Next year my school is going to a "1-to-1" initiative. Basically, every student in the grades 6, 7, and 8 will be getting an iPad. I am looking forward to it. So, as I am on summer "break" (teaching summer school is a break, right?) I am cruising around the internet to look for cool things that I can use in class.
One of these things are collections of videos by Ted-Ed. While I wouldn't use all the videos in any one collection, having them grouped around like ideas seems to make sense to me. Here are links to a few of them that I especially like.
The Writer's Workshop
Reading Between the Lines
The Way We Think
If you give any of these a try, I'd love to know which ones you especially like--or don't like for that matter.
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Web2.0 Resources
These are some web2.0 sites. Many are interactive and all can be used by teachers of any subject at any level (with one exception). I encourage you to check them out and see if you can make use of any of them in your class. I advise starting with one you really see a way to get creative with and getting good with that one. Then, as you begin to master that one, try another.
The Machine is Us/ing Us is a little video that shows how much writing and reading are changing. It also highlights the need for educators to keep up.
A Vision of Students Today is another video. College students let us know a little about how much they use technology.
Blabberize allows the user to upload a picture and then record something to make it talk.
Bubbl.Us is an online way to create clusters/idea webs.
Classtools.net has different useful tools. I like to use the countdown clock.
Common Craft has a number of three minute videos that cleverly explain a variety of web2.0 tools, as well as a few other needed explanations (anyone see zombies?).
Dabble Board is an online white board.
Definr is the fastest definition finder on the Internet. It says so right on the page.
Delicious is a social bookmarking site. You can save websites you like, tag them, and share them with others. It is an online tool, so you can use it from any computer hooked up to the Internet.
Free Rice is a game site, but with a difference. For every correct answer to the different online quizzes, ten grains of rice are donated to alleviate world hunger. It allows players to start at their own level and then gets easier or harder based on the answers the player gives.
Gallery of Writing was set up by the NCTE to showcase writing from around the country. They have open submissions and encourage participation.
Glogster is a kind of poster that is fully designed by the user. Users can incorporate text, images, music and video into their work.
Live Binders is a way to collect and present webpages on related subjects.
Make Belief Comix is another comics creator.
Prezi is a new online presentation tool that is a step beyond PowerPoints. It incorporates motion and zooming to make presentations more dynamic.
Slide Boom allows you to upload PowerPoint presentations to the web. After that, you can embed them in blogs, wikkis, websites, etc.
ToonDoo is a comics creation website. Users can make a short comic strip.
Virtual Literary Worlds is a series of links to online virtual worlds based on famous literature.
Voice Thread is a multimedia collaboration tool.
Wall Wisher is a virtual classroom bulletin board.
Wordle allows you generate text clouds.
Zamzar is a file converter. You send one type of medium to Zamzar, like a YouTube video, and convert it to another, like a Quicktime file. This is one way to get around blocks to YouTube and show your students those interesting videos you find.
The Machine is Us/ing Us is a little video that shows how much writing and reading are changing. It also highlights the need for educators to keep up.
A Vision of Students Today is another video. College students let us know a little about how much they use technology.
Blabberize allows the user to upload a picture and then record something to make it talk.
Bubbl.Us is an online way to create clusters/idea webs.
Classtools.net has different useful tools. I like to use the countdown clock.
Common Craft has a number of three minute videos that cleverly explain a variety of web2.0 tools, as well as a few other needed explanations (anyone see zombies?).
Dabble Board is an online white board.
Definr is the fastest definition finder on the Internet. It says so right on the page.
Delicious is a social bookmarking site. You can save websites you like, tag them, and share them with others. It is an online tool, so you can use it from any computer hooked up to the Internet.
Free Rice is a game site, but with a difference. For every correct answer to the different online quizzes, ten grains of rice are donated to alleviate world hunger. It allows players to start at their own level and then gets easier or harder based on the answers the player gives.
Gallery of Writing was set up by the NCTE to showcase writing from around the country. They have open submissions and encourage participation.
Glogster is a kind of poster that is fully designed by the user. Users can incorporate text, images, music and video into their work.
Live Binders is a way to collect and present webpages on related subjects.
Make Belief Comix is another comics creator.
Prezi is a new online presentation tool that is a step beyond PowerPoints. It incorporates motion and zooming to make presentations more dynamic.
Slide Boom allows you to upload PowerPoint presentations to the web. After that, you can embed them in blogs, wikkis, websites, etc.
ToonDoo is a comics creation website. Users can make a short comic strip.
Virtual Literary Worlds is a series of links to online virtual worlds based on famous literature.
Voice Thread is a multimedia collaboration tool.
Wall Wisher is a virtual classroom bulletin board.
Wordle allows you generate text clouds.
Zamzar is a file converter. You send one type of medium to Zamzar, like a YouTube video, and convert it to another, like a Quicktime file. This is one way to get around blocks to YouTube and show your students those interesting videos you find.
Monday, March 24, 2008
My IT Guys Rock!
