- Please note only one vote per category per day will be counted per IP address.
- This means, if your school uses one IP address, you’ll need to ask students and staff to vote from home, or only one vote will count
- The system will accept your vote more than once, but only one will be counted!
- Voting is open until 11:59pm EST on Sunday December 9th.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Digital Literacy Badge #1 - Design Your Digital Self
Design Your Digital Self - Promoting Digital Literacy
An activity intended for all
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| My Digital Self - blogmaster |
1. Create Your Avatar. Save it as a .jpg for later use.
3. Upload your avatar to ThingLink.
4. Create links to Design your Digital Self.
- your blog or website
- your favorite video
- your favorite app
- your favorite place to go
- something unique
- something you created
- a good quote
- anything that defines your digital self
5. Turn in Your Digital Self and Earn a Badge
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As you discover new tools, continue to create links to define your digital self.
Digital Literacy Badges
Set a Goal and Earn a Badge! It's simple.
In an attempt to promote digital literacy and contribute positively to implementation of the Common Core I am pleased to introduce Beye Badges.Saturday, December 22, 2012
Class Badges for 1-1 Goal Setting
Class Badges is a free online tool designed to help teachers use digital badges as rewards for accomplishing learning goals. The badges can be a useful tool for teachers to keep track of individual student accomplishments as they help learners focus on making progress.
Teachers can request a free account to generate a class code for students. Just add your students and choose from the many available badges. If you are in need of a unique badge of your own you can work with the folks at Class Badges to have them create it for you.
- Work with individual students and their parents to identify their own specific attainable goals and create a Google Doc for reflection and progress monitoring. Use comments to provide students with feedback.
- Attach badges to your grading rubrics and hold regular mini-conferences with students at checkpoints as they work towards completion of the assignment to increase their motivation to take their learning to the next level.
- Reinforce positive behavior and increase students' self-awareness by focusing on badges designed to reward students for demonstrating specific behaviors that might be useful to increase instructional time. For example: Reward time on task or organizational skills.
- Make sure the badges are designed to encourage self-improvement rather than competition among students in the class.
I really like Class Badges because the badges serve as a useful reminder for teachers to work with students on an individual level to set goals and assess progress. If used appropriately, they can improve students' self-esteem as they work towards attainable goals. I believe this tool that can help teachers get a little closer to a 1-1 learning environment.
Try it at ClassBadges.com
Saturday, December 15, 2012
A Google Docs Template for Multimedia Research
The Google Docs Presentation is well-suited for use as a starting point for short student driven research projects because of the availability of efficient integrated research tools right on the page. To introduce students and teachers to the built in features, I created a simple template to guide the learning and help everyone discover the usefulness of the tool.
Template Features
- The planner can be used with any content. Just associate a learning goal with the template and it's ready for use.
- Built in tutorials allow students to explore the tools at their own pace.
- The activity provides opportunities for teachers to help students fine tune their search skills as they engage in the research.
- Of course, this is a template so it can be modified.
- Start with a simple learning goal the first time you use the template to ensure student success.
- To encourage collaboration, divide students into groups, have one group member pick up the template and ask that student to Share the copy of the document with others in the group.
- Teach students to use the Comments feature to collaborate and provide feedback to other group members.
Take a Look at the Template
Pickup a Copy of This Template
- You must be signed in to Gmail before you can pickup your own copy of this template.
- Click on this link: Research Planner
- Choose Use This Template and a copy will be added to your own list of Google Docs. Feel free to edit and modify.
Create Your Own Template
- Sign in to your Google account
- Create a new document or modify an existing one.
- Add your content and save.
- Go to your list of Google Docs.
- Choose Create New > From Template .
- On the new screen that appears, choose Submit a Template.
- Click on the link to Choose from yourGoogleDocs
- Complete the form with information about your template and submit.
- The template will become available in the gallery in a few minutes.
- Choose Preview to grab the link to publish so students can pick up your template.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
An Updated Digital Differentiation Model
To access the most current resources, please click on the tab at the top of this blog:
Digital Differentiation - Current
Updating
Ten months ago I published a Digital Differentiation model on this blog. I've been using the model to guide the work I do each day and I've been sharing it via webinars and hands-on training sessions.
