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.

|

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.

|

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.

|

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.

|

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)

|