TimeToast: Create Interactive Timelines in Minutes

This online Web 2.0 tool allows students to create timelines in minutes.  Yes, it's free!  See the example below, as a student displays his research on the History of Basketball. Click on the image. Or, try it yourself at http://www.timetoast.com

Mimic Twitter in the Classroom to Increase Engagement

Embrace the backchannel and engage your students with  http://www.todaysmeet.com/ which allows you to create a room where students can participate in a real time conversation. In the classroom, what a great way to supplement the showing of a film, increase engagement during presentations, and more! Check out the introductory video below:

The Flipped Classroom: Will you be "Flipping Out?"

In November, I facilitated a professional development workshop for secondary mathematics teachers on technology integration, based on Marzano’s instructional strategies, with positive feedback and implementation of the Flipped Classroom by several teachers.  The LiveBinder for the presentation is in a previous post.  One strategy that yields a 20% gain in learning is Homework & Practice.  However, research shows that students should adapt skills while they are learning them.  Speed and accuracy are key indicators of the effectiveness of practice.  That being the case, what does it say about students who get home and become stuck while trying desperately to follow the day’s notes to complete homework problems?  Often this results in feelings of frustration and ineffective practice. 

The flipped model of instruction is an innovative teaching strategy that can elevate those frustrations and have students prepared to work problems in class, where the teacher can assist.  This also creates more time for application activities or labs, where students will be able to cover more material with a deep understanding. I used this model with great success in the mathematics classroom (on a small scale) to differentiate instruction, but only periodically as remediation or enrichment. The reaction from the students was extremely positive.  They enjoyed being able to learn at their own pace by pausing and rewinding at will.  EDMODO was a great tool to post lesson videos and elicit student feedback.  While reflecting and searching for new resources, I stumbled across this video.  The flipped model of instruction will take some teachers more time to become sold on the strategy.  This is a paradigm shift for teaching and learning.  Instead of our traditional role as “sage on the stage,” we are now the “guide on the side.” Watch the video below to see how the success of this strategy convinced a high school principal to FLIP HIS ENTIRE SCHOOL!  What do you think about this model of teaching and learning? Do you think there are any content areas the flipped classroom wouldn’t work for?

Additional Resources

Flipped Class Network: http://vodcasting.ning.com/

Co-learning Network: http://colearningnetwork.org

Flipped Class Blog: http://flipped-learning.com/?page_id=45

Research & Data: http://flipteaching.com/page7/index.php

Mastery Learning: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastery_learning

Great Webinar: http://connect.enetcolorado.org/p8v0ubgtsa6/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal

Scoop It: Use This Tool to Graphically Share Your Interests

Use Scoop.it to gather information on your favorite interests. You may also use suggestions from thousands of other users. Click on the "My Scoop it Profile" above to see more topics curated by me, and also sign up for your own profile to begin curating your favorite topics!! I look forward to following your topics. Below are a few of my favorites to provide teachers with resources for instructional strategies.

Why Technology Integration Is So Important

Engage Your Students with Glogster

View the Glogster poster below to see ideas for using Glogster in the math classroom, and learning some benefits of integrating Glogs into instruction. Click Here to view thousands of shared Glogs, categorized by content and subject. These posters with embedded videos, pictures, and interactive features are sure to ramp up the engagement for any assignment. 

Integrating Technology with Best Practice Instructional Strategies

Integrating Tech with Best Practice Instructional Strategies

This is a link to our professional development workshop for middle and high school math teachers. It contains a plethora of ideas for using technology to support Marzano's nine essential instructional strategies. Please feel free to comment and recommend additional resources for this binder. Thank you.

Try STORYBIRD for Interactive, Collaborative Writing!

Storybird is a fun collaborative storytelling website for all grade levels. Storybird makes it easy to create and tell stories digitally. Students and teachers can create stories together by combining imaginative artwork and text. The final product can be printed, watched on screen, or shared in an online library with the world. Storybird “promotes imagination, literacy, and self-confidence.” Creating a Storybird is free. The imaginative artwork will have your students' imaginations soaring and lead to enthusiastic writing. Students can work together in teams to create stories. Students will feed off of each others ideas, creating more creative stories and learning together.

Storybird is also a fantastic place to create a classroom story, each student can contribute pages to the story. The final product can be easily shared with family and friends in the online library. Storybird can be used by teachers to make “special” stories for students. They can include students as characters, emphasize classroom themes or curriculum, and be created for specific reading
levels. Encourage your students to create and share their stories on Storybird. Storybird has free class accounts that allow students to use Storybird without providing an email address.

Glogster: A great digital tool for student engagement!

