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! :)