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Where can I get this Clock?
2007-08-30 19:34:00
 I stumbled across this image of a mathematical equation clock I would love to add to my classroom.  If any of my readers know where to get one please post a comment to let me know.
More About: Clock , Get This

Dapple is a great Geology Teaching Tool!
2007-08-29 21:41:00
http://dapple.geosoft.com/default.asp Dapple makes it easy to find and visualize massive quantities of geoscientific data available on the Internet. View geoscience data, satellite imagery, remote sensing data, geology maps, geophysical data, and many other earth data sets of interest to geoscientists. Save an earth view and share your view with colleagues. Add new Geosoft DAP and WMS servers of interest. View ...
More About: Teaching , Great , Tool , Geology , Teac

5 best Rubric Makers
2007-08-29 20:34:00
Rubrics have become an essential part of teaching, because they provide a clear picture of student expectations.  It is possible to create a rubric from scratch, but there are a variety of free and low cost tools that will help you create rubrics with ease.  I looked at several products out there for this task ...
More About: Makers

Honest Truth about I Work 08
2007-08-27 23:28:00
Unfortunately when it comes to Mac Products  and software you get reviews from wither Mac Haters, or Mac Lovers, and the reviews are biased as such.  Hopefully this review will be a little fairer, and approach it from one who jumps between Macs and PC?s with the grace of a ballet dancer.   On my first ...
More About: Truth , Work , Honest , Ruth

Lexia Early Success
2007-08-23 21:49:00
Lexia software has been around for a while, but it is still one of the best reading programs available for schools and learning centers. I began testing the Lexia Earl y Reading program earlier this summer and have been very happy with the results.  My 5 year old who is just entering Kindergarten next week will ...
More About: Success , Lexi

Fun World Geo Quiz
2007-08-22 00:40:00
http://www.lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz/wo rldquiz.html Do you know where in the world things are? This fun little Geo quiz tests your knowledge of the world, and teaches you along the way. This is a great activity for middle school kids on up. There are also many other fun activities available on there website
More About: Quiz , World

Back to School Night Power Point Template
2007-08-16 00:35:00
Back to School Night Power Point Template (download) Back to School nights are a great opportunity for us to provide helpful information to parents. It also gives us an opportunity to share our expectations, get volunteers to help in the classroom, and set up good parent teacher relationships. I have provided this powerpoint template to ...
More About: Back

Back to School & Back to Blogging
2007-08-14 20:23:00
We’ll so much for regular posting during the summer.  For some reason after working 60 hours a week doing manual labor I wasn’t up to writing blog posts.  Maybe if we show the growth that we did last year and get a few more people clicking on ads, then I can cut back to 50 ...
More About: Blogging , School , Back , Back to School

Celtx Takes on Final Draft and Wins!
2007-07-16 02:34:00
It has been a very busy summer, and thus I have had few posts, but I have stumbled across a product that I think deserves mentioning. The program is made for writing scripts with competitors such as Fina l Draft , Sophocles, and Movie Magic Screenwriter. The biggest difference in Celtx and the other screenwriting software is that ...
More About: Wins

EarnMyDegree.com
2007-06-16 06:43:00
Website: http://www.earnmydegree.com When I was looking at programs for my Masters Degree , I first considered an on campus program at our local university.  Due to the time required, the inflexibility of schedules, and my already chaotic life this I determined that I needed to find an online program that would provide the quality education I needed ...

A brief word on our comment policy
2007-06-09 02:22:00
You will notice if you comment on this blog that your comments will not immediately display.  This is to reduce the spam.  I am forced to moderate because for every 1 legitimate comment  I receive 10 spam messages, most containing links to prescription drug sites, pornography sites, and credit related sites.  These sites are not ...
More About: Word , Policy , Comment , Comm , Poli

GPS Technology in the Classroom and Geocaching
2007-06-08 15:26:00
In my previous article I talked about one of my new favorite hobbies, Geocaching.  If you are not sure what geocaching is or how it works please visit geocaching.com for more details.  I pondered on how this cool technology could be used with students.  I have noticed that my own children’s knowledge of directionality, judging ...
More About: Internet , Technology , Caching , Ology

Planning Summer Vactions for teaching
2007-06-05 06:33:00
I have not posted for a little over a week, due to a wonderful vacation in Southern Utah.  I saw some amazing landscapes, beautiful wild flowers, and diverse wild life.  The first few days off the vacation were spent high in the Rocky Mountains near a small lake.  Then we went to Lake Powell where ...
More About: Summer , Planning , Teaching , Caching , Plan

