The Year in Review

In January 2010 I began my 2nd year as a Computer Teacher & I also began my blog.  I began the blog for a number of reasons however my main goal was to collaborate with other Computer Science Teachers.  It is hard for an educator to find time to meet with peers and exchange ideas and lesson plans.  I began the blog by doing just that.  Google is a great tool and I was able to use Google Docs to post all of my lesson plans and projects.  I have not had as much contact back form other educators as I would have liked however thanks to Google Analytics I can see I have an average of 15 visitors a day from around the world.  In the United States California is home to my largest number of visitors.  So I can only assume that educators who are looking for computer lessons and project ideas are fining that information on my blog and are using it in their classrooms.  That is great!  I hope to receive a bit more in feedback but for now I am really excited to have been mentioned as one of the 50 Technology Blogs You Should Be Reading But Aren't.  The blog has helped me to push myself to find new lesson plans and to keep my material current.  I have begun to implement more technology to students and the blog really pushes me to do so.  Whether I show YouTube videos or discuss information I have read on one of my feed subscriptions I feel like my students are more informed then ever before.  My YouTube channel has the same videos posted that I show my students during class.  I currently have over 10K views, 5 subscribers and a handful of friends.  The comments I recieve on the YouTube channel have been great and encouraging. 

This will most likely be my final post for December as tommorow begins our winter break.  I am going to continue to reflect on the blog and my lessons and try to implement even more technology.  As for the blog I am going to continue writting about what we are using in class.  New technology that we use or discuss.  The blog really is a self challenge for me and I have learned a lot from it.  I wish I had started blogging earlier and I come up with blogging ideas for my friends all the time. Thank you to all who follow me and to all of those who have learned form what has been posted.

Why I <3 DROPitTO.me

DROPitTO.me has quickly become one of my personal success stories this school year.  Students enjoy DROPing thier assignments to me, I enjoy saving the school district money on paper and printer costs.  I also enjoy "greening up" my classroom.  When I first took this position one of my goals was to become paperless.  That is not an easy accomplishment.  First I had to build a proper school website with assignments and instructions posted daily.  Once I had that accomplished I began to create "how to" videos to assist students with questions on subjects they may have continued trouble with.  To collect student work was the one place I struggled.  I tried having students save work to a USB drive and turn that in.  That was a colossal failure.  Students did not understand how I would collect the work from the device, I struggled to keep the devices in order.  I also had to plug in and remove each USB drive for each student, open the file, review work, grade & move onto the next.  DROPitTO.me & DROPbox  are a great team.  I am able to collect student work and evaluate quickly and easily.  I also have the ability to ensure cheating or copying is kept in check because I can see what IP address students upload from.  When I show my peers, Administrators etc. they love this idea.  I hope to present this at our next faculty meeting in the near future. 

OK GO, Art, GPS

Are you loomking for a way to incorparate technology into your Art classroom?  Yes there is PhotoShop and online programs but for me art is meant to inspire.  Look at OK GO's new video. OKGO partnered with RangeRover to create this fantastic video.  The basic theme is that they turned the city of L.A. into a giant Etch A Sketch to write OKGO.  I love it.  My students get inspired to create based on the work that this band does.  I Hope you can use these videos in your classroom for conversation starters too.

 

How to use DROPbox & DROPitTO.me

15 min videos

According to YouTube I can now upload videos up to 15 min. in length.  I don't know how I achieved this level of success at YouTube or whether all YouTube users can do this.  I don't know if I will ever load a 15 min. video but I do like the possiblity.

DropBox & Dropittome

I have begun to use a DROPbox & DROPitTO.me in my classroom as a way for students to turn in thier assignments. These two services work together as a team for students to virtually turn in assignments. I came up with the idea for using these after reading a post on Free Technology for Teachers and wanted to create a greener classroom. As a rule I do not like to use services that are outside of district control. I feel uncomfortable having students enter in a user name and password for a service that the school system has not approved. I also want students exposed to the latest in technology and use that technology in a way that the technology applies itself in a useful way to them. I want the student to say "Hey I can use this." "This is a tool I can use." DROPbox is one of these services. Think of the DROPbox as a folder on your computers hard drive. The difference with this folder is that you can access the information from any internet device. My smartphone has an app there I can access anything in my DROPbox account. By integrating DROPitTO.me I recieve a personalized URL. I can post or link this URL to my classroom website, all students need to do to turn in thier work is enter a secure password and press upload. Once they select the file to upload I recieve an email that tells me anew file has been uploaded. I also have the file in my dropbox folder. Now I am able to evaluate the students work. This saves time, paper, and other resources. Students are exposed to new technology that they can use and apply. I no longer have to worry about misplaced work or work without a students name on it. You will need to register and download DROPbox then register for DROPitTO.me. I have recieved very positive feedback from students who have begun to use this method of turning in work.
How will you use DROPbox?

XtraNormal & Movie Maker

I used XtraNormal to narrate a movie for my classes.  XtraNormal is great, "If you can type you can make movies." So I came up with my script and based it off my PowerPoint.  Creating the script is the most difficult part.  I tried to imagine everything I would need to say to my students.  Once my script was complete I used the simple "drop in" camera angles and body movements to my character.  Once I was please with my XtraNormal movie I Published it.  Publishing is another term for rendering or saving the raw footage as a movie file.  It smoothes out movements and adds a bit of clarity and definition.  What is cool is that you the user can "share" your XtraNormal movie directly to your Youtube channel.  I downloaded mine using RealPlayer, then converted to use with Windows Movie Maker.  Once in Movie Maker I edited the film with live action footage and some background music.  I am going to use XtraNormal for more films in the future.  Let me know how you are using XrtraNormal too.

