In a Game of PPT, SmartBoard, Paper.....

...paper always win.


Today I have to rant. I'm going to rant about technology. You have been warned.

Courtesy of Motivated Networker

Over the past year as the Digital Literacy lead, I've done my best to investigate and try all sorts of new digital tools in the classroom. My students have been my guinea pigs as I try new things.


But the one tool I have tried to leave locked in the storage room is the Smart Board.


In the spirit of equity, I decided to do my best to give the Smart Board a chance to prove its usefulness in the secondary classroom. A few weeks ago, I spent 3 hours working with our CRT learning the in's and out's of designing a lesson in Smart Notebook. And I left with all sorts of good ideas on how to use the Smart Board in my class.

Courtesy of Teachable Moments

Then I searched high and low and found a Smart Board on wheels (locked in a storage room) that could be used.


And now the lesson. Okay. Open Smart Notebook on my computer. Stare at the blank screen. Watch the cursor flash. Check Twitter. Back to Smart Notebook. Watch the cursor flash. Check Facebook. 


*Sigh*


Surely someone else has already designed a lesson on DNA replication for the Smart Board?


Of course! I'll just Google "DNA replication smart notebook". Done. Here it is.


Okay. Now let's get ready to teach.


The Smart Board does not roll nicely into my science lab--those pesky lab benches get in the way. So I booked rm. 117 and spent 40 min getting the Smart Board set up, played 'whack-a-mole' a few times to calibrate the board, and ran the lesson to make sure everything would work.


Bell rings. Students show up. So does another class. Double booked computer lab? No, I forgot to actually book the computer lab.

Unhook computer. Unhook LCD. Unhook Smart Board. Roll everything down the hall with 25 students following me sadly back to my classroom.


Set up everything. Play 'whack-a-mole' again. Realize that I can't actually USE the Smart Board--the lab benches are in the way. Get students to move desks. Set up everything. Play 'whack-a-mole' again. 


25 minutes lost to 'technical difficulties'. 


No worries. I have a great class who has learned to roll with the punches. I start teaching. There are notes, animations and activities embedded into this Smart Board lesson. The students get to touch the board.


They are engaged in the lesson. Success!


And then one (and then another, and another) says "I don't get it. How does DNA replicate?".


*silence*


I looked  at the Smart Board. It stares blankly at me. I stared back. 

Courtesy of Teachable Moments

And then I grabbed a stack of orange and blue paper. I gave each student one piece of paper and asked them to write the letter A, T, C or G on it. 


We went outside. We became DNA. We replicated. We understood DNA replication.


PPT vs. Smart Board vs. Paper.


Paper WINS!!


The moral of this story: Try something new. It may not work, but you won't know until you try. Always have a back up plan.

Twitter in the Classroom

I know. I know. You are thinking to yourself "There is no way I would use Twitter in the classroom! What a distraction!"


And I used to think that. I couldn't imagine what I would use Twitter for on a personal level, let alone in the classroom or in a professional context.


But, alas, I have been converted.


I started using Twitter about a year ago. I 'tweeted' about cakes. I followed other people who liked cakes. That was me dipping my toe into the cold lake of the Twitter-sphere.


No, I'm not the kind of person to jump blindly into a freezing cold lake in May hoping that it won't stop my breath. I ease in.....


...and that's just what I did with Twitter.


Tweeting about cakes was great. Then I openend a second 'profesional' account (@caseydaleman) and started following other educators who were interested in digital technology in education. I learned more from these educators than any 'lunch n' learn' I've ever been to. And most tweets had links to great articles, videos and sites to support my integration of technology into my classroom.


....and then I jumped. I jumped head first into the inky-blackness of the cold Lake Twitter. And it was so amazing!!


I first used Twitter with my grade 10 science class last semester. The reception was luke-warm. Some students loved it. Some didn't. I emailed all the parents and let them know that we were using Twitter to investigate leading medical research in Canada and explained that they were more than welcome to 'follow' along.


Semester 2. Take 2.

Right now, I am using it with my Grade 12 Biology class. Each student created a Twitter account with a "dr" name and created their own profile role-playing as a junior geneticist at Trudeau Hospital. For the entire unit, I have asked them to post a 'tweet' a day, on a variety of thought provoking, discussion-inspiring topics in molecular genetics.


And they follow me (@drcaseydaleman), and I follow them, and they follow each other. They tweet in the evening. They tweet in the morning.


They tweet during class.


I know. I know. How can they be paying attention when they are tweeting during class.


They aren't always. And that's okay.


Because this is what one of my students tweeted to us during class.

This is the link that he sent: Subway Science

A whistle-stop journey through modern science.

I would never have found this in a million hours lost in the Internet. And it is completely related to what we were doing in class. His tweet was on topic, interactive and a great resource that was just shared with all 54 of my students. Instantly.


Amazing.


So check out what my students are tweeting about today. Look on the left side of the screen. There is our Twitter feed. In real time.

GapMinder

Sure, statistics can be fun. I think.

My last memory of statistics is of first year statistics at McMaster University, where 500 students crammed into TOGO120 and copied overhead notes (that were fully justified and all in CAPS) for 1 hour--3 times a week.

