Table of Contents - Vol. 20 No.
2
- November 2003
- Pearls of URLs
This monthly item will highlight
Internet web sites which are considered "gems" by educators.
- Notes and Quotes
This regular column provides
information on a potpourri of technological "tidbits".
- Manitoba GrassRoots funding on
hold for 2003-2004
Darryl Gervais, of Manitoba Education and Youth,
indicates that due to the popularity of the GrassRoots funding initiative
no new web-based project proposals will be accepted at this time as all
funds are currently committed to projects that have already been proposed.
- Food for Thought - "The Price
of a Miracle"
Brian Metcalfe shares a motivational
message with readers and then indicates how readers can verify the
authenticity of information that is circulated by e-mail and posted on
various web sites.
- The Teachable Moment -
Validate ALL Internet Claims
Brian Metcalfe indicates how he
himself failed to research adequately the validity of the "11 rules"
that he had included in the October 2003 issue of "Bits and Bytes". Thanks
to readers who informed Brian that he had incorrectly attributed
these rules to Bill Gates. This article illustrates how one must search
diligently to substantiate all claims and the process that Brian has used
to correct this error on the web.
- Hana's Suitcase Opportunity -
December 8th.
Thanks to the immediacy of e-mail,
Brian learned of this exciting evening scheduled for December 8 at Shaarey
Zedek Synagogue. All lovers of children's literature are invited to hear
Ms Karen Levine, author of "Hana's Suitcase", speak regarding the story of
Hana and the holocaust. Educators who teach about World War II will find
this evening to be one they will not want to miss.
- SWiSH is
"nothing but net"
Brian Metcalfe has created a web site
to facilitate the sharing of resources that educators can use to enhance
the introduction of the SWiSH multi-media software into classrooms. Like
the product which incorporates a timeline to integrate the components of
text, images and sound, this article provides a timeline and different
resources that teachers can integrate into their teaching style. Through
the continued educational sharing of resources, it is hoped that this
SWISH web site can assist educators and students to showcase their
creativity.
Pearls of URLs
Count Down to Kitty Hawk at:
http://www.countdowntokittyhawk.com/
K-12 Resources for Music Educators at:
http://www.isd77.k12.mn.us/resources/staffpages/shirk/k12.music.html
Plants-in-Motion at:
http://sunflower.bio.indiana.edu/~rhangart/plantmotion/starthere.html
Recommended as
a valuable tool for those teaching Science by Chris Van Cryenest at Daniel
McIntyre
"Bits and Bytes" is an educational publication for the
students and staff of the Winnipeg School Division
Brian Metcalfe - Editor:
bitsandbytes@wsd1.org
Copyright © 2003 (ISSN 1195-5864)
Last revision date: November 19, 2003
Information has been shared with 420
Notes and
Quotes
by Brian Metcalfe - Technology
Education
Eset's NOD32 Anti-Virus Software -
Deadline Dec. 31, 2003
On October 28, 2003 a memo from David Bell, Secretary-Treasurer, was
circulated to schools inviting ALL Division employees, who are using a
computer at home to acquire anti-virus software. DON'T debate purchasing
such software - BUY IT NOW ... and save yourself both money and future
virus-related headaches. If you are connected to the Internet and
are running a system without up-to-date virus protection, you are tempting
fate. It is not ... "IF" you are going to get a virus ... it is "WHEN". With
the Division negotiated price, you can purchase a three year license for
approximately the same price as a one year license of comparable products in
Winnipeg stores. As a person who recently visited a home where their
Norton's anti-virus software had not been renewed in September 2003, I was
shocked to find that the "holar" worm had infected 1142 files on their
computer. Believe me, in the case of virus prevention the "ounce of
prevention is worth the pound of cure". Although staff members can purchase
this discounted version of the NOD32 anti-virus software through a secure
gateway using Visa or MasterCard, MaryLouise Lisi investigated a process
which allows Divisional employees to pay by cheque. Details of this
procedure have recently been sent out to contact teachers.
