Attempt 1 (Classroom Flipping)

It seems Classroom Flipping has turned some heads and rightfully so. How else would you manage to be in two places at once? If anything grabs a teacher's attention, it's the possibility of that!

Thanks to Ms M and Kristen for the feedback. Their comments from my last post raised a very valid point which I had been wrestling with. In a perfect world, we would all have access to all tools and resources but we don't, so we make do with what we have. The students in my school do not have reliable access to the Internet. Many of them do not have a computer in their home so some serious head scratching and problem solving is in order.

I have been considering a few different approaches, mostly around the idea that a video lesson could be used during class time while I support their learning alongside. I am planning to trial them during the last few weeks of school. Today was Attempt 1.

I've read that Thomas Edison once said "I have not failed. I've simply found 10,000 ways that do not work." I really like that because it emphasises, innovation, creativity, effort, commitment, and positivity. I also like it because if I do my calculations right, I only have 9,999 more tries before I am bound to get it right.

Yesterday, I plotted out my first "Flipped" lesson. I scripted, and rehearsed a video lesson that would be all about diamante poems and the parts of speech. After about 8 hours (off and on) of trying to learn how to use Adobe Visual Communicator 3 and getting the wording and timing just so, I was nearly ready to record. Then it happened.

Something looked a little off. What started out looking like a little bit of a lag evolved into a nonresponsive piece of software. What that I thought was a moment where the computer would freeze and then recover with a little patience turned into a message from Adobe citing a "catostrophical error"! I don't know about anyone else, but when a program uses the word catastrophical, I brace for impact. Not many words grab your attention like that one, let me tell you (especially when it comes from the device that has all your planning and digital resources on it).

To make a long story short, the program needs to be reinstalled and this was a trial version that I cannot afford to pay for (I was hoping to talk the school into purchasing the licence) so the 8 hours I spent on my birthday (did I mention that? Yeah, ON MY BIRTHDAY) were lost to the whims of technological failure. Happy birthday.

The downside is obvious; I had wasted hours learning this software and it amounted to nothing useable. I was lucky, though. The fortunate upside was that, due to all the rehearsing, I walked into my classroom today with a better idea of what I needed to say than I have on any other day.

I guess the whole point I'm trying to make is that we all go gaga for technology in the classroom but let this be a cautionary tale that we can't always rely on it. It makes our lives so much easier but putting all of our eggs in that basket carries a risk of error that can be, well, catastrophic.

Meet Tessa and CA-001 - Voki for the classroom (easy tech)

This is a short entry because if you look to the right of the page, Tessa is right there, waiting to make her debut. So, I'm going to let her do the talking, LITERALLY! CA-001 is there too to show how I will be "employing him". So go ahead and say hi. Then let me know what you think.

You Tube to Mp3? Yes, Please!

I took today as a sick day as I was battling a horrible virus that has mostly seemed to pass. After sleeping away most of the day, I got on to being quasi-productive with planning and then slipped into surfing blogs to find some answers. In doing so, I came across Tales of a Teacherista who had posted about building a library of songs for her classroom. Its such a fun, cheap, and easy way to liven up the classroom. In that post, she explained how to use Real Player to download You Tube videos as Mp3 audio files.

That's exactly how I used to do it, too, but similar to the comments on Mrs. Pollard's post suggest, you need to download Real Player to use it and my experience is that you can't move the file once you save it onto your computer. If it isn't working for you if can be Headache City. Here's a nice and easy alternative that was shared with me!

http://www.youtube-mp3.org/

Step 1: Find the video you want from You Tube

Step 2: Copy the URL from the address bar (CTRL C)

Step 3: Go to www.youtube-mp3.org

Step 4: Replace the URL that is in the textbox with yours (CTRL V) and click "convert video"

Step 5: Wait a few minutes. Perhaps pour yourself a coffee. If it is a short video, you might not have time though. Sorry.

Step 6: When it is all finished, click on "download", then "save". Choose where you want it saved and what you want to call it. Click "Save"

Step 7: Go to www.twistofliam.blogspot.com and tell everyone how much easier this has made your life!

Easy as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7!
Now if you didn't get to pour that coffee, now is your chance.

They grow up so fast...

This is a shameless self-promotion (I think that's ok...it is MY blog, afterall).

After an epic battle with html, and with the support of Kristen at Ladybug here (for navigation buttons) and here (for centering), I get to announce some awesome upgrades! The Navigation Buttons above are fully customized (sweet!) and I have a Blog Button (double-sweet!)!! Now you can be the coolest kid on the block blog with your very own Twist of Liam Blog Button. Just imagine how cool you will be with such a vibrant addition to your page.

To put it bluntly, please add my button to your page!

Pick a kid, any kid... Continued.

I have had requests for more details so here they are.

I was going to upload it Google Docs but it reformatted the file to the point of unusable. A PDF would have been useless unless you had the same class list as I do, which I doubt. Instead, here's a quick and easy process to make your own. I'm working with Word so Macfolk, you will have to follow as best you can.

1. Insert a 1x1 table. At the top, click 'Layout' and 'Split Cells'. a dialogue box should pop up. Change it so it says

"Number of Columns: 4"

"Number of Rows: 4"

2. Drag the bottom border to the bottom of the page so it fillls the page nicely. Click 'Layout', 'Distribute Rows'. Magical!

3.The rest is up to your own creative genius. Whatever you do, watch that you don't change the size of the cells or else the cards will be different sizes. Row 1 is the face of four cards, Row 2 is the back, Row 3 is the face of another four cards, Row 4 is the back of those cards.

4. When it looks good, print it off.

 If you cut the margins off and cut between Row 2 and 3, you just need to fold them up and laminate them.

Hope that helps! Maybe one day I will get really fancy and start doing video tutorials...

Fonts Galore!

I love fonts. I love how they can make a project that little bit closer to perfect. http://www.typenow.net/ was shared with me and I have spent many hours cruising the list of fonts available for free download.

I challenge you to go through what's available and NOT find a font that works for your project. Some favourites of mine include "For the One Hundredth Time", "Cratch", Britcomics", "Cajun Boogie", Blackout", and "Agent Orange". Go forth and then come back and tell me your fav. Betcha can't pick just one!