Avatars that talk . . .

I have a class blog for each of the grades that I teach (7, 8, 9, 10, 11). The main purpose of the blog is to post assignments and students can find the information they need to be successful there. I've been having a bit of fun by putting a Voki (talking picture) (http://www.voki.com) on the blogs (my favorite is a cat) and the students have gotten a big kick of it. One student has found another site called Blabberize (http://www.blabberize.com) and it takes this speaking avatar idea one step further. You can send an animated message. (Thank you Guga). Check it out!

Google Calendar

Today at the staff meeting someone gave a presentation to introduce the staff to Google Calendar. Where have I been? This is a tool which can help organize your life - both professionally and personally. It was suggested that the school begin using Google calendar and insert all of the dates that the staff needs to keep track of. Then, each department in turn could do the same. Finally, each teacher can also open an account. All of our important dates would be collected in one place assessible from any internet connection. What a great idea!

Here's mine . . .

Becoming a Webhead 2008

Well it's that time again. . .

Time for the annual Becoming a Webhead Course. It begins January 14 and runs for 6 weeks. It is a special no-cost, online course taught by volunteers which introduces the participants to educational technologies and web 2.0 applications. Blogs, wikis, and other online communication tools will be examined and participants will learn first hand how to utilize these tools. Each week another topic/tool will be explored. Week 5 (the week I co-moderate;-) interactive exercises (using free online sites like ProProfs and ClassMarker) will be the focus.

The intended audience for this group is EFL teachers but all interested parties are encouraged to join. This Community of Practice offers a warm and welcoming online atmosphere and group members have a unique bond which allows this group to continue long after the course has finished.

If you want to learn more about educational technologies and expand your teaching repertoire, do yourself a favor and enroll today!

Click to join baw08

Blogs in Plain English

Check this out!

Holistic Education

In an effort to better understand "Holistic Education" I decided to take a little trip into cyberspace (my favorite travel mode) and came up with a few links worth mentioning.

http://hent.blogspot.com/ - Holistic and Integral Education (Roger Stack)
http://www.hent.org/ - Holistic Education

Also came across this link for a very forward school: http://www.hobart.tased.edu.au/default.htm

Happy New Year