Week+3



** Home | Course Overview | Week #1 | Week #2 | Week #3 | Week #4 | Week #5 | Writing Expectations | Class Email Archive **   FYI: Looks like **edmodo has maintenance scheduled for Saturday at noon**. If it isn't up when you need it, it shouldn't be down for long. In any case, if you need extra time to complete peer comments on Internet Lesson Critiques (remember to comment on at least 2), just get to it as you can.  Screencast Overview of Week #3 One of the things I find most difficult during the regular school year is how to build time in for new learning and exploration for myself as an educator. This module is all about spending some time exploring some technological tools that may be unfamiliar to you or that you have yet had time to develop and integrate into your curriculum. I will be starting you off with a list of my favorites but I hope you will also bring your own ideas to share with our group!
 * Week #3 Schedule - June 24**


 * This Week's Actions: **


 * 1) Read through the Week #3 Readings
 * 2) Experiment with at least three online tools.
 * 3) Begin the third assignment, Gifted Resources Project - you will work on this until the end of our course.
 * 4) Click on the Discussion Board link. Read the message under each of the threads.
 * Post a response to the Week #3 Reading Response. Your reactions this week will be a brief review of the three tools you explored. This week's posts aren't due until the end of the week.
 * Respond to the other participants postings by July 3rd.
 * 1) Reply to peers' Internet Lesson Critiques in edmodo. (Assessment =discussion board rubric)
 * 2) Complete a brief self-reflection.

**Assignment #3 - Gifted Resources Project **  This link will take you to the directions for our Community Gifted Resources assignment. Please let me know if you have questions or have ideas of how to adjust the assignment to better meet your needs.

**Week #3 Readings**


 * Technology Tool Exploration - The Big Picture **

Instead of tackling all of the resources in our list this week, you will have the opportunity to pick and choose as your interest and professional needs so move you. Choose at least three tools or resources to explore from our list.

So, what is our big picture from Week 3? Think about the following as you read and explore:
 * What tools are best suited for the student population I work with?
 * What tools/resouces are most helpful for me as an educator in working with my student population?
 * What opportunities do I have for better differentiating for my student population?
 * How can technology help me with one or more of those opportunities for change and improvement of differentiation?

**Richardson's Book** - <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Lucida grande',Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Don't forget that our book for class is mainly composed of chapters that give great ideas of how to incorporate online tools for the classroom. If you are planning to use one of the tools listed in his book, I suggest you read the corresponding chapter. **Other optional reads:** Social Networking Ethical Use - <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Lucida grande',Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">All of this technology and access to information bring up interesting problems to solve and new ethical considerations. This file contains some background info and a few scenarios to get you thinking about using technology in your work and in your life. Using Data With Students - <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Lucida grande',Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">One of the things that technology allows us to do is to have easy access to a variety of up to date data sets as well as provide tools to allow us to explore trends. Attached is a file with some ideas on how to use data and technology in your classroom.
 * Using Data to Improve Instruction** - <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Lucida grande',Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Attached is a Microsoft Word file exploring ideas and resources in using data to better differentiate for student learning.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #003366; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida grande',Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> A Change in Attitude: Incorporating Technology In the Classroom Gives Curriculum a Boost (Edutopia: What Works in Public Education © 2009 The George Lucas Educational Foundation ) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #003366; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px;"> [|e-learning 2.0 - how Web technologies are shaping educatio]n © 2003-2008 ReadWriteWeb <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px;"> A Day in the Life of Web 2.0 - This was written in 2006 - how many of these uses of tech do you see today? How many have changed?
 * Articles About Web 2.0 in Education**  Most of the articles about using technology to revolutionize teaching and learning are old....way old by internet standards. The more innovative and forward - thinking pundits on the subject now focus on issues around curriculum and school reform. As in, it doesn't matter whether you have books or iPads, the way we run schools should change if we want to create a populace ready for tomorrow's careers and challenges. The following is a grouping of articles that help me to remember that we can do amazing things with our students with the incorporation of the Web.

