The Build Your Wild Self site from New York Zoos and Aquariums might seem like nothing more than a bit of fun. (Of course, who can’t use a bit of fun once in awhile?) However, I’d recommend giving it a try and thinking deeper about educational uses for this site.
As a previous second and third grade classroom teacher, there was always learning to be done about animals, habitats and adaptations to habitats. As I went through the steps to build my wild self, I thought of how much fun students could have with this site and not even know they were going to be learning.
Here’s my wild self:
Once your wild self is displayed, you can send it to a friend and/or print it. Look at the information the site provided under my avatar:
Polar bear ears -It gets cold in the Arctic (down to 35°F below). For warmth, your polar bear ears are small and covered in fur even on the inside. When diving, the ears close to keep cold water out.
Spider crab claws – Grab on! Your spider crab claws can grow incredibly long and strong. Some have been known to grow leg spans greater than 13 feet!
African lion legs – Your African lion legs are extremely powerful and have long, retractable claws to help you bring down prey. Careful not to poke your eye out with those things!
Monarch butterfly wings – Your monarch butterfly wings can beat five times per second. Can you flap your arms five times in one second?
That kind of information would be great for writing a story about the character they just created! Let me know in the comments if you get a chance to check it out and/or use it with students. Oh, and with the soon to be released Where the Wild Things Are movie, students would enjoy this site even more!
Looking for ways to motivate your children and summer school students? Check out the free resources at Discovery Education’s Parent Corner including Motivation Station, Summer Activities and Step-by-step Webmath.
I just got around to checking out the Dancing Matt video and agree that it is one that made me smile.
In addition to making me smile, it made me think about the world today and how we used to all dance alone. Now, with the use of many technology tools, it’s easier for us to dance together. This is a video that will work well for presentations to teachers about connecting students to the world.
We all wonder what the digital future will look like…if you’re wondering what the digital now looks like, get ready for Digital Nation.
From the site:
Digital Nation is a multi-platform project that includes an interactive Web site and a one-hour FRONTLINE documentary to air Winter 2010. The project aims to capture life on the digital frontier and explore how the Web and digital media are changing the way we think, work, learn and interact.
Over the course of ten months, FRONTLINE’s Digital Nation Web site will feature video reports from the production team, regular blog updates from the field, live online forums with a variety of digital mavens, and other interactive tools for users to share and connect around. Topics will rotate regularly and may focus on education and technology, human development, online privacy, virtual worlds and online games, technology in the military, digital media in the workplace and more.
In addition, visitors to the Digital Nation Web site may contribute to a mosaic of user-generated content titled Your Digital Nation.
This week members of my program cohort completed a Communication Styles Inventory. I’m generally pretty wary of these types of surveys – I mean it was only 10 questions. Anyway, based on the questions (which, in many cases, had two very good choices), I was found to be a sensor. Some words from this ‘communication character’ were: doer, decisive, pragmatic, independent, assertive, practical, opportunistic… Honestly, I think many of those characteristics can be seen as both negative and positive. I wasn’t sure I was pleased with the outcome of the survey.
However, I also rated high on the feeler scale, which made me feel a little better. Some words from this ‘communication character’ were: patience, perceptive, understanding, respectful, accepting, people oriented…
I do see myself with the sensor qualities, but also felt that single description did not factor in my ‘feeling’ qualities. Therefore, I’ll be referring to myself as a sensor/feeler:) The other two styles were intuitor and thinker, and I also had some of those characteristics. Of course, those rated lower for me and that is an important thing to understand about myself.
The reason for completing the communication styles inventory was to determine my communication style for the purpose of later using the information to build teams for coursework activities. As a sensor/feeler, I’ll need to pay attention to the characteristics of the other two styles: intuitor and thinker and be sure I’m incorporating those characteristics into my work. Also it seems I’m looking for some thinkers (avoids emotionalism and speculation, can be overly cautious or conservative, even rigid ) and intuitors (excel in imaginative tasks, see the value of continuous probing and re-examination ) to be in my group. Although I know combining these other communication styles to my style might mean that it will be more challenging and maybe take longer to get things done, I bet they’ll be deeper in content and contain more vision than I could on my own. I guess that equals a collaborative team!
Mark your calendars! The K12 Online Conference will begin the week of November 30, 2009 with a pre-conference keynote. The following two weeks, December 7-11 and December 14-17, forty presentations will be posted online to the conference blog for participants to download and view.
From the site:
As we get prepared for the summer (Northen Hemisphere), we are ready to announce our conference theme and strands for 2009. This year our conference theme is “Bridging the Divide” and our four strands will be Getting Started, Week in the Classroom, Kicking It Up a Notch, and Leading the Change. This year we are also looking at including presentations in Spanish and those produced by students– More information will be shared about this soon. Look for regular updates here on the K-12 Online Conference blog! As conveners we are now meeting weekly to work on plans for the 2009 conference. We will be releasing the 2009 conference call for presentations to coincide with NECC 2009. On behalf of the K12OnlineConference 2009 team, thanks for stopping by!
Starting this summer, I’m adding a destination on my flight plan to the future. I am enrolled in the Johns Hopkins/ISTE program for a certificate in School Administration and Supervision. It’s completely online and an accelerated program. For these reasons, combined with the workload, I’m super nervous about managing my time for the next year or so.
Some of my reasons for choosing this program are (not necessarily in this order):
It’s all online.
It includes participants from around the country/world.
It’s technology use/application focus.
The administrative certification.
The opportunity to learn more!
For the program, we are asked to maintain a reflective blog which I have set up on Blogger, called A&S Reflections. From time to time, I’ll cross post items from there to this location. If you’re interested in following along, feel free to visit either site!
I’m home for the summer! This is the first year that I managed to keep my first week off from school completely unscheduled. It’s also the earliest that the kids stopped attending day care for the summer. We’ve enjoyed our first week together and as usual, I have a renewed appreciation for all the stay at home moms! What a job they do!
Some of my observations from our week together:
Stay at home moms do tons of dishes!
Kids like to eat ALL the time.
Siblings fight. (I was an only child.)
It’s good to get out of the house at least once a day.
Board games are fun again.
The local library has a lot of great summer programs.
I have a lot of work to do this summer and during the rest of June, we won’t have as much time together because of that. However, come July, we’ll be back together again – every day! For better or worse:) I welcome any and all tips from stay at home moms for making the most of our summer together.
Be heard and take part in advancing education across our nation at The Cyber Summit on 21st Century Skills, June 1-12, 2009.
Raise your voice and help advance education across our nation. The Cyber Summit on 21st Century Skills is an important, nation-wide online event where educators, administrators, business people, policy makers and parents—anyone who desires to have a voice in the future of education in our country—can learn and be heard as we work together to advance the 21st Century Skills Movement.
Engage in a nation-wide discussion to formulate recommendations for education practices and policies
Lend your voice to help forward the 21st Century Skills Movement
PARTICIPATE FOR FREE in a unique nation-wide, online event
We look forward to your being an integral part of this crucial national conversation.
This online event is being held in conjunction with the National Summit on 21st Century Skills in Washington, D.C. on June 12.
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