April 2009 Blog Posts (144)

Using free Web 2.0 tools in education

A few friends and I have been working at a startup building a tool for very large conversations online. We've only recently introduced it to the world of education, and we are very excited at the possibilities. Students as young as eighth grade have found it easy enough to use. The importance of this type of technology is that it challenges students how to really think about what they want to say; that sounds simple, but the results are surprising.

It can be used when teachers want… Continue

Added by Lucas Cioffi on April 6, 2009 at 1:45pm — No Comments

The Power of Mnemonics

Over on blog.funnelbrain.com, there is a great post about the Power of Mnemonics. Explanations and mnemonic devices are key features of the FunnelBrain platform and help enable collaborative learning among students.

There are also a couple links to cool Mnemonic sites including Amanda’s Mnemonics Page, which has… Continue

Added by Joe on April 6, 2009 at 10:55am — No Comments

TEACHING TECHNIQUES- Student Survey Sheet

TEACHING TECHNIQUE-Student Survey Sheet

I took an assignment teaching HTML and Web Site design at a local technical college. The classes were going well but something inspired me to try this concept.

I created a questionnaire. The questions were judiciously created. I had questions on the list in which I was not really interested, such as; what is your favorite color?’ what is your favorite season of the… Continue

Added by William Lambert on April 6, 2009 at 5:50am — No Comments

Meditation ? What you May SEE - Part II 명상으로 알게 되는 것 (제2부)

"You are by ‘nature’ a peaceful being.are in ‘essence’ a silent being.are at the very ‘core’of your being completely and utterly still. You are the still point of awareness around which the world spins".So say most of the world’s wisdom paths.right now, as the ‘world’ tells you of its various ills and woes it’s likely you feel far from being peaceful, being silent and being still.purpose of meditation isnot to make a journey, not to work hard in some effortful inner endeavour, it is simply to… Continue

Added by James Edward Charles Webber on April 5, 2009 at 9:20pm — No Comments

Checking this site out..

I'm not in the education field, but I am working with a couple teachers with the school district's Joomla web site. Thus, the invitation to join here... more later as I figure out what this site is about and if it will be of help to me. I suppose, at the least, it will be good exposure to what's being discussed for web technologies in education... as it says on the home page!

Added by Kathy on April 5, 2009 at 5:44pm — No Comments

I can't even think of a good analogy...

...to the phenomenon of proliferating social networks.

Well, maybe
it's like...
everyone's starting a club, and spending most of their time trying to recruit members.
OR
everyone's starting a band, and spending most of their time trying to get an audience.

Added by Ms. G on April 5, 2009 at 12:22pm — No Comments

Video Documentary Rock Stars of Reading Part 3: Lane Smith

Author/Illustrator Lane Smith (on JOMB) walks us through his thought process and style decisions for two books he's working on that will be published in 2009 -- Princess Hyacinth (The Surprising Tale of a Girl Who Floated) with Florence Parry Heide due out September 22, 2009; and The Big… Continue

Added by Just One More Book! Children's Book Podcast on April 5, 2009 at 12:01pm — No Comments

Rock Stars of Reading Part 3: Lane Smith

Added by Just One More Book! Children's Book Podcast on April 5, 2009 at 11:59am — No Comments

Global Warming

I finally got around to watching "Inconvenient Truth". Al Gore offers the most cogent argument documenting the progression of global warming and its consequences I have ever seen. This is a must-see video that should be shared with friends, colleagues, and students.

