Once Upon a School

Once Upon a School is a Ted Talk done by Dave Eggers. In this video Mr. Eggers talks about a project he started that has flourished. After watching the video answer the questions below in a comment to this post.

1) What is the project Mr. Eggers started?
2) Why in your opinion is this project successful?
3) Would doing this in our community work? Why or why not?

Make sure you answer these questions completely. I want your best work.

You should notice a new commenting system on the post. Use your media history blog for the blog URL, and you can use your email address or the generic yourname@example.com

Sick Santa!

I just got word that Santa won't be making his usual rounds this year. It seems like his overly rich diet has caused him to get gout. This will unfortunately keep him home on Christmas Eve.

The good news is Santa has contacted teachers around the world to ask for help. He has created a special, super-secret Amazon account that he will use to pay for all the presents this year. All he asks in return is that we have one student per family pick out presents for their entire family. Sounds like fun, right?

Your task is to find presents for each person (including yourself) on Amazon and to give that list to me. There is one very important qualification, the cost of each person's presents must be between $195 to $200. You cannot spend more or less. Because Santa is a non-profit organization he gets his purchases tax free so we don't have to worry about adding those in.

You will need to keep track of the items for each person, the url for each item, and the cost of each item. How you do so is up to you. I would suggest you create a spreadsheet using Microsoft Excel or if you have a Google account you can use Google spreadsheet. Here is a tutorial for creating a spreadsheet in Excel. You could even create a Google form to put in the information you need. Of course paper and pencil will also work. Just make sure the total amount to spend is between $195 and $200.

You may want to check with your family members and ask them for ideas, or you could just pick things you think they will want. Santa expects you to explain why you chose the gifts you have for your family and yourself, make sure to include that information with the list.Whichever you choose, get the lists done and give them to me so I can pass them along. You don't want to miss out on Kris Kringle's gifts and if you don't get the lists finished Kris may decide you are not behaving and deal with you appropriately.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sbc9/4226569974/

John Lennon

My students were disappointed that I remember Pearl Harbor day on Tuesday but didn't do the same for John Lennon yesterday. Not wanting to disappoint them, I have created this post.

Here is an article on the MTV site written about the last interview he did before his death.

John Lennon's Jukebox: A documentary about the music he listened to.
Woman: Music video of the song.
John Lennon news coverage of his murder.

The Beatles

The Ed Sullivan Show: Second US appearance of The Beatles
There are some related videos on the right of this page.

In the MTV article Lennon states: "We're born-again rockers, and we're starting over. ... There's plenty of time, right? Plenty of time." Soon after he was shot and killed. What can you learn from this?

BeFunky

BeFunky.com is a picture editor that allows you to put "filters" on your picture. It is a very interesting editing site for your pictures. Go to the site, upload your picture and try out the different filters. When you have decided on a picture or two, click save and choose download to the desktop. Upload them to the Media History blog.

December 7, 1941 A Date that Will Live in Infamy

The Minelayer Oglala capsized at her berth at the 1010 dock

It is pretty unusual for a country to remember the date of one of its worst defeats yet the United States still remembers today. On December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was attacked by the country of Japan. Before this attack the United States had not declared war against Japan or the German/Italian coalition.

On December 8 the President Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered a speech declaring the United States to be at war with Japan.The United States declared war on Germany on December 11, the same day Germany declared war on the United States.

National Geographic has an excellent map that shows the timeline of the attack.
Navsource.org has pictures taken by Americans during the attack and the Japanese.
Americanrhetoric.org has the full text of the speech and the actual audio.
The Military channel has a video clip taken from a news reel. It includes a short clip of Roosevelt's speech.

After reviewing this information leave a comment on this post in the last ten minutes of class. Think about the attack. How would you react if this attack took place today (remember you are not old enough to serve in the military so enlisting isn't an option.) What would you do to help the nation cope with the tragedy?

Chess

Today we are going to play a game called chess. Click here to read about the history of chess. The online chess game we will be playing today comes from Chess Test Tutors.

Click Here to Play

Milestones

I have posted over 500 times on this class blog and have had over 100,000 visitors. In a few weeks the blog will turn four. This blog has led me and my students to so many wonderful learning experiences. I am very grateful to my students for encouraging me to continue to use the blog when it first started and to all the visitors that have come through over the last (almost) four years.

