Talk n Tech

Teacher Tool

2011-06-23T10:50:00.000-04:00

Sifteo

2011-01-12T18:59:00.000-05:00

There are three cubes in the basic game set. They interact with each other to make a game. The games may be changed on the cubes and used again for the new game.

Listen to Your Buds

2011-01-12T18:39:00.000-05:00

This is an educational campaign to help make parents, teachers and children aware of the importance of taking care of their hearing, and giving ways of using personal audio technology safely. Click on the title to go to their site.

Scratch Input

2011-01-12T17:51:00.000-05:00

Scratch Input allows exiting walls or furniture to become input devices for your computer. It is specifically meant for mobile device users, the elderly and people with mobility challenges.

Polaroid GL30

2011-01-12T17:04:00.001-05:00

Takes photos that you can share by printing immediately or uploading online. It has somewhat the same shape as the original model. But this one may also be stood up to be used as a digital photo frame. It Aldo has a number of filters and borders that can be applied to the images.

Polarez GL20

2011-01-12T16:58:00.000-05:00

Polarez glasses capture or upload images that can be displayed on the glasses' screens for other to see.

Polaprinter GL10

2011-01-12T16:54:00.001-05:00

This is an instant mobile printer to connect cellphones, cameras or laptops via Bluetooth or a direct connection

eCoupled is what I'm waiting for...

2011-01-12T13:21:00.004-05:00

A quick overview of some of the good stuff from eCoupled.

Want to know what's in your cupboard? What you need to buy more of? Want to cook in the package? Check out eCoupled's new technology, soon to be available. Can you imagine if our libraries were set up this way. The books would know if they were off the shelf, or out of order!

You can cook anywhere you install one of the small contact points. Charge and run devices wirelessly.

Charge your electric car wirelessly. If all parking lots had these (not sure about the snow in Maine though), we could be charging as we grocery shop, go to the dentist, etc.

Tablets and Pads

2011-01-12T12:14:00.003-05:00

I'd love to see us use some tablets or pads at school.
The Eee Pad MeMO by Asus is a tablet and a phone combined that will be coming out this summer. The device comes with a Bluetooth headset with mic for receiving calls. It has a 7 inch touch screen and two cameras. One camera is on the front (1.2 megapixel) for making video calls and one on the back (5 megapixel) with an LED flash. It also has a stylus for taking notes and drawing in the included apps, Media Note and Painter.

The Motorola Xoom Tablet is another good tablet soon to be released...maybe in April. It is larger with a 10.1 in. screen. It has 32 GB of internal memory and a great battery that will last for up to 10 hours. Again, it has a 5 megapixel camera on the back and a 2 megapixel camera on the front for video calls. When it is released it will be 3G with Verizon, but soon to handle 4G networks.

And then there's the Toshiba:

LG Display Video

2011-01-10T10:58:00.001-05:00

Multiple Displays Video

2011-01-10T10:55:00.000-05:00

Projectors

2011-01-10T10:41:00.000-05:00

Technology vs Magic

2011-01-10T10:38:00.000-05:00

I like this quote...

Floor to Ceiling Display

2011-01-10T10:34:00.000-05:00

Made of thousands of color changing lights, you get a display that shows video, but you can look through, too.

XBox Avatar Kinect

2011-01-09T15:31:00.007-05:00

Just think about the possibilities...
Xbox Live subscribers can interact with up to 15 friends and family using their Kinect avatars and motion control. Some ideas? Any time you need to get people together that aren't in the same room. Meetings, collaborative groups, how about interviewing a famous person avatar, a book character? Those are just a few ideas without thinking too hard.

Maps of CES

2011-01-08T10:12:00.000-05:00

This show was too big to see everything. There were 4 separate maps and 4 bus stops depending on what you wanted to attend. Lots of walking. Lots of aspirin.

Preventing Childhood Obesity Through Technology

2011-01-08T09:37:00.000-05:00

http://www.hopsports.com/

OldPhones

2011-01-08T02:44:00.000-05:00

These handsets plug into your speaker jack in your cell phone to make calls. There also was a neat Bluetooth, charging base with handset that converts to speakers that will be out soon. Not permissible to take pictures of it, so I'll just have to remember what it looked like. That will be a problem.

This would be fun!

2011-01-08T02:35:00.000-05:00

Tough to keep your eyes on the road with all the video displays!

Nice Wheels

2011-01-08T02:30:00.000-05:00

Pretty fancy, but won't go in an inch of snow...

Speakers in the Back

2011-01-08T02:28:00.000-05:00

No room for the load of firewood, but the sound is great!