100th Anniversary of
Flight - Dec 17, 2003
 Lately I have been fascinated by the
various television specials on PBS and the Discovery channels that
demonstrate how clever the Wright brothers were. As the 100th birthday of
powered flight gets closer, educators, particularly those teaching the Grade
6 unit on "Flight", will want to start checking out the TV Guide
and investigating the wealth of web sites that commemorate this event which
happened at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903. To help
educators, Ron Lambert from Sargent Park, has compiled an extensive list of
flight-related resources and placed them on the
Central District Technology Support Site at:
http://www.wsd1.org/central/flight_100th.htm
IrfanView Animation
If you thought we had pushed IrfanView to the limit in our
November and
December 2002 issues, think
again! Steve Fitzjohn, who was the former Computer Consultant of the
Assiniboine South School Division, is now living in Edmonton. However
through the use of Internet e-mail and Margaret Stimson's willingness to
share, I learned of this innovation. Steve writes ... "Another
alternative for making slide shows is one of the best pieces of freeware for
Windows called IrfanView. You can
download it from http://www.irfanview.com/
IrfanView's slide show option will turn any collection of common graphic
files (jpg, gif, bmp & many more) into a slide show on your screen. There
are several options to control the slide frequency, looping etc. The program
also allows you to save the slide show as an .exe file to make it a
stand-alone file.
I've also used IrfanView to create student animations by reducing the
advance time to .1 seconds. (Credit to Iain Riffel for this idea who first
did it with ClarisWorks Draw.) IrfanView does a whole bunch of useful things (conversion, resizing, renaming) and the author keeps coming out with
revised free versions on a regular basis. A worthwhile download."
"Digital
Focus: Make Your Batteries Last" at:
http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,109394,00.asp
Margaret Stimson, of Pembina Trails School Division, recommended this
great article in "PCWorld". Check out this resource and the sidebar for
interesting and informative information on digital cameras.
Quote of the Month
"We have lots of heroes today - sportsmen, supermodels, media
personalities. They come, they have their 15 minutes of fame, and they go.
But the influence of good teachers stays with us. They are the people who
really shape our life."
-- Jonathan Sacks
Manitoba
GrassRoots funding on hold for 2003-2004
by Darryl Gervais - Manitoba
Education and Youth
Manitoba GrassRoots has stopped accepting new project proposals for the
2003-2004 school year. All funds are currently committed to projects
that have already been proposed.
Manitoba GrassRoots funded 237 projects during the 2002-2003 school year. We
anticipate funding approximately 250 projects in the 2003-2004 school
year.
Teachers with approved GrassRoots projects: All projects must be complete
and reports submitted no later than January 31, 2004. Funding cannot
be guaranteed for projects completed after the
deadline.
Thank you for helping to make this another successful year for Manitoba
GrassRoots. The real value of GrassRoots lies in the opportunity it
provides teachers and children to learn the skills of using the
Internet and creating their own content on the
World Wide Web.
[Table of Contents]
Food for Thought: "The Price of a Miracle"
http://www.godswork.org/emailmessage132.htm
After just having published last October's newsletter, a colleague sent me
the following e-mail entitled "The Price of a Miracle" for possible inclusion in a future "Food for Thought"
article.
Tess was a precocious eight-year-old when she heard her Mom and Dad talking
about her little brother, Andrew. All she knew was that he was very sick and
they were completely out of money. They were moving to an apartment complex
next month because Daddy didn't have the money for the doctor's bills and
our house. Only a very costly surgery could save him now and it was looking
like there was no one to loan them the money. She heard Daddy
say to her tearful Mother with whispered desperation, "Only a miracle can
save him now."
Tess went to her bedroom and pulled a glass jar from its hiding place in the
closet. She poured all the change out on the floor and counted it carefully,
Three times. The total had to be exactly perfect. No chance here for
mistakes. Carefully placing the coins back in the jar and twisting on the
cap, she slipped out the back door and made her way 6 blocks to Rexall's Drug Store.
She waited patiently for the pharmacist to give her some attention but he
was too busy at this moment. Tess twisted her feet to make a scuffing noise.
