Class Blogs: Blogging, virtual classroom, LMS, and more!

What it is: Class Blogs is a fabulous new way for you to easily create and manage FREE classroom blogs!  What makes Class Blogs so wonderful are all the extras that are built in.  For example, with Class Blogs you can create a virtual classroom space.  With just a few simple steps, you can create an online meeting space for your students to learn and discuss in.  Blogs can be used to post assignments; when you post an assignment to your teacher blog, students can submit the assignment and a pingback will be sent to your blog.  Class Blogs even has features that utilize SMS so that you can send a text message to students and the ability to host lesson plans complete with supporting resources!  Class blogs really offers more than just a blogging platform, it offers many Learning Management System (LMS) solutions making it a great all-in-one tool!  Here are just a few of the ways you can use Class Blogs:

  • Class Blogs – Teachers and students can create blogs to help facilitate classroom learning or the blog can be an extension of the classroom conversation.
  • Learning Logs – Learning logs are sites created by teachers for the purpose of creating online assignments for students. Students can then answer the questions and submit the assignments once they are completed.
  • Learning Management System (LMS) – Teachers can create a blog and use it as a learning management system. Teachers can post online courses and students can submit their assignments (through blog posts) for the course online as well. These assignments can be viewed by the instructor, the instructor can submit feedback, and the instructor can grade the student’s assignment online. Both the teacher and his/her students must have blogs in order to create a successful LMS.
  • Electronic Portfolio (E-Portfolio) – An e-portfolio is a valuable learning and assessment tool which includes but is not limited to a collection of resources and accomplishments that represent the individual. Moreover, it is the author’s personal reflection on the work included in the e-portfolio that creates a meaningful learning experience.
  • Web Conferencing/Virtual Classroom – Teachers/professors have the ability to create meeting rooms or virtual classrooms from the backend of their site. You can upload your presentations, chat with students, public/private chat, webcam, and even share your desktop.

How to integrate Class Blogs into the classroom: Class Blogs has features that make it wonderfully useful for any classroom.  Blogging gives your students a place to write where they have an authentic audience.  An audience of one (the teacher) is SO 1995.  To limit your students to that audience is a disservice.  I find that when my students write in blog form, the enthusiasm to write increases, the richness of language increases, and the ideas are communicated clearly.  Obviously that is a bit of a generalization, I have also had students who don’t want to post for an audience, it makes them nervous to reveal themselves to their classmates in that way.  I let those students blog about topics they are “experts” on as they are building confidence in their learning process.   Students can blog to reflect on learning; write creatively; write as if they were a historical character, famous inventor, or a favorite literary figure; to chronicle learning (e-portfolio style); or to invite others on a journey of inquiry with them.

Using this type of social media in the classroom is important. It helps students learn digital citizenship, Internet safety, and netiquette in an authentic environment that goes beyond the rules and actually lets them practice it.

The additional features of Class Blog make it the perfect place to organize your classroom.  Post assignments in Class Blogs as a learning log, as students respond, your original post will get a pingback making it easy to track students progress. Class Blog also makes it easy to extend learning beyond the four walls of your classroom using the virtual classroom features.  Create meeting rooms to extend classroom discussions, offer additional learning support, or as a place to prepare students for learning.  Class Blogs makes it easy to include podcasts, videos, webcams, private chat areas, desktop sharing in your virtual classroom.

Tips: Class Blogs does not have an age requirement, this means that it is available to k-12 (and beyond) education.  Registration does require an email address.  If your students do not have email addresses, you can create accounts on their behalf.  With Class Blogs you can create unlimited class and student blogs, unlimited free classes/courses, and unlimited free virtual classrooms.  Be sure to check out the feature page for a comprehensive list of the awesome features on Class Blogs, you won’t believe what all is included!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using the Class Blogs in your classroom!

