classroom makeover

Enter the 2010 eInstruction® Global Classroom Makeover Video Contest.

Gather your students and create your very own music video. Show how your class envisions the use of technology to enhance the learning process. Parody an existing song or create one yourself. Make it fun, creative, and focused on technology in the classroom.

http://2010classroommakeover.shycast.com/ (see some past entries)

Write your song, roll camera, submit your video, and enter to win an interactive classroom worth up to $75,000 USD. A panel of judges will select a grand-prize winner from three categories; grades K-5 (4-10 yrs old), grades 6-8 (10-14 yrs old), and grades 9-12 (14-18 yrs old). [ http://2010classroommakeover.shycast.com/?ak=/contest/rules/ ]Contest rules.

Submissions will be accepted between August 23 and November 2, 2010 so start creating today!

Random House

You are invited to join the

Random House Children's Books

Teacher Advisory Board!

Dear Educator:

Random House Children's Books is dedicated to providing quality literature with strong curriculum content. In an effort to continue to publish books and create supplementary materials that meet educators' needs, we are looking for new members for our Teacher Advisory Board.

We are looking for educator volunteers willing to answer questions via e-mail on a monthly basis for one year. You might be asked if a book on a particular topic would be useful in your teaching or how you are using a certain book format in your classroom. You will receive one free book when you are first confirmed as part of the Teacher Advisory Board, and then another four free books at the end of the year. We will also send you posters, bookmarks, and other promotional items throughout the year.

If you are interested in participating, send an e-mail to [ mailto:teacheradvisoryboard@randomhouse.com ]teacheradvisoryboard@randomhouse.com by August 30th, 2010 with a short paragraph explaining why you would like to participate in the Teacher Advisory Board along with your name, phone number, school address, and grade you teach. Please put "RHCB Teacher Advisory Board" in the subject line.

Summer PD opps

The Capital Region Society for Technology in Education (CRSTE) is promising a summer of "Quality Affordable Professional Development" including one by Bedford High School's Nicole Tomaselli. Following the success of their winter CyberConference, these should be excellent PD opportunities for the money. Some as low as $10.

[ http://www.crste.org/summerbootcamps.html ]http://www.crste.org/summerbootcamps.html

Storytube contest

It's almost time for the annual StoryTubes contest. Join kids from across the U.S. and from Nova Scotia, Canada by making a short video about your favorite book. Use the [ http://storytubes.info/drupal/node/4 ]online form to enter and compete for prizes - and, be sure to check out the [ http://storytubes.info/drupal/node/2 ]rules, but here are the basics:

Videos may be up to two minutes long

You may make the video by yourself or with a group (the group limit is five people)

Kids from any state in the U.S. and from Nova Scotia, Canada may enter

Entries will be accepted from January 20 through February 28, 2010

To win a prize, at least one person in the group must be school-aged (kindergarten through grade 12)

Top prizes will be awarded by a panel of judges, who will consider performance, script, creativity, and other factors

Just-for-fun prizes for other high-quality entries will be awarded through online voting

You may enter the contest more than once, as long as you promote a different book in each video

Comparing 2000 to 2009

From Stephen's Lighthouse blog
http://stephenslighthouse.sirsidynix.com/archives/2009/12/ten_years_compa.html

Ten Years - Comparing 2000 and 2009

Here's a nice list of facts compiled at Forbes.

The Decade In Data
by Oliver J. Chiang

"Here's a list that compares key data points from 2000 to 2009, or the latest available figures.

--Percentage of U.S. households with a broadband connection in 2000: 6.3%
--Percentage of U.S. households with a broadband connection in 2008: 63%

--Number of e-mails sent per day in 2000: 12 billion
--Number of e-mails sent per day in 2009: 247 billion

--Revenues from mobile data services in the first half of 2000: $105 million
--Revenues from mobile data services in the first half of 2009: $19.5 billion

--Number of text messages sent in the U.S. per day in June 2000: 400,000
--Number of text messages sent in the U.S. per day in June 2009: 4.5 billion

--Percentage of U.S. households with at least one digital camera in 2000: 10%
--Percentage of U.S. households with at least one digital camera in 2008: 68.4%

--Percentage of U.S. households with at least one MP3 player in 2000: less than 2%
--Percentage of U.S. households with at least one MP3 player in 2008: almost 43%

--Number of pages indexed by Google in 2000: 1 billion
--Number of pages indexed by Google in 2008: 1 trillion

--Number of Google searches per day in 2001: 10 million
--Number of Google searches in 2009: 300 million, estimated

--Number of total Wikipedia entries in 2001: 20,000
--Number of Wikipedia entries in English in 2009: 3.1 million

--Number of blogs in 2000: less than 100,000
--Number of blogs 2008: 133 million

--Minimum free hard-disk space needed to install Windows 2000: 650 megabytes
--Minimum available hard-disk space needed to install Windows 7: 16,000 megabytes (16 gb)

--Amount of hard-disk space $300 could buy in 2000: 20 to 30 gigabytes
--Amount of hard-disk space $300 could buy in 2009: 2,000 gigabytes (2 terabytes)

Sources: Forrester Research ( FORR - news - people ), CTIA, Radicati Group, Technorati, Wikipedia, Google and Microsoft ( MSFT - news - people )."

78 Videos that will make you go Huh, Whoa, Wow, Ahhh, and Ha-Ha

Here is a link to Blogush's Dec. 29th post.  There are links to 78 amazing videos.  From "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" to "Dominoes in the Kitchen" to "What teachers make", you are sure to find a video that will make you go huh, whoa, wow, ahhh, or ha-ha.  Enjoy.

http://blogush.edublogs.org/2009/12/29/78-videos-that-will-make-you-go-huh-whoa-wow-ahhh-and-ha-ha/

Thousands of books available online

The Library of Congress and the Internet Archive join forces to digitize thousands of books from the library's collection.  Amazing collection of books, images and sounds.  Check out this video to get an overview of the project.

http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=4763