ViNCi Tablet for Babies

2011-01-07T16:44:00.005-05:00

Made for little fingers and whole hand. Coming out mid year. Connect to your computer to download new games to grow with your child. I gave them some feedback on the tablet's games being removed from the device and stored as your children grow, and reloading them as you have another baby. They seemed interested in that feature, so we'll see if it's added!

Lots of Electricty

2011-01-07T11:44:00.000-05:00

Just in our room...

Cloudy but beautiful

2011-01-07T11:12:00.000-05:00

I can see spots of sun and snow on the tops of mountains as I look out our window. Time for breakfast and a show. This place is incredible ... Number one, it's huge. Two, it has desert. Three, I've never seen so many people on smart phones, tablets and computers all in one place. They're sitting everywhere on everything.

Walt Mossberg

2011-01-06T19:31:00.002-05:00

Walt Mossberg is the author and creator of the weekly Personal Technology column in The Wall Street Journal. At CES this week, he stated that the IT Dept. should not be dictating what technology we use; the actual user and faculty should determine what is used.

CNET Panel Discussion - The Next Big Thing

2011-01-06T18:37:00.002-05:00

With Molly Wood, CNet's executive editor. It was hard to tell. I think they concluded that the computer would be around for a long time and that other devices, like the smartphones and tablets would be even more popular. Since each device is a bit different and we need them for different purposes and in different circumstances, we will most likely still use them all. But one of the catch phrases was "always on, always on you".

Mind Flex

2011-01-06T18:35:00.002-05:00

Control the ball with your powers of concentration. I did it!
I signed a release...they may use me on their commercial.

Out of the Box

2011-01-06T17:46:00.000-05:00

A Wearable Web Cam

2011-01-06T17:45:00.000-05:00

There has to be a use for this...records video and audio in the direction you are looking.

Using Technology in Higher Education

2011-01-06T16:56:00.000-05:00

...has application to lower levels too.

Camera Crew

2011-01-06T16:54:00.000-05:00

Taking pictures of the show.

You need the glasses

2011-01-06T16:51:00.000-05:00

It works very nicely. Great effects, but without the glasses some scenes are unviewable.

3DTV

2011-01-06T16:48:00.000-05:00

You can't tell it's 3D. But I can.

Nice tablet cart

2011-01-06T14:42:00.002-05:00

2011-01-06T14:42:00.000-05:00

Hope this is true

2011-01-06T14:11:00.000-05:00

On my way in! Yea!

Good Morning!

2011-01-06T10:50:00.001-05:00

Time to make the doughnuts! View from our room...and it doesn't look like Maine. Our shuttle driver last night had been to Caribou though. Didn't like the weather. Loved Maine lobsters and clam chowder.
Well, off to breakfast. It's 7:20 here and 10:20 in Maine. No wonder I'm hungry!

Sent from my iPhone

The Luxor Lobby

2011-01-06T02:20:00.000-05:00

We're not in Kansas anymore...

At the Airport

2011-01-06T01:25:00.000-05:00

Getting our badges for CES

On the way to the Airport

2011-01-05T10:52:00.000-05:00

No new tech yet. But it's a pretty day!

Safer Site

2010-10-15T13:25:00.009-04:00

To remove the nav bar on blogger, before this line (there will be no spaces between each of these characters...blogger just won't put this up correctly) :

> < / b : skin >

insert following code in your CSS part of template:

#navbar-iframe {
height:0px;
visibility:hidden;
display:none
}

After removing the navbar you may need to get rid of space at the top. Put this in CSS part of your template:

body
{
margin-top:0px;
}

If this doesn't remove the space where the bar was try:

body
{
margin-top:0px;
position: relative;
top: -50px;
}

Graph Paper Online!

2009-01-06T15:09:00.002-05:00

Here is a site to make your own graph paper. It includes the ability to vary the thickness and color of the grid lines and the size of the squares. Very handy! Incompetech.Com

Summertime 2007

2008-11-06T20:58:00.000-05:00

Effects and a Slideshow Online

2008-11-06T16:05:00.001-05:00

Free Printables for Teachers

2008-11-05T15:12:00.001-05:00

MES English.com Free resources for teachers of young learners. All of the resources are designed to be versatile and useful in many K-6 classrooms. There are free flashcards, worksheets , phonics cards, ESL games printable certificates and printable stickers ready for printing.

Get a Grant

2008-09-06T16:39:00.002-04:00

Maine Technology Institute Grants and Awards: submit an application by Oct. 6, 2008.

