I will be the Media Specialist at Awtrey Middle School starting in August. I have already moved my blog to the Media page for Awtrey's blog. Please feel free to check there for any updates. Everything that was on this blog is now on that blog, so nothing is lost! :-)
The Google Classroom will continue to be updated by me even in my new position.
Thank you for journeying the Technology world with me the last three years. The journey is not over, just the job title.
Anita
aka The Google Goddess
Today at Smitha we learned about Google Books and Google Custom Search.
To refresh or learn more, please visit The Google Classroom. If you click on presentation and view the presentation, both of these topics are shown in great detail.
To create your own customized Google search engine, visit this link.
Please comment on how you think you will be able to use these resources at home or at school.
Do you want to stay organized? Do you have a lot of stuff going on at home, school, work and church? What about the kids sports leagues? Do you need help staying on track?? Google Calendar to the rescue! Watch these videos to help you learn how to set up your calendar(s), make appointments and even embed your calendar into your blog.
Would you like to bring video into your classroom? I am talking about educational videos that enrich your students learning! United Streaming and Discovery has been meeting that need for many years. Thanks to GPBS (Georgia Public Broadcasting) this is a service that is free to Georgia schools!
If you would like to learn more about United Streaming you can visit their site. If you would like a handout on how to use their site you can Download Unitedstreaming_guided_practice . If you would like to watch tutorial videos, you can do that at Atomic Learning.
Please contact your Media Specialist or Technology Integration Specialist for more information.
I have not had a chance to blog about this until now, but Google Earth has now gone into the ocean!! And today it was reported that Google Earth may have found the lost city of Atlantis. I don't know if this is the actual lost city, but it does appear to be where Plato said it was and with his details.
This year, Cobb County updated to Kidspiration 3. There are many resources that will help teachers learn about the new tools at their site.
I also want to share a new free version. If I were in an elementary school, I would still use Inspiration and Kidspiration. However in middle and high, this new free site might be worth a try! Bubbl.us is a great basic mind mapping website...and did I mention...it is FREE!!!
Here is one I started...
Score! Winning Strategies to Conquer Information Overload
Using Cross-Curriculum Web 2.0 Technology to Increase Learning Outcomes
Cyber Cafe: Students and Teachers Collaborate for Increased Learning
Creating a Personal Learning Network with Web 2.0 Tools
Teaming + Technology + Transormation = Digital Education
Cool Iris - At a scan you can see pictures and find the right one faster!
Would you like for your elementary students (and maybe even ESL students) to read books and write books online? This is a great site that allows you to read published books at various age ranges and write stories to be published on their site. And it is (a teacher's favorite word) FREE!!! (And no this is not owned by Google!) The membership is free, the resources are free and the hours of enjoyment, you got it, FREE!! You do not have to be a member to read the books. However, if you join, you can write stories and they will let you add books to your "bookshelf" to read later.
Here is a link to one of their books.
Thank you Amy for this wonderful site!!
Delicious is SWEET!!! This is a great website in the Web 2.0 family that allows you to not only organize your own bookmarks, but it allows you to share and collaborate your bookmarks with others!
Today, I am presenting on Delicious at Cheatham Hill! Below you can download the files, watch the video and find your way through www.delicious.com (formerly del.icio.us, which still works).
Download del.icio.us for pc.pdf
Download del.icio.us tips for pc.pdf
Download del.icio.us for Mac.pdf
Download del.icio.us Tips for Mac.pdf
A colleague just asked me why was I attending a Google Apps session, when I know everything about Google. NOT TRUE!! Although they have dubbed me The Google Goddess, I have never claimed to know everything about Google...As a matter of fact, I don't know if Google knows everything about Google!! Besides, Google, just like any Web 2.0 technology is always changing and doing something else...so, maybe they can teach The Google Goddess something new...it has happened before!!
Google Apps are free and the first thing to do is set up an email account. IF this is used with students, then that is a decision that the county level will have to make.
Google Apps that this county used or have access to:
GMail - Not currently using, but could transition to in the future.
