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Category Archives: Professional Development

METC 2013 – Presentation links and resources

Posted on by Posted in 21st Century Education, cyberethics, documents, Education, Google Tools, Literacy, Making Connections, METC, presentations, Professional Development, projects, teaching, Technology, Tools, Video, web literacy Leave a comment

About a month ago the Midwest Education Technology Conference took place at the Convention Center in St. Charles, Missouri. I’ve been fortunate enough to attend this conference for the past few years and serve on their advisory board. The conference itself has made great strides over the years and I think it’s a really good conference. It’s not huge like other conferences I’ve attended but this year there were about 1800 educators who came to St. Charles to learn and share. This year I did two pre-conference workshops and 4 breakout session. Unfortunately, it took me this long to get a chance to post these here. I hope you find them useful.

Pre-Conference Workshops

 

 

This workshop was an advanced Google Docs session where we worked with some of the lesser known features of Google Docs and then moved into scripting and some of the other advanced functionality. This site is used for a variety of purposes but the content for this workshop can be found on the “METC 2013 Tab“.

 

 

This workshop centered around using YouTube in the classroom and was meant to take educators beyond simply watching videos online but using playlists to curate and create as well as a way to address literacy, privacy, and safety concerns for k-12 students.

Breakout sessions

Screencasting Your PD

My first breakout session centered around using screencasting software to deliver professional development to teachers. Through this session I spoke specifically about the TechSmith tools Camtasia and SnagIt. While I know that they are paid programs and that there are plenty of free alternatives, I also only had so much time and tried not to focus on the tools as much as the screencasting techniques that teachers should think about as they make their videos.

Today’s Students, Today’s Media

I did my second session with a colleague of mine, Kim Lindskog. This session was really about giving students opportunities to create videos in the classroom. We talked about how video projects don’t have to look the same anymore because there are so many tools available that can be used on mobile devices to tell stories. Despite internet issues, I was able to demonstrate Mozilla Popcorn Maker using a video of Ken Shelton talking about METC.

Augmented Reality in the Classroom

This breakout session was probably my favorite one to actually give because I find the topic fascinating. This presentation centered around how augmented reality is starting to be used in education and, with advances in technology, gives students and teachers the ability to create their own AR objects using tools like Aurasma and Layar. At the end of the session participants were able to try some examples using their own devices and we had a great discussion around how this might look in the future.

Speed Geeking – Digital Literacy

My final session was entitled Speed Geeking and is also one that I always enjoy. For the past three years Gina Hartman and I have organized this as about 5 different mini presentations given in small groups. It’s fast, frenzied and a lot of fun. This year we were joined by Greg Lawrence, Drew McAllister, and Cindy Lane as we each took on a topic around Digital Citizenship. All of our presentations can be found on the Speed Geeking wiki.

 

Hopefully some of these resources and presentations will be useful. If they are, I’d love to hear about them.

Using SMART Response to check for understanding

Posted on by Posted in 21st Century Education, Education, Friday Flyer, Professional Development, teaching, Technology, testing, Tools Leave a comment

SMART Response is a great system for creating and giving assessments. There are many strategies to this from giving kids a paper copy of an assessment and having them record their responses to a simple check for understanding. Starting with SMART Notebook 10, much of the functionality around the SMART Response system has been built into the Notebook. It still requires the clickers, but adding questions and giving an assessment are so much easier than they once were. One of my favorite featrues is the “Instant Question” which allows you to, on the fly, insert a question for students to answer. Suppose you are in the midst of a lesson and you just want to see where students are in their understanding of the concept. At one point, I may have had my students give me a thumbs up or thumbs down in response to a question. I distinctly remember that when I would do that, I’d get a lot of thumgs up so that, either I’d move on and stop talking or my students wouldn’t want to be the only one who didn’t get it.

Another way to approach this is with the SMART Response system and SMART Notebook. In that same lesson, instead of asking for a thumbs up, consider posing that same question, but instead, try this.

