Entering Into Another Dimension

http://www.classtools.net/movietext/

Today's Tuesday tech tip is very simple. Sometimes simple is best. As you may have noticed by now, I'm a big fan of www.classtools.net. They have an ever-changing fun collection of tech tools that I find are easy for teachers to use in their classrooms. I've spent quite a few of my Tuesday Tech Tips sharing tools from www.classtools.net. Very recently, they added a new feature. It is a Star Wars-like text creation tool, similar to one of the credit templates that is found in iMovie. You can click on the "text box", add your own text, and it will scroll across the screen along with the Star Wars sound effects. What I like about it, is that it makes for a fun "hook" when introducing an assignment. You can also use it as a writing prompt, "In a galaxy far far away...". Even better, when you click on the link here, they provide their own fun ideas for how to use this in the classroom, all of which adds to the excitement in your classroom.

Discover Something New With Google EDU

Today's Tech Tip is unusual. You may or may not remember me sharing information about Symbaloo, which is a website that allows you to create a webmix consisting of icons that when clicked, take you to different websites, typically related to one topic. Well, today's tech tip is all about a Symbaloo that was created to showcase the many educational components associated with Google. It. Is. So. Neat. The webmix is called Google EDU Dashboard. When you click on one of the Google icons, it will take you some place interesting. For example, if I click on the icon with the blue heart, it takes me to a screen that says, "What do you love?". Naturally, I type in the word books and I get back a treasure trove of all things related to books. It's actually a dangerous discovery for me. Why am I sharing this resource with you? Many of these Google sites were created with 20% time. If you don't know, Google's 20% time was an initiative that allowed Google employees to spend 20% of their work time exploring projects of their own interest. From this, Gmail, Google Earth, and other well-known Google apps have been created. It is a great way to demonstrate to your students what the power of building in a little time for creative thinking can inspire. It is also a great center activity for students to uncover the power of collaboration. After all, none of these applications were created alone. If you would like to use it as a center, here is a Q&A form to encourage your students to dig deep. 

                                  

Create with Canva

Since this past Spring, I have been hearing about a tech tool that I have now had a chance to explore. I have become impressed with it and would now like to share it with you. This tool is called Canva and it allows you to create logos, flyers, collages, infographics, and more. What's even better is that Canva has developed an education portal to their website with lesson plans created by some of my favorite educators around the globe. Here's one lesson plan about using Canva to create a historical figure. Did I mention that it is free? Canva also has a built in photo editor. I plan to give my blog a face lift with the help of Canva. In addition to a lesson plan about creating graphs to represent percentages, see below for additional lesson ideas with Canva:

Not only is this tech tool fun, but it is so easy to use. What can you create with Canva?

iPad Centers for Literacy, Science and Math

There is an early elementary teacher in Canada that I think has some genius ideas that can also be adapted to meet higher level classrooms. Her name is Mrs. Wideen and I've been following her on Twitter for quite some time. She created these fantastic iPad centers that I just love and with her permission, I am sharing them with you today. The idea is to improve students' math and literacy with these independent center activities. Please find her original blog post here.

One of the most amazing center activities that she suggests, in my opinion, is the Animal Observation Station. I noticed that the app she suggests for this is no longer in existence but as a replacement, I found a fabulous app called Animal Cams- Watch Real Life Wildlife. It costs $.99 but it really is worth the investment. Students can select from a long list of animals that interest them and then they are instantly immersed in the animal's world. The web cam video feed is sharp and it feels as though you are in the wild with them. Using the animal observation sheet that Mrs. Wideen provides, your students can reflect on what they are seeing in the animals' natural habitats. It is awesome.

I am happy to help set these centers up in your classroom. Just ask! 

Periscope= The World at Your Fingertips. I'm Serious.

Interested in teleportation? If yes, then this app is for you! The app, known as Periscope, is revolutionizing experiences all over the globe. Amazingly, the app is free. Periscope allows you to live stream anything from anywhere. The image you see above is of places around the world where people are live streaming right now as I type this post. I just clicked on a number in Poland and it takes me to a LIVE Matisyahu concert in the last remaining synagogue near Auschwitz. I kid you not! Want to livestream with a geologist or a grandparent? It can happen by downloading this free app. You can make your broadcasts private too, which prevents your broadcasts from showing up on the map and also only notifies your followers that you select to be a part of the broadcast. In order to broadcast privately, you and the other user must be following each other. I urge you to explore this app. Here are some of the livestreams that I've seen just now: a tourist walking through Disney World for the first time, someone on a sailboat near New Jersey, a guy sharing a fitness venue in Honolulu, Hawaii with the rest of the world. It's all pretty random at the moment but it really does feel like you have the world at your finger tips. 

It is important to note that Periscope is owned by Twitter. As a result, you can follow PeriscopeEdu to learn more about Periscope and its role in education by clicking here. In order to explore this app in education, I would want to really set up my privacy settings so that my broadcast was controlled and I knew who was watching. Once I've gained the appropriate followers, it is pretty simple to do this. I can't wait to see where this app takes us (literally). 

What Could Me More Fun Than Meme-Generating?

We're baaaack! It's day two of school and so far, so good. In fact, it's been really good. A couple of weeks ago, I was brainstorming some ways to reorient my students while having a little fun and I came across some great ideas for generating memes. Today, I tried it out in my classroom and here's how it went:

After I took some nuggets from Andy Plemmons blog about digital leadership, reviewed our iHelp job chart, and shared some "housekeeping" information, we were ready to create our own memes as a get to know you kind of exercise. Using the Meme Generator app that can be found in the Windows app store, students created some fabulous memes while sharing what excites them about starting school again. Here's some of my favorites:

And my personal favorite:

Nothing like a little sarcasm:

In all seriousness, meme generating can be used in some pretty helpful ways. Here are some additional ideas: rule reminder posters, share content that was learned, reflect on a story character and create a meme that demonstrates empathy for that character, create propaganda, share studying do's and don'ts, create digital citizenship-related meme posters, and so much more! The opportunities for creative learning are endless. The Meme Generator app is on each of the computers in the upstairs computer lab so please take advantage of this fun teaching tool. 

Shabbat Freebie: PowToons

Thanks to @SteinatDavis for this valuable tech tip today! Click here to sign up to receive a free Powtoons classroom account on August 15th. Powtoon allows you and your students to create animated videos and presentations. Check out these Language Arts videos created with Powtoon below to see what you and your students can do with Powtoon:

https://youtu.be/uClHPuhwBd8 (Literary Elements)

https://youtu.be/fYe6DsEbJTU (Diagramming)

http://www.powtoon.com/show/c5sbS9Ta0ri/mr-show/ (Euphemism Slide Show)

Click here for eleven fun, creative, eye-catching ways to use Powtoon in your classroom.