Nothing. She cleared her throat with the most disgusting sound she could
muster. No good. Finally she took a quarter from her jar and banged it on
the glass counter.
That did it! "And what do you want?" the pharmacist asked in an annoyed tone
of voice. "I'm talking to my brother from Chicago whom I haven't seen in
ages," he said without waiting for a reply to his question.
"Well, I want to talk to you about my brother," Tess answered back in the
same annoyed tone. "He's really, really sick...and I want to buy a miracle."
"I beg your pardon?" said the pharmacist.
"His name is Andrew and he has something bad growing inside his head and my
Daddy says only a miracle can save him now. So how much does a miracle
cost?"
"We don't sell miracles here, little girl. I'm sorry but I can't help you,"
the pharmacist said, softening a little.
"Listen, I have the money to pay for it. If it isn't enough, I will get the
rest. Just tell me how much it costs."
The pharmacist's brother was a well-dressed man. He stooped down and asked
the little girl, "What kind of a miracle does your brother need?"
"I don't know," Tess replied with her eyes welling up. "I just know
he's really sick and Mommy says he needs an operation. But my Daddy can't
pay for it, so I want to use my money."
"How much do you have?" asked the man from Chicago.
"One dollar and eleven cents," Tess answered barely audibly. "And it's all
the money I have, but I can get some more if I need to."
"Well, what a coincidence," smiled the man. "A dollar and eleven cents ---
the exact price of a miracle for your little brother."
He took her money in one hand and with the other hand he grasped her mitten
and said "Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meet
your parents. Let's see if I have the kind of miracle you need."
That well dressed man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, a surgeon, specializing in
neuro-surgery. The operation was completed without charge and it wasn't long
until Andrew was home again and doing well. Mom and Dad were happily talking
about the chain of events that had led them to this place.
"That surgery," her Mom whispered, "Was a real miracle. I wonder how much it
would have cost?"
Tess smiled. She knew exactly how much a miracle cost ... one dollar and
eleven cents...plus the Faith of a little child.
-- Author Unknown
When I read the e-mail I was, no doubt like you, touched by this story
and its uplifting and motivational message. However, before including such a
message in an issue of "Bits and Bytes", I have always made it a practice to
search the Internet for particular key words found in the email to attempt
to cite the source. In most
cases the actual e-mail story, or a slight variation, can be found on numerous
web pages one of which I give reference to in the URL web site location
immediately below the "Food for Thought" title.
In this case I decided to use the
Google search engine at http://www.google.ca using the following
non-bracketed string of characters [+"Dr. Carlton Armstrong" +"The price of a miracle"].
Imagine my surprise when the search engine returned the following top "hits"
identified by bullets below:
[Editor's Caution: On-line readers should make certain that
their computer has up-to-date spyware software (such as
Spybot Search & Destroy from:
http://www.safer-networking.org/ or
Ad-Aware from: http://www.lavasoftusa.com
before visiting these links. Unfortunately, two of the following three web
sites will install
the "Avenue A, Inc." spyware tracking cookie on any unprotected computer
system when one visits their sites.]
http://www.truthminers.com/truth/price_of_miracle.htm
The
Price of A Miracle - BreakTheChain.org at: http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/miracle.html
However, one does not actually need to visit these web sites to gain
feedback from terms such as "Urban Legends", "truthminers" or "BreakTheChain"
to cause one to start thinking that perhaps the information in the message
"The Price of a Miracle" is not altogether true. Searching for information
about "Dr. Carlton Armstrong" proved fruitless as well, since it
only revealed references to other "The Price of a Miracle" messages
which were located on
many Internet web sites.
Upon conducting such research, I realized that I should write an article
for "Bits and Bytes" on validating claims spread through the Internet.
Although these motivational Internet e-mail messages were not malicious viruses nor
did they waste users' time and bandwidth like virus-related hoaxes, they too
could be validated. True, one can always appreciate the message's
motivational aspect but sometimes one needs to validate the claims for
authenticity. So I printed the original e-mail, together with the search engine results
and filed the papers in my "Bits and Bytes" folder entitled "Next Month". I
was prepared, or so I thought, to deal with validating all information that
was distributed over the Internet in the November issue.
