I have had the pleasure to work with Dr. Nancy Harris and the students in her middle school gifted and talented program. We worked on submitting an application to the Samsung Solve For Tomorrow Contest. The contest required participants to develop a solution for an environmental concern in their area that uses STEM. We were asked to create a two minute video that documents our solution.
Out of 15oo applicants we were selected as a top 12 finalist. While the 12 finalists will each receive $70,000 worth of technology for their school, 5 of the 12 will be selected as grand prize winners. Public voting is now open to select one of the top 5 winners. Please follow the link below and vote for Jefferson Township Middle School!
Smart has issued information regarding the release of Notebook 11. The new version will offer some new features that will be useful for students. Most notable is the ability to embed web content into a lesson page. This may include youtube videos or any website. You will be able to annotate over the embedded content.
They will also be adding a development tool which will allow for individuals to create downloadable widgets that can be used in the software. This is similar to running apps on a mobile device. These widgets will add functionality to the software.
An overview of the new features are listed below:
Embedded web browser Insert web browsers directly onto a SMART Notebook software page and use tools to draw and write over web pages and drag and drop images into your lesson. You can also open the live page directly from within the lesson.
Activity builder Create activities where objects react to actions by accepting or rejecting other objects or by triggering animations or sound. The activity builder is great for arranging, sorting and labeling and for creating VENN diagrams.
Enhanced contextual toolbar Choose an object and the toolbar changes, so all the tools you need are right in front of you.
Crayon Create authentic crayon drawings on a SMART Board interactive whiteboard.
Customized creative pen Build your own creative pen using any image you choose.
Audio recording Record sounds directly into your SMART Notebook lesson.
Shape image fill Adjust the size of an image to fit into a shape.
Reset page Use this feature to return your page to its last saved state.
New gestures Shake objects to group and ungroup them.
Updated tables Scale, move and interact with tables more easily.
New text engine Provides improved text formatting and consistency within SMART Notebook.
The student's in Mrs. Reichel's grade 1 class in Ellen Briggs School in my district connected with Penguin experts to discuss what they have learned about Penguins. The students had a number of great questions. The event was a great experience for all. See the posting below from Mrs. Reichel's blog.
Re-Posted from Ms. Reichel's Blog
On Friday, January 20, 2012 our class celebrated Penguin Awareness Day. For weeks we have been learning about different types of penguins and what makes them so interesting. We have learned a lot of penguin facts but we were still left with some questions.
Thanks to Rebecca and Laura at the Penguin Project we were able to get answers. Click the video below to watch our Skype session with these two penguin experts. They made it to their offices at the University of Washington in Seattle despite a major snowstorm. We are so grateful for their time and knowledge!
Before our Skype session, we took the time to check out where they study penguins and learned they are working with Magellanic Penguins located in Punta Tombo, Argentina. Unlike penguins from the South Pole, these penguins experience a change in seasons. Right now, it is summer in Argentina.
We especially loved reading aboutTurbo the Penguin and his amazing story of survival.
[caption id="attachment_731" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Thank you Penguin Project! You have inspired us!"][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_729" align="aligncenter" width="160" caption="Turbo the Penguin"][/caption]
Did you learn something about penguins? Leave us a comment to share your new information.
The development of Web 2.0, or the Read/Write Web, has produced a number of free resources that allow students and teachers to publish and collaborate online. One of my favorite sites to use with students is Wikispaces. Wikispaces is a web service that allows teachers to create a wiki in which students may contribute content. The service is free for teachers and students. After a teacher creates an account they can create as many wikis as they wish. There is a very simple to use management tool that allows the teacher o create student usernames and passwords.
Once a student is granted access to the wiki he or she can add content, respond to discussions regarding the content and even leave comments when reviewing materials developed by the teacher or their peers. The availability of a resource like Wikispaces offers a number of opportunities in the classroom.
A wiki is a forum in which students can collaborate, share and contribute content, and peer review each others work. For example, the students in Mrs. Daly’s (White Rock), Mrs. Young’s, (Stanlick) and Mrs. McLoughlin’s (Stanlick) grade 5 classes have been working with grade 5 classes in Buckingham County, Virginia on a shared wiki. Each student was paired with a student in Virginia who is at or near their writing level. We created a wiki for the project and a page within that wiki for each student.
The goal of this collaborative project was to provide an authentic opportunity for students to develop their writing skills. Each student was responsible for authoring a writing piece based on a common writing prompt. After the students added their written work to their page they were responsible for peer editing the work of their partner. The students followed a common template for peer review that was shared with all six teachers involved. The students provided the feedback to their partners in Virginia through the discussion feature that is available on each of their pages.
This project has been a success. The students were provided with the opportunity to write for an audience. They enjoyed learning about their partners in Virginia. It was a great opportunity to experience writing from their peers in other states. The opportunity to send and receive feedback provided an opportunity for reflection regarding their writing. The student’s in Mrs. Young’s class and their partner class in Virginia will be continuing this project. They are in the process of organizing a wiki in which each pairing of students will co-author a single story.
While a wiki is a very simple and powerful tool for school to school collaboration, it can also be used effectively within a single class. For example, student’s in a U.S. History class may collaborate on a single wiki site focused on the 1920’s. Each student may be responsible for contributing a page of content about that era. The end result of such a project is an online textbook that may be shared and used year after year.
A Language Arts teacher may provide a single page on a wiki to each student to write an essay. The fact that the wiki is online allows the teacher to monitor and review student writing in real-time. The “add a comment” feature allows the teacher to provide comments that are highlighted and noted ion the sidebar of the page.
