Podcasting
Okay…you may have noticed I have been busy with a few “mental” notes and added a few things that are on my mind at: School Without Walls.
Well one of the things I have been curious about using are podcasts. Here is a brief video that explains how to create them.
OKAY!! Break is OVER!!
I am back! Sorry I have been gone for a few, but even some of us need a break every once in a while 
This is a video I found today…I couldn’t have said it better myself!
Use Google for More Than Searching
Here is a great “hack” that allows you to use Google for more than just searching. Hope this is helpful.
Wolfram To the Rescue!
This is just something I came across and thought it would be great to share with you. I hope you find it as amazing as I do.
Wolfram Alpha Teaches You Math, One Step at a Time
Wolfram Alpha may be a data geek’s dream, but if you’re not all that interested in its more obscure uses, here’s one thing we could all use a little help with: step-by-step math calculations.
Just enter in the equation you want solved (say, for example, Solve 2x3 - 6.543x = x2, then click the Show steps link to see how you could solve the problem yourself next time without the help of Wolfram Alpha. It’ll then walk you through all the steps necessary to reach your answer. TI-85, eat your heart out.
Send an email to Adam Pash, the author of this post, at tips+adam@lifehacker.com
First Thanksgiving Proclamation
By the PRESIDENT of the United States Of America
A PROCLAMATION
WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLIC THANKSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”
NOW THEREFORE, I do recommend and assign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interposition of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed;– for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish Constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;– for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge;– and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.
And also, that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions;– to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wife, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us); and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of fcience among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.
GIVEN under my hand, at the city of New-York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.
(signed) G. Washington
Source: The Massachusetts Centinel, Wednesday, October 14, 1789
Hey You!
I have been preparing for a few exams as of late, so I haven’t gotten to say anything. I just wanted all those fourth graders that I was with this last few weeks to hold on tight. As soon as I get a break (in a week or so) I will get their “Dear Bob Letters” up and they will be able to see what everyone wrote.
Can someone please explain to me why I need this Statistics class for elementary students. Yeah I know, I need to be ahead of what they will learn down the road, but for crying out loud! Do I really need to know all this probability stuff to teach 4th graders…NOT! But oh well, I guess those before me had to jump through a few hoops so now I must jump through the same ones.
Can’t wait until I get my first classroom. Then again, I am sure you will remind me I wrote that when I say “HELP, I HAVE MY FIRST CLASSROOM!” 
Take care all…and if I don’t have the time next week…HAVE A GREAT THANKSGIVING!
Great Vocabulary
Okay, we have been looking at vocabulary and vocabulary building in Literacy class. It has been dealing with how to build vocabulary in many different ways with students. I think it should always be fun!
We have looked at a few different ways to help build vocabulary…and then I come across Wordnik.com. This is a great site.
On the site they say this:
What is Wordnik?
Wordnik wants to be a place for all the words, and everything known about them.
Our goal is to show you as much information as possible, as fast as we can find it, for every word in English, and to give you a place where you can make your own opinions about words known.
Traditional dictionaries make you wait until they’ve found what they consider to be “enough” information about a word before they will show it to you. Wordnik knows you don’t want to wait—if you’re interested in a word, we’re interested too!
By “information,” we don’t just mean traditional definitions (although we have plenty of those)! This information could be:
- An example sentence—we have tons of examples and gobs of other data for most words. But even if we’ve only found one sentence, we’ll show it to you. And we’ll show you where it came from.
- Related words: not just synonyms and antonyms, but words that are used in the same contexts. Cheeseburger, milkshake, and doughnut aren’t synonyms, but they show up in the same kinds of sentences.
- Images tagged by our friends at Flickr: want to know what a pout looks like? We’ll show you.
- Statistics: how rare is tintinnabulation? Well, we think you’ll see it only about once a year. Smile? You might see that word many times, every day.
- An audio pronunciation—and you can record your own!
- Something YOU tell us! Use the “Contribute” links to tell us something—anything—about a word
This is definitely something to take a look at and get the students excited about…I am sure they will have fun with it!! Click the Wordnik image to go there.
Tired of carrying around those flashdrives???
Tired of carrying around those thumb drives, or those flash drives, or perhaps you are still trying to carry around CD’s
with all those documents you need at certain times. Well this is 2010, time you got with the program. Click HERE after you read the article or click the Dropbox logo.
For those of you who don’t know, Dropbox is a simple online virtual storage utility that allows you to make your files accessible from almost anywhere. Designed for those who are tired of e-mailing files to themselves and carrying around flash drives, Dropbox looks to revolutionize the way you store and share files.
Here’s how it works. After installation and connecting to the server, the Dropbox interface is just like any folder on your computer. You simply drag and drop to move files around and any files or folders that are uploaded to Dropbox will immediately be synchronized within your account. In addition Dropbox also keeps track of every single change made to the contents of your storage and any changes are instantly updated to all computers linked to the account.
What happens if I’m not on any of my computers? Absolutely no need to worry. Just get on the Dropbox web interface and you will be able to access your files from anywhere in the world. The Dropbox web interface also remembers all the changes you make to your files and allows you to restore to any previous versions of the file. You can even un-delete files that you may have accidentally erased.
Where Dropbox really shines is the way it allows you to share whatever you want with other people. Every individual folder can be shared with other people and every member of a shared folder will be able to add, edit, and delete the contents inside but will not be able to access anything outside of that specific folder. This file sharing system is perfect for team projects involving music or video editing, computer and system repairs, or for anything which needs collaboration among its members. There is also a public folder that allows you to share files with non-Dropbox users through the use of a hyperlink.
If you are looking for an easy and reliable way to share files amongst friends, family, and coworkers then take a look at what Dropbox has to offer. Dropbox is free for Windows, Mac, and Linux and you can have share 2 GB of your files for free or upgrade to Dropbox Pro for 50GB of storage.
Some of this article found at: A Computer Blog: Just what is Dropbox? (16 November 2009) http://acomputerblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/just-what-is-dropbox.htmlPLEASE CLICK HERE TO GET STARTED WITH DROPBOX!!!
Not convinced just yet…..
Well take a look here:
