to participate in a live chat with him about this book, go to http://alan-ya.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=109&Itemid=2 at 8:00 pm CENTRAL time on Wednesday Oct. 17th.

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Among the many sessions offered, I attended one on copy cataloging pointers and helpful sites. During the Q&A portion, I did find out the records from WorldCat are not downloadable as I suspected...it was not my inability to make it work after all! But the info for many items including AV can be found. "Copy & paste" is still faster than original cataloging.

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A colleague reported that in the session on transitioning from high school research to college research that bib cards are still required by many professors at her college (although she doesn't necessarily agree with that practice) and when asked how to help more traditional teachers understand there is NO difference between an article in print that is identical online, the speaker said "good luck and just keep plugging way one teacher at a time to make them understand and accept the online version!"
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Then it came time for my presentation on blogging. The room was overflowing and VERY warm, but the audience was so gracious and enthusiastic and attentive...even when we discovered that virtually ALL of the blogs (including my own!!) were blocked. Yup...the firewall and the technology department got us right where it hurt...nothing got thru except for Library Stuff and some Teacher Tube videos. This was the pitiful situation despite the careful planning by the people in charge to obtain the list of websites, blogs, etc. that I needed unblocked well in advance of the date.


Thank goodness for PowerPoint...I had planned for this situation because it had happened before...not this badly, but before nevertheless, and screen shots are not as good as the "real" thing, but with the enthusiasm of the audience and the slide show, we had a great discussion on the power of blogging and the many things that you can do with it. And needless to say, we a had a very frank discussion on what we all have to do in order to make administrations and tech people understand that this type of situation can NOT continue. It is unfair to our students...the very reason we were all in that hot room on a beautiful Saturday morning!

HANDOUT for those who did not get a copy!

004.716 Web Cams: Take a Look at the World

Over the last couple of weeks I have come across several web cam experiences while doing a little research and watching the boob tube. I tend to forget about web cam sites...there are hundreds now.

Thought you might like to see the ones that came up on my radar screen recently. They can sure be a help with animal studies, weather, and geography...and I know you can come up with all kinds of reasons to check them out and use them with your students and your own viewing pleasure!


This morning CBS Sunday Morning did a feature on The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. Female elephants are brought here to live out their lives in groups, with "best friends," and plenty of acreage. They have both Asian and African elephants who were circus performers and zoo residents. Thoe oweners set up the cameras so that we could watch the animals, but not disturb them in this comfortable habitat. There is a series of lessons that you can use along with video footage.


The National Park Service has a series of web cams throughout its parks for a variety of reasons. The ones noted on this map also record weather statistics. Included is information on how to use the information in lessons about air pollution, acid rain, and ozone issues.

Additional web cams (without air quality info) include Yellowstone, Glacier, and Yosemite.


Around ten years ago, I discovered the africam series of web cams and they helped turn me into the internet junkie I can be at times. most of the cams are trained on water holes where you can watch a virtual parade of animals pass by.

On the same site are a couple cams in North America...the Bald Eagle cam and the Osprey cam.

Also included at this site is a cam of the pyramids in Egypt...not the most exciting cam site unless you are into sunsets BUT they have some things helpful to students and one is a visual comparion chart of how large things are in relation to the pyramids...fun way to present point of view, big and little, or compare and contrast.

And take a look at this...a mashup of web cam photos and YouTube video technology! What a fun way to talk about Africa and its animals! There are more videos...check the blog here.

005.369 Microsoft PowerPoint: A Way to Work with Screen shots

Library girl tagged me to do a visual meme... a screen shot of my desktop...and since I TRY really hard to make this a learning & informational blog...I completed the task and am giving you the directions how to use a PowerPoint slide as a work surface for any photo...screenshot or digital photo.

She gave great directions for taking the screen shot.
Paste the shot to a blank slide in PowerPoint. Use the "crop tool" from the Picture toolbar to cut away excess parts of the picture you don't want or need...of course I didn't cut a lot way on this one because it was the desktop!
Save the results in whatever format you need or want. Remember jpeg is a great general format for lots of uses.
That's it..easy as that!

O yes...my desktop...I LOVE this Microsoft desktop...it has been around for a really long time and I put it on any computer that I can control the desktop. I try to keep the geranium uncovered (my attempt to keeping the desktop clean) and I use the glass window panes to park things I am working on..be they documents, PPTs, or catalog records! and it reminds me a lot of a favorite part of the country that is a long way away from here and that I don't get to visit anymore...sort of a way to daydream and work at the same time.