This method of writing replaces the process of collecting and reviewing first drafts. Instead, the teacher can guide a student and comment on their writing while it is happening. The feedback is immediate and will impact the quality and focus of student writing.
How can we provide individualized instruction, independent learning opportunities, targeted review and supports?
These are the questions and the demands of today's classrooms. How can we differentiate, facilitate learning and utilize technology to simplify the process. The Flipped Classroom Model of instruction is one example.
Student and teacher made tutorials or recorded lectures can be used to provide the supports needed in today's classrooms. The Khan Academy is the model example of how web-based recorded tutorial/lectures can meet the needs of many of our learners. The Khan Academy provides concise video screencast tutorials for topics in math, science, and humanities. Many of the videos also link to independent practice exercise that students may progress through.
There is a feature called "coach" in which a teacher registers themselves as a coach. The students may then login to Khan academy with their Google Apps user name and password and link themselves to a coach. This allows the teacher to monitor their progress. This provides an opportunity for enrichment were students may progress beyond the current topic to more advanced topics that they are ready for. I have written about the Khan Academy in previous blog posts. I would like to provide some examples of how this can be used immediately with students.
1. Flip the classroom - Students watch the instructional video for homework on their computer, ipad, ipod touch, or any other web enabled device. When they return to school the students apply what was in the video to class problems and projects. The teacher acts as the facilitator in the room to assist students who need help. Students may work in groups to apply and discuss what was learned.
2. Extra- Help and Support - Teachers may provide links to a tutorial on their class website or Moodle course. Students may access this tutorial at home or during class time from a class computer, personal cell phone or any other web-enabled device. Students may pause, rewind and fast forward depending upon their needs.
3. Test review - Teachers may link to a tutorial on their website to provide a review opportunities for students.
4. Enrichment - Teachers may assign students who have a strong grasp of the content the opportunity to create their own screencast tutorial using free recording services such as Jing.
In our district teachers have been successful utilizing our Moodle course management software. On Moodle, teachers can create topics within a course. In those topics they provide links to tutorials, discussions, work submissions and quizzes.
By utilizing these resources we not only provide the type of individualized learning necessary, we also incorporate technology which results in increased student engagement and college career readiness.
Below is a screencast tutorial the introduces the Khan Academy.
In my workshops I have referenced a number of places to find pre-made smart notebook lesson templates. I also publish a lot of resources including lesson templates, interactive sites and tutorials on my wiki https://edunology.wikispaces.com/Interactive_Whiteboards.
When first starting out with a new smartboard I recommend viewing some of the introductory webinars. These online tutorials will help you learn the basic functionality and navigation of the Smart software. Once you have established a comfort level with the navigation of the software it is time to start playing!
I recommend that you visit the Smart Exchange website. The Smart Exchange is a social network for Smartboard users. Users from around the world publish and share lesson that they made for the Smart Notebook Software. You can search for notebook lessons by subject, grade and topic or curriculum standard. You can also upload lessons that you made to share with others. Although you now must register with the site to download lessons the registration is free.
Tips and Tricks
After you discover a lesson that is of interest to you, click on the name of the creator. Most likely an educator that created one lesson that fits your curriculum will have others. By clicking on their name you can see all of the lessons that this person shared.
Once you download a lesson it is yours. You can edit the lesson to ensure it fits your curriculum or needs.
Download a lesson and dissect it. This is the best way to learn how the lesson was developed. By dissecting already made lessons you will build your own knowledge of the software and be on your way to creating your own lessons.
Are you considering the implementation of the flipped classroom? The process of flipping the classroom involves a paradigm shift in what constitutes class work and homework. When a classroom is flipped the students receive direct instruction at home typically through the use of multimedia. When students return to class the next day they are able to apply what they have learned by working on questions, problems, or tasks that would typically be assigned for homework.
There are a number of instructional benefits to this process. You can read an earlier blog posting I have written on the topic here or take a look at my wiki page on the topic. My observations have been very positive. I would like to share some of the tools that are available to create multimedia files that can be used to provide direct instruction online.
Probably the most popular resource is the Khan Academy which I have written about here. In order to produce instructional videos such as the ones used in the Khan Academy, an instructor must utilize software that allows for the capture of audio as well as your computer screen. This is called screencasting.
There are a number of free screencasting software resources available. Let's take a look at some of them:
Cam Studio is a free open source download. It allows its users to screen record video tutorials and share them via a web link. It is also very easy to use.
Jing is another free download offered by TechSmith. With Jing you will also create a free online account with www.screencast.com. When you record a screencast tutorial with Jing or capture an image you can save the file to your computer and upload it to your online screencast.com account. Each user is granted two gigabytes of storage space on the site. The site will provide a link and embed code for your video to share.
Jing offers a free and paid pro version. With the free version you are only able to create screencasts that are 5 minutes in length. While that may seem too short i believe there is a benefit to chunking your tutorials into 5 minute increments.
Screencast-O-Matic is a very easy to use screencast site. It is completely web-based. It does not require a software download. Just visit the site and click start recording. There is a free and paid version. The paid version is $12 a year. With the free version you can create a screencast that can be used by students. If you export the screencast to upload to Youtube it will include a watermark on the free version.This site also allows the use to capture his or her video from a webcam.
Wink is a tutorial and presentation creation software that lets its users. It allows users to capture screen shots, add explanations, add text boxes, and add titles. You can create very detailed and highly effective tutorials with this free software. It is free and easy to use.
of storage space on the site. The site will provide a link and embed code for your video to share.
