Virtual Teacher
Newsletter No. 68 arch 28th, 2003 SURPRISTY
THE FREE ONLINE
FORTNIGHTLY IT TEACHERS' NEWSLETTER
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CONTENTS
1.
Welcome
2.
Mind Candy
3.
WWWinfo - PANORAMAS
4.
New Printables - TESSELLATIONS
5.
Technical Stuff Apple Site and Coferences
6.
Web Site Focus Laugh at Work Week
7.
Drawing Cartoons
8.
Great Sites
9. Readers' Requests/Comments
10
Next Issue
11.
Code of 'Netizens'
12.
Tips
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1.
WELCOME EVERYONE. Itıs the Easter
break here in Sydney.
VT
will be taking a break to, the next issue will be out on May 2nd.
As
you will see I havenıt covered Databases in this issue, I will
leave
them till after the holidays. I
was sidetracked with some
wonderful
tessellations. The printout is a
tessellation, and there
are
also some wonderful Tessellation sites, which I have added
to
the VT site, including moving tessellations. The standout site
of
the month is the Panoramas,
youıll
love them, a free holiday for those not actually leaving
town
this Easter.
Have
a great break.
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2.
MIND CANDY
Schools
should be a mirror of a future society.' Anon
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I
touch the future. I teach.
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'As
a child lives today he will live tomorrow'
John Dewy
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Chaos
breeds life while order breeds habits' Henry
Adams.
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'It
takes a whole village to raise a child.' African saying
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It's
not the biggest, the brightest, or the best that will survive,
but
those who adapt the quickest'. Charles Darwin
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'To
raise new questions, new problems, to regard old problems from
a
new angle requires creative imagination and makes real advances'
Albert
Einstein
'
Education for the future has left the harbour and is already
on
the open seas. Some educators are still clinging to the
belief
that the ship hasn't left and are invested in business
as
usual. Some educators are enjoying the freedom of the
open
seas .... excited about the foreign ports and places
they
will visit '
Renata
and Geoffrey Caine
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3.
WWWInfo - Panoramas - They're fantastic!!!!
This
is a fantasic site high on the
WOW! factor.
Just
click on some of the panoramas - the pyramids,
La Tour Eiffel -
The Eiffel Tower - Paris
Niagara Cascade
at Reunion Island
Inside Dr. Rileys
Mouth
Time
Square
http://www.panoramas.dk/fullscreen/fullscreen41.html
http://www.panoramas.dk/australia.html
You
will need the quicktime to view this site, the latest
Free
download is at:-
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/
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4.
NEW PRINTABLES TESSELATIONS
Make
your own using Paint.
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/Tessell.html
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5.
TECHNICAL STUFF
Apple
website info Education - Especially for Australia - review
distinguished
schools program
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Visions
& Reflections, the 24th annual National Educational Computing
Conference
The
24th annual National Educational Computing Conference
(NECC)
is presented by the International Society for Technology
in Education (ISTE) in conjunction with
the Northwest Council for
Computer
Education (NCCE). It will be held
in Seattle, June 29
through
July 2, at the Washington Convention & Trade Center.
You
may pre-register now through June 18 at http://www.neccsite.org
Australian
Computers in Education Conference
To
join this list send a blank email to join-acec2004_friends@edna.edu.au
The
manager of this list is Kerrie Smith kerrie.smith@senet.com.au
The
Australian Computers in Education Conference (ACEC2004) biennial
National
Conference will be held in Adelaide in July 2004. ACEC2004 will
cater
for educators who use computers in their teaching from K-tertiary.
Why
not take a holiday in South Australia and participate in a vibrant
and
inspiring computers in education conference? An Information
Distribution
email list has been created to distribute information on
a
regular basis to possible presenters, participants and sponsors.
It
will alert you to progress in planning, paper submission
deadlines,
and registration information.
World
Environment Day (WED)
http://www.theschooldaily.com/articleView.asp?articlePK=18836
World
Environment Day (WED) will be celebrated on June 5,
2003
and this year's theme is "Water ? Two Billion People
Are
Dying For It". The United
Nations Environment Programme
is
preparing a booklet to be used
for environmental education
programmes
in and out of school settings among
children
and youth.
