Making a Difference

In the first week of school this year I received an email from a teacher who was a little frazzled because her classroom Interactive White Board (IWB) was not displaying the computer input correctly.  I had a free moment before leaving to go to a workshop so I called over to the school to speak with the teacher.
When I got the teacher on the phone they proceeded to describe to me what the problem was and I immediately realized what was going on and that it was a simple fix.  Now there was a problem that came up, I would not be able to get to their school until the next day so I decided to walk the teacher through the fix over the phone while she was in her classroom.
I had the teacher go through the steps slowly with me by describing the steps they would need to do to fix the problem with the IWB.  The teacher listened to me and was able to do the steps to fix the problem and even talked the steps back to me and said that they would be able to fix the teachers IWB in the room next door because they had the same problem.
She was very excited to have things working and her students, that were in the classroom and behaving incredibly well, were excited as well.  She had the students thank me over the phone which made me feel very good.  Now what was even better was the fact that two days later an inter-office envelope came into me with the following card that the students in her class made for me to thank me for taking the time to call their teacher to help her with the problem.

To me I was just doing my job but to the students I made a difference by taking the time to contact the teacher and help her out over the phone.  I had a friend some number of years ago tell me to figure out how you can make a difference and take it as far as it will go.
So now I have to ask you.. How have you made a difference today?

What's in a Picture

In our office today one of my colleagues, @web20classroom, decided that we were going to try something new with our Smartboard. He decided that we were going to live stream video from the beach to give us a new perspective on how to use the board. This has now become our window to the world.

So I began to think a little bit of some ways that images can be used with your Interactive White Board (IWB). It was a great idea to put the live shots of the beach on the board because everyone that has come into our office today has commented on what they were seeing. The comments have ranged from "I wish I were there right now," to physical displays of a diving motion towards the board. What a great idea that immediately sparked conversation, laughter and a lot of smiles. The site that was used to display the live feed was was Earth Cam.

I started to think of other ways that I could use images with an IWB to engage students in the classroom. Ways to incorporate the and merge the technology into the classroom. I thought about using the Reveal/Shade tool to cover up the image(s) at the beginning of class and then have a student come up to the board and raise the shade to show the picture for the day.

What ways can you use the images then, you might be asking? Why not try some of these suggestions.

• As part of your Virtual Field Trip
• Showing images of locations for Social Studies
• Identifying different weather types
• Famous people
• Object identification
• Geometric shapes
• Atomic Structures
• Article Identification for ESL and Foreign Language
  
• Identification of Architecture

Images can be preloaded into the software that comes with your IWB so that you can either click through or reveal the images to the students and discuss them. Displaying the images or live video could also support your Essential Question for the subject you are working on. You could create a game using the images to find a location in the world. Kind of a where in the world is... situation. Being able to reach the students and bring in a visual component to the lessons adds so much more to their learning experience over and above the norm.

You may now be saying how will this affect me in my instructional day? As a teacher using you IWB and displaying images could factor into the new evaluation tool for Standard IV for integrating and utilizing technology in instruction. It can also encompass the new Common Core standards for using technology tools and skills to reinforce classroom concepts and activities. As well as using technology and other resources for the purpose of assessing, organizing, and sharing of information.

Sketchcast

I got the opportunity to review this website after I was directed to it by a colleague a week ago. At first I have to say that I was not really impressed by the samples that they offer on their site homepage but kept an open mind. After doing a little bit of research through the site I can now say that I was wrong and the site does show signs of usefulness. The possibility of using in education is also a plus as teachers can use it to record quick videos and tutorials that their students can review over and over again. This is also something that can be done on any type of computer and even on your Interactive White Board (IWB).


So we need to now talk shop about the Sketchcast website. The site refers to this tool "a new way to express yourself." You can Explore the site a little bit so that you can get a look at what you can do by allowing you to see some examples of completed Sketchcasts. Currently there are 4 categories to choose from but I would have to guess that over time the number of categories will increase as more users go to the site.


You do have to register and create a login for the site, I know I know another username and password to keep up with. As I have always said make it simple so that you can keep up with it. The Registration screen has 7 items to fill out, very easy to do and once you are registered you get a URL address to your public site.


The description as provided by their website: "...Sketchcasting is a new way to communicate something online by recording a sketch, optionally with your voice speaking. Any sketch can then be embedded on your blog/ homepage for people to play-back, and you can also point people to your sketchcast channel here (or let them subscribe to your sketchcast RSS feed)."


Now you may be asking, how does it work? Really easily there are three steps to follow to create your final product. First you start by entering in the Title of your Sketchcast and start Recording. You have some features that are available to you in the ability to enter text and change color, write on the screen and import images. After you have recorded your Sketchcast you then have the opportunity to Preview what it looks like to see if you need to adjust or start over and record again. The last step is to Publish your final work, which gives you the option to make the product Public or Private. That's it you cannot get any more simplistic than that. Three steps and the most amount of work you have to do is the actual recording of the information that you want to create in your Sketchcast. Now that your product is finalized you have the option to allow it to either auto play or not as well as the embedding code so that you can take your Sketchcast and put it into your Wiki, Blog or even your own personal webpage.


How can you apply Sketchcast to your job? If you are in business this allows you to create a brainstorming strategy online and save it so that you can email it to your peers. If you are a teacher this can be a tool that allows you to record your daily instruction for students that are not in class so that they can review the material that was missed when they come back to class. Because you have the ability to embed this in a web space you can make this available to a broader population.


Try out Sketchcast and see what you think, for me it looks like it could be a great tool for creating quick information that can be shared instantly once the recording is done. And the possibilities for those Companies and Schools that have Interactive White Boards are limitless.

A Question A Day

So we have now had a new multi-touch mobile SMARTBoard with the extreme short throw projector in our office for a little over a month now and I have to weigh in on it.

First off the multi-touch capability for me has to be one of the best features of the board. The ability to have two people working on the board at the same time is a great feature. As well the ability to size images similarly to what an iPad/iPod, SMARTTable or Microsoft Surface can do with the multi-point drag feature. Most of the rest of the board features are the same as they were before but with a couple of tweaks here and there for upgrades and add-ons.

So what have we been doing with it for the past month? We have been asking questions. I know you may be thinking, why or what? We wanted to see how people reacted to the board as they were coming into and through the office. The questions are more of a prompt than anything else in that we want people to touch and interact with the board. Some people have come in and asked us what it is, while others know what it is and just keep going. We have had some takers with the questions that we have been asking. Things like, what is your favorite cereal, to thought provoking ones about your favorite quotes. The main thing is that people are touching the board and asking questions about it.

So as a teacher, I have to ask you how do you use your interactive white board (IWB)? Whether it is a Promethean ActiveBoard or a SMARTBoard. Do you just look at it in the room? Is it just a fixture on the wall, or stand? Or is it a tool that you use within your classroom? The best thing that you can do with your IWB is use it, and if you do not understand something just ask. I am pretty sure that there is someone in your building that can answer or is willing to help you to get the answers to your questions. Remember that you have an on-site technology facilitator as well as a District Instructional Technologist that are here to help you to better understand the tool so that you can make it an effective, integrated and productive part of your instructional day.

You have a Classroom Solution: Now What?

So now your classroom has been setup with the new district solution. What does all of this stuff do you might be asking or rather what IS all of this new stuff? For now know that your school will have a member of the Instructional Technology Staff come out and do an in depth training on all items within your new Interactive Classroom. Let's take a look at what is involved in your new setup.

We have designated three designs of Interactive Classroom for the schools depending on the grade level you are teaching. If you are in the Middle or High Schools you will have an eInstruction Solution. If you are in an Elementary School you will either have a(n) SMARTClassroom or ActivClassroom Solution.

