Virtual Teacher
Newsletter No. 60 November 2nd 2002 – DIGITAL PORTFOLIO
THE FREE ONLINE
FORTNIGHTLY IT TEACHERS' NEWSLETTER
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CONTENTS
1. Welcome
2. Mind Candy
3. WWWinfo
National Learning in Online World pdf
4. New
Printables - Plan a Picture
5. Technical
Stuff – Digital Projectors
6. Web Site
Focus - WEBSITE FOCUS -INSPIRATION 7
7. BE A
SCIENTIFIC DETECTIVE
8. Great Sites
9. Readers' Requests/Comments
10 Next Issue
11. Code of
'Netizens'
12. Tips
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1. WELCOME
EVERYONE It’s been a pretty hectic fortnight
all things
considered. Fourth term always
presents its own
challenges,
keeping the students motivated, writing reports,
Christmas
activities. This is the term to
plan for some great
fun activities,
perhaps a photographic competition, perhaps a
super dooper
PowerPoint festival, or indeed a film and acting
festival. Don’t hold back, experiment and
the students will love it.
Enjoy.
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2. MIND CANDY
Are you a true
elementary school teacher? Let's
find out:
1. Do you ask
guests if they have remembered their scarves
and mittens as
they leave your home?
2. Do you move
your dinner partner's glass away from the
edge of the
table?
3. Do you ask if
anyone needs to go to the bathroom as you
enter a theater
with a group of friends?
4. Do you hand a
tissue to anyone who sneezes?
5. Do you refer
to happy hour as "snack time?"
6. Do you say
"I like the way you did that!" to the mechanic
who repairs your
car to your satisfaction?
7. Do you ask
"Are you sure you did your best?" to the
mechanic who
fails to repair your car to your satisfaction?
8. Do you sing
the "Alphabet Song" to yourself as you look
up a number in
the phone book?
9. Do you say
everything twice? I mean, do you repeat every-
thing?
10. Do you fold
your spouse's fingers over the coins as you
hand him/her the
money at a tollbooth?
-If you answered
yes to 4 or more, it's in your soul--you
are hooked on
teaching. And if you're not a
teacher, you
missed your
calling.
-If you answered
yes to 8 or more, well, maybe it's TOO MUCH
in your
soul--you should probably think about retirement.
-If you answered
yes to all 12, forget it--you'll ALWAYS be
a teacher, retired
or not!
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3. WWWinfo
National plan: Learning in an Online World
http://www.edna.edu.au/publications/schooled_action_plan/onlineworld.pdf
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4. NEW
PRINTABLES
Plan a Picture -
Plan your Digital Picture - and Compare
your finished
product with your plan
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/picture.doc
This file
downloads directly onto your computer and will
open in
Microsoft Word.
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5. TECHNICAL
STUFF
Digital
Projector reviews
http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,4148,7496,00.asp
My Pick is COMPACT SVGA LCD PJ 1800 ANSI LUMENS
VPLCS5 Sony List Price $4,620.00incl GST
This unit is available
elsewhere for around $4,200 include GST
The extra Lumens make all
the difference.
http://www.sonystyle.com.au/products/index.cfm?catid=16763&prodid=VPLCS5
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6. WEBSITE FOCUS
-INSPIRATION 7
This is a
fantastic program. I am developing
digital portfolios
with this
program, and how am I doing it EASILY. Digital
Portfolios are
the current trendy 'thing' for schools.
They are
merely a
collection of work samples on the computer. This can
be as
sophisticated or as simple as you like.
Programs free and
expensive have
been created to accomplish this with new and
wonderful
interfaces, invented specifically for this purpose.
Besides doing a
dozen other things Inspiration can be used to
Digital
Portfolios as well. The interface is wonderfully intuitive,
students who
have use Kidspiration will have no trouble with it all.
The new version
includes visually integrated notes(stickies-wonderful),
Enhanced
hyperlinking - hyperlink til your hearts content, to word,
to PowerPoint,
they all open beautifully from the one location.
It has audio
capabilities, love this one, record your ideas, click
on the icon and
hear them replay. It has multiple
levels of undo,
and the outline
view is much more user friendly than earlier versions.
You can save to
html for one page or multiple pages for publication
on the web.
Check out again the one I published last newsletter. http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/digiport.htm
. In this
portfolio I have included word documents for student
evaluation as
well as teacher evaluation (which are outcomes
straight from my
program), students can review my expectations
for an activity
even before they begin it. In the
original document
I also included
‘notes’ (these don't save on the html version)
containing
questions, for students to use when evaluating themselves.
I have uploaded
a native Inspiration version to view, for those who have the software or are
trailing it. To download this file
right click on the link on http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/teachtool.html
(Templates - Digital Portfolio - native
Inspiration file), then open it
from within
Inspiration(select 'all files')
When I was
listening to teachers discussing digital portfolios it
always involved
'lots of work', extra time spent setting up the
program to meet
their specific needs, extra meetings. This isn't
why we use
computers.
The main thing about
digital portfolios produced using Inspiration is:
THEY SAVE
TEACHER TIME.
Trial it for 30
days at:- http://www.inspiration.com/freetrial/index.cfm?fuseaction=form.insp
Most states now
have deals for Inspiration - checkout the statewide deals at
http://www.edsoft.com.au/Specials/SWLDindex.htm
The program for
NSW is about $38.00 incl GST per computer. Bargain.
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7. BE A SCIENTIFIC DETECTIVE
Who Dunnit?
