Photosynth

PhotoSynth  is a really cool photo tool that allows users to "synth" thier pictures together.  What that means is that you take pictures in any order you like.  Then upload them into PhotoSynth where the program groups them.  This allows the view to "scroll" through the picture as if it were 3d.  I originally showed students this program after the Presidential Inauguration.  It was fun to "fly" through the Nations Capital and see how users individual images came together to form 1 complete image of the event.   PhotoSynth does require that you download software (silverlight) before you can use it. When you explore PhotoSynths look for examples with large amount of images and 90%+ synthed.  You will have a better viewing experience.   If you are like me you will want some control over your PhotoSynth.  Read the privacy policy here, I am very happy about this.

I will post next week about our PhotSynth experience.

Day 7 - Grade 7

Day 7 we review the "Solar Eclipse" assignment as a group.  This takes approximately 20 minuets as most students feel very comfortable completing this type of assignment.  With the remaining class time we begin working on our PowerPoint presentation.  The PowerPoint is something students work on independently during the cycle.  Today we discuss slide layout, creating new slides, enter information, text boxes.  Students then copy & paste trier research into the PowerPoint from their scripts.  I will post more information on the independent project another time. 

Ryans Story

My school just hosted John Halligan who came to speak to our school and community about his son Ryan. Ryan's Story as told by his father is an emotional and powerful assembly. When students returned to class we discussed how the assembly affected us individually and as a Student body. Students were really moved by Ryans Story and we held a really interesting conversation as a class. I hope you have the opportunity to examine Ryans Story and urge you if you are an Educator, Administrator or PTO Member to host this moving story. The website has many resources for educators and parents. To find out your States laws on bullying and harassment check out this link to BullyPolice.org. Oprah also has a list of great resources and videos and you may watch segments of her program on bullying and harassment.

Day 6 - Grade 7

Day 6 finds 7th grade students working on the Solar Eclipse assignment.  This is an assignment that students complete individually.  Students will go to my website and download a "messed up" version of the Solar Eclipse.  This project is saved in Word 2007 to the students drive.  Students then "unformat" the "Solar Eclipse" to match the key which is also on my website as a PDF file.  

Insert movies into PowerPoint 2007

This short video will show you how to insert a movie into a PowerPoint 2007 presentation. The movie must be saved to your drive as a .wmv file.

Download YouTube videos with RealPlayer

This video will show you how to download a YouTube video using RealPlayer and convert it to a new format. It will also show you how to install this video into a PowerPoint 2007 presentation. This is a fantastic option for when you would like to use a video in a presentation but can not rely on internet access. RealPlayer is an extremely useful free program that will also allow you to edit other videos.

I am reading about ... DocStoc

Docstoc is an online community and marketplace to find and share documents. Docstoc provides  a vast repository of free and for purchase legal, business, financial, technical, and educational documents that can be easily searched, previewed and downloaded.  Unfortunately this site is blocked at my school so I can not explore it =(

Day 5 Grade 7

Day 5 for seventh Grade students begins with keyboarding practice using Mavis beacon followed by working on the "Reformat Me" document.  You can find the reformat me document on the blog.  This teaches student the basics of formatting a Word 2007 document by taking a document that is "messed up" and correcting it.  Some students find this to be very confusing however do comment that learning it this way is the most beneficial. 

I am reading about...Royalty Free Music

Free Technology for Teachers posted a new to me site where you can download Royalty Free music!  Currently my students use Partners in Rhyme another royalty free site, however it is nice to have another option.
Educational Technology posts about Time Warner's Connect a million minds initiative.  From what I can gather by quickly skimming the information this is mostly for people in Wisconsin however the million minds website is worth exploring. 
The Tech Save Educator post about his love for Google Forms.  I am beginning to see the benefit of Google Docs however I am not ready to open this up to students.......yet.

Favorite Places

Google has a cool new service called Favorite Places.  For business Google has a page with video that explains how you can help drive foot traffic your way.  Here is a map of some favorite places.  The official Google Blog has a posting about favorite places and if you scroll down you will see a video I show my students that describes what favorite places is.  Some of my students have seen these around town and they get pretty excited about them.  I enjoy showing them examples of new technology that is available and this is a new and really cool tool.  Now I wonder can I Incorporate this into my wave? To find out if your phone has a QR reader check out this article.  Here is a sample of one I found at my local Ritas.

