Saturday, December 26, 2009

Avatars

A Voki is a talking voice character, a computer-generated version of oneself. The more generic term for a Voki is a speaking avatar, a digital representation of a person or being.


Avatars provide a face to the students and a face to the teacher. They provide the human element to online teaching.


Voki---Voki lives on your blog---Voki is a combination of "vox", which is Latin for voice, and "Loki", which, is a prankster character in Norse Mythology.


Squidoo

Voki is simply a talking voice character. These animated characters or avatars enable users to express themselves on the web with a voice but as a talking character.You can customize your Voki to look like you or take on the identity of lots of other types of characters--animals, monsters, anime etc.You can even have your Voki speak with your own voice by adding your voice with a microphone, upload, or by phone.

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Friday, December 4, 2009

Walking Tour Project in Brooklyn

I want to thank Ms. Sinckler a history teacher at Banneker for this project idea.
Walking Tour Project


Every weekend you are to post to your blog. Remember your blog outline is your guide. The weekend of 12/25 post either a national or an international new article. The articles can be found her: Google News or New York Times or CNN


Housing History Videos: The Local-Fort Greene-Clinton Hill

Part I

Choose two of the Walking tours from the book: Walking Brooklyn: 30 Tours Exploring Historical Legacies, by Adrienne Onofri. Search for the book on Google Books; Barnes & Noble; visit the Brooklyn libraries.

Follow your selected tours and do the following and post on your blog :
  1. Create a multimedia representation use ( Slideshare, MyPlick , authorStream and Joggle)
  2. Maps: (Community Walk, (Entertonement---collection of sound bites, ---record your voice right on this site) Google Maps, Mapwing)
  3. Photos and pictures (flickr, Picasa Web Albums)
  4. Video (Vimeo, YouTube, Animoto )
  5. Audio Tools: Podcasts are recordings distributed across the Internet as downloadable MP3 files (Audacity, Gcast, Blabberize) (Entertonement---collection of sound bites, ---record your voice right on this site)
  6. Use your mobile device to take photographs, record voice and video commentary, jot down a few notes and post. Do you have a GPS locator on today’s mobile phones? If so, you will be allowed to explore your surroundings.
  7. A list of Brooklyn Neighborhoods
Part II


  1. Make your own neighborhood walking tours (use the book as your example)
  2. Record Narratives and Commentaries :
    Discuss the neighborhoods you chose for your tours
    Provide detailed instructions your tours
    Discuss in detail "Points of Interest" (see the book)
    Talk about your route you took ( it in the book titled "Route Summary" )
    Describe how the neighborhoods look
    Provide detailed instructions of sites t and their history
  3. See Examples:
  4. Radio Rookies
  5. Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn, New York
Fort Greene
Brooklyn Maps







Community WalkItalic
Blabberize Cheat Sheet
How do I post audio/music to my blog?
gammablog

Search Engines How To Use Web Search Engines

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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Ideas learning how to learn, experience moving from novice to expert . Students develop habit of mind to become disciplined, skeptical inquirers, reseachers, and entrepreneurs~~inquiry and imagination, inquiry-based, problem-solving; applied to real-world challenges, conduct reseach, experiment.analze data and present findings; collaborate both in classes and professional experts; ongoing data collection and ananalysis; www.3.imsa.edu,www.schoolsofdistinction.com,www.k12blueprint.com

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Thursday, October 29, 2009

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Technology...it's all around us...

  1. View the "Technology...it's all around us..."
This is a quick video about the impact and  richness the top technology companies provide our lives. Enjoy the fine art of photographers, the electronic gadgets, the text messaging,the Web 2.0 salute, and always to all teachers who recognize that through technology, we, the digital immigrants, connect to our students, the digital natives
  1. Create your own slide show about what impacts your "world". "What is...all round you?"
  2. Create a web picture album
  3. Follow the format of this slide show SlideShare Link
  4. Slide Show Tools



Resources
Google News is a great resource

Web Picture Albums

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Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Michael Jackson Clip

  1. Click on the web site
  2. Read and view "Exclusive Clip: Michael Jackson’s ‘This Is It’"
  3. Create a new post on your blog and write your response
  4. Create a link to this site on your blog
  5. What do you think? What are your thoughts? Your opinion? Make comparisons with other artists.
  6. If the web site does not appear, search for the title on Fancast
  7. About Fancast
  8. It is due on Monday the 26th.

