Classroom Starter Sheets

The Starter Sheets are resources for the classroom teacher. The intention of each sheet is to introduce a tool, technology or activity that could be easily adapted for use in the classroom. Each sheet is created to a template design and should have the following features:

• must be two pages
• must have pictures that illustrate process and outcomes
• process must be straight forward
• must be simple to read and understand
• must have clear benefits for the teacher in the classroom, the exemplar should be easy to adapt to a variety of classroom settings
• must have an alternative – web based or application
• must be linked to Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy and Sensory learning styles using VARK
  
• Diigo
• VoiceThread
• Twitter
• Google Earth
• Boolean Searches
• Advanced Google Searches
• WikiSpaces
• Google Maps
• WordleSource: http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Starter+Sheets

Local download of a YouTube video

A number of people have been asking for the documents on how to download a YouTube video locally to your computer so it can be shown without the need of the Internet.  By popular demand, here they are!

A reminder to staff that the amount of bandwidth allocated for YouTube video streaming is capped.  This is necessary so to ensure all staff and students have access to network and Internet resources, especially through our wireless network.

To avoided the “buffering” warning and having your classes disrupted, it advisable that you download your YouTube material ahead or time.

Instructional Technologies To Try This Year

In Tech Kids Love in the Back to School 2010 issue of Instructor magazine , there is a great arti­cle on easy-to-use applica­tions and websites that students enjoy in the class­room.   I’ve highlighted a few of the 25 instructional technologies listed.  If you would like to implement any of these ideas in your classroom but don’t know where to start, feel free to e-mail me and we can work together!
Voicethread.com
This site allows you to have a group conversation using images, documents, and videos. Contributors can leave audio, video, or text comments. The dedicated educa­tion channel ensures safe content.

Xtranormal.com
This innovative site makes it easy to make an animated online movie. Students can upload text and choose from cartoon sets and actors.

Simplybox.com
Create customized research portals on any topic, so that students can’t stumble across irrelevant content.

Vimeo.com
This video-sharing site-similar to YouTube-allows users to post, share, and comment on videos. However, it has an education channel and no commercial videos are allowed.
10 More Technologies to Try This Year
1. Design Your Own Game
Scratch, a program from MIT, allows students to create and share online games. Challenge students to create their own review games before an end-of-unit test.

2. Make a Book
Read books that other students have created, or have students create their own electronic books. Students can select photos and illustrations from a gallery of choices or import their own.

3. Play With Words
Type in a list of words and you can rearrange them into a word cloud, such as Wordle. Use it to learn more about your students and later in the year to describe charac­ters and settings, and brainstorm ideas.

4. Archive Skype Calls
Preserve chats and interviews for future classes. (Instructions for Mac users here; for PCs, here.)

5. Record Favorite Stories
I have used iPod Touches as listening cen­ters. I attach microphones and have students re­cord their favorite books. Students can then borrow an iPod and listen to their friend read them a story.  Learn how to broadcast (podcast) recordings here.

6. Publish Kids’ Writing
Martha Stackpole published her students’ work online so that other children can read it.

7. Conference With Others
Lisa Parisi used a video chat site to connect her class­room with two others to stage a debate during the 2008 election.

8. Tape Social Skills
Teachers at Springside School record kids during les­sons and replay the videos, asking students to find ways that they were cooperating. Find cameras here.

9. Click to Make Decisions
Melissa Dills uses clickers to teach critical thinking and social skills to students. She presents them with situa­tions, then asks them which option they would choose.

10. Update the Poster Project with Glogster
Glogster is an online tool that allows students to design web “poster” pages with wallpaper, audio, video, and text.

Questions or comments?  Do you have something to contribute?  Email Warren Griffiths, Technology Integration Coordinator at wgriffiths@isp.edu.pa

Connecting Students to the world with Skype

Skype is a free and easy way for teachers to open up their classroom and their students to a world way beyond their campus. With Skype, students can learn from other students, connect with other cultures, and expand their knowl­edge in amazing ways. Teachers and parents can also benefit from Skype in the classroom.

Skype is a FREE VoIP (Voice over Inter­net Protocol) technology that allows you to make audio and video phone calls from your computer!  You can “skype” to connect with experts, educators and other classrooms all over the world!

30 ways to use Skype:

