ibooks as cross-curricular projects

You can find the class ibooks in itunes U

The cover of the
Digestive System ibook

For an example of cross-curricular learning of biology and language arts as well as technology integration and 21^stCentury Skills, we recently found a third grade class from Charlotte-Mecklenbug schools that used ibooks to create publications on the major human body systems.  Students researched in small groups, pooled their findings, and then created their pages for the ibook that was published on itunes University.  There are engaging voiceovers, videos and fun facts embedded in the book, as well as some original student artwork. The books can actually be opened other apps, such a Kobo, or uploaded to your notebooks, folders, drives and libraries in Evernote, Dropbox, Google drive and edmodo for sharing.  We were able to view the published book in the itunes University app and in Kobo.   The teacher, Mrs. Gallo, includes her lesson plan.  The link to view their books is https://itunes.apple.com/us/course/mrs.-gallos-class-human-body/id646038195?ls=1.

The students managed to embed video and audio
as well as text.

Students Merging Multiple pdfs Into a Single pdf

Drag or select the files you want to merge

Select multiple pdfs you want to merge.

  If you do not have access to Adobe Acrobat Pro, and your students need to merge pdf files into one pdf, there are some free web tools available to complete this function such as PDF MERGY .  Simply put, you select the files using drag and drop from your computer and initiate the merge.  It will put the documents in the order you placed them and upload the file to an unencrypted remote server for a brief time.  You can even use documents from Google Drive and Dropbox. Then you save the merged document to your computer or     Google Drive. 

The order of the documents in the merged
file will match the order you see on the screen.

  Do not use with confidential files, even though they delete the files almost immediately, it is not secure to upload sensitive or classified information. The site is still in beta and can be used with  any browser that supports recent HTML5 standards. Namely: Chrome 7, Firefox 4, Safari 5, Opera 12  and even IE 10,  or any newer version of those browsers. 


 This type of program is a problem solver for collaborative work, many times, students work in small groups to complete a project, if they each make a pdf of their work, they can merge then into a single file to publish.  Most types of documents can be saved as pdfs, including powerpoint files. 

You have the choice of where to save your merged file.

FastFig- Computational Powerhouse for Students

FastFig is a Mathematics Word Processor that eliminates the need for pencil and and paper in math physics and engineering.  It is browser based and has a problem-solving workflow that s easy to use, as simple as a word processor unlike some of the more complicated solutions on the market.  Students can type and solve problems, and FastFig can tell what is text and what is mathematics. When students make mistakes, they can go back and fix them and the workflow will adjust and update automatically. It handles basic math through Calculus and beyond. The ability to share work makes it easier to send work to teachers and collaborate with classmates. Classroom uses include demonstrating solving problems and correct syntax on interactive whiteboards or projectors. Backwards teaching is possible using this site by typing in a problem and allowing FastFig to solve it. Then, as as class you can explore the steps required to solve the problem. Students at home doing homework can use this site to check their answers. Share this site with students as a resource for checking homework answers. You can create an account using Google, Facebook or your email. There are some basic tutorials on the site to get you started.

Keyboarding in a Digital Age

It is not keyboarding practice the way we learned as 6th graders, Drop Typing appeals to the Minecraft generation. In fact it was created by Markus Persson, the original Minecraft guru. This addictive touch typing game is full of optical illusions and music. It does require the unity web player download, but it runs on Mac OS, Windows and Linux. As you type, the blinking letters drop off the screen., but if you hit the wrong key the game speeds up and stops completely if you are typing too slow.

Protecting Student's Digital Identities

Many thanks to Glenn Hervieux, Technology Coordinator for Siskiyou Union HSD, for this share in Diigo: Use this helpful Common Craft Video to explain to students how they can protect their digital identities. The simple explanation and helpful visuals teach the risks every time students post online to any service.

Exciting Changes in Google Drive Collaboration

While sharing collaborative documents in Google Drive, you might notice the faces of your collaborators up in the top right-hand corner.  When you mouseover their faces, their profile will appear and you can easily add them to your circles in Google+ without having to leave your document.

The visual display also includes the chat feature, which is represented as  speech bubble, and once clicked upon, immediately opens the chat window.  These two simple changes permit us to communicate easier.

There are more changes coming in the next few days and we will keep you posted as we

 hear about them.

Fun Literary Elements Lesson using Youtube

Use this video as a hook in a lesson on Figurative Language.  After reviewing the video as a class, and discussing figurative language, allow students to examine their own favorite songs (School appropriate) to identify literary elements to share with the class.

Copyright Friendly Images to use for Student Multimedia Projects

                         

Search through the many topics available to find copyright friendly images for your students to use in their projects and presentations.   What is especially helpful is the metadata that comes with each picture for citation purposes.  