[Table
of Contents]
The Teachable Moment - Validate ALL
Internet Claims
by Brian Metcalfe - Technology
Education
Bil Roberts, the former principal of John M. King who
is now retired, had a rather intriguing statement of which I am very fond.
He used to say, "I don't mind when my staff fall down as long as
they fall forward." I must admit that I recently "fell down" and it is this
article that I am using as a vehicle to help me "fall forward" so that others
will not necessarily make the same mistake that I did nor follow in my
staggering
foot-steps.
No sooner had I filed away last month's motivational e-mail
message, which triggered the
previous article, when I began receiving e-mail from some "Bits and Bytes" readers.
Some questioned the inclusion of the article about the "11
Rules that students do not learn in high school or college". In my
e-mail reply to a reader I indicated that the article was included as "Food
for Thought" and that the contents were not necessarily endorsed by the
editor. When the "11 rules" e-mail was first sent to me, I considered it for
inclusion because it
purportedly
quoted Bill Gates' view on today's youth.
Many computer users are aware of his tremendous wealth and how he started Microsoft and
kept the company on the leading edge of technological software development
over the past two decades. However, the fact that Bill Gates was allegedly
making comments about our youth and the rules
that we, in education, had apparently missed teaching, was an item that I thought
might get readers thinking.
Undoubtedly inclusion of this article did, as my "Bits and Bytes" e-mail box
began receiving feedback. However it was Kenn Olson, of AV and Computer
Repair Services, who suggested that perhaps my research was somewhat flawed
in attributing these 11 rules to Bill Gates. True, I had searched the
Internet using the string [+"11 rules" +"Bill Gates"] (without square
brackets) and found a plethora of web pages that mistakenly attributed these
rules to the
founder of Microsoft. In fact, I singled out one of those web site URLs as my reference
link for inclusion under last month's "Food for Thought" title. However in my haste, what I forgot
to do was to select passages from the rules and search to see if any other
web sites cited authors other than Bill Gates.
Perhaps if I had searched more than just the Google
search engine and used text strings like the following, I may have
discovered more accurate web sites:
- +"11 rules" +"Bill Gates" attributed
- +"11 rules" +"Bill Gates" hoax
- +"11 rules" +"Bill Gates" error
- +"11 rules" +"Bill Gates" inaccuracy
A more exhaustive search would have pulled up sites
like the following which are far more accurate than the plethora of web
sites that mis-quoted Bill Gates as the author of the 11 rules:
|
In summary, each of these above web
sites indicate that the "11 rules that students do not learn in high
school or college" DO NOT come
from Bill Gates nor did they originate in his book
"Business @ The Speed of Thought". However these web authors correctly
indicate that this list of rules should be attributed to Charles J.
Sykes who is author of "Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children
Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write Or Add". |
Kenn finished his very enlightening e-mail to me in
which he corrected my mis-quote by stating "Anyway, I know you have written
articles in the past regarding the importance of validating information
retrieved from the Internet. So, another teachable moment arrives." I
trust that this article and the corrections that I have made to
last month's
web version of "Bits and Bytes" help others to search more accurately and
always validate information on the web. If you don't, you may fall down
as I did when I was "too fast out of the Gates".
[Table of Contents]
Hana's Suitcase Opportunity - December 8th.
by Reesa Cohen - Instructor of Children's Literature and Information
Literacy
Faculty of Education - University of Manitoba
[Editor: The power and immediacy of Internet e-mail,
together with the dedication of Margaret Stimson, of the Pembina Trails
School Division, and her willingness to share educational resources
throughout this province, help bring you this opportunity.]
I am delighted to tell you about an exciting evening on Dec.
8th.
On Dec. 8th, at the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue (8:00 P.M.) Winnipegers will be
treated to the appearance of renowned author and senior producer of CBC
Radio's Sunday Edition, Karen Levine, a two-time Peabody award winner.
