Mission US

Mission US is in its infancy stage, but the concept is a role playing video game that will assist students in the learning of the History of the United States.  Students will take on the role of Nat Wheeler.  Students can currently play lesson/level 1 (For Crown or Colony) which is the American Revolution.  You can view a demo right now that sets the story line.  The full site will go live later in the month of September.  Students can register for an account and play For Crown or Colony.  For teachers, Mission US have classroom guides that will assist with implementation.  You can view a video showcasing its use in the classroom. 

I normally don't like to post resources for a specific subject, but I found this to be a great tool.

Virtual Nerd

The saying that sooner or later the online world will replace teachers just might become true....nah, not really.  But Virtual Nerd might just be the closest thing to the end of teachers...at least Math and Science.  Virtual Nerd is a site that students and teachers can use to help teach content in math and science.  Currently there are only tutorials for Algebra I, but they are working at adding some more.

You can get a basic account (Free) and have access to a dozen or so tutorials.  Or you can get a premium account (paid - $49 a month) and have access to all the tutorials.  They advertise in their opening video that tutors can be expensive, true, but a great teacher will be a virtual nerd for free.  Besides, 600 a year is a lot of money considering most people who need such help probably can't afford it.

The tutorials are rather neat and they do allow for a lot of interaction and hands on help.  If you know most of the steps you can easily skip to the one you need help with.  It also organizes the tutorials in a neat fashion. To get a better idea of the software, just visit Virtual Nerd and watch the video intro to see some of the features.  You can find the Algebra topics that are covered here

Resources from Twitter

My first installment of resource from Twitter for the new school year.

1.) Jottit - Simple web page creation.  Shared by: ToddAHoffman

2.) 101 Way to Use Tagexdo. Shared by: bjnichols

3.) 10 Free Computer Tech Help Sites you Might have Overlooked.  Shared by: Joy Gayler

4.) Algebra Tutorials.  Shared by: Poochiesan24

5.) Top 20 Websites No Teacher Should Start the Year Off Without - Shared by: Thanks2Teachers

6.) Teaching with Inforgraphics - From the New York Times.  Shared by: NMHS_Principal

7.) 6 Ways to Increase Success of Web Page Content.  By: Tonnet

8.) Critical Thinking PDF from Microsoft. By: KySTEtech

9.) 21 Things That will Become Obsolete in Education by 2020, by TeachPaperless.  Shared by: raztech

10.) How Testing Feeds the School to Prison Pipeline - Interesting Article and Read.  Shared by: Thanks2Teachers

11.) Science Blogging - A one stop shop for blogs related to science. Shared by: Larry Ferlazzo

12.) Digitally Speaking - Social Media in Schools - Great Resource.  Shared by: Web20Classroom

13.) Flash Card Flash - A Search Engine for Flash Card Websites.  Shared by: KarenTBTEN

14.) 75 Really Useful iPad Tips and Tricks.  Shared by: 8Amber8

10 Specific Way to Use a Document Camera

There are so many generic lists of how to use a Document Camera (my school uses AverMedia CP135), but very few are specific or "outside the box" suggestions..  Below are some of the ideas that I have thought of while trying to provide ideas to the teachers in my buildings.

1.) Display a worksheet on the board using a projector and have students come to the board and use the dry erase markers to "fill out" the worksheet.  Works great for graphic organizers, Crossword Puzzles, etc.  Helps to turn an individual assignment into a discussion assignment. 

2.) My school uses Turning Point Clicker software.  Have teachers create a generic Turning Point Presentation and then use the document camera to display the review/test docuemnt.  One copy of the review and helps remove the need to create several different presentations of reviews.

3.) The model that we use has the capability to network.  Therefore teachers have the ability to view a camera in another classroom as long as they have the necessary software loaded on their computer.  So basically one teacher could actually share the same review/assignment in their classroom with another classroom who does not have a Document Camera.  If it allowed audio as well, it could be even more useful.

4.) Kids always ask: What page and/or questions?  Project your textbook/worksheet, highlight where to read and/or what questions to answer.  Freeze the image so it stays viewable to the students while you walk around and monitor students.

5.) Showcase student work, good and bad.  The best way to show what you want your students to do is show what previous students have done that was right and wrong.  Works great for portfolio assignments.