Blogger has several keyboard shortcuts you can use while editing posts

control + b = Bold
control + i = Italic
control + z = Undo
control + y = Redo
control + shift + a = Link
control + shift + p = Preview
control + d = Save as Draft
control + p = Publish Post
control + s = Autosave and keep editing
control + g = Indic transliteration





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Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Time for an alternative to cheap food -- New Internationalist Blog

Time for an alternative to cheap food -- New Internationalist Blog

Posted using ShareThis

The No-Nonsense Guide to

World Food

New Internationalist (NI) -
New Internationalist (NI) workers' co-operative exists to report on issues of world poverty and inequality; to focus attention on the unjust relationship between the powerful and the powerless worldwide; to debate and campaign for the radical changes necessary to meet the basic needs of all; and to bring to life the people, the ideas and the action in the fight for global justice.

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Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food

Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food

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Thursday, September 17, 2009

Creating your Blog--Blogging Guidelines

Blogs (the word is short for Weblogs) are online journals filled with personal thoughts, Web links and spirited reader discussions. "Free thinking and linking" .
Requirements:
Intellectually curious, self-starters with Web skills and an interest in journalism; you must be open to creative thinking, team effort and making something new every day, whether it's audio, video, a blog, citizen journalism, a public service annoucements, a game, or an entirely new blog

You are to play a critical role in contributing to and maintaining your blog's presence, the editing process and you are be expected to pitch ideas.

Blogging Guidelines

As a student blogger you are expected to follow these blogging guidelines below. Use the questions in italics to help you decide what is appropriate to post on your blog.

1. Only post things that you would want everyone (in school, at home, in other countries) to know.
Ask yourself: Is this something I want everyone to see?

2. Do not share personal information.
Ask yourself: Could someone find me (in real life) based on this information?

3. Think before you post.
Ask yourself: What could be the consequences of this post?

4. Know who you’re communicating with.
Ask yourself: Who is going to look at this, and how are they going to interpret my words?

5. Consider your audience and that you’re representing BBAC.
Ask yourself: Do I have a good reason/purpose to do this?

6. Know how to give constructive feedback.
Ask yourself: What will I cause by writing this post?

7. Treat other people the way you want to be treated.
Ask yourself: Would I want someone to say this to me?

8. Use appropriate language and proper grammar and spelling.
Ask yourself: Would I want this post to be graded for proper grammar and spelling?

9. Only post information that you can verify is true (no gossiping).
Ask yourself: Is this inappropriate, immature or bullying?

10. Anytime you use media from another source, be sure to properly cite the creator of the original work.
Ask yourself: Who is the original creator of this work?

Commenting Guidelines

As a blogger, you will be commenting on other people’s work regularly. Good comments:


  • are constructive, but not hurtful;
  • consider the author and the purpose of the post;
  • are always related to the content of the post;
  • include personal connections to what the author wrote;
  • answer a question, or add meaningful information to the content topic;
  • follow the writing process. Comments are a published piece of writing.

Examples of Blogs:

http://isbhsphoto.edublogs.org/

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Thursday, May 28, 2009

I.O.U.S.A.: One Nation. Under Stress. In Debt.

I.O.U.S.A



By now, you may have heard about our acclaimed documentary I.O.U.S.A., a film that boldly examines the rapidly growing national debt and its consequences for the United States and its citizens.


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Friday, May 22, 2009

Creating Charts and Graphics---Tracking Media Use with Excel




be creative, innovate, take risks, unlearn to learn

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Monday, May 18, 2009

Teenage Survey Results

Teenage Survey

Summary


Do you plan to go to college?
Yes
36100%
No
00%

Do you expect to get a job right after high school?
Yes
2162%
No
1338%

Do you expect to get married?
Yes
2882%
No
618%

Do you plan to combine work or career and marriage?
Yes
1785%
No
315%

Do you plan to take time off work when your children are young?
Yes
1470%
No
630%

Do you plan to have children at all?
Yes
3291%
No
39%

Do you think we're doing enough to integrate schools and neighborhoods?
Yes
1238%
No
2063%

Do you think that politicians are dishonest
Yes
3194%
No
26%

Do you feel that you personally might, through politics or otherwise, try to improve conditions in this country?
Yes
935%
No
1765%

On average, how many hours a week do you spend watching TV?
15-20
1444%
25-50
1134%
Other
722%

Do you feel that violence on television influences you adversely?
Yes
618%
No
2782%

Any conflict between you and your parents about the amount or kind of programs you watch
Yes
27%
No
2693%

Do you feel that televison----
Benefits you more than it harms you?
2784%
Harms you more that iti benefits you?
516%