Here is a link to my first post. 

I realize that a little reflection about the blog is in order, but I have already written reflections over it before (you can dig them out if you want to). What I would like to write about is the future of the blog, basically look at where it is headed.

The most important thing I have done is been willing to change the focus of the blog over the years. It has served in a lot of different capacities up to now where I use it mostly to disseminate information for my students to use. I really don't see that changing much any time soon (although with next semesters return to keyboarding classes there may be a bigger emphasis on reporting of school happenings.) 

I really hope that this blog will wear out its usefulness before too long. It seems like there should be a new tool in development that will have a more robust experience for myself and my students. I would really love to create a space like this where my students have the ability to write in a way that makes sense. With posts being buried, it just doesn't work well now. 

Another thing I would like to see happen is to create a more "communal" (yes that is my new favorite word) space where others can gather to share and have conversations. Yes there are CMS's like Ning that can do that, but they are still very impersonal. I may be reaching for something more than technology can provide though :( 

News Beta: What Do You Think?

This is the beta of a new project some of my students are working on. They are creating a news show for the school and we made this one to practice. We would love some constructive feedback.

Coming Soon: Persuasive Writing

Our class has been asked to choose a movie based upon a poster and its summary. These stories are written with persuasive language. Which one do you think is most successful? Go to the link and answer the two questions below:


http://mrraisdana.blogspot.com/2010/11/coming-soonmovies-out-now.html


Which film would you want to watch and why? Which poster and blurb really grabbed your attention?

Fractured Fairy Tale: This Weeks Plan

Monday: Small group story sharing.

Tuesday: Rewrite the story and post on Kidblog

Wednesday: Rewrite is due. Create a storyboard of the story.

Thursday: Finish storyboards.

Friday: Storyboard is due: Small group sharing of the storyboard.

Media History Questions

Fractured Fairy Tale Movies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Truestorythreepigs.jpg

I am reincarnating an old lesson I used to do several years ago, but with a tech twist. We are going to be writing fractured fairy tales and then creating a movie using Xtranormal or GoAnimate.

First, I will read The True Story of The 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka. Notice how the story has changed when the point of view is from a character in the story. You should notice things like A. Wolf did not know what was going on away from him and how his story was biased based on his thoughts and feelings.

Here is the lesson plan:

1. Listen to the story and discuss point of view.
2. Check out the site GoAnimate and Xtranormal You will choose one of these sites to create your video so make sure you understand what they can and can't do.
3. Choose a fairy tale to rewrite from a specific character's point of view. Make sure you choose one that is well known. Here is a good place to get started: 43 Popular Fairy Tales
4. Meet in a small group 3-4 to discuss the stories chosen and brainstorm which to use and which characters to have tell the story.
5. Rewrite the fairy tale from a new point of view. Use your new blog from kidblogs. The link is on the left side of the blog.
6. Storyboard the story using the template provided by Mr. C.
7. Meet in a small group 3-4 to review your story. Students will critique the story and make suggestions.
8. Make any necessary revisions to the story as a separate blog entry.
9. Create your movie using GoAnimate or Xtranormal.
10. Post your movie on your blog.
11. Screen your movie for the rest of the class!

My Edublog Award Nominees 2010

These are my nominations for the Edublog Awards.

Best individual tweeter:

@IntrepidTeacher: Jabiz Raisdana is honest, raw, and emotional. No one pushes my thinking more.

Best individual blog:

Farview Physical Education is an amazing blog written by Michael Beringer. Although this blog specifically deals with one part of education, it deserves recognition for being the best elementary physical education blog I have seen in four years. Michael has consistently found new and interesting ways to get his students motivated and moving.

Best class blog:

Okay so this is technically a school blog, not a class blog but there is no school blog category so I am putting it here. The Daraja Academy-Official Blog is my choice. While many great teachers have great class blogs that showcase learning, the Daraja Academy blog showcases how the school changes lives.

Best student blog:

Ian Coon's Live to Learn Ian uses his blog to reflect, share, and play. A great combination!

Most influential blog post:

An Easter Monday Proclamation of Liberation by Ira Socol on the SpEdChange blog. It is an amazing post that draws the line between politics and education. A must read in my opinion.

