Week 24

Here are some highlights from Technology this week:

Week 24 (February 19 – February 23, 2018)

Thursday Giggles:            What do you call a happy cowboy?
                                                A jolly rancher.

Pick and choose your favorites.  Don’t use every tool. 
Chefs don’t use every ingredient.  Gardeners don’t plant every type of plant.

Previous Highlight Emails:  Remember, all previous emails can be found on the blog.  LINK HERE.


OPTIONAL PD for February:

February 28 Eventbrite LINK HERE

Website Tweaks.  I have a drop-down menu at the top of my website now.  You can find your grade level and locate grade-specific resources for your grade level.  Yes, I have a host of resources on the Resources area of my site.  But, I have also added some tools that are age-specific for your sweet blessings.  For example, Kinder students can benefit from mouse control skills more than any other grades.  So they have mouse-specific strategies in their drop-down menu.  Some of the other menus are still under construction.  As I find pockets of time, I will add more details to those pages.

ClassroomScreen.com. This is a really cool tool for the classroom.  It is also a splendid presentation tool.  Clock.  Timer.  QR code.  Random (name or dice).  Communication.  Illustration.  Instructions.  Audio level tester.  Traffic signal.  FREE.  If this tool is something that might help you, try out THIS LINK.

Google Hangouts.  You have access to a FREE video share or video conference tool in Google Hangouts. The other day I had a video conference with a gentleman from London.  From 7:40am – 8:20am on the site of Mountain View, I was able to learn about a multi-use software tool for teachers.  I shared my computer screen with him as he walked me through step-by-step how to use the tools in Sprial.ac.  If you want to conference with a colleague who is at another campus, feel free to use this tool.  Do a video conference with another classroom.  Ask a famous person if they are willing to conference with you: political figure, social humanitarian, newscaster, etc.

If you ever want a tutorial on how this works, please shout out and let me know.  We can conference from different campuses at a time that works for us both.

If you get an error message, switch your wifi settings to CUSD_Guest.  That seems to work if your firewall settings are uncooperative.

Image Credits: LINK HERE

Thank you for your helpful, generous, kind feedback.  It’s people, not programs that make us great.  Thanks for letting me be a part of your team.  Thank you for sharing your journey and your successes with me.

Joyfully,

Week 23

Here are some highlights from Technology this week:

Week 23 (February 12 – February 16, 2018)

Thursday Giggles:            Why do elephants have trunks?
                                                Because they would look silly with glove compartments.

Pick and choose your favorites.  Don’t use every tool. 
Chefs don’t use every ingredient.  Gardeners don’t plant every type of plant.

OPTIONAL PD for February:

February 21 Eventbrite LINK HERE
February 28 Eventbrite LINK HERE

Writing Sparks. Looking for tools to enhance writing?  Here is one to consider: Writing Sparks.  This online tool will chose a topic for you.  It will also showcase some ideas/vocabulary for two minutes, if you wish.  It will encourage a small discussion time before the children start writing as well.  And it can function as your writing timer.  Check it out.  See if it’s worth using in your classroom.

Image capture from website.

Digital Animation.  Do you have students who are interested in digital animation?  Here is a FREE software that they may be interested in: Blender.  I don’t know about you, but I really like FREE.  Share this out in a newsletter and see if any of your students teach themselves how to master the art of digital animation.

Image capture from website.

Inkscape. Are you into video production work that includes animation intros?  Well, this FREE software may be a tool for you.  Download it and see what you can do!  LINK HERE.

Image capture from website.

Google Forms. Are you curious about using Google Forms?  Would you like to learn more about this tool?  I designed a video that will walk you through how it works.  You’ll be up in no time ready to use this in your classroom after watching this How-To video.  LINK HERE.

SketchUP.  If you are interested in teaching your students how to use digital architecture software, you can head over there any time you wish.  Great for teaching scale, dimension, volume, size, angles, and the like.  Students (and teachers) can access this by going to the blue NEW button in Google Drive.  Then, have them choose MORE.  Lastly, they will find this in the drop-down menu.  Free and ready-to-go.

Image capture from website.

Image capture from Facebook for SketchUp.

Tinkercad.  If you are interested in exploring more design-oriented software with your students, then consider this tool as well: Tinkercad.  It too is free.  This is a software you would use if you wanted to run a 3D printer on your site.  You or your students would design models in this software before you printed your project/s.

Image capture from website.

Kindly,

Week 22

Here are some highlights from Technology this week:

Week 22 (February 5 – February 9, 2018)

Thursday Giggles:            Did you hear about the two silkworms in a race?
                                                They wound up in a tie.

Google Classroom Overview.  If you have not explored all the tools available in Google Classroom yet, this blog has a fantastic overview that shows you the ins and outs of each tool/button/resource.  Want to see something new?  Check this out.

Image Credit: from the blog link above.

More Green Screen Tools.  So, what if you don’t have an iPad and you want to explore green screen technology?  If you have a Mac (Apple computer), you can easily create movies using green screen technology.  News broadcast from Egypt.  Morning announcements for your site.  From Paris!  Investigate the digestive system.  The internal chambers of the heart.  Interview with a pro athlete on an athletic field.  Interview a famous person from a historic time period.  The possibilities are endless.  Here is a video TUTORIAL that explains how to use iMovie as a green screen editor.  No green screen?  Try the butcher paper in the teacher resource area.  That green paper will do.  Disposable table cloth.  Don’t buy.  Try free.

