Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Resources, Resources, Resources

I wanted to end the year by giving some ideas that teachers could use in their classes next year.  You could test some of these over the summer and utilize them next year.  I also wanted to break these ideas up into subject groups.  This week I want to look at resources for Science and English resources.

Science: 

A lot of the resources I have for science are YouTube channels.  YouTube is a great way to show real world examples of what you do in class every day.  Below is a list of channels that have science content on them.  I am sure that there are many more channels you can use, this is just a few.  To access the videos on these channels just type in the channel name in a search on YouTube.  As with any video watch the video first to make sure there is nothing inappropriate for class.

Head Squeeze

Vsauce

AsapScience

Sick Science

Sci Show

YouTube Crash Course

Videofromspace

Brightstorm

Other website:

PHET http://phet.colorado.edu/ If you haven’t used the simulations at PHET yet you are missing out on an opportunity to give your students hands on experiences with many topics that can’t easily be done in lab (or topics that can easily be done in lab).  There are simulations for almost every high school level science topic and they have many simulations written in HTML 5 which is necessary if you want to use the simulations on an iPad (Hey, that would be a great way to utilize the iPad cart next year)

http://Knoema.com This site has data sets and visual data sets, many of which could be used in a scientific capacity to do analysis with.

English:
I am sure that there are some YouTube channels out there but I am going to list some other resources.  I will say that one YouTube channel that does have an English section is YouTube Crash Course.

www.oneword.com This website gives a daily one word writing prompt and a 60 second time limit to write about that word.  This could be a great daily warm-up or end of class exercise to get those creative writing juices flowing.

http://newsela.com  This website has current non-fiction articles that students can read or that you could read together in class.  The best feature about the sight is the ability to change the lexile score of the reading material from anywhere between a 4th and a 12th grade reading level.  You can give students articles to read at the level of the class, you could use this to increase the reading level throughout the course of the year, or you could use it to differentiate instruction to students with different reading levels.

www.grammarly.com Grammarly is a proof reading with so much more.  It will check student spelling, it will check for grammar, wordiness, text that has been Thesauruserized (I fabricated this textual visualization of a concept)

www.haikudeck.com Haikudeck is an iPad presentation app.  Students can create presentations using Haikudeck and in the presentation they are limited to a small finite number of words.  This forces students to think about what they want to say and can also improve presentation skills because students can use their slides as launching points for what they want to say but can’t read from their slides during a presentation.

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

We all know it, some of us use it, and some of us wish we could do more with it or make it easier.  Here are a couple of YouTube tricks.

Editing a YouTube video:  I often want to show a clip of something in class but the clip is surrounded by additional, extra stuff.  Sometimes I want to cut a lot, other times I just wish I could cut the first minute of introduction to get to what I really want my students to see.  Tubechop.com is the place for you.  TubeChop allows you to cut the beginning and the ending of a YouTube video off so you only show what you want.  This is a great time saving resource for anyone who has ever started a video and wasted time trying to find exactly where the important part starts.

Showing multiple videos:  In math there are always many videos that show examples for a skill I am teaching.  I would love to be able to put all of these videos together in one video to show my class or to set up for my students to view at home if they are struggling.  I am sure that other disciplines could have similar reasons for combining videos.  Dragontape.com allows you to take as many videos as you want and combine them together in a single video.  You can also crop each video just like you do with TubeChop so you only get the relevant section of each video.  Dragontape does require a username and password but it is a free service.

Showing a video without all of the other content and suggested videos that you see on YouTube:  Have you ever shown a video and one of the videos on the side or one of the videos that shows up when the video is finished has an image that is a little risqué?  I wanted to highlight a website called View Pure which removes all of that content but it is blocked in our schools so I can’t.  Instead I am going to suggest using TubeChop for this as well.  When you open a video in TubeChop you can easily play the video without editing it and it plays without any of the additional youtube content added in.

