01-04-10

01-04-10
Originally uploaded by blisschan

Today I finally finished organizing my students art writing portfolios. One box for each class. I have to keep the boxes on the hall because my classroom is so small but I'm lucky to have one because not all art teachers in our district have classrooms.

365 photos 2010

I'm going to try again to take 365 photos this year, one a day and post then to Flckr and blog about them here. The first two were taken while on a visit to Jacksonville for News Year.
Jan and I spent New Years Eve with my sister Palmer Ann and her new husband Joe. We had wine and played games. Lots of fun.
1-2-10 was at Tim and Cheryl's house with other family and friends. Here the girls are raiding the refrigerator.

On 1-3-10 I received a very early text from our friend Leslie. At about 2am this Leslie while partying in Vegas she wondered what Jan was doing. I sent her this image.

Being as how I'm trying to keep this blog PG I can't show what was happening in Vegas, that will stay there.

By the Numbers

While reading Wesley Fryer blog he spoke about a widget that Gary Hayes made that is a "clock" that tracks in real time the growth of social media on the web. Some of the numbers are very impressive. In the 300 seconds that I have been logged on to his blog there have been 815,983,251 emails sent globally. 2730 new members of Facebook. $73,980 spent on virtual goods, that is paying something for nuthin'.
If you have not started exploring social media you will be quickly left behind.

in reference to:

- Gary's Social Media Count | PERSONALIZE MEDIA (view on Google Sidewiki)

Hat Day

This looks like a fun assignment. I'll have to get some of my parents to bring in old hats for the kids to use.

in reference to: Hat Day - Art Education 2.0 (view on Google Sidewiki)

Georgia O'Keeffe in Google Earth

Came across this lesson in the Teaching Pallette using Google Earth to show the life of Georgia O'Keeffe. This is a great way to use Google Earth. On the web page there is also an embedded KLM viewer. KLM is the Google Earth file type and this allows visitors to the web page to also see an interactive Google Earth window.I have got to try this.

in reference to: Georgia O’Keeffe in Google Earth : The Teaching Palette (view on Google Sidewiki)

NSO

New shiny object.
I have found that not only parents but teachers and administrators are taken with having the newest and slickest technology in their classrooms without thought to training and how the technology will transform the classroom. Teachers at my school all want documents cameras and interactive whiteboards but many that have been installed are used for no more than expensive whiteboards and overhead projectors. But for some as time goes by and they become comfortable with the technology they begin to use it for more. But I think with proper training and mentoring and the time to do those things more teachers would hit the ground running with these technologies.
Last year when we installed a dozen SmartBoards at our school the classroom set up did not allow easy access to the the SmartBoard by the students but I have noticed this year that teachers are changing their classrooms around so students can more easily access the interactive board.

in reference to: Interactive technology access does not guarantee good teaching and learning » Moving at the Speed of Creativity (view on Google Sidewiki)

Google Tool Bar?

OK I wanted to try Google Sidewiki but I'm not so sure about the tool bar.

in reference to: Google Sidewiki (view on Google Sidewiki)