Edublog Award Nominations

I've been meaning to nominate people for these awards and the clock is ticking down. The problem is that I have so many blogs to choose from. I have more that 1000 unread items in my Edtech folder alone. Here are a few of my favorites.

Best individual blog: Pair-a-dimes for Your Thoughts

Best group blog: Leader Talk

Best new blog: Thumann Resources

Best resource sharing blog: Read Write Web

Most influential blog post: Practical Theory: Why Educational Change is Hard

Best teacher blog: ICT In My Classroom

Best librarian / library blog: Cathy Nelson's Professional Thoughts

Best educational tech support blog: Tech Thoughts by Jen

Best elearning / corporate education blog: Brandon Hall Research

Best educational use of audio: Bit by Bit

Best educational wiki: http://wiki.classroom20.com/

Best educational use of a social networking service: http://delicious.com/cogdog

Lifetime achievemnet: 2 cents worth

Two For Tuesday 11/25/08

1. Poll Everywhere: Live Audience Polling via Text Messaging
Put those cell phones to good use! Poll Everywhere allows students to answer a question using SMS text messages or the web. The results of the poll are shown in real time online in a browser or in a PowerPoint. Try this poll: What is your favorite Thanksgiving Food? Text Cast 27516 and your message to 41411 (for example I would send this text message "Cast 27516 Mashed Potatoes" to the number 41411. Free accounts are limited to 30 responses so get your anwer in quick. You can see the results here.

2. DoInk: Create and share custom animations
Use this free tool to create your own animations. You can draw your own pictures, or animate pictures shared by others. I had a lot of fun with this tool and made a series of (very simple) animations. You can see one of them below. Give it a try and share a link to your animations, so we can check them out.

Getting Started With Twitter

I've been working on updating my book, and decided to add a section on Twitter. Hopefully I'll have the revised version of my book done soon. It is amazing how much is out of date after only 6 months. Until then, here is my newest chapter.

My interview on Wicked Decent Learning

I was recently interviewed by Dan and Jeff, two English teachers from the great state of Maine, for their Wicked Decent Learning

podcast. We talked about networking and Facebook, and the Brady Bunch. It was a wicked lot of fun!

Here are the two links that I mentioned on the show:

• NPR radio extension on Firefox
• Dave Truss's blog post about Facebook
  

Two For Tuesday 11/18/08

1. Phun 2D Physics Sandbox
This free download allows you to model many physics concepts and discover what happens. You can build a boat and see if it sinks or floats or design a bridge and find out how much weight it can hold. Check out this video to see some amazing examples of what you can do with this application.



2. Histografica, Picture the Past
Use this free archive to find photographs of places around the world. Look up an image by location and Histografica not only shows you the image, but gives you its location on a Google Map. Join this community and share your images of the past. Add your picture today.


Image: "Main Street Donegal, Ireland 1930" by thearchiver on Histografica http://www.histografica.com/view.aspx?p=n3jvonui

OtherInbox 100 Beta Invites

I just saw a tweet from OtherInbox that they are giving out 100 beta invites. I really like this app and wanted to share this with you all. I made a quick screencast to show why I like it.

Scratch Success!

I recently completed Scratch projects with 3 8th grade math classes and my Computer Applications students (3 seniors and 1 sophomore). Overall the project was very successful, particularly with the 8th graders. They really enjoyed the project and stayed extremely focused throughout the week long unit. Here are some of their completed projects. I wrote up a plan for the 6-day long project. My Computer Applications students blogged about their experiences.

I am going to be presenting this unit on our Curriculum Night next week. In preparation for that event, I interviewed some of the 8th grade students a made a short "Scratchumentory" about their experience. (I apologize for the audio, you will need to turn up the volume.)



Are you using Scratch? Please tell us about your experience!

Two For Tuesday 11/11/08

I was honored to be a guest on the Edtechtalk show Seedlings this week. I had so much fun chatting with Bob Sprankle, Alice Barr and Cheryl Oakes. Thanks to Bob for sharing this first website as one of his Geek of the Week picks.

1. Quizlet eats Flashcards for Breakfast
Create your own flashcards or draw on the thousands of flashcards already created by others. Subjects include French, Spanish and Chinese, algebra, geometry, history, biolog. Quizlet features three modes, familiarize, learn and test mode. It will also make your flashcards into a game and allows you to study Online with a group. Teachers can share materials online with classes, or print paper copies to use in class.

2. The Eddie Awards 2008
It's that time again. Think about your favorite educator blogs, who do you read regularly, who inspires you, who makes you think, who provides great resources and vote for your picks. The categories include Best Individual Blog, Best Teacher Blog, Best Group Blog, Best Librarian Blog and more. To nominate your favorites, write a blog post explaining who you have picked, link back to the Eddie Awards page and use this contact form to let them know about your post. Stay tuned for my nominations coming soon.

Two For Tuesday 11/4/08 Election Day!

1. LoudLIt: Books on "tape"
LoudLit provides free downloadable audio book files of public domain literature. Their collection includes Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, several works by Edgar Allen Poe, The Gettysburg Address, The Declaration of Independence and A Tale of Two Cities among others. Read along with the text as you listen on your computer, or download the Mp3 file and listen on your iPod.

2. Rives: A 3-minute story of mixed emoticons
Storyteller and poet Rives tells a "typographical fairy tale" using emoticons as illustrations. The story is funny and bittersweet. It's worth it. Take a break and check it out.