My life has changed....Google Docs are GENIUS

I have been using Google Docs for years...I obviously have not been using them to their full potential! Wow. It is funny how you can miss things that are right under your nose. 

Google Docs 
You can research the words you write by clicking on the tools menu and choosing research. You can then cite your source! And choose the format for citing. OH MY GOSH!  GENIUS! My students will LOVE me again! 

This begs a bigger question....what ELSE do I not know about Google Docs? 

SHARE IT WITH ME by Commenting on this post!! 

Technology and Revival iTSummit14 -Keynote Day2

Technology and Revival 

R.Hurley iT Summit - Keynote Day 2 - May 6/14

What really matters is the nature of conversations. What types of conversations are you having in your staff room? People need to focus on positive things, and find common ground. That is how revival will happen.

Find the fun.
If you didn't think you need fun, then you definitely NEED fun!
Use your imagination. We always remember the teachers from our own years in school, who had fun. We need to inspire kids with our joy.

If school is predictable, then it CAN be boring. If we change things, it CAN be different. It can be better and more inspiring.

Neat Video
LEARN by Rick Mereki on Vimeo 
Learning comes from risk taking
You don't need to be in a school to learn
Powerful learning can be from doing something physical
Self-direction and authenticity

GENIUS - Google Search
filetype: ppt 
All results will be a powerpoint
filetype: pdf
All results will be a pdf

nextvista.org/resources

If you think about the moments of learning you remember. What was happening? Change the way you are teaching. Instead of 'more time', we need more 'good' time.

Caine's Arcade 
A cardboard arcade made by a 9 year old boy.
Try the cool ideas. Get in the space and try it!

Every teacher should do one good PR assignment for your school each year. When kids have an audience for their work, they do better. Have them get into their community and make a difference, and reach their potential.

Will Richardson - Book:Why School?

My Name is Michael - Video about a child with Autism - from his perspective. Inspiring, touching.

Discovery Education Notes/Ideas - Good to know...

Dean Shareski - DEN Presentation - iT Summit 2014 - May 5

Planet Earth, North America, Life, Frozen Planet - All parts of Discovery
All of these are aligned to Saskatchewan Curriculum. The content is in your service the next day after it airs on Discovery Channel.
3 Ideas: Great Instruction, Students, Community 

GREAT INSTRUCTION
Wealth of information on discoveryeducation.ca
Curriculum Standards Search. Choose Saskatchewan, and then search subject areas and they will show you the aligned resources/media to the specific indicators! Awesome!
Not all resources will work in every classroom, but it allows you to see things that COULD work for you, and don't limit you. Add to your "My Content" folder.

H.264 300K - Download videos on this setting so that it will play on any device! Good to know!

Teacher Centre - Interactive Atlas - Turning content into interactive media. You can hover over any area (ie Saskatchewan), click the province/territory and videos will pop up about that area.
SOS - Spotlight on Strategies 
Move past just watching a video. Try to engage students and take that video watching further. A-E-I-O-U weekly digital media strategy. DEN blog - Educator Network

STUDENTS
Differentiated Instruction You can assign videos to specific students in your class. When the student logs in, they can see the "assignment" you have given them (such as watching a video, doing an activity, etc.)
My DE for Students aka. The Student Center
Put some ownership on students to help find resources for the concept you are learning.
TECHBOOK
K-8 Science replacement for a textbook.  - maps out a lesson, gives the objectives under the model lesson.
Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate tabs
Students can have access as well as the teacher.  It is designed to work for both teachers and for students, no matter how your classroom is set up; whether you want to stand and teach or have kids take the learning into their own hands. The lesson/notes can even be read aloud!
login.discoveryeducation.ca/?TECHBOOK=1
- can do a free trial for 30 days. Can buy it after.

COMMUNITY
Builder Tools
Board Builder - Mix between Pinterest and Glogster. Add notes and videos. You can have students make their own or you make the board. Make sure it gets shared - and give feedback.
SHARE!!!! Build a community on Discovery Education. Share with the DE Community.
Discover Education - Educator Network
Creates a large impact when you engage on Professional Learning Communities 

Get Interested!!! iTSummit14 R.Hurley-Keynote May 5

R. Hurley - Keynote iT Summit 2014 - May 5

Don't let the steps stop you from following and finding the broader process. Everyone likes to follow steps with tools but it doesn't help students.

AUDIO
Audacity Ideas - From todaysmeet.com/RHSK

Podcasts for teaching persuasive writing- creating 'hot topic' radio style talk shows

Audacity-fractured fairy tales picture book. Record voice parts and change for each character. Use PowerPoint to display.

Made news articles about Macbeth/R+J/Hamlet

Used audacity for Foley recording (record sound effects for video production)

Soundation is free online software where students can create their own songs. We then imported the songs into audacity

I have been using Mobile devices to collect sound files with the kids. Then editing using audacity.

Storyrobe is a great app for using audio with a digital photo story.

Use Audacity to record a seasonal poem or song and add sound effects for interest. 

