Students in Tech 6 are learning some basic design skills as they improve their technology literacy.  Today, we took our inspiration from one of Mr. Sparrgrove’s favorite artists - Piet Mondrian.  We also spent some time in Adobe Kuler learning about how important color can be.

Some of the tech skills covered in this simple activity were… drawing straight lines using the “shift” key, formatting lines using “format auto shapes”, quick copy using the “control” key, changing the order of slide elements, using Adobe Kuler and custom setting RGB color, and saving a PowerPoint as a .jpg.  We also talked critical design skills like: keeping it simple, the role of color in design, and design consistency.  I suppose I should talk a little more about Mondrian too, maybe pull up a map and do a quick geography lesson that shows where he was from, where he lived, etc.  All in all, a simple activity with some sophisticated attributes… and the kids had a good time with it!

Scribblemaps is a nifty site that a clever teacher can do a lot with.  Basically, it is Google Maps with some basic drawing and text tools that you can use to draw right onto a map.  Loads of integration possiblities for Social Studies (Westward Expansion, geographic terms, WWII Island Hopping) and Math.  Overall, I think it is worth checking out!  Use it with your classroom projector for maximum impact.

Pros

• No account needed, so kids can use it without a login
• Full screen mode is great
• Terrain, Satellite, Hybrid, and Map mode available
• Students can email their maps directly to you (the teacher)
• You can “hand out” maps to students with a simple MapID code

Cons

• Not as friendly to move around or zoom in/out as Google Maps
• Print mode not to friendly

click to enlarge

The smart people over at Google Labs have come up with a new way to organize news headlines.  They call it Google News Timeline.  It pulls different media types (text, images, video, etc.) onto a calendar-like interface.  It is pretty cool looking and might be a neat way to have students be aware of what is going on in the world around them or simply integrate it into discussions about current events.  Take a look at it here and read more about it here.  Make sure to play around with the “Add More Queries” option to add more news sources.

How does an Artist think?  Why is design important?  How can you maximize your creativity?  ArtBabble is a site where artists and designers share their knowledge and craft.  As they say, you don’t need to be an artist to appreciate it!

Many of you are already familiar with the site read•write•think.  Well, if you like the stuff they have there give the Essay Map a try.  It is a quick and easy way to get kids to get their essay ideas started.  It is not as flexible as Inspiration but is is fast and free.  Students don’t need to login and therefore cannot save their essay maps but the print feature works well.  Check out more goodies at read•write•think

President Obama appears to be very interested in how technology can be used to foster democratic ideals like the collection and dissemination of ideas.  During his run for office he used twitter very effectively and rapidly get his ideas out to hundreds of thousands.  He quickly shot to the top of the twitter followers list (he currentlyhas 510,000 f0llowers although he has not “tweeted” since January 19th).  He is also using my favorite video site (vimeo) to share speeches.  I think this is a great way to get ideas out in a way that people can watch them whenever it is convenient.

Apparently, he has people on his staff monitoring popular democratic outlets like YouTube for the voices of the public.  Mr. Dippold shared this video (and the ABC news link) with his class (and with me):

What is neat about this is that President Obama referenced this video and these students in a recent speech regarding American education (ABC news talks about the Obama connection here). 

To me this story showcases what one of the real benefits of the Internet and modern communication… a class of students & their teacher can make a piece of content that might make its way all the way to the leader of the free world.  Had the teacher simply held this discussion in his classroom, no one outside the classroom would know about it.  Today’s technology provides a reach that extends far beyond the four walls of a room.

I guess to answer the questions posed by the students at the outset of the video , yes people are listening… now we will see if there is action and resolution.

This Friday, March 20th, the MEH teachers will be taking on the TJ teachers in a basketball game.  The game starts at 7:00 but you can come at 5:30 to browse gift baskets.  Make sure to wear school colors and MEH shirts and cheer loudly for the Huskies!

MEH v. TJ Basketball Game from brett on Vimeo.

Google Earth (and Google Mars) is a great classroom resource.  With the addition of an LCD projector you have the coolest, most interactive classroom poster ever (maybe a bit of hyperbole, but you get the point)!  Using the Google Earth Community, you can find all sorts of interesting locations, ideas, and additional extensions… like the one in the video below that deals with American Expansion

Here the two extensions shared in the video and a few other interesting ones:

• American Expansion
• Louis and Clark
• 300+ US Civil War battle sites
• D-day invasion map

So, do some searches in the Google Earth Community and be on the lookout for .kmz/.kml files that will extend this great, free tool.

Knowing how to set a transparent color in PowerPoint can really make images on your slides look a whole lot better.  This tutorial shows you how to do this.  BTW, this will work in Word as well

PPT - Set transparent color from brett on Vimeo.

Many MEH teachers are fans of Inspiration, the fantastic thought-organizing, graphic displaying, mind-mapping software on a number of the school computers.  However, it is not on all our machines and it is likely that the students don’t have it on their home computers as well.  This limits the use of this program.  Well, not anymore.

Mywebspiration takes most of what you like about Inspiration and puts in on the web.  This means that a web you start at school can be worked on at home (or anywhere you have internet access.  There are only two disadvantages I can think of (off the top o’ my head).

1. Internet required - If you don’t have Internet access it won’t work.  If the Internet is moving slowly or unreliably, you might have issues.
2. Login required - All users should have their own account.  We can’t create accounts for students and we can only suggest that they get accounts (which they need to do with their parents).

However, the upsides are many, including:

1. It’s web-based - This means it is accessible from anywhere you have web-access… home, school, cyber cafe in Minsk.  This type of portability is KEY.
2. It’s collaborative - students can share AND collaborate on the webs they create.  This is fantastic for group projects.
3. It’s Easy - Especially if you have used inspiration.
4. It’s Free - For now anyway.  Hopefully forever.

Check out the video (7:51) below for a quick demo.  Leave a comment with your ideas and let me know what you think. I would be very interested in using this tool with a class of kids, so let me know if you want to give it a try. Are you a parent of an MEH student?  You should investigate (with your child) the uses of this tool as well.

Mywebspiration demo from brett on Vimeo.