katie.christo.blog

If you haven’t seen Wolfram|Alpha yet it rocks!  Instead of trying to tell you every little thing about it go watch the video: http://www.wolframalpha.com/screencast/introducingwolframalpha.html Even if you only watch the first 3 minutes you will get a great idea of it’s power!  I think this is going to be a fabulous tool for schools.

Here are my thoughts:

• One of my favorite parts of Wolfram|Alpha is the ability to save a PDF of any data you find.  (Look at the bottom right of the screen when you get your results.)
• Instead of having to search for an answer to a question you get all of your information on one screen.  Even more importantly your results are vetted and are by acknowledged experts (overcoming the hurdle of sites like wikipedia).
• The compare and contrast functions will be amazingly useful in all different subjects.
• You can type a word and get definitions, synonyms, and even a synonym network (much more than just the define: function of google).
• The math and science functions are (obviously) off the charts.

I truly think there is probably a way this could be used in almost every subject.  What do you think?  How do you see it being used?

Two great lists of videos were put out this past week and I just had to blog about them.  Showing a variety of videos this year has been one way I’ve really gotten my teachers, administrators, and students to think and talk about new ideas in technology and education.  The two lists below are great resources and I’m so thankful to Scott McLeod and Alec Couros for putting them out there!

Top 20 TED Talks podcasts for busy school administrators

80+ Videos for Tech. and Media Literacy

Enjoy!

There are some very interesting posts going on over at ISTEConnects.  The first is a post by Wes Fryer Handouts at Educator PD Workshops.  This post is near and dear to my heart as I’ve been trying for the last couple of years to move away from printing whenever possible!

The second post I wanted to mention was by Joe Corbett – Share your Tips on How to be a Green Educator.  This post evolved from the responses to the one above and is collecting data on a Google Doc.  If you have a second please go over and add your thoughts!

Image Attribution
Image: ‘Soy distinto ¿y qué? / I’m different,+so+what?‘
www.flickr.com/photos/8991878@N08/1592903964

I’m sure some of you have heard of emurse before – but I’ve just got to write a post on it! This past week I did my training on LinkedIn and also showed emurse.  emurse was the big hit!

emurse allows you to create, share, and store your resume online for free.  I’ve been using emurse for a number of years now and love it!  The teachers in the training were especially loving:

• That you can send someone a link to your resume and they can print or download it in a variety of formats.
• That you can create your resume on the site.
• That you can view who is viewing your resume through the Website tab that shows you the IP Addresses and Domain Name of people viewing your resume.

If you haven’t used emurse I serious suggest checking it out!  http://emurse.com

I’ve written a post about the 6th Grade Health project and they have gone great – see the post here: http://katiechristo.edublogs.org/2009/05/08/6th-grade-health-project/. The 7th and 8th Graders also did technology integrated health projects.  All resources for the projects are here: http://katiechristo.pbworks.com/Health-Projects

The 7th graders were working on Responsibility and were responsible for their own baby (our babies were watermelons) for a week.  They had to take their baby watermelon everywhere, arrange babysitting, and take photos of their week with their baby watermelon.  The students then created a Photo Album that they presented to the class last week.  Many students used http://smilebox.com/ to create their photo albums, others used Windows Movie Maker or PowerPoint.  The presentations were great and the students had a great time with the project!

The 8th graders were working on Substance Abuse and created a Public Service Announcement.  The students used Windows Movie Maker and had to use all copy”right” images and music.  Their projects also turned out great!  The students were introduced to the project by watching many PSAs on YouTube.  Below is the playlist of 10 videos shown for the project.

Do you have a card or something to hand out to all the cool people you are going to meet at NECC?  If you don’t I’ve got to suggest Moo MiniCards! I’ve been using them for a couple of years now (mainly as my art business cards) and I just love them.  Moo MiniCards are little cards smaller than a business card and much more unique!  For around $25 (including shipping) you can get 100 cards with a different full color image on each.  On the back of your Moo card you can provide contact information and even your Flickr profile image. 

