November PCSC Technology Integration Newsletter
This picture was shared with me by Dee Laswell and it really
hit home. There are so many programs out
there for us to use, but do we really use them?
We share many different resources and it can be overwhelming, but we do not
expect people to use each of these tools!
Find the tools that seem interesting to you and your students, then use
them. It’s just like when you get a new
textbook series. The amount of materials
that are given is scary. How could
someone ever use all of these tools?
Most would just use what they felt comfortable with and add more
resources as needed. Treat all of the
technology tools the same way. Pick out
some of the technology resources that are fit your class and use them well,
then you can add little by little.
Tech suggestions for November
1. Animoto - http://animoto.com/education/classroom Presented by Lori Smith, PCMS
My Language Arts Applications classes just finished a unit
on advertising, in which students had to design their own cereal using pathos,
ethos, and logos. For the culminating
project, they used animoto.com to create a commercial for their cereal. This site was user-friendly and quick; their
commercials were completed within two class periods. We then viewed them
together in class and discussed their various attributes. My blog is at www.smithlandofenglish.blogspot.com
and the projects are available for viewing there.
The link at the top is to the education part of
Animoto. As a teacher you can apply to
get a free account. You can also check out examples of what others have done on
Animoto to get some starter ideas.
2. Google Drive - www.google.com (If you are interested in using any of the
pieces below, contact Phil Clauss so he can get and your students signed up.)
If you want your students to be able to collaborate with
each other while not sitting with each other, be able to share documents with
the teacher, or be able to access their files from anywhere with an internet
connection. Let Phil or Beth know and we will make sure you and your students
have accounts so you can begin. We would
love to work with anyone on ways to begin using some of these Google tools.
Below are some ways that our teachers have been using some of these Google
tools.
I like for my 2nd graders to use Google Docs for several
different reasons. My students are
currently composing a narrative in Google Docs.
I taught my students how to share their documents with me and I was able
to login to Google at home and edit their narratives. I really like that I can highlight text and
add notes to my students about their documents. This allows me to conference
with them without taking the time during the day to talk to each student
individually. Google Docs is very
user-friendly and it is wonderful that it auto-saves...no more lost work! In the past I have used Google Docs in
partner work. A couple of years ago our
epals in New York worked on an Earth Day project and added to/edited the same
document so that we had a collaborative final piece. -Terra Knust, Otwell
Using Google Docs, my English 11 students collaborated to
write stories. Each student started a story with one sentence, then moved from
computer to computer, adding one sentence to each story. Near the end of the
period, after moving back to their own computers, the students then had to
correct any errors in their stories, write an ending, and verbally share them
with the class. This is always a fun assignment, while students also learn the
aspects of writing a short story and collaboration. - Alice Sims, PCHS
Google presentation is a lot like PowerPoint but simpler to
use. My 2nd graders this year have made
a couple of different Google presentations.
The first presentation they made was on deserts. They used information we’d learned in class
along with online research through sites I posted on Bundlr and made a short
presentation of about 4 slides. They
inserted clipart from Google images. The
second presentation was documenting the life cycle of a caterpillar that I
brought to school. This presentation was
longer and took a couple weeks to complete.
My students inserted pictures of our caterpillar that I posted to our
blog. These projects were great practice
for writing complete sentences, using capitals, endmarks, correct grammar, and
spelling. The students enjoyed working
on these and especially had fun adding slide transitions and animations. Both presentations were posted online for
parents to view. - Terra Knust
I have started using Google Forms for quizzes and
tests. Overall, my students really like
it. And of course, I do as well because
it does the grading for me. I have a lot
more to learn, but it works for me right now!
- Kyle Brames, PCHS
3. Pinterest - www.pinterest.com Presented by Beth Bohnert
With the holidays approaching many of us will be looking to
Pinterest for ideas, but Pinterest is also an excellent resource for teaching
ideas. Pinterest allows you to “pin” ideas onto virtual bulletin boards and has
a variety of material available. Check
out our corporation Pinterest boards for various subjects and teaching
resources. If you have items you would like to share on our Pinterest boards,
let us know and we will be happy to allow you access to become a guest pinner. http://www.pinterest.com/pcedlinks/
4. Thinglink - www.thinlink.com
Making
Pictures Come To Life
By: Lori Richardson
Welcome to the next generation of interactive pictures. At thinglink.com, you can add custom hotlinks
to any picture to create a fun, interactive experience. There are tons of possibilities and uses for your
classroom.
Check out this quick example I made for you: http://bit.ly/17BuGbi
You can create thinglinks for your students as review tools
or have your students create one for you over any topic! No classroom computers, no problem. You can visit one of our school’s wonderful
computer labs or project your thinglink on your overhead projector and hover
over the links for your students see.
There are many benefits to using the website. For instance, the images embed nicely into
Moodle, websites, or blogs. If stats are
your thing, the site also offers you some basic stats where you can check how
many views and embeds your image has received.
Or if you need ideas, you can browse and use the many already created
thinglinks.
Need more convincing to give it a try? Well, you can download the thinglink app for
free from itunes. Or you can follow them
on Twitter @thinglink. As an educator,
you and your students can take advantage of the free education upgrade at: http://www.thinglink.com/action/store/education
So head over to Thinglink.com today, sign up for your free
account and start creating images that inspire and engage your students.
6. Facebook Following
A lot of our staff are Facebook users and spend time
checking out what your friends are doing. There are also a lot of pages on
Facebook that are beneficial to teachers.
Here are just a few. If you have
any others that you would recommend, please share with everyone.
Encouraging Teachers - I love this
one. Teachers can ask anything and get
tons of help. Instead
of just asking a few people you
know, liking this page will allow you to ask thousands of other
teachers the same question. You
will also be able to help others with their questions.
Scholastic Teachers - Resources shared
and ideas that are also available on their website.
Teaching Resources - Lots of ideas
shared.
SimpleK12 - I just started following
them, but I have loved the resources I get from their website.
Teacher
Spotlight for the Month - Lori Smith
Lori Smith is our spotlight teacher of the month. Her use of Animoto in the class was a big hit
by her students. Some of her classes
also took the challenge of writing their thoughts about the the “Day Made of
Glass” Youtube video. Feel free to
follow her blog and keep updated with what is going on in her class. Keep up
the good work.
Student
Spotlight of the Month - Bailey White
Bailey White is our spotlight student of the month. Bailey
recently completed a web page project for the Pike County Public Library’s
Zombie Run. Bailey used Weebly to create
his site and worked with Mrs. Oldenkamp, the librarian, to obtain insight into
what she wanted on the webpage. When
finished, Mrs. Oldenkamp was kind enough to write the following, “He (Bailey)
was really good about asking me specific questions such as if kids or dogs were
allowed. Asked a lot about the set-up, how I’d like the layout of the site,
what sort of information I would want. He did some high caliber work, and I was
very happy with the outcome. The graphics and font types were especially
great.” You may view Bailey’s zombie
webpage at http://pczombierun.weebly.com.
If you see Bailey, tell him congratulations on a job well done!
Follow Pike Central High School on Twitter @pchschargers
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