Smartboards, iPads and Google Apps

Can't believe it has been so long since I have blogged and that we are already 4 weeks into our school year. (only 5 weeks until vacation : ) ). I have decided to rename my blog. I am still most definitely "hooked on technology," but that is just part of my quest to never stop learning (I know that sounded like an NBC commercial). I explained to my nieces and nephew over the summer that teachers have to keep taking classes and learn new things if they want to keep teaching. They were fascinated by that.
I have been immersed in lots of technology since I have been back at work. I won the SmartBoard at the DPS Technology Fair in March (that was a great day).It is the only one if my building so I am sort of a pilot class for Pearsontown and my students are my guinea pigs. I spent a lot of time during my short summer break taking advantage of every online training I could find (The SmartBoard website has done an really great job with that)and practicing different things I learned. There is even an iPad app for SmartBoard training that is quite useful too. I love the Smart Exchange part of the Smartboard website. There are thousands of SmartBoard lessons of all kinds of topics that are ready to use. I have also learned how to generate my own interactive lessons and am having fun trying out my skills on my students. We have a lot of fun using regular old websites on the SmartBoard too.
I am planning to link my iPad to it as well so that if I have an overly active student he or she can sit at the table and still interact with the SmartBoard. I think a simple software download on my computer will do the trick.
I am also loving my iPad for use with my students. I loaded it up with over 90 apps for kids (many are ideas I got from the list of apps DPS put on the iPads that are being used at WG Pearson and other schools) and take it everywhere I go in the building. I am a resource teacher and serve quite a few of my students in their regular classrooms. I bring the iPad with me and let them do an activity on it when they are done with center work or just have some downtime. I bring along a set of headphones too so we don't create a distraction if we want to have the sound on.
In both my classroom and others I have used it to look up images of things my students are not familiar with (such as corrals and rakes). I love doing that this way because I can pull up the image holding the iPad so only I can see it and then when I am sure I have the image I want, turn the iPad around and show the student the picture(s). I have been able to use one of the apps I have (Montessori Crosswords) for giving practice spelling tests to my students.(The app has a really neat moveable alphabet that we use for that.)
Now on to Google Apps. My department at school has been using a shared calendar via Microsoft Outlook for several years. We have loved it for scheduling meetings etc. I have been thinking though that it is time to upgrade it to a shared Google Calendar. I started playing around with the idea the other day and discovered that DPS was actually ahead of me on this one. My school is a Google Apps pilot school this year. I knew that but didn't realize things are already up and running. In my playing around the other day I discovered I already had a DPS Google account-wow!
I checked with my Tech person at school and got the full scoop. I haven't quite figured out the calendar accessibility yet but have been checking my email on my new account and of course checking out the other apps. I am becoming quite fond of Creately. I got a little distracted by the interactive Christmas cards I found on it but I am finding lots of neat templates to try out at school.
I have also been collaborating with another tech challenge participant on a Google Doc over the last several weeks. It is a pretty neat thing to be able to do and I have found lots of neat resources in the process and of course gotten lots of ideas from her too.
Coming next time: Stumbling upon "Stumble Upon."

Wikis

I had been to Wikipedia to get basic information several times before this challenge. I usually checked to make sure the info was accurate through another source because I knew that it is open to anyone to edit. I had never tried adding to a Wikipedia entry myself though. I wasn't sure what I knew enough about to be able to go to Wikipedia page either add to it or correct an error on it. I finally decided to check out the page for a high school in my hometown. Much to my surprise I did know something that wasn't already there. Adding my new information was very easy and quick.
I also set up my own Wiki just to try it out. It was very easy to set up and start working on. We have some Wikispaces at my school, including one for our technology plan.I do think it's a great concept and would be great for students who are doing a group project particularly in middle and high school.I am thinking about ways we might be able to use a wiki in my particular department at some point this year.

A High Tech Treasure Hunt

One of my favorite uses of technology is Geocaching. Geocaching is an outdoor treasure hunting game. People (geocachers)use handheld GPS devices (even the ones in Smartphones can be used) to find geocaches. I have embedded a short video from Geocaching.com below. I love that Geocaching takes me to places that I had never heard of before. Just last week when I was in NY my dad and I found a geocache at a freshwater spring near my parents house we didn't know existed.(and they have lived there for 35 years).Once you have a handheld GPS device Geocaching is free. It has also been a great thing to do when I have been on vacation. I have found Geocaches in places like Idaho, Utah and Florida. Geocaches can be under water, up in a tree, under a log,or in a lamppost in your local Target parking lot. There are many hidden along the American Tobacco Trail (including a few owned by me).Geocaches can be very small, pretty big or anywhere in between and come in all sorts of containers.The great thing is that you can decide how challenging you want the hunt to be and pick caches to find that work for you. (geocaching.com rates them with terrain ratings (how difficult it is to get to) and difficulty ratings (how difficult it is to find once you get there). There are over one million geocaches worldwide and over 800 within 40 miles of Raleigh.
Check out the world of Geocaching. You won't be disappointed!
Here is a two minute video from www.geocaching.com.


This Powerpoint presentation has lots of good information about Geocaching.

landforms

landforms, a gallery on Flickr.

This is my Creative Commons/flickr project. I put together a gallery of pictures of different landforms. I would use this to engage students when beginning a unit on landforms. I would show a picture and have the students describe what they see as we come up with definitions of each of the landforms.

Today I am blogging on the fly. I am at JFK airport using my iPad and their wifi. Three weeks ago I never would have guessed that would happen. I am heading home after a great vacation. I got my nephew excited about Vokis and he now has one that we put on both of his blogs. He's only 8 so it's pretty silly but that's okay. My videos were a hit with him and his sisters too. I think we would have done some together if we had had more time.
I just finished reading my first ebook. I am an avid reader but I was't sure how I would like reading an ebook instead of a traditional one. I liked it. I will still be sticking with traditional books from the public library for most of my reading (I am on a teacher salary after all) but maybe indulge in an ebook when traveling.

Videos and More

So far I have made two videos using sites from the challenge. I had fun doing both and can definitely see practical implications of using videos like this with my students. My first thought was that history lessons could work well. I could see using these kinds of videos at the beginning of a unit to engage students in the topic. I could also see using this to have students make their own movies at the end of a unit to show what they have learned. This could be done across subject areas. The ones that I made were what popped into my head at the time.
When I saw the soda and burger I immediately thought of the new food plate the USDA came out with a few weeks ago and away I went. In other news my parents have upgraded to an iPad 2 and gave me their first generation iPad. I am having lots of fun finding good apps for it. One of the first I added was Flipboard which has a place for me to access Google Reader on it.
I am finding good elementary curriculum apps as well which I am looking forward to using with my students.

Another kind of video

This is one I made using Go!Animate. Very easy to do.



GoAnimate.com: Fun with food-Tech Challenge Video from Go!animate by jennync

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!