If you are looking to increase vocabulary, consider using Glogster.edu It can be used as a photo book to foster grammar and narrative skills. Students enjoy creating relative, digital content that they can share with friends and family. Below is one example of how I used Glogster.edu to deliver a mathematics lesson. Students were engaged with the interface, and they could revisit the information as needed. Notice the paperclip that denotes an attachment. Never lose worksheets or exit slips after an online presentation again! Contact me to gain access for a free premium trial version. I am also available for training and lesson integration ideas.

Great uses for QR (Quick Response) Codes in the Classroom

A QR (Quick Response) code is an image that can be read by a mobile smart phone, i-Pad 2, or webcam, through its camera. By simply scanning the code using your mobile phone’s camera, you are provided with information contained in that code. QR codes can link to a website, download files, send an e-mail or text, and even make phone calls! There are several grants that would supply a few i-Pod touches to use for this purpose.

5 Ways to Begin with QR Codes in your Classroom

1. Links to Resources on Class Handouts: Begin by generating your own code, using any of the free sites below. Check around to see which sites offer what features. Generate links to instructional videos or printable documents.

http://www.smartytags.com/create-a-code

http://www.quickmark.com

http://kimtag.com

2. Self-Assessment: Create flash cards with QR codes on the back, that display the correct answer when scanned. In addition, you may provide the link to a website that contains more info. on the word.

3. Code Quest: Create a cooperative learning “Code Quest” by posting QR codes at several locations. Each code will ask a question that will require students to locate an object. Once the object is found, another QR code will send students to another location, to locate yet another object. This Code Quest involves teamwork, cooperation, thinking, and moving around!

4. Surveys or Quizzes: You can use a Google Docs Form to create a quiz or survey that students or parents can easily access through their mobile phones.

5. Interactive Curriculum Night: Post QR codes around the classroom with titles about student work. QR codes could be used to access students' videos, projects, or blogs.

If you have other ideas for QR codes in the classroom, please leave a comment! Thank you.

Blogging with Streamline Videos and Images in Edmodo

This is a copy of the presentation that I used for the ETV summer workshop. Feel free to comment on the workshop or ask any questions that you may not have gotten the chance to ask. Thanks to all of the wonderful participants and interested teachers! A great time was had by all, and students will love us more for integrating this "FACEBOOK" type technology into our content! If you scroll down some, you will see the EDMODO guide, created by a fellow middle school teacher. He did a great job compiling everything we need to know to use EDMODO successfully with our students. Feel free to connect with my blog by clicking on the "Follow with Google" connect icon on the right sidebar. You may also connect with yahoo.

Blogging about Streamline Videos and Images with EDMODO on Prezi

Interactive Notebooks: It sounded like a good idea!

Last school term, I searched for a way to engage my students in the math classroom as they took notes on important concepts. The idea was to provide them with something they would always have to refer to or look back on, as a study aide. Also, it is important to me that my students create good communication skills in math, building their mathematical discourse. So, when I ran across information on Interactive Notebooks, I thought this would be the "cure all" for my middle school students.

The Interactive Notebook is a good strategy for students to keep track of their learning. This concept is originated from History Alive's "Interactive Student Notebook." It was beneficial to my students, as it provided a medium for them to be creative, sort, and categorize new information as they learned it. Basically, information is recorded on the right side (from the student's reflection) and learned information is generated on the left (from the teacher's direct instruction). Below is what I used to explain the process to my students and model the reflection side for them.

Pros: Students will have the same notes; helpful when reviewing for quizzes/tests; Students can demonstrate creativity and ownership.
Cons: A lot of time, work and mistakes for the teachers when setting up; Lost notebooks; New students entering mid-year.

Reflection: As I look back on my reaction to facing the cons (aborting the strategy almost mid-year), I do so with regret. To my surprise, quite a few students pulled out their notebooks toward the end of the year to help with completing exam study guides or end of year projects. Then it hit: I should have stayed the course! What lead me to abandon the notebooks? What can I do differently to maintain them throughout the year? Well, one thing that discouraged me was when students lost their notebook or did not come to class with it. Another pitfall was when students took an extra long time to copy notes into their notebooks. Now I know that I can provide students with pre-written notes to glue inside the notebook. Also, if a notebook is lost or not brought to class, I can have students begin with a 3-ring binder type notebook, and copy a little at a time from another student. Having the pre-written notes will be a plus, because students can place those in the binder and rewrite their reflections on the back. I am ready to try it again this fall! I also have found several sites to help with ideas such as table of contents, grading rubrics, and other ideas. The following sites should be helpful with math and other subjects:
http://jyounghewes.tripod.com/scinote.html
http://pages.prodigy.net/wtrucillo/interactive_notebook.htm
http://www.journeytoexcellence.org/practice/instruction/theories/miscideas/notebook.phtml
http://www.nonags.org/members/dasaunders/notebook.html

Please comment and share your thoughts if you have tried interactive notebooks, or if you will try them in the future.