Cherokee History with Worksheet Activity
2007-05-21 22:14:00
Site: http://www.cherokeehistory.com Worksheet link: http://www.edtechreview.net/Documents/che rokee.pdf Finding histories of native US Tribes is an interesting and exciting adventure. The web site Cherokee Hist ory is an amazing collection of history and stories that bring this history to life. The site also contains many collections of photograph and maps. It is not the largest site out there but it is well organized and interesting. The worksheet activity that I have included is targeted to more Middle and High School age students.
More About: Hero , Tory , Shee

Summer of Technology
2007-05-21 17:46:00
Summer is approaching.  Summer breaks are a great time to unwind for a while, but if you are like me it doesn’t take long before you start thinking about next year and the new and interesting things that you can try to make your lessons a little more interesting.  My plans are to continue posting on a regular basis throughout the summer so that I can give you ideas to implement in the upcoming year.  We will post probably twice a week.  In the fall we plan to add a worksheet section.  These worksheets will include lesson plans for software use, web safari’s for web sites, and worksheets created with software we review.  We are hoping to become more of a resource than we have been in the past.
More About: Technology , Summer , Ology

TWIM (This Week in Media) Talks Education
2007-05-18 18:47:00
This Week in Media , or TWIM is a weekly podcast that discusses issues and news surrounding  media production.  In a break from the typical media news they talked extensively of the challenges and strengths of our education system and it’s ability prepare students for jobs in media.  It was amazing to get the insight they ...
More About: Education , Ducati , Duca

1800nodrugs.com Drug Rehabilitation Resource
2007-05-17 17:35:00
As teachers especially in the middle and high schools we see the tragedy and destruction that can be caused by substance abuse. When I was Teaching high school there were a few students with great potential that threw it away due to drug addiction. I had a few options for treatment that I ...
More About: Rugs , Drug , Bili , Resource

Trilobyte Fossil Site
2007-05-17 16:41:00
Website: http://www.trilobites.info When teaching about fossils and Dinosaur bones it is very cool to have actual fossils to show the kids. I love Trilobites because firs of all they predate the dinosaurs, and second of all it is a realistic fossil to obtain for classroom use. I have seen specimens on eBay for as ...
More About: Internet , Site , Ossi , Fossil , Byte

Picasa for Linux Available at Google Labs
2007-05-17 05:49:00
Website: http://picasa.google.com/linux/ Grade : A Cost Free Picas a is one of my favorite photo management applications. I use it frequently on the PC. For me it is one of the easiest to use photo management tools on the market. I find the the ability to scroll through hundreds of photos in seconds a great ...
More About: Google , Linux , Labs

Using Older Computers (Part 2)
2007-05-16 22:33:00
In our last post on this subject we talked about possible operating systems, and security issues. In this article we will discuss software for your older PCs. When the machines were developed they ran existing software very well. The trouble came when we upgraded software that put more demand on the machines ...
More About: Hardware , Software , Computers , Sing , Part

Here we are on Wordpress!
2007-05-16 18:06:00
If you read my previous post, you would know that our school has clamped down on the powerful educational tool of blogs.  They blocked almost all of the major blogging sites including Blogger, the service we were using.  Although I still disagree with the decision to block blogs, it has forced us to innovate and ...
More About: Wordpress , Here

Finding a Balance in Filtering
2007-05-15 14:51:00
It has been a long time since I last posted. I typically post from school after my work hours where I have a lot of my educational resources available for reference. Our district however has expanded the reach of there filtering software to block all Blogger sites because a few of these sites ...
More About: Internet , Balance , Filter , Alan , Lance

Keeping Older Computers Running Smooth and Safe
2007-04-26 16:34:00
In an ideal world we would have a class with a laptop or tablet PC for every child, and we could update them every three or four years to keep current. Unfortunately in the real world we are fighting with trying to keep older computers patched together and running, so that our kids have at least some access to technology. In this and a few of the following articles I will discuss some of the ways we can keep these older machines running smooth.The first concern is security. If you are not connected to the internet then this is really not an issue, but if you are there are some concerns that should be addressed.First keep your operating system up to date. Windows 98 is no longer supported by Microsoft, so this is one situation where updating to a more recent version is necessary. As of now Windows 2000 is still supported, and can be put on donated pc's for free through the fresh start program from Microsoft. Microsoft Fresh StartMac computers support cycle is much shorter than ...
More About: Computers , Running , Keep , Safe , Ping