1. See Me, Hear Me: Skype in the Classroom. Read how these students had the opportunity to chat with an au­thor of the book they studied via Skype.
2. Videoconferencing in the Classroom with Skype. This teacher used the movie “Hoop Dreams” to help teach about social inequality, then was able to get the execu­tive producer of the movie, Gordon Quinn, to participate in a Skype session with her class.
3. The Many Roles of Skype in the Classroom. These amazing 7th graders used Skype as a part of their his­tory project that resulted in their collaboration with the curator of the National Museum in Canada.
4. Field trips. If students aren’t able to participate in a field trip due to factors such as budgetary or distance con­straints, use Skype to bring the field trip into the class­room.
5. Using Skype in the languages classroom. Find out how this teacher uses Skype to help her students study for­eign languages from native speakers.
6. Skyping in Mike Artell- Illustrator & Author. This inspira­tional lesson has an illustrator working directly with 6th graders to work on the art of illustrating and story crea­tion.
7. After school help. Use Skype as a tool to provide after school help to students needing extra attention. Tutors, teachers, or librarians can be available at set times in the afternoons for student access.
8. “Not education as usual,” with Skype and author Cory Doctorow. This class was practicing how to convince the school board to allow a controversial book to be taught in their school and had the opportunity to Skype with the author of the book to help promote their case.
9. Interviews. Whether you have students conducting in­terviews or your class is interviewed, Skype facilitates the interview process. Individual students can interview other teachers or school staff, sending the Skype feed to the classroom for all to watch.
10. Guest lecturers. Have guest lecturers come to your classroom via Skype.
11. Inclusion — helping a classmate join the classroom from home. This blog post explains how a 4th grade class used Skype to help a classmate with leukemia become a part of the classroom from her home.
12. Connect special needs students. Students who may have to be out of the classroom due to special needs or IEP requirements don’t have to miss any special events in the classroom with Skype.
13. Blue tongue lizard, vegemite and cricket. What the…????. This Australian teacher describes her class’ experience connecting with a Korean class via Skype.
14. Foreign culture lessons. Skype allows students to see first hand what people’s homes, schools, clothing, weather, and more looks like. If a festival takes place, Skype can bring it to your classroom too.
15. Connect with families from around the world. Form friendships that can easily bridge distance gaps with Skype.
16. Skype Calls for e-Twinning in L2. Find out how this teacher brought two classes together that had been Twittering all semester when they finally got to meet “face-to-face” with Skype.
17. Best Day Ever!. This teacher describes three Skype calls her class had in one day–the most exciting being with a class in a different time zone with whom her stu­dents had been collaborating on a project through Google docs. With Skype, the students got to work at the same time and actually see each other, too.
18. Present a performance. Whether your class puts on a play, demonstrates a science experiment, or presents the results of a class project, share the fruits of their works with other classes, parents, or other interested people.
19. Share field trips with others. If your class goes out for a field trip, see about connecting with parents or other classes to share your classes’ experience.
20. ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ inspiration uses Skype to help kids in India learn. Find out how Skype is connecting gran­nies in the UK with children in India for both a cultural connection and an educational benefit.
21. Professional development. Teachers can use Skype to access professional development opportunities, such as watching conference presentations.
22. Share students’ work with parents. Let parents get a first-hand look at what their children are doing with Skype.
23. Conference with parents. Whether a parent has to miss a regular conference or a concern comes up that re­quires speaking with a parent, Skype can provide an opportunity to connect with a parent that may not other­wise be available for a conference.
24. Innovative teacher uses Skype and Wikis to involve parents. See how this teacher helped share information with parents using Skype and the PBS program, Grow­ing Up Online.
25. Collaborate with other teachers. Who says Skype has to be fun just for the kids? With Skype, teachers can collaborate on ideas, projects, and more.
26. Share travel experiences. If you will be traveling during the school year, arrange for your substitute to connect with you via Skype and you can share the experience with your class.
27. Receive teaching feedback. Have an experienced or mentor teacher watch you teach via Skype and receive valuable feedback.
28. Be available to students. If your school is suddenly closed for a while or if you want to set up conference hours for students, use Skype to allow students to con­tact you.
29. Tutor former students. If a student has moved away or you want to offer accredited online degrees or just moved up from your class, you can be available for tu­toring (for free or for a fee) via Skype.
30. Bring busy parents into the classroom. A busy parent who has knowledge to share with the classroom may be more likely to be able to make the time for a presenta­tion if she or he can do so with Skype rather than hav­ing to leave work and come to the school.

Questions or comments?  Do you have something to contribute?  Email Warren Griffiths, Technology Integration Coordinator at wgriffiths@isp.edu.pa

Timeline Creation Tools

Timelines are classic teaching tools used to help students visually un­derstand concepts of chronology and history. Web 2.0 timeline tools are being used to allow stu­dents to collaboratively build multimedia time­lines. They’ve been incor­porated into social stud­ies, history, environmental science and art history classes.
Using XTimeline students can collaborate, just as they would when making a wiki, to build a multimedia timeline. Timelines built using XTimeline can include text, images, and video. XTimeline will accept dates in A.D./B.C. format.

TimeGlider offers some nicer layout features compared to XTimeline, but is not quite as intuitive to use as XTimeline. The layout features that I like about TimeGlider is the ability to stagger or indent events below each other in a sequence. TimeGlider also makes it easy to display the relative importance of an event by increasing its size in comparison to other events on the timeline. Like XTimeline, TimeGlider accepts dates in A.D./B.C. format.

Time Toast is quiet easy to learn to use. To add events to a timeline simply click on the inconspicuous “add an event” button and a simple event box pops up in which you can enter enter text, place a link, or add a picture. Time Toast does not have the more advanced editing options that XTimeline and TimeGlider offer. What it offers instead is ease of use which makes it a suitable choice for students in elementary school or middle school.

