Yes Tech!

I learned of a new screencast tool from Chris Ozias (Pinckney Technology Integration Specialists) while at the “Tech or Treat” MACUL/Discovery Education Event on Saturday.  It’s called Screencast-o-Matic.  No download and no account registration required!  I just recorded a quick screencast to introduce an 8th grade inquiry-based science lesson I developed.  Creating the screencast was super easy (no need to read any directions or change computer settings).  There are many saving options:  MPEG-4, avi.  Or share direct to youtube (However, this didn’t work when I tried it) or to Screencast-o-Matic.  There is some advertising, but it didn’t seem offensive.  I’m thinking that this could be used easily by students!

Shelfari is a social networking site for people who like to read books.  Users create a virtual bookshelf to keep track of books they are reading, have already read, and want to read.  You can connect with people with similar interests to share thoughts and book reviews, get book recommendations, and discover good books you didn’t even know existed.  It is free and sign-up is quick and easy. 

Here’s an example of how I use the site.  I was browsing the books of some of my Shelfari friends and kept seeing the book Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds.  I read the reviews:  Presentation Zen:  Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (Voices That Matter).  I’m counting on it helping me create more effective presentations for delivery of teacher professional development, and according to the reviews on Shelfari, it will do just that.  I ordered it from Amazon and it should arrive any day! 

Google Earth released new and updated imagery and higher resolution 3D terrain for many locations, including Michigan!   If you have not visited Google Earth lately, you need to check it out!  I took a quick screenshot of Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes (NW Michigan’s Lower Peninsula).  I have vivid memories of running up and down the dunes with my family as a child.  It’s time to go back for a visit!  Does this sound interesting to you?  Visit the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Visitors Bureau website.

I have kicked the nasty pneumonia that kept me from attending the MACUL Conference this year. Thanks for all the get well wishes that so many of you sent during the conference. Since I was not able to attend, I’ve been hounding everyone in my district who attended to share their experiences with me. The feedback from people in my district who did attend was overly positive as you will see by their comments below.

The first person I bumped into told me that the MACUL Conference was the best conference she has ever attended. She told me that the Alan November keynote was the perfect start to a fantastic conference. Last weekend, she spent some time exploring some of the new tools she was introduced to at the conference and shared a video she made with GoAnimate (a very cute invitation to her son’s birthday party).

Many people in my district were only able to attend the pre-conference. They appreciated the in-depth hands on approach. Several were wowed by Jason Ohler’s digital storytelling session. One teacher stated “I was impressed with his focus on story over glitz. His framework offers a boost to teachers who believe they do not have the time, money or skills needed to encourage students to create stories of their own.” Someone else said “His story mapping models are a great way to help kids organize ideas into something with meaning.” Teachers from one of our middle schools have already scheduled a digital storytelling workshop to offer teachers at their building. Another teacher has plans to transform a poetry unit into a poetry digital storytelling unit.

Several people were introduced to Google Docs. “I think that GoogleDocs has lots of possibilities for the classroom. Its ability to have users revise the same document in real time is incredible. Peer editing will be so much fun!” 

“Steve Dembo had tons of cool things to share. His energy and knowledge are inspiring. The most important thing I came away with from his presentations is a better idea of how fast the tool kit is growing and the idea that the educational applications of the new web need to be developed and then shared with others.”

 One teacher used a clever metaphor. She said, “I learned about many web 2.0 tools which I liken to snorkeling: I have seen the surface of the web, but there is so much more underwater.” My advice is to pick one and give it a try; soon you’ll be swimming for more!

Thinkfinity is a web-based tool with standards-based educational resources from high quality content partners such as:

• ArtsEdge (the arts)
• EconEdLink (economics)
• EdSitement (humanaties, foreign language, social studies)
• Illuminations (math)
• ReadWriteThink (literacy)
• Science NetLinks (science)
• Smithsonian (history)
• Xpeditions (geography)

Teachers of all grade levels can easily find lesson plans, interactive activities, worksheets, rubrics, media, primary source documents, and reference materials from all these content providers with one search. 

Additionally, Thinkfinity has separate web portals for students, parents, and after-school programs.  Teachers can encourage parents of their students to utilize Thinkfinity resources at home to deepen understanding of concepts.

Check it out!

Today’s e-newsletter from Google, called the Sightseer (sign up here), highlights a cool new feature of Google Earth.  Street View is a layer now available.  Once you turn on the layer, you will see icons of cameras in several locations.  You can zoom in for a closer 3D look!  Street View imagery is now available in the US, France, Spain, Japan, Australia, and Italy.

You can also access Street View from Google Maps.  I just virtually traveled to the waterfront shops in Detroit.  Yes, there really are some beautiful areas in Detroit!  Wouldn’t you like to take a scroll down this street? 

How-to directions for using Street View in Google Earth are available from Google Earth’s web page. 

To access Street View from Google Maps, click and drag the yellow figure/man on the left side of your screen.

Check out this web-based tool from Roxic.  I drew a person, clicked a button, and it began to dance in 3D!  Next time, I’ll take more time and add some color.  Hope you have as much fun trying it out as I did! How do you think this can this be used in a K-12 classroom?

I made this graphic with Wordle, a tool for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes.

I used text from my own blog entries to find out the most common topics and themes I write about most often.  Pretty cool, eh?