Most influential tweet / series of tweets / tweet based discussion:

#Edcamp What other tweets on education started a new vibrant and dynamic movement this year?

Best use of a PLN:

Edcamp again. These are conferences put on by PLN's for PLN's.


Click here to see the Edublogs Awards home page.

Comments4Kids: Quality Comments Please!

Assignment:
1) Choose  blogs from the list.
2) Leave a comment on posts.
3) Fill out the handout with the information it asks for. 

Do not forget the Rules of Commenting!

Guns, Germs, and Steel

In the excellent book Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond, the author lays out a very interesting theory about how the Americas were conquered. As we watch the National Geographic video of Guns, Germs, and Steel we will discuss these theories You may also want to look at the PBS website.

Yellow Journalism

For this assignment you will be developing an online "textbook" dealing with Yellow Journalism. What is Yellow Journalism? That is for you to discover. What will you do after you find out? That is for us to decide :)

Actually, I would love for you to not only define the term, but also identify examples from throughout the history of the United States (and maybe even during the colonial period!) How can we find these examples? What resources will we use? Who can we get to help us? How will we split up the work? I guess we will have to figure all that out as we go.

We will be putting the information on a wiki. You may want to check it out and figure out how to use it.

http://yellowjournalism.wikispaces.com/

Interested in Natural Science? Check Out These Games

The first game is Blue Whale on the National Geographic website. The idea is to find and tag blue whales so that they can be studied by scientists. Warning, it is really hard to tag the whales!

The second game is Move which is also on the National Geographic website. Here you lead a migrating herd of animals and try to keep them alive. You have to contend with predators as well as lack of food. 

The third game is from the Discovery Channel, Thrill of the Catch. This is a fishing simulation that also allows you to create and name your own fish. As you  catch more fish, you are rewarded with better boats.

Web Sukoku-

Following this weeks theme of working with math. Today and tomorrow you will be doing online sudoku puzzles via websudoku.com. See if you can get a puzzle done in under 50 minutes.

Create a Pen and Ink Masterpiece: Using Pen and Ink to Draw a Picture

Surrender of Cornwallis by George Trumbull

This picture is by George Trumbull, Surrender of Cornwallis. An interesting fact is that Cornwallis did not go to surrender himself. I guess he was too embarrassed to show his face.

It was not unusual for people to draw their own pictures (there were no cameras in the 1700's). Here is a picture of a map and letter about Williamsburg by Franz Michel. It was drawn in 1702.

Map and letter by Franz Michel

Your assignment will be to draw with pen and ink a picture of the British surrender at Yorktown. Since you were supposed to have actually witnessed the event, you will be expected to be more historically accurate than Mr. Trumbull. If you wish to color your picture, there are colored inks available as well. Can you come up with a good way to use them effectively?

Flat Stanley Visits Our Classroom

In the mail today I had a surprise, Flat Stanley! Jason Schmidt's class in Omaha, Nebraska sent him to us. Here is the letter I wrote with pictures. 


Corrie,

Thank you for letting Stanley visit my classroom today.  He arrived on Monday, November 1. I opened the letter you sent at the beginning of second period.  Here is a picture of Stanley and your letter:

In second period, Stanley helped Chance do some math logic problems on the http://www.logic-puzzles.org/ website. Chance sure needed the help! Here is a picture of Chance with Stanely: 

My assistant principal came by for a visit. Here is Stanley visiting with Mrs. Buttram:

I went on Twitter and announced Stanley’s arrival. He quickly received a lot of “hello’s” from people. One teacher sent a link: http://abbotflatstanley.edublogs.org/  Here is a picture of my friends saying hello to Stanley:

In third period, media history, Stanley watched the last episode of the American Revolution documentary The Revolution, The End Game. Stanley learned all about the battle of Yorktown!

In fourth period I taught 7^th grade math. Stanley helped Kyla find the slope of a line. It was a good thing Stanley was there, I needed the help!

After math we had lunch. Here is Stanley getting a BBQ sandwich. I was surprised at how much he ate! How does he stay so thin and eat so much?

Fifth period we are back in the lab. We will be doing logic puzzles the rest of the day.