Farewell!

I just wanted to thank the participants of the Spring Trimester for your hard work and participation in our class. The trimester just seemed to fly by! I hope that you learned things that were both useful and interesting. If you are able to use something that you learned about in class with your students and would like to tell me how it went, I'd love to hear about your experience. Don't forget to bookmark any links you'd like to keep track of before your access to the course information vanishes.

I truly strive to provide the best online class that I can. If you have any comments about the course or suggestions to improve it please shoot me an email. Good luck in all your future endeavors and enjoy your break from classes.

Sincerely,
Prof. Schmidt

The end is here!

I can't believe it is the end of the Spring Trimester already! This Saturday is the official end of class and grades are due (for me) the following Tuesday, May 17th. It's amazing that May is about halfway done!

As luck has it, this is an EXTREMELY busy week for me. My 5th graders are taking the NJ Ask5 this week which means I'm all over the building covering teachers. My father-in-law, who had open heart surgery a month ago is back in the hospital with what we think is pneumonia. My two step-sons are playing at the Staten Island Yankees stadium tomorrow which is this big production and over an hour from my house - WITHOUT traffic! And on Friday I'm heading to Massachusetts for my step-daughter's college graduation and before then I'm desperately trying to get my hair done. Then add in another baseball game and, for good measure a basketball game too. But at least I don't have finals to take like many of you. (and a Web Quest and unit plan to write!) I just (insert sarcasm here) have to get caught up on the blogs, get those grades entered, read you unit plans and then examine all the Web Quests! I'm really excited about seeing your final projects and just know they'll be fantastic!

So I figure we should all take a deep breath. It will all get done because it ALWAYS does, doesn't it?

Article

I just read this article and thought it was worthy of sharing. http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/04/five-ways-silicon-valley-is-changing-education/ It really spoke to me because I feel it is amazing how many things are effecting education, technology wise. I also think it's making a huge impact on our lives in general - for example how many businesses now have a Facebook fan page? It seems every time I turn around a store or other business is advertising "Like us on Facebook!"

Today, I'm also linking you to your laugh for the day. It's an article entitled "What Teachers Should Never Wear." It's a little old and even I have admit to the wearing of Uggs, (which is on the presentation as a don't), mostly thanks to cold lunch duty and their overwhelming popularity & comfort. I waited a long time to jump on that bandwagon! But this article is entertaining, thought provoking and it drives home the point that people notice what you wear. Enjoy!http://theapple.monster.com/careers/articles/8431-what-teachers-should-never-ever-wear?page=1&utm_content=ta_r1_20090604_u&utm_source=nlet

My WebQuest fail

When I was preparing the WebQuest weekly topic I had a discussion with another teacher about a project I'm interested in doing. I'd like my 5th graders to plan a vacation. I thought it would be a great activity - researching the options, planning the trip, budgeting, etc. Fun stuff and educational too. Then it dawns on me that this would make a GREAT webquest. So I go to QuestGarden and set up a trial. I've done this before but I have several email address and chose an alternate. I spent several hours writing the intro, started the procedure and then saved and exited the website.

Or so I thought.

I went back to QuestGarden, realised I forgot my log in and password. (My first indication something was wrong.) So I clicked on the forgot password link and put in my school email. No account found. Hmmm, tried again with my St. Peter's email. Nope. Rinse and repeat. Same result. I've tried every email I have and I can't find my account or webquest anywhere.

So why am I sharing this with you? Just to let you know you're not alone. Technology snafus happen to the best of us. Next time, I'll be more careful. I hope your WebQuest assignment is going better than mine!

Power Point Presentations

Since I am unable to find a better alternative, I'm going to have you use Slide Share to share your Power Project assignments with each other on your blogs. Here's how:

1) Sign up for a free SlideShare account. (http://www.slideshare.com/)

2) Upload your finished PowerPoint to slideshare. Make sure it plays by itself. Make it public.

3) When it is done processing click on EMBED. Copy code.

4) Log into Blogger and open a new post. Switch tab to HTML and past in the code. save & publish your post.

5) For grading purposes, email your Power Point to me at lschmidt@spc.edu because sometimes the animations don't show up in SlideShare.

6) Visit everyone else's blogs and view their presentations. Comment.

If you have trouble embedding your PP on your blog put a link to it on SlideShare instead so everyone is still able to view it.

Fakebook

I just found this today and LOVED it so much I just had to share! http://www.classtools.net/fb/home/page I think it has so many interesting possibilities, especially for older students (MS, HS) but I 'd try it with my 5th graders too. Instead of a report on a famous person you create a "Fakebook" page for them. Cool, huh?

Online Resources

It's amazing to me how many things are available online! What's even MORE amazing that nearly every day someone sends me a new website. Some a good, some are bad and a few are great. I'm lucky to work with some amazing people who share links with me and I really appreciate that. So do your part to pass it on. When you find a cool new link but can't use it yourself send to someone you know. Thay'll appreciate it more than you know. If you have something you've found that I haven't included this week be sure to share it with the class on your blog.

Since it's WAY easier for me to understand a site if I actualy see what you can do with it I'm linking you to a blog I created to showcase some of my 5th grade technology projects: http://grade5uestechnology.blogspot.com/
There you will see some of the things my classes have been completing lately - Animotos and Movie Maker Movies - ENJOY!