11 Temmuz 2012 Çarşamba
10 Temmuz 2012 Salı
9 Temmuz 2012 Pazartesi
College for KIDS starts today
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| ©2008 linda germain hand carved rubber stamp |
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| ©2009 linda germain hand made card from gelatin plate prints |
I have scheduled a couple of adult gelatin printmaking workshops for August.
Gelatin Printmaking TeaserFun Evening Workshop Gelatin Printmaking is the foundation of a lot of my work. I hope to get you hooked in this workshop. Space it limited, so check out my video and then sign up.
Wednesday
August 1, 2012
6:00 - 8:00 PM@ the Studio on 93 Essex Street, Haverhill, $25/person supplies included. You will be printing with water based inks on drawing paper. Email me to reserve a spotLgermainart@gmail.com
Gelatin Prints - Play for the Day IISunday, August 26th, 201210 AM to 3 PM93 Essex St.Haverhill, MA$65. - Includes most supplies All are welcome.
The focus of this class is gelatin plate monoprints with masking stencils and stamping tools. It is a wonderfully experimental process that gives results that vary from the abstract to the photographic. The soft malleable gelatin is covered with ink, and then marks are made in the ink with found objects and stencils. Once you have experimented with the materials you can start to focus on combining methods to create a series of pleasing prints. Space it limited - to reserve your spot - email Linda Germain Lgermainart@gmail.com
Alaskan Adventure: Day 3
Day #3 was a day of firsts. The first, first: I had my very first massage. We're celebrating our 14 year(!) wedding anniversary this trip, and Shira thought it would be romantic to have a couple's message. The whole notion of a stranger rubbing me pretty much freaked me out - what if I hated it? What if I loved it? What the heck, it sounded romantic, why not give it a try?
Apparently, I missed the memo where I was explained just how painful massage is. The goal of a message, apparently, is to collect all the lactic acid from a particular part of your muscle into a tight little ball, and then rub it till it dissipates, which meant that I spent a good bit of the massage groaning - and not good groaning either. In the end, it was a fun and romantic adventure, but I truly don't see the appeal.
At 2pm, our boat docked in Juneau, where we were met with an overcast and rainy day. Hardly perfect weather, but that's life in Southeast Alaska, we're told. We got off the boat and made it to our second first of the day: Mendenhall Glacier.
Wow. Our photos just don't do this natural wonder justice. The glacier really is a massive river of blue ice. We took a 3+ mile hike around the surrounding area, which was also gorgeous. The area is a rainforest, but not the type we're used to seeing in the tropics.
As we were walking back to the bus, directly across from the visitor center, we saw a crowd gathered with cameras out. We quickly joined, and sure enough, there was a relatively small black bear about 10 feet off into the woods. There was a park ranger standing next to me, and as as long as she wasn't concerned, I wasn't either.
How typical is it: you hike through miles and miles of pristine wilderness, and then see the bear across from the visitor center?
After the glacier we explored Juneau, but it was really too wet and cold to wander too far.
All in all, and amazing day.
Celebrating the 4th - A Roasting Good Time
I really should have spent more time working today to make up for our most recent vacation. But, how could I resist not playing on a day when Shira and our 7 year old were home all day?
They both humored me this morning, and let me take them on a hike through Potomac Overlook Park, which I'd previously done personally, but not with them. This hike really is a blast. The stream crossings and scenery make it feel like you're really in the wilderness, yet you don't have to leave Arlington County. As Next Door Nature opportunities go, this is definitely a hidden gem.
There was quite a number of downed trees from the recent super storm, but none stopped us from making it from the parking lot down to the Potomac. We did see one especially large tree blocked a section of the White Trail we didn't need to travel on. Man, that storm was powerful.
The other big activity for the day was hitting Long Bridge Park for a 4th of July celebration. Alas, it was a feels like over 100°, so there wasn't much of a crowd and we didn't stay long to celebrate. It brought to mind a cook-out, except we were the ones on the Bar-B-Q.
We finished up the evening watching the fireworks streaming live from whitehouse.gov and listening to the sounds of them in the distance. This turned out to be the most brilliant way ever to watch the fireworks: no traffic to fight, no worrying about arriving early to save a spot, a perfect view, and all from the comfort of our air conditioned house. Seriously, this may become our new tradition.
DollarShaveClub.com - Hilarity Meets Business Advice
Check out this DollarShaveClub.com commercial:
Far funnier than anything I saw during the Super Bowl, or since. When my current batch of Cost Co razors run out, I may very well have to give them a try.
The commercial nails two other points that I'm constantly telling my customers about:
1. Embrace your limitations and use them as a strength. "Stop paying for shave tech you don't need" -- the flip side of this is, our razors aren't as flashy as the competition. Rather than lamenting this, embrace it. Say you're building a web app, and because you're a start up there isn't as much functionality built out yet. Use that as a good thing. Force your software to be simple and easy to use, and free from all that junk nobody really uses.
