I cropped, added the border, embellished the color, added the text, and faded the edges. I really loved the simplicity of Ribbet and will definitely have my students use it ... I'm just not sure how yet!
Monday, December 30, 2013
Thing 13: Media Skills
Did I mention how much fun this lesson was? I had a great time exploring some sites that I had previously not used including Ribbet.com. It was super easy and I can see that my students would be easily able to use it to modify their own photos. One drawback is the ton of ads on the site, but honestly, I didn't even create an account. I just uploaded a photo and worked away and could save it easily to my computer. It took me about 5 minutes to fix up this lovely picture of my best friend Bella.
I cropped, added the border, embellished the color, added the text, and faded the edges. I really loved the simplicity of Ribbet and will definitely have my students use it ... I'm just not sure how yet!
I cropped, added the border, embellished the color, added the text, and faded the edges. I really loved the simplicity of Ribbet and will definitely have my students use it ... I'm just not sure how yet!
Thing 12: Social Learning & Learning Management Systems
At TAE we have used a variety of LMS including Collaborize the Classroom, Edmodo, and ToolBoxPro (a system developed by our local BOCES), and Quizlet. I have teachers using all of these in one form or another.
Our 12th grade social studies teacher really loves Collaborize and uses it weekly with his students for them to respond to a social, government, or DBQ type of question. The kids love it and since they can access it from their phones it makes it even more fun for them. Needing an email to sign up was not an issue for the older students, HOWEVER, it certainly was for our Freshmen. In fact, the 9th grade social studies teacher switched to Edmodo this year because he had such a struggle getting students signed up through Collaborize. He really likes the interface that Edmodo provides and finds that the younger crowd at least seem to utilize it more because it's more "Facebook-like" feel.
Many of our teachers have switched from using CastleLearning (which can be WAY expensive) to Quizlet for assessments and practice. Quizlet is a great and FREE way to create learning modules like flashcards, matching, memory games, etc. You can even upload Regents exams and many teachers have a lot of good stuff already out there. My language, science, and social studies teachers use this with great frequency and it does allow the teacher to access individual student progress and assessment grades. ToolBoxPro has been developed by our local GST BOCES and includes many of the features of Quizlet and Collaborize and allows the teacher to upload documents, create assessments, get grades and communicate. ToolBox also has an interface with the teachers' websites and since we are required to use this to create our websites in the District some teachers find that beneficial. My high school students and teachers really don't love ToolBox at all. It's another sign in which often puts them off (although they have no trouble signing in twice to get to Facebook!) and more geared toward the lower grades. It's been upgraded lately and I'm still exploring some of the new features. It does have the added advantage that if we want something added or changed we can simply email the programmer and poof, it's fixed!
I explored Schoology and will be asking a couple of my peers to test it out. We aren't heavy into the world of Apple products at TAE so the iPad interface is really not an issue. Being able to add the video and rubric are awesome features for sure! I am a product of the online learning age. My Masters was earned online so things like Angel/Blackboard for second nature for me. I love that my students can mimic that experience with the new (FREE) and very good tools out there. I think that many students could benefit from a blended learning environment where they get the basics in class and then go online to explore and learn more on their own bringing back all those ideas into the classroom through both electronic discussion threads and in-person communication.
I will post more as our exploration of Schoology and other learning management systems continues!
Our 12th grade social studies teacher really loves Collaborize and uses it weekly with his students for them to respond to a social, government, or DBQ type of question. The kids love it and since they can access it from their phones it makes it even more fun for them. Needing an email to sign up was not an issue for the older students, HOWEVER, it certainly was for our Freshmen. In fact, the 9th grade social studies teacher switched to Edmodo this year because he had such a struggle getting students signed up through Collaborize. He really likes the interface that Edmodo provides and finds that the younger crowd at least seem to utilize it more because it's more "Facebook-like" feel.
Many of our teachers have switched from using CastleLearning (which can be WAY expensive) to Quizlet for assessments and practice. Quizlet is a great and FREE way to create learning modules like flashcards, matching, memory games, etc. You can even upload Regents exams and many teachers have a lot of good stuff already out there. My language, science, and social studies teachers use this with great frequency and it does allow the teacher to access individual student progress and assessment grades. ToolBoxPro has been developed by our local GST BOCES and includes many of the features of Quizlet and Collaborize and allows the teacher to upload documents, create assessments, get grades and communicate. ToolBox also has an interface with the teachers' websites and since we are required to use this to create our websites in the District some teachers find that beneficial. My high school students and teachers really don't love ToolBox at all. It's another sign in which often puts them off (although they have no trouble signing in twice to get to Facebook!) and more geared toward the lower grades. It's been upgraded lately and I'm still exploring some of the new features. It does have the added advantage that if we want something added or changed we can simply email the programmer and poof, it's fixed!