Why Integrate Technology into the Curriculum?: The Reasons Are Many <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;"> Top Ten Internet Uses in Education ** More Recent Articles about School Reform ** Playing Chopsticks with Technology - Will Richardson

Cool Tools for Schools <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #444444; font-family: 'Lucida grande',Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">This site is an exhaustive list of mostly free web 2.0 tools. Apparently, some other people have put together this amazing resource so we don't have to do a bunch of searching. Organized in a way that makes sense! Even if you aren't interested in the links here, the organization will help you to better understand the kinds of tools that are out there and how they might be used. Perhaps this also might serve as a good model of how a wiki can pull together a large amount of info.
 * TECH TOOL RESOURCES **

Teacher Tools and Resources

 * === 4 Teacher Tools This is a list of great resources for teachers. It includes the rubric creator, [|Rubistar] ; a way to organize online resources for students through [|Trackstar] ; and an online multimedia quiz creator called [|Quizstar] . There seem to be some newer tools I haven't used that look interesting as well...hmmm...a [|problem based learning checklist maker] ? ===
 * === Hot Potatoes Hot Potatoes is a web application that allows you to create test, quizzes or surveys for your students to take online. Students can also use the site to create their own quizzes or surveys. ===
 * <span style="font-family: 'Lucida grande',Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-family: inherit;"> WebQuests WebQuests are one of the internet lesson structures that Judi Harris and others mention. Here is a reliable site for finding ones that have been created by teachers.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Lucida grande',Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-family: inherit;"> ThinkQuest ThinkQuest is an educational website creation contest for students aged 9 - 19. Every year students post amazing content by participating in this contest and can learn how to contribute to the online learning community. Additionally, this serves as a great resource for students looking for content while reseaching online.
 * TeacherTube You know YouTube? Here's the educator's version with tutorials for you AND your students.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Lucida grande',Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-family: inherit;"> Filamentality Filamentality is a collection of "internet structures" (treasure hunts, subject samplers and webquests)that allow teachers to create content online or use content created from other teachers.
 * Del.icio.us Social bookmarking ? See why this is a cool idea and how you can use this simple but effective tool to find the best the internet has to offer you and your students.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Lucida grande',Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-family: inherit;"> National Library of Virtual Manipulatives Online math lessons and access to online math manipulatives.


 * Online Course Management Systems**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Lucida grande',Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Canvas - new new new - looks more robust than Nicenet and more polished than Moodle - see what you think!
 * <span style="font-family: 'Lucida grande',Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> Nicenet Online learning space that's FREE! It's a little like Blackboard light. If you are looking for a place to organize online learning for your students this may be your tool! Sign up and join the EDSP 583 class to see how it works. No, you won't have to do the work for that class too...it's just there to serve as an example. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The class "key" is 7203690E9Z. Feel free to experiment with creating your own classes as well.
 * Edmodo Edmodo is kind of like facebook for school. If you would like to see what it looks like, join one of my classes - Discovery 7 - g4vazp - if you want to see what it looks like. We use it for turning in work (and giving feedback), organizing events on a calendar and sharing resources. This site is free, code protected (not public - just for you, students and parents), students can post, but teacher sees all communication, students don't have to have email addresses to sign up - it's pretty awesome. There is a video that tells more on the home page.
 * Moodle Another example of course management software (like Blackboard and Nicenet) available for teachers. Looks like teachers can create their class on this system for free. Check out their site for examples and more information.


 * Blogs**

<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Here are two blogs that you might want to follow for good technology ideas.
> [|Free Technology for Teachers] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> - Information about <span style="font-family: Helv,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">new tools that are being released all the time. > [|iLearn Technology] - Integration ideas, primary for k-8.


