Example Podcast using stop animation in Garageband. This podcast was used as an example for a K-5th grade podcasting camp this summer.

Pre-Algebra Coordinates Games

These are sites that were made on a mac. Some are better than others. View them for ideas on what to do and what not to do on your own site. Sites don't have to be complex to be "good." Some complex sites are actually not made well. What makes a good site? While a lot of what makes a good site is subjective, there are good design principles that you should follow. Remember, balance quantity vs. quality.

Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox:

Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design

Summary:
The ten most egregious offenses against users. Web design disasters and HTML horrors are legion, though many usability atrocities are less common than they used to be.

Everything Else: The Top Fifteen Mistakes of First Time Web Design
By: Holly M. Burns

 - A student publication showing the examples of different fonts.

More links to help out the web creation process.

These links are attached in a file you can download.

Heather Miller Educational Leadership Website is located at http://www.heathermiller.us/ The site is for the UGA Ed Leadership L-5 Add-on program. It contains all of the final papers and assignments for the practicum course spanning all three semesters.

How to use Technology to Read for Me “When my teachers create papers and hand them out to the class, I sometimes have a hard time reading all that text. In the past, I had to have another person read the text aloud to me to “get it.� Now there is a solution at school, which helps me be more independent. I know, the computer voice does sound a little bit like a computer. But, I got used to it pretty quickly. I love that I can read documents more independently now.� Here’s an example: The computer can read printed text in an electronic format like WORD or EXCEL. Using Universal Reader, I can pick the voice that the computer uses to read a document “live� to me in the classroom or computer lab. Any document can also be converted to a sound recording of the computer reading the words. Using Premiere text-to-audio converter, a document can be converted to an MP3 sound file that I can play at home on my ipod or on my computer on the default sound player. The computer usually has a sound player installed and it comes up automatically. To get the mp3 file home, I would need a thumb drive. To install the sound file on my iPod, I would need the iPod cord or docking station. The cords usually come in the box with the iPod. “This is a great solution for me in most cases. I love if for History, Science, and English classes. Math is another story. It works best in math for longer word problems that are written in sentences and paragraphs. It doesn’t read numbers and formulas very well. My teacher still has to help me decipher those sometimes. Occasionally, the computer does read words differently than they are written. For example Did I read it? Yes I read it. But I can ask if I’m confused by that. The context usually helps me figure it out. I can also repeat it as many times as I want to.�

BINGO is a great way to review a topic. Here is an Excel BINGO file that prints 12 cards from the info the teacher enters.

This is a Microsoft Excel File that has basic math formulas that figure out simple math problems. It is designed for both the inquisitive student who enjoys finding patterns and the student who could benefit from a computer doing the basic math. There are tabs for adding/subtracting, multiplying/dividing, finding the Greatest Common Factor/Least Common Multiple, Factorials, and Roman Numerals. I got the GCM/LCM, Factorials, and Roman Numerals functions off of the Mr. Excel Podcast. What a great podcaster!

Welcome to the industrious teacher’s first audio podcast. In this episode, I’ll take you through the steps I’ve gone through to make this podcast. I’ll tell you what equipment and software I’m using and why I chose to do it this way. It’s a little bit daunting to start using technology in a classroom that has been going OK for years. But today’s students are learning and interacting in the world in such an innovative and engaging manner, that I felt podcasting was worth the investigation. I have a techie side to me, but mainly I dabble. I started the idea of creating podcasting myself with research. I went into iTunes and searched under education and “podcasts on podcasting� and listened to several days worth of those. Upon advice of many of the podcasters I listened to I chose Libsyn to host my RSS feed. I also couldn’t figure out yahoo, the hosting company of my current static webpage. I didn’t want a .Mac account because it limited my bandwidth for the $99 per year. That just didn’t’ sound like something I wanted to deal with if I ever had to worry about my podcast getting a lot of subscribers. I’m self-financing this project as a tool to help me learn about podcasting, so limiting my cost is paramount to me. I’m typing my show notes in Microsoft Word for Mac, because I need a spell checker on constantly. I’ll copy and paste them if I figure out how, into the podcast. I’m using Garage Band 3 to create my podcast with my iBook G4 built-in mic. Libsyn allows me to edit my webpage there, but I’m not sure I’m up to it right now. I did change the font color and added the libsyn player. I’ll tinker with that as I go. I posted a short purpose that is text only just to see how it worked.

Hello, I am Heather Miller, the industrious teacher. Currently, I teach 6th-12th grade students in a great school outside of Atlanta, GA, USA. Officially, I am a reading specialist at my school, but I enjoy dabbling in technology in education, math, yearbook, landscaping, model making, and any other subject, topic, club, or enrichment activity that I find interesting. It is my firm belief that the creative and targeted use of technology can increase learning in special education students who have been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, dyslexia, dysgraphia, or other learning disabilities. I created this website/blog/podcast so that I could: 1. Learn more about the world of podcasting in general. 2. Create and distribute podcasts to assist my students directly with daily lessons that expand or enrich worksheets, special project demos, and helpful hints for my industrious students and their parents. 3. Test the effectiveness of my podcast-enhanced lessons versus more traditional lessons. 4. Share with other teachers what is working, or not, with technology in education. 5. Show short tutorials on technology accommodations for various disabilities. 6. Eventually interview other successful teachers who have great ideas but no podcast.