A Principal's Scrolls: 2012

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Sites, Apps, Ideas and A Message from Santa

Good morning! This Friday I will be meeting with the HS in the morning and going through some testing data, but I will be available afterwards. Please let me know how I can help!

For those that are interested, the iPad Applications (for the classroom set) will be reviewed again on January 3rd. If you are planning on applying, make sure these are turned in prior to January 3rd. I have reattached the application form for you.

1) https://www.zooniverse.org/projects Zoo Universe is a really great place to explore the surface of the moon through pictures, check out historical cyclones, and even classify wildlife on the Serengeti! Check out this page of projects to see what else is there. You can also Experiment in the laboratory to see if there is life on another planet or help libraries identify digitized music!

2) http://www.youtube.com/user/CGPGrey?feature=watch CGP Grey is a YouTube Channel with a lot of short explanations that would be great to integrate into class or put together to create your own Performance Task. You can listen to a short video on the difference between the UK and Englad to another about Is Pluto a Planet?

3) https://sites.google.com/site/kernkelley/forms Google Forms Template by Kern Kelly gives links to great self-grading quizzes you can embed on your website or email out, word find maker, miscellaneous documents and also administrative docs you can use. Click on the link, click on the 'make a copy' link and (you may need to sign into your Google Account at this time, if you haven't already today) the template will be saved for you in your Google Docs account. To reuse the document multiple times, make sure to go to "file" --> "make a copy" each time you need to use the document again.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/word-mover/id572997152?mt=8 Word Mover is a new app from ReadWriteThink that I have on the check out iPads that will acts a lot like the "magnet words" you can get and create poetry from. The reason that I like this app is that you can choose famous speeches or texts (like MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech) and only use those words to create a speech. It is a fun way to teach literary devices like diction and even syntax.

5) http://mp3cut.net/ Online Audio Cutter is a place to upload audio files from your computer, SoundCloud or YouTube and cut the audio and save it. It also links to an Audio Joiner and Audio Converter at the top of the page that I haven't got to check out yet, but sound promising.

6) https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/spacecraft-3d/id541089908?mt=8 Spacecraft 3D is a cool new NASA app that will allow students to explore 3D models of spacecraft. So cool!

7) http://www.portablenorthpole.com/home The Portable North Pole is the COOLEST place to send a message from Santa to your children, students (as a class even, it would be cool) or even another adult that needs a message from Santa to brighten their day! (Here is the example I made for Leah: http://www.portablenorthpole.com/watch/gQVvQZhcPP3pRRbS4NZ9vuA/p) I made one last year and it was not nearly as fun, so I was excited to see how it had changed. Can you tell? I just love Christmas!

8) https://bingobaker.com/ Bingo Baker is a place to create your own BINGO cards! I think this may be a fun way to review during the last few days before Christmas. You can create an account to save your cards, get a 'full screen' bingo card (which is easier to print) and also peruse other bingo cards people have created via the ink in the upper right hand corner of the screen.

Have a great week!

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Fill that Pinterest Board!

Happy December! Only 20 days until Christmas, so I hope your Pinterest board full of new, fun recipes for family gatherings!

Even with the excitement of the holidays, as the semester winds down, it is a good time to reflect on how the year has gone so far. I feel very fortunate with my Geography class this year, as I am able to start new in January with new students and try what I believe to be a better approach to the semester. I have never taught Geography before, and it has been a learning experience for me too.

So, as this is a tech email, I encourage you to take a few moments to answer the questions below and reflect on your classroom technology use. And, although this is nothing that you need to write down, I highly encourage you to find a place in your notebook to record your thoughts. Often times, at the end of the year we reflect back and forget all of the awesome things accomplished in our classrooms. It is good to have a concrete reminder of just how much you have really done in your classroom.

1) What technology (devices or web tools) did I try in my classroom this year?

2) How did this technology enhance student learning opportunities?

3) Should I continue to use this technology or should I look for another tool?

If you answered that you would look for another tool, please share with me some of your ideas for your classroom. Nothing is too outside of the box, I promise. And, if I can't find the answer right now, I will continue to look to find something that will work for your ideas.

Have a great week and enjoy the holiday season!

Samantha

1) Fakebook (http://www.classtools.net/fb/home/page) will allow you to create or have students create Facebook profiles for famous, historical or fictional characters. There is also a listing of ones that have already been made that you could send students to at: http://www.classtools.net/main_area/fakebook/gallery/

2) ePals Common Coure Resource (http://www.epals.com/commoncore/) has a repository of resources to help with collaborative projects for ELA lessons. If you are interested in any of this and would like some help setting up a wiki, website or blog with open permissions, please let me know and I'd be happy to help. Any of these concepts could easily be facilitated through teachers in other districts in South Dakota as well, so we may be able to make some of these ideas happen locally too.

3) Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/) is a free resource that will allow you to download books to your iPad or other device (or print out) many books that the copyright has expired on. You can check out thousands of books and even do some self-publishing with some specific guidelines found here: http://self.gutenberg.org/ebooks/view/submission-guidelines-.aspx

4) Librivox (http://librivox.org/) is a great for audiobooks in the public domain. This includes mainly older novels, dramas and poetry, but there are a few others that are open as well. Utilize the search option to see what you can find. It may be a good way to integrate some audio into the classroom.

5) C-SPAN Bell Ringers (http://www.c-spanclassroom.org/Members/Bell-Ringers.aspx) are a list of short videos that are meant for classroom "Bell ringers" to start your day. You need to create a FREE C-Span in the classroom account to gain access to the videos. The videos include a description, vocabulary terms and a short assignment to start the class period. There are many topics ranging from each of the branches of government to Supreme Court cases.

6) LucidChart (https://www.lucidchart.com/) is a site for students to do diagraming or mind mapping. You can sign up for free or try it out without signing up. It also has a Google Drive integration component that could be installed as well. The colors and shapes help in creating a fun map, and the directions are simple. If you do any sort of character or plot mapping, I would recommend this site.

7) Common Core Achievement Level Descriptors (http://www.smarterbalanced.org/achievement-level-descriptors-and-college-readiness/) This is really not a fun tech tool like those above, but rather just some information put out by Smarter Balance to share. The link above will give drafts of the Achievement Level Descriptors (ALDs) for Common Core standards. I didn't read through it all, but when I went through the ELA standards, I found the diagrams/ charts about each of these ALDs helpful in clarifying purpose of the strands and splitting/ leveling of the standards. It also helped me to understand some of what Smarter Balance is doing in setting up the standards/ targets and categories.

Monday, December 3, 2012

SMART Goal Setting

Taken from multiple web resources, here is a copy of the Freshman/ Sophomore SMART Goal Setting Presentation I will be doing next week. I am excited to get into the classroom and talk to students about Goal Setting!

Thursday, November 29, 2012

MS/ HS Tech Tools Presentation

Here is the copy of the MS/ HS Tech Tools Presentation. We went through some great ways to integrate video in the classroom, ways to store useful classroom videos on playlists, as well as many great FREE video resources.

Elementary iPad Presentation

Last week I was able to do a presentation for the Elementary Staff. Here is the copy of some of the things we visited about and some great apps for the iPad too!

Projects vs. Project-Based Learning

Although the "discovery" lessons that I had to do while at SDSU were by far the most challenging of any lesson for me, once I got into the classroom the concept of Project Based Learning was something I was able to really enjoy. But, it made more sense to me when I was actually in the classroom. It was still very challenging to "let go" and "give the reigns" to the students and I surely made many mistakes during the process. Some technology resources, though, really allowed me to set up the Project-Based Learning Plan more easily.

So, I start today with a chart that you may want to check out: http://www.friedtechnology.com/2012/11/whats-difference-between-doing-projects.html

The chart talks about the difference between "Projects" and "Project-Based Learning". Here are some examples that were most interesting to me:

Projects: Project-based Learning:

Are closed: every project has the same goal. (As in the example above, the end result is always The Alamo.)	Is open: students make choices that determine the outcome and path of the research.
Cannot be used in the real world to solve real problems.	Could provide solutions in the real world to real problems even though they may not be implemented.
Are not particularly relevant to students’ lives.	Is relevant to students’ lives or future lives.
Do not resemble work done in the real world.	Is just like or closely resembles work done in the real world.
Do not include scenarios and background information or are based on events that have already resolved.	The scenario or simulation is real or if it is fictitious, is realistic, entertaining, and timely.
Are sometimes based around a tool for the sake of the tool rather than of an authentic question. (Make a Prezi.)	Use technology, tools, and practices of the real world work environment purposefully. Students choose tools according to purposes.

Are often graded based teacher perceptions that may or may not be explicitly shared with students, like neatness.

Is graded based on a clearly defined rubric made or modified specifically for the project.

Here are some resources that may help you to accomplish Project-Based Learning (or possibly create your own Common Core Performance Tasks as well):

1) Google Sites (https://sites.google.com/) will allow you to create your own site and have links, videos, images and other information online for you to direct students toward. You can also have students create their own sites to store and share information during a project. If you are interested in setting up your own Google Site, please let me know and I will be happy to help.

2) The Open Culture Free Resource List (http://www.openculture.com/free_k-12_educational_resources) completely made my day. What is better than an organized, free list of resources? These would be great resources to share with or link on your website for students to use.

3) The National Archives is a regular on my Google Reader with the Historical Document of the day, but there are also more resources on there that are great for interactive learning through historical documents. (http://docsteach.org/tools) This site will allow you to create your own account, build an activity for comprehension, analyzation or connection building with historical documents. Also, do not limit this to Social Studies class, you can find historical connections about theories, events, or scientific discoveries as well. Don't forget, if you ever need to find a primary document to delineate, the National Archives probably has a copy for you.

4) EasyBib (http://easybib.com/) is a way for students to create MLA Style Bibliography pages to document all of the resources used in the project. We all know there is a lot of bogus information out there... Have you ever heard of the Tree Octopus? (http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/) And, EasyBib may not tell students for sure if a resource is legitimate or not, but it will surely make them think more about it as they put in the publisher, date and author and create a Bibliography while working on their project.