I explored Schoology and will be asking a couple of my peers to test it out. We aren't heavy into the world of Apple products at TAE so the iPad interface is really not an issue. Being able to add the video and rubric are awesome features for sure! I am a product of the online learning age. My Masters was earned online so things like Angel/Blackboard for second nature for me. I love that my students can mimic that experience with the new (FREE) and very good tools out there. I think that many students could benefit from a blended learning environment where they get the basics in class and then go online to explore and learn more on their own bringing back all those ideas into the classroom through both electronic discussion threads and in-person communication.
I will post more as our exploration of Schoology and other learning management systems continues!
Thing 3: Photo Sharing
Ok - I admit that I'm a Flickr junkie (love the art aspect of the photos) but thought I'd try my hand at a new experience with Historypin.com. VERY COOL I have to say. All kinds of ideas are spinning in my head including doing a pin tour of the historical markers in our area. Now wouldn't that be a great learning experience for the students - take a pic of the marker, do a little historical research, visit the historical society and get an old pic beside a new pic and create a nifty little tour. I also thought it could be a great tool to map something like the Sullivan-Clinton campaign which had a great local impact.
I also explored a bit under Google (I know - the 'g' word) for photos. I used the Advanced Search features and found out how to show my students how they can search for pics that are available for reuse, find pictures based on a color scheme, and drop and drag a photo into Google so they can search to find where the original photo came from.
Students (and teachers) all love great pics ... I am considering having my students do a little project where we give a book talk but instead of the traditional PowerPoint or poster type of presentation they have to explain the characters and main ideas/themes, etc., of their books in three photos or less! No words, no music, no flying text!! Just how the photo represents the meaning of their text. Now there's something they won't be able to use SparkNotes to do!
Great exploration of some fun and beautiful images. I loved this lesson!
I also explored a bit under Google (I know - the 'g' word) for photos. I used the Advanced Search features and found out how to show my students how they can search for pics that are available for reuse, find pictures based on a color scheme, and drop and drag a photo into Google so they can search to find where the original photo came from.
Students (and teachers) all love great pics ... I am considering having my students do a little project where we give a book talk but instead of the traditional PowerPoint or poster type of presentation they have to explain the characters and main ideas/themes, etc., of their books in three photos or less! No words, no music, no flying text!! Just how the photo represents the meaning of their text. Now there's something they won't be able to use SparkNotes to do!
Great exploration of some fun and beautiful images. I loved this lesson!
Monday, November 18, 2013
Thing 11: Mapping
I really loved this lesson and actually I added some QR codes to my Introduction to the Library lesson that I do with the Freshmen. I really love the QR codes that are shapes - I'd like to do a Spartan head (our mascot) for the library!!
I also added an activity to a unit for Health class for the book 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher where kids have to make their own map with Google maps and pin and note places where important events happened in their lives. (If you've read the book you'll get this - if not read the book, it's great!)
I will be doing much more exploring with the new Google Maps and experimenting more with QR codes. I'd like to link QR codes in book to student book reviews somehow ... anyone done that??
I also added an activity to a unit for Health class for the book 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher where kids have to make their own map with Google maps and pin and note places where important events happened in their lives. (If you've read the book you'll get this - if not read the book, it's great!)
I will be doing much more exploring with the new Google Maps and experimenting more with QR codes. I'd like to link QR codes in book to student book reviews somehow ... anyone done that??
Thing 2: Twitter
OK, I confess I have a Twitter account for the TAE library for probably 3 years but I don't use it and quite honestly I don't really love Twitter (sorry to burst your bubble my social media lovers). I really am a bit too old school and while I love to connect with my friends and colleagues, I really find the old fashioned way works well for me - a call or in person chat. It is nice to be able to track some folks like authors or Joyce Valenza but I'm really not sure I need to know what folks are doing all the time to help me feel more connected to them.
I actually feel like Twitter clutters things up for me more than it clarifies, however, that being said, there is some really great info that travels the Twitter highway so I do check it out here and there. With my time each day so limited, and other things more of a priority I find that tweeting that I am trying to teach citing to 120 wiggly Freshmen is the last thing on my mind :)
I'm thinking I could use it to promote library events and books more, but again, administration is certainly not totally on board with teacher use of social media so I err on the side of caution. Maybe it's because we are a small school and we interact so regularly with all our kids that makes Twitter less appealing to me.
