Postcards from the Funny Farm

ELMO isn’t just a cute little red puppet, it’s also a powerful new presentation INVENTION that is taking my teaching to new heights.

Above you see it in all it’s resplendent glory. Aint she purty? It looks like an “overhead” you all remember the teacher had when you were in school. The overhead has been this teacher’s best friend . . . but I’ve been two-timing her and I’m about to declare my new best friend, the ELMO. This is nothing more than a digital camera, webcam more specifically, positioned on an adjustable arm with a plethora of computerized options to tweak the image. This connects to an LCD projector and voila, you have your teacher’s NEW and IMPROVED best buddy!

This is the platform where you can put ANYTHING which will be displayed on the whiteboard or screen. I always like to admire my wedding ring at 8 times the normal size up on the board :)  Notice that you do not need to turn off the lights for it to work because it is simply a webcam.  The white platform can be lit to show old school overhead transparencies.  The picture on the board is so clear and focused it takes your breath away.

Seriously though, I don’t have to photocopy 1/2 the things I did before. I can take a page from the book we are studying and immediately present it GIANT SIZED in front of the class: impromptu. If I want to show small pictures from a book showing animals, the beach, how they make cheese, or even Harry Potter, I can do it and give the kids that visual imput that is so crucial to learning new information. Fractions, decimals, all the fourth grade rigorous standards can be presented “on the fly” through the ELMO.

Education has been my passion for over 20 years, both in my teaching (8 years) and in my studies (started college back in 1991). I get inspired by learning and teaching others. I am very excited about my new ELMO toy and I know this year is gonna be the best ever partially because of it!!!

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