6.) Flip the camera up and video tape your students in class during a skit or activity.  You can also take still images of your classroom to show student work on your walls in case you decide to change them out.

7.) Many document cameras come with the ability to take timed images.  This would be a neat way for students to create their own stop motion photography.  It can also help to show the different steps in a math problem or science experiment.  Be a great way to capture chemical reactions in science.

8.) Many teachers teach the same lesson in different classes.  I remember having to write and erase notes on the board so that I could do it all over again for another class.  Using the document camera you can take images or video your notes and then just reuse them in future classes.  If your document camera has a "screen shade" tool you can use that to only show what you want to students.  The video feature is a great tool for math teachers because you can video tape your explanation of a problem and then just show and pause the video in future classes.

9.) So many schools are strapped for textbooks or do not let students take textbooks home.  You could use the document camera to take an image of the pages from the textbook and upload those images to a website for students to access at home.  Also great for stories, pictures, charts, etc, from a magazine or other book that you don't have enough copies of for your students.

10.) Our model comes with drawing tools similar to what is available with SMART Notebook.  Teachers are able to digitally draw and highlight on documents.  Is great to use the tool to digitally work on a worksheet together as a class by passing around an Airliner.

I know some of these suggestions might not work with your model of a document camera, but if there is at least one suggestion you had not thought of this I hope this post is useful.

How have you specifically used a Document Camera?  What creative and innovative ways have you gotten students to use a Document Camera?  Please Share!

Doing a "FLIP" Across the Curriculum

With part of the grant for the creation of my position, teachers got the ability to order several different kinds of technology equipment.  One of those pieces of equipment, a FLIP Camera.  I got one as well...I love it.  I also won one at the Nashville TeachMeet last school year, so now I have one for work and play.  So the question then becomes...how do we use such a great and simple tool in the classroom?  Well here are some ideas for student use. 

Social Studies
1.) Have students portray a President and recreate a famous speech
2.) Act out a time period in history
3.) Use for Mock Trial to record "evidence" at a scene of a crime
4.) Create advertisements for products when teaching Economics
5.) Create advertisement for inventions in history
6.) Interview family members
7.) Create Propaganda Techniques
8.) Film "On The Scene" news clips as if a news reporter from an event in history
9.) Create a movie trailer about an event in history, or even a biography of a person from history
10.)Create a music video for any of the subject matter

Science
1.) Record experiments and then include in a Glog instead of doing the standard lab write up
2.) Create video advertisements for all the Elements on the Periodic table and how they are used in real life
3.) Create a Music video...like these
4.) Interview people in different science careers and bring in for career day activities
5.) Video Science in action - life cycle, hydro-logic cycle, chemical reactions, etc
6.) Create How-To videos explaining the steps in scientific and physic processes


Mathematics
1.) Give to students to take home.  Have the work out and explain a math problem.  Then bring in to school and let the student share with the class
2.) Take a camera out and measure different angles in the school/community for a geometry lesson
3.) Create a "Math in my Life" video journal.  Have students record when they use math in their daily lives and share at the end of the semester.
4.) Create How to videos over mathematics and formulas
5.) Have students record your explanations of math problems in your classroom and then make them available on the web or put them on their flash-drive for them to use for homework.

English
1.) Create a movie trailer for a book they are reading in the class
2.) Create a monologue for a poem from class.  Catch the emotion of a poem.
3.) Allow students to record a speech instead of giving the speech in front of the class if nerves keep them from full potential
4.) Record students doing the My Three Words Campaign
5.) Recreate scenes from a play or short story
6.) Record a skit of dialogue from a section of a book.

Foreign Language
1.) Have students create common words translation videos
2.) Have students record a certain artifact and then translate it on video
3.) Have students go around school/town and translate popular spots, places, etc into the foreign language

ALL SUBJECTS
1.) Create a review video for students to use for exams and show on school news.
2.) Take on Field Trips and share with students via school news
3.) Record classroom discussions
4.) Record your lecture and make available as podcast, for viewing on your website, or on a flash-drive
5.) Record a daily vocabulary word and act out definition.


I am sure that there are several more.  What ideas do you have?  How have you used a FLIP Camera in your subject matter?