This is a guest post submitted by Claire Dean from Stirling Primary. Claire has been a Microsoft Innovative Teacher finalist twice. She has been a world-wide winner of the Thinkquest projects competition along with Brenda Hallowes from Port Elizabeth in 2009. Claire is also a trainer with SchoolNet SA.
The Ghanaian Ministry of Education requested training on “Getting started with ThinkQuest Projects”. Claire Dean (from East London) and Shirley-Ann Oldnall Jansen (from Irene) facilitated these worksho...
Microsoft Songsmith is an amazing programme to use in the classroom for creating songs. The students absolutely love it.
What is Songsmith?
Songsmith is a pretty smart programme that creates musical accompaniment to match the voice of whoever is singing. All you have to do is choose a musical style, sing into your PC or laptop microphone, and Songsmith will come up with the backing track for your music. After that you can share your songs with your friends and family, post your songs online, or create yo...
Just recently I have started using Office 2010 and I am delighted to find that PowerPoint has a video editing feature. This YouTube video from Office shows how it is done.
...
Today I thought I would experiment with Screenr as a screencasting tool to illustrate some aspects that I want to highlight in a talk I am presenting tomorrow. I normally use Jing, and I will write about Jing at some stage as well.
Well first of all I went along to the Screenr website and joined.
There was a video giving instructions right there and so I watched it. In fact click on the picture below and you will be taken to the instruction video
See how easy it looks. For my talk tomorrow I w...
Classroom blogging is one of the most exciting ventures for a classroom teacher to embark on. It opens a door of possibilities and makes the way for making a host of new friends around the world. Apart from that it gives parents an opportunity to take a peek into the classroom and see what is happening. I love blogging!
This weekend I presented a workshop entitled ‘Blogging for teachers’ at the EdTechConference at Elkanah House in Cape Town. I started off with the ideas that follow in the slide-share...
Are you perhaps wanting to start a collaborative project with a class but you don’t quite know where to start? Omashani Naidoo who is the Operations Manager at SchoolNetSA brings our attention to the latest 2011-2012 iEARN Project Description Book which is now available on the web at: http://www.iearn.org/iearn-project-book. This book is full of project ideas where the originators of the projects are looking for a class to collaborate with. Why not take a look? (Please note that there will be new iEARN...
This is a guest post written by Nina Adams who is Head of ICT at St Cyprians in Cape Town. She plans, implements and manages all things ICT, from infrastructure to staff training. She also heads up the Microsoft Innovative Schools programme which means she is responsible for researching, implementing and documenting best practice in the areas of innovation and ICT integration. St Cyprians is passionate about technology and innovation, and its impact on 21st century teaching and learning. Nina has r...
Submitted by Fiona Beal
One of the things I love doing with a class is writing poetry. The students come up with the most interesting ideas and words. Playing with words always gives me a thrill. There are so many free interactive sites available that can make the teacher’s task even easier, and the learners experience more memorable.
1. ETTC (Educational Technology Training Centre) – Instant Poetry Forms
http://ettcweb.lr.k12.nj.us/forms/newpoem.htm
This is a really great poetry sit...
Submitted by Fiona Beal
Have you ever wondered how to get the reluctant writers in your class enthusiastic about writing? Nowadays with all the wonderful free applications available on the web a teacher doesn’t have to stress about this any more. (Please note that there is a link to a follow up post with more story starter sites under point 11 below.)
1. Wallwisher
This is an idea I tried last year. Open a wallwisher page (http://wallwisher.com) and ask the class to think of a good start to stor...
We have all heard of the UNICEF Children’s Rights. This is such a topical subject and it is worth getting your class to learn more about children’s rights around the world. This is one of the IEARN projects that Omashani Naidoo, the Operations Manager at SchoolNet South Africa has brought to my attention.
Omashani says, “My friend Annie Flore is a coordinator of this project. This would really be a wonderful opportunity for SA learners to give their point of view and let other countri...
SchoolNet South Africa is an incorporated Non Profit Company - Registration 2001/012244/08, NPO Number 030-817
and holds Public Benefit Organisation (PBO) Status, in terms of Section 30 of the Income Tax Act - PBO Number 130003557.
This is a guest post submitted by Claire Dean from Stirling Primary. Claire has been a Microsoft Innovative Teacher finalist twice. She has been a world-wide winner of the Thinkquest projects competition along with Brenda Hallowes from Port Elizabeth in 2009. Claire is also a trainer with SchoolNet SA.
The Ghanaian Ministry of Education requested training on “Getting started with ThinkQuest Projects”. Claire Dean (from East London) and Shirley-Ann Oldnall Jansen (from Irene) facilitated these worksho...
Today I thought I would experiment with Screenr as a screencasting tool to illustrate some aspects that I want to highlight in a talk I am presenting tomorrow. I normally use Jing, and I will write about Jing at some stage as well.
Well first of all I went along to the Screenr website and joined.
There was a video giving instructions right there and so I watched it. In fact click on the picture below and you will be taken to the instruction video
See how easy it looks. For my talk tomorrow I w...
Classroom blogging is one of the most exciting ventures for a classroom teacher to embark on. It opens a door of possibilities and makes the way for making a host of new friends around the world. Apart from that it gives parents an opportunity to take a peek into the classroom and see what is happening. I love blogging!
This weekend I presented a workshop entitled ‘Blogging for teachers’ at the EdTechConference at Elkanah House in Cape Town. I started off with the ideas that follow in the slide-share...
Submitted by Fiona Beal
One of the things I love doing with a class is writing poetry. The students come up with the most interesting ideas and words. Playing with words always gives me a thrill. There are so many free interactive sites available that can make the teacher’s task even easier, and the learners experience more memorable.
1. ETTC (Educational Technology Training Centre) – Instant Poetry Forms
http://ettcweb.lr.k12.nj.us/forms/newpoem.htm
This is a really great poetry sit...
Submitted by Fiona Beal
Have you ever wondered how to get the reluctant writers in your class enthusiastic about writing? Nowadays with all the wonderful free applications available on the web a teacher doesn’t have to stress about this any more. (Please note that there is a link to a follow up post with more story starter sites under point 11 below.)
1. Wallwisher
This is an idea I tried last year. Open a wallwisher page (http://wallwisher.com) and ask the class to think of a good start to stor...
We have all heard of the UNICEF Children’s Rights. This is such a topical subject and it is worth getting your class to learn more about children’s rights around the world. This is one of the IEARN projects that Omashani Naidoo, the Operations Manager at SchoolNet South Africa has brought to my attention.
Omashani says, “My friend Annie Flore is a coordinator of this project. This would really be a wonderful opportunity for SA learners to give their point of view and let other countri...
