Virtual
Teacher Newsletter No. 63 December 13th
2002 WHO I AM MAKES A DIFFERENCE
THE
FREE ONLINE FORTNIGHTLY IT TEACHERS' NEWSLETTER
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CONTENTS
1.
Welcome
2.
Mind Candy
3. 3.
WWWinfo - Live Traffic Updates from the RTA
4.
New Printables - JSmagic.net
5.
Technical Stuff Apple/Calendar/Holiday Learning
6.
Web Site Focus Chinese New Year
7. PROOFREADING
8.
Great Sites
9. Readers' Requests/Comments
10
Next Issue
11.
Code of 'Netizens'
12.
Tips
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1.
WELCOME EVERYONE. I have attended
several Speech
Nights¹
so far this year as both parent and guest. The
overwhelming
content of the addresses has been on IT.
The
growth in this areas is exponential, government and
private
school spending has been much greater than in any
other
curriculum area and there is no end in sight. There is a
greater
need than ever to continuously upgrade and update
computer
knowledge in schools at both the individual level and
whole
school level. More inservice time
needs to be invested into
IT
for 2003. Interestingly some
schools are going further,
they
are looking at the change in teaching that is occurring.
Delivery
of educational multiple level courses for students is
expanding
beyond the school walls. It is
going world-wide.
Online
modules, learning environments, webquests are out
there.
Some are poor in quality and reflect simply the conversion
of
paper based programs to the net, but there are many that
are
brilliant, thought provoking, exciting to use, especially when
explored
by peers and teachers together. They excite, they
take
students beyond the classroom walls, they allow students
to
tinker, to test, and they make synapses twitch in all sorts of
useful
ways.
Our
role as teachers in this environment will change, change for
the
better. We will become
facilitators, guides, learners, researchers,
counselors
and true mentors, and we will have the time to do this
because
of the abundance of quality multi-level programs available online.
The
one thing that won't change is the need for high quality teaching,
whatever
it's permutation. This brave new educational world will be
very
exciting, very challenging and much more fun. I can't wait..........
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2.
MIND CANDY
To
follow, a story I like a lot, with a dedication - unusual for VT - to
John
G.; a Gentleman and a Friend.
WHO I
AM MAKES A DIFFERENCE
A
teacher in New York decided to honour each of her seniors
in
high school by telling them the difference they each made.
She
called each student to the front of the class, one at a time.
First
she told each of them how they had made a difference to
her
and the class. Then she presented each of them with a blue
ribbon
imprinted with gold letters, which read,
"Who
I Am Makes a Difference."
Afterwards
the teacher decided to do a class project to see
what
kind of impact recognition would have on a community.
She
gave each of the students three more ribbons and
instructed
them to go out and spread this acknowledgment
ceremony.
Then they were to follow up on the results, see
who
honoured whom and report back to the class in about
a week.
One
of the boys in the class went to a junior executive in a
nearby
company and honoured him for helping him with his
career
planning. He gave him a blue ribbon and put it on his
shirt.
Then he gave him two extra ribbons and said, "We're
doing
a class project on recognition, and we'd like you to
go
out find somebody to honour, give them a blue ribbon,
then
give them the extra blue ribbon so they can acknowledge
a
third person to keep this acknowledgment ceremony going.
Then
please report back to me and tell me what happened."
Later
that day the junior executive went in to see his boss,
who
had been noted, by the way, as being kind of a grouchy
fellow.
He sat his boss down and he told him that he deeply
admired
him for being a creative genius. The boss seemed
very
surprised. The junior executive asked him if he would
accept
the gift of the blue ribbon and would he give him
permission
to put it on him. His surprised boss said,
"Well,
sure." The junior executive took the blue ribbon and
placed
it right on his boss's jacket above his heart. As he
gave
him the last extra ribbon, he said, "Would you do me
a
favour? Would you take this extra ribbon and pass it
on by
honouring somebody else? The young boy who
first
gave me the ribbons is doing a project in school and
we
want to keep this recognition ceremony going and find
out
how it affects people."
