The What??

Have you checked the Porta Portal lately?  I know.....the WHAT?  Yes, the Porta Portal!

I've added several links recently, ranging from ipod touch's in the classroom to project based learning through web design.

Check it out and bookmark it!

http://guest.portaportal.com/jsmith0404

The shrimping boats are late today...

The shrimping boats are late today;
The dusk has caught them cold.
Swift darkness gathers up the sun,
And all the beckoning gold
That guides them safely into port
Is lost beneath the tide.
Now the lean moon swings overhead,
And Venus, salty-eyed.


They will be late an hour or more,
The fishermen, blaming dark's
Swift mischief or the stubborn sea,
But as their lanterns' sparks
Ride shoreward at the foam's white rim,
Until they reach the pier
I cannot say if their catch is shrimp,
Or fireflies burning clear.

Nocturne: Georgia Coast
By Daniel Whitehead Hicky

April is National Poetry Month!  Visit this site to read more poems about Georgia, explore poets from our State and find other interesting facts about poetic history in Georgia!

Capitol Tech 2010

It was our pleasure at the ETC to accompany a group of students and their teacher to Capitol Tech 2010, held at the Georgia State Capitol, March 8.  The students showed off their technology expertise and used the same equipment that they have in their classroom to do demonstrations for legislators and others that attended.  They were outstanding!

We had the opportunity to meet several legislators, including Representative Mike Cheokas, from Americus.

Play Storybook Adventure

Play Read.gov's Storybook Adventure and explore stories like the Wizard of Oz and collect treasures.  Cute site that would be fun to use on the big screen in the classroom or in the computer lab.

"Digg" the Olympics

From the Digg site:

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog, Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by our users.

Check out what the world "Diggs" about the Olympics!

Love Poems

Celebrate Valentine's Day with your students and read a few of these love poems from giggle poetry!!

Dollar Days

Not necessarily technology related, but head over to Scholastic to visit their Dollar Days and find 125 books for $1.  Stock up for your classroom OR for home.

While you're there, check out their Interactive Whiteboard links for some cute classroom activities.

Podcasting

We've been teaching podcasting workshops the last couple of weeks to our T3 Grant schools. We've been talking about what "consumers of media" our students are these days. So, when I saw this cartoon flipping through Good Housekeeping this week, it gave me a good laugh!

We've collected several podcasting resources while preparing for our workshops. Visit the portaportal site to find those links and many others on other various topics:

http://guest.portaportal.com/jsmith0404

Tag Galaxy

If you or your students are looking for pictures to use in your classroom, Tag Galaxy is a really fun site to visit.

When you arrive at Tag Galaxy they will ask you for a "tag." A tag is a keyword or term that is assigned to a piece of information. If you are looking for pictures of volcanoes, the tag you would type in is "volcanoes." It is simply a keyword.

Click GO and it will show you a "galaxy" of available images. Click on the planet that looks the most appropriate. It will then show you a world of photos. You can navigate through the world using your mouse.

Tag Galaxy is a really cool way to search for photos!

Question of the Day

Embed the BrainQuest Question of the Day html code into your class webpage, and have the question of the day appear automatically each day.  Or just visit http://www.brainquest.com/!  Or, sign up to receive the Brain Quest question via email. 

Favorite Poem Project

This site has been around for a long time, but I was reminded about it during a workshop today. It still is very cool, and maybe will be new to some of you. This comes from their site:

"The Favorite Poem Project is dedicated to celebrating, documenting and encouraging poetry’s role in Americans’ lives. Robert Pinsky, the 39th Poet Laureate of the United States, founded the Favorite Poem Project shortly after the Library of Congress appointed him to the post in 1997.

During the one-year open call for submissions, 18,000 Americans wrote to the project volunteering to share their favorite poems — Americans from ages 5 to 97, from every state, of diverse occupations, kinds of education and backgrounds."

So, visit http://www.favoritepoem.org/ and click on The Videos on the left and listen to famous, as well as ordinary Americans reading their favorite poems.

One of my favorite stories of all time is "Casey at the Bat." So, naturally, that was my favorite video on this site!

http://www.favoritepoem.org/FlashVideo/lsamuel.html

Quick and Easy Videos with One True Media

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

If you want to make a quick photo montage, literally with the click of one button, then try out One True Media.  All I had to do was choose the images to upload to my project, then my video was made!  There are options to add titles, captions, or customize the music choice and style.  It was fun and would be a quick project for your students.  You do have to create a login so that the site will keep up with your projects.  You can share your projects online, as I did with this blogpost, or save them.  Try it!