Searching YouTube Teachers for the just the right video to use with your class.

Have you been using YouTube Teachers with your classes?  It is easy to search this channel for content area and grade level to find helpful video to use with your class.

Find the "Classroom Videos."

Choose content area and grade level, don't forget to use the expand +.

    

Select the topic you are looking seeking.

There are many informative videos to be found, we
will feature them in the coming blog posts.

Recorder Master in the Music Classroom

This blog post comes to us from Fairfield Township School in Bridgeton, New Jersey.  Mr. Kenneth Rafter is the Music teacher for Grades 1-8 and integrates technology on a daily basis.  We caught him with this fun activity involving  'Recorder Master' from the www.joytunes.com.
     --------------------------------------------

 "Students use the game "Recorder Master" to enhance and reinforce recorder skills. At the same time it is a fun game that the students enjoy.  Recorder Master teaches proper breath control which on the recorder is very important in obtaining a good tone quality.  The game can be described as what I call a cross between Super Mario Bros, Angry Birds, and Guitar Hero.  The objective is to have students perform various tasks on the recorder and collect music notes throughout the game.  As students collect the notes they earn points that can advance them to harder levels. This activity meets 3 of the National Standards for Music Education: 

1) Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music2) Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music3) Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments.

Great use of Pinterest- 200 other ways to say went

Source: blog.writeathome.com via Discovery on Pinterest

Student Insight Into Assignments

Now that all teachers have access to the latest version of edmodo, there are numerous upgrades to the product of which educators need to be aware. Insights is one of the many new features and provides  teachers real feedback on how students feel about the assignments they are completing.  If you are using the latest version with your students, they are now required to post a reaction to assignments and quizzes. They do have the option of posting reactions to your posts and those of their peers. The insights link on the new home page shows teachers how their classes are trending; they can see overall performance at a glance, most active groups and which content was the most popular for the week.  Reflective teachers can use the insight information from assignments and quizzes to adjust future assignments based on student reflections. If you need help with the latest version of edmodo for your classroom or school, you have the option of asking for our coach-mentoring services or you can come to one of our updated edmodo workshops.

Edmodo - The Perfect Learning Management System

 Our  Guest Blogger today is Faraja Thompson, at present a Technology Literacy Teacher at Maplewood Middle School in Maplewood, NJ.  We first met her through the Talent 21 Grant where she was a Technology Integration Specialist for Roselle Public Schools.  
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reprinted with permission of Faraja Thompson 2013

Edmodo - The Perfect Learning Management System

I signed up for Edmodo in spring of 2011, while working full time as an integration specialist/teacher mentor.  At the time, I did not foresee what an integral part of my life this learning management system (LMS) would become.  I made a couple of teacher connections, figured out ways to earn badges on my profile, and set up a few sample student accounts--that was about it.  But my perspective changed over the summer, as I made preparations to teach three brand new middle school technology courses.

The first marking period of use served as an experiment for my students and me.  We learned how to navigate our class page and to filter messages and assignments.  We learned that carefully choosing and recording usernames and passwords helped us avoid having to repeatedly sign up for new accounts, due to forgotten log-in information.  Students socialized on a special group I created, the Tech Ed Lounge, rather than clutter our class group feeds with unrelated comments.  Meanwhile, I continued making connections with other teachers and exchanging educational ideas on the community pages.

During the second marking period, we discovered intricacies of the library backpack and small groups.  This is when major collaboration and peer editing efforts began.  Students started storing files in the backpack, using it as an online flash drive.  They posted URLs of Google Docs and other real-time collaborative editing (RTCE) tools on their small group pages, so that only four or five group members would have access, for working together on assignments and for commenting constructively on each other's essays.  It was around this time that I began discovering teacher-created groups, such as Flip Share.

By the third and fourth marking periods, our Edmodo use was in full swing.  Students turned in all project tasks, classwork, and homework using Edmodo assignment boxes.  Suddenly, my desk was neater, my tote-bags--lighter, as paper became obsolete in the computer lab.  In exchange, I found myself taking time--normally spent socializing on Facebook with family and friends--to grade, create new assignments, moderate the tech lounge, and exchange ideas with teachers from around the world on Edmodo.

Thank you for reading!

Upcoming Edmodo Workshops!

Thu - January 10, 2013

Introduction to Edmodo: Safe Social Networking

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Wed - January 30, 2013

Introduction to Edmodo: Safe Social Networking

STEM in Journalism

Not every student who pursues a science degree winds up as a scientist, in this lively google hangout, deSTEMber In the Field Friday Roundtable Science & Journalism, you will get a chance to meet Science majors who became Journalists. As a group they have taken an unexpected path to sharing their passion for science with others.

