Comic Life

Comic Life for Mac is a design programme to easily create comic book stories from your own images and ideas. It has a very intuitive interface. If I can use it, anyone can because I am not that good at manipulating image programmes. I get by and do quite well. Comic Life is fun and easy and I can well imagine kids and the kid inside you would have hours of amusement and learning. It is yet another format to help students succeed because so many of them relate to cartoons and comic images. You can trial it for 30 days which gives you a good chance to know whether you like it or not and can see the possibilities. The image in the post is in French because my Mac runs in French (another post!). For me that is great service!

Print Screen on Mac OS

There’s no print screen key on an Apple! I can imagine that will flummox a few people. It’s not hard. Command (with the 4 curly bits), shift and 3 when you press them gives you a satisfying click! Like Ubuntu the screen capture goes straight onto your desktop so that is very convenient and helpful. You can then load it into iPhoto or another image programme to make your adjustments!

Organise yourself with Web Pages

I wrote a post about iWeb for best PIM and I am currently working on two other web sites to run locally to organise myself. The picture shows the one I have created in Publisher to run all my classes. It has tabs and side links so I can go easily from once class to the next and is very easy to set up. Each page features a vocabulary extender, like different expressions with Le weekend and then each class page has the content for the lessons. I also have a page of links I regularly use and a page of time fillers and back ups for those occasions where students need something to keep them going while something else is happening. Plan Bs. I have some decoration but I am focussing on the functionality of this site before I involve myself too much in the tizzying it up.It is a work in progress because it takes time to organise myself properly this way and tabs are the way to go. It will bundle for use with the LMS if I need that to happen. The other website is plainer and for my own use at home. It has taken about an hour to set up. It will be my start page with links to blogs and other sites, my to do list, my projects, a calendar so I don’t forget appointments and birthdays…the one stop shop to run my life at home. The iWeb one will remain my daily routine at work because it has such a nice look and can be set up to introduce myself quickly to others, as I said. All of them will run locally and can be easily updated. I don’t know why I haven’t thought of this before!

HotChalk

I like the name of this site! We’ve always been called chalkies so what are they going to call us now we are making the change to whiteboards and laptops?? HotChalk is another good site for lesson plans and ideas. It seems to be primarily for maths and Science but there are ideas for seasonal and particular lessons, some good ideas on lesson planning and then some help with improving reading skills. It is more than just plans. It is a very versatile , practical site which will help keep you reinforced as you go out there each day to provide materials for your classroom. It is another site which offers you an opportunity to share your assignments too, so the more we do that globally the better off we shall be for appropriate choices in our classroom and it will take the weight off in terms of forever having to spin the plate with inpiration and enthusiam for presentation of materials!