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The topic today is how to embed Gadgets, Widgets, Slideshows, and Movies on your Blackboard pages. This is fairly simple concept so the resources below are to help you find these wonderful items to embed. You'll learn how to

• switch to html mode and not get lost
• copy and paste code in the correct location and recognize it
• how to use the embedded content in class

Resources of Where to Find Great Embedded Content:

Google Gadgets is the first place to look, but don't accidentally choose the Gadgets meant for the "Google Home Page." Instead, look for the gadgets to add to your own webpage. (The link is correct.) Searching here can be like finding a needle in a haystack but there are a few nice education related gadgets such as these.

WidgetBox gets points for having cool looking widgets and they have an education category. The two below are from that category.

Naturally you can embed YouTube videos as well. Just look for the button to embed the video. There is a great advantage to embedding the video - No embarrassing links shown during class!

The last option for today is to embed a game of your choosing. There are numerous websites to find games and interactive flash or java based games. I have choosen Quizlet because I believe it is one of the best ways to create your own study games. This game works on a Smartboard or Mimio. Here is the embedded game called Scatter with some French words.

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Tech Tuesday - Turning Points with Horizon

November 29th

Today I would like to cover how to use TurningPoint SRS clickers with the Horizon tests.

1. When is this the best option
2. How to create a test in Horizon
3. How to set up and assign clickers to students
4. Formative assessment to guide your instruction

Resources:

Science: A TOOO COOL place to simulate all kinds of science related ideas. Here is a short list of Java based simulations: Build an Atom, Acid and Bases, States of Matter, Force of Gravity and more. These are created by University of Colorado. Work great on a Mimio Board. Yes, they can be downloaded to your computer or saved on the L drive. Please grab what you want now and find those connections to the curriculum.

History: How are computers used in history today? This video summarizes the Republic of Letters project at Standford. The project follows the routes the letters during the Enlightenment. What used to take years to compile now takes seconds. Worth a look if you want to discuss careers in history.

Foldables for Any Subject:  If you are a foldables fan, here are several sites to give you ideas and instructions. Catawba County, WordPop, US History (State of Virginia), Math Foldables, Science Blog.

Video Source: Sqooltube is a categorized source for educational video. But don’t let the name fool you, they also have lots of resources other than video. I’m particularly impressed with the number of interactive website links available. Although geared toward elementary, you might find what you are looking for to help review or differentiate.

MS Office: I’ve had a few folks ask for some basic tutorials on MS Office 2007. I am all in favor but usually everyone really wants a specific topic. This website offers basic instruction with very easy to find topics. I particularly like the use of text mixed with video.

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Tech Tuesday - Outlook How To’s - November 23

Outlook:
Get a grip on all that Outlook can do for teachers. Learn to:

• manage your inbox with folders
• archive folders at specific times
• View and use your calendar and other public calendars
• many other tips

Resources:

Science: A too cool 3D animation of the mighty mitochondria. Harvard University has produced several of these colorful videos. They are lacking any narration (which can be great for teacher) but instead are produced with a techno music background.

        To go right along with the video above, Biological Animations is a great website to find .swf files. Most are at the high school level but the animations are very simple and colorful (like DNA replication and protein synthesis.) Take a look at the Explorable Cell too.

ALL: Sure you know how to use PowerPoint, but do the students? PowerPoint in the Classroom is a tutorial style website that guides them through the basics and even the more complex aspects of making a good, portable, presentation.  This is a great link for your Blackboard Assignment.

ALL: Flowcharts and diagrams are used to differentiate instruction. Now you have the power of Gliffy to make this happen either in a lab or as a home assignment. Gliffy is online diagramming software the does NOT REQUIRE a log-in. Once the diagram is finished you have the option to print it, save as PDF, or export as JPEG or PNG. Yes, these file types can be turned in through Assignment Manager or Digital Dropbox.

English, ESOL, and ANY: Wordsift was offered to me by another teacher and I’m still playing with it. In a nutshell, you can paste any text and it will create a Tag Cloud. That in itself is not new on the web, but the further interaction with the words is what makes Wordshift special. You can separate them into academic words, curriculum based words, or rare words. Wordshift links words to articles, photos, and the visual thesaurus. Every instance in which the word is found is listed. Activities are suggested here at their website. I particularly like this as a pre-reading activity.

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In A116 today, besides a few snacks, you’ll hear an easy way to podcast all year and implement a highly engaging vocabulary element in your classroom.

• record video on digital camera
• manage one camera for a whole group
• strategies to implement a podcast
• models already in place

Resources:

English: I will highlight this website as part of the PLC training because I feel that Wordia.com is one of the best examples of how to podcast. Wordia is a collection of videos to define words either through acting, interviewing, or examples. Mainly British, the videos are short and memorable. The idea is for students to create their own in the same style.

