Wonderful Weekend Websites 12/12/14

Here are 3 tools for creating multimedia year-in-review collages. Check out this link with embedded how-to videos.

The best way for students to avoid copyright infringement when creating multimedia projects is to create their own audio. Soundtrap is a website that will allow students to collaboratively create music or vocal recordings on almost any device. Students should sign up with their school Google accounts.

This new Google feature that will make it easier to share in Google Drive.

Google Classroom allows you to view, grade and return an assignment, here’s how.

Everyone uses Google Search, here are 11 tricks that will change the way you search. Pass them on to students. Custom search engines can narrow down your searches, this one is the education search engine.

Wonderful Weekend Websites

Image Source:http://sherriejohnson.blogspot.com/2012/01/daily-ceativity.html

HSTRY is a multimedia timeline creation tool that will work on your laptop, Chromebook, iPad, or tablet. With a HSTRY account you can build timelines in a vertical scroll format similar to that of a Facebook feed.

Last month Storyboard That offered a tool for creating Thanksgiving cards. This month they're offering a tool for creating holiday cards (Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year, Kwanza, and generic "season's greetings"). To create one of these cards simply select "make a folding" card after creating and saving a storyboard. A video of the process can be found here.

Creating holiday cards on Storyboard That could be a good way for students to practice writing short stories.

Continuing from Tuesday’s Tech Tip and Eric Sheninger’s TED talk about creating schools that work better for kids, here are 7 ways to become a digital leader with the help of Google Apps

Tuesday Tech Tips

#EdCampAwesome coming to Royse City, TX on February 21st, 2015. EdCamps are UNconference events organized by groups of educators, specifically designed to create a participant-driven, fun-filled day of professional development. Educators can connect with like-minded individuals, collaborate ideas, brainstorm solutions to common education problems, have group discussions, and receive information that can immediately be applied in the classroom. Click here to register.

Image source:http://www.shakeuplearning.com/blog/a-quest-to-hackpd-and-redefine-professional-development

Are all teachers extroverts? Read the Confessions of an Introvert Teacher. Where teachers fall on the introvert-extrovert spectrum is something that should be considered when we plan staff development.

Image source:

Eric Sheninger, author of the book Digital Leadership recently gave a TED talk about Schools that work for kids. It is definitely worth listening too. Like what you hear -- then check out his Blog.

Image source:http://ericsheninger.com/esheninger/home

According to Carl Hooker, " Part of being a teacher in the 21st century is being creative in integrating academics and learning into students' digital lives." He lists 21 things every 21st Century Teacher should do this year. 

Let me help you accomplish one of these things.

   

Wonderful Weekend Websites 11-21-14

Technology Tools

Image source: http://nonprofitanswerguide.org/ask/integrate-technology-into-nonprofit-and-tools-available/

1. Here are a couple of web tools to create story maps. These are stories that use maps to support the story. Students could create stories about historical events or current events that involve multiple locations. Here is an example.

• Odyssey - a simple way for journalists, designers, and creators to weave interactive stories.
• Story Maps - use story maps to inform and inspire your audience

2. The Power of We - 3-D collaboration - Discussions, Debates and Decisions Around any Topic. Instant and Effective.

image source: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/

1. This link will help you create a collaborative spreadsheet to use with your students to allow students to easily participate in class discussions. Never used Google Sheets -- don't worry, this site will explain it and if you need more information, contact me. 

2. Looking for ideas on how to use Google Drive in your classroom, here are 38 of them. 

Teaching Tip

image source:http://www.really-learn-english.com/activities-for-teaching-vocabulary.html

Click here for ideas on how to avoid the trap of Q & A Teaching. 