 

Magnoto: Online blog, photo, video, creation space

What it is: Magnoto reminds me of a mashup of a Tumblr blog, Wallwisher, Glogster, and Stixy.  Essentially Magnoto gives you a “magnetic” display where you can post and share text, audio, video, and pictures.  My favorite feature of Magnoto: content can be added to the page via email.  You can set up your Magnoto so that anything you send to your special Magnoto email address, automatically gets uploaded and placed on your online page.  With a few minutes of setup when you create your account, you can create an online space that is updated from your email. This is great for teachers who aren’t as comfortable with technology or don’t have the time to manage an online space.  I find the Magnoto online interface to be a little bit cumbersome (I expected everything to be drag and drop onto the page but it is much more “analogue” and you have to click “place on page” from the preview. Certainly not difficult but also not as clean as I would like…guess I’m spoiled!)  On the upside, Magnoto provides a lot of room for customization in frames around the pictures (click on the “M” on the picture), “magnets”, and the ability to free drag items anywhere on the screen.  The online page can be easily shared with a unique url that you choose, and updated on the fly.  Magnoto also has the benefit of allowing up to 4 users to contribute to and create one online space.

How to integrate Magnoto into the classroom: For students with an email address, Magnoto can be used to create a flexible online space where students can create virtual posters, brainstorming boards, virtual project portfolios, and share learning with others.  Students can work together on the same Magnoto space for group projects.

Teachers can use Magnoto to create a quick class homepage for students and parents to access.  Because Magnoto is so easy to update via email, it makes for a really fast build with impressive results.  Update daily with links, assignments, and resources for your students; pictures you snapped of learning; or to reference class information.  Create a new Magnoto page for every subject, semester, or special project.  Invite a few parents to join as users of your account and encourage those room moms (or dads) to email pictures they snap of class parties, field trips, or special events on the class Magnoto board- the pictures can be emailed to the special Magnoto address and will be instantly uploaded.  Pretty cool!  Magnoto would make for a great online weekly newsletter space. Parent’s will always be in the loop for classroom happenings and everything will be easy to access in one place.

Because you can add up to 4 collaborators, Magnoto would be a good space for grade level teams to collect and share resources for students.  This keeps all of you from having to create and update a separate page; instead, you can all upload and share from the same space.  Again, the email feature is really nice for this type of use!

To change your account settings to allow emailed content to be directly uploaded:

1. Click on the “Page Admin” tab on the right side of the screen.

2. Click on “Options”

3. Choose either “Classic” or “Floating” options

4. Click “Publish New Entries” via email at once

Tips: Magnoto is in Beta, I found that it works better in Firefox and Chrome than in Safari.  Don’t forget that students can use a @tempinbox.com account or @mailinator.com account for sign up if they don’t want to use a personal email address.  No email confirmation is necessary to begin using Magnoto.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Magnoto in your classroom!

Science Fix: Video demos and experiments

What it is: Science Fix is a fantastic video blog that I learned about from my friend and PLN colleague Kyle Pace. The videos are all recorded science experiments and demos from middle school science teacher Darren Fix.  The majority of the videos are chemistry related but there is also some good physics videos in there as well.  The videos are hosted on YouTube so if you don’t have access, you may have to use one of those tricky ways to download and save from home. (See Tips below for ways to do that.)

How to integrate Science Fix into the classroom: Science Fix is a great place to find demos and science experiment videos to share with your students. These videos will help your students better visualize and understand the concepts that they are learning in your class.  We don’t all have robust resource budgets, sometimes we have to pick and choose what we will be able to demo for our class live. These videos are a big help in bringing those experiments to our classrooms when budgets don’t allow us to do it live.  There are great descriptions and additional links and resources along with each video.

Tips: For those of you who don’t have access to YouTube in your building, you can still use these awesome videos in your classrooms with a little bit of pre-planning.  Download and save YouTube videos so that you can show them at school without accessing the YouTube site. UseKeepVidYouTube DownloaderHDKick YouTubeSaveVid, or Zamzar.  Some of these tools will even let you download at school if you know the YouTube url.  The downloaded video should have no trouble playing at school!

You can follow ScienceFix on Twitter here.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Science Fix in your classroom!

