Technology Medley

Remember when we were kids and our first assignment each year was to write about our summer vacation? Well, this summer has gone all too quickly, as they all seem to have done these past few years. I had grand plans for house cleaning, organizing, reading, sewing, updating web pages, etc. However, summer is gone and little has been accomplished with any of those goals. It didn’t help any that I had repetitive motion injuries in both hands that had to be dealt with. Typing didn’t bother me, but sewing and playing the piano aggravated the injuries earlier in the summer, as did lifting heavy objects.

So, I spent a lot of time, along with Tina Coffey, training and working with our new student information system (TEMS)…trying to get everything ready for the beginning of the school year in our elementary schools. It was different for me to work quite a bit during the summer, but it was time well spent.

Those of you who know me well are aware that I enjoy traveling for a couple of weeks each summer too. In July, I went with a group from Grand European Tours to Vienna, Salzburg, Prague, and Budapest! Because of my music background, visiting the land of Mozart and Strauss and many other composers was very special. Highlights included a Mozart concert in the opera house in Vienna and an opera in the concert hall in Prague where Mozart himself conducted. Traveling through the land of my favorite movie, The Sound of Music, was another highlight.

Traveling through countries that were controlled by communism just a few years ago was very educational and made me appreciate even more the freedoms we have always had here in America.

So, what did you do for fun this summer? Did you spend special time with your children and grandchildren? Did you pursue a new hobby or enjoy an old one? Did you travel either locally or far away? Please leave comments below and share your fun times with others!

Wordle is a fun web site that will create a word cloud from any text that you insert. You can also enter a url from any site that has an rss feed and it will create a cloud from the text on that page. Then you have several options for changing the layout, fonts, and colors.

Here’s an example I created by entering my blog address:

The larger the word, the more times it was found in the text. So, I can quickly see that I’ve used the terms “teachers” and “training” quite a bit, which did not surprise me. However, the words “new” and “year” appeared frequently also, and I’m not sure why I’ve used those so often.

This might be a helpful visual when teaching about the overuse of common words in student writing. Either type in or paste in some text from student projects and let the students analyze the results.

You can also enter the username for anyone who uses Delicious for bookmarking and see what tags they are using. Here’s mine:

It’s simple to see that I have lots of sites tagged with Web 2.0! Enter anyone’s Delicious username and quickly see if they’re interested in sites that you might also be interested in exploring.

One final example: Use this cool tool to create colorful word clouds of student names at the beginning of the year. You can also designate that the words be displayed in “almost” alphabetical order. I created the following cloud using first names of the classroom teachers at my schools.

Classroom uses:

• Visualize overuse of common words in student writing
• Enter vocabulary words and let students practice reading them.
• Enter a passage from a story and see how often particular words are actually used.
• Enter text from a historical document and analyze the results.
• For younger students, use this to practice typing in spelling words. They don’t need an account to use the site, and they’ll love playing around with the results!

Update (8/22) Tina Coffey has a post with several terrific examples for using Wordle in the elementary classroom. Be sure to check it out!

What other ways can you think of for using Wordle in the K-5 setting?

Time for another fun video from YouTube! This video is a parody showing the introduction of the book at a time when only scrolls had been used. I’m not sure what language is being spoken, but there are English subtitles.

There is a learning curve involved with anything new, and everything was once new, even the book! I believe that every single teacher in my schools used something in technology last year that was new to you, and you did it with great success. Don’t be afraid to try new things, and please, never hesitate to ask for help. Consider me your modern day (medieval) helpdesk.

No, not that season! This is May, after all. This is the season for those all important standardized tests, and both teachers and students are busy preparing for them. In our case, this preparation has included our very first experiences with online testing. So, in addition to reviewing an entire year’s worth of material, and in some cases, more than one year’s worth, teachers have had to make sure their students were familiar with the online testing formats.

We begin next week, and I feel very confident that everyone involved is ready…maybe a bit anxious, but definitely well prepared and competent. So, to help alleviate some of that anxiety, I have compiled a list of fun sites on the internet to take your minds off of testing for a few minutes.

I found a stress test on the internet, so please begin here to assess how stressed you may be. If, after taking this very scientific test, you determine that you are moderately stressed, check out some of the following links and have fun!

Virtual Bubble Wrap
Go pop some bubbles. You know you want to!

Cute Overload
cute pictures and videos of a variety of animals

JigZone
If you love jigsaw puzzles, this it the site for you

Virtual Paintball
Whack some smilies in this office, or just “decorate” with the paint

The Red Square
Move the red square so it doesn’t touch any of the blue rectangles

Blobs
Think Chinese Checkers with frogs

Free Rice
Practice your vocabulary skills

Net Disaster
Select a web site and then throw cream pies at it…and other goodies

OK, those links should get you started. I’m sure that you have your own favorite sites that you visit once in a while just for fun. Please share them in the comments so all of us can enjoy them!

I added Kerpoof.com to my Delicious bookmarks back in September, but I have only recently begun exploring this fun site. It’s a kid friendly site, and it’s fun for kids of all ages. You can draw, mix and paint with virtual watercolors, create drawings with stamps and backgrounds, and even create videos.

Here’s a link to a simple, silly movie that I just created.

I don’t know about you, but I can get completely lost in a site like this! Those of you with artistic talents will really enjoy playing here, and your students will too. The nice thing is, you do not need to register to play around here, and the files that have been shared have also been approved, so it’s safe for kids.

There is a link for teachers and an archive of newsletters with ideas for using Kerpoof in the classroom.  Check it out!

We can probably all relate to these on some level. Turn your speakers on and enjoy!

Thanks for all you do every day, even on the days when you feel like this!