QR Code Basics

QR Codes! A whole new EASY world to incorporate into the classrooms!

First, welcome back! I am so excited to be bringing you these tech tips this year. You should know that these first couple of weeks, the blog will include new tips and instructions for Studywiz, PowerSchool, and Lanschool. Then by September, the blog will focus on various web 2.0 resources to make teaching fun and effective! As always, if you run across a site or tool that is AmAzIng, please share! (Heads up, prizes are staying around for this year too! :) )

Second, above is the presentation on QR codes that we did in our technology session today. This session was just a QUICK overview. What ways can you think of using a QR code in your classroom?  I can't wait to see your Challenge Entries!

Lastly, Welcome Back and I look forward to working with you this year!

Teachers Pay Teachers

We all have grand ideas and plans to make new things over the summer to spruce up our classroom and curriculum, but often life throws us a curve ball and we don't get to it. Or maybe during school, we are fresh out of ideas on ways that we can reteach a topic. Or you know the days that the flu bug or other germs pop out of nowhere and we have to make sub plans. I have stumbled upon a great resource for just those situations. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/

Yup! Teachers Pay Teachers. The site has great organization and filters that you can use to find exactly what you are looking for. You could search by grade level, subject, idea, etc. You can pay for some resources or download the ones that people put up for free.

You should know that there are THOUSANDS of free resources that you don't need to pay for and are really great quality too! Just the other day I downloaded a resources about Cheating and what students may or may not think that cheating is. (Here it is: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Cheating-Survey)

I did just purchase my first thing from TpT this evening. It was painless and easy and downloaded right to my computer. It was a clip art graphic set of owls. :) I love little clip art to add to different things and this pack was perfect. Owl Clip Art Package

This is a great resource for any subject! Check it out! Be sure to add a comment if you try it or download a really great resource that others could use!

jog.fm

Summer Bucket List

I don't know about you but every summer, I make a list of things that I would like to accomplish before I go back to school in August. Truthfully, half of the items that I want to get done don't (but that's another blog post). :)

However, one thing on my list will get done this summer because I signed up for it back in February. (It could of been around the time of my last blog post, actually!) I will be RUNNING a 5K on July 1st. Now, I am not going to be setting any pace records but I just don't want to walk any of it.

In my search of fun and upbeat running music, I found a site called http://jog.fm/  This site is amazing! You simply have to enter your targeted time for running, walking, or cycling a mile and it will give you pages and pages of songs that have the beats per minute (bpm) to meet your targeted pace time. Another great thing about the site is that it allows you to preview a suggested song and links to buy on Amazon.com or Itunes.

You can also sort your results by genre to find the kind of music that you like to listen to.

Speaking of running music, does anyone have a go to favorite to keep them motivated? Please add yours in the comments below! :)

Shortening URL's

Social Media and Shortening URL's

First, Over the past couple of days, social media has been flooded with prayer requests for Connor and then support for each other. A simple search of #prayforconnor or #teamconnor on Twitter resulted in many wise words from around the Metro area. Below are just a couple examples of where social media was for GOOD and for LOVE! Just one example of technology being able to BUILD COMMUNITY no matter where you are and what time it is.

Second, congrats to Jackie and Emily who earned a Jean's Day pass for using Symbaloo to share links with their students. Look for them in your mailbox!

Third, this week's Tech Tip is for shortening URL's. Think back to a lesson where you directed students to a certain URL? Did it take 5 minutes because of how difficult it was to type correctly? Well if you want a way to shorten the URL to something simple and easy to students type,  here are a couple site that you can use. All you do, it take the long direct link that you have and enter it into one of these sites and it will spit out a short easy nice link. You don't need to sign in or register at all!

1. Google : http://goo.gl/

2. Tiny URL : http://tinyurl.com/

3. Bitly : http://bitly.com/

No challenge this week- we've got enough on our plate! Stay sane, stay loved. :)

Symbaloo

First, congratulations to Stacy Chik for earning a morning beverage! :) Stacy used Pinterest to find quotes and images to make a reflection guide on the Eucharist that students took to the chapel during adoration. Thanks for trying Pinterest Stacy!

