Call For Papers
is open for just another couple of weeks!
Did you know that General Session Presenters get into the PATINS State Conference free of charge? We are seeking school staff or administration doing exciting things with your students to make the curriculum more accessible and improving student achievement. Submit your CFP online in just a few quick steps
Online CFP Form is Here
2008 PATINS State Conference
November 10th & 11th, 2008
Crowne Plaza Hotel and Conference Center
Keynote Speaker: Jim Fruchterman
Benetech President and CEO
Keyboard Shortcuts: One computing habit that I really advocate for is the use of keyboard shortcuts. Given that teachers simply have very limited time to actually be sitting at a computer, the ability to automate certain functions and to do them more efficiently by keeping both hands on the keyboard or one hand on the mouse is important. You may have noticed that there have been a few technical training video tutorials posted on the PATINS website recently. HERE.
One that I posted this week is on just a few of the most basic keyboard shortcuts. More importantly, there should be another 10 or so technical training videos available on the PATINS website by the end of this school year and then another 20 or so next school year. Keep an eye on them!
So, as I continue to get to know my Mac computer a bit better, I’ve forced myself to put the PC away and to try and do everything in my normal responsibilities on my Mac. …I almost succeeded. One thing I was really missing and struggling with is having to search for the keyboard shortcuts that I’m used to on the PC. Most are a little different on the Mac.
So, I thought I’d post in one place, some of the great resources for learning about the extensive keyboard shortcuts for both the PC and Mac platforms.
PC Keyboard Shortcuts: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/126449
Mac Keyboard Shortcuts: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1343
Mac S/C specifically for creating symbols: http://www.usingmac.com/2007/12/12/100-mac-keyboard-shortcuts-for-creating-symbols
200+ Productivity Shortcuts for the Mac (very nice!): http://usingmac.com/assets/2007/12/12/shortcuts-cheat-sheet.jpg
Kindergarten Bloggers!
This week I visited a Kg. class and talked to them about blogging and to help them create their first posting. I wasn’t surprised to realize that many of them knew more about blogging than a lot of the adults I know! I think that’s very cool and so empowering to learn and explore something new WITH your students! This Kg class I visited plans to initially use their blog for group writing activities, lesson reinforcement and posting questions for parents/community about whatever it is that they are studying (a great idea from the classroom teacher). For example, yesterday I helped them do their first posting on Starfish; something they’d been studying in science as part of an ‘ocean’ theme. Parents can then sit down in the evenings with their child and read the blog post, talk about it and post a response. The teacher then has to approve all comments before they are made public. Check out their blog here! http://aduff.tlschools.org/
Mac Video Conversion: One more awesome resource for the Mac that you need to know about if you are doing anything with digital video in your classroom (and you should be 
). As many of you know, I have been doing a lot with digital video and putting prompting systems on iPods, Zunes and other devices. Well, I’d like to continue this on the Mac, but felt pretty lost and overwhelmed. The big piece that I was missing was a video converter. iMovie tends to work differently than MovieMaker, but I was able to figure it out. However, I wasn’t able to convert the videos from my Flipvideo camera to a format that iMovie would accept and work with (I thought Macs were supposed to be more user friendly). I found it very odd that the “user friendly” Macbook iMovie software wouldn’t even accept a .AVI file from the camcorder. Anyway, I needed something similar to “Any-Video-Converter” that I use on the PC side.
Eventually, after trying several products and being disappointed, I came across this one called MPEG Streamclip from Squared5. So far, I’m really liking this product! Even better than the free Any-Video-Converter so far and it works on both PC and Mac! Check it out.
Speaking of the FlipVideo camera, several other brands have now produced similar video cameras that might be worth looking at in comparison if you’re in the market for such a camera. This one caught my eye this week: VADO Camera!
Some accessories for the FlipVideo Camera are also available, like mounts for helmets, handle-bars, skins, soft cases and underwater cases. Cool! http://www.theflip.com/products_accessorize.shtml Get creative with your digital video classroom use!!!
Don’t forget to submit a call for papers for the 2008 PATINS State Conference General Sessions! Click Here: http://www.patinsproject.com/htm/trainop.html