And yes, you might notice my trashcan ...lower right corner...my homage to the many "happy" days I spent on MACs!

Ok, I guess I fulfilled the meme... I tag anyone who is interested!

025.04 Google: A Celebration

Happy 9th birthday to Google...can you believe it!

From the site:
Google opened its doors in September 1998. The exact date when we celebrate our birthday has moved around over the years, depending on when people feel like having cake.

I really don't remember BG (before Google!) I have certainly taken advantage of much of its growth and development. Here's the timeline from the site itself!

P.S. Don't you just love the clever artwork each and every time on special dates? I would love to know those creative people...bet they are fun!

155.2 Nerd Test: Where Are You on the Scale?

Ok...I bit on another one of these because of a blogging buddy...no big surprises here...technically I am not a nerd....like anyone in their right mind would think I would be!
One field does indicate I do have some expertise/knowledge...duh, been studying it for 40+ years! Calls me a "cool geek"....hummmm?

If you are a "techie" or a big sci-fi fan, this is probably the test for you, for sure!





It was fun...and did make me think about some things!

Caution: it is a tad long, but not too time-consuming.

005. 2 ANIMOTO: Free Video Web Application

Oh, boy! I found another fun little FREE program!
Make a movie out of your photos in less than five minutes...no kidding...with music and all kinds of flashy moves!

ANIMOTO
http://animoto.com/play/a462c2d1fe46475b480b18b8b6e7f6e3
this link is the movie I made to learn the process using the only batch of pictures I had handy...hence the reason for it only being 26 seconds long.
If it doesn't play because of a password issue, try one of theirs...I saw a cool little movie about skateboarding in the preview pane. It is a simple 1 - 2 - 3 process.

Of course, at this moment, I am not sure it will be available inside my school district...guess I will find out tomorrow.

All the interesting techniques with the pictures, Animoto did that...it does ask you to highlight a few of the pictures for extra punch...and you can choose one of their music files...not too many to my taste, but, hey...it's free!! and it does all the work for you...so I am not complaining! (You can use your own music file--be sure you are not violating copyright!)

Go have some fun...it is E-A-S-Y.


P.S. It took me longer to create this post than it did my little movie...of course typing can be a bit of a problem when your space bar all of a sudden decides to stick! o, brother...technology is fickle, isn't it?

371.33 Blogging Class: The Whys and Wherefores in the Library

We are sitting here in class learning about blogs. The class is made up of librarians-in-training at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. Don't they look like hard working librarians?

They are looking at samples of blogs and getting sense of what blogs contain and what bloggers write about.

At the beginning of class, because they are a new group pf students, we popcorned out what comes to mind when you say the word "LIBRARY." Their answers included...resource, book, books, information, technology, FUN, interactive, access, reading.... What are your thoughts?

One of the students brought a very important question? What do you do if parents of your students do not want their picture on the web? (we had been viewing the video from the elementary school's student blogs). I suggested doing audio podcasts only in the beginning or making blogging an after school elective! What suggestions can you give this person for her concern?

The students are looking at different types of blogs and noting the similarities and differences found in blogs. I will post some of their findings at a later date.

I had fun...I hope they did too (and I hope they learned a little something about blogs as well!)

302.2 Communication Power: Why Not Use It?

This week, I was reminded about the power of radio in FDR’s time. 75 years ago he made his first presidential nomination acceptance speech in person…the first candidate to do so…took a plane ride to get there…and it was covered by radio. Of course he made communication history as well with his famous fireside chats.

An of course, many of us digital immigrants can remember first hand all the hulabaloo there was over the Kennedy-Nixon televised debate and the “famous” shadow problem. And how we all were riveted to the TV during those terrible days in November only 3 years later.

So why were “we” so shocked that blogs and other web pages were important elements in the last campaign or two and that this go-round’s candidates are also busy creating digital videos that show up on YouTube or the nearest cell phone!

Why would we expect them not to use the latest (and greatest?) methods of communicating to reach as many voters as possible with their plans for our country’s future?

So…why can’t “we” accept that it is JUST as necessary for our schools to use these tools in educating as many students as possible for our country’s future…and theirs!

031.02 Seven Wonders of the World: The New Bunch

100 million votes later and the list of the new Seven Wonders of the World was revealed today.

And the "winners" in no particular order are:

The Great Wall of China

Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janerio

Machu Picchu [slow loading site, but fabulous pix]

The Colosseum in Rome

The Taj Mahal

Petra, Jordan [must admit this one eluded me--had to read up on it!]

The Chichen Itza pyramid in Yucatan, Mexico.

