Learning Movie Maker

Today I set out to teach myself Windows Movie Maker. Eight years with a pc and until now I haven't had a need to use it. Well, I have been given a video assignment, so now is the time and here is my first stab at it. Most I did by figuring out the features myself, but when I got stuck I went to these resources: Windows Movie Makers and Editing Video with Windows Movie Maker 2.0. For music I went to Freeplay Music.

Oh, and this is also the first time I have every posted anything to YouTube. Welcome your constructive comments. Thanks!

Spelling Mania

Many of you are Spelling City fans, as well you should be if you're an elementary school teacher teaching spelling. This site is the best I have seen for offering many different teaching and reinforcement activities using words from your own lists and curriculum. So if you haven't seen it yet, do check out Spelling City.


After that, I encourage you to try these other spelling sites. No accounts are needed to use them.

Literacy Zone's English Spelling Games: This one has interactive stories and 14 spelling games addressing such spelling skills as plurals, clusters and blends, synonyms, prefixes and suffixes and homophones.

Mr. Nussbaum's Everglades Spelling: I liked this one because I could pick the animal I wanted to be and race against the others to fill in the missing letters in words as they appear.

Gumleaf Games Word Safari: This one has different challenge levels and I can see kids really liking it. Once I figured out I had to use the arrow keys to guide my little guy through the air (think "Up") to the correct letters while dodging the incorrect ones, I had a great time.

Candlelight Stories Stellar Speller: This one has kids spell the words for pictures they see. I think it might be good for partner work because some kids might not have the prior knowledge to know the exact word for the picture. It is like hangman in that it gives the number of letters for each word.

Zaner-Bloser's Spelling Connections: Beside complete the sentence and word sorting activities, this site has a proof-reading game where students find errors in prepared text and correct them using proofing marks and proper spelling.

Language Arts Spell It: This one is a collection offering about 40 spelling games including a number of quizzes and bees.

Photo credit to Mr Gustafson on WikiMedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chelsea,_England,_Spelling_Lesson,_1912.JPG

Our Amazing PLC Team Challenge

Maybe you have heard of or seen The Amazing Race, a CBS television show. I haven't watched the program but from promos I have seen I get the sense that teams have to travel from place to place and complete some tasks along the way rather like the scavenger hunts we used to do for entertainment as kids. It is with this idea in mind that my colleague and I designed this morning's hour long technology staff development activity.

Our goal was to expose our teachers to a number of available technologies in a way that encouraged them to learn from each other in a non-threatening way. We came up with the idea of assigning a different series of tasks to each of four teams. We hoped that accomplishing the tasks together would give them experience with procuring and using the various equipment we have and teach them some skills they could use in their classrooms with their students. And so that all the participants could benefit from what each of teams learned, we challenged them to come back and use the technologies to present what they had discovered to their peers.

As it is in every school our staff has a wide range of comfort levels and experience using computers and digital technology. We decided to group the teachers for this challenge in their newly formed Professional Learning Committees. Looking at these groups we could see that each group had some early adopters, some willing followers, and at least one novice or technophobe. It seemed like the best way to go. With any luck the teams would work together, learn some new things and have a positive technology experience that would bolster their confidence, increasing the likelihood they be able to see way to use it in their lessons.


Here are the challenges we devised:

Team 1: Checked out a document camera and an LCD projector. They were to take these to a classroom and come up with ways to use the camera to teach a lesson with pattern blocks and read aloud a picture book.

Team 2: Also checked out a document camera and an LCD projector. This team was directed to use these tools to demonstrate an activity and to show student work.

Team 3: Found a YouTube video related to a unit they were currently teaching and went to our tech support wiki to find ways to show that video to a class on an interactive white board without actually showing it in YouTube.

Team 4: Checked out a laptop cart, logged into the laptops, took a screenshot depicting the drive where they would save if they were students, pasted it into a Word document and printed it to the media center printer, which they had to find and add.