Ex. "'Twas the Night Before Christmas"

Audacity linked to Inspiration webs

Radio Advertisements

IMAGES
Flickr
Not always wanting to hear the 'right' answer, make sure students are given the chance to share without consequence and keep them asking questions to be engaged, and not worried about other students' reactions.
Images are a way to connect without words. Show them INTERESTING things to think about - i.e. bicycle herding camels. It is as simple as choosing a topic like bicycles and finding neat/unique images to create a neat dialogue.
Find legal images: search.creativecommons.org
Cite sources with images as well as their information
tinyurl.com/NVcitingsources
From Today's Meet Participants: 
Key concepts of intellectual property: http://mediasmarts.ca/intellectual-property/intellectual-property-key-concepts
Grabbing copyright friendly 
images.http://nextvista.org/projects/Project-Citing_Copyright-Friendly_Media_from_Online.pdf
Fair Dealing for media education: http://mediasmarts.ca/intellectual-property/fair-dealing-media-education

SLIDESHOW VIDEOS
Narrable.com
VERY COOL--call to record - the kids can enter their phone number, it calls them and they can record their voice through their phone
"Narrable ... to engage students and to draw out important higher order thinking skills." It's not the tool, it's the application.-Alan Stange(from today's meet)
ex: voiceover of sports commentating, kidsnippits, record a conversation from a photo of historical figures in a meeting possibly discussing world decision (ex: Winston Churchill, Stalin, etc), narrate students critiques, "Bad lip reading" - http://bit.ly/1mvdEF5 watch this video later! a sample of bad lip reading videos! Very entertaining!
Teachers want the video to be good, but students want it to be "good enough". If you tell them that others will be watching it (audience), then students typically put in more effort.
Give them a 45 second time limit. If they want more, tell them to show you the script. Up it to a minute and a half. Go from there.
Implementing a Video Project
-time frame
-script
-audience
-poster option (they won't want to)
-partners
-time limits
-other rules (no violence!)
-links
Fostering Quality
-Look at other student projects ex) tinyurl.com/NVcareers No matter what your project is about, show them some other student examples and they will know what they like and what they don't like (strengths and areas for improvement) - how can these things be fixed - different approaches

"Am I done yet?" - want to hear "How can I make it better?" Make it a contest!!!Send feeback to the students

Great presentation - lots to learn no matter how long you've been teaching, what you teach, how old you are, how young you are, or a number of other factors. Keep trying new things!!!

WHY do we need balance?

At least once a year I find myself writing about balance. Of course that doesn't mean I only feel the need to talk about it once because it only bothers me once a year. No, no. In fact, I find balance to be an ongoing struggle in my life (as it is with most people). I tend to have to stop what I'm overloaded with, just to write this post! I have previously written about HOW to balance your life, but what I'd like to talk about now is WHY you should balance your life. 

I've been through a lot personally in the last 6 months. I've had a couple of extreme heartbreaks and changes in my life and have had to adapt my life from those events. When faced with a death of a loved one for example, your life changes very drastically. Many times people struggle to find balance again after what they've just experienced. You would have shifted your priorities to the situation you were dealing with, and then suddenly it is over, and it's the aftermath you need to deal with now. How to do that is very much a personal answer and I would not assume I know how any one person would handle it. I told myself that if I let myself go, that I would never get out of bed. So, I pushed forward. COMMUNICATION is a big part of finding balance. I created time for things I enjoyed, I did some of those things, and most importantly I asked for help when I needed it. If I needed a night out, an evening of silence, a day of distraction, I asked for it. The reason is WHY. Why I needed to do those things was because again, if I let myself fall apart too drastically, I would have trouble coming back from it. I would miss any lesson that life was intending to give me and I would lose more than I could get back. Everyone needs to understand and acknowledge their limits, and finding balance is critical to that. I say critical because when you get overloaded with work, family, relationships, extra-curricular/hobbies, friends, or whatever it may be, it becomes a critical situation for people without even knowing it. Let me explain myself. I am feeling overwhelmed right now. I am coaching drama, am the yearbook advisor, grad advisor, and am a teacher helper for our Jr. Baker program. This is all in addition to report cards coming out on Friday, starting to teach Shakespeare in my ELA courses (which is always crazy busy), prepping for my 24 curriculum's that I am teaching this year, AND I have a husband and a 1 year old at home. This leaves NO TIME for myself. 

This is the WHY! 

This is why I need to balance. A person will start to feel like they are losing their minds if they don't get enough sleep, relaxation, and balance. If you're busy, you don't get those things and immediately you start to feel anxious, worried, nervous, frustrated, impatient and feel as though you are starting to spin out of control. For your health, if not for all the other people who love you in your life, should you try your best to cut back on things of less importance and re-arrange your priorities to allow yourself some more time for you, and for your loved ones. Work is important, and so is being helpful, but in the end all that matters is who you spend your time with and how fulfilled your life is with love. 

I finished my report cards today (a day early), now I cut back my drama practices (to give myself and my students more time off), and I am picking up my little boy early from daycare so we can spend time together. You just need to make a choice to be happy, balanced, and make it all work for you. Do it, people will understand because you know what? Everyone has this problem, everyone gets that it is important to balance your life, and everyone knows WHY it is important. Better physical health and mental health equals increased productivity and a better work environment. Things from other areas of your life tend to seep into each other so do it for you, do it for them, do it for always. 

Happy Balancing!