To Be Thankful For

One of the aspects of life in the United States for which (at least in my opinion) we all should be thankful is our freedom of press. Leaving aside the possible threats to that freedom in the current day, I invite you to visit the Newseum.

Its mission: to help the public and the news media understand one another better.

Cool.

Cable Crossing

This PBS site is dedicated to documenting the laying of the first translantic cable. Most fascinating.

Giving Thanks For Things Nice

I came across this web presence that just seemed to be a great antidote for a lot of the wringing of hands and concerns being voiced in many quarters these days....at school and elsewhere.

The site is called NiceNet.Org. Here's their philosophy:

Nicenet is a volunteer, non-profit organization dedicated to providing free services to the Internet community. Nicenet's primary offering, the Internet Classroom Assistant (ICA) is designed to address the pedagogical needs and limited resources of teachers and their students.

Before the commercial frenzy of the "dot com" years the Internet was home to a thriving culture of openness and sharing. This culture was born from the distributed, peer-to-peer nature of the Net, a model that to this day stands in stark contrast to the one-to-many print and broadcast commercial mass media. Nicenet's foundation was built upon this spirit of free flowing ideas and new possibilities.

The first project at Nicenet was aimed at educating the masses about the unprecedented potential of the Internet. Nicenet's founders soon realized that merely espousing the virtues of this new medium was not sufficient and set out to create their own contribution to the Internet community. Thus, the Internet Classroom Assistant (ICA) was born.

The ICA was first conceived as a web-based classroom environment that could be used by post-secondary teachers with their students. The system was designed not as a replacement for the classroom, but rather as a supplement allowing greater communication and sharing of information among students and between teachers and their students. However, Nicenet does not restrict the use of the ICA for any purpose and our users have frequently found creative and unimagined uses for the ICA.

The power to utilize the Internet effectively must remain open to everyone for its potential to be realized. The advent of the World Wide Web provided a perfect forum to offer a solution that could be easily adopted by teachers directly, without the need for institutional support, technical expertise or financial resources.

Nicenet set out to provide a tool that is very easy to adopt and use. The ICA requires only a web browser and a connection to the Internet, so there is no software to install or servers to manage. The simple format of the system is highly intuitive with a very low learning curve, requiring no formal training. The interface has low graphical content to make it easy to use through a standard modem. Such a model allows teachers to incorporate the ICA based on their personal pedagogical priorities rather than institutional infrastructure.

Nicenet strongly believes the classroom should not be a marketplace. The ICA is offered free of charge with no advertising, allowing even classrooms with modest resources access to powerful tools. Nicenet relies on the generosity of our supporters and volunteers to continue to provide the Internet Classroom Assistant.

This gets two thumbs up from this reader!

Just Ask Gammaw

Although I think the webmaster/originator/teacher that has created this actually named "Fran", I gather that there are some folks who call her "Gammaw".

Anyway, this Gammaw has her own website with all sorts of tutorials and other aids/tips/handy info at her Gammaw Geek site.

Lots here!

Can't Read That, Huh?

I've occasionally been accused of having handwriting that is -- well -- a "challenge". Palaeography is the study of making sense of challenging handwriting, typically in historical (obviously handwritten) documents.

Courtesy of the National Archives is a set of resources, including a tutorial, that will give you tips on how to decipher that old (or more recent) scratch that is just not making sense.

Stealing Ideas

Discovery Channel (cable) has a program called, It Takes A Thief. I'm going to have to catch this one. Apparently the set-up is that the program follows and films some actual (former) thieves as they try to break into a (pre-arranged) home. We get to watch their techniques and, afterward, glean ideas on how to better protect our own homes from this kind of instrusion and violation.

What will they think of next!?

A Defiant Tacoman

Although I've been gone from Tacoma for more years than I would care to admit, I know the town where I grew up has not entirely left my consciousness. I've already brought you a link about the "Galloping Gertie" Narrows Bridge.

Now I take you to a very picturesque part of Tacoma: Point Defiance Park. Here is a site dedicated to this refuge from the city streets and noise. You can walk, run, bike, and (yes) drive through miles of trees and nature. You can also stop at Fort Nisqually and play our some historical dramas, if you have a fancy to.

Point Defiance Park is a place filled with a number of great childhood memories -- of family picnics, swims on the beach, eating at waterfront restaurants, watching the ferry leave for or return from Vashon Island.

It's a great place!

Copy That

One of the challenges we teachers face is keeping ourselves and our students aware of, and in compliance with, the concepts (and laws) surrounding copyright and fair use.

In the school setting, one issue that is often on the minds of teachers -- perhaps more so in high school and college, than in middle or elementary school -- is plagiarism.

Click here to go to a good resource for information about all these related realities of today's classroom.

Make Mine Vanilla

Here is all you need to know about that favorite for those of us who love vanilla ice cream....the vanilla bean!

What A Way To Go

In case you've wondered if there are a set of recommendations about how to take your leave in as environmentally-friendly way as possible, read this article from Mother Earth News.

Choosing A Career

One of the biggest challenges, I imagine, for some kids anyway is deciding what to do with the rest of their lives once they're out of school.

One online resource that can help kids (and maybe grown kids, too) hone in on that thing they might want to explore as a college pursuit and career is TheFunWorks.

You can take a quiz to help identify your real interests and get hooked up with some great career tips and resources.

Keep It Hoppin' And Poppin'

Guess what? October is National Popcorn Month!!! Now I'm a fan of popcorn, but in our family we have a couple people who need a popcorn fix every day.

Click here for a gathering of pages about popcorn. There are some activities and games, too. Enjoy....and keep your microwave busy all month!

So You Wanna Learn Something?

Well, then, go to SoYouWanna.com.

Here's their succinct summary of the mission:

SoYouWanna.com teaches you how to do all the things nobody taught you in school.

Fascinating place, well worth a visit!

Once Upon An Eon

The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History has a unit devoted to the study of geological time.

Called, Geologic Time: The Story of a Changing Earth, this site presents the visitor with all kinds of information about the phases in our earth's formation and history.

This is the place to come to get some sense of the span of time the earth has been evolving to where it is today. We might think that life goes by in the "blink of an eye." Seeing this timeline, and realizing how many billions of years have passed, will put our time on earth in a completely different perspective.

Help Resource For Hurricane Survivors

As a sort of follow-up to my earlier post regarding resources for Katrina survivors, I add the US government's attempt to help people out.

Housed at FirstGov.gov, the "federal government's official web portal," there is a Hurricane Recovery site dedicated to providing information and links to those affected by these disasters and those who want to help those made homeless or who were injured during, or in the aftermath, of the storms.

There are linked resources for Finding Family and Friends, How To Get Help, Shelter and Housing for Survivors, and so on.

In fact, even at the FirstGov.gov home page, there are many, many resources listed for information and help.

Another terrible storm

Hurricane Rita has arrived after days of ominous progress toward the Gulf area of the U.S. I mark this event with a link to an article summarizing Rita's birth, development, progress, and devastation on Wikipedia, the free, online encyclopedia "that anyone can edit."

My reaction toward this whole idea of there being an encyclopedia -- something I've always associated with an absolute and ultimate authority on a vast range of topics -- that this would be a resource that could be edited by anyone has evolved. I used to assume that such a thing could not possible have any validity to a more moderated attitude which is a mixture of curiosity and "hmmm, maybe they're on to something!" More about Wikipedia later.

Click here for the article on Hurricane Rita.

Help Resource For Katrina Survivors

A wiki site has been assembled that has collected a number of resources for people injured, displaced, separated from family, out of work, homeless, and otherwise in need of help.

Click here.

Looking At New Orleans From Many Perspectives

The New York Times has an interactive set of maps of New Orleans that shows us a number of aspects of this disaster.

The first map gives us a chance to see a satellite image of the city (dated August 31). By clicking on various buttons you can view the area by elevation (above & below sea level) or by population density, by non-white population, and by median income. Being able to see this information helps bring into much sharper focus the realities of the scope of the catastrophe including the topological layout of the city. The sociological ramifications are also inescapable.

