The more we learn in this class about technology the more I really begin to see there is so much out there available to enhance blogging and research papers. Check out Diigo and istall for free. Jing Video capture.
In this video capture I wanted to show a tip for how to add your name as the document's author. This is the screen cast tutorial Click Here
These tools and others aid students in How To types of learning that provide them with a tutor for a rpocess that can always have access too. This could be used with many different subjects but math really comes to mind especially on the days you introduce a new concept then have students do practice exercises at home with their screen cast How To video. This meets mulitple ISTE NETS standards.
............Welcome to Rafe's Random Rants
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Portrait of Love
link to the abstract version of this wonderful Photo.
I am a very fortunate Man to have this lovely lady as my wife.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Presidents Cool things to do with Jing
Early Presidents try to see how many you recognize. Then open the links below and answer some more Presidential trivia.
These three were very popular, which President was Garfield? view Link Hint you can use the links below to solve then post your answer.
Jing is going to be a valuable tool to help teachers satisfy the ISTE NETS standards. One of the standards for teachers and students is to promote exploration and research, Jing and other tools help to capture those results in a more creative way. Creativity is another standard, with the right prompt and a little imagination the possibilities are limitless, add some cool tools like Jing and Skype, and students have new motivation for learning. Communication and Collaboration is another standard, that has great potential on many levels, not only does it allow students and teachers to communicate with others but it could also be used for peer review scenarios of projects. The research aspects should help students to narrow search options and also find new ways to search for data, it will also give librarians a opportunity to teach students about data bases vs. web searches and why data base searches are more reliable.
Post your answers in the comments of this post.
These three were very popular, which President was Garfield? view Link Hint you can use the links below to solve then post your answer.
Jing is going to be a valuable tool to help teachers satisfy the ISTE NETS standards. One of the standards for teachers and students is to promote exploration and research, Jing and other tools help to capture those results in a more creative way. Creativity is another standard, with the right prompt and a little imagination the possibilities are limitless, add some cool tools like Jing and Skype, and students have new motivation for learning. Communication and Collaboration is another standard, that has great potential on many levels, not only does it allow students and teachers to communicate with others but it could also be used for peer review scenarios of projects. The research aspects should help students to narrow search options and also find new ways to search for data, it will also give librarians a opportunity to teach students about data bases vs. web searches and why data base searches are more reliable.
Link to the 1st 15 Presidential portraits
Link to the 2nd 15 Presidential portraits
Link to the last 13 Presidential portraits
a brief thought of me by RJS; using the snipping tool
a brief thought of me by RJS: "Picassohead"
click here to view
who knew I was an abstract artist, the real task here was using the snipping tool as you can see I am a rookie, i know this because my frame is red all rookies have red frames because they don't know you have to change the outline frame color before you capture. this creation was done very quickly so it really lacks detail so i went back and did another picassohead could become addictive. Go and create have fun and share your art with the world. this exercise covers the standards in many ways it teaches the student and teacher creative ways engage students it is also a great segway into teaching art appreciation and history, how culture is enhanced by art the list goes on and on and on. it also introduces new software tools available.
who knew I was an abstract artist, the real task here was using the snipping tool as you can see I am a rookie, i know this because my frame is red all rookies have red frames because they don't know you have to change the outline frame color before you capture. this creation was done very quickly so it really lacks detail so i went back and did another picassohead could become addictive. Go and create have fun and share your art with the world. this exercise covers the standards in many ways it teaches the student and teacher creative ways engage students it is also a great segway into teaching art appreciation and history, how culture is enhanced by art the list goes on and on and on. it also introduces new software tools available.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
To Empathize or Not ?
What does Empathy have to do with being a teacher? Well let's see... teachers are human... teachers have feelings...students are human... students have feelings... it might be a good idea for you, as a teacher, to be aware of how you project yourself to others and how well you can perceive others. Just because students are required, by law, to attend school doesn't mean you, as a teacher, don't have to meet them where they "are" in life. Physically students may be in your classroom but mentally may be miles away for various reasons. Some of these reasons may be beyond the control of the student...i.e. they may not just be day dreaming, they may be devising a survival plan for when they get back home or later on the playground. The ability to empathize with your students and their everyday life will enable you to create lesson plans that have enhanced meaning to the students in your classroom.
Teachers that can make a 'subject' come to life, with real time relevance and tangible understanding will enjoy greater student success. I find that I am usually comfortable in about any social situation, I think in part because I am actively aware of others and can usually tell if those around me are uncomfortable or relaxed. I scored a 43, (whatever that really means) on the empathy quotient exam which is one point higher than the average male, but well within the overall average. If you are interested in taking the exam for yourself just out of curiosity Click Here just remember to read carefully how the question is asked and just answer honestly, I know several of the questions are a bit vague but answer the best you can based on the question.
