nice

12/4/10 NICE Workshop:Visual Grammar

Oak Grove School, Green Oaks
8:30 am - 12:00 pm

The weather outside was frightful, but the workshop was delightful! Joe Brennan kicked off the snowy morning with his Keynote making the analogy of movies to visual grammar (follow Joe on Twitter @joebjr). Joe says, “Your digital editing software is like a word processor.” Joe is a strong advocate for using cameras to make any learning experience into a movie. A key point emphasized throughout the presentation was to keep the movies short, no longer than 3 minutes.  

Joe drove home the point that movie-making parallels the writing process (research, writing, storyboarding, filming, editing, exhibiting) from start to finish. The icing on the cake is that students have an authentic audience. Student work is no longer a private transaction between teacher, student and circular file (read “trash can”). With video, everyone views the product and the bar goes up!

Visual Grammar:

• Sentence = shot
• Paragraph = scene
• Chapter = Sequence
• Novel* = Movie
• *Last level would require extension beyond the recommended 30 seconds to 3 minute video.

Possible products for using movies to deliver content:

• Public Service Announcements
• News Feature
• Book Trailers

With all of the talk about STEM initiatives, let’s bring in the ARTS and make a little STEAM!

Links shared by Joe:
www.afi.edu
web.me.com/jbtv
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0LtUX_6IXY (tetris video)
http://projecticanread.com/ (teacher tube video on front page)

Thanks to our workshop presenters, and to Oak Grove for hosting the workshop!

Deb Kaczmar
Storytelling through Comic Life
http://bit.ly/ComicLifeNICE

Jason Meltzer & Logan Farris
It’s Not Easy Being Green...Screen
http://bit.ly/NICEGreen

Joe Brennan
Visual Grammar Keynote
http://bit.ly/VisualGrammar

Joe Brennan
Digital Storytelling using iMovie
http://homepage.mac.com/jbtv/Personal4.html

 

Shara-a-Rama Resources

Our Share-a-Rama meeting at New Trier was a great "welcome back to school" meeting where NICE members shared what they had learned over the summer. Here's a summary of websites and web tools mentioned.

Deborah Lazar, and Mary Ann Apple shared their use of "Weebly" for websites:
http://stemcellcontroversy.weebly.com/video-views.html

Judy Gressel shared her blog address, for lots of reviews of new items:
http://newtrierlibrary.blogspot.com

Be sure to read Judy's info on Google's Fast Flip for gathering current event info! There's even a mobile version for the phone. Visit:  http://fastflip.googlelabs.com

Judy also shared the updated version of "Did You Know" -- http://youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8

Laura Montgomery shared a website just launched 9/14/09, which is a great resource for encouraging teens to read literature -- like movie reviews.
http://60secondrecap.com

Others also mentioned:
Librarything.com (great for book sharing)

Gail LeGand shared how she is using Camtasia Studio -- a screenshot capture program, to create screencasts. The latest version (6.0) allows adding captions to movies (think subtitles). For a free web-based program, try screencast-o-matic.com -- up to 15 min screencast. Or the open-source application named Jing: http://www.jingproject.com/

Caren Kimbarovsky shared her use of Voicethread for education. PowerPoint slides can be uploaded directly into Voicethread.
http://ed.voicethread.com/#u419614
Info on Voicethread for education can be found at: http://voicethread.com/about/k12/ ... Educator accounts are $10. New Trier has a school account. See: http://newtrier.ed.voicethread.com/
Annual subscriptions are $1 per student.
More examples can be found at: http://voicethread4education.wikispaces.com

Matt Stuczynski shared his Ning for his advisory students. New Trier has a tradition where each adviser visits the homes of the students. They are using a Google doc to set up visit days/times.
http://stuadvisery.ning.com

Jeff Shaw shared several links:
* An interactive list of Web 2.0 tools: http://go2web20.net
* 3D programming from Carnegie Melon: http://alice.org
* Newspaper "front pages" from across the world: http://newseum.org

If you can email, you can create a web page. Try http://posterous.com
Jeff's file from May... http://jshaw.posterous.com/

Anne Truger shared a tool to send a "bunch" of links to someone using "Linkbun.ch" -- an example:
http://linkbun.ch/el1y
    includes:
    http://trugertechtalk.wikispaces.com
    Beth Burke's Fantastic F.R.E.E. Resources
    http://jeopardylabs.com
    http://udltechtoolkit.wikispaces.com

Helen Lazzaro shared her use of Skype to interview Karen Brockney, the creator a great website for Photoshop Elements tutorials,
http://alibony.com/pse/index.php  (120 video clips under 5 min)

For additional Skype in education info, check out the Skype an Author wiki:
http://skypeanauthor.wetpaint.com/

Julia Kessel shared several links:
http://online-stopwatch.com/
http://classtools.net/education-games-php/fruit_machine/  (random student generator).
http://www.skritter.com/practice/
http://futureofeducation.edublogs.org/2009
http://show.mappingworlds.com
http://quizlet.com -- allows students to make flashcards... connect to friends in Facebook.

