Chandell Asuncion

I have been having a lot of FUN with this new image sharing tool called Skitch. You create a free web account and download a desktop version of the software. There is a short 3 minute video that will introduce the product to you.  This application will make sharing student work so EASY! Download the software, and try it out you will be AMAZED.

Users need to have a Skitch account (free) and will need to login with their email address and password when launching the desktop application.  Students will be sharing their drawings with family and friends in minutes. Take a look at all the news ways you can share images using SKITCH.COM.

Here is an image that was created using Doozla (which is also from plasq.com) and saved to my computer. I dragged the image into skitch.com and quickly uploaded it. Then copied and pasted the HTML for “Full Size” image. The original full size image is too large for a blog post, so I appended the width=”500″ attribute to the code to constrain the image size. Pretty slick.

ENJOY!

In the 2007-08 school year Kamehameha Schools started to implement Blogs as a tool for educators. As the year progressed many teachers used their blogs as an extension of their classroom, some used it in place of a classroom website, and some used it to chart their professional development and communicate with others in their field. As a result ideas came flooding in… Many lessons were learned and most have begun to refine their blogs and their blogging techniques.

If you are an educator and are looking for some examples of how blogs are being used in the classroom perhaps you will find some inspiration or form a new friendship from this short list of educators:

High School:

1. Ka Hulinu`u — The Highest Mark – AP Literature - by Laura Tavares. (AP Literature) http://blogs.ksbe.edu/latavare
2. Write Here, Right Now! – 9th Grade Language Arts – by Laura Tavares http://blogs.ksbe.edu/latavare9
3. Grade 10 English -10th Grade Language Arts – by Kim Enanoria http://blogs.ksbe.edu/kienanor
4. Mr. Rose’s Math blog - AP Calculus – Mr. Kawika Rose http://blogs.ksbe.edu/karose
5. Chemistry in the Community - The chemistry of everyday life - by Ms. Correia http://blogs.ksbe.edu/micorrei
6. Wahi a kekahi! – Mauloa ka`ike pono o Hawai’i! – By Kumu Akina http://blogs.ksbe.edu/adakina
7. Richard Hamasaki -Two Courses: Honors English 10 Hawaiian, Pacific and World Literature & Reading Enrichment http://blogs.ksbe.edu/rihamasa
   

Middle School:

1. Ideas to Inspire- Ms. Cathy Ikeda (Grade 6, 7 and 8th) A journey through my education, literacy and technology life (Middle School Reading Resource Teacher) http://blogs.ksbe.edu/caikeda
2. In the Art Studio – Ms. Nahulu Kirsch (Grades: 6,7, and 8th) http://blogs.ksbe.edu/aukirsch
3. Technology Class- Mr. Kerry Kamisato (Grades: 6, 7, and 8th) http://blogs.ksbe.edu/kekamisa
4. Grade 6 Social Studies- Ms. Amy Kaawaloa (Grade 6) We read, we interpret, we post, we learn http://blogs.ksbe.edu/amkaawal
5. Grade 6 Language Arts- Ms. Kapua Helm (Grade 6) http://blogs.ksbe.edu/mahelm/
6. Vocational Technology and Applied Math – with Mr. Jay Chow (Grades: 6, 7 and 8th) http://blogs.ksbe.edu/jachow
7. Drama – By Leslie Ahuna (Grades: 6, 7 and 8th) http://blogs.ksbe.edu/leahuna
8. Grade 8 Social Studies – by Ms. Makanui-Yoshida http://blogs.ksbe.edu/jemakanu
9. Uncle N8’s Workshop - Mr. Nate Javellana (Grades: 6, 7, and 8th) http://blogs.ksbe.edu/najavell/
10. Curriculum Corner – Mr. Scott DeSa (Grades: 6,7, and 8th) http://blogs.ksbe.edu/scdesa/

Elementary School:

1. Gayla S. Traylor (2nd Grade) http://blogs.ksbe.edu/gatraylo
2. My Technology Journey – As a Learner and a Teacher (Technology K-5) http://kamanu.wordpress.com/
3. Technology Class - Kumu Laea-Honda (Technology K-5) http://blogs.ksbe.edu/lihonda
4. Keiki Scientists! by Heather Chang (K-5) http://blogs.ksbe.edu/hechang
5. Elementary Art - Ms. Tana Rosehill (Grades 3, 4, and 5) http://blogs.ksbe.edu/tarosehi/
6. School Library – by Kanani DeSa (K-5) http://blogs.ksbe.edu/shdesa
7. Wailele a me Wailani – Andy Chung (Grade 5) http://blogs.ksbe.edu/anchung

Schools:

1. Hawaiian Culture & Curriculum Specialist - Mr. Kilohana Hirano (K-12) http://blogs.ksbe.edu/aahirano/
2. Technology in the Classroom- Ms. Chandell Asuncion (K-12) http://blogs.ksbe.edu/chasunci
3. Classified Ads: Internal blogs are used to share information within an institution and has been an extremely successful form of communication and a great resource.Shared at the Punahou Technology Summer Lab School.
4. Kamehameha Alumni Relations Office - Ms. Jodi Kimura http://blogs.ksbe.edu/hawaiialumni

K-12 School Libraries:

1. http://www.blogwithoutalibrary.net/links/index.php?title=School_libraries

Blog Spam

This blog post has been the victim of blog spam. As a result the comments for this post have been turned off. I will continue to develop this post as more of our teachers begin to utilize this powerful communication tool in their classrooms. Comments on this blog will be accepted via email. If you have a post like this one that contains more than 3 links, and  your post is open for comments, you could be a target for Blog spam.  The best solution is to turn off comments on post like these. Open the post, and uncheck “Allow Comments” and “Allow Pings” under ”Discussion”. However if the post is for a specific session and you need to interact with an audience consider opening the post for comments for a short period of time. Changing the name of the post using the “Post Slug” is a temporary solution.

Congress Approves Stimulus Package
Congress on Friday approved a nearly $800 billion package to jump-start the sagging economy through a combination of tax cuts and government spending.Known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the plan involves unprecedented amounts of federal funds for education programs, some of which will affect students in religious and independent schools. 

The Council for American Private Education (CAPE) has published details about the bill and its impact on private schools in a concise summary of the ARRA, on its website at   http://www.capenet.org/new.html.

Source: http://www.hais.org – Robert Witt, Executive Director and Cynthia Jordan, Communications Director

The 2009 Inauguration of President Barack Obama is being called the “People’s Inauguration” You can visit USA Today’s Flickr photo stream to see some of the best photos taken during the 2009 Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama, and read the transcript of his historic Inauguration speech. The photos taken by USA Today are copyright protected, however they are available for purchase directly from USA Today and are reasonably priced.

The photo shown above was taken by jurvetson who has made his photos available for us to use and remix, as long as you properly attribute his work and provide a link to  his Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

If you also feel that this is the “People’s Inauguration” and you are ready to accept the call from President Barack Obama to “roll up your sleeves” and proclaim your allegiance make a pledge today.

Here is a short video clip of celebrities who have come together to take the “The Presidential Pledge“.

Starbucks has joined this “Grass Roots” effort and is saluting everyone who is willing to pledge 5 hours of community service with a tall cup of brewed coffee. You can download a Pledge Card and your “I’m in” badge from their Pledge 5 champagne website.

What ever you pledge, whether it is to turn off the water while you brush your teeth, live a debt free life, or restore the Koa forest in Hawaii will be a significant contribution to “change”. Together we can make a difference in the world.

“Everyone has the power for greatness, not for fame but for greatness, because greatness is determined by service.” ~ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

Are you in? Make a pledge today.

~hope

SchoolTube is for students, teachers, administrators, parents, school boards, IT managers, and school affiliates. SchoolTube is unique in that all the content that is uploaded is held in queue, until the moderator (teacher) has approved the work, at which time it can be made public. It’s very similar to moderating comments in your blog. I’m still reviewing the site myself but from what I can tell already this is a resource that answers many of the concerns educators have regarding “open sharing”.

To learn more about School Tube, visit the URL below:
Please visit http://www2.schooltube.com/AboutUS.aspx

View: Copyright Guidelines for SchoolTube -by MENC.org
“Because SchoolTube uses streaming technology, the videos you’ll be posting are considered “performances” rather than “recordings.” To determine if you need a performance license, first determine the type of musical work/performance.” (see guidelines for detailed information and links).

Students of the 21^st Century will need to acquire a strong set of ethics, values, communication, and collaboration skills that allow them to prosper in a global economy. For these students the Internet is an essential part of their lives that must be closely supervised.

The Cyber Safety and Ethics Initiative (CSEI) http://www.rrcsei.org/research.html reports that children have unsupervised access to a computer and the internet at home as early as age 5, and that by age 7, 15% report that someone was mean to them online, while 7% admit they have been mean to someone online. We are seeing the onset of cyber bullying beginning in the second grade and it’s not always the adult predator. Reports show that 45% of the cases are friends victimizing friends.

One in three children ages 9-12 report they have committed some type of online deception, abuse or crime. They have posted personal information about themselves online, which might include their first and last name, their age, photos of themselves, where they go to school, the names of their parents, teachers and friends, where they hang out, and what teams they play on. Furthermore 23.2% admit to lying about their age online.

Reports also show that 1 in 4 children between the ages 9-18 report that they have been victimized online by one or more forms of abuse within the past school year that was not reported to a grown up.