ISTE NETS (tech standards) "Educational technology standards are the road map to teaching effectively and growing professionally in an increasingly digital world," this comes direct from the website, technology is a tool available to a teacher just like many other resources, and I can't help but think that as teacher you should be your own greatest "tool." Meaning it is absolutely imperative that you have learned as much about yourself as you have your subject material... if you are afraid to laugh, then you will not inject humor into your lessons and that means you have potentially lost a great tool available to you to aid in classroom dynamics... the list goes on. All of what we do and learn is preparation for a time and task in the future no matter what field you find yourself in, so the question becomes Why wouldn't you want to learn everything about everything? especially all the things that make you uniquely YOU!
Teachers that can make a 'subject' come to life, with real time relevance and tangible understanding will enjoy greater student success. I find that I am usually comfortable in about any social situation, I think in part because I am actively aware of others and can usually tell if those around me are uncomfortable or relaxed. I scored a 43, (whatever that really means) on the empathy quotient exam which is one point higher than the average male, but well within the overall average. If you are interested in taking the exam for yourself just out of curiosity Click Here just remember to read carefully how the question is asked and just answer honestly, I know several of the questions are a bit vague but answer the best you can based on the question.
ISTE NETS (tech standards) "Educational technology standards are the road map to teaching effectively and growing professionally in an increasingly digital world," this comes direct from the website, technology is a tool available to a teacher just like many other resources, and I can't help but think that as teacher you should be your own greatest "tool." Meaning it is absolutely imperative that you have learned as much about yourself as you have your subject material... if you are afraid to laugh, then you will not inject humor into your lessons and that means you have potentially lost a great tool available to you to aid in classroom dynamics... the list goes on. All of what we do and learn is preparation for a time and task in the future no matter what field you find yourself in, so the question becomes Why wouldn't you want to learn everything about everything? especially all the things that make you uniquely YOU!
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Guardians - "Inspector / Provider"
Well it seems I was correct in my hypothesis and that after taking the personality test they for free they would like very much for you pay for an even more in depth analysis of your results. I passed on this offer but was quite intrigued by the results they did give me and after further investigating the sub-categories of the Guardians I found that I most likely am a strong mixture of the "Inspector" and "Provider." I feel these qualities are a good fit for secondary / adult education because of several factors...i.e. social studies is a subject about cultures of the world, these cultures are full of traditions and intricate details, the "inspectors" and "providers" are all about the details. When it comes to working with fellow teachers "providers" are very cooperative and skilled at maintaining teamwork, and because of their hands on approach and dedication to seeing the task completed the job of supervising them should be easier. Because this type of personality is very friendly and outgoing they are as comfortable talking to strangers as old friends, but make no mistake they things done and done correctly, timely and with a great sense of pride. You can read more about these and other personality traits HERE Knowing more about yourself will help you to interact better with others and knowing more about others will them interact better with you... the more you learn is well ...the more you want to learn.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
What Type Are You? Personality Testing
Personality tests spark the thought in everyone, what type am I? and what does that really mean? are the most common thoughts. The subsequent questions follow, like which type is better than the others? am I the best type? how do they know which I am? who decided that these are the types? all these question push us into a direction that many of us are not familiar with or maybe even uncomfortable with. Almost every psychologist that does this type of testing has their own "types" or general categories that they use. Some psychologists ask general questions and vague general category types; while others will ask very detailed questions and have detailed categories with multiple facets within the categories. TEAM is the one I am most familiar with... T-taskmaster, E-enthusiasts, A-analyst, M-mainstay, when I took that test it put me in the taskmaster group, that was over ten years ago, my guess is I will still be in a supervisor type category, since personality traits change very little over the course your life after your teens.
Guardians is the group that I will most likely fall in but the Artisans category is the one I most identify with. This must come from the 30 plus years I have spent working with my hands and building things like roads, houses, welding projects and many other construction projects and art crafts. The Idealist would be my third choice mainly because that is where teachers are mentioned and that is my major. The Rationals is a group I can relate to as well since inventors fall into this category, and while I don't consider myself an inventor I have worked as a welder and machinist building other inventor's inventions, or have been involved in making alterations that improve the invention. When I get done testing I'll post my results...you could go to the WEBSITE and test yourself or comment here which personality you think best describes you and me. I'll look forward to your comments.
Guardians is the group that I will most likely fall in but the Artisans category is the one I most identify with. This must come from the 30 plus years I have spent working with my hands and building things like roads, houses, welding projects and many other construction projects and art crafts. The Idealist would be my third choice mainly because that is where teachers are mentioned and that is my major. The Rationals is a group I can relate to as well since inventors fall into this category, and while I don't consider myself an inventor I have worked as a welder and machinist building other inventor's inventions, or have been involved in making alterations that improve the invention. When I get done testing I'll post my results...you could go to the WEBSITE and test yourself or comment here which personality you think best describes you and me. I'll look forward to your comments.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Research Project: Using Surveys
Today we are going to start a research project using google docs and cloud computing. First thing you need to develop is your question, What do you need to know or want to know. Surveys are a great tool to gather data. Spreadsheets are a good tool for analyzing the data you gathered, most spreadsheets allow for ranking and sorting, also charts or graphs can be made based on specific data or cells in the spreadsheet. I aslo developed a survey form: Click Here to take survey. We also participated in a survey and worked with the spreadsheet one of the most interesting fact I found was this question "Who is your cell phone provider."
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