ISTE Conference

Wow!  Day three of the ISTE Conference, and I have so much to share with you all.  I attended classes on flipping the class, ipads, moodle, cross-curricular projects, global learning, online projects, and web 2.0 tool reviews.  There is so much to learn and see here that it is overwhelming.  I am keeping notes and will be happy to share any information you are interested in.  Look for emails with suggestions for in class implementation in the future.

Leafsnap

Leafsnap is a really neat app that allows you to identify a tree or plant by inputting a picture.  Though it is only partially finished, it will soon expand to cover all plants and trees in the United States.  Cool app to take with you on hiking trips.  How awesome would it be if they created a similar app for all things creepy and crawly?  My kids would love it.  As of now, we carry identification books with us.  Would love to just take my iphone!  leafsnap

dvolver

dvolver is a cute tool that can be used very quickly. The movie created can be emailed or embedded. I have seen this application used for foreign language classes, where they had to create a movie in spanish. Be aware that the backgrounds and characters are a bit more mature, maybe suited towards Juniors and Seniors. Here is a jing I created to show you how easy it is to use dvolver. dvolver

Applications for Foreign Languages

Edgemates: Peer-review says foreign language teachers love this game. The review was rather vague.

World Lens: Translation tool. Can be used for scavenger hunts, hidden word search, study guides and field trips.

Mindsnacks Spanish: Focuses on vocabulary, spelling, grammar, visual learning and context. Has 50 levels of content.

VerbGeek: Spanish- One of the most comprehensive, intuitive and fun ways to learn Spanish ver conjugations on the ipad.

5. MindSnacks Spanish: Features six games designed to build essential Spanish vocabulary, reading, writing, listening and conversation skills.

Applications for English

Shakespeare in Bits- Romeo and Juliet: Allows students to experience the play in various formats with as much support as necessary.

100 SciFi Stories and more: A huge library of world science fiction stories.


Vocab Wiz SAT: Drills students on SAT level vocabulary.

Shakespeare: Complete works of Shakespeare with search functions and glossaries.

Literary Analysis Guide: Good for higher level students. Wheels for poetry, prose, and rhetoric.
The Elements of Style: Classic text by Strunk and White in an app.

Grammar: Basic rules of grammar are reviewed and practiced. Initial assessment and tutorials available.

Jacaranda Plus: HTML based ebooks with multimedia resources.

This I Believe: This application puts the beliefs collected in NPR’s vast essay collection into the hands of people so they can take them and be inspired wherever they go.

10. Miss Spell’s Class: An original word game that lets players test their spelling skills against the most commonly misspelled words on Dictionary.com.

Applications for Math

K12 Algebra 1 Study and Review: A well developed review application. Includes fundamentals, equations and inequalities, linear graphs and systems, polynomials, rationals and radicals, quadratics and functions.

Combine 4: app tests user’s knowledge and ability to use the basic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to combine 4 numbers in a way to equal 24. It’s all Greek to me.

Math Equation Solver: It does what it says, it solves equations.

Polar Sweep: Reinforces relationships between rectangular coordinates, polar coordinates, and basic trigonometry.

fxintegrator: evaluates area under the curve for 1d equations.

OmniGraphSketcher: creates beautiful graphs and exports as pdf, vga out.

PCalc RPN: calculator.

8. PocketCAS: Scientific calculator and function plotter.

Geometry Stash: Theorems, postulates, and corollaries for geometry.

10. Calc XT: Calculator with side note pad.

Applications for Science

Science teachers rejoice! Not only do you get to perform fun labs, you also have more application choices than any other major.


Rat Dissection: from Punflay. Teaches students to virtually dissect a rat. It has written directions to explore internal organs.

Strange and wonderful world of ants: App has three reading levels. Shows how ants co-operate, create and communicate with each other.

A Life Cycle: Good for 9th grade. Walks user through 10 different biological life cycles.

Frog Dissection: Just like the rats, only this time, with frogs.

Periodic Table of the Elements: I think you can figure out what this is.

