Fresh Look Fridays - Panoramas

Today's Fresh Look Fridays website is one of my all time favourites!  I've know about this one for quite awhile now, I've just felt that I couldn't feature it until I could take the time to write a proper review and do this website justice.

Panoramas.dk is a website that does exactly as it sounds -- provides a wide array of 360 degree panoramic images.  These panoramas are fantastic -- they're all interactive in some way.  When used on a SMART Board, students can spin the image to explore previously unknown areas of the world.  Some panoramas also allow for varying degrees of zoom or an audio component.

The links to curriculum are as endless as the amount of panoramas.  I've included links to specific panoramas with a brief description of how they could be used in a variety of subject areas and grade levels:

 1. This specific panorama was taken during a peace demonstration in Trafalgar Square in 2004, shortly after Britain announced that they were joining the war in Iraq.  What an excellent example of using this site to promote discussions surrounding current events -- whether 'current' (see the panorama of Poland after the death of their president) or historical.  Use the SMART Board to have students explore, zoom in to see details and hear the message being delivered over the loudspeaker.  See if you can find the protester carrying the placard that relates then-Prime Minister Tony Blair to a well-known cartoon fibber.

2. One of the themes in many Science classes is the study of structures (obviously with varying degrees of depth and understanding depending on grade level).  Instead of looking at flat, grainy pictures or hand drawn replications in a textbook, why not have students search out panoramic images of structures around the world?  The Golden Gate Bridge and the Eiffel Tower are just a small sample of what's available for your kids to explore.

3. Obviously, the most powerful component of this website is its ability to give students the opportunity to actually see, in nearly-3D glory, any area of the world.  For example, Grade 2 students in Alberta explore Peru in their Social Studies class.  How exciting for little 7-year-olds to be able to experience an area such as Machu Picchu! What better way to get students to visualize a foreign location and make connections between this visual and the concepts they're learning in class?

4. While the panoramas available on this website are taken within the last decade or so, don't discount the impact they can have when exploring historical concepts.  Studying WWII? Why not take a virtual fieldtrip to the beaches of Normandy (pulling up a panorama of one of the D-Day landing sites on your SMART Board is cheaper than 28 plane tickets to Europe).







I've really only scratched the surface of the wide variety of ways panoramas.dk could be used in the classroom.  I strongly encourage teachers of all grades and subject areas to take time getting familiar with the website.  I guarantee that you won't be disappointed!

Have a great weekend everyone! =)

Vanessa

Changes Are Coming!

A very quick post today to inform all of my loyal blog readers (thanks Mom!) that my blog will be transferred over to Joomla tomorrow.  


How will this affect you?   

• If you currently subscribe via RSS, or use a link to the main page url (http://blog.sharpsav.com), you will not have any issues.

• If you have links posted to specific blog posts, you will NEED TO UPDATE YOUR LINKS over the coming weeks. The initial link will be broken until I can transfer that original post to the new site.  At that point, you will be able to search for the new expanded url for each post on the new site.
• FYI, my plan is to sloooowly transfer older posts to the new site over the course of the next 7 - 10 days.  

• If you previously commented on an older post, your comments will disappear from the comments section on the new site.  I'm planning on at least taking a quick snapshot of comments from the old site so that we don't lose any conversations, ideas or questions that might help newcomers to the blog.

Other changes? The aesthetics will change as well, but aside from that it will still be me updating the blog and hopefully continuing to provide you with useful, funny, interesting, tolerable information.


I thank everyone in advance for their support, patience and suggestions as I make this transition. (for those who have asked 'why' this is happening, it's simply a case of our company wanted to host all of our relevant pages ourselves rather than using a 3rd party site such as Blogger).

I'm super excited about this move now that I've had a chance to play with Joomla.  I think I'll actually be able to do more, with greater efficiency.


If you have any questions, concerns or idea please email me: vanessa.cassie@sharpsav.com.


Please also email me if you find broken links over the coming weeks! :)




Wish me luck!!
Vanessa

Where Do You Find The Time?

As I publish this blog post, I'm getting ready to start Day 2 of professional development SMART Board workshops with various educators in Lethbridge School District 51.  I want to take this time to thank those who attended the 2 sessions yesterday! I love getting to work with energetic teachers who are making a conscious effort to continually integrate new technology into their classrooms.  I look forward to a 2nd day of fun and creativity! =)

Having led a number of technology-focused pd workshops with well over 1000 teachers these past few months, I've been thinking more and more about the time crunch that teachers face.  Personally, the teachig lifestyle of constantly being in "teacher mode" 24 hours a day, 7 days a week is one of the main reasons that I chose to leave the classroom.  I can cite a million different examples of the constant time crunch that I experienced: prepping in my classroom until 8:00 pm (in the semesters where I didn't have a work-day embedded prep), sending email newsletters to parents at 2:00 am, learning to hold my bladder for 8 hours on end because lunch 'hours' don't really exist, entering report card comments at my parents' house during a twice-yearly visit, never watching an SNL/Rick Mercer?Royal Canadian Air Farce skit with wondering "how could I integrate this into our Current Events discussion?", marking essays on the beach in Mexico...the list could go on and on.

