Technology Medley

What are your goals for the new year? How will you challenge yourself this year? What will you learn? What will you do differently? How will your new skills impact your instruction?

Why not try at least one new thing with your students this year? Create a VoiceThread, use the SMART Board, allow your students to blog regularly, use a Flip video camera, Skype with another class, create projects with Kidspiration and TimeLiner….the list could go on and on.

While we’re discussing the new year, I’m thinking about my own future as my retirement approaches in June. I do plan to substitute and maybe work with some technology projects in the school division next year, so I’ll still be around. But I often find myself drifting to that land of the unknown, wondering what I’ll be doing 3, 5, or even 10 years from now. The part of this job that I have enjoyed the most has been actually working directly with teachers, showing them how to use a new piece of software or how to create lessons using new tools on the internet. I love teaching classes and creating resources for teachers to use at their own convenience. So, where will this all lead? I’m not sure.

Maybe I’ll teach classes at the community college or one of the local universities. I’d love to teach a technology integration class to pre-service teachers! Many of the courses that I have seen in college catalogs still emphasize using Word and PowerPoint, and there’s just so much more that these students need to be familiar with. Maybe these could be taught online. Who knows? It’s something to investigate though.

Delving into a myriad of new software programs and exploring all of the options (many of which are well hidden) has been another part of the job that I’ve enjoyed. I think I’d like to work parttime with a software company as a trainer for those folks who are just learning their product. I’m not sure how to even get started with that though, since most of my contacts are in the education field. Anyone have any ideas or contacts?

Then there’s my background in music to consider. The stereotype little old lady piano teacher doesn’t have a great deal of appeal, but I do love playing the piano, and occasionally the organ. Playing for weddings, funerals, and subbing for churches might bring in a bit of extra income.

Of course, I do plan to relax and de-stress a bit, play with the puppies, quilt, read, explore things on the computer, have lunch with friends, and travel. As a matter of fact, I already have a trip planned for September! That will be the first time in my entire life that I’ve been free to take a vacation in the fall!

I’m really looking forward to this next stage of my life and I am grateful for all that I’ve learned in the past 33 years working in education. Life is a great adventure!

fireworks image: “Harborfest_Fireworks_3″
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sunsurfr/494866647/

The absolute easiest way to add a hyperlink to a Notebook file is to copy the URL from your browser and then paste it into a Notebook page.  It’s also simple to add a hyperlink as a attachment to your file by clicking on the attachments tab, clicking Insert, selecting Insert Hyperlink, and filling in the required information. Either of these methods work great when you want your hyperlink to be easily available while using a Notebook file.

To add a hyperlink to any object, first select the object by clicking on it. Make sure you are in mouse mode (Click on the arrow tool. If you are in text mode, you won’t be able to create a link until you switch to mouse mode.)

Select link from the dropdown menu.

Your options are Web page, Page in this file, File on this computer, and Current attachments. Don’t use the “file on this computer” option unless you’re positive that the Notebook file will never be used on a different computer or on a computer that is not attached to the network server.

You may also select how you want to activate the link.  Selecting Launch by clicking Corner Icon will add a small blue icon to the corner of the object. Selecting Launch by clicking Object will open the link just by clicking on the words or shape. If you later need to edit this object, you can get back to the dropdown menu by right clicking.

I’m often asked to explain this thing called Twitter. After all, CNN is doing it, Oprah is doing it, seems everyone is doing it. Just what is Twitter anyway? It’s simply a website in which you can tell the world what you’re doing at any given moment. If you use Facebook, it’s very similar to the status updates. You set up a free account, fill out your profile, and start entering text. You’re limited to 140 characters per post. 

At first glance, it really does seem a bit silly to post what you’re doing for all the world to read. Twitter asks you to answer a very simple question: “What are you doing?” For most people, the answer would be “Who really cares?” After all, do we really need to know what everyone is having for dinner or what they’re watching on television?

However, Twitter has become almost a mainstream tool in the past several months. Why are so many people signing up for a Twitter account? Why should you consider it?

