Welcome to my blog. Here I will explore numerous computer and internet resources that will enhance my future classroom across the curriculum for years to come.
First on the agenda: screens-shots, and cutting and pasting. The above logo is from the top left corner of this webpage. To capture it, I used a simple process by pressing the "print screen" key to take a screen-shot. I then opened Microsoft Paint and copied the screen shot. I then cut out the logo from the rest of the picture and saved it. The above logo is the result of this process. This will be the method I use to post most of my pictures onto this blog. This is a good process to practice with students so they learn how to capture any image they may need or want from the internet for their own work.
Inspiration
This week we also looked a program called Inspiration. Inspiration is a idea mapping program that allows you to create concept and mind maps. It is very simple and fun to use.
Here is my Inspriartion concept map. It is about famous places in the world. By placing the globe in the center of the map I could then drag arrows out to link to photos of famous places in the world, the arrows are also colour coded to indicate which country the place belongs. All these pictures came with Inspiration too. Concept mapping may also be useful for timelines.
This is my Inspiration mind map. By starting out with the central idea of Europe, it branches out into different countries, then to cities, and then to places of interest of attractions.
I think this is a fantastic program to use for brainstorming. Some students do not have the visual and creative ability to brainstorm effectively with pen and paper. Mind mapping lays out the structure for you and it would not take long for branch out ideas until the page is full! This is also very clear and easy to read.