The guide below was created by a fellow middle school teacher and it has everything that you need to know to get started with EDMODO!

edmodo user guide.pdf by Angela on Scribd

Eighth-Grade Students Learn More Through Direct Instruction : Education Next

Eighth-Grade Students Learn More Through Direct Instruction : Education Next

Sweeney Math: Working With Students With Dyscalculia

Sweeney Math: Working With Students With Dyscalculia

This is a disability that I am ashamed to say I had never heard of. As a teacher of mathematics, this is definitely note worthy.

Algebra Linear Equations Jeopardy Template

Algebra Linear Equations Jeopardy Template
This is a great idea when you are short on time or if you need a filler!

Google's Project 10^100 Finalists

Though Google has seen some criticism in the last several years -- accusations that it doesn't practice its own "don't be evil" policy in the wake of its interactions with the Chinese government, its battle with Apple over its Google Voice port for the iPhone, and the declining relevance of its technologies -- it often spurs the creation of extremely interesting, engaging new programs and features. Google's Project 10 to the 100 is yet another example of this. The company is providing $10 million split between 5 organizations to advance their projects, which this year are the Khan Academy, FIRST, Public.Resource.org, Shweeb, and AIMS.

Khan Academy received $2 million from Google. The organization, led by Salman Khan, seeks to use "video to explain the world," providing educational opportunities through free courses available in many languages. Khan's organization takes a more conversational approach, breaking the lecture structure down into smaller chunks to render it easier to digest, particularly in the worlds of math and science. Its long-term goal is to produce adaptive software and simulation games to complement its video curriculum.

FIRST, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, received $3 million for robotics team programs intended to recruit additional students. The organization, founded by Dean Kamen, seeks to further science, engineering and technology education in young people predominantly through mentor-based programs. It organizes many robotics-based competitions for students aged 6-18 (using LEGO robotics early on, then more sophisticated systems at higher levels) and seeks to inspire students to pursue careers in engineering, become involved in their communities, and seek out graduate degrees in the sciences.

Over the last 21 years, FIRST has according to many studies produced students far more likely to attend college (and to intern in their first year), work in science or technology, major in science or engineering, and serve in their community in some capacity.

Public.Resource.org received $2 million to make "primary legal materials in the US available to all people." The nonprofit corporation publishes court cases, legal documents, and other materials that have been published for years in expensive database services such as LexisNexis but have been unavailable for free. It also publishes government videos and documents where available and applicable.

Shweeb received $1 million for research and development of human-powered transit rails. Perhaps the most farfetched sounding of the groups to receive support from Google, the organization is looking to develop recumbent cycles on monorails in order to combine personal fitness and mass urban transportation, initially serving as a complement to existing train, subway, and roadway systems. Perhaps, unlike the Segway, we'll actually see this take off. I can't help but wonder.

AIMS -- the African Institute for Mathematical Science, based out of Cape Town, South Africa -- received $2 million to fund additional AIMS centers to "provide quality [math and science] education to African students," particularly at the graduate level.

All of these organizations show Google choosing not to be evil, but rather to support innovation and education, Congratulations to the winners.

Andrew Hall is a guest blogger for My Dog Ate My Blog and a writer on online degrees for Guide to Online Schools.

Stu's Quiz Boxes! | Diigo

Stu's Quiz Boxes! | Diigo

This is an awesome download. This Stu guy is great! I like the way you can include your own images. This is a break from the regular Jeopardy style games using PowerPoint or SMART Notebook.

How I Used Edmodo in the Mathematics Classroom

Below, beginning with the word "Share," is a link to a Wallwisher wall where my students commented on their experience using Edmodo in the computer lab. Students were sent an assignment, with links to video instruction, practice (with immediate feedback), and problems to turn in. The front load work was a bit tedious at first, but now I have it down. Edmodo allows you to save URL links, files, and embeddable content to your library. So, when I see something that I may use in the future, I save it there. Then, while planning for a block, Edmodo allows me to send any chosen items to a "shared" folder for the class of my choice. Talk about differentiating instruction!!! I love this technology because with the assignments feature, I can prescribe lessons for students, based on their needs. I welcome any comments or questions. I am working on a rubric for students to use. If you know of any, let me know. I am thinking of "tweaking" one that was used in my graduate studies for a blackboard assignment. I will post it when I am done. http://www.edmodo.com has a Facebook interface that the students absolutely enjoy. They can ask questions to each other or me. They can be silly (with limitations). They can share their personality, which is very important to young adolescents. I am most happy with the security features: 1. No outsiders allowed 2. No private chatting 3. Teachers can edit or delete student entries

Share what you worked on today, and tell if and how the computer lab setting was beneficial to you. Do you have any ideas to improve this use of time? by amccord

Sketchpad LessonLink - Key Curriculum Press

Sketchpad LessonLink - Key Curriculum Press