TimeRime allows users to create timelines that include text, images, audio, and video. One of the better features of TimeRime is that you can have more than one type of media for each event on your timeline. TimeRime users can also select which media type they want as the feature piece of each event. As we’ve come to expect with any web 2.0 tool of this type, you can embed the timeline in a blog or share it via email.

Dipity is a great timeline creation tool that allows users to incorporate text, images, and videos into each entry on their timeline. Dipity also incorporates a mapping feature which allows users to place a Google Maps bookmark related to the topics the timeline covers. Like most good web tools, Dipity has a collaboration option and has multiple options for sharing products publicly or privately. Each entry to a Dipity timeline can include multiple types of media which allows users to add more detail and information than can be included in a traditional timeline.

Source: FreeTech4Teachers.com

Questions or comments?  Do you have something to contribute?  Email Warren Griffiths, Technology Integration Coordinator at wgriffiths@isp.edu.pa

Google Earth in the Classroom. Not just for Geography!

Google Earth

Google Earth a virtual globe pro­gram that shows the earth by the superimposition of images obtained from sat­ellite imagery, aerial pho­tography and GIS over a 3D globe.  BUT, Google Earth has many more appli­cations for the classroom, covering many disciplines.  As of today, Google Earth is installed on the com­puters in the HS Lab and the HS Library.  If you would like Google Earth installed somewhere else, please let the IT Depart­ment know.

Google Earth is easy to use and presents, in a visual context, a great deal of information that ap­plies to topics that are addressed in geoscience courses and many other educational settings. By offering the abil­ity to place this information in combination on a three-dimensional model of the Earth, it can facilitate under­standing of the Earth system and the many subject areas that comprise it, ranging from natural sciences to social sciences, history, art, engineering and any other topic that has a geographic component. Information that can be displayed on Google Earth includes aerial and satellite imagery, the numerous layers offered by Google’s data­base, and a huge amount of third-party data made avail­able by the Google Earth Community and on other web sites.   Some great projects for the classroom:

Elementary:

1. Meteors. Have students locate the places around the world where meteors have hit, then use that data to create charts or graphs.
2. My Summer Vacation. Elementary students can explore geography while sharing something about themselves in this lesson.
3. The American Revolution. This activity is appropriate for elementary aged students and traces the paths of America’s founding fathers.
4. Using the Ruler Tool to Measure in Google Earth. This lesson walks teachers through using the ruler tool in Google Earth as a learning resource.
5. Flat Stanley. Scroll down to the May 4th entry here to learn how you can use a Flat Stanley icon to use in Google Earth.
Middle School:

6. San Francisco: visualizing a safer city. Middle school stu­dents can do this group project that involves planning to make San Francisco safer during a major earthquake.
7. His Dark Materials: Northern Lights in Google Earth. Read Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights and complete this lesson that uses Google Earth to bring the Norwegian island of Svalbard to life.
8. The Red Badge of Courage. After reading this book, lead students through this lesson plan on the American Civil War.
9. Great Explorers. Study Lewis and Clark in this geogra­phy lesson using Google Earth.
10. The World in My Back Yard. This lesson focuses on cultural awareness for 6-8th grade students.
11. God Grew Tired of Us: Migration and Cultural Interac­tion. Students will watch a documentary film, then study mi­gration and Africa with this lesson. Just substitute Google Earth in place of the 2D maps suggested here.
12. Travels of Odysseus in Google Earth. Map out Odys­seus’ travels with this fun lesson.

High School and Beyond:

13. Around the World in 80 Days. After reading Around the World in 80 Days, have students locate 19 placemarks men­tioned in the book. Have them select 19 places they would stop and explain why.
14. Energy Consumption Rates across the USA and the World. Use this lesson plan to have students examine and compare energy consumption rates using Google Earth and several other resources.
15. Environmental Reconnaissance of a Salt Marsh. Stu­dents will use Google Earth, field work, photography, and other resources to learn about salt marshes in this lesson.
16. The Boxing Day Tsunami. Explore the causes and ef­fects of the tsunami that occurred on December 26, 2004.
17. A new management plan for Stonehenge. Have stu­dents create a management plan to improve the visitor facili­ties at Stonehenge.
18. Modelling sea level change on the Gold Coast. Take a look at surfing and shrinking coastlines along the Gold Coast in this lesson.
19. The Diamond Trade. Explore the social and ecological impact of the diamond trade using this powerful lesson.
20. All Quiet on the Western Front. Read this book, then study Europe and WWI battlefields.
21. Great Monuments of the World. Teach students about monuments around the world as well as the significance of them.
22. Places Quoted in Shakespeare in Google Earth. Visit 85 places mentioned in Shakespeare’s works.

Referenced from 50 Exciting Ideas for the Classroom.

Questions or comments?  Do you have something to contribute?  Email Warren Griffiths, Technology Integration Coordinator at wgriffiths@isp.edu.pa