Chasing Web 2.0

iPad Initiative - Now What?

2012-01-24T09:56:00.089-06:00

Our Bretford Sync Cart and 36 iPad 2 devices are in!
Now what?
This was now the question I was faced with. In the beginning it all sounded so easy and fun. We'll give kids these iPads and they'll use them and it will all be so wonderful. Well, someone needs to determine how we are going to manage these little puppies. That someone was going to be me.
After watching a few lengthy webinars, tweeting with various colleagues, reading most of Tony Vincent's website and talking to various Apple reps, I have my strategy. Build the plane while flying it!
We will enroll in Apple's Volume Purchase Program. This will allow us to purchase our apps in volume and distribute them out to the devices. One of the best perks of the program is that many of the apps are 50% off! Tony Vincent does a great job of explaining the Apple Volume Purchase Program here. It seems like a very complicated process. I'm not looking forward to this. However, we are only working with 30 iPads so it will be a good way to test this process out.
All 30 iPads will be placed on a Bretford PowerSync cart to charge and sync all of the devices. The cart did come assembled. This was a relief. On the cart we will have one PC, with iTunes, that is dedicated to the cart. All iPads came engraved with PROPERTY OF NORMANDY SCHOOL DISTRICT to help with identifying them should they end up lost or stolen. We also plan to use the Find My iPad app to assist in locating any device.
My first step will be to work with our technology department to create generic email addresses to set up Apple IDs for teachers and students. This may require working with our Active Directory. I want to keep the emails generic so that if a teacher leaves the district the Apple ID and any apps purchased with district funds will stay with the district. I'll keep you posted.

iPad Initiative - The Low Down

2012-01-04T06:55:00.002-06:00

In December 2011 the Normandy School District was awarded the Innovative Technology Education Fund Fall Grant. The purpose of submitting the grant was to improve student achievement in literacy skills though the use of mobile devices. In addition to that we wanted to increase teacher effectiveness in technology integration. Four teachers and two technology specialists from Lucas Crossing Elementary are involved in this initiative and I am extremely excited to be a part of this project. This initiative impacts approximately 80 students (grades 2, 3 and 5)

With the help of the ITEF Fall Grant and district funds we were able to purchase the following.

36 16G Apple iPad2 devices
1 Bretford PowerSync Cart
Various iPad apps
40 hours of professional development through the Cooperating School District
1 day registration to the Midwest Educational Technology Conference for each teacher

We are definitely going to be building this plane while we are flying it! More to come!

Poll Everywhere Demo Results

2011-03-31T10:16:00.005-05:00

Create your own sms poll at Poll Everywhere

Get a free sms student response system at Poll Everywhere

OR got to http://poll4.com and give your response!

METC 2011 Rocked!

2011-02-22T08:23:00.002-06:00

I wanted to put out a quick post. I had my first iPad/iPhone/Android Digital Band Jam last week at METC 2011 (The Midwest Education Technology Conference). I have to say it was pretty sweet getting to jam with some of the METC presenters! There's nothing like geeking out and jamming with bloggers I follow! Kevin Honeycutt on guitar, Rushton Hurley on iPhone and Tammy Worcester on Galaxy Tablet. Be sure to follow them on Twitter. Enjoy. @kevinhoneycutt @rushtonh @tammyworcester

Go easy. This was our first gig! Hopefully we can get the band back together. That's me with the ipad!

What Going On At METC2011 Wiffiti Style!

2011-02-14T10:53:00.005-06:00

Virtual Field Trip With Microsoft's Photosynth

2011-01-18T20:18:00.002-06:00

What is it: Microsoft's Photosynth takes photos, mashes them up and creates a 3D scene out of them! Photosynth allows you to pan in and out of several two dimensional images, stitched together and create a three dimensional experience. This one allows you to "walk around" a statue of Anne Frank.

How to integrate it: With MS Photosynth, you have the ability to create a virtual field trip for your students. Need to take your students to Philadelphia but you live in Austin? No problem. You could always just whip out a photo of Independence Hall that you found on Google, put it up on your IWB and viola! Instant field trip, right? BORING. With Photosynth, you can take a "walk" in and around the building that our forefathers once set foot in. Take a look a the example below.