 Ms. Levine is the writer of the multi-award winning book titled Hana's
Suitcase, which is based on the award-winning CBC documentary. Also
appearing will be George Brady, Hana's surviving brother living in Canada.
This amazing book is not only the recipient of numerous awards for example,
the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year, and the National Jewish
Book Award, but has been recognized for its powerful impact on a student's
as well as a teacher's understanding of the holocaust.
This most unusual book about the Holocaust, has been published in 26
countries.
When Margie Wolff of Toronto-based Second Story Press, decided to publish
Hanna's Suitcase, she thought the market would be small and mainly Jewish.
Instead Hanna's Suitcase became a publishing phenomenon, lavished with
awards, read by hundreds of thousands of young and adult readers and
spawning two CD's.
Fumiko Ishioka, director of the Tokyo's holocaust Centre, believed that
children could only understand the significance of the Holocaust through
physical objects. Among the artifacts she obtained from Auschwitz was a
suitcase belonging to a young girl. Intrigued and curious to know more,
Fumiko determined to trace what might have happened to the young Brady girl.
Her quest to discover the history of the suitcase and for more details about
Hana, led her to the discovery of Hana's artwork in a collection at
Theresienstadt, to family photos and most importantly, to George Brady -
Hana's surviving brother, in Toronto. Glowing family photographs, artwork
and Nazi official documents that show Hana's fate, and pictures she drew in
the secret art classes in Terezin, beautifully complement the text and make
the story even more poignant. Over 60,000 people have seen the museum
exhibit that inspired the book.
Levine is a dynamic and passionate presenter, who feels deeply about her
subject and the importance of Holocaust education. She is presently on a
tour of several American cities with George Brady and Ms. Fumiko Ishioka .
This is an evening not to be missed! Tickets are $18.00 and are available
from ME: Reesa Cohen OR by calling 942-7347.
The book, Hana's Suitcase will be available for sale at $16.00.
Black-and-white photographs of Hana and her family and Ms. Ishioka and her
students accompany each chapter. A CD recording of the radio program is
available and adds to the impact and power of the book.
Don't miss this wonderful opportunity!
Hope to see many of you there.
Reesa Cohen
[Table of Contents]
SWiSH is "nothing but net"
by Brian Metcalfe - Technology Education
Introduction
Please forgive my writer's license as I use a basketball theme to describe the
very powerful multi-media software tool known as "SWiSH". Every time I
hear the word "swish", I think back to my teenage years on the basketball court
and my coach shouting
"Nothing but net" as
encouragement from the sidelines.
 Today
the term "SWiSH" takes on an entirely new meaning. The
SWiSH web page at:
http://www.swishzone.com page states "Do you want to get into Flash TM
but can't afford the steep price and even steeper learning curve? then SWISH2 is
the tool for you! ... SWISH2 includes over 150 ready-to-use effects that make it
easy to create animations with text, images, graphics and sound." Certainly this
new meaning of "SWiSH" together with the wealth of resources available on the
"'net" combine to provide teachers and students with a very powerful tool to
showcase student creativity.
Purpose
The focus of this article is to introduce readers to a new
SWiSH Resources web site that I have
created at:
http://www.wsd1.org/swish and to encourage educators using SWiSH in
their classrooms to share resources. Although this article will remain somewhat
static, it is hoped that this SWiSH web site will continue to evolve as educators introduce this powerful
multi-media tool into their classrooms. If the community of SWiSH educators shares
with me their activities, teaching tools, tips, strategies, ideas
and the creations of their students, I will share them on this web site with the hope that
the resources will continue to help other educators. Those who are
willing to share should contact Brian
Metcalfe at: bitsandbytes@wsd1.org.
