How I am using the Video Streaming

Since we subscribe to 3 video streaming sites, I have been making a conscious effort to try and include them in any lesson that I have been modelling in the classroom.

Here are two lessons and how I did it:


Grade 6 Science


You can find the complete, with videos attached, lessons that are PWSD password protected here.

How do I go about creating these:

1) Program of Studies - what is the outcome(s), skills or process that I want to focus on for this lesson.

2)  SmartExchange - start here looking for Notebook files to build on.  I look for files that have the interactive flash objects, those items that get the students up to the SMARTboard doing.  Save to my computer.

3) Preview videos from Learn360, Access Learning and Discovery Education - here I am just looking for videos that would fit, once I have found the video I save the portion that I need to my computer.  Make sure to check out the teacher resources as they may have other activities to go along with the video.

4) Interactives - depending on the curriculum area there are tons of interactives that might go along with a lesson.  I usually start with my delicious bookmarks and then a google search.

5) Putting it altogether - couple of things that I like to do

• Insert (paperclip) a copy of the video into the notebook file
• Use a graphic to link the video that you have attached
• Add a title page with subject, outcomes and grade level (makes it easier to share)

Check out this short video!

How are you using the video streaming sites?

Jump Start your 2011/12 School Year

With some summer PD opportunities! Click through to see the complete descriptions.

23 Things: Independent Study (self paced)

SMART in Social Studies (August 15th)

Moodle - Not as Scary as You Think (August 16th)

Better Together - Social Media Bootcamp (August 17th - morning)

Blogging 101 (August 17th - afternoon)

Learning Coaches - Get a Jump Start on Your New Role (August 18th)

SMARTboard 101 (August 22nd)

Want to Engage Your Students - There's an App for That (August 23rd)

Google for Educators (August 24th - morning)

Web 2.0 - Create, Collaborate and Critically Think (August 24th - afternoon)

 

 

Easter Fun Resources

A couple of websites, interactives and SMART Notebook files!

http://sqworl.com/vg222w

Please feel free to add this link to your Ecommunity page or website! 

What are your favourite Easter activities?

What I learned at MPTCA

It was a good one!  Managed to attend 8 of 8 sessions, although my stomach didn't appreciate it, my brain did!

Rick Wormeli (@rickwormeli) I attend his opening and closing keynotes.  It was great way to start the conference with a few laughs and great reminders to take back to the classroom. Some things that I will take back from the opening session:

Teachers do not play fair, students need to know the target to be able to hit it.  Why are tests kept secret?

Deviating from the path, sometimes produces the best results.

Because I said so = eat your spinach assignment!

And remember this about Rick...

During the closing keynote, who could forget the Sound of Music clip!  What an awesome way to explain differentiation.  Make sure that you follow Rick on Twitter and check out YouTube, he has tons of great clips, like this one.

Vanessa and the SMART session!

SMART Board in Humanities was next on my hit list, facilitated by twitter friend Vanessa Cassie.  She was fabulous, as usual, and even though I had to skip out early she gave the group these two fabulous ideas:

1. Hiding the text bubble in a political cartoon, allowing students to brainstorm what would be there and then erasing to reveal.  I created my own here for those that are interested in trying it out and learning how to create their own.
2. Using dice to create a story prompt.  Using the image and text dice and have dice representing character, setting and object.  Allow student to role to create their own writing prompt.  Again you can see my example here to try out!

Nicole Moodling!

Intro to Moodle was facilitated by Nicole Gilles and attended by all three Grande Prairie Districts!  It will be so awesome to have a common language and to be able to easily share and collaborate.  You can find all the session information here.

What I loved about using Twitter, again, is that I have my notes from each session! See the #mptca twitter search here.

What's Up? (March 7-11)

Thanks to everyone that has been Tweeting, Facebooking and following along at this blog.  I really appreciate the comments and the feedback. 

Here is what my week looks like:

Monday/Tuesday - Teepee Creek Technology Project days. 

Tuesday evening - Peace Wapiti Academy Parent Council Presentation.

Wednesday - AM at PWA working with staff on their flexibility course.  PM Networked Educational Leader session with Sandy McDonald

Thursday - All About Blogging 12:10-3pm in the PWA Computer lab.

Friday - Intro to Moodle 9-10:15 with Nicole Gilles in CP 85, I will be the trusty assistant.  Technology Integration in Social Studies Div 3 10:35-1:25 in the PWA Computer lab.

Some items to check out....

• Mighty Peace Teachers' Convention program looks fabulous, do you know what you are going to?
• Technology Integration Matrix - where do you fit, where do you want to be?
• Take a minute and comment on the PWSD Community of Practice teacher Blog.  
• How could you use this video?

Have a fabulous week and I hope to see everyone Thursday or Friday at Teachers' Convention!