During the past school year has someone…
1. used your password without your knowledge………..………11.9%
2. embarrassed you online………………………………………..10.3%
3. bullied or threatened you online…………………………….…..6.9%
4. requested pictures of you without clothes…………………….1.0%
5. showed you pictures of themselves without clothes…………2.3%
6. asked private things about your body…………………….…….1.5%
7. told you private things about their body…………………..….…2.3%

Five rules to keep your children safe online
1. Don’t post personal information and photos of yourself
2. People may not be who they say they are
3. Don’t open attachments from strangers
4. Tell an adult you trust if something online makes you feel uncomfortable
5. Meeting online strangers alone is dangerous

Provide your children an opportunity to share their online experiences with you by discussing what they are doing online.

Join Steve Dembo and educators around the world to take the 30 day challenge.  Each day Steven will post a new blog tip, and encourage users to share the blogs and their comments with each other.  The challenge officially kicked off on November 1st and will run until the end of November 2008. To be a part of this challenge or just pick up a new blogging skill each day mosey over to Steve Dembo’s blog at Day 1: It’s all about the “About” page. Your readers will want to know who the author is and what you will be writing about.

I came across an interesting blog post today that highlights how things continue to change. Remember when our country was predominantly run by men and women didn’t attend colleges and universities.  The blog post referenced some of the statistical data that is shared by The Boys Project – Helping Boys Become Successful Men.  There mission, is the same as ours, to help young males (and females) develop their capabilities and reach the potential that their families and teachers know they have.

The following data excerpts are from Steve Dembo’s blog at Teach42 about the “Boys Project” – Helping Boys Become Successful Men.

• For every 100 girls diagnosed with a special education disability 217 boys are diagnosed with a special education disability.
• For every 100 girls diagnosed with emotional disturbance 324 boys are diagnosed with emotional disturbance
• For every 100 girls with multiple disabilities 189 boys have multiple disabilities
• For every 100 women enrolled in college there are 77 men enrolled.
• For every 100 American women who earn a masterís degree from college 62 American men earn the same degree.
• For every 100 females ages 20 to 24 that commit suicide 624 males of the same age kill themselves.
• For every 100 women ages 18 to 21 in correctional facilities there are 1430 men behind bars.

Teach42

Click here to visit the Boy’s Project – Helping Boys Become Successful Men.

Review the 6 issues facing boys, and the great list of resources available in their resource section on how you too can work on “Closing the Achievement Gap”.

New as of October 1, 2008 we can now add .swf (flash) files to our KS Blogs.

Share an Audio/Visual Presentation Online
This is so exciting, now you can take your PowerPoint presentations, slide notes, and narration and convert them into a fast loading .swf file that can be easily viewed online.  Take a look at Kelly Cua’s Presentation “Land Divisions in Hawaii” to see an example of how this can be used in education.

Share Quick Loading Movie Clips Online – No more waiting!
This is also a great solution for those bulky movie clips that you want to post online.  Converting your .avi and .mov files to .swf makes them well “swiff” (.swf).  You will need a movie editing software that will allow you to import .avi, .wmm, or .mov files and export them as a .swf. I’ll cover the conversion in more detail in another blog post.

See a sample at http://blogs.ksbe.edu/dakim/2008/10/01/swf/

1. First upload the swf file, then send to editor, then click on the “Code tab” to get the full URL to the swf file. The full URL will start with http://… and end with .swf – Copy the full URL you will need it in the next step.

2. Click on  the silver “F” icon on the Visual text editor when writing a post

3. Paste the full URL to the swf file into the pop-up dialog box:

4. Enter 400 for width, then 300 for height when prompted. You can play with these numbers to see what works best if you are unsure of the file size.

5. Publish your post and test.

 KS Teachers who would like to be trained should contact:

1. HS: Your team leader
2. MS: Kerry Kamisato or Misty Inouye
3. ES: Liana Honda or Nani Pai

Request training for:

1. Using your KS Blog
2. Creating PowerPoint Presentations with Slide Notes and Narration
3. Using Adobe Breeze to Convert PowerPoint Presentations to .swf
4. Converting a .avi, .mov, or .wmm movie clip to a .swf (flash) file
5. Video taping student presentations & editing video
6. Recording Lessons for your Sub using Smart Board
7. Creating Interactive Smart Board lessons using Notebook 10
8. Using Microsoft Word for Research Writing / Papers.
9. Working with Images: Resize, add text, make selections etc..
10. Other: Share your training needs

Aloha,
Chandell

Please take a few minutes to watch this short video clip as 5th grader Dalton Sherman delivers the keynote address at the Dallas school district conference for over 20,000 educators. Dalton has an important message that he would like you to hear.

Dalton Sherman Video

If you feel inspired please share your comments below.

Chandell