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Virtual Teacher Newsletter June 23rd, 2000 No. 8
THE FREE ONLINE FORTNIGHTLY IT TEACHERS' NEWSLETTER
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Contact: cathy@virtualteacher.com.au
Website: http://www.virtualteacher.com.au
Newsletter Archives can be found at:-
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/archives.html
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CONTENTS
1. Welcome
2. Mind Candy
3. South African Birds
4. New Printables Empowered Editing, Games Galore.
5. Technical Stuff
6. How reliable is the Information on the WWW?
7. Picture Australia
8. Great sites to Check out
9. Reader's Comments
10 Reader's Requests
11 Next Issue
12. Code of 'Netizens'
13. Tips
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1. Welcome everyone.
I have suffered a terrible bout of children over the last week, thank
goodness I am now recovering and everything is getting back to
normal, just in time to write the newsletter. You know what it's
like, everything goes along just fine for a time, and you are
thinking - 'everything is going along just fine I know I'm headed for
a real disaster' - well, I've just had mine - a five star one - so
now I can look forward to a period of relative calm, at least for a
while. After the 'bout of children' I was in need of some serious
positive thinking. Years ago I performed in an amateur version of
the Musical 'Time', the "A little bit of time' quote below is from
that musical, I have always loved it. Read and enjoy. The current
term draws to a close this week or next week here in NSW, depending
on which school you're involved with, I wish you all a great holiday.
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2. Mind Candy
A little bit of time.
Here's a quote from the Musical 'Time'. I have used this with
children to begin discussions, and it works very well. It is also
useful as a recital piece.
"Your life is an expression of your mind. You are the creator of your
own universe......"
Interested??? check out the rest at:-
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/time.html
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SAY WHAT?
A spokesman for Swedish furniture chain Ikea told the
Kvallposten evening newspaper that they are trying to
attract potential employees with handwritten job
advertisements on lavatory walls. "In the toilet people are
more relaxed and receptive to our message," claims Ikea's
Jimmy Ostholm...
Perhaps this is where teachers have been going wrong. We need to
have things like times tables and spelling lists handwritten on the
toilet walls at the schools - we could certainly do with students who
were more 'relaxed and receptive" to learning these things. Perhaps
we could also have children sit tests in the toilets, one per cubicle
would also overcome cheating as well.
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Any child can tell you that the sole purpose of a middle name
is so he can tell when he's really in trouble. - Unknown
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And now Grasshopper
Lesson Number Two:
A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get to
the top of that tree," sighed, the turkey, "but I haven't got the energy."
"Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull.
"They're packed with nutrients." The turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found
that it actually gave him enough strength to reach the first branch of the
tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch.
Finally, after a fortnight, there he was proudly perched at the top of the
tree. Soon he was spotted by a farmer, who shot the turkey out
of the tree.
Moral of the story:
BS might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.
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REMEMBER: 'STRESSED' SPELLED BACKWARDS IS 'DESSERTS'
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"Dr. Livingstone I Presume." The full name of Dr. Presume.
- Unknown
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Three Drunken Irishmen were rumbling through a cemetery in
search of the oldest person buried there.
One blasted bloke, Shamus yells out, "Here's a fella that
died when he was 145 years old!"
"What was his name?" asks Paddy.
Shamus lights a match to see what else is written on the stone
marker, and exclaims, " He was 'Miles, from Dublin.'"
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3. South African Birds
Hi Cathy,
This is a long shot but wondered if you are able to help.
Teachers are asking for a website on Southern African birds. Who
could I ask? Where should I begin looking?
HELP!
Regards,
Terri Frederic
African birds
http://sailfish.exis.net/~spook/bird.html
Birdwatching info for Southern Africa.
http://www.geocities.com:0080/RainForest/Vines/4074/index.htm
Also goto the links page on this site as it has a lot of excellent links
South African birding
http://www.sabirding.co.za/default1.asp
Thanks Cathy,
You are a star!