Vinnie Vrotny shared links for current events:
http://www.nytimes.com/intearctive/2009/07/31/business/20080801<metri (NYTimes subscription req.)
http://newsmap.jp

Announcements: Upcoming opportunities...

• Oct. 7 at Wilmette Jr. High.. dana boyd to speak:
  http://www.spirobolos.com/2009/10/danah-boyd-wilmette-junior-high.html
• October 9... first Symphony will be held from Space to Earth
• Howard Gardner will speak Oct 29, at New Trier East
• ICE Proposals are due 10/1/09
• NICE will host a Google workshop on Sat. Dec. 5 at North Shore Country Day School -- details to follow.
• NICE Mini-conference will be held at Stevenson High School on Jan 30, 2010 -- please submit proposals online!!

Welcome back to school. Consider sharing at our NICE Mini-Conference!

Many of you have returned back to school, or will be returning in the next few days. As you begin to settle into your 2009-10 routine, consider sharing your expertise at our NICE mini-conference. Proposals are being accepted online through November 1.

NICE Mini-Conference 2010
~ Teachers Teaching Teachers ~

Saturday, January 30, 2010
Adlai E. Stevenson High School, Lincolnshire IL
8:30 AM to 1:30 PM

We are looking for session topics that show best practices, innovative, engaging, and pedagogically sound uses of technology in teaching and learning for all students. Presentations are 50 minutes long.

Share your experiences and expertise with your friends and colleagues. Please complete a separate form for each proposal.

Conference Chairs
Mary Ann Apple  [email protected]
Tracy Murdach   [email protected]

Are you getting our NICE info?

Several years ago the NICE Board decided to move our NICE News to an electronic format, since the cost of printing and mailing was getting expensive. Since then, the money saved by "going green" has allowed NICE to allocate grant funding for educational uses of technology, as well as provide free dinners at our after school meetings.

The NICE News is published about 2 weeks prior to our NICE meetings and is available for download on the NICE website: http://chapters.iceberg.org/nice/news.htm. At publication time, an email message is sent to our members with highlights and a link to the online pdf version.

This month, we began using VerticalResponse, Inc., an email marketing company, to send our emails. VerticalResponse provides this service free to non-profit organizations such as ICE and NICE. The VerticalResponse system helps us to track how many members have received our message, and allows members to unsubscribe from future mails. Our most recent email news, announcing our May 6 meeting and slate of officers, was "bounced" from a number of school districts (including my own). Messages indicate "[email protected]" as the "From" address.

I contacted our network manager to inquire whether emails with this "From" address could be allowed through our email filter to our NICE members, and was advised to get the range of IP addresses used for the mailings. VerticalResponse sent the following information:

VerticalResponse sends all mail from mail.vresp.com in the following IP range:
209.66.113.62
209.66.113.63
206.57.6.62
206.57.6.63
206.57.6.143
206.57.6.144
206.57.6.145
206.57.6.146

So, if you are a NICE member who did not receive the most recent email message, please send this information to your network administrator.

A Super NICE Mini- Conference!

The 2009 NICE Mini-Conference was an outstanding success! More than 200 people attended the annual event held at Adlai E. Stevenson High School on Saturday, January 31. Running a conference involves the hard work and collaboration of many people. Thank you to the entire NICE Board and to all of our presenters! Thank you Stevenson High School for hosting our conference at your wonderful facility!

We started the morning in Stevenson’s Forum area where people could view the mini-grant poster sessions, enjoy some refreshments, and spend time networking. Attendees then moved to classrooms where they could choose from among seven concurrent sessions held during each of the three 45-minute time slots.

This year’s sessions included presentations on digital safety, Web 2.0, blogging, Copyright and Fair Use issues, Google education tools, web pages, digital stories, Comic Life, Voice Thread and Apple’s iWork applications. Many presenters were teachers or technology specialists who provided specific classroom examples.

