This is an example of a podcast created using Audacity and Lame. This free technology can easily be used to extend the instructional day or flip your classroom. Happy podcasting!
August 8, 2013
March 22, 2011
The 2010 State of the Blogosphere
Technorati's annual "State of the Blogosphere" for 2010 is out and I found that it had some very interesting facts. Mobile blogging has impacted 39% of the bloggers polled, and Facebook and Twitter are the biggest drivers of traffic to blogs. Interesting stuff! To see the complete presentation by Technorati, click the buttons below to move through the presentation slides.
State Of The Blogosphere Presentation 2010
State Of The Blogosphere Presentation 2010
April 29, 2010
Response to Intervention
Watch this comprehensive overview of Response to Intervention. Click the arrow buttons to move from slide to slide.
April 15, 2010
Here is some information that we didn't get to (due to running out of time) during the Twitter workshop on Tuesday. Happy Twittering!
Hashtags:
Twitter users use the “hashtag” to categorize tweets. It’s like using “tags” to categorize online photos and blog entries. For example, if you tweet information about technology, you would include “#technology” somewhere in your tweet. Twitter identifies topics that are “trending” by looking at the hashtags. On your “Home” page in Twitter, look to the right side and you’ll see a listing of the topics that are currently trending. A couple of tips: don’t overuse hashtags. If each of your tweets is a hashtag, you’ll dilute the usefulnees of them, and many people will shy away from you because it seems spammy. Another tip ~ give your hashtag some context. Post a tweet that explains what it is so that your followers will know exactly what it’s talking about. Just remember that hashtags are there to help organize specific tweets for you and your followers. You can also search for tweets that are about a specific topic by searching for hashtags. In the search field on the right side of the screen, type in a hashtag to search for, for example #education. That will bring up all tweets containing that hashtag. This is a good way to discover people that you might want to follow.
Mr. Tweet:
Mr. Tweet is a great way to discover Twitters to follow, and also to get recommendations from your followers. Just go to http://mrtweet.com and allow the application to log in to your Twitter account. You should go ahead and join the Education community. There are many communities to choose from. It’s nice to recommend people after you’ve been following them for awhile. You can do that through Mr. Tweet. Explore the communities by clicking “Communities” at the top of the screen. Then click on the different names of the communities. When you find one to join, click the big button “Join Community”. Follow the people who appeal to you. This is another way to build your PLN.
URL Shorteners:
When you find an interesting article online or you want to share something that you uploaded to Google docs, the URL will usually be very, very long. That’s not a good thing when you’re sharing the URL in a Tweet that can only be 140 characters or less. Luckily there are free web-based “URL shorteners”. I use http://bit.ly to shorten mine. Just go to http://bit.ly and then copy and paste the long URL and click “Shorten”. One of the nice features of this website is that bit.ly will actually keep some data on the sites you are sharing and you can see how many hits were a result of people shortening the URL and sharing it. It’s pretty neat.
Twitpic:
Since Twitter is a microblogging site with no way to share pictures, you’ll have to use another web-based service for sharing your digital pics. I like Twitpic. Just go to http://www.twitpic.com and log in using your Twitter account login and click “Allow” to allow Twitpic to access your Twitter account. Once logged in, click “Upload photo” in the upper right of the screen. Browse to the photo on your computer, add a message, make sure that “Post to Twitter account” is checked, and then click “upload”. Twitpic will post your tweet which will include a link to your photo.
Hashtags:
Twitter users use the “hashtag” to categorize tweets. It’s like using “tags” to categorize online photos and blog entries. For example, if you tweet information about technology, you would include “#technology” somewhere in your tweet. Twitter identifies topics that are “trending” by looking at the hashtags. On your “Home” page in Twitter, look to the right side and you’ll see a listing of the topics that are currently trending. A couple of tips: don’t overuse hashtags. If each of your tweets is a hashtag, you’ll dilute the usefulnees of them, and many people will shy away from you because it seems spammy. Another tip ~ give your hashtag some context. Post a tweet that explains what it is so that your followers will know exactly what it’s talking about. Just remember that hashtags are there to help organize specific tweets for you and your followers. You can also search for tweets that are about a specific topic by searching for hashtags. In the search field on the right side of the screen, type in a hashtag to search for, for example #education. That will bring up all tweets containing that hashtag. This is a good way to discover people that you might want to follow.
Mr. Tweet:
Mr. Tweet is a great way to discover Twitters to follow, and also to get recommendations from your followers. Just go to http://mrtweet.com and allow the application to log in to your Twitter account. You should go ahead and join the Education community. There are many communities to choose from. It’s nice to recommend people after you’ve been following them for awhile. You can do that through Mr. Tweet. Explore the communities by clicking “Communities” at the top of the screen. Then click on the different names of the communities. When you find one to join, click the big button “Join Community”. Follow the people who appeal to you. This is another way to build your PLN.
URL Shorteners:
When you find an interesting article online or you want to share something that you uploaded to Google docs, the URL will usually be very, very long. That’s not a good thing when you’re sharing the URL in a Tweet that can only be 140 characters or less. Luckily there are free web-based “URL shorteners”. I use http://bit.ly to shorten mine. Just go to http://bit.ly and then copy and paste the long URL and click “Shorten”. One of the nice features of this website is that bit.ly will actually keep some data on the sites you are sharing and you can see how many hits were a result of people shortening the URL and sharing it. It’s pretty neat.
