Virtual
Teacher Newsletter No. 90 May16th 2004 GREAT TEACHERS
THE
FREE ONLINE FORTNIGHTLY IT TEACHERS' NEWSLETTER
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CONTENTS
1.
Welcome
2.
Mind Candy
3.
WWWinfo Australian Bureau of Statistics- School trends
4.
New Printables - The Fable For School People
5.
Technical Stuff My New G4, Atomic learning for 1 Month
6.
Web Site Focus visualizer mathematics
7. Geneology
8.
Great Sites
9. Readers' Requests/Comments
10
Next Issue
11.
Code of 'Netizens'
12.
Tips
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1. WELCOME
EVERYONE. Something Special for my
90th
edition
I treated myself to an Apple G4 1.5 gig laptop. WOW,
and Iım
considering some really big questions, like.
WHAT
MAKES A GREAT TEACHER?
I
have been musing on this one for
some time. It's a pretty preppy
question
really, and also a little introspective....... It's not the great
presentation,
the wiz bang effects, the planning, the time/effort
deal,
all these things can help; the nut of it is to inspire kids to
action. Not what you do, but what you can
inspire them to do.
I am
not going to re-use the word motivate, because that conjures
up
notions of tricks, rewards and tokenism. Itıs real action,
generated
by real interest and curiosity, the type of inspiration,
way
of seeing things that goes on well after school is out for the
day
and hopefully for the rest of a students life.
Itıs
a way of looking at things, of seeing something in a new
way,
of inventing learning as you go along, of seeing it for the
first
time, of bringing a new perspective. Itıs a way of making it
fresh
and personal. If you can inspire
students to do even some
of
these things you are heading toward being a great teacher.
And
the great thing is that the journey becomes more enjoyable
for everyone.
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2.
MIND CANDY
http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/website/view.cgi?dbs=Article&key=1079385148&format=full
³After
all, kids like to play games, but they don't like school.
But,
Gee noted, you cannot learn in school unless you are motivated.
It is
important to not set up a false dichotomy between gaming and
learning.
Though gamers say "I don't think of it as learning,
"
it is clear that they learn a great deal.
Identity
- "No learning happens apart from an identity,
"
notes Gee, and suggests that in online games players
create
and are committed to an identity for an extended
period
of time. In order to learn through experience, you
have
to experience from a place, from a perspective, from
an
attitude. In order to learn science, therefore, you need
to
take on and customize the persona of a scientist.²
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
when
a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something
is
possible, he is almost certainly right, but when he states that
something
is impossible, he I very probably wrong.ı Arthur C. Clarke *
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³The
real history of progress is the unfolding of endless layers
of
surprise. What constitutes a
surprise can, in itself, be rather
surprising,
too.²*
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³Trying
to second guess tomorrowıs surprises requires thinking
around
corners, or what might be called knightıs-move thinking;
itıs
a question of jumping three steps forward this part often no
more
than straight-line extrapolation from what already exists
and
then, crucially, one step to the side.²
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³A Brief
History of Tomorrowı Jonathan Margolis 2000
Bloomsbury
Publishing NY
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3.
WWWinfo
Australian
Bureau of Statistics
Australian
School Trends
National
Report on Schooling 2000 2001
www.mceetya.edu.au/anr/index.html
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4.
NEW PRINTABLES
Hereıs
an old favourite of mine:-
The Fable
For School People
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/fable.html
³ONCE
UPON A TIME, the animals decided they must do
something
heroic to meet the problems of "a new world".
So
they organised a school²
Seems
more examples of this last week than usual, good to reflect.
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5.
TECHNICAL STUFF
I
have just purchased an excellent new G4 15² 1.5gig PowerBook
itıs fantastic. I now have a portable
classroom, showroom,
a go
anywhere virtual teacher. The new
features o this little
beauty
are numerous. But there are a few
that have me really
intrigued.
GarageBand is a marvelous piece of software that
enables
folk to produce their own multi-track music, record it
and
play it back. Students can produce their own music to
accompany
PowerPoints and movies they produce without
worrying
about copyright. Its an excellent piece of free software
bundled
with the new G4s, and rounds out
nicely the
iphoto,
idvd, imovie, itunes line-up. The Visualizer
mentioned
again below is a knock out, and plays full screen
what
a wonderful use of mathematic.
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Atomic
Learning
The
free trial is now for the full Month of May so the sooner people ask, the longer
they will get!
Bryn
This is
a fantastic offer please take advantage of it. Youıll kick yourself if you donıt. http://ictpd.net/alinfo.html
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The
demonstration Computer Skills Assessment Practical Test for Year 6 is now available
for demonstration at this URL. It is
a diabolic mess really. Press f11ı
for full screen view of test this will help some folks. Just for laughs take the demonstration
yourself. Are you up to this practical test?? The trick with it will be in the ability of students ot deal
with the procedures rather than their knowledge of computers. http://www.2004csa6.net For international and interstate folks please let us know how
your Educational Authorities are dealing with Computer assessment are there
better ways out there???
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6.
