11.21.2011

Sheeps, Voices, and Thread!


Over the past couple of weeks, I have been working with the Miss. Sargent's Sports, Heath and Exercise Science Class on using VoiceThread to explain the parts of a heart of a sheep.  This was a really cool project to be a part of.

A VoiceThread is a web 2.0 tool where students are able to create a digital presentation on any particular topic.  Some great features that this tool has is the ability to

  1. record audio
  2. record with a whiteboard feature where the creator can draw on the uploaded image
  3. have other people comment on the VoiceThread 

Here was the process that students took in this project:

Students...

  1. Dissected a sheep's heart
  2. Determined where important components of the heart were located
  3. Took pictures of their heart
  4. Uploaded those pictures to a VoiceThread
  5. Recorded their voices onto their VoiceThread
  6. Shared their VoiceThread to allow their peers access to view their project   
VoiceThread is a GREAT web 2.0 tool can can be used in any subject area.  If you would like to learn how this can be implemented in your curriculum, please stop by and we can chat.  To view and actual student's VoiceThread from this project, click HERE.

11.19.2011

Creating Children's Book with Little Birds Tale

Over the course of the last couple of weeks, I have been working with Mr. Pepper's World Religions class in helping them create a digital children's book. The students accomplished this task by using Little Birds Tale. (This was the first time the high school has used this web 2.0 tool.)

Students were tasked to work in groups to create a children's book on Ramayana so that 4th grade students would be able to understand. Each group decided on who was responsible for each chapter of their book, came up with a script, as well as created their own drawings. These drawings were scanned to the computer so that they could be uploaded to the website. Then, the fun began with recording the stories. Students were reminded that they needed to have a 'story voice' when recording to keep their audience engaged. Once the three books were made, the class decided as a whole which one they liked the best. The chosen book was presented to a 4th grade class at Riddle Brook.  (Click HERE to view and listen to this book). 

Last Friday, the class took a bus to Riddle Brook to share with the students what World Religions class was all about, share the children's book, as well as talk about the high school. Not only this, but a blog was created so that both classes can stay in communication over the course of the next couple of months.

This was a great experience for all. Not only did the 4th graders learn something new, the high school students did as well. They learned about a new web 2.0 tool, how to create a children's book, and how to talk with the youngsters. The high school students most certainly were 'stepping outside of their comfortable limits'!

In regards to using the web 2.0 tool, here are a couple of item worth noting:
1. Free web 2.0 tool
2. Can create a classroom of student accounts with no require student email address
3. Can create an image online or upload an image
4. Have 25MB worth of space
5. Can download the book for only 99 cents
6. Completely 'green' website

As always, if you would like to learn how you can implement this in your classroom, just ask! Until later...

11.03.2011

Randomizing Who You Select In Class

During the Summer Curriculum Technology Institute this past summer, a couple new web2.0 tools were shown during the first day.  One website in particular that was demonstrated pertained to randomly selecting students in class, created by Primary Technology.  (We all know that at times it is hard to make sure that you call on every single student in the classroom each and everyday).  The participants particularly enjoyed this website.  In fact, a couple of weeks ago, the Global Studies Teachers decided to implement this into their classroom discussion.

How do you go about using this website?  Glad you asked...it is quite simple.  You are first prompted to enter in all of your students' first names.  Then, when you hit the go button, all of the names will flash before your eyes.  It eventually stops on a 'victim'.  This victim is then responsible for answering the question.

There are a couple great components to this website:
  • You are able to save your list so that you do not need to re-enter student names each and every time.
  • When you hit the save and share button, you are given an embed code to put this in blogs or sites.
  • You are able to select the appropriate time length you want to give the 'victim'.  I particularly enjoy the fact that they can see the time flash before their eyes.
  • Great visual with sound effects

This might not be something that you use in your everyday lesson however it might be fun to implement every once and awhile.  To check out this great tool, click HERE.  Have fun selecting your 'victims'!

11.01.2011

Don't Forget About Wordle...

I realized today that it has been over a week since I have last posted.  I must say that the storm over the weekend put a damper on posting.  Anyways...

I realize that Wordle is not a new web 2.0 tool, however, I do find it necessary to be reminded of the great tools that are out there.  For those of you who do not remember, Wordle takes any written text and creates a 'word cloud' of that information.  The more times a word is used, the larger it appears.  Once the wordle is created, you are able to change the appearance, such as the colors or style of font.  The create a wordle, click HERE.

Mr. Cannon actually used a wordle last week as of means of sparking conversation in his Global Studies Lesson.  To view the actual wordle online, click HERE.

A wordle can be used in different situations:
  • You can ask students to create a wordle on a paper that they wrote.  By doing this, students are able to see just how many times they used certain words.  This can help students rewrite their paper if necessary.
  • You can show a wordle of a paper that was written.  Ask students to explain what they think the paper is all about.  This could be great for analyzing poems.
  • Create a wordle on a famous short story or poem.  Ask students to see if they can name the title of the poem.
As usual, the possibilities are endless.  Feel free to contact me for help or ideas!