2. Solve a real problem, and everything else takes care of itself. The value proposition for DollarShaveClub.com is easy: save money, save time. DollarShaveClub.com doesn't need a fancy website, or packaging, or or even amazing customer service - they just need to deliver on this simple premise. If they do, then their customers will have the incentive to stick around as they grow to finally put out a fully mature product.
My favorite example of this to tell my customers about is eBay. When eBay started, there was no Buy It Now, or Make an Offer or even a way to schedule the ending of an auction. If you wanted an auction to end Sunday evening, you had to start it Sunday evening. And the interface was terribly clunky - no way your grandma could ever use it. But, eBay solved two real problems: (a) how can I sell the junk in my basement and (b) how can I trust the people I'm doing business with (aka, feedback). Because they delivered on those items, people hung around while eBay matured into a real product.
Whch color should this room be? A Painting Hack
We're having the first floor of our house painted, and the guys who are doing it have obviously been doing this for years. They need a minimum of instruction and just get efficiently to work.
I made an appearance to help show them which type of paint when into which room. Rather than depend on me putting the right paint cans in the right spot, or remembering anything, the guy in charge scribbled on the wall appropriate color number. And what fancy tool did he use to accomplish this? A plain old quarter.
The chances that they'll apply the wrong color are now much slimmer.
There's just something about watching folks who know what they are really, truly, doing.Whether it's a programmer, car mechanic, chef, Doctor or anyone else...the hacks that they use are almost a work of art.
8 Temmuz 2012 Pazar
Marfa Mondays #6: Marfa's Moonlight Gemstones
Now live: my podcast interview with Paul Graybeal, owner of Marfa's Moonlight Gemstones, the 6th is a series of 24 podcasts about Marfa, Texas and environs apropos of a book-in-progress (as yet untitled).It was no exaggeration for historian Walter Prescott Webb to describe the Big Bend region as "an earthwreck in which a great section of country was shaken down, turned over, blown up, and set on fire." In short, there is ample evidence of millions of years of dramatic geological activity, with the craggiest of mountains to rocks of all kinds, from mammoth piles of boulders to pebbles. In this interview with Paul Graybeal, owner of Marfa's magnet for rock hounds, learn about agates, thundereggs, and more.
>>CLICK HERE TO LISTEN NOW
Related links to surf:
Moonlight Gemstoneswww.moonlightgemstones.com
The etsy.com video, "There's No Place Like Here: Marfa, Texas" in which Graybeal makes a brief appearance.
About the Marfa Mondays Podcasting Project:www.cmmayo.com/marfa
Listen to more Marfa Mondays Podcasts
Geology of Big Bend National Park
On flybigbend's YouTube channel:Flying over La Junta
Flying over El Solitario
http://www.cmmayo.com/marfa
Publish Now! Seminar This Saturday at the Writer's Center
We are all geared up for 'Publish Now!' this Saturday! If you're working on a manuscript of any kind, don't miss this opportunity to learn the ins and outs of digital publishing and network with top industry professionals. Registration begins at 8 a.m. with coffee & pastries. A Brown Bag lunch will be provided. The seminar concludes with a wine & cheese reception at 5 p.m. More information follows:Publish Now!Take Your Writing from Manuscript to Book & ebook in the New World of Digital PublishingSaturday, June 239 a.m. – 5 p.m.$100 non-members, $85 members,$50 studentsRegistration fee includes networking lunch & receptionCall 301-654-8664 or visit www.writer.org for more information.Publishing - “The New World of Publishing” will be led by Justin Branch, a publisher with Greenleaf Book Group, whose clients range from well-known brands such as John Gray and Kanye West to debut authors.- Ken Ackerman & Neal Gillen will present “The Non-Traditional Publishing Experience.” Ackerman has authored four published books and is founder of Viral History Press. Gillen is the author of eight self-published novels.Writing- “The Story – The Manuscript is Finished – Or is It – What’s Next?”, led by C.M. Mayo, author of The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, a Library Journal Best Book 2009; Miraculous Air and Sky Over El Nido, winner of the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction, among many other works. Her presentation will answer the question, How do I know when my manuscript is ready to be published, and whose help do I need to get it there; for example, a private editor, writing coach, or trusted reader?Marketing- “Developing Your Marketing Plan,” led by Ally Peltier, chief editor, writer and editor of Ambitious Enterprises and Angela Render, owner of Thunderpaw Business Intelligence & Network Systems Management and author of “Marketing for Writers,” will break down what a successful manuscript is and how to design your own program for marketing it.Legal & Business - Attorneys Laura Strachan and Cynthia Blake Sanders will demystify copyright, fair use and commercial speech laws, which are changing rapidly in the new world of publishing and help you understand who owns your manuscript.