  1. Open up SMART Notebook and click on the “Instant Question” icon on your toolbar
  2. Have your students join your class on their SMART Response handsets (your class has to be set up in advance)
  3. Choose the appropriate question type that you wish to ask
  4. Pose the question to your class. You don’t have to write it down, just ask them and let them answer on their Response handsets.

As soon as you select the question type, the “assessment” starts and students can immediately begin answering. It’s fast, simple and anonymous allowing those who don’t understand to be truthful without feeling that peer pressure to already know the answer.

When everyone has answered, click on the “Stop Assessment” button on the tool bar.

Your results will be tabulated in the sidebar and you will immediately know if your students understand and allow you to either reteach or move on with the lesson.

Some tips:

  • Choose your questions wisely. Don’t just ask them if they “get it”. Pose the question so you can tell if they understand.
  • Have them join your class before you choose the question.
  • Don’t use this technique if you want to know how everyone answered. This is simply to get the “pulse” of the group.

The following video will walk you through the process. If you have questions about when or how to use this, be sure to let me know.

Cross posted to Northeast Middle school Friday Flyer

METC Virtual Conference

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About two weeks ago the Midwest Education Technology Conference was held at the St. Charles Convention Center. I’ve been attending METC for a number of years now and have done a number of presentations there and, truly, it’s a pretty great conference. One of the things that METC has started doing is streaming a select number of presentations online, live during the conference drawing a worldwide audience of educators.

Now that the conference is over, these sessions are still available to be viewed online on the METC Conference website and will continue to be there until this fall. If you were unable to attend, this is a great way to get a little professional learning when and where ever it’s convenient for you. There are some great tips and tricks in there for the tech savvy as well as those who are just looking for a little inspiration to bring into the classroom. Each session is just under an hour long so I hope that you’ll take a little time, even if it’s playing in the background, to listen to what these speakers have to say.

Making Global Connections

Posted on by Posted in Education, Friday Flyer, Literacy, Making Connections, Professional Development, Technology Leave a comment

In December I had the opportunity to hear Ray McNulty speak at Lindenwood and during one section of the day he showed the above video to start a discussion about how we are in a global society. In the video, you will see a multitude of yellow dots, each representing an airplane traveling. What’s I find interesting about this is that, as the day moves on, you see certain areas of the world come alive, almost as if we are migrating to one part of the world and then the population and trend reverses. At one point I remember (however, I can’t seem to find it) seeing a map similar to this that highlighted air travel just 20 years ago and the difference is marked. Instead of the mass migration of the little yellow dots across the oceans, our travel was much more centralized to a specific area or country. Of course there were still plenty of planes flying at that time, but not like now. Each day, regardless of the area of the world, we are becoming more collaborative with other cultures. This globalization is also becoming part of the educational culture as well. Teachers are more willing to look outside of their own classrooms and connect their students to other countries and students to learn from them. The Flat Classroom Project is one of those that has connected students from around the world as they learn and work together. Skype has an educational space where you can connect your classroom with others around the world. These are only two such examples but there are plenty more that will allow students to connect with others.

However, there are plenty more out there and they are not limited to students. Teachers also have the ability to connect with each other on Twitter by participating in online chats, joining email rings at Teachers.net, becoming a STAR educator with Discovery Education, or even looking to many of the professional organizations that are out there. It’s important to continue to learn and explore topics with local colleagues, but there are so many resources that can be tapped into beyond the four walls of our schools. Making connections with and for students to that global community is becoming more and more important. It provides perspective, challenges ideas, and gives us a sense of our place in the world. Just as all of those little yellow dots are traveling around the world in the video, we now have the tools available to us to get us outside of our classrooms without having to actually travel anywhere. It’s time to start taking advantage of them.

Cross posted to Northeast Middle Friday Flyer

Technology Thursdays – New Avermedia document camera software

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About a month ago I put in the Friday Flyer that starting last month I would be offering a new experiment in professional development at Northeast. Because of the interest in learning more about technology and how it can be used in the classroom this coming Thursday will be the second session where I will be available to work with the Avermedia document camera software all day in room 402 in the library. I’m always available to think, plan and work with you around how to use technology in your instruction but these “Technology Thursday” sessions will be centered around a specific topic and will be held every hour during the day so that you can come at your convenience. This is strictly an optional drop in type of session where I will work with whoever shows up around these topics. If there’s only one person, that’s who I’ll work with, if there’s a group, I’ll work with everyone. You can stay as long or as little as you want. During these days I will have nothing else scheduled and will be completely available to help. Hopefully you will find this useful and convenient.

  • February 21st – Document Camera – New Avermedia software – Document cameras are not new in our classrooms, but there is a new version of the Avermedia software that brings new features and greater flexibility. From new math tools to embedding your document camera image into a PowerPoint, this session will go over these new features. Come share your ideas with your colleagues. (If you’re interested in the new features, be sure to make an appointment with Julie in advance to have your software updated.)

Upcoming Topics

  • March 7th – SMART Response – Most of you have heard about or used the SMART Response system to give assessments and check for understanding. If you’ve never taken the opportunity to try this system out, this is the session for you. I’ll help you get started and begin thinking about how to use these tools in your classroom.
  • April 11th – Discovery Education – Discovery Education is best known for streaming videos but there’s so much more to it. This session will focus on finding, storing and sharing the content that you find. If you plan to attend this session and are new to Discovery Education, please let me know so I can make sure you have an active account.

Hope to see you there.

Cross posted to Northeast Friday Flyer

Reminder – Edcamp St. Louis is next weekend

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A month or so ago I posted about the EdCamp St. Louis event that was coming up. Well, it’s here. As I said before, I’ve found that some of my best learning has come from other teachers, not necessarily in organized professional development opportunities, but in impromptu conversations in the hallway, at conferences, and online. However, what I like best about going to conferences is the fact that I can get a broader perspective on the world of education and the ideas of others outside my own district and school realm. There are plenty of smart people around and if we only look inward (be that district, building, or even team) there is so much innovation and learning that we are missing because of the limited view. Conferences are hard though. Typically, travel and expense is involved, both of which are major barriers to the conference experience.

To get around such barriers, a number of educators around the world have begun to organize free, personalized, professional development opportunities that they call Edcamps. I’m not sure which Edcamp can be considered the very first one, but they arecropping up all over the place now. The Edcamp experience has many benefits, but probably the biggest draw is that these events are FREE opportunities to meet, network and collaborate with other teachers outside your building and district to provide that additional perspective and ideas. The event itself is typically sponsored by a variety of companies and organizations who see value in education and want to give educators development opportunities.

One thing that you need to know is that these events are not your typical conference experience. Edcamps pride themselves on being what’s called an “Unconference“. An unconference, while not unique only to the world of education, is a participant-driven meeting where those in attendance decide, on the spot, what will be presented at the conference that day and organize the sessions accordingly. You may not know “what” you will learn when you arrive that morning, but you do know that you will definitely learn “something”. In this format, there are no presentation proposals or approvals. If you want to talk about and present on something, you can sign up to do just that. Others who are interested in the topic can come and listen, learn, and talk with you. To a certain extent, it gives structure to those “hallway conversations” that are so valuable.

Last February was the inagural EdcampSTL held in the Maplewood-Richmond Heights School District. It was a great day of learning and networking and I would encourage any educator in St. Louis area to go to the EdcampSTL website and click on the “Register Now” link to reserve your place at this year’s event. It’s well worth the time to learn from other educators in the area. Just a side note, when you go to register, you’ll probably be placed on a waiting list. I have assurances from the organizers that those on the wait list will absolutely be admitted.

Next Saturday, February 9, 2013 from 8-3, the second EdCamp St. Louis will be held at Hixson Middle School in the Webster Groves School District. It’s a good day and a great way to expand your thinking, be inspired, and get ideas for the classroom that you can use the following Monday. I’ll be there and I hope you’ll consider joining me there and learn from your fellow educators.

Clear a SMART Notebook Page

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SMART Notebook 10.8 brings some new features to the software and additional interactivity to your SMARTboard. Today I want to tell you about 2 tools that you may not know about and show you how to add them to your toolbar.

