iLearn Technology

The following was posted on tecnoTIC, an education blog in Spain that does similar things to iLearn Technology.  (This was originally in Spanish and was translated with Google Translate.)  Raul (the creator of tecnoTIC) found my blog and made the suggestion to link them because of their similar nature.  After spending some time on his blog, I was hooked.  The cyberfriendship grew and we began exchanging ideas, linking two cultures through technology.  It has been a great experience!

A year ago I proposed to Kelly Tenkely, the creator of iLearn Technology can unite our blogs in order to symbolically link the two publications driven by common objectives if, as the twinning of cities, but in this case blogs. To seal the twinning did in his time a banner exchange so that we are bound, you may see a banner on its Web tecnoTIC Colorado USA and one in tecnoTIC iLearn Technology (who is from Spain but also stay in USA server) so that readers can access and mine tecnoTIC to iLearn Technology. With the passage of time can say that besides this “banner exchange” has created a good thread of communication between tecnoTIC iLearn Technology and exchanging views, experiences, news, etc., which have contributed somewhat to our growing blogs.

I asked him this morning to Kelly the possibility of writing this brief post on our blogs twinning and the answer was “definitely do that, I think it is a great idea!”.

Original: “Hace ya un año que le propuse a Kelly Tenkely , la creadora de iLearn Technology la posibilidad de hermanar nuestros blogs con el fin de unir simbólicamente ambas publicaciones movidas por objetivos comunes, si, como los hermanamientos de ciudades, pero en este caso de blogs. Para sellar el hermanamiento realizamos en su momento un intercambio de banners de tal manera que estamos enlazados, es posible ver un banner de tecnoTIC en su página de Colorado USA y otro de iLearn Technology en tecnoTIC (que aunque se hace desde España también está alojado en un servidor de USA), de manera que sus lectores pueden acceder a tecnoTIC y los míos a iLearn Technology. Con el paso del tiempo se puede decir que además de ese “intercambio de banners” se ha creado un buen hilo de comunicación entre iLearn Technology y tecnoTIC, intercambiando impresiones, experiencias, noticias, etc, que han contribuido en cierto modo al crecimiento de nuestros blogs.

Le consulté esta mañana a Kelly la posiblidad de escribir este breve post sobre el hermanamiento de nuestros blogs y la respuesta fue “definitely do that, I think it is a great idea!”.”

What it is: eduperience is an easy blogging tool for students and teachers based on the Wordpress platform.  “Start a blog in seconds with unlimited storage, bandwidth, premium themes and plugins.  It is too easy to publish Your academic calendar, newsletter, video, podcast, and photo.”  You can choose to use an eduperience sub domain or your own domain hosting.  Automated weekly and monthly backup of your blogs ensures safety.  You can choose to earn up to 90% revenue on advertisements shown on your blog.  eduperience is a great blogging platform for both students and teachers.

How to integrate eduperience into the classroom: eduperience is an easy way for you to get a classroom blog up and running.  Use a classroom blog to post current assignments, class discussions, calendars, links to other websites relevant to classroom learning, and notes to your students.  Students can use blogs as writing journals, an online portfolio of written work, or to collaborate with other students.  Students tend to write more and with higher quality in an online environment.  This is due in part to a greater sense of audience.  Students know that teachers, students, and parents may be reading their writing.  Blogs are also a great addition to the science classroom where students can reflect on experiments and labs.

Tips: eduperience offers outstanding 24/7 support.  This makes it simple to get started with blogging, even if you haven never done it before!

Related Resources: think.com, Live Binders, edWeb 2.0, Weebly, Word Press, Blogger,

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using eduperience in your classroom.

What it is: I first blogged about Smilebox September of 2008.  Smilebox is offering a free 1 year subscription to educators!  Smilebox is a fun, easy way to send photos, videos, and information to students and parents securely.  Smilebox lets you create very impressive looking multimedia presentations quickly and easily.  The free subscription (a $39.99 value) gives you unlimited access to more than 900 Smilebox designs and lets you choose from thousands of music options (or upload your own).  Finished Smilebox creations can be emailed, blogged, printed, burned to a DVD, or saved as jpeg images.