Google Calendar
Google Talk - Chat
Google Video - NOT the normal one, this one allows you to securely share videos with your school.
Google Docs
Google Sites
One school is using Google Docs and Calendar to prepare for a SACS visit.
Google Apps is a great way for teachers and district level employees to collaborate. There is a lot of discussion as far as widgets and such that might be inappropriate for student use within the district network.
Students today...
need to be taught in a different way than how we learned. Students are thinking outside of the box at home to put things up on the Internet, are we teaching them out of the box in the classroom? We are using Atari to teach the Wii generation.
*Teachers began to allow students to create writings based on their experiences
*Students were and are often surprised to find out the ideas they develop are interesting.
*Students must write to develop their podcast before they can create their podcast.
Pre-Writing process was the same as before the podcasting was used. Then the class voted on the best script or play to create.
Again, as with everything else, what you do in the classroom needs to be connected to the GPS.
The Process
Brainstorming Session
Pre-Writing - Students use a Wiki for this step
Writing
Self and Peer Editing
Performance or Activity (Video or Image Collection)
Editing in Garage Band
Three Things
Students write on a sticky note "Three Things I Like About My Story" and "Three Things I Would Change"
Students rotate and are working at their own speed on the project.
What motivates a good writer?
*Believing they have knowledge to share
*Knowing that their writing will be published for others' enjoyment.
*Knowing that mastery of a skills leads to further development of their writing.
Creativity has increased by allowing students to learn the "way that they play."
Why Should We Podcast
*Deepen the level of understanding
*Transfer knowledge from one group of students to another
*Serve as culminating activity
*Increased student engagement
She is a classroom teacher who began podcasting with her 5th grade class, and is now using it with her 3rd grade class.
Today is the last day at GaETC...It has been great...but I am exhausted!!
I am in a session for ACTIV Flipcharts and found out that ACTIV has their own web browser that you can use when you are using the flipchart. It looks pretty cool and easy to put in a link.
With any thing, when we build a lesson or a flipchart, we need to build it with the GPS.
We also need to make learning Interactive! This helps student engagement, student involvement, helps them remember things better.
Using the ACTIVote helps with Assessment
Before Learining
*Prior Knowledge
*Appropriate Level
*To plan instruction
During Learing
*Formative
*Oral Question
*Check List
*To differentiate and modify a lesson
After Learning
*To see the knowledge gained
*If skill was mastered
*To see if the standards were met
*To modify and differentiate more
Two of my colleagues presented about Google Earth & Sky at GaETC.
They did a great job working with their website to put in how to videos and resources that you can use when you start working with Google Earth. So, I am going to jump in and participate in the session and know that you can contact me for assistance or visit their site linked above for the tutorials.
PS...They did a great job!!
The ACTIV vote now has a new "brother" or has been beefed up to become the ACTIV eXPRESSION. The interface built in to the Promethean software on the computer appears to be very easy to use. The remotes, I wish were not black text on a gray screen (old eyes).
He is now pulling up a Brain Pop and is going to design a unit around the website www.brainpop.com
A new edition of ACTIVStudio is coming in January that will combine both version 2 and 3 into one edition.
Tips for Making a GREAT Flipchart
1. Select the standards you will teach.
2. Be flexible. Know that you can always improve and make changes if something does not work.
3. Use resources that are already created for you.
4. Keep your flipchart clear and simple.
5. Make your flipchart engaging.
Great Websites
1. Galileo and Galileo Kids
2. eThemes (eMints)
3. WebQuest.org
4. Scholastic
5. Discovery Education Streaming
6. BrainPop
7. Promethean Planet
I am surprise that there are not more people sitting in here! Right now there are 13 of us and David normally packs out a room for 900!! This is part of the flat classroom concept and David Warlick is a guru for Instructional Technology!
Microsoft Boku gaming software brings Higher Order Thinking Skills into the classroom! They have a lot of Problem Solving opportunities built in.