There are many other things that can be done using YouTube videos which I may discuss at a later time but if you want to know if you can do something specific with a YouTube video, just ask and I will find out for you.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Kahoot


Kahoot is a lot of fun.  After playing it in class, my students were begging to do it again, so we did later in the week for a test review.  It is a class response system that is set up like a restaurant game.  As the time ticks away so do the amount of points that a student can earn.  It encourages students to be fast, but one wrong answer can take a leader off the leaderboard.  In class we played it in pairs and also individually. 
Success Story:
The second time I tried Kahoot I did it as a review for a test.  during that class I had 3 students that typically really struggle make it into the top 5 for the first game that we played.  We played a second game that day (I liked splitting it up into 2 shorter games because it allowed students to start over and reinvest in the game) and one of those students again made the top 5.  The constant changing of points and changing who is in the top 5 kept everyone interested through the last question.

How it works:
You create a Kahoot or you find one that has already been made (there are over 120,000 so far and about 2,000 are added each day).  I made a 15 question Kahoot and it probably took me 45 minutes to create the entire thing so the time commitment isn’t bad.  If you find a premade one that you like you can always add additional questions or remove questions from the premade Kahoots which might make the time commitment even less.  Once you have a Kahoot ready to go, then you need to play it in class.
To play a Kahoot you need to click on the play button next to your completed Kahoot, the launch button on the next page, and you are brought to a screen join the Kahoot screen. 
At this screen all of your students are going to register for the Kahoot by going to the website kahoot.it and entering the pin number.  Students can use cell phones of you can check out the laptops or iPads to use as your devices.  One of my classes played with cell phones and some of the students had issues with getting kicked out of the game and some students had a slow connection so they got fewer points because their answers didn’t register immediately.  My other class used the laptops and they didn’t have any problems playing the game.  Cell phones work but without allowing students to log into our wifi laptops or iPads are better.
Once all of the devices are registers you start the game and let the fun and learning begin.

Below is a set of instructional videos.  The first is an introduction to Kahoot and a tutorial for finding a premade Kahoot.  The second is an instructional video for creating a Kahoot.  The third is a video demonstration of how the game is played.

Kahoot Intro and searching for a Kahoot tutorial:



Creating a Kahoot:



Playing Kahoot:

Monday, February 17, 2014

Lesson Resources


It has been awhile and for that I apologize.  To make it up for you I have put together something that I think it truly great.  This is not a technology that you can use in your class, it is instead a set of resources that can help you prepare.
I have spent some time searching for lesson plan resources.  When we search we often jump right to Google to try to find new material for class.  Sometimes this gives excellent results but often the resources we are looking for are just not available.  In fact, many great resource websites do not show up on a Google search so we need to know about the website in advance before we can find materials on it.
  • http://betterlesson.com/home Better Lesson is one of my favorite resources.  It houses lessons, activities, and entire units created by teachers.  Through a recent grant they were able to hire teachers in both math and English disciplines to create Common Core lessons specifically for Better Lesson.  These “master teachers” were each responsible for creating 90 lessons so there is theoretically an entire curriculum of lessons for each math and English subject already uploaded to this website.  If you are not in these two content areas there are still resources for you as well.  You do need to sign up to use the website, but once you do all of the resources are free.  They have a good search feature, a separate page for Common Core resources, and a planner feature if you want to create a weekly or monthly plan right on their website.
  • http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/ Teachers Pay Teachers is an open marketplace for teachers.  They have resources that are free and resources that you need to pay for.  If you want to spend a little money you can find some really good lessons or complete units with everything you need to teach that unit.  If you are a veteran teacher and you have created your own wonderful resources, you can use this website to make some money with material you use every day and use that money to buy new resources (or buy a hamburger and fries).  You do need to sign up to use this website.
  • http://www.sharemylesson.com/high-school-teaching-resources/ Share my Lesson is similar to Better Lesson in that it offers free resources for teachers.  The link above is specifically for their high school site.  Unlike better lesson this website does have a lot more activities, handouts, and other material as opposed to full lessons ( not that it’s a bad thing).  One thing I don’t like as a math teacher is that it divides math lessons into NCTM topics as opposed to courses.  This is a minor quibble but I think it makes it harder to find resources for a specific level of student.  You do need to sign up to use this website.
These three are the ones that I have used in the past but there are several other teacher resource websites.  As I mentioned, none of these resources can be found on a Google search so it is important to know they are there.  Below I will list additional lesson resource sites for anyone who wants to look further and if I have missed one that you love to use, let me know.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