How to integrate Smilebox (Teacher Box) into the classroom: Smilebox is a great way for you to communicate with parents.  Smilebox is perfect for newsletters, overviews of teaching units, performance and field trip recaps, classroom activities, school memory books, and more.  Smilebox will make you look like a superstar, the results are SO impressive!

Tips: Be sure to sign up for Smile Box (Teacher Box) today, space in this program is limited!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Smilebox in your classroom.

We had a renewal inservice today that was OUTSTANDING!!!  Professor Sid Buzzel was our teacher today, I have written about and linked to his teaching in the past.  His topic today was: the most important qualification for a teacher.  I wrote a blog post about it over at my other blog, Confident Teacher.

 What it is:  Our PE teacher just started a blog of her own!  The blog is called Bestest PE Teacher, her hope is that it will be a place to start a conversation with teachers, students, and parents about physical education in schools, reminisce about PE memories, and advice for parents and students. 

How to integrate Bestest PE into the classroom:   This blog will be a great place to converse about physical education in schools.  Pass this blog on to the PE teacher at your school and join in the conversation to encourage this new edublogger!  

Tips:  If you are wondering where the name Bestest PE came from, the kids call our PE teacher “Bestest PE Teacher in the Whole Wide World”… I tend to agree she is the bestest!  

Do you follow any other PE blogs?  Share them here so I can pass them along!

I have embarked on a new adventure with two other educators and bloggers in the form of a collaborative blog.  The blog is called the Confident Teacher and will be updated and maintained by myself, Mr. Bibo (Cal Teacher Blog), and Mr. Harmless (Harmless Thoughts).  This blog will be more of a discussion of education, teaching, learning, and life.  I encourage you to join us on this new adventure and jump into the conversation!  See you all there!  (My first post is called The Greatest Teacher)

What it is:  Picasa is a free download from Google that helps you organize, edit, share, and create using photos.  The edit feature allows you to fix red-eye, crop, and fix any blemishes or scratches.  Picasa lets students create turning photos into movies, collages, and slideshows.  Picasa also makes it easy to upload albums to the web to share.  Picasa has been around for a while as a Google tool but the big news this week is the release of the beta version of Picasa for Macs.  The neat thing about the Mac Picasa release is its integration with iPhoto.  The features are pretty neat and definitely worth a look for either platform but with the announcement of iPhoto ‘09 yesterday, they aren’t as impressive.  HOWEVER, Picasa is completely free while iPhoto ‘09 is not.

How to integrate Picasa into the classroom:  Picasa  is a great way to organize photos you are taking of your classroom in action.  Create a web album, parents always like to see the great things their kids are learning.  Students can use Picasa to organize images they find online or pictures they take on a field trip.  These pictures can then be used to create a movie, collage, or slideshow directly in the Picasa software.  Students could create a class story in pictures, create a movie out of it and share it with other grades.  Students can also collect historical images, scientific images, etc and easily create a movie or slideshow displaying their knowledge.  

Tips:  Picasa is available for Macs in beta version and Windows and Linux based in alpha.  

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Picasa in your classroom.

What it is:  I remember being forced to pay attention to current events when I was in high school for class assignments.  I know that my teachers were trying to get me to pay attention to what was happening in the world; but, to be perfectly honest, I hated watching an hour of news.  My mind would wander and local news left a lot to be desired (why did I care about the dog who dialed 911 for its owner?).  The Week in Rap brings students current events on their level in a fun and entertaining way.  Every Friday a weeks worth of news is posted in video form.  The entertaining piece comes in the way that the recap of the weeks headlines is presented, in the form of a rap.  The videos will hold your students attention while they keep up to date with what is happening in the world.  The lyrics for each rap are posted below the video.  This free website was created by Flocabulary which makes rap videos about a number of subjects.

