TCC 4-5 Infographics and Informational Text

A picture is worth a thousand words and in this case will save that many. SCPASS adds Informational Text to the reading requirements. Although this seems like a glog it actually has a different aim...giving data a more interesting format.

You can find them everywhere, but your students can also make them. There are many tools for making infographics. Easel.ly is one I have tried. Another is, Piktochart, which is mentioned in an Edudemic blog post with an example showing how-to’s by Mia MacMeekin.

The rest of this list come from another blog post from Education Technology and Mobile Learning Please go to the article there for description or follow the links to the sites. Blog links in Cindy’s Links

• Statplanet
• Mapstory map
• Creatly poster
• Heat Map Tool map
• GeoCommons map
• ChartsBin map
• Infogr.am poster (both lists)
• Gliffy (both lists) 
• PhotoStats iPhone app
• Tableau Public
• Visual.ly poster
• Venngage poster
• Dipity timeline

What About Me is an Intel tool which makes a graphic of digital life. This is part of their teacher community and might need membership before you can use it. http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/what-about-me/what-about-me.html, but I can’t get to it since I am not logged in at the moment. We offer Intel's Essentials course in our district, and they have great interactive tools which a project based learning friendly.

Enjoy!

TCC 4-5 Cindy's Links

This is a feature of each issue of the Tech Cadre Corner newsletter. Sometimes there is a theme, but this isn't one of them.

• Classroom Architect: Before you move furniture use this site to plan where it will go. It allows you to customize room size. This is the same group who gave us Rubistar for rubrics.
• Book Adventure is a Sylvan Learning free reading site for teachers, parents, and kids. I found it looking for summer options.
• Sentence Maker is an app  with 50 sentence possibilities. This is  the link to iTunes for a description.
•  Instagram is the new Facebook for students. The link is to an educator’s guide blog post. This social media site is strong on photos.
• Cel.ly is another group texting tool. It has some features that Remind101 did not have initially, but they are also adding useful things.
• Board Builder Tool Within our SCStreamline  has a Builder Toolstab. This section now has the poster making feature linked here.
• ThingLink lets you put links on photos/infographics. There are teacher and student accounts. There is a link to an example in the  Inforgraphic article on the next page (bottom right).
• A blog entry on Infographic tools at EducatorsTechnology.com which features 8 tools mentioned in the last article.
• Edudemic has 10 tools.

Enjoy!

TCC 4-5 Putting It All in One Place

Here are more efficient ways to do things at a school which blocks some of our favorite tools, like Dropbox or Google Drive. Some of the information is about software choices in my school district: SchoolInsites and Promethean. But you may be able to use 

First another look at the SlideDog. It isn’t a completely new concept...just a new way to look at it. Your talk is sequenced from one file to the next within this tool. So you start with a video, go into a PPT, then open a document then go back to the PPT...you get the idea. All without having open files in the taskbar. And without the time spent getting  it all set up again and again. Along with this you get audience participation and feedback. (See last issue for more)
But did you know that is possible with your usual classroom tools? ActivTip #91 on ActivInspire deals with how to make a unit flipchart with a table of contents which links to the pages needed  and would return to the TOC. This along with the newer feature which allows you to embed videos, link files, and move by using actions encourage putting all your needs in just one flipchart. When doing this or sharing a flipchart be sure to save the additions within the flipchart. These things can also be added to PowerPoint (and other wanna-be’s) slides so you don’t need a new presentation for each day. You just use the TOC to skip to the needed day or page needed. (The note about saving applies here, too.) HowTech.TV has short videos on table of contents and linking pages so that navigation is easier in a unit long presentation.

With flipcharts you can also add timers and other needed helpers to the pages as you go so there is no looking for that during the class. 

Another place which will help with keeping things at your fingertips for class is the file manager in your school website. We have mentioned that this can replace Dropbox, Google Drive, and other cloud storage which might be blocked at school. In the file manager you files have a unique URL which you can find when you view files. Just copy that address and add it to your lesson plans or to your flipchart/PPT. These files can be private to you and only shared using this URL. Students can access any they have a URL for, but are not able to see other things stored there unless you make it public.
Gathering all materials needed for what you are presenting at the planning stage can save minutes in class and hours of you time when you have to find what you used last year.
The interactivity is possible also: either Learner Response System(LRS) from Promethean for audience response or you can use sites such as Socrative, EverySlide or  PollEverywhere if students have devices of their own or are part of a 1-to-1 program.

Enjoy!

TCC 4-6 Extensions for Google Chrome

Today's post is like appetizers: lots of choice, not much food. I am condensing ten lists of five extensions from  Alice Keeler’s blog Teacher Tech and only providing a snippet of information for each.  Check out her posts if you would like more information on them. Earlier I looked at apps for Chrome which appear as a page in Chrome. These appear next to the address box on the right of the browser itself.. 
Disclaimer: I found one with ads that popped up which I removed from the list. It didn't happen immediately so just be aware that can happen. Go to the three bars and click tools and extensions and you can disable them and add back one at a time.

This one needs no description.

Check All

This will select all or none on pages without this feature.

Citable
Highlight, click on the icon, and your note is saved in 

Google Sheets along with the URL, author, tags, and title.

