Today is one of my favorite days of the year! As we wrap up another school year it's time for reflection and planning for summer PD.
I will teaching a few workshops and graduate classes this summer around integrating iPads and GAFE. It's always a great opportunity to connect with other educators and co-teach with some of my favorite former students.
I am looking forward to some travelling and down time on the cape this summer too!
Friday, June 20, 2014
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Literature Cicle and book trailers!
This month I worked with another amazing high school english teacher, Jen Panarelli on an assignment that served as a warm-up to the summative assessment for a literature circle unit. Students chose from the following books for their literature circle:
Within their book commercial, each student had to identify a major theme from the book and provide a brief character and plot introduction. We used the educational version of Animoto and created students accounts so they would have the abilty to create longer vidoes. The process to setup the accounts was slightly cumbersome but the results were very impressive.
Here are a few examples: The Lord of the Flies, The Fault in Our Stars, Fahrenheit 451, and Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie.
The Fault in Our Stars - http://animoto.com/play/
Today for the their final exam essay, the students used chromebooks in class to analyzed the theme they identified in greater detail.
Within their book commercial, each student had to identify a major theme from the book and provide a brief character and plot introduction. We used the educational version of Animoto and created students accounts so they would have the abilty to create longer vidoes. The process to setup the accounts was slightly cumbersome but the results were very impressive.
Here are a few examples: The Lord of the Flies, The Fault in Our Stars, Fahrenheit 451, and Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie.
The Fault in Our Stars - http://animoto.com/play/
Friday, June 6, 2014
Interview the Author - Social Media Fascination
The author suggest we focus on the DO's and less on the DO-NOT's -
DO be honest
DO be transparent
DO find out what your followers need
DO reach out to get to know them
DO offer them solutions to their problems
DO help them find information that will help them move forwad whether it is informationthat you write or information that you gather and curate for them to use.
Start with DO CARE/SERVE, and the rest will follow.
Book Link / Video - Deborah C. Owen's new book: Social Media Fascination; Embracing social media to build community, trust and rapport
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
6 ways social media can ruin your life Cautionary tales of Facebook fails, Twitter traps, and Insta-gaffes.
A great post from the Boston Globe this week on6 ways social media can ruin your life Cautionary tales of Facebook fails, Twitter traps, and Insta-gaffes.
Here is the link bit.ly/1oSFJKG
I have talking with students this semester about their digital footprint and using current events. This approach has allowed lots of interesting conversation and reflection. However, I also like to highlight the benefits of using social media to connect with community, colleges and potential internships and jobs. The article is a great reminder to students there are consequences for online posting so the should THINK before the post!
I am looking forward to discussing this article in class this week and will encourage other staff members to join me!
Book Link / Video - Deborah C. Owen's new book:Social Media Fascination; Embracing social media to build community, trust and rapport
Friday, May 9, 2014
Screencasting updates
In the past I have used Jing to create screencasts and host to screencast.com, which saves as a swf/flash file and works great. However when working with students the computers in our school do not have the ability to download programs so I started using Screencast-O-Matic a web-based screencasting tool. Student's have been posting to their YouTube accounts and then have the ability to use the YouTube Editor to change or enhance the screencast. Here is an example of How-To Create a Class Site using Google Sites and
here is a link to the video edited with the YouTube editor and caption slides.
Draft 1 (I need to work on this and will prepare a better verision this week),
I wasn't happy with the above screencast so I did another verision. One with music and one without,
I also had lots of problems when I downloaded Screencast-o-matic into a video editor. My voice was in fast forward and I was not able to slow down. So, I reverted back to using my SmartRecorder.
TAKE – 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcHwJnHlFEM&feature=youtube_gdata
with music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlwgFs_pGTI&edit=vd
This has been a humbling experience! I am glad I have introduced screencasting to students in Multimedia this year!
here is a link to the video edited with the YouTube editor and caption slides.
Draft 1 (I need to work on this and will prepare a better verision this week),
I wasn't happy with the above screencast so I did another verision. One with music and one without,
I also had lots of problems when I downloaded Screencast-o-matic into a video editor. My voice was in fast forward and I was not able to slow down. So, I reverted back to using my SmartRecorder.
TAKE – 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcHwJnHlFEM&feature=youtube_gdata
with music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlwgFs_pGTI&edit=vd
This has been a humbling experience! I am glad I have introduced screencasting to students in Multimedia this year!
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Google Educator Certification
After taking Google Bootcamp a few weeks ago I tackled the Google Certification tests and I am now a qualified Google Educator, which will allow me to apply to be a Google Certified Trainer. The process involves the taking and passing the tests. See below for more details.
1. Taking and passing the tests –There are five (5) Google Apps tests (Sites, Drive/Docs, Calendar Gamil and a choice/elective) to become a Google Educator Certification Exams. You are timed when taking the test, you get 90 minutes for each multiple choice test, and to be honest I found them very challenging. Not only do you need to a strong teacher user experience wiht GAFE, but a more techincal background with Mail, Calendar and Chrome. They offer Training Modules Site to review prior to the taking the tests. I found the test to be challenging and more technical than I anticipated. With this part of the process completed I am in the process of preparing a portfolio to be evaulated to become a Google Certified Trainer. There is a review cycle next week and another one in August.
2. Google Certified Trainer - the application process – Passing the tests awards you Google Educator Certificaiton for a eighteen months. But to become a Google Certified Trainer, you must be approved by Google via an application process. You can see the application here – it consists of an array of essay questions, a case study, a record of your previous workshops/speaking events/etc and user-created videos. I reviewed the overview for the case study, essay questions and videos. Let the brainstorming begin!
Stay tuned!
1. Taking and passing the tests –There are five (5) Google Apps tests (Sites, Drive/Docs, Calendar Gamil and a choice/elective) to become a Google Educator Certification Exams. You are timed when taking the test, you get 90 minutes for each multiple choice test, and to be honest I found them very challenging. Not only do you need to a strong teacher user experience wiht GAFE, but a more techincal background with Mail, Calendar and Chrome. They offer Training Modules Site to review prior to the taking the tests. I found the test to be challenging and more technical than I anticipated. With this part of the process completed I am in the process of preparing a portfolio to be evaulated to become a Google Certified Trainer. There is a review cycle next week and another one in August.
2. Google Certified Trainer - the application process – Passing the tests awards you Google Educator Certificaiton for a eighteen months. But to become a Google Certified Trainer, you must be approved by Google via an application process. You can see the application here – it consists of an array of essay questions, a case study, a record of your previous workshops/speaking events/etc and user-created videos. I reviewed the overview for the case study, essay questions and videos. Let the brainstorming begin!
Stay tuned!
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Video, Audio, Mashups and more
Last month I worked on Oral History Projects with several classes using their mobile devices, (mostly iphones) and published their interviews to YouTube and then linked to their E-Portfolio. Students uploaded their videos to YouTube and many need to rotate the video and add screen captions, so we used the YouTube Video Editor. This got me thinking about different project I would do with students and introducing Mashups to the class. I found a blog post by Alice Keeler on Students Submitting YouTube Videos and Student Video Mash Up with YouTube and plan to explore with students next month. There was even a Pinterest board on Student Video Mashups with YouTube that I can't wait to explore! I already pinned to my class Multimedia Board. We will be exploring several media options we we return from spring break. We will look at creating tours with Google tour Builder, Audio Editing (Audacity, Sound Cloud /TwistedWave) Pixlar for banner editing for Google Site along with the YouTube Editor and WeVideo.
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