I Will Still Use Power Point

If you follow this blog regularly, then you know that I am adamant about the misuse of Power Point in the classroom.  We have used and abused it beyond how it was intended and we are using it in a manner that hinders the educational process.  I prefer to use other methods and in a previous post I shared several other options.

This year though, I will be using Power Point....but for a completely different reason.  This year I am using Power Point as a method of sharing my daily agenda, homework, and "I Can" statements that are required.  I have realized this is so much easier then writing everything on the board each morning or afternoon.  I can do it in advance and have it ready for when students enter the room.  Students know exactly where to look and know exactly what they will be learning in my classroom each day.  I can then save them and post them to my website each week if necessary so that students know what we did if they missed school.

I suggest you try this if you have access to a projector or your computer is hooked to the TV and see if it is something that helps you in your classroom.

Start the New School Year Using Social Media

Finally back to the blog after a month long vacation during the month of July.  I needed the break to be with family and friends and take a break from anything work related for a while.  Since I am going back into the classroom this coming school year, allow me to share how I am going to be using Social Media with my students to start off the posts for the month of August.

The 2011-2012 school year is just around the corner.  My school year will be very different.  It will be tough adjusting to life back in the classroom after being out of it for two years.  There are several things that will take getting re-used to: Duty schedule, lesson plans, grading papers, discipline, etc.  But they are all expectations of being a teacher.

Over the past two years I have learned a lot about integrating technology in the classroom, but I have also learned about my personal teaching philosophy and what it means to be a teacher.  I recognized so many flaws in my teaching strategies when provided the opportunity to be on the outside looking in.  I noticed damaging characteristics of my personality that interfered with my ability to enjoy being a teacher.  Hopefully this coming school year will allow me to put in to practice all that I have learned and reflected on.

One of the new strategies I learned about was utilizing social media in the classroom.  My last year in the classroom, all these social media tools existed.  They were there for me to use with students and parents, but no one was telling me how to use them.  Through personal professional development, collaborating online with other teachers, and attending conferences, I learned so much about how to use these social media tools.  This coming school year, I will be working at integrating a classroom Blog, Facebook Page, and Twitter Feed.

Why all three?  Because not every parent has a Twitter or Facebook account.  Not every student has, or is permitted to have a Facebook Account.  The blog allows me to easily share the same information with those students and parents who do not utilize social networking.  You are probably thinking to yourself: "That sure is a lot of repeating information."  Yeah, it is, but I can use a site like Twitterfeed, and have my blog posts automatically posted to the classroom Facebook and Twitter pages.  Therefore I am really only updating one site, and if necessary I can post separately.

Setting this up is fairly easy.  All I needed was my RSS feed for my blog, my Twitter Username, and my Facebook Page Address.  You can learn more about linking your blog to Facebook using Twitterfeed here and linking your blog to Twitter using Twitterfeed here.  This process really will help to synchronize the communication with students and parents.

Another great feature of Twitter is the ability to create a hashtag; which is typing a "#" before text that is used in your tweet.  For example, I use #MrZimHCCHS for my classroom Twitter feed.  The hashtag categorizes tweets.  If a parent or student does not have a Twitter account, they can still visit the Twitter homepage and type in the hashtag for the classroom Twitter feed in the search bar.  This is great because students can still use the service without having to join the site.  The other great thing about Twitterfeed is that you can include the hashtag in the automated tweets of the posts from the classroom blog, therefore students who don't have an account don't miss out on information if they prefer to check Twitter.

When it comes to the Facebook page, I created a separate profile where I only show "My Info" and include in the information that the page will not be used to connect with friends, parents, and students, only to create my Classroom Facebook Page.  In the settings for my Facebook page I made it to where I am the only one who can post statuses, links, pictures, notes, and videos on the wall.  Students and parents will be able to comment, but that is it.  If desired, notifications can be setup to receive emails when comments are made.

So when it comes to "policing" the social media, what do I do?  I require the students to sign a set of rules related to social media, and that bad behavior on the page is just like bad behavior in the classroom.  I also will show students how to make their own Facebook pages private so that I (and questionable people) don't have access to their page, therefore protecting myself from communicating with students outside of the Classroom Facebook page. 

With the growth of mobile technology, students can download a Twitter app and the Facebook app and easily follow our social media classroom and not miss out on anything I share.  Students interested in RSS can download a Reader app to get blog updates as well.  I am sure that I will run into some issues in my move towards using social media, but I am expecting them to happen and am preparing myself for ways to handle them. 