Math as a Social Activity

2008-08-06T10:29:00.001-04:00

Great demonstration of a math activity with 5th and 6th graders in a school in Anchorage, Alaska.

Comic Strips in Literacy

2008-06-16T14:05:00.002-04:00

Comics as Literacy
Edutopia Article - A New Literary Hero: Comics Make for Colorful Learning

Have some fun writing your own stories in comic strip format.
Here are some links to some versatile comic strip creators.
Charlotte's Web Comic Strip Charlotte's Web Characters and props are used
Make Beliefs Comix A variety of characters, 2, 3 or 4 panel comics
Read Write Think Comic Creator
Garfield Comic Creator
Kabam Comic Creator Help the Bam Bunch through stressful situations and create your own comic.
Boys' Life Comic Creator Characters, backgrounds and objects to use in your comic.
Comic Creator at Surfwell Island A Disney character comic creator

Reading Strategy/Game

2008-06-15T22:20:00.003-04:00

This isn't really a tech tip, but the tip is delivered via tech.
I think this would be fun to try, and it seems like it would be quite effective.

From Here On?

2008-06-12T09:53:00.003-04:00

I am going to try and keep this updated for you with helpful technology type stuff to try or links to sites that have interesting technology integration ideas.
I will be back in first grade and no one will be doing this, but I will continue to keep this as a resource, as I will School Vault.

I will update School Vault with links to sites that teachers can use with their k-5 students as direct resources for the curriculum.

Here at Talk n Tech, I will continue updating with resources for teachers' help with technology and ideas for using technology in the classroom k-5.

If you have a suggestion for a good site for teachers or students, comment or send an email to me and I will review it for inclusion on one of these two sites.

Free Gifs, Anyone?

2008-04-22T12:42:00.005-04:00

Here's where to get some free images for use on your website:
Wilson Info

Crossword Puzzles Online and Printable

2008-02-27T11:30:00.002-05:00

Click on the title and go to ArmoredPenguin.com. There you can make crossword puzzles and word searches using your own word lists. To make a crossword puzzle, make up a list of words with definitions separated by a colon (:) and save as a .txt file. Then add the list to this site and it will generate a crossword puzzle and answers that can be printed up as a pdf or html. You may also submit them to be published on their site and done online. Neat!

Animations in Computer Class

2007-12-06T15:48:00.000-05:00

Go on over to my School Vault Blog and see more animations done by classes of Kindergarten, First Grade and Second Grade. We worked together to learn how to make the animations and hopefully soon we will have small groups working on their own.
Here's a sample:

Camelmation

2007-12-03T14:25:00.000-05:00

Here's a snowy day miniproject...just playing this morning...
All I have to work with is a digital camera, my MacBook and a small pad of notepaper from the motel, hence the torn paper effect in "Camelmation".

And here is "Gingerbread Man Running!" A bit jumpy, but I don't have much of a setup here...no colored paper, scissors, tripod...but you get the picture.

Wireless Dates and Voicethread

2007-09-12T21:02:00.001-04:00

Here's a place close by for taking your laptop and having a snack. And when you look up from your surfing on the free wireless...the view is great! This Voicethread has pictures taken at The Frontier in Fort Andros in Brunswick. Try out the Voicethread. Leave a comment!
My husband and I go here some Saturdays for our weekly wireless date. You can see more wireless date places on my other blog at Wireless in the Wilderness.

What Would You Do With $200 for Technology in Your Classroom?

2007-08-16T12:29:00.000-04:00

How about a 20" LCD screen for the classroom computer? It's screen is large enough for a class to see easily. $195.95

Or how about a digital camera? It even takes short video clips in .mpeg4. $173.99

And you could even have enough $ left over to buy a 1gb SD memory card for the camera.

A microphone headset for podcasting is another option. You can spend as little or as much as you like on one of those.

$5.99 - $93.98

A FABLE?

2007-08-14T09:48:00.000-04:00

One time the animals had a school. The curriculum consisted of running, climbing, flying and swimming, and all the animals took all the subjects.

The duck was good in swimming, better than his instructor, and he made passing grades in flying, but was practically hopeless in running. He was made to stay after school and drop his swimming class in order to practice running. He kept this up until he was only average in swimming. But, average is acceptable, so nobody worried about that but the duck.

The eagle was considered a problem pupil and was disciplined severely. He beat all the others to the top of the tree in the climbing class, but he had used his own way of getting there.

The rabbit started out at the top of his class in running, but had a nervous breakdown and had to drop out of school on account of so much makeup work in swimming.

