ed-Tech Ninja » Asides

Storytelling

Tech Ninja — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:30:31 +0000

Two websites that I like to use for storytelling/story writing are Kerpoof and Big Universe. The first, Kerpoof, will allow students to choose a scene and then add characters to the scene. You can add motions and effects to the characters making for a really cool little “movie making” lite experience. The other allows students to create online books. Students can write story and then add illustrations from thier vast collection of clip-arty type pictures. Like with any other experience, the Ninja does the writing part first, this is just a way to publish student work.

The Ninja has collected these links from one of his favorite blogs Teachers Love Smartboards. Jim has a wonderful collection of resources and ideasfor the SmartBoard using Ninja. Check him out!

Notebook Student Edition - BETA

Tech Ninja — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 01:15:35 +0000

Smart has just released a new piece of software. The Ninja is installing it now. The new software is called SMART Notebook Student Edition (SE). The program is only in BETA right now which means if you don’t feel comfortable playing around with what could be flakey software, you shouldn’t install it. BETA is a version before it is officially released. Just a warning.

The student edition appears to be just the same as Notebook but it does add a few features. I will leave those for a larger post. Coming soon.

Service Pack 1

Tech Ninja — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:40:28 +0000

One of the Tech Ninja’s issues with Notebook 10 was the floating toolbar in both the Mac and Windows versions. I politely complained over at the Smart Exchange in the thread entitled Floating Tools Won’t Go Away. There has been much discussion and several suggestions on fixing the annoyance. The cool part is Smart actually listened to the Ninja. Recently Smart released Service Pack 1 for Notebook. One of the features in this new release is it allows you to choose which side of the screen you want the Floating Toolbar to appear. A huge boon for those of us Mac users who keep our Dock on the left side. In the Windows version, it even lets you choose if you want the toolbar to even start-up. Unfortunately, the feature didn’t make it into the Mac version because of time, but it is suggested that this option will appear in Service Pack 2. Kudos to Smart! Now my only issue is my computer doesn’t always remember which side of the screen I want my toolbar to be on.

edublogs.tv

Tech Ninja — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:33:57 +0000

The Ninja’s favorite new video sharing site is edublogs.tv. Created by the same people who created edublogs, this is a site similar to TeacherTube or YouTube that allows teacher share their educationally related videos with the Internets. Bonus, there is no advertising on the site and if you embed the video into a blog, when the video is played, there isn’t a selection of other videos you might like, it just ends. The Ninja likes that. Try it out!

Meet the Greens

Tech Ninja — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:10:56 +0000

Today (April 22) is Earth Day! May the Tech Ninja humbly suggest the website Meet the Greens: A site for kids about looking after the planet. The Greens are a family who are looking for ways to help out planet Earth. Different “Green” topics are covered in “episodes” that is a collection of links from Flash cartoons about the Greens (very humorous) to links to online quizzes and activities. Also check out Energy Hogs.

Teacher and the Rockbots

Tech Ninja — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:42:25 +0000

While searching for video resources for the Pledge of Allegiance on YouTube I came across a song that explained the meaning of the Pledge in a fun and educational way. The song was by Teacher and the Rockbots. Currently they have four albums out. One about American, on over multiplication, one on Science and one covering the World. The Ninja’s students love them! Additionally, they have worksheets and online games to reinforce the concepts covered in the music. You can buy the CD or download from services likt iTunes. Video example after the jump….

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Smart Notebook 10

Tech Ninja — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:42:24 +0000

Smart has released Notebook 10 for download. You will need a serial number from a Smart device to register and unlock the software for more than a 30-Day trail. Once registered, that activation code can be used on multiple computers and multiple installs of Notebook. The first 10,000 to register can a free 60 MB trail to the Smart Learning Marketplace. Also, the Lesson Activity Toolkit has come out of beta with several new types of games and activities that are customizable for the teacher.

Media Convert

Tech Ninja — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 20:15:34 +0000

In an age of multiple formats for different types of media, it can get confusing even for a Tech Ninja. There’s .wma, .wmv, .mp3, .mp4, .flv, .mov, .doc, .txt, .htm, and the list goes on. It always seems to be the case that the format that you need in isn’t around. That is why it is nice to have some bookmarks to some media conversions sites. The Ninja has two for you. The first has a pay for section of the site but if you aren’t in a hurry, you can try out Zamzar.com. My new favorite though is free and you can download the converted file immediately after conversion. Try out Media Convert.

Spelling City

Tech Ninja — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 23:23:11 +0000

Spelling City is a website that the Ninja’s class has been using for quite a few months. Teachers can add their spelling lists and then students can play games or even take tests online. There are a few things that the Ninja would like to see, like the ability to link to a specific spelling list, but the Ninja likes it as do the ‘Lil Ninjas.

SchoolTube

Tech Ninja — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 23:38:35 +0000

Another education focused website for sharing video is SchoolTube.com. SchoolTube seems to be geared more to student produced information and videos rather than the teacher. In the Ninja’s humble opinion, SchoolTube is much more difficult to navigate and isn’t as user friendly at TeacherTube.