a virtual exchange between our class, and a partner class overseas. For my 20 Canadian munchkins, we found a partner group in East Borneo, Indonesia. Both classes have created an imaginary friend, who attends our partner school. (For the curious, our imaginary friend is a little girl named Ella. She is 6 years old, she has blond hair, brown eyes, and brown skin. Her gender and name were decided by vote. Her age and appearance were drawn at random.) We use Twitter to ask research questions of our partners, and the answers allow us to write stories documenting our imaginary friend's experience in another country. Each child has a journal for the project, where they record things they have learned. It being kindergarten, the recording mostly takes the form of drawings. The children dictate text to go with their drawings, and then copy that text onto their pages. We are working on a Prezi presentation to share our learning with parents and other classes. We have made a video to teach our "Indonesia friends" about snow and how to get dressed for recess when it is very cold.
When my team conceived of this project, I knew it was going to be cool. As mentioned in my previous post about Twitter in kindergarten, I love love LOVE that my students are building real connections with other children their own age. This project brought it to another level, by pushing them to imagine themselves in a completely different setting. (As we graph the often FIFTY degree difference in our daily temperatures, I often imagine MYSELF in a completely different setting, too!) I knew that this project was going to take us in unexpected directions, and there is no doubt that it has.
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Color Theory for Designers, Part 1: The Meaning of Color - Smashing Magazine - 0 views
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Lots of advertising here but there is very good information on designing with purposeful color. Lots of examples and explanations.
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Color Matters - Design and Art - Color Theory - 0 views
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Basic color wheel information and history, with additional explanation of Harmony and Context - very important in color theory!
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Color Theory: a brief tutorial - 0 views
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Beginning color theory information including color wheel, mixing and types.
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shared by Karen Kohn on 10 Jul 11
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Miss Night's Marbles: I heard them say, love is the way - 0 views
missnightmutters.blogspot.com/...eard-them-say-love-is-way.html
Social Networking Kindergarten Education
shared by Karen Kohn on 10 Jul 11
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This is a great example of why Social Networking in the classroom works. Please visit this blog post. Miss Night, along with her fellow Kindergarten teachers in her school in Canada use social networking to communicate with another class in Indonesia. Night has come up with many lessons using the information the students gathered from their friends in Indonesia. Her students have learned so much from this contact and have even surprised her with some of their comments and questions. This has given me so many ideas! READ THE POST. -
I also read this blog a few days ago. It is so inspirational! It really shows how even kindergarten students can participate in a social network with the help of their teacher. -
I can't get over what a leap it is that teachers can communicate with classrooms in other countries. The possibilities are endless not just for learning but promoting intercultural understanding. Great post.
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cooltoolsforschools - Collaborative Tools - 2 views
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This is a great resourceful website that everyone should keep bookmarked! It has a list of over 50 links to Web 2.0 tools that are good for education with a 1-5 sentence blurb about what they are capable of and how they can be used. They are also broken down into subcategories, document sharing, discussion forums, etc. If I had a highlighter tool I would have highlighted the CollaborizeClassroom tool because I have found that very interesting and my next link gives some more description about how and why it is used. -
Twiducate looks great! Twitter for schools. Bookmarked this site, great resources.
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Listen to the Natives - 2 views
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Interesting point here: how drastic do we need to be in tailoring our teaching methods to the digital native crowd?
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I definitely agree that we should encourage our students to take part in determining some of the educational goals of the class! "Teachers needn't master all technologies. They should continue doing what they do best: leading discussion in the classrom."
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An interesting point: "Students could quite feasibly invent technological solutions to streamline homework submission and correction, freeing up teachers for more meaningful work."
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For some beginning teachers, they are lucky to be "natives" but there are still challenges they face with young students who are at their level or above when it comes to using technology.
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Empathy and a candidate's overall demeanor need to be considered in the hiring process!
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We need to get students as interested and engaged in school as they are when playing video games, etc. We need to WORK WITH students and not work against the technology that they love in order to reach them.
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This is an eye opening article that alerts educators to get out of their comfort zones and work with students rather than against them. As digital natives, young students might just learn best by using technology and teachers need to recognize and embrace this. There were a few ideas that I didn't fully agree with, but lots of practical points were made in this article that could help beginning teachers to make the best of their first years.
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I read the same article and wondered what you thought about allowing students to use cell phones as a way to communicate within the classroom? Maybe from my perspective, it seems unnecessary because I will be teaching elementary students but what did you think?
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Maybe there are already companies out there doing this, but it seems like anyone who can create video games, or online games that incorporate the Core Standards for Teaching in content areas would be filthy rich. God I wish I could write code.
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10 Principles for the Future of Learning » Edurati Review - 1 views
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discovering online possibilities is a skill
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learning strategy shifts from a focus on information as such to judgment concerning reliable information, from memorizing information to how to find reliable sources. In short, from learning that to learning how, from content to process
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Just what Lynn and I were talking about! The learning is now about navigating the internet and interacting with information. It's learning a new culture.
