iVisual Touch Infographic of 2103 Lunch N' Learns

Today, I learned about the iVisual info Touch iPad Infographic App through Richard Byrne @ iPad Apps For School.  We have implemented infographics in our high school Human Geography last year so I was intrigued to see if an iPad app could be used with students.

I created an infographic for Lunch N' Learn statistics.  This is the first full year of volunteer learning opportunities for our high school staff.

Positives of iVisual Touch 

• Free Form Writing Lines
• Multiple Backgrounds
• Four Pages of Icons
• Colorful World Flags
• Color Palette
• Seven Fonts
• Add Pictures (Great to use with other apps such as Skitch or PicCollage)
• Grid Lines for Creating
• Save To Camera Roll (Great for uploading to Google Drive)

Negatives of iVisual Touch

• No Locking Options of Objects
• No Undo Button
• No Automatic Save
• Free app great to try, but limited options (I purchased the full app)

Impact On Students:

Creativity: Students can continue to use their imagination to create graphics that express their summary skills.

G Drive (Green) App For Downloading Video From Google Drive To iMovie

Saving video to an iPad from Google Drive was not possible until I found a solution courtesy of one of our IT people, @kenwestphal.

Collaborating with multiple students on different iPads or taking video with an iPhone or iPod was a difficult task because the Google Drive app only allowed downloading of images for use in iMovie.  Using the G Drive (Green) app now allows for videos to be imported into iMovie once the video is uploaded to a student's or teacher's Google Drive account.

If students are recording video using an Android device, the video will need to be converted before G Drive will import it into iMovie on the iPad.  We use Any Video Converter.

G Drive (Green) App
Google Drive App

View how it works!  Don't forget to have students log out of the G Drive app.


Video Link

SKYWARD: Cloning An Assignment

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Written Directions

IFTTT-Trigger: Email From Teacher; Action: SMS To Student

Our calculus teacher was tutoring a student on a Friday.  He forgot to mention a crucial part of the solution. He emailed the student the critical part to the solution.  On Monday, he asked the student, "Did you get me email?"  The student replied,

     "No, I never check my school email!"

Solution: Create a trigger and action using IFTTT.  IFTTT is so simple, a teacher almost can't afford to not offer it to their students.



Great thing about this was that I created the trigger and action on my iPhone in front of the teacher.  He sent me an email and the text showed up on my iPhone.  Demonstrating how it worked so quickly was a selling point!
Video Link

Haiku Deck On Web For Book Publication

I searched for a web tool that students could write a book about Canada and would, according to a middle school teacher,

• Drag and drop pictures or easy to insert pictures from web or upload
• Easy to add text
• Embed on blogger
• Log In with Gmail or easy to create an account
• Chromebook or laptop/desktop

I tried Google Drive tools and couldn't get into the template gallery according to an error message.

I tried widbook.com and it was a social site that I didn't think students needed to mess around with.

I tried storybird.com and it was also a lengthy sign up process and constituted social networking.

The above products, while great in their own right, didn't meet most of the criteria that the teacher was looking for.

I decided to look at Haiku Deck for creating an online book.  We have used Haiku Deck for a number of other creation projects and I believe this tool will work for creating a book. View short book.

Print YouTube Video Scripts

I learned about Printing YouTube video clips from SLATE!

The directions are easy.

The result lands in your Google Drive or on paper.

Impact On Students:

Critical Thinking:  Teachers print the YouTube video out or create it digitally.  Students write a reflection to summarize their learning or pull out video elements.

Trading Card Final Sharing Activity in AP Human Geography

The Trading Card activity was taking to a level by Mrs. Brylski that actually had the students print the Trading Cards and trade!

Video Link



Impact On Students:
Creativity:  Students needed to decipher the information that should be placed for each question.
Collaboration:  The discussion that incurred during the trading of cards was pretty in depth.  Some great feedback was provided for each student by each student.

iPads, iPhones, iPods, BYOD in Google Hangouts For AP Biology Review

Today, was a classic "go slow to go fast"!

Mrs. Vertz has decided that a Google Hangout would be the best tool for an "at home" review session. Prior to today's lesson, Mrs. Vertz walked through information for setting up personal accounts.  We spent an entire class period dedicated to setting up personal Gmail accounts.  We needed personal Gmail accounts so that Google Plus and Google Hangouts could handle more than one person.  Our district has decided that Google Plus will be enabled for teachers only.

The best way to connect students was for the teacher to search Google Plus for the exact email address that students created for their Google Personal Gmail.

The mobile devices connected for a number of students as well as personal computers on our network.  We did run into a few error messages for students when connecting to Google Hangouts.  This could be for a number of reasons which we are investigating.

Tonight, we have planned a practice Google Hangout.