Of course, ten months is a long time in the world of edtech, and I've added some new tools and resources to my personal teaching toolkit, so I decided it was time to update the model and tweak it just a bit. The original article and interactive graphic can still be found on this blog. Here is the new post:
Technology is a tool that can be used to help teachers facilitate learning experiences that address the diverse learning needs of all students and help them develop 21st Century Skills, an idea supported by the Common Core.
At it's most basic level, digital tools can be used to help students find, understand and use information. When combined with student-driven learning experiences fueled by Essential Questions offering flexible learning paths, it can be the ticket to success. Here is a closer look at three components of effectively using technology as a tool for digital differentiation.
The goal is to design student-driven learning experiences that are fueled by standards-based Essential Questions and facilitated by digital tools to provide students with flexible learning paths.
3 Components:
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Essential Questions
Student-driven learning experiences should be driven by standards-based Essential Questions. These questions should be open-ended to allow for flexible learning paths. Devise question by looking at the standards that determine what we teach.
Click on the tiny circles in the graphic for more information.
Click on the tiny circles in the graphic for more information.
Flexible Learning Paths
Use digital tools to provide students with flexible learning paths to meet their unique learning styles.
Teacher as Facilitator
The role of the teacher shifts to facilitate student-driven learning experiences. This new role allows teachers to maximize instructional time because the classroom structure provides opportunities for frequent interaction with individual students for assessment, modification, reteaching and enrichment.
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Saturday, December 8, 2012
A Guide to Facilitating an Interactive Learning Project
"With so much active student engagement, how do you manage a project like this?"
To answer that very good question, I used MentorMob to create a playlist to guide the project you see below. The playlist takes you and your students through the step by step process of managing the work flow and collaborative group roles, integrating some free and user friendly web 2.0 tools to facilitate the learning process, building the project and turning it in.
A Guided Playlist to Facilitate the Project
The Final Project
....Adapt the Playlist to Launch Your Own Project:
If you think a playlist like this will help you facilitate this type of active and engaging student project, you can make a copy of it for your own use, then edit it to fit your project. You will find the option to copy at the top of the page when you are viewing the playlist.
Check out more project
examples on the ThingLink Toolkit
Thursday, December 6, 2012
A Playlist: Avatars & Internet Safety
I just collected some of the resources I regularly use and created a MentorMob playlist for teaching students about Avatars and Internet Safety. If you want to use the playlist with your own students, just click the Share Playlist link at the bottom, then copy and paste the embed code into your own page.
Create your own Playlist on MentorMob!
Monday, December 3, 2012
My EduBlogs Nomination & Thank Yous
My blog is an essential part of my workflow and it is my most important tool. I would like to thank some amazing people who have kept me blogging.
Janet Barnstable
Thank you for encouraging me to blog and getting me started with my favorite and most useful tool. You always point me in the right direction and I am so thankful for you, your guidance and our friendship.
Dr. Kevin Anderson
Thank you for leading the way and encouraging me to create and teach others.
Sarah Chilton Rose
Thank you for publishing the first comment on my blog. This has kept my focus on publishing a simple blog for busy teachers and I do try to keep it short and sweet.
Sarah Chilton said...
D97 Digital Leaders
Thank you for getting me excited about blogging, creating your own blogs, and giving me a reason to blog in the early days. I had the time of my life teaching and learning with you.
Naomi Harm
Thank you for finding my blog and sharing the collaborative wiki projects in the sidebar on Twitter. Your tweet sent me so many visitors that I started tweeting myself, which opened the door to a whole new way of collaborating, connecting and learning.
GettingSmart.com
Thank you for letting me be a regular guest blogger so I can write a little more sometimes.
My Readers
Thank you for reading my blog, sharing it, trying some of the ideas and making personal connections with me. I really love that part.
How to Vote:Here are the official directions from EduBlogs
To vote for your favorites just click on the link and choose the category you want to vote in, who you want to vote for and then click ‘Vote’.
Thank you for finding my blog and sharing the collaborative wiki projects in the sidebar on Twitter. Your tweet sent me so many visitors that I started tweeting myself, which opened the door to a whole new way of collaborating, connecting and learning.
GettingSmart.com
Thank you for letting me be a regular guest blogger so I can write a little more sometimes.