The squirrel led the climbing class, but his flying teacher made him start his flying lessons from the ground instead of the top of the tree, and he developed charley horses from overexertion at the takeoff and began getting C's in climbing and D's in running.

The practical prairie dogs apprenticed their offsprings to a badger when the school authorities refused to add digging to the curriculum.

At the end of the year, an eel that could swim well, run, climb, and fly a little was made valedictorian.

--printed in The Instructor, April. 1968

Podcasts and Wikis and Blogs, Oh, My!

2007-08-13T23:33:00.001-04:00

Clicking on the title above will open the Powerpoint presentation as a web page, for those who took the class on August 6 and 9. It should open for you just fine, but if it doesn't let me know, and I'll see in what other form I could provide it.

Google's Educator Search

2007-08-13T17:30:00.000-04:00

Make your own search engine. Put the web sites you want your students to be able to see and search. The google search page won't have ads, as they do on the regular Google search engine. You can select the text and background colors on the results page, and others may contribute web sites to your search engine, with your permission or you may make them a contributor, requiring no approval before sites are added.
Click on the post title to go to the page to get started on your own search engine.

Resources from Podcasts, Wikis and Blogs

2007-08-12T22:14:00.000-04:00

Find a good podcast:
EPN Web - Education Podcast Network
Dan's Math
Shiny Side Up
Mayo Clinic Weightloss
Just in Time
Free Software Downloads to make a Podcast:
Get Audacity
Get LAME
gCast
Blogs for you:
Wireless in the Wilderness
Talk n Tech
Some Places to Make a Blog:
Blogsome
Blogger
Wordpress
Weeblyweb
Imbee: secure student/teacher social page
More coming shortly, including the slideshow.

Podcasts and Wikis and Blogs, Oh, My!

2007-08-09T00:00:00.000-04:00

Pickin' Up Pictures, Put 'Em in Yer Blogger

2007-07-24T09:53:00.000-04:00

Pickles, the Green Moose from Maine, is waiting for school to start.

The photo was uploaded to ofoto.com from my computer.
Then I right-clicked to "Copy Image Location".

In my blog then I clicked on the "Add Image" icon , and in the window that opens,

I pasted in the "Add Image from the Web" URL box. When you did the step of "Copy Image Location" you were putting the url to the picture on your clipboard, so you just have to "paste" for the url to go in the box.

I would probably pick "None" for layout, just because you can do that once it is on the page by clicking on the picture and choosing the position. But if you are sure where you want it to go, select the placement here.

Select the image size. If you find it isn't good when you get it on the page, you can drag the corner to resize slightly, or just delete and do this step over with a different size selected.

Just click upload when you see the text appear, and it goes into the blog for you. Easy-peasy. You can do it, too.

Podcasts and Wikis and Blogs, Oh, My!

2007-07-24T00:13:00.000-04:00

On August 6 and 9, we'll be messing about with podcasting, wikis and blogs. Hope to have lots of good information and plenty of time to play around with making some.

Meg the Dog is Bored with Christmas

2007-07-22T07:08:00.000-04:00

New video. Not really a video podcast yet, as there is no feed. But a video nonetheless, hosted on Google Video. Ah, the Christmas seagulls!!

Polls on a Page

2007-07-20T16:32:00.000-04:00

And now there is a new poll on Talk n Tech. Be sure to vote. I'd like to see how this works out. What is your favorite kind of technology?

Flock Browser

2007-07-03T15:25:00.001-04:00

I have just downloaded the Social Browser, Flock, which has a quick blog tool in it that is compatible with Blogger. I am using their blog tool to type my text and upload it to Talk n Tech today. Just because I want to see what it does, I'm going to upload a picture from a file also....let's see....what to get....I dragged a picture in here. Did Pickles, the green moose, make the trip to the blog page?

Flock browser works on Windows and Mac platforms. Get it at: http://www.flock.com/

Blogged with Flock

Blogger's Navigation Bar Workaround

2007-06-30T18:56:00.000-04:00

Before you start using Blogger in your school as a web page, you are going to have to deal with the Navigation Bar at the top of the page. Unless you host the page with your own provider, Blogger has this navigation bar to help you surf the blogs. The unfortunate thing is that some sites are not for kids, so you don't want them randomly searching the 'net by clicking on "Next Blog". The easiest thing is to have your Network Admin block the url http://www.blogger.com/next-blog?navBar=truee

At http://betabloggerfordummies.blogspot.com/2006/10/navbar-in-beta-blogger.html there is a way to remove the bar totally using CSS, but it removes all reference to Blogger and removes your tool bar with your sign in and help stuff. So not only will Blogger not like that, but neither will you. It also irritates others who are surfing by clickin on "Next Blog" because there is no button on your page, meaning they will have to use the arrow key back to their page and go again. Not too bad, but they do get irritated.

