Why am I moving from Blogger to Wordpress?
1. Wordpress has more add ins and flexibility.
2. I'm concerned about Google's new Terms of Service
"A good name is to be had before great riches."
"A good name is to be had before great riches."
THE BELKIN TABLET STAGE | Belkin Business
Very interesting tool to use for your classroom that sort of turns your ipad into a document camera/ presenter tool. It has already won several awards in the Apple app store. You might want to take a look at this if you're 1:1 ipad as an option to get rid of document cameras or not buy them at all. Very cool
tags: education news edu_newapp
This app is Life Noted and merges camera, video, notetaking and more. It was recommended to me as a notetaking/ capturing tool for observation in the classroom by teachers of students, but I think that anyone evaluating another person might benefit from this sort of tool. Capture your notes and the speech about the notes and share it. Very interesting idea. It is free right now.
tags: education edu_newapp time management news
24 Essential Mind Mapping and Brainstorming Tools
If you're using mindmapping and brainstorming in the classroom, this list from Mashable is updated and useful. There are a lot of new tools out (many of them paid but some not.) If your students are writing collaboratively, you should have them brainstorming collaboratively before they ever type the first letter of the paper or website.
tags: education news mindmapping tumblr
That’s why we call ourselves Everyartist.me. We are the story of Brendan O’Connell, Artist – and of Brendan’s vision to democratize that creative experience to kids everywhere.
Brendan is a professional artist.He believes he was born to make art.
He earns his living as an artist.
Brendan was lucky enough to grow up with a strong support system that helped him develop his creativity into becoming a painter. That support sustained him as he honed his craft as an artist on the streets of Paris. Tough times, but Brendan knew art was what he was destined to do.The more I dig into this story and what they are doing, the more I just love this project and the purpose of everyartist.me. I hope you'll join in on November 21 and be part of the emphasis to support the creativity of every child.
He became an artist despite being told as a child that art was not something he was good at.
That was misguided advice, and Brendan vowed that someday he would figure out a way to keep that kind of thing from happening to other kids.
Now is that time.
Along with some like-minded partners, Brendan created Everyartist.me. Everyartist.me is a child focused movement to support the expression of creativity innate in every child.
Everyartist.me’s purpose is simple . . . Spark Human Creativity"
Booktrack - Halloween Short Story Contest
Booktrack also has a Halloween writing contest for booktrack as well. This would be a fun creative activity with your students.
Museum of Science and Industry | GoREACT
This is a very cool app. You look at the periodic table and drag elements to mix them together and see what happens in the app. The GoReact app is a "drag and drop" laboratory. If you introduce the periodic table, you'll want to see this.
tags: education science scichat news all_teachers
Scholastic Book Fairs now have a mobile app that lets you scan the covers and get reading levels and other interesting information about the book. What a useful, cool way to introduce the concept of "augmented reality" to kids. You can put the app on their ipads if you're 1:1 and let them use it to pick out books.
tags: education news literacy books augmented reality mlearning tumblr
Booktrack - Amplify your story
Booktrack gives you a way to read a book while listening to a soundtrack. I mentioned the research study in a previous bookmark / link. This is something librarians and literacy leaders should test and try out for themselves as it is a fascinating tool and potential. There are a thousand questions I have about this but plan to try it for myself. On another note, you can also upload your own personal music and keep it private -- to play as you read.
tags: education news books literacy bestpractices literature
REading with Sound: The Interplay of Text and Sound in Ebooks and its effect on retention
Yes, this study was funded by Booktrack (a 2011 study), however, I find that the information is fascinating. By setting sound tracks of different mood music, this study showed: *Virtually all subjects performed moderately to significantly better on information retention tests. * Subjects reported a strong correlation with interacting with the enhanced platform and an ability to focus. There are other results on this, but I find this fascinating and find this a very interesting point to consider as ebooks evolve. Will ebook authors attach music to different pages? Will reading become more cinematic and theatrical? All kinds of interesting thoughts here.
