Virtual Teacher Newsletter No 118 12th November 2005 WHOLE NEW MIND
THE FREE ONLINE FORTNIGHTLY IT TEACHERS' NEWSLETTER
==============================================
CONTENTS
1. Welcome
2. Mind Candy
3. WWWinfo JSMAGIC
4. New Printables - XMAS STARS
5. Technical Stuff - FLYPEN
6. Web Site Focus - XMAS
7. A WHOLE NEW MIND
8. Great Sites
9. Readers' Requests/Comments
10 Next Issue
11. Code of 'Netizens'
12. Tips
==============================================
1. WELCOME EVERYONE Faced with another round of tests, final year exams and stressed students. I have been considering the value of all this Left Brain activity. Do students who do well at school and on standardised tests do well at life. Are the written tests we give good indicators of future success. My gut reaction is no. You can see the students who will be successful, some of them are good at test taking and others are not. There is more going on here and we have always known that the stuff we measure doesn’t give us the whole picture. Who will succeed in the future, how do we equip our students for a future world. What will that world look like? The book A Whole New Mind – is worth a read over the holidays – some of my thoughts about it are below
==============================================
2. MIND CANDY
"The future depends on what we do in the present."
- Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948) Indian political leader,
activist and father of non-violent social reform
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aesthetics matter. Attractive things work better. Don Norman
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I think designers are the alchemists of the future. Richard Kishalek
==============================================
3. WWWinfo JSMAGIC
Nothing is quite a spectacular on the Internet for
Christmas as as jsmagic. The Emissary is a spectacular
animated gif representation, everyone will love. Younger
children will enjoy the spectacle. Older students can use the
images to create their own versions. The clipart here is free,
so long as source is acknowledged. Most images can be dragged
directly into PowerPoint, so students can develop their own stories
and ideas using this clipart collection. Show it using I digital
projector if you have one. Click in active image area to progress.
http://jsmagic.net/emissary/
Scenes from the Nativity
=====================================
4. NEW PRINTABLES XMAS STAR
Christmas Star to Cut out and past or draw in your face,
paste your face in electronically and print out.
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/xmasstar.pdf
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/xmasstar.pdf
==============================================
5. TECHNICAL STUFF
Here is an amazing new piece of technology
==============================================
6. WEBSITE FOCUS – XMAS
Some great Christmas sites here. Lots of crafts and history.
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/christmas.html
For clipart and animated gifs jsmagic is great.
http://www.jsmagic.net/xmasgraphicsnativity/
Please send in any other great XMAS sites you can recommend
==============================================
7. A WHOLE NEW MIND – Daniel H. Pink
In this book Daniel addresses the Ages of Man – from the
Agricultural Age (farmers) through the Industrial Age(factory workers),
through the Information Age(Knowledge workers) to the
Conceptual Age(creators and empathisers). The Conceptual Age
has arisen due to 3 things, Abundance – a visit to any K-Mart will
confirm this, Asia – the abundance of cheap workers including
knowledge workers available in
Asia at wages one tenth of those in the western world, and
automation, the use of computer technology to reduce
repetitive jobs. This is great , but what jobs will our students do?
Design, creativity, high concept, high touch abilities matter more.
These are all fundamentally human attributes. Our cave dwelling
ancestors weren’t taking tests, they were telling stories,
demonstrating empathy and designing innovations.
‘At Sony, we assume that all products of our competitors have
basically the same technology, price, performance and
features. Design is the only thing that differentiates one product
from another in the marketplace”. - Ohga
“We don’t make automobiles. BMW makes “moving works of
art that express the driver’s love of quality.” Chris Bangle BMW.
Design, art, playing, creating inventing, are going to have to
play a larger part in the schools of the future. Standardised
tests and testing in general will need to change to reflect this.
We need as teacher , to develop the WHOLE child
(we’ve been saying this for ages haven’t we), and
evaluate both left and right brain skills. There is more to this
than just the written test results. Tests only give us half the picture.