Video Link



Impact On Students:
Collaboration: A review session is a perfect time for staff and students to pool their resources together to master a topic.  With Google Hangouts, many people can review together in the comforts of their own home or on the go!
Critical Thinking: Students will have questions and both students and staff will determine the best answer. With Google Hangouts, screens can be shared and therefore, resources can be shared!
Citizenship:  Students needed to create personal Google accounts.  Connecting with the proper students from the class was a lesson that forced students to choose the correct contact.

Merge SMART notebook and Google Presentation

If you have SMART notebook files with text/images and you want to combine this with a Google Presentation, there is a small process that will make this work.

Remember, you can write on a Google presentation by following these steps.

Video Link

SLATE 2013 Screencasting With iPads

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Looking forward to a great session tomorrow!

View The Presentation

Basic Anatomy Students Helping Patients

Last year, Mr. Anderson embarked on a problem-based learning opportunity for his Anatomy students.

Read.

This year, Mr. Anderson invited my to his classroom for the final days of the learning environment.  Students were introduced to a patient.  That patient was shown an informational iMovie describing the body part that was being affected.  The iPad provided a great conversation starter between the patient and the students. Within that movie, students provided factual information along with specific footage of the students describing the body parts functions. (Special thanks to Mr. Gosse for being a patient)

Video Link


Impact On Students:
Collaboration: Students worked in partners to develop an information iMovie that would provide patients with some of the knowledge they needed to understand what was ailing them.
Creativity: Students need to use a multi-media approach complete with audio, video, and still images to convey information in a clear and concise manner.
Critical Thinking: Students experienced a wealthy of information and placing the correct information into the video was vital.  In addition, students needed to transfer the knowledge they had of the body parts to the patient while having a conversation.  It wasn't all about the technology.  Students needed to critically think about the most important information and provide that to the patient.

Writing On A Google Presentation Using SMART Tools...In 20 Seconds

Video Link

App Smash Challenge To Our Teachers

Because of a tweet by @mrbadura and his compilation of App Challenges, I decided to present the challenge to our teachers after yesterday's Lunch N' Learn topic.

The app challenge was promoted as this...

• Combine Two Apps for a lesson in your classroom
• Chrome/Web Based OR
• iPad Options
• Submit challenge USING any method (email, link, Google Drive)
• $25 iTunes Card to the Best One (undefined)
• All submissions combined and shared with all teachers
• Deadline Dec 17; 4:00 PM

I also had PRINTED copies for the teachers as this was something that could be taken with them when the left Lunch N' Learn.  

Impact On Students:
Creativity:  Encouraging students to integrate two apps together challenges students to take their thinking to a higher level.  Determining the "work flow' forces students to think "how best can I make this work?"  This is a life long learning lesson.

Critical Thinking: (Similar To Creativity) Encouraging students to integrate two apps together challenges students to take their thinking to a higher level.  Determining the "work flow' forces students to think "how best can I make this work?"  This is a life long learning lesson.

*All credit for this idea needs to be given to @mrbadura and a large thank you to him for sharing!

Searching Google Drive Using Filters & Creation Tools

Tired of trying to organize the plethora of Google Drive files you create or that have been shared with you?

Stop.

Learn to search with key shortcuts that will help you be more efficient.

• Dropdown Menu Icon
• Search Operators
• " " Quotes
• OR
• - Hyphen
• from:
• to:
• type:
• before: YYYY-MM-DD after:YYYY-MM-DD
• owner:
• title:

Video Link


Add Apps Search To Gmail
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Search Your Google Drive

Engaging New Web Tools!
FutureMe 
Make Badges

Engaging New iPad App Tools!
Tellagami (Free)
Fuzel (Free)
Fuzel Tutorial Video Link

Fuzel Collage Creation App

I recently discovered the redesigned Fuzel App. There are many apps that all for creation of collages, but this one seems to have an enormous amount of templates in which to insert pictures.

Sharing options, including save to camera roll, can provide easy uploading to Google Drive.

Video Link

Alternatives To Written Sub(stitute) Plans

Teachers don't expect or want to be absent, but it happens.  In terms of writing lesson plans, there are numerous digital options for teachers.

All options can be integrated into Aesop Online which is our online absent request for teachers. Aesop is also available through your mobile browser.