Mr R

I made a top 50 Blog list!

I just want to give a big huge thank you to Masters in Special Education for noting my blog in the 50 Best Education Technology Blogs You Aren't Reading Yet. I know that there are a ton of great blogs out there and being less than a year old it means a lot to have this type recognition.  I am definately going to brag to my administrators about this =)  I am familar with some of the other blogs on this list and subscribe to many of them already.  Thanks again MiSE I appreciate the nod.

Mr Riley

Creating Biliographys

These next few days I will be reviewing howw to create a bibliography in Word 2007.  I try to encourage students to use the bibliography tools in Word.  I find them very easy to use and helpful.  Some of my peers and other students still prefer to "copy & paste" bibliography information from a 3rd party website.  I went through these websites.  Some of these I was already familiar with, other were new to me.  I have not found a site that is better or easer to use than Word 2007.  Congrats to those at Microsoft for a great tool.  Besides having the information already included in your Microsoft document makes it easier to create your endnotes and footnotes.

As usual comments are welcome.

 

http://www.mla.org/ MLA style for documentation is widely used in the humanities, especially in writing on language and literature. Generally simpler and more concise than other styles, MLA style features brief parenthetical citations in the text keyed to an alphabetical list of works cited that appears at the end of the work. This is a great site for all things MLA
Duke University Libraries gives a side by side comparison of the different sourcing styles based on the source ie; website

RefWorks an online research management, writing and collaboration tool -- is designed to help researchers easily gather, manage, store and share all types of information, as well as generate citations and bibliographies

EndNote is simalar to RefWorks where you create an account and store your sources and convert to a bibliography. 

BibMe Has a library of premade sources, search for the source and citation style you need or create and store your own.   

Son of Citation Machine MLA or APA citations.  Copy & Paste into your document

Noodle Bib Powerful note-taking software that promotes critical thinking and creativity combined with the most comprehensive and accurate bibliography composer on the Web. MLA, APA, and Chicago/Turabian styles.

Source Aid   create an account, Login, and create and store citations online.

The Purdue Writting Lab has a great list of resources and examples for bibliographys.  This is APA style.

KnightCite At Calvin is a fill in the blank page for MLA users.

 

A must Read

This must read article from the Google Opperating System Blog discusses the future of computing.  This is a great read and discussion starter for my classes.  I am definately going to build some discussions.

The Super Book

Thanks to Free Technology for Teachers for posting a Link to The Super Book of Web Tools for Educators This is a great resource for all and I can not wait to read up on some of the sites they discuss.   What is nice about the book is the tip on how to register for sites and how the web tools are broken down by grade level.  I am defiantly going to use this resource.  Currently I am working on a movie using XtraNormal and Video footage.  I am editing everything together using moviemaker.  I hope to have this video posted later this week.

A new cycle a new outlook

With the beginning of the new cycle I feel confident in my lesson plans and outlines.  However yesterday I was reminded that not all of my plans should be computer based.  We experienced a black out that knocked out all Internet and network access.  During one of these classes I played an OK GO video.  I really enjoy these guys and I enjoy discussing how they use social networking sites positively to promote themselves.  I have also continued to use and look for new technology that I can use in the classroom.  I amcurrently setting up a dropit to me account and a how to use it video.  I am also creating an XtraNormal video as an introduction to the class and to show proper classroom procedures.  I hope that by usining these new peices of free technology students will see the application and continue using it in other classes. 

Cycle 3 & what it means

Today is the start of the third cycle.  I spent the first two cycles formating my lesson plans and ideas.  During this cycle I would like to begin to reormat my blog and what I would like to see it become.  I am looking forward to this challenge and will write more later.

Day 27 - 30

I am cheating here with this post. I tried to create a blog positing for each indiviual day during this cycle. However I got a little behind with some extra work and was too busy to properly post. These last days of the cycle finds students completing thier Independent Projects. We will review how to add music, How to add custom animation, Save our PhotoStory as a WMV file. I also ask 8th graders to file out a survey that self assess thier profiency on what was covered during the cycle. If thier was a topic they would like to learn more about or a new topic to discuss. Many 8th graders not that they would like to learn more about virus protection and Publisher.
On Day 29 & 30 I allow students to present thier projects to the class. We all enjoy this day and students are proud of what they have accomplished.
Tommorow brings a new cycle and with it a new batch of students for the classroom. For the blog I am planning on a different direction but more on that tommorow.

Day 26

Today all students begin with a keyboarding quiz.  As they type the assigneed sentence "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dogs back."  I check for proper posture, homerow key ussage, speed and accuracy. 

Next students watch a video on how to add and edit custom animations in thier PowerPoint.

Places for sound files

When you are creating a presentation sometimes you would like to add a sound or music file.  There are a number of places to download sound files that are not only free but royalty free as well. 

Soungle  is full of awesome sound effects

Partners In Rhyme Royalty free songs and sound effects

Cool Midi Free Midi file downloads

Midi DataBase has links to free music downloads

 

These sites should have any sound file you are looking for.  I use this as an opportunity to discuss copyright infringement and to piracy. 

Hope this helps

 

 

Day 25

Today all classes begin with Mavis Beacon typing tutorial and practice keyboarding.  All classes will add music to their PowerPoint presentations using Partners In Rhyme.  Partners In Rhyme is a great site for royalty free music, great for presentations.  I have 2 videos that show how to add music to a presentation. 
PowerPoint 2003

PowerPoint 2007