I've moved my blogging over to Crafting a Joyful Life (everything crafty),
and I blog about literacy and technology integration at Crafting Literate Lives.
Can you tell I'm all about crafting?
Hope to see you soon on one or both of my new sites.
Thanks for stopping by!

Microsoft Office Add-in Embeds Creative Commons License

 Office 2007 users can download an add-in that will allow them to embed a Creative Commons license into a document. The add-in creates a Creative Commons tab that takes users directly to the Creative Commons Web site to select the appropriate license.
Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that provides free licenses for creators to choose from that allows others to share, remix, use commercially, or any combination of the above.
One of the best ways to teach students to respect the work of others is to have them select a Creative Commons license for the projects they produce. The process of selecting the license of their choice provides a teachable moment when students can view copyright from the perspective of the owner rather than the consumer.
Even if you do not have Office 2007, check out the Creative Commons website and see how easy it is to choose a license and download the appropriate label to place within documents and video files.

YouTube Unveils Safety Mode

YouTube announced their new Safety Mode that makes YouTube a viable option for schools. Check out the video below for details.

Lonestar EduBloggerCon

Academic Language: Everyone's “Second” Language - National Writing Project

I am attending a two-day training in San Antonio about implementing the English Language Proficiency Standards, and we discussed the fact that we have students in our classes that whose native language is English, but they come to school without strong language skills. The same scaffolds that develop academic language for our ELL students help all of our native speakers also.
Check out this article written by Norma Mota-Altman:
Academic Language: Everyone's “Second” Language - National Writing Project

EBSCOhost Mobile

EBSCO library databases now has a mobile interface that allows users to search for articles and images from a mobile device! I was easily able to choose my database and perform a search on my iphone; results are displayed 10 at a time in a clean list that still includes thumbnails of images that can be previewed. I selected one of the articles from the list, previewed it, and emailed the PDF to myself using the email feature within the EBSCO interface.
Read more about EBSCOhost mobile on their website. According to EBSCO's support website, once the "library administrator has created a profile in EBSCOadmin for EBSCOhost Mobile, the interface will be available to all users who have access" to the school's account.
Why bother? Well, having mobile access anywhere/anytime is very powerful. Being able to research from their phones just might motivate some of our students to complete their research throughout the semester instead of waiting until the day before the project is due. Hope springs eternal, right?

Wordle: What a Cool Tool!

Wordle is a free online application for generating word clouds with words that occur more frequently appearing larger. You can print your Wordle or save it. I saved the Wordle above and then uploaded it as an image to this blog post.

One great educational use that comes to mind is to have students copy and paste their essay into Wordle and print it to use as a cover page for their paper. Or print them and hang them up in the room or hallway.

Study Shows No Evidence that Saturated Fat Causes Heart Disease

Stephan Guyenet who writes the Whole Health Source Blog posted a link to an interesting study on his blog today. Dr. Ronald Krauss' study found that "there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of CHD or CVD." It is so amazing to me that after all these years, it seems that Dr. Atkins was correct in asking people to cut out carbs and eat more meat.
I was one of the nay-sayers who couldn't believe that THE Food Pyramid could be wrong. It was, after all, based on research, right? I am reading Gary Taubes book Good Calories, Bad Calories, and I'm beginning to see that I haven't been so noble after all, denying myself meat and eating pasta, bread (whole grain, of course). My husband and I have adopted a moderate version of an Atkins diet, and we have been surprised at how much better we feel while taking off pounds over the last year. I would recommend Taube's book to everyone

A Crafty New Year to You!

It's been great to be at home these past two weeks, having a chance to step outside of my professional life and spend time "feathering my nest," baking holiday treats, and catching up on all the craft blogs I've been intending to read since about July. Reading these blogs has inspired me to take up paper crafting again. Yet again, I have resolved to carve out some time each day for creative pursuits outside of work. (This resolution lasted nearly all the way through January last year!)

This year, as I craft, I also intend to do more blogging. I have a running list of ideas that I would like to develop, and I know that one of the best ways for me to learn more about what I think is to write about it! Nearly every morning as I'm driving the loop to work, I write posts in my head on various topics, but by the time lunch rolls around, those ideas have been scattered by all the details of the morning. Well, I'm attempting to change that by making quick notes and then taking time later to write--at LEAST three times a week. I've also come to terms with the fact that this blog may become a hodgepodge of diverse topics. My solution is to bring some organization to the mess with my tags.

Now that we have it in writing, we will see how well I follow through on this resolution....  Thanks for stopping by and spending a few minutes with me!

Family

One of the high points of my holiday has been being around family. Every year we promise to do a better job of staying in touch, but then our lives whirl by for another year. Having a new granddaughter will be a strong motivator for us this coming year!