I like it ... it's a good tool ... I don't love it! Maybe after the press of the Common Core implementation I'll feel more Twitter-friendly. I could even see us using Tweets to do book reviews in the future if I can get the OK. I have told my students to think of creating tweets out of paragraphs to help put information in their own words and keep things short and to the point. Maybe that's the value of Twitter, teaching us all how to be good paraphrasers!
I actually feel like Twitter clutters things up for me more than it clarifies, however, that being said, there is some really great info that travels the Twitter highway so I do check it out here and there. With my time each day so limited, and other things more of a priority I find that tweeting that I am trying to teach citing to 120 wiggly Freshmen is the last thing on my mind :)
I'm thinking I could use it to promote library events and books more, but again, administration is certainly not totally on board with teacher use of social media so I err on the side of caution. Maybe it's because we are a small school and we interact so regularly with all our kids that makes Twitter less appealing to me.
I like it ... it's a good tool ... I don't love it! Maybe after the press of the Common Core implementation I'll feel more Twitter-friendly. I could even see us using Tweets to do book reviews in the future if I can get the OK. I have told my students to think of creating tweets out of paragraphs to help put information in their own words and keep things short and to the point. Maybe that's the value of Twitter, teaching us all how to be good paraphrasers!
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Thing 1: Blogging
I am Mary Ann Leonard-Sheets and I am the SLMS at Thomas A. Edison HS (home of the Spartans!) in Elmira Heights, NY. This is my fifth year at TAE and this year I am also teaching AIS English 9 to 80 Freshmen in addition to running the library. We are a small school so many of us pull double duty. I am on the Tech Committee, Safety Committee, DDI Committee, and Curriculum Committee. In addition I am the Freshman Class Advisor, Faculty Auditor, and Yearbook Coordinator. I am also the Vice-President of our local school librarian's group and a Regional Coordinator for NYLA.
Since I work closely with the all the faculty to implement the District curriculum, including the new Common Core curriculum, I am always looking for ways to engage our students and help them become great digital citizens. And because I'm a librarian, I just love techie stuff so I thought this was a great opportunity to learn some things that may benefit both students and staff in the world of Web 2.0 and 3.0! When the library services director sent out the email it just seemed like a natural fit for me to get some great tips from other great librarians and teachers.
I knew about Blogs but honestly I have had the kids engage in this activity yet. Our Superintendent is very careful about how students engage online and so I've kind of shied away from blogs because they need to be so very carefully monitored. I love the suggestions of KidBlog (previously unknown to me) and Weebly (which I tried once when it first came out but I haven't tried the educators' version). I set this Blog up through Google because many of my kids are "Googleophites" and because I also I trying to push our District to move to Google for Educators. It was easy-squeasy to set this up and hopefully as I go along I will find more fun ways to improve it. I'm sure my kids and staff would have no trouble making some great blogs through Google's Blogger, however, I'm not sure I'm sold on the teacher's ability to control accounts so I may have a teacher try KidBlog (but I think my high school kids will miss having some of the bells and whistles of other Blogs). Weebly just doesn't give me enough student accounts.
I look forward to reading what others found out when creating their blogs. I'm thrilled to have this opportunity to learn from all of you!
Mary Ann
Since I work closely with the all the faculty to implement the District curriculum, including the new Common Core curriculum, I am always looking for ways to engage our students and help them become great digital citizens. And because I'm a librarian, I just love techie stuff so I thought this was a great opportunity to learn some things that may benefit both students and staff in the world of Web 2.0 and 3.0! When the library services director sent out the email it just seemed like a natural fit for me to get some great tips from other great librarians and teachers.
I knew about Blogs but honestly I have had the kids engage in this activity yet. Our Superintendent is very careful about how students engage online and so I've kind of shied away from blogs because they need to be so very carefully monitored. I love the suggestions of KidBlog (previously unknown to me) and Weebly (which I tried once when it first came out but I haven't tried the educators' version). I set this Blog up through Google because many of my kids are "Googleophites" and because I also I trying to push our District to move to Google for Educators. It was easy-squeasy to set this up and hopefully as I go along I will find more fun ways to improve it. I'm sure my kids and staff would have no trouble making some great blogs through Google's Blogger, however, I'm not sure I'm sold on the teacher's ability to control accounts so I may have a teacher try KidBlog (but I think my high school kids will miss having some of the bells and whistles of other Blogs). Weebly just doesn't give me enough student accounts.
I look forward to reading what others found out when creating their blogs. I'm thrilled to have this opportunity to learn from all of you!
Mary Ann
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