Ms. Brock's World

One of the first things I’ll teach was written by someone else

brockblog — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:52:40 +0000

Cindy Putnam has very kindly given me the link to a VCASMO presentation she did on really bad PowerPoint slides. I’m looking forward to sharing it with my students, since they often fall victim to many of the temptations cautioned against in the presentation.

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On my own

brockblog — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:52:06 +0000

After listening to Scott Holcomb’s discussion during Tech Camp on digital photography and photo management (free!) from Picasa, I picked up my camera, which does have a white balance control for use in flourescent lighting, bought a USB SD memory card reader ($4.99 at Target), and started playing. I also uploaded all of My Pictures into Picasa. It has many usable features and works with with those who learn technology by intuition, rather than by actually reading instructions.

N.B.: As I was uploading Scott’s image, I was unable to use the Flash uploader, and had to use the browser (Firefox) uploader instead. I suppose this is a bug to work on during the play day this coming Friday. Note to self: ask about protocol for links when a possessive is used.

Another query: how do we keep our blogroll from getting too big?

And another thing: why do I have two blogrolls posted when I only have one widget for it?

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It’s over

brockblog — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:49:01 +0000

The day has come to a close, and Tech Camp 2008 was a great success. It’s interesting that people were working on so many different things during instruction. It would make me crazy if I were the instructor. I know that during the Podcast and wiki sessions, I went to another world on my blog and working on the Skype list, but at least I was working on stuff for the camp. I can’t remember working so intently and with so few breaks. It really suits me, because I ultimately prefer solo learning rather than collaboration. Now that I want to pursue the technology certification, though, I will have to plan with others. Ew. As Dr. Walters always said, “The reason God created the world in six days is that He worked alone.”

I plan to attend the play days and I’m sure that my principal will approve my going to the Technology In-Service. All social studies will do is introduce the new textbooks, and since I was on the adoption committee, I think I can skip the orientation.

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Old School

brockblog — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:21:01 +0000

I guess with my 6 month old Dell laptop, I won’t be able to participate in the wonderful world of podcasts. In terms of being on the cutting edge of audio technology I’m still stuck listening to the old audio cassettes and LPs. I do hope we spend some time identifying resources for grants and other funding sources for technology.

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Settling In

brockblog — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:42:26 +0000

I’ve realized that I’m not going to have a test at the end of this. WHEW. There were some interesting websites, however, that I plan to use. Animoto and Bitstrips will be fun to integrate into the classroom. I know students will have a kick with those. I feel more comfortable with multimedia sites, too, such as VCASMO and Picasa. No, I couldn’t possibly be spewing meaningless gabble just to practice my linking skills. I have found out there is a conflict between Firefox and my computer. I suppose it is the Windows Vista platform. Explorer still works fine, though.

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I’m out of the box now!

brockblog — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:13:40 +0000

Okay, so I thought I was overwhelmed after looking at the intros to blogs and wikis and a freaky little video on Web 2.0. Then came the afternoon and an absolute flood of information for networking tools it will take the rest of my life to set up. And when it’s all over, what do I care most about? THE DESIGN FOR MY BLOG, of course. Why should I be different from anyone else. Let’s get real. Which of the tools we looked at Wednesday are really helpful? Just chill out. So, I’m getting ready to complete the first night’s homework, and trying to think of something new to add.

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Still nervous

brockblog — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:12:27 +0000

Okay, the hardest thing to do will be to shift from being a paper hoarder to relying solely on soft copies of notes, papers, ideas, etc. My nervousness has not improved. If I enjoy learning as much as I say I do, though, I need to learn this. I wonder how the new Word Notebook compares in usability to the Zoho Notebook. Any suggestions?

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Already nervous

brockblog — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:22:03 +0000

So, the support from the staff here is great. I feel comfortable so far. I dread having to try to share this with teachers! If I need you, will you come?

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