Slideshare: A New Site for Sharing Slide Presentations

I'm trying out Slide Share at http://www.slideshare.net

Here's a slide show of a plenary I gave in Honduras in 2005. One of the things you can do is embed these shows in your blog. Slide Share seems to be a very useful, easy to use resource.

Frank Caliendo's Bush Impersonation

Regardless of your political point of view, you'll love this impression of Bush by Frank Caliendo. It's dead on, don't you think!?

New Instructions for Creating Blogs

Here are instructions for creating a Blog with Blogger. They've been "field tested" with students. If you have suggestions for changes, let me know!
Cheers, Michael
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How to Create a Blog Using Blogger

Adapted from Vance Steven's page at
http://www.homestead.com/prosites-vstevens/files/efi/blogger_tutorial.htm

A. Learn about blogging. Then start the process of creating a Blog.
• Visit http://www.blogger.com
• Find "Whats a Blog?" Click on "Take a Quick Tour." You'll learn the basics of blogging.
• When you finish the tour, you're ready to create your own Blog. Click on "Create Your Blog Now."




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B. Create an account.
• Use your email actual email address. That will become your USERNAME.
• NOTE: WRITE DOWN YOUR USERNAME AND PASSWORD NOW!
• Click the orange "Continue" arrow.




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C. Name your blog.
• Give your blog a title.
• Give your blog an address. Suggestion: Use your first name + 999. Ex: michael999
• Don't use any spaces, apostrophes, colons, spaces or other special characters.
• Click the "Check Availability" link. If the address you chose is available, click Continue.
• This is the address where your blog will be found on the Net.
• Click the orange "Continue" arrow.



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D. Choose a template.
• Scroll down to look at the possible styles.
• Click on Preview to see what they look like.
• Choose one you like by clicking the radio button.
• Click the orange "Continue" arrow.



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E. Your blog will be created. Nice job!!
• Click the orange "Start posting" arrow.



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F. Make your first post to your blog.
• Fill in a title for your first post.
• Type whatever you like. (We might post about the article you read for homework!)
• Play around with the editing tools. Notice you can change fonts, styles, colors, etc. You can spell check too. (Please do!)
• You can also make a link to another Web site. Highlight the text. Then choose the chain link button. Type in the Web address you want to link to. Simple!
• If you have an image on your computer or on the Internet, you can link to that too.
• When finished, click on the orange "Publish Post" button.












• You will see






• Click on "View Blog." You will see your blog on the Internet. Congratulations!
• WRITE DOWN THIS URL (WEB ADDRESS) NOW!
• WRITE YOUR NAME AND URL ON THE LIST I PASS AROUND.

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G. Make changes to your posting or make a new posting to your Blog.
• Click on "New Post" at the top right of your window.
• Click on "Dashboard" at the top right of the window.
• You can now click "New Post" (to make a new post) or "Manage Posts" (to edit an old post).
• When you finish your new post or editing an old post, click the "Publish Post" button.



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H. End a session and start a new one.
• Click the "sign out" button in the Dashboard.
• Quit your browser.
• Open your browser and go to http://www.blogger.com
• Sign in. You will be at the Dashboard ready to work on your blog.







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I. Prevent SPAM comments to your blog.
• At the Dashboard, click on the "Settings" button
• Click on the "Comments" tab
• Click "yes" for "Show word verification for comments."
• Click "Save Settings"
• You have now protected against automatic SPAM computers placing SPAM in your comments.

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J. Create your profile. This is how people with similar interests to yours can find you!
• Login to Blogger.com
• At the Dashboard, click on "Edit Profile."
• Complete all the information. (Note: You must leave a "check" in the box "Share my profile" if you want others with similar interests to find your Blog.)
• To add a photo to your profile: Easiest way is to link to a photo you've put into one of your Blog postings.
• Click "Save Profile."

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I hope you enjoyed creating your Blog! Blog on!
Updated 6/25/97

A Site that Helps Others

The Hunger Site is one of those Web pages that you might think is a hoax at first blush, but it's not. Visit the Hunger Site daily, click on the "Give Free Food" button and you've given the value of 1.1 cups of staples to help feed the hungry. Check it out!

Teaching S.M.A.R.T with the Web

Teaching S.M.A.R.T with the Web

I'm just trying out BlogThis! Very convenient to make quick updates to a blog with a link and snippet of text.

What does it mean to teach S.M.A.R.T. with the Web?

Looking for Web resources (and creating supporting materials) to insure that lessons include as many of the following characteristics as possible:

Synthesis of language and thinking skills
Motivating content and meaningful communication
Appropriate for culture, age and language ability of students
Relevant to curriculum and students' lives
Tangible product with evaluation and feedback

great trip to Russia

My trip to Russia as an English Language Specialist surpassed my greatest expectations. Working with Bridget Gersten, the RELO (Regional English Language Officer), Jann Huizenga and Nancy Hubley (the other English Language Specialists) was a pleasure. Moscow, which I saw in a jetlagged, day and a half whirlwind, is somewhat of a blur in my mind. However, thanks to two of my former online students who hired a guide for Nancy and me, I'll never forget my tour of the Kremlin. The boat ride on the Moscow River with Nancy, after our Kremlin tour, provided a welcome chance to sit, resting aching feet, and to get a view from afar of the city and the wonderful parks that border the river. Here is a live WebCam shot of both the Kremlin and the river.

Irkutsk, in Siberia was our next stop, where we participated in the Summer Institute of English, hosted at the Irkutsk State Technical University. Our hotel was a stately home built for a visit by President Eisenhower, which, sadly, never materialized. But this was fortunate for us as this place, "The Retro" was truly built for "royalty." The conference was very well planned and attended. I met several teachers from Irkutsk and surrounding areas who had taken my online course previously--it was such a kick to meet them face to face.

After a week in Siberia, we made our last flight to Vladivostok, again seemingly a world away. This city on the bay was closed (center of Soviet naval operations) until 1992, and is located at the terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railroad. We attended and presented at the FEELTA PAC5 Conference. The conference opened with a lively session of Russian folk dancing and music and the energy permeated the conference from beginning to end.

I left my colleagues, who had one more week to spend at another Summer Institute of English in Ulan Ude on Lake Baikal, and flew from Vladivostok to Seoul, then on to the U.S. All in all, this was one of the most rewarding experiences I can remember and I hope to make additional trips with the DOS in the future.

Blogs on Iraq

In today's Oregonian newspaper, I read about the many blogs that are coming out of Iraq. This struck a chord with me as I have been so frustrated with the information presented by the media on the Iraq war. What do Iraqi's really think? What about the U.S. occupation from the Iraqi's point of view? Of course, there is no *one* "Iraqi" position, but at least the blogs will represent the unfiltered, unbiased, view of *some* Iraqis, which is much more than is available from typical news media reports. A few of the Iraqi blogs that are available include: Baghdad Burning, by River, A Family in Baghdad, by Faiza Jarrar , and Healing Iraq, by Zeyed.


My take on the media coverage of the war is that it is incredibly self-centered. How many of our soldiers were hurt/killed in Iraq today. How will our policies affect the U.S. economy? We don't hear about how many Iraqi casualties there have been (military and civilian). What is the condition of the Iraqi economy; what goods and services are available? Most information we do get is filtered through pundits who may or may not have a good grasp of Iraq's history and culture. Why can't we have more information from citizens and experts *in the region?*