Just Doodling: Making Math Relevant for Students

What it is: This has got to be one of my new favorite videos on YouTube.  I ran across this video and tweeted about it a few weeks ago, but felt that it deserved a blog post.  Doodling Stars (above) is a stream of conscious video about doodling in math class instead of  learning about factoring.  As the video unfolds, you quickly realize that she has learned all about factoring through her doodles.  I would have connected in some major ways to this video when I was in school (maybe that is why I like it so much now), it would have given me that “wait that was math?” moment.  Doodling Stars is a video by Vi Hart who has a blog where she has other great math videos.  Her other videos include: Binary Trees, Snakes + Graphs, Infinity Elephants, and sick number games. Explore the blog a little further and you learn that ViHart is serious about her math.  In addition to videos she has mathematical foods, ways to play with balloons as mathematical models, paper instruments (relating music to math), music boxes, bead work, and a variety of other math/music resources.  Vi describes herself as a mathemusician, dig into her blog and you will know why!

How to integrate Doodling Videos into the classroom: Math shouldn’t be a subject confined to a textbook, seen only in terms of equations and functions.  I think I was in college before I figured out that math was all around me.  I had truly never made the connection to the formulas I was learning and their applications in real life.  Oh sure, there were the “If you left Denver at 1:05 pm driving an average speed of 63.2 miles per hour and arrived at another point 12 hours later how many miles have you traveled?” But really? That is not real world…I have NEVER calculated any sort of trip that way, and anyway, now there is an app that will give me all of that information if I really want to know.  If someone had told me that math was in my doodles, in the music I listened to, in patterns of nature?  Now that is something I want to explore more.  I’m sure you have students who have never made the connections between the formulas they are learning and the applications that are all around them.  These videos will have them visualizing math in a whole new way.  Dig a little deeper into Vi’s blog and share her math foods, balloons, and paper instruments.  See if your students don’t start viewing math differently!  Use Vi’s blog as inspiration for your next math lesson.  Use the videos to help introduce or reinforce concepts, or have students complete balloon math models.

Tips: If you can’t access YouTube at school, use a tool like Kick YouTube or Keepvid to download the video for offline viewing.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Doodling in Math Class Videos in your classroom.

Taking over the Internet one blog/website/social network at a time

Did you know that I am other places around these interwebs other than iLearn Technology?  It’s true!  Sometimes I have to remind myself that not all of my readers have been with me since 2007 hanging on my every word (I know, I’m shocked too) and may need a refresher from time to time on where else they can find me.

I used to be a computer teacher and technology integration specialist. These days I am still working in education as a consultant, offering PD, writing, and working on starting a school.  When I was a computer teacher, I taught elementary and made this website for my students.  It is separated by grade and subject and has my very favorite websites (at the time- I haven’t updated it recently) on it.  These are what I used most often with my students and needed fast access to.  I bet you will find some fun websites you can use with your students, or pass it along to your students knowing that everything they find there will be a safe place for them to be.

Tenkely.org

I write another education blog that is a collection of my dreams for what I want education to be. It is called Dreams of Education, not as many followers there but great conversations!

I freelance write for The Apple on occasion about a variety of topics, usually technology, always education.

I keep a blog where I record great stories of learning, it is called Stories of Learning (imagine that!)

I keep a blog all about iDevices (iPods, iPads, iPhone) apps and their uses in education it is called iPad Curriculum.

I have a Facebook fan page for iLearn Technology.

I write with other incredible bloggers on Cooperative Catalyst and Confident Teacher.

I am an Apple fanatic and have written two magazines about using Apple products in education. (I wish I had time to do some more of these!)

I am on Linked In here (I’m not very active there but check in on occasion when I remember to).

I am on Twitter here (I am good about checking in here).

I have created a few websites that I used with my students but will share with you including:

Typing

Internet Safety for Parents

iVerb Project

Web 2.0 Advent Calendar

(I’m pretty sure I have more of these floating around but this is what comes to mind at the moment- I tend to make a website for EVERY project I have going at any given time :))

I do keep social bookmarks but use a platform that doesn’t seem to be free to use any more (except for me?) Simply Box.

When in doubt, search ktenkely it is the name I use everywhere on the interwebs.

