Google Docs + Bitly = Great QR Codes!

A 7th grade physical science teacher recently asked me how he could easily share study guides and other documents with his class. When I asked if he was familiar with Google Docs, he answered that he has an account and uses it at home. Perfect!

I demonstrated how to upload existing document to Google Drive and benefits of converting them to a Google Doc afterwards. (We made sure to share the documents with "anyone with the link".) We decided that his best delivery method would be QR codes for his group of students. I pasted a Google link into Kaywa and asked what he thought about it. He impressed me by telling me that the code was too pixelated to scan well. Bingo.

Now comes a tool in the middle: a URL shortener. There are plenty of options out there with tinyurl as probably the most popular. My favorite is bitly. Want to know why? Check out the four minute video below to learn all about it!

Reflector: Display Your iPad on Your Computer Unethered

Please pardon my absence - iPads happened. (I'm hoping for sympathetic nods here.)

Speaking of iPads, let's talk about a program called Reflector. It is my new best friend. Reflector is a one-time-fee download that allows you to display your iPad through your computer (and assumed data projector) untethered. The program costs $12.99, and there is a break in price is you buy in bundles of five. I used the program last week with two teacher trainings, and it worked flawlessly. I even embarrassed myself a bit when I played a video on my iPad and the sound started blasting from the speakers on my SMART board. (I didn't know Reflector could do that!)

It is sort of a little process to get the file downloaded and enter your registration key, so I've included instructions on the setup. Once the program has been installed, you really never have to even open it again. It waits on you in your system tray for you to double-tap your home button, swipe right, and start displaying. You can even have multiple iPads display at once, though it is hard to see details after about three. If you need help using Reflector after it's downloaded, check out this use quick-guide.

Blabberize: Part Deux

Back in March I blogged about Blabberize - a great tool for giving your pictures a voice. This week a teacher posed a question on Edmodo asking for technology integration ideas for kindergarten and first grade. Below is a sample from a fabulous first grade teacher's class. (Gotta love that cutie-patootie southern accent.) Thanks Kati!

Thinglink: Images with Hot Spot "Tags"

Thinglink it a neat little web tool for collecting resources. You start with a picture - maybe a map, science experiments, or computer parts. Once your picture is uploaded, then you can begin "tagging" areas of your picture with resources like websites and videos. I can just see teachers with interactive whiteboards going from resource to resource at the front of the room with this tool. And I think that the placement of the tags on an image is much more effective/attractive than just a collection of links on a Word doc or Power Point. Below is a sample that I threw together for our GA Studies teachers; hover over the image to see the tags and click to open them.

Animoto: Easy Slideshow Maker

If you are looking for a very simple slideshow maker that will make it look like you have spent hours putting the final product together, look no farther; Animoto is for you. Insert your pictures, choose from their music or upload your own, set a few preferences, and you are done! A basic free account only produces videos up to 30 seconds long, but with a free educator account, you can create full-length masterpieces! Sharing your videos will be a snap too. Around here, we like to embed class picture slideshows on our webpages or in Edmodo. Below is a family sample of mine - please share your links or ideas for classroom use!

Collaboration Time! Using Google Docs within Edmodo

Earlier this school year a teacher asked me how he could share a folder in Edmodo that others could contribute to. Well, at the time, that was not really possible. He could share, but the other teachers could not add or edit. No more! With Google Docs now seamlessly integrated into Edmodo, you can share collaborative documents to any group! Check out the how-to.

Vokis Now Embed in SMART Notebook

I have always love the website Voki. Teachers can create talking avatars that tell visitors how to navigate around their webpage. Students can create book reports or other projects to display knowledge. With the release on SMART Notebook 11, Vokis can now be embedded into SMART lessons. Imagine the possibilities! A French character could speak times to students for an activity. A mouse could tell a story before students put the sentences in the correct order. Thinking of younger students, an avatar could give directions for an activity during center time. (I made that one - cute huh?)