At Least 6 Ways to Use Videos with your Class

The videos below are not tutorial videos, they are examples of each technique that I have used in my class.  As an aside, in the first video YouTube decided that the thumbnail would be a giant picture of my head.  I changed this in YouTube but when I did this post it still had my giant head as the thumbnail so if that is what you see below, I am sorry.  If you see a wall in the video below ignore what I just said.

Video Bellwork:

Bellwork can be an issue for many teachers.  For some it is a classroom management strain.  For others they have a habit of having the bellwork take too long (I have been caught in this trap before when working out questions on a bellwork).

Video bellwork does not solve those problems completely but it can help with each of them.  What you do is create a short video and in the video you tell your students the bellwork problem, typically repeating the question twice so they can get it.  Because you are doing this on video you can use real world examples and make the videos in different locations.  I made a fun systems of equations problem by ordering food at Wendy’s (the cashier loved being in the spotlight).   When the bell rings you can hit the play button or designate a student for that task, then have the students watch the video and do the work.  Here are a few additional things you could do:

·         Continue the video and show a countdown clock giving the students a specific time limit, then go over the bellwork on the video also.  Doing this would eliminate the “long” bellwork and works well at the beginning of the year to get students used to doing their work promptly.

·         Stand in the hallway during the video and stop/talk to any tardy students.  Don’t let them complete the bellwork and thereby create a necessity to be on time.

·         Do this once or twice a week for a change of pace activity.

·         Use a similar technique at the end of class for your closing activity or in class as an example problem.

·         Have other people on the video asking your students questions including people in various professions relating to your subject area.

Videos when you are absent:

 Over the past three years, every time I am absent I create a video for my students to watch while I am away.  My students are not particularly overjoyed when they find out they have to still learn new stuff when I am gone but I don’t miss days of instruction when I am absent. 

To create the videos I set up a PowerPoint or Flipchart (for a Promethean Board) that I can record.  I am a math teacher so I write on my presentations a lot.  Because of this, when I record at school I actually write on my Promethean Board and if I am at home I use a program called Splashtop which allows me to connect my tablet to my computer and then use my tablet as a writing surface.  I have used several programs to create these video but most recently I have been using www.screencast-o-matic.com.  This program allows you to save the video to your computer, upload it to their website, or upload it to YouTube.  I typically upload it to their website, put the website in my sub plans, and ask a fellow teacher to set everything up in the morning so the video is ready to play.

Short Video tutorials (work great for computer lab time, iPad or laptop carts):
http://geoconstruction.weebly.com/ 
If you can find ways to split up a lesson into smaller parts you can create a video tutorial lesson.  My example of this is a geometric constructions lesson.  I had my student do different constructions and I would start each construction with a video demonstration, then my students would work on their own constructions after each video.  I recorded each of these videos using a document camera and www.screencast-o-matic.com because I needed to physically do the construction example but many lessons could be created just using screen capture software.  Once the videos were recorded I created a website and put links to each of the videos on the website so students could view them one at a time.

After everything was done, students in class each got an iPad and used it to watch the videos then do their work.  During this activity, students were very engaged and they could work at their own pace.  Students who got it the first time could move on while students who didn’t understand something could go back and watch parts of the video again.  This was one of my favorite lessons of this past year.

Preparation for college, for when you are absent, or for a flip:
I think it is wonderful that students have the opportunity to learn in so many ways and that we have resources that can show students what their learning style is.  When a student is taught in a way that fits with their learning style new skills often come easily.  The concern I have with this is if students always get taught in the way that works best for them, when they get to college or get a job and suddenly are thrown in a situation where they are forced to learn in a different style they could struggle greatly and possibly fail completely.  I like to use different teaching styles, even boring, old school ones purposefully to help my students realize they can learn in different ways.  I have my students read textbooks, I teach a lesson without talking, I teach a lesson without allowing questions, I give group exercises where I refuse to answer questions, I make my students watch videos (both mine and others from the internet) to learn topics.