A few tips and tricks for iLearn Technology- if you are searching for ANYTHING type in the keywords into my search box…9 out of 10 you will find something great!  Don’t know exactly what you are looking for? Do a multiple category search (find it to the right of this post in the sidebar).  Select items from as many of the drop downs as you would like and click “search” Every post or tool that matches that criteria will come up.  I sort posts according to Blooms Taxonomy level, grade level, subject, and resource type.  Go ahead and give it a try, I know you will find something you can use!

iLearn Technology has a store- in it I sell lesson plans, flipcharts (for use on the Promethean), and my Bloom’s Taxonomy images (Peacock, Umbrella, Tree, and Pin wheel). They are all $.99/ download.  I use this money to keep my blogs and websites going.  I add to my store occasionally so check back every once in a while for some new finds.

I am a Promethean certified trainer (although it has been 6 month since I have done a training!) I keep my Promethean resources here.

I hope in all of these resources you find something that is helpful for you!

28 Tech Tools to Bring out the Story in History

Below is an article I wrote for theapple.com.  For the full article complete with links, please visit the original article.

Kelly Tenkely | TheApple

When I was in school, I dreaded history.  I found it completely uninteresting, dry, irrelevant, and quite frankly…boring.  This was unusual for me.  Normally, I really enjoyed school.  Creative writing, language arts, science, and even math were fun.  History was unbearable.

I can count on one hand the things I remember learning in history.   I learned that in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue,  that there was once a thing called slavery and it was abolished (I saw Roots in school at least 5 times), that there have been several wars and battles, and I remember my freshman history teacher breaking out in “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” (though I can’t say why).   For me history was a lot of dates, strange names, places, and events presented as points on a line.  The goal of history was to memorize all of these facts and dates, recite them on a test, and repeat the process the following week. Sadly, that was about it.  It wasn’t until adulthood, and my introduction to the History Channel, that I realized that history is interesting.  History became engaging when it was presented as a story.  It really isn’t about all of the dates, places, and facts.  History is about people.  History is about story.  Students need more than the loosely connected events, people, and dates that fill history textbooks.  They need narrative. Textbook writers are boring, history is not.  In high school I vividly remember reading a first person account of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the horrors of nuclear war.  Why does this account stay with me? Because it wasn’t about the dates. It was about the emotions, the aftermath, the effects on human life.

How can we engage our students with history?  How can we help them make personal connections to the events of the past?

Access to history has expanded, students today have learning opportunities that have never been possible before.  Today students have the ability to view and read historical documents first hand, ‘interact’ with historical characters, and observe the events of the past through the eyes of the children who lived it.    Thanks to technology, students can be truly engaged in the stories of history.

Primary resources are the actual documents, artifacts, and writings from history.  These resources give students an up-close view of life in the past.

Primary Resources:

1.  The World Digital Library is a collection of primary materials from around the world.  Students can explore artifacts that will help them to better understand other cultures.  This incredible collection of resources brings museums from around the world into your classroom for your students to explore.

2. Awesome Stories is a collection of primary source materials separated by category.  Primary sources include images, videos, narration, slideshows, artifacts, manuscripts, and documents.  Awesome Stories is essentially an interactive textbook.  With the interactive textbook model, students are able to delve deeper into topics that interest them.

3. Picturing America takes hold of the notion that a picture is worth a thousand words and applies it to teaching American history.  The National Endowment for the Humanities is providing classrooms and libraries with American art masterpieces. Bringing our Nation’s artistic heritage into the classroom provides students with unique insights into the character, ideals, and aspirations of our country.  The program is free for schools and libraries, providing them with 40 high quality, poster-sized masterpieces, a teacher resource book, and the program website.  Picturing America  brings history into the classroom, helping students create authentic connections to the past.

4.  Primary Access is a web-based tool that offers students and teachers simple access to digital images and materials that provides them the opportunity to create personal narratives.  The idea behind the site is that if students are offered primary source documents, they develop better historical thinking skills.  Students use Primary Access to create digital historical narrative movies that help add to meaningful learning experiences.  The digital movie is 1-3 minutes in length and can contain images, text, movies, and student recorded narration.  Students have a place to write, research, narrate, view, and search within Primary Access.