It was interesting on Thursday. The Internet connection here at the school went down for a little while. I wasn’t too alarmed, as it is not an unheard of occurrence. And besides, at some point I got an email explaining it was likely to happen (but after it did). Apparently there were some system wide upgrades to software being made. The kind of software that protects one from the dangers of the net.
I found that my access to my class website on wikispaces was blocked. As was access to my blogs. I was bummed. And when I found the connection to gmail, which I use with my students, also blocked when I got here today; it was not a good feeling. I left Thursday a little deflated. And I started today the same.
But then my access to wikispaces was restored. And later, when I checked again, the access to gmail was back. And, wonderful also, my access to my blogs is back! I missed my blogs.
The IT guys in my system rock! And they respond quickly to email and requests. It is so nice to work in a system like this.
Just had to brag on my IT guys.
I found that my access to my class website on wikispaces was blocked. As was access to my blogs. I was bummed. And when I found the connection to gmail, which I use with my students, also blocked when I got here today; it was not a good feeling. I left Thursday a little deflated. And I started today the same.
But then my access to wikispaces was restored. And later, when I checked again, the access to gmail was back. And, wonderful also, my access to my blogs is back! I missed my blogs.
The IT guys in my system rock! And they respond quickly to email and requests. It is so nice to work in a system like this.
Just had to brag on my IT guys.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Web English Teacher Rules!
I have been having some fun in my English classes lately teaching some short stories. But I wanted some more resources, so I started looking and found a lot of helpful information at webenglishteacher.com. I highly recommend this site; it is an excellent resource for language arts teachers of all levels. While I am at the recommending, let me also recommend the blog that the Web English Teacher keeps. I got to poking around in it yesterday and in the blink of an eye two hours of my life disappeared. It is well written and has many fascinating links. But do be warned that it is a time sink. A pleasurable one, but a time sink none the same. I blame W.E.T. for being such an extremely entertaining blogger.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Drama Thursday
Every now and then, taking a shortcut leads me to a big problem I didn’t really need to have. Thursday was a case in point.
I arrived, a little late as always, to my first block class. This is already stressful to me. I have to drop my daughter at school before work and can’t really get here by the time they want me to. Most of the year it isn’t a problem. I had first block planning last semester and no first block this semester until last week. The driving instructor waits in the class with them until I get there, usually about 5 minutes after class should have started.
I went to turn on the incandescent lights, as I hate the flourescents, and the whole row on the right side went out, and one of the bulbs blew as well. Since this happened before, I knew what to do. I turned on the left side lights and stepped outside my door to the breaker box. I reset the breaker and three out of the four lights came on. I replaced the burned out bulb with one I had in my closet and then was able to kill the flourescents. In a way, I think I actually impressed the group by not panicking and fixing it immediately. It was about as impressive as I was going to get for quite a while.
The room was still warm, even though it was in the twenties outside, very unusual in Alabama. It is an internal room with no outside walls, so the heat from the almost thirty students does a lot to warm it up quickly. The air conditioner stopped working a few days ago, making the room uncomfortable. Especially to many of the students who seem to be unable to remove their coats for some reason.
I had turned the air off yesterday morning in case the condenser had frozen over. Again, not the first time that problem has arisen. Sometime during second block I got the opportunity to try turning it on again and it seemed to work most of the day.
But these were just preludes to the stress I was about to encounter. I went to my computer and attempted to log in. I say again, I attempted to log in. It was an unsuccessful attempt. So were the next several, subsequent attempts. I didn’t think it was the computer, as the other teacher had logged in under his name, but in order to make sure, I restarted the darn thing, muttering darkly to myself the entire time.
I also set up my laptop in order to try to get the journal PowerPoint up. Trouble was, I didn’t have the current version of the PowerPoints on the laptop. I felt like the weight of the top floor had fallen in on me. The students were behaving well, thanks to God for that! But I felt distinctly negligent in my responsibilities to them. Mainly because I was being distinctly negligent in my responsibilities to them.
I tried to log in to the desktop once more and had a thought. I used the official log in I was supposed to have been using for the past year and a half instead of the unofficial one I had been using instead. I logged on. Finally! All my desktop settings were gone, though, as I had set them up under the other log in. Not to worry, I just had to access the school server to get to my teacher files and all would be well.
I couldn’t access the school server and the teacher files. It was still set up to the old filename, as I had never updated this one. I went to the media specialists to get some help and was given the filename to look for and instructions on how to load it in. Also a short lecture on going in under the login I had been using and how that was something I shouldn’t have been doing, etc., etc.
Of course, I couldn’t get it to work in anything like immediacy. More like it took me several tries over a stretch of time to get it done. Which eventually I did. I got to my files and had the journal prompt up for the next class when they came in, but I wasn’t in a lot better shape mentally or emotionally. By this time I was hot and sweaty. I also had a severe headache--even for me.
After second block got busy catching up on any work they were behind on and working on the computers for those who were caught up, I ducked out a minute to the media specialists again to ask about the possibility of getting the info I had in the My Documents folder and desktop of the old login. At this point the other media specialist twigged as to what I had been doing and I got the long version of the lecture on how I shouldn’t have been doing that.
I was in the wrong. I know that. There was no way to argue about it. After she finished she let me know she’d call the IT guys and when they had a chance they could try to get the info for me. I went back to the room and to work. Within fifteen minutes the IT guy showed up and in less than three minutes had my info on the new desktop login for me.
From that point all I had to do was set up the programs and taskbar to the way I had them. Get the background back to a picture of my darling daughter. And try to deal with all the adrenaline that had been pumping into my system for the past couple of hours.
All in all, it was not a pleasant morning.
And here is the really galling part for me. None of this drama with the computer was necessary. If I had not been so lazy and avoided setting things up under the official login as I had been told to do, I never would have noticed anything different. But I took the easy way and it eventually caught up to me. Maybe I’ll learn a lesson from this. Or, maybe I’ll be like Peter Griffin, star of Family Guy. At the end of one episode after doing something stupid and winding up in the hospital his wife said that at least he must have learned a lesson from this. Proudly he looked at her and said, “Nope!”
I arrived, a little late as always, to my first block class. This is already stressful to me. I have to drop my daughter at school before work and can’t really get here by the time they want me to. Most of the year it isn’t a problem. I had first block planning last semester and no first block this semester until last week. The driving instructor waits in the class with them until I get there, usually about 5 minutes after class should have started.
I went to turn on the incandescent lights, as I hate the flourescents, and the whole row on the right side went out, and one of the bulbs blew as well. Since this happened before, I knew what to do. I turned on the left side lights and stepped outside my door to the breaker box. I reset the breaker and three out of the four lights came on. I replaced the burned out bulb with one I had in my closet and then was able to kill the flourescents. In a way, I think I actually impressed the group by not panicking and fixing it immediately. It was about as impressive as I was going to get for quite a while.
The room was still warm, even though it was in the twenties outside, very unusual in Alabama. It is an internal room with no outside walls, so the heat from the almost thirty students does a lot to warm it up quickly. The air conditioner stopped working a few days ago, making the room uncomfortable. Especially to many of the students who seem to be unable to remove their coats for some reason.
I had turned the air off yesterday morning in case the condenser had frozen over. Again, not the first time that problem has arisen. Sometime during second block I got the opportunity to try turning it on again and it seemed to work most of the day.
But these were just preludes to the stress I was about to encounter. I went to my computer and attempted to log in. I say again, I attempted to log in. It was an unsuccessful attempt. So were the next several, subsequent attempts. I didn’t think it was the computer, as the other teacher had logged in under his name, but in order to make sure, I restarted the darn thing, muttering darkly to myself the entire time.
I also set up my laptop in order to try to get the journal PowerPoint up. Trouble was, I didn’t have the current version of the PowerPoints on the laptop. I felt like the weight of the top floor had fallen in on me. The students were behaving well, thanks to God for that! But I felt distinctly negligent in my responsibilities to them. Mainly because I was being distinctly negligent in my responsibilities to them.
I tried to log in to the desktop once more and had a thought. I used the official log in I was supposed to have been using for the past year and a half instead of the unofficial one I had been using instead. I logged on. Finally! All my desktop settings were gone, though, as I had set them up under the other log in. Not to worry, I just had to access the school server to get to my teacher files and all would be well.
I couldn’t access the school server and the teacher files. It was still set up to the old filename, as I had never updated this one. I went to the media specialists to get some help and was given the filename to look for and instructions on how to load it in. Also a short lecture on going in under the login I had been using and how that was something I shouldn’t have been doing, etc., etc.
Of course, I couldn’t get it to work in anything like immediacy. More like it took me several tries over a stretch of time to get it done. Which eventually I did. I got to my files and had the journal prompt up for the next class when they came in, but I wasn’t in a lot better shape mentally or emotionally. By this time I was hot and sweaty. I also had a severe headache--even for me.
After second block got busy catching up on any work they were behind on and working on the computers for those who were caught up, I ducked out a minute to the media specialists again to ask about the possibility of getting the info I had in the My Documents folder and desktop of the old login. At this point the other media specialist twigged as to what I had been doing and I got the long version of the lecture on how I shouldn’t have been doing that.
I was in the wrong. I know that. There was no way to argue about it. After she finished she let me know she’d call the IT guys and when they had a chance they could try to get the info for me. I went back to the room and to work. Within fifteen minutes the IT guy showed up and in less than three minutes had my info on the new desktop login for me.
From that point all I had to do was set up the programs and taskbar to the way I had them. Get the background back to a picture of my darling daughter. And try to deal with all the adrenaline that had been pumping into my system for the past couple of hours.
All in all, it was not a pleasant morning.
And here is the really galling part for me. None of this drama with the computer was necessary. If I had not been so lazy and avoided setting things up under the official login as I had been told to do, I never would have noticed anything different. But I took the easy way and it eventually caught up to me. Maybe I’ll learn a lesson from this. Or, maybe I’ll be like Peter Griffin, star of Family Guy. At the end of one episode after doing something stupid and winding up in the hospital his wife said that at least he must have learned a lesson from this. Proudly he looked at her and said, “Nope!”
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