My Readers
Thank you for reading my blog, sharing it, trying some of the ideas and making personal connections with me. I really love that part.
How to Vote:Here are the official directions from EduBlogs
To vote for your favorites just click on the link and choose the category you want to vote in, who you want to vote for and then click ‘Vote’.
You can vote in as many categories as you want per day!
Friday, November 30, 2012
Edmodo & ThingLink: Extend the Walls of Your Classroom
Teachers and students can extend the learning by posting messages, holding online discussions, picking up work and turning it in. Edmodo supports a variety of multimedia to provide students with flexible learning paths including links, images, video and interactive graphics created with ThingLink.
Perhaps an engaging assignment for students would be to publish an interactive graphic to be explored prior to class. This type of assignment can provide students with background knowledge, front load the learning and level the playing field to prepare students for success in class
The folks at ThingLink have made it very easy to use ThingLink with Edmodo and they've even created some video tutorials to help you learn how.
For more tutorials, Common Core Aligned Lesson Samples and tons of resources for using ThingLink in the classroom, please visit the ThingLink Teacher Toolkit.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
An Interactive Tutorial: Google Presentation
Google Presentation is a great tool for helping students construct knowledge about a topic as they create. Here is an interactive tutorial designed to demonstrate how to use some of the handy built in features.
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If you are interested in learning more about the features in Google Docs Presentation, you might want to check out my recent post on GettingSmart.com.
Google Presentation for Collaborative Learning
Monday, November 19, 2012
A ThingLink Toolkit for Teachers
I am excited to share a ThingLink Teacher Toolkit of Resources.
The toolkit is designed to provide teachers and students with all the resources needed to use ThingLink as an efficient and effective tool for teaching and learning.
- Several samples of Common Core aligned projects by grade level.
- A collection of quick video tutorials to demonstrate how to use ThingLink. The tutorials can be used with students to provide tech support right when needed.
- How to integrate with Edmodo, Flickr and Facebook.
- Resources for creating original artwork to be used as a starting point for a ThingLink image.
- Samples of images used for Professional Development
- A help button for support from a real teacher. (That's me!)
- An opportunity for sharing.
- A brand new blog for sending updates. Sign up!
Saturday, November 17, 2012
An Interactive Thanksgiving Image
I used ThingLink to create an interactive graphic for Thanksgiving.
Feel free to use it, embed it into your own site, and use the comments section of the blog to send me links you feel would be great additions to the graphic.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Edublogs 2012 Nominations
Nominations for 2012 Edublog Awards are open.
The purpose of the Edublog Awards is to
"promote and demonstrate the educational values of these social media."
The nomination process supports the goal of the contest because it requires nominations via a blog post with a follow up link to that post submitted to Edublogs. What a great way to share, discover and credit the folks whose work inspires us and contributes to our own success!
My nominations for the 2012 Edublog Awards:
Individual Blog - The Innovative EducatorFriday, November 2, 2012
Research Tool Added to Google Presentation
Good news for Google Docs users! The powerful integrated research tool made available in the Google Document last spring has made it's way to the Google Presentation at last. The tool couldn't be easier to use. Just pull down the Tools menu, click on Research and search for information in the research pane that appears on the right side of the screen. Users never have to leave the page.
This Research Tool is the perfect compliment to the Google Presentation because it supports the idea of using tech as a tool for learning rather than an add on at the end of a traditional unit of study. Students can find information, images, maps and quotes as they create a multimedia presentation without having to sort through the overwhelming amount of content yielded by a typical Google search. Here are some of the highlights of the features found in the research pane:
- Web results display a relevant snippet of information with citation information and a link to the full website. Select the Insert Link button to include a link to the full website in the document or select the Cite button to include a footnote citation in your document.
- Maps are displayed in the search results when searching for geographic locations. Edit maps by zooming in and out and choose Insert to add the map to your body of your text.
- Search for quotations with the click of a button, then choose the Insert button to include a properly formatted quotation in the document.
- Choose Scholar to access a link showing the number of times an article has been cited and a list of sources that have cited the article. View the full website and insert a footnote citation into a document by selecting Cite.
- Select your default citations format by clicking on Settings in the research pane. Choose from MLA, APA or Chicago.
