Tech Tidbits

Creating Stop-Action Movies with Students Using Windows Movie Maker

kjlee — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:40:49 +0000

Next weekend I am presenting at the 21st Century Instructional Technology Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. I will be running a workshop on how to use Windows MovieMaker to create Claymation Stop-Action movies with students. I have posted the tutorial that I created on Scribd. Click here to find it. You can find a more comprehensive guide to Windows Movie Maker here at the Teaching Matters Digital Documentaries site.

If you decide to to do this project with students, here is a nice video on how to create Claymation creatures.

Click here to go to YouTube and watch the video.

Moving to Office 2007

kjlee — Sun, 03 May 2009 23:55:07 +0000

Our school is making a site wide move from Microsoft Office 2003 to Microsoft Office 2007. The versions have some major differences so I thought I would post some resources that will help people make the switch.

You can find Quick Reference Guides on each of the Microsoft Office produces at http://www.customguide.com/quick_references.htm. Each 2 page guide provides you with how-tos, quick tips and shortcuts.

For a short overview of Office 2007 Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Clair has links to short 6-7 minute created by MIcrosoft that showcase some of the new features of Office 2007 (http://www.uwec.edu/BITS/office2007.htm). At the bottom of the page are links to Microsoft’s interactive command reference guides. These guides allow you to view the Office 2003 interface and choose a command and the program shows you where to find it in Office 2007. Very handy.

LookyBook

kjlee — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:11:16 +0000

The book below, Sadie and the Snowman, is one of my favorite winter time stories. I love Sadie’s relationship with the snowman and how she helps him live on and on. Something about it is very endearing. I use to read this story to my class every year. Now I can share it on this blog. I found the story at http://lookybook.com/. This site allows you to embed stories from their collection on another web page. If you click on the eyes, it will take you to the Lookybook website where you can view a larger version of the story.

Classroom Projects

kjlee — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:22:52 +0000

I worked with several classrooms recently on some great projects. It is wonderful to see the students’ enthusiasm for what they are working on when technology is involved. Here are some things they have been doing.

1. Mr. Keck’s class is involved in Jennifer Wagner’s Holiday Card Exchange Project. His students are in the process of creating holiday cards that will be sent to other classrooms. Most of the classrooms are in the United States, but one is going as far as Seoul, North Korea. We will be mapping the location of all the cards that are received in Goggle Maps. You can find more information about the Holiday Card Exchange at http://sites.google.com/site/holidaycardexchange2008/.

2. Mrs. Miller’s classroom created websites containing reviews of books that they read in class. They were very excited that other students might be choosing books based on their recommendations. You can see their reviews on the Ferron Elementary Website http://www.ccsd.net/schools/ferron/projects.html.

3. Ms. McDonald’s class looked at Jennifer Gingerich’s Thanksgiving Dinner Podcast (http://web.me.com/jennifergingerich/jennifergingerich/Blog/Blog.html) and was inspired to make one of their own. Check out their rendition at http://www.ccsd.net/schools/ferron/projects.html. Every time I hear them singing, I can’t help but smile.

Monitter

kjlee — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 16:57:20 +0000

I was browsing through my newest twitter feeds and came across a reference to the site monitter.com. What a great website. Twitter can seem a bit overwhelming at times. This website is helpful for trying to focus in on specific information or for finding more information on a topic mentioned in a twitter feed. Can’t wait to play with it some more.

This is the first picture I have tried to upload…..hope it works.

First Comment – It’s a High!

kjlee — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 16:23:56 +0000

I got my first comment on this blog today. Wow! I can’t believe what a heady feeling it is to have someone read your work and find it worthy of a comment. (A huge thank you to Mrs. G for taking the time to respond.) The feeling is a reminder for me of how powerful this can be for students. I am not sure that the strenght of the feeling can be explained. It needs to be experienced. Definitely something to share with the teachers at my school when I present on blogging this Friday.

Blogs of Many Flavors

kjlee — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 02:30:40 +0000

This week I am presenting a “Tech Talk” to the teachers at my building. The topic is blogging. This will be an introduction to what blogging is and how it might fit into classroom instruction, not a how-to. I have spent the last few days trying to find examples of good quality classroom and student blogs to share with them. I have found that this isn’t as easy as it seems. Most small classroom blogs don’t show up in general search results. There doesn’t seem to be an easy way to find them. Or at least I haven’t discovered it. I have found some excellent examples by looking at other peoples Delicious bookmarks and by looking for blog links on other classroom blogs, but I feel like I am going about it the hard way.

Despite my difficulties in the search, I am excited by what I see going on when teachers blog. What I have found is that there are many flavors of blogs. In an attempt to organize my own mind here is a list of they types of blogs I have found.

1. Blogs written solely by a teacher to inform parents, students or others about what is going on in the classroom. This seems to be the most common class blog type that I have found.

2. Blogs written as a conversation. The teacher posts information/assignments and the students respond with comments.

3. Classroom blogs done by the teacher that have individual student blogs as part of them.

4. Blogs written to follow a particulary project. An example might be a blog about a particular ongoing project or a blog that is used only for the lenght of a novel to document student thoughts on each chapter.

5. Blogs that are written as a personal diary.

I wonder how many other flavor of classroom blogs I will find?

Moving Forward in Tech

kjlee — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 01:48:24 +0000

Well, I am taking the plunge. I am trying my hand at creating a blog. I am a technology integration specialist who has a bit of a phobia about writing in a public arena, but if I am to assist and inspire the teachers that I work with I need to make this move. I want this blog to be a place where I can learn about the process of blogging and experiment with different techniques. I also hope to share resources and ideas that I discover along the way. Well, wish me luck!