Image Credit: Screen capture from the video link above.

Brad Montegue.  Need some pep in your step?  Want a word of encouragement?  Brad Montegue’s presentation from the CUE conference can be viewed online.  VIDEO LINK HERE.

EdPuzzle Extension. If your world hasn’t been rocked by extensions yet, I encourage you to explore these awesome tools.  Google Chrome has a ton of extensions that you can add to your browser to make your world simpler—more streamlined…efficient.  If you have entered the world of EdPuzzle and you have discovered how awesome this learning space is, then be amazed that there is now an extension for that.  DOWNLOAD here and enjoy!

Image credit: from EdPuzzle email communication.

Draftback.  Wouldn’t it be super-epic if you could somehow determine if a child plagiarized a written assignment?  Or see if they copied and pasted large amounts of content from an alternative source?  Or see if Mom and Dad typed the assignment for them?  You can!  Draftback is an epic tool that lets you see how your students constructed an assignment.  It records every keystroke and change that ever went into making that assignment.  You don’t watch in real time, the video is sped up so it goes quickly.  You get to choose the playback speed.  Want this free tool?  Head to the Google Chrome Store and add this Extension.  From now on, you can “watch” your students do their Google Doc assignments.

Image Credit: Screen capture from the Google Chrome store.

Pause and play.  Speed slider on left.

Image Credit: Screen Capture from student work.

Kindly,

Week 21

Here are some highlights from Technology this week:

Week 21 (January 29 – February 2, 2018)

Thursday Giggles:            Why did the iPad go to the dentist?
                                                It had bluetooth.

Pick and choose your favorites.  Don’t use every tool. 
Chefs don’t use every ingredient.  Gardeners don’t plant every type of plant.

OPTIONAL PD for February:

     

February 21 Eventbrite LINK HERE
February 28 Eventbrite LINK HERE

Mid-Point Feedback.  Team, I welcome your feedback.  Let me know how things are going.  The close date for this survey will be Thursday, February 1 at 3:25pm.  Email is necessary so that I can select a winner.  One winner will receive a $25 gift card (movie theater, Starbucks, Chipotle, something local). LINK HERE

     

Blendspace.  Blendspace was renamed to Tes Teach.  You can still find it via a Google search for Blendspace.  I am thankful for this website as it stores key ideas in a tidy spot for me.  It is a digital lesson library.  Lesson by lesson, I can store core learning information in one spot.  Next year when I teach that lesson again, I have my PowerPoint, Word files, hyperlinks, and teaching videos all in one tidy spot.  You can also share your ideas with others easily.  Use this YouTube video tutorial to get started.

Google Add-ons.  Short video.  Great tools.  If you are using Google Docs, check out these add-ons: LINK HERE

Image Credits: Screen capture from video.  Link above.

Padlet app.  I’ve used Padlet before.  But, I found out a few weeks ago that they had an app.  If your learners have devices in-hand, this may be a tool to consider.  Six computers?  Five phones/iPads?  Have those students be the typing agent for their individual groups.  How might you use this efficiently in the classroom? 1)Story starters 2)Dialogue scenarios in a narrative, 3)Research themes, 4)Thesis development, 5)Math-oriented metacognition, 6)Vote on the next novel to read together, 7)Alternative endings to a story, 8) Links for research on a science topic that you want to share out whole-class.  The teacher can share these findings in Google Classroom so everyone has access to these great ideas.  Other ways to use this?  Staff Meetings.  PTC meetings.  

Deploy.  In your grade level do you have one team member who is more skilled in technology than the others?  Have you thought about using the deployment model to help your students access more technology?  Teacher A could teach technology on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday (for example) while teacher B teaches Social Studies and Teacher C teaches Science. The children would rotate through these lessons and each have access to all the content.  These teachers would then teach the same lesson three times.  Or, three weeks consecutively.  Some teachers in the North area have teamed up to make the deployment model work for them.  Are you using this model?  How is it working for you?  I’d love to hear your successes and your learning curves.  Please share.

Science and Engineering.  Are you studying space or space travel with your students?  Gravity?  Anti-gravity?  Friction?  Force?  Speed?  Planets?  Maybe this 3D model of a space craft could fit into your lesson plans somewhere.  Journal starter, maybe.  See what the interior of the Apollo 11 looks like – all around.  Click and drag to move around the interior cabin space.  Zoom in or zoom out to investigate various parts: LINK.  This website has other links and resources to add more content to the lesson: LINK.  How’d they do that?  They have videos to reveal how this was made possible: LINK HERE.

Image credits: Screen capture from link above.

X-Ray Goggles with Mozilla.  Try this LINK to explore a fun web tool.  Are your students curious about web design?  Do they want to know what goes into the coding on ANY webpage?  X-Ray Goggles will let them explore the details behind the design.  Try it out.  See if your kids enjoy this exploration-oriented tool.

Image credits: Screen capture from link above.
Kindly,