Teacher Talk-: November 2009

Monday 30 November 2009

10 tips for starting out with IWB's

If you are looking for further strategies to employ on your IWB have a read of this:

Ten tips for starting out with interactive whiteboards

"This list was created to help all those who are getting started, need encouragement, or want to take things a bit further."

30 years from now, will children's books primarily be electronic or remain mostly on paper?

Have your vote.

Will kids continue to "colour in" on paper?

What about fine motor skills?

Will kids still build with lego? play with cars on car mats?

Love to hear what you think

Safe passwords are essential.

How to choose a safe password - Animated Explanations

Animated Explanations offers animated movies, interactive tutorials and instructional videos, on the topics of health, technology and work, all free for you to view and to embed in your website.

Thursday 26 November 2009

A big thank you to our wonderful volunteers at school.

Volunteers make an extraordinary contribution

to Australian society.
They are most important in our schools.
We need them.

Check out the latest free skills, training and education resources for volunteers, managers of volunteers, trainers and not-for-profit organisations here.

International Volunteer Day is on December 5 this year.

Top Christmas resources available.

EdNA's Christmas theme page

provides links to a collection of resources to celebrate Christmas including stories, recipes and art and craft activities.

Monday 9 November 2009

Are you AAADD? Be warned!! Many of you will encounter this disorder this term!!

AAADD- KNOW THE SYMPTOMS.....PLEASE READ!

Thank goodness there's a name for this disorder.
Somehow I feel better,even though I have it!!

Recently, I was diagnosed with A.A.A.D.D. -
Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.
This is how it manifests:

I decide to water my garden.
As I turn on the hose in the driveway,
I look over at my car and decide it needs washing.

As I start toward the garage,
I notice mail on the porch table that
I brought up from the mail box earlier.

I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.
I lay my car keys on the table,
put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table,
and notice that the can is full..

So, I decide to put the bills back
on the table and take out the garbage first.

But then I think,
since I'm going to be near the mailbox
when I take out the garbage anyway,
I may as well pay the bills first.

I take my check book off the table,
and see that there is only one check left.

My extra checks are in my desk in the study,
so I go inside the house to my desk where
I find the can of Coke I'd been drinking.

I'm going to look for my checks,
but first I need to push the Coke aside
so that I don't accidentally knock it over..

The Coke is getting warm,
and I decide to put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke,
a vase of flowers on the counter
catches my eye--they need water.

I put the Coke on the counter and
discover my reading glasses that
I've been searching for all morning.

I decide I better put them back on my desk,
but first I'm going to water the flowers.

I set the glasses back down on the counter,
fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote.
Someone left it on the kitchen table.

I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV,
I'll be looking for the remote,
but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table,
so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs,
but first I'll water the flowers.

I pour some water in the flowers,
but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.

So, I set the remote back on the table,
get some towels and wipe up the spill.

Then, I head down the hall trying to
remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day:

the car isn't washed

the bills aren't paid

there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter

the flowers don't have enough water,

there is still only 1 check in my check book,

I can't find the remote,

I can't find my glasses,

and, I don't remember what I did with the car keys.

Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today,
I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day,
and I'm really tired.

I realize this is a serious problem,
and I'll try to get some help for it,
but first I'll check my e-mail....

Do me a favor.
Forward this message to everyone you know,
because I don't remember who the heck I've sent it to.

Don't laugh -- if this isn't you yet, your day is coming!!

edna Schools Calendar 2010 Design Competition

Want to get a winning edge on your design portfolio and win an Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection and a Wacom Intuos 3 design tablet valued at $900?... then enter the edna Schools Calendar Design Competition.

They are seeking entries from students or schools to produce an electronic Schools calendar.

Get your winning entry in by Monday 30^th November 2009.

Check out the link above for further information.

Sunday 8 November 2009

DET blog....BlogEd getting closer

The DET blog (BlogEd) is nearing full release –

Read a summary of the key features .

The blog will be made available to all DET (schools/TAFE) teachers in Term 1 next year.

Final testing is being conducted within the current trial schools & TAFEs.

Resources will be available via the portal (videos/Pdfs/FAQs).

A familiarisation package is also being trialled- but hopefully the blog is its own vehicle for ‘intuitive usage’ and promotion.

Love to hear what you might use it for in your classroom or library.

Responsive Classroom Newsletter - November 2009 - The Power of Teacher Language

Responsive Classroom Newsletter - November 2009 - The Power of Teacher Language

Posted using ShareThis

Friday 6 November 2009

Welcome to MathsKit… A collection of everyday and essential links for Maths teachers.

Check out a great selection of :

Graph paper

Dictionaries

Calculators

Games

Interactives

Timers and Clocks

Game for teams-Stu Hasic's Quiz Boxes

Stu’s Quiz Boxes

is an exciting, interactive and educational computer-based gameshow available to everybody.

As Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs) and data projectors become more widely used in schools, there is a need for motivating, interactive and educational software to complement them.

With Stu’s Quiz Boxes, you can quickly and very easily create your own quiz files.

You can also make it a multimedia quiz by adding your own MP3 files to each question if you want.