To get started, make sure that you have SMART Notebook 11; it came out recently. You will need to download this Voki avatar file to your computer and make sure that it is added to your "My Content." Just do this once to use the tool as often as you like!

I thought this little guy would be neat for our middle school's Humane Society webpage. Click the play button and prepare to be heartbroken. If you are not familiar with Voki, click for my quickguide. If you make something great, share it with everyone!

Science Website: 3D Toad

 A great website called 3D Toad has a free gallery of 3D objects from skeletons to dissections to molecule structures. Use your mouse to zoom in and out or rotate the objects. If you have access to 3D glasses, you can use them to view some of the images even more clearly. Just look for the red and blue glasses icon. The clip below shows a teacher using the dental hygiene section of the website. 

PicMonkey

Feeling a void since Picnik was absorbed by Google? I know how 'ya feel, and we are going to change that. PicMonkey is a new web 2.0 tool that allows you to upload your pictures, make them awesome, and then download them back. (Similar to Picnik but no storage.) Why is PicMonkey so great? You can check out the details on the team here, but let me just point out that one of the software engineers and the #1 code-writer   from Picnik are in the mix. You're sold now, huh?

PicMonkey has your standard crop, rotate, sharpen tools, but you'll love the tabs that follow: photo effects, touch ups, text tools, shapes, scrapbooky items, frames, etc. Below is one experiment of mine. I will spare you the rest. (Weren't my twins cute when they were little??)

Try it out and post below with your thoughts. Share a before and after pic if you like! Want a printable guide to walk you through a few of the options? No problem. My colleague, Randi, has you covered.

DoInk: Draw it Yourself Animation

While GoAnimate and xtranormal are old favorites of mine, DoInk is my new animation best friend. You can download the app for $5 or used the web-based version for free. I love that each step in the process of a DoInk animation is bite-sized. DoInk rep Melinda Shultz turned me on to a great sample and a few tutorials to get started, and I created a step-by-step guide as I went. If you give DoInk a try, leave a post on your thoughts!

Under the Sea 2 by melanie_turner, made at DoInk.com

SMART Exchange: Blue Ridge Mountain Region

Since SMART and Promethean boards gained in popularity a few years back, every Joe Schmo computer company has come up with some kind of whiteboard or  interactive projector or special funky pen. At the time, I looked into both SMART and Promethean products. SMART won hands down.

You see, it's not really about what the board itself can do; they pretty all much work the same. It's about what the software will do. SMART software allows the teacher to create something that is truly interactive. You can set up sorting activities, quizzes, and animations. You can embed YouTube videos and attach other files. And the best part? There is this whole community of teachers out there making and sharing their SMART resources on the SMART Exchange. While I've been a member of the Exchange forever, I just recently submitted my first file. After all, that's what collaboration is all about. Don't just lurk and download - add to the knowledge bank!

Mathalicious

In the United States, 61% of middle school students say they’d rather take out the garbage than do their math homework. If you ask students why they dislike math so much they’ll often say, “I don’t know what it means or when I’ll ever use it.” To many, math is just a bunch of random steps to memorize and regurgitate. 
(excerpt from Mathalicious)


Mathalicious is trying to change this perception by tying together real-world, interesting questions with practical math concepts. For example: Why does everyone pay the same amount to buy Nike shoes online? Surely the cost of making a size 2 is much less than a 12. What would happen is Nike charged by weight? The common core standards are listed beside the topic slideshow and downloadable teacher guide/student handout.

Some of the lessons on Mathalicous are free. Others require a paid subscription. The suggested contribution is $20/month. However, they follow a "pay what you can" philosophy that would allow the strapped teacher to join for as little as $5/month. An annual school license is also available.

Animation in the Classroom

Animation projects can be a great way to check for understanding with students. A 5th grade teacher friend of mine uses Go Animate often, and the example below was created by one of his students.

the civil war by sherndon4 on GoAnimate


If you are not familiar with Go Animate for Schools, check out this printable quick guide. Go Animate's site also offers tutorials like this one on design principles. If you create an animation, link it up below!