That
night the boss came home to his 14-year-old son and
sat
him down. He said, "The most incredible thing happened
to me
today. I was in my office and one of the junior executives
came
in and told me he admired me and gave me a blue ribbon
for being a creative genius. Imagine. He
thinks I'm a creative
genius.
Then he put this blue ribbon that says:
"Who
I Am Makes a Difference, on my jacket above my heart.
He
gave me an extra ribbon and asked me to find somebody
else
to honour. As I was driving home tonight, I started
thinking
about whom I would honour with this ribbon and I
thought
about you. I want to honour you. My days are really
hectic
and when I come home I don't pay a lot of attention to
you.
Sometimes I scream at you for not getting good enough
grades
in school and for your bedroom being a mess, but
somehow
tonight, I just wanted to sit here and, well, just let
you
know that you do make a difference to me. Besides your
mother,
you are the most important person in my life. You're a
great
kid and I love you!"
The
startled boy started to sob and sob, and he couldn't stop
crying.
His whole body shook. He looked up at his father and
said
through his tears, "Dad, earlier tonight I sat in my room
and
wrote a letter to you and Mom explaining why I had killed
myself
and asking you to forgive me. I was going to commit
suicide
tonight after you were asleep. I just didn't think that
you
cared at all. The letter is upstairs. I don't think I need it
after
all." His father walked upstairs and found a heartfelt
letter
full of anguish and pain. The envelope was addressed,
"Mom
and Dad." The boss went back to work a changed man.
He
was no longer a grouch but made sure to let all his employees
know
that they made a difference. The junior executive helped
several
other young people with career planning and never
forgot
to let them know that they made a difference in his life...
one
being the boss's son. And the young boy and his classmates
learned
a valuable lesson. Who you are DOES make difference.
If
you have anyone who means a lot to you, I encourage
you
to send him or her this message and let them know.
You
never know what kind of difference a little
encouragement
can make to a person.
Remember
that! I give you a blue ribbon, John G.
WHO
YOU ARE MAKES A DIFFERENCE,
AND I
WANTED YOU TO KNOW THAT!!
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3. WWWinfo
- Live Traffic Updates from the RTA
http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/trafficreports/index.html
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4.
NEW PRINTABLES - Not printable -
but put it up on your
digital
projector and enjoy. Perfect for that tired afternoon
before
the end of fourth term - show this.
Great
Little Santa Story with animations online full screen
http://www.jsmagic.net/emissarypage1/
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5.
TECHNICAL STUFF THINGS TO CHECK OUT OVER THE HOLIDAYS
Apple
website info Education - Especially for Australia
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Conferences
and Inservices for 2003
http://www.edna.edu.au/noticeboards/noticelist.html?id=688
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School
Dates For Australia
http://www.dest.gov.au/schools/dates.htm
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Download
the Calendar in Excel or as a doc for 2003 - including
all
the years celebrations
http://www.edna.edu.au/noticeboards/noticeread.html?nbid=1981&nid=3291&sort=&show=
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Upgrade
your computer skills over the holidays online at:-
http://www.websterselearning.com/support/index.html
12
months subscription for an individual course is around
$20.00,
and this includes, accredited
testing. for both training
and
testing in PC skills. The training material, written to ICDL specifications,
covers
seven major modules including word processing, spreadsheets,
presentations,
the Internet, plus more. The testing section allows you
to
automatically assess your current computer skills. ICDL -
International
Computer Driving License.
Software
Tutorials
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6.
WEBSITE FOCUS Chinese New Year
Chinese
New Year's Day is February 1, 2003. It is Year 4701 by Chinese
calendar.
For
those interested in astrology, it is the year of the Goat (sheep, ram).