Breaking Through Tech Integration Barriers

I've realized for a while that teachers need help convincing their administrators and tech directors to allow (i.e. unblock sites) them to use Web2.0 tools like blogs and wikis. Just last week, however, I decided to make up a packet of information for each tool to hand teachers when I present a workshop. I am still formulating what should be in it, but I'm thinking the Educause 7 Things About handout over the tool is a must. More on this topic later...................

"Bureaucratic solutions to problems of practice will always fail because effective teaching is not routine, students are not passive, and questions of practice are not simple, predictable, or standardized. Consequently, instructional decisions cannot be formulated on high then packaged and handed down to teachers."
- from her award-winning book, The Right to Learn

I read this statement on the Standford University webpage about Linda Darling-Hammond and knew I had to share it in a blog post so that I don't lose it. Will the education community ever fully realize that our children's education is dependent on professional educators having the freedom and support to make informed decisions about instruction in their classrooms?
Hope springs eternal..........

Listen to this interview with Linda Darling-Hammond from the PBS series "Only a Teacher." Great stuff!

Language: The Fuel That Feeds Us

Naomi Shihab Nye's words, not mine. They are richer tasting in my mouth than any chocolate candy that I might sample this Valentine's day. She explained in a 2002 interview with Bill Moyers that language carries us to understanding and the things that matter in our lives. It can create a connection for us as we sit quietly with words and let them lead us somewhere, if we have the sense to stop trying to proclaim things all the time and, instead, try to discover things.

If you haven't read any of Naomi Shihab Nye's poetry, you can read a short bio and view titles of all her books here. I had the honor of hearing her in person at NCTE in San Antonio this year. Her amazing warmth and sincerity pervaded the entire room. 19 Varieties of Gazelle would be a wonderful introduction to her poetry. Hers is a wonderful voice to add to a classroom in these tense political times when so many children are being taught to hate anyone and anything Middle Eastern. Nye's poetry can open our eyes and connect our hearts to all the ordinary people living in the Middle East who aren't all that different from us.

Technology Overload

I attended the Texas Computer Educators (TCEA) Conference in Austin this week and came away with so many new ideas that my brain is spinning. It is inspiring to hear all the amazing ways that teachers are integrating technology into their classrooms.

I focused on attending sessions that related to language arts (no surprise there) and ones using Promethean Activboards. I am working to be a certified Promethean trainer, as I am convinced that interactive boards should become a primary content delivery system in K-12 education. Creating flipcharts for my certification has made me rethink those lessons carefully and honestly assess how much that original lesson involved every student and whether the information is presented from multiple perspectives. Sobering stuff.... The words "student centered learning" fall easily off the tongue, but they are much harder to honestly implement on a daily basis. The journey is not only worthwhile, however, it is essential.

So it looks like I'll be crafting more flipcharts than cards for a while. Of course, I won't be able to totally quit...my craft table beckons and my stamps and markers are still in plain sight.

Under the Weather

Being "under the weather" is SO frustrating! It has stolen away my energy to do both the things I need to do for work and the things I like to do. I've tried positive thinking to no avail. I still ache. I still feel feverish. Bummer!!

It's been a whole week since I've posted a card, partly due to feeling bad and partly due to some techno work on my images and blog. Seems as if most people who post their work to online galleries like Splitcoaststampers and Paper Craft Planet have created a watermark to place over their images. If only I had just made one when I first noticed it, but, oh no, better to put off til tomorrow... So when I set my mind to adding the watermark that I created, I had to upload all the pics again. I didn't think I had made that many cards since I started posting, but as I worked with them, the number appeared to grow... ;-)

I'm off to rest!

Birthday Cupcake

Here is a simple card for a friend's birthday. I fell in love with the DP, Chatty Cake by Imaginisce. The paper has sentiments all over it, so I just used Nestibilities to add scallop and circle in coordinating colors and then made a large cupcake from Basic Grey Bittersweet paper.

Growing by Our Dreams

Valentines for Friends

Sometimes simple is best. Here is a quick card for a good friend. More Basic Grey Bittersweet papers.

Valentine Wishes

Here's a valentine that I created using the CTMH stamp set Soul Mtes and Basic Grey Bittersweet Papers.

CPS Challenge #98

I have resolved that this year I will create more cards and post consistently on my blog. What better way to find motivation than a good challenge. So I've been on the prowl for some challenges, and I hit pay dirt when I came across the Card Positioning Systems blog.

I watercolored the bird on this card earlier this week, and I've been wondering what to do with him. This challenge sent me to my paper stash to find something that might work. He isn't perfect, but I decided to celebrate my first effort to be more artistic with my cards and less cut and paste...

Supplies
CTMH cardstock and DP, Martha Stewart clear bird stamp, scrap of twill ribbon, Nestabilities

Here's the sketch for the challenge:CPS Sketch Challenge #98