A Whole New Kind of Field Trip

Have you wanted to take your students on a field trip, but just don’t have the time or the money in your budget to do it?  Maybe you are getting tired of taking students on the same field trips every year and you are in need of a change.  I have the solution for you.  Take your class on a Virtual Field trip right in the computer lab.  Virtual Field Trips allow you take travel to a specific time period or places you would never otherwise be able to travel.  Think about taking your students to the Pyramids in Egypt, have them experience the Civil War or explore the ocean floor.  All of these things are possible with Virtual Field trips.

Virtual Field Trips allow students the opportunity to visit, research and explore places and time periods not readily available to your class.  Virtual Field Trips provide students an opportunity to take control of their own learning, making it a more meaningful experience.  Also, after setting up a field trip, students are able to visit it over and over for extended learning outside of the classroom.  Below you will find a link to a website that is all about Virtual Field Trips.  This site explains them a little more in-depth and provides some great samples.  You can try a pre-constructed field trip or create your own.  What better time than Spring Break to put some ideas together and take your students on a new type of adventure!

Virtual Field Trip Resources

Keep Your Life Organized with Evernote

Do you find yourself leaving post-it notes all over to remember things you need to do throughout the day?  Or maybe you saw something online last week that would be great for a unit coming up in class, but you just can’t remember where it was.  If you stop by my room and look at my desk on any given day you will notice a colorful array of notes posted all over reminding me of the many things I need to get done.  The notes make my desk feel cluttered and some days it gets a little ridiculous digging through notes to check off what I have actually completed.  I have found a program that helps with my organization and I encourage you to give it a try.  Evernote is a program online that allows you to create notes/reminders, generate lists and keep track of things you find online from anywhere you go.  This program is great for the classroom or for personal use.  While reading a novel you could have students keep track of character traits, scene changes or different themes throughout the story.  While studying a certain time in history, students could create lists of rulers or famous battles that took place.  Maybe you came up with some really great ideas for week 2 of your lesson and you want to remember them for next year.  All you need to do is create a note topic and add the details.  Maybe you’re in the market for a new vehicle and you want to compare features.  Evernote will allow you to do this as well and you can even take snapshots of online images to add to your notes.  I truly find Evernote to be a great addition in my life and mainly because I can add a note from anywhere.  I have the app on my computer at school, my computer at home as well as on my phone.  What an easy way to create a shopping list (or have my wife do it) so I don’t forget what I need when I get to the store.  I challenge you to try this program and let me know what you think.  And as always if you need assistance let me know.  Happy Monday!

02/01/2012: Digital Learning Day

Today, 02/01/2012, has been dubbed the first annual Digital Learning Day.  With the growth of technology present in our classroom every day, it is important that we, as educators, take time to find ways we can improve our learning environments.  In this post you will find a link to a great site (thanks to my wife) about a few ways in which you can incorporate technology into your classroom.  Not everything in this article will be relevant to every person, but I challenge you to pick one idea or tool and try it in your classroom.  Push your students to think more critically about topics you discuss.  Encourage your students to travel beyond the textbook and beyond the confines of the school walls to find real world applications for your material.  Create a wiki where you can share these things with students or you can create a place for students to have a more in-depth discussion about a specific topic.  Create a podcast of your lessons so that students are able to go back and listen one more time to really get the true meaning out of what you were saying.  Bring the outside world in with Skype and meet with an author or historian you wouldn’t normally be able to invite into your classroom. The opportunities are endless and now is the time to try some new learning techniques in your classroom.  If you have any questions or would like help finding a way to incorporate technology into your classroom, don’t hesitate to ask.  Happy Digital Learning Day!!!