5) iPad Apps for creation at the Elementary Level are also great for project-based learning. I reviewed many last Friday, so I will include the link to these again. goo.gl/kCp9m These are apps that are on the iPads right now for you to use. If you have questions, please let me know and I will be glad to help. If you have any more, please share with us! I would like to add as many great apps on the iPads as possible.

6) Rubistar http://rubistar.4teachers.org/ is a great resource when you are stuck on a rubric idea. I am a big fan of rubrics and I think that as we head toward project-learning and common core performance tasks, they will be even more important to the classroom.

I hope you have a great day and please let me know if you have any questions or I can help you try something new!

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Manifest Destiny

http://michaelporath.com/projects/manifest-destiny/#overview

This is good site with some cool maps of the Story of the US Told in 141 Maps in regard to the concept of Manifest Destiny. I'm not sure which of you teach this, but I thought you might be interested.

Have a great day!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Common Core Resources

Good morning! South Dakota is part of the Smarter Balanced Consortium and there are multiple resources here below from the Smarter Balanced Consortium as well as other state's education agencies. I am with the Student Council tomorrow, but please let me know if there is anything I can do to help you this upcoming week.

The set of 15 iPads will be in Lisa Brandt's Room until January 3rd. All teachers in all grades have the option of turning in an application, including teachers that have already submitted applications. You may turn them in at any time prior to January 3rd.

There are 25 iPads in my office that you can use at any time. Check them out at: tinyurl.com/deuelipad The checkout is an online excel spreadsheet. On the bottom of the page are sheets labeled with the date. You click on the sheet and then add your name to the time and day you want to check out the iPads. Please email me or stop in if there is anything specific you want on the iPads. Right now there are many elementary level interactive books, math flashcards, math story problems, telling time/ clock apps, edmodo, and also many productivity apps for all levels. There are hundreds of apps that we can rotate on an off the iPads for your students!

The email app on all the iPads has a "Deuel Student" gmail on it. You can send students' documents or links to this email address and they can be opened on any of the 25 iPads.

Smarter Balance Consortium Sample Tasks and Exemplars:

http://www.smarterbalanced.org/smarter-balanced-assessments/

http://www.smarterbalanced.org/sample-items-and-performance-tasks/

Sample Performance Tasks and Text Exemplars from other resources:

http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/ela/ccssspt.html

http://www.parcconline.org/samples/item-task-prototypes#6

http://readingandwritingproject.com/resources/assessments/performance-assessments.html (Click on the year to expand the links and download.)

http://schools.nyc.gov/Academics/CommonCoreLibrary/TasksUnitsStudentWork/newtasks.htm

Presentation on Creating Your Own Performance Task

Article: What are the components of a common core lesson?

Article: What Special Education Educators Need to Know

Video: http://vimeo.com/39784324 This video is somewhat an overview for California educators, but it is a good place to start. As California is one of the governing states for the Smarter Balanced consortium, this video has more relevance to the history of common core.

Also, if you are an iPad user, I'd recommend downloading the Common Core App as an easy to read/ find/ manage the somewhat cumbersome inch-think printout of your Math or Reading standards. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/common-core-standards/id439424555?mt=8

Tutorial: http://myboe.org/portal/default/Content/Viewer/Content?action=2&scId=306588

If you want to really explore Common Core, the CA DOE set up an online course the teachers' took as part of their training. I really think it helps to explain the differences of the standards and also some of the basics of how they are set up.

Have an awesome weekend!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

From last week!

A few ideas for the evening before conferences:

1) A presentation with ideas on implementing iPads for productivity and individual app use: Creative Uses for iPads in the Classroom: http://www.slideshare.net/mamante/creative-uses-for-ipad-in-the-classroom

2) What do you get when you combine Polar Bears, Discovery Education and webcasts? An cool opportunity for students grades 4- 8! Check this out for more information: http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/blog/2012/09/28/tundra-connections-join-us-live-from-the-tundra/

3) Teach your monster to Read by uploading a CSV file of your students and sign up for this fun opportunity for lower elementary students at: http://www.teachyourmonstertoread.com

4) Something to overwhelm anybody. I know you may have a few minutes during conferences so go to http://www.google.com/edu/teachers/educator-resources.html and check out all the cool apps and tools that you can use from Google. Let me know if you would like to know anything about these. I use a lot of them and many on a daily basis.

Have a great weekend and let me know if I can help in any way.

Samantha

iPad Apps for Free (this is an email from a listserv I am part of, feel free to join too)

This is something new - a heads up on an app that will be free tomorrow! The app Shapes Touch and Write will be free all day tomorrow (Friday, Oct 26) It is from a company called FizzBrain. Currently it is $2.99 but at 12am (PST) it will go free until midnight PST. It is Shapes Touch and Write - http://itun.es/i6DM39y

There are a lot of other interesting apps today. Quiet please is an app that measures sound levels and when the sound gets too loud is does a Shhh sound and it looks like you could record your own message as well. This could be a good tool for those kids who get loud the ability to self regulate themselves.

Quiet Please - http://itun.es/i6DG4jy

This is a tracing app.'