Use the Research Tool to Check for Plagarism
In addition to the obvious ways to use the new integrated research tool, it can also be useful for checking for plagiarism. Just copy and paste a few sentences of text from a document directly into the search box of the research pane and the search will lead directly back to any article from which text has been plagiarized. I like to teach students how to do their own plagiarism check before turning in their work to help them understand the importance of creating original work.What About Video?
Google Presentation already supports an efficient video tool. Just click on Insert > Video to access a search tool for finding, previewing and embedding video into a presentation with the click of a button. Once again, users don't have to leave the page.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Digital Tools for Differentiating Vocabulary: K12Online
If you're looking for innovative ways to use free and user friendly digital tools to help students acquire vocabulary, please check out my session, Digital Tools for Differentiating Vocabulary Instruction at the K12OnlineConference. While you're there you are sure to discover more terrific 20 minute sessions, available for viewing at your convenience.
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Read more »
Teaching vocabulary today? Get ideas to "Kick it Up a Notch" at #k12online12 conference. http://bit.ly/Shhp1i #DigLN #elearning #innovate
Sunday, October 28, 2012
TeachEm: Create Guided YouTube Lessons
TeachEm is a free and user friendly digital tool that allows users to capture YouTube content, organize it, and add time stamped flashcards to guide the learning. It's simple, smart and efficient which makes it a good tool for busy teachers interested in implementing a Flipped Classroom instructional model.
Teachers can sign up for a free account with an email address and create a school. The school is not meant to be the school that employs you, it is supposed to be "The School of You". Once you've created your school, you can create classes of organized YouTube videos fairly easily.
To create a class just copy and paste links from your own collection of pre-selected YouTube videos or use the built in search feature to find and preview videos without leaving the TeachEm site. Add timestamped flashcards to associate text with specific parts of a video. Create public classes to share with the world, or create private classes that can even include videos that are not publicly available on YouTube. The TeachEm site hosts a very nice set of TeachEm FAQs, created with their own tool, to help users learn to use it.
When students participate in a TeachEm class they simply click on a flashcard and the timestamped video will jump to the associated spot. They can flip the flashcards for more information or to get the answers to questions. As they watch the videos and respond to the prompts on the flashcards, they can also type their own SmartNotes.
The set of Flashcards and SmartNotes can be emailed as live links which open to specific parts of the videos when clicked. Although I didn't find any features for embedding a class, you could copy and paste the set of live links into your own online learning platform or website for quick and easy student access.
Uses in the Classroom:
- Use TeachEm to create levels of differentiated classes on specific topics to provide students with access to content to meet their instructional needs.
- Design student-driven learning activities to deliver content with TeachEm, then require students to create something original based on the learning.
- Create your own instructional videos and use them in place of traditional lectures to maximize instructional time and give students a chance to use the pause and rewind buttons to take the learning at their own pace.
My Wish List:
- The ability to record sound and insert links into flashcards would make this a more powerful tool for meeting the needs of all learners and providing students with flexible options for responding to the video content.
- It would be useful to be able to easily embed a class into a website or online learning platform for quick and easy student access.
Try TeachEm at teachem.com.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Common Core Connections: Using Multimedia to Present Knowledge & Ideas
Technology can be a powerful tool to help us meet the Common Core Standards and move our students forward to prepare them for success in school and beyond. In general, the Common Core calls for the seamless integration of technology into the curriculum. There are also specific Common Core standards dedicated to using technology. The Speaking and Listening strand across all grade levels asks students to create presentations that are enhanced by a spiraling complexity of multimedia components.
I am excited and nervous about this standard. My excitement stems from a strong believe that students can construct deep knowledge about a topic as they engage in building a multimedia project. If used efficiently, a well designed student-driven learning experience can take the place of traditional methods of teaching content.
My nervousness stems from the possibility that some teachers might simply add a multimedia enriched project to the end of their unit as a culminating activity and then spend large amounts of class time giving each student an opportunity to present to a passive audience of their peers. In this case, there will be loss of instructional time, loads of frustration, and most likely lack of enthusiasm from students as technology is used to make them do more. Effective instructional technology integration calls for using technology as a tool for learning, not as an add on.