If you DO have the opportunity to take students on a field trip, have each student take pictures of the trip and upload them to Photosynth to create a collaborative interactive presentation.

History For Music Lovers

2011-01-02T07:26:00.001-06:00

There are teachers who go above and beyond to ensure that their students are hooked on a lesson and then there is Amy Burvall, from the Le Jardin Academy in Kailua, Oahu, and her creative partner, Herb Mahelona.

The two decided to make history fun and exciting by using popular music that they and their students were listening to. So they changed a few of the lyrics, created their own music videos and posted them to YouTube. Want to learn about the French Revolution? "Lady Gaga" can tell you all about it. Does the Black Death sound grim and morbid? Not when "Gwen Stefani" sings it!

I've got to give it to Burvall. She puts herself out there by getting in front of the camera and singing all of the songs. But it sounds and looks great. Her students must get excited when she is about to introduce the next unit on Cleopatra as "Fergie"!

Here's a link to a recent story in the Washington Post and a link to their YouTube Channel.

ActivInspire - How To Create Containers

2010-12-22T21:41:00.000-06:00

Here are a couple of screencasts that I had made last year on how to create two different types of "containers" using Promethean's ActivInspire software. I've also embedded the directions so that you can print them out.

The first screencast demonstrates how to create a basic container that will only contain one object and then reject other objects that do not belong. (Bonus! When I published this screencast on YouTube, I must have forgotten to delete the extra tutorial at the end. So you'll get some bonus material at the end of the "Container Tutorial". Enjoy)

The second screencast demonstrates how to create a set of containers that will each contain multiple objects and reject other objects that do not belong.

But... If you want to save yourself some time on creating containers, I highly recommend downloading the two resource packs - Containers Made Easy 1 & 2 from Promethean Planet. Click here for the link to those resource packs. If you have any questions, feel free to email me.

My Flipchart Wiki

2010-10-01T23:21:00.000-05:00

Ok, it's official. My Flipchart Wiki is finally up! While there is not much to it right now, it does have a few flipchart templates that I have created for teachers over the past couple of years. I intend to add more flipchart templates as well as content specific flipchart lessons, but I need to slim them down a little. Some of the files are too large.

My goal is to inspire you with customizable templates and resources as well as provide you with content-filled ActivInspire flipcharts! If you would like to contribute your flipchart lessons or if you are looking for someone to help you develop engaging flipchart lessons, please see my Contact Page.

http://chasingweb20flipcharts.wikispaces.com/

Results of "Office Duck Hunt"

2010-09-17T16:08:00.002-05:00

So this is not an educational post by any means. But it does fall along the lines of creating a positive campus culture and creating an environment of collaborative people in education! I smell a playoff!!

First Place (5 Way Tie)

Deborah A. DeRance B.

Beverly T. Triena D.

David H.

Other notable "Duck Hunters"

Angela B. Sheryl P.

Anthony T.

Relieve Some Work Stress

2010-08-26T10:01:00.002-05:00

I wanted to relieve some work stress, so I decided to make a major purchase for my office. An officially licenced Nerf basketball hoop. It's awesome. Take 2 minutes and snap a pic of your "Nerf basketball hoop" and share it! Happy Friday Eve!

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Sound Bible

2010-08-20T15:37:00.001-05:00

Here's a website that allows you access to "free" sound clips to embed into your Interactive Whiteboard lessons. The site is called Sound Bible. Once again, I'll let the YouTube clip do the explaining! Complete with a short tutorial! Enjoy.

Jazz Up Your Interactive Whiteboard Projects

2010-08-20T15:33:00.000-05:00

Want to dress up your Interactive Whiteboard Lessons? Here's site that can help you out with that. The site is called Glitter Your Way. I'll let the YouTube clip do the explaining! NOTE: It also works with your SMART Software!

http://www.glitteryourway.com/

YouTube Channel - Radford Education

2010-08-20T13:57:00.000-05:00

Being a classroom teacher and a Professional Development coach, one thing that I see among all learners is that they all learn differently. Duh. So I was always creating or searching for supplemental resources for my classroom instruction and professional development. As far as interactive whiteboards go, I can "get down" on a Promethean board! But SMART Boards are a whole other ball game. So I started my search for resources.

