Virtual Teacher
Newsletter No. 71 May 16th 2003
THE FREE ONLINE
FORTNIGHTLY IT TEACHERS' NEWSLETTER
==============================================
CONTENTS
1.
Welcome
2.
Mind Candy
3.
WWWinfo Most Important people
4.
New Printables - Create Your Own
AD
5.
Technical Stuff Classroom Technology Conference
6.
Database 2
7.
Web Site Focus Make Your own
Rubrics Online
8.
Great Sites
9. Readers' Requests/Comments
10
Next Issue
11.
Code of 'Netizens'
12.
Tips
==============================================
1.
WELCOME EVERYONE. 5,000 readers,
VT has hit the big
5,000
subscribers worldwide. IT has come
a long way since VT
began
71 issues ago. No one is asking,
Œshould we use computers
in
schools¹ anymore, but rather, Œhow can we use them for the best
educational
outcomes¹. And what wonderful
advantages there are
in
using computers and the Internet.
Do some research into your
family
tree at the Œbdm¹ site, find the
most famous Person of the
20th
century, create your Advertisement and make your own Rubrics,
to
mention just a few things from this newsletter. Please enjoy.
==============================================
2.
MIND CANDY
Just
when I was getting used to yesterday, along came today
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Dear
Cathy,
Thought
you might like the following;
"A
school is a building with four walls and tomorrow inside"
(Eleven
year old student from a London School)
Best
wishes
Geoff
Strack
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'School
should be the best party in town.' Peter Kline
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A
linguistics professor was lecturing to his class one day.
"In
English," he said, "A double negative forms a positive."
"In
some languages, though, such as Russian, a double
negative
is still a negative. However, there is no language
wherein
a double positive can form a negative."
A
voice from the back of the room piped up,
"Yeah, right."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A
philosophy professor stood before his class and had some
items
in front of him. When the class
began, wordlessly he
picked
up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded
to
fill it with rocks, rocks about 2" in diameter.
He
then asked the students if the jar was full?
They
agreed that it was.
So
the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured
them
into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course,
rolled
into the open areas between the rocks.
He
then asked the students again if the jar was full. They
agreed
it was. The professor then picked up a box of sand and
poured
it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He
then asked once more if the jar was full.
The
class responded with a unanimous, 'YES'!
The
professor then produced two cans of beer from under
the
desk and proceeded to pour their entire contents into the jar,
effectively
filling the empty space between the sand.
The
students laughed.
Now,"
said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to
recognize
that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the
important
things - your family, your partner, your health, your
children
- things that if everything else
was lost and only they
remained,
your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other
things
that matter like your job, your
house,
your
car, etc. The sand is everything else. The small stuff in your
life."
If you put the sand into the jar first", he continued, "there is
no
room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same
goes for your life.
If
you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will
never
have room for the things that are important to you.
Pay
attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play
With
your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your
partner
out to dinner and dancing. There'll always be time to go to
work,
clean the house, give a dinner party, and fix the disposal."
Take
care of the rocks first, the things that really matter. Set your
priorities.
The rest is just sand."
One
of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer
represented.
The
professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show
you that no matter how full your life may
seem, there's always
room
for a couple of beers."
Cheers!
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/cheers.html
==============================================
3.
WWWinfo
The
Most Important People of the 20th Century
http://www.time.com/time/time100/
Famous
Australians
http://www.australianaustralia.com/whos_who.html
=====================================
4.
NEW PRINTABLES
Create
your own Advertisement, Use VT template
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/add.doc
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/Adds.doc
also
look at
==============================================
5.
TECHNICAL STUFF
MAXIMISING
POTENTIAL OF CLASSROOM TECHNOLOGY
Teaching
and Learning with Technology
7th
National Conference
12th
13th June 2003
The
Boulevarde Hotel Sydney
I
will be speaking on
Teaching,
Learning and Technology Capturing the Opportunity for
Customised
Learner-Centred Instruction.