It's likely you're thinking these are pretty elementary tasks, but for most of our teachers these were fairly new experiences and they only had a half an hour to complete them before returning to the media center where they shared their stuff using the IWB, document camera, and LCD projector. I am quite pleased to report they all did an amazing job completing their tasks and most followed the given directions. Team 1 showed us their pattern lesson, but then they went on to tell us how they would be able to take the camera around to project what individual students would do on the floor as that's where they usually work with manipulatives. Team 2 decided expand on their assigned to use a digital camera to take photos of each other using the demonstrating how students would use the document camera. Team 3 demonstrated how to paste a YouTube link into SafeShareTV to show the video without all the YouTube distractions, and Team 4 proudly displayed their printed screenshots. They also relayed what they had learned about how students might feel when logging into the laptops...some get in quickly while others aren't able to and may fall behind if the teacher goes ahead with directions.


When asked if they had learned something they hadn't known before, all the teachers raised their hands. When asked if they had learned something they could use with students right away, most raised their hands. When asked if they had fun, almost all raised their hands. The best question I heard at the end was, "When can we have another one of these?" Yes! I hope the answer is, "Soon."

Reflect and resolve -- Twitter's impact

Created by Oatmeal

This morning I sent out a Happy New Year message to my teachers with a link to How to Survive 2010-Digitally explaining how I had learned more and been able to support them better in the last year than ever before because of my new found connections via Twitter, RSS feeds and blogs. I encouraged them to explore Ozge Karaoglu's suggestions for new year's resolutions. Ozge's resolutions are approachable, not only because they are few in number and reasonably achievable, but also because she has shared several links to helpful, user-friendly resources.

How did I come across Ozge's wonderful post? Through Twitter (via @AuntyTech,) of course! As you can see by my "Twitter addiction score" I am not yet entirely consumed. I use Twitter primarily for professional connections, though I am beginning to find it useful for some personal and civic interests as well. But I must agree with Ozge's assertion that "Twitter has been undoubtedly the best tool I started using in 2009..." My 280+ Twitter connections to delightful, smart, engaging and generous individuals and groups have become invaluable to my professional and personal growth. Without them I would have had a hard time finding the all wonderful blogs that feed my Google reader and I certainly would not have had access to as many resources to share with my staff.

My goals for 2010 are:

• to improve and strengthen my PLN connections
• to look for new ways to support my teachers at their individual comfort levels using technology in their classrooms
• to nudge each of my teachers to a higher level of engagement with the content they're teaching using technology

so that teachers and their students will benefit from more opportunities for collaboration with each other and engagement with the world.

Learning to use Picasa

Got a little spare time and some photos to organize or share?

Here again are direct links to Atomic Learning video tutorials. These lessons demonstrate how to begin to use the free online photo editing and sharing tool Picasa 3.5. In addition to these tutorials, the Atomic Learning Picasa series has many more showing how to add labels, edit and share photos. While the first couple of links in this list may be freely viewed, you must be signed into Atomic Learning to view the others.

• Picasa 3.5
  
  
  
  • A. Get Started
    
    
    
    • Downloading Picasa 3.5
    
    
    • Exploring the Picasa interface
    
    
    • Importing photos from a digital camera
    
    
    • Importing photos from a removable drive
    
    
    • Importing screen captures
    
    
    • Adding photos from a folder on your hard drive
    
    
    • Controlling how folders are monitored
    
    
    • Selecting which file types are displayed
  
  
  
  
  • B. Organize
    
    
    
    • Organizing photos in folders
    
    
    • Editing Folder properties
    
    
    • Creating a new album
    
    
    • Adding photos to an album
    
    
    • Deleting photos from an album
    
    
    • Editing Album properties
    
    
    • Sorting photos
    
    
    • Sorting albums and folders
    
    
    • Hiding and unhiding folders
    
    
    • Hiding and unhiding pictures
    
    
    • Password-protecting a collection
    
    
    • Deleting photos
    
    
    • Recovering deleted photos
    
    
    • Renaming photos
    
    
    • Searching for photos
    
    
    • Viewing Photo properties
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

Managing the Digital Classroom

I LOVE this Voicethread conversation posted by Jeff Utecht! The 33 participants are teachers at International School Bangkok completing their fourth COETAIL (Certificate of Educational Technology and Information Literacy) course. These teachers are doing a terrific job of exploring ways to use the technology they have available to offer life-relevant learning experiences for their students and sharing what they have found, whether successful or frustrating, using a free tool collaboration tool that just about any teacher with Internet access can use in his or her classroom.

