Sunday, October 30, 2011

Howling Halloween

So I am trying out the iPhone app for Blogger on my iPad. My thinking is maybe I can make more posts and stay current. I'm not sure if this is the best way to do this but it is certainly worth a try. I guess this is my test post.

Halloween Links:
Larry Ferlazzo is an amazing educator and his blog is one of my very favorites. I know I have mentioned him before and will continue to remind people whenever I can. A nice feature of his sites is the collection of the "best of" lists. A very extensive list of the best sites for just about anything you are looking for. I'm going to try and post a link here and not sure what it will look like but here is a link to his Halloween resources. http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2008/10/05/the-best-websites-for-learning-about-halloween/
Be sure to look for the virtual pumpkin carving sites. They are great to use on a SmartBoard.

Happy Halloween!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

October

Yeah, so this blogging isn't working out very well. I made a promise last month that I would do better. Hasn't really come true though. Which troubles me since I feel that blogging is an important part of being an educator. There is the old saying that the best teachers have all used other teachers ideas. And it's true. Teachers don't necessarily "steal" it. They take it, modify it, re-arrange it, re-do it, adjust it, take it apart and reassemble it. It more or less stays the same but not really. That's what you have to love about true teachers. They are marvels at improvising. They know how to spin gold out of straw. So blogging is one way for teachers to share what they do, what they have found, what works, what doesn't and how they did it differently today than yesterday.

So here I am sharing something I found. One of my favorite and best ever blogs to follow is Free Technology for Teachers. Fabulous stuff here. I saw a post he made about alternatives to YouTube in the classroom. So many times you find this great video to use in class and of course YouTube is blocked. Now what? Well this list might be helpful. The only drawback I see is that many alternative sites I have tried have so little material that they really aren't worth my time to dig through the videos. But you never know. I suppose I won't stop trying. Perhaps you will have better luck.