Other
Speakers include Steve Coote MLC School,
Renata
McKenzie Roseville College,
Wendy
Herbert Sydney Girls High etc.
Should
be a great 2 day conference.
To
register contact Talina Bicakcian in Sydney on 02 9425 760
"IES
Conferences" iesconferences@optusnet.com.au
And
let them know you heard it in VT.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here¹s
a FREE seminar just the thing
for teachers in Sydney
seminars in style at the Tattersalls club if you go I¹ll see
you
there.
Dear
Cathy
Edsoft
would like to extend to you, and any of your colleagues
who
may be interested, an invitation to attend a complimentary
Adobe
Educational Breakfast.
If
you have ever wondered how to make an Adobe Acrobat
PDF
(Portable Document Format) document or even why you
should
make one, this breakfast would be very useful to you.
The
team at Adobe Systems and Edsoft would like to invite
you
to share breakfast with them while they show you how
you
can easily save time and money in order to share documents
throughout
your community.
*
Learn all about Adobe Acrobat: The only way to securely share
documents
online.
*
Learn how to convert Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint into
perfect
Acrobat files.
*
Discover how you can keep everyone informed without having to wait for
the
printer, the photocopier or the next meeting. You can PDF all of
your
important documents, reduce the size of the file and then email
them,
or publish them online accessible to all in your community to see.
Timetables,
Policies, Minutes of Meetings, the possibilities are
endless.
*
Learn how you can combine multiple types of files and publish quickly
and
easily as a PDF. There's no easier or cheaper way to produce a
student
study pack for a course, or a digital portfolio.
*
Discover Acrobat security to ensure your files are only read, printed
or
amended by the right people.
SYDNEY:
Date:
Tuesday, 3rd June in
Time:
Breakfast will be served at 7:30am we will conclude the session by
8:45am.
Venue:
The Club Room 1 of the Tattersalls Club, 181 Elizabeth Street
Sydney
Parking:
Throughout 2003 Tattersalls has an agreed arrangement with
Secure
Parking, offering discounted Parking Rates for patrons of
Tattersalls.
Secure are located in Castlereagh Street (underneath
Piccadilly
of Sydney)
In
order for us to finalise numbers for catering it would be appreciated
if
you could register your intention to attend at:
http://www.adobe.com.au/educationbreakfast
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6.
DATABASES 2
Using
Excel
Things
to know
Record:
Is a collection of fields, often has a specific and unique
ID
eg. each student at a school has their own individual Œrecord¹ ,
in
the ŒMoons of Jupiter Database¹ there are 16 records, one of
which
is Io.
Field:
Is a single item of information, common to all records in a
File
- each student record, would contain an ³age² field, in the
³Moons
of Jupiter Database² there are 5 fields.
File:
is collection of records eg in a
school there would be a
file
containing all student records, the ³Moons of Jupiter Database²
is a
File.
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/database.xls
Step
by StepŠ
1.
Open Excel and Open a new blank document.
2.
Type the Field names across in Cells A1, B1, C1, D1 etc
3.
Type the records in, the first record would usually start at A2 then
A3,
A4, A5 etc, fill in the fields for each record. (Many Databases
have
a distinct and unique ID for each record, this is usually the
first
field. These can be generated by
the program or entered
manually.
In the ³Moons of Jupiter Database² the Œname² field,
acts
as the record ID.
3a.
Data can also be entered using the Œform¹ view. Highlight the
field
names. Goto data, goto, form. Use
the Œnew¹ button, to create
a new
record.
And
that¹s it, easy peasy. If you use
a common ID across multiple
databases
this can be used to link databases using programs such
as
Access.
A really huge
database is the Births Deaths and Marriages Site.
At this site you
can do a historical search for family members,
Historical indexes can be accessed by anyone if the
event
occurred in the following periods:
Births
From 1788 to 1905
Deaths
From 1788 to 1945
Marriages
From 1788 to 1945
You can search the historical indexes for the
following information:
* First name
* Last name
* Year the event was registered
* District (place the event was registered)
http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/histind.html
==============================================
6.