Podcasting Q & A with Literary Disco (Tod Goldberg in Particular)
Literary Disco is now like, totally my totally favorite literary podcast.As those of you who follow this blog know, I'm not only hosting two podcast series (Marfa Mondays and Conversations with Other Writers), but I'm writing an iBook, Podcasting for Writers & Other Creative Entrepreneurs, which is based on my Writer's Center workshop and will be available later this summer from Dancing Chiva on iTunes. So naturally, I'm interested to know-- and I imagine you might be, too--what other podcasters have to say about podcasting.
Today's Podcasting Q & A is the third in a series (the first was with writer and artist Ricë Freeman-Zachery, host of Notes from the Voodoo Lounge; the second, with Chris Gondek, host of The Invisible Hand and founder of Heron and Crane, podcaster for several university presses).
So: let's shimmy over to Literary Disco, which is hosted by Tod Goldberg, Julia Pistell, and Rider Strong.
Literary Disco (Tod Golderg in particular) gives the A's to my Q's:
C.M. Mayo: What inspired you to start your podcast?
Literary Disco: Well, we really like talking to each other about books and writing and, at the same time, we were frustrated by the lack of literary podcasts that didn't descend into self importance. The nice thing about the Internet is that if you're into something, there are about 20 million people out there equally into that same thing and it occurred to us that there might just be a few people who were interested in having a good time while talking about literature. We take books seriously, but we don't take ourselves that seriously in the process.
C.M. Mayo: How do you select the guests / topics for your show?
Literary Disco: We pick books we're interested in talking about, which is an entirely subjective affair. We'll look at old books and new books and books we think will be good and books we think will be bad. Truthfully, some of our best shows have been about books we hated -- i.e., Sweet Valley High -- because it's a lot of fun to discuss the mortal pain one suffers while reading something that you hate. By and large, we're driven to talk about books that we want to share with the world for some specific purpose -- it doesn't need to be a hot book or a bestseller or even something current -- but it does need to get our collective interest in some way.
C.M. Mayo: What's the best part of doing the podcasts?
Literary Disco: For us, it's the chance to talk about something we're each very passionate about. But, also, it's just an awful lot of fun for the three of us to get to spend an hour every week or two in each other's online company giggling and talking about stuff. We're basically recording the conversations we'd have with or without an audience.
C.M. Mayo: What keeps you podcasting?
Literary Disco: The fame, the money, the parties with Jay-Z.
C.M. Mayo: (C'est vrai, it's intense.) What has surprised / frustrated / enchanted / bamboozled / amazed you about podcasting?
Literary Disco: The quick and effusive response. We just assumed no one would ever listen and yet just a few days after posting our first episode, we were getting flooded with downloads and emails and strange people demanding we read their books about aquatic alien overlords. Once you get the aquatic alien overlord people, well, you've made it. Oh, and that we all hate the sound of our voices.
C.M. Mayo: (I get the YA vampires of Gotham, not that I could tell you why. Maybe it's a west coast vs east coast kind of thing, you think?) What equipment do you use to record and what software to edit?
Literary Disco: Rider and Julia use GarageBand and Tod uses Audacity. We each have different mics, but what we've found is that good mics make a huge difference. Our first shows were recorded using crappy mics and it was hard to listen to them sometimes without feeling very frustrated. So don't scrimp on mics.
C.M. Mayo: Any tips on improving sound quality?
Literary Disco: Not screaming helps. Keeping the mic a consistent distance away doesn't hurt. Recording in a sound proof chamber buried beneath the ground would be great.
C.M. Mayo: (You mean not screaming like this?) Um, any tips on promoting podcasts?
Literary Disco: We've subsisted on word of mouth and social media mostly and it helps that each of us had a platform of some kind previous to the show -- Rider is an actor and writer, Julia is part of a very popular improv troupe in addition to be an essayist and commentator on NPR, and Tod is an author and book critic -- so we each have brought a portion of our audience to the fore. We've also thought about starting a rumor about one of us getting into a fight with Drake at a bar or maybe that one of us is really a Kardashian, but thus far we've mostly been content to talk about books we think people will be interested in hearing us talk about and not worrying too much about hit counts. We're making the show for an audience we hope exists out there and thus we're ever hopeful they'll find us, either organically or through word of mouth or through a condition of their parole.
C.M. Mayo: Any other tips for podcasters?
Literary Disco: Try not to be too terribly drunk when recording.
C.M. Mayo: (Helps not to hit the mic with your forehead.) What podcasts do you enjoy listening to?
Literary Disco: Other People, WTF, This American Life, Rich Eisen, Adam Carolla, The Nerdist and about a billion others.
C.M. Mayo: Do you have tips for podcast listeners?
Literary Disco: Try to wear pants when listening to the show. Really. It's strange that you don't.
C.M. Mayo: What kind of feedback do you get from your listeners, and do you encourage it?
Literary Disco: There's the aforementioned "please read my novel about our aquatic alien overlords" emails, which are always somewhat frightening, because, you know, we live near a body of water...but, generally, the feedback we get is filled with suggestions of books people would like us to read, or comments about how listening to the show is like having three friends sitting in the back seat of their car talking about funny stuff, or it's people correcting us on things we've said on the show, or it's people who want us to know how they felt about a particular book we read or it's people who can't believe we hold X opinion about Y topic. The preponderance of comments we get, however, tend to just thank us for doing the show and providing a little bit of entertainment for them on their lunch break. That's always the best, really, knowing people save us for their lunch breaks. That's sacred time right there.
C.M. Mayo: How do you see the future of podcasting per se / your podcasts?
Literary Disco: We're hoping that podcasts will eventually involve jet packs or flying cars, but we feel that way about the future of most things. Our podcasts will continue to focus on books and culture and will also continue to have guests coming on to talk about their favorite new books. And there's a good chance we'll eventually have a listener or two come on as a guest, too, since it would be fun to do that. We're also pretty sure that in the future podcasts will be in 3D and will also have the properties of an everlasting gobstopper. And by "pretty sure" we mean: god, we hope so.
--> Listen in to Literary Disco at www.literarydisco.com
--> Q & A with Chris Gondek (The Invisible Hand and Heron and Crane)
--> Q & A with Rice Freeman-Zachery (Notes from the Voodoo Lounge)
--> Podcasting for Writers & Other Creative Entrepreneurs
The Manuscript is Ready - (Or Is It?) - What's Next?
For the Writer's Center's "Publish Now!" seminar last Saturday June 23, I gave this talk, now a souped-up handout. (Links galore). Help yourself.Especially valuable in this seminar was historian Ken Ackerman's talk on his e-book venture-- like many authors (including Yours Truly), he is bringing out the ebook editions of his several previously published books. Among them:
The Gold Ring: Jim Fisk, Jay Gould, and Black Friday
Boss Tweed: The Rise and Fall of the Corrupt Pol Who Conceived the Soul of Modern New York
Young J. Edgar Hoover: The Red Scare, and the Assault on Civil Liberties
I am crossing my fingers that the Writer's Center will turn this into an annual seminar.
On Being with Krista Tippet
Thanks to Joanne M. Lozar Glenn, who leads popular writing retreats and workshops in Delaware, I have a new podcast recommendation:On Being with Krista Tippet
which is on American Public Media
That website also has the best "how to" for new podcast listeners I've seen yet.
As those of you follow this blog know, I'm working on an iBook, Podcasting for Writers & Other Creative Entrepreneurs, which will be available later this summer from Dancing Chiva.
>Listen to my podcasts here.
>Q & A with other podcasters
Tod Goldberg (Literary Disco)
Chris Gondek (Heron & Crane, The Invisible Hand)
Ricë Freeman-Zachery (Notes from the Voodoo Lounge)
http://madammayo.blogspot.com/2012/06/rice-freeman-zachery-q-on-creative.html
7 Temmuz 2012 Cumartesi
We Give Books: Visit, Read, Donate!
Check out http://wegivebooks.org. Simply by reading the books available online at the site, you can not only teach and entertain your students, you provide books for needy children at the same time. Doing good couldn't be simpler. Sign up for a free account, select a literacy campaign who will receive your donation, read one of the many books online, and when complete, press a button to donate a book. That's it!The collection of books changes occasionally, and yes, most of the collection is currently for students aged 10 and under, but that means that they're short and easy to read in just a couple of minutes. Now I know what you're thinking, you junior high teachers. Why bother if there isn't anything for students of a higher reading level? With a little creative thought, these books could be the basis for a bigger, more sophisticated project appropriate for your upper grade students. As an example, in my computer classes, students have the opportunity to use the Smart Recorder on their computers to record themselves reading a story from the site. The finished stories, now in movie form, are then uploaded to our UStream channel (more about this website another day) where they can become part of our weekly school news broadcast, and are available for viewing by primary classes. Be sure to check the Resources for Educators link at the We Give Books site for more project ideas and, of course, resources. There's something here for students of all grade levels.
There's something very satisfying about taking a two minute break from your work, enjoying a silly little story, and knowing that someone, somewhere is benefitting from your moment of literary escape. So, when you have some time, visit, read and donate. In the meantime, enjoy my effort at storytelling. Something about this little book really spoke to me. (I know the words are completely unreadable in this view of the video. Visit We Give Books to read the text for yourself.)