You'll love the music
http://www.cyberbee.com/whodunnit/crime.html
Learn to be a
sleuth by exploring the world of the forensic scientist.
Elementary and
Middle School students can learn to take fingerprints,
analyze
unidentified powders, and other techniques to solve "The Case of the
Barefoot
Burglar."
Access
Excellence: The Mystery Spot
http://www.accessexcellence.org/AE/mspot/
Great online and
offline activities that allow you and your students to
solve mysteries
using science. Find out what happened to the local frog
population, use
a microscope to solve a mystery. These fourteen activities
are designed to
show science in a whole new light.
Forensic-Entomology.com
http://www.forensic-entomology.com/noframe.htm
Forensic
Entomology is the knowledge of insects used to aid legal
investigations.
The creators of this website are consultants in forensic
entomology, but
also explain how insects at a crime scene can offer clues.
Learn about the
life cycle of insects, protocol (how to observe the scene
and collect
specimens), the equipment you need to work with, and how to ship
specimens.
Federal Bureau
of Investigation: Handbook of Forensic Services
http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/handbook/intro.htm
Science runs
smack into law enforcement as the FBI publishes its Handbook of
Forensic
Services online. Learn about Evidence Examinations, Crimes Scenes
and learn Safety
techniques while working with unknown substances.
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8. GREAT SITES
Electric Heart
(from NOVA Online) HOT HOT SITE
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/eheart/
One of many
online resources at NOVA, this website program tells the
story of the
pursuit of a practical artificial heart. Here's what you'll
find online: 1)
Map of the Human Heart: how the human heart works with
an automatically
changing color graphic of a heart in cross-section; 2)
Amazing Heart
Facts; 3) Artificial Human; 4) Pioneering Surgeon: O. H.
Frazier: O. H.
Frazier has done more heart transplants than anyone else
alive, well over
700. He talks about his work, his thoughts, and his
hopes; 5)
Operation: Heart Transplant: try your hand as a
heart-transplant
surgeon in this simplified online procedure; 6)
additional
resources. Elementary, Middle School, High School
You must try the
heart transplant page - shockwave interactive –
I played with
this for ages - Loved it.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/eheart/transplantwave.html
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Jurassic Park
Institute HOT SITE
http://www.jpinstitute.com/index.jsp
Here's the
website blurb: ...the Jurassic Park Institute represents the
next step in the
evolution of one of the most popular franchises in
motion picture
history - Jurassic Park. A science-based and
educationally
focused program, JPI has one mission - to provide kids,
families,
educators and scientists with the ultimate resource for
dinosaur
learning and fun. There are resources for teachers and
activities for
learners such as games, news, interactive online science
labs; all of which
are tied to National Science Standards. You'll need
to register
(FREE) to access the teacher features. The site is full of
high quality
graphics and sound. (Shockwave and Flash required!) Elementary, Middle School
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http://www.nationalgeographic.com/kids/index.html
An online,
interactive magazine (e-zine) for elementary students. It's a
busy site, so
keep your eyes peeled for the Kids Magazine, the Explorer
Classroom
Magazine, games, activities, crafts, experiments, and homework
help. This
month's feature is Halloween and other creepy stuff. The same
high quality
you'd expect from National Geographic but packaged for
kids. K-6
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9. READERS
COMMENTS/REQUESTS
Hello
Colleagues,
Dear Cathy
Just wanted to
say how very much I appreciate your site.
I sometimes get a little
lost being an
over 50 new to teaching pre primary teacher. Any other
like minded in
the Perth area interested in finding out more with the help
of a kind
patient guru.- I want to see how
to use video clips - I need to see it
done rather than
read about it and then actually do
it a few times. I have been able
to set up electronic photo album of the children with MP3 attached ( help of
daughter) but see that this program also allows me to do video postcards -
which would be fantastic
Thanks, Kath
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Can anyone help
Kath??? Anyone from Perth??
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Hi Cathy,
I loved your
opening comment in your October 18 newsletter.
You're so right
- we should be encouraging our kids to see the joy of the learning, and the
opportunities that each day presents to capture what is really important.
Yarra Plenty
Regional Library http://www.yprl.vic.gov.au
is committed to
building links between schools and public libraries, and to this end we have
established a "Schools Online" page on our website, which also
includes a link to your site - and what a fantastic resource it is!
I know our
online collection of resources, including our free information databases, will
support teachers and students in their work.
Keep up the
great work.
Stay happy.
Meron :)
Meron Drummond
Education Sector Co-ordinator
TRIP Teacher
Yarra Plenty Regional Library
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Thanks Meron,
I'll include
your link in the next newsletter - keep up the good stuff.
ciao
cathy
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Hi Angela,
Both these links
work.
1.
Then WRITE
a script. Check out the sample shooting script pages and also tips at this
site:- http://breakingin.net/format_tutorial.htm
2. Make a Story
board. Here is a template that might help
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/film.doc
The film.doc
link directly above will download onto your computer if you click it - and
should open automatically in word.
However if it doesn't - check your downloads folder or do a 'find'
search for the document by date and name.
ciao
cathy
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Dear Cathy
As co-ordinator
of my school site, I need to know which is the preferred
form of
navigation on a school site.
- sitemap (pages
grouped under topics)
- index (pages
grouped alphabetically)
-
audience-focussed menus (student, staff, parents, visitors)
- other -
(please specify)
Is such a poll
possible from your site?
Please let me
know.
Thanks
Daphne
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What does
everyone think??? Do you have preferences???
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10. NEXT ISSUE – Is going to be
s surprise with some great
term 4
ideas. 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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