Here’s a little something for Feel Good Friday to get all of us motivated for the Greatest Loser contest that starts next week. These guys do amazing things with treadmills!

PS. For those of you interested in video production, take note–it was all done in one take!

Download Video: Posted by tekkieteacher at TeacherTube.com.

Have a great weekend!

A few weeks ago I posted an entry for Website Wednesday about PortaPortal.com, a social bookmarking utility. Here is a nice video explaining further what social bookmarking is and how it might be beneficial for you, your fellow teachers, and your students. This video showcases another great bookmarking tool, del.icio.us.

Download Video: Posted by leelefever at TeacherTube.com.

Here is a wonderful song from educator Barry Lane honoring his favorite teacher, Miss Foley. Like Taylor Mali’s video, Lane emphasizes just how big a difference teachers really do make.

I know who my “Miss Foley” was. It was Mr. Dineen, my 9th grade World History teacher. For those of you who’ve been around a while, you know I started out my career in education as a History teacher.  That’s because Mr. Dineen taught me that the study of History was not just worksheets and textbooks, but adventure-filled stories–the types of stories that fascinated the mind of a goofy little freshman like the one I was. I’ve been a History-geek ever since.

I know who my “Miss Foley” was. Who was yours?

Download Video: Posted by tekkieteacher at TeacherTube.com.

Last week I was speaking with one of our English teachers, JJ, about an extra credit assignment he’d given his seniors for their study of the Iliad. JJ asked them to create a “myspace-like” page for one of the characters, writing an appropriate profile and communicating with other characters from Homer’s epic. He did not tell them they had to actually use MySpace to create their page. They could have used another software application or even hand-drawn the page.

What happened? Most students opted for the cyber-approach and the Iliad is now alive and thriving on MySpace!

Most of us have heard about MySpace and Facebook, but do you know what they are? They are social networking sites that many (if not most) of our students are using to find and communicate with friends. 

Download Video: Posted by laurie.king at TeacherTube.com.

Are these sites sometimes used inappropriately, with students making inflammatory comments and posting questionable photos? Absolutely. Are they home to predators hoping to befriend minors for unspeakable purposes? Yes.

When used appropriately, though, these sites are not evil. Humans, and most especially the teenagers we teach, are social beings. Social networking is just another way to socialize. We can embrace this technology and strive to use it to make learning relevant for our students, in the process teaching them how to responsibly and safely utilize this resource. Or, we can ignore it.

But one thing is certain — it’s not going away.

A day in the life of a parent, to the tune of the William Tell Overture. It may be called “The Mom Song”, but it’s really about what Moms and Dads alike might say to their kids curing the course of one day.

Download Video: Posted by tekkieteacher at TeacherTube.com.

As I listened, I though about what the “Teacher Song” might say. Here’s a challenge for you–I’ll start it off, but can you come up with what you think the rest of the lyrics should be?

Get to class. Get to class.

Get to class right now.

Come on in. Take a seat.

Time to teach you now.

Where’s your work and your pen?

Here today? Oh wow!

Get to class. Get to class right now!

Take a seat. Here’s your test. Take off that hat!

Where’s your books and your notes and your homework at?

Get you pencil and your paper and all of that.

Don’t forget. You gotta finish that!

I showed Karl Fisch’s original Did You Know video at the start of the year. Scott McLeod later re-did the video with new music and graphics. Here is the updated version.

Download Video: Posted by ksblues at TeacherTube.com.

As a kid, I remember waking up at the crack of dawn to catch all the Saturday morning cartoons. In between shows like the Super Friends, Scooby Doo, and the Land of the Lost came these wonderful bits of wisdom from Schoolhouse Rock.

To this day, the only way I can recite the preamble to the Constitution is if I sing along to the Schoolhouse Rock tune….

You can find many of the best known Schoolhouse Rock videos posted to Teachertube. Just do a search for “Schoolhouse Rock”.

Download Video: Posted by creatively at TeacherTube.com.