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Get Your Group Grokking
Searching for information online very often becomes an equally frustrating situation. We direct our students to a favorite search engine, which in turn shows them other places to search for their answers. Then, instead of sorting through information, they are sorting through websites, often times skipping the most useful sites because it's simply too arduous of a chore to read a page dense with text to find the one or two facts that would be useful. Don't get me wrong--searching and reading for details are wonderful, necessary skills, no doubt. They're just not always the skills we're trying to teach or practice in a particular lesson. Sometimes we shop through every aisle of the store to see what looks good, and sometimes we simply need to grab the milk and get out.
When you need your students to quickly gather facts for a lesson or project, try directing them to instaGrok.com. Using instaGrok to find information will have your students spending less time searching, and more time learning. And, it offers some pretty handy tools for both you and your students to help keep everyone on track and well organized. Let's take a look.
Enter your search term and the program will immediately begin "grokking." What you'll get when the grokking is done is a mind-map of topics related to your search term, and lists of facts, websites, videos and images to help you fill in the blanks. (Be sure to click on More in any category to see LOTS more!) If you take a few minutes to create a teacher account at the site, your students can register as members of your class, and have access to a handy journal where they can pin the facts and images they need, as well as a list of websites they've visited so they can revisit if necessary. The website will also maintain a history of searches so your students can be working on their Social Studies project one period, their Science project the next, and have the ability to quickly and easily switch between the two at the same site. Not sure that little Javier in the back row is still on task? Check your My Class tab and see exactly what each student in your class has been doing, and where they've been searching. Take a look at their journal entries, and even make notes/comments for each student to see.
As if all of that isn't enough, instaGrok also allows the user to adjust the difficulty level (grade school, high school or college level) with a simple "flip of a switch," and will generate appropriately leveled multiple-choice quiz questions based on the user's research activity.
This website will put an unbelievable amount of information at the fingertips of your students in a very short amount of time. Be sure to direct your students to instGrok.com the next time you want them to spend their time grokking instead of searching. You'll be very glad you did.BTW: Just because this was posted on April Fool's Day, please don't assume that talk of "grokking" is a lame attempt at pulling your leg. Check the dictionary, really, and see if you can begin to grok the meaning of the word grokking.
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Edmodo Makes Educating Easier
Edmodo offers a secure platform through which you can interact with your colleagues, students, and if you choose, their parents as well. Create your free account, and the site will generate a class code that you can share with your students. You will be able to use the site to post assignments for the whole group, or differentiate and send specialized instructions to individual students. You will be provided a calendar on which you can post due dates and other important information your whole group will need, and registered students can customize for themselves with their own important dates. There is also a library feature that will allow you to post documents, images, links and even embedded videos and podcasts, etc., so that your students can immediately access the resources they will need for a particular assignment, without ever leaving the Edmodo website. Additionally, students can upload their own documents to a personal "backpack," eliminating the need for carrying those flash drives that are so easily lost or left in the wrong place. Depending on the settings that you select, you can also use Edmodo to conduct class discussions and polls, build and assign quizzes, and post grades online.
One of the most versatile features of this site, I think, is the ability to not only attach files and links, but to embed html as well. This means that you can also embed interactive elements that will take your Edmodo site from useful to extraordinary! If you are a language teacher, for example, you can use a site like Vocaroo.com to record yourself speaking the vocabulary lesson, and embed it in Edmodo so your students can hear the correct pronunciations while they study at home.
As if all of that wasn't reason enough to give Edmodo a try, consider this. When your students complete any digital assignment, whether word processing document, slide show, podcast, movie . . . whatever, they can turn their finished assignment in to you through Edmodo, so you can eliminate carrying piles of unnecessary printouts and your own oh-so-easy to misplace flash drive. And, if you happen to be lucky enough to team teach a class, Edmodo provides one of the simplest ways to share everything with your partner teacher and make life a little easier for both of you.
I highly recommend giving Edmodo a try. I'm sure you will come to appreciate a resource that is simple to use, yet robust enough to handle just about all of your instructional needs. And, your social-media savvy students will undoubtedly appreciate the instant familiarity of a classroom resource that looks and feels so much like one that they would not normally associate with school work.
Click here to access an excellent guide to using Edmodo in your classroom. Perfect for new users!
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Do You Stream on UStream?
Each Friday afternoon, members of our 8th grade Tech Team become our school newscasters. While our on-air personality reads the news from various classrooms, our behind-the-scenes techie mans the UStream controls, and changes from live video to still pics and pre-recorded videos (usually student-made iMovies) all while monitoring sound levels. While our first few broadcasts were, admittedly, rough around the edges, they are certainly improving with each week's endeavor. Our newscast generally includes special projects from various classrooms, school sports news, special announcements from teachers and/or administrators, and a list of students and teachers celebrating birthdays.
