Michelle's Digital Soup

Did you know? Shift happens!

2011-06-02T13:04:00.002-05:00

The 21st Century Classroom looks very different from the classroom I was taught in. Chalkboards and overhead projectors are quickly becoming "antiques." I can remember writing short programs on an Apple IIe in computer science class, and now you can find that computer in a museum somewhere. That was only 17-19 years ago.

This rapidly changing digital world is something that educators are going to have to embrace in the classroom. My 3-year old iTot can easily navigate all of his educational games on my iPad. Nothing keeps his attention longer than this device. I am amazed at how much he can remember, and I have to watch him closely since he has watched me download apps from iTunes. Now he searches the app store, but always asks "mom, is this game free?"

Our students have access to numerous multi-media devices outside of school, and it only makes sense that they have them in the classroom as well. I love the "Did you know?" videos on YouTube. There are several different versions of this video presentation with over 2,500,000 views on the latest one. The latest versions, 4.0 and 3.0, are very different, but both have strong educational implications. Take a minute and view these short videos. They will grab your attention and give you some unbelievable statistics to ponder.

Google Bookmarks

2011-05-26T12:33:00.000-05:00

A colleague told me about another wonderful tool that is also provided by Google. Google Bookmarks allow users to save their favorites from existing browsers and store them online. This provides access to every link that is stored on your computer from anywhere. This tool also gives users the ability to share bookmarks with others, organize them into categories, and more. If you want to see another users shared favorites, just type their name in the search box and click search. Any lists that are not public can not be viewed by others.

If you are using Internet Explorer, you will have to import the favorites list on your computer into Firefox. Once it is imported in Firefox, the next step is to export those bookmarks to an HTML file. Firefox makes this easy! Click here to find all the techie information. Although this sounds hard to do, it is pretty simple.

Teachers who are transferring to different schools next year, and are not able to take their classroom computers with them, might find this tool extremely helpful. Teachers like to work on various things for school during the summer months, and this tool gives them access to all their stored links from home.

I learned something new today. Did you?

If you can't find it on Google, it just doesn't exist!

2011-05-25T13:17:00.005-05:00

What did we ever do before Google? I find myself "Googling" everything these days. I used to share, with my high school students, all the great "perks" offered to Google employees. What a great company to work for! They have also taken productivity to a new level and are offering some valuable resources to the education world for FREE. I know that just caught every teacher's attention reading this right now.

Google Apps Education Edition allows districts/schools to become more effective professional learning communities by providing one common access point. Utilizing free integrated solutions for calendaring, and online document and site sharing using Google Apps, allows teachers to "work smarter, not harder." Some of the available tools that I want to mention are Google Calendar, Google Docs, and Google Sites.

Google Calendar - organize your schedule and share it with others (see Webster Parish example on right)
Google Docs - upload, store, and collaborate real time on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations
Google Sites - share all types of information without having to learn any technical language, and access the information from anywhere

With the Common Core State Standards coming in the near future that integrate science and social studies into ELA and math, it is going to be more important than ever for teachers to collaborate. Not only with colleagues at their schools, but teachers need a feasible way to collaborate with other colleagues throughout the district.

The Webster Parish School System now has a Google Apps Site for such collaboration and sharing among teachers. Teachers may access this site through the link https://www.google.com/a/websterpsb.org. From this "Google Apps for websterpsb.org" page, teachers can either sign in using an existing websterpsb.org google username and password, or create an account using a websterpsb.org email address. Because all users with the "websterpsb.org" domain will be linked, you can access other documents shared by members. If the member of the group wants teachers to collaborate on a document, then they will have to check that option when they share the file.

I can think of numerous ways this tool can be used. Common formative assessments, highly aligned common bellwork, collaborative team planning, descriptive feedback, and lesson planning are just a few.

I have one question. Are you going to enter the "21st Century Classroom" kicking and screaming, or will you lead the way?

