Welcome
Welcome to EDIT 3220, a class devoted to providing ideas and training on how to use technology in theK-12 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. The course will be paperless so all content that you need to complete your projects will be posted on this page.
– You will use Livetext as well as your Google Drive account in this course. Make sure you have access to both and know your usernames/passwords
Zoom Information
Chris Greer’s Personal Meeting Room
Join Zoom Meeting
https://gcsu.zoom.us/j/7502380853?pwd=Z0FKQ2FwZFc5ellJam1RVGdaeThVdz09
Meeting ID: 750 238 0853
Passcode: 110011
Getting started
Make sure you have Book Creator installed on your iPads before next week! We will use iPads extensively in here so make sure they are charged up every time you come into the classroom.
Welcome Message
Proposed Schedule:
- Week 1: Introductions using Clips, syllabus, hardware and software, social media, using Google (bring in your Clip intro next week for us to all share)
- Week 2: Using Book Creator, Filming Video, Book Creator project (outside of the classroom)
- Week 3: Building a professional website, using electronic whiteboards
- Week 4: Teaching with electronic whiteboards, using Explain Everything, creating a project
- Week 5: Becoming Google Educator Certified, creating a concept map with Google Draw
- Week 6: Wrapping up professional websites, video project if there is time
Excellent Online Resources for Teaching and Learning
Today you will be teaching the rest of the class about a resource that you find and learn about. While you don’t have to use one from this website, it is a great place to get started as it includes many curated websites and apps that have been determined to be very useful for K-12 education.
Before you start creating your presentation, you must post which one you have selected on the class Padlet. This ensures we don’t get a lot of duplicates.
Your presentation should include:
- An overview of the resource
- Screenshots, a screen recording, or a live demonstration that shows how it works
- Ideas for ways it can be implemented in the classroom
Creating a Film
For this project you will work individually or in a group to storyboard, film, and edit a 3-5 minute film that aligns with the middle school curriculum. Project requirements (check the rubric for specifics):
- A detailed storyboard was created in Google Draw
- 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 22nd to screen these projects. Do a good job!!
Google Certification
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 certification and upload proof of it to the assignment in Livetext no later than November 20th.
Explain Everything
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
Padlet and Concept Mapping
Laws Teachers Should Know:
Classroom activity:
You all will be building a concept map and there can be no more than 2 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 sufficiently.
We will be using Padlet for this.
Requirements:
- 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(s), and links. You could also have audio or a screen recording
- 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 roughly 20 elements (or more) on the completed concept map
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 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!
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, 7 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 on our last day of class. 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.
Book Creator Assignment
You need to create an 8-10 page book on something that can be found in the Milledgeville area. It could be a location that has a historic or ecological element. It could involve how math is used on a daily basis. It could look at a person or place that is uniquely important to the area. The book must include:
- 8-10 pages, minimum
- A video that is filmed and edited using iMovie. The video should be 1-2 minutes in length
- Photographs that you take with your phone or iPad
- Supplementary photos that you find online
- Text that you have written. Do not copy and paste from anywhere
- A pleasing layout using fonts, images, and shapes that are available in Book Creator
We will not meet in the classroom on Thursday. Instead you will use that time to go out into the community and author your book. When we get together next Tuesday you all will share your books with the rest of the class, as well as submit them to Livetext. Pay close attention to the rubric in Livetext as you create your project, it can guide you as far as what to focus on.
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, Twitter, or IG “friend” your students
2. Consider changing your last name once you begin teaching
3. Consider creating a new account on Facebook/IG/Social Media 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, Tik Tok, IG, Vine, Tumbler, etc need to all be examined.