The locations of some of the primary landmarks we see and hear about in news reportsand (i.e. the Superdome, the Convention Center, the 17th Street breach of the levee, the French Quarter, etc.) are labeled which help orient us to the geography of the area.

Other maps at this site indicate regional updates which show where refugees are finding shelter and help, and yet another map has additional (and updated) satellite images of the region.

For those of us who are trying to visualize the levee system, there is a map that clearly lays out the incredibly intricate system that has protected New Orleans for so long and its pumping stations.

Two additional maps are there. One displays the evacuation routes which give another indication of the widespread damage as it shows how many roadways are closed. Finally, there is a map that shows the location of the oil platforms out in the gulf and graphs that show why the potential impact on the oil industry is so great.

As difficult as it is to grasp what has been and is going on in that part of our country, this series of maps help a great deal in getting some idea of the exceptionally daunting challenges facing the people who live in that area, have been completely uprooted, and have nothing left.

It also helps us see the challenge all of us as US citizens face as we continue the task of helping many thousands of our fellow citizens regain their health, their homes, and their lives.

The American Red Cross

I don't imagine that there is any group or organization in this world that is perfect, either in its mission or in how it carries out its mission.

However, over the years as we've seen various disasters in this world -- including the ones that have happened in the US (many previous natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, extreme weather) -- it seems to me that the International Red Cross (International Committee of the Red Cross/ICRC) and the American Red Cross are both heroic and absolutely crucial in times of great need.

If not "perfect" in mission and actions, it seems to come darn close.

At times like these, I cannot think of another organization that needs our financial support more than the Red Cross.

The web site for our local (Seattle) chapter is available by clicking here.

Celebrate the (ahem) Colon, the Semi-colon (oh, now I get it), the Question Mark, Period and More

Yes, folks, today is National Punctuation Day. Every August 22nd.

"A celebration of the lowly comma, correctly used quotes, and other proper uses of periods, semi-colons, and the ever-mysterious ellipsis."

Party Hardy!!!

Bob Moog ---- 1934-2005

Although I spent some years teaching electronic music at the school where I've worked for a bit, I didn't ever actually use a Moog synthesizer in my electronic music lab. But I knew that none of the keyboard synthesizers I did use would probably have existed were it not for the pioneering work of Bob Moog.

Today marks his passing. Although I don't know many of the details, I understand that he suffered from a brain tumor.

I took this occasion to visit a site that is dedicated to Moog Music. There is, naturally, much information gathered here that promotes the music and instruments developed and inspired by Bob Moog. At the moment, there is also articles that celebrate the life of this energetic and creative force in music.

Mummies, Ancient Egypt, and Your Here-after

A website -- Museum of Science - Ancient Egypt, Science and Technology -- presents not only a range of fascinating information about one of my favorite subjects: mummies, but much, much more.

You can explore Egyptian excavations and learn about Egyptian afterlife.

Not only that, there is a link on this site where you can start planning your afterlife (it's a site called "Eternity Travel.com". Talk about using technology to plan ahead!

(Don't miss the opportunity to send a "buried message", too.)

Amazing Migrations Of Some Amazing Birds

Thanks to some great deaktop wallpaper I saw at a colleague's workstation, I have found a website with a wealth of information about migrating birds. Somewhat unusually, in a sense, the starting point for this breadth of information about migration, migration patterns, migration routes, habitat, and other aspects of the birds presented, is a website promoting a major studio's film. Sony Pictures Classics released Winged Migration back in 2001 and it was met with generally favorable reviews. Great for Sony to have kept this site up for this long and, we can hope, for a while yet.

Whether or not you end up wanting to see the movie on DVD, visit the site. You can explore the movie, check out links for the birds whose migration the movie showed, and even download a few images for your desktop wallpaper, if you wish.

It's On Its Way!

The Mars Reconaissance Orbiter did get off today. As the MRO website says:

Next Stop, Mars! - 8/12/05

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter lifted off this morning at 7:43 AM EDT from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The spacecraft is healthy and communicating with ground controllers and the team is overjoyed!
Hurray! Now we wait for the next phase at the red planet.

By the way, I heard today that the programmers on the MRO mission have reprogrammed the MRO to be able to communicate with the Mars Rovers who are still working -- long after their expected life expectancy. Amazing!

More MRO

Well, the Mars Reconaissance Orbiter didn't get off the ground today as scheduled. Today's problem an apparent computer glitch unlike yesterday's question about properly operating gyroscopes.

Click here for updates on MRO.

I've also decided to link a couple NPR stories to provide more details about the Rover and MRO missions to Mars from Talk of the Nation, as well as a background piece from All Things Considered: NASA Preps Mars Probe for Launch.

Back To Mars

NASA is about to launch another unmanned exploratory mission to our neighbor planet, Mars. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) was originally set to launch today but has been put off at least twenty-four hours until tomorrow.

After our previous effort -- the duo of Mars Rovers that are still sending back pictures of the surface of the "red planet" -- the prospect of more information about Mars is of great interest.

Click here to go to a part of NASA's site devoted to the MRO. There you'll find a countdown read-out leading up to the launch plus much background about the mission and Mars, too. And, of course, once the orbiter gets off the ground, this site will provide constant updates about the status and progress of the MRO mission.

Like To Have That Weightless Feeling?

The return on the Discovery crew today has brought a number of commentators -- people who have been on a shuttle or in the space station before -- to interviews talking about what it's like to live in a weightless environment.

Not many of us earthbound types can have this experience, but there is a site that gives us a view into that world....at least a terrestrial version of it. These folks use airplanes to recreate a zero or near-zero gravity world and spend a few precious seconds or minutes flying free.

To hear them tell of their experiences and see pictures of them flying around, go to Space.com's site caled Zero-G.

A Roadtrip To Remember

Although I wasn't a big fan of the TV show, it was enough of an institution on the tube that the phrase, "you'll find it on Route 66!" is firmly fixed in my past.

Guess what? There's a Route 66 University which, it says, is "destined to become the premier source of online information for America's most famous highway, variously called the Mother Road, Main Street of America, Route 66, and U.S. 66." You'll be amazed at the information (and, for me, bit of nostalgia) that's collected here. I can easily believe one can earn an "advanced degree" through Route 66 University!

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Lausanne Laptop Institute -- Day 4

Today’s keynote speaker, Dr. Milt Dougherty, gave a talk entitled “Schools of the Future: Reality over Illusion.” Dr. Dougherty is apparently a sought-after consultant and speaker. He gave a well-presented presentation the main point of which was that we are in the midst of a real change in how we, as teachers, and schools, as institutions, educate our students. He spent some time having us look back to the schools we knew in the past and how they focused on preparing students to become workers in factories. He presented many statistics illustrating how this scenario will not work if our goal is to prepare students for the world in the 21^st century. He made much of the failure of our schools and society to produce the workers that our industries will need in the future. He made many thought-provoking points. The over-riding principle is how we must individualize the educational experience and make learning a “doing” experience. He urged us to abandon the scenario where the teacher goal is to try and pour the knowledge the teacher learned in school/college into the minds of the students….and hope they retain it. Passive learning – as opposed to engaged learning – is no longer acceptable as the student experience in the 21^st century.

Dr. Dougherty is the superintendent of USD#444 in Little Rivers, Kansas. He also has his own consultant company, Milt Dougherty and Associates. Dr. Dougherty was a very charismatic and effective speaker. If there was one theme to his remarks, it was that we are educating our kids for the past and not the future. That we are ignoring the reality that countries such as India and China are producing people with the skills that are going to be needed in the future (engineers, programmers, information technology) and we are not. I hope to get access to his presentation online when it gets put up on the Lausanne Institute website because he produced many thought-provoking ideas and statistics.