Do any of the females or males you know drink? Smoke?
Yes
2782%
No
618%

Do any of the females or males you know use drugs?
Yes
2368%
No
1132%

If they either use drugs or drink
Is it just occasionally at parties
1139%
To go along with the crowd
311%
They are really into it
1450%

Have any of the students in your school or neighborhood gotten into serious trouble with either drugs or drinks?
Yes
1763%
No
1037%

Do you do much dating?
Yes
1445%
No
1755%

Do you believe in going steady?
Yes
1755%
No
1445%

Do you go steady or have you gone steady?
Yes
1856%
No
1444%

Have you ever had a friend who sometines or often makes out?
Yes
2477%
No
723%

Have you ever had a friend who goes "all the way"?
Yes
2276%
No
724%

Read more!

Survey Results

Teenage Survey Results

Here is where you write your survey summary

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Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Tips for developing an effective survey questionnaire

Tips for developing an effective survey questionnaire
You can immediately start creating your questions, but it’s a good idea to give this some thought. There is a science to doing proper surveys. For tips on how to create simple, effective surveys, just google thetopic and you’llbe presented with a number of options. Here is one, for example: http://tools.devshed.com/c/a/How-To/Tips-for-developing-an-effective-survey-questionnaire/. The best advice is to keep it simple and short. If it’s too long or filled with complicated questions, your parents will simply ignore it.Once you have your questions in mind, start entering them into the form!
Once you’ve created all your questions, remember to edit your confirmation page. This is where you can thank parents for taking the time to fill out the survey. Go to the More Actions tab to edit the confirmation page.

It’s a good idea to send out the survey to test a group first to get some feedback.Sending out the survey is very easy. Click on the Email this form button and a window pops up with a field to paste in your recipients and a field for the subject. There is also an option to include the form in the email itself so your classmates don’t have to click on anything as the form will be right there embedded in the email!

Now here’s where it gets really cool! After sending out my survey, I immediately started getting responses. To check responses, click on See responses. You are presented with two options: Summary and Spreadsheet. The Summary page has some neat pie charts, graphs, and the total number of responses in big numbers:

The Spreadsheet option pulls up a Google spreadsheet with all the responses listed, complete with column headers. Another great feature about Google Docs is that you can share the results page with anyone, simply by click on the Share tab. Type or paste in the emails of those you want to view/edit the document and send it off. It really is that easy!

Here is an example of a summary survey: (NO Child Left Behind)
A Survey Summary on NCLB

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Friday, May 8, 2009

Asia Youth 2009

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A Great Idea

Collections Central Online

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Antennas and Digital Television

Broadcast TV stations in the U.S. are currently switching from analog to digital transmissions. This Fact Sheet provides information on TV antennas and tips for obtaining good quality reception of digital broadcasts.,

Federal Communications Commission

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Tuesday, April 28, 2009

New York Times

Select an article from New York Times and it read it . The login and password are on the white board.

You are required to do the following:

  1. Create a presentation about the article
  2. Do your research. Rely less on Google search and use the NY Times and Google News Search; NYTimes Education News
  3. Use the web tools you learned this school year.
  4. The application you will be using is Voicethread VoiceThread FAQ VoiceThread Tutorial
  5. YouTube -Voicethread

  6. First Review other VoiceThread examples
  7. It most be posted on your blog with a title

Examples

True Cost of Chevron

Antonia Juhasz on “The True Cost of Chevron: An Alternative Annual Report.”

Antonia Juhasz, lead author and editor of the True Cost of Chevron report. She’s also the author of Tyranny of Oil: The World’s Most Powerful Industry and What We Must Do to Stop It.

Audio/Video


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Friday, April 24, 2009

Teenage Questionnaire

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The History of Jim Crow

The History of Jim Crow

Click History; image gallery;simulations
Click on Topic; Simulation

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Thursday, April 23, 2009

Thursday, April 2, 2009

The Entreprexplorer's Journal: ComunityWalk is live in beta! sort of...

The Entreprexplorer's Journal: ComunityWalk is live in beta! sort of...
Link Directly to Markers on Your Map
CommunityWalk with Audio
CommunityWalk Audio Tutorial
Odeo
BloggerHelp
Odeo Help

You can get the code for your own map by clicking "Edit Settings" from your "My Maps" page. Just click on the "Put This Community On Your Own Website" section. You can also use the instructions under "Show Customization Instructions" to customize the way it looks and acts.

