Final Reflection Time

With the conclusion of Summer comes the conclusion of SummerCamp 2.0.  This project was great.  It really forced me to take a look at some tools I normally wouldn't have used.  Of all of them, the screencast seemed the most relevant.  It can be used for training (staff and students), flipped instruction, or for subs.  I envision a stockpile of flipped lessons across the district.  It would be great, though, to encourage teachers to collaborate and use each others' screencasts, so not everyone is re-creating the wheel in isolation.

I would love to see a PD model like this in MV.  A central location for MV teachers to use blogging as a vehicle to discuss tools/strategies that connect to the district vision.  For instance, PK-14, Equity, Personalized Learning, etc.  My favorite part would be interacting with other buildings.  Sometimes buildings tend to work in isolation.  This would help counteract that!

Have a great year!

Andrew

Librarything Time

Hi Everyone,


Jenna, I stole your idea by investigating an online library catalog system.  I looked into Librarything.  It's essentially a bare-bones library database for book lovers.  It's so minimal, there isn't even an option to embed my shelf.

Here's the link though:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?offset=0&view=8thgradeila&shelf=shelf

The feature that has me intrigued, though, is the ability to scan in your titles with a barcode scanner.  I bought the cuecat scanner off ebay for about 10 bucks a few years ago and scanned in my classroom titles into some software.  It was nice, but kids couldn't access it.  This is a tool they could access.  It would be a library system that rubs parallel to our building's catalogue.

Users can join groups and discuss books.  This seems to be the biggest attractions.  Goodreads and Shelfari do that too, and do it with much more style.

See what you think!

Andrew

Google Form Time

Hi Everyone,  Here is my google form.  Give it a whirl.  It's a fun little quiz.


I LOVE Google Forms.  They are a wonderful, quick way to do a formative assessment and collect data into a spreadsheet.  I used it with my action research, and it was easy to see where students were with their reading.
Also,

1.  It's fast.  you could literally make one in 5 minutes
2.  It's in the cloud.  Easy to get to
3.  Results are on one page.  You just scan with your finger down each question to find interesting responses.
4.  You can post it in a central location.
5.  There are a lot of options for response types.

It's a great tool that I should use even more to collect quick feedback for the following day.

Oh, I also used it to collect student email info for mass emails.  Hopefully with Google Accounts, I won't have to do that again!

Andrew

Infographic Time.

easel.ly



Hi Everyone.  This is my reflection of Easel.ly.  I have never used an online graphic presentation tool like this, but I like it.  I could see this for chapter or unit reviews, rules, big concepts or just for cool info.

I think with some more development, this tool could go from good to great.  A few needs:  Ability to change fonts, Font size, and more pictures to choose from.  As anyone who also used this can tell, I just went off a template already created.  I could have spent hours making this prettier.  This is one that could suck up an evening or two!

Give it a shot and see what you think!

Andrew

Cloud Computing

Hi Everyone,

Here is my google doc assignment.
http://summercamp20.blogspot.com/p/camp-activity-7-cloud-computing.html

The idea would be to have 1-2 students take this poem and revise it to make their own using the same theme.  The link to the doc or the doc itself would be shared, student would make a copy, and go for it and send it back into the class's shared folder (that's already shared with them).

Cloud computing is amazing, and assignments like this would save a ton of paper, and allow students to have their work be more visible, which increases accountability and motivation.  It's a great way to collaborate and evaluate work.  A couple of cons, though: The learning curve and monitoring students' communication.
Andrew

Study Tools

Choose a Study ModeScatterLearnFlashcards

Study these flash cards | Study english flash cards

This week, I tried out Quizlet and Tagxedo.  The quizlet I created for studying a few root words seemed to go pretty well.  The way you can have kids match the words is very engaging, and much more interesting than a simple flash card app.  It was easy to create, and I'd recommend it.

The Tagxedo, on the other hand, was cool in theory, but the interface drove me nuts.  I had to update, restart, and had to start my project over several times.  As you can see, I had to upload a JPEG instead to embedding it, since the browser will not let you copy the embed code.  With some improvements to the site, I think it could be cool.  A great way to increase background knowledge or awareness of key themes.


Andrew

Youtube Channel

Hi,

Here is my Youtube Channel for MV.  I wish I had this 3 years ago!  I have a lot of favorited Youtube videos on my personal account, and now I will use this to compile my own videos and videos used for instruction.  Very cool.  Sorry, this video is the one I posted before...

Andrew