Session I was focused on using Microsoft OneNote in the classroom setting. The presenter was Cindy Salkeld, a member of the technology team at Girls Preparatory School in Chattanooga, TN. OneNote is a program that I believe is available on our upcoming 7^th grade laptops, and it is also on the recently distributed faculty Toshibas. Based on Ms. Salkeld’s presentation, there seem many potential uses of this program. One of the untapped uses is using OneNote for kids to create paperless notebooks. While that’s fairly useful, if a bit mundane, OneNote can also be used collaboratively….sort of like one big SmartBoard. The teacher can start a “session” which will allow individual kids or an entire class to access the teacher page (or kids could do this with each other) and, depending on how the teacher sets it up, teacher and kids can all contribute to the session, making additions or editing the notebook page(s) in real time together. The notes can be saved and/or e-mailed….or not. All the notes are searchable. I came away from this session wanting to spend quite a bit of time exploring OneNote and being ready to advocate its use to some of our teachers.

Session II is called “Spinning the Web: Collaborative Learning with Web-based Projects” and the three presenters were Michelle Koetke, Kathryn Gazso, Rose Wong, and Kathryn Civetta – all teachers from School of the Holy Child, Rye, N.Y. In some ways it was unfortunate to end my Lausanne experience with this presentation. While nothing was wrong with it, per se, it was a bit of a re-telling of another school experience moving to a laptop program. That plus the fact that a couple of these four presenters were not the most skillful or effective speakers.

I also spent some time talking with one of the exhibitors at Lausanne….that of finalsite. finalsite (no caps) is a company specializing in designing web presence for schools, among other tools. The rep I talked to was Jon Moser and I will pass his name (and the access to some schools sites finalsite now has in development or near-release) on to Maia M. in case Lakeside is considering a re-do of their web presence. A number of other attendees had very positive things to say about their own experience with finalsite (and a few with a competitor, WhippleHill).

Looking back over these four days of Lausanne, I consider the experience to have been well worth it. I came home with a bundle of resources to explore. I also came home with a lot to think about from all three keynotes, not to mention Tom Daccord’s session. I have found a great deal of value in other “conventions” I’ve attended like GIS, NCCE, and NECC. The big plus, I think, for an experience like Lausanne as compared, say, to those more grand scale gatherings is that, with 300 attendees at Lausanne, the fact is that you will run into some of the same people day-after-day. You have conversations that begin and then continue after you’ve had some time to digest new ideas and present your own. It was also great that they offered us meals together, again an opportunity to strike up new connections or build/maintain ones already establish. Everyone who was there was so open, friendly, and energetic. It was an invigorating and very enjoyable atmosphere that was professionally rewarding, too. That’s a great combination, I think, and I hope to go again next year. Actually, I plan on offering a couple possibilities for presentations that I’d like to give next summer. We’ll see if Stewart takes me up on it!

Lausanne Laptop Institute -- Day 3

Today’s keynote was by Dave Berque from DePauw University and his subject was “Pen-Based Computing: An Emerging Technology with Pedagogical Promise” This is another keynote that I want to back to when the talk is posted on the website. Mr. Berque presented many convincing examples of how pen-based computers – especially tablet PCs – are going to offer far more interactive and creative work on the computers by students. He provided some examples, one of which is a program he either wrote or was closely involved in as it was developed. The program is called DyKnow and the little that I saw about it in his talk, it sure does sound like something worth investigating. For example, it seems to offer many of the interactive tools that Mr. Berque obviously values (he was fairly brutal in his criticism of PowerPoint as a presentation tool, sure, but a very passive, non-interactive one). DyKnow offers products that have the interactive power that Dr. Berque talked about as well as another that helps supervise and control student access (similar to Classroom Secure, apparently). I don’t know about the price – and, frankly, I’m not that knowledgeable yet about what all DyKnow can do – but I do think this is something to look into. All in all, Dave’s keynote was another stimulating talk. It certainly piques interest in what the Tablet PC might offer in the classroom.

Session I today was “Blogging Can Enhance the Learning Environment” and the presenter was Gail Braddock. Gail’s presentation was really an advocacy of using one particular blogging service: Blogmeister (http://classblogmeister.com). One reason is that Blogmeister is the idea and initiative of David Warlick who is a dedicated educator and technology advocate. She had us set up a Blogmeister account for our school. The case she made for the educational use of blogs was somewhat focused on the difficult-to-deny fact that blogs are getting much attention these days. Just a bit of “they are the rage, so they must be good!” Gail called attention to resource materials by people other than David Warlick who are very involved in the educational use of blogs such as Anne Davis (http://anne.teachesme.com/) including Ms. Davis’ “Think Abouts” (http://www.eschoolnews.com/eti/2004/10/000182.php). A later presentation included more positives about blogging but came out strong for a service such as TypePad (which costs something like $149 per year for unlimited blogs) rather than Blogeister, though the latter is free. Another person she recommended who is quite involved in the realm of blogging in schools is Will Richardson and his Weblogg-ed website (http://www.weblogg-ed.com/about).

Session II, presented by Tom Daccord – Noble & Greenough School, was next. Tom’s position at Nobles is “Academic Technology Advocate” and a number of people seemed to recognized the appropriateness of this moniker…..it acknowledges what a number of us do. His talk was called “The Effective Laptop Teacher: Tools, Strategies & Lessons.

Tom began with a series of recommendations that we quite practical and in the realm of what some of us might consider “common sense.” His advice to us, as we consider working in a laptop classroom, included such things as 1) think about your “strategies for minimizing distraction” among your students (or yourself!); 2) make sure the plug-ins and add-ins you need for your materials and web resources; and 3) projector placement and control. He went on to talk about some laptop integration strategies including such good ideas as making sure you come up “authentic tasks and complex inquiry,” “interactive learning,” and “constructive learning.” Tom advocated the use of online chats for encouraging (and capturing) classroom discussion (Tom has a set of criteria to maintain the proper tone and focus of chats that all students must conform to). He also spent some time talking about his use of blogs, especially advocating TypePad as a method of creating and hosting blogs and having each student have his/her own. Tom has a major web presence with his Best of History Websites portal (http://www.besthistorysites.net/index.html) and Center for Teaching History With Technology (http://thwt.org/).

The first session of the afternoon was called “The Road To Technology Integration.” Presenters were Cathy Kyle and Martha Turner, both of whom teach at Presbyterian Day School in Memphis. Although not without interest, this was mostly a retelling of the process of setting technology goals and strategies – including a multi-year technology plan. It was good to hear how some of their plans were actually accomplished sooner (rather than later) than planned. PDS is a day school for about 573 boys, starting with pre-schools to 6^th grade. The have a take-home laptop program for 6^th graders (school-owned machines) with carts of laptops for 5^th grade and below. The presentation followed the line from roughly 1995 ‘til now. Cathy showed us the various stages and put some focus on the additions they were able to make to their staffing (e.g. they have built up to the point where they now have three people devoted to curricular integration). It sounds like PDS has a successful program.

The final session for me today was “SmartBoards in the Math Classroom” presented by Thaddeus Wert, a math teacher (and department head) at Harpeth Hall School which is a “college preparatory school for girls grades 5-12” (http://www.harpethhall.org/). He gave a good (and convincing) presentation about how to use a SmartBoard. He had not touched a SmartBoard a year ago but saw a workshop about SmartBoards a year ago (at Lausanne, by the way), convinced his school to put them all the Math rooms and has not really looked back. Strong interest in SmartBoards has spread to teachers in other departments, so more will be installed at Harpeth Hall school in the coming year. Tad also showed some tools for using a virtual Texas Instruments calculator on-screen and Geometer’s Sketchpad. I haven’t looked at the contents of the CD he passed out but it apparently contains some useful (and free, I think) programs he recommends. (The projector went out a couple times during the presentation to due to an incredible lightning and rain storm going on outside. The bus ride back was amazing as we wove our way around [and sometimes through] lakes of water in the roadway and many, many cars backed up all over the place. Quite a dramatic gullywasher!)

Lausanne Laptop Institute -- Day 2

This day began with a 6:30 wake-up call. The bus was ready to take us to Lausanne at 7:30. First item on the agenda was coffee and breakfast, followed by a short welcome message from conference organizer, Stewart Crais, who is also Lausanne’s Director of Technology and Media Services. He immediately set the tone of a friendly, casual, interested sponsor and host. We certainly felt welcomed to the Institute.