5. Library of Congress on Flickr is a photostream of historical images on Flickr.  These incredible photographs will bring history to life for your students.  Many of the photographs have no copyright restrictions which makes it a great place for students to find images for projects that they are working on.  These are also great images to use in your classroom presentations, and as printouts for bulletin boards.

Videos have the unique ability to make students feel as if they are witnesses to history.

Historical Videos:

6. The History Channel has a wealth of resources to teach history in the classroom.  From online historical videos, to a daily dose of history with “This Day in History”, the History Channel brings history to life.

7. American History in Video has more than 5,000 free, digital, on-demand videos in its collection.  The videos allow students to analyze historical events, look at events over time through commercial and governmental newsreels, archival footage, public affairs footage, and important documentaries.  These videos will make students feel as if they were a part of history.

8.  Watch Know is another educational video site.  All videos are offered digitally for free.  Watch Know brings together the best education videos online into one convenient-to-search, safe site.  Students can interact and think critically about the videos by rating them and leaving comments.  There are more than 2,500 history related videos on Watch Know.

There are many websites that let students interact with history.  Whether they are playing a game or exploring a virtual world, these websites help students understand history in new ways.

Interacting with History:

9. Secret Builders Students ages 6-14 can live and play among fictional and historical characters in this virtual world.  Students interact with characters such as Shakespeare, Galileo, Motzart, Oliver Twist, Plato, Van Gough, and Amelia Earhart.  Students take quests, publish artwork and writings, play games, enter contests, and participate in a virtual economy and social life.  Students are given all the tools needed to build out the virtual world with their own ideas, activities and actions.  This virtual world has the added benefit of allowing students to interact with historical figures in ways that are meaningful to them.

10. Scholastic has an email sign up where teachers and students can receive fictional emails from historical figures.  These emails are written as letters from children who live in the past.  Get email letters from a young girl traveling on the Mayflower and a young Native American boy.  This is a fantastic way to give your class a glimpse of history through the eyes of two school-age children.

11. Scholastic’s “Our America” takes students on a journey through American history from the Colonial period to World War II.  Students learn about major events in the American story by reading journal entries from the people who lived them.  Students can complete their own journal entries about what they have learned.  Activities accompany each time period such as arts and crafts from that time period or designing a period home interior.

12. The Oregon Trail game is one of the memories I should have listed above.  I remember playing Oregon Trail in small groups on our classroom computer in fifth grade.  Through the game we learned about the hardships of being a wagon leader, how to build a team, and purchase supplies that would help us make the journey from Independence, Missouri to Oregon by way of the covered wagon circa 1848. This role playing game helps students connect to events of the past through play.

13. BBC Primary History has an extensive collection of activities, short readings, and a kids point of view on the Ancient Greeks, Romans, Vikings, Anglo Saxons, World War II, and Victorian Britain.  Students can explore interactive timelines, stories, primary source images, and much more.  Students gain a sense of what life was like during each time period.

14. Picturing the Thirties is a virtual web activity from the Smithsonian.  This virtual museum exhibit teaches students about the 1930’s through eight exhibitions.  Students will get an up close look at the Great Depression, the New Deal, the country, industry, labor, city, leisure, and the American people in the 1930’s.  The virtual museum is full of primary sources such as photographs, newsreels, and artist memorabilia.  Virtual video museum guides explain each exhibit to students.

15. The Secret in the Cellar is an interactive web comic that is based on an actual forensic case of a 17th century person that was recently discovered.  Through graphics, photos, and activities, students begin to unravel a mystery of historical and scientific importance.  Students learn how to analyze artifacts, and examine the skeleton to determine a cause of death.  As students act as historians, they will gain a wealth of information about Colonial life in America.

