Will a USB camera work? I really don’t know. I have been trying to find a way to get my son’s playstation 2 USB camera to work, but I still have to find a program that would make it work…

The iSight is around $150 to $200 (in Guam, may be cheaper or more expensive in other places) — but the new macbook has the camera built-in!

Check out this program! I think it’s a good AND simple program for teachers and other presentors. What it does is it transforms your cursor into a spotlight and then darkens the background.

• apple-delete to delete instrument/track
• click on eyeball on bottom left
• pan- let speaker on top, right below
• green file is a midi file whle blue is wav file
• metronome is found in the control menu
• earphones become microphones when inserted in input! (cool!)
• Unfortunately, you cannot print out music you have written with Garage Band, you need logic express or logic — to print out music
• garage band — ducking what is it? yellow triangle takes priority to the downward blue triangle so whatever is in the blue triangle will soften automatically

FOR PODCAST UPLOAD (using PodcastMaker)

Go to: harddrive-library-web server-documents
Also, go to: system preferences-sharing-check personal web sharing
Back to the podcastMaker program, click on: load, when done, click “copy feed URL” instead of “done”
Then, go to: itunes-advance-subscribe to podcast-paste copied URL and it will appear!!!

OR, you can upload it to your web site through FTP or ask your systems administrator

OR, you can upload it to this address — http://127.0.0.1/ — your personal computer’s own web server!

I was so happy to here this suggestion. My greatest fear about the internet is that students will just surf the net and then copy and paste information without really understanding it. Of course, as teacher, I know when this “crime” has been committed. How? Because the student “miraculously” writes like a professional BUT can’t answer pertinent questions regarding his or her work. This teaching method forces the student to analyze and think critically.

Other nifty shortcuts are:

apple-shift-3 – to get a screen shot of your desktop

apple-shift-4 – to get cross hairs so that you can take a picture of a section of your desktop

apple-shift-4-spacebar – to get an accurate picture of the window you choose

May sound simple, but sure is useful!

Because it is such a timesaver. All you need to do is register (it’s free!!!!!) and then plug in all the blog sites you want to keep an eye on!

How good is it? Well, only one way to find out — try it! Go to http://www.bloglines.com.

What skill am I talking about? OUTLINING!

So, I started them out using paper and pencil. Workable, but very hard to edit.

Then, I told them to use the “bullets and numbering” feature of Microsoft word. Well, it worked for some but it was confusing for most – but like good soldiers, they never gave up!

Hmmm…there must be an easier way…then I read about a handheld program called THOUGHT MANAGER. I tested it…very nice and simple…easy to use. BUT, it did not have the numbering system I wanted the students to learn.

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

What to do? Ah! Of course! INSPIRATION! How could I forget! So, I downloaded the demo and found the answer to my outline problem! INSPIRATION was great! It was as simple to use as THOUGHT MANAGER, but had the numbering system that I wanted the students to learn. In addition, the students can switch from outlining to mind mapping with a click of a button.

And so, INSPIRATION became part of my handheld arsenal and the students began to understand and appreciate outlining.

Check out my happy troop of 6th graders using their handhelds and INSPIRATION to make an outline on the Landforms of Mexico!

Hmmmm…light bulb goes on…

This is a great way to write down class/school rules, assignments, instructions, etc.!
Okay, 6th graders, you will be the first class to experience this technological wonder!

Only one of them finished and was able to print her bill through the infrared laser printer (another thing that amazed them). The others, who were half done, started asking me if they can take home the handheld and continue at home. Of course my answer was, “NO!”. Then, they asked me whether they can save their work on their flash drive.

(This is paragraph #3)Hmmmm…an interesting thought that never crossed my mind! Yes, there must be a way to do that. So I checked the program we were using — Documents (Dataviz) and saw that Icould save the file as an MS Word document. Great! That means, I can “save as” an MS word document and then synch with my computer and then open the file with Word and then save and then transfer it to the student’s flashdrive and then…KABOOM…IT WOULDN’T WORK! And had 2 forlorn 8th graders leave the classroom, looking forward to retyping everything they did for the last 30 minutes… ;-(

So, I talked to Mr. Tech Guru (that’s Rolly) and asked if there was a way to open a handheld MS Word document on my computer. Thank heavens, he said, “There is a way!” So he gave me a demo version of Dataviz for the Mac and explained that when I synch, all dataviz document files would open through this program and then I could do what I wanted to do in the first place (go to paragraph 3 for a refresher, if you desire!)

Haven’t tried it yet, but will definitely blog a feedback as soon as I do!