Great
set of links including printables ,they are excellent, activities, classroom resources
and animations.
http://www.familyculture.com/holidays/chinese_new_year_resources.htm
Horoscope
http://www.tuvy.com/entertainment/chinese_horoscope.htm
Cards
and Greetings
http://www.asianjoke.com/newyear2002/
Chinese
New Calendar
http://www.chinapage.com/newyear.html
The
Chinese Calendar
http://www.new-year.co.uk/chinese/calendar.htm
Mathematics
and History of the Chinese Calendar
http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/calendar/chinese.shtml
General
Links page
http://chinaunique.com/fun/newyear.htm
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7. PROOFREADING
Here¹s
another great site sent by Nancy.
It is a fantastic site great interface and quite addictive.
Cathy,
I've been 'playing' on this site for an hour, and it's great.
Perhaps
it might help other teachers with proofreading skills. Best to
you, Nancy
http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hme/k_5/proofread/index.html
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8.
GREAT SITES
HOT
SITES
TryScience.org
wants you to experience the excitement of contemporary
science
and technology through online and offline interactivity with
science
and technology centers worldwide. Science is exciting, and it's
for
everyone! That's why TryScience and over 400 science centers
worldwide
invite you to investigate, discover, and try science yourself.
TryScience
is brought to you through a partnership between IBM
Corporation,
the New York Hall of Science (NYHOS), the Association of
Science-Technology
Centers (ASTC), and science centers worldwide. New
interactive
content is added regularly to these areas: Adventure
(thematic
interactive experiences), Experiments, Field Trips(interactive
science
center features, Curious?(polls and activities based on a hot
topic
question), and Live Cams.
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Astronomy
for Kids
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Zooweb
Great site visit an Australian Zoo over the holidays,
plan
for an excursion next year, all the info you need is here.
http://www.zooweb.com/links/dir.asp?catid=110
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9.
READERS COMMENTS/REQUESTS
Hi
Cathy,,
I'm
sure you'll get lots of replies from people closer to Northam,
but
I'm in Harvey .W.A. and am happy for Rosemary to contact
me
for info. if she'd like to! Thanks for the great newsletters.
Wendy
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Hi
Rosemary,
Perhaps
Wendy can help you further.
ciao
cathy
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Hi
Cathy,
Can
you recommend any particularly good sites for NZ/Aussy
relieving
teachers. Printable sheets are
very useful at a variety of levels.
Thanks
for your help.
Glenda
Begg
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Hi
Glenda,
Check
out the VT site for this info:-
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/pd.html
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/teachtool.html
ciao
cathy
------------------------------------------
Hi
Cathy, many thanks for your fantastic site: I work as an advisor to teachers
of ESL
students and pass on your newsletter and websites regularly - they love
it as
much as I do. Next year (2003) I
am being redeployed to a school as a
classroom
teacher and am keen to stay on your mailing list. I hope I will be still able
to receive the newsletter at my new address and will definitely start
contributing when I have a REAL teaching job again.
Cheers
and a happy Christmas,
Lesley
Lesley
Boyd
ESL
Teaching & Assessment
Curriculum
Services Branch
Tamar
House Darwin
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Hi
Lesley,
I'd
love more contributions. When you
are ready to change
email
addresses you can unsubscribe
http://mojo.epicentre.org.nz/cgi-bin/mojo/mojo.cgi?flavor=unsubscribe&list=Virtual_Teacher
and
subscribe again.
http://mojo.epicentre.org.nz/cgi-bin/mojo/mojo.cgi?flavor=subscribe&list=Virtual_Teacher
Thanks
for the positive words. Have a great
Christmas
ciao
cathy
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Cathy,
thanks for the hard work and dedication on the newsletter. It is
great
to look forward to receiving it.
Happy Holidays to one and all.
Terrie
Rust
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Dear
Cathy,
Wishing
you a merry Christmas and a happy new year. I very
much
appreciate all the work that goes into producing these
e-Newsletters.
John
Fairlamb
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10. NEXT ISSUE - Will be January 31st
2003. Have a
fantastic
holiday season. Have as much fun as possible,
figure
out what things you enjoy and do them as often
as
you can. A Merry Christmas and
Happy Holiday Season to all,
Give
YOURSELF the Blue Ribbon, you all MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
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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