October/November Newsletter

Whew! I am having a tough time keeping up with everything this year. Emily and I have been busily working on websites for the district (check out the new DMS website at http://dms.converse1schools.org I am partial, but I think that it is pretty cool.). Consequently, I have let this newsletter slip later and later. You see that rather than monthly newsletters, I have made them bimonthly. I hope to keep current with this.

I have subscribed to all of your wikis and receive an email each time that you make an edit. Every time that you click Save, I receive an email. It's a great way for me to keep up with what you are doing in class. And, I am impressed with the way that some of you are using your class wiki. Please remember that I am available and glad to help should the need arise.

If you have taken the time to read my newsletters in the past, you have probably noticed that I seem to write frequently about technology. I have found that I enjoy working with technology immensely, thus the obvious slant toward tech. tools. I want to share the things that I learn with the hope that you will find something that is helpful to you.

With that said, I want to tell you about a tool that I am using. It is called Moodle, a course management system that is free and open source, with many people contributing to it worldwide. Many of you are probably familiar with BlackBoard or WebCT. Moodle is similar, only free. Chris Brown set this up on one of our servers last year and I am piloting it. John Gibson, our new Tech. Director, has used Moodle in the past and is setting up a course to demonstrate its capabilitiesand promote its use. Since we use computers extensively in my Digital Imaging and HTML courses, Moodle is a great way to manage the courses.

I really like being able to post assignments online. This has been particularly useful when students have been absent. They can check the course calendar to see what they have missed.

I also like the quiz function. It takes some time to set it up, entering all of the questions and responses (for multiple choice - Moodle supports many other types of questions), but once they are in the test bank, they can be used for any quiz that you want to make for the class. And, best of all, Moodle will grade your tests as soon as the student submits it. I only wish that it could be integrated with PowerSchool, but I am researching this. For now, I print out a report with the students' scores and then enter them into PS - still better than having to sit and grade them before entering them. You can also set the parameters for the quiz. I choose to have the questions shuffled, to prevent students with wandering eyes from cheating. Moodle will also shuffle the answers, so if you are giving a test to multiple classes, the first class cannot pass along the answers.

Moodle also has the capability for electronic assignment submission. I create a drop box for each assignment. Moodle notes the date/time that assignments are submitted, so there can be no question about whether or when assignments have been turned in. And, you can set the date/time that the drop box opens, preventing early submissions by those students who are always "finished" before they have had time to properly complete the assignment.

I realize that many of you may not benefit by maintaining your course online, but you might find some aspect of Moodle to be useful in the administration of your class.

If you would like to see Moodle in action, check it out here: http://137.86.132.45/ Moodle will support many, many courses. To view my Digital Imaging or HTML course, browse to the DMS class list and choose the course that you would like to see. I have set the course up so that only those who are enrolled in the classes can view them, so you will have to choose the Login as a guest button. Then you will have to enter the enrollment key: bearkits Feel free to poke around. If you think that it might be useful to you, let me know. I can set up an account and class for you to edit. I can also set up student accounts.

If you have read all of this - thanks. I realize that you may not enjoy this stuff as I do. I have seen my wife's eyes glaze over when I am telling her about these things.

Lastly, if you have a question or comment, please leave one here. I like getting comments.

August/September 2008 Newsletter

Welcome back! I hope that you had a wonderful and refreshing summer. Mine was short, but productive. As many of you know, I had surgery June 13 to receive an Auditory Brainstem Implant. The surgery went well. I was out of the hospital in four days. That's far better than seven weeks last year! In late July, I had the implant turned on. And......It works!!! It is so nice to hear something again. Many people have asked me what I can hear. It is difficult to describe. Essentially, everyone sounds like a robot - very electronic. I can hear environmental sounds - footsteps, doors closing, dogs barking, typing on the keyboard, but it is difficult to distinguish differences in the sounds because I hear few pitches. For example, I played our piano, starting on the lowest pitched note, playing one note at a time going up the keyboard, and all of the keys sound like the same pitch to me. There are some differences in volume from low to high, but otherwise they all sound the same. I can hear that an announcement is being made over the PA system, but I can't understand what is being said. It is all very interesting...... So, practically speaking, here is what you need to do to communicate with me:

• I cannot discern what is being said without reading lips in addition to hearing sound, thus, if you say something to me when I am not looking, I may hear sound, but I won't know what you said. Be sure to get my attention before you begin speaking to me.
• This device does not work well when there is much background noise. Speaking to me in quiet settings works best.
• State your subject early in the conversation. If I know the subject, I do fairly well.
• Be patient with me. I am still learning to use this device. My audiologist said that people can improve with this device for ten years, so I will be working at it for a while.

