FHS TechNews
December 11, 2013
Christmas Miracle....Real-time giving!
8 Tips to Power-Up Your Classroom Presentations
This article from Edutopia is a must-read for all teachers and presentation creators. Even though it’s written for teachers as the audience, these same tips apply for your students when creating their presentations.
BYOD in the Classroom
- Resource during practice time (Khan Academy, class website, YouTube Edu, your online textbook, or search for what they need to know) Let someone else explain it in a slightly different way to reach more students.
- Quick assessment (Google Forms [with Flubaroo], PollEverywhere.com, InfuseLearning.com, Socrative.com, Nearpod.com, etc.) Some are limited to multiple choice and text while others can include drawings and more. (*See this article below about Socrative and PollEverywhere)
- Notecards (Students can create their own, or in some cases share or search for ones created by others, with FREE notecard apps like Quizlet, Flashcardlet, gFlash, Notecards Lite, etc.)
- Calendar Students add events to their calendars to help keep them on track.
- Pictures of class examples and notes. Make sure students get it recorded correctly by taking a picture of it.
- Note taking apps (Some are free, like Evernote, while others are paid, like GoodNotes, Noteworthy, or others)
- Student Created Presentations (see Online Presentation Tools page.)
- Student Created Tutorials Students can create their own video tutorials to be shared with others.
- Homework management apps
- Subject specific apps for practice and/or simulation
Padlet
Padlet, formerly Wallwisher, is an easy way for your students to turn in images, videos and/or text all in one place.
Check out this example from one of our own Stafford MS teachers. (best in Chrome or Firefox) In the example, the teacher recorded a short video giving basic instructions to the students including how to hold the iPod touch/camera, how long to record, to write with a dark pen/pencil and to speak clearly. She then uploaded it to her Padlet page and gave the URL to the students (easy with a QR code generated by the site). They recorded their own tutorial videos and uploaded them to the same Padlet board. Now other students can pull up the page and use it as a reference when working their own problems!
It takes just seconds to set up a new board and get the URL for your students to upload their own work, comments and images.
Check out the Padlet features including easy, instant collaboration, multimedia, privacy, mobile, layouts, fun and embeddable.
Example with text and images.
Example with text and images as a timeline.
Padlet can be accessed, viewed and added to through any device!Kids Discover Infographics
There are a ton of free printable infographics on the Kids Discover website which feature topics from science, health, social studies, ELA, etc. These are easy to understand, visual representations on different topics. They would be ideal as supplement materials for class as well as to use with ESL, SPED, struggling learners, etc. as they are uncluttered and give basic information about the different topics without being too cumbersome to comprehend.
iPad As a.......
If you know what you want your students to do (record/edit video/audio, read class content, annotate course readings, create screencasts, create presentations, study, respond to questions/assessments, use it in math class, etc.) then this website can help you find the best iPad app(s) for the job!
The site includes the name of the application, cost, description and ease-of-use for each app.
Video Captions Improve Comprehension
Interesting article suggests that using closed captioning when showing videos in class helps ALL students’ focus and comprehension.
- Watching a DVD: Turn on the Closed Captions through the Menu button
- Watching YouTube videos: Turn on the Closed Captions if they are already added to video [click here for instructions]
- Add Captions to videos that YOU create and upload [click here for instructions]
- Watching Discovery Education videos that you have downloaded: Downloading videos with closed captioning [click here for instructions]
- Enable closed captioning while playing streaming videos [click here for instructions]
Here is the link to the full study as published Aug. 9 in the American Indian Culture and Research Journal
Digital Citizenship and then some
This may not be the prettiest website out there but it’s full of more resources than you would ever need. There are sections for educators, parents, students and general. Take a few minutes and click around!
Windows 7 Tips: Sticky Notes
You can use Sticky Notes to write a to-do list, jot down a phone number, or do anything else that you'd use a pad of paper for. You can use Sticky Notes with a tablet pen or a standard keyboard. To write a note using a tablet pen, simply start writing on the note where you want the ink to appear. To type a note, click where you want the text to appear, and then start typing. Sticky notes are added per user per computer.
Webmail Tip: Removing Auto-Complete Entries
When you start typing in someone’s name does the list include extra names you wish weren’t there? Clean up your Auto-Compete list!
- Log in to Webmail
- Compose a new email
- Begin typing the entry you want to delete until you see it in the Auto Complete list.
- To remove one entry from the list, highlight the name in the Auto Complete list; arrow up and arrow down allow you to highlight the name you want to remove.
- When the entry is highlighted, press the Delete button on your keyboard.