Tuesday Tech Tips 11-18-14

When you become a YouTube member and we all are members because we have a Google account you are assigned a YouTube Channel. Your channel contains videos you’ve uploaded, and shows channels to whom you’ve subscribed. You can visit another member's personal channel by clicking on his or her user name. Personal channels let you explore YouTube as a social network rather than as a simple video database. To access your YouTube Channel make sure you are logged into to your Google account and then go youtube.com and click My Channel on the left hand side of the screen. From here you can update the look of your channel. To find subscriptions to follow Click Browse Channels on the lower left side of the screen or check out one of these:

C.G. P. Grey -  Covers a broad scope of topics

Vsauce - answers rhetorical questions about our amazing world

Smarter Every Day - tackles the mysteries of the physical world around us

Crash Course - brief explanation on complex topics mostly related to history

Numberphile - a series of eye-opening and tactile math and science videos

ASAP Science  - shows the practical use of science in everyday life

MinutePhysics - makes physics fun and interesting to learn

Ted - Ed  & Lessons -

Spangler Effect - awesome experiments that you can do at home

All time 10s  - informative lists on pretty much everything

When you find one you want to follow - click the red subscribe button on the right side of the screen. Then whenever a new video is uploaded to that channel, you will see it in your subscription list.

If you are hoping to infuse multimedia into your classrooms, YouTube makes an excellent starting point, click here for a list of 100 incredibly useful YouTube Channels for teachers.

Wonderful Weekend Websites 11-14-14

All Your State Standards in One App - These apps are designed to help teachers identify the standards (and the language of the standards) for the grades and subjects that they teach. Each app is different for each of the 50 states.

Tuesday Tech Tips

Unite For Literacy  has over 100 early readers with audio! Matt B  Gomez took the first 50 of the books and created a Symbaloo webmix. Find the Webmix here Unite For Literacy Books #1

Poetica will allow you to edit documents almost as if you were writing on paper.  Groups will allow you to share drafts of documents with reader that you invite to your group.

11 Things You Need to Know About the Redesigned Google Drive - Google Drive, has a brand-new look, or it will have  - soon. Google also added some new functions. Check out the video for our quick walkthrough, along with a list of some of our favorite changes!

Wonderful Weekend Websites 11 - 7 - 14

Sketchnoting FOR Learning  - Sketchnoting helps process and digest a talk, wrap your mind around a large amount of information and organize your thoughts better.Try using sketchnoting as part of your learning process.

Ever think to attach a PARENT GUIDE to tests? Check out this idea here.

5 Tools for Adding Questions and Notes to Videos

http://dropincomplex.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/web-video-icon.jpg

1. On VideoANT anyone can add annotations to any publicly accessible YouTube video.
2. eduCanon is an excellent service for creating, assigning, and tracking your students' progress on flipped lessons.
3. VideoNotes is a neat tool for taking notes while watching videos.
4. With Blubbr you can create interactive quizzes that are based on YouTube clips.

5 Ways to Collect Digital Exit Tickets

http://psdpoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Green-Hanging-Exit-Sign-medium.jpg

1. Google Forms can be used to simply ask students to respond to "what did you learn today?" and "what questions do you have for next class?"
2. Padlet enables you to have students not only share exit responses as text, but to also share exit responses as hyperlinks.
3. Socrative actually has an exit ticket activity pre-made for teachers to distribute to students.
4. Poll Everywhere allows you to collect responses from an audience via text messaging or through the web.
5. Plickers - If not every student in your classroom has a laptop or tablet to use, then you need to check out as a student response system

Wonderful Weekend Websites 10-31-14

image source:http://idoredophotoshoot.blogspot.com/

Making that redo/retake policy actually work!

“The teacher who claims to be preparing students for the working world by disallowing all redos forgets that adult professionals actually flourish through redos, retakes, and doovers. Surgeons practice on cadavers before doing surgeries on live patients. Architects redesign building plans until they meet all the specifications listed. Pilots rehearse landings and take-offs hundreds of times in simulators and in solo flights before flying with real passengers. Lawyers practice debate and analysis of arguments before litigating real cases. Teachers become much more competent and effective by teaching the same content multiple times, reflecting on what worked and what didn't work each time.”  Rick Wormeli

image source:http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/because_two_years_is_a_lifetim.php#.VFOf-fnF_To

Your Life On Earth - How the World Has Changed In Your Lifetime

Your Life On Earth shows you how the world has changed during your lifetime. Enter your birthdate and Your Life On Earth will show you things like how much the world's population has grown, how many new species have been discovered, and how many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions have occurred since you were born.