Keeping Older Computers Running Smooth and Safe
2007-04-26 16:03:00
In an ideal world we would have a class with a laptop or tablet PC for every child, and we could update them every three or four years to keep current. Unfortunately in the real world we are fighting with trying to keep older computers patched together and running, so that our kids have ...
More About: Computers , Running , Keep , Safe , Ping

Brain Pop Jr. is a great addition to Brain Pop
2007-04-25 22:55:00
website: http://www.brainpopjr.com/Grade: ACost: $95 Annual fee for teachers (School, Parent, and other licensing options are available)I have looked at Brain pop before and have given it a positive review. The addition of Brainpop Jr. which is targeted more to the primary grades, makes it even better. In addition to providing many great educational films featuring fun animated characters, it also contains many learning games and activities to solidify the concepts taught. Student can do Games, Writing, Drawing, read a comic book that teaches the concepts, as well as take a quiz on the subject. It also contains a link for teachers with suggestions of activities that correspond with the video. I can't say the animation is spectacular, but it is sufficient to keep students interested, especially with the well written scripts.Is it worth the $95? With research you could probably find free resources to teach many of the concepts taught on this site. But if your time is at all val...
More About: Internet , Great

Brain Pop Jr. is a great addition to Brain Pop
2007-04-25 22:36:00
website: http://www.brainpopjr.com/ Grade: A Cost: $95 Annual fee for teachers (School, Parent, and other licensing options are available) I have looked at Brain pop before and have given it a positive review. The addition of Brainpop Jr. which is targeted more to the primary grades, makes it even better. In addition to providing many great educational films ...
More About: Internet , Great

Ubunto Feisty Fawn Released/ Great School Solution
2007-04-25 00:29:00
Website: http://www.ubuntu.com or http://www.edubuntu.org/Grade: ACost: FreeI have reviewed and suggested Ubuntu before, but with their new upgrade to Ubuntu Feisty Fawn , I felt that it was a good time to talk about it again as a solution for schools. School s face many interesting challenges, but the biggest is lack of current technology, older computers, donated computers, and lack of finances for software to keep everything working and running smoothly. Although it can't fix everything Ubuntu can help us in some of these areas. Ubuntu is a free Open Source Linux operating system that includes a wide variety of software to get you started with most common tasks. Of all the Linux varieties out there Ubunto is probably the easiest to get up and running. It also includes great software that gets you going, including a word processor, a spreadsheet, presentation software, firefox, email, and much more. Edubuntu is the education or kid friendly version that comes bundled with the...
More About: Great , Released , Release

Ubunto Feisty Fawn Released/ Great School Solution
2007-04-25 00:11:00
Website: http://www.ubuntu.com or http://www.edubuntu.org/ Grade: A Cost: Free I have reviewed and suggested Ubuntu before, but with their new upgrade to Ubuntu Feisty Fawn , I felt that it was a good time to talk about it again as a solution for schools. School s face many interesting challenges, but the biggest is lack of current technology, older computers, ...
More About: Great , Released , Lease

Please forgive my vent. (NASA Gunman)
2007-04-20 23:25:00
I'm sorry this is a tech blog and not a current events site, but I turned on the TV and noticed Wolf Blitzer covering the Gunman at Johnson Space Center. I was very frustrated that they did not report the story as an individual story. In fact there was not two minutes that would go by that they did not mention Virginia Tech in relation to this story. From what we can tell it is simply a disgruntled employee, who had no intention of a wide scale violence. Despite the clear differences in the story, almost no relation at all, they spent a significant amount of time trying in vain to tie these stories together. In fact Wolf spent about five minutes trying to tell us that Johnson Space Center is much like a college campus. There is not relationship in the two stories. Why do the report this way. CNN has become worthless.
More About: Give , Forgive , Please , Nasa , Lease

Murphys Law for Teaching
2007-04-20 23:02:00
Site: http://www.murphys-laws.com/murphy/murphy -teaching.htmlThis is just a fun list for teachers, because it seems to be true to life. I copies just a small portion, please visit the site for the full list.The clock in the instructor's room will be wrong.Disaster will occur when visitors are in the room.A subject interesting to the teacher will bore students.The time a teacher takes in explaining is inversely proportional to the information retained by students.A meeting's length will be directly proportional to the boredom the speaker produces.Continued at: http://www.murphys-laws.com/murphy/murphy -teaching.html
More About: Teaching , Murphy , Teac