ITEMS TO CONSIDER:

• NEVER provide your username & password to subs
• They are provided a temporary username & password when arriving at our school
• Writing lesson plans is ok, you just might not want to write everything out!
• Use a Google Doc template to find the perfect lesson plan template for your content. View Mr. Mannings easy to use version. View Amy Uelmen's CCSS related lesson plan.
• Don't worry about being perfect when you "speak to the sub" through a digital tool.
• Include pictures or video!  This will greatly reduce your typing time when "writing up lesson plans"  
• Include audio!  It is so much easier to speak your lessons versus writing them.  
• If you want to use a combination of typing, voice, or video combine them all into a Google Doc for a cloud based link that can be added to Aesop Online.
• Include a QR code created by Google URL Shortener and it would be easy for the substitute to obtain the link using their smart phone.  Use shortened link for description in sub plans.
  This picture can be 
• Example
• Scan The Picture!  Need a Scanning App? iPhone      Android
  

Tools
Google Drive: Any video recording, audio recording or picture of any document can be uploaded. If the blue sharing button is clicked and the settings changed to "anyone with a link", the link can be pasted into the "Notes to Substitute" section.  Include a small note stating, "copy and paste the link below into a new tab on your web browser" and substitute teachers can view your digital documents.

Cellphone:  If you own any smartphone (iPhone/Android) you can use the camera app to either record a video or take pictures of information the sub will need to see.  Use the Google Drive app for uploading the picture/video to the cloud.  Share the link containing the content.  Don't forget that using the Skitch app can annotate the information on the picture. Get Skitch for iPhone or Android.
Video Link


iPad/iPod:  Using the camera, consider talking through the content that you want the substitute to cover during your absence.  The video below was uploaded to YouTube and unlisted.  However, with the ease of Google Drive, simply upload the video and share the link associated with the video.



iPhone/Android YouTube Capture App:  With one click, record your lesson or instructions for your lesson and send them directly to YouTube.


Flip Camera/Bloggies:  These cameras are available for checkout from the library. There are plenty to go around.  One touch record, USB connection, one hour record time, upload video to Google Drive.

Digital Camera:  Most digital cameras take photos and videos.  If you can snap it or record it you can upload it to Google Drive.

Laptop (SMART Recorder/Screencast-o-matic.com):  If you would like to be present in the classroom, but not physically there, create a video recording of your computer screen using the SMART Recorder or Screencast-o-matic.
SMART Recorder


Screencast-o-matic


Google Presentations: Similar to PPT, but so easy to share with teaching using a public link. View the three part series to making great presentations.

Vocaroo: One click audio recording only.  No username and password needed. Example

Soundcloud: A great place to store multiple recordings.  Listen to an example.

• Video Link

Audacity: On our computers to record audio.  Create file and upload to Google Drive.

Share This With Fellow Teachers By Sharing This

Digital Alternatives To Writing Sub Plans Invitation

I used Canva to invite our teachers!

Resizing an iPhone/iPad Picture For Use In Google Presentation

A student needed to upload pictures from her iPhone to a Google Presentation.  She received an error message when attempting to do this as Google Presentation was stating that only 2000 x 2000 pictures were accepted.

To alleviate this situation, we used PicMonkey.com to easily upload her pictures from her iPhone, resize them, download them to her network drive, and insert them into her Google Presentation.

PicMonkey doesn't require a username and password!

Video Link of Student Using PicMonkey

How I embedded a Google Drive video to my blog!  Our iPads are on a network in which YouTube is blocked.  Therefore, I can't create videos on my iPad and conveniently share them to YouTube.  Using Google Drive as the host of the video still allows me to make the video look great on a my blog.

Video Link

Illustrating A Book On an iPad or Online

A teacher recently sent me this:
I was wondering if you knew of any apps for students to create scenes?  Students have written stories in Jenny's class and we were thinking they could illustrate a story/plot outline of five scenes (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution).  I threw out a couple examples, one using Google drawing and another using a free Photoshop type program that I have installed in my lab (Serif), but was wondering if you knew of another program for iPad or web-based.

iPad Options:

• Book Creator for iPad: Illustrate pictures or add photos--combine with text or having the pictures standing alone creates a great book

• Draw-n-Show: an amazing free drawing tool.  Create multiple pictures, take screen shots, and place the pictures into Haiku Deck, Explain Everything, or iMovie

• Penultimate: An incredible free drawing tool that integrates with Evernote.  Learn how to be effective in Evernote.
• DrawPad:  Easy, free.

Web Options:

• Google Draw: if you are a GAFE, this may be THE option.  It's located in your Google Drive. Create a Google Doc, a page for each drawing, and insert a drawing on each page.
• Draw.io: Looks like Google Docs, connects with Google Docs! Insert picture and annotate it.  Drag and drop numerous figures and add to them. Search images and drop them into your drawings.
• Draw Island:  Free, numerous drawing options, download images, no username needed

Impact On Students

• Creativity: Students connect the words from their stories with images.  They create the images completely on their own.
• Critical Thinking: Students must determine the level of clarification that their drawing will relate to their writings.  Some students may work to make the drawings completely clear, others may decide to make the drawings more abstract and left to interpretation. 