We have added many new books to the DMS collection stop by and take look at them. In addition, we have added 15 sets to our Guided Reading collection. Keep your requests and recommendations coming. Please let me know how the Media Center can support your instruction. I would love to work with you to incorporate information literacy and or technology skills into your curriculum. I hope that you have a great year!

May 2008 Newsletter

Almost there! It has been two months since I have posted.....a very busy time, both personally and professionally. On a personal note, I want to thank you all for your kindness toward me this year. Every-day life has become a challenge and your support has meant much to me. I am gearing up for surgery on June 13th to get the implant that I was supposed to get last year. We are busy in the Media Center getting ready for summer and next fall. Important dates to remember:

• May 9, 2008: Last day for students to check out materials
• May 12-30, 2008: Media Center closed for inventory and cleaning.
• May 20, 2008: All student materials are due

As I recuperate this summer from yet another surgery, I plan to reflect upon the Media Center - what we have done, and how we can improve. I invite you to post comments here or send them to me via email. As we work to update our collection, please let me know if there is a title that you would like us to add. I will do my best to get it. I keep a running list of request and recommendations. I will be ordering these items before summer vacation. If you have a suggestion, drop me a note. Some of you have given suggestions for additions to our Guided Reading collection. I welcome them and will work to add them as funds are available. Let's all have a great Spring and Summer!

Happy March! I am sorry that this is a bit lateand abbreviated, but things have been pretty crazy lately. Thank you for your kind words and gifts. You have helped me through a difficult time. I am very thankful to have friends like you. D.M.S. has received a new Channel One receiver. Channel One is now using broadband connections to distribute their news program and Classroom Channel resources. For most of you, little will change. We will receive transmissions nightly. But, rather than being recorded onto a videocassette, transmissions are recorded onto a digital video recorder. We will continue to play the news at 8:14. And, for those who use a VHS recording, we will continue to provide one daily. Classroom Channel episodes will be automatically downloaded and saved digitally. They will be available for one month after the original broadcast. If you would like us to make a VHS recording that we can keep longer, please let us know. To play Classroom Channel shows, you must ask Doreen or I to play the show from the Media Center. Since it would be a bit tedious to play shows each hour, we will make a tape if you want your classes to watch each period. Let us know how we can help! I ran into this interesting presentation while reading some Blogs. It is an interesting, "green" response to the "Did You Know" video that I showed to you last year and posted again last month........interesting thoughts.

| View | Upload your own

New equipment We have ordered 4 more digital cameras and 2 digital video cameras. The video cameras are intended for the creation of short clips. They automatically save and convert your video to a format that can be posted to the internet. All that you have to do is record the video and share the file with me. I will post it on the web and share the link with you.

Wikispaces has color now!

Check out the toolbar when editing a page. Now, you can easily color and format your text.

February 2008 Newsletter

Happy February! New books! We have received two large orders of new books and audiobooks (Playaways). I wanted to post a link to a list here, but our OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog) redirects everyone to a search page. Here is how you can get to the list:

1. Go to our OPAC
2. On the left, click on Resource Lists.
3. On the right, click the Public Lists tab.
4. Click on the New titles link.

Many of you may remember the short video that I showed at staff development meetings last year. The video has been edited and posted at dotsub. You can watch it below. I embedded the English subtitles version. There are interesting ideas at the end of the video.

Here is an image map of a website that looks to have some useful tools. Follow the link below or follow a link on the image map.

