14 Things Have Been Tamed

14  Things to Tame was a wonderful way to get me to explore more options with regard to using technology in my classes. The creative side of my brain was totally stimulated and I felt completely at home with most of the programs that were suggested. I liked everything except for Prezi. Not one that I would suggest quickly to a colleague. I would and have already recommended the others and find myself practicing with them regularly.  I have already implemented ThingLink, have been asked by peers to do more Screenr lessons on using Whipple-Hill and DropBox, really enjoyed and plan to implement Voicethread, and have shown students how to improve their researching skills with Google.  For me personally, I used diigo all the time, have my RSS linked to my blog page and will probably go back to setting up a wiki for computer sign ups per grading period.  Its seems to be the easiest for everyone. Evernote is a must and I have downloaded it for my brother on his iPad.  Finally, next year since I will have three different classes, I want the students to maintain their own blog page while they are going through their projects. Alex Funnell did that with his Honors Conceptual Physics students and his Physics students and it has been wonderful. Instead of journaling only in their papers I want them to design and maintain their own blogs where they will journal, post pictures and so on, sending that link to their parents. I have all kinds of plans and ideas for next year which I need to add to my curricular binders. Thank you so much. I was fully motivated and enjoyed the entire experience.

Cartooning: The Digital Way for Recall Enhancement

Today I learned how to use a couple of the cartooning apps that were suggested. The Content Enhancement Routines have a routine called the Recall Routines. Within that are various different devices and several of them are examples of cartooning. We called them the boxing device, the storybook device, or even the imagining device. When I first taught these I would have my students create cartoons or drawings of concepts and link them. What I will do tomorrow in my Emerging Diseases class is to have the students create a cartoon using one of the two that I have signed up for  which are visual.ly and toondoo, to review for their test on the immune system and to help them review for their exam with regard to mitosis, the parts of the cell. With regard to the cell, students could create a story where the background is the cell, and then people or things can be the part of the cell. Kind of like the "City Cell" or "Cell Cake" to help them review the parts of the cell.  First, it will be used as a reviewing tool, then next year, I would like to use it as a Grabber activity.

Prezi for Prezenting

Prezi was first suggested by Sara K-M two years ago when she had learned about from her Father.  So, I decided to explore it because I was starting a new class called Design Technology and I thought it would be cool to have the Design Cycle Model in a Zooming presentation. I wanted to spin around the circle and zoom in on each label with the detailed definition of what that part meant. I still have that original Prezi, but I did not find it as intuitive as the video made it seem. It is difficulty to learn from a video when the creator has a very heavy accent so it was hard to learn how to do it. I went back to Sara and said, "Um, so what do you think of it?" She stated that she too found it difficult but more importantly it made her sea sick and dizzy. I found the same thing, but decided I would not be foiled. After all, other faculty had begun learning it and enjoyed it just fine. Darn, what was wrong with me? I then left that presentation and went onto Emerging Deseases this year and decided to try it again by doing a timeline. This time, I got a lot farther and actually got the time line started and got a few items linked on it. What was frustrated to me was the amount of time it was taking to put up what I thought would be a simple presentation. Last summer, my time was short because I was in all kinds of professional development workshops, working as a consultant for a camp writing curriculum etc. Then school began and well keynote was easier and faster. I left Prezi again and have not been back. It does give me a headache to use it; however, I will not be defeated. I am determine to finish my Design Tech presentation and my Emerging Disease presentation. I have the month of June so I will use the cheat sheet and finish off those presentations. I will just have to do them on short segments so I don't get nauseous.  I have learned a lot of other ways to make presentations fun and interesting with more simplicity but it would be nice to teach my students how to use Prezi as an option.

Voice Thread

Today I learned how to use Voice Thread. It was great. Next year, in my Emerging Diseases class or even in Conceptual Physics class, I would like to be able to have the students click on a picture that has been posted and comment on it using voice thread. Many of my students have disabilities with their written expression. By allowing them to comment on a pictures using various means will help them to produce more information than if they were required to only write a comment. It will even the playing field in terms of their ability to be more successful with regard to learning. In conceptual physics, a picture of some physical concept could be posted and students could video comment or audio comment or write.  It will be a fun option for all.

Creative Commons, the way to be creative safely.

Pictures and cartoons can be a creative way to keep presentations interesting and entertaining.  Now with ThingLink using pictures is even more enticing.  But, with the change of copy right laws knowing which pictures can be used safely has always been a challenge. Just to be safe I usually have my students cite everything in a works cited page especially when they are giving a presentation and using pictures. Now with Creative Commons, FlickrCC, and Photo Pin,  guiding my students to use these website for their pictures will be part of my curriculum. My plan will be to have students set up their own Diigo, then place their websites like the aforementioned in their account and use it on a more regular basis. My students are always asking me about the things I am learning. Creative Commons will be a must from this point on. I have already placed it in my Diigo account and I am always checking out Sara's. She has great stuff on her account. When and doubt I check out her list because I always know her sites are validated and copyright safe.

Glogster

I have been using Glogster for about two years now, but have yet to teach it to my students. The first time I learned about Glogster was through my son Cameron, who used it for a presentation project in 6th Grade. He did a science presentation on the Ocean using Glogster. I sat there and watched him put together his page, then he had me proof it for him and add more items. It looked so easy and fun that I just had to try it myself. I set up my own account and started playing around with it. I have not dedicated a ton of time to creating presentations with it, but hope to put together an entire presentation for my students soon. I tried to get my Emerging Disease students to use it for their presentations on the Flu, but they did not "jump" in with me on that. I started a presentation on Ebola, started one on Food Tech, but have never had time to finish them. In order to get myself to finish a Glogster, I think I will finish the one on Ebola and then I will do one on how to use Google Docs. It is really fun, very easy and allows for a lot of creativity. Try it, you like it!!!

Food Inc