Trace & Share - http://itun.es/i6DG4jZ

Padstar Publishing has released several of their math apps for free -

AppTutor IR - Introduction to Rounding - http://itun.es/i6DG4D9

AppTutor LA - Introduction to Long Addition - http://itun.es/i6Dm7tC

AppTutor AWP - Addition Word Problems - http://itun.es/i6Dm24C

AppTutor MT - Multiplication Tables - http://itun.es/i6Dm24Z

AppTutor LM - Introduction to Long Multiplication - http://itun.es/i6DG4Dq

And Talking Rex for the iPad is free for a day -

Talking Rex the Dinosaur for iPad - http://itun.es/i6DM39Q

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Presentation from Systems Change Conference

Personalizing the Senior Experience

Personalizing the Senior Experience on Prezi

Happy Rainy Morning in South Dakota

Happy Rainy Morning!

The 15 iPads are about ready to go. If anybody wants to submit an application and has not done so or is in the process of writing one, please let me know. Applications are accepted on a cyclical basis, so whichever is the best in the lot will get the iPads for up to 9 weeks at a time. Once they are given to a teacher, we will let you know how long the application was approved for so you know.

The 25 iPads are about ready to go too. There are a set of apps I have on them now that include some interactive books, science apps and basic program apps. You can check them out to just see how they work OR let me know what apps you want on them and I can help put them on if they are free. We do not have a PD session anytime soon, but I will gladly help anybody that wants some help to work with them after school, during your study hall or planning period. Once we have time on a Friday, I will use it to review some of the options during a session time.

Here is the link to the iPad checkout cart:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsEay089cnsBdExSY0tORS1naTlSOTBDTVFwVU9qOFE

Please let me know if you have any questions or if I can help in any way.

Reminder:

Google Search Session on Site Specific Searches from 3:45- 4:00 in Ms. Eggers' Room.

Bring your computer.

Hope to see you there!

Mind Mapping, Pin-It Bookmark, MyOER

Good morning! Thank you to those who came down for a review on some Google Advanced Search Tools! They are simple techniques that will save you time. We will meet next Wednesday in Mrs. Konold's Room for our last 15 minute session.

1) Mind Mapping via http://www.text2mindmap.com will allow you to put your outline into the left side text box and it will create a mind map for you. I think this could be an activity for students organizing papers, speeches and presentations. After completing the outline, have the students copy it into this page. Once it creates the mind map, students may need to reevaluate the placement of the topics.

2) Mind Mapping via the iPad app Inkflow: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/inkflow-think-visually!/id519524685?mt=8 The free version of this app only allows writers to use black writing and only 20 pages at a time, but Inkflow free is still a great "word processor" for drawings.

3) Visual Bookmarking via Pinterest http://pinterest.com This is nothing new to many of you, and if you haven't signed up yet, ask some of your colleagues about Pinterest. Everything from educational websites to crockpot recipes can be found on Pinterest. If you are interested in adding a "Pin-it" button to your browser or getting the "Pin-it" App, here is some more information: http://pinterest.com/about/goodies/ (This information will be based on the browser you are using at the time.) I can help you with this as well, just stop by my table during Conferences next week and I'll help you out.

4) Google Sites for the Classroom www.google.com --> Select More from top toolbar--> Even More --> Scroll down and select Sites. Creating a Google Site is a great way to keep students and parents informed of what is going on in the classroom. It could be a place to for you to create a list of links or upload student assignments. You can integrate it with Calendar and Docs to display information. Students can create their own sites for portfolios or you can create a Site for a particular unit and share it with colleagues. Check out a couple examples below and let me know if you are interested in this for your classroom:

https://sites.google.com/site/teacher16/

https://sites.google.com/site/teacher26/

5) Common Core Resources via myOER http://www.myoer.org I know many of you have already looked at this, but it is a good reminder of the resources available. MyOER is a repository of resources reviewed by South Dakota educators. Thinkfinity also pushes out new resources to their servers every month. I just want to remind you that you can do multiple tags as you put resources into your locker, this will help you to find the resources more easily in the future. Just like those Pinterest boards I had that said "food" and had to go back though make more specific... start out with multiple tags so that it is easier to find the resource when you go back to it in the future.

Up to 25 iPads at a time are available for checkout from my office. When you check them out, let me know if you have specific apps you want on them, otherwise there are multiple apps that I have put on them already you can come and check out. If you have any questions or I can help in any way, please let me know.

Here is the link to the iPad checkout: http://tinyurl.com/deuelipad

If you are still working on an app to keep the 15 in your classroom for up to 9 weeks at a time, please let us know and we can start making that decision as well.

Have an awesome weekend!

Monday, October 8, 2012

Crash Course YouTube Channel for Biology or World History

There are 73 videos on this channel that are quick-paced and have interesting graphics. They are between 12- 15 minutes long and may be interesting to show in class. There are topics in both World History and Biology. Take a peak and see if any may be relevant for your classroom. There are some that are better than others, but worth a look to help reinforce an idea learned in class.

Crash Course YouTube Channel

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

October is Search Month at Deuel

It is already October and we have some busy weeks ahead of us. As our Fridays are full, I want to still bring some new technology ideas to you. The following schedule will all be in regard to Google Advanced Search Options. Most of these options I have briefly introduced to you on the opening in-service days, so you can bring your yellow card for reference.

Each meeting will be 10 minutes of instruction and examples and 5 minutes of questions. I will also stick around after to help with any other questions, but feel free to leave right after the first 10 minutes.

