TCEA - What I learned today

What did I learn today?  I think I will let the word cloud speak for me.

This was created with wordle from my google docs notes taken during my workshop today with Tammy Worcester.

Ideas for Providing Feedback

Want to make a difference in your classroom? Let your students know how they are doing!

The most powerful single modification that enhances achievement is feedback. [Hattie, 1992]

According to Robert Marzano's Classroom Instruction that Works -providing feedback to students can be the single most important change you make in your classroom.  Research shows that:

1. Feedback should be corrective in nature - Let's students' know why what they are doing is right or wrong.


2. Feedback should be timely - the more the delay the less effective it is


3. Feedback should be specific to a criterion - Focus on how they are doing based on the skill and not in relation to other students.


4. Students can effectively provide some of their own feedback - Students can track as their learning occurs - ex.  accuracy and speed

Technology can provide new and innovative ways to provide this for students.

• Rubrics
  
  
  
  • Rubistar - free online rubric tool - can copy and paste rubric into Word for further editing.
  
  
  • Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators - Assessment and Rubric Information
  
  
  
  


• Online Publishing - Blogs
  
  
  
  • Blogger - hosted by Google - also free to use.  You can take the "next blog link" off the top banner with some simple coding.
  
  
  • ePals - provides safe email and blog platforms for schools
  
  
  • Edublogs - free blogs for classrooms.  They are running google keyword ads now so be careful.
  
  
  
  


• Polls
  
  
  
  • Turning Points - Clickers - RRISD created tutorials for Turning Points - https://rrisd-teacherguides.wikispaces.com/TurningPoint+2006
  
  
  • Quia - free 30 day trial version is available
  
  
  • Survey Monkey
  
  
  • Google Forms - create online quizzes for free.  Responses are stored in a spreadsheet for further analysis.  Must have a Google account.
  
  
  • Poll Everywhere - create polls that participants can respond to via, text, twitter, smartphone, or web.
  
  
  
  

Note about Cell Phones:  We are a ways away in our district from asking students to pull out their cell phones to text in answers, but this is a technology worth watching.  The polls on Poll Everywhere allow for web voting as well.   Polls can be embedded into webpages and blogs to see instant results, as well as downloadable PowerPoint slides.

I built some sample text polls with Poll Everywhere to test it out:

Build television sms voting polls at Poll Everywhere

Make a live audience poll at Poll Everywhere

Resources:

All my resources for this post can be found on my diigo account. http://www.diigo.com/user/robiny/feedback

I'll continue to add more as I find them.

Embedding YouTube in PowerPoint 2007

With the upgrade on campus from Office XP to Office 07 there was a need to rewrite the directions on embedding YouTube into PowerPoint.

Embedding a video allows for the presenter to stay within the PowerPoint environment and to filter out the ads and info that may surround the video on the internet.

Here is a powerpoint with the YouTube Video linked and the video embedded:   embed

Directions to Embed in PowerPoint 2007

Note: Your computer must have internet connection when showing the PowerPoint in order for the video to work.

1. Look to see if the “Developer” ribbon is available on your toolbar.  If it is NOT:
   
   
   
   1. click on the Microsoft Orb (see red arrow)
   
   
   2. Click on “PowerPoint Options” on the bottom of the window.
   
   
   3. Under the “Popular” tab check S”Show Developer tab in the Ribbon”
   
   
   4. Click “OK”
   
   
   
   


2. Open the Developer’s Ribbon and click on the “More Controls” option in the Controls box.


3. Scroll down and select the option “Shockwave Flash Object” and click “OK.”


4. On the PowerPoint slide click the mouse and draw a box where you want the video to be.


5. Right click on the box you have just drawn and select “Properties.”


6. Open Internet Explorer and find the video you want to embed in your presentation:
   
   
   
   1. Copy the URL in the address bar by highlighting the address and Ctrl + C
   
   
   
   


7. Return to PowerPoint


8. Paste the URL in the Properties Box in the “Movie” section.


9. Change the URL by:
   
   
   
   1. 
      
      
      
      1. Delete the “watch?” portion of the address
      
      
      2. Replace the “=” with a “/”
      
      
      3. Example
         
         
         
         1. From: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSVfYwdGSsQ
         
         
         2. To: http://www.youtube.com/ v/aSVfYwdGSsQ
         
         
         
         
      
      
      
      
   
   
   
   


10. Other items to change in the Properties Box:
    
    
    
    1. Loop – If you want the movie to play through once and stop select “False”
    
    
    2. Playing – If you want the movie to start automatically when the slide loads – “True” – Otherwise change to “False” if you want to click on the movie for it to start.
    