When I accepted my current position, my district was excited that I had an extensive knowledge on Promethean products. The district had just purchase 100+ boards to install on their elementary campuses. My job was to help with the install planning and then create a comprehensive professional development plan for our teachers on using IWB. Easy right? What they failed to tell me was that we already had 100+ SMART Boards.
With all of that said... my search for SMART resources had begun!

Ok, so to get to the point of this post, I found the YouTube channel for Radford Education. This channel is great! It had very "short and to the point" instructional tutorials on various instructional technology resources. I found just what I was looking for on an introduction to SMART Boards! They have 9 very nice tutorials. But Radford Education's tutorials didn't just stop at SMART. They also have tutorials on many of the Google products. Here's a list:

Google Forms
Google Earth
Google Mail
Google Sites
Blogger
iPod Touch
Ning
SMART Boards

These are perfect tutorials for teachers who like to watch tutorials instead of reading them off of a .pdf.

Critical Past

2010-08-02T08:40:00.001-05:00

What is it: CriticalPast.com was a stie created by a team of professionals in the archival research field. The site contains over 57,000 videos and 7 million still images from the past that are arranged nicely by date and location. I will note that the images and video are available for purchase but can be viewed from a searching aspect. I do like that you can search by decade through a visual time line at the bottom of the home page.

How to integrate it into the classroom: Bring you historical figures to life by showing students short clips of those figures at various events. Listen to John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address or The Apollo 11 Moon Landing. One downside is that the videos can not be played in full screen mode. But there are some work arounds.

Thank you to TableTalk for this great find!

History Pin

2010-07-31T21:19:00.000-05:00

What is it: History Pin is a site that was created through the partnership of We Are What We Do and Google. History Pin allows you to use a map, add photos and write a story about that photo. What's unique about this site is that you can narrow a search down and view other posted images and stories taken during a particular time period. But that's not all. Because you can look at posted photos, that were taken during an earlier time period, you can layer them over current Google Street Views and see all the changes that may have occurred over time. Take a look at the History Pin intro video.

How to integrate it into the classroom: This is GREAT for your history or geography classes. I'm a huge visual learner and so are many students. Occasionally I have teachers ask me for an electronic copy of a map or a web page with an "interactive" map that students can label. My answer is always, "Download Google Earth" or "Have you tried Google Maps?" Now I can add a little more to those requests. How powerful would it be if you had students locate a city that your class may be discussing in your history class and then have another student post a pic their Grandparents took when they visited that city. Then you could layer the old photo with Street View!

A big "Thank You!" To Li-Bear-y Corner for sharing this great find!

Document Scanner Android App

2010-07-07T15:28:00.006-05:00

What is it: Document Scanner is an app in the Android Market that allows you to "scan" a document, using your phone's camera, and convert it to a pdf. so that you can then email to everyone. A new feature is that you can now upload the document to Google Docs for storing.

What makes this app stand out is that you can scan any number of pages and merge them into one document. You also have the ability to add scans to an existing pdf. and reorder the pages. The build in camera allows you to talk higher quality images.

How to integrate it into the classroom: There are an infinite number of possibilities for this app. Whether it's on a personal or educational level. Teachers can scan student projects to place in a student portfolio or to post on their blog. Students can scan notes from the teacher to reference information at a later time. And it can all be in one document instead of several images.

I like to use it after meetings. I tend to take notes on post-its, napkins or whatever my pen will write on. This allows me to organize those notes to refer to later.