. . . the vast amount of resources I can take with me and share with colleagues.
Evaluations from the attendees, showed high marks for both the conference and presenters. The NICE Board thanks all the presenters for the high quality of their sessions, and for sharing their expertise.

Lots of usable ideas…
In addition to providing opportunities for sharing, learning and networking, the NICE Mini-Conference provided the attendees with a time to unwind during the culminating raffle which included more than 50 gifts, such as digital cameras and printers.

Thank you to all of our sponsors for their donations: Apple Computer, Atomic Learning, Discovery Education, FTC Publishing, ICE, Inspiration, Nettrekker, NICE, Promethean, Tech4Learning, Stevenson High School and Tom Synder/Scholastic.

Hands-on Google workshop Dec. 6

NICE members are invited to attend a Hands-on Google workshop on Saturday, Dec. 6 at North Shore Country Day School. Anne Truger and Vinnie Vrotny, NICE Board members and Google Certified Teachers, will lead this workshop. Attendees will explore a variety of Google tools, such as Google Docs, Google Sites, Google Reader, iGoogle and more. This free workshop is limited to NICE members only, and pre-registration is required. Sign up on the NICE website or on the form below:

Visit the NICE website for directions to North Shore Country Day School:  http://chapters.iceberg.org/nice/

Collaborative Tools Presentation 10-29-08

Thanks to Tracy Murdach and the staff of Lyon School for hosting the NICE meeting on Collaborative Tools! The presenters did a great job of sharing how students are using online tools such as Wikispaces and Voicethread.

Notes RE: VoiceThread:
-- Education accounts were purchased for 250 students at New Trier High School. The minimum group rate is for 200 students, and in increments of 50 after that.
-- Currently used primarily in social studies classes; very promising for language classes.
-- Can be made public or private only within the group to protect students for security.
-- Mary Ann shared examples of projects completed by small groups of students either commenting on photos/images put together by teacher, or in a step-by-step process with students adding their own images and commenting on them.
-- Students like the Voicethread projects as they can use their own images, can be anonymous, and receive anonymous feedback.

We "uStreamed" the meeting (see below)  Check out the NICE Resources page for more information and links to the projects presented.

Members Share Resources and Ideas at our Sept. 23 meeting

NICE held its first meeting of the year on Tuesday, 9/23/08 at Lyon Elementary School in Glenview. Thanks to Tracy Murdach for hosting. Tracy has agreed to also host our Oct. 29 meeting in the same location. Stay tuned for further details in the blog or the October newsletter, which can be downloaded from the NICE website soon.

This meeting started off the year with a "Share-a-Rama" -- an informal sharing of "what I learned this summer."  Thanks to our members who shared their discoveries and educational strategies, each in 10 minutes or less.

As with every NICE gathering, we try to nourish our attendees' tummies (as well as their brains) after a long day, and everyone seemed to enjoy the yummy Lou Malnati's pizza, salad, brownies and cookies!! (I always look forward to the food!

Highlights from the meeting:

• Vinnie Vrotny reviewed the three most influential books he read this summer, Brain Rules, Here Comes Everybody, and Disrupting Class.
• Scott Meech showed us how easy it is to schedule meetings or take quick polls using http://doodle.ch
• Lori Abrahams took us on a tour of Plurk, a social-micro-blogging tool, that is difficult to explain, and best understood when experienced first-hand. Check out their website at: http://plurk.com
• Anne Truger showed how cell phones can be used as student response devices with Poll Everywhere, http://polleverywhere.com
• Hanna Przybylski shared her library blog at Senn High School and would like everyone to visit and leave a comment. She also said that our NICE group provided her with the inspiration!! Visit: http://sennlibrary.blogspot.com/
• New Trier teachers Julia Kessel and Matt Stuczynski shared how students who traveled to China this past summer used GCast to record daily podcasts for folks at home. Visit the New Trier China website at: http://ntchina2008.pbwiki.com

Other web tools shared by members included:

• Voicethread: http://voicethread.com/
• Ed.Voicethread: http://ed.voicethread.com/
• Apture: http://www.apture.com/
• Webtools4U2Use: http://webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com/
• Emily Chang's eHub: http://www.emilychang.com/go/ehub

We hope to see you at our October 29 meeting! Our topic is "Collaborative Tools."