Category Archives: Resources

Helpful reviews, details of all things resourceful in Web2.0

Newsmap

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If you’re a visual learner then this is the news site for you!

It’s called Newsmap and it was shared by Andrew Churches in his Project-Based Learning Session (blog post brewing) at ASB Unplugged 2010, in Mumbai, India.

newsmap

I think I love it because, not only is it colour-coordinated to the type of news it is, but you can also change the feed based upon the countries that you are particularly interested in. It’s interactive and visually attractive!

Immediately I’m thinking ways to use Newsmap in the classroom.

  • Students compare what news makes the headlines in which countries
  • Identify reasons why news may not make the headlines in other countries
  • Identify the top categories of news
  • Compare one country with another country in terms of top categories of news
  • Collect data regarding how long the top news, stays the top news

The list is endless really!  What a great find and an amazing resource for the classroom!

VoiceThread – Digital Library

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A while back, I submitted our VoiceThread as a Digital Portfolio for consideration for the VoiceThread Digital Library.  The Digital Library is a database of articles about successful VoiceThread projects. It is VoiceThread’s hope to create a resource that offers guidance and inspiration for people undertaking new projects.

I’m honoured to say that it was been accepted and is now part of a growing number of resources from inspirational Educators all over the world.  I’m so very proud of my 5th Graders from Room 202, 08/09 – they did such a fantastic job with their portfolios using VoiceThread.

VoiceThread - Digital Library

VoiceThread - Digital Library

You can read about the Digital Portfolio VoiceThread project here.

If you’ve not used VoiceThread before or you are looking for ideas to help you integrate VoiceThread into your classroom – then look no further: the VoiceThread Digital Library is brimming with clever ideas and resources – check it out!

And to the developers of VoiceThread – you offer such an amazing service and product to Educators – thank you for your continued generosity.

What Else Do You Do On A Rainy Day?

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I saw this tweet from @keishawilliams about TweetStats.  Curiousity got the better of me, so taking a break from Empressr and MyStudiyo (blog post to follow), I entered my twitter username.

TweetStats :: for nzchrissy

Considering my family and I have just spent 5 days down in Nelson (blog post in progress over here) with the amazing AllanahK – it’s no wonder she’s top of my Replies To (@) list.  Ms Cofino – well everyone knows I just LOVE working with this highly motivating and intelligent lady (even have the t-shirt to prove it!!) so NO surprises there.  HeyMilly is absolutely gorgeous, witty and funny and I love reading her tweets – I wish I was as full of energy as she is – she’s loving life and taking us along for the ride – Go Girlfriend!!

Here’s the graphic I think is most revealing though – TweetCloud!  My top 5 tweets are a reflection of the last 5 days spent in Nelson on our first ever visit to the South Island – thanks, new, time, nz, great !!

But I like the fact that awesome, learning, students, skype, mac, think, need, time & blog feature heavily too.

TweetStats :: for nzchrissy

Most of all, I’m really, really pleased that thanks features the most in the Tweet Cloud!  Without such a supportive, inspirational, generous and caring bunch of people in my PLN – my learning journey would be a half-empty glass.  Thanks twitter PLN! (And thanks Mum, for teaching me that manners matter!)

Handy Tips for SMARTBoard Notebook 10

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blankhttp:__www.flickr.com_photos_mark78_1463574952_It’s summer vacation, my son is enjoying an hour on his PlayStation, and I’m enjoying the time to just browse the internet, catch up on the starred posts in my google reader, read some books (some fiction, some teacher-ish!) and generally relax.  It’s been a while since I last posted …… I thought I might be having writer’s block again, but the more I think about, the more I’m convinced that I really haven’t had anything worthwhile to say for a while.

I do have a few posts brewing, one on Writer’s Workshop (my own personal area for development and improvement for the 2009/10), a reflection post on the whirlwind year moving from New Zealand to Bangkok, Thailand, and a few other little projects gently simmering in the background!

I did stumble across this handy little video today, thanks to my good friend, Silvia (aka: langwitches):
It’s called 5 Tips and Tricks for SMARTBoard Notebook 10 by YouTube show of eduTecher Steve Bellow.

The tips and tricks are very handy indeed – I didn’t realise that you could drag PDFs or Word Docs straight over to your Notebook file (if you’re a mac user) and I didn’t realise that the magic pen had 3 extremely useful functions!

Image attribution:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/mark78/1463574952/

SMARCH – SMARTBoard – SMARTer

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smarch

March is SMARCH at school – Using your SMARTBoard smarter! Here’s my top share for this week.