At first, I was very grateful that our classroom teachers were being good sports about accommodating my newest tech project at the expense of precious instructional time. I've since some to find out from many of those teachers that their students look forward to each week's broadcast, and are more attentive during those ten minutes than any other time of the day. So, while I'm still grateful, I'm also so happy that this project has become such an important part of our school culture that the story details I once had to seek out from teachers are now regularly being brought to my attention with requests to be included in the Friday News. Don't you just love it when you realize that your hard work actually matters?!
Here's the scoop on how you can try your hand at newscasting with your class. Sign up for a free account at http://ustream.tv. Set up your channel by providing some basic information about what you plan to broadcast, your program name, and your channel name, and even upload a logo for your channel. If you choose to use the online broadcaster, you can then be "on the air" in a matter of minutes, using just your webcam and microphone.
Once you're ready to be a little more adventurous, download the free desktop application at http://www.ustream.tv/producer, and you can plan a more multi-faceted program by uploading still images, videos and music for inclusion in your live broadcast. UStream Producer will even give you the option of recording your live broadcast so it can be viewed on the UStream website at a later date by anyone who may have missed the original broadcast, or who simply wants a rerun. You can even upload a series of images to run as a slide show any time your channel is offline. Worried about security? UStream will allow you to password protect your channel, so you don't have to be concerned about who's seeing what you're putting online.Now, as with any free service, there will be limitations as to how fancy you can get. For example, with UStream using two cameras or creating a picture in picture broadcast is just for paid subscribers. Too bad, you're thinking, right? Not to worry--there's a work around for that. Download the free program CamTwist at http://camtwist.en.softonic.com/mac (I think PC's use manycam.com) and you can create some pretty sophisticated newscasts. Include weather data at the bottom or your screen. Add a logo or message while broadcasting live video. Even show a movie as a picture in picture while your anchorman reads the news story.
I can't stress enough how fun and exciting this will be for your students. While adding the extras can be a little intimidating, and will require some practice, a basic webcast can be done quickly and easily. Even your most reluctant writers and readers will want to step up to the plate to be a part of your news broadcast! And best of all, everyone in your school community will know about the wonderful things your students are learning. How cool is that?!
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Wild About Wikis!
Whether your goal is to improve communication with parents, incorporate more cooperative learning projects for your class, more easily collaborate with colleagues, or simply integrate more technology into your curriculum, wikis are your answer. Start by creating an account at any one of a number of free sites: www.wikispaces.com, www.pbworks.com, www.wetpaint.com, www.pikiwiki.com, education.weebly.com, www.wix.com, just to name a few. All are free, hosted sites that you can use online from any computer (no downloads).
Wikis can be used to easily share textual information, since the text editor in most wikis looks very much like your favorite word procesing program--no learning curve here. Uploading images, including animated images, is usually a pretty simple task as well, making wikis easy for you and your students to use. But, wikis allow for so much more than just text and images. Using the html or javascript code provided by many websites, you can embed an almost limitless number of interactive elements into your wiki.
Myspace Generators & Toys
If you maintain a Google calendar, for example, you can embed your calendar into a wiki page so that important dates and events are readily available for students and parents to view. Embed videos that your students can watch at home, or interactive maps (scribblemaps.com) that already contain images and/or videos. Embed interactive games (classtools.net) for a fun way to get your students to practice vocabulary or math skills, or embed entire ebooks for your students who need practice reading. You can even use a site like www.recordmp3.org/ to record the narration to the story to differentiate for those students who would benefit from hearing pronunciations while they read along. Give your students some fun alternatives to traditional book reports by having them create projects at blabberize.com, or xtranormal.com and embed the finished product in your wiki for all to see. Use tools like wallwisher.com, or answergarden.ch or dabbleboard.com to encourage collaboration between your students or between your colleagues.
Your classroom wiki is very much like a ball of clay, waiting to take on whatever shape or purpose that you design. There are so many wonderful ways to use a classroom wiki, and so many wonderful elements that you can include. Still not convinced? Check out this blog post for a host of ideas for using a classroom wiki, and give it a try. Before you know it you'll wonder how you ever got along without one, and you, too, will be wild about wikis!
Orkut Scrap Toys
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5 Temmuz 2012 Perşembe
Inspiration from Alyson Stanfield
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| ©linda germain 2012 gelatin prints on the line |
- Brene Brown on Listening to Shame - Awsome
- Susan Cain: The power of introverts - I could relate
- Danielle Leporte - firestarter
- and Mike Rowe who is not at WDS but I was interested in his story
Hermes - Fullscreen Premium WordPress Theme
Hermes – Fullscreen Premium WordPress Theme
Hermes is a highly responsive and fullscreen WordPress theme. 18 page templates and unlimited colors, filterable portfolio. Standard, Gallery, Link, Quote, Video, Image and this are just few of the great features that this theme has.