I am reading about...animated research tutorials

This is another reason why I love Free Technology for Teachers! His post today discuss' free animated tutorials on research from Vaughn Memorial Library at Acadia University.  I know here some of us struggle to teach students the proper way to research and give credit to their sources.  These fantastic videos and slide shows explain in plain language how to research and the reasons for documenting resources.  Thanks again FTfT!

I am reading about...hacking, Waybe, 2 sided stories

PCWorld posts about the Iphone getting hacked. 
PcWorld also posts about President Obama's twitter account getting hacked.  I use this to discuss how nobody is safe from online predetors and it is a great discussion starter.
Instructify has a great post about Waybe & Google Sketch up.  Instructify has some fantastic suggestions on how to use this tool.  A must read post.
Thats not Cool has some ok videos regarding internet bullying and overuse of texting.  I feel that these are a bit elementary for my subject but when I passed them over to my guidance councilor she said they would be great for small discussion groups.

Day 4 Grade 7

Day 4 of the cycle starts us off with Keyboarding practice.  I use Mavis Beacon to teach and help reinforce keyboarding skills.  I have a PowerPoint with screen shots that assists students in the registration process and then I ask them to begin their practice.  We practice for approximately 10 min.  We then work on the colors assignment where we review yesterdays progress.  Today we will remove table borders, discuss how to add or remove cells, shade in cells, move the table.  Next we discuss how to add a banner and word art & group them together.  Finally we add a picture and discuss how to format the shape and add effects such as 3d or shadows.

Day 3 Grade 7

Day 3 starts with us building our vocabulary list.  We start with 5 vocabulary words ( the list can be found on the blog ) and watch a video that I embedded into the PowerPoint.  Next we watch a PowerPoint on Word 2007 and begin the colors assignment. 

Census 2010

I scanned my blank Census 2010 form into a Google Document for all of you to use in a Social Studies class. You will need to Download the attached file or view as a Google doc, no previews are available.

Day 2 Grade 7

Today is the second Day of the newest cycle.  Our Cycles run 30 days and I teach one of the six cycle classes.  The first day of the cycle I spend discussing the usual things you discuss on the first day, expectations, classroom procedures etc.  On the second day of the cycle I review internet search strategies.  This is a new lesson I developed earlier this year after the school sent me to a workshop.  I realized that students were not qualifying sources they were finding online and were only clicking on the top 3 results.  My goal of the lesson is to introduce students how to qualify the source they found online.  Students will be doing a bit of research during the cycle and this lesson helps students with that research.  I have asked our schools librarian to attend this lesson as well as supervisors.  My goal is to create a cross curriculum lesson that is reinforced at different levels.  You can see a video of the PowerPoint I show students here on my youtube channel.

I am reading about...Health care, Piracy, Google Alerts

Free Technology for Teachers has 3 great posts.  The first is a link to the NYT interactive time line on health care reform.  His second post is a great one for me and discusses Mac for beginners.  Thank you FTfT I will be using this resource =)  The 3rd post discusses how to use Google search alerts.  Well done!
TGDaily has a great post.  The post is about how piracy really does take away jobs.  This is a good article and I will read it to the students.  So many of them believe it is OK to use pirate sites.

Gmail not loading

Ok a while ago I posted that Gmail would not load on my home computer.  I was running Mozzilla Firefox and when I would try and login to Gmail I would get redirected or see a 403 error message on my screen.  I wanted to smash my computer.  I had an instant message chat with Norton, my antivirus software Norton who I do love suggested that my problem was an ISP issue and that I should call Comcast my service provider.  This brought me closer to smashing my computer.  Then on a friends suggestion I went to cnet.com and downloaded malwarebytes.  YAY after installing the malwarebytes and restarting my computer a few times gmail works and put the hammer away =)  
For those of you who are experiencing the same problem try malwarebytes and let me know how you make out.  I am very curious.

I am reading about...PDFTOWORD

Instructify posted about a great new tool that turns PDF's into Word Documents. pdftoword.com is a downloadable program that according to instructify converts very close to the original.  I am unable to try this excellent tool out at school....because it is blocked.  However I will recommend this tool to everyone I know and see what their reviews are.

Windows Movie Maker

I posted a video to my YouTube Channel that gives you a brief tutorial on how to use windows Movie Maker. This program is similar to PhotoStory however you may also edit film and pictures or incorporate both into your presentation. You may also insert sound into different sections of the movie.

Click on the Movie Make Icon to Download
Windows MovieMaker

PhotoStory - Digital Story Telling

I posted a video on PhotoStory which is a great tool for digital story telling. Have you ever wished you could take your pictures from your vacation and create a slide-show to music? Do you want to narrate your pictures? Do you want to add custom animation and transitions to create a professional looking presentation? PhotoStory enables you to do just that. PhotoStory 3 is available for download, just click on the PhotoStory icon to get it. To watch the Video select the YouTube logo.

I am friending Google

I am going to ask Google to be my friend....on Youtube that is.  Thanks to Free Technology For Teachers for posting about how search works which brings you to Google YouTube page.  This page has a ton of great how 2 videos on all things Google.  I hope you enjoy as much as I will.

Make your PowerPoint 2007 slideshow into a movie

I have posted a new youtube video showing how I create my movies. I create a slideshow using PowerPoint that I show students during class. I found that by turning my slideshow into a movie students who are absents or had a question on something we covered could go back and watch the movie. This has become very helpful and students really seem to appreciate them. I hope to continue creating these films.

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Electronic Frontier Foundation is a civil liberties union that helps you in the digital world.  This is a great site with a ton of fantastic information for the novice blogger like myself.  Take for example the legal resource for bloggers a must read.

I am reading more about Chatroulett

this is a great article from the NYT about the 17 year old creator of Chatroulette.

Pandora

I like to use Pandora internet radio at school.  Pandora allows the user to create a channel based on thier own musical intrest or taste.  What is nice about that is I am able to create a lyric free station.  The students enjoy some background music and I can rest assured that no offensive lyrics or radio advertisements will be broadcast.  Today is St. Pats day and I have my bagpipe channel playing some of the finest bagpipe music around.  Thank you Pandora

Microsoft Publisher

Students will be using "Microsoft Publisher" to create a compare and contrast newsletter.  To begin the assignment students watch a PowerPoint on how to format a Publisher document.  I show them how to format backgrounds and text boxes, how to change text wrapping and format pictures.    I then explain the assignment and show the students multiple samples, they are to create a compare and contrast newsletter.  Using Publisher & the internet  students research a topic and create a newsletter.  For example Athens vs Sparta, the students create 2 "news" articles about each city then create a list of bullet points to create the compare and contrast list.  I have found that many students have taken this lesson and used it in their other classes as a way to present information in a project.  There are multiple Faculty members who have come to me and asked for help in making this lesson something that they could use in their own classes.

PowerPoint 2007

Today we are reviewing how to add music to a PowerPoint 2007 presentation.  I have already posted a youtube video showing how to do this.

Excel 2007 Test

We took an Excel Test today.  Students must replicate my sample to the best of their ability. Part 2 of the test is to print the formulas.  By having students print formulas I am sure they know how to use the "page break preview" function and that they used either the autosum function or wrote their own formulas.   Most students complete the test in 30 min with little trouble.

www.chatroulette.com

The following is a statement forwarded to me from another communtity regarding a new social site and its hidden dangers.  Yes this site was blocked at my school by administrators because of the exposure it allows. 
Parents should be aware of a new internet site that poses potential dangers to your children.  The site is free to access and is called Chatroulette  The site allows anyone with a webcam on their computer to access and video chat randomly with people from around the world. Once you access the website you are paired with a random partner and can click "next" anytime to move on to a new partner. You can then video chat with the partner you are paired with. Iately individuals who are looking for far more than just conversation.   The concern for law enforcement officials is that a large number of users on the site expose themselves or entice others to do so. Usually within 10-15 minutes of going on the site and clicking 'next" to find a new video chat partner an act of "indecency" is clearly transmitted.   Users of the site must confirm that they are at least 16 years of age and that they agree not to broadcast obscene, offending or pornographic material but those barriers are easily bypassed and can expose your child to sexual predators.  Unfortunately the Communications Decency Act of 1996 may exempt civil liability for Chatroulette itself, because the law has been interpreted to imply that operators of Internet services are not publishers, and therefore not legally liable for the content of third party users. Prosecuting offenders on the site is extremely difficult if not virtually impossible. The site does not require any formal registration and to date it has not been determined if any of the images or messages sent are archived. In addition many of the users and images being sent are from other countries around the world. The legal ambiguities on the use of this site are many and present many challenges to law enforcement officials and prosecutors.  You can block Chatroulette by going to your computer's control panel - internet options- security- restricted sites and enter[ http://www.chatroulette.com/ ]www.chatroulette.com. Unless you can password protect this area on your computer it can always be defaulted back to the original settings.
 

