Learn With Portals

Last May I blogged about the educational applications of Valve's Portal 2, for PlayStation 3 and XBox 360:
http://mrfarbersroom.blogspot.com/2011/05/portal-2-video-brain-game-review-ny.html

This week, Valve, Portal's publisher, launched the site Learn With Portals.  Valve is also offering Portal for free for both PC and Mac!  The offer ends September 20th.  Here's the link: http://store.steampowered.com/app/400/.  I just downloaded it for my Mac. 

Portal is a single-player game that applies authentic physics, mathematics, and technology concepts.  It's an excellent addition to any math or science classroom.  Check out the video below: 

The Class of 2015 Mindset List

Each August since 1998, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List, providing a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college this fall.  Today, Beloit College released it's annual "Mindset List."  This list makes me feel older every time I read it!

According to the site, "the class of 2015, without any memory whatever of George Herbert Walker Bush as president, came into existence as Bill Clinton came into the presidency. Ferris Bueller could be their overly cautious dad, and Jimmy Carter is an elderly smiling public man who appears occasionally on television doing good works. “Dial-up,” Woolworths and the Sears “Big Book” are as antique to them as “talking machines” might have been to their grandparents. Meanwhile, as they’ve wondered why O.J. Simpson has always been suspected of something, they have all “been there, done that, gotten the Tshirt,” shortened boring conversations with “yadda, yadda, yadda,” and recognized LBJ as LeBron James."

Here's the link to the complete list http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2015/. 

Voki Classroom

I am a Voki "Ambassador," one of about a dozen educators worldwide who advised the site on what features to include in the launch the classroom version of Voki. Voki is a Web 2.0 tool that easily enables users to create customized talking avatars.  I embedded a Voki of myself on the homepage of my class website.  Teachers can now sign-up students to virtual classrooms... no emails required!

Check out their press release: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/8/prweb8716302.htm\

PDF of Voki for Classroom's "Getting Started" Guide 

Our "Maine Family Vacation" Movie Trailer

Our "Maine Family Vacation" movie trailer... A trailer tour de force! Enjoy!

My Fall 2011 Workshop Course Catalog Is Out!

If you live in Morris County, NJ, check out the course catalog with the adult education classes and educational technology workshops I teach.

I will be teaching the following Adult Education Computer Application Workshops:

• Search the web effectively 
• Skype
• Using your digital camera
• Social networking with Facebook & Twitter 

I will be teaching the following ETTC (Educational Technology Training Corp) Workshops: 

• The Power of Blogging in Education
• Creating 21st Century Schools
• Twitter Resources for Educators 
• Create Online Quizzes/Tests Using Free Web 2.0 Tools 
• How to Use Wikipedia Properly 
• Online Games in the K-8 Classroom 
• Explore Google Earth
• Transform Your Classroom with Discovery Education 
• Connect with Fellow Teachers Using a PLN
• Talking Avatars with Voki/GoAnimate for School and Xtranormal
• Create Stunning Video Slide Shows with Animoto

Apple's Summer Semester: Social Studies Webcast

So far this summer I've used many educational apps on my personal MacBook Pro.  I set-up handouts on Apple's Pages, as well as migrated over some of my PowerPoints to Keynote, which I also exported as PDF handouts.  Also this week I downloaded Comic Life 2 from the Mac App store.  Comic Life's educational templates come with an array of how-to sheets for students: http://plasq.com/education/.

Today I had the opportunity to attend Apple's "Summer Semester: Social Studies" live webinar event.  This Apple webcast was "designed for any K-12 educator interested in exploring real world examples of how the latest technologies are transforming teaching and learning in social studies and that want to learn new ideas for integrating technology into classroom learning."  The webcast was presented by Apple Distinguished Educators (ADE) Anthony Armstrong Teacher, Del Mar Middle School, Tiburon, CA and Janet Copenhaveran, Director of Technology/Media, Henry County Public Schools, Collinsville, VA.  The focus was on Mac and iPad.

The webcast will be archived on iTunesU available for download later this summer.  The presenters will also upload video tutorials detailing how they accomplished some of the projects illustrated.  Topics included Pearson's e-textbook initiative with iPad (Early Jamestown, Pass the Past, Westward Expansion, Whiteboard apps, Talking Tomcat for special needs students, improved test scores, etc.), as well Mac's iLife (iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand) and iWork (Pages, Numbers, Keynote) suites.

I never thought of having students use PhotoBooth to practice recording and making presentations.  The presenter also suggested having students use the Stickies app, with PhotoBooth, as a gallery walk to assess each other. The ease of the tools on a Mac is a real class timesaver! 

The Apple Distinguished Educator site on iTunes U, where the archived versions of the webcast, as well as the video tutorials, will be found here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/institution/apple-distinguished-educators/id380379132

Notes:

• The first iPad app demoed, Early Jamestown, can be found here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/early-jamestown/id395229194?mt=8
• Pass the Past iPad app: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pass-the-past/id392637590?mt=8
• Stack the States iPad app can be found here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/stack-the-states/id381342267?mt=8 
• The Talking Tom Cat iPad app can be found here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/talking-tom-cat-2-for-ipad/id421998342?mt=8
• Regarding green screens with iMovie (Mac and iPad), you can find affordable solutions on sites like Amazon simply by searching for "green screen," although many teachers do use things like green paper, and even matte shower curtains.
• On iPad, images can be saved by tapping and holding on it in Safari. When you do this, you'll see a menu that allows you to copy the image, or save it to your camera roll, accessible in the built-in Photos app. 

A terrific resource is the new page devoted to educational apps (for Mac, iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch): http://www.apple.com/education/apps/ 

Pixton for Schools

Pixton is an award-winning "click and drag" comic creation site.  Teachers can even set-up virtual classrooms (no student emails required!).  Check out the video on Pixton's website: http://www.pixton.com/schools/overview.  Below is a Pixton comic I created to help introduce a "Web and Graphic Design" camp I'm co-coordinating in a couple of weeks:

Debut of Lizzie's Movie Trailer

More fun with iMovie's templates!

Lizzie from Matthew Farber on Vimeo.

Instagram Abe

I got back yesterday from chaperoning my school's 8th grade trip.  While there, I took a picture with the Instagram iPhone app of the Lincoln Memorial.  Instagram is a popular, free social photo sharing smartphone app.

Here's the link to the picture: http://instagr.am/p/FF8DL/.

The picture I took is below:

Follow Mr. Farber On Twitter

Follow @MatthewFarber

Spencer at the Staten Island Zoo

Spencer at the Staten Island Zoo a video by The Farbers on Flickr.

In a World Gone Mad...

My 6th grade students just completed a PBL in which they created a "Press Kit" to sell a fictional movie about European explorers.  Students used a list of web resources to research their assigned explorer.  Each "Press Kit" contained 3 components:

1. A 300 word description of their movie, which is similar to what is found on the back of a DVD, or Netflix red envelope.  Students were given a list of 9 questions to research.
2. A "Coming Attractions” poster, created using a free online site, http://bighugelabs.com/poster.php.  
3. A “Coming Soon” movie trailer created using the class' free Animoto account.  

Also part of the student's grade was to have a consistent theme (e.g., movie title, release date, tagline, stars, movie reviews).  Grading was done by rubric.

Below are some examples of student-created movie trailers:

Here are some permalinks to some of their movie trailers:

• http://animoto.com/play/fyFeLO55VaJVKrMIbVh2gw
• http://animoto.com/play/hj0v2OH8J1h92EyhV0STyA
• http://animoto.com/play/IsnZsz7yrHVpEb7DHoXgvw

"We the People: The Citizen & the Constitution" E-Books

E-book versions of the We the People: The Citizen & the Constitution are now available for all grade levels (elementary, middle school, high school).  Thanks to a PTA grant I won, I use a class set of 30 with my 7th graders.  The teacher's edition, which comes with the class set, can be purchased separately. 

Here's the link for the middle school edition:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/48891630/We-the-People-Middle-School-Textbook 

Below is a preview:We the People Middle School Textbook

Portal 2, a Video Brain Game Review - NY Times

 

 

 

Arts

Physics, With Wormholes by You

By SETH SCHIESEL

Published: May 10, 2011

"Somewhere out there an innovative, dynamic high school physics teacher will use Portal 2 as the linchpin of an entire series of lessons and will immediately become the most important science teacher those lucky students have ever had... You might even learn something." 

 

Interesting review.  Here's the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/arts/video-games/portal-2-a-video-brain-game-review.html

Cartoonatic iPhone App

Cartoon Spencer in the park with our dog Lizzie.

National Security Webinar

Yesterday my 7th grade social studies class, along with over 1,600 classrooms, plus tens of thousands of students across the globe, tuned in to a live webcast to hear Ben Rhodes, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor, discuss Osama bin Laden.  Over 1,700 questions were submitted from students. Students watched the webcast on our SMART Board.   

You can watch the three-part archive of this historic event here:  

http://www.discoveryeducation.com/national-security/webinar.cfm

White House Webinar

I registered my 7th grade social studies class for a live webinar, sponsored by Discovery Education.  Below is the complete description:

Teachers and students are invited to join Ben Rhodes, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Speechwriting, for a very special webinar on Thursday, May 5 at 1PM ET.

• Presentation (15 minutes) Ben will provide context and perspective
• Q&A from Students (15 minutes) Students will have the chance to submit questions to be answered live

Free QR Generator

URL shortening websites are not only popular on sites like Twitter (due to the 140 character limit), but also in the classroom.  I frequently use URL shortening sites (tinyurl.com and http://bit.ly/) to help guide students directly to websites.  When you use Google to shorten a URL (http://goo.gl/), click "Details" to get a QR code.  QR codes are growing in popularity.  QR (Quick Response) codes can be scanned with smartphones and take users directly to a linked website.  Here is the QR code for http://mrfarbersroom.blogspot.com/:

Shakespeare and Social Media

Check out the link to the first ever Facebook performance of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing from Weekly Reader magazine: http://www.weeklyreader.com/ado.

Here is the link to download the PDF of the William Shakespeare issue of Weekly Reader's Read: http://www.weeklyreader.com/sites/default/files/RDS14.pdf. 

Below is a hip-hop animation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing by Flocabulary:

Google Docs - Tipsheet and Resource Guide

Google Docs - Tipsheet and Resource Guide