tags: education ebook news research bestpractices
Common Core Academies | Digital textbooks and standards-aligned educational resources
Through the end of the year, Discovery just sent me a note that they are offering these three common core academies at no cost. Here's the info from Steve Dembo. I've done some work with their SIEMENS STEM Academy and am a sTAR Educator and everything they do is top notch. If you can work it out before the end of the year, this is something you'll want to do. From Steve Dembo: "We know that implementing the Common Core can be an uphill climb. That's why Discovery Education is proud to partner with educators to offer Common Core Academies in ELA, Math, and Leadership at no cost. From now until the end of the school year, educators across America are invited to sign up for an Academy and receive: practical strategies to implement CCSS reseach-based instructional practices best practices in using digital content resources and digital tools for immediate classroom integration Discovery Education Common Core Academies offer one day of immersive professional development and two follow-up virtual sessions at no cost to support educators and leaders in effectively implementing the Common Core State Standards. Educators may choose from three Academies offering a unique combination that brings together best practices in digital integration with proven research-based instructional practices: Literacy and the Common Core in a Digital World Teaching and Assessing Common Core Math in a Digital World Leadership Strategies to Support Digital Literacy and the Common Core"
tags: education common core professional development news tumblr edu_news
Interactive educational simulations: Explain 3D
Explain 3D has simulations explaining all kinds of machines and more. This is a 3D simulation built upon the "unity" platform, so you can move around the object in 3D. If you are teaching engineering, run a STEM lab, or work with physics, you'll want to check out what they've done on this site.
Tripppin - Learn English Around The World
This looks like a very cool English game that uses all kinds of shows to teach. Thinking that ESL teachers will want to test this one out. Mau Butler send me this message about this new site: Hello Vicki, I've been an ESL teacher for 20 years, in several countries, and a reader of your coolcatteacher blog for a while. Congratulations. You do excellent work. :) For the past 3 years, I've been building a very innovative approach to teaching and learning English, which is now ready to use. Considering your work, I thought you'd be interested in trying it out. It's called Tripppin and I strongly recommend you see it for yourself on www.tripppin.com but this is us in a nutshell: "Tripppin is an English practice platform, which blends offline and online learning experiences into a game, a music channel, cooking shows, animation, entertaining videos shot around the world, and excellent support for English teachers everywhere." Hope you can have a look :) Thank you.
tags: education news esl language_teacher gamification tumblr
Digital Citizenship Week :: Cable in the Classroom
Happy Digital Citizenship week. As part of connected educators month, this is digital citizenship week. Here is the webpage to help you participate and promote the event.
tags: education news digitalcitizenship ce13
Train your students in CPR. This is a great thing to share with your health classes. The curriculum is here for you. "The easy-to-use CPR in Schools Training Kit is designed just for schools. It contains everything needed to train 10 students at once in CPR. Repeat the process to train a class, a grade - or even an entire school! The CPR in Schools Training Kit is portable, allowing for convenient movement from classroom to classroom and easy storage. One CPR in Schools Training Kit can train hundreds of students!"
tags: education health health_teacher cpr bestpractices edu_news
This website is a "reputation builder" for kids of all ages. When a child is in K-12, the parent has their account attached but then, the child can take it public after that point. This is a "reputation builder" for kids. Many students in Florida are already using this with their parents. This may be an option for efolio building where parents are involved. Worth a look for those working with digital citizenship and to share with parents.
tags: education news digitalcitizenship
Vicki Davis: Educator of the Week | My Town Tutors
Some questions about how I engage and grow my professional learning network, why I started blogging, and some background information. Thanks to Mark at My town tutors for sharing my story.
Alchemy | The Teacher Empowerment Platform
Alchemy smartbinder is a new app that lets you create lessons (perfect for flipped classrooms) and measure student engagement with the data. This is something I'll be testing. It is in BETA but you flipped classroom pioneers out there will definitely want to give this a try.
World and regional statistics, national data, maps, rankings – World Data Atlas
World atlas is a site with simple data about the countries of the world. This from the creator of the site: "World Data Atlas is an ultimate source of world statistics on every country. It includes data on more than 2500 indicators. Topics cover Economics, Demographics, Health, Education, Energy and other socioeconomic information. "
Horace Sense Sheridan WY - YouTube
Kevin Honeycutt is creating a youtube channel about Geography. Geography teachers might be interested in sharing and following this YouTube channel. Kevin does such a great job on so many things. It is a sock puppet, but you can also use this as a model and have your students do their own sock puppet geography reports in this style. This will protect their privacy and also let them learn about a new location.