Watching high school students try to make decisions about their futures becomes a little easier when one realizes that even though they have to choose a major in college, they are not necessarily locked into traditional careers. 

Time To Play With Videoscribe!

Our first guest blogger of 2013 is Jeanette James, a teacher from New South Wales in Australia.  She comes to us through the SRI & ETTC's professional learning community on edmodo. 21st Century classrooms require us to break down traditional classroom walls and collaborate with schools all over the world.

Clearly Jeanette had time over the holidays to rest, relax and most importantly, play with one of the available options of videoscribing software. We will be bringing you the perspectives of many K-12 educators as they show off their technology integration adventures. 

 If you are interested in taking a workshop where you can learn how to use Web 2.0 tools, visit our training calendar page to find the right workshop for you!
_________________________________________________
Reprinted Permission of Jeanette James 2013

Time to Play!
Time to Play! The holidays are truly epic!  Simply put, the access to TIME allows me to play! When I can play, I learn.  Tonight, I played with a new product called Videoscribe. See below for my first creation using this tool.

Happy New Year all, thanks for all the fun in 2012.
@7mrsjames

Testing Facebook Badges

Sometimes you need a stinkin' badge

SRI & ETTC

Create Your Badge

Sri Ettc likes

SRI & ETTC

Create your Like Badge

My Macbook Pro Was Possessed!

Today was the weirdest day. I was sitting at my desk and was working on my pc.   I also had my Macbook Pro open and about halfway through the day I noticed that strange foreign music was playing out of it.  At certain moments the screen kept changing. I almost freaked out when I saw the pink screen of death flash for a moment.   Pictures were flashing up that I had nothing to do with anything  I had on the computer and I really thought that it was possessed. I started thinking about a when I could fit a trip into the apple store, but after a few minutes the activity stopped. All was fine for a little while.   A few hours later I received a phone call from the main campus and it was a woman who told me that she could see my MacBook Pro come up on her iPhone when she tapped her home button three times from the locked position.  She said she noticed it in a meeting and that everyone in the room could see it on their phones as well.  They noticed a square with a triangle on it and when they tapped it  they could see my computer name.  

I tried it out myself with my  iPhone and realized  it was happening there too.    I immediately checked my sharing settings in system preferences and they were off.   I checked my bluetooth and shut that off.  It was still there on my phone.  I could not see anything on the phone, just the listing that my computer was there.  I closed all my programs out and restarted my computer. 

It took me an hour to figure out I left my AirServer on and anyone on the same wireless account with an ipad or iphone could start broadcasting to my Macbook Pro. The people in the meeting were broadcasting al their iphone stuff to my Macbook Pro all day.  Unbelievable. 

 In case you do not know what AirServer is, it is an affordable app ($14.99 for 5 downloads) that you download to your computer so that you can Mirror broadcast your iphone or ipad to whatever computer is on the same wireless connection.  No dongle is needed to mirror on a laptop or macbook if they have the app on them.  HOWEVER, if you fail to shut it off, other people can also broadcast on your computer.  I was a mile down the road, but sharing the same wireless connection because it was networked.  I am so relieved I do not have to contact the Vatican or the Apple store, I simply have to remember to quit when I am done mirroring. I can see how easy it is to have students share their ipads while in a classroom, but they can also take over if they like unless their teachers remember to quit AirServer.

The New Edmodo- EdmodoCon 2012

EdmodoCon 2012 was thrilling this morning as we watched the Keynote presentation given by Nic Borg.  I was excited to see all the new features that would be available to conference attendees before they are rolled out to everyone else, but also wished that the rollout happened earlier in the summer so all teachers could start with it in the new school year. They kept the new edmodo completely under wraps, so this first presentation was a revelation. There were no hints on the blog.
 I was thinking of the day before, when over 40 teachers walked away from my training classroom, ready to start using the current edmodo interface. I want them to have the latest and greatest version and since I invited them all to edmodocon 2012, at least some of them will know about the changes that are coming our way.  Although the calendar and Gradebook will have an updated look and functionality,  (We can soon track badges!) the most exciting features will be Apps, Discovery and Insights.  I have had Apps for a while now and can't wait to try them out with real students this fall instead of my test students, although many teachers complained about the prices associated with them.  I know that a lot of districts already pay for some of the apps that are being linked with edmodo.  The benefits are that students have one login to access both edmodo and apps. The work they complete using  the apps will be tied in with edmodo assignments and gradebook.  Discovery is a feature that will enable teachers to post their topics and search for topics in a much more user-friendly fashion. Think of google search capability within edmodo, in a visually appealing format.  Collaboration will be much easier from now on, without having to scroll through groups and communities. Insights is one of the features we have been asking for. We wanted "like" buttons, and now we will have a choice of reflection buttons that can help us know what students respond to, and what they have trouble with.  They can reflect on their assignments and I can't wait to see the output of this feature.  Valuable data about how our students learn will only help my teachers be better at what they do, and the students will have that reflective piece for themselves. Get ready for a new look, better functionality, and many of the features we have been looking for. As soon as I get my beta invitation, I will update you on how they all work.