Wednesday, October 10th at 3:45 in Mrs. Boyd's Room:

Advanced Image Search

Ever want only a picture of a green apple or do you ever want to know where a picture came from? This quick session will help.

Wednesday, October 17th at 3:45 in Ms. Egger's Room:

Site Specific Searches

Use Google site specific searches to query only searches on a specific site or domain.

Wednesday, October 24 at 3:45 in Mrs. Konold's Room:

File Type Specific Searches

Looking to find a PPT or PDF on a specific topic quickly? This search parameter will help you!

Make sure to bring your computer!

1) http://www.conflicthistory.com/ Conflict History will allow you to choose a any year or span of years and it will show you on a Google Map above where all the conflicts were taking place during that span of years. There is a very brief description as well. I think this has particularly interesting applications when thinking globally... "What was happening during the American Revolution in China?"

2) http://www.algebralab.org/ Algebra Lab has lists of lesson, activities, study aids, career connections and word problems for teachers to assign and are categorized by topic. There are comprehension passages that also would be applicable for reinforcing the reading for information common core standards as well. Off of this site there was also a http://dev.physicslab.org/ that had many story problems for Physics as well. The "Amusing Problems" was really interesting and had extra documents along with the answers for you.

3) http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ibrainstorm/id382252825?mt=8 iBrainstorm is an app for brainstorming together and 'flicking' the brainstorm all on to one iPad. It is originally made for iPhones and iPod Touches to collaborate with an iPad. You can have up to 4 people on the same pad. I think this could be fun for the iPads and useful for collaborative brainstorming too! And... I would really like to try it out some more.

4) http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/haiku-deck/id536328724?mt=8 Haiku Deck is not about Japanese Poetry, rather it is a great way to create multimedia presentations on your iPad. This may be a way to integrate an iPad into your classroom with students in pairs creating presentations and learning how to manipulate all the apps of the iPad successfully.

5) http://scootpad.com/ along with the ScootPad App http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scootpad/id557056479?mt=8 This is so cool, for grades K-5, but this will take time to set up. Start by signing up and creating a teacher account. Then, you have to create student accounts, but you are able to choose their username and password! Computer time would be Math Time or Reading Time. For teachers who do not have a "computer curriculum" this may be an answer. It would just be an extension of Math or Reading time and it is aligned to the Common Core Standards. I kept working with this and just thought, "No, it's going to ask for a Purchase Order Number soon. This can't be free." It is paid for by Google in Education (you knew Google was coming somewhere- didn't you?), Edmodo, Schoology and the Common Core Standards Group. Seriously, this is so cool.

6) http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/common-core-conceptbank/id556647873?mt=8 ScootPad App ConceptBANK with practice questions set to the common core standards for grades K- 5. This is great stuff! Check it out! For someone who is just learning about elementary standards and what level everything is at, I like this a lot. There are not practice questions for every standard (more math standards had the sample questions than reading) and it says they are still being developed, so make sure to update this app when it needs it.

Elementary Teachers: If ScootPad sounds good to you, let me know and I will help you set it up for your classroom. We could even talk to Chad and use some Friday time to do this. With our Common Core push, I think this may be a good option. And, when we get the iPad going, this may be your reason to check out the iPads too.

Many of you have talked to me about iPads and I had a great recommendation to have an online iPad checkout. Here is the link to the Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsEay089cnsBdExSY0tORS1naTlSOTBDTVFwVU9qOFE

Nothing is set in stone with this, but please give me some feedback to let me know your thoughts. It is just like an excel spreadsheet and each week is available to toggle on the botom. Each week will have a new page to the spreadsheet. You do not need to sign in to view or write on the document to reserve your time and up to 50 people at once can view the document. If you do not like this, please give me some idea for a viable alternative. Thank you for your input.

Have a great week everyone!

Archived Weekly Updates at: teachertechweekly.blogspot.com

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Unsuccessful Narrowing Down

Friday is pretty packed with Common Core, but please let me know if I can help with anything at all. All morning I've been unsuccessfully narrowing down all the great ideas I have for you to just five, so I decided to just sort them instead...

Something about Google...

http://www.google.com/webfonts Check out all of the awesome fonts that you can add to your Google Docs account!

http://goo.gl/kg2lw Here is a place for you to try out Google Docs WITHOUT logging in! Test the waters, see how it works and play with it. You will find that it is very similar to PowerPoint.

Something about Common Core...

Friday morning seems pretty packed with Common Core follow-up, so I am going to remind iPad users of the

app at: http://goo.gl/I5f76 so that you do not have to print out the Common Core standards.

Something to make you think...

http://goo.gl/y8dA7 Despite being blocked in China by the Chinese Government, the most active Tweeters are from China. I experienced firsthand social media being blocked by a government entity when travelling in Turkey, but ironically enough the concierge at the hotel gladly provided me with a route around that he said "works for today, let me know if problem tomorrow." So, I pose the unanswerable question, is a social media site the most active website during school hours (regardless of device) across America, despite being blocked?

Something to help you collaborate...

http://pinsi.de Pinside is a quick way to create an online board to share information: http://pinsi.de/board.php?id=419 This example shows a way that we could post different iPad apps that we like to this site. It might be a great way for 1:1 students to study as well.