And then we all trudged back to rez to input data into MINITAB.


If only it was more interactive.

If only we had the Internet.

Oh. We do now.

Enter GapMinder. Data visualization at its finest. It's interactive. It's customizable. It allows students to SEE what many of us can't while staring at spreadsheets of numbers.

Check it out.

There are over 400 data indicators to choose from. The curriculum connections are endless....math; geography; environmental science; history; careers etc. 

Or for random knowledge acquisition...

...like the number of bad teeth in children as a function of income per person.

Not sure how to use it in the classroom? Check out this quick video...

The Answer is HERE!

I found it! I found it! Whoo Hoo! The answer to the age old question of "Why doesn't this work on the school computers?"

The answer: Firefox on a Stick

 

As more and more new web 2.0 tools become available to us, we are quickly discovering that some (many) of them do not work on Internet Explore 7 on our school computers. The rest of the world is running on Internet Explore 8...or are they?

Last week, Google Chrome surpassed weekend usage over Internet Explore 8. Read the article here.

While I desperately tried to figure out a way to run Google Chrome on the school computers, I was blocked by pop-ups at every turn that read "See System Administrator". Boo.

But I am not a quitter.

Next on the list: Mozilla Firefox.

And it worked! All you need to do is download and run Firefox off your USB stick.

I'm not kidding. It's that easy.

Now, after booting up the school computer, plug in your USB and open up Firefox as your web browser. Google Calendar works. Google Docs works. Actually...all things Google will work.

 

So will the Study Blue Flashcards.

Fantastic!

If you would like to share this with your students, by all means. However they will need to download Firefox here.

Let's get you up and running....

1. Login to a school computer. Plug your USB in.
2. From the desktop, go to TEACHER'S COMMUNITY.
3. Open the STAFF SHARE folder.
4. Open the FIREFOX folder.
5. Transfer this file (Firefox Setup 11.0) to your USB.
6. Open your USB drive.
7. Double click the setup file.
8. When prompted, choose a CUSTOM setup. Click NEXT.
9. Your DESTINATION folder should be your USB drive. Click BROWSE to change this. Click NEXT.
10. Un-check the next 3 options (On my desktop, In my start menu, In my quick launch).
11. Keep clicking NEXT until the extraction is complete.

From now on, when you are using a school computer, simple insert your USB drive and run Firefox as your internet browser.

Any questions, call me. Science Office x143.

Happy Monday!

Me in an Infographic!

create infographics with visual.ly

Paved Paradise....and Put Up A Virtual Parking Lot

A parking lot in the classroom? How absurd....(a classroom in the parking lot--maybe)...but in 'edu-speak', a parking lot is simply a place where students can post sticky notes for later review and reflection. As the lesson proceeds, students can write their questions, comments and ideas on a sticky note and post it in the 'parking lot'--the white board, a piece of chart paper or simply the wall.

But at the end of the day, after they leave the room, what happens if a student thinks of a question/comment that they would like to add?

As always, there is a digital solution!!

The Virtual Parking Lot

Linoit is  a free service of sticky notes and canvas for everyone to see and to use. All you need is a web browser.

It IS that simple.

Create a free login. Start a new canvas. Post some sticky notes. And then Share.

Or don't.

Keep some canvases as your personal 'parking lot' and create others for your class.

Here are some ideas on how/when to use Linoit in your classroom:

1. Exit Cards
2. Theme sorting
3. Post a video in the centre of your canvas. Watch it in class. Ask students to post their responses/questions on the canvas as you watch.
4. Summative Project display board--could be used in a similar fashion to Glogster (which is no longer free for education)
5. Concept Attainment Activities.


Did I mention there is also an iPhone/iPad app?

 

And, well, we all like to watch videos right?

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!!

I'm sure at some point, we have all read a book by Dr. Seuss. My favorite was always Green Eggs and Ham--and as a parent I would feel this great sense of pride if I could get through the entire book during Story Time without tripping over my tongue.

And then came Fox in Socks. I have attempted to read this book many times and still find myself tripping over the words and tongue twisters.

Laughing at me? You try it:

“When beetles fight these battles in a bottle with their paddles and the bottle's on a poodle and the poodle's eating noodles...they call this a muddle puddle tweetle poodle beetle noodle bottle paddle battle.” 
― Dr. Seuss, Fox in Socks

Thankfully, my only concern with these books is trying to get the words out of my mouth. But many students in our community speak a first language other than English. Not only are our studnts trying to get the tongue twister over their tongue, but they are trying to decipher the words and their meaning too.

Enter Lingro.

Lingro is a website that will automatically change all the text on a website to clickable text. When you click on a word, a pop up will appear with the definition of the word.

Not only can you find the definition of the word in English, but you can choose a different dictionary and have the definition presented in another language.

This is a great resource for any of your students in your class--whether they are English Language Learners or not. When doing research online, you often end up on a site with a very sophisticated lexicon. 

Having trouble deciphering the following article?

Estimation of alternative splicing variability in human populations

Simple add the web address to Lingro and voila! all the words can be defined/explained in one click!