16.  Kids Past is a history website created for kids that covers topics including: prehistoric humans, the rise of civilization, Middle Eastern civilization, the Ancient Greeks, Romans, African civilizations, civilizations of India, civilizations of China, Byzantine empire, the Slavs, Islam, medieval Europe, Asia in the middle ages, ancient Americans, the Renaissance, the Reformation, exploration and expansion, Asia following the middle ages, the American Revolution, and the French Revolution.  All reading on Kids Past is kid friendly and age appropriate.  There are several history games based on the reading.  Students can also find historical quotes and songs about history that they can listen to online.

17. Historical Tweets- Students can follow history on Twitter.  With Historical Tweets, history’s most amazing men and women can be more fully understood 140 characters at a time.  These historical tweets can act as motivation for students to learn more about historical events.  140 characters is just enough to leave your students wanting to learn more.

Static timelines are a thing of the past, today’s timelines are interactive, informative, and fun to explore.

Interactive Timelines:

18. Franklin’s Interactive Timeline is an engaging look into the life of Benjamin Franklin.  Students can play, listen, watch, observe, and have fun learning about Benjamin Franklin’s legacy.  Students can explore Franklin’s life through themes such as Franklin’s character, Franklin as printer, at home, doing good, and on the world stage. This site breaks Franklin’s life down into manageable pieces for students and provides a well rounded view of Franklin.

19. Capzles is an interactive timeline creator.  Students can add photos, video, audio and text to their timeline.  Themes, colors, backgrounds, and background music can be added to the timeline making it unique and personalized.  Capzles brings the timeline to life and allows students to add story to the dates.

20. Dipity makes it simple for your students to create and share interactive timelines.  Students can embed YouTube videos, Twitter, RSS feeds, Blogger, Flickr, Picasa, Last FM, and more right into their timelines.  Dipity makes timelines relevant and fun for students.  Best of all, students are creating and viewing timelines in “their language” of Digital Native.

21. Time Tube is the perfect website for your YouTube addicted students.  Students can type in a historical event and Time Tube will create a timeline of related videos.  Students will be able to explore historical events through related videos.

Research papers leave much to be desired in the history classroom.  There are ways for students to show what they know in history without the dreaded research report.

Creating with History:

22. Domonation is an animation website where students can create cartoon animations with characters, dialogue, props, music, and special effects.  Instead of presenting knowledge about history through the traditional report, diorama, or poster, students can create a cartoon of an interview with a historical figure or an eye-witness account of a historical event.

23. Xtranormal is a site where students can create and direct their own animated movies.  Students can recreate historical events, or create cartoons about a historical figure.  Hold a historical movie day to showcase all of the animations that students have created.

24. The National Archives Experience: Digital Vaults is a site put together by the National Archives.  Students can create their own digital content mashups using primary resources.  Students are able to search photographs, documents, and other records collecting them to create a digital poster or movie.  Students can also create a Pathway Challenge.  In a challenge, students create a series of clues that show relationships between photographs, documents, and other records.  Other students can attempt to solve these challenges.  This is an incredible way for students to interact with history.

25. Creaza is a suite of web-based creativity tools.  There are four tools in the Creaza toolbox that will help your students organize knowledge and tell stories in new creative ways.  Students can arrange events in history with Mindomo the mind mapping tool.  Using Cartoonist, students can create comic strips and digital narratives about historical events or characters.  Movie Editor makes it possible for students to create movies with thematic universes, video, images, and sound clips.  Movie Editor can import historical film clips, sound clips, and images to tell a story.  Audio editor is the final tool in Creaza’s creative suite.  Students can splice together their own newscasts or radio commercials that display their knowledge of any historical event.

26. Animoto for Education is a site where students can create compelling and impressive digital content quickly and easily.  Teachers can use Animoto to teach complex concepts in history.  Students can showcase their understanding of history through pictures, music, and text.

27. Blogging- Assign each of your students a historical character to play.  They can research and learn about the time period, events, and people.  Students can then blog as if they were the historical character.  Other students can read and comment on the historical posts.