 * Ways to Use Blogs in Education

A directory of math blogs: []
> An AP Calculus Blog - [] >
 * Blogs in Science **
 * Why Science Blogs Are a Good Idea - []
 * Extreme Biology - []
 * KQED - Station run environmental science blog - []
 * Discovering Biology in a Digital World - [| http://scienceblogs.com/digitalbio/2008/09/more_classroom_science_blogs_t.php]
 * The Art of Teaching Science - []
 * The Art of Teaching Science - []


 * Blogs in Writing **
 * The Write Weblog - []
 * Lauren Barnholdt - A YA author newly signed! - []
 * The Secret Life of Bees - A reading guide created by students and with significant author input - []


 * Wikis**
 * [|What's a Wiki? - Wikis in Plain English] Great short video that uses low tech methods to get across high tech ideas ;).
 * Wikis Available for Educational Use These sites are education friendly and offer free places for you to build your own site. When you set up a site, you are the "administrator". That means you get a message every time someone makes a change to a page (which I emphasize heavily to my students - I know what you've been up to!!) Students need an external email address in order to be able to set up an account on either of these sites.
 * WikiSpaces (get an educational account and it is ad free!)
 * PBWorks - newly updated with new options and tools!

>>
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">Cell Phones in the Classroom **


 * Cell Phones Are Ringing: Will Educators Hear?
 * What Can You Learn From a Cell Phone? Almost Anything!
 * You Tube - Cell Phones in the Classroom


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Podcasting **


 * **Podcasting in Plain English** **A great explanation about what the deal is with podcasting.**
 * ** Sources and Help for Educational Podcasting **
 * ** Integrating Podcasts in the Classroom **
 * ** Adventures in Podcasting **
 * ** Teach Digital - Curriculum by Wes Fryer - Podcasting Resources **
 * **[|How to Create a Video Podcast]** **We've been focusing a lot of our uses of technology on the Internet. Here is some great info on using video. With point and shoot cameras now including easy ways to capture videos, this might be a neat way to engage students or to show classroom happenings to parents for a special occasion**
 * ** Jing **- Jing is the tool I used to introduce the class and give overviews for each week. You can capture still snapshots, capture video of your screen or from a webcam, narrate the whole thing and pop it up on the web for your students, parents or fellow teachers! Flexible and easy to use! Here are some additional examples: [|What's in Texas]

Quizlet <span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> is an online application created by a 15 year old (!) as an easy way to share review questions for content among users. An application for this is also available for the iPod Touch/iPhone [|Quizlet Web Application] <span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**-** The real beauty of this tool is that students are the ones creating the content...while you should feel free as a teacher to add something up here that will help your students learn content, why not put them to work?
 * Quizlet **
 * Quizlet Demo Video **<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">-Here is a link to a video which shows you how to use the application.

[|Pixton] <span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> is just one of several online comic creators. Seem a little too simple/silly for school? Consider using this as a product for summarizing main ideas. Another way to use this tool is to have students practice a foreign language. What other ways might this be a way to demonstrate student learning?
 * Pixton **
 * Pixton - Student Created Directions **<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">- One of my students created this comic to explain some of the things you can do with Pixton.
 * [|Pixton Comic Creator Example] **<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">- One of my students put this together in 5 minutes....so you can see an example. She asked not judge her political views ;).

**Poll Everywhere** - <span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Poll Everywhere is a tool that allows students to participate in answering questions via texting by cell phone. A way to "legally" use cellphones for learning? That will get some kids' attention!
 * About Poll Everywhere **<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Poll Everywhere cites itself as a more affordable and simpler option to get student feedback than [|Turning Point] <span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">. While you can try a limited version for free, there is a [|pricing plan] <span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> based on number of students. If several people are interested, this would be something that could be funded through PTO or other means.
 * Poll Everywhere - Brief Video Tutorial **
 * [|Poll Everywhere in Action] **


 * Xtranormal ** <span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Xtranormal is an online application that turns text to an animated speaking movie. Students can choose characters, backgrounds and camera angles. Text is typed into a box and then by clicking a button, Xtranormal renders the script for the chosen character(s).
 * [|Xtranormal ideas and examples] **<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">- This ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) teacher has a few posts in his blog of what's so great about Xtranormal. He has a lot of other great tech ideas in here too!
 * Xtranormal - Student Example **<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">- One of my students is exploring issues related to animal testing. She created this introductory video to let people know more about testing products on animals. She will present this clip and a second clip from the animals' point of view as a part of her final presentation but we also will be showing her work to the student body through our announcements and posting it so that others can see it online.