Bing.....I miss you

I was so excited when BING came out about a year ago. I liked the everything about this new search engine and thought that students could find it easier to find what they were looking for on the "Decision" engine. Unfortunately Bing allows you to watch movie clips without going to the movies actual website. This is true of youtube movies, clips from news programs, sports, adult movies. Imagine how middle schoolers react to this. A definite minus. So our network administrator had to block it. No Bing in school =(

Google Wave

I love all things Google and have been fortunate enough to have a Google Wave account for some time. I also like to show students videos of new and breaking technology and Google Wave is one of those tools. Imagine my excitement when 2 of my students asked me to help them set up a Wave account =) The students tried using Facebook to set up a group about a local Relay For Life campaign here but found it too difficult to use. They thought Google Wave would be just the right thing to help all involved communicate. I am very excited about this and hope to post an update soon.

Embed a youtube Video

I created a short video that will show you how to embed a video into a powerpoint. This is a useful trick and is one of my top 10 questions from students and peers.
Enjoy

why I <3 CNET

Cnet is a fantastic resource for all things technology.  I particularly love the downloads page.  I have used and feel confident in recommending free software such as malwarebytes and AVG virus protection.  The reviews for these products are available to read and everything I have used is trustworthy. 
Enjoy

I am reading about...TED, Explorer, fliggo

TGDaily posts about a vulnerability in Internet Explorer. I use Mozilla firefox for this reason.  I rarely have issues with windows not loading and feel safer. 
Free Technology for Teachers posts about another TED talk.  If you don't know TED please meet him.  These video conferences are fantastic and great to use in the classroom.
IlearnTechnology posts about Weboword is a visual vocabulary site, Fliggo is another place to share videos that students create.
PCWorld posts that facebook and Twitter will now have location tags.  "Facebook status geolocation will enable you to share with your friends the location from where you submitted your update." All I can think about is more privacy issues :/ TMI out there already
ChannelWeb posts that MySpace is going to try and make a comeback.  I liked the idea of myspace when they first came out although I never had one.  Make a website for free and create a fan base.  If I had a band I would be all over it.  Now with Facebook and Twitter I see more of a saturation.

Basic Math in Excel 2007

Using the function bar in Excel can save a lot of headaches and help you to complete some complex formulas. However you should know of some basics.  First to quickly type a formula into a cell, pick your cell and type the = sign.  This will let excel know you will be typing in a formula.  As you begin to type your formula in (for example SUM for sum) you will see a pop up appear.  This pop up will show you the formulas that begin with an "S" and give you descriptions of the formula.  simply select the formula you would like to use.  Then using your mouse select the cells you wish to include in your formula.  You will see the outline of the cells change color.  Here are some basic formulas
=sum(cell1,cell2) to add
=sum(cell1-cell2) to subtract
=cell1*cell2 to multiply
=cell1/cell2 to divide
I will add a youtube video soon showing how to create formulas using the formula bar.  I will use a screen recorder called screentoaster. 

I am reading about

Free technology for teachers posts a link to the BBC showing how the web works & has grown.   The BBC did a nice job explaining in clear easy to understand language.
TWSJ posts that google and the dish network are teaming up to provide TV searching.   This will also enable you to pull internet content ex youtube videos and more to your TV.  It will require the a set top box however.
PHYSORG.com posts about Google public explorer.  Need to get real time statistical data?  This is the place.

Exel 2007 - The 9 planets

This lesson is designed to be a review to the 6 month budget. I ask the students to try and recreate this on their own based on the information they learned. Most students are able to complete the assignment without issue. In this lesson however students must figure out how to multiply using a formula and multiple cells and how to create charts. We spend more time with charts and tomorrow will spend a significant time formatting them. We will also learn to print the sheet revealing formulas, sorting information alphabetically, use page break preview and more.

I am reading about..Pixel Qi, Monkeysee

Free Technology For Teachers post about Monkeysee.com another online video site.  Youtube is blocked on many networks so it is nice to have another option to watch video and use them in the classroom.  I do like how the content is sorted here so i am going to continue to evaluate and search.
TGDaily posts about a new screen for laptops that extends battery life from Pixel Qi.  Laptop battery usage has been a problem for me.  I seem to really be harsh on batteries so anything I can do to extend battery life will help.
The Wall Street Journal posts about Google buying Docverse which allows users to edit Microsoft office documents online.  In a word Awesome!