When you first begin adding your own status updates, it may seem as if you’re “tweeting” to the wind, especially if you have not built up your network. You can type and tweet to your heart’s content, but if nobody is following you, you probably won’t see a lot of use for this tool. So, you’ll want to find some people with common interests to follow, and most likely, they will follow you in return. That’s how you build up your Personal or Professional Learning Network (PLN.)

Go to Twitter4Teachers, select your area of interest, and click on names of people who have something in common with you. Take a look at their Twitter page, and if it looks as if they are posting items of interest to you, click on the Follow button. I’ve been told that you actually need to build up a network of 40-50 people before you begin to see the true benefits of Twitter, but it all depends on the quality of folks you choose to follow and how you choose to use your  network.

Twitter is an awesome source for discovering new resources on the web. Chances are excellent that when something new and interesting is released, someone on Twitter will broadcast it. It has become a tremendous source of professional development for many of us who are using it.

It’s also a great source of quick information. Have a technical question or need some opinions? Tweet it! If your followers are online, someone may just have the perfect solution for you.

Here is a great handbook with lots of ideas for using Twitter in education as well as for tips and tricks for your personal use. I strongly recommend that you check this out if you are interested in learning more about Twitter. There is also a simpler guide written for K-3 Teachers that could easily be adapted by educators at any level.

If you set up an account, be sure to complete your profile with as much information as you’re comfortable with. At the very least, let folks know that you are involved with education.

After you’ve set up your network, you might want to use a third party tool for checking your timeline instead of the Twitter site itself. A couple of the most widely used ones are iTweet and TweetDeck.

Below are a few usernames of Salem folks who you might add to your network, but be sure to expand your network to include people with similar interests throughout the world. That’s when you’ll truly discover the value of Twitter.

elemtech
mthumphrey0
kristynshepherd
southreading1
rieflin
haseibert
scotthabeeb
dewayneharrell

(I’m sure there are others I’m not aware of, so you’d like to be added to the Salem list, please leave a comment. Also, if you go to these pages and notice that it’s been a while since the person has tweeted, that doesn’t mean they’re not using Twitter. They’re probably still checking their timelines to see what useful information they might learn from other users.)

So, you have created a fabulous PowerPoint that you want to share with your students, parents, or perhaps friends and family. You could always send the presentation by email, but what happens if it’s too large to send as an attachment, or what if the recipient does not have PowerPoint installed on his computer? There are several places on the internet that allow you to upload your presentation and then share it with others.

If your presentation is complete and you know you don’t need to do any further tweaking, upload it to Slideshare.net.  After it has been uploaded, you can edit the privacy settings and share it with specific people or make it public. You can even copy the embed code and make it viewable within your own web page or blog. You can also give others the option to download the presentation as a PowerPoint file to their own computer.

Here is a presentation within SlideShare on creating effective presentations:

If you want to continue working on your presentation, or if several people are collaborating on the same presentation, consider uploading it to Google Docs. Set your sharing preferences as desired. You may even want to start from scratch on Google Docs and bypass PowerPoint altogether. There are a few built-in themes, or you can upload your own background.

This year, all teachers in Salem are being asked to have some sort of online presence for posting student assignments and other class information. Many of you already have a web page or blog, and you do an awesome job with these! For those of you who are just getting started, here are a few options:

Salem provides web space for all employees, so this is probably your most reliable option. However, it can also be time consuming to create your own web site. For that reason, we do have some templates available to help you get started. Here’s an example of one that Mrs. Beamer at West recently created. If you would like to start with something cute but easy, let me know and I’ll send you more information.

For more flexibility, but a steeper learning curve, you might want to create your site completely from scratch. Katie Crotts at South has a really cute kindergarten site that you might enjoy looking through.

You can update your web pages from home by using either FrontPage or Expression Web. You can find those directions here.

Other options include creating a blog or a wiki. Edublogs is designed specifically with educators in mind, but the free version does include advertisements. This is a wonderful blog site, and they will remove the ads if you upgrade to an Edublogs Supporter account for $40 a year. With this comes the ability to remove ads for up to 30 additional blogs.