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In secondary schools and higher education, many administrators and individual teachers have been moved to limit use of collectively and collaboratively crafted knowledge sources, most notably Wikipedia, for course assignments or to issue quite stringent guidelines for their consultation and reference.26 This is a catastrophically anti-intellectual reaction to a knowledge-making, global phenomenon of epic proportions. . .
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The power of ten working interactively will almost invariably outstrip the power of one looking to beat out the other nine.
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the creation of culture
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freely available to all.
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Individualized learning tends overwhelmingly to be hierarchical: one learns from the teacher or expert, on the basis overwhelmingly of copyright-protected publications bearing the current status of knowledge. Networked learning is at least peer-to-peer and more robustly many-to-many.
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together.
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Learning is lifelong
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excerpt from The Future of Learning Institutions in a Digital Age, 10 principles
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Adapting Social Networking to Address 21st-Century Skills - Internet@Schools Magazine - 0 views
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70% of the new jobs recently created in the U.S. are positions that require interactions between people and involve judgment, insight, and collaboration.
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This is so interesting. I think that students need to learn technology to be sucessful in their lives because technology is only going to grow, so it would be niave to think that we don't need to teach technology in schools.
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another aspect of a social learning network is the potential to build global awareness among students.
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same ePals online email service
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communicate with them using Web 2.0 technologies (the ePals service has a language translator, helping students to communicate regularly and across cultures)
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I had no thought about the language barrier as a complication. It would be interesting to see what other socail networking tools have the ability to translate.
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Consider what tools, when implemented together in a holistic and thoughtful manner, can encourage collaboration, spark creativity, teach 21st-century skills, and address the needs and challenges of different socioeconomic environments.
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Consider the following questions
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These are five really crucial questions. I suspect too they are very different approaches to teaching than what has been typical in the past.
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what tools best fulfill the needs of each school and district’s environment
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What should be encouraged is the next level of communication—collaboration.
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create, invent, and showcase their work
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as many as 70% of the new jobs recently created in the U.S. are positions that require interactions between people and involve judgment, insight, and collaboration.
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Students need to be aware in a different way than before. Learning is no longer a passive activity. This new interactive stance fosters the skills of judgement, insight, and collaboration that employers are looking for.
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the framework suggests three overarching student outcomes, including life and career skills; learning and innovation skills; and information, media, and technology skills. Ultimately, the Partnership is advocating for educators and students to consider the implication of skills beyond the basic subject areas that are critical to success in the 21st century.
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It makes me happy to see that it is obvious to people that producing a literate student involves more than teaching him or her the core subjects. Learning how to learn, meta-learning (has anyone coined that one yet?) is THE indispensable skill of the 21st century it seems. If I take nothing from this class, it will be that.
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free, online email service for K–12
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This is a cool site. Worth looking into. Connects educators who want to collaborate on classroom projects, great and interesting forums, and email accounts for kids to use for school.
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to match students with other students around the world
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Educators can choose to utilize Web 2.0 tools
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preparing them for working in a global marketplace
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His students take part in a global newscast, featuring students from the U.S., Japan, Russia, Belize, and several other countries.
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narrowing down which combination of tools would be best with the curriculum and pedagogy for the class
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Each class will be unique in its abilities and needs and having knowledge of a wide varitety of tools makes teachers able to customize web tools to best serve their classrooms.
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today's students need to be creators and collaborators, not just individual learners
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PBS Teachers | learning.now . PBS Teachers Embraces Social Networking and Bookmarking T... - 1 views
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Allowing users to explore and search for topics based on tags is convenient and may get more people interested.
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I was most interested in the responses from this article that are listed below the actual article. One response recommended www.fatclass.com as a social networking tool that works great in the classroom. "Andy Carvin: Internet activist, author, Edtech expert. Learning.now is a weblog that explores how new technology and Internet culture affect how educators teach and children learn. It will offer a continuing look at how new technology such as wikis, blogs, vlogs, RSS, podcasts, social networking sites, and the always-on culture of the Internet are impacting teacher and students' lives both inside and out of the classroom."
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I also see another response listing www.teachersrecess.com. That sounds interesting too!
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YouTube - Google Cr-48 Chromebook Pilot Rollout - Crook County Middle School - 3 views
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Even though this video made me slightly nauseous at times, it was a good find on your part to show the study in action! Very interesting!
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This is an excellent opportunity for Crook County MS. I wonder how many other schools are testing the Chromebooks? It looks like this school certainly needs some new technology!
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10 Principles for the Future of Learning » Edurati Review - 3 views
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Students should be taught about using others work and copyright. Also, how to find valid and credible sources.
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Made me think of professional development and how there is no learning boundaries anymore.
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Interesting to me that even as we search the web we are always learning and expanding our knowledge.
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World wide learning. No boundaries for education, This article has similar points related to the NETS Standards for Teachers
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Learn about the role the internet is playing in transforming education to shared and interactive learning. This article suggests 10 principals as "fundamental to the future of learning institutions." This article states that we are connected now through technology, and this is forming us into lifelong self-learners. In addtion, it talks about the credibility of where we seek information. Come read about how technology is changing education.
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Number 2 in the list caught my eye because I remember memorizing so much information when I was in school. Whereas today, the process is stressed and simply knowing how to find the information needed is the key.