tags: education geography news elementary
Home/IWitness:Video testimonies from Holocaust survivors and witnesses
Students across the country have already started working on their IWitness Challenge project sponsored by the USC Shoah Foundation - The Institute for Visual History and Education, but there’s still time for youngsters in your community to enter this free online program geared to all secondary-school students. The deadline to enter the Challenge is Dec. 2, 2013. The winning student, along with their teacher and a family member will be brought to Los Angeles to showcase their work as part of the 20th anniversary activities for the Shoah Foundation, which was founded by director Steven Spielberg in 1994 after making “Schindler’s List.” Tthe IWitness Challenge (iwitness.usc.edu) connects students with the past in a very personal way that spurs them to take action to improve the future. With access to many of the Shoah Foundation’s 52,000 testimonies of survivors, liberators and rescuers, students experience history in a way that hits home. Instead of reading facts from textbooks, students feel the emotions and build relationships with those who lived through seemingly impossible situations. But students do more than watch the testimony. The IWitness Challenge compels them to think, to make smart choices and to create their own project and video from what they’ve learned. By encouraging teachers and students to create their own lesson plans, IWitness allows them to expand on practically any subject they wish to pursue. From civics, government and history to poetry, art and ethics, educators can tailor lessons appropriate for their classrooms. And by using the embedded editor, participants not only learn valuable searching and editing skills, but also how to make ethical editing decisions that ensure their finished assignments are a fair and accurate reflection of what they’ve seen. All work is kept safe inside the IWitness site and not accessible to the public. Using IWitness is free, but teachers or homeschool parents must register at iwitness.usc.edu.
tags: history history_teacher education news
What Does It Mean to Flip a Class? (A Visual Answer) - Flipping Physics
Just got this note from my friend Jeff Stanzler at U Michigan. This looks very cool and is a website dedicated to flipping physics, algebra, and calculus. Lots of great videos and resources. The note from Jeff to me about this site and his student: " I wanted to share the work of a former student of mine named Jon Palmer, a Physics teacher who has done some wonderfully creative work "flipping" his classroom. He's now devoting himself to making videos for free use by Physics teachers everywhere. Knowing you, I figured you might appreciate his work. Here's an intro video about his vision of the flipped classroom model. Here's a link to his you tube channel, with more goodies."
Students and teachers are taking the 4 liter challenge. Here's the curriculum and information to bring resources and instruction to children of all ages. "To make the 4 Liter Challenge an even more enriching experience, we've created a free curriculum that introduces themes of water, poverty and human rights to any 7-12th grade classroom. The 4L Curriculum is multidisciplinary and designed to align with national standards. It's built on an innovative "See, Judge, Act" model and will greatly enhance your students' 4L Challenge."
Yet another reason to use YouTube. PBS Math Club has a Youtube channel with topics such as "Adding Negative Numbers: Mean Girls and Darth Vader" and What is an integer?" It is important to give teachers access to YouTube even if you block it from student use. Think of it as free cable where you determine the time for everything to be shown.
PBS Learning media has some cool resources and games for kids including a new PBS Math club to help kids with math. You can sign up for free for these resources. There is a middle school history game and also a virtual underwater tour you can use as well.
Microsoft pulls Windows RT 8.1 update from the Store | ZDNet
FYI. Microsoft Pulled the Windows 8.1 update after it "bricked" some devices. So, if you're trying to update Windows, wait a little while longer.
tags: news education microsoft technology edu_news
Microsoft's photo and movie making apps revealed ahead of Windows 8.1 release | The Verge
Here comes Windows 8 with a lot of new settings. These are talking about the Windows phone updates but other updates are on the way. "While Windows 8.1 adds a lot of features and improvements across the OS, the built-in apps include some of the biggest changes. Microsoft is detailing a few of the more creative ones ahead of the Windows 8.1 release tomorrow. The photos app in Windows 8 included Facebook and Flickr integration, but the Windows 8.1 version drops that in lieu of some improvements to editing. You can now select auto fix for a selection of different corrections, and there’s also manual cropping, red-eye removal, retouch, and other basic contrast and brightness settings. One of the more interesting features is color enhance that lets you pick an area of a photo to brighten up or darken areas of photos."
BGSU Wiki - Embed a Google Document
Yes, you can embed a google doc on a wiki page -if you just have to edit simultaneously. Here's how.
Kids Book Reviews - Book Reviews and Ratings by Kids at DOGO Books
I noticed that Wikispaces included Dogo books under a new "Education" category in the widget menu. (This looks like a television on the edit bar when you click to Edit a wiki.) So, Dogobooks is a place where kids ar writing book reviews about everything. Very cool. You can see the most popular books and ti also has book clubs and other ways for kids to connect. This is a very cool site for helping kids love learning and may also augment Accelerated Reader programs nicely.
tags: education news books literacy bestpractices
How to Free Up Space in Gmail: 5 Ways to Reclaim Space
Some great ideas for clearing up space in your email.