LucidPress For Class Newspaper

LucidPress was presented by me as an option for seventh grade students to create a collaborative newspaper. Collaborative in the sense that all students across multiple classes have different responsibilities ranging from report to writer to layout to tech.  The students immediately recognized the features that would prove valuable in a class creation.

LucidPress Has Effective Features:

• Google Drive Integration:  this is it!  Students write articles in Google Drive and share it with the students who are in charge of layout.  Students who are designing the layout of the paper can connect LucidPress with their Google Drive account.  The article immediately appears in the newspaper with the options of changing the design.
• Templates:  There are enough templates to start to resemble Microsoft Publisher.  Since we are a Google Apps For Education school, Publisher as been eliminated.  Now it is back in some form!
• Collaboration:  Multiple students (in this case the designers/layout specialists) can work on the same newspaper.
• Publishing:  Multiple methods for publishing including instantly on Twitter & Google Plus via a link.  I like how the published item is a flip book format.

Listen to what the students say!

LucidPress Tutorial

Impact On Students:

• Collaboration:  Multiple students designing a LucidPress publication.  Multiple students contributing to the LucidPress publication through their Google Docs creations.
• Creativity:  While templates do exist, the blank publication is available as well.  Students need to make decisions on design, placement, colors, texts, and publishing.
• Critical Thinking: Students must decide so many facets of the design.  Layout of the design continues to be a critical thinking skill.

iMovie Updates In iOS 7

Many great features have been added to the iMovie app in iOS 7 for iPad.  My Explain Everything video will, well, Explain Everything.  Providing students with a storyboard prior to creating will help in the process.

Important Features

• Three tabs get you access
• Video
• Project
• Theater
• ? Button always has answers (use it)
• Yellow tab has > provides more information
• +
• Movie
• Trailer
• Movie
• Flexible, Creativity
• Pictures/Videos
• Add any music you want
• Trailer
• Set areas for pictures/videos
• Set areas for text
• Rigid
• Music is provided
• Projects Tab>Click Specific Project
• Small Triangle Button--play video without producing it
• Box With Up Arrow--produce video
• Trash Can--Delete
• Pencil--Edit Title

Video Link


CANVA--Creation Tool

Impact On Students

• Creativity--It's all about creativity.  It's endless
• Critical Thinking--Providing a storyboard prior to creating a video will enable efficiency while using the app
• Citizenship--If the videos are being published to the web, consideration must be made for proper digital citizenship.

Medium--informational text

Gmail Attachment Download Options

Video Link

PDF Escape For Fillable PDFs

PDF Escape is a fantastic technology tool to create pdf documents into editable documents.

Have a document that you want students to fill in? 

• Create document in Google or Word
• Convert it to a PDF
• Create an account in PDF Escape
• Upload the document
• Add editable text boxes directly in the areas to be filled in
• Save document
• Download the document
• Send as attachment in an email or upload to Google Site

Your document will look like this while creating it.

Perfect for:

• Articles summaries
• Book reports
• Video reflection
• No need to recreate documents if already a pdf, just make the pdf editable.

Thanks to Mr. Rusk for inquiring about this which allowed for me to find a new technology tool.

Impact on Students:

• Critical Thinking: Reflection questions can be posed to students who must thoughtfully answer the questions.  

Blog Post of the Week

Canva continues to provide great creation tools.

Lunch N' Learn Promotion Using Canva

After reading another blog post on Free Tech 4 Teachers, I learned about Canva.  I decided to utilize Canva as my promotional medium for tomorrow's Lunch N' Learn topic on the new iMovie on iOS 7.

FINAL CANVA PRODUCT

Positives:

• Amazing amount of advanced looking clip art which are customizable
• Drag and Drop
• Colorful
• 10 Templates
• Instant updates to published product
• Live final product sharable in multiple forms
• Live Link
• Images (jpg)
• PDF

Negatives:

• Students may find an image and it may not be free (all premium features $1 a piece)
• No Embed Code
• Only available on desktop/chromebook (no mobile device, yet)

Learn What Canva Can Do: Video Link

Tellagami App Used For Breakfast Bytes Promotional Video

The Tellagami app was used for promoting tomorrow's Breakfast Bytes.
Tellagami app was...

• easy to use
• adaptable to my creativity
• sharable

Video Link

I also added this to the "Creation Apps on iPad".

Google Maps Tour Builder Tutorial

Reviewing and providing information on Google Maps Tour Builder provided great feedback from our staff. A request came in from a staff member for a video tutorial.

Done.

Video Link

*The video is for teachers and students.  Consider playing the tutorial in front of students!

