Create a Comic Strip or a Comic Book

Comic strips are a good activity for students. They allow teachers to see if students understand the concepts taught in class. They also allow the students to show their creative side while having fun at the same time. The sites allow you to drag and drop characters, backgrounds, dialog boxes and add your text. They are very easy to manipulate. Here are 4 comic strip sites that are free and school friendly.

http://superherosquad.marvel.com/create_your_own_comic

http://www.pikikids.com/

http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/

http://www.pixton.com/

Superherosquad.marvel.com allows you to drag and drop super heroes (as the site name implies). This site also gives you the option to create a comic book. Pikikids.com gives you the option to upload your own photographs. The students could use their phones to take the pictures. The photography teacher in me advises you to teach your students about composition and lighting before you send your students out on their photo excursion. Makebeliefscomix.com allows the user to write the comic strip in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese or Latin. Pixton.com has a link for schools.

No matter what subject you teach, these comic strip sites give you the opportunity to assign a fun activity to your students.

Shodor.org\Interactivate is a Great Resource for Math and Science

http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/ is a great resource for Math and Science. It is a java based Math & Science courseware that includes lessons, discussions and standards for the teachers and activities, tools and a dictionary for the students. Shodor contains over 70 lessons based on the activities for grades 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12. The discussions will help the students understand math and science concepts. There are over 100 interactive activities that allow students to explore the many areas of math and science. The dictionary lists the terms the students encounter in the website. The tools are a subset of the activities index page and can be used as stand alone applications in analyzing numbers and data.

Polar Coordinates Activity

New Year, New CPS Database

When you begin using CPS another school year you should create a new database. I tell teachers it’s not a bad idea to name your new database your name and the school year. So for example, I would name my database Brian_2011_12. For those of you that are new to this CPS database deal, let me explain what a database is. You create a CPS database the very first time you open CPS. You only create one for the entire school year. This database contains all the classes, students, lessons (or tests), fastgrade test keys and challenge boards you create during the entire year. That way you can easily see when the databases were created. You should never delete your old databases. This is so you do not have to create all your lessons, fastgrade tests and challenge boards all over again. That would be a bit insane.

Once you create your new database, click on the “prepare” tab and the “lessons & assessments sub-tab”. Click the import button. Click the browse button to browse for your database. In the next window, you will see your selected database. Click the plus sign next to the database name and put a check in the lesson (test) boxes you want to import.

Completing The Quest Atlantis Student Consent Forms Online

You no longer have to print out the student consent forms and have the students and parents sign them. Students and parents can now complete their consent forms online. However, teachers will still need to complete their forms on paper. Here is the procedure for completing the student online forms.

1. Go to your teacher toolkit -> My Questers -> Registration and Class Lists.

2. Expand your current class to see mail envelopes in the Consent – Teacher column. Click on the mail envelope to generate an email to parents.

3. The mail envelope will generate an email for one student at a time. You will see a screen reminding you that your account will be documented as sending out consent emails. Click “proceed”. Feel free to edit the letter as you see fit, but make sure you keep the hyperlinks and access codes as they are. Enter the parent’s email address for the child. When you send the email, a copy of the email will be saved in this same location.

4. Parents will receive the email. When they click on the "complete the consent process" link, they will open a window prompting them to enter the child’s last name. QA  does not have a way to find "close matches" so please make sure all students’ names are spelled correctly.

5. Parents complete their information at the top. As they scroll down, they will see the IRB-approved consent form. There are different language options available.

6. Parents are then given a check box certifying that they agree to allow their child to participate.

7. Students will need to check the final box labeled (Student’s name) consent.

8. After the process is complete, students will be automatically entered into the system and their accounts will be activated. You will not need to collect and/or submit any forms to QA. The forms will be saved electronically.

9. Parents have the option to retrieve this email at a later date to remove consent if they no longer want their child to participate. You will also have the ability to remove consent should a parent indicate that they do not want their child to participate any longer.

Once a parent completes the form, the student is automatically activated in the Quest Atlantis system. In addition, you can see this file in your Teacher Toolkit and you can confirm the date of the submission at any time. Also, parents can easily see the consent form in other languages if needed. You can still have the option to send in the paper consent forms. Just remember that the same rules still apply. By checking the Consent – Teacher box you are providing your legal, electronic signature that you have the completed consent form. We still need a signature from both the parent and the child on each form, and they must be returned within 60 days.

Creating and Engaging CPS Performance Questions

A performance question is an open-ended or subjective question that requires a specific response, usually in the form of short answer or essay. A rubric is a tool associated with a performance question that allows the instructor to divide the total number of points available for that question into distinct categories. For example, the points for a 10-point essay question could be divided into four categories worth 2.5 points each: grammar, punctuation, content, and persuasiveness. A rubric can not be used to give additional weight to a specific question. The student has a maximum of 140 characters for their answer.

The first step to setting up a performance question is to decide how many categories there should be and what those categories should be titled. Once you know that, it's time to create the rubric to show those categories. To create a new rubric, follow these directions:
• Click the settings menu.
• Select performance question rubric wizard. The CPS performance question wizard appears.
• Check the create new rubric box, in the new rubric section. (Note: This option does not appear if this is the first rubric created in the database.)
• Click next to continue.
• On the next screen, fill in the rubric name box.
• Choose the number of categories from the total number of categories pull-down menu.
• Click next to continue.
• Type in the names of your categories, or leave the default names.
• Click next to continue.
• Verify that the information you previously entered is correct. Click back to edit the information or next to save the information.
• On the final screen, click done to save your rubric and return to the prepare - lessons and assessments tab.

Once you have created your rubric, you are ready to create the performance question to go with it:
• From the question author window, select performance question from the top drop-down box in the format section.
• Select the rubric you want to associate with this question.
• Save the question by clicking either the save button or the save and next button.

Performance questions and their associated rubrics can also be added from within the fastgrade window.
• In the performance section of the fastgrade window, click the rubric button to create a new rubric to associate to your question or select an existing rubric from the drop-down list.
• With the rubric selected, click the add button to add the question with its associated rubric.

If you need to edit a rubric after you have created it, you can do so from the performance question rubric wizard:
• Click the settings menu.
• Select performance question rubric wizard.
• Select the rubric you want to edit from the list of existing rubrics in the existing rubrics section.
• Click the radio button next to the edit option.
• Click next to continue.
• Edit the rubric name and/or total number of categories (from 1 to 25).
• Click next to continue.
• Edit any of the category names.
• Click next to continue.
• Verify that your rubric information is correct: click back to change the information or next to continue.
• Click done to save your rubric.

Once you have created your rubric, it's time to use it. To do so, simply make sure that at least one person gives a response for the rubric question as the session is being administered. As with all CPS questions, the performance question must be started, and at least one response must be registered for the question. If no responses are recorded, the question is automatically excluded from the session report and the grading calculations.

The assigning of points for performance questions happens after the session has ended:
• From the reports section of the report tab, select the session containing the performance question you want to grade and click the edit button.
• From the assessment options window, click the re-grade students button.
• In the re-grade window, you will see that instead of the standard checkbox, the performance question will have multiple columns, and those columns will have numeric values. When you have entered values for each of the students, click ok to return to the assessment options window and then click ok again to return to the reports tab.

"Photo Editing on the Web" Workshop

I did a “Photo Editing on the Web” workshop this past Friday. It was part of a two day series of new workshops we did for the teachers of the Winston Salem Forsyth County School District. It also gave me the opportunity to revisit a passion of my past that I don’t utilize as much any more. Photography is a part of our everyday lives and also is used when teachers create content for their teacher web pages. During the training I took the teachers to 3 free web-based photo editing sites. All 3 sites offer users the ability to edit their images in a variety of ways. Picnik http://www.picnik.com/ present users editing features but list several of their capabilities as premium, in which the user must pay to use. FotoFlexer http://fotoflexer.com/ offers users several nice features. However, my favorite of the 3 is Pixlr http://pixlr.com/editor/ This site looks and works like a version of Photoshop somewhere between Photoshop Elements and the full version of the program.

During the workshop the teachers edited their images in a variety of ways including cropping, resizing, dodging (lightening a specific area of the image), blurring (removing wrinkles in the faces of people to make them happy), adjusting brightness & contrast using levels and selecting pixels in one image to add it in the image of another picture. I showed them how to feather selections to make them more pleasing to the eye. I even offered to show them how to add hair on the head of a less fortunate individual but we didn’t have a picture of the back of my head, so we skipped over that.

Then I took them to Big Huge Labs http://bighugelabs.com/ to show some of the many possible projects they can create using their photographs. We started with creating a motivational poster and had very little time for other possibilities. I enjoyed showing teachers these wonderful resources and hope to do the workshop again sometime.

Storing the Mobi for the Summer

I just wanted to send this information out to people who have an eInstruction Mobi. Teachers should remove the rechargeable battery from the pen when it is not going to be used for an extended period of time such as the summer. To do this, locate the little square button on the back of the pen just above the 2 silver rings. Use a key or something to press the button in a bit. Slide the pen apart and you will expose the battery. Take the battery out and store it in a place that you will remember, at room temperature. To place the two pen halves back together, align the inside ridges in the top half of the pen with the slot in the bottom front half of the pen and slide them together until you hear the pen click.