A Better Way to Make Morning Announcements

2010-10-10T17:55:00.002-05:00

Daily announcements are typically made in schools over the intercom during one of the morning class periods. This is a practice that ideally gets the messages of the day out to both teachers and students. Although this is convenient for the principal, it becomes a burden on the teacher. Many times students do not listen to the full announcement and it disrupts the classrooms of some of the best classroom managers out there. I must admit, my attention often wondered during announcements and I would miss something that usually applied to me.

A principal's blog is a much better way of communicating the daily announcements. If a teacher or student is absent, they could easily see the announcements from a previous day via the Internet. Parents and other stakeholders could easily access these as well. Before you say "not every student has access to the Internet," let me clarify what I am proposing. A routine would have to be established at the school. For example, first period teachers would access the principal's blog announcements using their classroom computer. At a convenient time for them, they would then communicate the announcements to the students in their first period class.

Blogging the announcements of the day is no more than typing them up. When you click "publish post" they become live on your blog. Going one step further, setting up a google calendar for your school is an excellent way for everyone to access important information about upcoming events. Adding the google calendar for your school to the principal's blog is a free feature and puts everything in one place.

If you would like to know more about how to set-up a blog/google calendar, just let me know.

CSI in the Classroom

2005-08-11T13:20:00.015-05:00

I recently updated this post with working links. Over the years, links tend to change. I used many different CSI activities to motivate my students with great success. They absolutely loved it! The first time I used this "theme" was in 2003 while teaching eighth grade science. We had t-shirts printed that year with a "CSI: LAKESIDE" logo. Students are still wearing them today! If you can make science fun, you will have engaged students who want to be in your classroom. I will publish some of my favorite activities in the future, so keep checking back!

Supplies:
The Proscope
Ward's Forensic Science
Materials NSTA Recommended Resources
Forensic Lab Kits
Carolina Biological Kits

Curriculum Materials and Lesson Plans:
truTV Classroom Forensics
Who Killed The Red Baron
Access Excellence "The Mystery Spot"
Crime Scene Investigation
Genetics / DNA / Forensics Curricula
Forensic Friday (Grades 9-12)
Math Mystery Stories
"The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet"
Discovery School "Who Did It?"
The Science Spot
Discovery School Lesson Plans
PBS Resources
The Case of the Barefoot Burglar
Who Did It?
5 Mystery Lessons

More Resources:
CSI on CBS
FBI Youth Website
Interactive Investigator

Classroom Performance System (CPS)

2004-08-04T18:27:00.004-05:00

I am a CPS fan! I have used their systems with student remotes for the last eight years. Over that time, CPS has improved many features within the system interface. This tool is extremely motivational for students and gives instant feedback to the teacher. There are so many ways to use the CPS in your classroom. One of my favorites was to use the system for test review and make it a competition. The system automatically gives points for quick and correct responses. This information can be pulled up periodically to keep the class competition going. The top three scores at the end of the review would get to pick a treat from my candy bag. This bag was kept in a very safe place and contained small chocolate bars and tootsie roll pops. Keep in mind that I taught high school science for the majority of the last eight years. Big kids like a victory treat just like the little guys do!

Engage - Get your students enthused and involved with CPS response pads
Assess - Gather immediate, comprehensive information from all of your students
Achieve - Empower both students and teachers to reach higher standards of learning
Interaction - Use the CPS Chalkboard or an interactive whiteboard to create immediate and customized lessons
Gradebook - Using the gradebook tool, grades are recorded, inserted, weighted, re-graded, and curved at your command without any extra work
Testing - CPS allows students to work at their own pace, grade questions automatically, and provides multiple test version functionality to deter cheating.
Standards - State Standards are already built into the program and easily accessible
CPS & Examview - If your textbook comes with an Examview test generator, there are thousands of question banks free and available for CPS use. Check with your textbook publisher. Use test banks to load questions into the CPS system. You must be using version 4.0 or higher of Examview.