Something to download...

https://www.dropbox.com Dropbox is a great way to share documents from one computer or device to another. You can download it on your computer at school, your home computer, your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch or Android Device and access the documents. I know I have talked a little about this previously when you can hook it up with http://dropitto.me so students or parents can "drop" something right into your Dropbox.

Something with videos...

http://www.youtube.com/teachers boasts over 300+ curated YouTube playlists of videos that align with the Common Core. Might be worth checking out if you are interested in flipping or just some videos to integrate into your classroom.

Something about Nature (for kids)...

http://www.maine.gov/doc/foliage/kids/movie.html has a great video by the Maine State Parks about why the leaves change color. http://www.usatoday.com/weather/environment/2007-10-08-fall-colors_N.htm?csp=34weather Has a great infographic by the USA Today about fall with interactive graphics as well.

Something about writing...

http://oneword.com will give students one word as a prompt and they have 60 seconds to write about it. Student can submit themselves to the website and then email a copy to their teacher.

http://www.plinky.com gives quick writing prompts and would be a good bell ringer activity.

Something for iPad users..

Sync your iCal to your Webmail Calendar by going to your iCal app, tapping the 'Calendars' button in the upper left-hand corner and selecting Exchange to make sure that your Webmail calendar is synced with your iPad. You can do the same with your other email addresses and your other iDevices as well.

Something about Google... again..

http://www.google.com/edu/collegetips/#tab=prospective This site has video tutorials about using Google Apps for College Students. I know we aren't all college students anymore, but these are well done tutorials. The 'Current College Students' talks about using Google Calendar as well as how to create groups.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Get out and VOTE!

We are all busy with Homecoming this week, but here are a few resources to check out. As you can see... I am a bit biased and think that casting our vote for President is pretty important, so there are a lot of resources for you to check out there.

Let me know if I can help with anything and have a great day!

Samantha

1) I will readily admit that I am very opinionated on many political issues, but more than anything, the fact that everybody needs to become an informed voter. So, I will get on my soapbox for a bit and list a few resources that may help you to integrate "Decision 2012" into your classroom.

2) http://www.wordner.com Wordner is fun, online game that is like Apples to Apples. You can create a free account (or a more generic student account) for students to play. I also like that you can create and print out your own cards too.

3) https://docs.google.com/present/embed?size=l&id=dhn2vcv5_8323t58h3ft Here is a Google Doc on using Google Docs in the classroom that was created by somebody else, but free to share. I am hope you take some time to look through some of it and then insist on trying it out yourself! Let me know if you are interested and I can help, too!

4) http://www.timetoast.com Timetoast is a site to make online timelines and share them as well. You can sign up for free and see other examples of timelines and also assign students to make one themselves.

5) http://www.pimpampum.net/bookr/ Bookr is a free, online book creator. The student indicates a 'tag' for the photos or a 'user' (like NationalGeographic or China) and hits go. They simply drag the picture up to the book, add titles, captions and drag the page over to go to the next page or add content. When complete, hit Publish this book! Here is an example: http://www.pimpampum.net/bookr/index.php?id=41035

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Webinar Anybody?

It's starting to feel like we are getting back to business now, but don't let yourself fall into a rut! Remember, everyday is a chance to try something new.

It sounds like this Friday will be busy with in-service for MS and HS, but I'd like to try to touch base with the teachers using blogger after the MS meeting. We can play this by ear. Otherwise, I should be available after the HS meeting at 10:00 am.

I haven't been able to connect on the Elementary schedule, but I will head to your halls to the see if we can do some informal app sharing meetings with elementary teachers too.

1) https://code.google.com/p/course-builder/ Those of you that are interested in flipping or just putting your courses online, here is something that came out yesterday- Google Course Builder. I haven't had a lot of time to explore, but make sure you view this on the 'bypass' so you can watch the youtube video to introduce yourself to it. I think this may have some positive implications for the MS/ HS Classroom.

2) http://www.harnu.com/ This site is really quite cool for exploring another culture. There is a tutorial video that opens right away that explains it well. You select a country/ region/ state, at it will give you all the current news, sports and music of the area. Very cool.

3) http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flipboard-your-social-news/id358801284?mt=8 Flipboard is a great app to visually review the tweets, posts, and current national or world news that interests you. You need this app on your iPad. It will help you keep up to date with news (and we may need to talk about hashtags and twitter to check out free Friday apps... let me know your interest).

3) http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/build-with-blocks-hd-lite/id553045618?mt=8 Build with Blocks is an app for kids that is meant for lower grades to build with blocks and learn how to actually manipulate the functions of the iPad.

4) MasteryConnect webinar to create "Awesome Common Core Assessments" is free on September 18th from 7- 8:00 pm. You can register here: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/955765646 and learn more about this webinar here: http://www.masteryconnect.com/ I have already recommended Mastery Connect's free app to help you in carrying around the Common Core.

5) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au9QJJSvpCo Google Docs Video! Here is a 3 minute video on Google Docs. I want you to please take three minutes to check it out and think about the implications that this could have for your class. Let me know if you are interested in this for your classroom. It is a great way for formative assessment and earning the writing process. As Google Apps for Edu is set up already, we can use it with our students without the hassle of setting up accounts. Check it out-- it's only three minutes.