My personal favorite (hence my choice for picture) is the Great Wall...I am especially fascinated by the thought that it is the only man-made structure the astronauts can see from space! My only claim to fame of any of these magnificent structures is that I have been to a "cousin" of Chichen Itza.... the pyramids right outside of Mexico City...so impressive and SO scary when I was climbing back down!!

The Egyptian pyramids ware the only remaining structures from the ancient Seven Wonders of the world and were not included in this poll. They are what they are on their own---a continuing wonder.

No "U.S." representative...the only one mentioned in the early news stories...the Statue of Liberty was way at the bottom of the list...and does that really count because it was a gift from France? I'm not concerned...we have have contributed in our own way to the world...and besides, remember we have only existed a mere 231 years...a baby amongst some of these other civilizations and their structures!

Betcha got a favorite?

371.207 School Leadership Day: What Administrators Need to Know about the 2.0 World of Learning

Scott McCleod has asked bloggers to write about 2.0 digital technology learning for 21st century students for the benefit of school administrators.

The leaders in the blogging world and some other bloggers I found responding to the call can better list the reasons why and the advantages of this change in educational thought.
My contribution to this plan is this...I will provide the links to these important thoughts
Doug Johnson
Scott McCleod
Carolyn Foote
Chris Lehmann, a principal who may not have been writing today directly for this purpose, but had some relevant thoughts for all of us proposing these changes nevertheless including:

"...I do think that the educators in my aggregator can change the world. But I think we all have to understand that a) change is slower than we'd want, and b) to change the world, we have to be as close to the ideal versions of ourselves as we can. We have to be passionate and dedicated and smart and inclusive and tireless and humble. We have to be better tomorrow at being who we are than we are today. Our ideas and work can change the world and make a difference, but only if we are willing to constantly change ourselves...."

Coordinator's Office, a blogger since 2004
Jeanette Johnson, a principal who speaks from the other side and lists things for US to be sure and consider!

... and I will kindly ask anyone in an administrative position who happens to read my blog for whatever reason

...to PLEASE take a few moments to read what these learned and well-versed folks have proposed for the benefit of all our students.

...and to please think about how they, in their various positions of administrative authority, can bring about the necessary changes to allow this type of learning to take place in our schools.

...and to ask questions and to ask for samples and to look for these types of learning opportunities that might already be going on in their sphere of influence.

I promise you will not have to read much, look far, or be afraid. Good "stuff" is happening!

Technorati tag: schooltechleadership

371.3 Digital Immigrants: More Background

In case you want to review information about digital immigrants and how they think and how they learn, here is a link with some good background information, some online samples of digital immigrant format materials in the public sector, and some vocabulary you may want to know. Topics include blogs, wikis, and gaming. There is a good "this vs. that" list of concepts to review.

Thanks to my colleague FM for passing along this link.

You can also review information from this previous post.

973.0992 American Presidents: Interesting Stuff the 2.0 Way

One of the first blogs I started following a few years ago was (and is) the American Presidents Blog. Just full of presidential facts, figures, and trivia...be still my ol' social studies heart! So much fun to read!

You can search thru the blog by president's name...first name alpha order There are also several key historical events (such as World Wars I & II or Cold War) and terms (such as First Ladies, impeachment, or Presidential Libraries) to use in searching for material.

A recent post described a 1500+ item donation of Lincoln memorabilia to the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum by a private individual. In the collection, is one of Lincoln's top hats, the gloves he wore that fateful night to the theater, and some early handwriting including some math problems and poetry. Can't wait for the opportunity to see more online.

Also attached to the post was a newspaper announcement about the acquisition and what sadden me personally were all the negative reactions to the new collection. So many readers were not impressed or thought it was a useless and wasteful purchase. Yes, I know I'm a nut for stuff like this, but I still think not understanding the value of all these artifacts and "primary sources" of history is sad.

In another post that I found wandering around the blog is the earliest recording of a presidential voice...that of Benjamin Harrison in 1889. It is part of a collection of presidential speeches and recordings from the Vincent Voice Library at Michigan State University. The library has created an online gallery of some of these presidential recordings and are available for use in mp3 or realaudio formats.

[Personal note (please bear with me!): This piece of history is particularly interesting to me because Harrison served on the staff of my great-great-grandfather during the Civil War. I have a photograph of the two of them together and now I have heard the voice of someone who stood in the same room with my relative. A sort of of 6-degrees thing courtesy of the web, don't you think!]

It's these kinds of online resources that make me appreciate even more (if that is possible) the WWW and all the forward-thinking individuals who do what it takes to bring the information to me.