Teach, Teach!

What IS going on? I cannot get into my Gmail account, and have been unable to do so ALL day. I can login to Google, but when I click on Gmail, I get the dreaded “page cannot be found” message. Even when I just try to go to Google’s Gmail page I get the same error. I’m really praying that it’s not some awful new filter at the district that’s blocking Gmail now, because that would be insane. Grrrrrr!

powered by performancing firefox

I just wanted to offer a gentle reminder that I do update my Tech Resources Wiki pretty regularly. While it is certainly not an exhaustive list of resources, I do think I manage to locate some pretty cool tools for educators in my daily trek through the blogosphere. If you’re looking to kill time (though, seriously, what did time ever do to deserve such?), you might want to take a look.

powered by performancing firefox

I am feeling very frustrated with one aspect of my new and lovely Mighty Mouse. I cannot figure out HOW to get the right click to access those Windows right-click tricks I’ve come to rely on–namely, copy and paste. It’s driving me nuts. As much as I love the look of the mouse, and I really like that tiny little scroll wheel, I may have to go with some other, less beautiful solution if I can’t find the secret to making the right click work as I am used to. If you are a Mac addict who knows the secret to this, PLEASE let me know!

Otherwise, I think my new beautimous iMac is just about as lovely as a computer can possibly be. Those Mac designers know a thing or ten about aesthetics. It’s just such a gorgeous machine. I know, I’m gushing.

Update: The right click does work…sometimes. And sometimes, no matter how I hold my mouth and even if I’m not so much as touching ANYTHING to the left side of the mouse, I get nothing. Oh well–so much for form over function.

powered by performancing firefox

Unfortunately, as much as I like Flock (and I do like it), the blogging piece does not allow for upload of files (although Flock does feature cool integration of Flickr and Photobucket for photos). So it looks as though I’m back to using the Performancing add-on with Firefox for now, though I really like Flock. One thing I’m enjoying with Flock is its integrated RSS reader–much easier than its counterpart add-on for Firefox (IMHO). And I actually like the blogging piece as well–maybe they’ll add ftp upload soon, so that Flock can become my new browser of choice.

I’m testing out the built-in blogging component to Flock.  Steve Dembo recommended it and I have to say the other aspects of Flock are impressive indeed.  I particularly like the built-in RSS reader.  I’m forcing myself to start using RSS because I need to “get it” so that I can share its uses with other teachers.

Blogged with Flock

From an email to Sarah:

I just wanted to note some ideas I just had for additional tech workshops I might develop in the future. Why am I writing you? Because I feel that I need to tell someone while these ideas are still fresh and exciting to me, and hopefully emailing them to you will create some sort of obligation on my part to actually develop the workshop and pay volunteers with help from a payroll check template software.

When I presented my sample workshop this spring, I tried to integrate the use of Furl and Bloglines, which we all felt was too much for one workshop. What I just realized this morning, is that I could design an additional workshop that shows how to have students use Furl, Bloglines, and their own student blog as tools for developing the traditional research paper or the more hip research project, check out here.

Bloglines allows students to search others’ feeds and have a constant influx of new information fed into their own customized feeds. It also allows them to share their feeds with others (great if you’re having students research in teams). Furl allows students to save bookmarks as well as to archive webpages, and to make comments/notes on the bookmarks/archived pages. Again, it also allows them to share their collection of bookmarks with others, which is great for a collaboration. Lastly, by helping students to create their own blogs, which could double as e-portfolios, students could use the blog to post and organize their research notes, to share those with other students, and to post drafts of the eventual writing product. Other students could comment on those posts, offering critique, suggestions, support, or asking questions.

All of these technologies offer collaboration as a key component, which I think is a critical piece of research that traditional research methods have neglected.

What do you think?

Let’s see how it all works together!

Explore some classroom/educator blogs at my school:

Auld’s Classroom Blog
Tippens’ Class Website
Patterson’s Class Website
Understanding Poverty Bookstudy
ILT Online

Check out my Bloglines account.

Check out my Furl folders.

Okay, so I’m done now. This theme is called Rubric, and once again, required some labor on my part. Of course, I now think the effort was worth it (I mean, how cool is it that I, a former English teacher, am sporting a skin called “Rubric,” with a red pen even?) The theme definitely took some tweaking though–first, WordPress couldn’t find the stylesheet, which I had to relocate (along with all the other files). And then I had this weird problem with the background not repeating correctly which I totally took a flying guess at (and it worked). Then I had to manipulate some code to get my sidebar in the order I wanted it–always a scary proposition. But now, I’m done with themes for a while, I think. At least until after Labor Day, anyway

This is really minor in the grand scheme of things, but it’s bugging me. I can’t find a theme I really love. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve found plenty of themes I like, but none seem to do exactly what I’m looking for. For instance, I think my current theme, Ocadia, is a lovely theme. It would work well for my personal blog, which is where it will probably end up. However, I’m wanting something a bit edgier here. Something techno, something pleasing (not too bright or distracting), and definitely something with a light background for posts. I just haven’t found anything that really fits the bill. Which may mean that I have to design my own–ooh, that’s scary.

Just in case anyone else uses a Mac with Ecto and WordPress (yes, all three of you), here’s a tip–

Replace these 2 files in WordPress before you even TRY to use Ecto with it (trust me):

functions-post-1.php (in the wp-includes folder)

xmlrpc.php

Replacing these two files will enable you to actually publish your posts (a novel concept) and correctly place them in categories. Even though you may be told that the latest install of WordPress already includes these files, don’t be fooled. I just installed WordPress two days ago and I still had to replace these files. By the way, if you use Windows and w.bloggar, these files also fix the publishing post problem with that client.

Now, everything’s right with the world and I can once again use Ecto, WordPress and my Mac. I hear birds singing…