Have a great week!!

Saturday, September 8, 2012

So you want to present "different"

I had a great email question from a teacher today! I will quote part of the email for you:

"I was trying to think of something "different" to do for presenting information"

Being willing to try something different just makes my day! I have given the idea for Prezi presentations before. Here are a few links to some other ideas for online collaboration and video/ audio enhanced presentations. Check them out if you have time.

www.zoho.com

www.prezi.com

http://museumbox.e2bn.org

http://voicethread.com

http://animoto.com/education

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

PicView, Pixoral, TypeWith.Me

The past few days have just flown by! I have gotten the chance to get into a few classrooms this week and it was great to be there to see all your hard work pay off with the students' reactions. Keep up the good work! As a heads up, I will be at a Counselor training tomorrow, but will be back Friday.

I have noticed many teachers have found a website to be very useful in their classrooms. Teachers are using them for assignment calendars, announcements, and just a place to put links to good sites to use for class. If you are interested in me helping you set one up, let me know what times you have available, and I will gladly come down. Even if you only have 15 minutes one day and 20 minutes the next day, we can start. Here is the upcoming schedule for Fridays:

Friday, September 7th:

School in Session

Friday, September 14th:

Review Blogs

WTL Review (Mrs. Boyd, Mrs. Lessman, Mrs. Konold, Ms. Eggers, Ms. Wiedrich)

1) http://www.meegenius.com/ is also an iPad app: http://itunes.apple.com/app/meegenius/id364734296?mt=8

MeeGenius is a place for free ebooks! Right now you can sign up for a FREE school and library account to have access to more ebooks. There are only 6 free ones if you do not sign up for an account. I do not know how long the free account offer will last and it does take awhile for them to approve your account.

2) http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/picview/id538356858?mt=8 PicView is a FREE iPad app that allows you to take a picture and record a short caption to the picture. I think that could have a lot of fun applications for any grade level.

3) http://www.pixorial.com/pixorial/educators Pixoral is an online video editor that will give you a FREE account to edit your videos. It is also compatible with Google Drive (formally Google Docs) to share info.

4) http://typewith.me TypeWithMe is something you can do quickly in the computer lab or with 1:1 computers.

1) Click on link and name your 'Pad'

2) Click on "New Pad" button

3) A blank "Pad" will open (For example: http://typewith.me/p/It's_Wednesday!

4) It will say: "Welcome to Etherpad Lite!"

5) You can delete everything on the pad or leave it, if you want.

6) As it says, everything is synchronized, so anybody that writes on the "pad" will say the same thing. You can click in the upper right hand corner and put in your name so your words are highlighted in the corresponding color. If you click on the example above, I have a few ideas for you.

7) You can use the bottoms on the top to share your pad via a link or embed it on your website. You can also export it as well to a pdf or other document and even do a 'time slide' to see if anybody deleted anything on the pad too.

Let me know if you are interested in using this and would like more directions.

5) http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/ Human Body and Mind This site has an interactive human body and human mind psychological tests that you could have students complete. I could see applications in both science classes and Psychology class. Just explore this site as there are lot of fun things to see.

If anybody with an iPad would like me to put a lot of apps/ interactive books on their iPad, bring me your iPad and it takes me about an hour to put on some fun apps for you.

Have a great week!

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Week Three- Wednesday Tidings

Thank goodness for air conditioning this week! Whew! By request, I am going to send this out earlier to give you time to plan your Friday. This week I have stopped into a few classrooms and dropped off some technology for you to try and let me know what you think. Don't feel bad if you aren't comfortable with it or if you aren't sure which direction you want to take. I will do my best to accommodate your ideas for classroom use and will share some ideas that I have too.

I have a set of 'clickers' for the Promethean Boards that you can try, a document camera, a digital camera, a microphone and two digital video cameras you can use at any time. Stop in if you want them or I can bring them to your classroom and help you with set up.

Friday, August 31 Schedule: (btw- you are all too kind for not correcting me last week...)

No Staff

Friday, September 7 Schedule:

School in session.

Friday, September 14 Schedule:

Need to work into schedule: Review Write to Learn software and changes with Mrs. Boyd, Mrs. Lessman, Ms. Eggers, and Ms. Weinrich for 2012- 13 School Year
Blogger follow-up (There are teachers using this in their classrooms- if you are interested in trying it too, let me know!)
Open

Please review the sheet I handed to you at the first in-service meeting and let me know what you are interested in. I would like to do a follow up for Blogger and Sites, but there is a lot more Search tools that I would like to share with you too.

1) Interactive Timeline Builder via http://www.myhistro.com (there's an iPad app too!) By signing up for free, you can create your own timeline or have students create an interactive timeline. There are a lot of options beyond just social studies for this too. Historical fiction or non-fiction timelines could also be created. After signing up, you will be asked to create your first even. Each event works alone and you need to create a "story" to make the actual timeline. This also has collaborative aspects and sharing possibilities. It is probably best for MS and up.