Flipchart Wiki Status

2010-07-07T14:37:00.002-05:00

I have had a lot of requests for flipcharts over the past few weeks and I promise I will get those up on my Flipchart Wiki soon. I just started a new position in St. Louis and I'm trying to get settled in. Some of the Flipcharts I previewed at the Promethean ActivEducator Conference in Fort Worth can be found on Promethean Planet. Here's a link to my "Blank Refrigerator Magnets" Enjoy.

http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/53841/blank-fridge-magnets/

Testing Blogger Droid App

2010-07-03T23:53:00.001-05:00

I recently downloaded the Blogger Droid app for my HTC EVO. I'm hoping to blog a little more and provide more information as I come across it. So if you're reading this and can see my test pic... it worked.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.3.9

Bookr

2010-05-27T14:39:00.002-05:00

What is it: A colleague of mine, ITS Happening, shared this with me today. It's called Bookr. It's a site that allows you to create photobooks from images found on Flickr. You type in the tags of images that you are looking for and it searches for you. You select the images that you want to use and then type in some text. Very easy to use. Here's my example I made in about 2 minutes. I was thinking about summer already. The only downside is that you are unable to save it so that you can edit it later.

How to integrate it into the classroom: There are many useful ways to integrate Bookr into the classroom. Here are a few suggestions. Please feel free to suggest more.

Retell an event in history in your own words and using images that make it a little more interesting
Student can share an event that happened in their life that was important to them
Students can develop their descriptive writing
Teachers can create a book of problems or scenarios with images to guide the learning
Practice inferencing in a story
Students can create a science journal over a concept just learned
Once a narrative has been written, students can then add images to go along with it

Some Hilarious Teacher Humor

2010-05-27T09:08:00.000-05:00

Survivor Skype

2010-05-26T14:09:00.003-05:00

A huge "Thank You" to the teachers and students of Round Rock ISD who let us come in and take over their classrooms with our Promethean Skype project, Survivor Skype. It was a success! If you are interested in the details of this project please contact me!

Dynamic Periodic Table

2010-05-25T13:35:00.004-05:00

What is it: The Dynamic Periodic Table is just that. It is an interactive Periodic Table that allows students to select an element and choose to view photos, videos or general information about that element. I wish I would have had this when I taught 8th Grade. You can customize the page so that you can view the Periodic Table by the atomic symbol, the electrons in each shell, an expanded view or the atomic mass. It also allows you to view various properties such as the boiling and melting point of elements. I especially like the photos and videos. Student typically discuss elements without ever seeing what it looks like. A great resource to supplement your learning experiences. Alkali metals + water = Fun!

Create A Virtual Tour With Google My Maps

2010-05-24T14:56:00.004-05:00

What is it: Google My Maps allows you to create points of intrest, with personal descriptions on a Google Map. You can then draw lines, that include the distance, to connect your points of intrest! Google My Maps then creates an HTML code and link to embed into your blog or site. You can choose to make your map public or unlisted. If you choose to share it with other, you can all contribute points of intrest. Here's a video explaining how to create a Google My Map.

How to integrate it into the classroom: Here are some suggestions on how to integrate your Google My Map into your classroom learning experiences.

Virtual tours of historical locations
Students can provide feedback on a recent field trip by plotting and describing a location they visited
Students can plan a field trip by organizing the route and providing descriptions
Outline the plot location of a story for a writing assignment
Create math problems that require students to measure distances
Create geography lessons that allow students to provide descriptive feedback on locations
Revisit a route settlers might have traveled
Students can create a project that plots locations that their ancestors traveled

Interactive Whiteboard Manipulatives - Glencoe/McGraw Hill

2010-05-24T09:44:00.003-05:00

What is it: Publisher McGraw Hill has a great math resource for your interactive whiteboards. It's an web page with virtual manipulatives that student and teachers can use to introduce or reinforce math concepts from Pre K to 8th Grade. You can customize the flash-based site to fit your learning experiences! Choose from different backgrounds such as game boards, work mats or story boards. You can then set up or solve a problem by choosing from a set of virtual manipulatives.

