Beens' Blog

Google SketchUp - Layout tags : Layout , Google , SketchUp , TDJ , TDJxx , 2D , blueprints , video sketchyphysics - Project Hosting on Google Code See the video at http://3dvinci.blogspot.com/2010/02/classroom-rage-with-sketchup-physics.html for how this SketchUp plugin can be used.  tags : SketchyPhysics , physics , TDJ , TDJxx , SketchUp , Google Citrify Free Photo Editor for the Web A free easy-to-use online photo editor.  tags : image , editor , Tools , web2.0 , Photography , effects , TGJ , TGJ2O U. releases Kindle pilot data - The Daily Princetonian The University's e-reader pilot program, which experimented with the use of the Kindle DX in three courses last semester, reduced the amount of paper students ... tags : kindle , e-reader , experiment , #fail , university Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

Blogging About The Web 2.0 Connected Classroom: Why Do We Have To Learn This? "I can remember some days when kids would ask me that. I could be in the middle of a conversation about convection currents and a kid would raise their hand and ask, "What's the point? Why do we need to know this? What's the point!" I would get so angry. They needed to learn it because I was teaching it, that's why!"  tags : education , issues , relevance , why Malaysian women redefine gender roles in technology | Gender News tags : issues , gender , ICS , Malaysia , Tech , careers The Book of Wisdom – 101 Posts for the All-Around Balanced Life | Balance In Me "For over a year now I have been writing about different aspects of balance and I know that I have not covered even half of them yet. Because there is SOOOO much to cover. Every day I learn a lot and face challenges that make me come up with new strategies for my own life balance." tags : inspiration , z

I often point out that we are not teachers -- we are facilitators of our students' education. There's a huge difference in those two viewpoints. In the first, the teacher is the center of focus, in the latter, the student is the center of focus. Sometimes that means it's best for us to just get out of their way and let them get on with their learning.

Education Week's Digital Directions: Students Sound Off on School Tech Use "Discussions of technology in education typically center on what policymakers, academic experts, and educators would like to see happen in the classroom. Rarely heard are the voices of those who are actively test-driving new forms of technology: the students." tags : ICT , students , #otfretreat2010 , education , issues The Comprehensive Guide to Saving Images for the Web "On the surface, saving images for the web can be a pretty straightforward process. However, if you dig deeper there’s a wealth of information and techniques you might be missing out on." tags : photoshop , TGJ , TGJxx , web , fileFormat Note-taking Rules for effective note-taking Select. Omit trivial and redundant details. Omit anything you'll recall anyway! Condense. Replace lists with a category term. Organize. Choose headings and topic sentences. Rephrase. Use your own words. Elaborate. Make connection

41 Nicest Photoshop Photo Effects [Photoshop Tutorials] | Photoshop Tutorials Looks like an incredible list of tutorials for Photoshop tags : photoshop , Effects , tutorials , list , TGJ2O Brizzly / A simple way to experience the social web Great web-based client ("front-end") for Twitter and Facebook. I prefer using this website over twitter.com because it automatically displays pictures and videos. tags : Twitter , Facebook , client , web2.0 , #otfretreat2010 , social-networking , brizzly Best content in Diigo In Education | Diigo - Groups "Share your classroom usecase, ideas, reviews, features, and wishlists for making Diigo a great resource and platform in teaching and learning. Let's explore the full potential of Diigo as an educational tool." tags : diigo , education , web2.0 , social-bookmarking , group , #otfretreat2010 , bookmarks ALA | AASL Best Web sites for Teaching and Learning Top 25 Award This looks like a great list of websites for teachi

Flickr: Discussing BMW 2010 Calendar competition - beware! in Motorcycle On The Road - (Only bike with landscape, no racing) This page mentions a promotion BMW is having where you submit your photos but then BMW is free to use the photos however they wish. It may be a good starting point to discuss the subject of copyright with your students. tags : flickr , copyright , issues , TGJ , TGJxx , photography , bmw , motorcycle YouTube - Developing and deploying an application on Google App Engine This video introduces developers to building apps on Google App Engine. tags : ICS , ICSxx , Google , programming , web , Youtube , video , app , ics4u Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

Community Library for #otfretreat2010 tags : #OTFRetreat2010 , search , diigo , bookmarks TooManyTabs for Chrome - Google Chrome extension gallery tags : TooManyTabs , chrome , extension , myplugins Justice For Youth and Children tags : #OTFRetreat2010 , age , legal , rights , education Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

View the vancouver2010.com medals' table

One of my tasks at school has been to create a new website. After much testing with a complex site that was extremely difficult to maintain and troubleshoot, I switched to Google Sites to create it. The address of the new site is: http://www.beamsvillesecondaryschool.org/ The principal asked me to put a page counter on it, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the new site had been viewed almost 1400 times in less than a week. That's with almost no advertising, other than amongst the staff to get them involved in its creation. The following graph was created in Google Documents, and should automatically update as I update the data. I'm hoping to do this on a weekly basis, at least for the first little while. Once it gets to 10,000 or so, I'll probably  update the graph less often.

Free online media file conversion (Document, Images, Audio, Video & Archives) Looks like a good site to convert media files.  tags : utility , online , free , convert , TGJ , TGJxx - post by rjleaman Portrait of a Multitasking Mind: Scientific American What happens when you try to do three things at once? tags : multitasking , media , social-networking YouTube - Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity? tags : creativity , education , TED , video , ted.com , KenRobinson , Inspiration http://www.livesafeworksmart.net/english/coop/pdf/coop08_eng.pdf tags : co-op , safety , LiveSafeWorkSmart , 2008 5 Reasons Why Educators Should Network Many teachers go to school each day, teach their students and leave. If they're struggling with how to teach a lesson that will engage their students, they might ask for advice from the teacher down the hall, but a lot of times, they struggle alone. That's not the case for educators who have built a network of people who share resour