Joey, you are right. I do need to update my blog . . . so here I am. Things have been just so crazy lately. My daughters are busy (much like most kids) every night of the week. They are in soccer, softball, and the summer swim club and the fact that they are 8 and 6 years old makes things even more difficult!! They might be doing the same things, however, they are in different age groups and this results in different times and days. Most nights, my wife is running one kid and I am running the other . . . oh well, I remember my parents doing the same thing for my sister and I when we were young. I guess it is part of parenting.
Guys, I need your help. I would like you to comment to this blog post. Similarily to what you are doing with your videos, I want your information about Fairview School. We constantly get questions from parents and students about Fairview. Who better to answer their questions than the students who were wondering the same things last year!! Could you take some time and put some thought into this post.
Write what Fairview is like. Paint a picture of what it is like to be a student at Fairview School. What opportunities do you have, what do you like . . . you know the drill!! I think I will be able to get more information from you in this format than in the video. It will also give some of you the opportunity to put together your thoughts so when you do your video, you have some things to say . . . don’t worry, you will still get to do your video!! It is often easier to ‘type’ than be put in front of a camera and be on the spot!! Many of you had two or three or . . . six tries with your video!! Hopefully this will be a bit easier for you.
Thanks guys. I will keep this updated more. I will find the time.
What a week. I feel like we are spinning our wheels a little bit in class, but we are accomplishing a lot. I have really enjoyed introducing you to the ‘technologies of the week’ (so to speak). I have hear from many of you that you have made Animoto videos and that is great. There are so many technological tools out there, too many to know about all of them. I hope you are enjoying the technology component of the last part of the year (Science on the Moodle, this blog, our Plate Tectonics Voicethread, the Animoto lesson, and the Jing Screencast . . . the voicethread tutorial). These are all products that are free and you could download and use yourself!!
I enjoyed listening to / reading your postings on the Voicethread. Be sure to have your stuff prepared to when you get your turn you are ready to go. I know it is a long process, but remember, you might make some mistakes and want to re-do it. That’s ok. Be patient.
Funny sounding title, but it is a great tool. What I was able to do was capture my computer screen and all of its actions and use audio to explain what I was doing. I created a tutorial for you guys to look at. It explains how to use the Voicethread that we will be doing in the next little while. Check it out.
I think this tool has endless potential. See you guys tomorrow!! Remember, keep preparing your thoughts around Pangaea, Continental Drift, and the Earth’s Plates for the Voicethread assignment. Click on the link below for tutorial.
I hope you guys enjoyed being introduced to the new technologies today. I hope that the new approach to learning is one that you are enjoying. Most of these technologies I am experimenting with for the first time so we will have some growing pains. Please bear with me.
It is extremely important that you make sure to keep up!! Classes might seem a bit ’scattered’ (some content in class with the technology component being independent . . . and possibly homework to keep up with) so make sure you are asking questions (if unsure) and not wasting time. I know as well as you do that there can be a tendency to ‘hurry’ and not do your best work if the computer is in front of you. It can be a distraction, but it is also a great learning tool.
Animoto is a simple program you can run with just an e-mail address. It allows you to take photos and apply them to music in a music video form. It is also free for 30 second video clip. The longer videos require purchasing a subscription or paying by the video.
Voicethread will be really interesting. I look forward to reading (or hearing) some of your responses to the threads posted. Remember to start preparing what you are going to present in the Plate Tectonics thread . . . content on Pangaea, Continental Drift, and the Continental Plates. I encourage all of you to (for at least one) to use the microphone and speak. Remember, you can edit it all you want.
Like I mentioned, I am attempting to embed my Animoto video to the blog. I had to save it to YouTube first.
Hope everyone had a great Easter Break. I certainly did. We did not do a whole bunch, but we spent some quality time together as a family, celebrated my oldest daughter’s 8th birthday, and were fortunate to be visited by the Easter Bunny!! All in all, a really great week and I can’t wait to get back to school! Hope you feel the same.
We are entering the ‘home stretch’ of the school year. The last few month seem to fly by and I am sure that this year will be no different. Hopefully all of you haven’t forgotten much of the content we covered before the Easter break. We will see tomorrow!! For those of you that are curious, hopefully the terms point, line, line segment, ray, angle, acute, obtuse, right, straight, reflex, complementary, and supplementary are mathematical terms that ring a bell. Can you remember what the sum of the interior angles of a triangle equal??Can you measure angles and construct angles?? In math, we will be wrapping up our Angle Geometry unit in the next week or two so you can expect a review and an exam!!
We will continue to look at the Earth, it’s plates, and the theory behind earthquakes and volcanoes. I will continue to use the Moodle site and introduce more technological components to the unit where it fits. I hope you are enjoying the different approach to learning.
Today was a great day . . . very busy and eventful. The day began with Mr. Reimer teaching a couple of math lessons with my grade 6 math classes and he did a good job incorporating the SMARTBOARD. The students really enjoy the interactive component of the tool. Fortunately, I think (and am hoping) that when we return from the Easter break, Fairview school will have its second SMARTBOARD in my classroom!! Hopefully the division technology guys will be able to come in and install it over the Easter break. That would be awesome!
