Sliderocket

Sliderocket is a new presentation tool! As a district who uses Google Apps for Education, we are able to use it for free (it is now under "more"). They do offer a "Lite" version that is free with some basics available. The paid versions offer analytics and more advanced features. The ease of using this makes it even more appealing! Have a lot of PowerPoints or Google Presentations that you already use?....no problem, you can upload them into Sliderocket. You really need to explore it to see all of the great possibilities!! Below is a sample of one I created - and had fun doing so!

A Google A Day

Students (and adults!) can sharpen their search skills using "a Google a Day" !  A new question is presented each day and you search for the answer by "Google-ing" it! Then you submit your answer to determine if you are right or you need to go search again. It may not be as easy as you are thinking!! 

This is the question for October 26!

  Click here for the current question of the day!!

Artsonia . . . the world's largest kids' art museum!

Artsonia...an online art museum. Showcasing art from students, this site offers free accounts for teachers to upload student art. They offer thousands of art project lesson plan starters submitted by other teachers.  Students will take a real interest in their work knowing it will be published on the web!

One of the greatest features is that it offers a "gift shop" where parents can order items such as:

• canvas art 
• coffee mugs
• tote bags
• mousepads
• keychains 
• tshirts
• and much more!

with their child's artwork on it! The participating school gets 15% of the proceeds.  What a great way for grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other family members to see the student's work of art and maybe help out the school by purchasing an item. Visit Artsonia and vote for the artist of the week!!

Amazing Daze in DC

This summer I was asked to go on the Teach America History trip to the DC area and blog our travels.  It was quite the trip to say the least. This is one of those trips where you need a few days of rest to recuperate from after it is over! We were up and running early each day and arriving at the hotel in time for bed. Being a History minor, this trip was extremely awesome for someone who has a love of history. I wanted to share the link so you could see just where we went and what we got to see!

Amazing Daze in DC

Handouts? Seriously?

Yes, handouts are nice, but very timely to create (especially a good one)! You know the old saying, "Why recreate the wheel?" That is how I feel about handouts, so I will have a section on various handouts available. Custom Guides creates great front/back handouts on various topics such as Windows, Office, Photoshop, etc., and they offer them in different versions like 2003, 2007, or the newest 2010 in Office. Check out the page on the right to access some of the newest handouts available!!

Join Me!

I would love for you to actually join me for lunch, or yogurt, or a movie, but that is not what this is about! This is just as good though! Join.me is one of the most helpful websites I use. It allows individuals to share your computer desktop or control of it with another. Simply going to the website and choosing share or join - depending on your need, will get you started.

It has been a time saver at work. A teacher can call and share their desktop with me where I can see the problem and talk them through. If necessary, they can give me control where I can fix the problem or show them how - fantastic!! Also, another great use has been with family. If you have parents, siblings, or other family who need help, what an awesome way to help from the comfort of your recliner! To make this deal even sweeter, it is now available on mobile devices as well!  Join.me gets two thumbs up from this techie!

Guess the Wordle!

Guess the Wordle, a great website that has daily wordles for your students to use their critical thinking skills to solve! There are varied levels - ranging from elementary to secondary! Here is the weekly schedule:

Monday & Wednesday Wordle
Monday's Wordle will be easy.
Wednesday's Wordle will be a bit more complex.

Tuesday, Thursday, Friday Wordles
Tuesday's Wordle will be the date of a famous event in world history.
Thursday's Wordle will be the title of a book, song, movie, etc..
Friday's Wordle will be a famous location.

Finding the answer:

Hover OVER the wordle to find out the answer!

Guessed the Wordle above? Answer is "Dead Sea"!

Help! My Students Can't Verify an Account!

Don’t you just cringe when you find a great site to use with your students and it requires them to verify their account with an email? Many great sites go unused, especially at elementary, because some students don’t have email accounts, or student email through the school is blocked from outside domains! With a Gmail account you can give all of your students an email that can be verified by you! This is how it works -

Original email account is:
Morelandclassroom@gmail.com (or whatever it happens to be)

For each student you add (+number or +name) to your email extension:
morelandclass+1@gmail.com
morelandclass+ronnie@gmail.com

The email comes to your account and you can verify it.
Another suggested use would be for a parent who is interested in getting their child started in email, such as with a grandparent or relative. This could be used by the parent in the same manner!

LiveBinders

Do you have a binder for everything, and each binder has a place on a shelf?? I love organized people and I love organization, however, it is something that I continually have to work at. I want so badly to be one of those nice, neat organized people, and though my intentions are good - I suddenly find myself drowning in disorganization. Of course, then I try to get organized again and the cycle repeats itself! My poor binders end up with papers shoved into them instead of being inserted like they are supposed to be, and when I need one, I have to stop and reorganize it to find everything - thus defeating my purpose of being organized. Get the picture?

While attending the TCEA Conference in Austin, I was so excited when I walked into a workshop and all the material they were presenting on was organized in an online binder - that had been made available publicly - and it is free!!! LiveBinders offers a three ring binder experience on the web. They offer tabs to organize within each binder, and not just documents, you can store video, websites, and images in your binder! You can have multiple binders, and they are available anytime you need them with web access. Sharing your binders is very simple, 1) You can make them public and copyable or 2) keep them private to only a few using a key code you set up.

What are some ideas you have for using LiveBinders?? Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Group Work
Handouts for presentations
Websites
Assignments for students
Recipes - personal or for teachers
Add your suggestions in comments!

Here is a binder I am working on that will include Smart Resources for Teachers:

SmartTechnology

Read it Later

I love to read blogs! The problem I have is time, or lack of it. When I heard about Read it Later I was excited! Read it Later allows me to tag a site, blog, or online article to read later. What made it so exciting was that I can download an app to my phone that allows me to read it there also. So next time I am sitting in the doctor's office or the computer is being used by someone else, I can grab my phone and read!

graphics from http://readitlaterlist.com/

You Know You are a Techy Teacher When . . .

According to some of my colleagues:

• You look at your phone when someone asks you, "What time is it?"
  
• Lights go out in the building and you keep teaching using your flashlight app on your phone.
• You Facebook your To-Do lists so that you can access them later on in the day . . .
• A Google Docs spreadsheet is shared with parents so they can sign up for volunteering
• You grab your laptop and carry it with you during a fire drill
• You need a sedative when your flash drive which contains your lesson plans breaks into pieces
• You tap your dry erase board to change the page while using an overhead projector
• Email signature contains your Twitter, Facebook, and blog info

What do you think? What makes a techie teacher? Please add your ideas by commenting!