The Decade in Business - From dotcoms to the Dubai debt crisis: the biggest business stories of the last 10 years

I was introduced to this site from a technology blog. The   Guardian's Decade in Business infographic. This is an interactive timeline of 120 images that represent various business stories from the last decade. By clicking on each picture you can retrieve further information on the story.



This may be a good resource for students who are studying ecomonics. These stories will provide further insight into the ups and downs of the ecomony over the decade.

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives - Math

The National Libary of Virtual Manipulatives was created to supply teachers with interactive mathematics manipulatives. It is available free of charge on the web. Here is a description of their site taken from their about page:

"The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives (NLVM) is an NSF supported project that began in 1999 to develop a library of uniquely interactive, web-based virtual manipulatives or concept tutorials, mostly in the form of Java applets, for mathematics instruction (K-12 emphasis). The project includes dissemination and extensive internal and external evaluation."



This site can be used on an interactive whiteboard. Links to individual activities can be incorporated into smart notebook lessons as well. Faculty members can provide links to individual activities on their website for students to access at home.

http://nlvm.usu.edu/

Enjoy!

Interactives to use on a Smartboard

Learner.org has developed a great website that hosts interactives for all content areas.  There are math, language, art, history and science interactives for grades K-12. Here’s an example about geometric shapes.  There are a lot of great interactives. One that I really liked is the Spelling Bee. 

Take a look at the home page. I would love to hear your feedback.

http://www.learner.org/interactives/

Enjoy

New Verizon Droid

I recently bought the Droid from Verizon. I have been waiting for Verizon to finally release a good smart phone. I must say that I am really impressed with it. The OS is very fast. The screen is great. It is has a very sharp picture.

You have to drink the Google Kool-Aide if you buy this phone. It is fully integrated with all of the Google Apps. In my opinion, that is what makes the phone so great. I have never been much of a 'cell phone' guy. This phone has changed the way I look at them.

Having access the the internet, email, messaging, twitter, google reader, google maps, navigation, every major newspaper, sports scores, you tube videos, and traffic and weather right at your finger tips has changed my life! It is such a great asset.

The keyboard is not designed well and the phone is a bit heavy. Other then that I have no other complaints as of now. The Google Voice Search by GPS location is really neat.

I highly recommend this phone. I will keep you posted if this changes!

A guide for productive class discussions

I came across this great diagram to distribute to students.  It is a guide for how to conduct classroom conversations for students. It is based on a technique called Accountable Talk. I read about this resource on the following blog posting.

Class Discussion Guidelines

Enjoy!

Life magazine's online photo archive

Before the age of cell phone cameras, You Tube, and Google Images, America received news and event images through weekly magazines. One of the must-see publications was Life magazine.  They captured the heroes, villains and events that shaped history.

These images are now available on the newly launched life.com. Here is an excerpt from their site:

Welcome to LIFE.com, the largest, most amazing collection of professional photography on the Web.heroes, our stars, our celebrations and heartbreak, the events etched in our memory and the small moments that make life sweet. When you find a photo you like, you'll be able to share it, print it, and sometimes even buy it.

LIFE and Getty Images, the two most recognized names in photography, have joined forces to provide you instant access to millions of breathtaking photographs — for free. LIFE.com not only lets you wander through the legendary LIFE and Getty archives, but with more than 3,000 new photos added every day, it also gives you the best pictures of the people and places shaping our world now.

These are the photos you won’t forget. Taken by the world’s top photographers and curated by LIFE editors, they tell the story of our times — our

Edutopia Magazine recenlty had a great article on "Teaching with Primary Souces". Specifically they spoke about using images. They recommend the following:

1. 
   
   Select Photographs - Use the custom search tool on life.com to hunt for images by topic or photographer.


2. 
   
   Research the techniques


3. 
   
   The Library of Congress's American Memory Website (loc.gov/teachers) provides lesson plans and question guides to help students think critically when examining photos.


4. 
   
   They also have self directed study modules on teaching with primary sources (loc.gov/teachers/professionaldevelopment/tpsdirect/selfdirected


5. 
   
   Develop a list of questions based on the following topics:

• 
  
  What is the main subject of the photo


• 
  
  Time: what might have happened just after or before the photo was taken.


• 
  
  Framing: What would be visible if you could move the camera left or right, up or down.


• 
  
  Vantage Point: How far was photographer from the images seen in the picture?


• 
  
  Dominance: What is the first thing you notice in the picture?


• 
  
  Original Purpose: How was the photograph first seen or used? How is the photograph regarded today?


• 
  
  Intention: What do you think the photographer was trying to express through the image?

"When you teach students how to be critical viewers, they learn how to elevate personal opinions into authorative opinions",  Elizabeth Lay, retired English teacher from Oakland, California

Digital Story Project Examples

The students in Briggs, Cozy Lake, and Milton Schools have been producing digital stories using MS Photostory 3. In Briggs School all of the second grade students took part in an online project called "Where the Wild Things Went" You can view their completed stories on their new school blog which can be found here.

Mrs. Caraturo's class in Cozy Lake School created digital stories.  During the month of October, students in Mrs. Caraturo’s class were asked to choose a newly fallen leaf.  Students then illustrated a picture and wrote a story about the journey their leaf took after it fell from its tree.  The boys and girls are very excited to have published their first digital story and to share it with their family and friends. Mrs. Caraturo's class stories are published here. Please contact her for the password to view the stories if you are interested.

  The students in Mrs. Evans Kindergarten class, in Milton School,  created digital stories describing their favorite animal at Space Farms Zoo.   Each student drew a picture of an animal and then narrated their picture. We used a digital camera and Microsoft Photostory 3 to complete the project. You can view their stories here.

To learn more about digital storytelling click here.

Enjoy!