==============================================
8. GREAT SITES
HOT SITES
Free Websites and Email for everyone in you school.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Remember "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego" Well
now the new game Brewster Jennings Protects America brings
this classic adventure into the 21st century by merging the game
play with Google maps technology*. In the web-based
Brewster Jennings Protects America game you race around
the globe as a government agent trying to stop a deadly terror
attack from taking place....
The story so far: You are an undercover CIA agent claiming
to work for the fictitious "Brewster Jennings & Associates"
company. You were just awoken at three in the morning by a
phone call from The Chief telling you to report to your office
immediately. From what he told you it looks like a terrorist
is set to attack today and you are the country's last and only
hope. Click "Start New Game". It's time to save America.
http://www.brewsterjennings.com/
==============================================
9. READERS COMMENTS/REQUESTS
Hi Cathy,
I can only repeat the praises that all your subscribers sing of
your wonderful newletter. Beside personal mail - it is the
emessage that I look forward to the most. As a Year 5 teacher,
I seem to use everything you include, either directly; modified
in class; or copied and passed along to colleagues.
I particularly love my thinking hats posters
( handcoloured by my class!) Now I am trying to produce
a similar resource using Gardner's Multiple Intelligences.
I have modified them to read: music wise / self wise / maths
wise etc. on a set of posters but I was wondering if you
could wave your particular brand of magic and improve on the idea.
Looking forward to the next newsletter
Anne Marie Stephenson
Villa Maria Primary School
Hunters Hill NSW
------------------------------------------
I might take a look at this later – does anyone have any
suggestions?
------------------------------------------
Hello Cathy
With regard to the Mind Candy facts, where is this taken
from? Is there a
url, etc to support these claimed facts?
Regards
Geoff
------------------------------------------
I think most of these sorts of things fall into the category of
things that might be true.
Here are a few other places they are mentioned - validating
them would be a good science experiment or research project.
This site says they are all true
Other sites where they are mentioned.
http://www.tallrite.com/LightRelief/TrivialFacts.htm
http://www.worsleyschool.net/fun/facts/thatmaybetrue.html
http://www.berro.com/entertainment/general_interesting_facts.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Cathy,
I just thought I'd drop you a line to inform you of a website you
may wish to add to your great resource at Virtual Teacher.
The site is OARBS - the Online Audiovisual Resource Booking System.
It's a free web service for schools and their teachers to share things
like computer labs, library sessions, A/V equipment, et cetera.
has details, as well as a signup form.
All the best,
Colin Dellow
------------------------------------------
Take a look and let me know what you think
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi, Cathy,
I did a quick search on 'lesson plans for blind children' in Google. There
were quite a few sites listed, though one must delve deeper through it. A
couple of interest I found are as follows:
http://www.tsbvi.edu/bib/social.htm
http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/Themes/5_senses/index.shtml
http://www.ropard.org/links.shtml
http://www.1.wayfinding.net/outcomes.htm
http://www.glc.k12.ga.us/trc/chester.asp?mode=browse&intPathID=3366
http://www.blindchildren.org/edu_dev/3_5_5.html
Hoping this helps a bit!
Warm regards,
Nancy S-G
------------------------------------------
Thanks for these Nancy
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Cathy,
If Alfred Hitchcock didn't have a belly button, how was he
connected to his
mother in utero?
Eleanor.
Hitchcock being a mammal had to be born with a belly button,
it’s just how it is for us mammals. Apparently Hitchcock had
several operations in the belly area leading his doctors to
sow up the bb. I can find no specific proof, but it is mentioned
often - here is one place.
==============================================
10. NEXT ISSUE – More on the Mind and the Conceptual Age.
Have a great fortnight. ciao Cathy
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Delivered FREE to your e-mail box every fortnight.
Online Lesson Plans, Great Sites, Free Stuff, Tips, Time savers,
and templates.
Computer Solutions for Teachers. Subscribe today! It's
totally Free! Just type subscribe in the subject and send it to me.
cathy@virtualteacher.com.au
==============================================