Social Studies: This educator is my hero. Winner of Missouri’s Teacher of the Year, Eric Langhorst has been the creator of a podcast known as “Speaking of History” for several years. His website and blogs have so many amazing ideas it is just something you must see.

ESOL: Interactive English games,also known as English Media Lab,is the name of the site and it definitely has a long list (just keep scrolling.) However, I found the most useful resource here to be the index of English idioms. In a nutshell, great resource.

Literature: By popular demand, well only Liz, here is Google Lit Trips. Why would an English teacher use Google Earth? - to explore setting or for author studies. Here is the perfect resource to get you started and loads of kmz files. These are the files you can load into Google Earth and take a trip. Wonderful lessons here as well.

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Agenda:                                                              
Today in room A116: Using Google Forms. This class assumes you can, on your own sign up for a Google account. If you already have one, so much the better. We will cover:

1. Why use a form
2. Easy way to share
3. What to do with results

Google Docs - Tutorial on using Forms from Eric Moccio on Vimeo.



Resources:

Science and Math: Give students some very cool and timely enrichment at the Nobel Prize Education site. Place links to some great learning tools at your Blackboard account for students that finish an assessment early.


Math: Sometimes a video that simply repeats the explanation in class is all that is needed to complete the homework. In steps the Khan Academy with it’s 1800+ library of videos from basic Arithmetic to Calculus. I have found these videos to be no nonsense and well thought out. If you or your students create an account you’ll have access to self paced exercises as well.


ESOL: This article from the Boston Globe is titled “Watch and Learn.” This title isn’t the best to grab your attention but the concept of using subtitled music videos to teach language really is an attention grabber for middle school teachers. The research is based on a state wide initiative in India that showed promise early. 

Civics: The American Bar Association promotes Constitution Day on September 17th. Although the day has passed, the website lives on. The ABA Constitution site offers lesson plans and a virtual signing of the document. 

ALL:  Subjects: The New York Times seems like the source for current events only, but you’ll find lesson plans for all subjects at their Learning Network blog. It is impressive to see the expanse of cross curricular lessons to include academic skills, math, and science as well as literature, and of course social studies. 

English (and others) Wall Wisher caught my eye early this year due to it’s simplicity, yet the impact is amazing. Students can collaborate on a wall with various topics. The wall is a place to post writing, pictures, links and even video. I particularly like the idea of student book reviews. To give you more ideas, look at this SlideShare of the lessons other teachers are trying.

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Tech Tuesday Oct 26th   
(No Tech Tuesday next week - However the following week I’ll cover Google Forms on Nov 9th)

Agenda:                                                              

Today in room A116: 3 Ways to Reveal. This short demonstration will show how you can use reveal options to keep your presentations intriguing. Use reveal to create anticipation in your class for what comes next.

• Create tabs to pull on the screen
• Erase to reveal
• Tiles in the kit (many uses)

Resources:

Science: Winners of the 2010  Nikon International Small World Photomicrography Competition. In other words, fabulous photos taken with a microscope. Some of these are well worth showing because they are such great quality. The actual winners are posted here but the other site has cool quizes asking “what is this?”

Math: Smartboard activities that are ready made make drill and practice fun. AAA Math is a good site for simple activities. The page links to Properties of Multiplication where you can scroll down and find a few interactive quizes. (ESOL there is a Spanish Version of this website.)

Science: The Periodic Table of Videos is just what a middle schooler needs to get a better understanding or even do a bit a research. I think you’ll love the British accents since this site originate from the University of Nottingham. For the nerdier version, try Periodic Table of Comic Books. This is a listing of all the times the element is mentioned in a comic book. (I believe most of them are from the UK.)

Social Studies: If you haven’t checked out the latest from the National Arichives your missing a key ingredient to teaching your curriculum. DocsTeach is a huge collection of interactive activities that combine primary sources with Blooms Taxonomy. And they all can be done on Smartboards, Netbooks, laptops OR if you register, you can create your own. And it is all very easy to do.

World Languages: Need to make it easy to type accents for students or yourself then don’t bother with symbols in MS Word? Just go to Typeit. The beauty of this site is simplicity. If you are assigning one or two sentences for students, this is the perfect place to ensure they have the letters and accents necessary. It is necessary to copy and paste from here but if you have built a blog on Blackboard, they can paste it there! (must use cntrl c and cntrl v)

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Tech Tuesday Vol 3
Sept 28th

Today in A116 I’ll begin 15 minute lessons. These are short lessons to give you a chance to learn one new skill and really focus on how it can be used in the classroom. Nothing too overwhelming.

Lessons on Using Inking Layer in SMART Tools
These are best for...

