Andi & Corey December 31, 2009

Charleigh & Sam

Random Thoughts

Periodically during the course of a week, I'll go on line and view various links on the innovations wiki. I end up getting lost! I found a great site which mentioned Moodling, but didn't record where I was going - since I was just exploring. I spent time going through my history, but decided I'd best move on. My problem? I get "lost" in viewing sites. I've decided to make a concerted effort NOT to do this any more as I try to leave a digital footprint on the internet. Writing is not my forte - so this footprinting is a struggle for me. I've promised myself that I will visit my classmates blogs for starters - moving on from there. So, here goes!

Interesting Sites

I just added a clock from http://www.clocklink.com/ - not a gadget available on Blogger. That felt good!


Interesting sites to visit: iLearnTechnology - an edublog about integration of technology into the classroom.

http://www.learner.org/interactives/

One minute countdown timer: http://www.triptico.co.uk/flashFiles/oneMin/oneMinTimer.html

Horizon Report

Interesting notes about technology in the k-12 schools. Lack of training, preparation time, and collaboration with peers makes this more difficult to happen.

Google & Big Bird

It's the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street. My kids grew up watching this show and many times I joined them. After clicking on Big Bird's legs today, I found an interesting blog entitled "Does Sesame Still Have Legs?"

The blog author quotes Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell "Sesame Street was built around a single, breakthrough insight: that if you can hold the attention of children, you can educate them." Sesame Street was the first children's show that structured each episode and made "small but critical adjustments" to each segment to capture children's attention long enough to teach them something. Each segment is like a commercial.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfmoms/detail?entry_id=50958#ixzz0Vz7MtEQH

So, is this how we must teach today? Skillful teacher "teaching time" is what, 10 minutes of information, then 3 minutes processing time? When we teach to that model do we in essence create mini-infomercials?

21st Century "Logo"

While I was attempting (and not really succeeding) with Xtranormal - it dawned on me that this was actually a programing piece of software! We were programming the figures to speak and move in various ways. I started laughing when I realized this. Memories of Logo, Hypercard and Hyperstudio came to mind. I realized that to create an Xtranormal video, it would take much more time than I had just put into it.

My Attempt at Voicethread

Here's my first attempt at VoiceThread.

Where There's a Will, There's a Way!

Curriculum night was fast approaching and part of my presentation to the parents involved the live webcam at the Panama Canal. The cameras were down. I searched the website high and low to find a way to ask about the problem. Finally, I was able to find an email address of the webmaster. I wrote that the website was an important part of a presentation and asked if it was going to be back up and running soon. Much to my surprise, I received an email back that yes, it had been down and would be up over the weekend. Unfortunately, it didn't go back up in time for me to share it with the parents, but I did with my students. There are so many times we send emails and they are never responded to, I was amazed!