Teaching with Technology

I love this concept. People will do harder things if you make it FUN! I just love to see that principle working in classrooms…and I often do!!!

Thanks to Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod for this latest version of “Did You Know?” It definitely gives you food for thought! What does this mean for our schools?

Thom Ryder sent this video out to the staff at Oak Grove, and it’s really good. Just had to share:

To see a list of the statistics quoted (and their sources), you can check out this blog post from Socialnomics.

Take a look at a new resource that allows you to learn more about the soliders that have given their lives for our country. It’s called Map the Fallen, and it’s an interactive file you can view in Google Earth. Here’s a video from CNN about it:

Here are some links to get you started:

• Read the blog about the project.
• Open Map the Fallen in Google Earth. (You MUST have the latest version of Google Earth–5.0 installed.)
• Download latest version of Google Earth
• You can read more about Map the Fallen from CNN by clicking here.

Thanks to Kevin Jarrett for sharing this tool!

Laura Sadler posted this great video on her blog. Since we are getting close to the end of they year, I thought I’d share. The singer is Kevin Honeycutt with ESSDACK.

I love the way this video pulls together people from around the world…and I love the message!

Playing For Change | Song Around The World “Stand By Me” from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.

Food for thought:

Last year I promised to re-post this video on the 100th Day of School…so here it is!

Also, if you haven’t seen the 100th Day activities on the ITRT site, check them out here! If you are using IE 6, you may need to refresh the page once (we haven’t quite fixed that problem yet).

I was reminded of this awesome video today while preparing for an upcoming workshop…and I really like this version because the title is not as conspicuous (it does have one word not appropriate for school).

And then I found the translation to the words from the song that’s playing during the video…wow!  This is what Matt says about the lyrics:

The lyrics to “Praan” were taken from a poem by a Nobel Prize winning Indian author named Rabindranath Tagore. While the poem was written in Bengali (or Bangla), I chose it based on its English translation, which I later learned to be more of an interpretation that captures the spirit of the original without matching it word-for-word.

The English version of the poem is called “Stream of Life.” Here it is:
_____

The same stream of life
that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world
and dances in rhythmic measures.

It is the same life
that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth
in numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.

It is the same life
that is rocked in the ocean-cradle
of birth and of death,
in ebb and in flow.

I feel my limbs are made glorious
by the touch of this world of life.
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages
dancing in my blood this moment.

Finding this video (thank you, Jenny Luca) helped me remember what failure can mean with the right perspective.

What kind of failures have been intense learning lessons for you?

Very simple explanation of my job!

This comes from the 60 Sec Tech site. It has great, short video tutorials on technology, especially the Smartboard!

I’ve spent the last week having a chance to go into classrooms and talk to kids about internet safety at East. While it’s not my favorite topic to teach, I’ve been amazed at what I’ve learned during the whole process. I have always believed our kids use more technology than we realize, but being there and listening to them talks cements it even more in my mind. I thought I kept pretty on top of the games and sites kids like, but I’ve heard about all sorts of new games and websites this trip! I’ve spent my weekend trying to catch up. And while I was pretty sure that many of our kids had cell phones, I was surprised when a third to half of a class of 5th graders raised their hands when I asked that question. Pam recently posted a video on her blog that we have been talking about redoing with our own students, and after this week, I’m even more excited about doing it. I can’t wait to see what I learn about our students. Here’s the original video:

Wow…when I see things like this, it always makes me wonder about the current group of students at our schools. Which “ordinary” child in your class will do something “extraordinary” when they grow up? Will it be who you expect?

Download Video: Posted by MissB924 at TeacherTube.com.

I ran across this video posted on the ICT U Can! blog and I just had to share it!  Too bad we’ve already passed the 100th day of school…this would be perfect to show!  Remind me, and I’ll send it out next year around that time.

This is the version I showed to to GWC yesterday during the faculty meeting. I know some of you were interested in seeing it again or taking a look at the wiki that goes along with it. Here’s the video:

And you can find more information and all the versions of the presentation on the Shifthappens Wiki.