This is a fantastic example of using a tool you're trying to master to share with others what you know. Did I say that right? What I want to convey is that we need to use the tools we have at hand for every professional development exercise. I am no expert but I believe teaching someone how to use an application or gadget just so they know how to use it will not be as effective as using an application or gadget to teach a life or professional skill.

Anyway, watch, read, listen to this conversation* about how to manage technology gadgets in your classroom. I can assure you. You will come away with more information and understanding than you have now. Thank you, Jeff for sharing!


*If you are using a Windows PC and wish to make the screen bigger, type Ctrl/Shift/+ until the screen is large enough. If you have an Apple computer substitute the Apple Command key for Ctrl.

ActivInspire tutorial videos from Atomic Learning

I am trying something new. Atomic Learning now features direct link sharing to subscribers, so because we have installed 10 new Promethean ActivBoards this year I am embedding links to their ActivInspire videos. (Note: the first three links are active without an Atomic Learning account. You must be logged into AL for the rest of the links to work.) My plan is to direct our teachers to this site as kind of a one stop AL ActivInspire shop. My hope is that readers will find the videos helpful as well as see yet another way blogs can be useful. My fear is that the formatting AL provides in its code make the list look long and intimidating. What do you think?

• ActivInspire Studio - Professional
  
• A. ActivInspire Intro
  
• Introducing ActivInspire and the Dashboard


• Using the ActivInspire Studio window


• B. ActivInspire Studio Basics
  
• Creating a flipchart


• Using the Main Toolbox


• Opening and viewing a flipchart


• Importing a flipchart from PowerPoint^®


• Importing a flipchart from other types of files


• Changing the page view & using page zoom


• C. ActivInspire Studio Browsers
  
• Introducing browsers


• Using the Page Browser


• Using the Resource Browser


• Using the Object Browser


• Using the Notes Browser


• Using the Property Browser


• Using the Action Browser


• Using the Voting Browser


• D. Flipcharts
  
• Writing on a flipchart


• Adding and formatting text


• Inserting and deleting pages


• Inserting a snapshot of your desktop


• Inserting resources


• Adding a resource to the Resource Library


• Using grids


• Showing and hiding grids


• Using the Grid Designer


• Creating page notes


• Saving and printing a flipchart


• Publishing flipcharts


• Adding an image to a flipchart


• Adding a link to a file or Web site


• Editing and removing links


• Adding sound to your flipchart


• Inserting a movie


• E. Objects
  
• Adding shapes


• Changing the size of a shape


• Changing an object's shape


• Grouping and ungrouping objects


• Copying, pasting and duplicating objects


• Cutting and pasting


• Deleting text and objects


• Introducing layers


• Stacking objects


• Adding labels


• F. Action & Interaction
  
• Creating Containers


• Creating Restrictors


• Adding a Command action


• Adding a Page action


• Adding an Object action


• Adding a Voting Action


• Applying an action using drag & drop


• Using Express Poll


• Using the Insert Question Wizard for prepared questions


• G. Resources
  
• Inserting templates


• Inserting a resource into the Resource Library


• Importing Resource packs


• Exporting Resource packs


• H. Tools
  
• Annotating over the desktop


• Using Desktop tools


• Using the Camera


• Using the Clock


• Using Handwriting Recognition


• Using Shape Recognition


• Using Magic Ink


• Using Tickertape


• Using the Revealer


• Using the On-screen Keyboard


• Using the Spotlight


• Using Teacher Lock


• Using the Dice Roller


• Using the Calculator


• Using the Ruler


• Using the Protractor


• Using the Compass


• Setting the XY Origin


• Using the Connector tool


• Using the Screen Recorder


• Using the Sound Recorder


• Accessing the Web browser


• Spell-checking your flipchart


• I. Profiles
  
• Changing your profile


• Customizing the layout


• Customizing the Main Toolbox


• Defining your own buttons

A Teacher's Guide To Web 2.0 at School