Tuesday Tech Tip 10/28/14

Google Scheduler

Use Google Forms (and the Choice Eliminator Add-on) to Schedule Appointments. Check it out!

Google Docs Templates for teachers

Google's template gallery makes it fast and easy to create all kinds of documents. Check out   gallery to find a multitude of templates available for text documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. All the templates are free and with one click you can download any one that  you want.   

Google Classroom

“What is nice about a digital environment is the ability to differentiate. Google Classroom allows you to build a set of resources for a single assignment. This makes it possible to offer students choices as to how they access the information or how the student would like to address the assignment.” Click here to find out how

Google Maps

Recent enhancement to the Google Maps gallery has made it easier to access Google Earth files. You don't have to have Google Earth installed in order to view the imagery published by the SETI Institute. You can view the SETI Institute's Google Earth imagery by selecting a file in the Google Maps gallery.

Google Search

Search engines are the backbone of everyday internet use, but are you aware of the hidden tips and tricks available to improve your search? Here are some pointers that'll save you Googling 'how to Goolge'.

Wonderful Weekend Websites 10-24-14

PhotoMath is an app that can help your parents with their students math work. It takes a picture of a math problem in a book (does not work with handwritten work) and the problem will be solved. The “steps” button will show the users the steps needed to successfully solve the math problem.

Knoema's World Data Atlas offers a huge collection of data sets, maps, and charts for almost every country in the world. There are dozens of data categories to pick from.

Bring your classroom management into the 21 century with the Random Name Generator Tool.

The Literary Revolver: An Interactive Structure from Studio 113 merges standards-based prompts, random selectivity, a back channel, improvisational acting, and overall creativity. Sounds Interesting!!!!

Tuesday Tech Tip 10-21-14

Ever want to try out blogging with your students, but you weren’t sure how? All teachers and students have a blogger account attached to their Google edu account, so try some of the suggestions for all ages and content areas.  

GoSoapBox allows you to create an event prior to your presentation or lesson. You can select all of the questions and question formats ahead of time. When your presentation or lesson starts, give your students the link to the event and they can access respond to the questions when you prompt them to respond. The Confusion Meter is the simplest tool in the GoSoapBox collection, but might be the most useful for some teachers

Check out the 30 Techniques to Quiet a Noisy Class, make sure you scroll to the bottom for some Implementation Suggestions.

Here are this editions recognition's: (Please let me know if I have missed anyone)
Eduwin:

FHS: Jennifer Brannon

Google Classroom:

NFHS: Mr. Bushdiecker

           Mr. Segovis

Brown: Coach Norris

             Coach Bolton

             Ms. Beam

             Ms. Dotson

FHS: Ms. Negrete

        Ms. Murphy

        Ms. Harlan

Warren: Ms. Watkins

               Coach Buerck

               Coach Wallace

               Coach Bateman

               Ms. Anglin

Blackburn: Ms. DoRemus

            

Tuesday Tech Tip 10-14-14

Google Classroom introduces some new improvements  based on feedback from students, teachers, and administrators from around the world. Click here to see the detailed changes.  Remember if you are using Google Classroom, please let me know, so we can recognize your efforts.

Check out the Online Music Alarm Clock Google App if you would like to use music for transitions in your classroom. Thanks Liz Larue for finding this app.

You can set your favorite music and video clips to play just when you want it. Set up as many alarms as you’d like, with each alarm set to a different YouTube clip. When the time comes, the YouTube video will be played automatically as your alarm. Some important things to consider:

1. There are ads that display on the App, some of which may not be appropriate so DON’T set up the alarms while it is displayed on the projector.
2. The tab has to be open for the alarms to play - but it SHOULD NOT be visible, it SHOULD be minimized.
3. It counts against your streaming time.

When to use:

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/classroom_solutions/2011/01/music-to-manage-your-classroom

What to use:

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/classroom_solutions/2011/01/mr-vasiceks-classroom-music-playlist