Web Game: Semicolon Wars

Mr. Nussbaum's site has tons of educational games on it; my favorite is called Semicolon Wars. (You like that well placed semicolon, don't you?) The semicolons are tired of being pushed aside for the more plebeian punctuation like periods and commas. You must correctly place all of the punctuation in the game to defend semicolon honor!

Other great activities on the site include the ever-popular Tony's Fraction Pizza Shop, Cash Out, and General Tso's Spicy Synonyms.

Just for Fun :0)

Maybe I'll post it in the teachers' lounge. Make your own here.

Teaching Channel: Short Video Inspiration

Teaching Channel hosts hundreds of video clips designed to improve instruction and inspire new classroom ideas. I previewed a 7 minute language arts video about using personal anecdotes in narrative writing. (I think this is where I insert a story about how I used to teach this concept, but I will spare you.)

Browsing, I spotted a lesson idea for high school statistics and a middle school video on making edible cells. You can also search social studies and the arts. This would be a great (quick) way to get in a little PD when you are pressed for time.

Phonics App: Tic Tac Toe

Lakeshore Publishing has a great free app for phonics called Tic Tac Toe. The first player chooses Xs or Os, and then chooses a space. Here are a few of the question types:

• What are the first two letters of the picture below? (blends underneath)
• Which of these words has a different beginning sound than the other words? (onset)
• Which word doesn't belong with the others? (long and short vowels)
• How many syllables are in this workd?

With each correct answer, the player marks her X or O in the square; incorrect answers get no mark.  Now, the app does not read the questions, so I have to play this with my kindergartner to help with the unfamiliar words. I could see this as a great small group activity for K-2.

Favorite Free App for Language Learners

Do you need help to parlez-vous français? AccelaStudy has an awesome app for drill and practice with foreign languages. I have playing around with the French version, and I'm pretty impressed. I can choose to study all of the words in the bank, or just certain categories. As I flip through the flash cards, I can select troublesome words (like those pesky days of the week or condiments) to copy into their own review batch. The app offers quizzes and statistics by category as well. Do you have a favorite languages app? Leave it in the comments section!

Suggested in the World Languages group on Edmodo by Mrs. Brenda Bennett: Memrize online, Busuu and LearnBots for iPad

Website: Phonics Training Ground

Here's one for the babies: Phonics Training Ground is a cute little site for PK or K students. It starts off with showcasing certain letter sounds and blending together those sounds into words. Next students may be asked to identify the picture with a word and fill in the missing letter. Last, the officer in charge chants about letter substitution and makes new words. That's it - the site is very basic, but my PKer loves it!

Here are a few more early learner sites. Feel free to leave your favorites in the comments section!

• Leading to Reading
• Tweenies: Copy Me
• Big Bird's Letters & Numbers
• Construct-a-word
• Sight Words Buddy
• Letterella
• Alphabet Goop

Use Edmodo to Text Students

Free use photo from morgueFile

While some high schools do not allow cell phone use during the school day, many teachers would like a way to reach their mobile students after school hours. It would be a HUGE pain to try and collect all of these students' cell phone numbers and a nightmare to continuously update them. Edmodo offers a great solution: Students can log in and choose text message as the mode of notification. They enter the number and they update it as needed. Now all you have to do is send out message through Edmodo, and teens at the mall, Walmart, and baseball practice alike will get an alert like...

"Don't forget to turn in your character analysis tomorrow."
"We will hold a study discussion at 6pm on Edmodo for everyone who can attend. Bring your questions!"
"Check out the two links I posted to the group for more practice on Algebra."

You get the idea.

I do have one suggestion though: I would advise students (especially those who may be in several Edmodo groups) to choose to only receive "alert" notifications. These will only be text, so students will not accrue any unwanted data charges. It also cuts the number of texts they receive to the short ones from you. If you'd like to give it a shot, check out my quick guide! If you are new to Edmodo, here is a collection of resources to get you started: