Virtual Teacher Newsletter No. 148 August 5th 2007 - SPLENDID TRUTH
THE FREE ONLINE FORTNIGHTLY IT TEACHERS' NEWSLETTER
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CONTENTS
1. Welcome
2. Mind Candy
3. WWWinfo - ABC ARTS
4. New Printables - 25 Years of Change: 1982 - 2007
5. Technical Stuff - PHEONIX BLASTS OFF
6. Web Site Focus - - THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL
7. Cathy's Forum USER GENERATED CONTENT
8. Great Sites
9. Readers' Requests/Comments
10 Next Issue
11. Code of 'Netizens'
12. Tips
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1. WELCOME EVERYONE. "Kids know it better than the rest of us do:
Words and pictures are primally bound.
Watch any preliterate child or beginning reader with a book,
and you see it immediately. Kids don't look at pictures as
diverting illustrations or supplements to the text. They read
pictures avidly, mining them for every bit of information, mood,
feeling, mystery and nuance of the world fanning open before them."
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/08/21/DD300016.DTL
This newsletter is filled with visuals, read the Splendid Truth
in the User Generated Content forum, and watch ALL, yes ALL
the videos Gary has recommended. No, this has to be
a promise for every VT reader - WATCH THEM ALL.
More powerful than my words, more important that anything
else you will do over the next fortnight. Write in and let
me know what you think. Have a good one.
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2. MIND CANDY
The 3 R's
Rigor Relevance & Relationships
W. Daggett
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COMPUTER SWALLOWED GRANDMA
The computer swallowed grandma. Yes, honestly its true.
She pressed 'control' and 'enter' And disappeared from view.
It devoured her completely, The thought just makes me squirm.
She must have caught a virus Or been eaten by a worm.
I've searched through the recycle bin And files of every kind;
I've even used the internet, But nothing did I find.
In desperation, I asked Jeeves My searches to refine.
The reply from him was negative, Not a thing was found 'online'.
So, if inside your 'Inbox,' My Grandma you should see,
Please 'Copy', 'Scan' and 'Paste' her And send her back to me!
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If you're leading, and no one's following- then you're just out
for a walk"
John Maxwell, Leadership Expert.
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"Gort! Klaatu barada nikto."
Helen - The Day the Earth Stood Still
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3. WWWinfo Great Guide to Art around Australia
goto http://www.abc.net.au/tv/sundayarts/
and click on Art Map
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4. NEW PRINTABLES - 25 Years of Change: 1982 - 2007
http://www.mccrindle.com.au/snapshots/25YearsofChange.pdf
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5. TECHNICAL STUFF - Lift off for Nasa's Mars probe
Nasa has launched a spacecraft on a nine-month journey to Mars,
where it will dig below the surface for clues to the existence
of past or present life. Watch the Pheonix blast off. at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6926880.stm
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ITSC 2007 10 - 14 December Sydney
http://www.apple.com/au/education/itsc07/
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The second WMR & MacSchoolsNet Student Animation
Festival will be held on Thursday, November 8, 2007 at the
VU Convention Centre, Sunshine.
http://www.macschools.net/animationfestival.htm
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6. WEBSITE FOCUS - THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL
A landmark science fiction film, as well as a commentary
on the political climate of the 1950s, The Day the Earth Stood
Still, is a sci-fi movie less concerned with special effects than
with a social parable, which is very accessible. This is a great
film to show and discuss.
The editing is seamless, it stands up today, as a well shot,
exciting piece of drama, with none of the overacting and
reliance on violence of later and current SCI-FI films.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Earth_Stood_Still
Selection of Reviews And Comments
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/day_the_earth_stood_still/
IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043456/
Imagery + Review DVD Maniacs
http://www.dvdmaniacs.net/Reviews/A-D/day_earth_stood_still.html
Watch the movie online at:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=850123940936316998
better still hire it from the DVD/Video Store.
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7. CATHY'S FORUM - USER GENERATED CONTENT
The common theme of today's world is USER GENERATED CONTENT.