Essential Skeleton 2 iPad App For Anatomy

The Essential Skeleton 2 iPad app provides every student with a model skeleton that can be used to learn and master the bones and all their features.  Mr. Anderson believes this app is a great app especially in large classes.

Some benefits include of the app:

• Seeing individual bones
• Rotate bones 360 degrees
• 3-Dimensional
• Full model for each student (great for larger classes)
• Mobile
• Highlight individual bones
• Identify and isolate an individual bone away from the full model
• Annotation tools
• Zoom In & Out 
• Screen shot for Pic Collage and SMORE
• Correct audio pronunciation
• Multiple search options
• Exporting options of annotated objects
• Quick Reference to all skeleton parts
• Quiz Set Up-multiple choice & free response

Video Link

ITLS: Standard 3
The impact on the students...

• Collaboration--N/A
• Creativity--Combined with SMORE or Pic Collage provides for creative finished product of concepts learned
• Critical Thinking--Quiz format for analyzing aspects
• Citizenship--if documents are shares, students will understand that their creations are visible by the world.

Google Maps Tour Builder

Because of @rmbyrne 's FreeTech4Teachers post on Google Maps Tour Builder, I was able to create a tour of our school district's schools.  Our district encompasses a large geographical area consisting of five elemendary schools, one middle school, and one high school, a Google Map Tour was a perfect medium to show case our schools.

In 2009, my students created Google Earth Flying Tours.  While it was easy in the end, there was a learning curve that caused some students to struggle.

Google Maps Tour Builder required little to no learning curve.  Since we are a Google Apps For Education school, logging in and creating a tour will be a very simple process.

An additional bonus is the ease at which one can keep the tour private or share with a peer or staff member. Sharing documents through Google is second nature to our students so this process will be efficient.

View My Tour   View How To Make A Tour

Google Earth is available in BETA for Chromebooks
Google Earth integrated with Google Maps

The impact on the students...

• Collaboration--Students could work in partners or groups to create their tour
• Creativity--adding additional pictures that students take or find to each destination can provide additional insight.  The opportunity to include additional comments for each destination is important for deeper understanding.  Students need to determine the best path for their tour.
• Critical Thinking--similar to creativity
• Citizenship--students will understand that the map while by default is private, it may be shared with peers and teachers.  The map is on the web!

Google Presentations For Student "Life Choices" Choose Your Own Adventure

This was truly a collaborative effort between staff members in our district.

Last April, Mrs. Hocking asked me how to digitize a "choose your adventure" experience with sixth graders. After it was a great success, I blogged about it.  Some time later, Ms. Barszcz inquired to me about resources for a "life choices" experience that our middle school physical education/health teachers wanted our students to experience.  I immediately thought of the "choose your own adventure" experience with Google Presentations.

It has taken a great deal of planning by Ms. Barszcz, but the final products are outstanding!
*Material may be sensitive, but is in our health curriculum.

Information Provided To Students

Presentation Link


Presentation Link

**If you are a tech coach and haven't started making your teachers rock stars by blogging or video taping them integrating technology, consider promoting them so as to move your entire staff forward!

iOS 7 For Pulaski Educators and Students

We have now updated our school district iThings to iOS 7.  What does that mean for you (T-Teachers) and your students (S-Students)?  There are many new features that you should know about!

• Slide To Unlock (T & S): finger to the right if passcode is on
• Camera (T & S): shoot in burst mode with volume up button
• Multitasking (T & S): 
• Double Click Home Button>quit multiple apps with swipes of as many fingers as you can
• Control Panel (T & S): quick calculator, flashlight (only iPhones)
• Apps (T & S): swipe backwards
• Location Services (T): 
• Settings>Privacy>Location Services>System Services>Frequent Locations
• Messages (T): See the time stamp on SMS, MMS, or iMessage by swiping left
• Accessibility Settings (T & S): Settings>General>Accessibility
• Sounds (T & S): Settings>Sounds>Sounds and Vibrations
• Siri (T): Hold down Home button and say, "Read my emails"
• App Folders (T & S): No limit to number of apps in a folder
• Apps Background Refresh (T & S): Settings>General>Background App Refresh
• Apps Automatic Updates (T & S): Settings>iTunes  & App Store
  Source

AirServer (T & S): Swipe up>AirPlay

Spotlight Search (T & S): Swipe Down

Photos (T & S): Collections>Years>Months>Day

Photos (T & S): Edit-Upper Right, Share-Lower Left, Delete-Lower Right
Source

Video Link

I created the video using AirServer and Camtasia.
Get AirServer to work on your computer with your iOS devices.

It Ain't About The Device, It's The Impact That It Has

Coach My Video has so many options for physical education class. Last January, Mr. Goodness made the jump into using Coach My Video to aide in the student's understanding of a concept that was being taught. The iPad video and the drawing tools provide instant feedback to the student as to what they can improve so as to accomplish a task.