Features
- Highly Responsive
- prettyPhoto
- Fullscreen
- Twitter integrated
- Show/Hide sound
- Show/Hide contact map
- Error 404 custom page
- Archive custom page
- 3 layouts (right, left and centered)
- Filterable Portfolio
- Working contact form
- Unlimited colors
- Quovolver (Quote rotator)
- 18 template pages
- Social media icons
- SEO Optimized
- Extensive Option Panel
- 40+ Shortcodes
- bbPress Forum ready
- Internationalized (mo & po files included)
- Testimonials
- Team Page
- Blog
- Gallery Post Type
- Image Post Type
- Link Post Type
- Quote Post Type
- Video Post Type
- Pricing Table
- many more…
Support
Theme support and documentation is available for all customers. If you encounter any problems or have questions once you purchased the theme feel free to drop us a notice at http://alexgurghis.com/support
Credits
- Shimmer Icons – Free Set Icon Design by Creative Freedom
- Instantshift icons instantshift.com
- Icons midtonedesign.com
- Photos from Popoks popoks.deviantart.com
- Fancybox fancybox.net
- FlexSlider flex.madebymufffin.com
- Quovolver sandbox.sebnitu.com/jquery/quovolver
- Patterns subtlepatterns.com
- Background patterns from www.pixeden.com and subtlepatterns.com
- Images by dribbble: All images are copyrighted to their respective owners and not available for download with this template.
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Specific Social Notification Bar
Specific social notification bar Wordpress plugin gives you an easy way to display a discrete yet effective notification bar on your website.
This creates a bar that will appear at the top of your Website that will alert your visitors to any message you decide to place in the notification bar.
There are many Wordpress plugins out on the market that already do this so what makes specific social notification bar different?
With specific social you can display a specific notification bar to your visitors from each of your social networks.
There can be a different notification bar for visitors from Twitter, a different bar for visitors from Facebook and a different bar from Google+.
To make sure that this notification bar gets noticed you have the option to perform 30 different animations to get the attention of your visitor to this message.
Benefits To Specific Social We all have our favourite social networks for some people it’s Twitter for some Facebook and others prefer Google+.
Have you ever been to a website and they have a selection of all the most popular social network buttons at the bottom of the page. This is because the website owner has no idea what your favourite social network is and thinks that the best way to get you to share this page on your favourite social network is to place all of the buttons at the bottom hoping that you will use one them.
When we have a favourite social network we tend to share more things on this network.
What if you already knew what your visitors favourite social network is?
If you know what social network your visitor uses you can customise the display of your social media buttons just for this visitor.
For example if we know that your visitor came to your site from Pinterest, we know they use Pinterest more and are most likely they are going to share your website on Pinterest, now we can customise the page to display just pin buttons instead of all of the others.
The same principle is applied to the specific social notification bar.
If you know that your visitor is coming to your site from Facebook then you can customise your notification message to the Facebook visitor. Display custom Facebook message, display your like button and allow them to share your website on Facebook.
The same goes to your Twitter visitor, if they are coming to your site from Twitter the probability of them sharing your website on Twitter is much higher than any other social network, therefore we can customise the notification bar to the visitor from Twitter. Ask for a Tweet, display your follow button, display a tweet button, make it as easy as possible for the visitor to share your website on Twitter. They have just come to your site from Twitter you know they use it and you know they share on it.
What if the user didn’t come to your site from a social network?
Not a problem we will display a generic notification bar with a custom message to turn these new visitors in regular visitors.
More items by paulundArtiste: Professional Portfolio WordPress Theme
Artiste is an “all-about-the-work” WordPress portfolio theme for the professional creative. It’s clean yet functional, and concentrates on showcasing your work to potential clients and employers with little distraction. Go get hired more.
Testimonials
My 4th theme purchase by you buddy and this is your best yet! awesome work!
- cazoobi
This theme is perfect! I’m for sure gonna buy it. Just had to say “brilliant job”
- createoutloud
Once again, you nail it Orman! Great work–can’t wait to find a reason to use this one…
- mattesque
Man this is great. I love the simplistic wall of content. Right there, begging to be clicked.
- Blox
Theme Features
- Clean, Minimal Design (Light & Dark)
- Filterable Portfolio (Supports Images, Video & Audio)
- Full Localisation Support (contains .po/.mo files)
- 3 Custom Widgets (Twitter, Flickr, Video)
- Simple Theme Options (Unbranded!)