HpyerLinks & Action Buttons

I just added another video to YouTube where I show how to create and edit Hyperlinks and Action Buttons in PowerPoint 2007.
Enjoy

Excel 2007 on youtube

I created 4 videos that I posted on my youtube channel that show some excel 2007 basics.  The first shows how to create a header/footer, second how to create a column chart, third how to create comments, the forth shows the entire lesson on how to complete the 6 month budget assignment.
Enjoy

I am reading about...Zamzar, homeland security, going Google

Zamzar is a free file converter and makes me the hero of staff and students alike.  This should be bookmarked in every teachers browser. I use this atleast twice a week and will convert all files including movie files. 
TGDaily has 3 great posts today.  The first about an Israeli soldier who posted detail about a milatary maneuver on his facebook page.  I mean really? The second posting is about the office of Homeland Security asking the public for help in creating awareness about cybersecurity.  This could be a cool idea for students to create a cool project.  hhmmmmm  The 3rd posting is about a new Google phone app that recognizes people gestures.  not gestures like shoulder shrugs but writing on the screen.
Educational Tecnology posts about schools going Google.  I like the idea and love all of the collaboration possibilities but am skeptical about outside control.

"6 month Budget" day 2

Today on the "6 month budget" an assignment in Excel 2007 we will review how to enter formulas and begin to create tables.  Tables can be tricky in this new format and I will be posting a video on youtube today or tomorrow. 

I am reading about...Ribbon Hero

I received a comment a few posts down about an assignment I would be working on with students called "6 month budget"  The comment directed me to Ribbon Hero a free add in for the ribbon on Office 2007 products.  This is definitely an engaging way to learn about the ribbon and where tools are located.
TGDaily posts about Facebook using online payment processing to allow friends or charities to collect money.  I think this is a great conversation starter with students.  With well over $3 million texted to Haiti relief and more and more teens using social networking more and more this could be the new 1-800#
iLearntechnology  posts about  Math Live a site which shows math videos for students up to 6th grade. 
Free Technology for Teachers posts about Paper Rater an online plagiarism checker.  This is a free service and I know that students at the high school level in my district are required to turn certain papers in using a similar program.  I know if I am ever working on a thesis I too will use one of these programs to check my own work.

alphainventions

http://alphainventions.com/ "a brilliant idea for bloggers" This really cool blog will broadcast your blog for others to see and recommend other blogs similar to yours for you to see.  I have spent almost an hour on here already =) excellent work!

Excel 2007 - 6 month budget

 I am beginning my lesson on Excel 2007 today.  We will start by reviewing the ribbon and some of the view options that Excel 07 has to offer.  I have found that by reviewing some of the key terms with students before we begin working helps to ensure we are all using the same terms and are able to stay on task.  We complete the 6 month budget as a group and will only complete the table portion today. 

• Review word art
• borders
• autosize cells
• autofil
• format cells
• autosum
• enter formulas manually
• create comments
• show/ print comments
• copy & paste tables
• delete / add rows or columns

I am reading about..

TGDaily posts about Googles shopping spree as it buys online photo editing site Picnik.  This is a really cool free site that seems simple to use.  Just in time for my Adult school class on digital picture taking.
Crocodoc.com/ an online collaboration site where you can mark documents. 
Educational technology posts about Photobie another online photo-editing tool.  Another free tool to edit software, this seems to have more features than Picnik but I am going to play with both before deciding which I am more comfortable with.

Word 2007 Test

This is the test students take in Word 07.  I try to incorporate all of the formatting features we have learned during this unit.  The list is not all inclusive of what was learned or  exposed but at the 7th grade level this is what should be learned or mastered. 

1. changing page orientation
2. page borders
3. remove highlights from text
4. change font color
5. change spacing
6. change font size
7. justify text
8. remove text & paragraph borders
9. insert drop cap
10. insert footnotes
11. change picture layout
12. change picture size
13. flip picture
14. add a caption to the picture
15. Insert a table
16. remove table borders
17. add shading to a table
18. create and insert a bibliography

Solar Eclipse

This is the follow up assignment to  "Reformat Me"  In this lesson students work individually to complete an attached document and take the messy version and transform it into the fixed one.  I have found that since students use the "Reformat Me" as a reference they are able to complete this in about 20 min. 

Students are not fans of these lessons however they do appreciate learning how to format a document. 

I am reading about.. free sites

After another 2 snow days I am skimming over tons of great articles on technology.  One of the best I have come across is PcWorld The top 10 Greats Free Downloads.