Hence the explosion of blogging, TV shows like Pop idol and Big Brother
where audiences cast their vote to influence the shows, websites
like YouTube, Wikipedia and Facebook.
Monologue's whose sole purpose is to inform are doomed before
they start. Information is the world's most devalued currency.
There's more of it in circulation than any of us can handle -
the painful truth is: there is no information you can present to
your students that they can't find out for themselves.
Did I say painful - this is really the SPLENDID TRUTH.
As teachers we no longer need to be responsible for the
lesson content, this can be left to students, while we concentrate
on guiding and assisting their efforts. This is splendid for motivation
as the students take charge, splendid for you as you can concentrate
on the really important stuff like empathy, imagination and humility
asking great questions, discussing and facilitating video,
photographic and multimedia presentations as well as interpretation
of USER GENERATED CONTENT.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User-generated_content
So, what are you doing in your classrooms or out of them
to capitalize on USER GENERATED CONTENT, or what
could you do?
What do you think? Please share your thoughts.
Does it Matter? It sure does.
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Gary's already onto it already, demonstrating the power of
imagery over words, and user generated content-
Cathy
Can I suggest three movies which are 'essential' watching
for all teachers/parents to set the scene for why there needs
be a shift from content/remember to think/create education
web2.0 on YouTube and TeacherTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE
ShiftHappens YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhnWKg9B2-8
Pay Attention TeacherTube
http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=40c570a322f1b0b65909
The first was posted on 31st January...over 2.5million
views since then hyas won numerous awards...it was
shown as the introduction at the first WEB2.0
conderence in May in San Francisco
Creates a learning activity..
"...if you knew over a million people would see your
posted video on
YouTube...
What would you say?..."
What would a teacher say??
Makes you think..eh?
The second one has over 1.5 million views in ten weeks..began as a
powerpoint slideshow..then a graphic artist stepped in and dressed it
up...shows how the medium is visual..not powerpoint slides!!!
The third is still powerpoint slides..expect someone will provide the
graphics...been around five weeks or so..
Shown at SLAV conference in melbourne a month ago
(SLAV=state librarians
association of Victoria) got many talking and a few more 'got it'
..can see why we are on about process..learning to
learn...students doing rather than teachers telling..
See what you think!?
Regards
Gary
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7b.
On the Lenovo issue, does this mean that Apple schools
will receive more pressure to replace their macs with PC's?
Teachers using Apple unite! I would like to know how many
of us there are and if there is a support group for iclassrooms?
Sue Piggott
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Hi Kathy and Sue,
We have a growing number of schools in Melbourne's
Western Metropolitan Region using Apple computers
a lot of this has been due to programs run on the use of
film in the curriculum and film development programs.
We also have a really strong (cross sector) teacher
network that supports this and delivers some teacher PD.
Their website can be found
Jill Reading
Teaching and Learning Consultant, eLearning
Western Metropolitan Region
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8. GREAT SITES
HOT SITES
Digital's Stills Imaging - this is Bob's place for Educational
Links covers a vast array of topics including Clay animation,
digital story telling, iMovie, Making Movies guides etc.
http://www.bobsedulinks.com/digital.htm
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Director's Chair Secrets of Storytelling
http://www.videomaker.com/article/12649/
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Ocean forecasting Australia, a $15m project to deliver ocean
forecasts for the Australian region.
http://www.cmar.csiro.au/bluelink/
Still under development the experimental movie already gives
a good generic indication of what is happening:
http://www.cmar.csiro.au/bluelink/exproducts/BRAN1_SST_fly1.mov
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9. READERS COMMENTS/REQUESTS
Hi Cathy
Happy to send invites for joost
Two things...eats the bandwidth!!..so be aware of the
consequences for download limits..
Requires an INTEL processor...so PC with XP(not VISTA yet!)
or an INTEL Mac works just fine
Have you discovered teachtube??
It is moderated so all the nasties do not get listed.
The format is H.264 so it can be put into iTunes(MAC and PC)
and then dropped on the a video iPod
For those who would like to record the existing collection on
YouTube use COSMOPOD or better is TubeTV which records
the flash movie then converts to ipod or AppleTV format...AppleTV
for schools is spectacular!!!