My Classroom blog is just getting going, so not much is on it.  Same goes for my Classroom Twitter and Classroom Facebook Page.  You might not want to use all three like me, but I highly encourage you to embrace one method and utilize it in your classroom.  Using social media is not specific to high school either.  Parents of all grades would like some form of alternate communication to connect with their child's classroom.  You might even survey parents at an open house to see which they would prefer.

Need further assistance?  Contact me on Twitter and lets work together!

Weekly Core Subjects Resources

Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans.  I won't post again till after the holiday as I am going on vacation without my laptop.  Summer is going by way to fast.

English

1.) Eduify is a website to help you write faster and better by providing tutorials, cite and verify sources, and store documents in the cloud.  You can learn more about it from the iLearn Technology Blog

2.) Citation Machine is a simple website to create citations.  Choose a style, insert the information, and then copy and paste your citation. 

3.) Pottermore is an interactive website that will be available in October for all those readers of the Harry Potter books. 

4.) Literature Map is a website where you can type in the name of an author of a book you are reading and it will provide a web cloud of other authors who write similar styles.  Source: iLearn Technology Blog

Mathematics

1.) Multipication.com has resources, interactives, and games for learning about multiplication. 

2.) Desmos is website to create and share rich interactive content.  They have created an online graphing calculator that students and teachers can use.  When a problem has been created/solved, it creates a link that you can share.

3.) Here is a great list of 19 Online Graphing Calculators from the Tech the Plunge Blog which is written by Jeff Thomas. 

4.) PSToM is a website for Parents, Students, and Teachers of Mathematics.  It is an online community with resources, lessons, and activities for learning math.  More information is available from the iLearn Technology Blog.

Science

1.) Roller Coaster is a Physics interactive where you drag a line up and down and create a roller coaster path.  You attempt to make sure the rider does not "puke" or pass out to move on to the next level.  Go through the tutorial and it explains the physics aspect.

2.) The Periodic Table of Comic Books is an interesting way to look at the elements.  It takes the elements and shows which comic book characters have special powers based on the elements.  Very interesting. 

3.) Virtual Pig Dissection is a website where students can virtually dissect a pig.  Would be a good intro activity; don't think it can take the place of "live/dead" experience.

4.) Science Toy Maker is a collection of videos and instructions by a teacher who enjoys rolling up their sleeves to work on science projects. 

5.) Succeeding With Science is a website dedicated to providing resources for teachers and students at all grade levels looking to improve in science. 

Social Studies

1.) Wikihood World is a website with information about locations all over the globe.  Including Longitude and Latitude for the center of the city.  You can find out information about leaders, culture, history, statistics, etc.

2.) TweetCongress is a website that provides information, links, and resources about Congress through Tweets.  It includes Tweets of Senators and Representatives who have accounts as well. 

3.) What Was There is a website where you can take an older picture of an area of a city and "lay it over" a current Google Street View of the area so that you can see how the area has changed.  This would be a great project for students to do in your local town. 

4.) CitizenTube are the top news stories that appear on YouTube.  Every week there will be a recap of the top news stories. 

5.) Mapfaire is an easy way for users to create their own maps.  With a Google Account you can publish your map.  For more information, read the post from Free Technology 4 Teachers.

6.) FBI: The Vault is a website that contains many files and readings of public importance.  You can browse for specific people or even events.  An interesting way to look into the History of the FBI.

Larry Ferlazzo's Best of Series

A while back, as in the first month I started this blog, I wrote a blog post where I shared a link to Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day "Best of Series".  Since that time, his lists of websites has grown substantially; to over 700!  Each link is available in alphabetical order by subject matter.  If you or teachers in your building are looking for resources, this is a valuable starting point for teachers to start their search. 

A tip to search through the website: Press "Ctrl"+"F" and a search box will pop up.  Type in the topic you are searching for (try specific and then general), for example "Geography" and see the lists that he has put together.  Happy searching!!. 

Notes.io

Notes.io is a free website for typing notes online.  It looks very similar to the notepad app on the iPad and iPhone.  Currently when you type notes it creates a short URL for you to share.  A simple tool that students and teachers could use to share notes from classes.  In the future Notes.io plans to provide the option to print, attach images, send via email, and then create an account so that you can save your notes.  One of the benefits of Notes.io is that it provides the size (KB/MB) as you type so that you know how large your notes are.  You can easily copy and paste text as well, but of course hyperlinks will not copy.  The more you type, the longer the page gets.