So, keep these things in mind before you use Blogger as a school tool. We want to keep kids safe, administrators happy and parents assured that we are mindful of the dangers out there and are doing our very best as responsible educators!

Glitzify

2007-06-27T22:20:00.000-04:00

So how about some glittery text on your site? Go to http://www.familylobby.com/create-glitter-text-graphics.asp and create the animated text for your website. It creates the html for you to insert in your web page. My "Talk n Tech" image is an example of what you can get. It's easy and it's free!

Posting Podcasts

2007-06-21T11:50:00.000-04:00

As you can see on the sidebar, I have posted my class' Friday Funcast two ways. The top one is what I finally accomplished by going to the Add a Page Element and clicking on Configuring HTML/JavaScript and entering the html content provided by GCast. The one under that was made by clicking on Feed in the Add a Page Element section. However there, I could only add the html that linked directly to the feeds and not to the javascript, as I was limited to fewer than 500 characters. I may play around with that a bit, but since the first one was so easy, I guess there is no need.
On Aug. 6 and 9 I will help you make a page like this one, with a podcast link, too! Hope to see you there.

Tech Thoughts

2007-06-13T06:28:00.000-04:00

These are by no means definites, but a jotting down of ideas and possiblities. Look them over and see if there is something you would like to integrate with your curriculum. None of these is done in isolation for the sake of technology, but as a means to a goal in the curriculum.

Thoughts on Technology for 2007-2008

K:
use of mouse
turning on and off machine
Pages of safe sites for teachers and students to facilitate mouse use
Language arts pages: letters, numeracy sites
Publish stories on website.
Use of camera
Publish a picture and sentence
Use of drawing program
Audio taping
Kindergarten yearbook
Project: Gingerbread Man (Flat Stanley spin-off)

Grade 1:
Continued use of mouse
Drawing, copy, paste
Highlighting text, changing font, color, size
Publish stories on website
Puppets for LA
Audio taping
Project: Moose on the Loose, Fifth grade buddies

Grade 2:
Publish stories on website
Highlighting text, changing font, color, size
Drawing, copy, paste, transform
Videotaping of experiments, math etc. for students
Slideshow
Language connection – School in France
Project: Owney, Moose on the Loose, Third grade buddies at FM?

Grade 3:
Fourth grade buddies at FMS
Spanish connection – Schools in Spain, Peru, Argentina and/or Mexico
Digital cameras
Publish writing
Slideshow

Grade 4:
Third grade buddies at DNS
Videoconferencing: towns in Maine, France
Industry in Maine: connect with Forestry, Maine Potato Growers, Maine Guides - Vicky M., Lobstering/Fishing
Digital cameras
Publish writing
Slideshow

Grade 5
Connect with schools in Spain, Peru, Argentina and/or Mexico
Videoconferencing with Owney schools around USA
Yearbook committee
Digital cameras
Publish writing
Slideshow

Schoolwide:
Project per grade level
Updates to grade level web pages
LULU publish collection of stories/poems.
Podcasts of children telling student created math problems, stories, news of school
Establish del.icio.us sites for teachers
Wiki
Weekly email to teachers with new websites related to their current studies
Email list of parents: groups to send news of school, and web pages of interest, notification of updates
Videotaping of special events, lessons for absent students and parents, steps in a process, etc.
Viewer in hallway of recent pictures taken by students, or pictures of staff, welcome message in hall...

Possible programs to incorporate:
Letterboxing, Lulu, Portaportal or Del.icio.us, Gcast, Scholastic, Blogger, Wiki
Podcasting team
Videotaping team
Lulu publication of student writings
Music: GarageBand

Talk n Tech

2007-06-12T22:21:00.000-04:00

So here goes!
What do you want to Talk about Technology-wise in the schools?
What do you hope to accomplish this coming year?
What do you already do that involves technology?
What do you know your kids know when they come to you?
What technology skills would you like them to have when they leave you?
How important do you feel it is to be able to do what they are doing?
What would YOU like to learn to do this year?

Okay?

Now this does not mean that I don't have any ideas meandering through my brain, but it does mean that I know that I am not the only one with thoughts on this subject. And I'd like to know what your thoughts are. I may be able to steal, or use, them.

So when you get a moment, please jot down a word or two and post here. Your posts will be public, but only by those who know this URL...every other staff member at FMS and DNS.