Designing your Moo MiniCards is wicked easy!  You simply choose your images from a site like Flickr or Facebook or upload from your computer.  You then choose how your images get cropped, personalize the back, and you are done! 

Check out this Flickr group to see how people are using them: http://www.flickr.com/groups/moo/

Moo also prints business cards, post cards, greeting cards, and stickers!

Image Attribution
Image: ‘Porta Cartões Moo‘
www.flickr.com/photos/89142790@N00/2535695565

I have just fallen in love all over again with Google’s Picasa! With the release of Picasa 3 you can now do even more with your images.  At this time of year when putting together slideshows of over 100+ images this is a truly great thing.  

Here’s how I’m using it:

• I’ve used the Star button to go through all the folders of images and star the best ones.
• Then I use the Star Filter button (green bar at the top of the screen) to show starred images only. 
• I then grab those images and use the Hold button (little green push pin) to keep them in the Photo Tray (bottom left). 
• Once I have all the best images in the Photo Tray, I use the Export button to save them in a folder on the desktop. 
• Finally I open that folder in Picasa and click the Play Full Screen Slideshow (green play arrow), set my timings and transitions, and the slideshow plays! LOVELY!

If you wanted to you could even make a movie from the folder with the Create Movie Presentation button.  Just a great little program and so useful at this time of year!  Anyone else using Picasa to get their slideshows ready?

If you are going to NECC this year I strongly suggest going onto the NECC 2009 site and registering for any of the activities you want to go to.  I went on this weekend and things are filling up fast!  I really want to do the DC Capitol Hill Visits (only $25) but have a SIGILT meeting at the same time – going to see if I can do both.  The DC Capitol Hill Visits sound awesome and I would encourage everyone to think strongly about doing them!  Here is the blurb:

Join your NECC colleagues and Make Your Voice Heard on Capitol Hill! ISTE is taking advantage of NECC being in the nation’s capital by providing you with the opportunity to go to the Hill and share your ideas and success stories with your Senators and Congressional Members.

A "Hill Visit" package includes:

• Scheduled appointments to meet with congressional staff from your state. ISTE will arrange scheduled meetings for you to meet with staff for your congressional representative and senators. The number of appointments will depend on staff and space availability—a minimum of one and maximum of three appointments will be made for you.
• "Boot Camp"—on-site NECC sessions that will prepare you for your congressional meetings to ensure that you are armed with talking points and are confident for your meetings.
• Bus transportation to and from Capitol Hill (some walking will be required from the capitol bus stop to the congressional offices).
• A ticket to the VIP Congressional Reception to be held the same evening at the Library of Congress.
  FUN and a T-Shirt! Hill Visits are a lot of fun and a great way to meet colleagues. Each registrant will receive a T-Shirt to wear to their meetings to show ISTE’s strength on the hill.

Hill Visit coordinators will contact you just prior to NECC with specific information about the exact time and location of your meetings.

Anyone else out there considering doing this?

Image Attribution
Image: ‘United States Capitol‘
www.flickr.com/photos/69567805@N00/3018986888

I have the task yet again that I know many of us in Instructional Technology face each year.  What songs do you use for the end of the year slideshows?  I’ve already decided this year that I will be making individual movies in Animoto.  Now I just have to pick the songs and make sure they are “cool”.  This year I’ve figured out a new strategy – iTunes Genius.  I’ve found one song that I know the kids like and am using Genius to suggest other songs.  Whew!  What a relief! 

Anyone else have good ideas for picking those “cool” songs for slideshows?

I’ve just started working with 6th grade students on a video they are making for Health.  Students have to make a short (no more than 2 minutes) Public Service Announcement style video on either bullying or self image.  We introduced the project by showing students the videos below.  The project is going well and I can’t wait to see what the students create!

HEALTH – SELF IMAGE YouTube Playlist (5 Videos)

HEALTH – BULLYING YouTube Playlist (5 Videos)