Background
To my knowledge SWiSH acquisition and use in the education sector began
with the work of Bruce Young of the Louis Riel School Division. He saw the
potential of this product for showcasing the creativity of students and
negotiated a price for the grade 9(S1) students in his Division. Bruce shared
his enthusiasm for SWiSH with his good friend John Silver at St. John's High
School who then purchased sufficient quantities to equip his high school
computer lab. Last year, Joyce Wong organized a one day SWiSH workshop where
John Silver demonstrated the potential of this multi-media software to
approximately 20 educators in our Division. MaryLouise Lisi then worked very
hard to facilitate a group purchase process for our Division. Using SWiSH's very
attractive
group educational discount, MaryLouise helped
schools in our Division combine their purchasing power to purchase more
than 1000 copies of the Swish2 software, which normally sells for $49.99 US, for
only $3.40 US per workstation. Next I volunteered to present a SWiSH workshop at
one of the Manitoba Association for Computing Educators (ManACE) S.A.G. sessions
this past October and I, too, became a convert to the problem solving and
creativity that one exercises when using SWiSH.
 One
of my first SWiSH creations was to take my "Bits and Bytes" logo and animate it
using the SWiSH features. On-line readers can click on the logo at the right, or
any "Bits and Bytes" logo on the masthead of our newsletter beginning in October
2003, to gain a glimpse of the what can be accomplished. However during
the preparation for the SWiSH workshop for S.A.G., I realized the need to have a
mechanism whereby educators could share their SWiSH ideas, activities and
showcase their students' creativity. It seemed that the best approach was to
create the following web site:
SWiSH RESOURCES WEB
SITE
http://www.wsd1.org/swish
The purpose of this web site is to list a series of resources for educators
who are integrating the use of "SWiSH" multi-media software into their classroom
teaching.
WEB RESOURCES:
TEACHING ACTIVITIES:
Clicking on the left "title" link will provide educators with a glimpse
of the activity in their browser whereas clicking on the "filename(s)" on
the right will allow SWiSH users to download the file to inspect and use the
activity with students.
Directions: This activity demonstrates how all elements in the SWiSH
layout panel are positioned on a separate plane or layer. Without
testing the SWiSH file in the "Player" or "Browser", the teacher,
using a projection device, should ask
students to examine the six elements in the teacher's layout panel and try to
determine which of the six elements is closest. Next the teacher should
provide more information by clicking the File/Test/Browser menu items to
showcase additional information regarding the basketball and its layering effect.
Finally have all students access this file in the SWiSH program and
drag each of the six elements into overlapping positions to illustrate the
six different layers and to determine which object is out in front. Help
students see a parallel between their stacking order and the way the objects
are arranged in the timeline panel. Review terms such as "object",
"element", "animated GIF", and "transparent GIF".
Directions: This activity is designed to give students an opportunity
to first interpret the actions and events that occur within the SWiSH
timeline. Ask students to use the Microsoft Paint program to open the
"timeline-trivia.jpg" image from a shared resource location. Have class
list or discuss all "movie" facts that one can gather from the timeline
and panels. Students should be able to answer questions such as:
"What is the screen size of this movie and how long does it last?";
"How many scenes are there?"; "Other than the 'fade in' and 'fade out'
actions, are there any other special effects?"; If there are sound
effects, how long do they last?"; and "Describe in words what will happen
when this movie is played." Lastly, have students open the "timeline-trivia.swi"
file and test it in the browser to see how accurate their predictions
were.
Directions: Save this Swish movie to your own workspace area as
"actions.swi". Open this file in the SWiSH program and test the movie in
the browser. At the end of the movie, add three new scenes, each
containing a single word, which can best be described by the actions
shown.
AUDIO
RESOURCES:
IMAGE RESOURCES:
SWiSH CREATIONS:
(A section to show case student and teacher creativity and talent.)
FREEWARE TOOLS:
-
Cogitum Co-Citer
is a tool for creating the collections of text from the Internet. It
captures the selected text, its Internet address, its title and date of
adding to the collection. Source: http://www.cogitum.com/
-
Image Co-Tracker
is a tool for creating the database of images from the Internet. It
captures the image itself, its Internet address, the Internet address
where it refers to, its name and date of adding to the database. Source:
http://www.cogitum.com/
[Table of Contents]
|