I totally stole this idea from George Couros and his staffroom blog.

4 ways to create a fake Facebook page

Creating a fake Facebook page for a story character or historical character is an excellent way for students to demonstrate deep understanding.  They have to be able to articulate the connections and relationships this person has, what they would say, who would they say it to, what images would they share or not share.  It becomes an immense critical thinking activity.

There are a number of different ways to do this!

1) A Word Template: I created this last year when I wanted a simple way to create a Facebook page for feudal Japan. I hosted the template in Moodle and students opened it from there to work on.

2) My Fake Wall: This website allow you to create a page that will be saved with a unique URL.  It does require students to create a login with an email address.

3) Google Doc Template: This Presentation template has 4 slides.  Wall, Info, Photos and Video that you can change with your own information.

4) SMART Notebook Template: Another template, this time in Notebook.  I like this one because a lot of the items are locked, so they cannot be moved or deleted.  Also check out the attachments, there is a handy little word document to guide the assignment.

How can you see using this in your classroom?

Importing Flash Animations to Notebook

Guest Blogger: Tina Sauder, Savanna School

I love PD days and see them as a way to continue to network with my “people” (other science teachers) and I always leave sessions having at least one ah-ha moment that jump-starts the creativity in my classroom. This year, my PD role has changed from teacher as learner to teacher as facilitator. I have been working with junior and senior science high teachers to show them how SMART Boards can be used in their classrooms as part of their everyday practice.


We began our sessions by using a web polling application (polleverywhere.com) to see where everyone was in terms of availability to SMART Boards and their experience using the Notebook software. Most had boards, but fewer were using the software. I was glad to know I really did have something to offer (I truly had my doubts when I first said I would do this!) and we got to work. The material covered was basically the same for the junior high group as it was for the senior high group, but the thing that had the most impact was learning how to import Flash animations (those that end in .swf) from the web into SMART Notebook. For science teachers, there is a bonanza of Flash objects on the web that make teaching topics like diffusion, osmosis, the circulatory system and titration so easy. We spend so much time mining the net to find these animations it is very discouraging find that when we go back to them again the next year using a saved web-link, the link is often dead. By bringing the Flash object into Notebook, once the file is saved, it will always be there …no more dead links to deal with!


I made a video showing the steps for saving Flash objects into Notebook from Internet Explorer. There are other ways to do the same thing in Firefox and Safari that are much easier, but most of us have Explorer as our default at school. I am certain that teachers of other subjects will have as much use for this how-to as science teachers do.

Peace River PD Day

On September 27th five Peace Wapiti teachers made the trek to Peace River to present at their professional development day. Debbie Harris (HRS), Memorese Walter (HBS), Shelley Freisen (PAVE), Joan Coy (PAVE) and myself presented on a variety of topics.

The day started with a 10 minute keynote, over Elluminate, from the Honourable Minster of Education Dave Hancock.

Elluminate with Minister Hancock

Here is a list of sessions and the accompanying documents.


Using Gallery items in SMART Notebook for Div 3 Science

Deb's Science folks

Debbie Harris
You will be shown examples of how the Gallery items in SMART Notebook can be used to create interactive science lessons. You will have an opportunity to create some interactive lessons that you can use in class the next day, so come prepared to get lots done that you can take away with you. BRING A MEMORY STICK!!

Interactive Resources for Teaching Science using a SMARTBoard
Debbie Harris
If you are new to using a SMART Board and want to find some ready-made interactive resources for science this is the session for you! You will have the chance to explore websites such as LearnAlberta.ca and 2Learn.ca to find science resources that you can use in class the next day. BRING A MEMORY STICK TO SAVE WORK!

Let's Moodle in Science 9-12
Joan Coy
Using a blend of technology-rich on-line learning resources with traditional classroom teaching environments, we can improve the school experience and engage students in self directed learning. Teachers in our large rural division have created a Moodle site that hosts our Science courses and gives students access to high quality on-line courses on their Moodle site (24/7), in addition to classroom instruction. The Moodle site is being used to facilitate differentiation and inquiry learning (i.e. self-checks, self reflections, and project collaboration). Each teacher has their own way of doing this (that's the beauty of Moodle.) Come and see how the classroom has changed!