Physics 101 SE jr: This app is a calculator to help you solve for any unknkown in various physics equations. It also explains each equation.

Planetarium 1.1: App has been updated to include improved graphics and visual effects. Varied reviews.

SpaceTime: powerful graphing calculator with beautiful 3d graphs.

iLab: Timer: Included up to 10 timers which can operate simultaneously, large display for classroom use.

10, Vernier Physics: Works on any video (IOS4 only =iPad in November) Camera on iphone and Touch can capture and digitise the video. Make the graph from the video. Export to Logger Pro.

measureHD: Includes ruler, protractor, two levels and a plumb.

SparkVue: Uses onboard accelerometer for acceleration graphs, interfaces with Pasco airlink and lab probes.

Worlfrom Alpha: Uses Wolfram Alpha search engine to find data and solve math, calculus, chemistry, physics and other science problems.

EMD PTE: Periodic Table with tons of information, trends and photos included.

Star Walk: Interactive personal planetarium.

G: Gravitation simulator, adjust velocity, mass, distance of object and view their paths.

Vanished: an eight week online/offline environmental disaster mystery game. Developed by Smithsonian Institute and MIT.

18. Sun Seeker: 3D Augmented Reality Viewer: Provides a flat view compass and an augmented reality camera 3-D view showing the solar path, its hour intervals, its winter and summer solstice paths, rise and set times and more.

Applications for History Teachers

The National Archives ipad App: Authentic primary documents from the National Archives. Free app.

President’s Quiz: Quiz yourself on the Presidents of the United States.

Constitution: Doesn’t have rave reviews because there is no search feature, but good for finding info on the Constitution.

My Congress: News, video and twitter feed of congress.

World Book This Day in History: Interactive calendar of each day in history.

World Fact Book: 2010 world facts.

NPR for ipad: I think you can figure this out.

AP news for ipad: Breaking news.

Reuters News Pro: News and market data.

Skygrid: Web news and events.

iPad Applications for collaboration

Hello Colleagues:
Due to the fact that we will soon be receiving ipad carts, and also to the fact that Mr. Venuto expects us to use these carts, I decided to do a little ipad research. I separated them according to class, but this first ipad post is applications that any teacher can use. I added a brief description of each app. I borrowed from a number of websites, and will continue to update as new apps come out. Please feel free to comment or add any applications that you have successfully used!


Replay Note: Replay note is an app that allows you to do screencasts. Similar to jing, you can capture what you are doing on screen. You can use text, pictures, and even record your voice. It can be exported directly to youtube.com.

Polldaddy: PollDaddy is an app that allows students or teachers to conduct surveys. This could be used in any number of classes. Data can be used to create bar graphs. It can also be used without wifi access. Students could use this app on their ipod touches, survey people outside of school, and create graphs upon returning to a wifi enabled area.

MindBlowing: Allows students to type in an idea or concept, and gather information related to this topic through self-made videos, pictures, and pictures. Information is organized as a concept map and can be emailed to an instructor.

Dragon Dictation, ShouthOut: Both are speech to text applications. Students can speak into the ipad, and text will be created. Students must enunciate well in order for them to work. Shoutout is tied in to social networking sites.

iPhone Baldi, Speak it: Both are text to speech applications. I am including them in the general apps section, though it really would fall under special education. Good for students who are hard of hearing, or autistic. Could also be used with English language learners. This app will read websites for you.

Text Expander, Typ-o: Both are text completion apps. They allow you to type abbreviations that will be expanded to words for faster type speeds.

Pages Epub Format: Pages new format will allow you to create a book with embedded graphics, hyperlinks, and video. Students can create an ebook in a short amount of time. Teachers could also create learning books for units which could be shared with classes.

Outliner for ipad: Allows students to quickly create outlines for reports or projects.

eClicker: eClicker turns your ipads into personal response systems. Teachers can poll students for understanding. Similar to polldaddy or polleverywhere.

Whiteboard Pro: Whiteboard Pro is a collaborative drawing application. Offers real time collaboration for brainstorming or collaborative drawing.

Magic Piano: Apropos of nothing, but really cool. Free app that turns the ipad into a piano.

Depict: Pictionary for the ipad. Fun for a rainy day?

gFlash: Good for drilling vocabulary or math facts.

Quiki: A “quiki” is a short, interactive story: a drastically improved information experience provided by interactive video.

Doink: Great features to draw flipbook animation sequences and move them along a path. Easy timeline, editing, and exporting features.

Animation Studio: Draw frame by frame images to create short animations.

Flipboom Lite: Same as the last two.

Brushes: Excellent drawing tool with multiple brushes, layers, VGA out, image importing etc. Used to make several New Yorker covers.

Image Pro: Google image search narrowed by subject, size,, filters, type.

Writer’s Studio: Create your own talking storybooks. Import images or draw your own, add text and record narration.

Lifecards: Create your own postcards with multiple images and text.

ReelDirector: Splice, add text, audio and transitions, upload videos to youtube from app or save to photos.

Photospeak: Use a portrait or draw your own and have this app animate it with your recorded voice.

Sonic Pics: Get photos from your camera, add voiceover and send to youtube or your computer.

QuickOffice Connect: Access, create and edit Office docs and spreadsheets. Connect using google docs, dropbox, and other.

Evernote: Share clips, notes, webpages, docs.
iBrainstorm: a free brainstorming app for the ipad. The app allows you to record brainstoming sessions using a combination of free hand drawings and sticky notes. You can share and collaborate with other users of ibrainstorm. Sharing notes and drawings between users is as simple as flicking an item to another user.

made on Wondersay - Animate text with style

Tagul.com

Below is an example from tagul.com.  It is similar to wordle and tagxedo.  Of all three applications, I prefer tagxedo because you have more control over the final product.  This particular word cloud was made from a copy and paste of Grateful Dead songs.  I found that there were too few shapes and options with this tool.  Once my students finish their tagxedos, I will upload so that you can see the difference.

Tagul.com

Lingro

Lingro.com is a really cool site.  If you are assigning a difficult or high level reading online, have the students go to lingro.com, then type in the website.  Lingro will transform the website into a live dictionary.  Every word can be clicked on for dictionary.  Lingro would also work for foreign language teachers as it can be used in multiple languages. Lingro

Lingro Jing

Tagxedo, Wordle

Ok, I found a great article on using wordle or tagxedo effectively in a classroom.  Which site is better?  Tagxedo has more bells and whistles, but it requires some installation.  In our school, only an administrator can download onto the computers.  Therefore, I either need some help, or I can use wordle.  Either one is a site for creating word clouds.  Basically, you import text, choose a shape, and presto!  You have a visual representation of your text, with the most frequent text appearing as both the largest and the darkest words. How can we use these sites to their fullest advantage?  Blogger Ben Rimes highlights three ways to go beyond a simple representation in his article.

1.  Math:  Use the word cloud to input data about frequency and probability.  Instead of the same old boring bar chart, have students put the data right into wordle or tagxedo, and see visually what word occurs most frequently.

2. English:  Have students copy and paste writing into wordle.  By using this, they can see what words they are using too often.  After seeing the frequency of words in their essay, they can substitute more colorful words in their stead.

3.  History:  Rimes used wordle to create a visual representation of United States elections.  He pasted inaugural speeches from various presidents to see what issues were affecting society at the time.

These are just a few ideas Rimes created to get beyond the "fluff" uses for web 2.0 tools.  If anyone has any more ideas, feel free to post them here!

glogster.com

Hey!  Check out the glog!  I love this site.  There are all kinds of things you can do with a glog.  Teachers can get an educational account for free, and you can add up to 50 students.  I think this could be used for a variety of assignments.  It would be a neat way to present researched information, analyze character,  introduce oneself, or show a symbolic representation of almost anything.  Unlike some other sites, glogster has an easy interface.  Check out my jing: Glogster Jing.  Enjoy!

