Here’s my idea for digital checkout for teachers on the last day of school. Teachers receive a list (email) of what they have to do & who checks them. The people who check have editing privileges on the spreadsheet. They put an X (or initials, or a color fill) in the cell in lieu of a signature. Simple, and not a lot of setup. You could put a little more work into the spreadsheet by adding conditional formatting such as greying out the person when all cells are checked.
Monthly Archives: April 2012
Connecting Teachers
I am currently teaching a masters course that focuses on technology integration. I have an outstanding group of students with a variety of expertise and experience. From preschool teachers to university professors, these teachers have been working hard to create meaningful assignments for their students. They are also blogging daily, and have a lot of interesting perspectives. Please take a moment to read & comment on a few of their posts.
Aga Suzdorf Preschool
Estella Duan Mandarin
Curtis Colegrave University ESL
Melissa Hubley Aquatics
Robbie Sawlor University ESL
Ruth Yang Mandarin
Tim Munro Middle school P.E.
Alex Lopez-Barton Middle school social studies
Lisa Barnhart 3rd Grade
Richard Ball University ESL
Katherine Thomas Middle school science
Sarrah Abassi 2nd grade ESL
Kristina Chipping 1st Grade
Jonathan Mueller 4th Grade
William Song University ESL
Sarah Segal Middle school language arts
Thank you!
Should I integrate tech?
I’m often asked by teachers if they should integrate technology into certain lessons. I’m not one who recommends adding tech to make projects look cool or more “21st century,” or to do the same old thing (with tech). For me, the answer to the question is simple. If I can answer “yes” to either of these two questions then I should use technology in the lesson.
1. Will the technology improve student learning?
2. Will the technology make the lesson/learning more efficient or organized?
If I answer “no” to both questions, I don’t use technology in the lesson. Simple.
Stop Motion Animation Challenge 4
This is the fourth challenge for my middle school movie-making club that is creating stop motion animations. This challenge is “Multiple Objects.” It was inspired by this fireworks video. Below is the animation I created as an example for this challenge. I didn’t expect that the first part would take such a long time, but animating several objects at a time took much longer than only animating one or two. My plan was to tell more of a story, like darkening the clouds, then use staples to make it look like it was raining, and add some lightning. Unfortunately, the photography was so time consuming, I had cut the movie short.
You can also take a look at Challenge 1, Challenge 2, Challenge 3, and the Movie-Making Club wiki, where I am documenting what we are doing.
Once again I used the book stand to prop up my computer to take the photos.
I measured how much I moved everything to try to keep the movement consistent. I moved the paper like a conveyor belt, dragging the clouds with it, and then moved the plane so that it would stay in the center of each photo.
iPhoto: Digital Rogaine
Last Saturday we took a family outing into Seoul, and my wife was snapping photos along the way. Unfortunately, she took a photo that caught me from behind, revealing my bald spot. Honestly, I’m OK with my hair thinning. When my friends joke about it, my typical response is, “Good thing I’m already married.” In fact, when I met my wife I had long hair (no thinning, no bald spot). Even though I’m really OK with my hair thinning (hmmm…that’s twice I’ve said this), I don’t want it displayed in photos. I can’t see the spot when looking in the mirror, and I’m taller than my wife, so she doesn’t see it often. Anyway, when I was browsing through iPhoto at the photos my wife took, I saw the spot in an otherwise lovely photo. A brilliant idea came to me: use the Fix Red-Eye tool to fix the bald spot. And it worked! Photo saved. Fortunately, the color on the tool matches my hair color. Apple really could improve iPhoto by adding “The New Fix Bald Spot Tool.” They could offer various hair colors. It would be great, and would help many, especially those who are using internet dating sites. Erase that bald spot with one mouse click!
Close up from original photo:
After using the Fix Bald Spot tool:
Nice, right?
Steve
PS. Don’t tell anyone about my bald spot. It’s just between us.