Twitpic:
Since Twitter is a microblogging site with no way to share pictures, you’ll have to use another web-based service for sharing your digital pics. I like Twitpic. Just go to http://www.twitpic.com and log in using your Twitter account login and click “Allow” to allow Twitpic to access your Twitter account. Once logged in, click “Upload photo” in the upper right of the screen. Browse to the photo on your computer, add a message, make sure that “Post to Twitter account” is checked, and then click “upload”. Twitpic will post your tweet which will include a link to your photo.
November 10, 2009
Technology: Leveling the Playing Field
I attended a workshop yesterday that was held at the Schultz Center, facilitated by renowned Apple Curriculum "Evangelist" Dr. Mark Benno, titled, "Remaking Student Projects That Are Out Of This World". It was great to see all of the wonderful activities and ideas that Mark pulled together to share with us. We learned about some free Internet resources, and got an overview of the new iLife and iWorks suites, and the ease with which students can create amazing products. We learned about document sharing online using the new iWorks.com website, and even joined a wiki where we all shared ideas for integrating technology into curriculum. The hands-on portion of the workshop had us working collaboratively on an enhanced podcast, using iWorks, iPhoto and GarageBand. We had a blast and you could see the wheels turning in everyones' heads and the "light bulbs" burning brightly.
Probably the best part of the day was when a teacher, who just happens to be a media specialist and the district's Teacher of Year, shared some student work with us. She and her classroom teachers planned an activity that addressed "author's purpose", that integrated technology, the study of fables, creative writing, and visual art. It was great! The students learned about and read fables in the media center, as they worked on author's purpose and genre studies in their classroom. They began writing original fables, which they illustrated in their Art class. The media specialist facilitated their reading their original fables, recording and editing them in GarageBand. She scanned their original artwork and brought those into iPhoto. She also provided them with transitions ("and then they", "because of", etc.) for their podcasts. The finished products were wonderful! The best part about it was that these 2nd grade students completely understood the concept of a fable and the author's purpose because they were engaged in their learning and motivated by the use of technology. They had complete ownership of their learning! Isn't this better than giving quizzes and tests?
Another teacher from Chets Creek Elementary shared that their teachers had all been working collaboratively using Ning and also had wiki's and blogs. Most of the teachers post homework assignments and use their blogs to keep the parents and community informed. No longer can a student say that they didn't do their homework because they misplaced the sheet, when it's available online. The faculty and staff of this school were early adopters of technology and have been doing amazing things! Visit their site, then click "Resources" and then "Blogs, Wikis and Websites".
At the end of our afternoon, participants shared their thoughts and feelings about integrating technology. A principal of an elementary school made some remarks that really resonated with me. She said that using technology with her school's ESE students allows them to "wind up where they've never been before". She said that the ease of use of these wonderful technology tools allows her exceptional needs students to create products that look sharp and professional, and as "good as work done by other students". Her ESE students never have to feel like their work is not good enough when they are using technology tools to create their original products. How awesome is that?
To follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/patysavage
To follow Mark Benno on Twitter: http://twitter.com/markbenno
Probably the best part of the day was when a teacher, who just happens to be a media specialist and the district's Teacher of Year, shared some student work with us. She and her classroom teachers planned an activity that addressed "author's purpose", that integrated technology, the study of fables, creative writing, and visual art. It was great! The students learned about and read fables in the media center, as they worked on author's purpose and genre studies in their classroom. They began writing original fables, which they illustrated in their Art class. The media specialist facilitated their reading their original fables, recording and editing them in GarageBand. She scanned their original artwork and brought those into iPhoto. She also provided them with transitions ("and then they", "because of", etc.) for their podcasts. The finished products were wonderful! The best part about it was that these 2nd grade students completely understood the concept of a fable and the author's purpose because they were engaged in their learning and motivated by the use of technology. They had complete ownership of their learning! Isn't this better than giving quizzes and tests?
Another teacher from Chets Creek Elementary shared that their teachers had all been working collaboratively using Ning and also had wiki's and blogs. Most of the teachers post homework assignments and use their blogs to keep the parents and community informed. No longer can a student say that they didn't do their homework because they misplaced the sheet, when it's available online. The faculty and staff of this school were early adopters of technology and have been doing amazing things! Visit their site, then click "Resources" and then "Blogs, Wikis and Websites".
At the end of our afternoon, participants shared their thoughts and feelings about integrating technology. A principal of an elementary school made some remarks that really resonated with me. She said that using technology with her school's ESE students allows them to "wind up where they've never been before". She said that the ease of use of these wonderful technology tools allows her exceptional needs students to create products that look sharp and professional, and as "good as work done by other students". Her ESE students never have to feel like their work is not good enough when they are using technology tools to create their original products. How awesome is that?
To follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/patysavage
To follow Mark Benno on Twitter: http://twitter.com/markbenno
October 22, 2009
Digital Citizenship and Netiquette
A member of my personal learning network (PLN) on Twitter (@stevekatz) shared his presentation on digital citizenship and netiquette, which he presented to parents. It's a great presentation - please enjoy:
Digital Citizenship & Netiquette
View more presentations from Steve Katz.
September 18, 2009
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