28. Museum Box is a website based on the work of Thomas Clarkson who collected items in a box to help him in his argument for the abolition of slavery.  Students can use the Museum Box website to collect information and arguments in a virtual  box of their own.  They can collect items to provide a description or add to an argument of a historical event, place, or time period.  Students can add images, text, sounds, videos, and external links to help them form their own virtual museum.  The finished box can be shared with other students, saved, or printed.  Students can view and comment on boxes created by other students.  This is a fun medium for students to learn and collect information about a historical event, person, or time period.

History shouldn’t be dry, boring, or irrelevant to students.  Technology makes it possible for students to interact with history in new and interesting ways.  Use these resources to take your students beyond facts and help them to realize the stories that make up their past.

iPad Curriculum

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3gstore/4745626595/

I must be crazy, that is the only explanation I have for starting yet another blog!  iPad Curriculum is a new blog I am starting today where I will post app and web app reviews, highlight educational tools that work seamlessly on the iPad/iPod Touch/iPhone, and give tips and tricks for using the iPad/iPod Touch in the classroom.

If you follow my blog regularly, you know I am working on an iPad research study with elementary students (help with funding by voting here).  I thought that as long as I was collecting and reviewing all of these resources, I should share them with all of you!  I’m not sure how frequently I will be posting yet, it may be once a day or several times a day depending on what I find and what I have going on.  For now, there is one lonely post but it will give you the idea of what the blog is all about.

How to make iLearn Technology work for you

iLearn Technology is coming up on birthday number 4!!  It is hard to remember a time when I didn’t blog, the 4 year journey has been amazing!  I have grown as a teacher, a user of technology, and (I hope) as a blogger.  As I reflected on iLearn Technology, I couldn’t help but remember my first steps into the blogging world.  It was the summer of 2007 and I had been teaching in the computer lab for 2 years.  At the time, I spent my summers searching the web for resources I could use in my classroom.  When I stumbled on gems I wondered why no one had collected all of the great education resources in one place.  I kept a notebook of the sites I was finding and would jot down a few words (which I later realized were tags) to help me remember what the website looked like and did.  I would also write any thoughts that I had about how I could use the site with students.  Every once in a while I would stumble on a collection of education resources for the classroom, but I was disappointed by them.  Most were just lists of website links, there was no information that indicated what kind of site it was or how it could be used.  It frustrated me that I had to click on each and every link to find out if it was worthwhile for my classroom or not.  I was quickly becoming a website snob and when I came upon a website of link lists, I would quickly move on.  It was too time consuming to sort through 100 website urls for the chance that I might find something worth keeping.

About this time, the iPhone had just emerged on the scene.  My husband bought one and promptly jail broke it so that he could stay on T-mobile network.  As he searched around the net for iPhone hacks and tips, he came across this little video from @ijustine.  Her AT&T phone bill unveiling.

My husband sent me the video with a link to her blog and said “You should start a blog”.  I quickly shot back something snarky like: “oh yeah, what would I blog about my Nokia?”  Lucky for me, he ignored my snarky comment and told me to start an education blog where I reviewed all of the sites I was finding for my classroom.  I wasn’t sure how I could keep a blog going through the school year or how I would find enough material to keep it current, but it was July and I decided to give it a go.  You have to understand, when I started iLearn Technology, I had NO idea what blogging was really all about.  I didn’t really understand how it was different from a website (other than being updated more often) and I am pretty sure the term RSS was foreign to me.  I started it anyway thinking if nothing else, it would be a good place for me to keep track of what I was finding and would be more easily searchable than my spiral notebook.  I didn’t really expect that anyone would read my blog.  I didn’t really expect to get a following of any kind.  Thus began the journey of iLearn Technology.

Looking back over the past 4 years, I am still baffled that I find time to post every day.  I am still dumbstruck that you all read my blog and come back for more.  I am still amazed that I continue to find resources that are worthy of posts (I decided when I started iLearn Technology, if it didn’t pass the test of my students enjoying it, there would not be a blog post about it).  Each year I get a little nostalgic in July and look through my old posts.  I remember what projects I have done with students, make note of the sites that my students still beg for, and look forward to new finds.  I also try to find something that I can improve on.  This year I decided that I needed to make the resources I post about easier to search.  In my sidebar, you will see a category list with several drop-down menus.  I have categorized all of my posts by grade, subject, and resource type.  The new category search lets you search within multiple categories at once.  You can choose a grade level, a subject, and a resource (or just choose one or two categories to search).  This should make it easier to find resources that fit your classroom needs.  My hope is that iLearn Technology can be your one stop shop for finding the very best student-tested resources for your classroom.

