Five From My Feedly

Another week has gone by and a few days remain in the 2012-2013 school year.  Below are 5 recent posts from my Feed.ly that I wanted to share.  Feel free to pass these along if you like them as well.

1.) Last week was "Teacher Appreciation Week" and Angela Maiers has organized her Favorite Posts for Teacher Appreciation Week.  Great posts for a quick pick me up.

2.) Those of us with 1:1 or BYOT programs in our schools should be familiar with Backchanneling and how to utilize it in the classroom.  The Langwitches Blog recently had a post Stepping Up the Backchannel in the Classroom.  If you find yourself wanting to utilize this tool and strategy, or are looking for a way to improve, this would be a good starting point.

3.) The Speed of Creativity has done some posts recently sharing classes use of "Paper Slides" as an project in their classrooms using the technology that has been made available to them.   Here is an example of a Paper Slide Project related to the Egypt After Arab Spring.  Paper Slides are becoming a popular project method for classrooms to present information.  I have recommended it to several teachers through the past couple years.

4.) Looking for some blogs to start reading?  Free Technology for Teachers is a blog a follow and he recently shared his Ten Blogs I Read First and thought it would be a great share for those looking for blogs to start following.

5.) Lifehacker is a blog that I had seen before but never really followed until recently.  They recently shared a post comparing Evernote and Springpad and which someone would use to help them get organized.  If you are unsure, this would be a good start.  

Star Wars Crawl Creator

While reading through my Feed.ly I came across the Star Wars Crawl Creator on the Whiteboard Blog and was immediately intrigued because I am a big Star Wars fan.  I immediately thought how this could be a cool way to introduce a lesson or an activity for the day.  You could even type in your agenda and share it with your students.  Of course over time this would be "just another tool," but as often as you can change up the monotony of a classroom, the better.

Students could also utilize this tool as well.
1.) Define vocabulary
2.) Introduce a topic in a project
3.) Summarize a short story, movie, or unit of content.

To utilize the Star Wars Crawl Creator, you just edit the title, subtitle, and body.  You can then preview what it looks like and share it by using a link or embedding it on a webpage or other presentation tool.  By email or if you use Facebook and Twitter in your classroom you can share it that way.  Helpful for students that are absent.

You can see a sample below of this blog post.

TIME Timelapse Powered by Google

While looking through my Feed.ly I came across the blog update on the Google Blog talking about their collaboration with TIME magazine on their Timelapse Project.  Through this product users can view images of anywhere in the world from the best quarter century and see how they have changed over time.  The images provide users with an opportunity to see how their world and even their local community has changed.  Timelapse can provide geography and science teachers a new way to teach the environment and the impact of humans, pollution, weather, and technology on our planet.

While looking further through my Feed.ly I cam across a post on Free Technology for Teachers discussing the project and realized that it was not limited to just certain areas of the planet and thought it would be neat to examine where I currently live.  In 2005 we had an F4 tornado come through our community.  It was the largest tornado on record that year.  By using the Timelapse Project I was able to find and identify the before and after of the impact the tornado had on our community.  You can see the before and after photos below where I have highlighted the area.  You can see a dark green area (trees) completely changed brown after they were all knocked down.  I am really intrigued by the relevancy the Timelapse Project can provide in classrooms.

Before the Tornado

After the Tornado

How could you use this in your classroom?

Flowboard - A New Way to Share Everything From an iPad

Flowboard is a free iPad App that allows users to create presentations and digital stories on the iPad with a simple user interface design.  Each screen uses simple touch gestures to create the presentation and then presentations can contain buttons, videos, and galleries to make a presentation interactive.  Once a presentation is completed a Flowboard is shared by providing a URL that works on any browser or within the app.  Once shared, the Presentation can be viewed online or offline.

Content for the Flowboard presentation can be utilized from your Dropbox, Facebook, Box, Instagram, or a Google Image Search.  An upgrade to Skydrive and Google Drive would make it much more beneficial since districts are mainly Google and Microsoft users.

To see a sample Flowboard, which is actually a UsersGuide, CLICK HERE. 

ExamTime - Transform Your Learning Potential

ExamTime is a students study solution by offering several different ways to prepare for exams.  Testing has always been a part of education, it is just in a grander scale now.  Students need ways to prepare for the assessments in their classrooms in ways that can benefit them.  ExamTime offers students the ability to study using mind maps, flashcards, goal setting, and reviewing.  Students can share study guides and notes that they have created with other students and for studying on the go, they can use the mobile app when development is completed.  ExamTime is currently free and as the site grows, premium features will probably cost in the future.  To see ExamTime in action, check out their sample study resources.  You can also see the informational video below.