Thing 2, Finally

Thing 2. Look to an earlier posting for my stumbles on Wordle.

Voice Thread looks kinda complicated for me, but after viewing several projects I think it has real possibilities. One of my teachers, taking this same course, emailed me that we needed to do this one! Story Telling and other projects. I really enjoyed several such as "Interesting Pants", "Getting a Haircut" (I AM a grandfather!) and the Three Little Pigs". Internet Safety is a real concern, I think this is the way to go.

I used Animoto this Summer at our church Fine Arts Camp. I had a class of 12 youngsters. We did Animoto and Trading Cards. I have seen about all the pitfalls, but I have also seen the successes. I like the new features but have not yet tried video. The link is to a project done by a middle schooler.

http://animoto.com/play/X7m4RxxDOlRpZokp58kqgg?utm_content=challenger

bookr. We can use this!

This could be neater than PowerPoint, and certainly looks cool. This could get a certain person to quit complaining about the ubiquitous Bird Project!

Anyways, I'm going to hope the link works.

Flip Video and summer school

I know this is not part of Thing 2, but I just wanted to see if I could lind this thing. And I really can spell Podcast; I just cannot type!

Thing #2 Frustration sets in quickly

lets try this for the 4th time.



This is a wordle from the ESPN article about the first World Cup game.

I do not do well with print screen and then cropping. As you can see, I got something leftover on my screen.

I would like Wordle much more if I could save straight from wordle without having to print screen.

I can see uses for my students, aside from just play value. When I copied an entire article, without reading it, the word count quickly suggests main points. This is not fool proof, however, so I will caution little Johnny to go back and actually read the article. I think we can use this to start the thinking process.

I looked at Sift, but was not particularly impressed.

I will try one of the other gizmos later.

Well, that didn't work. Thing 2

I had fun with the World Cup and Wordle. Unfortunately, I have not figured out how to do anything besides just look at it. it absolutely refused to move to this posting. What you see below is all that remains of my work. And I put in quite some time last night on it.

here is a thought, once the thunderstorm starts, you might as well close the library. Our power was iffy to the point of dangerous to computers and other living things. And the lights didn' t work real well. So we sent all the kids to their lock down rooms. Oh well.

11.5, The 2nd Thing

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World Cup 2010
From Encyclopedia Britannica —Book Train 0 minutes ago

11.5 Things, Thing 1

Watched a well-done video about the networked student. The kid does most of his learning independently and on the web, even to going on-line to visit with experts at UC Berkley (It doesn't say that he foils a plot against the world, performs open heart surgery using nothing but his iTouch, and develops a new species of mushrooms, but I digress). First let's talk about the video itself. I love the simple approach, using paper and drawings to make a video. I think this can work very well in elementary school with the new equipment we expect to receive. Simple and effective. Next let's discuss the work of the student. While I believe most of the applications mentioned would work best at the high school level, most of the high school students I worked with at my last school would not be interested in thinking this hard, let alone working this hard. This is probably a real good concept for the top of the GT group. Now let's talk about the librarian's role. Sure. We can do this. I don't mind spending all sorts of time helping a student explore the entire universe from the equipment in my room. I love surfing the web. I love helping one or two students explore deep questions like "is it ethical to scream Theater in a crowded fire?"


I'm going to use the video as an example of what the elementary students can do with just some paper and a flip video.

698 more things

I know I'm supposed to be doing the 11.5 things, but things keep getting in the way. About 698 little things.

In my new job as technology teacher at my school (I will miss the books), I picked up a group of 2nd graders yesterday, to teach them the fine art of image downloading and Animoto. Someday, we may actually get there. Seems that this group of 14 youngsters, billed as "not needing core-subject tutoring because they are smart" belong to me for the second hour of the after-school program. Great, sit down at the laptop and let's go. The hour was up before we got to the part where we create a shortcut to the SAN folder. These 2nd graders were not familiar with "Ctrl-Alt-Delete". They could not figure out how to make their left hand into the "hook-em-horns" symbol. Double clicking was a challenge. Digital Natives, my Aunt Fannie!

Actually, it may be the teachers who are the problem here. These kids have been here for 2 years, and do not yet know how to log on to a district computer!

While trying to trouble-shoot (I discoverer the "-" key) several of our recalcitrant laptops, I glimpsed a note that said the rollout for the new laptops has been pushed back. No surprise there. When the system lets me into OWA this morning, I will read the email more thoroughly. In the meantime, our 5-year old, trustworthy Dell D505s have just about had it! One died on the operating table last week, one refused a request to turn on during our after-school session, and one seems to have lost the letter "T".

So, I am taking bets as to what will happen first - New laptops that have been promised for several years, or two 3rd grade classes will occupy the T-shack out back, that has been languishing on the playground since April.

There is hope, though. Our 6 new teachers are new to us, but not to teaching . They also seem to understand a little bit about technology, so that is very encouraging.

Trying to be part of the solution, I have scheduled a class on Easy Tech so that several of us, including several aides, can start to change the situation. I also helped an aide get the cute little Writers powered up so that this third grade may actually learn something about keyboarding. Since blogging is on my radar this year, it would help if the kids could actually find the letters on the keyboard.

Ah, I will miss the books. Wonder what will happen to them?