December 17, 2009

TTWF rocks. I know that you have been waiting for the latest outcome of TTWF, and I am here to tell you that I did have a participant and it went well. I know that it is not that well-received, but I will continue the endeavor because I feel it is important to offer. I worked with Movie Maker again with a class, and I must tell you that the industry needs to standardize codecs. They cause more problems, and I do remember that audio codecs used to cause a lot of problems. At least that has stabilized to some degree. I am a firm believer in standardizing things because the average person finds all of the different technological quirks to be cumbersome and frustrating. It needs to happen. People will eventually not use products who use proprietary code. Microsoft is finding this out more and more and has lost a lot of its base because of this. Google has gained a tremendous share of the fan base because it will not dwell in that realm, although I am beginning to see a change there to some degree. Hey, back tomorrow...............flick

December 15, 2009

I am still working with Movie Maker and having a blast with it. I am worried about the timeline with the students so I am mostly acting as a troubleshooter and helper to get them going. I talked with the teacher about getting some flip cameras, and she has actually started the process. They will take off well. I also scheduled some time for a teacher to talk about eportfolios with a class of seniors. I love this topic, and I know that the software is there to create some fabulous ones, but there is a limitation of time. There is no doubt that the use of eportfolios will explode in the next decade, and the traditional resume will be gathering dust with the telephone. I also experienced the same problem with the wireless today. It is so odd. I had to call the network wizard for help. This needs to be handled. My trip to the elementary yesterday did not go as planned. I cannot solve the issue of Activprimary. I may have to call another wizard. Hey, a busy but not a bad day................flick

December 14, 2009

I looked at my schedule today and told myself that it is wonderful that I have worn my sneakers because I am going to be all over this district today. I had to do a lot of fixing today, and I have noticed a trend with the wireless that concerns me. I also taught a class on Movie Maker and a class on Photostory. I love to see those projects come together, and they should be good ones. I am hoping that the school will invest in some flip video cameras. They are wonderful for down and dirty shooting of video, and for the most part save the district money, especially in peripheral equipment such as cords, tapes, and investment. I also have a meeting with two elementary teachers today at CH. I believe I can help them with some of their frustration. Well, getting to be HO HO time........................flick

September 11, 2009

Well, the dam has broken unleashing a multitude of problems. Since there was a lag in our networked projectors, the district installed hard wired plugs. Well, one should be able to hook up a vga and a dvi on the same computer. "Should be" are the operative words. It does not work on one of the computer models we have; hence, a blown computer, and I am the one who did it. I also met with several teachers today, and the literacy coach and I are having an Open House to talk with teachers and explain to them the services we offer and the roles. We are hoping that this will give them some incentive to avail themselves of us. We plan to do this periodically throughout the year. I am supplying the cookies....LOL. The movie maker tutorial went well yesterday, and I am now working on a Indesign tutorial. I am doing that on Thursday. Things are busy, but in a good way. For all of my Sumatran readers.......Trok lom Flick

September 10, 2009

Just when you think it is safe to go into the water, something arises from the depths to take a bite out of you; the dreaded teacher who vents and frets and wants something more. Naw, I just had to add some literary sarcasm to the blog. Spent two periods today doing Movie Maker with a class, and I spent most of the time on the product than the actual program. This is a great start when students have the information to run the software and now need the facilitation to produce a good product. I am also continuing my quest to get the correct driver to run the CFF printers. This has to happen. I may have to call in the experts to get this done. I have been really busy, and I like the time. Who knows what tomorrow may bring...........flick

September 9, 2009

09/09/09 I know that numerologists are having a field day with this, but I have a hard time believing that numbers play an important role in the fates of all. I imagine the lotteries around the US will be inundated with those playing that number today. That is my take on it all. Still working on various problems. I also updated my wiki today and am prepared to teach tomorrow the moviemaker program. I met with the lit coach, and we are making a concerted effort to get the Read 180 program working. The teachers are doing a great job at integrating technology in many ways. I still love to see the light turn on in people's faces. I met with a total of six teachers today formally a three more informally. I am scheduled for the classroom many times in the next couple of weeks. It will be busy, but that is why I do this. I wish all of you numbers people great luck today...........flick

May 7, 2009

The morning began with chaos as we had a electrical interruption which caused many computer problems, including mine. The problems were solved and the day continued. I taught photostory to two classes today, or I should say co-taught. Teachers are adopting this program quite well because of its ease and interface. I like it, also. As teachers move outside the comfort zone, I am finding my work load and collaborating with them also increasing. I teach this by having them work on a project as I am talking and help them with any problem. It is a lot of facilitating, and it does to see to work out well. I have also done moviemaker with her classes. Tomorrow, the school has an Act 80 day for senior project presentations. I am anxious to see them and the integration of technology............flick

April 14, 2009

I did my first movie maker class presentation today, and it went very well. I had them create their own movie using the program; it went well, and they are using the program. They will also use it to create a school district project. I love to see real life experiences for projects. I need to get everything ready for the school board presentation tomorrow night for the JANUS project. The girls will do the presentation. I am also working on a you tube upload. I am finding the embedded learning to be tough to manage working with two courses. It is going well, but not a well as I would like. Not much today but busy.......flick

April 9, 2009

The exciting news today is a search engine called eyeplorer. I know its primary function is tied to wikipedia, but I do feel it serves a useful purpose. It shows relative connections between facts and lesser known facts about topics. It purports to search the web, but it does it after the fact. I believe that it is the future of search engines. I also created my tutorial for movie maker and worked on other technology related items. I just met with the network guru who, I believe solved the problem with graduation and inclement weather. It has been a pain in the past to broadcast graduation around the school whenever we had poor weather because our auditorium is so small. I like the use of slingboxes, and I feel we will be able to broadcast it even across the web. Kudos to J. I do believe that is the end of my exciting news. Tomorrow is a vacation day so I will be back on Monday...To all of my Sicilian readers Bona Pasqua.

April 8, 2009

It was great dealing with the class this morning; they were very attentive to photo story, and they liked the features in it. The class will make a photostory with adverbs. It was one of those days to deal with resources and other things. I am doing a movie maker next week and am looking forward to dealing with something new. It will be interesting making the tutorial for that. I got a lot done today, but there is not a lot to write about. I will write with ye tomorrow....flick