Teaching with Technology

I’m getting ready to attend a Teacher Training Institute where teachers will received their own pocket Flip Video Camera. I thought it might be nice to share some of the great ways they can use it. Tom Barrett’s collection of ideas might be a great start! If you have any other ideas, please comment below or send the to Tom….or better yet…do both! :)

Jacqui Sharp from ICT Teaching and Learning posted this great slideshow of different ways to publish writing. It’s great!! It goes from the easiest ways to the more elaborate…but lots of fun things are included. Take a look! Can you think of any other ways?

Want an easy back to school activity that will help you begin to know your students?  Try Wordle!  Here’s an example of an About Me activity using it. Please remember to use only first names if you do this with your students.

 
The instructional ideas for this resource are endless. You can find some of these ideas in this post, Wordle Word Clouds. I also suggest taking a look at the ideas Tom Barrett has collected from many other educators below:

Finally, you may want to check out Jen Wagner’s Guess the Wordle Wiki. There she posts different Wordles throughout the week, and students are encouraged to guess their subject using the words in the Wordle (Monday is an easy wordle, Wednesday is a little harder, Friday is the hardest). She will also be adding a Thursday Wordle that will be about a book (librarians, this might appeal to you)!

If you have your students create Wordles, make sure you direct them to this exact URL (http://www.wordle.net/create) so they bypass the gallery of other Wordles. While most of the examples in the gallery are usually okay, from time to time inappropriate words do appear there. By going straight to the “Create” area, you lessen the chance that students run across inappropriate words. :)

If you have never used Wordle before and would like some help as you explore it with your students, please contact me!

Have you seen the Nicoles’ new Carver library webpage?  Or Victoria Salvat’s Kindergarten page?  If not, check them out!  You will notice they are using a really cool service called Glogster.  Glogster allows you to make interactive poster-like creatives that include links, pictures, and videos all with a really slick looking design.  You can allow these posters to stand alone as wepbages, or embed them in webpage, wiki, or blog.  It works especially well for the homepage of a website.  This is what Victoria and Nicole did to add that extra touch to their websites.  Pam and I also used this for the Trek2India wiki!

So, want to make interactive posters with your kids?  Here’s a tutorial that shows you how!

Always remember to stay on the educational gloster site (http://www.glogster.com/edu) with your students. Otherwise, they may access inappropriate material on the regular Glogster site.

Want to connect for free (or cheaply) with people all over the world?  Want to make video phone calls?  Skpye is a free way to do that!  All you need is your computer, a web cam (and East and GWC each have one you can borrow), and a free download!

Here are the steps:

1. Download and install Skype here.

2. Follow directions to create a Skype account!

3. Start calling.

For a step-by-step how-to guide, click here.

How do you use this in the classroom, you ask?  Lots of ways!

• call another class in a different area of the world to find out about their home
• call an “expert” on a topic you are studying
• have someone dress up as a famous person or book character and call your class
• play a game with another classroom at a different school
• write riddles for other classes to guess
• share writing

Can you think of other ways?

A few of our classes have been using Skype to connect with classrooms in different areas.  Mrs. Barnett’s Fourth Grade at East talked with students in Virginia Beach to learn more about the Tidewater Region of VA.

Mrs. Hall’s Fourth graders at GWC answered the questions of a couple of students in Wisconsin who were doing state reports.

I found a new hobby!  It combines two of my favorite things: nature and technology!!  It’s basically high-tech treasure hunting.  Who can’t get excited about THAT?!

Here’s how it works.

• go to http://www.geocaching.com and sign up for a free account
• search for caches in a specific area (there are 4 at Greenhill park and many more in the area)
• find the coordinates for them and read the descriptions of them (you may also want to look at the hints).
• program the coordinates into your gps
• go hunting.  You will probably want to take a pen/pencil with you.

If you find a cache, there are a few rules.

• If there are items in the cache, you can only take one if you leave a different one.  No food of course.
• Always hide the cache back where you find it.  Make sure you hide it so that it is just a difficult (or more difficult) than it was when you found it.
• Sign and date the log book.  (you’ll probably want to log the find on the geocaching site too).