While this is great, the purpose for this blog post is the following email received yesterday from Mr. Goodness.

Clay,
I just had an amazing session with a student.  I was using the CMV app
with a student to help illustrate what he was doing and then used the
drawing tool to show what to change.  He got it!!  The best part was
that we sat down together and he was able to communicate to me via
drawing on the iPad what form was better and why.  It gave me
goosebumps.
Have a great day,
Kare

Using technology is tremendous if it's used beyond "this app is cool".  In the above situation, the student couldn't visualize what they were doing.  However, with the use of a portable tablet (iPad) the student was able to instantly visualize what was being performed correctly and what needed to be fixed.  The inspirational part was that they student and teacher were able to communicate via the drawing tools from Coach My Video.

Techcoach's need to continue to know that what they are doing is for a purpose.  The purpose is to implement the correct tool at the correct time for the correct reason.  This truly points our focus to the SAMR model.

I am so blessed to work with teachers who understand it isn't about the coolness of the tool, it's about how the tool impacts a student's life.

Video Link

Attachments For Gmail Extension...In 20 Seconds

GET THE EXTENSION



Video Link

Attachments For Gmail is a great way to quickly get a visual of what type of attachment is connected to Gmail.  I used the Google Translate option for creating a different introduction.  Consider getting this extension to help make sorting through Gmail easier.

Lunch N' Learn: SAMR Model and iPads

The Poster

Pic Collage For European Beverage

Mrs. Brylski, World Geography teacher, challenged her students to create a beverage to sell to customers after they had learned about their culture.  Using Pic Collage on the iPad, students created a marketing tool to sell their created beverage. Upon completion, the flyer will be evaluated by the teacher and by an ad marketing agent using a Google Shared Folder.  Inside the folder will be the ads and a Google Document that will provide an area of comments for the marketing agent.  Students will take these comments and improve their add for an ultimate "winner" to be chosen.

Video Link


ITLS Strand 1
SAMR Redefinition

App Launcher Customizer For Google

The black bar has been replaced by the Google App Rubric Cube.  There is a way to customize this bar to your liking.

•  Chrome Store > App Launcher Customizer
• Add To Chrome
• Click 3 x 3 App Launcher
• Bottom of Box > Configure
• Drag & Drop The Apps You Want To Show

View It

iDevices, Google Drive, and Over App To Document Successes

Mr. Fullerton, our middle school principal, and Mr. Krause, our middle school assistant principle, created an opportunity for staff to use two and one half hours of a professional development day to allow staff to create their own learning environment.  Staff were able to choose their own area to think, question, collaborate, and create.  Some staff chose our own school forest and made bacon over an open fire, some chose a local coffee shop, while others chose a comfortable couch in our school.

To document these great areas of learning, Mr. Fullerton and Mr. Krause asked staff to send in a picture via email or text of their learning environment and who they were with.  After receiving the pictures a place to house the photos was needed.  Before doing this, the Over App was used to include messages that were sent with the picture.  The Over App allows for text to be placed on a picture.  A Google Drive folder could be accessed by both men so they could simultaneously upload pictures to the same digital area.  To share the folder, the two gentlemen placed the link on their Google Docs agenda.  This work flow provides digital documentation of successes from the original agenda.

I am extremely proud of our middle school administration team as they are utilizing the technology to enhance their learning environment.  As they become familiar with the technology, they can offer innovative technology solutions for our teachers!

View Their Story!

Lucid Press In Family And Consumer Science

I stopped into to see if Ms. Treptau needed any assistance with technology integration.  After some talking, she mentioned that she discovered a great use for Lucid Press, a Chrome Web App.    LucidPress is providing her students with a digital resource to create an informational brochure on a health career. LucidPress is a great tool that fits in the Augmentation category of the SAMR model. The Pulaski Middle and High School teachers are so great as they are not afraid to try implementing different technology tools for the right purpose.

Hear her story and how easy it is to use.

Video Link
ITLS Standard 1

Student Blogs--Eliminate Blogger Navigation Bar

Written Directions:

• Blogger Dashboard
• Layout
• Navbar
• Edit
• Off
• Save

Video Tutorial:

Lunch N' Learn: Rethinking Slides Using Google Presentations

Today's part three of three Lunch N' Learns focuses on Google Presentations as a tool that can eliminate the noise and focus the signal on staff presentations.

Many teachers have used the Effective Google Presentation Tips for Students prior to having students create presentations.  Consider looking at these prior to making your next Google Presentation.

