Mister Mak's Learning 2.0

At the request of my 6 and 9 year old children, I was having a little fun using FlickrStorm to find some silly photos today (using Creative Commons Share-Alike filter). Enjoy!

Photo Attribution

(download)

Click here to download:

Random_Silliness_via_FlickrSto.zip (880 KB)

I recently was tasked to create a short (3 minute) video for our annual auction at our school. The purpose of this video is to let parents know how successful the recently installed SMART Boards are in the classrooms and to solicit funding to purchase more for next year. So, for lack of a better term, it's a marketing documentary.

My thinking on this video is to interview teachers (those with and those without the boards) and interview students (1st-7th grade) about their experiences using SMART Boards. My question to my network:

What questions could I ask to the students AND to the teachers that might solicit an appropriate answer that would help convince parents to support more SMART boards? I really want to stay away from too much pedagogical techno-babble because I'll lose my intended audience. I think elicited words like "excited", "motivated", "engaged learning" would be effective and to the point. Short and sweet.

I'd like to ask 4 or 5 questions to the teachers (both with boards and those without...interesting comparison) and a few questions to the students whose answers will have an immediate impact on parents and their understanding of how important this technology is during the day-to-day learning of their child.

What questions would you pose for this documentary-marketing video? Of course, once it's done, I'll post it. Thanks in advance.

With that, the PLN of Paul R. Wood presents...

A PLN Guide to Healthy Cooking

Please feel free to order a copy of the book if you wish while you're there.

On a side note, I loved being involved with this project. Creating books like this collaboratively would be a great way for individual classrooms to showcase their work and to document the school year. I already have a few teachers interested in using a setup like Mixbook to showcase their class stories and artwork.

How could YOU use Mixbook in YOUR classroom?

Special Thanks to all who contributed to this labor of love:

Marylee Boarman
Wanda Boesch
Kelly Dumont
Lisa Durff
Carolyn Foote
Kristin Hokanson
Kevin Jarrett
Darren Kuropatwa
Chris Lehmann
John Maklary
Sylvia Martinez
Nurse Price
Dean Shareski
Kyle Stevens
Lisa Thumann
Paula White

Eat Healthy, Be Happy, Live Longer!

Here is the latest EDCompass newsletter from the people at SmartTech. There are some really good ideas in this issue so I encourage you to take a look. Some of the highlights:

• Technology Supporting Differentiated Learning Environments
• Teacher Talk – success stories of using the SENTEO’s (BTW, SMART is now calling them SMART Response)
• SMART Notebook SE – a lighter version of the Notebook software geared toward student use.

http://www.education.smarttech.com/common/education/pdf/EDCompassApril09Issue.pdf

Two-Minute Tutorials
These short video tutorials came directly from the Smart Tech website at http://smarttech.com/trainingcenter/tutorials.asp.

Simply follow a link below to watch a Two-Minute Tutorial. You must have Macromedia Flash player installed to watch them.

