Note: for the pictures below, if you need to see the larger version of a picture, click on it to make it bigger.

First of all, open up Zimbra and click on the "Address Book" tab.

Next, find the "New" drop down menu.

Choose "Contact Group"

The next screen is where the real magic happens. You'll give your group a name, select the members for it, and add those members to the group. <click picture to enlarge>

Once you've finished the above steps, all you have to do is save the group.

Now all you need to do to make use of your group is to type the name of your group in the "To:" line of a new email.

Here's a page that might be useful to anyone new to the survey or who needs help logging in and getting started.

http://community.saugususd.org/dlindsay/page/CTAP+Teacher+Proficiency+Profile

If any other 6th grade teachers want to see if the resources might be useful to them, you can get a list of topics on the webpage here. What's there are offsite links for more practice, short video tutorials and/or media clips, and in some cases there are online quizzes that students can take to gage their progress. Likewise, if you view the resources and find yourself scoffing because you've found something better, please let me know! I'm always on the hunt for better resources.

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE49Q34A20081027

Also, please give feedback. If there are issues with the podcast or ideas that you might have for future episodes, please submit them. I'd be happy to credit you with the tip! I'm also thinking about creating an episode or two on the student blogs and teachers' experiences with blogging. If you'd like to participate in an interview or roundtable discussion, I think it might be kind of fun.

Come back in the next few days and I'll have directions on how to subscribe to Tech Bytes so that they come to you, rather than you having to hunt them down here.

Thanks again for your patience.

Another criticism of web based material is that it is often written by independent, non-affiliated writers. Obviously that could be bad, but it also means that because anyone can publish freely, you can be sure that there are more writers online that aren't "bought" by their investors. I rather like the fact that I can find independent journalists that do not suffer from the conflict of interest that other journalists often do. Scott also brought up that many web-based journalists specialize in one area; he's seen them avidly covering sporting events. Their blog entries are based on their first-hand observations not just what an "eyewitness" (who chooses to remain anonymous) said.

I think of internet media as a cluster of data; the truth lay somewhere in the middle of that cluster. By sampling more points, your chance of finding that middle goes up. By reading news or getting information from only one source (like a textbook), you have a greater possibility of getting information that is on the fringe.

My wife bought a book recently called: History Lessons. It shows what other countries' textbooks have to say about history. The difference between accounts is astounding. People don't think to question the validity of their history text, but... there it is.

Anyhow, I found this article on Edutopia on much the same thing today. It goes further and talks about how you can set up research tasks for your students to collect information from the web in a systematically-approached, critically-judged way. I can't think of a better skill for our future participants of democracy to have.

text2mindmap.mp4 video/mp4