4Teachers : Main Page via kwout

The item below is one of literally hundreds of Google gadgets that you might choose to embed on your wiki. All you have to do is browse the gadgets, choose a gadget that you would like to use, copy the code, and add it to your wiki like you would normally add code. It is that simple. Browse all of the gadgets here.

mrk » home via kwout

I have been using Google Documents and have found it to be quite handy. Here are some of the benefits that I have found:

1. GoogleDocs is web-based, so documents are available anywhere that you have an internet connection.
2. It is easy to embed documents in your wiki. When you edit them in GoogleDocs, changes re reflected on your wiki when you refresh the page.
3. Collaboration: GoogleDocs allows you to share files easily - no more attachments. If you use an RSS reader, you can subscribe to follow document changes.
4. It is FREE!
5. I think that this would be useful for students, who would be able to access their work from anywhere. They wouldn't be limited to being at a district computer to accesss their files.

Here is a brief video about GoogleDocs:

January 2008 Newsletter

Happy New Year! I hope that the new year brings you much happiness and success. I am looking forward to this year as a better year for me personally. While life is hard, I am determined to make the best of it. I appreciate all of your kind words and help. The things that you have done for my family and me mean a lot to us.
Ten Reasons why the is Internet is no Substitute for a Library This is a great article that read during Grad. school. Although it is old by today's standards, much of it is applicable to students today. I spend a portion of my day each day working to update our collection. I would really like for our collection to support your curricular needs. Please let me know if there is a resource that you would like for me to locate and purchase for our collection.

Mindomo is an online mind mapping tool. It is free, which makes it even better. It is much like the program Inspiration, that you are probably familiar with. I can see this being very useful for math classes who could create a flow chart for solving a particular type of math problem or other classes who need to follow a series of steps and make decisions. Charts can be shared, allowing others to edit them. The charts can also be posted on other web pages such as your class wiki. Mindomo generates code that you can easily copy to post your mind map. I embedded a public map at the bottom of this page for you to see. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and check it out. Use your mouse to move the map around. You can zoom in or out with the "+" or "-," or with the slider. Pretty cool. I also embedded the map here on the DMS Teacher Tech. wiki for you to look at.

Class Marker is a free online tool that allows you to administer quizzes and tests online. According to the website, the plan to add a feature that will allow you to embed a quiz into your web page (I assume that means your wiki too.) In the meantime, it still looks useful. Here how to use it (from the website): I am going to try this tool with my classes. I'll let you know how it goes. Fireworks photo from Chrislrmo's photoset: http://flickr.com/photos/chrisirmo/

December 2007 Newsletter

Happy December! I wish you the best during this holiday season. Consider how I can help you. I am happy to locate and preview resources, print and electronic, to support your curriculum. Here is a link to an assignment that I helped to create with Phil. Also, I can visit your class and teach technology skills. In the past, I have instructed science students in the creation of spreadsheets and graphs, social studies students in the creation of PowerPoint presentations, and many other topics. Additionally, I can work with your classes on research skills. Let me know how I can help. Check out our DMS Teacher Tech Wiki. This wiki exists to support your tech needs. Please consider looking for help here and posting your tips. The W.D.E. has contracted with netTrekker to provide this useful curriculum resource. Chris B. has posted a description and directions on VINCent (must be in district to view --or use your network username and password from home) Curriki is a wiki for curriculum sharing. From Curriki:

Curriki, a play on the words 'curriculum' and 'wiki', is a nonprofit organization that is building the first and only Internet site for Open Source Curriculum (OSC), which will provide universal access to free curricula and instructional materials for grades K-12.

We are focusing initially on developing an online repository for K-12 curricula in theareas of mathematics, science, technology, reading and language arts, and languages. We want this repository to attract everyone from educators, students and parents, to programmers, instructional designers, authors and public officials throughout the world to contribute or freely access quality learning materials.

This is worth looking in to.

Commoncraft creates "In plain English" explanations. These are nice introductions to various technology tools. And, some of them have subtitles that are added using Dotsub, another cool tool. You can use Dotsub to add subtitles to your videos free of charge.

---

Question mark image from purpleslog's photostream.

Man working at computer imagefrom Say Cheeze!!!'s photostream.