Second, our tech tip for this Tuesday is one that I have been using for a couple of weeks now and I am truly enjoying. The great part of being able to help with technology AND teach is that I get to try things out with my own classes as a trial one. 

This weeks tip is called Symbaloo. http://www.symbaloo.com/ It is an online bookmarking site. You can create different mixes to house different information. Once you have created a mix, you can either keep it private, only you can see it and use it OR you can share the webmix and Symbaloo will give you a link that you can post and then anyone can access the mix that you have created. Below are a couple of pictures of various mixes that I have created and shared.

This is a webmix of all of the Tech Tips that I have featured this year. You can find this link posted on the left side of this blog! http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/tuesdaytechtips

This is a webmix that I created for Creative Commons image and music searches for CC  http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/creativecommons1

This is an EASY way to organize a large amount of material or links in one place. You can create a mix for each book you read through the semester, or various images on a topic (just so you don't have to have 17 million tabs open during a lesson), or various tutorial videos posted for students to watch if they need extra help on a certain concept.

THIS WEEKS CHALLENGE --> Use Symbaloo to create either a personal webmix or a webmix that you create to share with your students. Post the link in the comments section or send an email with the link! See below for the reward...no limit on this week's reward! Looking forward to seeing all of the mixes!

Pinterest...for classroom use!

First, a big thanks to those who submitted a new piece of technology that they used last week in honor of Digital Learning Day. Here are two of the entries from last week.

One teacher is going to use https://cat36.learningstation.com/portal/index/login/ 

"

• It's a great tool for research assignments because it gives wonderful, credible print sources."  ~Katlin Slowik

• You can send them here to know that they are looking at CREDIBLE and RELIABLE resources. Look at the bottom right side for those types of resources. 

• Teachers login information is firstinitiallastname (beginning of email address) and then password thunder. You will be prompted to change password after you log in. 

• Students login information is their Powerschool username and password.

Another teacher is using http://www.hippocampus.org/ 

• "I use this site in my American Government classes. They are assigned 2 - 3 videos a day, that pertain to a topic we are studying, they can watch the video, read the text of the video and download the notes as well. The videos also have graphics or extra study skills applications that helps to understand the material. I use this like a "flipped video" concept." ~Angela Charlton

• This website has NUMEROUS subjects and content videos that students can watch. This site could be used to supplement a topic or could be used to flip a certain lesson.

• Subjects Included are
• Arithmetic
• Algebra & Geometry
• Calculus & Advanced Math
• Statistics & Probability
• Natural Science
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Physics
• Earth Science
• Social Science
• Economics
• History & Government
• Psychology
• Humanities
• Religion

Now on to this weeks TECH TIP!

This week's Tech Tip is Pinterest. If you are like me, you may have spent countless hours searching inspirational quotes, recipes, or potential home decorating ideas. But did you know that you can use Pinterest to find activities that you can use in your classroom?

• First, Pinterest is a type of social bookmarking. http://pinterest.com/

• It allows you to have different boards and you can pin (or bookmark) directly to a board. This is easier then cramming your Internet browser with a bunch of different bookmarks that are hard to access. It looks like this: 

• To get started, go to http://pinterest.com/ and reuest an invite (or just email me and I'll send you an invite since I already have boards started). This request process usually only takes an hour or two at the most. Once sent a link, get started by searching various topics using the search menu at the top of the page. 

• If you need additional ideas on how to use Pinterest for educational purposes, check out the following blog entry which has 36 different ways to use Pinterest for educational purposes.  http://www.bestcollegesonline.com/blog/2012/02/05/37-ways-teachers-should-use-pinterest/ 

This weeks challenge is to use Pinterest to find a link or board on Pinterest that corresponds or enhances a classroom lesson (s) this week or next. (Simply put, find a new idea to teach or enhance using Pinterest). Once you have found an idea, email me the link that you are using to me and include a couple of sentences on how you will be using it in your classroom. This weeks reward...your favorite morning beverage brought to you one day next week! :) 

NOW GO GET STARTED!! :)

NBC Learn and Digital Learning Day

This week, I found so many tech tips possibilities that it was hard to choose what to feature this week!