Stewart introduced the keynote speaker, Howard Levin. Howard has a Northwest connection, first at Overlake School and later at the Jewish Day School. Now he’s at the Urban School in San Francisco. Howard’s talk was called, “Making the Laptop Disappear: Moving Toward Seamless Integration.” His emphasis was on the notion that we need to get to the point where the focus is not on the laptop (the hardware) but rather on the information and results…..and, of course, the learning taking place by the students. I found much to think about in his talk. Stewart said the keynotes and the other workshops will be on the Institute website in the near future, and I hope that includes Howard’s presentation. I hope to go back and look again at Howard’s talk. The notion of having the laptop “disappear” – again, where the emphasis is not on the hardware but on the learning – is a concept that I completely agree with. I don’t know how soon it might happen; the “toy” features that computers in general – and laptops in particular – offer kids (and adults) seem to be quite tempting and seductive….I mean, you gotta admit that there are a lot of fun things a person can do using a laptop computer. As great a help it can be in organizing and helping gather information, it’s also great for games, going all over the place on the Internet, and playing music, movies, editing pictures/graphics….not to mention spending hours playing around with screensavers, desktop wallpaper, emoticons, etc., etc., etc. My sense is that computers are far from a mature technology and our users are pretty far from making consistent mature use of them in the context of teaching and learning. The hardware itself also keeps morphing, getting smaller, lighter, faster, more capacity, more features, more multimedia. In any case, as I say, I look forward to going back to review what Howard had to say and continue to reflect on his ideas.

Session I for me was “Managing the Laptop Classroom” by Thomas Haynes from The Culver Academies. I happened to ride on the shuttle bus with Tom this morning and got a bit of a preview of his talk. We also chatted about the open source content management system – Moodle – which I’ve been looking at recently. In our chat on the bus ride, he talked about some of what he is doing at Culver. He mentioned that his school uses Moodle widely and is very positive about it. He included Moodle in his presentation, too. The bulk of what he had to say had to do with some pretty common-sense guidelines for classroom management, such as enforcing lids down (with no exceptions), and by being absolutely consistent in a whole series of expectations he demands in his laptop classroom. Another tip was if kids insist that they have to take notes on the laptop (when that is not necessarily the classroom practice or expectation) that they send a copy of those notes to the teacher. He strongly advocated not allowing kids to resume work on their laptop if they finished a test early….or to go off to freely surf if they used their laptop to take the test. Letting them go off on their own as soon as they finish runs the risk of encouraging kids to speed through tests/quizzes so they can get back to do what they want on their laptops. He seems to be a teacher that kids might label “strict.” In this last example, if kids do go off on their own on their laptop after finishing a test without his okay, they get a zero on that day’s work….no exceptions. These sorts of strategies stem from the right spirit – namely thinking ahead about the guidelines and tone you want to exist in your laptop classroom, and then be absolutely consistent about enforcing them – even if I might differ with Thom somewhat on this or that specific rule.

Next came Susan Artkras who presented “Computers in a Writer’s Workshop.” Susan describes herself as “a 7th grade English and social studies teacher in a 1 to 1 laptop classroom in the Webster Groves School District in Missouri.” Much of what Susan presented was a wide-ranging list of websites for writing and collaborative projects that she recommends. I’ve bookmarked her resource lists and definitely want to spend time exploring the places because there does indeed seem a lot of potential there. In some ways one of the nice features of Susan’s fairly low-key session was the amount of enthusiasm, good ideas, and resources that came from the others in the room.

After lunch I went to an open roundtable session for curriculum integrators. The subject we talked about was teacher training. It was quite interesting to hear about the challenges faced by other trainers in situations somewhat similar to mine. Schools do have different policies in place – some require hours of training in every teacher’s schedule (e.g. an hour every two weeks), some expect an explicit technology goal (or goals) in each teacher’s (and probably administrator’s) professional development plan, and some schools require department heads to develop explicit technology expectations (often in collaboration with the tech integrator in the building) which are then transmitted to department members. Department heads are responsible for tracking the accomplishment of those goals by each of her/his department members. Whatever the institutional practices/policies, all agreed to the importance in finding ways to foster an environment where faculty members challenge themselves to seek new knowledge. The role of the school and the department head, then, is more to enable, encourage, support and reinforce the individual initiative for greater technology integration among their department members.

Session IV of this day was called “Now That You Have It…..How Do You Use It??” and the presenter was Lucie Calvin from St. George’s Independent School in Collierville, TN. Ms. Calvin seems to be a very strong proponent of using PowerPoint, emphasizing that this part of Office can be used for much more than presentations. She seems concerned about the need to be responsive to the visual learners in her room, and uses PowerPoint to put together quick, one-slide current event “bell ringers” and quick quizzes. She went on to talk about using cameras for photojournalism and presented sample worksheets. In her examples the websites and other resources that students are to use are listed. Wide-open web searches are requested of her students sometimes, but she more generally recommends having teachers search out the most useful resources and providing those links to students. The final portion of her presentation was an attempt to give us some sites that have “ready-made activities” and a quick word about blogging.

The Institute provided a sit-down dinner at the Hilton which was quite enjoyable. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.

Lausanne Laptop Institute -- Day 1

We took the shuttle from Memphis Hilton (where I'm staying) to Lausanne Collegiate School for registration and check-in this afternoon.

In the late afternoon/early evening, another shuttle bus took the conference attendees who are staying at the Memphis Hilton to the Isaac Hayes Restaurant in downtown Memphis. We were served a very enjoyable buffet dinner and were shuttled back to the Hilton. It was a great opportunity to meet a number of conference attendees and sense the interest and enthusiasm of the people there. At my table were a 4^th grade teacher from Arizona, an 8^th grade teacher also from Arizona, and a vendor/exhibitor (Step Up 4 Learning). The evening was a good send-off for the conference with both pretty good food and a lot of great people to meet.

Memphis, Here I Come!

I bid Seattle adieu and made my way to Sea-Tac Airport (and Northwest Airlines) to take off for Memphis, Tennesee. Why? To attend the Lausanne Laptop Institute which starts tomorrow. The sponsor is the Lausanne Collegiate School in Memphis, Tennesee. I'm looking forward to it!

Looking Back To 1969

Today doesn't mark one of those typical anniversaries -- 10th, 20th, 25th, 100th -- but I can't help but mention the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin (supported by Michael Collins back in the command module) landed on the moon on this date 36 years ago.

It is so easy to forget about this amazing accomplishment, and there are many people in the US that weren't alive way back then.

Check out Surfing The Net With Kids Site Man Walks On The Moon.

Movie Magic

If you're interested in the most recent news about special effects in the movies, you might check out the blog, vfxblog.

A Cosmically Smashing Success!

Yesterday, right on schedule, a man-made space satellite released a refridgerator-sized probe and aimed it on a collision-course with a comet some 83 million miles out there somewhere. The purpose of this crash was to use the resulting explosion of dust and debris to study the nature of the material on this comet. What sort of dust/dirt/ice/??? is up there? What can that information tell us about the role comets played or did not play in the formation of planets and the introduction of minerals or water to our own planet Earth.

From what I've read, it seems like the project could not have gone better and the data and pictures the team is getting from the satellite (and observations using powerful telescopes from earthlings) are quite cool.

Check out the Deep Impact website by clicking here. You'll be amazed (and impressed)!

Fourth of July Lore

If you need any reading material while you're waiting for the skies to darken tonight and for your local (or personal) fireworks display to start, you need go no farther than the Fourth of July Celebrations Database. Concerning things The 4th -- you got the question, they've got the answer.

Also, if you want a more historical slice of what happened on July 4th, check out the Library of Congress site -- Today in History: July 4th

Hungry?

The George Mateljan Foundation has a website devoted to the World's Healthiest Foods. Next time you're hungry but you conscience demands you eat something "good for you". check out the many food choices here....and also find out why they're so good for you!