Each Classroom solution has similar items included, I will give a brief description of what everyone will have and then go into detail on what the differences are afterwards. All classrooms will have a Lightspeed classroom audio system. The system includes the deck unit which controls the volume for the computer as well as the two lapel microphones and the concert mic. Each classroom will also have desktop computer with flat panel monitor and USB hub that will be in the cart. This will allow you to not have to rely on one of your classroom computers to be the used in the cart at the front of the room. On the top of the cart you will have a Lumens Document Camera, which is the rounded Ladibug design and provides you with a myriad of additional integrating opportunities. Within the cart itself you have three areas, the upper area has a flip down panel which has two pull out trays and a storage area. On the bottom right is a smaller storage area where the computer is housed. On the left is the larger storage area with a pull out drawer and shelf where the sound deck is stored. When both lower doors are opened you will have access to a third pull out tray which provides an additional workspace.


OK, now that we have discussed what is universal to each cart, let's take a look at what is not the same depending on your grade level. If you are in a Middle or High school you will have the eInstruction Classroom Solution which includes a Wall mounted LCD flat panel monitor, Mobi Interactive tablet and Pulse voting system(CPS).



If you are in the Elementary Schools there are two different models of solution choice. Some schools will have the SMARTClassroom solution which includes an Interactive White Board(IWB), SMART Airliner Interactive Tablet and SMART Response voting system.


The second option for Elementary Schools is the Promethean ActivClassroom. In this setup you will have the Interactive White Board, ActivSlate and Learner Response voting system(LRS).

There are handouts for each Classroom Solution available on the Curriculum Warehouse: Learning Village, located in the Curriculum sections Resource button. Also for our School Technology Facilitators the same information is in the Webportal in the Classroom Solutions folder under the Information for Technology Facilitators Link.

photos provided by: eInstruction, SMART, Promethean

The 3D Interactive Solar System

A couple of days ago a colleague posted a link to a website that offered a view of the Solar System. I was skeptical at first needless to say, thinking that it might not be a really educator friendly website. Boy was I surprised.

The site Solar System Scope(SSS) is a 3D interactive website that allows you to explore all there is in our solar system from the planets individually to Saturn's rings to the Constellations.

When you go to the site initially and just let the page load you will notice that the site seems to be moving on its own, changing views and showing different information on its own. The site is set up, so that it will seem to from what I gather, to demo each area of the websites option choices for viewing. Once you click on the site you are then able to interact with the Menus, planets and other objects on the screen.

Along the left side of the webpage there are three tabs that allow you to interact with the site in different ways. In the first tab you will find the Cursor Info Texts which define what each of the cursor identities are. You will also find the Hand icon that allows you to; of course, interact with items on the page. The second tab shows you the different views that you can see while using the page. These affect the broad views of the entire webpage unlike the Hand icon interacting with individual items. The view types are Heliocentric, Geocentric and Panoramatic. The third tab gives you the Setting information and Search features of the site. You can change the Planet and Moon, Stars and Constellations, Earth Observatory, Time and Reset settings from the tab. You can find a Planet or Moon, Star or Constellation or find a Specific Time in the Search features.

On the right side of the page you have a slide ruler that allows you to zoom in and out within the viewing area. Along the bottom of the page is the Time and Date Calendar. If you hover over either of the items you will see a clock or calendar for you to change settings. Then there is a Start, Fast Forward and Fast Rewind time buttons where you can see the solar system in action.

Lastly up in the top right hand corner of the screen you can change the Language, hide the interface button. Then you can use the Arrow button and/or the Space bar to change you out to the full screen mode and back.

The site looks great and the possibilities are limitless on how you can use it in your classroom. It would also be a great tool to use with your Interactive White Board to show the solar system on a larger screen where your students can come up and touch the board and move things around and make things happen. In just a few days that I have known about the site I have shared it with a number of teachers at the Elementary school level and all of them have really been excited to see it and use it.

Interactive Social Studies for PreK-5

One thing that I have heard from Elementary teachers, while I have been training on Interactive Whiteboards, is that there are not a lot of activities out there for Social Studies that will utilize the IWB to its abilities. They are looking for quick activities that they can use to either start or reinforce a lesson with.

PBS offers a lot of online interactive activities to aid teachers in getting their students engaged in learning.

