Using the SMART Recorder in SMART Notebook

Today's the day- you're going to teach that complicated, multi-step lesson.  You're prepared - you have created a great lesson using the SMART Board and will have the students up at the board working out solutions.  There's just one problem.  You have absent students today, and if you go ahead and begin now, you're just going to have to do it all over again tomorrow.

We've all been there. We can't just stop our classes because of absent students, but we also know we want all of our students to be successful.  By using the SMART Recorder, we can solve this problem.  The SMART Recorder can be found in the SMART Board Tools. To access, go to SMART Board Tools, Open, then choose Recorder, as displayed.

You can also customize your Floating Tools by clicking on the wheel at the bottom.  Then drag and drop the Recorder to your Floating Tools.

The SMART Recorder will open after you've selected it.  To begin recording, simply click on the red "record" button. 

It is recommended to keep videos at a length of 5 minutes or less.  It will take a great deal of time to convert videos longer than that.  As you finish up your recording, click on the blue stop button.  Your video will be named and you can choose where to save it.

Here's an example of how the SMART Recorder can benefit your classes:

(or click here for a larger version of the above movie)

This can get you and your students moving forward.  Be sure to comment with additional ways you could use the SMART Recorder!

Spicing up Your Presentations

We've all been there - we're watching someone give a presentation and feel like Charlie Brown's teacher is talking. "Mwa mwa mwa..."  I bet our students feel the same way.

There are many times we need to provide information to our students and use presentation programs, like PowerPoint or Keynote.  The rules for using text in these presentations has always been 7x7 - no more than 7 lines of text with 7 words in each line.

So maybe you're happy with your presentations.  Maybe you realize that the students just aren't "getting it," and you're ready to spice them up a little.  Here's an idea:

1.  Let the pictures do the talking.  What are people doing if you throw text at them while you talk to them?  That's right - they're reading the text.  Try finding images that could convey your information.  As students participate in the lesson, they might not take notes.  However, they will actually have to analyze the picture rather than just write down the words from your presentation.  Which of the two will leave a lasting impact on your students?

 

This also provides a great opportunity for questioning.  Take the following slide for an example of thematic lesson or unit on Veteran's Day:

The questions listed on the slide might or might not be necessary.  A teacher could just display the picture and ask the students to respond with questions.  Regardless, the questions listed should spark discussion among students.  This image means many different things for different people.  It's one of those situations that definitely causes the students to "feel" something rather than copy down someone else's words.

By teaching with images rather than words, students with reading or writing difficulties can participate fully.  The focus is away from reading someone else's ideas and instead, the students generate their own.  This can assist to differentiate a classroom for ESL students, visual learners, and even auditory learners due to the discussions that could ensue.

A great site to get great quality, royalty free images is Stock Xchange.  

Try it out!  The next time you need to develop a presentation for your students, try using visuals to enhance their thinking and spark questioning. The students will notice a difference, too!

Funding for Your Classroom

If you could dream, what supplies would you provide for your classroom?

There are many different options to get materials, supplies, and even technology for your classroom.  Below is a list of some you might like to try:

Pepsi Refresh Project: This site allows you to create a project, list your needs/wants/dreams, and others vote on what project should be funded.  Pepsi has $1,300,000 available for donations and finalists will be chosen on October 1st.

DonorsChoose: This is an ongoing site for teachers to list project ideas and the supplies necessary to complete it.  You can request technology or school supplies with this site by registering for an account and explaining your project.

Limeades for Learning: Limeades for Learning is a partnership that Sonic has with DonorsChoose.  Again, just register for an account, list project ideas and needs, then share your ideas with others so they can vote on it.  So far, Sonic has given over $255,000 this month.  Voting closes on September 30, so hurry!

Digital Wish: Whereas the above listed sites can fund anything from technology to crayons, Digital Wish is only for technology projects.  It's a great way to get a Flip camera, digital camera, or even a wireless slate.  Just get an account, list your project ideas, and wait to get funded.