I Trashed my Clicker at ISTE 2012

 I had a bit of fun trashing my clicker in San Diego this past June, I have great aim and was intriqued by the product they were offering.  Quick Question is great for classroom formative assessment - students use any web enabled device, no 'clicker' required!  iPads, smartphones, laptops, netbooks, etc - they all work.  Instantly assess your students using Yes/No, True/False, Multiple Choice, or Text (Free response) questions.  Use Quick Question as a class discussion starter, exit tag, or anytime you need to know what your class knows.  Teacher accounts are free, and students don't need an account.  Have a teacher friend or colleague that would like Quick Question?  Have them sign up at www.naiku.net/quick-question.  It's free!

SMART Response Assessment Strategies Workshop

SMART Response Assessment Strategies- DEMO ONLY
Formative assessment enables educators to adjust teaching and learning while they are happening. Use SMART Notebook software, SMART Response interactive clickers, and accompanying Teacher Tools to see how well each student has understood lesson material. Learn how to use the clickers to engage your students, create question sets that will increase their performance, set up class records, and establish effective assessment strategies to raise student achievement. Learn how to modify your lessons based on quick and easy responses from your students. Target your lessons for success while engaging students of all ages.

Audience: All Educators
Workshop Code: TIPS13009
Dates: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
From: 9:00 to: 12:00
Cost: $106 OR 4 ETTC Hour(s). For info on membership, call the ETTC.
Instructor: Michelle Wendt
Location: SRI & ETTC - Meeting Room #128


Location:
Southern Regional Institute & ETTC
Richard Stockton College of New Jersey
Parkway Building
10 West Jimmie Leeds Road
Galloway, New Jersey 08205
Directions


Here is the Registration Link.

Music Research Project Glogster Rubric

• Interesting rubric for a glogster multimedia project for music teachers that enjoy a one-to one device program or have access to a computer lab.
  
  
  
  
  
  Music Research Project Glogster Rubric this is the link to the actual pdf.
  
  

Minecraft and the Common Core Standards

Here is the other topic I have begun on scoop.it.  

 There is going to be a lot of interest in this topic as teachers scramble to justify a reason to use minecraft to their administrators. We know the kids are into it, we just have to tap into the magic that is inherent in the product. After my son and his friends spent weeks building pre-history village for social studies (after- school) and making sure the details were meticulously correct for the time period, I knew that it had amazing potential.

Minecraft and Digital Storytelling

This is my first scoop.it, thought I would go with a topic that has lately been on my mind as I see more and more schools start their own minecraft servers.

If you are a scooper, please feel free to suggest items for it.

Top Rated Educational Apps from ISTE 2012 and "Shlogin"

After a little pre-conference sightseeing and the ISTE Unplugged'd SocialEdCon,   I attended the SocialEdCon After-Party hosted by StudyBlue at the Marriott Marquee in San Diego. What a great group of people I met!  In fact I kept running into the same faces all during the conference, which made me feel right at home.  I met the friendly Jerrilyn Jacobs, a Media Arts Educator from Encino, California and we spent quite awhile together sharing our experiences and challenges with multimedia projects. We had a chance to app-share with each other and the rest of the crowd and Zach Galin just released the list of top apps that all us educators and business people voted as the most critical to what we do.  If you don't know these, perhaps you should. At least 4 are always at the top of my own list. Here they are... don't forget to check out the honorable mentions at the bottom.  I will be looking into the apps I currently am not familiar with to see what I am missing.




Also of note was the incredible opportunity afforded us by Startup Weekend. Educators were pitching the rest of us their 1 minute appeals for products or services that they think  need developing for our market. It was truly hysterical, but most ideas were valid.  We voted on 5 teams won the opportunity to attend a StartUp Weekend to develop the ideas they came up with that we voted on.  My favorite idea did not get picked, it was for "Shlogin,"  an app that would allow at least 5 users to login on an ipad or tablet;  tell me that is not desperately needed! We have students that change the settings on each other all the time. The winners had great ideas, but that was the one I was yelling for.  I included a picture of that teacher, it is a little blurry, but I was cheering pretty hard. Next year I hope to get a chance to try my own ideas out on the crowd.  I would love to be part of another startup.  