So, what does this have to do with the TEACHING with Technology blog?  Well, kids love treasure hunts!!  And what better way to get them outside and moving than a treasure hunt!  So here’s how you’d do it in the classroom.

• Figure out a topic (I’ll list some ideas in a minute).
• Hide caches (with puzzles or clues or questions) around the school yard.
• Use the gps systems to make the location of the caches.
• Send kids (groups of 4 would work) to go find the caches and solve the problems.

I had the opportunity to observe a group of third grades geocaching last Friday.  The teacher, Meggen Devlin, developed a Science Lesson that incorporated the gps systems.  She had students find hidden caches full of pictures different types of “trash.”  Students retrieved the pictures, and then based on what they had learned from a previous part of the lesson, used the pictures to make predictions about the rate in which the different items they found (all types of materials) decompose.  The gps section of the lesson was just a part of a bigger lesson, but it sure got the kids excited and active, and make them think!

I’ve also had the opportunity to talk with fellow ITRT, and expert geocacher, Debbie Newman.  Debbie has created geocaching units to help students review for SOL tests.  You can view some of her resources here.

Finally, our very own Victoria Salvat tried geocaching with Kindergartners!  She had parents help with the activity.  She hid Easter eggs full of sight words, and had students use the gps units to find them, and then read the words to the parent.  Here’s a video from her blog!

So what are some other ideas for using geocaching in the classroom?  Here are some ideas adapted from From: Jen Deyenberg on Twitter (@jdeyenberg):

• Have students create shapes by marking waypoints for each corner.  Create a grid map showing the shapes and waypoints.
• Hide caches with coins or other math items.  Have students solve math problems and bring back the correct answer.
• Have students measure objects at each cache (pencils or some other object).  Have them find the average length.
• Each cache has a clue to answer an ultimate problem.
• Waypoint the corners of a space and then find the perimeter of it.
• Have them find a type of triange at each cache.  When they are finished, have them sort by properties.

Some other ideas:

• Have students find certain trees in the school yard.  Have the decide if it is deciduous or coniferous.
• Hide objects dealing with a famous person.  Have the decide which person. (ex. peanut for G.W. Carver, baseball for Jackie Robinson, and so on.
• Geo-Bingo!  Have students match pictures of items at their caches with a bingo card they carry.  I think we are going to do something like this with careers…matching careers with tools…in a Guidance class.

If you get fancy, you may want to place a travel coin or a geobug in a cache, and track it with your students!  Or create your own cache, and track who visits, and where they are from!

We have a classroom set of GPS units that you can use in the classroom!  Just let your librarian or I know, and well be glad to make sure the set is delivered to you.  I would love to help you set up and run the activity as well.

Does anyone have anymore great ideas?  If so, please post below!

Image: ‘Slightly north of here‘
www.flickr.com/photos/98092274@N00/210369709

Here’s a Presentation from Tom Barrett listing a variety of Interesting ways to use an Interactive Wipe Board. It keeps growing, so bookmark it and come back and look every now and then!

I love Animoto (and have blogged about them in the past here and here).  It’s an incredibly easy way to create a sophisticated video from still pictures.  While you can create 30 second videos with a basic account, they also offer accounts for educators which allow you unlimited access.

It’s very simple to use.  Just upload your pictures to the site, add text (if you want), and pick your music (they have a lot to choose from).  Then Animoto does of the work for you by putting your music and pictures together in a professional looking way!  Here’s a quick animoto of some of the younger grades at East Salem using technology.

I’ve blogged about Animoto in the past.  To read more or see other examples, click here and here.

Want to quickly make Jeopardy games to play with your class without the hassel of editing a bunch of templates?  Check out this amazing new resource, Jeopardy Labs!

Here’s a sample game.  Students click on the point amounts to view questions, and then keep score at the bottom of the board with the + and – signs.  It will allow you to keep score for up to 10 teams!

Creating your own game is easy too.  You just click in the Title and categories to edit, and click on the point amounts to add new questions.  When you are finished creating a game, the site will give you a web address to your game.  Hang on to it to find your game again!

This is hands down the BEST resource I’ve found to date to create your own Jeopardy game!