No Time! No Time!

No time. This is the number one reason I hear from teachers regarding the reluctance to try a new tech tool in the classroom.


"I'd love to try Google Docs, but I don't have time to learn it first."



"That's really cool. My students would love that....maybe next semester."


"Twitter? I'm sure the students will know more than me!"


One of the big challenges I face each day as an educator and a digital literacy teacher is the lack of time. We are all busy, busy people with no time to investigate new digital tools that could be used to engage and support student learning in the classroom.

So make time.  So reallocate time! Pick one new  digital tool that you would like to investigate and dedicate 15 minutes to it.


15 min. before you go to bed at night.

15 min. while waiting for the bus (oh, wait. The buses are still on strike. You can dedicate 45 min now!)

15 min. while waiting for your son/daughter's 5th skating/dance/hockey/swimming lesson of the week to end.

Now's the time. Start here.


Commoncraft videos make complex concepts easier to understand. Everything from Google Docs to Twitter to Zombies. The videos are all approximately 2 1/2 min. long.


Wow. That would leave you 12 1/2 min. to peruse the Internet for ways to use your newly discovered digital tool in the classroom!!


Once you are hooked, head over to CoolTech4Teachers and look into hundreds of ways to use the digital tool in the classroom.

Getting Ready for Summatives

At the end of the semester draws near, students across the province will be getting ready to create their Summative projects in a variety of courses. 

In some cases, the summative project gives the student some flexibility in the way they submit their final project. There are a whole host of web 2.0 tools to support this….check here!

But if the summative assignment for your class involves the  planning, researching and writing of an essay of sorts, then take a minute to check out EasyBib.

EasyBib takes the time to demystify the essay writing process with a number of writing guides including a topics guide; research guide; writing guide and a citation guide. From start to finish, EasyBib has the tools to support your student as they foray into the wild world of essay writing. The language is very student friendly and will be a great starting point for everyone in your class.

For you, the educator, there is also a dedicated section to help you with lesson plans for your class. Having trouble explaining how to complete a credibility analysis? No worries….check out this lesson plan.

Are you interested in the latest ideas surrounding literacy and essay writing? Take a minute to check out the EasyBib blog and follow it for the most up-to-date postings!

Essential or Extraneous?

This week, the Globe and Mail has been running a 5-part series on Technology in the Classroom. They have looked at everything from the evolution of technology in the classroom to the concept of the 'flipped' classroom.




But what caught my eye today was a survey which asked the question: "Is technology a boon or a burden in the classroom?".


Check out the results here.


What do you think?


When I think about the early years of my teaching career, I had considerably less technology available to me: a chalkboard, a piece of chalk, an overhead projector, transparencies, a photocopier and my 24lb Dell Inspiron laptop. And I used every piece of technology I could find. And then I started looking. And searching--searching through Webcrawler and Yahoo to find cool things to do in my classroom.


Google wasn't even a verb back then.


And then the Internet exploded. And technology became available at a faster pace and at lower costs.


But has it changed your teaching? Do you feel empowered to use the latest and greatest tool to provide authentic and relevant learning experiences for you students?


Or is it a burden...something that slows down your teaching and hinders the learning process?

I'd like to know what you think

Presentation Tools for the Classroom

It's that time of year. No, not American Thanksgiving or Christmas or even Winter.


It's the beginning of the end.


Many teachers have started to hand out Summative Assignments to their students. These assignments can be worth anything from 5-30% of the final mark and should be a reflection of what the student has learned and proof that they can apply the knowledge they have acquired.


In the 'olden days', all students were required to submit their final projects in the same way. Whether it was an essay or a poster, you would ultimately end up marking 30 final assignments that looked exactly the same.


Not any more.


To support student achievement in all our classes, we should be differentiating instruction as much as we can. And it's all about choice.


This year, when you hand out the final project, give your students a choice. Let them choose what platform/tool they are going to use to demonstrate their knowledge.


And to get you started, here is a list of Web 2.0 Tools that students can use for free!

·         You Suck At Power Point: http://www.slideshare.net/jessedee/you-suck-at-powerpoint

 

·         www.prezi.com

·         A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate slides and leave comments in 5 ways - using voice (with a mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam). Share a VoiceThread with friends, students, and colleagues for them to record comments too.

·         www.voicethread.com

·         Create stunning video slideshows with music.

·         http://animoto.com/



www.flixtime.com

• A competitor to animoto with greater voice over functionality

 

·         Digital poster boards

·         http://www.glogster.com/

·         http://plasq.com/products/comiclife/win

·         http://www.bitstripsforschools.com/

Xtranormal

·         Create comic videos

·         www.xtranormal.com

 Photostory

·         Bring your digital photos to life.