 

Digital Learning Day Resource

Google SlideRocket

Are you getting a bit tired of creating PowerPoint presentations for your classes?  Prezi is a great program, but can take quite a while to set up.  Google has a great tool called sliderocket.  You can access it by clicking the more section at the top of your Google Mail page.  Sliderocket is a lot like PowerPoint, but expands on what you can create and incorporate into your presentation.  You are able to add images and video from Internet sites like Flikr and or YouTube.  You are able to import your current PowerPoint presentations and enhance them beyond what MS is capable of.  Because this program is offered by Google, you are able to collaborate with others just like Google docs.  You can work in “real-time” by adding twitter feeds and live stock quotes from Yahoo Finance.  Sliderocket allows you to create private presentations to share with individuals of your choice or it gives you the option to create a link to share with all.  You can take this show on the road as well and access it from anywhere (computer, mobile phone, iPad or tablet).  You are able to narrate your presentation if you would like so it would have some great classroom uses.  And, as you can see from the example below, sliderocket allows you to add a timeline to your presentation so it plays automatically.  I would encourage you to check out the website www.sliderocket.com and watch the tutorials.  I have included a link below to a presentation I created for my masters class.  This presentation is about the SLATE conference I attended back in December and sums up the sessions I went to.  Again, if you have any questions about the program or want help getting started just let me know.

Sliderocket SLATE Presentation

Google Chrome (Part 2)

Chad Kafka is a great innovator when it comes to technology.  If you are not following him on Twitter I would highly recommend you start.  He came to give a presentation last year and it was great information.  He also just put together a presentation through the link below that reiterates my previous post.  Chad also gives great tips in setting up the Chrome browser.  Check it out!!!

 

Chad Kafka Presentation

Google Chrome

Are you using Google Chrome as a search engine?  Why not?  Google Chrome is a great option to supplement your web experience.  Google Chrome offers some new ways to track your bookmarks visually as well as add web apps right to your browser.  I  would challenge you to give it a try.  Below is a link to an article that gives you 10 web apps to get you started.  Google Chrome is not the end all be all, but will be a great tool in your belt.  Not to mention our school’s Google Apps/Mail accounts perform best using Chrome.

10 Web Apps. for Teachers and Students

Expanding Your Classroom with Skype

Skype is a program that allows you to make video phone calls for free with your computer and a web camera.  Skype is a free program you can download from the Skype website.

Skype knocks down the walls in your classroom and creates a world of possibilities for learning.  Teachers are able to in invite speakers into their classroom from anywhere in the world.  English teachers could invite an author to speak with their students from California without the costs of travel.  If a student is ill, they are able to still get the material and teacher interaction from the comforts of their own home. Foreign language students can converse with students in another country.  We are able to collaborate on projects with classrooms from other districts without having to leave our school.

With this program possibilities are endless!

If you are interested in exploring this option, please let me know and I can help you develop a plan or a project to incorporate Skype into your lesson.  I also have a website that lists current projects teachers are working on and invites you to join them to explore topics and content from around the world.

Check out the quick how-to video at the bottom of the Skype homepage to learn out to set up your very own account.

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Google, the year in search.

I thought this was a great video worth sharing.  It discusses the top searches on Google for 2011.  Try to generate a list of things you remember before you watch and see how many you get.  Funny how some big stories are forgotten.

Year in Search

Twitter, it isn’t just for celebrities.

So I wanted to give you all something to think about and try while you are over break.  The more I thought about it, the more I felt Twitter would be the perfect topic.  I really wanted to explain just how important this program is and how useful of a tool it can be.  I found an article and linked it below.  The article really reiterates how I feel about this program.  I have had a Twitter account for quite some time, but never really knew what to do with it.  I followed a couple of people here and there as I made connections, but I always knew it could be more.  The last month or so I have been doing research and reading posts about Twitter and using it to its full potential.  I had no idea what this thing was all about.  After reading and trying some things, I am on Twitter every day.  Twitter is such an amazing tool that allows you to follow some very well-educated people who are leading the way in many areas.  You can also use this in your classroom to interact with students and send them messages about work due and things coming up in class.  This article really lays out so many of the great advantages of using Twitter (personal and educational).  It is a little lengthy, but the information is great.  I challenge you to read this and try it out over break.  See how great this program is and if you need some assistance when we get back I would be more than happy to help.  Enjoy Turkey Day!

 

Twitter in Education

New Look to Gmail

For those of you that use Gmail on a regular basis, you will soon learn there is a new look Google is rolling out.  They are trying streamline the program and enhance some of the features that already exist.  I planned on putting together a short podcast, but I found one that works well.  On the site below, you will find a great video about the new features and enhancements to Gmail.  For those of you that want to work ahead of the switch you can “preview” the program already and check out first hand how the new features will impact your experience.

http://t.co/BRioZHeA