Print What You Like

So you've found a great idea for a lesson and you just need to print out a section of a webpage. But it has ads, and some parts that aren't relevant. If you print as is, you'll end up with too many pages, or lots of unrelated stuff. I suppose you could launch Word and copy and paste, but that's a hassle too. What to do! Why not try printwhatyoulike.com? The opening page gives you an overview and a big green "demo" button to push. Experiment with the various options and then paste in the page you want to edit. It's a handy, quick way to "print what you like."

Archive that perfect clip

I've mentioned Keepvid before as a good way to get a backup of that perfect clip. I know some teachers are reluctant to use material from Youtube because they wonder if it will remain accessible from term to term or week to week. All it takes is one time for you to get burned (ie it's not there when you need it, or your school doesn't have enough bandwidth to show it or it's been blocked by your sysadmin) and then you're not so sure!

Keepvid gives you the option of downloading the clip, so at least you have a back-up copy, just in case. The latest cool trick is that Keepvid has now added a "bookmarklet" to their site. All you have to do is drag the little "box" to your menu bar (see graphic below), and then, from now on, any time you see a clip on Youtube you would like to archive, you click your bookmarklet, and "presto", the clip can be downloaded....so easy!

Getting Kids to Write: Penzu

So what makes a student want to write for a teacher? Is it the connection, or the cool assignment or a quirky topic? I read somewhere that a good writing prompt is worth at least 1000 words. There are some great sites out there that will perhaps inspire you to either create that most excellent prompt, or to at least give a quirky enough assignment that your students might be hooked in.

And where to write it? You can certainly have kids use Word, or write online with Googledocs. Here's another one to explore: Penzu. (See here for the guided tour.)

It's a quick and easy-to-set-up mini-journal and could just the ticket for an on-going writing assignment.

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As a bonus, here are two sites for you to consider if you're looking for prompt ideas:

1. "Six Sentences": This blog is an opportunity for budding authors to write in with carefully crafted mini-stories of six sentences etc. While some of the topics may not be suitable for all audiences (*be warned), there are a great many thoughtful, intriguing and captivating pieces. My suggestion is to maybe use some of the ideas as jumping off points. Or better still, give the class the challenge of writing six sentences a day in something like Penzu. Have a "reading" of works at the end of the term.

Here's an example:

Writer's Block

by Laurita Miller

As a writer, fate has conspired against me. I had a happy childhood devoid of any hardship or tragedy. I have never suffered any horrible illnesses, or struggled with addiction of any sort, nor have I been a victim or perpetrator of any crime. I have no long lost siblings or children, no vengeful lovers, no bitter enemies. I have never been abducted by aliens, and even the neighbour’s nasty little dog refuses to bite me. I am doomed to failure.

6S

2. "First 50 Words": Try to get your reader's attention in the first fifty words. How hard can it be? Can you make them want to read more, to wonder what comes next? Again, some of the stories on the site may not work for your students. I would recommend picking and choosing the ones you think are the most useful, and getting your students to create their own.

Example:

Chorus

June 2, 2009 by first50

The cathedral in Perugia was cool and calm, so I sat down to rest and look at the art. A group of young women walked in. They were dressed in the shorts and walking shoes of travelers. They dropped their backpacks near the altar, lined up, and began to sing. The first piece was Bach. Their voices were strong and beautiful, covering the range from alto to soprano. They sang another song I didn’t recognize in a language I didn’t know. Then they picked up their gear and left. I couldn’t believe something so magical really happened.

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Another Room Designer

Since the demise of "designmyroom" recently, there are many disappointed users looking for a new place to exercise their designer yearnings.

Mydeco.com has a similar free service for the budding interior artist (but not quite the same slick interface as DMR). The "Planner" module is a fun way to think about area, design, colour etc. Recreate the bedroom of a character from a novel, or imagine a brand new scene. The main website offers options to upload a photo and then "enhance it".

FYI, there is some advertising on the site.

Cut the clutter - Easy to Read

Some web pages are very attractive and interesting to look at. But sometimes, those same features can make it difficult to read, especially for a student who may be easily distracted. Along comes a great tool by arc90: the "readability" bookmarklet. Much like "Quietube", you drag the icon from arc90's page to your browser's button bar. Then, as you visit pages, you can "de-clutter" them by simply clicking on your "readability" button. Arc90 give you the option of selecting font sizes, page width and presentation style. You can even email or print the "clean" version!

Quietube - Youtube lite

Bookmarklets are "min-apps" you drag to your browser button bar, that allow you to automate certain tasks that you perform again and again. (Here's a site with some common examples: https://www.squarefree.com/bookmarklets/)

At a Metro tech meeting this week, Sandra from Langley passed on a great bookmarklet for Youtube users. Quietube strips away all the distracting side-bar material, and shows just the video clip itself (much like it would appear embedded in its own page.) It supports Youtube, BBC iPlayer, Viddler and Vimeo.( with more to come...)

Another great feature, is that Quietube generates a new URL you can email or link to that points to the stripped down page. Very slick!

Audio From Youtube

Occasionally, I'll find a Youtube clip of a lecture or presentation that has an audio track I want to listen to on my iPod, or perhaps I want to add a little piece to an iMovie I'm making. The "low-tech" way is to plug in earbuds, hold one earphone up to the computer's mic, and "play" the clip while iMovie records it. It works, but it's pretty low fidelity! Enter "ListentoYouTube": this site allows you to extract the audio as a downloadable mp3 file.

There is an advisory on the site that there are have been problems with the latest Youtube version, but I used LTYT successfully this past week: it worked like a charm.

