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Stop animation web cam students - Google Search. Kathy Cassidy. This spring, our class has been working with other classes around the world--sharing and learning together.

Kathy Cassidy

Several collaborative projects have resulted. The book below is one of the products from that collaboration and contains pages created by various PreK - 2 classrooms from around the world as part of the Flat Classroom Project. Each of the participating classes focused on "A View From the Window" of their school in a different way. Our page (containing photos and text created by the students) is first, but it is fascinating to see what all of the other classes have created as well. Click on the image to see the finished product. Room With a View: The Wonders of Camera Obscura. When we hear the word “camera” we tend to think of a little device that fits in the hand.

Room With a View: The Wonders of Camera Obscura

Actually, the word is Latin for “vaulted chamber,” or room. The first cameras were rooms. Long before the invention of photographic film, it was discovered that if you have a darkened room with a small hole in it, the light passing through will project an upside-down image of the surrounding scenery onto the opposite wall. The Chinese philosopher Mo Tzu, who died in the early 4th century BCE, called it the “locked treasure room.”

In 1604 the German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler coined the term “camera obscura,” or darkened room. What is a PLN, anyway? A good friend (and a great teacher) e-mailed me after my last post.

What is a PLN, anyway?

“Great links,” she said. “But what’s a PLN?” A good reminder about why I try to avoid acronyms and jargon in my writing. PLN is an acronym for Personal Learning Network. The acronym is relatively new, but the idea is not. The structure of my PLN has changed since I first started teaching. The pre-Internet 80s Yes, there was an internet of sorts in the 80s, but I wasn’t on it. My PLN was very small—the teachers in my school, a few colleagues from graduate school, workshop presenters. The e-mail 90s I sent my first e-mail message in 1995. My PLN got a little bigger in the 90s. The social 2000s For information junkies, this decade has been amazing. The biggest change has been in the way I meet and communicate with people in my PLN. First, there is Twitter, which is like a big noisy teacher’s lounge. Most of the resources are in the form of links—to websites, to e-books, to blogs, or to activities.

Related. Classroom in the Cloud. E-flections of an Educator. The 21st Century Principal. For 'Connected Educator Month,' Tips From 33 Educators We Admire. Stacy BrownErin Olson, an English teacher in Iowa who is featured in our post, uses Twitter-like technology to enhance classroom discussion.

For 'Connected Educator Month,' Tips From 33 Educators We Admire

Go to related 2011 article » The U.S. Department of Education has declared August Connected Educator Month, and since we’d be nothing without the teachers we’ve connected with over the years, we’re enthusiastically on board. To celebrate, we asked every educator who has written a guest post for us, been featured in a Reader Idea, or collaborated on one of our features to answer two simple questions: What is one important thing you’ve learned from someone in your Personal Learning Network (P.L.N.), however you define that network?

Reading their responses, below, is a crash course in how to be a “connected educator.” So read what they have to say, follow the links to their work both within and outside The Learning Network, and, when you’re done, tell us how you’d answer those two questions yourself. Aliza Aufrichtig | Flocabulary The Year in Rap Contest. Hojalvo. Upside Down Education. The Innovative Educator. Home Page of Dr. John Hadley Strange. Stump The Teacher. A GeekyMomma's Blog. The Nerdy Teacher.