• Five Words On A Slide
• Tools > Research > All Google Features On Side Of Presentation
• Insert YouTube Clip
• Snipping Tool To Get Images
• Text Box > Fonts
• Arrows > Shapes > Lines
• Single Most Important Piece of Advice --Stop The Bullet Point Madness

Effective Google Presentations Consider Showing To Students

Word Focus is critical!  Do NOT put what you say on the screen.  Eliminate ALL the words so that people will listen to your passion and energy instead of reading your words.

Inserting An Image Consider rethinking the way images are presented to your students.


Google Presentations With Speaker Notes By making a few simple clicks, you will never miss an important point, while your audience views a Focused Message!

Effective Examples

• 10 Tips To Present ALL CAN BE DONE IN GOOGLE PRESENTATION
• Clear Pictures, Clear Words, Signal
• Simple, Small Transition, One Image, Small Amount Of Words
• Social Studies Old Italy Slide New Italy Slide New Way
• 450 Ways To Make Google Presentations Pop
• Making Your Presentation Powerful

I am thankful for the many teachers who have shared their "this is my new presentation because of Lunch N' Learn" See how one teacher has changed her presentations.  She also commented, "students do listen more when they are not racing to write down all the words on my presentation slides."

Google Slides Cheat Sheet

3 of 3 Part Series
Part 2
Part 1

*Inspiration For Lessons - Resonate Nancy Duarte
*Resonate Is Now Available Free Online
*Presentation Design Tips - Better Public Speaking With Great Slides
*5 Non-Negotiables - For PD

Badgerlink.net Citing A Resource

Citing a resource in Badgerlink is a one click solution.



View It

Google Spreadsheets Aligning Rows and Words

Video Link

Lunch N' Learn: Rethinking Slides

Today's Lunch N' Learn focused on how to rethink SMARTboard slides and PowerPoint Slides.  Last week, we looked at how to rethink slides that are in front of students.  This week, two teachers have graciously provided one SMARTboard document and one PowerPoint presentation that we take a look.  Our goal is to rethink how the slides and presentation may appear.

PowerPoint:
Allows for Presenter View that looks like this:

What Your Audience Sees

What The Presenter Sees

Video Tutorial On How To Enable This


View Rethinking Of Slides

SMARTboard:

• Write on Smartboard slide normally by extending the page
• In summary, use the camera to take a picture of parts of the written text
• These pictures will be placed on new slides
• Write new steps on new slides
• Extend the slide but provide a single line on the white canvas

SEE EXAMPLE

2 of a 3 Part Series
Part 1
Part 3

Google Docs Math Equation Editor

Video Link

Another Great Video Resource

More Than One Teacher Website On A Website

Mr. Christiansen has many students in his "team study" class which all require the need to know what information is on multiple teacher websites.  To make this process easier he wanted a "screen" to have all of the teacher's daily info.  In keeping with the RedZone Channel's Quad Box , I created a single page Google Site and inserted the iFrame gadget.  The gadget simply requires one url for each gadget inserted.  I chose the two column page layout and placed two gadgets on top of each other.

The result is a one stop shop for his students and their teacher resources.

VIEW THE SITE 

*If the link above is only showing a white page, look to the omni bar and click on the shield.  Allow the script to run.  See picture below.

Inserting Bookmarks In Lengthy Google Documents

Mr. Pratt has implemented Google Documents as his "Lesson Plan" document.  This allows for links to be inserted for instant access to resources.  It also allows for students to view his lesson plans during the day or if absent!

Because he has multiple lessons on one document, he needed a way to quickly access areas in the document without scrolling through the entire document.

Solution?  Insert Bookmarks...

Written Directions

Video Directions


Video Link

Google Presentations Screen Options...In 20 Seconds

Video Link
...In 20 Seconds Playlist

Storyboarding For iMovie

Our AP Environmental Science students are about to embark on creating videos for two "areas of concern' (AOC) in our local area.  These videos will be made with an iPad and iMovie.

Before the videos can be created, some preparation work needs to be done.

Credit

Students need to know that storyboarding is truly what makes the video pop!  Thinking through the following items will help to ensure a final quality product.

• Scene Setting: Where will the scene be filmed? If still images, what scenes will the still images portray.
• Scene Characters: Who will be in the scene?
• Scene Visual: Somewhat similar to scene setting, but with more emphasis on the actions that will take place during the scene.
• Scene Text: Specifically, what will be said and who will say the exact words during the scene.

Storyboard Usable Information For PHS Teachers Here

While we love using technology at the correct time in our district, the best tool for storyboarding is paper and pencil.  Therefore, the link below may be useful as a storyboard.  Students will only print out the number of scenes that they fill will take place during their production.

