Date: November 3rd 2009

Hi All,

Yesterday I friend of mine mentioned that I was being rather slack with keeping everyone up to date via my email newsletter. On checking, I haven't sent one out since April 15 so, yes I o believe the critisism is valid ;-)

That said, I've been a busy lad. Trips to run workshops in New Zealand, several trips to Melbourne and last week a Gifted & Talented celebration in Mackay. I believe I've knocked up a few frequent flyer points. hehehe

So here's the bit you are interested in.

If you just want to browse my new stuff at your own pace, use these links.

http://adrianbruce.com/teacher-toolbox/
http://adrianbruce.com/teacher-toolbox/page/2/
http://adrianbruce.com/teacher-toolbox/page/3/
http://adrianbruce.com/teacher-toolbox/page/4/
http://www.adrianbruce.com/computers/digital_storytelling.htm
http://www.adrianbruce.com/computers/science_software.htm
http://code-samuel.blogspot.com/


But if you are keen for a narrative...

I've been experimenting with machinima (machine cinema). This is where you capture images from video games and use them to create digital stories.

Here are a few examples from my Mackay workshop.

http://adrianbruce.com/teacher-toolbox/tag/machinima/

During my initial experiments I've found that teachers and kids are very keen to give machinima a go but (insert any one of a plethora of reasons for not taking risks) so I've put together a bank of game graphics that people can download and drop into Comic Life or Photostory to get them started with this form of digital story telling.

http://www.adrianbruce.com/computers/digital_storytelling.htm


I've also been playing with my Oddfellows http://tinyurl.com/yjbndtk while I've been exploring alternative digital story telling techniques.

http://adrianbruce.com/teacher-toolbox/481/
http://adrianbruce.com/teacher-toolbox/sigmund-dora-scamper/

I believe you and your students could have a great learning experience photographing toys, writing scripts and dropping the images into Comic Life http://tinyurl.com/ylgk4qs or Photostory 3 to tell stories.

As many of you know I have a bit of a passion for Science teaching and I've just found these great tools for complementing your Science teaching. Check them out, have a play and see what you think.

http://www.adrianbruce.com/computers/science_software.htm

My Roman Numerals webquest is still taking shape. Plus it is starting to get some serious traffic 12 000 page hits in October. Not bad for a site that is still only half finished :-) - You might like to add your 2 cents worth to the poll on weather or not roman numerals should still be taught.

http://www.adrianbruce.com/roman_numerals/roman_numerals.htm

NB I've just read a book by Matt Groening http://tinyurl.com/yz3o2me and I'm very pleased with the way this character came out based on what Matt had to say.

http://www.adrianbruce.com/roman_numerals/roman_numerals_xxiii.htm

Another friend of mine has asked me to do a bit of work with her son on maths, so I guess you'll see a few more math resources pop up on the site over the coming months. Here is a prism poster the lad and I put together for his wall.

http://www.adrianbruce.com/maths/posters/prisms/prisms.htm

& the nets section of the site is also remaining very popular - http://www.adrianbruce.com/maths/nets/3d_shapes.htm

In August I took my son with me to a ICT Conference a few months ago where he really rose to the occassion and presented three tutorial sessions. One on Stopmotion animation, one on video game creation using and the other on puppet plays using a Flip Video
http://tinyurl.com/yzrzlyu . You can check out his game and movie on his blog. http://code-samuel.blogspot.com/ A lot of teachers are now using his work as a model for blogging with their class.

We also had a little play with Animoto to put together some of the images from our workshop into an online multimedia presentation.

http://adrianbruce.com/teacher-toolbox/youngest-presenter-at-elh/

A huge thanks has to go to all those who offered him praise for a job well done.

In September I was invited to have a chat to the lads from one of my favourite podcasts - The Edtech Crew. Feel free to have a listen to what I had to say to get a bit of an insight into what I do.

http://www.edtechcrew.net/2009/08/24/ed-tech-crew-98-adrian-bruce/

Ok, so now I'm thinking if you've made it to the bottom of this you are doing very well esp the Aussie & Kiwis who are on the downhill slide to our summer break.
To close and if you are feeling a little stressed here is a cartoon I made of a Xmas 'incident' let us say that might bring a chuckle. http://www.adrianbruce.com/stressbusters/stressbuster_choir.htm

Cheers

Adrian Bruce
http://twitter.com/adrianbruce/