Terri
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4. More Activity Sheets - Printables
Empowered Editing
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/editing.pdf
(you'll have to copy and paste this URL)
Games Galore
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~d3935pn1/playg/playg.html
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5. Technical Stuff
Internet Stuff
1. If you need to go back to the home page of a site delete
everything back to the .com or .com.au(country code). Everything
after the home page address will be a file that will be preceded by
'/'. Sometimes if a page wont load, going back to the home page and
following the links within the site is more successful.
2. Use the 'Go' button on the toolbar for Netscape or the 'History'
side bar tab for Explorer to go back to your previous page, or go
back more than one page. The current history of all the pages you
have visited will be held here until you disconnect from the
Internet, or close Netscape or Explorer.
Tip: If you are visiting sites that you do not want students to view,
close the program and restart it before allowing students to use the
computer.
DETYA has just published Learning in an Online World: the School Education
Action Plan for the Information Economy. The document is available online
at http://www.edna.edu.au/onlineworld.pdf
The Action Plan was developed by the EdNa Schools Advisory Group and
addresses the key action areas of People, Infrastructure, Content and
Services, Supporting Policies and Enabling Regulation.
Ian Webb
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6. How reliable is your information on the WWW???
A lot of teachers and educators have been concerned about checking
the reliability of sites on the WWW. here's a site that addresses
this issue.
http://www.quick.org.uk/menu.htm
It's well laid out and informative. Students can complete the online
quiz to see how Internet savvy they are. Teachers and educators can
read the guide. There are also some good links to some very reliable
Internet sites.
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7. Picture Australia
Just for Virtual Teacher Readers, a sneak preview of the fantastic
PictureAustralia site. This site will not officially launch for a
while yet. It provides a single point of access to over 450,00
digitised images from pictorial collections of many leading cultural
and heritage institutions. It's a wonderful resource.
http://www.pictureaustralia.org/
Pictures can be used Free of charge for educational purposes - check
copyright as I believe an acknowledgement is required when pictures
are used.
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8. Great Sites to Check Out
Great Australian Information Site on Farming Technology - suitable
upper Primary and Secondary school - history of Australian Technology
in farming from the first settlement to current. Concise, not a lot
of pictures, just text.
http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/001.html
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Kids
This is a great site on environmental education. Lots of material
produced for kids by kids. Also some great learning material about
pollution and environmental control.
http://www.pca.state.mn.us/kids/
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9. Readers Comments
Cathy
Let me first say that I love your newsletter. I am just starting out
homeschooling a kindergartener this year with a preschooler in her
footsteps, you list wonderful sites to check out. My problem is that
I don't have Word 98 or 2000 to download the templates you suggested
on May 11. Could you please offer suggestions on how to acquire
these or similar ones? Thanks for your help and great newsletter
too.
Tara in FL.
The templates can copied directly from the website, by simply
highlighting the text, copying using the copy command in the edit
menu on Netscape or explorer, then pasting into whatever
word-processing program you have - even simpletext. Text parts only
will be copied this way. The pictures will need to be copied as
images - just hold the mouse down over the image and a dialogue box
will appear, select copy image and then past into your
word-processing document. (this is for documents in HTLM code ie
normal webpages). For files that are .pdf files - goto
http://www.adobe.com
and download acrobat reader, this is free. this will allow you to
download all .pdf files. You can also print directly off the web -
goto the file menu on Netscape or Explorer, goto print. there are no
Microsoft templates on the website that are mine to download - all
are html or .pdf. The only Microsoft templates are the ones on the
Microsoft site for download.
goodluck
I intended to save the 1500's sayings for future use and accidentally
deleted them. Would it be possible to get them again somehow? I just
started getting your newsletter last month and have found it very useful and
enjoyable. Thanks so much.
Rhonda
Cathy,
Could you post the Sayings from the 1500's again? I must of missed that one.
Thanks,
Melissa
Hi Melissa,
Sayings are at:-
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/life.html
I post a lot of material from the newsletter permanently on the site.