How to integrate The Week in Rap into the classroom:   The Week in Rap is a good way for your students to get involved with current events.  Use the videos as a launching point for further discussion, a beginning point for research, or have students write a blog post in response to the video.  Students can read more about each story mentioned in the weeks rap by clicking on the link for the news story in the lyrics.  The few that I clicked on brought me to PBS.  

Tips:  Since current events are posted every Friday, this site might make a good end of the week fun activity.  

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using The Week in Rap in your classroom.

What it is:  Kids’ Science Challenge is a nationwide competition for 3rd- 6th graders to submit experiment ideas and problems for real scientists and engineers to solve.  Teachers or after school science programs can enter their classes for this contest that will inspire students to find the fun in science.  The deadline for entry is January 31st, 2009 so get this one in before the holiday break!  The grand prize winner will win a visit with the scientist or engineer to work with them to solve the question or problem proposed, along with possible appearances in Kids’ Science Challenge videos and Pulse of the Planet radio programs.  Other prizes include: a tour of the flavor lab, Ben and Jerry’s ice cream party, science kits, Kids’ Science Encyclopedia and Science books, visit to the SETI institute, telescope, personal planetariums, celestial seeker, a visit to a skateboard engineering workshop, a visit to your school from a pro-skater, a week at camp Woodyard, a skateboard, a physics workshop, a research cruise, kayak, handheld digital microscope, and more!  If that isn’t incentive to give it a try, I don’t know what is!  The first 1000 entrants get a free science activity kit.  The Kids’ Science Challenge website is a great place to explore even if you won’t be able to participate in the challenge.  Students are introduced to real scientists through video, can play science games, and find additional activities including downloadable science projects.  

How to integrate Kids’ Science Challenge into the classroom:  Invite your students to explore the Kids’ Science Challenge website and then journal some original questions, problems, or experiment ideas that are related to one of the four fields of science including flavor science, water quality, skateboard engineering, and the search for life in outer space.  This is a great opportunity to use technology creatively to present the questions and problems that students have and want solved.  Think blogs, websites, video, or podcast.  

Tips:  Be sure to check out the great lesson plans for the k-12 classroom to use for each of the scientific fields explored on this site.  The lesson plans are aligned to National Science Education Standards.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Kids’ Science Challenge in your classroom.

What it is:   Voice Thread is an amazing site that just keeps getting better!  Voice Thread is the site that makes outstanding web 2.0 slide shows interactive and collaborative.  You can read my original posts about Voice Thread here.  Voice Thread came out with an outstanding new update yesterday, the ability to take your Voice Thread’s with you via an iPod!!!  Whenever you export a Voice Thread, you now have the option to download a full sized, high resolution movie version or one that has been formatted to go directly onto you iPod, or iPhone- how sweet is that?!  Additional new features include the ability to clone your Voice Thread so that you can have a backup copy or a copy of the same Thread to use with different audiences.  Voice Thread now supports Microsoft Office 2007 formats when uploading into your Voice Threads with Microsoft Photo Story 3 video supporting coming.  

How to integrate the Voice Thread Updates into the classroom:  So, why am I so excited about the new Voice Thread features?  The ability to save a Voice Thread onto an iPod or iPhone opens up a whole new realm of possibilities in the classroom.  Now you can create learning activities with Voice Thread that are portable for your students.  You can extend your students learning day with a Voice Thread based on your curriculum and the students needs using an iPod.  Math explinations,  sight words, phonics, and read alongs can all be created with Voice Thread and uploaded onto the iPod.  Create a reading buddies program with pictures and sound using Voice Thread.  To find out more about the Reading Buddies program click here.

Tips:   If you haven’t used Voice Thread in your classroom yet, now is the perfect time to sign up for a free account and start!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Voice Thread in your classroom.