With such "mashups"--hybrid software that combines content from more than one source--digital maps are quickly becoming a centralized tool for countless uses ranging from local shopping and traffic reports to online dating and community organizing, all in real time and right down to specific addresses.


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Monday, March 30, 2009

Miastrada Car

The world auto industry is sinking under the weight of 100 years of tradition.

"The call for restructuring of the auto industry in order to justify great financial infusions. But really, few seem to understand that restructuring to go ahead and make the same basic products is not going to fix things. In this regard, resistance to change is the same as attachment to tradition."

Miastrada Car

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Thursday, March 26, 2009

Digital History

Digital History: "In 1823 the Supreme Court declared state laws imprisoning free black sailors while their ships were in port unconstitutional. (Despite this ruling, several southern states continued the practice until the Civil War.)"

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Copyrighted Materials

Copyrighted Materials

Before you put an image in your blog, keep in mind that some images are protected as intellectual property through copyright. This means that the creator has sole legal rights to their works and may not want you copying and displaying them. If you're unsure whether or not an image is copyrighted, it's best not to risk it. However, there are places that make it easier for you to find images you're allowed to use:

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Thursday, March 19, 2009

Community Walk

Copyrighted Materials

Example 1
Example 2-Architecture of New York City Map
Example 3- 74 Hostels in New York
Example 4- New York Art
New York Times Poll

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Monday, March 16, 2009

Opportunity to Meet Nelson Mandela

Students Can Enter Contest for Opportunity to Meet Nelson Mandela
Middle and high schools / Deadline: March 27

The Nelson Mandela Foundation and the DOE invite all New York City public school students in grades 6 through 12 to submit original works to qualify for a chance to travel to South Africa to meet Nobel Peace Prize winner and former South African president Nelson Mandela. This contest will:

offer a once-in-a-lifetime chance for students to meet a global leader for freedom and change;
encourage young people to learn about Nelson Mandela’s philosophy of fighting injustice, helping others, and practicing forgiveness; and
inspire young people apply Mandela’s legacy to their lives and communities as well as to problems that face the world – from poverty to disease to violence.

Each submission must:

demonstrate knowledge of Mandela’s life and understanding of his ideals;
convey a clear vision of how one person can act to make the world a better place by fighting injustice, helping others and practicing forgiveness and reconciliation; and
provide creative ways to apply Mandela’s ideals to one’s day-to-day life and local community, as well as to the biggest problems they believe face the world today.

Students may submit their entries as essays, photographs, or visual or performance art. All entries must be submitted electronically. This means visual and performance-based works must be scanned or digitally recorded.

Teachers or other school officials should visit www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB228WNVWFYMK to submit their students’ entries. The entry deadline is March 27. The Mandela Foundation will announce the winners in April.

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Thursday, February 26, 2009











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Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

WGBH American Experience - A Class Apart

A Class Apart

From a small-town Texas murder emerged a landmark civil rights case. The little-known story of the Mexican American lawyers who took Hernandez v. Texas to the Supreme Court, challenging Jim Crow-style discrimination.


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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Friday, January 9, 2009

How do I post audio/music to my blog? - Blogger Help Center

How do I post audio/music to my blog? - Blogger Help Center

A podcast:African-American Heritage Month -Historical-Women and Men
Why was he/she notable?
When was he/she born and when did he/she die?
Where was he/she born?
Was the birthplace or childhood home any influence on his/her career?
How did his/her childhood influence his adult life and his/her career choice?
Who in his/her life were his/her influences or his/her role models?
Why do we remember him/her now?
What did he/she do that is an influence on my life or that of Americans today?
What is meant by
historical context: Historical events that occurred during your person's lifetime, i.e. war, civil rights, protests, political and social upheaval, United States laws, world, international and foreign affairs, fashion,art, and music.
Historical context means "what was happening at or around that time." For example, answering the question "What was the historical context of Shakespeare's birth" involves locating his birthdate and what major things were happening in that year. Norman conquest had happened centuries before; space travel happened centuries later. The key is to find what was happening THEN. Definition

Don't forget your references and citations



Tips:
  1. Approach problems and challenges as a learner as opposed to a knower.
  2. Take your issues and situations and problems and go to the root components; understanding how the problem evolved-looking at it form a systemic perspective and not accepting things at face value.
  3. Be curious about why things are the way they are and be able to think about why something is important.
  4. "What do I really need to understand about this; what is the history; what are the other people thinking about this; how does that all come together; what frames and models can you use to understand this from a variety of different angles and then come up with something different?"

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