Clear Ink - Whenever you use the pen tool to mark up a page, those annotations or drawing will stay with the page until you either close that SMART Notebook file without saving the changes, or you use the eraser to get rid of them. While that’s fine, I can think of numerous reasons to want to clear that screen quickly. Maybe a new class is coming in and you’re beginning the lesson again, or maybe you want your students to practice problems on the board. Regardless, there are two ways to quickly clear all the ink off of an individual page.

The first way is to right click on any blank space on that page and select “Clear Ink from Page” from the dropdown menu. This will clear all of the Ink while keeping any text boxes or other graphics. However, sometimes right clicking on a SMARTboard can be tedious. So, in version 10.8, SMART gives you the ability to customize your tool bar and add a “Clear Ink” button to quickly do the same task that the right click does.

Add the Clear Ink button to your toolbar:

  1. Right click on a blank part of the toolbar which will bring up the “Customize Toolbar” box.
  2. Find the “Clear Ink” button and drag it onto your toolbar. You will see a blue line show up on the toolbar signifying where that button will be located. When you close the “Customize Toolbar” box, the icon will stay and you now have a quick and easy way to clear all the ink off of any SMART Notebook page while keeping all the other elements in tact.

Clear Page – Another tool that’s similar to “Clear Ink” is the “Clear Page” tool. This tool clears all elements off of the page and gives you a blank page. This tool isn’t new in 10.8, but because it’s not a part of the toolbar by default, it’s one that you may not know about. Whether it’s a text box, a picture, ink or any other content, the “Clear Page” tool gets rid of all of it. Just like the “Clear Ink” tool, you can access this one by right clicking and selecting “Clear Page” from the menu, or you can add it to your tool bar using the same directions as above.

If you’d rather see how it works, the following video illustrates both of these tools as well as adding each tool to the toolbar.

January 2nd Technology PD Recap

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On January 2nd, 2013, teachers at my school returned for a professional development day. During the afternoon, I helped to organize some learning around technology. This post represents the recap of the work that was done during those sessions.

I just wanted to take a moment to recap the sessions that happened at Northeast on January 2nd as a way to provide these resources to those who couldn’t make it to these sessions.

Technology Playground – This session wasn’t really organized with an agenda, instead questions were asked and answered and the topics varied depending on the questions that were asked. However, these are the topics that I remember us going over during that time.

  • Browsers – Browsers are essentially the software that interprets and shows the website. In this discussion I shared information from past posts.
  • Online bookmarking – I’ve talked a lot about using social bookmarking tools like Delicious and Diigo to not only keep your links somewhere other than your browser, but also to be able to easily share resources with students and colleagues.
  • Timer Tab – There are many cases that you’ll want to use a timer in the classroom to time an activity. However, one of the problems may be that the work that needs to be done is on another website and you can’t see how much time is expired or left in the activity. Using a tool like Timer Tab, the timer actually shows in the browser tab so you don’t have to stay on that page to see the time. Very handy.
  • CTA – As you begin to think about what it means for students to bring devices to school and get on line, there are many places to begin. Because there will be a variety of devices that students will bring, I encourage you to think about using tools that have a variety of ways to access it through apps or just using a browser. There are many more such tools but here are two that we talked about.
    • Linoit – Think of this as a bulletin board where students can contribute sticky notes around a topic or conversation. No login is required.
    • Etherpad – A great collaborative writing tool that allows up to 16 people to collaborate on a single document.
  • Keyboard Shortcuts – Keyboard shortcuts are always fun to learn about. These are two that were mentioned.
    • Windows+D – Holding down the Windows key and selecting “D” will take you directly to your desktop. Using this key combination a second time will restore your windows to their last state bringing up the window you were working on.
    • Windows+L – Holding down the Windows key and selecting “L” will lock your computer taking you to the Novell login screen. This is a great idea if you’re going to leave your computer for hall duty or during your prep hour.

Google Docs – Many of you are already using Google Docs but during this introductory session, I shared a website that I had created for a workshop that I did last year. For those who might be interested in getting started with Google Docs, this might be a good beginning point. Google Docs 4 Edu

Discovery Education – Ben Dueker and Mary Robbins did a great job with this session and made create this handout to get you started using the tools inside of Discovery.