Advanced Moodle k-12
Joan Coy
This session is designed to extend and enhance the skills of a Moodle course creator. It includes a brief consideration of the pedagogy – Social Constructivism and how Moodle Activities are designed to support this social and interactive philosophy. It will also examine effective strategies for Resources & Blocks – how to provide information to students. The session will show participants, in a hands-on environment, how to use the relevant components of Moodle to support the learning needs of students. You will be able make creative progress in your Moodle course
 
Introduction to Moodle k-12



Intro to Moodle group

 Jen Clevette
Whether you have never moodled before or you want a refresher on the basics and time to work, this is the place for you. We will be covering some moodle basics like linking WebPages & files, embedding video, adding topics & pictures, glossaries & games and assignment basics. You must have a moodle course created to attend this session


SMART in JH Social Studies
Jen Clevette

Social Studies & SMART

What works and where can I find it? Pre-made materials for the new curriculum are hard to come by, so let's start making our own. We will go over some lesson basics, like title pages & themes, identify the interactives from the Lesson Activity Toolkit that work best and play with some Web 2.0 tools that will add some pizazz to your lessons. Put it all together and we will have lessons to share.
All lessons created will be added to this collaborative website http://tiny.cc/div3SS

Senior High English - Bring them in and start them off!
Shelly Friesen
This session will share some resources that high school English teachers can use for ‘Daily Starters’. Using your SMARTboard, you can establish structure, fill that change-of-class time and get your students thinking about the English language. There will be time to explore, share and collaborate.

Senior High English: How can I use technology to help me?
Shelly Friesen
Teach SMARTer using teacher tools on the web and in your classroom. In this afternoon session we will investigate how to use SMARTboards to help your students learn and help you professionally. In the first few minutes you will help to build the agenda and content direction for the afternoon.

“Playing” with your SmartBoard K/1
Memorese Walters


Mem's SMART session

Non- and beginning readers have special learning requirements that your SmartBoard can help provide. This session will leave you with lots of curriculum links and content that you can take back to your classroom and use immediately to meet their unique needs
2/3 SmartBoards – Curriculum First!
Memorese Walters
Want to know how to better incorporate your SmartBoard into your classroom instruction? This session will provide you with lots of curriculum links and content that you can take back to your classroom and use immediately. LA, Math, Science, and Social activities including pulling it all together on a daily basis and a little extra with the document camera's amazing abilities!

Kindergarten Resources



70/365/2010 from djainslie
flickr photostream

 More of our kindergarten classrooms are having projectors and SMARTboards installed, here are 5 quick places to get inspiration an ideas!

1) SMARTboard lessons for Math, LA, Science and Social.  This American site as tons of ready to use lessons that with a little modification might be perfect for your classroom.  Also checkout the SMART exchange which is full of teacher created resources.  Download an attendance drag and drop, or interactive calender to name a few! 



2) Interactive websites like Starfall , PBS Interactive Games or Mix and Match Feelings can be projected with sound for a fun interactive lesson

3) YouTube is a never ending repository of video.  Any song that you are doing in class, probably can be found.  Or the life cycle of a frog as a cartoon or documentary.





Or my new Sesame Street Favourite (all the old favourites are there too!)



4)  Get Inspiration from others: The websites listed here are other Kindergarten teachers that are sharing their journey in a blog or online journal.  Take a peak inside their classroom, leave comments or considering starting your own to share the wonderful things you are doing!

Look at my happy rainbow!

A Place called Kindergarten

 K is for Kindergarten

Kindey-Garden

Chalk Talk

Kindergarten Chaos

What are your go to resources that should be added to this list?

Smartboard Tips from SRRA

Spent a lovely Friday afternoon at Spirit River Regional Academy where we divided the day learning about Moodle and Smartboards.

Top 5 Tips for Using your SMARTboard

1. Gallery Interactives - make any lesson interactive, QUICKLY & EASILY, with the lesson activity toolkit. My favourites: vortex, category sort, multiple choice

2. Print to Notebook - turn any file into a notebook file. Just open your Word, PowerPoint or PDF and select Print --> SmartNotebook Capture.

3. Borrow ready to use Notebook Files - there are lots of resources out there, find something to start from and modify it to

• PWSD's Smart warehouse
• Jen's Delicious SMART bookmarks

4. Link to website or files (make your lesson clickable, no searching!)

5. Install Notebook at home!  You will need to use your PWSD user name and password.

You can find a printable version of these 5 tips here.

While exploring the SMART Exchange we found a morning calender that everyone liked and wanted to use. 

I have modified it to have Canadian icons and it is available for download here.

Thanks for a wonderful day!  Can't wait to come back!

5 + 1 First Day Suggestions!

1) Create a Game to get to know your class.  Choose from one of the many PowerPoint or Notebook templates (As a Social Studies teacher, the first day always included Current Event Jeopardy)

2) Borrow some of these ideas from 14 Interesting Ways to Get to Know Your New Class

3) Watch an inspirational video, can your class make one?



4) Download Edutopia's Back to School Guide which is packed with lots of great ideas for the start of the school year


5) What is your sentence going to be this year?  My class did this last year and posted them up on the wall as reminders of our goal for the year.

Two questions that can change your life from Daniel Pink on Vimeo.

6) Borrow some First Day of School Notebook Lessons from the SMART Exchange.  There are lot of pre-made and ready to go files for attendance, calender and school routines.