Welcome to EDIT 3220, a class devoted to providing ideas and training on how to use technology in the middle school classroom. You might want to bookmark this page, as it will be continuously updated with new information on assignments, as well as technology, throughout the semester.
– You will need a Dropbox or Google Drive account for this course.
Online Teaching and Learning
Please join our Edmodo online class:
Here you will need to 1) take the short quiz (available Tuesday, Oct 1st) that covers all of the laws teachers need to know and 2) post two things you learned while studying/passing the Google Educator certification that you think will be particularly helpful to you in your classroom. You also need to respond to a post from one other student in the class.
Google Educator Level 1 (test costs $10 to take)
This certification will 1) prepare you for technology integration in your classroom and 2) help you stand out when applying for a teaching position.
You need to complete the quiz, Google certification, and posts to the online class no later than November 25th.
Video Production
For this project you will work individually or in a group to script, film, and edit a 3-5 minute film that aligns with the middle school curriculum. Project requirements (check the rubric for specifics):
- Camera work shows purpose and forethought, mimics professionals
- Lots of different angles are apparent throughout the film
- The audio quality is good and all dialogue is easy to hear
- Background music and sound effects are included
- A green screen, split screen, or picture-in-picture is utilized
- The production is 3-5 minutes in length
- There is some alignment to curriculum
We will have a film festival on Sep 26th to screen these projects. Do a good job!!
Explain Everything
By now you know how Explain Everything works. It is incredibly powerful and lets you do so much, but it does have a learning curve so the only way you will get better at it is to use it. For this project, you will create a lesson, tutorial, review, or some type of combination. Here are the parameters:
- You create it from scratch using the Explain Everything app on your iPad
- You use at least one photo or video that you have taken from the iPad in your Explain Everything project
- It lasts a minimum of 2-3 minutes
- It is aligned with the Middle Grades curriculum
- It includes your voice for delivering content/instruction
- It mimics something your students could do for you using Explain Everything on their device.
An excellent project will be:
- Very creative, with attractive colors, fonts, and layouts
- Have clear audio, good pacing, and clean animations
- Utilize advanced features like integrated video, a web browser, file integration, or even something like app smashing (you put a Keynote presentation, Book Creator project, or iMovie project into Explain Everything to add even more to it)
Ideas (just a few to get you started):
- Bring a science experiment to life
- Showcase math happening in the real world
- Capture images or videos to then write on, talk about, move around, and animate
- Model physics using videos and animations in Explain Everything
- Animate a historical event using images and graphics
- Use cartoon characters and other elements to bring a creative story to life
This project will be due by the end of class on September 24th
Concept Mapping
You all will be building your concept maps based on your content area or grade level. There can be no more than 4 individuals in each group. You will build your concept map on the laws that all teachers need to be aware of: CIPA, COPPA, FERPA, and Fair Use of Copyright. Each group member must work and develop the concept map. The finished map needs to be extensive and cover the laws in great detail.
We will be using Google Drawings for this
BTW: Google Drawings is super useful in the classroom
- begin with a main title
- break it down into the subtopics that are all related to the main subject
- break those down further into detailed examples and media
- you must include images, video, and links
- Each law needs to include an example of something that could happen in a classroom to violate the law (this shows you understand how they can apply to you)
- overall there should be a bare minimum of 25 elements on the completed concept map
This assignment is due at the end of class next Tuesday.
Using Book Creator
For this project you will use the Book Creator app to develop a project that represents something you would have your own students do in your classroom. Book Creator works on the iPad as well as on a variety of other devices because it can be run as an application in the Google Chrome browser. For your project you will:
- Create a book that is a minimum of 10 pages in length
- Include one video that is at least 30 seconds long, or multiple videos that add up to 30 seconds. The video must be produced in iMovie and then imported into Book Creator
- Include multiple photographs that you have taken yourself
- Include text/factual information related to your topic
- Include at least one image you have grabbed from the web
- Include at least one link to a website for supplemental information
- Involve a polished and aesthetically pleasing layout using fonts, shapes, and images
- Be aligned with a middle grades standard (include it on the last page of the book)
Meeting the minimums will get you a B. Go above and beyond for the A.
This book will be due Thursday, Sept 12th by the end of the day.
Electronic Whiteboard
For this project you will use the whiteboard to teach a lesson to the class. You will need to form groups of 2 to 3 students and plan about 10 minutes of instruction to deliver to the class. The instruction should be on something related to your content area, and you need to take full advantage of the whiteboard’s functionality. This includes interactive exercises that get students up to the board and engage them in the lesson. You can have questions, writing exercises, integrated video, and links to external websites. The more functionality you utilize, the stronger your grade will be. Be creative with your layouts and make sure to utilize plenty of colors and images throughout the presentation. You will work on this today in class and present it soon (depending on how quickly we work through everything). There is a rubric available on Livetext that you can reference when creating your project.
Here is a video of how to use the software we covered in class
Here is the example I used in class:
Using a Promethean or SmartBoard at your school? Download the software to your personal computer so you can create lessons from home!