All the movies you have are instantly accessible.
The other question you ask about PC in NSW...is not an
issue in Victoria.
We are seeing entire schools dropping PC completely and
adopting MAC servers for podcasting hosting within their
school...Blog hosting is also built in..so no need to 'go out'
to the nasty environment which is the internet...and NO VIRUSES!!!
It now takes 20 minutes for a PC to be so badly infected by
viruses that it needs to be completely re-formatted....so
unless you have the latest virus checkers( eg..the newest
was ten minutes ago!) it is a constant losing battle.
Surely the IT technicians have better things to do than this
sort of house keeping...
As for the NSW 'deal' ask the question about the incentives
for the managers and bureaucrats who stitched the agreement.
There is a history of people switching jobs to the supplier
soon after deals being done...in government..in education
Secret commissions are not illegal in Victoria....business managers
are offered holidays and boxes of champagne as 'loyalty bonuses'
Transparency is a must...get the AEU on to it....
Regards
Gary
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Thanks for this Gary insightful info as usual. I
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Hi Cathy
In response to the reference in your last newsletter about the Digital
Art site we have extended the deadline for the "Living in Australia"
Digital Art competition that we are running in conjunction with
Scholastic. We heard from a number of teachers that they were keen to
participate but mid year they were preoccupied with reports,
parent/teacher interviews etc. so couldn't find the time. Consequently,
we extended the time to the end of this term. We have now put up a few
entries for people to see. The information is available from our web
The competition is aimed at Primary Schools and the idea was that we
would have a substantial collection of art works by children from
schools all around Australia that all teachers from anywhere in
Australia could enjoy looking at with their students. At the moment the
entries are mainly from NSW so we are keen to see some entries from
children in the other states and territories. We want children to create
images of what Living in Australia means to them where they live. The
prizes are sets of Graphics Tablets but the entries do not have to done
on a graphics tablet just be digital.
Regards
Linda Zugai
Sales Manager - ANZ
Wacom Australia Pty Ltd
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Dear Cathy,
I also think teaching is a rewarding job and will continue to be so,
despite all the things I’d like to change about it. I think the desire
to share a skill or knowledge is a very human impulse
(parents do it daily!). When one of my students tells me they
plan to be a teacher I am delighted and when they say they
want to be an English teacher it tells me I’m doing a great job.
From time to time past students contact me when they are
‘out there’ beginning their teaching careers and I enjoy
sharing my experiences and hearing about theirs. I think we
owe it to kids to enjoy teaching and if we don’t find something
else that is satisfying and rewarding. Life’s too short to be
doing something you don’t enjoy, cheers, Lyn
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As a mature aged, 2nd year out male teacher, I read the latest
newsletter with interest and felt I had to have my two cents
worth (I can afford it... just!)
I am married with three school aged kids myself (and all
the expenses that go along with that), and I changed into
teaching mid-life because it is something that I'd always wanted to do.
Please don't misunderstand me; every single day I am thankful
for the choice I made, and it is absolutely the best thing I ever did.
But on the current wages I am earning, we are really struggling financially.
This seems ludicrous considering I spent four years full time
at uni (and paid my HECS fees fully upfront for that;) and also
considering how much teachers are supposedly respected and
valued within our community. Yes, I understand that as a new
teacher my pay is not as high as experienced teachers, and I
can appreciate the logic behind that; my argument is that ALL
teachers should be better rewarded for the amount of time and
effort we put in and the responsibility of looking after 25+
of our futures' brightest hopes day in, day out.
If we want more male teachers in the system, we need
to make the career of teaching financially on a par (at least)
with other professions. No, this is not a sexist male/female
thing; just a statement of fact that you can get much more
money doing other things. And if we want men in the system,
we need to make it financially rewarding for them.
I know my opinions will change very little, but I don't know
too many people who think teachers are overpaid! Can we
say that about other professions?
Thanks for your newsletter and keep up the great work.
Pete Reiter
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10. NEXT ISSUE - Your views on USER GENERATED CONTENT
ciao Cathy
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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!!!
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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.
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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
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