WEBSITE FOCUS - Mathematics behind the Music Visualiser
I
used my new G4 with iTunes to play
War of the Worlds, and
turned
on the music Visualizer. On this
laptop it plays full screen
and
is quite spectacular really WOW factor, the same thing
can
be done on PCs in the media player program. The music
is accompanied by visuals that are fantastic,
abstract, and
based
on mathematical formulas like fractals.
They are complex
versions
of the simple algebraic equations students learn in
school.
What a wonderful application of mathematics.
Show students
the visualizer and tell them that it is
all
based on mathematics, algebra in fact.
Below are some
sites
with images and formulas to really start investigating
this
highly inspiring territory.
Chaos
theory
http://www.imho.com/grae/chaos/chaos.html
Images
http://www-chaos.umd.edu/gallery.html
Fractals
Chaos and mathematical Formulas
http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~pbourke/fractals/
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7.
GENEOLOGY
NSW Registry of Births Deaths and
Marriages online searchable database for NSW from Births [1788 - 1905] Deaths [1788 - 1945]
http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/index.htm
RootsWeb
Provides
searchable databases, family trees, mailing lists, and message boards.
The
Genealogy Homepage
Genealogy
help and guides, a variety of resources, maps, deeds, software, events and
more.
Cyndi's
List
A
categorized & cross-referenced index to nearly 229,925 genealogical resources across
most counties on the Internet.
FamilySearch.org
The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has "the world's largest
family history library." Site includes information on getting started with
genealogy, maps, forms, guides, and much more.
World
Gen Web Project
A
non-profit, volunteer based organization dedicated to providing genealogical
and historical records and resources.
Genealogy
Today
http://www.genealogytoday.com/
Articles,
tips and links geared toward a variety of levels from beginner to professional.
Genealogy
Instruction for Beginners, Teenagers, and Kids
http://home.earthlink.net/~howardorjeff/instruct.htm
Projects,
interview tips, books, blank forms, and more.
Tracking
Your Ancestors
http://family.go.com/crafts/buildmodel/feature/famf49histmap/famf49histmap.html
Project
idea for younger children: make a tabletop map showing your family's history.
Genealogy
Today Jr.
http://genealogytoday.com/junior/
Tips,
family stories, "fun ways to learn about genealogy" and more.
Links
from recent article in HEM
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8.
GREAT SITES
HOT
SITES
Count
On Maths Games and Activities
Microbe
World
http://www.microbeworld.org/home.htm
Resources
and hands-on activities.
About
Flash
http://gecas.id.au/resources/Flash/Flash.htm
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9.
READERS COMMENTS/REQUESTS
Dear
Cathy,
The
following comments rang a big bell with me.
"I think I am taking a stand.
I think unless we start to get
computers
working better in schools with the right software up-to-date equipment enough
technical support and teacher tuition we are going to
frustrate
ourselves back into the 19th century."
I
have been an IT manager in a high school, and I have seen so many teachers
put
off by bad experiences in the computer lab that they virtually never
used
the resource again. This is a huge waste of capital investment and a
great
shame, because as you regularly show us, there is an fantastic array
of
great material available in electronic format (either via the web or on
CD/DVD),in
virtually every subject area. However, the mechanics of using
this
material with a class still puts many teachers off.
That
is where this new software that can make a difference. ClassIT from
Fourier
Systems (www.fourier-sys.com) is one of a new class of network
management
software that you load over the top of what ever network you are
running
in your school, and when it is installed (which takes about 15
minutes),
it gives the teacher complete control over what goes on in the
room.
Teachers
can view every student screen on their monitor as thumbnails, they
can
zoom in on one student screen, they can take control of a student
computer
to demonstrate procedure, they can black out screens, lock
keyboards,
broadcast their screen or any student screen to the whole class,
they
can restrict web access to selected sites or block selected sites, thay
can
restrict access to selected applications or block access to selected
applications
and they can communicate by voice, message or chat to selected
students
or the whole class.
With
just a little training, teachers from all areas, primary and secondary,
suddenly
find their computer lab lessons a much more rewarding experience
for
all concerned. It is also a great monitoring system for the school
library.
You
can download a free 30 day trial of ClassIT from here
http://www.fourier-sys.com/product_software_classit.html
but
if your subscribers would like a CD and printed Instruction
Manual,
they can send me an email to
and I
will post them out a package. I can
also
offer them direct support while they are trying out the package in
their
school. Virtual Teacher subscribers will also receive a special
discount,
so be sure to mention Virtual Teacher in your email.
Peter
Niass
National
Education Manager
OZIntell
Pty Ltd
------------------------------------------
What
do you think of Peterıs idea let me know???
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Hi
Cathy
I
just wanted to say well done! I have only just begun as a
subscriber
to your web site. For many years I have been a
subscriber
to many OS sites but your's is truly Aussie. Great
work
and thank you
Kerrie
Thanks
Kerrie
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10. NEXT ISSUE -
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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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cathy@virtualteacher.com.au
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a growing audience of teachers, by
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For
more information contact,
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For
information about inservice and training contact me at
cathy@virtualteacher.com.au
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