Teacher Boot Camp

These screen captures were from our Second Life Day of Boot Camp. The first section included the basics such as using arrows to walk, communicating, focusing the camera, accepting notecards, using landmarks, and teleporting. We went on some virtual field trips to Genome Island, the Great Wall of China, a Mayan Temple, the Spaceflight Museum, Virtual Harlem, the Vietnam Wall and many more. Then came the building lessons!

My Top 20 Web 2.0 Tools

Web 2.0 Explained 3B
Bubbl.us Comiqs.com
Diigo Diigo Web Slides
Flickr Google Docs
Ning Zoho
Scrapblog Skype
Slideshare TeacherTube
Twiddla Twitter
Tag Galaxy Jigsaw Planet
Wordle Spezify

I Am in Total Awe of These Kids!

Everytime I go into the kids' hard drive folders to see what new pictures they have taken documenting their work on the island, I am in awe. These students are gaining a much better sense of spatial reasoning by manipulating three-dimensional shapes in a virtual environment and that gives them a better sense of their own physical world. They are creating buildings from scratch with no patterns or formal blueprints. They "see" what they want to build in their heads and just go for it. They consult with their team members and whatever is happening is evolving from their process. If you walked into the room, no one would notice because they are so busy.

Something Cool

This is a virtual representation of all photos on Flickr for specific keyword searches. Want to find all pictures of roses or dogs? Do a search and find a whole galaxy of photos!

A Day in Yoville

There are many virtual worlds these days. Facebook has included Yoville as one of it's peripheral applications. If you are wondering if it has educational implications, I have enclosed a video tour. My own opinion is that the only possibility would be a discussion group of people in different locations but I would always suggest Second Life instead. You be the judge:

Click Here For a Tour of Yoville

Great Resource for Special Needs

Click here to check it out!

PBS/ASSET Newsletter Online

The Lion, the Witch, the Wardrobe, and You!

Here is an integrated lesson plan that hits many of the NETS-S standards as well as many Social Studies essential questions. There are literacy standards, visual, and performing arts standards as well.

Preparing for Island Life on the Teen Grid

Here is where I am blogging about the process of getting a Teen Island in Second Life. I've started with my own experience as a new avatar and how I got to this point.

ISTE Barn Dance

Slideshare Stuff

I have posted a bunch of PowerPoints I made as tutorials, especially for art. Check out the whole list!