David Lent: Teach me about Prenatal

David Lent: Teach me about Prenatal

Teach me about Pre-natal video rocks! Way to go!

JustEd: Audacity tutorial

JustEd: Audacity tutorial



Here is Justen's great tutorial on how to use Audacity. Way to go Justen!

Elementary school practices fall short of national recommendations for diet and physical activity (RWJF)

New Report Highlights Changes Needed to Support Healthy Eating and Physical Activity in U.S. Elementary Schools

Elementary school practices fall short of national recommendations for diet and physical activity.

A comprehensive new report from Bridging the Gap and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation shows that elementary schools across the nation commonly offer their students junk food and soda, serve meals that don’t meet current dietary guidelines, and provide little time for physical activity.

The report, School Policies and Practices to Improve Health and Prevent Obesity: National Elementary School Survey Results, examined practices that affect nutrition, physical activity and obesity prevention for tens of millions of students. Its conclusions are critical for informing the Child Nutrition Reauthorization legislation, including policies related to competitive foods and school meals.

Among the key findings from the 2007–08 school year:

• Nearly two-thirds of public elementary school students were able to purchase competitive foods or beverages on campus. These items, sold or served outside of school meal programs, often included soda, candy, cookies and french fries.

• Meals served through the National School Lunch Program often included higher-fat items such as pizza, french fries, and 2% or whole milk.

• Only 20 percent of public school third-graders were offered daily physical education, and only 18 percent were offered at least 150 minutes of weekly physical education, as recommended by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education.

More here

http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/bridgingthegap20101123mongraphrevised.pdf

http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/btg201006.pdf

http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/64429companionbrief.pdf

The Upside of Failure: Lessons from Korea

The Upside of Failure: "

Honda offers a series of videos about high risk efforts, including “The Upside of Failure” featuring Danica Patrick. It’s a great example of how high performers turn failure into success. The main message it that success rarely happens on one's first chance to perform, rather it is the end-product of multiple failures and persistence.  Are you going to quit on your students the first time something goes wrong? Let me share a little story from my most recent trip to Korea:

Image via WikipediaThe next morning, I was supposed to demo the Wii when all of a sudden I heard a popping sound.  My power supply overheated!!  Now what the hell am I going to do in downtown Seoul without a main cog for our presentation.  Even if I found a new power supply, could I be assured that the main unit wasn't fried?  Would I have to buy a new one here = and if I did would it even work in the US?

I scrambled around and got the concierge to direct me to the largest electronics market in Korea.  Let me say I was in techno heaven for a couple of hours. So in my large Korean vocabulary set of 50 baby words I set out to find what I needed. Grabbed a taxi and 15 minutes later I as exploring vast rows of tents, little shops and large gallerias of gadgets, computers, games and cables. Check out the Korean version of an Android iPad-killer...and I thought my Droid was big.

If you've seen my lab with all the cables and parts, you would know how much I love tech gear. The first dozen or shops keep telling me "NO POWER SUPPLY, MUST BUY NEW WII".  I just had a feeling that it couldn't be that hard.  So I keep looking and hit a small little booth of a shop with a young guy that as soon as I showed him what I needed he went and grabbed the right power supply.  Imagine what its like to not speak the language and tell them things you need and want. He runs off to get what I hope is the right thing and tells me as he's leaving "Please, wait." and points to a stool by his booth.  Well of course the power supply comes back with is a 220 volt Korea adapter, and that's no good in the US, so I show him the plug and somehow I get across the point that I need  the US plug adapter so that it can work at home. Well in a couple of seconds, he runs around the corner to buy the parts from another vendor and comes back with all the parts (in theory) that will make my unit run again.  But remember, I'm not even sure my unit isn't fried. So the moment arrives to test it out and I am in pins and needles ----- it works.  I pay him 25,000 Korean Won ($20) and my day just got better.

Why did I tell you this? Simply to say that you never let anyone or situation get in the way of what you need and want to accomplish. So you forget a thing or 2 on your C9, you may even have forgotten to get to a challenge or intratask variation....big deal. If you let one little or even big group of problems throw you off track, are you going to GIVE UP ON YOU DREAMS? STUDENTS? Are all of your lessons going to be perfect? 

 N-O! NO! NON! NIET! EMM-HIGH!

Rockers go on with the show and always give it their ALL for their audience (AKA students).

Rock on my friends and don't ever give up on your dreams, your students or yourselves!
Failure: The Secret to Success

Six- Step Plan to Using Your 21st Century Voice to Make a Difference

Image by wlibrary via FlickrThe Six- Step Plan to Using Your 21st Century Voice to Make a Difference by Lisa Nielsen: "
I love this reference about finding and using your 21st Centruy Voice and the steps she defines for all of us to become the lifelong learners we want our students to become.

1. Join (Week 1)
2. Lurk (Week 2, 3, 4)
3. Converse (Week 5+)
4. Initiate (sometime within the first six - twelve months)
5. Launch (If you feel ready)
6. Share / Publish / Establish Your Digital Footprint (for the rest of your life)

Express Yourself Through Your Blog.

Hey there Rockstars! As times change your blog needs keep up! Here are a few resources to use to create that special blog that helps to portray you! Try adding an mp3 player for catchy tunes, or a slide show of pictures to help your followers see what you have been up to. Create a collage for the custom header to invite and interest more people to view what you have to say on your blog. A little color goes a long way, so get creative and dig into your blog!

Use the Screenr below to create a Picasa collage.

or this Screenr to embed an mp3!

Or this screenr for videos with Picasa

Also try:

Embedding photos, slide shows, and albums.

Try Animoto! - A very simple, online program to make picture videos.