Maybe difficulty with videos is a math specific problem but when I ask my students to watch a video, by the end they have no idea what the video was about or how to do similar problems even though they watched it intently.  I have to teach my students the skill of learning by watching a video.  I start with short single example videos and work my way up to full lessons on video.  I often throw in videos created by others so my students realize they can learn watching other videos.  Eventually my classes get to a point where watching a video can be a successful learning exercise.  Then I can use videos successfully if I am absent, if I want to flip the class, or if I want my students to search for a video about a specific topic at home.  I also help my students prepare for college where they can’t interrupt a lecture every 10 seconds to ask a question (since they can’t interrupt the video with questions).

Become your own teacher assistant:
I like to show videos while I am in class so I can walk around and act like a teacher’s assistant, seeing if my students are following along and answering questions when they need help.  In these situations my students are getting two teachers for the price of one.  They get me one the video and they get me walking around the class answering questions.

Create a library of lessons (flip classroom, absent students, review lessons):
This is one I have not yet done in full  but would like to accomplish.  You could create a library of all of your lessons and use them in many different ways.  You could pull from this library for videos to assign for your flipped classroom.  You could assign videos to students who were absent so that they get to listen to the material even though they were absent, You could suggest lesson for students to watch when they are reviewing for a test or the final.  You could put these videos on DVDs for students to check out if they don’t have computer access at home.  I would like to get some portable DVD players for my classroom and use a video library as a tool to help some students during tutoring sessions.  If I had a full library of lessons I am sure I could find some more ideas as well.

That is it for this week.  I know this post was a bit long but I had a lot of material to cover and when  I started creating categories for video uses I kept thinking of more things and my list expanded greatly from what was originally in my mind.

Ryan Monson

 

Monday, January 13, 2014

A Resource about Resources

I normally like to add a little flare to what I post but this week I am behind (actually last week I was behind so I am posting this week) so there isn't much flare.  This week is all about the content.

For this week’s blog I am going to showcase some other blogs and resources for teachers to use when they want to search for different technologies to use in their classrooms.  When I am looking for things to use in my classroom these are some of the locations I go to.  This is probably something akin to blog suicide since I am writing a blog telling you to go to other blogs.  After you do, come back...please.

The first is our own GCS technology and innovation website http://www.gcsnc.com/education/school/school.php?sectionid=37404&.  There are two links from this main page to useful resources.  The first in the LiveBinder link.  It is the link that is the second from the bottom.  This LiveBinder contains information and training for various technologies that GSC supports and encourages.  The second is the resources tab which has many resources broken up into categories such as Creativity tools and Presentation tools.

The second set of resource is a set of blogs that are updated weekly (mostly weekly).  They tend to give one resource each week that they particularly like.
http://tammyworcester.com/tech-tip-of-week/ This website has other tabs aside from these resources that are also very useful.
http://www.edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2013/06/2013-honor-roll-edtechs-must-read-k-12-it-blogs This is an EdTech Magazine article highlighting the best education technology blogs of 2013.  Go here if you want to check out some additional technology blogs.

The third resource is a wiki called “Cool Tools for Schools”.  It is an incredibly robust list of thousands of resources split up by categories.  http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/Home

The last resource is a shout out to a friend of mine, Erica Speaks.  This is normally more of a political education blog (an exceptional one at that) which I know many of you will want to read for that purpose.  I added it to this list because in December she posted a list of technologies that she like and didn’t like that she has used in her classes over the past year (It is post #49).  She also had a post of the world of EdTech in pictures (Post #51) http://teachingspeaksvolumes.com/2013/12/

There you have it.  Go forth and do some investigating to find some ideas to integrate into your classes for 2nd semester.