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50 Free Collaboration Tools That Are Awesome for Education | Accredited Online Colleges... - 0 views
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EtherPad. This web-based word processor allows multiple users to work simultaneously on a document. Each person’s work is highlighted in a different color to keep everything understandable.
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Zoho Show. Grea
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online presentations are easy to create collaboratively with this powerful free tool.
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MemberHub. Up to 30 members can communicate in one place for free with this tool.
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Yugma. The free version of this tool allows up to 20 people to web conference and is a great way for groups to connect when they can’t be in the same location.
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drop.io. Students can share images, documents, audio and video files, and more with this tool.
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ePals. Students can connect with other classrooms around the world with this tool that has a strict education-only focus.
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Student.com. High school and college students can find help with school work, prepare for college admission, and socialize with other students.
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LearnHub. LearnHub is all about education sharing and allows students to share their knowledge, find what they need to know, and even study for major standardized exams.
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Socialtext. Get a free microblogging platform for up to 50 users to have a private Twitter-like experience in your classroom.
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This site offers many suggestions of collaboration tools to use in the classroom. Many of the tools are geared toward college students, but I highlighted a few that seemed interesting and relevant to elementary or middle school students. Most of these tools could also be used in high school.
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New Tools for Schools, T&L Editors - 0 views
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Desire2LearnThe latest version of eLearning Suite includes Learning Environment 8.1, which offers new assessment options and blogging; Learning Repository 3.5, which allows for effective tagging and learning object reuse; and LiveRoom 4.0, featuring chats and a presentation management area.www.Desire2Learn.com
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Desire2Learn is a kids version of iGoogle. The tool allows for students to organize technology tools in order to keep their studies organized and available through the web.
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GenevaLogicCreated in response to teachers' desire to have more control over the Internet in the classroom, Surf*Lock2 is a plug-in for GenevaLogic's Vision classroom management software. The tool allows users to turn browsing on or off with a single click and limit students' access to certain Web sites. Surf*Lock2 is compatible with filtering software and does not require a server. At the time of this writing, the plug-in is only available for Windows.www.GenevaLogic.com
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NetSupportNetSupport School 8.5 classroom management software now has student auto login, Internet cobrowsing, and additional testing components. Educators using the software can record all screen, keyboard, and mouse activity on student computers and also limit Web surfing to approved sites.www.netsupportschool.com
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Educators could use this tool to monitor students and their use of technology. It could also be useful to parents or guardians, as the tool records activity on a students computer.
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SchoolMessengerWeb-based SchoolMessenger ASP Plus is a parent notification service that includes always-available messaging and the ability for educators and administrators to create personalized voice messages and e-mail in various languages. Parent alerts can be timed to address absences, emergencies, and so on.www.schoolmessenger.com
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SchoolMessenger would be a great tool to ensure effective communication, via voice message, email, ect. for educators, adminstrators, and parents. And, it allows for translation in various languages!
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AccoonaThe Talking Search Bar combines search technology with a text-to-speech feature to enable users to highlight Internet text and have it read to them out loud. Useful for ELL students and children learning to read, the Talking Search Bar can convert any Web page into text. Users can choose to listen to a male or female voice.www.accoona.com
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This would be a great tool for students who are not strong in their reading and writing skills. It allows for a voice to provide audio for listening during typing and searching.
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This site has taught me the endless options of tool available for educators. In alphabetical order, tools are listed for educators to search through, and find tools they could apply to their classroom. Links to the tools with information to each tool is available at their fingertips. It would be impossible for any educator to search this site and not find a tool that is interesting or applicable to their subject.
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Tools for Schools: What's New with Web 2.0? - Middle Ground - 0 views
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We need to prepare our students for the 21st century jobs that require global awareness, communication, teamwork, collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, and data mining.
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I think that this is so important! I was never taught how to use a lot of technology in schools I had to teach myself and I think sometimes we forget how important technology is in the workplace!
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Students are able to not only learn from their teachers, but learn from and teach their peers in their classroom, across the country, and even around the world.
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So important! Students need to learn how to collaborate and learn from each other
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Global Connections ePals
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I think this is so awesome....students can learn and have such an appreciation when they realize how different life is around the world!
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Wordle
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Golf Rules : The rules of golf in brief - 0 views
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Play the ball as it lies
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Great description of the etiquette, definitions, and the rules of play for the begginings of a golf unit.
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Free golf grip instruction on the interlocking, baseball, and overlapping golf grips. - 0 views
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Review of the three commonly used golf club grips to share with students to include in a golf unit.
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Golf Full Swing @ ABC-of-Golf - 0 views
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Ten step description for mastering the full golf swing. Cartoon pictures for visualization of each step, along with showing the full swing in its entirety.
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Golf setup position tips - weight distribution - 0 views
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Very brief overview for the setup and weight distribution stance for a golf swing.
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Golf Pitch Shot Trajectory Lesson - 0 views
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Five tips for perfecting the perfect pitch in a golf swing. Site includes pictures of a person performing each tip. Link is included to view the full pitch swing.