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15th
Biennial World Conference for Gifted Education
http://www.gtcasa.asn.au/world.htm
Date : Friday, 01 August 2003
Venue
: Convention Centre, Adelaide,
Australia
Our
Children of the Future 3
http://www.octf.sa.edu.au/octf/
Date
: Thursday, 01 May 2003
Venue
: Adelaide Convention Centre, Adelaide, Australia
12th
State Conference of the Queensland Association for Gifted & Talented
Children
http://www.qagtc.org.au/conf2003/qagtc2003.htm
Date
: Friday, 16 May 2003
Venue
: QUT, Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, Australia
Island
Journeys : a quest for inspiration
http://www.islandjourneys.com.au
Date
: Thursday, 02 October 2003
Venue
: Wrest Point Casino, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
==============================================
6.
WEBSITE FOCUS Websites for 2 - 7
year olds
Som
fantastic letter templates, links and ideas at this site.
Printouts
are exceptional
http://www.first-school.ws/theme/alphabet.htm
Games
Themes and Resources
http://www.perpetualpreschool.com/
Interesting
Site, some great ideas and resources
http://www.meddybemps.com/index.html
World
of Peter Rabbit
Crayola
Site, Craft Printouts, sections for Educators and parents
http://www.crayola.com/index.cfm
Printouts
and Games, Fairly commercial, however if your
Children
are keen on the Wiggles, this may be just the ticket.
http://www.thewiggles.com.au/games/play.html
ABC
has some great activities, hereıs the link to the games page.
http://www.abc.net.au/children/mixy/carrotpie/default.htm
Fantastic
Site, often mentioned in VT, great info, great printouts.
http://www.EnchantedLearning.com
Some
Great Games and activities here, my children love the
Little
Animals Activities Centre
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/schools/
Loads
of fun great resources
http://www.sunshine.aust.com/aus/index.html
==============================================
7.
STUDENT TRACKING and REPORTING STARS
STARS
is a student tracking and reporting system that is easy
and
effective. Designed for K - 6 NSW Primary
schools,
it is a database entry for Maths and English allowing
data
analysis across the school, over time.
Curriculum outcomes
for
these 2 Key curriculum areas are updated with syllabus
changes
and include all outcomes for these 2 subject areas.
Other
areas can included in the 4 page report document. The
cover
and backpage can be personalized by the schools
themselves
as these are word templates. The 2
internal pages
include
the maths and science data entry results shown as
heavy
line, referencing grade level and WT,(working toward)
A
(achieved) indicators. There is room for comments as well as
other
subject reporting.
STARS
streamlines the process of recording and reporting on
student
progress. It provides teachers with a time-efficient and
manageable way to map kids. Itıs as
simple to use as handling
your email! The philosophy
underpinning STARS was developed by
Dr
David Cullen, the Principal of Narrabri West public School
from
1998 to 2000.
I
liked this program it is particularly suitable for reports for years
2-6,
for lower grades there is little movement on the
outcomes
for the first 2 years of school, however teachers
in
these grades can still input
information for Maths and
Science. Take a look at this program if you are
considering
a
reporting package to provide statistical cross grade information
for
your school. Download the brochure
at:-
A
free demo CD is also available.
==============================================
8.
GREAT SITES
HOT
SITE
Famous
Trials
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/ftrials.htm
An
interesting resource from Doug Linder, faculty, University of
Missouri
Kansas City. A straight-forward homepage full of thumbnails
that
lead to various trials throughout history. From Socrates to OJ
Simpson,
you'll find timelines, photos, excerpts from the trial, maps
and
other pertinent materials. You also find thought-provoking sections
such
as Exploring Constitutional Conflicts nad Searching for Evil. But
wait,There's More will lead you to other
trial links.
This
is a fascinating site looking at polyhedra, puzzles, it is interactive and
addictive.
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/topics/LiveGraphics3DApplets.html
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Strategies
for teaching Reading in the middle years.
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Great
maths site - Enquiring into number Thingys Tackling someof Mathematics
baffling problems from a simple easy to understand perspective.
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~macinnis/scifun/number.htm
==============================================
9.
READERS COMMENTS/REQUESTS
Hi
Cathy
I am
a new Music Specialist and wondered if you could suggest some helpful sites for
teaching music to primary school students.
Thanks
Anne
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi
Anne,
2
sites I like are at:-
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/music.html
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Cathy,
I'd like to reply to another Terrie who asked about instruction for
Microsoft
Access. Our school district has
start-to-finish tutorial lesson
plans
for teachers on our district web site.
Please refer your readers to
it:
http://curriculum.peoriaud.k12.az.us/curric/6th%20grade/6thlesson2000.html
We
teach Access to our sixth graders.
Terrie
Rust
------------------------------------------
Cathy:
I
have been integrating technology within my curriculum
for
some time now and am on many mailing lists such as your
own,
but I have to say, your page is the one I look forward to
receiving the most. It is written so teachers without a
vast
technology experience can understand what to do and
for
this reason Ipass it along to my colleagues.