To truly make a difference, there needs to be an adjustment in instructional practices. My suggestion is for teachers to abandon the role of "Content Deliverer" and take an approach in which they become a "Facilitator of Learning".
Tips for designing an efficient and effective technology powered multimedia project:
- Start with an Essential Question to drive the learning. Make sure the answers to the questions are complex and can't be answered with a copy and paste.
- Provide students with multimedia platforms that allow them to take flexible learning paths to meet their unique learning styles.
- Allow students to work in collaborative groups to prompt discussion and decision-making.
- Serve as a Facilitator of Learning. Spend instructional time interacting with students as you informally assess, reteach and challenge them on the spot.
- Provide students with built in tech support so you can focus on the content, not the technology.
- Design sharing opportunities that are engaging and non-traditional. Return to the Essential Question and assign a related task for accountability. Provide students with access to a portable learning device and let them learn and explore instead of watch and daydream.
- Most important tip: Start by creating your own sample to fully understand the task you are asking students to engage in.
Here is an example of what a student might create as the result of a learning experience driven by an Essential Question. This Common Core aligned student-driven multimedia powered project is one that requires students to construct knowledge and it was created with ThingLink.
Essential Question:
Why and how did people struggle for social justice during the Civil Rights Movement?
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| This image was created with ThingLink |
A Playlist to Guide the Learning
Create your own Playlist on MentorMob!
Saturday, October 13, 2012
327 Common Core Aligned Playlists from MentorMob & LearnZillion
MentorMob playlists are displayed in a step-by-step format that allow users to interact with live web content right on the page, keeping students on track without getting lost in a stream of open tabs and new pages. As students progress through a playlist at their own pace, MentorMob keeps track of completed steps. Flexibility to move within a playlist is provided by a preview that's always accessible on the side of the screen, allowing users to jump to different steps as needed for reteaching and challenge.
The newly added LearnZillion Common Core aligned lessons focus on the use of narrated video for instruction. The pause button allows students to tackle the learning at their own pace, while built in learning supports make this an instructional tool that addresses a variety of learning needs. A Coach's Commentary on the side of each playlists provides teachers with additional information and support. Most of the math lessons provide guided practice opportunities and some of these playlists are also available in spanish.
Here are a few playlists to test drive.
Create your own Playlist on MentorMob!
Create your own Playlist on MentorMob!
Uses for Teaching & Learning:
- Differentiate instruction by assessing student needs and assigning specific learning playlists to individual students for reteaching and challenge.
- Try the Flipped Classroom by assigning learning playlists as homework and applying the learning during class time.
- Use playlists as a resource for parents to provide them with the tools needed to support students at home.
- Publish playlists on a website, blog or wiki for easy access, 24/7.
Coming Soon!
MentorMob Beta will be organizing all of the Common Core Content into one place in the months to come. In the meantime, perhaps the easiest way to find the playlists you need is to click on the link below and then use the drop-down menu to sort by alphabetical order.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
The Social Side of ThingLink
The folks at ThingLink have recently released some social features to make sharing and collaborating on interactive images a breeze. Please roll your mouse over the image below to explore this ThingLink image and learn more.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Explore the Great Barrier Reef: Google Wonders Project
The Google Wonders Project is an interactive website that allows visitors to discover many of the wonders of the world. Virtual visitors can get off the beaten path and explore wonders from 6 continents up close through Google's amazing street view technology. Virtual visitors can find factual information, stunning images, 3-D models and YouTube videos right on the page, which makes the World Wonders Project an amazing teaching tool.
The newest addition to the collection takes visitors on an underwater tour of the Great Barrier Reef. Divers used the world's first tablet-operated underwater camera to capture high-definition panoramic images of the reef to create stunning content.
The underwater expedition is part of a larger scientific study which aims to help bridge the gap between scientific awareness and public knowledge. Google has partnered with The Catlin Seaview Survey for a major study of the world’s reefs and has made images from from coral reefs in Australia, the Philippines and Hawaii available through Google Maps. There will also be a dedicated YouTube channel for project-related videos. It's probably only a matter of time until Google assembles more packages of teacher-friendly content from the underwater expeditions and makes them available through the Google Wonders project.
Visit the Great Barrier Reef on the Google Wonders Project
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