February 2009 Blog Posts (194)

Best Sites For Webquests, Flashcards, ESL Worksheets, Carnival

I've got a few more "The Best..." lists. Also, remember that you can access all two hundred of them at:

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/about/my-best-of-series/

Here are the latest:

The Best Places To Create (And Find) Internet Scavenger Hunts & Webquests

(http://tinyurl.com/dkz73v)

The Best Sites For Free ESL/EFL Hand-Outs & Worksheets

(http://tinyurl.com/chtwyy)

The Best Non-Web Resources, Online Tools, & Websites… Continue

Added by Larry Ferlazzo on February 25, 2009 at 6:54pm — No Comments

Share your Gr8Tweets for the month of March

For the month of March, a group of educators and lifelong learners will be picking a

"Tweet of the day"

and Re-Tweeting it with the tag:…

Continue

Added by David Truss on February 25, 2009 at 5:14pm — No Comments

Anatomy and Physiology Body Systems made interesting for seniors

I teach A&P for highschool seniors...I created a neat activity for exploring the Skeletal System. The students will work with a partner and "roam" throughout the building trying to find answers for a scavenger hunt. They are encouraged to bring a cell phone or camera to document some of the answers they discover. I will include a couple of questions as an example.....

Skeletal System Scavenger Hunt

**Ask Mr. Simmons, “The Simmonator”, if he ever had an injury due to… Continue

Added by Carolyn Mize on February 25, 2009 at 12:06pm — 3 Comments

There and back again

Blogs are absolutely great. I posted some comments about Dimdim and some of the issues I had. I was contacted by a representative of Dimdim given some information. Dimdim has posted a new version and it is awesome. The presenter desktop sharing works very well. The video is very clean and I need a new mike, but that is my issue not theirs. We are moving forward with testing it out doing small group staff development. I show and tell and the audience does and asks questions. We are looking for… Continue

Added by Bob.Snyder on February 25, 2009 at 9:54am — No Comments

Using student created video word problems as assessment

I'm currently enrolled in my Masters in Educational Technology at the University of British Columbia, and it's a wonderful program, I highly recommend it. One of the things we are currently looking into is something called the Jasper series, which is essentially a series of videos intended to bring real applications of mathematics into the classroom.

The series has a set up a problem in the real world (like rescuing an injured Eagle, etc...) and students are given a bunch of… Continue

Added by David Wees on February 25, 2009 at 5:30am — No Comments

My Inspiration

So I know this certain teacher that is just an absolute inspiration to me and I want to tell everyone why. Here's my very HUMBLE and highly inadequate attempt to do so. I don't want to embarrass her too much, as I think she would be by such types of public praise, so I will just call her "Teacher" which is a term she holds dear anyway.

Teacher,

You simply amaze me. I wish I had a clone that could spend every day in your classroom and just soak up your passion and love… Continue

Added by Michelle TeGrootenhuis on February 24, 2009 at 8:30pm — No Comments

Video in Wiki Maths Text

I have added video to the wiki, using EmbedVideo extension of mediawiki.

I have posted a video instructing an example of the Completing the Square technique.

I intend to record more video lessons and embed them into the math text, so it is like a book and a teacher all in one.

Of course you can not ask the video questions, but… Continue

Added by Geoff St. Pierre on February 24, 2009 at 5:59pm — No Comments

We Are Teachers Microgrant

Hello everyone! I would greatly appreciate if you could take a few minutes to vote for my microgrant application at the We Are Teachers.com website. My microgrant is entitled, "Whose Line is It?" and is about using fine arts in digital storytelling activities.

Please click on this link to vote - my grant is the last one on the 1st page:

http://www.weareteachers.com/web/weareteachers/vote

The… Continue

Added by Kimberly Caise on February 24, 2009 at 5:00pm — No Comments

Videoblogging/Podcast Project: Environmental Education Week April 12-18, 2009 and Be Water Wise!

Over the next couple of weeks, I will be producing a series of video Public Service Announcements with students to education and promote Environmental Education Week in April.

If you would like to collaborate on a videoblogging or podcasting project for Environmental Education Week or EarthDay, let me know. (EE Week Student PSA YouTube… Continue

Added by Jack Olmsted on February 24, 2009 at 3:30pm — No Comments

Eric Holder and the History of Civil Rights: How Do Americans Talk About Race?