- WordPress 3.0+ Ready (Menus & Featured Images)
- Page Templates (Archives, jQuery Contact Form, Full Width)
- Custom Default Login Logo
- Shortcode Generator (Columns, Buttons, Toggles, Tabs, Alerts)
- Layered PSDs for Customisation
- Extensive Documentation
Theme Updates
- Dec 13 2011 – Minor bug fixes.
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Need Support? Jump into the Forum
First and foremost, thanks for purchasing one of our files, we truly appreciate it! Support for all our themes and templates is conducted through the ThemeZilla support forums. Make your way over with your Item Purchase Code and feel free to pick our brains.
Visit the Support Forums | Create an Account | Where to find your “Item Purchase Code”
More items by OrmanClark##premium##
Bellissima WooCommerce Wordpress Template
Bellissima is a premium eCommerce Wordpress WooCommerce theme with two unique color styles. It is loaded with a lot of jQuery features and a great list of layouts you may need for your e-shop.
List of Features
- Two color skins with complete color scheme (not only background change)
- 2 different layouts of jQuery sliders/carousels
- 2 different types of jQuery based photo gallery
- Filterable portfolio pages so you can display all your portfolio sections without page reload
- Price range jQuery slider
- Choose from Left or Right Sidebar
- Grid And List View for Products
- Ajax Contact Form
- Flickr Gallery
- Collapsible Sidebar E-Shop sections
- Google Fonts Support
- 32 ShortCodes Included in the theme
- 5 Custom Widget
- Tabbed interface for the detail page allowing you to split your content
- Clean and Attractive Design
- Help and PSD files included
NOTE : Demo Content is included in the theme iteself
Have Fun With Your New Site
##premium##
4 Temmuz 2012 Çarşamba
Alaskan Adventure: Day 4
Day 4 was spent in Skagway, a former gold mining town that now mainly exists as a tourist destination. The town is about 30 x 5 blocks, so it's tiny to say the least. Usually a town of this size would be little more than a tourist trap. However, from my perspective, Skagway pulls off being a place you'd actually want to see. Yes, there's lots of souvenir shops, but they seem to contain some actual Alaskan products, versus the Made In China stuff you'd usually find. There's also colorful history, cute looking buildings and a fairly expansive set of trails you can hike to bypass the entire tourist scene.
Most of the day, however, wasn't spent in Skagway. Instead, we splurged on a cruise excursion. The excursion was named something like the "Wildlife Cruise and Safari." What it turned out to be was an exploration of the Davidson Glacier. This involved a 45 minute boat trip, a bus ride and a canoe trip, all which put us within 50 feet or so of a very impressive glacier. Along with an up close view of the glacier, we saw a couple of whales and a whole heap of sea lions.
With the exception of lunch, everything about the excursion was top notch. Getting a whole group of people from the cruise ship to the glacier was non-trivial, and the tour company did it smoothly. Apparently, there's a Kosher Cruise being run on our boat, so about 1/2 of our group (if not more) were obviously fellow Member's of the Tribe. So yeah, it was a bit silly to serve us all Turkey and Cheese sandwiches.
Perhaps the most amazing part of the glacier, next to the sheer beauty of course, is how quickly it's disappearing. In just 10 years, the glacier has receded a massive distance. In fact, that's a common theme among all the glaciers we've seen. It really is true, if you want to see these wonders, you better get here soon.
But don't worry, I took about 780 photos on day 4, so if you can't make it to the glacier in person, my photos should have you covered.
Once we made it back to Skagway, Shira and I took our own little excursion to the Gold Rush Cemetery at the edge of town. It's exactly the kind of quirky site that I love to explore, and had a beautiful waterfall as an extra bonus.
Alaskan Adventure: Day 5
Because we didn't dock at a port, I assumed that day #5 was going to be an at sea day. You know, lots of gorgeous water and mountains in the distance, but not a whole lot to see otherwise. How wrong I was.
Day 5 consisted of a trip into Glacier Bay. At 6am, we had a park ranger board the boat, and from 7am to about noon, she talked us through what we were seeing over the PA system. Shira and I stood outside and gaped at the gorgeous scenery. We shot about 600 photos that day.
Along with an upclose view of a number of tide water glaciers, we saw a large pod of whales. The guide noted a number of bear sitings on the shore, but from our distance, they were the size of ants and effectively invisible to us.
The scenery here definitely messes with your sense of scale. The 800lb bear looks like an ant, and the 100 or 200 yard wide glacier is actually a mile wide.
The day was significant for another reason: it was 14 years ago to the day that Shira and I wed. Hard to believe it, it seems like just yesterday we had graduated college and a few weeks later got married. Best decision of my life, and one I'm thankful I made every day. And just like a glacier, the daily progress may be small, but over time amazing things are accomplished.
What a perfect way to celebrate our anniversary. Boy, am I in trouble for next year.