How to integrate it into the classroom: An obvious way for teachers to use this tool it to reinforce a concept previously taught. Here are some other suggestions:

Student explanation of how they solved homework or classwork
Set up as a learning or discovery station
Student providing the instruction with their own lessons
Students creating problems for others to solve
Basic practice of concepts
Story starters for Language Arts lessons
Student collaboration on solving math problems

Word Magnets

2010-05-14T10:39:00.002-05:00

What is it: I've mentioned the Tripco website before and I will probably continue to mention them on my blog. I really enjoy the interactive resources that they put out. They're clean, easy and functional! Here's another one that I'd like to share. It's called Word Magnets. Remember when you were in college and your buddy had those refrigerator magnets with different words on them and you had to arrange them into funny, and sometimes... well we'll just say we created some sentences.

How to integrate it into the classroom: There are so many ways to use Word Magnets! Here are a few suggestions:

Creating Venn Diagrams to compare concepts
Categorizing topics
Sequencing events in history
Creating sentences or poetry
Alphabetizing words
Collaborate on spelling out spelling words
Various games
Creating math sentences
Completing math sentences or sequences
Creating diagrams or flow charts
Creating number lines
Making graphs from collected data

Whew! I think that's enough for now. What is also great, is that they have template already created. You just choose which one you need and fill in the words. You are even able to add words as you go. Enjoy this demo clip. Note: When you go to the link, give it a second or two and then a "next" arrow will appear in the lower left hand corner.

http://www.screencast.com/users/orteganic/folders/Jing/media/2c5b2593-a3f0-4153-ac2f-7a6fde19f756

How can we design the ideal learning experience for students?

2010-05-13T16:09:00.002-05:00

Watch Dan Meyers' talk at TED on creating the ideal learning experience for students. Math teachers takes note. This isn't an interactive resources, but something worth sharing. Also take a look at Dan Meyer's Blog.

Stage'D

2010-05-11T15:47:00.004-05:00

What is it: Stage'D is a digital resource that allow students to create animated comics on a virtual stage for free. Student become the director of their own stories! You can choose up to two characters and create a dialog between them. Customize your actors with actions, costumes and backgrounds.

Stag'D is definitely in its beginning stages, but it is great tool to use in the classroom. It definitely introduces digital storytelling on another level. There is even a place for student to put their name as the director.

How to integrate it into the classroom: There are various ways that you can integrate this into your classroom. Thanks to the Edublogger, iLearn Technology for some of the suggestions.

Re-tell a story to demonstrate comprehension
Illustrate historical events
Create commercials that persuade or inform
Create social stories for students to practice dialog
Using the visuals to help with creating descriptive narratives
Use the characters to introduce a new lesson
Use the story to come up with various conclusions

Take a look at my attempt at directing a play!.

http://stagedproject.com/comic?id=1273610185

Picasa In Education

2010-05-03T00:30:00.001-05:00

If you've never used Google's Picasa (I highly recommend it) or you can't think of ways to integrate it into the classroom, take a look at this .pdf info sheet that has links and resources. Check out the link to the Picasa In Ed Wiki. This has quite a bit of inspirational classroom ideas! I've also included an Intro to Picasa video.

Why Schools Are Turning To Google Apps

2010-04-28T21:46:00.005-05:00

Here's a great article from Mashable! on why school districts are using Google Apps on student laptops to boost academic performance.

Why Schools Are Turning To Google Apps

Article: Visual Learning In Autism

2010-04-28T08:24:00.005-05:00

Here is a recent article I read in the publication Advance for Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists. The article describes how the Monarch Center for Autism, in Cleveland, OH, supports children with autism through the use of interactive whiteboards, touch screen computers, video modeling and web-based programs.

Interactive Classroom Resource - Tripco E-Learning

2010-04-27T11:40:00.003-05:00

What is it: Triptico E-Learning is a simple website with a growing library of GREAT interactive classroom resources and tools. You can submit your comments about a resource and the developer will attempt to make some modifications based on your feedback. I've seen resources change quite a bit! When I first started looking at this site it only had a handful of tools. It has grown pretty fast.

Tripco's tools are very modern looking and BIG. Most of them are customizable to fit your classroom. There are spinners, scoreboards, and a name selector. I like the "Find Ten!" resource. Try the demo activity.

Need Student Response Devices? Try "Poll Everywhere"

2010-04-26T16:00:00.008-05:00

What is it: Poll Everywhere is a free resource that allows you to create multiple choice or free form text questions that participants can reply to via their cell phone. They can text in the answer or send it from their Twitter account. Poll Everywhere will update your results live on your blog or in your class PowerPoint! Turn a cell phone into a Student Response Device! Subscription accounts are available for an audience larger than 30 participants. But with that small student to teacher ratio, who needs more than 30, right?! Give it a try! Here's my question below.

Replace your audience response systems with Poll Everywhere

5 Ways Classrooms Can Use Video Conferencing

2010-04-22T21:34:00.003-05:00

Need some ideas for that webcam in your classroom collecting dust? I personally like #5. Also read about a 12 year old who recently spoke at the TED Conference.

5 Ways Classrooms Can Use Video Conferencing

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Wis Web Interactive Website for IWB

2010-04-22T16:11:00.004-05:00

What is it: Wis Web is simple interactive website for secondary math classes that focuses on the use of applets to allow students to explore problems, discover concepts and construct 3D objects. With a background in teaching 8th Grade math , I would have to say that the applet called "Building Houses with Side Views" is one of my favorite.

How to integrate it into the classroom: How could you not integrate this into your interactive classrooms. Setting up learning stations, with your IWB as the "main stage", would be a great way to keep ALL of your students engaged in their learning. It covers measurement, geometry, algebra, number sense and more. What I really love about this site is that the design of the applets is large and simple.

Publish Post

Shared Whiteboard Space on Google Docs

2010-04-13T09:52:00.006-05:00

What is it: I am an avid fan of Google Docs and they now have a new feature! Google Docs now has the option to create a "shared whiteboard space" called Google Drawing. Google Drawing allows for the collaboration process to happen, on a blank drawing space, in real time. If you are familiar with Google Docs, the privacy settings are the same as other documents. You, as the creator, are allowed to adjust these settings and it is up to you to decide who has access to view or edit the document. The Google Drawing can be published to a blog or site and it will be updated in real time!

How to integrate it into the classroom: This is a wonderful tool for those who have an interactive whiteboard! This will allow multiple classrooms to interact with each other using one document in real time. Each class can provide input and the other classes can see it happen. Students can work different math problems or answer questions that are provided by the other class. Involve Skype and the possibilities are endless!

Google For Teachers Guide

2010-03-31T09:28:00.002-05:00

What is it: Google For Teachers is a 33 page guide to help teachers and administrators, go beyond the obvious with various Google Tools. I add the administrator group to this because I have been on some campuses where there is a push by the leaders to integrate technology in the classroom. While at the same time those leaders are dissemination information to everyone with an overhead projector or the old PowerPoint. Teachers, we need your help to get everyone on board!

How to integrate it into the classroom: In this guide there are 21 ideas and directions on how to use Google Tools and Gadgets such as Google Books, Google Maps, Google News, and Google Forms. Did you know that you can create an interactive map that students can collaborate on at the same time? They can even create their own placemarks with descriptions and personalized icons! The Google for Teachers Guide also shows teachers how to create an assessment that student can take online from the classroom blog using Google Forms. Thank you to Free Technology for Teachers for this resource.

Study Island and Promethean Integration

2010-03-25T09:04:00.002-05:00

What is it: Study Island is an educational state standards based program. Teachers are able to create learning experiences for your students that target specific state standards.

How to integrate it into the classroom: Study Island has now created a way to integrate your classroom response devices such as ActiVotes and ActivExpressions into their program. What makes this different from using the Promethean software is that you do not need to run ActivStudio or ActivInspire to conduct classroom voting. Everything is done through Study Island! Similar features available with Promethean's Learner Response System are also available on Study Island. You start and stop the voting as well as view class results!

Google Public Data Explorer

2010-03-10T09:59:00.003-06:00

What is it: Google Public Data Explorer is a Google Labs project, so that means their testing it out, that is available to anyone. With the Google Public Data Explorer you have access to large data sets of public information such as Unemployment, Population, and Retail Sales. What great is that you can view them in a as various interactive graphs or charts that you customize. For example, I want to see a line graph that compares the unemployment rate of Texas, California and Florida.

How to integrate it into the classroom: Students and teachers can create incredible visualizations, of the data sets, that can be explored and discussed with one another. At the elementary level, students can begin to explore the parts of an effective graph. At the secondary level, students can synthesize the information into vivid discussions.
Once you've used the Google Public Data Explorer to create an awesome visualization of a set of data, you can link or embed them into your blog or web page. Embeds and links are updated automatically! Real time data. That's powerful! Some visualizations can be animated to show change over time. Imagine the types of projects that students can create.

Keep Your Gmail Safe

2010-03-10T08:03:00.005-06:00

I actually ran acroos this on Twitter last night. Thanks for the retweet, Greg. I didn't even know about this setting on Gmail. Thanks Chris Pirillo for posting this on your blog.

"When you are logged in to your Gmail account, go up to the top of the page and click on Settings. The fifth header down on the page is Browser connection. Next to this, click the little button that says to Always use https. This will ensure that no matter where you are at, you are logging in to your email securely."

Post Student Work Easily With Embed It In

2010-03-08T23:52:00.003-06:00

What is it: embedit.in is a resource that anyone can use to embed their documents into blogs or websites. There is no account set up and it's simple and free.

You choose the document that you would like to embed and embedit.in will ask you to sign in with one of your existing third party services (Google, Yahoo, Twitter, etc.)
embedit.in can provide you embeddable code for the document itself, a thumbnail for viewing or just get a link for access to your document.
There are also privacy settings. You decide if you want viewers to be able to download, save and print your document.
You're even given the option of adding annotations!

Once you choose your options, embedit.in will provide you the embeddable widget code to place into your blog or site. It's pretty simple.

How to integrate into the classroom: This is an extremely useful resource for educators to use when creating their classroom blogs or websites. embedit.in is great way for classroom teachers to recognize their students' hard work and achievements. Students themselves can use embedit.in to post their class projects or homework assignments on their personal blogs for teachers to view or for the purpose of collaboration.

Spell With Flickr

2010-03-05T11:11:00.003-06:00

What is it: Here's a simple site called Spell With Flickr. This site allows you spell words using images taken from the photo sharing site, Flickr. Just type in any word and the site will search Flickr for you. If you don't like an image that it pulls up for a particular letter, just click the letter and a new image pops up! You can save each individual letter and add it to a document or project. What's also great is that Spell With Flickr will also provide you with the HTML code to embed the image into your blog or website.

How to integrate into the classroom: Here are some great classroom uses.

Have students practice spelling words
Students can produce creative titles for projects
Letter recognition activities
Teachers can create titles for bulletin boards or word walls
Elementary students can create unique alphabet books

Enjoy!

BuiLD YouR WiLD SeLF

2010-03-03T12:06:00.000-06:00

The Wildlife Conservation Society and the New York Zoos and Aquarium have developed an interesting and educational interactive website. The site is called BuiLD YouR WiLD SeLF. This fun interactive site allows students to name and build "creatures" with various adaptations. Once their creature is "born" it is given an scientific name along with a description of its various adaptations. What's great about this activity is that teachers can use this site for various educational purposes.

Students can create characters for their writing assignments to help build vocabulary and develop descriptive writing.
Language Arts Teachers can use it as a story starter or discussion topic for an upcoming writing unit.
Geography teachers can use it to introduce various regions of the world.
Science teachers can ask questions about an organisms adaptations. "Why do you think the "pea-dog-bush-fro-iger-fly-crocodile" has large eyes and webbed feet?"

As you build your wild self, sounds are played to correspond with the various parts. If you choose a peacock crest, you'll hear the sounds that a peacock makes. You are also able to share your creature with your friends. Enjoy!

Sending A Link That's Too Long?

2010-03-03T11:53:00.000-06:00

Well, one solution for this is TinyURL! I use this pretty often. As I had mentioned before, I train educators on using interactive technology in the classroom. So, I email out the occasional "how to" tutorials from the web. One issue that I come across is copying and pasting a URL that is 100+ characters long. Here's where TinyURL comes in. This site can take an annoyingly long web link and shrink it. You can even create a semi-customized URL. Here's one example. Enjoy!

http://www.screencast.com/users/manuelherrera/folders/Jing/media/ccc1a004-363a-41da-b8ae-8a5be6a57a6d

to

http://tinyurl.com/ykvmkyu

ABCya and other Word Cloud Generator Sites

2010-03-01T11:17:00.000-06:00

ABCya Word Clouds is a site that allows you to create word clouds from any text that you copy and paste or just type into the site. This is similar to http://www.blogger.com/www.wordle.net except that ABCya allows you to save the image it creates as a jpeg. You can do the same with Wordle but there are a few extra steps involved. ABCya is customizable so that you can choose your colors or the style you want. Give it a try. Here's a word cloud created from my blog posts.

http://www.abcya.com/word_clouds.htm

Here is a list of other word cloud generator sites:

Big thank you to The Whiteboard Blog for the list of word cloud generators.

Promethean Resource

2010-02-26T13:38:00.000-06:00

Need an organized site with Promethean tutorials? Well, I've found a really great blog that has created several "How To" pdfs on ActivInspire, ActivStudio and ActivPrimary. Fredrick County Public Schools Technology Resource Teacher Blog is perfect for those just getting their feet wet with Promethean Boards. A lot of time and effort was put into this portion of their blog. There are over 40 tutorials for ActivInspire!

http://sites.fcps.org/trt/promethean_activinspire

The blog not only has Promethean tips and tricks, but it also provides tutorials for Google Earth, Photo Story 3 and Audacity! This is perfect for educators who want to begin exploring various instructional technology tools.

Use Google To Search For Flipcharts

2010-02-25T15:06:00.001-06:00

Click on the image below to use Google to help search for Flipcharts for ActivStudio or ActivInspire.
Thanks to http://www.whiteboardblog.co.uk/ for the heads up on this resource.

Jing

2010-02-25T14:32:00.000-06:00

Jing is a FREE program that allows you to capture anything on your computer screen and share it, as a video or an image, with anyone! There is an long list of uses for this program in the world of education.

Currently, I train educators how to use Promethean Interactive Whiteboards in the classroom. Because I'm on various campuses throughout the day, it can be difficult to get to teachers and "show" them how to do something. Jing allows me to shoot a quick tutorial, get the link and email it to them. Take a look at one I've made!

http://tinyurl.com/ylcmo8l

And for those of you who use Twitter in the classroom, Jing allows you to post directly to your Twitter account!

Create Your Own Avatar

2010-02-10T10:31:00.001-06:00

Create and edit personalized avatar characters compatible with Mii™ characters found on the Nintendo® Wii™

http://www.myavatareditor.com/

Free Voice Recording Service

2010-02-10T09:09:00.001-06:00

www.vocaroo.com is a FREE voice recording service. The great thing about this service is that you do not need an account to begin recording. Vocaroo allows you to create your own personal voice recording. It then create an HTML code, as well as a link, to embed into your blog or website. This makes Podcasting even easier! Click the Green Arrow below to hear a sample.

Area and Perimter with Google Maps

2010-02-05T11:11:00.001-06:00

I found an interesting way to work on perimeter and area with students. I say interesting because it can be difficult to keep students on task when you ask them to find the perimeter and area of this "figure". Doesn't that look fun!

I like to give my students something real and interactive. All you need is Google Maps and a Google account.
1. Go to www.maps.google.com and log in.
2. Select the my maps tab on the left and Browse the directory to find these mapplets - Distance Measurement Tool and the Area and Distance Calculator.
3. Now you can go anywhere in the world and measure the length and width of an unlimited number of "figures"!
4. This works GREAT with an interactive whiteboard because you can annotate over the map!