WEBSITE FOCUS -
Rubstar
make your own rubrics. This is a
fabulous site. You must
Go
there now and have a look. It
automatically makes Rubrics.
You
can change various bits and pieces as you like. It¹s soooo simple.
I
have also encouraged my students to use it. Just Brilliant.
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/
1. If
you want to build your own, simply use a table in Microsoft word.
2.
Get the students involved.
3.
Discuss ŒWhat would make a really great assignment, project,
piece
of writing etc.
4.
Select Categories like, Originality, Mechanics, Attractiveness,
resources, information etc. About 4-5 is sufficient initially.
5.
Ask students ³WHAT WOULD MAKE A REALLY GREAT
ASSIGNMENT²
Write
this down against each category. A
digital projector
attached
to a computer is great for this.
If not the trusty
whiteboard/blackboard
will do.
This
is a fantastic way for students to work out exactly
what
is required.
Dear
Cathy
I see
in your next newsletter you are going to be looking at
developing
rubrics for your own evaluation. I am an occupational
therapist
working with children with challenges in many different
areas
and have been working a lot on Mind Mapping with children.
Many
of them are taking to it so well and yet I find it very difficult
to
sell the idea completely to some teachers in that they are saying
"how
do we assess it?....at the end of the day they have to be able
to
put it down on paper in a narrative form..." I realise this is looking
at a
whole new way of assessing children, but for some this is
clearly
more engaging and they actually retain more information
and
organise it more effectively.
Look
forward to your next newsletter!! Cathy Horder
Cathy
the Rubric is also a brilliant way to assess student work,
Also
digital portfolios as well as mindmaps.
A
great way to encourage teachers to use mindmaps is to use
³Inspiration²
or ³Kidspiration² with them on a topic at their level.
Perhaps
planning a unit or work.
Enthusiasm for this method
seems
to increase with use.
==============================================
8.
GREAT SITES
Museum
of computer Art - fantastic site lots of wonderful ideas.
http://www.museumofcomputerart.com/index.asp
--------------------------------------------------
Education
Queensland
--------------------------------------------------
HOT
SITES
Preschool
and Elementary library - animated, audio books as
well
as online activities and printables.
Very cute.
http://www.storyplace.org/preschool/other.asp
--------------------------------------------------
Virtual
Farm - Just Brilliant K-12
http://www.ext.vt.edu/resources/4h/virtualfarm/main.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The
Yara Online Book review site is fantastic. Students can write
reviews
and read reviews form other students.
It is also great for
selecting
books in specific genres or with specific themes. There
is a
comprehensive list of audio books with reviews as well.
Terrific
Resource.
http://www.yara-online.org/main_pages/read_review.htm
==============================================
9.
READERS COMMENTS/REQUESTS
VT is
now in recommended in Queensland
AccessEd,
part of Education Queensland, would like to make
a
link from our
website:
http://education.qld.gov.au/
to
your site at
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/
as
your site is a recommended resource for teachers or students.
Thank
you for your assistance and I look forward to hearing from you.
Lynne
Jewell
Administrative
Officer(copyright)
-----------------------------------------------------
Dear
Cathy,
I
love your newsletter. I get inspired every time I read it. I've
also
found lots of really useful sites/information which I've passed
on to
others. I have had a request for a play/ reader's theatre version
of
The Wizard of Oz. Do you have any suggestions where we could look?
Regards,
Jo
Bevan
-----------------------------------------------------
Hi
Jo,
Here's
the original script - free to download.
http://www.un-official.com/The_Daily_Script/ms_wizoz.htm
Shouldn't
think it would be to hard to convert to Readers' theater if you
wished
to.
