Teaching this summer and my own learning

What a wonderful week teaching on the Cape earlier this month.  I had the opportunity to meet many new teachers and administrators and managed to fit time into my schedule to visit the beach and many fine restaurants.

It's always so exciting to introduce new digital tools to improve teaching.  The first few days of the class everyone is taking in so much information and I am sure everyone feels overwhelmed.  By the time we hit the middle of the week it's great to see everyone applying many of the tools directly to their curriculum.  I had a great time with the first group of students and I am looking forward to the second group of students at the end of the month.

I plan on reading a few books this summer for my book club, spend more time learning more about Google + (The Google+ Project: A quick look  overview) along with learning more on using my ipad II  in the classroom.  In addtion, I will be with preparing to teach a few more classes summer.

I am looking forward to my vacation on the Cape and time with my family this summer.

Getting Started with Blogging - Session 1 (Cape Group One)

Welcome to Blogging.  I am excited to introduce you to several Web 2.0 tools to hopefully, engage students with 21st Century learning.  I hope you enjoy this learning adventure this week.

Please post a comment and tell me a little about yourself.

Today's Agenda
1. Create a Google Account
2. Create a Blog
3. Use Twitter
4. Explore Web 2.0 Tools

Wrapping up the school year

It's hard to believe another school year has come to an end.  I am sad my principal is leaving to work in another school district.  When you work for an exceptional leader for a number of years the anticipation of a new principal can be unsettling.  Our district has decided to go with an interim principal and re-post the position in the fall.  I am remaining optimistic.

I am now shifting gears by getting ready for my summer professional development classes.  I am looking forward to teaching on the Cape next week.  I was fortunate to teach there last summer and excited that so many of the teachers in my class spread the word to their colleagues.  I found it so rewarding to hear from students throughout the year.  I will be teaching at a number of school this summer and back at Northeastern University in July.  Follow along in the blog and learn with us.


I am also feeling sad I will be missing the #ISTE11 Conference this year, especially now that everyone is tweeting about it. I am thrilled that two of my graduate students will be attending for the first time.
If your not attending the annual ISTE Conference like me, you can still experience and participate by joining the ISTE Unplugged sessions.  These sessions are organized by Steve Hargadon, ISTE Unplugged is a series of presentations that happen at ISTE and are streamed live through Elluminate. You can watch and participate through the Elluminate stream for free.  I attended these sessions during the last two ISTE conferences and found them to be very valuable.  


So let the summer begin!

Presentation and slideshow tools

Our classes are experimenting with a few new presentation tools this month.

1.  Animoto for Education - Turns photos, video clips and music into stunning video slideshows which can bring your lessons to life.  See a sample of our senior tribute this week.
2. Drop Mocks works with your Google account anda very simple tool to use. All you do is just drag your  image file on to the web browser screen and that's it! Drop Mocks only works in the latest versions of Google Chrome or Firefox 4. Also, you can only use common image file formats such as jpg, png, gif, and tiff.  Each drop mock generates a URL for easy sharing, but no embed codes at this time, see a sample from my desktop images   http://www.dropmocks.com/mVZdI
3. Moving Beyond Slides with Prezi .
   This Prezi, created by Adam Somlai-Fischer, is both a great prezi example that explains how Prezi’s are different than traditional slideshows. Overall, Prezi allows you to break a way from bulleted text and sequential viewing of your slides. You can still use images (and bulleted text) and you can even embed video.  If you work best brainstorming and organizing with mind maps, then Prezi may feel very fluid and natural to you.

On the horizon to try ...

1. VuVox lets you do a lot, without needing a lot of high-tech know-how. Students and teachers can generate impressive multimedia collages and panoramas of their work.  VuVox can easily import RSS feeds, and your photo collections
2. myBrainShark is the individual, free version, of the Brainshark product suite. Brainshark allows you to upload PowerPoints, MS Word documents, and pictures that you can then narrate and share with friend, co-workers, students, etc (you get the point). The site also provides a podcast and video recording option too.  And, you can add your Prezi into Brainshark too. Brainshark is a  great option if you are looking to personalize and add audio to your work, but do not require responses or audio feedback from your viewers. This is an excellent tool for students to generate presentations in as well. Presenters can even record audio by calling in on their phones. The downside: to use the free version you must leave your content  viewable to the public.
3. VoiceThread is an “audio/visual discussion board.” Voicethreads are a great tool to  facilitate discussion about a topic. This is a favorite site for educators desiring a way to create more engagement, interaction, and feedback on academic work. This is also an excellent tool for students to present their own content and solicit feedback.

Survey

Please take the class survey before leaving.

Agenda - May 17th 2011 Session 4

Review:
1. Blogger (posting)
2. Twitter
3. Google Sites posting and updates

New
4. Google Log into your tiger mail https://mail.google.com/a/maynard.k12.ma.us
    and enter the following Enter start.maynard.k12.ma.us    (Customizing the page)
    See handout with add stuff
5. Google Form/Survey
6. Edmodo (currently down 5/17)
7. Presentation Tools (Prezi or Google Docs/Presentation)

Community Learning and Web 2.0

There are many tools that you can use to collaborate and share information.  

Over the last few weeks you have been exposed to a variety of tools to use with students: 

1. Blogs
2. Twitter
3. Google Sites
4. Google Apps/Presentations

We will continue to use the tools each week, in order to become comfortable with the process and more importantly connect to your content areas.

Prezi along with examples
examples that I made on  Bullying, 21st Century Learning
and other examples more using "Community people"

21st Century Learning on Prezi

Addtionally, we will review some addtional tools:  

• Edmodo
• Animoto
• Nings (join content area groups, english companion ning)

Please post a comment with any feedback.  I will work with each of you to customize your lessons and needs over the next few weeks.

Are you interested in summer session on using Web 2.0 or Google Apps?