I know, I'm preaching to the choir.

So now that I'm on the other side of education, and experiencing what apparently constitutes a 'normal' lifestyle for 95% of the world (who knew how much housework you could get done on a Saturday when you don't have a volleyball tournament?!?!), I continue to marvel at the staying power of teachers.  The educactors that I get to hang out with everyday not only manage to 'get through' the nromal items on their inevitable to-do list, but they actually seek out workshops to improve their understanding of technology.  And believe me, this is no easy task in itself.

For those with limited knowledge of the classroom teacher lifestyle truly can't appreciate the time it takes to:

• write sub plans with extra notes (is my guest teacher going to have a solid understanding of the economic system in Sweden/ideology behind the Marshall Plan/correlation between ultranationalism and genocide?)
• plan a fun, engaging lesson that has a Plan B incase:
• the sub gets through the material too quickly
• my precious angelic students decide to light fires at the back of the room
• provide copies of material to hand out to students who may reappear on that exact day after a 10-day absence (murphy's law)
• give the sub some clue as to the 'normal' structure of events/expectations/discipline in my class
• leave a cheat sheet for use of any technology (computer/projector/SMART Board/DVD player, doc cam,videconference suite) because as a 21st century teacher, I'ver wholeheartedly embraced a wealth of technologies (which as now come back to bite me when I have to write out manuals for each device)
• clean my desk so that I won't be potentially judged as a disorganized, cluttered teacher!

No wonder teachers choose to go in to school when they're sick! Sometimes, it's just easier to do things yourself...

The preparation that goes into handing over the reins of your classroom to someone else is astounding and just goes to show how much teachers really value pd to submit themselves to this extra work.

So I pose this question to you (if you're still reading this drawn-out post): Where do YOU find the time to professional development? Leave your ideas in the comments section to help support other members of your PLN solve this age-old problem.

And once again to those from Lethbridge School District 51, thanks for not judging me with my recently invented fashion statement.  A shout out to Rik Jesse who demonstrated his handyman skills with duct tape!


Vanessa

Not Education Related, But Still Funny!

 As anyone who follows NHL hockey is aware, the Calgary Flames didn't make playoffs this year. :(  There are a number of things that suck about this fact:

1. I don't have an excuse to eat, drink and be merry with friends at a local pub every 2 nights or so

2. My awesome Calgary Flames t-shirts have been demoted to pajama wear for another year

3. We (as Calgarians) don't get to excessively make fun of Edmonton Oilers fans -- who finished dead last, for the record

 But as with all less-than-ideal scenarios, there's always a silver lining (or two):

1. My wallet will thank me later for not dropping $40 every 2nd night

2. I might actually be productive in other areas of my life for April - June

and most importantly:

3. The radio station X92.9 gets fresh material to make fun of

 Last year, the very funny folks from the morning show on X92.9 in Calgary made a parody song of all the really lame playoff parody songs produced by other radio stations.  This year they made a song that parodies their own parody from last year, focusing on the Flames not making playoffs.

Confused? Listen here

At least we can laugh about our tenth place finish!

Vanessa

Fresh Look Fridays - Magnetic Poetry

Are your students having poetry writing blocks? Today's Fresh Look Fridays post features the fun online Magnetic Poetry site.

Students drag the virtual fridge magnets to form sentences, poems, short stories, etc.   Using the website on a SMART Board as a center gets kids up out of their desks and adds a bit of a starting point for those writers who are struggling with putting words to paper. 

Bonus tip: use the new transparency layer in SMART Notebook 10.6 (Windows only right now) to add digital ink for words that aren't on magnets, then take an area capture of the overall work and save to a Notebook page.


As a once-in-awhile formal English teacher (I could write an essay as a Social Studies teacher, ergo I could apparently teach Language Arts too), I know that poetry wasn't always the most highly anticipated unit for students.  Anything that gets students a bit more engaged with writing is great in my books.


Vanessa

I Couldn't Resist - a RTTT Editorial Cartoon

I think the following cartoon is politically charged enough for me to keep this blog post to about 4 sentences.  The "Race to the Top" initiative going on in the States right now has been the topic of numerous twitter conversations and #edreform chats.  I'll leave you to form your own opinions.

Discuss.

Thanks again to Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons for letting me use their wonderful work!

www.solidarity.com/hkcartoons

Vanessa

SMART Response VE - Can't Wait!

Just a quick post today featuring an awesome new product coming down the pipes from SMART Technologies.

SMART Response VE is being released in beta version in the near future.  Essentially, it allows teachers to use their Response assessments with any Internet-enabled devices!  Could this be the push that some schools need to open up cell-phone use in the class?

As always, having a Response system in your classroom is great for ease-of-use with summative assessments, but its value really comes in purposeful, consistent formative assessment. But that’s a blog post for another day…


If you’re interested in finding out more  click here.  SMART Technologies is also looking for schools to pilot the beta version of Response VE!



Can’t wait to see how this impacts the use of technology in the classroom :)

Vanessa