The Teacher Toolbox

Tonight I’ve added a few new software tools to my mind mapping page that you might like to explore and compare to your traditional software of choice… or coloured pencils.

When Dr Jim and I were working together in Melbourne last year he recommended the online mind mapping tool Mindomo to the punters that attended our sessions. I’ve since found that the beauty of this tool is that you can embed multimedia into the mind maps. Nice!

Recently Mindomo has added a new desktop version of the software to the site so you can work offline. This is a nice feature as oh so often a lesson can go ‘belly up’ if the internet goes down while relying on Web 2.0 tools.

The crux of my mind mapping page is still the conventions of mind mapping. At the bottom of the page I’ve included my ‘mindmap on mind mapping’. This resource outlines the most of the conventions of mind mapping and I find that the quality of the mind maps produced by people after exploring this scaffold greatly increases.

I have also included a link to a mind mapping rubric that I have found useful. I hand out the rubric and explore with the students before setting them off to work.

I’ve also included a Youtube video from the man himself, Tony Buzan as well as a few links to books he has written on the topic that I have found extemely useful.

Feel free to experiment with my mind map on mind mapping and the mind mapping rubric

Adrian

In my workshops I often expose the punters (eg Happy Steve) to Andrea Photomosaic as a simple way of introducing alternative digital photography to their students.

Today I’ve stumbled across an online version that those of you with despotic systems administrators might like to try.

These images look great when you get them printed out on photographic paper. They are a great fundraiser if you and your students make them into calendars for the parent community.

Personally I prefer the stand alone software as you can build images using your own library of photos. But this online mosaic creator site is a nice introduction.

Have fun with it.

Adrian

To those members of Yr 10 who are actually doing their homework tonight, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a creation from http://www.jibjab.com/ that surpasses the portrait of me in S2.

Have Fun

Mr B

At school this week one of my classes has a puppet show due for me that we are going to upload to TeacherTube and then embed that video into our blogs.

Here is my first go. My son made this Photostory after attending his aunty’s wedding almost 2 years ago. I often show this video as an example of what children can do with a bit of help and encouragement.

I’m fond of the saying, ‘Teach them how to do it, expect them to do it and they will’.

cheers

Adrian

Recently I added this cool little tool that showed where all my visitors came from. It recorded the number of visitors for a day and where in the world people were currently online.

A couple of days ago I noticed that when I clicked on a link on my homepage an Ebay log in page would open. I searched the code on the page and found no references to Ebay or even _blank.

This morning I’ve taken the GeoVisite code off the page and all is well again.

Sorry for any annoyance

Cheers

Adrian

A couple of weeks ago I was interviewed via Skype by Chris Betcher for an Aussie podcast. Chris chats with ICT teachers from all over the world and his shows provide excellent insights into the minds of teachers who are leading the field.

Check out my chat with him – ‘Use IT Till It Breaks‘ (35 meg)
or subscribe to ‘The Virtual Staffroom’ via the Itunes Library.

You’ll love our Aussie accents and might even get a few ideas for integrating ICTs into the classroom.

Adrian

I was working with another class today who loved the idea of creating their own online comic strips. Here is my demonstration of PUN… I will drop in their URL of the kids’ work when a few more of them get their really lame jokes to their blog accounts.

cheers

Adrian

The growth of a child’s sense of humour is something that I love to watch, foster and corrupt just a little

For a homework task I set two tasks-

1. Find the ‘lamest’ joke that you can. One that will make the audience moan because it is so bad.
2. I then set them the task of finding a joke that will make an adult laugh i.e. me

NB I also set the proviso that they must be comfortable telling this joke to the principal and their parents This condition tends to keep the humour above the navel. hehehe

Adrian B