Friday Focus - My First Digital Publication

Recently I have been seeing numerous and wonderfully put together digital magazines involving integrating technology in the classroom.  Seeing them motivated me to create my own.  So often, we as teachers (myself included) are throwing up PowerPoint as our main form of enhancing lecture, as well as integrating technology.

Students are burnt out on PowerPoint.  We use it to much, and we have them create them to much.  Slide Shows are great, but they are no longer the only method of delivering lecture notes to your students.  Plus, how is that making lecture interactive with your students?  How are they LEARNING from your lecture notes if all they do is copy them down?

I recently did a presentation at the TeachMeet Nashville Conference on using Web 2.0 to enhance lecture. I created my presentation using Prezi.  I wanted to be able to enhance that presentation, so I created a digital magzine.  You can find my publication here.  I used word and then uploaded it using Issuu.  You can also see the publication on the sidebar of this blog at the very top.  Click on the center of the publication and it will open full screen.  Or, you can see it below.



I would appreciate any comments, suggestions, ideas, or ways that you have improved lecture in your classroom using Web 2.0.

Must See Monday: A-Z Cool Tools

Everyday I come to realize the power of my PLN and PLN's in general.  Through Twitter I was able to follow the KySTE conference that was in Louisville , KY in March.  By following the KySTE Hashtag on Twitter I was able to discover and communicate with other Kentucky educators who are on Twitter. 

One person that I met and started following was Jeremy Renner who is a Technology Resource Teacher for the Jefferson County School District.  I also was able to attend his session about his favorite 10 Web 2.0 tools for education while at the conference and came away with one of my new favorite tools, Typewith.me. 

Last week I received an email from Jeremy about a Digital Magazine that he had created called A-Z Cool Tools.  Jeremy was asking for my thoughts and opinions about what he created.  I was impressed with the organization and creativity of the publication, as well as the many resources it contains.  I am currently working on my own Digital Magazine as well based on my recent presentation at the TeachMeet Nashville Conference.  The A-Z Cool Tools provided further inspiration.

In the A-Z Cool Tools you will find links and information about a plethera of Web Tools that you can use in your classroom.  A great resource for teachers, but definitely worth sharing with Elementary teachers because many of the links have an elementary teacher feel.  It is also a great resource for Library Media Specialist as well.

Check out this great resource and share with teachers.  Encourage them to view my blog and leave comments for Jeremy so that when he reads the post he can see what others think about his A-Z Cool Tools

Think Twice Thursday - Educational and Technology Journals

It is amazing how changing jobs provides an opportunity to realize things you have always wanted to do, but never made time for.  I now make time for so many things that a couple of years ago I did not see the value in making time for.  I Tweet, I blog (obviously), I use Digg and Social Bookmarking.  I value my cell phone as a professional, not a personal communication device.  Those are just a few...probably a whole blog post on just that topic alone!

Recently though, I found value in another aspect of education; journals and magazines that discuss topics that are pertinent to my job and education in general.  I have a new respect for learning about what is going on in education, not just in Kentucky, but all over the United States, and in many cases, the world.  I also like to read and follow journals on technology, so that I can keep myself up todate on new and exciting changes in technology that might benefit education (iPad, foldable screens, etc)

So the question then becomes what Educational Journals do you read?  Well, there are tons that you can find on many different subjects and even content specific journals.  What I also like is that so many of them can just be emailed to you and you can have a digital journal.  Makes for storing, saving, and using the resources a lot easier.

First and foremost, I suggest Education Week.  You can also find them on http://twitter.com/educationweek.  They have different subscription offers, and one is free to get a limited amount of articles, but you can still read main articles for free on the front page, as well as some other resources.

Another one that I got a free membership to is THE Journal, Technological Horizons in Education.  They also have free newsletters on different topics related to technology in education.  They are also on Twitter as well @THE_Journal.

If you are looking for some specific journals, you can find some using this list that was compiled by Professor Ross Perkins at Boise State University.  On the lsit you can find links to the journals as well.  There are so many journals on this list, I don't even no where to begin to tell you to focus.  Many I did not know about, and many that don't get a lot of attention, but have great resources.

Think Twice about subscribing to some of these journals and discovering your own education news source.

Wiki Wednesday - Subject Based Wiki's

Recently many of my Wikis post have been focusing on Web 2.0 and software of the such.  Recently I thought it would be great to find Wikis related to different content areas so that teachers in my building and in your buildings could find something that fits their needs for the content they are teaching. 

I came across the Classrooms For the Future Wikis.  They have a Wiki for every Core Subejct plus Tech Ed and Foreign Language.  There is also a Wiki for Students if you have students who want to get involved with collaborating with other students.

The Social Studies Wiki is broken down by ways to get connected and then by topics routinely covered in Social Studies classrooms.  These page provides links to several resources based on the topic of choice.  There is also a new section of Lesson Plans and Activities.  Share your own and get it started.  If you are a Social Studies teacher, see what you can use, and then see what you can add.

The English Wiki has a lot of the same pages and links, but they are of course for English based teachers.  So find the topic that interest you and use or add to it.

The Math Wiki is a great resource by providing links to videos, lessons, and resources broken down by math topics.  See what you can use, and see what you can add.

The Science Wiki offers quite a few resources and links dedicated to the Science content.  See what you can use, and see what you can add.

The Foreign Language Wiki offers resources for Spanish, French, German, and Latin.  You also have the opportunity to add a language of your own if it is not listed.  There are plenty of links and resources for your use.  Remember, see what you can use, and see what you can add.

The final Wiki is the Technology Education Wiki.  There is not much to this one yet, but I think with time, we will see it blossom.  See the links on the main page and see what you can add.

The Student Wiki is a place for students to find an area to collaborate and share the happenings in their school.  It also offers links to resources for students.

Remember, the success of a Wiki is only determined by its visitors and contributors, so help make these successful for others.

Twitter Tuesday - Paper.li - Twitter like a Newspaper

Twitter has become a staple in my professional growth as an educator and I am always looking for new ways to view my Twitter Feed and to use Twitter in my daily routine and life.  Recently while looking at All My Faves, I came across Paper.li which advertises the ability to read Twitter Streams like a daily newspaper.  I was intrigued to say the least, so I checked it out.

First thought; how in the world do I view this?  I saw some featured sections, and I saw some current "Curators."  I noticed Education under the feature section, so I clicked.  I scrolled down and found Web 2.0 in Education.  What I found were Tweets by people I was following, links that they were sharing showed up in a pop-up window without leaving the webpage.  If there were videos that were shared, you could watch it right there in the newspaper, same goes for Photos.  There was even a section dedicated to #edchat and a Feed as well.  They also broke down the Tweets based on sections, such as politics, business, entertainment, living, etc.  Next to each section is a number so that you can view all the "articles" (Tweets) related to that section.  You can also view all the articles in list format if you want too.

You can also create your own newspaper.  So I created my own newspaper for what goes through my Twitter Feed, how cool!  What is really neat is that it will automitcally create a new edition every 24 hours based one what is shared!

What I did not like were all the ads within the "newspaper," but they have to make money some how.