Make Sure Your 4th Is Safe

Maybe this should have been on my list before July 4th, but, perhaps as you plan for next year's July 4th. Called the National Council on Fireworks Safety, this organization is dedicated to:

to educate the public on the safe and responsible use of fireworks. Based in Washington, D.C., the National Council works closely with retailers and manufacturers of fireworks on a national basis. Additionally, the Council, through its relationships with trade organizations like the American Pyrotechnics Association, and safety organizations like the American Fireworks Standard Laboratory, is very proactive in maintaining high standards in the manufacture and sale of fireworks.

If you plan on putting together your own fireworks show, I urge you to take advantage of the safety information available here.

Eminent Domain

A decision announced at pretty much the end of the Supreme Court's term this year had to do with the state's ability to condemn privately-owned property in order to use that land for another purpose....one, of course, supported by the city, town, state, or county with jurisdiction.

The justices seemed to say that pretty much any purpose the governmental agency decides is legitimate is enough justification to take over that land from the private landowner.

Much discussion about the principle of "eminent domain" has ensured and FindLaw for the Public has a page that explains this concept and how it has been applied. Click here to get to that page (you might have to enter in your zip code before the article appears).

Frankly, My Dear

In case you've ever wondered what the 100 best lines from movies are, you can find a list at the American Film Institute. You'll find the list here, and, yes, #1 in by Rhett in GWTW -- "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." I suspect you guessed it already. Some of the others may surprise you!

Oh Canada!

If you've ever wondered what the national holidays in Canada are -- or needed a list -- click here.

I told you this blog would be filled with "this & that"!!

Watch Out For Those PhisherMen and PhisherWomen

For those who don't know, there are people out there trying to steal other people's identity. And they're getting more clever (or desparate, depending probably on your point of view) all the time.

"Phishing" is the process by which fraudulent e-mail is sent out under the guise of a bank, credit card company, or other service (like an ISP or eBay or PayPal) claiming that the addressee's account numbers, PINs, and other personal information needs to be sent back or accounts will be closed.

For those who believe these scammers, they end up divulging personal financial information that is then re-sold or otherwise distributed to creeps who steal identities.

There is an online quiz you can take that present 10 actual scenarios that you rate as legitimate or phishing/fraudulent. At the end, the quiz gives you your score and also explains why each example was either legit or a fraud.

It's probably a good idea for everyone to take this test and see how savvy you are about this. Go to MailFrontier's Phishing IQ Test.

Some Great Nature Photos

Stop by Richard Seaman's Flying Kiwi website. Some great photos of many critters including insects, birds, reptiles, fungi, and "the underwater world."

Is It Getting Warm In Here?

Convictions of the current administration in Washington aside, a number of serious-thinking people are concerned about the warming of our planet. It's not so much that they wonder if we're gradually warming. They can see from the shrinking Arctic & Antarctic ice packs that global warming is indeed happening.

Visit the Global Climate Change Research Explorer site to get a great deal of information about what careful scientists are doing with research on this "hot" topic. Something must be done!

More Lewis and Clark

I've already posted once before (twice?) on sites related to those two amazing -- and I'd argue quite important in US history -- explorers, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.

National Geographic also has an amazing site full of information and interactive pages. You can retrace the trip and read journal entries and see drawings and other images related to the trip.

Check National Geographic -- Lewis and Clark

Endanged Species, Conservation, the Environment

The World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) offers an entire website dedicated to providing students (they indicate high school but it could be any interested student) about endangered animal species, conservation, and environmental issues. There are links to help with homework, ideas for projects, and a number of resources relating to specific animals that are deemed endangered.

This seems like an important and useful site when it comes to issues such as the biology of our earth and the care we must take, as humans, in protecting it.

WWF High School

King Tut

I well remember the hubbub and excitement when relics from King Tut's tomb made their US tour some 20 years ago. Now another tour has started and, while not as much todoo is being made, there is still a great deal of interest in the remaining worldly items from the burial site.

National Geographic has a website with interactive illustrations & pictures, not to mention narration that seems quite good. The site is called: Unraveling the Mystery of King Tutankhamun

Mad Cow Disease

With another apparent case of Mad Cow Disease (this time from Texas, I believe), much publicity is once again focused on this kind of scary disease. Part of the reason it seems a bit scary is because it also seems a bit mysterious.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has this page dedicated to passing on information about this disease (which is technically called: BSE -- bovine spongiform encephalopathy). A serious issue, certainly, but an instance where the more you know the more balanced and thoughtful your reactions will be.

Roller Coaster Info Galore!

If you're a big roller coaster fan -- as I am but I'm stuck in a region of the country where the biggest roller coasters are pretty meek and mild compared to elsewhere -- you should check out the Roller Coaster Database. Here's site that has all you need to know about roller coasters not just in the US but all over the world.

Reading Material From Smalltown USA

If you've ever had a hankering to check out what's making the news outside of the metro areas of the country, take a visit to Small Town Papers. A great way to get a glimpse into the pulse of places outside (one would think) of the fast pace of big city life.

Surf's Up!

Although not a Californian, I guess I'm a sucker when I see things like "Surfin' Scientist". Courtesy of the Australian Broadcasting System, there is such a guy!

His site -- called, you won't be surprised to learn: Surfing Scientist -- has a host of fun and imaginative experiments to try. I guess he even visits schools, although I doubt he makes it to many schools on this side of the equator.

Definitely something to check out. Teachers will like the teacher resources and the kids will like the science tricks and experiments. You can even ask the Surfing Scientist a question of your own.

Cool dude!

One Summer Outpost For Fun -- Themeparks!

If you thinking about taking a trip to one of the many themeparks in the US -- and would like information, advice, safety evaluations, or even hotels in the park's area -- visit ThemePark Insider for all the info you'll need!

How To How To

If you've ever had a hankering to write a How-To manual, the wikiHow and eHow partnered websites give you your chance to write a guide that actually is clear, concise, and helpful.

In true Wiki tradition, you can write your best and then others contributors will tweak and (maybe) improve on your manual. It's all one great big collaboration.

Certainly worth a try! Their motto is: Clear instructions on how to do just about anything!

Blogs and Education

Ran across this site -- Blogs and Education -- that offers a host of information about blogs in the school setting. Impressive.

Webby Awards 2005

One year ago I made my discovery of the Webby Awards and included them in a post a while back. This is what I said then:

Each year The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences presents The Webby Awards designed to showcase the best there is out there on the web.

For this year's nominees and winners, click here. You'll find a wide range of categories, some of which include: Best Practices, Community, Education, Film, Finance, Government/Law, Health, Humor, Living, Music, Print+Zines, Politics, Children, Science, Travel, and more.

Also, don't miss a whole category of winners chosen in the People's Voice Awards. A lot of great sites!

Now we have the new awards....just announced. It's the 9th annual set of awards. The link above should take you to the list of this year's winners.

Some of the sites are interesting enough that I will make individual posts highlighting them. But if you're interested in get a look at the whole list right now, click here.

Oh, and one thing I think you'll notice is that they've added many more categories to recognize web sites of excellence. What an amazing diversity out there!

Crawlly But Not Creepy

Here's a site that you will really dig. Worm Watch is dedicated to that critter that some people don't think much of but is a vital part of our eco-system.

Much to learn about this earthy character.

If You Love Limericks

The Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form is in the process of reviewing and verifying a whole dictionary's worth of limericks. Here you'll find limericks on all subjects from computers to cats.

The many dedicated souls working on this "limerictionary" from 13 countries in which English is spoken are working their way through the alphabet. As of today, they've covered words starting with letters "aa" up to "ba". I'm not sure how long they've been at it, but it appears as if this project will be going and going and going for years to come. But someday there will be a breadth & wealth of limericks quite unbelievable! Even now, there are more than you might imagine just starting with letters aa through ba.

Technological Deja Vu

All of us have either heard someone say -- or said it ourselves.....everything having to do with computers changes so fast. You just can't keep up. You buy something and it's outdated before you get it out of the box.

Anytime you have a serious case of computer nostalgia, take a click to Old-Computers.com. Here is gathered a wealth of information, pictures, and other memorabilia having to do with technology. Fascinating!!

Patently Beautiful

A site called Patent Room -- The Art of Industrial Design has a collection of wonderful drawings drawn from patent applications submitted during the '20s, '30s, '40s, and '50s. As you might expect, these drawings not only represent the brainstorms of the inventors, but they also reflect the design styles of those decades.

This collection is fascinating for both its collecting of the creativity of so many inventors, the beauty of their visual imaginations, and a way to glimpse part of our visual history.

A Daily Dose of Botany

Just thinking that one way to start the day (and the week) out well is with a little natural beauty. One way to find it is to check out the Botany Photo of the Day site.

Many thanks to the botanical folks at the University of British Columbia for giving us this daily gift of natural beauty.

Lights Camera Action Atmosphere

Although I can't claim to have ever seen the Aurora Borealis in person, I've wondered what those cosmic displays are like ever since I was a kid. How could something so big come all the way from the sun....and how are they formed....and what makes all the colors.

Well, there is a AuroraWatch site that is based on in the UK and sponsored by Lancaster University. You can monitor current aurora activity -- remember there are the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) and Southern Lights (Aurora Australis). They even offer an aurora activity e-mail alert!

I recommend you start with the link to background information and then start looking at the photo displays of past displays. Beautiful and amazing!

Earth Science Treasure Trove

The Geological Society of America has what appears to be an incredible site offering lesson plans and related resources galore for those interested in teaching and learning about earth science. This is a site with many, many curricular resources and stimulating lessons. Not to be missed!

I think the name says it all: Geological Society of America Free Teacher Resources. Can't beat the price or the content!

Sharks -- Myths and Mystery

Thanks to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, there's a place we can go to get the straight skinny on sharks. Ever since the movie Jaws, sharks have raised a bit of a stir in the media and, well, among swimmers, too.

Take a swing by Sharks - Myth and Mystery to find out more about these sometimes gentle and sometimes ravenous beasts.

Star Wars But Not What You Expect

Today marks the opening of the latest -- and final -- installment in the six-part Star Wars saga. We can line up today to see Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.

To mark today's momentus occasion (I can still remember sitting in the great old [and now gone] UA Cinemas 150 in downtown Seattle watching what we now refer to as Episode IV but will always somehow always be the first episode of Star Wars to me) I offer a site to come home to after you've seen the new film, or taken a trip back into episodes 4, 5, 6, 1, or 2.

I offer the Star Wars Blooper Guide for a respectful look at the stuff that someone missed or forgot in filming of this mega-cycle of the film world that transported so many of us into a brand new world.

The Rijksmuseum -- An Online Treasure Trove of Art

Touted to be "the largest collection of art and history in the Netherlands," you must check out the 1250 exhibits here along with the online tours (which use Flash & QuickTime) that, along with a lot more, make up The Rijksmuseum. This is another in a series of online exhibits I've come across that just make my jaw drop in awe.

The paintings seem right "there". Take, for example, the current online show: "The Masterpieces of the Golden Age" which showcases art works and artists in the years 1600-1700. Immediately you are able to select one from among hundreds of paintings, see them in close-up, read the descriptions, and see them placed on a timeline along with the work of the same or other artists and historical events.

A visual feast of the first order!

Forgotten Your Music Theory?

Check out Ricci Adams' MusicTheory.net site. Review key signatures, study chord structures, inversions, play an online keyboard, review transposition, rhythmic reviews, and much more. You can also access free lessons and primers about a range of theory subjects.

Just go to MusicTheory.net!

Teaching That Makes Sense

That, as it happens, is the name of a website that was recommended to me highly by one of my teaching colleagues. Put together by what must be one very talented guy, Steve Peha, this site has many, many teaching tools, wise use of technology in the classroom, and documents galore for the download.

Try Teaching That Makes Sense.

Hungry?

Well, I find my stomach growling way more often than I generally care to admit. As the person who most often does the cooking in our household, you'd think that 1) I'd keep that stomach of mine contented, and 2) that I'd be a big fan of cookbooks.

Dealing with #1 is a conflict with the appetite that says "yes!" and the rational self saying "you don't need those calories!." As far as #2 is concerned, I bet if you asked my family they'd say that the meals they get are fine but there'd probably be more variety if I'd just get some cookbooks....as use them!

Maybe this site is the answer. I've run across a site called Feeding America. It's an online collection of "some of the most important and influential American cookbooks from the late 18th to early 20th century."

Feeding America has been created by the Michigan State Libraries. I guess I don't have any more excuses not to find a new recipe!

Historic Maps In The K-12 Classroom

Developed by the Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography at the Newberry Library, I encourage you to explore the maps and lesson plans available at Historic Maps in the K-12 Classroom.

At the moment there are 18 maps in 6 themes (such as Exploration and Encounter, or Migration and Settlement).

The maps are all viewable online and can also be downloaded in .pdf format. Built-in tools in the online maps allow one to zoom in or out and pan throughout all sections of the map. Lesson plans are offered within suggested grade-level categories.

Though 18 maps may not sound like a great deal, the amount of thought and care that's gone into this site is admirable and, I think, the resources here for using cartography and the study of history using geography are impressive.

Detroit Virtual Museum

Wayne State University has put together a site called WSU Virtual Motor City Collection. What they are doing:

The digitized images in the project represent a small subset of the Detroit News Collection, one of the premier photojournalistic resources freely available from a national-level newspaper and held at the Reuther Library.

In 1997, the Detroit News' outgoing editor and publisher Robert Giles conveyed the paper's original negatives and, significantly, copyright to the Reuther Library at WSU.

The full collection consists of more than 800,000 specially selected glass and nitrate, acetate and polyester film-based negatives. These date from the late 19th century, but the bulk fall between 1900 and 1980. They range in size from 8" x 10" to 35mm in both black and white, and color.

There are powerful search tools and the images are all fully documented. What a great record. Check out, for example, the Motown pictures in the collection. Great!

On This Day

Although maybe not something I think of everyday, I do sometimes wonder: What happened on this date last year....or 5 years ago.....or 50 years ago? The BBC has a site -- On This Day -- that can answer some of those questions, at least as viewed from that side of the Atlantic. One perhaps uncommon aspect of this site is that it includes historical information but also broadcasts, pictures, and other media as it tells the story of the day.

The following is their "About This Site" info to help explain its purpose and scope:

On This Day is a showcase of some of the most significant as well as some of the quirkier stories broadcast by BBC News since 1950 and now including a new World War II section.

We intend to continue adding stories over the coming years so you will always be able to find something fresh on the site.

You will probably enter the site via the front page. This will always be today’s date and will offer a choice of reports drawn from the years 1950-2002 and 1939-45.

Nearly all the stories contain video or audio and are written as if the event had only just occurred, drawing on archive media, old newspapers and historical reference books.

All news reports finish with an "In Context" box. This gives a brief rundown on what happened next and could also reveal details such as what became of personalities who featured in a story long before they became household names.

The timelines are intended to show you where you are within a long-running story and provide links to other related reports.

There are several ways to look round the site - you can search by date, as well as by theme and by correspondent. (Ever wondered what John Humphrys looked like before he began all those early shifts on Radio 4’s Today programme? Take a look at his timeline to find out.)

The Witness section of the site is where you come in! Maybe you can spot yourself in the crowd in one of the old videos featured in the site, or you were at an event featured in a news report. We would like to hear from you so please email us using the form in the Witness section.

While the BBC owns the copyright to nearly all the media on the site, some material has been licensed from other broadcasters as is normal in the world of TV news.

Ask Another Scientist

Back in March, I pointed you toward a site sponsored by Cornell that offers the opportunity to ask questions of science directly to scientists.

Well, I've found another which also looks both interesting and with a lot of potential. This one is courtesy of University of California, Santa Barbara and the National Science Foundation.

Consider taking a look at the wide range of questions already asked and answered, or submit you own.

Check out the UCSB Science Line.

High School Journalism

As someone who works in a school, the importance of having a school newspaper is pretty self-evident. Where else will those kids who have an interest in writing and doing investigative reporting learn the important skills and tricks of the trade?

Go to HighSchoolJournalism.org to find online information, advice, and tips.

File Extensions Explained

Although perhaps a bit on the arcane side of things, working with electronic files can be made a bit more understandable if you know what their file extension is and what the (usually) three letter abbreviation after the "." at the end of the file name means. For example, the extension on this file name ("profoundutterance.doc") is ".doc" (in all cases leaving out the quote marks). It's pretty easy to guess that .doc might be an abbreviation for "document" which would suggest probably word processing which might lead you to guess .doc indicates a Word document. And, indeed, it does.

Another example is ".pdf". That combo doesn't really look like a clue for any pronounceable word. Some file extensions take the first letter from it's name and that's the case here. .pdf comes from "portable document format".

In case you don't know, there are many, many, many file extensions, some more obvious than others. Knowing how to translate an unfamiliar file extension can immediately tell you, for example, if you have the necessary software to access that file. The file extension can also immediately tell you what type of electronic information you're working with....word processing, presentation, image, audio, video, and so on.

Instead of looking for lists of file extensions to memorize, you should consider going to a site like FILExt -- The File Extension Source. It's fascinating in many ways, not the least of which is that some file extensions have multiple applications.

Google Maps

Google has started another service called Google Maps. Type in a street address, city, and state (and country), and you'll be able to switch between a map (geographical style) and photographic view of the entered address from space!

Amazing and kinda neat!

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

May is Asian American Heritage Month and a website devoted to it is sponsored by Girl Power!

Here is the introductory paragraph from the website:

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, a time to celebrate the achievements of Asian American men and women who've made a difference. Many people think Asian Pacific Americans are one single group, but they are really made up of more than 24 ethnic groups, that speak different languages and have their own rich history. Some of these ethnic groups include the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese, Hawaiian, Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Filipino people.

Here are some outstanding Asian Pacific American women who definitely have Girl Power!

A Hawaiian Tradition

The flower lei that everyone associates with visiting the Hawaiian Islands has an annual festival of its own. The City and County of Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation presents the 78th Annual Lei Day Celebration on May 1.

Their website has photo galleries, historical background, links to lei making workshops, and much more.

Although not nearly as nice as winging it to the islands in person, consider making a virtual visit!

Cool Cosmos

I've never quite understood all the various spectrums of light, including infrared. This latter is especially ironic since I, along with a lot of other folks, use infrared light nearly everyday of our lives. Most frequently, we are pointing handheld little plastic rectangles called "remote controls" at TVs, CD players, DVD players, and all sorts of gadgets and controlling them using infrared light.

It's been also amazing to see the incredible beauty of infrared out in space which the Hubble Telescope has shown us. The Cool Cosmos site has a tutorial about infrared astronomy which is both "educational" but beautiful, too. Take a look! Cool Cosmos is a great site and has much else to offer!

New York Times Learning Network

Although I've been an online subscriber to the New York Times for years and years, I just stumbled upon an educational resource for students and teachers called: The New York Times Learning Network.

A wealth of news-related and curricular resources are here.

Seminars In Science -- Online Museum

Sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History, Seminars In Science won the Museums of the Web 2005 competition in the "Best E-Services" category.

This is an online professional development site for teachers and has a number of courses it offers. The judges said:

The human touch in the interface gives nice feeling that the seminar is tutored ... by real humans and that the learner is interacting with real people.

The course service is well structured and the courses look interesting.

African Life Through Art -- Online Museum

Indianapolis Museum of Art's Cycles: African Life Through Art site won in the 2005 Museums of the Web 2005 competition for the "Best Online Exhibition" category.

Some of the judges' comments included:

The design of this online exhibit is a piece of art itself. Beautiful and fun to explore.

A highly visually appealing and thought provoking site which provides a rich user experience through interactivity, text and images. A particular highlight is the 'context' link that a user can click on when viewing an object. The graphic elements also nicely enhance the content and navigational options available to the user.

The design is sophisticated and the navigation surprisingly straightforward while being somewhat non-traditional. Good use of music throughout. Excellent use of zooming capabilities on enlarged images for a great amount of detail. More detail than almost any other website that I've seen.

By the way, there was a runner-up in this category: Raid On Deerfield: The Many Stories of 1704. Sponsored by Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, the Raid on Deerfield site was acknowledged as a site that....

...raises the bar for historical interpretation online. The site models the value of the whole that derives from a consideration of multiple perspectives. The designers have cast a magical spell that draws the user into another place, another time, another world where one finds truth painted in many shades of grey.

While innovative in many way, the navigation for the site can be confusing with up to 4 different menu areas available, and very little site context given to the visitor. It gets easy to lose where you are in the site.

In case you, like me, are unsure what the story is about Deerfield and the year 1704, the following from the website may whet your interest:

In the pre-dawn hours of February 29, 1704, a force of about 300 French and Native allies launched a daring raid on the English settlement of Deerfield, Massachusetts, situated in the Pocumtuck homeland. 112 Deerfield men, women, and children were captured and taken on a 300-mile forced march to Canada in harsh winter conditions. Some of the captives were later redeemed and returned to Deerfield, but one-third chose to remain among their French and Native captors.

Was this dramatic pre-dawn assault in contested lands an unprovoked, brutal attack on an innocent village of English settlers? Was it a justified military action against a stockaded settlement in a Native homeland? Or was it something else?

Making The Modern World -- Online Museum

One of the winners in the 2005 Museums of the Web contest was Making the Modern World. This site won in the "best educational use " category. Their "about us" descriptive paragraph follows:

Making the Modern World brings you powerful stories about science and invention from the eighteenth century to today. It explains the development and the global spread of modern industrial society and its effects on all our lives. The site expands upon the permanent landmark gallery at the Science Museum, using the Web and dynamic multimedia techniques to go far beyond what a static exhibition can do.

As will be true for the majority of these "best" online museums, I will have only barely scratched the surface of what each collection offers. Even in my brief peek at Making the Modern World, I can see why it was judged as one of the best. The way the site is organized, designed, and the richness of the resources it offers is amazing.

Based in the UK, this site shows many of the changes and developments in industry, science, and technology that made tremendous changes in the world, particularly in what is often referred to as "western" culture and life. Absolutely worth exploring!

Top Notch Online Museum Sites

The site, Museums of the Web, has an annual contest to single out and acknowledge online museums of particular excellence.

I'm going to post some information and links to winners in the 2005 competition which were announced today.

You Know Someone Interested In Chemistry?

Well, if they're a kid -- or a kid at heart -- you might point them in the direction of an enlightening and well-presented site called Chem4Kids. Put together by Andrew Rader, this is definitely kid-oriented but the presentation and content is there and not put across in a talking-down or condescending way. You, too, can learn a lot!

A Class Divided

During a two-day workshop I attended, the presenters showed a video that was extremely interesting and memorable. Called "A Class Divided", it chronicled the story of a 3rd grade teacher, Jane Elliott at the Riceville, Iowa, Community Elementary School and what Ms. Elliott chose to do with her class of 3rd graders.

A day after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Ms. Elliott felt it important to teach her students what it meant to experience discrimination. She prepared a lesson that gave and denied privileges to the kids in her class based on their eye color. One day the children with blue eyes were always at the front of the line, were able to use playground equipment, and were called on in class and reminded how smart they were. The following day roles reversed and the kids with brown eyes were the ones given a leg up.

A documentary was filmed about Ms. Elliott's experiment and that is the program we saw in our training. It was mesmerizing to watch the transformation in these kids as they gained or lost privileges, as those in the "down" position were made to wear collars that identified them as a member of the disenfranchised group.

A follow-up program was filmed some years later to track how this experience affected the children who lived it at the time and in the years that followed.

PBS's Frontline series has a website -- A Class Divided -- that shows this program and has other background materials about it. I strongly encourage you to watch it. It's probably a good idea for all of us to watch this powerful program every once in a while so as not to lose sight of the power of discouragement and disenfranchisement.

Got Any Issues With Your "Best Friend"

As many of you are, I'm the owner of the animal that is occasionally referred to as "man's best friend." That would be, of course, the dog.

