Life-Long-Learners

An old adage states that “a picture is worth 1000 words”. Based on this premise, what teacher would not want access to an innovative resource of educational posters worth 207,000 words?

Recently, I serendipitously chanced upon Krissy Venosdale’s amazing resource of free, motivational posters. To help my readers appreciate her talents, I have included a sample of nine of Krissy’s 207 posters. Readers are encouraged to click on each thumbnail to view a larger version of the following posters:

Teacher’s wishing to peruse Krissy’s wealth of posters, should check out her “Free on Flickr!” Classroom Posters site. Here she advises readers of an efficient way to browse through her collection and offers how to download free posters in a variety of sizes for school use. I recommend readers also view Krissy’s “{Free}Posters” post to gain some important tips on the “crop ratio” when printing poster enlargements. Furthermore, I’d strongly recommend that you take poster images, on a memory thumb-drive/stick, to Costco, Staples, or your local camera shops printing and/or enlargement. Realize that many of the posters have a solid black or coloured background. If you choose to print such posters on a school printer, be prepared to spend your year’s allotment for toner or colour cartridge(s) in one poster “run”. Furthermore, you don’t want your administer referring to you as the school’s “poster boy/girl”

Krissy has not placed any stipulations on the free download of her posters or images that she has created and shared through her blog. However, as a professionals, I think educators who download images created by Krissy should consider adapting the Freemium model. Wikipedia defines Freemium as:

Freemium is a business model by which a product or service (typically a digital offering such as software, media, games or web services) is provided free of charge, but a premium is charged for advanced features, functionality, or virtual goods. The word “freemium” is a portmanteau combining the two aspects of the business model: “free” and “premium”.

Certainly Krissy’s poster downloads are “free” (with no strings attached). However, I’d like to suggest that if we download a poster, we consider that our “premium” obligation is to send her a tweet to:[(at)ktvee] or email to: [Krissy(dot)Venosdale(at)gmail.com]
thanking her for creating and sharing these posters. To me this is a very small, optional “fee” to gain such a wealth of educational posters. However, as a recipient of comments to various blog posts, I know how motivating it can be to know that you have helped out a fellow teacher. I  feel confident that Krissy would appreciate receiving such feedback as to how her poster(s) will be used in your school or classroom.

In closing, I want to thank Krissy on behalf of my readers for her inspirational poster resources. When I found Krissy’s descriptive “venspired” image (shown above) and read her mission statement, I was so impressed with her passion for teaching and learning. Not only does this lady have engaged students; this lady has class!

Thanks Krissy for caring and sharing.

Take care & keep smiling

Teachers are always looking for resources that can aid them in the teaching process or engage students in their own leaning. Some may be familiar with a free web-based tool called Wordle which can be used to create generate “word cloud” images from text that the user supplies. Although many educators and students have embraced the use of Wordle, one of its big limitations was that users coluld not easily print their word cloud creations. In early January, I created a “DS106 word cloud“, and like many of my colleagues, I had to use a screen capture process to save my Wordle creation as an image or to print out the design.

However, today I wish to share with readers a new word cloud tool, called Tagxedo, which has a built-in print feature as well as other options that will excite educators. This free web application is unique because it can create complex portraits like the one of Steve Jobs. I encourage readers to click on the thumbnail at right to see the detail and words used to describe this industry game-changer. However, rather than focus on the advanced portrait feature, I will share ways this product might be used, with a minimum of time and effort, by students or teachers.  The Tagxedo web site describes this application as follows:

Tagxedo turns words — famous speeches, news articles, slogans and themes, even your love letters — into a visually stunning word cloud, words individually sized appropriately to highlight the frequencies of occurrence within the body of text.

Tagxedo which is pronounced as [tag-SEE-doh] can, like Wordle, create simple displays in which word sizes are based on the frequency of the words provided in a list or web site address. However, teachers and students will appreciate the added features of this educational tool in that users can display Tagxedo word clouds in different shapes, colors, themes and may save and/or print the result in different sizes.

As a way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on March 17th, I chose to have Tagxedo display words in the shape of a four-leaf clover or shamrock. Rather than enter a list of words, I selected Manitoba Education’s “Literacy with ICT Across the Curriculum” web site and entered this URL, “http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/tech/lict/show_me/continuum.html” (without quotes), as input.

Imagine the impact that teachers and students might have using shapes such as following:

• Treble Clef: outline formed by a variety of different musical terms;
• Shark: outline shaped by the different predator types;
• Check Mark: outline formed by all students that have completed  a certain activity or project;
• Bus:  boundary delimited by the names of all the students in one’s class who travel by bus to school;
• Bird: display of migratory or endangered birds help  shape this image; and
• Tree: outline defined by coniferous tree names.

In order for teachers to fully utilize Tagxedo, I recommend that they investigate these web sites:

• What is the difference between Tagxedo & Wordle?
• 52 Interesting Ways to use Wordle in the Classroom
• 101 ways to use Tagxedo
• Tagxedo Gallery
• Tagxedo “Deja Vu” Text Comparison
• Tagxedo Tutorial (YouTube video)
• Using Technology in the Classroom: Tagxedo vs Wordle (YouTube video)

So what are you waiting for? Go play with Tagxedo and see how it might be used in your classroom.

Take care & keep smiling

Do you know why tomorrow, Tuesday, February 7, 2012 is special? True, it has been designated as “Safer Internet Day” but this particular day can easily be remembered because each year it will always fall on the second day (Tuesday), in the second week, of the second month (February).

Although the Safer Internet Day (SID) initiative first began in Europe in 2004, it has quickly spread, in eight years, to 74 countries world-wide. This year’s theme is “Connecting generations and educating each other”, where we encourage users young and old to “discover the digital world together … safely”! Expressed another way one might suggest that:

Tech savvy youngsters can teach their elders how to use new technologies, while grandparents can draw on their life experiences to advise younger generations on how to stay safe online, as they discover the digital world together.

The following links may be of assistance:

• Safer Internet Day (YouTube video)
• SID Kits for Schools (including resources & lesson plans)
• SID & Safety Education from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection
• “The Door that’s Not Locked” – Safety and the Internet
  (A Parent’s Guide for Children: Ages 8-9, 10-12 or 13-15)

I apologize that I was unable to provide readers with more of an advanced warning. In fact, I only learned of this special teaching opportunity today, through a colleague’s “timely tweet”. Although this year’s timing is less than ideal, teachers may want to investigate the above SID resources and share this important information with their students. However, to improve on my timing for next year, I am advising you now that the second day, of the second week, of the second month will be Tuesday, February 5, 2013.

Take care & keep smiling

Have you heard about the next planned “Survivor” show?

Three businessmen and three businesswomen will be dropped in an elementary school classroom for 1 school year.  Each business person will be provided with a copy of his/her school district’s curriculum, and a class of 20-25 students.

Each class will have a minimum of five learning-disabled children, three with A.D.D., one gifted child, and two who speak limited English. Three students will be labeled with severe behavior problems.

Each business person must complete lesson plans at least 3 days in advance, with annotations for curriculum objectives and modify, organize, or create their materials accordingly. They will be required to teach students, handle misconduct, implement technology, document attendance, write referrals, correct homework, make bulletin boards, compute grades, complete report cards, document benchmarks, communicate with parents, and arrange parent conferences. They must also stand in their doorway between class changes to monitor the hallways.

In addition, they will complete fire drills, tornado drills, and [Code Red] drills for shooting attacks each month.

They must attend workshops, faculty meetings,and attend curriculum development meetings. They must also tutor students who are behind and strive to get their 2 non-English speaking children proficient enough to take the SOLS tests.  If they are sick or having a bad day they must not let it show.

Each day they must incorporate reading, writing, math, science, and social studies into the program. They must maintain discipline and provide an educationally stimulating environment to motivate students at all times.  If all students do not wish to cooperate, work, or learn, the teacher will be held responsible.

The business people will only have access to the public golf course on the weekends, but with their new salary, they may not be able to afford it.  There will be no access to vendors who want to take them out to lunch, and lunch will be limited to thirty minutes, which is not counted as part of their work day.  The business people will be permitted to use a student restroom, as long as another survival candidate can supervise their class.

If the copier is operable, they may make copies of necessary materials before, or after, school. However, they cannot surpass their monthly limit of copies.  The business people must continually advance their education, at their expense and on their own time.

The winner of this Season of Survivor will be allowed to return to their job.

Pass this to your friends who think teaching is easy and to the ones that know it is hard.

Take care & keep smiling

Credits:
- Anecdote forwarded by: Aleda Sloane
- Remixed Flickr image “Outwit Outplay Outlast” by Thomas Hawk
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/4629130046/