Photo Resolution... Day 15

Cold and snowy winter day.

Photo Resolution... Day 14

Another of our cats. This one likes to show off as a "cute" cat. Even though she has gorgeous green eyes, her name is Blue because her eyes were a pretty blue when she was a kitten.

Photo Resolution... Day 13

This photo was taken on the 13th (honest!), but posted on the 14th. I teach in two... well, actually three... separate labs. This is one of them.

Photo Resolution... Day 12

This is my first attempt to shoot a statue. I was close enough that the detail should have looked good. But it doesn't. So, I need to find out more about taking this kind of photo.

Photo Resolution... Day 11

We just had a two-day snowstorm. Not as much snow as forecasted, but enough to make even a bald cypress look pretty in the winter.

Photo Resolution... Day 10

Bromeliads have vibrant color. I think this photo captures that.

Update: These flowers belong to a Christmas cactus rather than a bromeliad.

Technology Integration in the Classroom

Classrooms@Work, Tools@Hand is a site designed to share examples of technology integration in the classroom.

The lesson plans are described from the planning process to the actual integration. You can read or view a complete overview, learning goals, student group work, technology strategies, assessments, content standards, and more.

The following lessons are shared:

• Animal Research Report presents Char Soucy's 1st grade classroom where students build reading and writing skills while learning about an animal they choose.
• Travel USA presents Jane Krauss' 4th/5th grade classroom where student travel agents prepare a travel itinerary for a German family coming to the USA.
• It's a Wild Ride presents an 8th grade interdisciplinary science, math and language arts project where students design an ultimate roller coaster to save a local theme park from bankruptcy.
• Global Challenge presents Peter Knowles' 9th grade Social Studies classroom where students take on a research challenge related to Latin America.

In addition to using these model lessons to gather ideas for your own teaching, you may want to use them as part of a professional development opportunity. The site provides suggestions for that, too. I plan to share this site with my students when we discuss technology integration and with teachers when I present workshops.

Photo: http://flickr.com/photos/editor/2667559103/
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

History of the Internet

The history of the Internet is interesting. Defense, research, communications all played a role in the Internet’s beginning. Rather than just read about this history, you can now view a fascinating presentation. This documentary was created by Melih Bilgil as part of his work toward earning an advanced degree in graphic design. Click here to go to Stewart Mader’s blog where he shares the story.


Photo: http://flickr.com/photos/mwichary/2202513987/
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

Photo Resolution... Day 9

This may look like an unusual photo to choose as the one I want to share today. The reason I'm excited about it is because I was able to catch the fire engine as it sped by our car. The shutter lag that my camera usually displays is frustrating. I'm trying to learn to set up the focus and point toward where my target will be... and then complete the shot when the target is in view. I succeeded in this shot! Yay!

Photo Resolution... Day 8

This schoolhouse was renovated by the local historical society with the help of the community. It is used by the school district to teach students about local history. This shot was taken on a snowy afternoon.

Photo Resolution... Day 7

Old business files in a museum... taken on day 7 but posted just after midnight!

Photo Resolution... Day 6

It's been an icy, snowy day... and not very sunny. The red berries on these trees on campus looked very pretty against the light of the sky.

Photo Resolution... Day 5

I was curious how well a snapshot of the monitor's screen would work. Actually, it's not as bad as I expected.

I quickly learned to turn off the flash. Left on, there was a large reflection in the middle of the photo.

But, I truly cannot think of a good reason for taking this type of photo. Skitch does such a good job! Oh, well. It was an interesting experiment.

Teaching about Phishing in Two Steps

How do you help folks to avoid being fooled by a phishing attempt?

In an earlier posting I recommended using CommonCraft's video which explains what phishing is. That's a good start.

However, this evening I discovered a good follow-up to that.

Hot Hardware shared news of a phishing scam that hit Twitter. The article also provided a link to Anti-Phishing Phil, an interactive game that helps players learn to recognize phishing URLs.

Playing Anti-Phishing Phil is a very good second step to help learn how to avoid being fooled.

So, when I teach about phishing this semester, I will...

1. share the CommonCraft video on phishing and
2. encourage my students to play Anti-Phishing Phil.

Photo: http://flickr.com/photos/cnbattson/3092362396/
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/deed.en

Photo Resolution... Day 4

As you can tell from the last few postings, I’m having fun with my New Year’s resolution to take and post at least one photo per day.

I’m trying to see mindfully as Bud the Teacher (and D’Arcy Norman) have suggested.

In fact, after reading BTT’s comments, I realized one reason why my husband is such a good photographer. He is much more aware of detail than I am when he looks at anything. He’s also very creative. He sees mindfully.

BTW, today's photo is a parchment poinsettia from our church's Christmas decorations.

SMARTBoard Blog Shares Many Resources

I have been reading some of the blogs that won EduBlog awards for 2008. Some will join my Google Reader list and some will become popular with my spring semester instructional technology students as they read and comment on blogs. One of the blogs —Teachers Love Smartboards— will become popular in another course I teach and in which we use a Smartboard. The archives go back to August 2007, so I have a lot to explore! Topics include art, games, history, language arts, logic, mathematics, science, lesson plans, tips and tricks, training videos, social studies, and special education. Blogger James Hollis shares the purpose for his blog…

The mission of this blog is simple. Share information and resources so teachers will utilize their SMART Boards in a way that increases learning in the classroom. That's why I end each of my posts with "Sharing is Caring!"

Hollis shares many resources for Smartboards on his blog. Frequently, he summarizes what he has written in lists... lesson activities, lesson resources, 2008 top five lists. Those lists and his categories make it easier to find ideas to use in the classroom.

If you use a Smartboard--or will soon be--this blog should be a good resource!

Photo: http://flickr.com/photos/barretthall/2870833301/
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

Photo Resolution... Day 3

Wreath (created by Phil) in my office at the university

Photo Resolution... Day 2

Die Kotz, the oldest of the cats

A New Year's Resolution Begun!

I don't usually post during the week, but I just had to share the first instance in one of my resolutions for the new year. I resolved to take and post at least one photo every day in 2009.

Keturah, one of our cats, is the subject on this first day of that resolution.

Only 364 to go!

Reaching Toward Goals for 2009

It’s time to start making New Year’s resolutions. My first is to take at least one photo each day during 2009. I read of a similar resolution by several bloggers last year. So, this year it’s my turn. I plan to post the photos on Flickr! and/or this blog. The idea for this resolution comes from the question — “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” — and its answer — “Practice!” I figure that the more photos I take, the better I’ll become as a photographer. We’ll see if I’m correct.

My second resolution is to maintain zero inboxes for email. I’m pretty good at doing that for my RSS reader, but not so good with my email. So, that means I have between now and December 31 to clear out my email inboxes. I think I’ll be busy!

Those two resolutions will require that I develop new habits. A third resolution will be a lot more fun. I want my students to become networked students with their own personal learning networks. (See here for my blog entry about this topic.) I’ve begun working on this one. One of the early projects for some of my students during spring semester 2009 is to create a movie of photos rather than of video clips. I’m so used to viewing this type of movie that it always surprises me when I’m reminded that many of my students have never seen movies created with only photos. Last week I created a short “photo” movie that explains briefly what we’ll be doing and also serves as a model of the first movie that I expect the students to create.

These three resolutions are going to keep me very busy this year!

Photo: http://flickr.com/photos/paulworthington/82648702/
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en