-----------------------------------------------------
Thanks
as always Cathy for a great newsletter. In response
to
Kristie's HSIE question:
Yes
this is pretty broad but if History or Civics strands are those
needed
I'd be happy to help out. Here 2 great Oz sites to start off
with
that will be invaluable to Kristie and her future students. http://www.teachingheritage.nsw.edu.au/
http://www.racismnoway.com.au/
Regards
Sonia
-----------------------------------------------------
Hi
Cathy. :)
With
regards to Kristie at Southern Cross University at Lismore,
could
you please forward on my email address to her. I am a HSIE,
Legal
Studies, Business Studies, Modern History, Ancient History,
Geography
teacher at Balranald Central School in NSW. If she has
any
questions regarding HSIE and what it entails, what she can
teach
etc., she can contact me at my email address.
Thanks
for supplying such a wonderful resource by the way.
Cheers
and many thanks,
Naomi
Clark
-----------------------------------------------------
Hi
Cathy
Do
you know of any list serves for those interest in teaching
gifted
children?
Bye
Muriel
-----------------------------------------------------
Hi
Muriel,
VT
has a resource list for G & T
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/g&t.html
and
for years I recieved their the NSWAGTC newsletter - which
was
great.
http://www.nswagtc.org.au/shop/memform.html
Lots
of events ideas and meetings.
-----------------------------------------------------
Hi
Cathy
What
an invaluable source for always-stretched teachers your newsletter is -
and
it's great that you take a "no frills" approach to conveying all your
info.
As a teacher of ICT to British 9-18 year-olds who also loves helping
out
'other-subjects' staff, I have passed on so many of your suggestions -
THANKS
so much!
-
Gill :-)
-----------------------------------------------------
Hi
Cathy
Can't
get the 'apnoramas' site mentioned in your last newsletter.
Any
advice
Eddie
Owen (UK teacher)
-----------------------------------------------------
Hi
Eddie
If
you install the latest quicktime all should be well. It's free and is at:-
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/
-----------------------------------------------------
The
information on global warming that you provide appears political
rather
than scientific. Yes, it is partly accurate. However, most of the
references
provided in the sources listed are from conservative political
sources
rather than peer edited scientific journals. At least one author's
quotes
are used out of context (Robert Watson in Insight magazine 9/4/95). There are
many excellent and interesting scientific sources to learn
more
about global warming that would be more appropriate to use in a classroom.
Thank
you, L. E. Meyers
-----------------------------------------------------
Hi
Ian
Plimer's Book alone has over 250 primary source references and
here's
just a few of the online resources available. Climate change
needs
to be put into perspective and examined over millions of years
rather
than the just last 100 or so
years.
Center
for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change
http://www.co2science.org/journal/2003/v6n17c2.htm
CSIRO
http://www.dar.csiro.au/publications/greenhouse_2000c.htm
NESDIS
National Geophysical Data Center
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/ctl/future1.html
NASA
http://www.giss.nasa.gov/data/update/csci/
United
State Environmental Protection Agency
Peteet,
D. 1995. Global
Younger Dryas? Quaternary Intl. 28 , 93-104.
http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/intro/peteet_01/
NASA
LTP
http://vathena.arc.nasa.gov/curric/land/global/climchng.html
-----------------------------------------------------
Cathy,
I
loved the Adrian Bruce site you featured last time. I am looking for a
site
that offers a FREE downloadable crossword puzzle maker with
which
I can make games for my children to use at a word study or other language arts
center. I want to
customize puzzles with the children's
word
wall words or other specialized vocabulary.
My
Internet connection is not always reliable. Therefore, I have found
it
better to have software on my hard drive, disks or
CDs. That way
I can
make the centers games while doing my planning for the week
without
needing to connect to the web.
Suggestions?
Thanks,
Norma
-----------------------------------------------------
Hi
Norma,
I
like:-
The
discovery school online puzzlemaker -it's available on CD as well.
http://puzzlemaker.school.discovery.com/
There
are free to try downloads at downloads.com
http://downloads-zdnet.com.com/3120-200.html?qt=wordsearch+maker+free&tg=dl-20
Edsoft
also have a Crossword Wizard for about $100.00 goto their site at
or
contact Luida Zugai at
linda.zugai@bigpond.com.au
==============================================
have
requested it. Also might take a
look at Tessellations again
I¹ve
been having some great fun with them lately. 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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