iPad: A Teacher's Pet

Why am I only now seeing this??
Tony Vincent has done it again - he has created this awesome resource of some of the best apps out there for a teacher to use to stay connected, collaborate, manage their classrooms and more.  This graphic should be in the hands of all educators using an iPad - it will definitely help in utilizing the device to its fullest potential.

Great job Tony and thanks so much for sharing this fantastic infographic.

iPad as Teachers Pet

Women and Coding

Great segment on the Today Show about inspiring women/girls to begin a journey and computer programming.  Come girls...get up, stand up and join the male dominated field of computer science. There is a bright future ahead for you if you do.  :)

Side note: While listening to this segment I was shocked that only 9 states recognize a computer science class toward high school graduation. WHAT!!?  That must change.

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Thing What?

Thinglink...heard of it?  Apparently it's been around awhile and I am just now finding out about it. This is another great tool which will be placed in my "go to" toolbox for transforming teaching and learning in the classroom.  A thinglink is and interactive image tagged with Weblinks, audio, video, images or text.  I created a super basic thinglink below to share with my staff at our "Tech Talk" tomorrow morning.  Of course...after I came up with the idea to create a thinglink about thinglink I then came across others already created - should have known!!  You can find a slew of thinglinks created for all age groups and subjects by browsing their site.  This tool can be used to pre-teach, teach or assess.   Who needs a textbook when a teacher can create a thinglink filled with handpicked, relevant resources/information that meets their students needs.  Howard Gardner would be proud - think of all the modes of learning that can be met with this one tool.

If you haven't heard of thinglink then hop and board and try it for yourself.  I would list all of the different ways that it can be used, but honestly the ways are endless.  If you need a little inspiration search thinglinks, think about your objectives and plan how you can use this to create a more student-centered classroom.

Enjoy!!


 

Copyright and Creative Commons

Creative Commons?  I think there are many people who really don't know what that is.  They are aware of copyright and "borrowing" or using other's work, but when they see a CC or some other symbol by an image on the Internet do they know what it means?  It wasn't that long ago that I was in the classroom and did not pay much attention to the symbols by images.  I would "borrow/use" images off Google all of the time and to recognize the author I would only provide a link.  Not good enough - especially for our students!!  Our students are using the Internet to produce more and more content and they MUST know the proper way to give credit when using other's materials.

For those of you who need some basic information on Copyright and Creative Commons take a peek at the images below provided to me from gcflearnfree.org.

Image Source:Shihaam @ education-copyright.org

I have also embedded a great overview video that goes more in-depth on all of the different licenses and what the symbols mean.

As educators we really must prepare our students for 21st century learning - this is one topic of many that needs to be had in schools/classrooms.  The next project you have your students complete make sure you model to them how to use the advanced search in Google to filter by license and be sure to have them provide the source of the material being used.

I attended a great workshop on creating iBooks this summer and one of the attendees provided us a link to his Wiki page that houses a slew of Open Educational Resources (OER).  These links are  great place to start if you are having your students create content or, for that matter, if you are creating content.

OER List

Learning Playlists

Earlier this winter I attended the ICE conference and noticed that many presenters were using a Web tool called MentorMob.  As soon as I saw it I knew that it was something that I wanted to try out.  MentorMob is a free tool that allows you to create learning playlists.  What is a learning playlist you ask...well watch the short video below.



These playlists can include articles, websites, videos, images and even quizzes.  It allows you to create a space to compile resources for students to use during a research project or for an introduction to a unit or for that matter a whole unit.  You can use the space to collect digital projects to share with family, friends or the community.  I think it is a great tool to use to create a more student centered learning environment.  Best of all they can easily be embedded into websites, blogs or learning management systems (ie. Edmodo).
I recently started a collection of resources for our third grade teachers to use in their class.  They are starting a unit on Canada and Mexico and their relationship to us.  Instead of the teachers standing in front of the class sharing information about the two countries for the next few weeks, the kids will visit the playlist, collect their own information and then create an eBook sharing what they learned.  The teachers are then freed up to facilitate as needed and teach the more difficult to understand information. Take a peek at the start of our playlist!