Digital Story About the Old Governor’s Mansion
Project requirements:
The use of still images and video to tell a story or relate content can be a fun and engaging project for your class. Even more fun is when you can get out into the world to capture it and then educate the viewers about what you experience. You will be doing just that when we visit the Old Governor’s Mansion this Thursday. Your final project will need to:
- Be 2.5-4 minutes long
- Include high quality images (average 5 seconds per image)
- Include video that is nicely filmed
- Include background music for some or all of the video
- Include substantial narration that is clear and easy to hear (at least 75% is narrated)
Before you visit, please research the mansion so that you will have some background knowledge, as it might help guide what you want to capture during your time.
Professional Website
You can use this website as a model for your project
This might be the most useful project you do in the course. When you are finished, you will have created a website that showcases you as a teacher. You will be creating your website using the excellent free service Weebly.com
If you want a custom domain (for instance, www.drchrisgreer.com) then you can register one here and point it to your Weebly website.
Your website needs to be, at the very minimum, 5 pages and contain content related to:
1) what you teach
2) your philosophy
3) examples of your work (technology and other), embed your technology projects on a dedicated page for greater visibility
4) your overall experience
5) a link to your resume
6) lots of your own images
If you want to ensure a solid grade for this project, you should go above and beyond these minimum guidelines.
You can also showcase any research, presentations, work experience, or a variety of other topics.
This website will be due December 4th. It is important that you don’t wait until a few weeks before to finish it, as it will take a while to gather the needed materials to complete it.
Hardware and Software
Using search engines activity
Download free software to prevent viruses
Do not fall for phishing scams. They can be very clever and many people cannot tell the difference.
Google is a powerful search engine, but many people don’t know some of the advanced ways it can be used. Try to answer these questions:
- Find some PowerPoint presentations or PDF files that can help you teach the structure and function of cells in the human body.
- Name the many bands/artists that have covered the song “Wagon Wheel”
- How many times is my last name mentioned on the Georgia College website?
- Find some of the critics’ reviews of The Walking Dead during previous seasons, but without worrying about coming across a spoiler from the current season.
- Your cell phone has started dropping the Wifi connection on a daily basis. It happens at school and at home. How could you solve this problem?
Social Media
General rules to follow:
1. Do not Facebook “friend” your students
2. Consider changing your last name once you begin teaching
3. Consider creating a new account on Facebook for online contact with students
4. Make sure your stuff is private. Make VERY sure. Go and view it as someone else and as the general public to make certain
Locking down your presence on the web can be tough, but now is the time to do it. Google, Twitter, Vine, Tumbler, etc need to all be examined.
Cyber-safety, Facebook, and You
Cyberbullying is a major problem. 43% of teens have been the victims of cyberbullying in the past year.
Cyberbullying – How to make it stop
So sad, and further proof that you need to look out for your students
Must Read:
Do cyberbullying laws violate free speech? It’s murky.
A recent study on cyberbullying in Boston schools
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Websites for Your Classroom
TeacherTube – Just like Youtube, but contains educational content for K-12 curriculums.
SchoolTube – Similar to teacher tube, with videos that are edcuational in nature. Make your own and upload them!
UnitedStreaming – Massive resource for lesson plans and educational videos
Edmodo – A social network, for your class, that allows interaction and assignments
Google Educational Apps – Free apps for your school, quite powerful. Talk to your IT person about implementing them.
Google Docs – Excellent for collaborating on a word processor file
Google Scholar – Access journals, presentations, and other research on virtually any topic
Class Dojo – Free online classroom management software.
Linux for Education – Huge site of interactives and flash demos. Not the best navigation, but just check the link on the left that says “Resources by theme.”
National Geographic Education – Part of the excellent National Geographic site, but contains activities and interactives for students.
Nova – Excellent interactive exercises for science, history, contemporary culture
EduHound – Educational resources for teachers and students
The Jason Project – Excellent supplemental curriculum for science classrooms
Yahooligans – Kid-friendly search engine
Foreign Language Games – A site with games and exercises for all kinds of foreign languages
Howstuffworks.com – Amazing site with very thorough tutorials on how various things work
History.com – The popular cable channel has a website dedicated to K-12 education
HistoryTeacher.net – Great resources for history teachers
History Websites – A listing of some great instructional websites on various events in history. This website is a great example.
Merlot – Massive repository of interactive learning units
Geography games – Great site with interactive Flash geography games.
Ikeepbookmarks – Perfect way to keep track of all of the websites you use in your classroom
Visible Earth – Wonderful repository of images from NASA.
The Human Body – An interactive look at the human body
Economics – Some great online economics lessons for business classes
Virtual Stock Market – Learn about the stock market with this free online interactive
WebEnglishTeacher – An online website with resources for English Teachers
English resources – More resources for the English teacher
Websites for Teachers – Numerous websites for ideas and lesson planning
EPals – Virtual penpals for your classroom
Teach-Nology.com – Lesson plans for incorporating technology into your classroom
PEcentral.com – Large resource for health educators
PBS.com – Great resource for teachers of all disciplines