Storyboard Scene setting, characters, text, and visual printout

ITLS Strand 1

Lunch N' Learn: Rethinking Presentations

With the dissolving of SlideRocket, it is a great time to rethink how classroom content presentations are created.  More importantly, how do a teacher's presentations move the audience (students) to truly provide that "WAIT! WHAT?" (Meyer, 2013) thought!



Notes are included with this presentation.  To enable them, click on the gears and open in speaker notes.

Open Presentation In New Window

1 of a 3 Part Series
Part 2
Part 3

PHS iPad Apps By Department

I was finally able to create lists of apps that exist on our department iPads at the high school level.  I was able to save these lists as pdfs via the iTunes store app on our MacBooks.  I liked how I could include the name of the iPad app and a picture of the app.

It is truly interesting to see how the types of apps are different between departments and how some are the same.

VIEW THE APPS

Weather Forecast Using The French Language

Mrs. Nickels, our high school French teacher, was looking for her students to take the knowledge of the geography of France along with the vocabulary that they have learned for expressing weather and blend them together.

She chose the real task of providing a weather forecast as the concept combined with the digital tool of the student's choice.



 ITLS: Standard Strand 1

Summarizing Informational Text With Explain Everything

Mrs. Denk describes the process students followed while summarizing informational text with the Explain Everything App.


Video Link

Effective Researching

Effective researching skills makes anyone more efficient and productive.  While presenting the information below, the students completed the Effective Research Resources.  The research resource provides a follow along experience with resources, tips, and trick.  The best part of the Effective Research Resource is the two reflection questions found at the bottom.  I am also considering students acquiring peer initials and teacher initials after their reflection as an accountability piece.  A bonus would be a conversation sparked by staff or students based on the reflection answers.



Effective Researching
Effective Research Resource

Impact On Students:
Critical Thinking:  Students will be allotted time for personal reflection after the presentation.  Two questions will be asked: "As far as researching on the web, what did you learn today?" and "What impact does this have on me and my life?"
Citizenship:  Plagiarism is defined as "passing off another person's ideas or words as your own with credit".

United Streaming and Opposing Views

Informational Text for the Common Core State Standards can be printed text but doesn't always need to be.  Opposing Viewpoints is a great resource for printed text in various forms, while Discovery Education is a great resource for visual informational resources.  See what both of them bring to your classroom.

• Both resources work great on laptops, Chromebooks and iPads through the Chrome browser.  This would work especially if the teacher is projecting a video they have on their account.  A challenge does occur when a teacher would like students to watch the video with a log in.
• Paid version of Discovery Education app is available on the iPad
• All resources look great on a projected screen

Opposing Viewpoints Information

United Streaming (Discovery Education) Information

Art Teacher Present In Content Area Via Video

I really appreciate Mrs. Hoffmann using the power of technology to meet the needs of teachers and students to understand new concepts.

From Sara Hoffmann, Middle School Art Teacher

It seems to be a common theme among teachers that they want their kids to know how to draw PEOPLE either correctly or cartoonish.  So I did a step by step for figure drawing video...the quality is a bit better and I'm getting better at editing too.

We teach figure drawing as a 7th grade project in art, but now art is an elective in 7th grade...so not everyone gets to learn how, so this is great that they can learn quickly through my video.

Social Media For Promoting Homecoming 2013

Mr. Seamandl, Pulaski News teacher, teaches a Composition For Publication course for beginning Pulaski News students.  Twitter has become a great vehicle for dispersing information about our week long homecoming events with a real life audience.  View how this social media tool that all the students know about has become a great educational resource.



Video Link

ITLS Standard Skill 2B

Chrome Web Store

The Chrome Web Store  provides a great resource for teachers desiring to integrate applications to enable students to efficiently learn and create.

• Launched December 6, 2010
• Market Place of Web Apps
• Downloads By The Numbers
• Web: Creation Platform

As more and more teachers and students use these tools, the Chrome Web Store may seem somewhat overwhelming.  To facilitate the implementation, the spreadsheet below, breaks down Chrome Web Store applications by subject matter.  Simply click on the name of the application and you will be directed to the Chrome Web Store.

View In New Tab

Need to access the Chrome Web Store?  View How

Successful Classroom Practice via Kathy Schrock
30 Ways To Use Chromebooks In School
Chromebook Classroom Webinar
Chromebook Classroom

As of today, our IT sent the email below.

On October 8th, the login screen for the student Chromebooks at PCMS & PHS will be changing.  

Instead of the "Add User" & Profile pictures on the screen, it will be changed to a "email address & password" box.  You can see the attachment for what this box looks like.

* There may be some Chromebooks in the morning on October 8th that will still have the old login screen when first turned on, but they will update to the new login screen later that morning.

I will send a reminder about this along with an email to PHS & PCMS staff next Monday morning.