When school starts again in the fall, open the pen and insert the battery with the positive icon facing towards the tip of the pen. Charge the Mobi and the pen for a full 12 hours before using it.

It’s also a good idea to remove the Mobi rechargeable battery as well when not using it for an extended period of time. To do this, turn the Mobi over and use a small Phillips head screwdriver to remove the screw. The rest is easy.

NCVPS Blackboard Upgrade Compatibility Issues

North Carolina Virtual Public School has updated the Blackboard system they use to 9.1. However, they have learned of a few incompatibility issues. These issues occur when students use Internet Explorer versions 7, 8 and 9. Students will experience issues with content not being viewable, not being able to participate in assessments, or uploading assignment files into the system. Internet Explorer can be modified to be more compatible by using IE in the compatibility mode. However, the best suited browser for Blackboard 9.1 is Mozilla Firefox 3.6 or higher. Make sure your versions of Flash and Java are up to date. Also make sure your browser history and internet cache is cleared prior to the logging into Blackboard. Depending on your version of Internet Explorer, follow the list of instructions I have out lined below.

Setting IE to work in the compatibility mode.

• Open Internet Explore and log into Blackboard.
• Click the tools menu option at the top of the page.
• Select the "compatibility view" option from the "tools" drop-down menu.
• Allow the page to reload.

Clearing the internet browser history and cache.

• Go to the "tools" drop-down menu.
• Select "delete browsing history."
• Click “delete all”.
• Check “also delete files and settings stored by add-ons” and click yes.

Replacing The KWIK Mobi Battery & the Mobi Pen Battery

Some of you have had your Mobi now for a couple of years so at some point, if you haven’t already done so, the batteries will have to be replaced. There are two batteries that will eventually need to be replaced. The Mobi pen battery is $4.00 from eInstruction and the part number is IW-A-629-039-000. It's a GP (Gold Peak) 1.2 volt battery. To get to the battery, locate the square little button on the back of the pen just above the 2 silver rings. Use a key or something to press the button in a little. Slide the pen apart and you will see the battery. I have also found that if your pen is not working and you have definitely charged it, you might just need to take this battery out and use a pencil eraser to clean the contacts. When you are charging the Mobi and the pen, be sure you see the little pen charging icon. This is a little square with a line at an angle through the top. If you do not see the little square constantly filling and emptying, then the pen is not being charged. It is very possible to charge the Mobi and not charge the pen. You may just have to push the pen down all the way into the pen slot of the Mobi. You also may just have to turn the pen around a bit in the slot. In any case, be sure you see that the pen charging icon is displayed.

The KWIK Mobi also has a battery of course and eInstruction charges $35.00 for it. The part number is CB-A-629-038-000. eInstuction also charges $5.00 for shipping and handling. The KWIK Mobi battery is accessed from the back. Use a small Phillips head screwdriver to remove the screw and then you can remove the battery cover. It is a rectangular shaped lithium-ion 3.7 volt battery. Just be sure that the gold color contacts are facing towards the upper left corner when placing it back in the battery compartment. Again, be sure you see the Mobi battery icon constantly filling and emptying when you are charging it.

Big Huge Labs Offers Over 40 Ways to Manipulate Your Images

http://bighugelabs.com/ is a great site for turning your photos into creative works of art in a wide variety of ways. Perhaps you would like to create a motivational poster out of your image. Perhaps you see yourself on a magazine cover. You can do that here. Maybe you want to turn your picture into a puzzle or a photo collage using a style the artist, David Hockney uses. You can add comic book style captions to your pictures, create a mosaic from any number of pictures, create a movie poster from your favorite image, create a strip of photobooth pictures, create and print a pocket sized photo album, add a museum style mat to your pictures, make your own ID badge or Press Pass, create monthly calendars from your digital images, create stamps or choose from more than 20 different frames to spice up your image and a multitude of other effects. Are you musically inclined? Perhaps you would like to create your own CD cover. Maybe you have something big to say and you need to put it on a billboard. This would be the place. Do you feel the need to make a slide show? Big Huge Labs has an app for that. There are over 40 ways to manipulate your images on this site. The site is offers it’s services for free. Educators can sign up for an account and receive ad free services. Educators can also pre-register students so that they can sign in without requiring an email address. There are other perks for educators as well. So enjoy the site and let your creative side run wild.