SlideShare

This past year, I was faced with the challenge of teaching 4th and 5th graders how to use computers. A great majority of them had never really used one, and even the few who did were unfamiliar with the terms and use - we spent a long time talking about how to select choices with radio buttons, how to use the trackpad, and how to save files. But there were never complaints, and anytime I asked my kids to do any task that would have usually been met with groans, I told them we would do it on the computers and they did everything I asked so as to get on the laptops ASAP. They were so excited to use Power Point, and were really positive on their feedback of other student's presentations. They asked if I could share the presentations on my Science Class blog, but I soon tired of embedding.

SlideShare is a great alternative. You can create an account, add tags, and even mark if you don't want others to download the presentations. It works for documents as well, and you can search other people's documents to see if there is anything you need! I shared my jeopardy power points, so that I can just email other teachers a link and they can use it directly from the site, or download to their computer. Also, I feel like I always email attachments and then the next day improve the file somehow. This way, I can improve the file and the changes will keep updating the original file. Click the link above to see what I mean, and you can leave a link to your page in the comments as well!

Google Gadgets For Vocab

Google Docs' official blog just announced Gadgets that are perfect for classroom use. You can read all about it on the blog, but here is a quick rundown:

• Flash Cards: Put your vocab words into the spreadsheet, add the gadget, and voila! You can play a little game to check out your vocab skills.

• Word Study: Play vocab games, and you can type in your own clues or have them fetched from the internet!

• Interactive Word Search: Great way to help with spelling, and you can play in the browser.

What a great way to get kids excited about vocabulary. I can see some of my students even working on these outside of school!

Need some words translated?

I speak pretty decent Spanish, but there are times when I need to make a phone call home to a Spanish speaking family, and I get really nervous about saying the wrong thing. Of course, I write out a script, but I also keep my web browser open to Google Translate in case I need some support on the fly.

Of course, it's not perfect, but I think translating has come a long way since Babelfish, and it's quick and easy to go back and forth (there is a "swap" button at the bottom, to switch translations quickly). It also came in handy during my French course!

Bonus: It can also translate web pages - useful for sending home to parents in-class blogs or textbooks resources. Check out this blog in French!

Play movies in class!

I wrote earlier about how to play YouTube in the classroom even if it's blocked by district firewalls. I mention Miro which is a great player of videos, where you can search, subscribe to channels (I love Discovery Science!) and download videos to play later. Here is a "How To" to get you started:

How To Use Miro

Google Docs/Forms for quizzes

I love the idea of using Google Docs to have students type up reports, book answers, or whatever, but I still hae to figure out how to get around getting 200 accounts for my elementary school kids, whose parents might not want them to have email. Until then, I realized I can still use Google Forms!

Google Forms allows you to create a questionaire, survey or quiz and let your kids fill it out simply by accessing a web page. Of course, the URL is nasty but I just shortened it with TinyURL with the name of the quiz, it's much easier that way.

Sample Form (please fill out!)

After (or while) the students are filling out the forms, you can get a spreadsheet of results WITH graphs of how they answered! Check out the responses to my Sample Form.

You can make questions mandatory or optional, you can subscribe to the RSS feed for the spreadsheet, and you can sort the spreadsheet by last name (I made two seperate questions to facilitate this, "first name" and "last name", and "teacher's name" since I am in 8 different classrooms).

Finally, my favorite part - you can select a column to code for right or wrong answers. I asked it to highlight everything in red that said "no", "east" or "west" (to answer, what are magnetic poles called), and whatever else signaled a wrong answer. Or you can code green when you ask an essay question that signals a correct answer for using key vocabulary (pole, attract, iron for magnet concepts). It makes everything so easy to grade!

How does using Google Forms help you in your classes? Any questions or tips?

See what is blocked before you click!

How many times a day do you google something, find a bunch of results, and then they are all blocked?! You know that you don't want your kids seeing certain things on the internet, so you are of course thankful for filters at school, but how frustrating can it be to click, back, click, back, click, back until you find a relevant page that isn't blocked? SO FRUSTRATING!

CoolPreviews is a nifty Firefox add-on for Windows, Mac, and Linux that you install and will let you see a preview of the webpage the link is connected too. This helps you figure out what you need faster, doesn't take as long as going back and forth between search results and each page, and will tell you right away if the site is blocked or not from behind your school's firewall.

There is a cool tutorial video about CoolPreviews if you still aren't convinced, and as always, feel free to leave thoughts or questions in the comments!

Teacher Tech Tips and Tricks

Ok, so I kept thinking of all these ideas for how to use different websites and plug ins at school, and I get so excited I want to share everything! This is my way to do it. My idea is that someone will see something useful, and pass it on. As a teacher in a low income school, I know you can’t always assume everyone has a computer at home, so many things are in class, but for those with populations where computers are easily accessible, I will add cool stuff students can see from home too!

So, for starters, I invite you all to see my Life Science webpage at msgreenscience.googlepages.com, and more updates to come as I see fit