Added by Gary Latman on April 5, 2009 at 10:09am — 1 Comment

The Grammar Translation Method

History

The Grammar Translation Method is an old method which was originally used to teach dead languages which explains why it focuses mainly on the written form at the expense of the oral form. It was designed according to the faculty psychology approach which was very popular during the 18th and 19th century. It contended that ” mental discipline was essential for strengthening the powers of the mind”. The way to do this was through learning classical literature of the Greeks and… Continue

Added by Mohammed Rhalmi on April 5, 2009 at 10:00am — No Comments

Crossposting and networking

Today I would like to write about my problems to keep pace with the new developments in social networking. I am a member of Facebook, keep contact in skype, have been twittering for quite some time now, having courses on at least 6 moodle installations , 4 Mahara ePortfolio platforms as I work for 2 schools, in teacher training and online training and am registered to lots of forums .... which I try to follow regularly... all this has been giving me precious insight in new ways of teaching and… Continue

Added by Sigi on April 5, 2009 at 8:44am — No Comments

my life

I am an 8 year old boy

Added by The ARK on April 4, 2009 at 5:51am — No Comments

Does any one know about how to present current events material

I am doing 2 lectures & having students do some kind of activity about current events. I was thinking about talking about soverignty & failed states, different players in international relations, organization they should know about and then having them do and activity with specific newspaper articles. Having them get into smaller groups with common themes, answers some questions, & tell the class about what they learned.

Anyone have suggestions?

Added by Amber Dryden on April 3, 2009 at 5:57pm — 3 Comments

The Mountaintop

Forty-one years ago today, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke these prophetic words at a church in Memphis. TN:

Less than 24 hours after delivering this speech, the civil rights leader was assassinated. King had been receiving death threats after publicly declaring his opposition to the war in Vietnam and in this speech, you can clearly see the toll these threats were taking on him. You can hear King’s struggle to come to terms with his own mortality.

Now, more than… Continue

Added by Erika Johansson on April 3, 2009 at 4:55pm — No Comments

Reportage de Festival Printemps des Poètes

Poésie dans tous ses Eclats (de rire)

Vidéo Projection des réalisations des participants et Visioconférence en direct avec nos amis du monde entier

La présentation de la France. Manosque, la Salle des Tilleuls.

Vincenzina de Chieti (Italie) présente ses élèves.

La présentation de la… Continue

Added by Gražina Likpetrienė on April 3, 2009 at 3:00am — No Comments

Best Sites For Earth Day; Authentic Audiences For Student Writing & More

Here are some recent "The Best..." lists:

The Best Earth Day Sites

(http://tinyurl.com/cv48mk)

The Best Resources For Teaching & Learning About World Water Day (

(http://tinyurl.com/d85qmn)

The Best Sites To Learn About “Earth Hour”

(http://tinyurl.com/cfqp2h)

The Best Sites For Learning About Yosemite & Other U.S. National Parks

(http://tinyurl.com/d7qye4)

The Best Sites To Learn About North Dakota… Continue

Added by Larry Ferlazzo on April 2, 2009 at 8:20pm — No Comments

resource for local volunteer coordination

Great New Online Resource for Local Volunteer Coordinating

VolunteerSpot (http://www.volunteerspot.com ) is a free online sign-up tool that simplifies grassroots volunteering. The site makes it easy for anyone to quickly mobilize and coordinate volunteers in their community, congregation or social network. This is a wonderful tool for all-volunteer group officers, committee chairs, special event planners, and others who need to schedule and organize many other… Continue

Added by IAGCGifted on April 2, 2009 at 4:22pm — No Comments

Guru Stalking @MICCA, NECC & AASL

WARNING: this is a very rambling & gushy blog

so who's goin to MICCA, NECC or AASL? anyone?

if so, are you presenting? and if so, what? i wanna catch it!

i'm representing Md. Digital Libraries at NECC (thanks Carol!!)...Whoohooo!

sounds silly but i do so much out of pocket this is a super thrill! sure, i have to go to EVERY sesssion & report back to my peeps in my county and do some PD but no big whoop!… Continue

Added by gwyneth jones on April 2, 2009 at 1:30pm — No Comments

How to rip DVD movie to video

If you want to watch DVD movies on iPod, iPhone, Zune, PSP, BlackBerry, etc or convert DVD to video formats such as AVI, 3GP, WMV, MP4, this tutorial may help you out.

The software you need is Clone2Go DVD Ripper. Free download

Unlike other DVD rippers, Clone2Go DVD Ripper combines the following features into one single… Continue

Added by terry007 on April 2, 2009 at 1:12am — No Comments