Twitter Painted yet?

Twitter is one of the fastest growing on-line social networks where family, friends and others can exchange quick mini-blogs to catch up with each other in real time. I can see where this could be very useful in the education field and hear that others, including some local police departments, are using Twitter daily.

I've been hearing a lot about Twitter but haven't actually tried it yet. My husband recently received an invitation to join one of his friends network but with one Digital Immigrant leading the other, needless to say, we didn't get to far other than posting his first Tweet that he wasn't sure if he was ready to become a Twit yet!!!

Type at you later!!!

One Laptop per Child

I had heard of the 1 Laptop per Child program in the past, but never had any real specifics until the information received in this class that you can use the link to go to! This is an organization with the goal of insuring that children have access to laptop computers for education, especially in developing countries. This will give children access to education in areas where they have not had that advantage before, literally giving them their own little "window on the world."

Picture from www.pics4learning.com

Windows on the World Video Tour

This has been quite a learning experience for me as I have never put a video together before, let alone take one from storyboard to final product! I've learned a lot and think I will be making more videos in the future.

This video is made for a 7th Grade Social Studies class to be used at the end of their hemisphere units to spark interest in collaborating on a team presentation of either Germany, Egypt, India, China, Australia or Mexico at an end-of-unit Culture Fest by taking a mini field trip around the world in their classroom.

I started out with a storyboard to lay out the order & path I wanted to take of the assigned countries and wrote the script for the video:

We've finished our hemispheres, East & West . . . time to put your knowledge to the test! Will you go North (Germany), South (Egypt), East (India, China, Australia) or West (Mexico) before you bring back a taste to our Culture Fest?

From there I did individual storyboards for each country after collecting several pictures from www.pics4learning.com to be able to include people, places, animals or items for each country individually to give continuity . . . after this was done I imported soundbytes from SoundSnaps and stretched them to cover each country's line of pictures but not far enough to cover up the narration and repeated the first soundbyte while the credits rolled at the end again for continuity. My version's a little choppy since I didn't have a tripod and had to videotape my planned Google Earth(c) tour from my computer screen when my free download didn't work to record the tour, so don't think you'll be seeing it on YouTube anytime soon!

Spreadsheets & Worksheet using Excel

My Thematic Unit topic is Windows on the World where 7th Grade Social Studies students, in groups of four, will be researching their assigned country (Australia, China, Germany, India or Mexico) and put together a visual presentation for their classmates representing their country at the Cultural Fair to be held at the end of the unit.

I've already plugged in stats for Population and Land Area for the countries on the spreadsheet so that the bars on the chart would pop. The students chart will have a link to CIA World Factbook

The First Webquest of Many?

• My thematic unit topic is Windows on the World . . . students will be researching assigned countries (Australia, China, Egypt, Germany, India or Mexico) For this webquest I am using India as the basis. students will put together a presentation for their classmates representing their group's country at a cultural fair at the end of the unit.

• The unit objective this project supports is: Using websites and/or off-line materials available, students will find out about clothing commonly worn in their assigned country and be able to present a collection of at least 3 pictures or come up with their own version of a national costume to wear at the Cultural Fair.
  

• The audience for this assignment is a class of 24 Seventh grade Social Study students.
  

• This project supports the component tools of inquiry from Standard number 1, because students will have several resources to use as they prepare for their presentation; creates instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse learners from Standard number 3 as it offers a variety of media for the students to work with; collaboration from Standard number 6 as it requires the group to work together to present a finished group project; integrates the computer and other high and low technology from Standard 11 with the variety of resources being made available to the students.

While I have learned quite a bit putting this webquest together, feel like there is so much more needed to make it a really good, usable product for my students or other teachers! With so much information to digest not sure I've really done it justice. Snapshot is from pics4learning.com

Inspiration Blog

This is my first time blogging, so it's all new to me!!! I am a 2+2 cohort student at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls IA working towards a dual Elementary Education/Middle School degree.

Reflection on Inspiration project:

My current Thematic Unit topic is Windows on the World where groups of 4 students will be researching assigned countries (Australia, China, Egypt, Germany, India or Mexico) and put together a collaborative presentation for their classmates representing their group's country at a cultural fair at the end of the unit.

The unit objectives this project supports are:

Given a world map or listing of websites students working together will be able to locate their country and develop a map to include in country presentation with 90% accuracy.

Using on-line & off-line materials students will be able to locate points of interest to include in their presentation with 90% accuracy.

The audience for this project are 7th Grade Social Studies students.

This project supports the component of using effective nonverbal and media communication techniques to foster active inquiry, collaboration and supportive interaction in the classroom from Standard #6 because it will be the initial links students will be using to start working on their joint presentation to their classmates at the Cultural Fair at the end of the unit. Students will have access to links to locate maps, flags and other basic information on their assigned countries.

The links on the stars are for CIA World Factbook, Lonely Planet and Geographia for general facts, travel advice and in depth travel guides for student fact gathering and inspiration.

Windows on the World Inspiration Interactive Worksheet requires Inspiration 8.0 software . . . you can download a free 30-day trial edition at www.inspiration.com if you don't already have access.