    
    
    


11. Save your PowerPoint.


12. Run the presentation and you should see the movie begin.

Here are the directions with screenshots in pdf Form: Embed a YouTube Video into PowerPoint 2007

Olympic Lessons

The Winter Olympics are 10 days away.  Soon the TV airwaves will be full ofwinter sports, some of which we only get to see every 4 years.  So how can you incorporate this historic event into your classroom?  I've gone through several websites (listed at the bottom of this post) and grouped some ideas into different subject areas to get us started thinking about it.

History:

• Research the history of the Olympics


• Compare and contrast the ancient Olympics with the modern day ones


• Research the customs of different teams at the Olympics or of the Host Country


• Tie Black History month in with the Olympics by researching African American Athletes - such as Jesse Owen and Muhamed Ali


• Character Education lessons

Science:

• Explore the engineering of a sport and the equipment that is used in the sport.


• Anatomy of an Athlete - what makes some people "super" athletes?  Scientists study the human body to understand how it works and how  athletes can be better


• Weather - track the weather throughout the area.  What influences the weather in that region?  What about the weather in that area makes it ideal for the Winter Olympics to be held there?


• Check out - http://www.lessonopoly.org/svef/?q=node/9086

Math:

• Chart the results of the games


• Use statistics from the games to work math problems.


• Measurement - How far is it to travel to the games?  How much would it cost?

Language Arts:

• Write biographies of Olympic Athletes (past and/or present)


• Summarize the events of the game or the results of an event.


• Research a sport and how it has developed over the years.


• Cover an Olympic Event as a sports reporter

Art -

• create posters to illustrate the history of the game.


• Design icons for each event


• Design a tickets to events to represent Canada and the sporting event.

Resources:

• Education World - Countdown to Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games - great collection of lessons and links to complete the lessons


• EdGate Summer Games Ideas - Ideas can be transferred the the Winter events very easily.  Many of the resources are not specific to the summer time


• Collection of Lessons Compiled by the Saskatoon Public School Systems - http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/de/resources/olympics/


• TeacherVision - Olympic Games - Resources for Teachers


• teAchnology - Winter Olympics Teaching Theme

More resources will be added here as I find them.  Be sure to check this Diigo account as we get closer to the games for more ideas.

Diigo Account: http://www.diigo.com/user/robiny/olympics

More Super Bowl Lesson Ideas

I've found a few more resources/lessons that use the Super Bowl or football as the jumping point for the lessons and wanted to pass them on:

• Education World  - http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson096.shtml - lessons for art, social studies, math and science based on football and the SuperBowl


• Lesson Planet - http://www.lessonplanet.com/search?media=lesson&keywords=football&commit=Search&grade=All+Grades&rating=3&gclid=CIGYpP73tZ8CFQUhDQodKC2r4Q  - Football lesson plans


• Football Math - http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/3150

Super Bowl Commercials in the Classroom

It's almost Super Bowl time! Appointment television at it's best with the thrill of the game and the fun of the commercials!   Why not use this important social event in American culture to pull students into learning? 

What has caught my attention the most right now is the use of commercials in the classroom.  Several websites have collected the "Best of the Best" of Superbowl commercials from over the years.  You can search by year or by product to choose attention grabbing hooks to your classroom.

Commercials can be hooks into your assignment, examples of what students can create themselves, or elements of it can be analyzed to illustrate what is happening in the classroom.

Take this Coca-Cola Commercial:


Science teachers could the laws of physics that were involved in moving the bottle and the insects that were used and what natural characteristics of that insect made it useful for each step of the heist.

Watch a propoganda ad to discuss what techniques were used to make their point.

Look for persuasiveness in an ad to see how you could use those techniques in your writing.

Any subject can have students make their own commercials based on what they are studying.   A few ideas are:

• Ad for why the Constitution is important today


• Show an M&M commercial and talk about the personification of the candy.    Apply that to the study of chemical elements.  Give your element a personality and it's own commercial.


• Persuade people to read your book

Any other ideas?

To find superbowl ads check out these resources:

• http://www.spike.com/superbowl - Ads that can be sorted based on year, product and popularity.


• http://www.superbowl-ads.com/index.html - Also based on year, the display of these ads are smaller and they cannot be embedded, but they do not have the related videos at the end of each one.


• http://www.frankwbaker.com/super_bowl.htm - has links to ads and facts and figures from throughout the years.

Some of these ads may not be appropriate for all grade levels.   Please preview all sites before using in the classroom.

Skype in Education

Here is the presentation I used recently to introduce Skype to teachers on campus:



I am looking forward to what they decide to do with this great FREE tool.