		Touch, Write and Save 10 (5.0 MB) In this Two-Minute Tutorial, you will learn how to: Use any program on your computer with a SMART Board interactive whiteboard Use your touch to interact with your programs Write notes on the display using the pen tools Save your notes
		Working with Multiple files using SMART Notebook Student Edition (4.6 MB) In this Two-Minute Tutorial, you will learn how to use SMART NBSE to: View a list of your files Open multiple files Work with multiple files
		SMART Table Basics (9.0 MB) In this Two-Minute Tutorial, you will learn how to: Open and close activities Draw with digital ink Move and resize digital objects
		SMART Sync software 2009 basics (5.90 MB) In this Two-Minute Tutorial, you will learn how to use SMART Sync Teacher software to: Observe student computers Control student computers Broadcast a computer’s desktop to all students
		Collaborate using SMART Sync Teacher software (3.23 MB) In this Two-Minute Tutorial, you will learn how to use SMART Sync Teacher software to: Send out a collaborative assignment Monitor a collaborative assignment View student submitted files
		Collaborate using SMART Sync Student software (5.11 MB) In this Two-Minute Tutorial, you will learn how to use SMART Sync Student software to: Complete the individual portion of a collaborative assignment Complete the group portion of a collaborative assignment
		Delivering assessments using the Senteo interactive response system (2.0) (2.9 MB) In this Two-Minute Tutorial, you’ll learn how to use the Senteo interactive response system to: Start an assessment Guide students in using their clickers Monitor an assessment Stop an assessment
		Evaluating assessment results using SMART Notebook and Senteo assessment software (3.3 MB) Senteo interactive response system 2.0 In this Two-Minute Tutorial, you’ll learn how to use SMART Notebook and Senteo assessment software to: Review assessments with students Explore assessment details View student performance and results Generate a class or student performance report
		Managing class lists using Senteo assessment software (2.3 MB) Senteo interactive response system 2.0 In this Two-Minute Tutorial, you’ll learn how to use Senteo assessment software to: Add a class to a Teacher Profile Import student information to create a class list Add and remove students Edit student information
		Creating assessments for use with the Senteo interactive response system (3.9 MB) Senteo interactive response system 2.0 In this Two-Minute Tutorial, you’ll learn how to use SMART Notebook software to: Create an assessment page Select a type of question Input a question and answer set Edit your question
		Touch, Write and Save 9.7 (1.4 MB) This tutorial is a quick introduction to the basics of SMART Notebook software. You will see how to launch an application with your finger, write on the interactive whiteboard and how you can save your notes.
		PowerPoint 9.7 (1.4 MB) This tutorial provides a quick overview of how to use PowerPoint on a SMART Board interactive whiteboard. You will learn how to navigate through a PowerPoint slide show and how you can make notes to focus your audience’s attention.
		Ink Aware 9.7 (3.3 MB) This tutorial provides an overview of additional features available in Microsoft® Word and Excel® software when you are using them on a SMART Board interactive whiteboard or other SMART brand product.
		Notebook Software 10 Basics (1.4 MB) Notebook Software Basics 9.7 (1.3 MB) This tutorial provides an overview of the Notebook software interface, writing in Notebook software and converting handwriting to typed text.
		Objects in Notebook Software 10 (2.4 MB) Objects in Notebook Software 9.7 (1.7 MB) Watch this tutorial to see how to create, select, move, resize and rotate objects in Notebook software.
		The Notebook Software 10 Gallery (2.1 MB) The Notebook Software 9.7 Gallery (1.5 MB) Learn how to use the Notebook Software Gallery to help you develop and enhance presentations with rich graphical content.
		The Notebook Software 10 Page Sorter (2.2 MB) The Notebook Software 9.7 Page Sorter (1.8 MB) Learn how to create a new page, drag an object from one page to another, name pages and change the page order in your file.
		Other SMART Tools 9.7 (3.5 MB) These tools offer a selection of features that will assist you when presenting with a SMART brand product.
		Bridgit Conferencing Software 9.7 (2.3 MB) This tutorial provides an overview of how to use Bridgit conferencing software for distance learning.
		Senteo Manager 9.7 – Building a Class List (2.56 MB) This tutorial will show you how to build a Senteo class list by adding, editing and removing a student’s information using the Senteo Manager software.

100 Best YouTube Videos for Education

http://www.smartteaching.org/blog/2008/08/100-best-youtube-videos-for-teachers/

Here is a list of videos that can be used to supplement your curriculum and give inspiration to your students. The list is broken down into categories: History, Science, Language, Arts, Inspiration, Classroom Management, How to Guides, Technology, and Humor. A couple of the videos may not be completely appropriate for classroom use so preview before you show them with your kids. One in particular I like that is reflective of my teaching philosophy is called Pay Attention, written by a friend of mine from Utah.

On a related note, streaming video in your classroom can be dicey at times with respect to our Internet bandwidth. To get around this for YouTube, there is a website called KeepVid – http://www.keepvid.com – that will allow you to convert a YouTube video to a video file that can then be downloaded to your computer. By doing this, you will avoid any potential buffering issues caused by video streaming.

SMARTBoard Literacy Activities

http://www.lm.havre.k12.mt.us/teachertools/smartboard/reading.htm

These activities are primarily geared for K-5 classrooms. Some of the activities include rhyming words, punctuation, descriptive words, ordering, verb play, phonics, letter/sound identification, and poetry. Give it a spin and find a gem that you soon won’t be able to live without.

Please let me know if you find these resources useful and please share how you would use them in your classroom.

Happy Easter!