In my case, it's a pure-bred chocolate lab -- Chip......get it...chocolate chip? Anyway, he's mostly a great dog but, whether due to his "pure" genes or just the luck of the draw in terms of the personality of the dog you adopt, he is quite excitable. Though 6 years old or so, he shows few signs of slowing down. Meeting new people (or canines, for that matter) puts him into quite a state of happiness, energy, and less than -- shall we say -- much self-discipline. He is trainable and is fine in the house and on casual walks, but visitors are always greeted with his terrifically energetic greeting.

For advice on some of the more challenging bits, I'm going to check out a site that might offer some help.....DogProblems. Looks like a winner!

April Fool's Day

Naturally, there is a website (well, not just one but about a gazillion) devoted to our hallowed tradition of April Fool's Day.

Check out Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes Of All Time. What a blast to read!

Old News!

What could be more interesting than Dinosaur News? There is a lot to learn about those ancient (and mostly extinct) critters. This website fills in many of the missing links.

A Truly Awesome Library

The Awesome Library has many, many resources for those of us looking for educational resources. If you explore you can find especially useful things like lesson plans and various tutorials (for example, click here for a page focused on useful materials for teaching technology).

Another terrific website!

Talk About Comparison Shopping

If you've ever wondered how what you're paying at the supermarket (or not-so-supermarket) that you frequent for those fruits, vegetables, meats, etc. (including chocolate!) compares with the prices people living in other cities in the U.S., then I've got a site for you.

The Global Grocery List Project invites students to submit prices for a wide range of edibles from the stores in their area. These prices are recorded by city & state. You pick the food item(s) you're interested in comparing, and up pops a list of places and prices.

It's quite fascinating!

EurekAlert --- For Kids

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has a great site for kids called EurekAlert.

Different aspects of scientific discovery and exploration are spotlighted each week in various scientific realms including Archaeology, Biology, Atmospheric Science, Chemistry & Physics, and Medicine.

A sub-site is called Science Reporting For Kids. One feature of this site is a weekly focus on a new subject. Some examples include:

• How Venus Flytraps Work
• Solar Fireworks Signal New Space Weather Mystery
• Satellites Study Deadly Dust Storms

Definitely worth exploring........

NCCE 2005 -- Seattle -- Day Three

Friday (Day 3) began with a presentation called: “Digital Photography in the Classroom.” This presenter was Jesse Starr (http://cdaschools.org/dalton/jstarr -- jstarr@sd271.k12.id.us). More focused on giving examples of projects he’s done with his primary grade students (including grade 5), he didn’t talk much about the hardware or software he uses. This was a downside for me because I was quite interested in hearing what he’s discovered by using particular hardware/software in the classroom and in projects using cameras and images.

The session I had really hoped to attend was by Leslie Fisher (http://www.lesliefisher.com) called “Your Introduction to Macromedia Flash.” But all the seats were taken and people were already lined up along the wall, so I went to the photography workshop. But after Mr. Starr’s sessions was over I thought I’d peek back in at the Flash session and saw that it had been moved to a much bigger space. So, I went in to see the final section of Ms. Fisher’s presentation. She was showing techniques for animating text (even as separate letters) and adding sound/music to the animation. It looked like it had been a well-received presentation and the number of people there was way more than would have ever fit in the original room. This is a very effective presenter.

I did get another chance to see Leslie Fisher in action. This was at the session she put on later on Friday entitled: “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Taking Digital Pictures Effectively.” This presentation was a re-working on a presentation Ms. Fisher had done earlier for a company called BluePixel.com. She also strongly advocated the websites www.robgalbraith.com and www.dpreview.com for information about digital cameras and taking pictures.

As she advanced through a series of pictures, she pointed out examples of some fairly obvious techniques and things to work after/avoid. Some examples include:

• Not being close enough to the subject
• Picture not properly in focus
• Camera shake (producing indistinct or garbled image)
• Boring composition
• Things she recommended to try:
• Ignore the background (focus on what you’re actually taking picture of)
• Missing the moment – the “again” mode – “sports” mode which makes it possible to take pictures as fast as possible
• Avoiding too much flash (remember the flash is effective only for 3 feet from camera)
• Avoiding too little flash (remember the flash is effective only for 3 feet from camera)
• Avoid (or at least be aware of the limitations of) digital zoom – digital zoom is really only cropping the highest mag of the optical zoom – use optical zoom

Made mention of a new photo file type coming out -- .nef or “raw” image type – and seemed to suggest this might be a format to explore in terms of working with uncompressed images.

All in all, I had a great time at this conference and definitely glad I attended. Much appreciation to the school’s professional development support program that made it possible for me to be here.

NCCE 2005 -- Seattle -- Day Two

Today began with a workshop about using Google as a search engine. Titled "Google 201: Advanced Googology", this session was put on by Patrick Crispen from California State University at Long Beach.

His was a very effective (and entertaining!) presentation. Some of the search tools and methods are certainly beyond the basics, the fact that he took a few moments to begin with and try and describe (in quite understandable terms) how Google works was very helpful.

Patrick has a web site of his own -- NetSquirrel.com -- where he told us we could download the PowerPoint presentation that he showed us today. I've also discovered at his site a number of other helpful articles and presentations. A great discovery! (He also has, by the way, a presentation there called Google 101 along with a number of other resources for teachers available here.)

The subtitle of Patrick's website, by the way, is --- a free collection of Internet, PC, and classroom resources. I think his is a great resource and well worth regular visits.

The opening keynote speech this morning was given by Cile Chavez. She was a very effective speaker. Her talk was more in the inspirational vein but, again, very well presented and enjoyable.

Thursday afternoon included a visit to the Exhibitors area and a session on digital video. Presented by Deb Postlewait, the title was “Dreaming, Screaming, Streaming: Digital Video at its Best and Worst.”

The focus here was on examples of good video (which would mean good visual quality [sharpness, decent lighting, effecting framing and shooting angles, etc.]) and audio (sufficient volume, no distortion, etc.). Some samples of good and not-so-good video were shown. The importance of content over effects was also emphasized. The ability of video to immediately show audience context was another central point (she put up the word “trunk” and asked people what the word conjured in their mind. She got responses such as “elephant,” car trunk, tree trunk, among others. She then showed a short video of elephants as her example of how to immediately focus the discussion.) Ms. Postelwait is a consultant and part of a company called VividTech (www.vividtech.net) and she seemed quite knowledgeable.

NCCE 2005 -- Seattle -- Day One

Today is the opening day of the annual Northwest Council of Computer Education (NCCE) being held in Seattle. I've attended a NCCE convention since last time it was held in Seattle (I think the conventions alternate between Seattle, Portland, and Spokane).

The site for NCCE 2005 is here.

The convention is set to last through Saturday and I'm looking forward to learning a great deal.

The first workshop today is called "Surveys and Hotlists and Blogs, Oh My!" As suggested by the title, the presenter has walked us through some free online surveys (Zoomerang, SurveyMonkey, and ProfilerPro), free online hotlist creator (Filementality), and blogs (she chose to focus on Blogger.com). The three-hour session flew by pretty quickly! There are probably tons of other resources to do these things online but I hope to try using at least the survey and hotlist tool soon when I get back to school

Another 3-hour workshop I attended today was "Technology in the Classroom: SmartBoards and Classroom Performance Systems (CPS)." The three presenters were: Jeredene Mayfield (Coordinator of Technology Integration, Golden Triangle Cooperative, Montana), Lisa Legare (Middle/High School teacher, Glasgow Public Schools, Montana), and Michelle Harrell (Coordinator of Technology Integration, North East Technology Consortium). I was there mostly interested in learning more about SmartBoards, particularly since we have one now at the Middle School for trial purposes. Theirs was a very effective demo and I learned a great deal about SmartBoards. Watching one in action was, once again, kind of exciting. I hope our experiment at the Middle School turns out well! In any case, a couple resources they included were Jere's professional development site, a geography/map site (Sheppard Software), and the North Central Montana Technology Consortium (NOCENTC) page....all of which have great resources including some for SmartBoard use, tips and tricks.