Christopher Walken does Fat Boy Slim!

Fat Boy Slim – Weapon of Choice_1

Discovery Education (formerly United Streaming) has tons of really wonderful resources for teachers and students! One of the participants in last week’s training said that it was the best training she’d ever had (Thanks, Angela J.!)!

With that in mind, for those of you having trouble accessing this great resource, here are the steps:

1. Go to http://tech.hylton.groupfusion.net and log in.
2. Under Links, click Discovery Education/United Streaming. If this is your first time using Discovery Education Streaming, be sure to write down the access code located just below the link.
3. To sign up, use the access code and complete the registration form. If you already have a username and password for Discovery Education, log in.
4. Once you are logged in, click “Streaming” in the upper left corner and have fun searching!

This Feel Good Friday post was submitted by our very own Assistant Principal, Mike. D.

Be sure to crank up  the volume on your speakers!

Oprah’s Kickoff Party Dance

During The Oprah Show’s 24th season kickoff party, Harpo staff and more than 20,000 people pulled off a massive surprise for an unsuspecting Oprah. The entire crowd performed a choreographed piece to the Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling,” and Oprah was not only shocked, she was thrilled! Award-winning director Michael Gracey says the interaction between the Black Eyed Peas and the crowd is what made the flash mob so extraordinary. “There’s something really special when you take an audience and instead of just being passive and watching, you invite them to participate,” he says. “That’s why it was so magical for both parties. Two groups of people came together to create something that neither of them could have done alone.”

Click here to check out the flash mob that took over Chicago’s Magnificent Mile.

The message here — even those who are very different can still be the best of friends. Enjoy!

Welcome to Friday!

This video is for any one who may be, like me, finding themselves wondering “who’s on first, what’s on second, etc.”

The whirlwind of the kickoff to a new school year has me spinning!

I’ve posted this one before, probably more than once, but I just love it and I think it’s a great video to watch right before the first day of school!

Enjoy!

Here is a link the survival tips presentation from this year’s Technology Kickoff. I created it using the online presentation tool, Prezi.com. Enjoy!

Set your alarm. Make sure the coffee is ready. Here we go again!

We made it!

And for the final post of the year, I give you a classic song about summer!

grease-summer-nights

See you next year!

This one will definitely leave you feeling warm and fuzzy. Many thanks to Netia E. over at Bull Run Middle for forwarding it along!

unlikely-friends

I only have one question — what’s up with the rabbit?

I discovered this through a friend on facebook. I’ve always loved this song, and the movement that inspired this particular rendition of it is really something special. It’s called Playing for Change and this is what they say on their website:

“Playing for Change is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race. And with this truth firmly fixed in our minds, we set out to share it with the world.”

Enjoy!

It’s the first day of May! The end of the year is really in sight! You can do it! You CAN make it!

Enjoy this week’s little video.

froggie

Bet you weren’t expecting that, were you?

For those of you who wonder what a bear really does in the woods…

Dancing Bear

A week or so ago, I posted this video and several members of our Tech Team commented on how much they enjoyed it and what a wonderful site it was where I had found it. I’ve posted information about TED before, but it’s certainly worth sharing again. What is TED? It is a gathering of the greatest minds from many different industries where they are invited to speak on a subject of their choice. The one condition is that they have to keep their discussions to 20 minutes or less. From Bill Gates, to Bill Clinton, to Bono – sharing their ideas and thoughts in videos lasting no longer than 20 minutes – all FREE for your and your students viewing pleasure!

Here is another one that’s being twittered about in blogosphere where Barry Schwartz, author of the Paradox of Choice,  “makes a passionate call for ‘practical wisdom’ as an antidote to a society gone mad with bureaucracy. He argues powerfully that rules often fail us, incentives often backfire, and practical, everyday wisdom will help rebuild our world.”
 

This one has been making the rounds. I believe it originated with our very own Officer Mark S. In tough times, with all the talk of recession, budget shortfalls, and home foreclosures, it’s important to still find time for a little laughter.

Enjoy!

blagojevichsfiredepartment

Found this on TED. It HAS to count as some kind of poetry!

President Obama has a tremendous job in front of him – the war in Iraq, fighting in Afghanistan, the economic recession – just to name a few of the bigger challenges he faces. But, throughout his campaign and during his inaugural speech, he emphasized HOPE and his belief that Americans, working together, CAN make a difference. I really hope (pun intended) that he is right.

This video was created using the text of his “Yes We Can” speech, and I thought it would be appropriate for Feel Good Friday.

YesWeCan

And here is what I thought was one of the highlights of the inauguration — a portion of Dr. Joseph Lowery’s Benediction.

InaugurationBenediction

I know I’ve posted information about this before, but it’s such a great resource it’s worth reminding folks about it, again. United Streaming, part of Discovery Education, has tons of really wonderful videos and other resources. If you haven’t previously set up your account and logged in, click the Passcode/New User tab to create your account (go to the IT Webpage and log in for access to the PWCS passcode). After logging in, the videos are available under the DE Streaming tab. In addition, there are great resources for you under the Educator Network tab, too!

And I mean “blues” in the most positive of ways! Here is Diana Krall singing that holiday favorite, Jingle Bells.

diana-krall-jingle-bells

I don’t know if it beats last year’s holiday post, The 12 Days, but it will definitely get your toes tapping! For more about Diana Krall, check out her website.

Have a safe and wonderful holiday!

Many of you have expressed your frustration about not being able to access and use YouTube videos to meet your instructional objectives. There are some really nice videos posted there. Unfortunately, there are some very inappropriate videos posted there as well. For that reason, YouTube can never be unblocked by the school district. In a perfect world, teachers would have access while students would still be restricted from the site, but I don’t imagine that will happen in our school district any time soon, if at all.

However, there are many good alternatives to YouTube available that are not blocked. The best I’ve seen is still TeacherTube.com. The videos there are posted by fellow educators and all are screened to make sure they are appropriate. I also recently discovered Edublogs.tv, and of course teachers also have access to the wonderful resources, including video, at Discovery Education (a.k.a. United Streaming – see your ITRT if you are not sure how to create an account).

But let’s say that you’ve found the perfect video for your class, and it’s only on YouTube. How can you use it for instruction? The first thing you have to do is download the video file. The best free online file downloader I’ve used recently is Media Converter. When you download the file, I recommend converting it to .wmv which is the format that will play on our school computers. Once you’ve downloaded the file, you can play it directly from your classroom computer, embed it into a PowerPoint, or upload it to TeacherTube so that you can access it anywhere at anytime from online. And that’s it!