Today we worked with Microsoft Publisher. I had taken a workshop about this quite a while ago so had forgotten much of it. It is another interesting way to present data. After looking at some of the other Big6 models used, I (again) began to rethink the process. Not sure if I should have students create the essential question or if I should. I'm thinking that I will do the broad essential question and then have the students brainstorm a list of related questions. I am excited to use the Big6, but as with anything new, still have questions, which I'm sure will work themselves out as the project develops. I want to start my project next week and am having Dan Wolotsky come in my room to help out with research and citing data. What I continue to think about is what am I really assessing?? The project is the disease project and I'm thinking that what I'm really assessing is how they do research. The major focus is how will they access various sources, citing sources, and the major thing is not to plagiarize. Secondary I want them to learn about the disease during this whole process. I love Page Creator and I think I'm going to use this to present the disease project. Thanks!

I think that's funny that Steve found the Mother's Day YouTube video....that's one of my favorites. I don't watch TV so one of my modes of entertainment is often the internet and YouTube. People are so creative and some of the videos are hilarious...it's a lifesaver to me when I've had a tough day. Another funny website is Improv.com....it's about a group a people that create skits and perform them in public. The last took place in Washington DC...the group pretended that there was a hypnotist hypnotizing all these people to do these crazy things and then the hypnotist just left without unhypnotizing the people....it was all a set up...even the people in the crowd that gathered that the hypnotist chose. Funny.
I also was able to set up an account to share my bookmarks...very useful! Thanks! I've been wanting to save and share my bookmarks because I find them very useful and am hoping to find other bookmarks to save that other people have found.

I worked with powerpoint today....it had been a while since I had worked with the program because my students use Keynote on their laptops to create slideshow presentations. The two programs are fairly similar but I think I like powerpoint better because it gives more options; however, this can be overwhelming when students are learning how to create slideshows...and to adults as well. Thank you for the list of options to present projects...I think it is important to celebrate learning with others whether it be a poster on the wall, or a wiki.

After spending some time on filling out my outline for my Big6 project I feel like the more the project becomes clearer to me it will also help me convey to my students what the outcome should be and how to develop better research skills. I also had a breakthrough when working with Keynote to be able to add sound clips and get it to run without me having to click to advance every slide. Now if I could just figure out how to get it into a movie format that will run continuously with the sound clips playing. Patience!

I found the graphic organizer program-bubble-us-fun to use. I think I'm going to try it with students tomorrow. Unfortunately the program wasn't working for some of us which brings to mind of how fabulous technology can be but also extremely frustrating when it doesn't work for us. This is the second time today I have struggled with the new technology available....I was having a fight with our scanning machine today. Make that the third.... I love all of the new things I'm learning that Microsoft Word can do such as highlighting, creating callouts, and summarizing text, but I'm having difficulty trying to find out how to do this using the laptops! Aargh
Thanks for all the new info!

Now that I'm sharing my thoughts with others I try to at least portray myself as someone who is slightly intelligent and it's not always that easy at 6:30. Wicki's are cool and I would like to try one with my class. I agree that if you try to research all the new technology before trying it you may just keep putting it off. I like the approach of jumping in and just doing it. I'm starting two new units in math and science and we are using techniques I learn in this class every day. I do no work ahead of time....we work together as students and teacher to teach each other new information.

There is an overwhelming amount of information available to us and it can be mind boggling! My experience so far is that kids do not know how to search for information. I have learned today that at times I struggle when searching for new information too. One of the things I have learned is once you find a resource that is easy and reliable and stick to it. When you have the time, research others to add to your toolbox. Useful links:
Britannica (sp?) online school resource.

I can add to this later....