Create your own Playlist on MentorMob!

Text to Speech

Being a former first grade teacher I always struggled with students having the ability to read online content. I would search and search for sites that the students would not struggle reading. Many times I would pair them with buddies from higher grades to help them with their research or project. Other times I would set up our MacBook's text-to-speak option and teach the students the key combination short-cut. However, not everyone has MacBooks with that option!
I recently came across two text-to-speech extensions for the Chrome Browser,  Select and Speak and Announcify.  Both can be added to your browser toolbar in just a few seconds.

Select and Speak: highlight any text on a webpage, click the icon in your browser, and listen to the reading of the text.  Great for younger students who are just learning how to read, for struggling students or for students who just need help with a few words now and again.


Announcify: any time you're viewing a webpage you can just click on the icon in your browser and have the whole page read to you. It enlarges the text on the page and removes all sidebar content as well, making it easier to read. 

Follow the links, install the extensions and happy listening!

Running Records and iPads...

Tired of papers piling up on your desk, having trouble finding time to score your running records...?

Well, this app is for you!  

My colleague was introduced to Record of Reading in her graduate class and she was sold.  This app is an exact replica of a running record form - except it is digital!  It allows you to take a running record using your iPad (more efficient if you use a stylus) and then it scores it for you - all of the formulas are embedded within the app.  It also allows you to record the student reading, so you can replay it if needed.  Once the record is calculated you can then email it in PDF form to yourself or better yet couple this app with Evernote and organize all of your running records in one place - you can go completely paperless!    BEST OF ALL....IT'S FREE!

Get Students Engaged in Writing!

Every heard of BoomWriter?  It sounds like a very cool Web tool that I think will engage all types of learners.  

BoomWriter in a nutshell is an online storytelling application that presents the first part of a story and then leaves the next part up to the students.  After the students write each of their chapters, they are submitted and then the other participants read all of the submissions and vote on the best one.  The best part is that the writing is anonymous so the students are voting solely on the written work, not who wrote it!!

Take a peek at the video below - it gives a much better introduction!

Keep me posted if anyone tries this out in their school  :-)

Tablets

It is amazing how many tablets there are to choose from now!  My school has pretty much evolved into a Mac-centric school, thus far investing in 200+ iPads and many other Apple devices.  As much as I love our iPads, they are not the easiest to manage.

I have come across a few other tablets that are designed strictly for education; Kuno, iStartSmart (for early learning, check out this article), Nabi and most recently Amplify.

The way that these tablets are designed make curriculum, assignments, lessons and your students more manageable and creates a more student-driven, individualized environment!

Check out these two videos demonstrating use of the Amplify Tablet




If you have used any of these tablets please leave a comment as I would LOVE to hear your feedback and opinion.

Wallwisher Update

I am sure many of you have used Wallwisher in the past, but it was recently brought to my attention that it is now called Padlet.  I am pleased with changes; the layout and user friendly interface make it a great web tool.  You can still add files from your computer, images from your device's camera and URLs.

The creators have recently announced the launch of Streams as a layout option.  This layout gives you the option to have structure to your layouts instead of the posts being in freeform.  This layout arranges the posts one below the other in chronological order, which will allow for even more creative ways to use this tool.  Students could work on a story or other text collaboratively, you could begin a story and have your students work on it by adding their own parts during literacy stations or from home, post a discussion topic and have students add their thoughts/opinions, use it as a message board having students post questions or comments about the content...be as creative as you want.

Here are some other ideas listed on Padlet's website.  Visit the site to see examples!

I am sharing a job aide that may help new users start a Padlet.  

Maternity Leave

Please note that I have not abandoned my blog!!!  I have been on maternity leave and will be back soon.  Make sure to visit again in March.  :-)

My new bundle of joy!