Glogster

imovie

I am sure that at this point, most of us are pretty well versed in imovie.  However, for those of us who aren't, I thought I would give some helpful hints.  In imovie, it is all about the wheel.  Basically, you click on file, and new project.  At this point, a drop down menu will appear asking you to choose a theme.   You may choose one, or you may go themeless.  Now you add your visual media.  You will be unable to use the microphone unless you put the photos in first.  You can also add film, or you can film yourself.  It is easier for me to show you than it is for me to tell you, so I will create a few jings for you.  If you choose a theme, imovie will add transitions and text boxes for you.  Let's get back to the wheel:  on each piece of media (sound, text, picture) there is a wheel (must hover to find it).  The wheel controls the media.  Click it, and you can adjust the time, clip, sound etc.  Creating an imovie takes a bit of time.  I would recommend at least three blocks for a project.  I don't know how to save our imovies to the school number.  I know it can be done, and hopefully one of you will help me out with this one.
Getting Started
Editing
Saving

Jing.com

Ok, so Jing is this really great website that I will be using often.  You know those great little movies you see, the ones  which show what someone is doing on their computer?  That is a jing.  If you go to jing, you can download the software, and be on your way to easily and quickly clarifying any computer problems your students may have.  You can't access jing by going to jing.com, you have to search it and then click on the link.  It also won't allow me to add a link for you.  Just search it, download the little sun, and you can capture anything you want.  I just discovered jing last week, but I plan to capture whatever I want the students to do when we have the computers, and put the link on my school web page.

Edmodo

Edmodo.com functions as an educational facebook.  The layout is quite nice, and the students seemed to enjoy it.  My Seniors did fairly well with the assignment.  I used it to post questions, and the students had to answer them, but also respond to what others had written.  If you would like to view how I used it, click here: Edmodo jing.  My Sophomores had a bit more difficulty in using this.  They tend to repeat the same answer rather than responding to the question in addition to the previous posts.  This is fairly typical for my Sophomore class.  Nothing really works with my Sophomore class.  If anyone can think of anything that works with Sophomores, please let me know.

Epals

My name is Danielle.  I am an epals addict.  The first step to recovery is admitting your addiction, right?  I admit it, I am addicted.  I started using epals last year.  By far, it is the most fun I have had in a classroom.  I am currently working with students and teachers from Uruguay, Denmark, Ghana, Romania, Ukraine, France, Britain, Spain, China, and Thailand.  We do a variety of projects, depending on grade level.  With my Juniors, we did the epals project, The Way We Are.  It is an exploration of culture and lifestyles between countries.  The students end with an imovie exploring the similarities and differences between the cultures.  My Seniors are exploring personal philosophies and belief systems this semester.  We have been learning existential philosophies, as well as Buddhism and Ancient Greek ideologies.  Their goal has been to learn how culture has shaped their epal's identity.   My Sophomores are learning about education in their epal's countries, including the different courses and curriculums.  Last semester, we also worked with a class from a rural town in Wisconsin.  We read common short stories, and then we used edmodo.com and todaysmeet.com to discuss our readings.   I  have some of our letters from our epals highlighted on my school website, .  Overall, I would say epals has been overwhelmingly popular for my students.  The are eager to correspond, and they check their accounts frequently outside of class time.  It is a safe venue because the teacher needs to approve both incoming and outgoing emails.  There is a considerable amount of work initially, mostly in setting up student accounts and finding cooperating classrooms. I think you will find that, like me, epals is as addicting as potato chips.  When I see all of the possibilities for working with global partners, I can't seem to stop.  I created a jing to help those of you who would like more information about the site.  Click here: epals jing.  

Rationale

Hello fellow teachers!

I am starting this blog to share information from my graduate classes in instructional technology.  I thought it might be a good way to share what I have learned and used in class, and also a place where others can comment on their experiences integrating technology into classroom curriculum.  I realize that a wiki would probably be a better venue, but as I have just begun my graduate studies, I am not proficient as of yet.  Please feel free to comment or add to any information here.   I hope this helps.

Danielle