I know...I have been away for a LONG time. While I know I need not offer excuses I do want to explain that the month before school begins again is a crazy time for techs, so when I haven't been working I have been attending to the rest of my life (including that entertainment piece of it referenced in my last post.) But now that it is the first day of school, I am easing my way back into my professional connections and thinking about how to move myself and my collegues to our next steps. Check out this SlideShare Presentation from Sacha Chua:

A Teacher's Guide To Web 2.0 at School

View more documents from Sacha Chua.

I'm an Ambivalent Networker

This is what the Pew Internet & American Life Project has determined about me:

"If you are an Ambivalent Networker, you have folded mobile devices into how you run your social life, whether through texting or online social networking tools. You also rely on ICTs for entertainment. At the same time – perhaps because of the volume of digital pings from others – you may sometimes find all your connectivity to be intrusive. You are confident in your ability to troubleshoot your various information devices and services."

Not sure what I think about that...I don't think I RELY on ICTs for entertainment, but maybe I do. It depends on how entertainment is defined. I love to garden, walk and play with my dog, spend time with friends, knit, curl up with a good book. None of that is reflected in the above analysis. When I am not doing any of those things, then yes, I would say I enjoy sitting in front of a ballgame on TV, dog snugged up against my hip, computer on my lap with Twitter, Facebook, Tetris all going at once. Could I do without most technologies in my personal life? Probably, but I have to say have them makes it easier to connect with my far away family and colleagues and I would miss these connections if they were no longer available.

What Kind of Tech User Are You?


Posted using ShareThis

A vendor who "gets it"

My favorite blogger this week in Michael Summers. His blog SMaRT Education Initiative-1 to1 shows amazing insight into the challenges teachers and school face when attempting to teach with technology. Not a teacher but certainly a educator, Michael understands that teachers who don't use tecnology in their classrooms aren't backward or lazy. They just don't see how the technology available fits into the learning processes happening in their classrooms. He believes "it doesn't matter what we put into our classrooms, meaningful technology integration cannot work and will not work unless and until teachers are a part of the design process at the outset because teachers, not technology, will dictate the success of our efforts." And in order for teachers to want to be involved in the design process they must know "why technology is important; why technology is meaningful, why technology engages our students and why technology improves student outcomes. Because if [they] don't get beyond why, [they]'ll never get to how."

Standing up and telling or even showing teachers why and how isn't going to move them to adoption. No, teachers learn by doing and teaching. We must give them models to follow, opportunities to explore and practice, success and failures to share. New and improved equipment would certainly be a plus, but with limited resources it is not always an option.

Michael is a vendor whose job it is to sell technology to schools, but he argues, "Sometimes scarcity and lack are a good thing. It forces you to make better decisions, to focus on what's really important and to make better use of what you have. In the case of technology, some schools and school districts are woefully underfunded and the technology just isn't there or the technology that is there is out of date and hopelessly obsolete. But in many schools and school districts, the threshold issue isn't really the absence of technology, or the amount of technology, but how the technology that is already there is being used. Is this technology being used as a 21st century learning tool to promote deeper, more meaningful interaction with the subject mater, increased classroom collaboration and communication, more student-driven, project-based learning, innovative instructional practices and more differentiated instruction?"

Sometimes, I know I have been caught in this, we confuse of 21st century learning with 21st century tools. Here we have someone whose job it is to sell us the tools reminding us that whatever tools we have or use, our primary task is to teach 21st century skills.