Simple Yet Brilliant

My husband showed me this the other night, and we both wound up exploring every inch of the website as it was simple yet brilliant. Matt, from Where The Hell is Matt? (oh, the teacher in me wishes so badly that he named it "Where the Heck is Matt?"), has traveled the world and films himself doing a really funny and not so coordinated dance in a ton of different countries. He made a YouTube of a bunch of clips, and it has taken on a life of its own, leading to corporate sponsorship and him creating new dance videos with people living around the globe. The Google Earth aspect is great on this, and I love the inspiration his dancing gives in the fact that someone can take something quirky and spread that little bit of joy around the world by means of using technology. Of added interest is the video clips of his presenting of how the idea came about and how it grew to such a huge audience.

International teacher sidenote: Our counselor showed this at a middle school event and had kids cheer for places they had visited. Love that idea! Plus, it reinspired me to get to Petra, Jordan.

Image used is from the wherethehellismatt.com website

Adding Fonts

Warning: adding fonts can become addicting! This falls under the category of something that everyone kept saying was "so easy" but I couldn't get it. Well, now I've got it, and I want to share it. Please note that this was done on a Mac, but most fonts are for both Mac and PC.

First, you must download STUFFIT, which compresses the files for you. This is the part I was missing, which made it not so easy.

After you have Stuffit, go to a free font site. There are tons out there, but I used DaFont and Simply The Best and found some really fun ones.

1. Download the font(s) of your choice. You will see that it becomes a TTF file (your file will say the name and then .ttf).

2. Go to Applications and click on Font Book.

3. Then click on File, Add Font.

4. Find the font you downloaded and add it.

5. Done! A groovy new font on your computer. Repeat and repeat and repeat. Man, I love fonts.


images taken from simplythebest.net

Twitter

Oh, Twitter! Twitter, in a nutshell, is like a chat but with many people. So, if you send something out there into the Twitterverse (yes, that is really what it is called), such as a question about technology or even what you had for lunch, all the people you have put on your Twitter list see this. Much like Facebook, I avoided Twitter for a long time, mostly because whenver I looked at it, I would see people writing things like, "Just had an awesome egg salad sandwich" or "leaving for the airport in 2 hours," and I couldn't figure out why I needed to know that. However, I need to be careful, because especially with all things technology, I tend to eat my words six months down the line. What I said I wouldn't do often comes back to haunt me.

Case in point--a month or so ago, I was with a class and having a devil of a time getting Voicethread to record, so I had to take my laptop and walk all the way over to the high school 3rd floor just to find our tech guy to ask him what to do. If I had had Twitter, I could quickly send out the message/question I needed and get an almost instant response (seems many Twitterers are great at responding right away). Another month goes by, and I realize I have yet another quick question that required me to send an email to Thailand and wait for a response. Twitter would have been much quicker.

A friend of mine mentioned that all these social networks feel like high school all over again--Will you be my friend? Do you accept me as your friend? How many people are following you? Long story short, I joined Twitter, albeit still with hesitation. I'm starting out small and following only a few people, but I've already found it useful. I found out that blogspot blogs are unblocked in China at the moment (yippee!), baseball season started and I found a few great links to good blog postings. Worth it already, and who knows? Maybe six months from now I'll be writing down what I had for lunch. My Twitter name is bookchica if you want to check it out.

5th Grade FBA

The Book Without Words. Avi. Hyperion, 2005.


My 5th grade book club chose this book by Avi as their choice for discussion. I had three book clubs in all- one girls, one mixed and one boys. This was the mixed group's choice, and it was by far my favorite one of the three. The Book Without Words grabbed me on the first page and held my attention throughout the book, not an easy feat for an adult reading a YA book. Master Thorston is on a quest for eternal life, but he must sacrifice the life of a green-eyed thirteen year old to do so. Sybil and Odo must stop Master Thorston before he swallows all four of the magical stones that will give him eternal life, thus ending hers.

This book had just the right amount of intrigue, suspense and heart to make it perfect for solid upper-elementary readers. The female protagonist, Sybil, experienced significant changes during the book that were great fodder for conversation. The paperback version I bought came with discussion questions in the back that were a wonderful guide. It's my new favorite recommendation for boys and girls alike!

Blogs Revisited

When I posted my question about the three top blogs to get people started on the Classroom 2.0 website, I was very pleased to get a number of responses. Ok, and truthfully a bit surprised as well because I still find the whole web connecting thing so bizarre and intriguing! What was very interesting (and even sparked another blog posting) was the fact that some people wrote in that their own personal blog was one of the top blogs. Hmmm...I will compile the list and include it in an upcoming post.

One conversation that was sparked by the question I posed was very insightful and hit the mark for me. That is, if you have been asked to start reading blogs as a means of professional development or are choosing to enter the blogosphere due to your own curiosity, a good way to start is by finding blogs on a subject that is of interest to you, and maybe at the start that isn't necessarily technology. I started out reading adoption blogs and design blogs and still read those everyday. However, if you would have told me a year and a half ago that I would do a ton of online reading, I never would have believed you. Reading online is a big change from magazine reading, and it takes time to make the adjustment. Tip: A good search engine to try for blogs is Ice Rocket.

Another point that was brought up is that there are two types of technology blogs: the 'big picture' blog and the 'concrete idea' blog. The big picture blog tends to include reflections and information about the person's experiences at conferences and in the classrooms and/or a means of recording thoughts and opinions. The concrete idea blog is one with links to recommended resources or simply ideas of how to enhance one's program. Both are great types of blogs, but you need to figure out which one suits you at the moment. I find I am still drawn mostly to the concrete idea blog, perhaps because I am busy filling my metaphorical suitcase with ideas about tech and library connections, but I also like to mix it up with thought-provoking blogs as it helps me have a better idea of what others in the field are doing/thinking and reminds me of what a tech-rich classroom and library look like.

Fiction Fashion

I wrote a while back about the Fiction Fashion show we were putting on for the Love of Reading week. Turns out it was a smashing success, and I'm so glad I decided to go that route. We had tons of teachers volunteer to be characters, and they were so awesome in having great costumes and working it on the runway! Characters ranged from Olivia the pig to the beloved Arthur (picture shown) to our grand finale of Captain Underpants. Kids were literally jumping up and down for most of the show, which was exactly the kind of enthusiasm we were looking for! I'll have to be on the lookout now for something equally as dynamic to do next. I'd love any ideas.

Organizing Ideas

I was turned on to Journler the other day during a technology session at our school, and I love it. The basic premise of Journler is that it is a place to write down ideas to have them stored all in one place. Instead of what I tend to do with information, which is writing down websites on random pieces of paper or forgetting which great idea I found on which blog, you can quickly enter them into your Journler account and categorize the information as well. It's free, fairly easy to use, and I love having different folders for keeping ideas and memories organized. Even better, you can add pictures and even use audio . My husband is a musician and is loving the fact that he can quickly record a riff or a verse to a song and have it catalogued before he forgets it. I see it as being a potential tool for student reflection.