Mike Falick's Blog

TimeRime: Here's a Website that Allows You to Easily Create Rich, Multimedia Timelines

Here is yet another free website application that can be used to improve student learning.  TimeRime is a relatively new website that allows you to create timelines.  You can even embed a timeline into a website or blog.

Here is how TimeRime describes itself:

TimeRime.com is an online community that allows people to create, compare and upload information by creating timelines, and to view information uploaded by others. Information can be uploaded by individuals, as well as companies or (public) institutions.

The subjects of the timelines can be anything which relates to time. For instance, one can create a timeline about ones favorite pop star, or one can create a timeline about a scientific subject, like history. But also timelines about company histories, individuals as yourself, your favorite summer melodies, your favorite car, all these timelines can be created on TimeRime.com.

The TimeRime timelines can be characterized as interactive and multimedia. The timelines can be filled with text, music, YouTube movies et cetera, which makes TimeRime.com a platform that combines popular communities and other internet applications in one new portal.

Pictures from Today's Spring Branch Back to School Health Fair

I previously blogged about today's Spring Branch Back to School Health Fair.  The Health Fair occurs each year at the Spring Branch Family Development Center and provides immunizations and school supplies for literally thousands (estimated 4,000 - 5,000) Spring Branch students. 

This event would not be possible without the leadership provided by Ricardo Barnes, and the hundreds of volunteers, including 30 Spring Branch ISD nurses, the Memorial Spring Branch Rotary Club, Walmart, and many others.

Here are some pictures I took this morning.

Texas Taxpayers and Research Association Releases Study Showing Exactly How Much You Have Saved in School Property Taxes Since 2006

 The Texas Taxpayers and Research Association (TTARA) has released a study that shows the impact of the 2006 school property tax reduction for every school district in the State.  The study is captured in an Excel spreadsheet that allows you to select your school district and home value and see the amount of the savings realized as a result of the 2006 legislation.  Here is the result for a $250,000 home in Spring Branch ISD. (Click the image to enlarge)

The TTARA Press Release:

TTARA Research Foundation Releases Property Tax Relief Study

The TTARA Research Foundation today released a study of the 2006 school finance reforms, focusing on the property tax relief part of the package.  The study, Property Tax Relief: The $7 Billion Reality, reveals that Texans have indeed benefitted from property tax relief, though several factors have combined to obscure the tax rate cuts:

• Almost all school districts have exercised their local authority to increase tax rates above the state-mandated one-third reduction,
• Many school district voters have approved additional debt service taxes to improve local school facilities,
• Property values continue to rise, and
• City, county, and special district taxes have continued to increase.

While overall property taxes in 2007 were down slightly from 2006; however, compared to 2005, the last year before the tax relief initiative took effect, they were up $1.7 billion.  That does not mean Texans did not enjoy substantial property tax relief.  Compared to the previous school finance system, school property taxes in 2007 were actually $7 billion lower than they would have been otherwise, the report concludes.

In conjunction with the Foundation report, TTARA has designed a Property Tax Relief Calculator, which is available on our website, please click here.  This calculator lets individual property owners calculate the amount of tax savings they have gained from the property tax relief initiative, using their own school district’s tax rates.

Spring Branch's Legislative Priorities and Positions for the 81st Legislative Session

At the Board's July 28, 2008, meeting, we discussed and adopted our Legislative Priorities and Legislative Positions for the 81st Legislative Session that begins on January 13, 2009.  The Priorities are below (click image to enlarge) and also can be downloaded here and the Positions can be downloaded here.

Are You Smarter than an 8th Grader: Take this Quiz to See How You Stack Up Against the World's 8th Graders

Edin08's Strong American Schools website has posted a quiz that allows you to see how you would fare compared to 8th graders throughout the world.  I have embedded the quiz below, so you can simply click on Math or Science to take the quiz.  Good luck!

Think You Know Shakespeare: Here's a Challenging 12 Question Quiz for You

The Mental Floss blog has posted a 12 question Shakespeare quiz that asks a simple question -- can you place the character in the right play.  My score appears below.

From Mental Floss:

The play is the thing wherein Hamlet captured the conscience of the king. We’ve taken that concept and put a challenging _flossian spin on it. We’re not after your conscience (so relax); we’re after your knowledge of Shakespearean theatre. In this quiz, we’ll provide a Shakespeare character and ask you to choose the play in which he or she appears.

Take the quiz: Shakespeare’s Characters

My score on the quiz:

 

Animoto Revamps Animoto for Education: A Great Student Engagement Resource Becomes Even Better

As regular readers of this blog know, I am a huge fan of Animoto, the website that allows you to very quickly create impressive, engaging videos.  (Click here for my prior posts regarding Animoto).

Last week while I was on vacation, I received the following email from Rebecca Brooks at Animoto:

Hi Mike,

You were one of the first people to catch wind of Animoto for Education. I thought that you'd like to also be one of the first to know about our newly revamped site for it (we did a press release too, so hopefully more educators will hear about it). Enjoy and thanks for your support!:

http://education.animoto.com

Take care,
Rebecca Brooks
Animoto Productions
http://animoto.com
[email protected]

From the revamped Animoto for Education site:

With Animoto for Education, students can each have their own accounts. This makes both in-class and homework assignments easier to do. 

Not only will students be able to use their own accounts to make full-length videos while in-class or at home, they also can download their videos. This makes in-class presentations easier to do when an internet connection isn't available. Also, since each student will have their own account, they can share videos amongst each other more readily.

In my opinion, Animoto is a very useful site for student engagement, and I think you will find the improvements make the site even better.

The Future Generator

The London Transport Museum has created an interactive Future Generator that is very interesting.  From the website:

You will be offered a series of life choices – we will show you your results and you can compare these with all the other users. The more questions you answer the more personal your result will be.

Once you have answered the questions, the website takes your responses and generates what it predicts "your" future world will look like in 2055.  And you don't have to be from London to participate.

Here's the PowerPoint Presentation I Presented Today to the Children's Defense Fund Cradle to Prison Pipeline Coalition

I had the opportunity this morning to present Spring Branch's Five Year Educational Plan to the Cradle to Prison Pipeline Educational, Social, Emotional Youth Development Coalition meeting. In Spring Branch, much of our Five Year Plan is focused on the social and emotional development of our students. Here is the PowerPoint presentation I used this morning.

Today Marks the Third Birthday of this Blog

On August 6, 2005, I started this blog in an effort to communicate ongoing Spring Branch ISD activities to the community. Since that first post which contained a link to my testimony before the Senate Education Committee, I have created hundreds of posts that have been seen by over 166,000 visitors. As the Board's Legislative Liaison from 2004 - 2007 and beginning again in May 2008, I have attempted to include legislative information on a frequent basis, and I have posted recaps of each of the Board's meetings.

Thank you to all of you who have read this blog. As always, you can sign up on the right to receive a daily or weekly email containing updates to this blog.