Wild about Safari Montage!

While walking through the exhibit hall at the FETC. I came across many interesting companies that were promoting their products. One that I found very exciting was called Safari Montage.
http://www.safarimontage.com/ This program was a great way to narrow searches and monitor educational videos for classroom use. The program alos comes with 1000's of videos already built into their library from trusted sites.

FETC 2008 Up's & Down's

I recently attended the FETC in Orlando and had a great time. I must admit there were several workshops that made me ask myself "Why am I here?" Some presenters were actually quire hypocrital and were telling us to use technology into the classroom to hold the kids' attention. A few of the presenters just lectured and passed out papers that were discussing curriculum and not much at all relating to technology????

One workshop I attended on "Using Photoshop in the Classroom" was very interesting. I learned a great deal at that one and she gave us great ideas to integrate this technology onto my class. One specific idea I loved was to use layers and actually put the student into a far off place and then have them write a story about their "trip."

The other great part of the conference was the Exhibit Hall. WOW I can't believe all the great technology out there! All I can say is thank God I left my credit cards home...... However I am going back to my school with many requests for my principal to keep our school on top of the technology field.

BrainPop in the Classroom

I use BrainPop in the classroom with my students on a weekly basis. If you are unfamiliar with BrainPop it is a great way to "hook" the kids into any lesson. There are 2 characters Tim and Moby and they introduce a variety of concepts in a 2-3 minute introduction video that teaches the concept. The kids love Moby because he is a robot with a great sense of humor.

When I recently attended the FETC in Orlando I got to actually meet Moby. It was great to see him teaching in person.