Today's tip is NBC Learn. http://www.nbclearn.com Here real situations have been connected to various topics and shown with real video clips. One section is Science of NFL Football. These would be great to pull out later in the week with the Big Game happening on Sunday! It would be a great anticipatory set for a lesson. You might be able to pull in students that normally aren't interested. :)

The link above is only to the FREE resources and full videos. There is a subscription side of the site. I will investigate the cost and benefits of that site throughout the remainder of the semester.

Lastly, tomorrow Feb. 1, 2012 is Digital Learning Day. http://www.digitallearningday.org/ 
It is a day that is encouraging teachers to teach with a new piece of digital learning or media in their lesson.  

"Digital Learning Day is a nationwide celebration of innovative teaching and learning through digital media and technology that engages students and provides them with a rich, personalized educational experience. On Digital Learning Day, a majority of states, hundreds of school districts, thousands of teachers, and nearly 2 million students will encourage the innovative use of technology by trying something new, showcasing success, kicking off project-based learning, or focusing on how digital tools can help improve student outcomes."


So here's my challenge- The first 2 teachers who try something new (technology or media) in their classes on WEDNESDAY or the rest of the WEEK and COMMENT on this blog will get a lunch of their choosing next week! READY SET GO!!!

Brainstorming and Graphic Organizer

Do you have your students brainstorm or create a graphic organizer on a topic or idea?

Then this site is for you! Try out bubbl.us It allows any person to create different bubbles with text and link to other bubble. You can have several layers and arrows connecting each bubble that you create.

I have used this site myself with my technology classes and most seemed to really enjoy the flexibility of the program. One minor problem is that is blocked currently at school. I am working on seeing what we could do about that. My students completed it outside of class and then were able to save it as a pdf to turn in or access while they were at school. PLEASE don't let this small hiccup keep you from trying something new.

Below are a couple of screen shots of what bubbl.us looks like when using it.

This is what the program itself looks like.

Below are the directions for having students create a bubble map and then save it as a PDF so that they can save and submit or use it during class or while at St. James.

Once they get to here, have them click the arrow by PDF and choose SAVE AS PDF and they are good to go!

So, have you tried it? Will you try it? :) OR Do you have another online graphic organizer site that you use with your classes? Please share it in the comment section below! :)

LogoMaker

Think back to something that you created that you were really proud of...maybe a lesson, a handout, a presentation or something created. You probably wanted to put your name on it.. yes? Or maybe you were presenting somewhere?

Well our tech tip for this week is for  http://logotypemaker.com/ This website allows you to type in a word or words and turns them in a generic logo that you then can modify. Students could create a logo that represents them and then anytime that they submit a creative project their logo is attached. You could create a logo on materials that are handed out so that they know that you created it. Logos can be saved as png, or pdf file depending on what you need it to be.

Logos can be pretty powerful and a simply way for students to show ownership without being overly boastful.

Give it a try and post a link or attach it to the comments below! :)

Martin Luther King Jr. Materials

Fellow Teachers- Martin Luther King Jr. Day is celebrated on Monday Jan. 16th (which is why we are out of school). In October, I was able to go to the new monument in DC the day before it was dedicated. It was pretty cool to see a monument for a person who has lived during our time. I included a couple of pictures at the end of the post.

So, I have found a couple of websites with additional links of information and activities that you might be able to incorporate into your lesson either this week or next. Even something small can make a difference

•   Here are resources from scholastic. Many Options! 
• http://teacher.scholastic.com/researchtools/articlearchives/honormlk/index.htm
• Here are mutiple lesson plan idea for Black History Month as well
• http://www.lessonplanspage.com/blackhistorymonth-htm/
• Here are multiple lesson plans, videos, sound, and pictures from NEA website. These are specific to High School as well
• http://www.nea.org/tools/lessons/mlk-day-grades9-12.html

Welcome to Tuesday Tech Tip

Welcome! 

The great thing about technology is the ability to change when things aren't working as expected or wanted. The old website was working well, but it was getting harder to navigate once I was adding more entries. So welcome to the new blog. With a new blog, comes a new name - Tech Tip Tuesday. :) Have to long alliteration. :) Also with these blog, please comment if you use a tip or have used it -- we all benefit that way!

As usual, if you have any ideas or resources that you use that you think the staff would use too- please share! :)