• quick lesson integration
• filling in worksheets
• marking maps, diagrams, anything on the web
• on the fly student input
• MS Office documents

Resources:

Teaching with Smartboard - Wonderful website with lots of downloadable notebooks but also 70+ podcasts of ideas. http://smartboard.fatcow.com/resources/

Science Content Pack - Mimio has on offer a special content pack for free download. Specially designed for middle school, the pack includes activities for Anatomy, Chemistry, Biology and Earth Science. You must have an account at Mimio to download but why not? Download the pack at: http://www.mimioconnect.com/content/lesson/science_pack

eThemes - For every subject there is something available here. eThemes is a State of Missouri site used to help teachers integrate technology in their lessons. They pull together a variety of interactive websites, informational databases, and lesson plans so you have less searching to do. Use this page to search by grade level: http://ethemes.missouri.edu/grades

Science and Math Portal - I haven’t really seen such an easy to use search portal for math. The resources have a large range of both information and interactives. You should bookmark for those last minute reteach ideas. http://msteacher.org/

Interactivate - The above site often links to this. Everyone in math or science should know about these Java based apps that help students manipulate concepts and experiment. Use them on a Smartboard or Mimio or in a computer lab. Either way, they are an excellent way for students to gain a higher level of understanding. Yes, they are aligned to Virginia sols. http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/

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Tech Friday Agenda:                                                          Vol 2
Sept 17th

Blackboard

• emailing parents with progress reports
• placing a banner on your page
• uploading multiple documents and folders; copying to other courses.

I’ll have handouts on the first two options. The third option comes from a simple how to at another website: http://blackboardtips.blogspot.com/2005/04/how-to-upload-many-files-and-folders.html
This is a wonderful option if you’d like to put online all those scanned worksheets. Be sure and rename the documents so they are easy to find for students.

Resources Online

ESOL I tend to think there is some magic about teaching English and truly there is. This site gives hundreds of audio and video clips with questions and lesson ideas for each. Truly a great place to start. http://www.esl-lab.com/

Science Particle theory broken down into a sequential interactive website. The Particle Adventure is really just a unit using the inquiry based  model. You may find this a great review activity or a way to present. Try it on the Mimio. http://www.particleadventure.org/index.html

History Finding good and interesting sites for certain areas of history can be difficult. PBS has wonderful information filled sites that are based on series. There is no real need to watch the series to use the lessons because all the information is included at the website. Here is their site on The West.
http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/lesson_plans/

If you need more technology integration head over to eThemes from the University of Missouri. They list all the lessons online that are grade appropriate. This is their site for the Transcontinental Railroad lessons found online.
http://ethemes.missouri.edu/themes/619

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While at an interview this last week I was given the question, "What are some ideas you have to help teachers develop their expertise in the area of technology, especially those teachers hesitant to use technology?" You've all heard these layered questions before. I jumped in with the answer that so few technology trainers have really emphasized. Just do what you have been doing.
Teachers from my generation that went to teachers college in the 80's learned techniques for group work called Cooperative Learning (thats the Johnson and Johnson style). We have been asking students to "think, pair, share" or move to the Four Corners of the room for 2 decades. Masters at cooperative lesson design took hours to create an effective cooperative project because in order to be effective the design needed group work as well as individual accountability. As every school child knows, it's that individual accountability part that didn't work. There was always one gullible student doing the bulk of the work during any given project. Trust me, even my boys today still complain about this.

Now we have technology and we call it collaboration. The same concepts apply; we want students to cooperate to create a finished product, solution, presentation, wiki etc...However, the individual accountability part is much easier to document. Every wiki I've worked with gives time stamps for each user and logs all their edits. MS Office allows for multiple editors. All electronic files have authors and date last modified.  This is a record of individual work (or not as the case may be.) To further the role of cooperation, the web is an authentic world in which to publish, and continue to edit. A webpage may now exist longer than just a semester. What was once an assignment in class to be tossed out at the end of the school year with all the other posters, papers, and models, continues on for the next school year and the next. Not only are students able to collaborate with a group within their class, but they can collaborate with anyone and even break out of the time constraint so that a 3rd grade project may be a continuous entity into the future and gather more collaborators.
This is daunting to teachers but they see clearly the advantages for themselves. Progress reports are merely snapshots of the screen at any given time. Was a student contributing or causing a disruption? I believe that type of documentation is vital when teachers are required to justify every grade and instructional decision.

It is important that I refer back to my original answer to the interviewer. Just do what you have been doing. There are so many wonderful teachers with skills that outweigh anything a computer or iTouch app can do. They have a love for students and a concern. The machines can't do that. As the trainers leap forward with the latest trends like virtual worlds, distance education and more detached teaching, please don't change it all. There is still a place for a loving instructor and teachers need to be reminded we are not leaving that aspect behind.

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