This week’s featured website is United Streaming, now part of Discovery Education. If you haven’t previously set up your account and logged in, click New User Login to create your account (please see your friendly ITRT for the school’s passcode). After logging in, tons of videos are available under the DE Streaming tab. In addition, there are great new resources for you under the Educator Network tab, too!

United Streaming training is scheduled for Thursday, November 8, after school in the IT Lab.

What is a Digital Native? Marc Presky was the first to use the term in his 2001 article Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. According to Presky, a Digital Native is someone who grew up in the digital world, surrounded by and immersed in technology. Alternatively, a Digital Immigrant is someone who came to computers later in life. Presky and many others in the educational community argue that because our students today grew up in the digital age they learn and process information differently and that it’s important for educators to understand and address those differences.

Here are some additional resources:

• The Digital Natives Research Project
• Portrait of a Digital Native - From TechLearning
• What Causes the Disconnect - From Apple Education

I have mixed feelings about this classification. What generation HASN’T argued that “adults just don’t understand” for one reason or another? I DO believe students today are able to multi-task much more efficiently than the students I had in class when I first started teaching 16 years ago, which is probably a product of their growing up in the digital age. Afterall, it takes skill to send a text message, change the MP3 on an iPod, read email, and work on homework all at the same time!

Where I question the Digital Native/Digital Immigrants argument is where it says that a Digital Immigrant will forever speak with an “accent” when in comes to technology. I have come across many “immigrants” who were very technologically proficient. Additionally, we should remember that it was Digital Immigrants who invented the technology to begin with!

Whatever your point of view on the subject, it’s a very interesting idea. If you find yourself wondering about and not understanding just what our students are thinking, maybe it IS because they think differently today.

Here’s a video on it. Thoughts?

Download Video: Posted by jsdt4 at TeacherTube.com.

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last few years, most of us have heard of Wikipedia. Feelings about Wikipedia among educators run the full spectrum, but that’s a topic for another blog….

Today’s Mini-Byte concerns the “wiki” in Wikipedia. To understand what a wiki is, check out this video, Wikis in Plain English from Commoncraft.

Download Video: Posted by leelefever at TeacherTube.com.

Is this a tool you and/or your students might find useful? Probably! If you’re interested, check out pbwikis. There are other wiki sites out there, but I like that pbwiki markets itself as safe and secure–allowing users to easily set their wikis to be private rather than public.

It is Friday! From Monday’s slippers to Wednesday’s wackiness to today’s Pep Rally, you have survived the excitement of another Homecoming week.

In the spirit of “Feel Good Friday”, here’s a little something that’s sure to make you smile (and maybe giggle a little bit, too)!

Download Video: Posted by tekkieteacher at TeacherTube.com.

Good luck to our Bulldawgs at tonight’s big game!

Every year since 1984 leaders in their respective fields have met in Monterey, California, to present at the Technology, Entertainment, and Design (TED) Conference. Over 4 days, 50 speakers are each given 18 minutes to share their thoughts and ideas about yesterday, today, and tomorrow. From Al Gore to Bono to Bill Clinton to Jane Goodall, the list of speakers is truly impressive. Out of this event have come some very good (to put it mildly) video clips that TED has made available for viewing and download. Here is a complete list of all the presentations. Some of them would be great for class.

Interestingly, the most discussed presentation is where Ken Robinson presents his ideas about how schools are killing creativity. The video is almost 20 minutes long, but the topic is interesting and Robinson is pretty funny.

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/66

Friday has arrived! We are returning to the dancing theme this week with one of YouTube’s most popular videos to date, the Evolution of Dance.  How many of you remember these songs? Do you recognize these dance moves?!?! And ‘fess up, now – how many of you have footage of you doing these dances on film?!?!? (Get out your wedding video - You KNOW the Chicken Dance is there!)

Enjoy and have a truly awesome weekend - you deserve it!

Download Video: Posted by tekkieteacher at TeacherTube.com.

Here’s something that will get your blood pumping! It’s a rant by poet and teacher, Taylor Mali, in response to the question, “What do teachers make?”

A word of caution — for those of you with delicate sensibilities – there are a few curse words in the video. When weighing the use of the curse-words against the overall message, the message won out. I sincerely hope I don’t offend anyone by sharing it.

Download Video: Posted by tekkieteacher at TeacherTube.com.

Congratulations, again, to Jessica English, the winner of the 1 gigabyte thumb drive giveaway!

I know we are all so busy that you may not have noticed, but it’s FRIDAY! I’ve decided that while Mondays are for mini-bytes and Wednesdays are for websites, Fridays should only be about feeling good! Last Friday I posted the video, Where in the World is Matt, for your viewing pleasure. Today, here is a video that, while a bit more on the sappy side, sets the same feel good vibe.

Enjoy!

(The story behind this video can be found here)

Download Video: Posted by tekkieteacher at TeacherTube.com.

Have you ever come across a video on Youtube that would be great to use in class, but you can’t because the site is blocked? Or, maybe you’ve downloaded a video from Teachertube, but your computer doesn’t recognize the format of the downloaded file and won’t play it?

Well, take two and call me in the morning — two websites that is.

The first website is called VideoDownloader. This site gives you the ability to download videos from sites like Youtube, MySpace, Google Videos, etc. Once you’ve downloaded the video, you will have to add the correct extension (.flv) to the end of the file name.

After downloading a file, you have to convert it from a .flv file to something your computer will recognize–usually .avi or .wmv. To convert the file, use the website called Media Converter.

Once you have the video in .avi or .wmv format, then you can use it in most MS office applications. If you are planning on using it with Windows MovieMaker, I recommend converting it to .avi–I’ve had more luck with that one when putting together clips from different videos.

We’ll go over this process in the MovieMaker training scheduled for Wednesday, September 26 (which is probably today for most of you reading this.)

I admit it. Math was never my strongest subject. I have an inestimable amount of respect for those of you who have mastered the foreign language that is Math. With that in mind, here is a fun video that both Math experts and the Math challenged should enjoy.

Download Video: Posted by g_morris at TeacherTube.com.

I love this video. It just makes me happy. If you want to tie it into instruction, it’s a really nice example of digital storytelling and would make a great introduction for a Geography class. But, more importantly, it just leaves the viewer feeling good.

Enjoy!

(The story behind this video can be found here)

Download Video: Posted by cabentley at TeacherTube.com.

Here is a video explaining how students can log in to our school webpage (aka SchoolFusion). If you find your students need a refresher, this tutorial might help. Our freshmen will be receiving training during the library orientation they have through their English 9 classes.

Download Video: Posted by lowrytp at TeacherTube.com.

The other day when I was driving my two year old home from daycare he started chanting “blog, blog, blog, blog, blog” over, and over, and over, again. So, what is this “blog” stuff, besides a word used to annoy a normally loving mother after a long day at work?

The word “blog” comes from “web log” and blogs started out as online journals for folks to record the sometimes mundane, sometimes kooky, happenings in their lives. The  word “blog” is used as both a noun, as in “I can’t believe what you posted in your blog!”, and a verb, as in “I blog, therefore I am”. Today, there are blogs on virtually every topic under the sun and the Blog Herald estimates that as of May, 2007, there were approximately 60 million blogs online.

Blogs are pretty easy to set up and maintain (this one is hosted by Edublogs, which is not blocked by the county), and you might be interested in trying out blogging for your classes. Here are some ideas on how they might be used: 

1. Host Online Discussions — All blogs come with the ability to comment on the content of the blog. Because of this, they make nice discussion forums. The comments can usually be moderated and/or restricted to only those you want to participate. (You can do this type of activity with SchoolFusion’s Message Board feature, too)

2. Share Professional Resources — We are all members of one Professional Learning Community or another. Blogs are a place where we can come together and share ideas and resources.

3. Create a Class Publication — Our Journalism class is already looking into this, but what a cool idea for a class or group project. Blogs can be set up as “stand-alone” webpages on any topic of your choosing.

Here’s a nice video on the subject:

Download Video: Posted by rachelboyd at TeacherTube.com.

These are just a few ideas. If you are interested in trying blogging out, contact your friendly ITRT!