Virtual
Teacher Newsletter No. 65 February 14th 2003 LUMINOUS
BEINGS ARE WE
THE
FREE ONLINE FORTNIGHTLY IT TEACHERS' NEWSLETTER
CONTENTS
==============================================
1.
Welcome
2.
Mind Candy
3.
WWWinfo Duty calculations
4.
New Printables greatsit.html
5.
Technical Stuff Google
6.
Web Site Focus iLife
7.
ENERGY AND SIMPLE MACHINES
8.
Great Sites
9. Readers' Requests/Comments
10
Next Issue
11.
Code of 'Netizens'
12.
Tips
==============================================
are
over, timetables are in place, students are settling in and
most
classrooms are organized. Take a
look at some of the
Personal
Coaching tips below when you consider your teaching style
this
year, the site below has some interesting articles, well worth
discussing
with your students, so that a great classroom environment
can
be established from the get go.
I have just instituted a new procedure
in the Computer Lab
a
poetic procedure the students find it amusing and it¹s working well.
ASK 3
THEN
ME
Yes
you guessed it, if students have a problem in the Lab,
they
ask 3 other students before asking me for help. This has
already
reduced the number of calls for help in the classroom
as
well as allowing me to focus on one student at a time.
I¹m
thinking BIG signs, HUGE signs, all over the lab.
==============================================
2.
MIND CANDY
As
Yoda tells Luke Skywalker, "Luminous beings are we."
Not
just some
of us. All of us.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I
only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all
started
by a mouse." Who said this?? Walt Disney or Bill Gates.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Work
Effectively In An Inspiring Environment
BY
WENDY HEARN
PERSONAL
AND PROFESSIONAL COACH http://www.business-personal-coaching.com/WorkEffectivelyInAnInspiringEnvironment.html
(Some
interesting thoughts for setting up your classroom this year)
Are
there times when you know you could be more effective and
productive?
Do you want to feel more excited, enthusiastic and
inspired?
Your environment plays a big part in this and discovering
an
inspiring environment is a worthwhile investment in yourself and
the
people you work with.
Different
people are inspired by different things. Music, colours,
feelings,
people, peace and quiet and your
whole environment
influence
your inspiration. When you feel inspired your commitment
will
be higher and you'll get more done in less time. Imagine working
in a
place where you can give your absolute best................
.......What
environment do you and the people you work with need
to
work at an optimum level? Take the lead and discover what is
needed.
Be outrageous with your ideas; don't just choose the most
obvious
ones. Harness your power of choice and demonstrate that
it's
possible to work in an inspiring, enthusiastic way.
Start
by identifying what happens when inspiration and effectiveness
are
low. Listen for ideas and clues from yourself and the people
you
work with. Is your working area too cluttered, too noisy, too quiet,
too
distractive? Consider what you need instead. .......................
Copyright
2002, Wendy Hearn. All rights reserved.
==============================================
3.
WWWInfo Duty on Sale of Land or Business
Calculates
duty on sale of land or business. Includes first home
buyers
and duties on mortgages.
http://erevenue.nsw.gov.au/calculators/landsalesimple.php
=====================================
4.
NEW PRINTABLES
GREAT
NEW SITES -site
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/greatsit.html
==============================================
5.
TECHNICAL STUFF
Apple
website info Education - Especially for Australia
distinguished
schools program
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Local
Google Search Site Launched
Here's
an Internet initiative which might well interest many schools.
At
this new Australian google search-engine web site, people have the
option
of just searching "Pages from Australia" which, being Australian
web
sites, are subject to Australian laws regarding obscene etc content.
In
other words, if teachers suggest where appropriate that students limit
their
web searches to Australian pages, via this new google resource, it's
very
likely they will not experience any obscene pages scattered amongst
the
search engine findings .. and something schools might like as an option
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The
Alliance of Charters Towers State Schools, Charters Towers, North Qld
will
be hosting Roadworks II - Paving Pathways to Pedagogies Conference on
16-17
May. Focussing specifically on teaching and learning, the conference
is
suitable for educators at all levels. Internationally recognised speakers
including
Dr Ross Todd (School of Communication, Library & Information
Studies,
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey), Mia OíBrien (Teaching
&
Educational Development Institute) and Dr Phil Cam (Organisational
Development,
University of New South Wales) will be in attendance. Workshops
will
also be hosted by the 3 keynote speakers as well as Garry Collins
(Reading,
Writing, Grammar Development), Karen Bonanno (Information
Literacy),
Stepanie Whelan (Managing Bullying, Communicating with
Teenagers),
Paul Wilson (Indigenous Education, Boys in Education),
Letterland
(Literacy/Numeracy Development). Full conference details are
available
from Kelly - email
actss91@bigpond.com
==============================================
6.
WEBSITE FOCUS - iLife
The
new Macintosh software released by Steve Jobs on January
8th
2003 is fantastic. iLife is
exactly where computer use is going,
and
allows ease of functionality never before seen, finally computers
maybe
living up to expectations.
iLife
includes incredible new versions of iPhoto, iMovie and iDVD
with
dozens of advanced new features, all seamlessly integrated
to
allow users to easily access their digital music, photos and movies
from
within each application. For example, users can now select
music
from their iTunes library to use in their iPhoto slideshows,
movies
or DVD menus from directly within iPhoto 2, iMovie 3 or
iDVD
3‹without interrupting the creative process by having to
switch
back and forth between applications.
iPhoto
2 now includes one-click photo Enhance, which can dramatically
improve less-than-perfect
pictures;(works faster easier and better than photoshop) a new Retouch tool for
removing scratches, hair, lens
dirt,
etc.; photo archiving to a CD or DVD to preserve and share
your
iPhoto library; and the ability to email photos with one click
using
Mac OS X Mail, Eudora, Entourage and AOL.
iMovie
3 features pro-quality special effects, including the new
³Ken
Burns² effect for adding emotionally powerful motion to still
photos;
powerful new audio editing tools and blockbuster sound
effects
from Skywalker Sound¹s seven-time Academy Award
winner
Gary Rydstrom; pro-quality special video effects such
as
Aged Film, Letterbox and Earthquake; and the ability to
add
chapter markers to movies for DVD navigation and
scene
selection.
iDVD
3 includes 24 new pro-quality, Apple-designed, customisable
DVD
menu themes;(these have to be seen to be believed
they
are exceptional) automatically created DVD scene selection
menus
from iMovie chapter markers; and the ability to personalise
iDVD
3 themes with personal photos, music and movies using
iDVD
Drop Zones.
The
iLife applications will be included with all new Macintosh
computers.
iPhoto 2 and iMovie 3 are available for free download at www.apple.com.au
The
iLife retail package $95 AUD
==============================================
7.
ENERGY AND SIMPLE MACHINES
Here
are some great sites to use in a unit on energy and/or
simple
machines. Excellent site. inventions by Leonardo
Da
Vinci - Don't forget to complete the quiz on gadget
anatomy,
and play Leonardo's Mystery machine
http://www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/InventorsToolbox.html
Simple
Machines and how to make them using lego.
http://www.fi.edu/qa97/spotlight3/spotlight3.html
WebQuest:
Wind, Water, Sun & Coal
Great
webquest Year 3 up
http://home.cfl.rr.com/mrshebert/Energy/index.htm
EnergyQuest
http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/index.html
Australian
Science and Technology Heritage Centre Be blown
Away
by the contribution of Australian Scientists to science.
Take
the Bright SPARCS link to find your favourite scientist.
http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/
National
Inventors Hall of Fame Index of Inventions
More
suited to secondary schools the information contained in the
alphabetic
index of inventions. http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/1_1_search.asp
3M
Invention Unit - A wonderful step-by-step unit helping
students plan, develop and market their own
original
inventions
with a very practical approach as they move from
scout
to wizard to critic and trail blazer.
http://mustang.coled.umn.edu/inventing/Inventing.html
Build
a Bridge - Sponsored by NOVAonline, this site requires
participants
to study bridge structures and determine
the
strengths and weaknesses of each before playing an
interactive
game http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bridge/build.html
Invention
Playhouse - The Lemelson Center for the Study of
Invention
and Innovation offers this virtual play lab where
students
can explore the connections between play and invention.
http://inventionatplay.org/playhouse_main.html
Ronald
J. Riley's Internet Pages - Recognized by MIT's
Invention
Dimension, this scientist offers a unique perspective
on
becoming an inventor for kids - there's even a special
section
encouraging girls in the sciences.
http://www.inventored.org/k-12/
Edheads
- Simple Machines Activities - an innovative,
interactive
experiences, that are engaging and promote
critical
thinking skills. This is done by designing
applications
that make hard-to-teach concepts understandable
using
the power and interactivity of the Internet. Right now,
it
consists of "Simple Machines" which promotes exploring and
identifying
over 50 different machines, from the super simple
to
the hideously hard!
http://www.edheads.org/activities/simple-machines/
==============================================
8.
GREAT SITES
Copyright
friendly images for education
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOT
SITES
This
is a great site - have the children take a quiz- there is
a
children's sections and the animals sections is also suitable
for younger grades. have the children select and take a
quiz
and
print out their results. If you are planning a trivia night this
is
the right site for you.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Excellent
Physics Experiments at this site.
The
resource describes this and many more wacky, weird and
most
of all fun physics demonstrations, which were presented
at
Physics on Stage 2, a Europe-wide teachers' event held
last
spring in the Netherlands.
http://www.physicsonstage.co.uk/
Scroll
down to the bottom and click on
Click here for
some exciting demonstrations from Physics on Stage 2
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Free
book Notes - High School sites
Guidebook
Heaven - summaries of english Texts and guides
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
==============================================
9.
READERS COMMENTS/REQUESTS
Dear
Cathy,
Went
into your last email to find " Scope and Sequence of
Computer-Based
skills K-6" for school but confess I cannot find it.
Could
you please send it to me again.
Why is this not in the
curiculum?
If you have time, please send ASAP for our
programing. Love your newsletter.
Thanks,
Margaret
Hi
Margaret,
Scope
and sequence can be downloaded from
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/teachtool.html
Scroll
own to programming documents.
ciao
cathy
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear
Cathy,
I
have been teaching uni students in China for the past 2 years,
and
now have to write a course on Cross-cultural Education.
There
is a lot of information and a stack of good books, but I am
trying
to make a work/study interactive book, so that my final year
students
can not only refer to web sites, test themselves, research
and
so on, but also use the book as a tool for teaching about
cultures
to their students in turn....I start with the local culture...
then
the Province and then the Country...before moving to other
countries.
What
I CANNOT find and am desperate for, are Videos, Dvd's
Vcd's
or anything with those 'worlds funniest commercials' or
world's
weirdest commercials'
There
are sites that offer streaming videos clips. but for the
classroom
( we are not a rich college) I would like to find
somewhere
to BUY tapes. Do you have any suggestions,
or
maybe some other teachers have found this elusive product???
all
the best for the year of the Sheep !
Cheers
Phil
"phil
farraday" <farrfill@hotmail.com>
Can
anyone help Phil???
------------------------------------------
Hi
Cathy
I
want to start a newsletter for our kids at school. I have no
idea
how to do it. How did you set yours up? It works pretty efficiently.
Great
sites in the latest newsletter!
Thanks
Daphne
Hi
Daphne,
I run
mojo for my mail system which is an online mailing system.
Can
be tricky to set up.
You
can also simply mail out to students using multiple
ccs(carbon
copy - you see these on incoming emails) or
bccs(blind
carbon copy - these are not seen on other emails).
These
can be problematic as some ISPs will bounce them
after
say 10 have been sent this way.
However if you cc about
10
email addresses per email this should work just fine for
your
class. Try a few experiments by
sending the emails to
yourself
and check out the results.
ciao
cathy
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear
Cathy,
I am
an Aussie teacher working in the UK on a new project
and
would appreciate any help and ideas from the wealth of
experience
in Australia. I am in Derbyshire setting up the first
virtual
classroom for permanently excluded students. There is
not
much information out there about this type of adventure so
if
any one is doing this already I would love to hear from them.
We
will be using Learnlinc for our interactive classroom.
Thanks
for the great newsletters.
Best
wishes from the snow.
Kym
Rodgers
Derbyshire
County Behaviour Support Service
Has
anyone done this??? Love to hear
about it.
==============================================
10. NEXT ISSUE - We¹ll be ŒExploring
Leonardo², and also
looking
at The International year of Fresh Water- which is you
guessed
it 2003.
==============================================
11.
Code of the 'Netizens'
This
Newsletter is not free, despite the misleading advertising
above.
The Fee is now due. Each week you must help one
colleague
on the Internet who has less knowledge than you.
Help
that person even if you have to visit their classroom or
do a
little research and get back to them. Trust me, this will
help
a lot of people get their computer classrooms running better.
OK
I'm trusting you!!!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12.
TIPS
1.
Double click on highlighted URLS to open in browser.
2.
Send in your Questions, Questions will be published with
Answers,
send in your Answers, if you have expertise to share.
3.
Nominate a brilliant site for review and inclusion in this
newsletter.
4.
Nominate a fantastic school site for review and inclusion in
this
newsletter.
5.
Make contact with other schools using fantastic programs.
6.
Prepare and innovative article for this newsletter.
7.
Tell 2 colleagues about this newsletter.
==============================================
The
opinions expressed here are purely those of the editor,
Cathy
Brown. All other small print clauses apply. Such as:
Use
at your own risk. Nothing in life
is guaranteed. If it doesn't
work
for you send me an email.
Editor:
cathy brown mailto:cathy@virtualteacher.com.au
==============================================