I hope to see lots of our teachers trying this out!  Contact me for assistance in the type of technology to request.

Find it Fast!

Ever been searching a long document for a key piece of information?  What about when you can't find that keyword on the website you're looking at?  Mac has a solution for that.  You can use the 'command f' key combination to find whatever you need in virtually any application.  For example, by using this key combination on a webpage, I searched 'emints.' 

By clicking the "Next" button shown above, the word eMINTS is highlighted individually.  If it is preferred, by clicking "Highlight all," I can see how many times the word is used in a single webpage.

This can be a handy feature when looking for information or for students to use as they determine if words are overused in their writing.  Remember that all applications might look a little different when using this feature.  To close the search, look for a button that is either red or has an "x" near the search field.

Making Your Life Easier on a Mac, Part II

Last week, I posted 5 Mac shortcuts designed to help users save a little time and be a little more productive.  As mentioned last week, the list of Mac shortcuts is phenomenal.  I've chosen a few more shortcuts and tricks this week that might assist you.

1. Take a picture!  So many times we find reasons to share pictures of our screen, but there's no "Print Screen" key on a Mac.  Use the combo Command, Shift, 3 to take a screen shot or Command, Shift, 4 to select your picture area.  The picture will be downloaded to your desktop as Picture 1, Picture 2, and so on.

2.  Make your calculator fit your needs.  The calculator application on a Mac is opened first as a standard calculator.  It can be changed to a scientific or programming calculator by going to View, then choosing your preference.

3.  One thing that is heard from many former PC users when they move to Mac is, "I want my right click!"  A right click on a mouse usually opens up many shortcuts and additional options.  On a Mac, the right click is a control click.  Simply hold the control button down and click on the track pad if you're using a laptop.  All your options will then become available!

4.  Rainbow Wheel, i.e. Spinning wheel of death: How many times have we suffered from this?  It can happen for many reasons, but there is a way to get rid of it.  Alt, Command, Esc is equivalent to Ctrl Alt Delete on a PC.  Try that key combo to Force Quit the application that is not responding.

5.  Close a window or quit a program:  Sometimes when using multiple applications, many, many windows are open.  The windows you are done with can be closed quickly by using the key combo Command W.  Quit the entire program by using the key combo Command Q.

Try these tips this week and soon they'll become habit.  Hopefully, you won't have any reason to use Tip #4!

Making Your Life Easier on a Mac

One of the best things about using a Macintosh computer is the shortcuts!  I counted them - there are 191.  If you'd like to see the complete list, click here.

There are about five shortcuts that I think are the best for productivity.  This can assist you in the classroom and make your life a little easier.  They are listed below with examples of how to use them:

1. Command Tab:  Hold on the Command key and hit Tab.  This will show all the applications you have open.  Continue to hit Tab until the white box is around the application you want to use, then let go of both keys.  The chosen application will be moved so you can easily access it.

2. Expose: This is different for different computer models, but can be changed. Using either the F9 or F3 key, you can see every document, application, and window that is open and running on your computer.  If neither of those keys work, use the Expose and Spaces area in System Preferences to set it up.  Choose the key you prefer where it says "All Windows."

3.  Show Desktop:  Use the function and F11 key at the same time.  Again, if your settings do not allow this function, just change it in System Preferences where it says "Show Desktop."

4.  Increase screen size: Command +.  This will make your screen size larger so you can zoom in on one area.  Decrease by using Command -.

5.  Quick View:  At some time, you'll get to the point where you have so many documents that you're not sure which one is which.  Using the Finder menu, you can easily view documents before they're open.  Click on the document you'd like to preview, then click the spacebar. A temporary window appears.  (See below)

You can preview the document, then click on the spacebar again to close out.

Habits are formed through repetition.  Throughout this week, try these shortcuts regularly until that  habit is established, then venture to the Apple Mac OS X Keyboard Shortcuts linked above or look for continued posts to this blog for more ideas.

The Reality of the 21st Century Learner

Disclaimer:  This is not a cool tech trick.  This is me on my soapbox.  If you want a tech trick, please refer to the archives. There's lots of great stuff there!

