Technology Gems, Ideas, and Facts
Friday, March 26, 2010
Gem ~ a website or application that might work well for you or your students
Live Binders is a new way to share resources with your students. The site requires that you create an account, but it’s completely free and only requires an email address. Once you’ve set up your account you can create an unlimited number of binders. Each binder contains tabs that display webpages, documents, photos, or videos. This can be a handy way to organize resources so that students have everything they need in one place. Binders can be shared publicly or privately. Click here for an example of a private binder I’ve created for a first grade class studying elephants. Because the binder is private, I am able to include a video from Discovery Education Streaming on one of the tabs. The access key you’ll need to view the binder can be found in the email I sent with today’s TGIF link. If you don’t get the email, ask a co-worker or email me and I’ll send it to you. (http://livebinders.com/)
Idea ~ a way to enhance your LFS lessons with technology
Awesome Highlighter is a web tool that allows you to highlight portions of a webpage and make notes about them. Students can highlight new vocabulary, important content, or whatever they need to remember. They can also add “sticky notes” to a page and jot down their thoughts as they’re reading. When they’re finished, Awesome Highlighter gives them a unique URL (web address) that will take them back to their highlighted version of the page. Here’s a highlighted version of one of the elephant pages from above: http://awurl.com/XrHTDQF2Q (http://www.awesomehighlighter.com/)
Fact ~ Just a bit of information
This isn’t a fact…it’s another resource. But I just found it and I really want to share it…so, to stick with the F theme, we’ll call it a find. TypeWith.Me is a website that allows for real-time collaboration on a document. Simply go to the website, click on the link to create a new document, and you’re ready to start. Share the link to the page with anyone via email or by posting it on a webpage. As each contributor types, the text appears on the document for everyone to see, highlighted in a different color for each person. The document can be saved and it’s easy to go back and restore to a previous version. Finished documents can be exported in several different formats. (Just a note: When I tried this morning, the export to Word or PDF wasn’t working. You can always copy and paste the finished work into an offline document, though.) This could be a great tool for collaborative story writing, for students working on a group project, or for teams of teachers working on something when they can’t be in the same room. (http://typewith.me/)
Have a great weekend!
Anne
Technology Gems, Ideas, and Facts
Friday, March 19, 2010
Gem ~ a website or application that might work well for you or your students
I’m not sure about you, but the 2010 census form arrived in our mailbox this week. You can’t listen to the radio or watch TV without hearing about the census. But do our students know what it’s all about? Scholastic has put together a collection of resources related to the census. There are lesson plans for grades K-12, including versions for ESL/ELL, as well as information for families, and an interactive site for elementary kids. (http://www.scholastic.com/census/)
Idea ~ a way to enhance your LFS lessons with technology
PicBite is an online service that allows you to upload images and add text. This could be an interesting way to present an activator to your class or have them summarize a lesson. You’ll be provided with a link to your finished picture or you could take a screenshot and save the image that way. Here’s a quick example I made. (http://picbite.com)
Fact ~ Just a bit of information
Just a reminder…anytime you enter a request into the MASD Help Desk site for a problem with your computer it’s important to provide the number of the computer. This helps our staff to identify the machine and sometimes even enables them to fix it remotely. The number that we need is the inventory number. It will begin with a two-digit year followed by a number, for example 07-555. It will generally be found on a label or even written on the computer itself. Be sure that you provide the number on the computer (the processor) and not the monitor (except for machines that are all one piece). (http://helpdesk.mbgsd.org/)
Have a great weekend!
Anne
Technology Gems, Ideas, and Facts
Friday, March 12, 2010
Gem ~ a website or application that might work well for you or your students
Books Should Be Free is a website that provides free, full-length audio recordings of books that are in the public domain. These recordings are available for download either as mp3 files or as podcasts. There are many classic works of literature available, including (just to name a few) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Odyssey, and Grimm’s Fairy Tales. These audio recordings could be an enhancement to the study of any of these books as well as a great support for students who struggle with reading. Playing a short snippet of a particular recording as an activator could also help to make some literacy connections in subjects where literature is not usually a focus. (http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/)
Idea ~ a way to enhance your LFS lessons with technology
Make Beliefs Comix allows users to create comic strips using a selection of characters and objects and adding their own text. Students could create comics to practice writing dialogue or to express opinions about a topic. They could also be used to practice analyzing perspectives, by having two different characters share their thoughts on a topic. The comics are quick and easy to make and can be printed or emailed. Personally, I’d suggest taking a screenshot of the finished comic and saving it as a picture so that it can later be included in a document, presentation, or on a webpage or blog, as I’ve done below. Make Beliefs Comix also has a large selection of premade comics with empty speech bubbles. Teachers could print these and have students complete them, perhaps as a summarizer for a lesson. World Language teachers should note that the site allows text to be entered in Spanish, French, German, Latin, Italian, and Portugese, including appropriate accent marks. (http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/)
Fact ~ Just a bit of information
If you like the audiobooks discussed in the “Gem” section above and would like to find a free print copy as well, check out Google Books. This collection includes previews of thousands of books and even includes the full text of some. Perhaps you only need a short section of a book to share with your students to illustrate a point. This could be a way to allow all of your students to read the text without having to purchase multiple copies of the book or make copies yourself. Sometimes it’s “hit or miss” as to whether the passage you want is included in a preview, but it’s worth a look. (http://books.google.com/books)
Have a great weekend!
Anne
Technology Gems, Ideas, and Facts
Friday, March 5, 2010
Gem ~ a website or application that might work well for you or your students
Capzles is a new web tool that allows you to create timelines that include photos, videos, audio and text. Each point on the timeline can have a single piece of media or a “stack” which could include both audio and video. Finished timelines can be shared via a link. The Terms of Service require users to be 13 years of age or older and an email address is required to create an account. This would mean that elementary teachers could create an account and use this for class projects, while teachers working with older students could also offer this as an option for students to create their own timelines. I can see Capzles being a great way for students to sequence important historical events, show the steps of an experiment, or illustrate the life of a famous person. (http://www.capzles.com/#)
Idea ~ a way to enhance your LFS lessons with technology
According to the old adage, a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, what if the picture could actually tell the story? Blabberize is a web application that allows you to upload a picture, give it a mouth, and record or upload audio that the picture will “speak”. Click here to see some examples of how some of our elementary students are using Blabberize to show what they’ve learned about animals and to illustrate personification. (http://blabberize.com)
Fact ~ Just a bit of information
Create your own “movie clapper” like this one at fodey.com. Just enter your text and then hit “generate”. You can download your image to use as you wish. Check out the other options at the top of the page…especially the “newspaper clipping”. Students could enter a date and a headline and then a short bit of information about an event to create a clipping to illustrate a project or show what they’ve learned. There is also an online picture editor which allows you to upload an image and apply all kinds of effects…including creating a wanted poster, postage stamp, or motivational poster. Check it out! (http://www.fodey.com/generators/movie/clapper_board.asp)
Have a great weekend!
Anne