In light of Eric Holder’s recent speech on race, Americans find ourselves wondering: what is the best way to talk about race? Check out Remix America’s latest blog post to learn how Civil Rights leaders in the past have approached the issue.

Check out the Remix America blog ( http://blog.remixamerica.org ) for the full text of the… Continue

Added by Erika Johansson on February 24, 2009 at 2:00pm — No Comments

New to this

Hi, I'm new to this...what have you found to be most helpful?

Added by Sunni Dobbs on February 24, 2009 at 12:03pm — No Comments

Students, School, and Social Networking

I've been engaged in a conversation with some of my fellow tech coordinators in my state about social networking, more specifically Facebook, and how it all fits into schools and the curriculum. Some of the schools have blocked sites like this and a few others, definitely the minority, have left them open. The discussion has ranged from the blocking issue to teaching how to use Facebook and the deeper issues of privacy and posting in general.

Here's my take: Our students are going to… Continue

Added by Martin Sieverding on February 24, 2009 at 11:49am — 2 Comments

character posters

In class last week we created these character posters using a picture of ourselves using Microsoft excel and then putting a word and it's definition on the poster. I really enjoyed this project because it made us think about what different emotions a picture could convey to people. This project also allowed for a lot of personal touches while still being under a specific… Continue

Added by Julia Counts on February 23, 2009 at 9:23pm — 1 Comment

Remix

After reading the article in combination w/ our classroom discussion, I am reminded of story I watched last night. The AP news is suing the artist who created the Obama posters. The AP insists the artist violated copyright laws because the artist used a photo taken by a photographer working for AP news. Before class and before reading the article, I agreed w/ the Associated Press. If the artist has made money from this photo, I believed the photographer and AP news deserved a portion of the… Continue

Added by Kelly Roath on February 23, 2009 at 7:23pm — No Comments

Promoting Live.Classroom20.com

Just added a news article to my school website promoting the Skype and VoiceThread sessions at the archives for live.classroom20.com as a follow up to an Alan November - local workshop that a few of our teachers and administrators… Continue

Added by Chris Wherley on February 23, 2009 at 2:25pm — No Comments

The best of the best?

Last Friday a colleague emailed me asked what would I say are the three best pieces of technology available to teachers? These questions really gave me pause to think about the technology I deal with everyday as an Instructional Technologist responsible for training teachers in the latest technology we have available. If I went back to the classroom tomorrow and was told I could take any three pieces of technology with me, what would I take?

In my response I assumed I would have a… Continue

Added by Bob.Snyder on February 23, 2009 at 12:34pm — 3 Comments

Week 4

All of the tools are very useful first of all. As a P.E. teacher I would use the piZap tool and thy free music site. I like the piZap tool because i can take pictures of successful athletes and add stuff to them and make my own posters in a sense. I made one with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. I played with a font, and put it at the bottom of the picture, and it says "Teamwork." The other program is the music. Music is always used in sports and it helps get people going in a sense. It would… Continue

Added by Ryan M Smith on February 22, 2009 at 10:51pm — No Comments

21st century skills

Here's a call to arms to all educators in the U.S. to get on with the show!

http://www.infinitethinking.org/2009/02/friday-5-21st-century-skills.html

We need more teachers using the tools of Web 2.0 and making the shift towards educating using the three C's that Steve preaches!

Added by Cathy Pettit on February 22, 2009 at 7:34pm — No Comments

Combining Technology with Service Learning and Audience

I have been creating podcasts with my students for almost a year now, and I have witnessed some wonderful content being produced, but I haven't seen anything like what I just witnessed this past week! We have just wrapped up our Making a Difference at Home program, and the students recorded their reflections about how successful they were at implementing their action plans. Most of our podcasts are roughly 6-7 minutes long; however, this time I received so much content from the students that I… Continue

Added by Mike Poluk on February 22, 2009 at 4:54pm — No Comments

ICE Conference 2009

During this approaching week, the Illinois Computing Educators Conference, the big Midwest tech conference for teachers, administrators, technologists, and tech vendors will be taking place at Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, IL. I've attended this conference for the past 5 years, last year being the exception, when I was back in the classroom and very much out of the tech loop. This is a 4 day event, but Thursday and… Continue

Added by Gary Latman on February 22, 2009 at 2:00pm — No Comments