Our school had their annual drama production at it was really good. Our students worked really hard and had their dress rehearsal this afternoon for all Fairview students and the grade 4’s and 5’s from Oman. Their hard work payed off because it went off without a hitch. Great job everyone! The evenings performance was also a great success.
Mrs. Robinson came to meet the grade 6 classes today. They were very receptive to her and I know they will enjoy having her as their teacher to finish the year. She is an excellent teacher.
Miss Dodds departure is just around the corner. She will be missed. She did an excellent job and I appreciated the opportunity to teach with her. Fortunately, she will just be across town finishing the school year at the Comprehensive High School. I am sure she will visit when she has time.
We were able to have a brief assembly today to recognize many students for some of the great things they do. We are a school that focuses on the Virtues and we take every opportunity to pay tribute to students demonstrating virtuous behaviour and actions. I am constantly amazed at how much our students do for each other and the school. They are what make things tick around here.
After school the grade 6 boys had badminton tryouts. I was really impressed at how competitive it was for a bunch of guys just learning the game. I saw a lot of improvement in the short time the boys played after school today.
My daughter had her year end party for her hockey team tonight and it was nice to see her interact with the new friends she made throughout her season. It was her first year of hockey and she really enjoyed it.
I leave you with a video. It was one of the first short videos I saw at the theater before the original Shrek movie (years ago). I wish all of you a great easter break.
I have a bit of free time today so I thought I would write a quick post. I really enjoyed the opportunity to sit through the Student-Teacher- Parent conferences yesterday. All of you have grown so much this year as students and citizens. You should all be very proud.
As we enter the last reporting period, the time will seem to fly by. Often there will be a ’spring slide’ (as I like to call it) and I personally challenge all of you to not fall into it. As the weather gets warmer and the sun shines more, it is often difficult to keep focussed on the task at hand. It is easy to look outside and think about the football team you are going to be on during the noon break or where the street hockey game is going to take place after school. These thought can get in the way of your learning. You have worked very hard so far this year and I have seen many students start to fall into bad habits after they spent the entire first part of the year creating good habits. Keep focussed and doing the things you have been doing so far this year. If you do, you can be assured of continued success. Enjoy your weekend.
I have to run, my daughter is involved in a hockey tournament this weekend at the Fairview rinks. This weekend, I am a hockey dad!!
It was great to get your comments!! I appreciate hearing from all of you and hope that this will be a site that you visit frequently.
There seemed to be some problems that arose from today’s assignment that were mentioned in the comments. I will give a possible explanation for them. A few of you mentioned you had trouble with the videos. I can only assume that they did not work (for some of you) due to the amount of users (at the same time) and often with the videos (if there are lots of people online) they take some time to load. I would imagine that the videos would work if you were to look at them when there were not so many users.
Another question asked was ‘how do you make a blog’? It is really simple. You can use WordPress (which is the blog site that this blog is) and apply for a free blog. All you need is an e-mail address. If you would like to subscribe, click on this link, and subscribe. If you have any question, let me know. I will be more than happy to help.
A third suggestion was for me to ‘get rid of the dead ends’. I will attempt to do this whenever I get a chance!!
I was wondering what you thought of the learning aspect of Wednesday. It is a different type of learning for many of you!! It was definitely a lesson in reading and following instructions and was primarily self-directed (very little teacher assistance). Did you like this type of learning? If you did, what did you like about it? If you didn’t, what did you dislike about it? Did anyone find the use of technology to be a problem? I would be interested to hear your thoughts.
Here are a couple of videos for you to enjoy. Shanna mentioned the following video in her comment to me. I thought I would share it with you. Thanks for the recommendation Shanna. I hope this is the right one . . . there were quite a few of them! The second one reminds me of one of my summer jobs . . . I worked at a dairy farm. There was one cow that was a bit ‘weird’ to say the least. Enjoy the videos.
Well, it looks like you found my blog. Hopefully all the clicks it took you to get here weren’t too difficult. This site is for you to look at, read, and comment at any time. My goal is to create an environment for us to discuss a variety of topics outside the classroom setting. This is not strictly an academic site where we have to talk about school stuff. I will post many different topics on my blog, many of them non-school related. I will, however, use this as a means of communication to relay school information to you and your parents. Please show your parents this blog, bookmark it on your computer, and check it our regularly. I will be informing your parents of this blog and the Moodle site during our Student-Teacher-Parent conferences on Friday.
As part of your assignment today, I wanted you to experience the beginnings of my Moodle page that contains our Science class and links to this blog. I would love to get some feedback from you. As mentioned, feel free to comment about whatever is on your mind. I am interested in what you are thinking.
I am leaving you a little video that hopefully you will enjoy. I am a huge fan of Animation. I have two young daughters who love to watch animated videos. I really like the short videos that come before the movies and some of the others that are produced. One of my favourite characters is the Polar Bear. He has a lot of tough luck in his life but I love his dedication. You can learn a good lesson from this video. . . never give up!! Hope you have a great day (I am in meetings today) and I will see you all tomorrow.