Chat and real-time collaboration - Drive Help
Little tip: "If you're a Google Apps administrator, note that disabling Google chat across your domain now disables chat in Drive" I think we have to work with chat. It would be nice if chat could be enabled or disabled by document but it is a whole-domain thing right now. I hate to see it disabled.
tags: education google drive news collaboration techintegrator
Backupbox is merging with mover, another service for moving files. If you need to backup or move between cloud services, this is a great way to do it.
tags: productivity news cloud services
Module #3 - Becoming a Google Drive Master - Google Drive
A nice training module to help students and teachers become "Google Drive masters." Neat idea created by someone at Rochester Public Schools for their teachers along with videos that are hyperlinked. This is a great example of the new kind of training that many technology integration coaches are providing. Just in time (JIT) or "own your own time" (OYOT) types of courses.
Cool Tools for 21st Century Learners: Back to School With Google Docs
If you want to create an inbox for those Google Docs, use this to help you track what they've turned in and whether you've graded it.
tags: education news google docs assignments assessment teaching bestpractices techintegrator
Guided Learning: Article Review
Nice assignment from teachers Helen Chang and Susan Oxnevad. I like how they use graphics to make the assignment easier to follow. It is to write an article review of a current event relating to drugs.
tags: education news template assignment teaching
This is an awesome sliderocket about how to use Google Docs to facilitate a Writing Workshop created by Susan Oxnevad. Look for links to examples within the presentation so you can use everything she shares. This slide show shares not only best practices in running a writing workshop but also is a best practice itself in creating a stand alone presentation that instructions in a powerful way. Writing teachers everywhere should take 10 minutes to work through this slide show this week.
Peer Editing Jobs - Google Docs Templates
An awesome way to have jobs for various students that they tweak and design. This template will get you started with an attractive Google Doc Template. Adapt it for you.
tags: education news writing proofreading revision writers workshop
Docs Blog: Find facts and do research inside Google Documents
If you want students to draft work in Google Docs, you have to teach them about the Research pane. It lets you search for the appropriate license (click the down arrow) and set the citation method. You can insert photos, search Google Scholar and a dictionary, your own files, and even the web. When you mouse over the item, you have the option to cite the source or insert a link. Very cool and handy for writers. This is an older feature that hasn't gotten the press it deserves in classrooms. If you have Google Apps for education this is a BIG DEAL because it simplifies finding pictures and does many other things that online citation generators do all within Google Docs.
tags: education news google research citation tumblr literature bestpractices
Here's the official bulletin board with the clickable links for the Google Docs for Education ideas. It was created in Glogster which is a powerful way for students to be able to share and create clickable graphics. Try out this tool, it is a great way to create an efolio and organize graphically.
12 Effective Ways To Use Google Drive In Education - Edudemic - Edudemic
An awesome graphic (click on the buttons on the graphic) from Edudemic sharing some excellent ways to use Google Drive in Education including templates, writers workshop, self grading quizzes, assignment tracking and more.
IF you use Google Hangouts, you'll want to check out Google moderator which lets you ask questions and people can suggest answers and vote up answers. You can use this in class as well.
Original Inbox Zero Video (2007) | Inbox Zero
If you hear people talk about "Inbox Zero" - here are the original documents to help you understand what it is.
tags: education news productivity email inboxzero bestpractices
Home - TextDrop - Online text editor for Dropbox
You can now edit files in your dropbox from a web browser. If you 're at work and need to edit the files, Textdrop might be for you. It does cost 20.99 per year to sign up for this but for some of you who don't have access to dropbox at work, this might help you. This is also a model for what we may see Dropbox do itself, as cloud syncing and cloud editing move closer together in all apps that want to compete in the space.
17 Best Google Drive Apps For Chrome Users
There are many apps you can add to Google Drive including wevideo (collaborative video editing), Mind Meister (for brainstorming) and hellofax (for sending and receiving faxes) and more. Learn how to be more productive with Google Drive.
tags: education news google drive productivity tumblr all_teachers
6 Steps to Add Voice Comments to Google Docs ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning
Want to add voice comments to your Google Doc. Here's how from the educator's technology blog. Many students say that this helps them feel more connected to teachers. Think about it, if they struggle with writing, they might struggle with reading and this is the kind of differentiation that can really help some kids.
tags: writing education news tumblr bestpractices