He talked about how teachers are using Second Life to use as an online classroom and staff development.
Very profound statement he just made..."We need to stop worrying about teaching the students to use paper, but we need to teach them to be digital."
New Technology
Clothes with computer adapters built in.
Accessories a phone that the mouth piece slips on your pinky and the ear piece on your thumb and you hold it up to your ear and mouth and it becomes a cell phone.
GPS Toe Rings - Plug in where you want to go on your phone or portable GPS and start walking, when you need to turn right the toe ring on your right foot vibrates, when you need to turn left, the left one vibrates.
Are we preparing our students for an unpredictable future? What are the skills they will need to prosper in a world with rapid change? The world is global and cooperative, are we preparing our students for this new world when they graduate?
Richard Florida and Daniel Ping are authors that we should be looking at. The Rise of the Creative Class, The Flight of the Creative Class and A Whole New Mind. "We are moving from an industrial world to a creative world."
"Because we are shifting to a creative world, we need to be putting more funding to teach our students how to be creative in art, music, drama, and other creative outlets."
"We have 21st century children learning in a 20th century classroom!" (AMEN!!)
The Digital Divide - The students who are online and collaborating with others and learning from others are learning more and doing more advanced learning than those that do not have technology in their home.
He spent a lot of time talking about what people are doing with Gaming software and video taping when they run it or play it through their movie software (iMovie, Movie Maker). WOW!! I was blown away by what some people have done!!
Information has changed... we see it as a consumable product and children now see it as raw data that can be used an manipulated.
64% of teenagers have created an original work AND published it to the web. Our students consider themselves more literate than their teachers.
Are our classrooms flat?? Are our students networked?? Are we utilizing the new Information Landscape?? Are we addressing our students Unpredictable Future??
http://handouts.davidwarlick.com and (Second Life) http://davidwarlick.com/sl Twitter Tag - L2TNS
If you haven't noticed yet, I have been attending a lot of Patrick Crispen's sessions. This session is about what is new with Google.
On Nov 4, Google Images added some tools to be able to filter your image search with faces only and also news in the last 30 days.
Google Maps now has a topographical view so you can see the lines in mountains and such. Google Maps also has traffic views to see how busy a road his. It also gives you historical traffic view so you can see what it looks like on a Friday at 5 PM in a city you have never been to.
Google Finance has the Stock Ticker LIVE (most sites it is delayed 15 minutes).
Google Earth you can use Google Earth plugin without downloading Google Earth. code.google.com/apis/earth
And sky.google.com is also web based and you can view in Inferred, Microwave and Historical views. You can also see Hubble images.
Doctype is a wiki for web developers code.google.com/doctype/
Google Translate translates between English and other languages (Including Elmer Fudd). translate.google.com
You can also translate a website. So, if you have a website in a different language you would like to read in English, you can. I must warn...it is NOT perfect, but it is close.
Google Help google.com/support has support for tasks you are trying to complete on the Internet.
?fulldump=1 at the end of the url will give you the help document in one document rather than multiple little documents.
Google Mail Goggles allows you to have to put in answers to various questions if you try to email during certain hours. You will have 60 seconds to answer the questions...this is to prevent sending mail when you have been inebriated.
Goog411 - 1800-GOOG-411 gives you business information on your phone for free. It will even connect you to that phone number (for FREE) and will text message you the information if you would like. It can also send you a map to your phone. This only works for business directory NOW...but it is Google!!
You can search archived News articles at news.google.com
I feel Patrick and I are on the same wave length (or just both addicted to Google)...why??? He just talked about iGoogle, Google Books, Google Scholar, Google Knol and Google Educator all of which were just in my session on The Google Classroom!
Search Tools
Advanced Search you can now search for things copyrighted under Creative Commons. That way you have the copyright to use that image, or presentation or whatever you were searching for.
Google Suggests filters down what you are looking for and gives you suggestions for that request so as I type "P" it will suggest recent searches and top searches that are using the letters I type.
See...even the Google Goddess can learn a new trick or two!!