I realize that not all of you have been with me from the beginning of this journey, I thank you for joining me when you did and for sticking with me as I continue to learn and grow!  Most of the tools I have posted about I still use every year.  They are outstanding resources! I don’t expect you to go back through each and every post on the off chance that you will find something that fits your needs, but hopefully the new multiple category search will encourage you to go through some previous posts that you may have missed to find just the right activities for the next school year.  As seems to be the case with technology, not all resources have stood the test of time.  Some sites have shut down, others are no longer free resources.  I am working on amending these posts accordingly but if you come across a site that is no more, leave me a comment and let me know about it.  I can offer some alternative resource suggestions and update the post to indicate the changes.

Try out the multiple category search and let me know what you think! You don’t have to make a selection from every category, just choose the options that best fit what you are searching for.

iLearn Technology Edublogger Alliance #2

Setting a deadline at the end of the school year was a BAD idea.  It seemed feasible when I set the deadline but soon I was packing away 7 years of classroom… stuff, and sorting through 7 years of digital mess.  Alas, the release of the second edublogger alliance is a little later than I had hoped.  Better late than never, right?  (If you joined the alliance and didn’t receive an email from me today, I have an email address from you that is invalid. Send me an email through my contact form with your correct email address so that I can re-send that email.)

As I compiled the second alliance and sorted through blogs, I was again reminded of the greatness I am surrounded by in the educational blogger community.  Every time I read your blogs, I am overwhelmed with a sense of hope that together we can solve the problems of the educational system.  With amazing educators like you there is nothing stopping us!

If you aren’t currently reading and following educational blogs, I highly recommend it.  Nothing will boost your learning, enthusiasm, and professional development like subscribing to some good educational blogs.  To subscribe, simply click on the link below and then choose the “subscribe” button.  The blogs will be added to your Google Reader account.

Edublogger Alliance #2

The Original Edublogger Alliance

If you are new to Google Reader, here are some great keyboard shortcuts that will have you navigating quickly through those blogs in no time:

n- view the next post

p- view the previous post

v- view the original post (this is helpful when you want to comment on the post)

s- stars an item for your favorites

shift d- share the item with a note

r- refresh

a- add a subscription

If you come across a blog that is in another language, you can easily have Google Reader translate the subscription so that each time you get a new feed, it is automatically translated.  To translate a blog, click on “Feed Settings” and choose “Translate into my language”.  Easy!Screen shot 2010-06-14 at 5.11.10 PM


Finally, the educators who participate in the educators blogging alliance are also great Tweeters.  You can follow the educators who participate in the alliance by following these Twitter Lists

edublogger alliance 2

edublogger alliance

Thank you for all who are participating and to those who join us as readers.  If you are wondering how you can encourage an educational blogger, there is no higher praise than Tweeting about our posts or leaving us a comment!

Venture into Student Blogging Risk Free!

My edublogger alliance friend Christopher Rogers at EdTech Swami has made an incredible offer:

rent-300x219

“If you have students interested in blogging but for what­ever reason have not set one up, or perhaps the prospect of administering a student blog seemed over whelming I have a deal for you. I already have a blog set up and running. I have quit a bit of experi­ence blogging personally and with students. I have hard core spam protection set up. I will administer, moderate and commentate on the posts. If you have students interested in blogging they are welcome to join my students (who are desperate for other writers to interact with). Registration is open. All high school students are welcome. Just direct your browser to this address and click register. http://www.rogersenglish9.com/studentvoice

If you have high school students who are interested in blogging, but you aren’t ready or can’t go there on you own, take Christopher up on this incredibly generous offer.  Give your students access to an incredible teacher and resource for growth in writing and higher-order thinking.