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May 2009
Vol 6 No 5
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Teachers.Net Gazette Vol.6 No.5 May 2009

Cover Story by Matt Levinson
Schools and Facebook: Moving Too Fast,
or Not Fast Enough?
Schools can draw a line in the sand, with zero tolerance rules written into school handbooks, or they can shift with the changing sands of social networking and utilize social networking and Facebook to enhance teaching and learning.


Harry & Rosemary Wong: Effective Teaching
Teachers Are the Greatest Assets
On the first day of school, the teacher across the hall commented to me that my students are "always so good!" It's not the students; it's the procedures that have proven to work. The First Days of School helps me to manage my class, so that I can be an effective teacher.


Columns
»Comedy Highlights from Room K-1! Sue Gruber
»What Will Your Students Remember? Leah Davies
»My Mrs. Krikorian Todd R. Nelson
»Discipline Is a Liberating Word Marvin Marshall
»The Busy Educator's Monthly Five Marjan Glavac
»Help! Too Much Talk! Not Enough Work! Barbara Pressman
»Mayan Sites and Paris Easy on the Purse Josette Bonafino
»The Little Things that Count in Our Schools: Doing Something Different, Simple and Powerful Cheryl Sigmon
»Teacher Morale Matters Dorothy Rich
»Team Management - It’s in the Cards Rick Morris
»Teaching and Learning for the 21st Century Hal Portner

Articles
»The Document Camera: A Better Way to Present! Joe Frisk
»Need a Teaching Job? Here’s Where to Find One Alan Haskvitz
»Make Twitter an Ally in the Classroom! Alan Haskvitz
»Teaching Is... Bill Page
»Celebrating True Heroes Graysen Walles
»Digital Pens & Touch-Screens Tim Newlin
»12 Ways to Improve and Enhance Your Paraprofessional- Teacher Experience Susan Fitzell
»May 2009 Writing Prompts James Wayne
»Using Photographs To Inspire Writing VII Hank Kellner
»How to Increase the Number of Physics and Chemistry Majors Stewart E. Brekke
»Bibliotherapy Booklist for Elementary Students Lisa Bundrick
»8 Ways to Make Math Magical at School Steve Sherman
»5 Brainteasers Steve Sherman
»What Will You Do For Shy Kids? Marjie Braun Knudsen

Features
»Apple Seeds: Inspiring Quotes Barb Stutesman
»Today Is... Daily Commemoration Ron Victoria
»The Lighter Side of Teaching
»Photo Tour: 3rd Grade Classroom
»Teacher Blogs Showcase
»Carol Goodrow's Kids Running Printables
»Dolch word activities, end of first grade test, first grade memory book, map and geography lessons for all levels, IEP progress, and graduation ceremonies songs
»Video Bytes; Are You Going to Finish Strong?, Antarctica, Ted Talks - Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?, How Big Is Will?, The Sling Shot Man, Styrofoam Cup vs. Deep Sea
»Live on Teachers.Net: May 2009
»New Teacher Induction Programs
»Newsdesk: Events & Opportunities for Teachers


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Cover Story by Matt Levinson

Effective Teaching by Harry & Rosemary Wong

Contributors this month: Matt Levinson, Sue Gruber, Leah Davies, Todd R. Nelson, Marvin Marshall, Marjan Glavac, Barbara Pressman, Josette Bonafino, Cheryl Sigmon, Dorothy Rich, Rick Morris, Hal Portner, Joe Frisk, Alan Haskvitz, Alan Haskvitz, Bill Page, Graysen Walles, Tim Newlin, Susan Fitzell, James Wayne, Hank Kellner, Stewart E. Brekke, Lisa Bundrick, Steve Sherman, Steve Sherman, Marjie Braun Knudsen, Barb Stutesman, Ron Victoria, Rita Sheffield, Carol Goodrow, and YENDOR.

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Joe Frisk

Archive | Biography | Resources | Discussion

The Document Camera: A Better Way to Present!
Advancing classroom visual technology – a tool for all ages
by Joe Frisk
Continued from page 2
May 1, 2009

Underutilized Technology
In spite of advantages the document camera offers teachers, I found only one in use in fourteen Minnesota public schools. I believe this is due to cost and a lack of familiarity among school personnel. A school district can purchase ten stand-alone transparency projectors for the cost of a document camera. The document camera is best utilized in conjunction with an overhead projection unit, another costly piece of equipment. Still, with many schools installing ceiling-mounted projection units, it makes sense to take full advantage of the situation by incorporating the document camera. The two technologies are complementary and most electronic boards support document cameras.

What to Look For
I have used cameras by Elmo and Canon with complete satisfaction. A 12X or greater zoom with automatic focus is fine for the classroom. The camera should have a large and unobstructed base with a backlight for displaying transparencies and bright florescent side lamps for showing everything else. Most cameras allow for a variety of hookups, but I prefer to use an S-Video cable. Controls should be on the front of the camera and be easy to operate. The camera should have a nice color display with minimal screen flicker. A small table will easily accommodate it.

Camera Costs
Camera prices run from under $1,000 to $4,000. In 2007, I used ebay to purchase my camera, in unused condition, for $167.50 but schools are not going to be buying on ebay. Teachers, being professionals, should consider weighing the camera cost against the tremendous results and timesaving a document camera can procure for them. Though the cameras are not cheap, prices are falling and costs of not upgrading to them are even greater. For districts looking to provide their educators with the best visual technology currently available to advance content clarity and familiarize students with college-level technology, the document camera is an investment worth making

Looking Back
Looking back upon my first day as a substitute teacher, I acknowledge transparency projectors helped to educate students since the Greatest Generation, but something better exists and educators owe it to themselves and their students to try advanced technology. As I walk the schools and observe teachers using traditional methods to display content, such as PowerPoint and transparency projector presentations, I see teachers, not students, presenting material and mainly text being displayed to bored students. In contrast, the document camera opens up a world of colorful possibilities! I have had test scores increase dramatically, close to a full grade, possibly the result of students paying attention to better presentations made possible through the use of advanced technology and a bit of ingenuity.

Additional info. can be found at: www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00002162.shtml

Bibliography

Crystal, Garry. Wisegeek.com 2008. What is an overhead projector. www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-overhead-projector.htm



» More Gazette articles...




About Joe Frisk...

Joe Frisk is certified in 5-12 Social Studies with a Master of Arts in Teaching degree from Minnesota State, Mankato. He taught part-time as a substitute in the Austin, Minnesota public school district from 2002-2008 and has recently worked in the mental health profession.


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