PortablePD.ca » News http://portablepd.edublogs.org Sun, 29 Nov 2009 22:33:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 Jane and Nathan featured in local newspaper http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/11/28/jane-and-nathan-featured-in-local-newspaper/ http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/11/28/jane-and-nathan-featured-in-local-newspaper/#comments Sat, 28 Nov 2009 14:40:56 +0000 Nathan Toft http://portablepd.edublogs.org/?p=441

On November 27, 2009 we were featured in the Kanata Kourier-Standard.

Click here to read the article.

]]> http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/11/28/jane-and-nathan-featured-in-local-newspaper/feed/ 0 Ontario Educator Meetup http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/07/29/ontario-educator-meetup/ http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/07/29/ontario-educator-meetup/#comments Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:31:51 +0000 Nathan Toft http://portablepd.edublogs.org/?p=409

Jane and I will be giving a presentation at the next Ontario Educator Meetup.  We’ll be talking about our experiences in integrating technology in our classrooms and talk about our podcasts Portable Radio and Portable PD.  We’ll also dig into our classroom blogs (5nt.ca and 56js.ca) as well.

The presentation will be at 1pm EST, Thursday, July 30 using Adobe Connect.  Click here for time zone information No software to install, just click on the following link close to that time:

http://connect.tcdsb.org/ontmeetup/

The presentation, about an hour, will be recorded and we’ll be sure to get a link up for that as well.

A big thanks to Rob De Lorenzo for making all of this happen.  We are the 8th presentation. All presentations are archived at http://www.ontmeetup.net/.

]]> http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/07/29/ontario-educator-meetup/feed/ 1 Social Studies with Audacity http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/04/05/social-studies-with-audacity/ http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/04/05/social-studies-with-audacity/#comments Sun, 05 Apr 2009 14:23:16 +0000 Jane Smith http://portablepd.edublogs.org/?p=389 My grade 6 students studied explorers of North America this past term. One of their assignments was to do a talk show with an explorer to give us an idea of the explorer’s life and accomplishments. The students researched an explorer of their choice as an independent project. Then they worked with other students to do the talk shows. The students quite enjoyed working in pairs or small groups, one person as the interviewer and another as the explorer.

Adrianna started working with a partner but her partner was ill or away on a trip during a large part of the assignment so Adrianna did the project herself. Using Audacity, she recorded herself asking all the questions. Then she recorded herself as Sir John Franklin and answered the questions. Using the Change Pitch effect in Audacity she altered her voice for the Sir John Franklin part. In editing she went from the question track to the answer track. She added a little ghostly music and I think that she has put together a very strong project.

Audacity is a powerful tool and motivator for the students in my class.

Listen to Adrianna’s interview with Sir John Franklin by clicking here.

]]> http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/04/05/social-studies-with-audacity/feed/ 9 How to add pictures to blog posts and pages http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/03/30/how-to-add-pictures-to-blog-posts-and-pages/ http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/03/30/how-to-add-pictures-to-blog-posts-and-pages/#comments Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:05:45 +0000 Jane Smith http://portablepd.edublogs.org/?p=385 This screencast will show you how to take pictures from web pages, and insert them into your blog posts and pages. I use Flickr as the source for the pictures that I use as it has copyright friendly material available on it. This method of inserting pictures should work from other websites as well, but be certain that you are not violating copyright with your picture choices. Due to the size of the screen that I used for this Jing, it might be easier for you to see this by clicking the larger version. This is a large file…it will take a while but it is worth it (if I don’t say so myself)

Click here to see a larger version

]]> http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/03/30/how-to-add-pictures-to-blog-posts-and-pages/feed/ 9 Common Craft http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/02/28/common-craft/ http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/02/28/common-craft/#comments Sat, 28 Feb 2009 14:34:38 +0000 Jane Smith http://portablepd.edublogs.org/?p=337 Nathan introduced me to the Common Craft videos a few years ago. Lee and Sachi Lefever create short and elegantly simple videos on tech and other subjects. The videos are all done with paper cut outs and voice overs. Well worth a visit.

We Make Videos

Our videos are short, simple and focused on making complex ideas easy to understand. We use a whiteboard-and-paper format we call Paperworks that is designed to cut out the noise and stick to what matters.

We are dedicated to building a library of videos that are focused on helping influencers and educators create change through better explanations.