SMART Notebook – During the final session of the day I went over a few of the tools inside of SMART Notebook but most of our time was spent looking at some of the resources that are provides as a part of the software. First we looked at the SMART Notebook Gallery found under one of the tabs on the sidebar in Notebook. This is a great way to find pictures, interactive content, games and other useful tools to use with students.

Then we looked at the SMART Exchange website where teachers can share and download lesson plans to use or modify. Many times this gives a great starting point for creating your own files.

If you have questions about any of the information in any of these sessions, please let me know. I’ll be happy to share.

Technology Thursdays at Northeast Middle

Posted on by Posted in 21st Century Education, coaching, Education, Friday Flyer, Professional Development, Technology, Tools Leave a comment

Starting this month I will be offering a new experiment in professional development. Judging from the number of people who came to the technology sessions Wednesday afternoon, there is plenty of interest in learning more about technology and how it can be used in the classroom. I’m always available to think, plan and work with you around how to use technology in your instruction. These “Technology Thursday” sessions will be centered around a specific topic and will be held every hour during the day so that you can come at your convenience. This is strictly an optional drop in type of session where I will work with whoever shows up around these topics. If there’s only one person, that’s who I’ll work with, if there’s a group, I’ll work with everyone. You can stay as long or as little as you want. During these days I will have nothing else scheduled and will be completely available to help. Hopefully you will find this useful and convenient.

Topics:

  • January 24th - SMART Boards and SMART Notebook – Whether you’re curious about the new features that are available to you in SMART Notebook 10.8 or you just want to know how to orient and navigate the board, this session will be all about SMART Notebook. (If you’re interested in the new features, be sure to make an appointment with Julie in advance to have your software updated.)
  • February 21st – Document Camera – New Avermedia software – Document cameras are not new in our classrooms, but there is a new version of the Avermedia software that brings new features and greater flexibility. From new math tools to embedding your document camera image into a PowerPoint, this session will go over these new features. Come share your ideas with your colleagues. (If you’re interested in the new features, be sure to make an appointment with Julie in advance to have your software updated.)
  • March 7th – SMART Response – Most of you have heard about or used the SMART Response system to give assessments and check for understanding. If you’ve never taken the opportunity to try this system out, this is the session for you. I’ll help you get started and begin thinking about how to use these tools in your classroom.
  • April 11th – Discovery Education – Discovery Education is best known for streaming videos but there’s so much more to it. This session will focus on finding, storing and sharing the content that you find. If you plan to attend this session and are new to Discovery Education, please let me know so I can make sure you have an active account.

All sessions will be held in room 402 in the library during every hour. Hope to see you there.

SMART Notebook 10 – Magic Pen Tool

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One of the lesser used tools in SMART Notebook 10 is the Magic Pen tool. This tool, while it looks like the regular pen tool, it has different functionality and capabilities when used inside of SMART Notebook.

  1. Temporary ink – The first way the Magic Pen tool can be used is as temporary ink. In the video below you can see an example, but essentially, whatever you write will fade away in about 5 seconds or so. This is a great way to temporarily annotate or draw attention to a specific piece of content.
  2. Spotlight – With the Magic Pen tool selected, if you draw a circle or oval, the spotlight is activated allowing you to draw attention to a specific area of the screen while darkening the outside. Clicking and dragging outside of the spotlight will let you move the spotlight around to focus on a different area of the screen. Putting your cursor on the inside of the spotlight, you’ll get a double sided arrow which, if you click and drag it, will allow you to resize the spotlight.
  3. Zoom – The last way to use the Magic Pen tool is to draw a square or rectangle on your SMART Notebook slide. This will activate the zoom feature and let you show more detail of the picture or zoom in on a specific area of text. Just as with the Spotlight, you can move the zoomed box around by clicking and dragging outside of the box and you can zoom in and out by clicking and dragging on the inside of the box.

Each of these three features can be used in the course of your classroom in a variety of ways. In the video below, you can see each of these techniques in action.