Welcome to EDIT 3220, a class devoted to providing ideas and training on how to use technology in your middle grades 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.
Quiz be the week of October 16th
Online Teaching and Learning
This assignment will be a group project. Four or 5 students in each group will work within Edmodo to develop a lesson on a web resource that you feel would be very helpful within the classroom environment. It is either a website that you could use to teach with, or it could be a resource where students go to supplement their learning or collaborate on a project.
Here are the parameters:
- Once you have selected your resource, please post the name of it on our Edmodo group so the rest of the class can see it. No more than one group can select any individual resource.
- A presentation on the resource, including how it works, how much it costs, and some examples of how it can be used within the classroom. Your presentation can be a PPT file, a Powtoon, a Prezi, a Mindmeister (with the presentation feature), a Nearpod, or some other presentation software. Be creative!!!
- A short review quiz (5 questions or so) for students to take to ensure they learned key information about your resource. You must use the Edmodo quiz feature for this component.
- You need to answer any questions that students ask about your resource. These questions should be asked and answered within Edmodo.
- The online portion of this class will meet the week of October 16th. You will need to present your content as well as participate in the other online classes that are being given by your peers.
- You will submit the URL to your Edmodo group in Livetext as well.
Please note: ALL group members must share the development responsibility. If a group member does not carry his/her load on this assignment, then substantial loss of credit will occur.
Some great classroom resources:
AASL 2016 – The best websites for teaching and learning, updated every year
Kahoot.it – Turn all of the students devices into a clicker system so they can answer questions. Great for assessment
Bloomz – Awesome resource for communicating with parents
Audioboo – Free and easy way for your students to share their thoughts with you. Creative writing, project planning, or short answer response to a question in almost any content area, this gives them a voice.
Story Starters– Great tool for creative writing assignments, especially for grades K-8.
Voki Great presentation tool especially when testing knowledged learned of those students whom may be shy about public speaking. With the use of this site, students can create speaking avatars.
Nearpod – Fun and interactive way for students to use their devices in your classroom. Great for assessment!
Plickers – Can’t afford a student response system? Use YOUR phone or iPad to record students’ responses in real-time.
Goanimate – Flip PowerPoint on its head by having students create presentations (or create them yourself) using characters, animation, and sound.
Socrative – Post a quiz online, watch as your students answer the questions in real time. Get the results instantly and use them for formative or summative assessment. Great for a classroom with BYOD, tablets, or laptops. Basically, a free student response system.
Remind – Easily remind your students/parents about important events, tests, quizzes, etc through text message
FlipQuiz Gameshow style quiz board; great for review
Using Tablets
For this project you will use one of the provided iPads (or your own tablet) to create a brief project that mimics something you would ask your students to create. You can use any of the covered apps that I demonstrate, or break off and find one of your own to use. The project requirements are as follows:
- The project must be student-centered
- Unique and original content is created
- Aligns with MG standards
- Includes a short description (in the comments of Livetext) about how the assignment will work and what will be expected
- Needs to be substantial enough to represent what a student would create and submit to you for an A in your classroom
Video Production
For this project you will work individually or in a group to script, film, and edit a 2-4 minute film that aligns with the middle school curriculum. Project requirements:
- 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
- The production is 2-4 minutes
- There is some alignment to curriculum
We will have a film festival next week to screen these projects. Do a good job!!
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.
Apple Teacher and Google Educator
There are two certifications available to all educators that can serve to increase your knowledge of technology integration as well as provide evidence on your resume that you are a technology savvy educator. You will choose one of these and begin the certification process here in class. You have the until September 29th to become certified, but be aware that this takes a little while, so you simply cannot wait until the end of September to begin.
Google Educator (test costs $10 to take)
These certifications will 1) prepare you for technology integration in your classroom and 2) help you stand out when applying for a teaching position.
Digital Storytelling
The use of still images to tell a story or relate content can be a fun and engaging project for your class. There are several different software packages that are freely available for this type of project, but this semester we will look at iMovie. Your assignment is to create a digital story, which will consist of still images as well as narration. The images should have transitions as well as movement to keep the video interesting for the viewer. Your project must:
- Be 3-4 minutes long
- Include LOTS of high quality images (average 5 seconds per image). They should not be blurry and should not have watermarks
- Include background music for some or all of the video
- Include narration that is clear and easy to hear
- Cover a subject that aligns with the middle grades curriculum
Here are some links for you to learn more about digital storytelling. Some contain ideas as well as actual examples of student products.
Using digital storytelling in your classroom
The elements of digital storytelling
More information on storytelling and how it relates to education
Video editing and digital storytelling
Electronic Whiteboard
For this project you will use the whiteboard to teach a lesson to the class. You will need to form groups of 3 to 4 students and plan about 10-15 minutes of instruction to deliver to the class. The instruction should be on something related to your content area, and you need to take advantage of the white board’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.
Here is the example I did in class:
Using a Promethean or SmartBoard at your school? Download the software to your personal computer so you can create lessons from home!
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 Game of Thrones 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
You can no longer hide from search results
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
___________________________
Concept/Mind 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.
- 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 40 elements on the completed concept map
This assignment is due at the beginning of class on Aug 29.
Resources
Hardware and Software
Download free software to prevent viruses
Do not fall for phishing scams. They can be very clever and many people cannot tell the difference.
iPads, Chromebooks, and Laptops
Is there a single best choice? Nope, it depends totally on the needs of the school.
iPads have tens of thousands of apps available for a variety or purposes, while Chromebooks rely heavily upon the Google Educator Apps. A reliable and fast Internet connection is absolutely essential for a Chromebook to be successful.
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