Is there anyboby out there?

Hope you are checking out my blog but I'd love more feedback. Send me an email at kostman@minnehahaacademy.net or clicking on Comments by one of my posts... Please...

Learn to Use All the Latest Webtools

Simple explanations of most of the web tools out there for you to use. Call it Web Tools 101.

•Audio & Podcasting
--Audio & Podcasting Ideas to Share

•Blogs (Weblogs)
--Blogs to Share

•Calendars, Task Management & ToDo List Tools
--Calendars, Task Management & ToDo List Ideas

•Drawing, Charting & Mapping Tools
--Drawing, Charting & Mapping Tools - Ideas to Share

•Photo and Photo Sharing Tools
--Photo Ideas to Share

•Portal & WebPage Starting Tools
--Ideas to Share about Portal & Webpage Starting Tools

•Presentation Tools
--Presentation Tools - Ideas to Share

•Quiz & Polling Tools
--Quiz and Polling Tools - Ideas to Share

•RSS, News Feeds & Aggregators
--RSS etc. Ideas to Share

•Social Bookmark Tools
--Social Bookmarks - Ideas to Share

•Social Networks
--Social Networking Ideas to Share

•Video Tools and Video Sharing
--Video Tools and Video Sharing Ideas

•Wikis
--Wikis to Share

•Word Processing & Productivity Tools

Top Web Tools Used by Educators and Professionals

The most popular and best tools teachers and other professionals use include:

Google Search (of course)

PowerPoint (still!)

Moodle (ultimate educator collaboration tool)

del.icio.us (bookmarks galore)

Skype (chat, video, collaborate)

Wordpress (blog, blog)

Google Reader (all that's fit to read in one place)

Wikipedia (Enclyclopedia Britanni-who?)

Evernote (this one made me go WOW)

Netvibes (feed everything into one webpage)

Jing (make free videos of whatever you do on the web)

Blogger (more blogging)

ToonDoo (easy comic strip producer)

Voki (add voice and more to blogs from your cell phone or computer)

Google Earth (Look, up in the sky! It's a satellite taking your picture!)

Google Docs

Want to learn more? Google them!

Teaching, Technology and Keith

Well I have this strange mouthful of a job title: Academic Technology Manager so I figured I should try to explain. I come from a long line of teachers. Both my parents were high school teachers, my grandmother was a teacher. Her mother was a teacher. Over the years I have taught English in Taiwan, Social Studies in France, English Literature to gang members in Oxnard, CA and Ancient Civilizations to 6th graders in Santa Barbara and computer classes to be sure. And all along the way I've been interested in technology and its multiple uses in the classroom. From the early days of the single Mac Classic computer to the computer labs, multimedia centers, laptop carts, wireless access points, video conferencing, PowerPoint presentations, Inspiration bubbles, Skype, Blogs, Wikis and Twitter of today I've always been searching for ways to help technology help teachers and students in the classroom and beyond. It's what I love, what I'm passionate about. But I'm not a techno-nut or geek or someone who thinks technology is the end all and be all. First and foremost I'm a people person. I recognize that it's just a stupid machine. And I know how that stupid machine can frustrate us all. But I also know that if properly used technology can be a wonderful tool. Basically, I just want to show teachers all the cool things out there that they can choose or not choose to exploit. I'm not going to force anything on anyone. I just want to show you what's out there. So keep reading my blog, keep sending me ideas and pull me into your classroom to show me what you've got. Ask me questions, make suggestions, pick my brain. I'm ready...

I noticed something strange today at Bloomington

Take a look at the photo I took while we were working on computers today. Now I know why Jeremy is so good at what he does...

He has help! This is so unfair...

Collaborate with other musicians online

I'm back! Sorry, been a bit busy with the start of the school year helping with this and helping with that...

I stumbled across a new website that allows members (it's free by the way) to upload their music, complete or in snippets, and collaborate with other musicians around the globe. They feature a "Remix Wizard" application which is just a widget that gives fans the ability to remix and manipulate snippets of your music or someone else's. As they point out "it’s not just for Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails anymore." If you'd like to see how it works (simple) just CLICK HERE.