Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better. – Maya Angelou

Mr. Walker's Classroom Blog

  • Reprinted from eschoolnews (in its entirety as the article is not visible for class without registering).

    Educational videos are getting thousands of hits on YouTube.

    When University of Central Florida junior Nicole Nissim got stumped in trigonometry, she checked out what was showing on YouTube.

    Nissim typically scours the video-sharing Web site for clips of bands and comedy skits. But this time she wasn’t there to procrastinate on her homework. It turned out YouTube was also full of math videos. After watching a couple, the psychology major says, she finally understood trig equations and how to make graphs.

    “I was able to watch them at my own pace and if I didn’t get a concept, I could easily rewind it,” Nissim says. “It was a lot clearer once I watched the video.”

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  • A great lesson plan on Firefox Personas, using Moodle originally, reformatted for the Web.   Originally from Brad Cook, Graphics teacher at Gresham High School.
    FIREFOX ADD-ON
    PERSONAS    CUSTOM

    Websites:
    http://www.getpersonas.com/

    All you need to do is create two graphics files in your favorite graphics editing program (e.g., Photoshop). To get started read more about how to create a Persona.

    Save final copies (PNG or JPG) – but be sure to check to ensure they don’t exceed 300k in filesize!. (Note: This will only test your Persona on the platform you are currently using)

    Uploading New Personas.
    You will need to create an account with Personas. Follow the directions in the site. click here

    Frequently Ask Questions:

    What are Personas?
    Personas are lightweight “skins” that change the look of your Firefox web browser. You can easily switch between Personas with just a few clicks. There are hundreds of Personas to choose from, with more added every day. You can even create your own and share it with others.

    How do I add Personas to my Firefox?
    In less than 60 seconds, you can install a Persona and transform the look of your Firefox web browser. Visit GetPersonas.com and click the download button. After installation, you will be asked to restart Firefox.

    If you want to see how it works, you can watch a quick video demonstration here.

    Once Personas are installed, you’ll be able to choose and change your selected Persona any time simply by clicking on the little fox mask in the lower left-hand corner of your browser window.

    How can I add or change my current Persona?
    There are two easy ways to change your Persona:

    1. Visit the Personas website at GetPersonas.com, check out the gallery, choose your favorite Persona, and click on your choice to instantly change the look of your browser.
      OR
    2. Click on the little fox mask in the lower left hand corner of your browser, then select a Persona that suits your style.


    PROJECT DURATION 3 hrs

    RESOURCES

    Photoshop File
    Persona_Header_TEMPLATE.psd

    Directions
    Demo on Firefox Personas header and footer

    The footer image is displayed as the background of the bottom of the browser window, behind the status and find bars.

    The footer image should be PNG or JPG, 3000 pixels wide and 100 pixels tall and no larger than 300kb in filesize.

    screenshot

    directions

    Image Overlays/Backgrounds will need to extend into the
    white portion of the document
    		 ………

  • 20 years ago, the World Wide Web was born – SiliconValley.com

    By Elise Ackerman

    Mercury News
    Posted: 03/12/2009 01:24:59 PM PDT

    It all began 20 years ago today with a frustrated 29-year-old programmer who had a passion for order.

    Tim Berners-Lee, now famous as the founder of the World Wide Web, was working as an obscure consultant at Cern, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, in the suburbs of Geneva. Berners-Lee loved the laboratory. It was full of stimulating projects and creative people, but his work, and the work of his colleagues, was stymied by the lack of institutional knowledge.

    So Berners-Lee proposed adding “hypertext” to the Cern network, basically embedding software in documents that would point to other related documents. And thus was born the Web, a global communications network that has shaken up industries, created enormous wealth and transformed the way ordinary people live their lives.

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  • Mr. Walker (I am into the third person speak today).

    I started with the example you gave in class last time of Googling “animation storyboards” and remembering how you push everyone to read the first ten pages and not just the first link I found the following for research.

    Animation Careers – sounds dull but a GREAT READ

    About.com Animation – A great section on animation, especially sketching in flash, but also the poll, this was a great jumping off place. The blog entry with the template to put into a sketchbook is an example of the work.

    Proving History isn’t dull, I found this example of an actual Stimpy’s Storyboard

    I like this person’s work as an example of what a professional does in a workshop about storyboards and how to lay them out, short YouTube video was useful, if slightly out of focus.

    A professional YouTube example of a storyboard and how much detail to LEAVE OUT.

    Everyone has to put in an example from Wikipedia, here is Storyboards, just so I know what is due on Friday.

    Blah, blah, blah, I wasn’t into Storyboards, so I researched How to Draw Animations and came up with this book on Google Books so I could see some of it, I wasn’t going to read all of it, in any event.

    This list is reprinted on http://mrwalker.clevelandhighschool.org.

  • Top 36 Cool Backgrounds and Patterns Resources for all Designers

    Searching for that perfect background for your design can be pretty difficult, from these resources you can browse through 1000s upon 1000s of backgrounds and patterns. Hopefully this will make your search that little bit easier, mind you with this number of resources it may make it harder. Happy browsing!!!

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