Citelighter

Make notes of highlighted text 

which it stores in CiteLighter. (requires a sign up)

CleanPrint
Printing web pages doesn’t always get what you want. 

This tool cleans up  the page, then saves as PDF or in Google Drive

Clearly 

Focus your attention on the main part of a webpage.

 It clears away the other parts.

Copy All URLS
If you need to gather several URLs for an assignment

this allows copying them all at once.

DotPub

A student publishing tool...you can convert

 a webpage into an ePub file...

allowing it to be read in an ereader. (see TCC 4-5)

Google Search Hot Word
“Okay Google” is the Hot Word. This turns on voice to text for searches.

 You can use with calendar and maps also.

1-clicktimer

This is a pop-up timer.

KeepAwake
This keeps your computer from timing out.

Make a GIF Video Capture

Turn part of a YouTube video into an animated GIF. (Sound not included)

Mute Tab
 Find the tab with the sound playing in one easy step.

Permanent Clipboard

This is very helpful for adding comments when editing work.

 Holds all your choices until you are done.

Pull Quote
Highlight the exact portion you want to share and this tool 

will give a URL unique to that place on the web.

 Save to Google Drive

This extension is Prnt Scr for your browser.

You can save screen shots or individual photos on a page.

Shorten Me
A short link maker with QR code added.

Time Warp

Keep up with the amount of time spent on tasks.

Too Long Didn’t Read

This cute fellow scans and summarizes to your specifications.

Tools For Google Maps
Three ruler tools are added to your map which

 allow you or students to mark a path,

 calculate its distance, capture a photo, and full screen 

White List

This is a blocking tool. It could be used with their younger students to focus since the machine could only go to certain websites. 

Or you could use it with that student who isn’t willing to follow your guidelines.

Now remember you “buy” these at the Chrome Store.  Go to the bottom of the left menu and select Extensions. Then you can either browse on your own or search for these by title. 

I only showed you about half of Alice’s choices.

Enjoy!

TCC 4-6 Classroom Tech Infusion: Interactive Flipcharts 101

Ways to add Technology to your classroom will be a repeat in our corner talks.

These ideas are from Developing Interactivity webinar on Janice Prandstatter’s YouTube channel. These are produced by the British arm of Promethean Planet. The presenters are classroom teachers who actually use the features shown so best practices are demonstrated and discussed. There is a Flipchart with all the examples and notes for download on Promethean Planet.

These are the main ideas from the webinar, but are not by any means the only possibilities.
And there are notes for each of the pages explaining what was done to make the page work or how it was used in class. You can: 

1. Illustrate and record discussion can be as simple as a background photo and the pen and sound recorder tools
2. .Arrange items to make a sentence, match all forms of a linear equation, make a timeline, or sequence events. Either find or make items to arrange.
3. Use layers to make a container which will hold only the items which are true to your rule or to hide answers until needed.
4. Hide answers with Ink and background colors. Just move to a new background to reveal. 
5. Use text or clipart to make compound words with reward sounds when correct 
6. Use a magic revealer or magic ink to show through a top photo to show change or start a conversation.
7. Use an action to show the answer when it is clicked.
8. Extract text to label the parts of an illustration. This means you don’t have to rewrite the word. 

Enjoy!

TCC 4-6 Digital Citizenship

Start your 4-8th grade class off well in 2014-2015 with these lessons to make good digital citizens of them. The information was developed by Cable in the Classroom which are now called InCtrl. Even though these are designed for older students teachers will benefit from the information and videos. It will help you informally guide your younger students into good habits.

These are free standards-based lessons. Working Together Digitally, Living in a Digital World, Media: Between the Lines, Your Digital Footprint: Leaving Your Mark, Stand Up...Be InCtrl, What's Mine Isn't (Necessarily) Yours, In-Credibly Informed are the titles which cover topics like cyber-bullying, communicating & collaboration, media & information literacy and privacy.

Each lesson has a teacher video, a student video and a teaching materials document. It looks like an effective way to begin the year digitally.

There are also lessons on how to integrate digital citizenship in your content curriculum.

Another tool I found is a University of Kentucky site with a Digital Driver's Test and Licensing which makes more sense for the older students.


Enjoy!

TCC 4-6 Student Questioning or Inquiry

The ability to ask the right question is one which is essential to getting the information you seek. The Right Question Institute has a plan for helping not only our students do this but also adults in health situations. The founders, Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana, offer resources freely to educators as well as books which can be purchased.

This component of inquiry so vital in science education is based on seeking information for study. Questioning leads to the hypothesis which is tested. Asking the “right” questions to begin with is essential to finding accurate results.
Project Based Learning (PBL) is another area where questioning is the foundation for the project.

The Right Question Institute has rules of engagement and procedures to follow in making this change in classes. Their articles explain facilitation and provide templates for teachers and students. There is a Question Formation Technique (QFT) card and rules for use with your student groups in the Question Focus activities. These can be modified to fit your situation. There is a sheet for recording the group’s progress. I don’t think you will find anything missing...there are also explanatory writings so that the teacher is ready to implement the process.

More support for this question building process is found in an article from the founders in the Harvard Education Letter which gives insight into some of the reasons for use and examples of teachers with it already in place.

As we move to a more (PBL) style in our district this looks like a tool whose time has come.