·         Use photos, narration and music to demonstrate your learning

·         http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=11132

 Scratch

·         Scratch is a programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web. As young people create and share Scratch projects, they learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.

·         http://scratch.mit.edu/

 Create a Digital Portfolio

·         www.blogger.com

·         www.wordpress.com

·         www.edublogs.com

·         www.kidblog.com

Create a Website--   Google Sites and Wikis.

www.sites.google.com

How Safe Are Your Passwords?

As we are introducing our students to all these new Web 2.0 tools to support their learning, many of these tools require the user to create a free account. You are required to enter your name, your email address and a password.


We all do it. You can't avoid it.


But what password do you use? Do you use the same password for your email account, your online banking and eBay?


Well, you shouldn't. We have all heard about networks being hacked and personal information being compromised. If one of your passwords were compromised, how many accounts would be vulnerable?


I recently read an article about creating effective passwords and was shocked to discover what the most common password was.


Can you guess?


It is 'password'. Followed closely by '12345678',  'qwerty', and 'abc123'. (see the full list here).


Was your password on this list?



C'mon people. Let's make it a bit more challenging for the hackers.


Here are a few tips you should think about when creating secure passwords. And I implore you to have a 10 min discussion with your students about creating more secure passwords.


1. Have a tiered system of passwords.
A Level 1 password should only be used for you online banking and and any sites that hold personal financial data about you i.e. social insurance number and employee information. It should contain letters (uppercase and lowercase), numbers and symbols.


A Level 2 password can be used for things such as your email accounts, eBay, the library, or Google.


A Level 3 password can be used for all the random sites that require you to set up an account.


2. Don't use passwords that can easily be linked to you such as your birthday, your phone number or your pet's name. Need help creating new passwords? Check out this site:





3. Change your Level 1 and Level 2 passwords on a regular basis. The new passwords don't have to be completely different. Just rotate through a series of numbers at the end of the password. For example: September's password is CupCake167; October's password is CupCake462


4. Use a combination of different character classes. For example: textbook25 can easily be changed to TexTBook25.


5. Use more than one word. Passwords like timbercalculator  are more effective than one word passwords.


6. Separate your words with numbers and symbols. For example: Kitty!Dog~ is a good combination of upper case, lower case, symbols and words.


Now I will ask you one last question. 


When is the last time your changed your password on the school computers? for the BWW?






Yeah, I thought so.


To Change Your Password on a School Computer:
1. Login
2. Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE all at the same time.
3. Select CHANGE PASSWORD.


To Change Your Password for the BWW and your Board Email:
1. Go to bww.yrdsb.ca
2. Enter your current username and password. Before you hit enter, click CHANGE PASSWORD and then follow the prompts.


Your password for the school network and the BWW do not have to be the same.


Good luck my friends!

Google Bookmarks

Have you ever come across an amazing website that would be great for your class when you are aimlessly surfing the Internet at home? What do you do?


Bookmark it, of course!


Great. Then you walk into your class, boot up the school computer and open your bookmarks to load the website.


And then the sad realization sets in.





Your home computer and the school computer don't talk. They don't share. They don't collaborate. Your bookmarks at home are not available at school.


You look up.





There are 30 pairs of eyes patiently waiting for you to show them this "amazing, totally fantastic website".


The teachable moment is lost.


Thankfully, Google has the answer! (Google always seems to have the answer.)


Google Bookmarks allows you to bookmark websites and then access them from any computer. All you need is a Google account.

On your personal computer, you can drag the Add to List button into your toolbar and use it to easily remember websites in Google Bookmarks.



And when you get to class, you will have complete access to all the websites you found last night....while avoiding dishes, and marking, and laundry, and marking.....

Be Funky...

As more and more teachers are booking Technology Sessions with me for their students, I have come to notice a common theme to the tools they are asking me to teach them about. All the tools are using pictures--Photostory, Comic Life, and Glogster just to name a few.

In each case, students are being asked to use their creative skills to marry the contextual ideas with images--to produce a photo essay, a comic book or an interactive poster.

Once presented with the assignment and the instructions on how to use the technology, most students head straight to Google Images and start downloading images off the Internet.

But what if they could make the photo's their 'own'.

Could they Be Funky? 

I think so!

Last night, while avoiding the dishes, I became lost on the Internet. I'm not sure how I ended up at the Be Funky site, but I was so intrigued by the possibilities that I felt the urge to blog about it. 

So here it is.

The Be Funky site allows you to add artistic effects to your photos--ones you have taken yourself with a real camera or images you have saved off the Internet--all for free. No login or account required.

Here's the result of 10 minutes of 'lost time':

The original photo..

Effect #1...

 Effect #2...

 A little pop art....

Old school comic life....

Just imagine the possibilities!