Google’s blog platform, Blogger, is very easy to use. The only issue with this site is the Previous – Next Blog links that show up by default at the top of the page. These literally take you to random blogs, many of which are not appropriate for school use. There is a simple script that can be added to the code to remove these links, so if you want to use Blogger, go ahead and get started. Let me know when you’re set up and I’ll help you get rid of the navigation bar.

Wikis are very simple and quick web pages. There are several options online, but my personal favorite is Wikispaces. If you go to this page, you can apply for an ad free wiki. Our India wiki is a good example, but yours does not need to be this involved.

There are also numerous web sites that provide space for web site creation. I have not used any of these, but if you’re interested, please check them out. Be sure to check for ads and make sure you can live with them if there are any. If you find one you really like, let me know and we’ll find a way to make it work for you!

Weebly

Google Sites

Bloust

Yola

ClassJump

SchoolRack

Hipero

I can’t wait to see what you all come up with!

For all of those folks out there who still think that social media is a fad, take a look at the information in this video! The world is definitely changing!

Have you noticed the new options that show up when you do a Google search? Typically, you search for a term, reach the main Google page, and start clicking. But now you have more information right at your fingertips! First, click on the Show Options link at the top of the search results page.

You’ll notice numerous new options on the left side of the page. Now you can narrow your search by the most recent pages, forums, videos, etc.  Take a look at the Wonder Wheel near the bottom.

When you click here, Google gives you a visual of related links that may help you narrow down your search results. (The actual search links still show up on the right side of the window. If you click on one of the spokes of the wheel, Google will display a new wheel of related topics. Each of the former wheels moves to the bottom of the screen, so you can always return to your original search.

Another interesting option is the Timeline link. Clicking on this option when searching for Salem yields the following results:

So, the next time you’re searching for something in Google, check out all of the options in the left sidebar. Hopefully, these will lead you to your desired results in record time!

If you work in an elementary school, you will love this video created by Karen Rose and her third graders in Melissa, Texas. The video was selected as the winner of a digital storytelling contest this summer at the National Educational Computing Conference.

Listen carefully to the lyrics as you watch. You’ll hear lines such as “Watching videos, hearings audio, yeah, we think they’re ok. But watching out own that we’ve created makes work feel like play!”

Who wouldn’t want to their students to feel this way about their own learning? Enjoy!

My sweet 17 year old puppy went to Doggy Heaven a few weeks ago. On that difficult Saturday, I posted about my heartache on Facebook. As word spread, I was surrounded by virtual hugs for several days afterward from many folks who I have known over the years. In a time of sorrow, I was lifted up by my friends, many of whom had known Sadie. Many of my friends at South Salem even remembered when I brought her to school with me when she was a puppy! My students enjoyed hearing Sadie stories, and she was truly part of my family.

I was reminded of the importance and value of friendship and relationships. My friends from several years past were quick to express concern. A few even went so far as to send me notes and cards in the mail. One of my newer friends called me up and basically insisted that I go for a walk with her and then go out to grab something to eat, even though I was quite resistant at the time. It turned out to have been just what I needed to clear my head.

What does this have to do with technology, the focus of this blog? Nothing…except to remind me and others like me that technology and computers will never replace those face to face friends that we’ve made over the years. We may communicate through Facebook, Twitter, email, etc., but we had a relationship first that just can’t be replicated online.

Face to face friends are golden!

The former music teacher in me emerged when I saw the following videos about the YouTube Symphony. About 3000 musicians from all over the world submitted videos in hopes of being selected for the orchestra. After online voting on YouTube, the result was an orchestra of over 90 classical musicians from 30 countries!

This first video is a mashup of the thousands of videos that were submitted from all over the world.

The orchestra rehearsed together for only three days before performing for sold out audiences at Carnegie Hall in New York City. This video shows highlights from the YouTube Symphony concert. There are interviews with the musicians as well as clips from the concert itself. You can watch the entire concert on YouTube here: Act One | Act Two.

Technology + Music = Amazing!