Also all newsletters are eventually archived at:-
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/archives.html
Cathy
To celebrate Fantasia 2000 Walt Disney Studios commissioned curriculum
specialists and a panel of educators to develop an array of educational
materials. They developed 4 guides - Music, Art,
Communication/Technology and Advanced Technology.
These are downloadable in .pdf format from the Website
http://www.fantasia2000.com
When you get to that URL click on the FANTASIA 2000 sign, then click through
the next screen. When you reach the next screen (Animation) there is a link
at bottom to STUDY GUIDES - direct to study guides URL - miss all the
fun of the animation click to:-
http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/fantasia2000/flash/interface.html
Anne Howard" <ahoward@nsw.bigpond.net.au>
Dear Cathy,
You may already know me, but I will remind you of who I am. I am Chris Brabb
with Visions Technology in Education. We are the 6th largest educational
software publisher in the world. Your name came to me by way of the ALI
(Apple Learning Interchange) website and because of your interest in
education you should know about this new release. If you are not currently
using Inspiration Software this message may not be of much use to you.
However, Inspiration is a program that ALL educators should consider using.
Visions recently came to market with a new book tutorial called "Make It
With Inspiration". Make It With Inspiration has been an instant success with
every educator I know who uses Inspiration. There really are no other books
or online tutorials that come close to Make It With Inspiration in ease of
use or content. Make It With Inspiration was written by an educator for
educators with the classroom in mind. This tutorial can be used with any
level of student or teacher who uses Inspiration.
Attached you will find a better description of Make It With Inspiration. If
you would like to know more about this or any of our other fine Tools for
Teachers, please contact me at cbrabb@visteched.net or call me at
+(011)541-349-0905 ext. 109.
I sincerely look forward to hearing from you.
Thank You,
Chris Brabb
International Sales Manager
Visions Technology in Education
cbrabb@visteched.net
http://www.toolsforteachers.com
Check out this site and let me know what
you think.
I enjoy your newsletter; it's full of lots of
good tips.
Sincerely,
Cynthia J. Peterson
Canada
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10. Readers Requests
I am interested in seeing what you might have related to the visual
arts.
Doug Mackay
Hi - I got your address off your Virtual Teacher website - but
alas, I
couldn't send a message to you through it. I am quite clueless still on
computers, although am trying to learn a bit !!!
I was sent your address by a psychologist friend of mine in Harare,
Zimbabwe, and was VERY excited to receive it !! My name is Lisa Hulley, and
I live in Raffingora, Zimbabwe. My husband, Rory, farms and neither of us
really want to send our kids off to boarding school aged 5 yrs old - both
quite neurotic parents. Not really !! I am a remedial teacher, so opted to
home school them for a couple of years. This year I have started with my
daughter, and will do her for a couple of years, and then start my twin sons
who have just turned 3. They go to a play school out here. Hence I was
very excited to receive your address, and be able to get some more ideas
from you. Since I started teaching my daughter, I seem to have gathered a
whole crew - and have 7 kids, 3 days a week !! Not all in the plan,
but a lot of fun.
I would hugely appreciate any info you may have that would help me with all
these kids, as I am feeling I may have bitten off a bit more than I can chew!!
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Kind regards
Lisa Hulley
Lisa needs some great preschool sites - please send in your
suggestions. The first one Lisa is to Zoommmmm to Zoommmmm and have
some fun there.
http://www.EnchantedLearning.com/Home.html
Remember you can print pages straight off the web, this will help
with all zoommms great printables.
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11. Next Issue
Virtual Teacher will take a look at Olympics on the web. Also send
in any great Visual Art sites you have, Picture Australia is a good
place to start. If you have any great printables, send them along to
share. Send this newsletter along to 20 friends, they'll appreciate
the help and ideas. Send in your requests, and comments, and please
correct any errors I may make, or any great ideas you have. I'll be
preparing printables on PowerPoint very soon, so if you have any
great ideas in this area send them along. Also if you have any great
PowerPoint presentations I will put them up on the site.
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12. 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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13. 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:comfilm1@optusnet.com.au
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