Rock Stars of ISTE 2012

All year long I am on the computer, checking out blog posts, tweets and wiki updates from other professionals in the Technology Integration field.  Since we come from all over the world, it is rare that we get to meet one another face to face.  Luckily I had the chance to meet one of my gurus at the ISTE 2012 conference in San Diego, Lisa Johnson.  Lisa is a self  proclaimed appaholic and is the creator of techchef4u, where she shares the lastest free IOS apps for educators on a daily basis. I have been following her on Google+ since I first signed in and have no idea how I originally hooked up with her contact information in the first place.  Anyway, at the ISTE conference she was hosting a poster session a few boards down from ours and I was able to catch her in action. After battling the swarm of people around her booth, we had a chance to speak for a few minutes. She shared one of the latest tools in her arsenal,  iCardSort, and even gave some of the partcipants a redeem code.  Ask me for the code for the app and I will share it with you.

In case you have need of information on apps for educators and classrooms, be sure to get the the techchef4u app for yourself, you can also follow her on blogtalkradio.com where she has hosted over 36 episodes so far. they are archived and always ready to play, or you can participate in her next show. You can check out some of her sessions below.

Listen to internet radio with Techchef4u on Blog Talk Radio

Google and more at ISTE 2012

Google in education was all over the place at ISTE 2012 and I didn't mind making a fool of myself taking this picture.  I was lucky enough to meet some fabulous educators from Canada at the Google for Educators event at Wine Steals wine bar in the East Village.  It was a very sticky floor downstairs where all the youngkins were playing the quizzes, but upstairs on the deck was where the true action was.  As well as free eats and libations, there was lots of networking. The most fun people we met that evening were Shelagh Lim and Kevin Amboe from Surrey Schools in British Columbia. Shelagh is a STEM integrationist, who I just really needed to meet, while my friend Ann was whooping it up with Kevin, the technology integrationist. Hopefully, we can share ideas between our districts. I have never been much for networking, it takes me a while to warm up to new people, but since I traveled so far...  I decided I like it after all.  We met so many interesting people that I wouldn't want to have missed the opportunities. The view from the deck was incredible, it is a perfect place to catch the Padres playing in Petco Park. We did find a Jersey Girl at the Google event, she was from Ocean City but may never leave sunny San Diego.

High Tech Hall- here I come

I am very excited to announce that I will be presenting in the High tech Hall at the NJEA conventionin Atlantic City on Thursday, November 8th 2012.  I hope you  get a chance to stop by and check out this free web 2.0 tool that has helped us in some of the more challenging classrooms in which we work.

Free Classroom Management with ClassDoJo

Thursday, November 8th

3:00

Table 3 in High Tech Hall

The Literacy Shed

This fabulous website was shared in one of my edmodo groups, just had to check it out.  Tell me what you think!

• The Literacy Shed - The Literacy Shed Home
  Short video clips tied in with language arts. There are so many possibilities. 
  tags: literacy writing reading fantasy ghostly inspiration moral picturebook fairy_tale

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Royalty free music and songs

• Royalty Free Music & Songs | Free Background Music Downloads
  tags: music audio creativecommons mp3 royaltyfree royalty download podcasting

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

QR codes across content areas

• 
  QR codes across content areas
  tags: qrcodes qr technology learning web2.0 tools

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Talk about perspective!

• Award winning short film - Chicken a la Carte - YouTube
  tags: Hunger_games award winning short film chicken carte youtube

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Skyping with authors

• Skype An Author Network

  Virtual Author Visits in Your Library or Classroom -

  tags: skype author authors collaboration literacy books classroom web2.0

• Authors Who Skype with Classes & Book Clubs (for free!)

  Authors Who Skype with Classes & Book Clubs (for free!)

  tags: skype authors literature literacy author authorvisits Reading author_visit

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Common Core Standards Resources for Edmodo Teachers

• 

  Example of conversation

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  There is a wonderful group on edmodo that addresses the common core standards everyone is trying to make friends with. I came across a particularly helpful reminder post about using the appendixes.  Teachers may forget they are there to help make sense or provide guidance.  I have posted a picture of what you can expect from this group with the user's names and faces  blurred.  It is just a sample of the rich conversation I have found in this  professional learning community.  If you are an edmodo teacher and want to join this group, the group organizer is 

  Mrs. Kristina Holzweiss and the link to her as a connection is http://www.edmodo.com/lieberrian

How to subscribe your edmodo group to an RSS Feed.