My twitter friend Tom Barrett has this fabulous site called Ideas to Inspire.  It’s jam-packed with googledoc presentations he’s become quite famous for organising.  Using a tweet he calls for ideas from educators all around the world to suggest ideas, tips and tricks for any number of topics.  Together, everyone collaborates on a googledoc presentation with title changing with each additional idea.  See if you can guess my contribution for the Pocket Video Cameras.

For SMARCH check out #38 Interesting Ways to Use Your Interactive Whiteboard *and tips. I say #38 because when you look at it, that number quite possibly will have increased!  These documents grow ……. literally!

Ideas to Inspire

But of course, don’t stop there!

Check out all the other amazing topics!

The Power of Skype and your PLN

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My fabulous colleagues back home in New Zealand have been enjoying the Learning@Schools09 Conference held in Rotorua.  When my good friend AllanahK tweeted that she was organising a “Matt-style” dance at the start of Wes Fryer‘s Keynote presentation, I couldn’t resist the urge to tweet back “Can I skype in?”

Sure enough – at 7.15am Bangkok, Thailand time, and 1.15pm, New Zealand time, she did just that- skyped me in so that I could join in the dance too.  It was brilliant – almost like being there.  I was able listen to Wes’s Keynote until Allanah’s battery finally died.  I wish I could have been there in personal to reconnect with old friends, make new friends, and learn new things from incredibly talented people.  Watch the video!

I originally used jing to capture the screen on my laptop (‘cos that’s all I had), then discovered that it saves as .swf. Drat – not editable (without the Pro version – funny that?).  So here’s the master genius work around I used:

Step 1:  Grab Jeff Utecht on his way out the door – (‘cos he has ScreenFlow)
Step 2:  Replay .swf on his laptop and re-capture using ScreenFlow – saves as a .mov, edit as you go
Step 3:  Import into iMovie – add titles and credits
Step 4:  Play real “Dancing with Matt” video on YouTube to capture the soundtrack using Audio Hijack Pro
Step 5:  Import audio into iMovie – adjust sound levels
Step 6:  Upload to teachingsagittarian’s YouTube channel

Did I mention that I love my mac laptop?

No Google for a Week

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I’ve just finished reading Michelle Martin‘s latest post, A Week Without Google, on her Bamboo Project Blog.

My heart darn near skipped a beat at the thought of it.  Could you imagine it?  No gmail, gchat, gtalk,  google calendar, google docs, google maps, google search, google earth, google alerts, no blogger, and alas no iGoogle – no google anything!  And this is an actual assignment for Michelle’s daughter to do for her New Media Research class. And her assignment includes no YouTube either!!365/35

Oh my!  Could I do it? Um … NOPE.  Not a chance!  And then it dawned on me just how reliant I’ve become on one company’s products.  I hadn’t meant to, I didn’t do it deliberately and I certainly didn’t realise it – til now.  I can’t think of any other aspect of my life (even financially) where I’ve literally put all my “eggs in one basket.”

How many Google products do you rely on?  All the ones I use religiously (that’s on a day to day basis) are listed in the first paragraph.  I am so dependent on Google. I really need to think seriously about how to manage if Google “went down”  (as she’s frantically touching wood so that doesn’t happen)!  Over the past week our school server has been hit with a virus that no one has the fix for.  Work with the internet in the classroom has all but ground to a halt.  Today my students alternated between reading their books and writing with a pencil while we waited patiently for pages on our blog to load.  At least we had the books and pencils as an alternative.  But that’s my point really.  What alternative do I have for all the google apps I use?

What about you?  Could you go a week without google?  Are all your eggs in one basket too?

Whiteboard Challenge Underway

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Are you a smartboard user or any other IWB user for that matter? Looking for a challenge?  Do you feel like you’re getting the most out of your Interactive Whiteboard?   Want to breathe some pizzaz into using an IWB with students in the classroom?  Or do you just want to use your IWB better? Smarter?

Then look no further!

The amazing Jess McCulloch has created the Whiteboard Challenge. She’s also got a stunning line up of Task Masters, (Check out who),  just waiting to bring us our next challenges.

whiteboardchallenge

It’s only just started with Challenge #1 – making mp3 recordings and adding them to the gallery.

Not only has Jess created a wikispace, there’s a diigo group, and she’s even provided participants with astep-by-step video on how to complete Challenge #1

I’ve been an Interwrite IWB user for several years now (I miss my Interwrite Board back in NZ). Now I am finding my way around the smartboard and notebook application. This challenge is perfect way to get me up to speed!

Way to go Jess! Fabulous challenge, fabulous resource that will definitely help a lot of IWB users out there!

So what are you waiting for? Let’s begin!