2) Math Dictionary via http://www.webquest.hawaii.edu/kahihi/mathdictionary/ This is just what it says it is... a math dictionary. It may be good for Math-related vocabulary terms as there are pictures for each term. You can also use this during a webquest to give students background information.

3) Video Talks/ Lectures via http://keentalks.com Somewhat like Khan academy, Keen talks has more of a thought-provoking intention. One of their tag lines is "food for thought" and I think this may be something to show upper elementary/ MS/ HS students (depending on content) to get them to think critically about may perspectives. This one on Women's Intuition is rather interesting: http://keentalks.com/womens-intuition-other-fairy-tales/

4) App Friday via http://www.facebook.com/AppFriday If you are one of those on Facebook, here is a place to 'like' so that you can see what some of the free apps are on Friday. Check it out!

5) Play the Election via http://education.randmcnally.com I won't give you a political opinion (yet), but there are a great ideas to teach the upcoming Presidential Election, ways for students to compete in essay contests, and other resources to explore.

6) Common Core Sample Questions As you know, grades 3-8 and 11 will participate in the Benchmark/ Growth Model Pilot testing four times this year. Each test for each grade will consist of 32 Reading and 40 Math questions. Although SD has not released sample questions, some other states have and I wanted to share those online resources with you.

http://www.parcconline.org/samples/item-task-prototypes#6

http://www.p12.nysed.gov/assessment/common-core-sample-questions/ (bottom of page)

South Dakota is part of the Smarter Balanced Consortium and there are some examples and other information on the assessment: http://www.smarterbalanced.org/smarter-balanced-assessments/

Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Basic Sites Tutorial

Tomorrow we will go through what the above video is talking about at 11:00- Noon.

Pending interest, we can continue on to the next video in the upcoming weeks too.

First Week of School- Check!

Wow! What a great first week of school!

I am looking into doing some rotating with technology that we have access to already. There are a set of iPods already in one classroom to give a try, but there are five extras in my office, though, ready to go with many apps for the first taker! And I will gladly help you integrate them or add content, if you would like.

There is a document projector and a set of 'clickers' that teachers are willing to share for a trial run too. Let's try something new and see what happens, if it doesn't work for you- that's ok! We can try something else. Also, I have two video cameras, a still frame digital camera and a microphone in my office to loan out at any time.

Though reticent to even ask, those of you that have iPads, I would also like you to think about some sharing. I have found some great apps that I want to try in specific classrooms, but we need to loan out iPads for one or two class periods. It will take me a few minutes to load the apps (using layering- not changing ANYTHING on your iPad, just adding) before the teacher borrows them, but I will make sure they are returned that day. And I will be that contact point ensuring return.

Again, this will be on my blog at: http://teachertechweekly.blogspot.com/

Friday, September 24th's Schedule:

9:00 Meet with Elementary Staff on Webmail (handout attached, please print if you are interested in taking notes)

9:30 to 10:30 Meet in Mr. Gudmundson's Room on setting up Blogger (if you plan to attend, make sure you let me know today so that I can reset your Google ID ASAP!)

11:00 Meet in Mrs. Boyd's Room to set up Google Site (again, if you plan to attend, make sure you let me know today so that I can reset your Google ID ASAP!)

Next Week: No Staff

1) Texting Parents via http://www.textem.net or http://text4freeonline.com

I know many of you have asked parents to give you the most preferred method of contact and many said text. Both of the above seem like viable options for texting parents and not using your personal cell phone to text. I have only texted my husband while trying the service and it does send anonymously, so make sure to preface your text with your name.

2) Crazy Power Point! http://prezi.com/

Many have used this, but if you haven't... check this out! Create your own FREE account to make a Prezi, which is a very fun, zooming, interactive type of multimedia presentation. I suggest, rather than assigning a PowerPoint, assign the generic 'multimedia presentation' and add Prezi to the list for kids. It has recently gone through some great updates allowing for 3D Backgrounds and a feel more like Keynote or PPT. There is also a Prezi app for the iPad that allows some basic editing features and viewing. Also, despite Prezi being online and having synchronous/ asynchronous collaborative capabilities, online viewing capabilities you can save and download your Prezi to your iPad/ iPod or your computer's desktop for offline viewing.

3) Audio Recording via http://soundation.com or http://soundcloud.com

This could be a lot of fun to use making commercials, news recordings or podcasts as a way for students to present what they learned back to you and the rest of the class. I used Aviary in the past, but the sounds of it is that Aviary will soon be a paid service... so, I suggest the two above.

4) Teaching History via http://teachinghistory.org

You may already frequent this site, but when I was searching for some resources this week, I found this site. It is a great place for Elementary through High School Social Studies resources and ideas.

5) Graphing Math Functions with Google Search (Click title for link to original blog post)

I will let the blog article speak for itself... It may be a way for students to check their work in the future or just something cool, too.

".... the introduction of graphing functionality on Google. Now you can plot mathematical functions right on the search result page. Just type in a function and you’ll see an interactive graph on the top of the search results page.

You can zoom in and out and pan across the plane to explore the function in more detail. You can also draw multiple functions by separating them with commas. This feature covers an extensive range of single variable functions including trigonometric, exponential, logarithmic and their compositions, and is available in modern browsers."