In
the school board where I teach (Halifax Regional School
Board,
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, many of the junior highs
have
adopted the middle school philosophy.
It is within this
approach
that my team person and I work. We
are
in a technology rich school with an LCD/VCR/laptop/2
ps'c/printer/scanner
in each classroom, as well as , a pod area
with
16 computers that 4 - grade 7 classes share. They are
situated
in the centre of the 4 classes with a wall of windows
from
each class facing the computers so the students are visible at
all
times. The school also has a well
equipped computer
lab
(32 computers) with a SMART Board. Not all schools in
Nova Scotia have this amount of
technology, but thanks to
a
Federal Government Initiative, all have enough
technology
within each school plus are completely wired
for
adequate technology integration.
I am
impressed with Australia's leading edge technology
approach. You are by far, ahead of Canada.
I am
writing to you because you requested pictures of what
was
going on in classrooms around the world.
My team
person
and I just finished an Interdisciplinary Unit with
water
as the theme.
http://hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/phillie/WaterIDU/Intro.htm
We
regrouped our 51 seventh graders, opened up the
removeable
wall between our classrooms, and began the
unit
3 weeks ago, with our finishing day on Friday. The kids
love
these units with teacher as facilitator as they construct
new
knowledge. I always take pictures
as the kids work, but
have
few that really show them using the technology, as I
guess
now I take that for granted, but here is a page of pictures
I
took during the unit. Part of the
time was during our Winter
Carnival,
so you will have to pardon hats, painted faces, etc.
http://hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/phillie/wavepics.htm
Again,
let me say thanks to you for a job well done!
Ellen
P.S. A site that many of our newbies into
technology like
is
created by a Canadian teacher and Technology Coordinator,
Pete
McKay and is called The Teacher List.
After one subscribes,
a
worthwhile Internet site is emailed to them daily.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi
Ellen,
Thanks
for the info and great letter. The
pictures look great,
seems
like you are doing a really fantastic job in inspiring your
students. More of this needs to happen. I am preparing a
seminar
session shortly and with your permission would love
to
use some of you shots in the session - this type of info needs
to be past on so that everyone can
realize the possibilities.
As to
the tone of the newsletter - I believe computers should
make
life easier, more efficient and fun.
Computers aren't
complicated
and if programs and explanations make them
appear
that way, those program and explanations need to be
discarded. I like it simple fun and attainable.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HI
Cathy
Great
site and newsletter-
The
Library Software I use is Bookmark- an unsophisticated
software
VERY suitable for Primary Schools (where, in Victoria,
we have a lot of untrained Librarians.)
You could find out more
about
it from Barry or Gary at Book Mark Library Services on
03
9886 1290. Their back up service is FANTASTIC- no , this
is
not a paid commercial!!
Mary
Adler
Hughesdale
Primary School
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Dear
Cathy,
Unsure
as to whether you can help me - I have an assignment
to do regarding the effectiveness of
student portfolio's.
Unfortunately
I am having difficulty getting information.
Have
you any suggestions?????
Robyn
Hi
Robyn,
There
is a great deal of material on the web about portfolios.
Digital
portfolios are the latest innovation.
You will need to do a
bit
of reading with regard this topic, a google or edna search
should
assist. There is a digital
portfolio for download at
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/teachtool.html
under
templates. The nut of it is that
students evaluate their own
work
and can compare current to past work to see progress.
If
you search the VT site with the google search engine there is
also
information from previous newsletters.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi,
Cathy,
Yet
another site for you to consider for inclusion in your newsletter.
If
you ever create one with an emphasis on special education, this site
is wonderful. Teachers and parents can use it for
information as well
as
using the activities to learn what it feels like to have a learning
disability. As always, keep up the fabulous
work. My mother always
said...
"if you want something done and well, ask the busiest person to
do
it!"
Best
to you... Nancy S-G
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/misunderstoodminds/
Thanks
Nancy great site as usual.
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Cathy
I am a technology teacher and with my
students have created
many
web pages and will continue to do so in the future. Our
school
has no Intranet and I would like to set one up but have
NO
idea where to start. I continue to
search the Internet and
read
all that I can about this topic but the nuts and bolts of exactly
how
to make this happen elude me. Can
you help?
Chris
Can anyone offer
some advice here. I will cover
this in later newsletters.
So stay tuned.
==============================================
10. NEXT ISSUE
I
WILL cover databases and also take a look at setting up intranets.
So
send in your experiences and advice and we will tackle these two
Topics. Happy Easter to all.
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!!!
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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.
==============================================
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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