10.17.2011

Exploring Google Drawings in French Class

Last week, I visited French II classes to talk about Google Drawings.  To be honest, I had never really worked with this before but both Madame Noble and I thought that it would be great platform for the assignment that the students had to complete.

Google Drawing is just another component in Google Docs.  As you probably already know, when you open a Google Document, you are limited when it comes to layout as it is a word processor.  Google Drawing allows you to make a drawing that has text boxes, shapes, drawings, etc.

Students were tasked to put together their own wedding invitation, as well as a birth announcement.  In past years, student were allowed to either use a word processor or hand create their product.  This year, we determined to have students try Google Drawing.  Madame Noble wanted an easy way for the students to create their product but to also have a means to share their information with other students.

To complete the task at hand, each student created their own Google Presentation.  Then students inserted a Google Drawing on a slide.  Once they were done, they opened up a Google Presentation that Madame Noble created; this was so that all students were able to 'drop' their product into the presentation. On the day the presentation was due, students viewed each others' work.  To view some student work, click HERE

If you are curious in how Google Drawing works or how it could be implemented in your curriculum, you know what to do...

Bulldog Cafe - Sharing Information


How lucky are the staff at BHS that each week, we are able to walk downstairs to the life skills room, when the Bulldog Cafe is open, to enjoy a delicious treat or hot beverage?  This year, students are making a wide arrangement of food and are doing a great job at that.  I am also impressed with how the students are communicating with the staff on their events that they have participated in as they are using technology.  One particular student is in charged of making a flyer showcasing items such as:

  • What they have done over the month
  • A recipe of their choice to showcase
  • An interesting fact
  • A puzzle for the staff to figure out
  • Announcement of prize winners
  • And much more 
The 'Cafe News' is a great flyer and it is created using a word document.  GREAT JOB and keep up the GOOD WORK!  To view the latest flyer, click HERE.

10.09.2011

Shorten a URL and Create a QR Code in One Click

As some of you know, it can be very annoying to view an important URL in a document or email due to how long it is.  While there are some websites that will actually shorten a URL for you, such as bitly, I have recently been using Google URL Shortener.


Once you have logged into your Google Apps Account, go to Google URL Shortener.  All you have to do is paste in the URL that you are interested in shortening in the given box.  Then, it will automatically add your URL to the list of any URL that you have shortened through Google's service.  (See the picture to your left).  What is cool about this list is that you are able to see how many times, people have used that shortened URL.


In addition, once you hit the details button next to the shorten URL of interest, you will find a QR code that Google already created for you.  This cuts out the 'middle man' of having to go to another website, such as Kaywa, to create your QR code for scanning purposes.

Just another great service to help you do your job efficiently.  If you have any further questions on how to use this service, you know where to find me!

10.01.2011

Assessing Blogs? An Example of a Rubric

This year, Mr. McDonald has decided to have all of his Advanced Writing students manage and write their own blog.  Through this assignment, Mr. McDonald is serving three purposes:

1.  Students are able to freely write about what is intriguing to them.
2.  Students are learning what it is like to to write in the 21 century.
3.  Students are learning what it is like to share and collaborate amongst others through their blog.

Mr. McDonald gave me permission to share the rubric that he is using each month when it comes to assessing the blog.  This rubric is assessing students in how well they communicate their thoughts as well as their grammar.  While you might not use the same competencies in your course, the rubric can be adopted to any course and any competency.  To see the actual rubric, click HERE.

If you are interested in knowing more about blogging in your course, how students can maintain their own blog, or how to assess blogs, please stop by room 222 and we can chat!

9.24.2011

Wallwisher in Action - In Leadership Class

Mrs. Cooney decided to look into implementing a wallwisher activity in her leadership course.  She wanted to have her students look at the characteristics of what it takes to be a good and bad leader.  So, she created two different walls.  One of them had the question, "What do you think is an example of a good leader?"  Students had to think about the discussion that they had in class prior, and had to create a 'sticky note'.  This note needed an explanation of their choice of a great leader, followed by included some sort of media to support their statement.  This could have been done either with the use of a picture or a YouTube video.  The other wall had the same concept however, it was deemed for examples of bad leaders.

The best part of this application is that the wall can be made in about 5 minutes and can be public for anyone to see.  It is important to know though that Mrs. Cooney made a point to only allow a 'sticky note' to appear with owner approval.  (As a side note, it was important that full names were not disclosed for safety sake since this wall is public.)

To view one of Cooney's wallwishers, click HERE

This application can be used in many different situations.  If you would like to bounce ideas as to how you can use this in your curriculum, you know where to find me!

Great work Cooney!

9.18.2011

Gathering Information using Google Forms

Have you ever thought of using Google Forms to gather information about your students?  Mrs. Reilly has been using this feature in her Piano class most recently.  For those of you who are unaware, Google Forms is one of the features of Google Docs.  It is very easy to create one.  You are able to choose the type of questions (such as multiple choice, short answer), as well as the theme of the form.  As you can see, Mrs. Reilly picked the one pertaining to pianos.  Not only is it very easy to make, the form converts all of the answers into a Google Spreadsheet for easy viewing and analyzing.  How do the students get to the form you ask?  It is quite easy.  Make sure that you give students permission to view the form as long as they have the direct link.   

I actually used this feature at the end of the year last year to gather information from my students in regards to how I did an a teacher.  I do this each and every year, however, this was the first time that I actually did it online.  To my surprise, I actually received more thoughtful responses than I ever did when I required students to complete the form by hand.  Plus, because I did not ask for their name, I truly got confidential responses back.  I will definitely use this feature in the future.

Mr. Zeller has been looking into using the feature to actually gather formative data from his students.  There is an actual script that you can embed into Google Forms so that it will actually grade the responses that students gave.  It is called Flubaroo.  With this feature, you create the answer key.  It will grade the responses for you, let you know which questions were an issue for the class as a whole, as well as send an email back to the students to let them know how they did with an optional response from the teacher; all in one email.  For more information, feel free to see me and we can chat about this!

 The possibilities are endless as to how you can use this feature.

9.11.2011

Blogging a Different Way - Mathematically

It was brought to my attention that the Geometry PSP crew this year did something different at the beginning of school.  One of the first things that students learn/review in Geometry PSP is symmetry.  After having a discussion about symmetry and points of reflections, they had their students walk around the school and take pictures of what they just learned.  Students were to find all different types of symmetry and points of reflection.  Once they were done, they had the students pick one picture to text to the class blog that the teachers previously made.  (They made this using Blogger, one of the free features that you have with the Google Apps for Education account.)  By doing this, the teachers were able to have immediate feedback from the students and the class as a whole could have discussions about each picture that was uploaded to the blog.

This is certainly a different way of blogging and is another great example of how you can embrace the technology that students have in their pocket.  There is no doubt in my mind that students were having a great time in class taking pictures with their cell phones while learning at the same time!










The pictures that you see here were taken from Ms. Gagnon's Geometry Blogs.  If you are interested in learning how blogging could be adapted into your classroom, come on down and we will have a chat!

9.05.2011

Glogging

This past week, I spent a couple of days in Wellness 1 classes helping students create wellness star glogs.  There are a couple cool features this year with Glogster.  We were demonstrating the feature of recording your own voice as well as the drawing tool.  Not only this, but Glogster has incorporated a autosave feature.

Thanks to Mr. Guerard, I discovered a different way of using Glogster.  He actually created a glog that explained the Wellness Star Project that the students were working on.  This way, if the students lost their paperwork, they could view the expectations online.  Glogs do not have to just be for students in creating projects.  They can be used in instructional settings as well.  Might be a cool thing to do instead of always using a platform such as PowerPoint.  Check out Mr. Guerards glog HERE.

8.30.2011

Application of QR Codes

I stumbled upon this idea today from Mr. Salge.  This year, he decided to not print his class syllabus.  Instead, he gave students the sign off sheet with a QR code linking to his school webpage, where students and parents can find pertinent information.  (Picture of the handout is given on the right).

In case you are wondering, QR stands for Quick Response.  These codes are great because data is read both vertically and horizontally, allowing for much more data to be stored, compared to the bar code, which can only be read horizontally.

Making a QR code is very easy.  My favorite website to make this happen is KAWAY.  The website is qrcode.kaway.com  Once scanned, the QR code can lead to a website, personalized text, or a YouTube video.  The possibilities are endless.

How are you using QR codes in your classroom?  Sharing is caring...

8.29.2011

'Wish Upon a Wall'

Here is a great web 2.0 tool that you might be interested in:  it is called Wallwisher.  The concept is very easy...someone creates a 'wall'.  (All you need to do is create an account.  The best part is that you can log on with your school Google account.)  Once logged in, you title you wall.  My title consisted of a question.  Then you are able to select from several wall backgrounds and include your own sticky.  Once you are ready, you can invite other people to put a sticky on that particular wall.  This sticky can consist of words, links, and embedded YouTube videos. 

I decided to check this out myself to see how it works out, so I created a wall about PowerTeacher and grading.  Click HERE out how easy it is to write a sticky on the wall.  It would be great for you to add your own insight as well as help your fellow bulldog peers at the same time.  I can see this very useful in classes.  Let me know if you would like to chat more about this.

I love the fact that learning is never over...

8.28.2011

Welcome Our New Bulldogs

On Friday, August 19, 2011, the first technology training occurred for the school year in room 222.  The new bulldogs are ready to rock and roll!

Check Out Our New Digs

That is right, room 222 has a new look.  Here, you can stop by to ask questions, get ideas for projects for your classes, or just relax for a few.  Additionally, trainings will be given throughout the year in this room.  Both Kerri and I are really excited about getting this school year going.  GO BULLDOGS!