(BTW, there are some pop-ups associated with this site, so you might want to have your pop-up blocker set to "stun"!)

You paste in the URL of the clip you want. The app chugs away for a bit, and then you'll get a link to click. This will open a new page; choose the ">>download mp3" link and you're in business. If you're on a Mac, you can choose to open the file in iTunes, and then put it on your iPod....or what ever.

It's really useful if you come across a Youtube clip of a lecture series, and you want to "take it with you" for listening later.

Schedules and Choices: Doodle

Have you ever tried to get a number of people to agree on a date by sending them an email? After multiple mail messages, each with its own history or updated status, everyone can be quite confused about the final date (or time.)

The same can be true with asking a group to make a choice: Chinese food, Italian or Spanish? Vacation in Maui, Montreal or Europe? What's the best gift for Mom and Dad?

My suggestion is to try DOODLE. You create a set of choices and then email the URL to all participants. They can then add themselves, add their choice and the app keeps track of the results.

You could use this with a class to help them define a study question or refine a project direction. Or even for students to arrange a get-together for teamwork.

TIMEGLIDER - timeline maker

TIMEGLIDER is an easy-to-use, fully featured timeline maker that makes professional, scalable graphic representations of chronological events. Perfect for a student to use, and suitable even for a professional "stand and deliver".







You can add dates, images and links and even view 2 timelines simultaneously. How could you use this? A student could map events in a novel against real world events in the same time period, compare the rise of two civilizations, or show the unfolding of a major historical incident.

In order to use this great app, you will need to create an account (an email address is required.)

The Worldbook online (available in many school districts) also has a timeline gereator that has some similar features.

Timeline generators are just one more interesting way to allow kids to demonstrate their learning and thinking.

Capture that Youtube vid

So you've found that perfect video clip that illustrates the concept you want to introduce to the class. You've made a note of the Youtube address, or the embed code and are ready to show it to your class. You've connected the projector, fired up Firefox, and *disaster*, Youtube is blocked in your district!

What to do? This is where Voobys comes in handy. (There are a couple of other sites that work in a similar way: www.keepvid.com for example.)

Here's what you do:
(adapted from: http://www.wikihow.com/Download-YouTube-Videos-Using-Voobys)

1. Go to http://www.youtube.com/
2. Type your search term in the search bar.
3. Click on the video link so that it loads in the current window.
4. As soon as you're on the desired page, go to the Address bar (where you typed in www.youtube.com) and just erase the word "youtube", substituting for it for the word "voobys".
   
5. Download the video. This will take you to a page that allows you to download the video. Click the "Download Video" link that and choose the "save as" destination.

The resulting file can be burned to a CD or played directly from your computer.

Of course, you'll have to do all this from your home computer, if Youtube is blocked at your school. (As an additional ironic note, Voobys is unaccessible from my work site!)

Be an Artist: Create your own still life

I was at a meeting with some Elementary Computer teachers in my district, looking at some web-based drawing programs, and I mentioned the "Still Life" Painter on the US National Gallery of Art site. If you haven't seen it, it is worth a visit.

While it can be a little slow to load (depending on your connection), it's great fun. Students can view a "typical" still life composition and then take a turn creating their own, using the various elements provided. You can choose the table, the drape, the background, the fruit, the bowls and additional elements. Then you can add a "paint" effect to personalize your creation. The interface allows the student to create 8 different versions and hold them in "frames" along the right side of the screen (activated by the "look" button.)

From the site:

[Students] can explore spatial arrangement, perspective, proportion, and balance while creating engaging, interactive still life compositions that mix everyday objects with elements borrowed from famous works of art.

While there is a print feature, it seemed a little buggy, so I just used SHIFT+APPLE+4 on my Mac to snap png images of my work. The finished products can be viewed in Preview as a slide show.

http://www.nga.gov/kids/zone/stilllife.htm

SKRBL: An interactive whiteboard

A while back, I reviewed Dabbleboard and recommended it as an easy virtual whiteboard. Here's another great Web-based tool for collaboration. Skrbl allows you to create a space and invite others to view and modify what you are working on.

As it says on the website:

Sketch, text, share files, upload pictures all in one common shared space. There are no new tools to learn, nothing to download, nothing to install.

Here's a link to try your own skrbl space.

If the World was 100 people

For those looking at sustainability, or communities, or global issues, this miniature earth site is a great thought provoker.

(It can also be found as a Youtube upload - with different music)


Want to explore this idea further?

1. Some history behind the concept: click here
2. Here's another Flash video with slightly different stats: click here.
3. Some great poster ideas...could be a good art project! click here.
4. Here's another visual representation: click here.
5. And very ambitious project spin-off from 100people.org: click here.

Web-based music composition: Noteflight

I just stumbled across a great web-based tool for musicians: Noteflight. If you want to compose, and share your works with others, this site is perfect. Users can save their creations in an individual account, and email a link or embed the score on a blog or web-page. There's even a teaching module (which costs $) for music instructors to use.

Compositions can be printed or exported in a variety of formats (you need the latest Flash plug in installed) such as midi or wav files. The online documentation is very extensive and give a good idea of what this program can do.

A great tool, especially for Music Composition and Technology teachers!

Here's a sample I created:

Smart Boards: Try a Jigsaw Puzzle!

Are you looking for a novel way to use SmartBoards in your class? Why not have your students work on a puzzle? This could be a fun stations activity for younger students, a chance to practice shape recognition or even a rainy weather "in-day" lunch option.

Take a look at the JigZone. You can pick the design and number of pieces. And you can compette in teams to see who can assemble the puzzles the fastest. Viewed full-screen on a SmartBoard, it's great fun.

Here's one to try: