First of all, I'd like to thank all of the amazing teachers, substitute teachers educational assistants, principals, vice principals and division office members who attended one of the 19 SMART Board workshops I've led over the past 2 weeks! This includes, but is not limited to, folks from Southern Alberta, the Calgary area (northern and southern perimeter including Airdrie, Okotoks and Cochrane), Calgary, Red Deer, Camrose, Edmonton, Lloydminster, Wainwright, Victoria, Vancouver, Abbotsford, Duncan, Cowichan, Langley, Surrey, Mission, Chilliwack and the million other places that I'm sure I'm forgetting.

I'd especially like to thank those who have taken the time to mosey on over to this little blog of mine :)

Oh, and I would also like to extend a huge thank you to all the people who have shared their resources with me, provided me with amazing links to great interactive websites and given feedback on my sessions.  I. Love. Teachers. (after all, I was one in a previous life!)

Today's Fresh Look Fridays post is about a website one that I've seen before, I've used in workshops before and I've promoted verbally before.  But every now and then one of my favourite interactive sites gets pushed to the back of my mind when I see a new and engaging website...(Look! Shiny object!)

But luckily one of my workshop attendees yesterday reminded me of this FANTASTIC site for Science simulations!  PhET is a website spilling over with a million interactive simulations for Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Math, Earth Science, etc., etc.  

I can't even begin to list all the reasons why this site is awesome.  Mainly, it is exactly the type of interactive website that works especially well on a SMART Board or other iwb in the classroom -- it encourages exploration and experimentation, it's perfect for a center type activity with 3 or 4 kids at the SMART Board, it provides visual references to abstract ideas and it's a nice extension or introductory activity.

Some of my favourites are found in the Physics section. What? You're surprised that deep inside this history geek there's a math-brained geek who's fascinated with the inner workings of this natural science? Just because I watch CPac and C-Scan doesn't mean that I'm not interested in the properties of a pendulum swing! :)

One example: Balloons and Static Electricity.  So simple, yet so easy to understand!

Just thought it was time to share a little info for Science colleagues of mine! Happy Friday and Happy Labour/Labor Day to the Canadian and American educators reading this!

Vanessa :)

Many things in my life changed when I made the switch from "classroom teacher" to "education consultant".  These include:

1. I lost the ability to walk in high heels for hours on end

2. My house is much cleaner on a regular basis

3. I've spent more time on an airplane or in a car in the past 11 months than the previous 5 years combined

4. Apparently, I've lost my ability to effectively multitask

What happened to the girl who used to be able to reply to a parent's email, schedule a bus for a volleyball tournament, catch up the student who was absent for 7 days and introduce the next topic in our unit, all while carrying on conversations with 3 separate students regarding behaviour, questions and direction?

Whew! The fact that that was my life every day for the previous 5 years makes me exhausted!!

So I guess I've been a bit babied working with adults -- they're polite, quiet at the appropriate times and generally do not interrupt the task that I'm working on. I'm going to blame this coddling I've received as being the reason why my Fresh Look Fridays posts have been a bit late these days :)

Anyhoo, sometimes being 72 hours behind the eight-ball has it's perks.  For instance, today's cool site is something of a recent phenomenon that I've seen lit up all over Twitter this afternoon:

The Wilderness Downtown is an experimental music video using HTML5 (hence, the reason HTML5 is trending today).  For those who haven't been immersed in the tech world for awhile, HTML5 is what is supposed to replace Flash on websites.  Apple says HTML5 is the next generation of interactivity, hence the reason it won't support Flash on it's devices. Confused? You should be...

I recommend trying out this little experiment by clicking the link below.  **Please note** This ONLY works in Google Chrome (not Firefox, not Internet Explorer, and certainly not Safari).

Prepare to be amazed, confused, awestruck and amused all at the same time ;)

Maybe you could show this in class and get your kids to explain to you how they created this!

Vanessa

Today is officially the first day back to school.  Well, not for me, but for my former colleagues.

I can't believe that this marks the SECOND first day back to school that I'm not officially a part of.  Perhaps it's time for a reflection on how my life has changed in the past 14 months in the P.T. era (post-teaching...not to be confused with "T.P." which stands for something entirely different...)

But alas, this reflection on my new direction in life will have to wait another day.  I'm heading out to the Battle River Learning Institute this morning to lead some SMART Board workshops with various people in their school division.  Can't wait! 

So in honour of today's "Back to School" theme, I thought I'd share one of my favourite new commercials that centres around this topic.  Enjoy!

Vanessa

What a wonderful time I'm having at Touch N Go 2010!! (#tng2010 for you all you newly converted tweeps out there!)

I love, love, LOVE hanging out with teachers who are excited about learning, kids and most of all, technology. The discussions of lesson plans, cute stories of "kids say the darndest things" and whimsical fantasies of the first stay of school almost make me want to re-enter the world of being a classroom teacher.

Almost.

I'll save a more expanded post for later next week when I have a bit more time, but I need to stress just how awesome it is that this collaborative group of teachers is sharing ideas and resources.

And so I have to steal copy share an excellent resource from a teacher at Touch N Go 2010 that I had never seen before: First Voices.

Essentially, this is an interactive website (and a Canadian one at that!) that lets students explore dialect and language of the Aboriginal peoples in Canada.  Explore the interactive map to see with cultural groups are identified in which regions, see a description of each group and hear sample words in their native language.

So simple, so easy to navigate, and a great supplementary resource to anyone studying the First Nations in Canada.

Just add it to my list of "Reasons Why I Love Touch N Go". Right behind "it's held in the bea-U-ti-ful Cowichan Bay region". 

Happy weekend! I have a flight to catch :)

Vanessa

Just a brief blog post today, as I'm currently getting ready to fly out to bea-U-ti-ful Vancouver Island!! I'm sooo excited about presenting at Touch N Go 2010 -- I've heard and seen many mentions of the conference on Twitter, meaning that I'll hopefully be able to connect with many of my tweeps!

And so, this less-than-100-word-blog-post is simply a promotion of Touch N Go 2010.  Check out their website below and follow along with us on Twitter (#tng2010)

Hopefully, I'll see many of you there! Since we all look nothing like our Twitter pictures (doesn't everyone put their best foot forward?), I just we use the hashtag #tng2010 to coordinate meetings :)

Vanessa