Social Media–Map your tag

***Note*** update Oct. 20, 2013

This map still works for Flicker and Twitter, but the controls have changed. Zoom in to the desired location, click on the layers button, sign in with Twiter and change the tags in the social tab to your hashtag. Images of controls are not exactly the same as the current map.

The map below allows you to search Flickr, Twitter and Youtube for geo-located social media posts. The tag that is currently mapped is “weather” but you can change the tag by clicking on the gear icon.  Continue reading

Capri’s Blue Grotto

Music Creative Commons License Island Journey Reprise by Ivan Chew is licensed under a Attribution Noncommercial (3.0).

While looking for a background image for my about.me page, I was enjoying my pictures of Italy from the summer of 2011. One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to the Blue Grotto on the island of Capri. I appreciated Serge Puchinsky’s post about the Advanced Blogging webinar and how he plans to put into practice what he has learned in ETMOOC for his posts. So I challenged myself to make a video about this amazing experience. The people we shared a boat with had been to Capri 3 times before but could not get into the cave because the waves were too high but we had perfect weather.

My friend insisted that I had to wear capri pants in Capri, so I did (even though it was much too hot!)

I tried using Youtube’s video editor but was not able to add pictures along with video. Instead, I made a Windows Live Movie Maker video. I would never have chosen WMM a couple of years ago over a web tool, but Movie Maker has become really intuitive and has many features that allow you to personalize your video. It probably would have been easier to make an Animoto, but it’s great to try new things and learn new skills!

You can read more about the Blue Grotto here. This is a video that shows where the light actually comes into the sea cave under the water:

 

Win a $20,000 outdoor classroom or $5000 in tech


Majesta Trees of Knowledge Competition

Get outside! Up to 10 schools across Canada will win $17,500 to transform their school’s property with an outdoor classroom. An additional $2500 is provided in the form of technical advice and teaching resources from Trees Canada.

  • Deadline is January 27th.
  • Application includes essay or video, landscape plan, project description and viability and community support
  • Get more details here: http://www.majestatreesofknowledge.ca/


CDW Teaching with Technology

Do you have a good story to tell about how you use technology to achieve student success in your classroom? The Teaching with Technology Contest has four ways to enter:

  • Send them a story (two winners of $5000 in tech products)
  • Send them a video (one winner of $5000 in tech products)
  • Just enter your name! ( The sweepstakes winner gets $5500 in tech products)
  • Tweet ur tech story-unlimited entries (You can win $500 in tech products)
  • Deadline is February 29, 2012
  • Get more details here: http://teachingwithtechnology.ca/

 

 

Going on a vacation? Pack for a purpose!

My friend Christine went to Costa Rica last Christmas for a family vacation in the sun. Before she went, though, she gathered school supplies from everyone (other teachers at our school, neighbours, family) to bring to a local school near her hotel. Her seven year old son insisted that he didn’t want a toy for Christmas; he wanted to give the children at the school more school supplies.

They were very happy to personally meet the teachers and students at the school. Surprisingly, the school was completely empty of supplies so everything was greatly appreciated.

This year Christine’s family is going back to Costa Rica and she has even recruited Walmart to donate supplies. They have amassed 150 lbs of supplies!

Christine made all her own connections with the local school in advance. However, if you are like me and wouldn’t know where to start, thankfully someone else does!

You can go to www.packforapurpose.org and easily find how to “make a impact on the lives of children” wherever you are travelling in the world.

The Pack for a Purpose motto is “Small space, Little Effort, Big Impact” because they suggest that if everyone sets aside only 5 lbs in their luggage for local needs and is able to drop it off at their hotel, then it will make a big impact.

What a fantastic idea! This would also be an excellent part of the planning for any overseas school trip. I know I will be checking out their website before I pack for my next trip!