Day 1:  So there I sat, in a conference, learning lots of new stuff.  I was constantly texting, tweeting, sending emails, and taking notes in my wiki, which I use for PD.  I have to admit, I was out of my element with this conference.  The presenters talked about things I had never heard of before.  So what did I do?  I Googled it.  No way I was going to raise my hand in the middle of a conference and ask the presenter what each term meant.  There were lots of techie-looking people in that conference room that would laugh at me for being the "stupid one!"  Luckily, I didn't have to risk that because Wikipedia answered my question everytime.  I did all five of the above listed activities (gasp!) at the same time.  I left that day feeling so much more confident in my abilities as a technology specialist.  I've always been strong on the curriculum side, but this conference gave me the background from the tech side.  I couldn't wait for the next day.

Day 2:  That was when it happened.  The battery on my laptop died.  I had a new battery and was still calibrating it, so I couldn't charge my laptop in my hotel room when I first noticed. No problem - I could charge it during the conference.  Well, I thought it wouldn't be a problem, anyway...
When I arrived at my first session, I looked around the edges of the room.  There were no, none, zilch power outlets around the room! Still, I'm a problem solver, so I got out the iPhone. 

You know how there are commercials on television depicting two unnamed cell phone companies battling for the best 3G network?  I'd never had a problem, and thought the commercials were silly until that day.  I was apparently in a 3G dead zone.  Sending and receiving texts was one thing, but using Twitter, my browser, and even Facebook was not happening.  I tried and tried, unfortunately to the point that I killed that battery, too.  I only had one option left.  The thought of having to take notes on traditional paper (with no table in front of me) was repulsive.  I did it, but sure wasn't happy about it.  At least I learned a lesson that day to always charge my laptop the night before.

This story might be something for you to chuckle at, or maybe even roll your eyes at.  Regardless, this is the story of our students today.  There are two kinds of people in the world today - digital natives and digital immigrants.  I've said before I'm definitely a digital immigrant, not necessarily because of my age, but because of the small town that I grew up in.  Imagine what it's like for our kids, who are definitely digital natives.  Imagine what it must be like for them to sit through a lecture, to sit in a hard chair to read a story, to be so disengaged that they're thinking about anything and everything else.  That's the "Power down" effect:  when kids participate in critical thinking, problem solving, and engaging activities at home with video games or various computer software, then come to school and experience something that involves none of these skills.

Today's generation needs more.  They can handle more.  Their attention span only lasts about twenty minutes, and that's dependent upon their age.  They are multi-taskers, regardless of whether we think they are or not.  They want to create, explore, and figure things out.  If we want our kids to learn, we have to meet them there.

Let's look at our options.  Sometimes you have to lecture (sometimes).  Sometimes you have to ask students to read (more often than lecturing).  Why not use technology while students are involved in these activities?  Need to lecture?  Have the kids tweet the main points as they're listening.  Have them keep notes in a collaborative document to share out with the rest of the class.  They have to read.  Instead of answering the questions at the back of the book, have them blog about their reading and reflect on what it means to them.  They can comment each other's work and see how the same reading piece meant something else to another student.  Need to teach a math process?  After teaching the steps, make it real life.  Connect it to buying video games, designing a room, playhouse, etc.  I know it's not the way we learned, but did the way we learn prepare us for the 21st Century?  Think about it - our primary education was geared toward agrarian societies of students that were going to grow up and work in factories.  The really smart ones (or the ones whose parents made them) went to college.  Did we ever really learn to think?  To value ideas?  Or were we just doing what the teacher asked so we didn't get in trouble?

I warned you, that was me on my soapbox.  I could go on, but I'd just be repeating myself over and over.  I have just one thought to leave with you as we consider the shift with technology and society - when I was a child, an abacus was a toy for preschoolers.  Now I know several preschoolers who have iPods.  How's that for progression?

Wallwishing

Isn't student engagement what we all wish for? Students can get tired of the same old thing, which can lead to disengagement.  Wallwisher is an easy online tool that can be used in many different ways. It is so easy, in fact, you don't even have to create an account to use it!

To access a "wall," go to http://wallwisher.com/ and follow these steps:

1. Click "Build a Wall" in the top right hand corner.

 

2. You will be asked to provide your name and email address.

3. Give your wall a name that will be listed in the URL. It can be anything! Just type in the field after the given URL. Choose your privacy settings listed below.

4. Choose a picture for your wall and Give it a title.

Wallwisher will then email you a message with the link to your wall.  To add to it, just double click anywhere on the wall.  Refresh your page as people add to it.

How can you use this in your classroom?  Here are a few ideas:
1. Reflection
2. Brainstorming
3. Student created scoring guides
4. Collaborative writing
5. Feedback
6. Questioning

What are some ideas you have?  Feel free to add to my wall:
http://wallwisher.com/wall/classideas

Wordle-A Teacher's Tool

In high school, I applied for many scholarships.  It was very competitive between my classmates.  Many of these scholarships asked for a 500 word essay on various topics, sometimes just on the idea of "why I deserve this scholarship more than someone else." My mother typically proofread these essays for me.  I remember the unfailing feedback I grew to expect: "You used (insert word here) too frequently.  Go find some synonyms for it."
Those words have haunted me for over fifteen years.  When writing papers for my undergrad degree, I would even count how many times I used the big idea in a paper so I could find synonyms as I went instead of rewriting afterward.  By the time I finished my graduate degree, it was no longer an issue.  I had spent over fifteen years developing the habit of not using the same word too many times. Now, how was I supposed to pass that gift on to my students without giving them haunting memories of their teacher standing over them, arms crossed, wearing a scowl? In addition to sparing them that nightmare, I'd also like them to identify with good word choice at an earlier age than I did.  And so my search for a way to teach this skill continued until a teacher friend introduced me to Wordle.

Wordle is a "word cloud" generator.  In simpler terms, it gathers all the words you've used in a piece of writing and randomly arranges them in something that looks like a cloud.  Words that have been used more frequently than others are larger than the remaining words.  Here's an example of what this blog's  word cloud looks like thus far:

It seems as if I might need to look for a synonym for "word" judging by the size of this display.

Wordle is simple to use.  Simply access the website at http://www.wordle.net. From the home page, you can browse saved word clouds from other users or create your own by clicking on the "Create" link. There are three options here - copy and paste in the text, enter the URL of any site that uses an RSS feed, or add in a Del.icio.us user's name to see his or her most common tags.  For most classroom uses, choose the copy and paste option. After pasting in the text, click "Go." You will be redirected to a page with your word cloud.  From here, you can change fonts, layouts, and colors.  If necessary, this page can be printed or the cloud can be saved so that it can be accessed later.

Another use of word clouds includes comparing two articles.  Want to find the most common theme in a meeting or even a speech?  Take notes directly in Wordle and then generate a cloud.  Here is an example of two Wikipedia articles.  One is about FDR's New Deal and the other is about the government bank bailout of 2008.

By showing these two word clouds to students, you could generate a discussion about how these two events are connected, or, not connected.

Wordle is so diverse that it could be used in many different disciplines, as an engagement tool, and for a variety of activities to elicit higher order thinking.  Options are endless!

Technology and Your PLN

First things first - what's a PLN? PLN stands for personal learning networks. Among teachers, this acronym is very popular in our time. Gone are the days of subscribing to a professional journal to learn new ideas for your classroom or sitting in face to face late night classes towards a degree (or maybe to just learn something new).  Teachers now have lifelong learning at their fingertips - it's called the Internet.

I remember when the idea of the Internet started surfacing.  I lived in a small town (I think they just got online last year). It took so long for us to hear about the Internet many people had even graduated from car phones in bags to real cell phones! At that time, my Internet use was limited to researching vacation spots.  I planned my entire wedding and honeymoon online (it's really not that impressive - I got married in Vegas). But there was no way I was going to book it online. Nope. The only way to handle transactions like that was to go see a travel agent and say, "Here's where I want to go. How much?"

So, what does this have to do with a PLN? Let me help you make the connection. Picture back in the day how new ideas were researched and implemented in classrooms. There were (and still are) lots of resources out there.  Regional Professional Development Centers offer face to face workshops. If you were really serious, you actually enrolled in a grad class (or any night class). From my location, this meant you might have to drive an hour or more to get to the nearest university. And let's face it - professional journal articles are just not easy to read. We were much more likely to skim through those magazines that relied on blackline masters and cutesy ideas that were summed up in a paragraph just to add a little spice to our classes. And that's what we did. I can say that I have participated in all of the above.

Enter the Internet. Now I can Google anything! Need a lesson idea? Google can help you find the answer. I can download lessons, search for new ideas, and gather resources much faster than before. But that's still not a PLN.

Type define: network in your Google search engine and here's what you get:
an interconnected system of things or people
a system of intersecting lines or channels
communicate with and within a group

See a common idea? Interconnected. That's a PLN. My very own way to find information, ideas, to learn from a group(s) of educators with similar interests. Now, let's picture this B.I. (before Internet). Party line, anyone? Faculty lounge? All the teachers sitting around the lunch table actually discussing new ways to teach, ideas to try, ways to handle that "one kid?" Maybe. That might even happen in your school right now. If so, you are very blessed to work with such a great group of educators. But then the bell will ring and you'll have to go to recess duty. Maybe you can talk later.

Here's how you can develop your professional learning in a way that will enrich your teaching (and your students' learning) whenever you have time. Maybe it's after you put the kids to bed and you're in your pajamas. Maybe you go to school early to do a little work before everyone else gets there. Maybe you have 5 minutes at lunch or, if you have one of those new, fandangled "smartphones" you are waiting at the DMV to renew your tags (that is, unless you start doing that online, too).


Step 1: Get a Twitter account. I know you've heard about it because even the news stations use it now. In doing so, consider your purpose. You want to learn, right? List your information in your bio so that people understand that.  Think about if you need to protect your tweets or not. If not, make sure you monitor your followers daily. (You'll get an email that says when someone is following you).

Who will you follow? Again, use the almighty Google. In searching "educators on Twitter" I received 3,310,000 results. Of course, I'm sure they're not all relevant. But that's a lot! The top hit was a blog linking to a wiki that had educators using Twitter, their purpose in using Twitter, and their username. Second hit - same thing, different wiki. Excellent resource!

Look at your followers closely. If the information they're giving you isn't what you need, see if someone else does provide that information. That's the reason we're doing this.

Reap the benefits of a lifelong learner while implementing new ideas in your classroom. Your kids will do great things!

Step 2: Do you use Facebook? Lots of teachers do, and they do this for their PLN. However, I do need a disconnect between my professional and personal life. Therefore, Facebook is personal, but Twitter and Classroom2.0 are professional. Classroom2.0 is a lot like Facebook and Myspace meshed together. Take a look - it's all teachers. You can follow people if you like, but the benefit of Classroom2.0 in my opinion is the groups.  Search the groups that are there and see where common interests lie.  You can blog, post to groups for ideas, and even sync it with your Twitter account.  Benefit of Classroom2.0 over Twitter? More characters. Developing curriculum with people states (or even countries) away.

Step 3: Make a Del.icio.us account. I have three computers and an iPhone. I can't remember where I save things. I tried using folders for bookmarks, but if I was using another device, I couldn't do anything. If people I worked for asked for a link, I had to search for it and email them. Now, I just say, "It's in my Del.icio.us account.  The tag is ____(fill in the blank here)."  Now my bookmarks are held online. No worries when the computer crashes or when groups want to work together. We can search each other's resources easily.

These three collaboration tools will greatly benefit your PLN and your students' learning. The best part-they're quick, easy, and continuous. Never the same information. Always the latest news. Just remember - it's a network. Learning from others also means contributing. We're all in this together, right?