Here is a sampling for PreK-2 Teachers
1. Build a Neighborhood - Allows students to create their own neighborhood
2. Coast to Coast - Test students knowledge of Geography in the US
3. Connect the States - A matching game that helps students learn flags, animals, foods and other facts about states.
4. Connect the World - A matching game that helps students learn flags, animals, foods and other facts about other countries.
5. On the Job - A matching game where you pick the best tool that goes with the worker.

Here is a sampling for 3-5 Teachers
1. Sticker Race - Analyze the bumper stickers from around the US
2. Mapping the West - Discover how the land west of the Mississippi was divided prior to the Louisiana Purchase.
3. Search for the Lost Cave People: Be an Archaeologist - Examine why clay is a good material for making containers.
4. Secrets of Lost Empires II: Construct an Aqueduct - Determine where to place the Aqueduct in your Roman City.
5. Be your Own Boss - Learn how good decision making can help you run a successful business.

This is just a sampling of some of the Interactive Activities that PBS offers that you could use on your Interactive Whiteboard. Check out PBS Teachers for more information and activities.

No more Ink from Overheads on Hand

Are you still using your overhead machine? Tired of dealing with cleaning the marker ink off of your hand after school each day? Since I am left handed I had ink all the way up my arm and had to scrub my arm raw every day to get rid of the ink.

Well there is a ray of light at the end of the tunnel "so to speak." If you have a Document Camera in your classroom along with an Interactive White Board or Tablet you can be ink free very soon.

With either Promethean ActivInspire or SmartBoard software you have a toolbar option that allows you to import the image directly from what the Document Camera is seeing and put it into the software and utilize the features of the program to interact and write on top of the displayed image.
Now what does this mean you may be asking? Well you can relegate that overhead to being a coat rack and use your Doc Cams and IWBs to display those old overhead sheets. Yes I am saying to keep all of those great overhead resources that you have used throughout the years just re purpose them and use them in another format.
Place that overhead sheet on top of a blank sheet of paper and then under the doc cam. Open up either the SmartBoard or ActivInspire software and in the toolbar select Inset: Image from Scanner/Camera. You will then click OK on the type of doc cam you are using(comes up as the default). Then look at the screen and there will be a new window that opens with the live image from the doc cam showing. Now click Capture on the window and it will place the image directly into your open Flipchart or Notebook file. Now it is just a matter of picking up a pen from the tray or using your stylus to begin writing on top of the overhead resource without getting any ink your hand.

Even on a Rainy Day you can get a Ray of Sunshine

As I was walking through one of our schools today I went into a classroom and started talking with a teacher whom has one of our Interactive Classroom Solutions set up in her room. We discussed some things about her board that she could not get working and were able to quickly correct the issue and get her back into action.

As we talked before her students came back in from specials she told me that this was her first year in a classroom with an Interactive White Board(IWB), and that she had not really had any formalized training. As we discussed some quick things she could do to get acclimated to the software and to the board itself she started telling me of all the neat and fun websites she had found on her own to assist her with using the technology. I could tell that she was excited and proud that she had learned to use the product on her own and began to show me all of her resources.

After this I imposed on her to ask how long she had been with the school system as a teacher. She immediately said that she had been with the school system for 30 years and this was the start of her 31st year. I then proceeded to ask her what technology had she used in the previous years and her response was a Chalkboard and Whiteboard, nothing else. So it came down to the last part of our talk as her students were lining up to come back into the room I asked how she felt about using the technology and what would she do if she had to go back to a classroom that did not have an IWB in it.
Her response "...they would have to drag me out of here kicking and screaming. I don't know what I would do without it now." To see the look of excitement and energy in her eyes brought a ray of sunshine and a great feeling that our teachers are "Getting It." They are beginning to understand that the technology is there to help them not to hinder or hold them back. Kudos to this 30 year veteran teacher to completely step out of her comfort zone and take a chance on what can feel like a daunting task smelling like a rose.

Fun Interactive Art Sites for Students

I came across theses sites while I was looking for some resources that can be used with either a SMARTBoard or ActivBoard in the classroom. All of these are fun, creative, interactive sites for students to express themselves through art.


Destination Modern Art: This is a website that helps children ages 5 to 8 to learn about Art by participating in an interactive journey through New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
Students will learn about the art works of MoMA by investigating the works of art, learning about artists, their techniques, and their inspirations. Students have the ability to participate in the online activities at school or at home.

NGA Kids: National Gallery of Art. A complete interactive site that allows students to create and learn about Art. Students are able to create their own artwork in the Faces & Places, Art Zone, Brushter, Photo Op, NGAkids Jungle, Collage Machine and Flow. The site also offers a Calendar of Events of exhibits, as well as interactive lessons for students from the NGAClassroom link.

Curious Corner: Art Institute of Chicago. A website designed for children and students ages 3 to 12 to help them to learn and understand the world of Art. Students will be able to investigate artworks from around the world and then be able to connect them to their own experiences through interactive activities.

Learn About Color: A website created by The Metropolitan Museum of Art to help children learn their colors. Students are asked to color in William the Elephant with the primary colors. In the site students are asked to mix the colors together to make as many new colors as they can.

These are just a handful of sites to help your students to learn the painters and sculptors of the worlds most famous artworks and to bolster their knowledge of what Art has done through out history. These websites can easily be used with your Interactive Whiteboards or stand alone computers in your classroom or computer labs with your students.

Did U Know: Doc Cam combined with CPU Software

It has been a while since I have written about the uses of Document Cameras in your classrooms but I need to remind you again of some of the features that you can do that you may not have thought about.

Whether or not you have a Lumens, AverMedia, Dukane or Elmo you can software that may already be on your computer to interact with it. I call it the Combined Mode of Doc Cam use.

Now we have multiple applications in our school system that will allow you to go beyond the normal use of your Doc Cam. Some things that you may not have even thought about, some you have, some I may not have even thought about and you can Comment about those uses for my and the other readers benefit.

Remember back a number of months ago I told you about how the Doc Cam software allowed you to create a video, well you can then take that video ( in .avi format ) and upload it to Windows Move Maker, or iMovie and edit, change or modify it as you see fit so that it can then be rebroadcast for those students that were not in class on the day of that classroom assignment. Yes, for those students that are absent they can get caught up by watching the videos you make using the Doc Cam. Now in our school system we have the ability to load these videos to our School Websites and if you are reading this in another School System you may have the same ability as well.

If you have an IWB solution in your school system you have the ability to open up your Doc Cam software and display it on your board, monitor, screen, wall or other display medium and then you can annotate over the image using the available IWB software, ActivInspire, SMARTBoard, eInstruction, etc.. and then save the information to review again or to share with students that are out of the classroom.

The capabilities of use with combining both your document camera software with the computer software is limited by your imagination. I have just supplied two different ways, of the multitude available, to use them together but hope that you will take this information and figure out some others to share.

Musical Resources

I have compiled a list of a few web-based resources that will allow you to integrate with your SmartBoard and Airliners, even Activboards as well as with your Mobi or Qomo Interactive Tablets to help you with music in Elementary grades.

Some of these sites will work seamlessly and can be used with any of the items listed above. Now some of these sites do require something extra and I will let you know which ones they are and what they need to function. Sometimes it is just as simple as having Quicktime on your computer or maybe you will need to open the link with a different browser than you normally would. Most however work great on their own with what you have on your computer. Remember that you will also need to have a set of speakers so that your students can hear.

• Virtual Keyboard - Has many different instruments and drum beats for students.
• ArtsEdge - Sponsored by the Kennedy Center
• Continental Harmony - from PBS, appropriate for grades 3-8
• Music Theory - A site that has many different resources to teach students about music.
• Playmusic.org - kid friendly site explaining music, musicians and composers
• SFSKIDS - Learn about the orchestra from the San Fransisco Symphony
• Which Instrument am I - listen to the sounds and choose the correct instrument.
• Smithsonian Global Sound - Introduction to the music of the Mexican Mariachi bands

Have fun with these and I will keep posting more periodically for different subject areas.