VoiceThread Tutorial - Voice Thread is an online application that allows anyone with an account to add voice or text to a series of pictures to share content or tell a story. Learn how to use Voice Thread in less that 5 minutes with this video! Voicethread in Action - Social Studies - This activity is based on student reflections on a book called [|Three Cups of Tea] by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. Marian Herman, IHMS Media Specialist, started students off asking about Pakistan and the students responded with information they had learned about the country. [|Voicethread in Action - French] - This activity led by Barb Mustard of Indian Hill High School lets students practice their French and allows Barb to listen to their language use and pronunciation. Voicethread Wiki - This is a wiki with different ideas of how teachers and students are using Voicethread. Glogster Think online multimedia posters...Glogster is an easy way to students to incorporate a variety of media in one screen to maybe piece together their learning, give a reaction to a topic or well, let your students loose - you'll see ;). Here is [|an example] from a professional development workshop I went to about using technology to differentiate!
 * Voicethread **

[]
 * [|Prezi] Think online presentation tool - not as linear as PPT and is more visual. Here is an example: []


 * Nifty Miscellany**


 * <span style="font-family: 'Lucida grande',Arial,Verdana,sans-serif;"> Visual Thesaurus Being somewhat of a vocabulary nerd and connection maker, I LOVE this site! I learn something new every time I visit.
 * Inspiration Software, Inc. Inspiration software offers a few powerful tools for helping students to look at information and data in new ways. Kidspiration is specifically designed for students in K-5. The website has a free trial that you can download and play with. It will expire in 90? days and you won't be able to re-download...they're too smart for that ;). If you do find this a valuable tool, there is a lot of customer loyalty, testimonials and educational research to back up the cost to your Board of Ed or school principal! They do have online versions - or try these other mind mapping free alternatives suggested by Cool Tools for Schools - I have used Bubbl.us and Mindmeister before and found both to be pretty good.
 * [|Web 2.0 Tool Index] This site allows you to search for tools based on a variety of characteristics - find something that fits your needs here!
 * <span style="font-family: 'Lucida grande',Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-family: inherit;"> Teaching With the Smartboard I heard several of you mention that you have SmartBoard access at your school (or some other type of interactive white board). This site has video podcasts giving different ideas of how to use it with students.

Discussion Board - Here you can find a Jing Screencast where I discuss using the discussion board.
 * @http://edsp583.collaborizeclassroom.com **

** Week #3 Self Reflection ** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #444444; font-family: 'Lucida grande',Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Write a concise reflection that responds to the work we did with tool exploration this week. Turn in your reflection to edmodo no later than Monday, July 1st.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida grande',Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">**Week #3 Assignment Checklist** These items should be completed no later than Sunday, June 30th. Class discussion will be extended this week since you need time to play with new technologies before writing your reviews! <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida grande',Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida grande',Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">This is just a checklist reminder for organizational purposes. Please check out the detail for each assignment posted on this page before completing your work on any of the items in the checklist.
 * Read resources in Week #3 Readings folder (Assessment = Discussion Board Post - see below)
 * Write a review of three tech tools you experiment this week by June 30th (Assessment = discussion board rubric )
 * Reply to two other class member's postings in the Week #3 Discussion Board by July 3rd (Assessment = discussion board rubric )
 * Reply to peers' Internet Lesson Critiques in the Week #2 Discussion Board area by June 30th. (Assessment =discussion board rubric )
 * Begin the third assignment, Gifted Resources Project - you will work on this until the end of our course.
 * Turn in self-reflection to edmodo (will be accepted through Monday, July 1st) (Assessment = Completion)