Their blog is available at: http://www.commoncraft.com/blog

Here is a their latest video: Computer Hardware in Plain English

]]> http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/02/28/common-craft/feed/ 0 Expanding Our Boundaries…in 10 minutes http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/02/28/expanding-jane-and-nathans-boundaries/ http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/02/28/expanding-jane-and-nathans-boundaries/#comments Sat, 28 Feb 2009 11:49:00 +0000 Nathan Toft http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/03/01/expanding-jane-and-nathans-boundaries/ Here are the links we are planning to talk about this morning:

Our classroom blogs (56JS.ca and 5NT.ca):

56js…………

post daily agenda

continue the day’s learning at home

Banana Hunt

encourage conversation between students (sometimes the conversation is academic!!)

Our PortableRadio.ca podcast:

portableradio_pov_340X340

15 minute variety show made up of what the students are interested in

2 minute POVs dealing with current event stories (i.e. Should the Ottawa’s NHL team trade their goalie?)

CBC Radio’s Ottawa Morning has played many of these POVs

We’ve been published by Scholastic

Our books

Our professional development blog/podcast:

PortablePD.ca

cup3

]]> http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/02/28/expanding-jane-and-nathans-boundaries/feed/ 1 Portable Radio Wins Award http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/02/27/portable-radio-wins-award/ http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/02/27/portable-radio-wins-award/#comments Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:50:29 +0000 Nathan Toft >PODCASTING>>]]> http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/02/27/portable-radio-wins-award/

 

PortableRadio.ca is a student podcast Jane and I have been producing for the past three years.  We’re very pleased to be bragging to you about this…

Nathan and Jane,

Congratulations!  Your podcast was selected for a Kidcast Award in the Editorial POV category!  I apologize for how long this contest has drug on, but we’ve finally wrapped it all up.  The judges were very impressed and complimentary of you and your students work.  I, for one, enjoy holding up your podcast as an example for teachers and students everywhere.  Thank you for engaging your students in this medium and helping them develop their sense of inquiry, argument, point of view, and communication.  You are giving them gifts that will anchor them solidly in their future.

Your trophy is on its way and should arrive soon!

Thank you again for you participation!  I wish you continued success with your show!

Dan Schmit
KidCast: Podcasting in the Classroom
http://www.intelligenic.com/blog

]]> http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/02/27/portable-radio-wins-award/feed/ 3 Welcome to Abigail http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/02/23/welcome-to-abigail/ http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/02/23/welcome-to-abigail/#comments Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:42:57 +0000 Jane Smith http://portablepd.edublogs.org/?p=329 Congratulations to Krista and her family on the safe arrival of Abigail. Abigail is now officially our youngest TLLP participant and we hope to meet her at one of our meetings.

]]> http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/02/23/welcome-to-abigail/feed/ 0 Announcing… http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/02/09/announcing/ http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/02/09/announcing/#comments Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:51:30 +0000 Jane Smith http://portablepd.edublogs.org/?p=327 TA DA!!!! I realize that it is not a very Canadian thing to toot your own horn but…We are very excited to announce that our second book is now available through Scholastic’s Moving Up Literacy Place Series.

Our latest book is called Web Tools for Kids. We were so thrilled to finally see the book. When we last saw it it was a horribly marked up, edited to death Microsoft Word document. We had no idea what the layout was going to be or what the graphic design would look like. Nathan was particularly interested in seeing the final copy as he came up with the concepts for most of the cartoons that appear in the book.

This is a grade 6 level guided reading text. It is set up as a glossary/dictionary of different web tools. We have included information about blogs, wikis, podcasts, social networks and virtual worlds, to name a few of the topics that are covered.

We couldn’t resist taking this picture.  Scholastic had our books on display at a PD day for the elementary teachers in our board and there were our books!  Just squint, Nathan’s pretty helpless when it comes to using the camera feature on his cellphone.

]]> http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/02/09/announcing/feed/ 1 Who’s out there? http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/02/04/whos-out-there/ http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/02/04/whos-out-there/#comments Thu, 05 Feb 2009 01:11:14 +0000 Jane Smith http://portablepd.edublogs.org/?p=299 Something that out students really enjoy looking at on our class blogs (56js.ca and 5nt.ca) are the world maps with the little dots that show where visitors to our site are from. Nathan and I both use Feedjit to track our visitors. It is available as a free download and is easy to use. All I did was to copy the HTML code from the site and paste it into the design, widget area of the blog. It works well with edublogs. Feedjit has other formats that you can choose from. My class is still hoping to get a dot on Africa!

]]> http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2009/02/04/whos-out-there/feed/ 1