Tuesday, June 30, 2015

7 Starter Add-Ons for Google #iste2015

7 great starter Google Apps and Drive add-ons mentioned at #iste2015






Google Hangouts and Comment Tracking #iste2015

Hanging out creates community! Presented by Mr. Scott St. Pierre
http://www.scottstp.com/hangouts/ #scottstp

This would be an excellent news show format for a school. Multiple cameras and angles, moderated questions or comments.  4 hours maximum recording time. You can play video from another place by installing an app. but know that re-broadcasting content (music, video, etc.) on YouTube may be a copyright issue.  You should always have an additional monitor set on YouTube to check and make sure your broadcasted show is working.

Optional Equipment:
Long USB cable and webcam- small tripod (Logitech C920 HD camera approx. 100.00 on Amazon and will mount to a tripod).  You can assign a student to be the camera operator/switcher.  The mic on Webcam is fine for close, but an external USB microphone like a blue snowball mic (60.00 - use long USB cable) is nice.

Initial Setup


  1. Sign up for Google and You Tube account (by default you have YouTube)
  2. Create a YouTube Channel that is managed and add managers (if working within a school district- you maintain complete control)
  3. Set up a Google Hangout on Air (works on ipad but you cannot control it from an ipad-- )
  4. Go to matrix of 9 squares- click Google Plus
  5. Create a Hangout- Click HOME> HANGOUTS 
  6. Decide to start now or later
  7. Default is PUBLIC-- or remove "public" and it will be unlisted on YouTube and you can Invite an audience
  8. Click Share
  9. The Hangout creates an "Event"... To go back in- click Home> EVENTS
  10. Click START when you are ready to start , click AGREE since it will be broadcast on YouTube
  11. Click Start Broadcast at bottom
  12. Comment Tracker on left- try sources" option-- paste in a link to your live broadcast into the  comments, you can also copy a Twitter feed and put in as a source
  13. In Comments Settings you can sort oldest or newest first. Click on a question in comment and click Eyeball- so your question can appear onscreen in place of your picture. You can also pin comments (questions) to find them later



Comment Tracker


Sunday, June 28, 2015

"You can do THAT with a Google Spreadsheet?" presented by Tammy Worcester Tang #iste2015 #google

Tammy Worcester Tang's website is tammyworcester.com.  She is available to come to your school or district to provide training and workshops that excite your teachers and engage your learners!

The Google Templates, Tips, and resources on Tammy's website are found here:
http://tammyworcester.com/googlestuff/ 



Tammy Worcester Tang
www.tammyworcester.com
Login to your Google account before you begin.



virtual index card made with Google Sheet










Handout:  bit.ly/1BZ5x02


Topics in this class...

1. URL Shortener and QR Code Creator



2. Spreadsheet Basics



3. Class Notebook


4.  Lesson Plans



5.  Mad Libs



6. Pixel Picture


7. Power of the Penny



8. Magic Square



9. Random Picker Add-On



10. Animal Guess My Number



11. Awesome Google Spreadsheet Formatting Tricks



12. Tammy’s Templates - Click here to see 

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Brain Pop Certified Educator Class #ISTE2015 #brainpop

Brain Pop for grades 3-8  has some engaging new features if you are a subscriber-- just get your school's code from your administrator (media specialist, etc.) and set up student accounts.  Mobile device functionality is still incomplete- but all features work beautifully on a computer.

- Go to www.brainpop.com (or brainpopjr.com for K-3)
- Enter Code on top right
- Click Sign Up Now and select user names and passwords, plus security info.
- agree to terms and students will be able to login


Some Cool Features:
GAME UP: GAMES: over 100 cross-curricular games...
- Click Games--All Games-- Jelly Bean for a sample game that builds number sense.
- Time Zone X is a cool historical events sequencing game on the horizon...Click Game Up on homescreen, search for games.

MIND-MAPPING: Concept mapping tool in Brainpop is called "Make a Map"- take moments from a movie and organize them visually. To try it out- go to a movie in Brainpop, click "Make a Map" underneath- and notice the key vocabulary is available for your mind map.  You can also click ¨Add a movie" and add another movies info to your map. Students can explain their maps below and on each keyword- you can click play and go to the exact place in the video to see that keyword. Way cool!


SORTIFY: for interactive sorting and categorizing games that are automatically scored and submitted to the teacher.


ELL LESSONS:  over 90 ELL Lessons in Brainpop ESL
MIXER: over 20 thousand questions
QUIZ MIXER: Make and edit your own quizzes! Heres a link to a step guide.
SNAPTHOUGHT - search for snapthought to see which games have this feature--- students can take a snapshot of part of the resource and explain it by submitting to the teacher.
PRIMARY SOURCES:  Click here for an article detailing the primary source additions...
BRAINPOP EDUCATORS: Lesson ideas, support videos, help getting started with all of the things listed above


Sunday, June 21, 2015

Help your Students Become Better Searchers

As I move to a new job in our district's awesome high school- I am reviewing the process of search strategies for an entirely new generation of students.  I found a few great resources-- some You Tube videos, some web resources-- What do you use to teach online search strategies and digital research skills?













Basic Google Search Education Lesson Plans: