Take Teaching to the Next Level
Where Microscope and Mouse Meet
Connecting to a Global Community of Educators
Matt’s Monday Morning Media Tips 9/19 Welcome Back to School!
Embedding an E-Reader Into A Writing Prompt
The bells are ringing and the classrooms are set. Welcome back to school! Now that the chalk is settled (can you still use that pun in today’s digital world?) I’m bringing back Matt’s Monday Media Tips and tricks!
Do you have any struggling readers in your classroom? Are you working with ELL students? Are you a Foreign Language Teacher? How about a teacher who is working with early readers? If you answered yes to any of the above than this tip and trick is custom made for you!
This year I thought I’d try a new format. Let me know what you think. In each issue I’ll try to include tips and tricks as they relate to the Discovery Education STREAMING, SCIENCE and the Discovery Educator Network Global Community. I will also update the tip sheet with our list of ongoing free webinars - make sure you take advantage of them - they are nothing short of awesome! From time to time you I may throw in a cool iPad tip or app, a story from the road, and of course I welcome your thoughts, tips and tricks as well. I love to brag about my friends - that’s you there reading this paragraph. If you have a hankering to share, please send your tips, tricks and/or stories to matt_monjan@discovery.com.
In this morning’s media tip I’m going to show you how you can use a free podcasting tool and embed it into a Discovery Education Writing Prompt, Assignment and/or Quiz Builder. Let’s start off by putting your any fear aside. These steps are easy. And since we’re buds - I’ve also taken all of the “scary stuff” out and replaced it with a soothing and easy-to-follow screen cast featuring none other, your’s truly. You can get this step-by-step video by logging into www.discoveryeducation.com and typing in “audiopal” into your search bar and then downloading the movie. You can also get it by clicking on this link. Don’t feel like downloading the movie? No problem, print these instructions out and follow along. Note: the steps for embedding an E-Reader are the same for the Assignment, Quiz and Writing Prompt Builder but we’re going to use the Writing Prompt Builder in this example. Step 1. Log into www.discoveryeducation.com Step 2. Find the Writing Prompt Builder in the My Builder Tools Step 3. Click on the Create New Writing Prompt link Step 4. Fill in all of the fields and click on the Save and Continue button
What is a DEN Star Member? Step 5. Save the Writing Prompt in your “My Content” (even better - create a new folder and place your Writing Prompt there). Step 6. Click on the Edit button in the first box and search for a video, image, article, etc to add to your prompt. Step 7. In the box below click on the Edit button and type in the text that you want your students to answer Step 8. Highlight your text and copy it
Discovery Education Webinar Schedule
Step 9. Open up a new window/tab in your web browser and go to www.audiopal.com
Dates
Time (EST)
Link
Step 10. Click on the “Get Yours its Free” Button
9/19
7pm 8pm
Discovery Education Science Middle School 101
9/19
7pm 8pm
Blogging Basics: Getting the most of your DE Blog
9/20
7pm 8pm
A Scientific Approach to Science and Engineering Education
9/20
7pm 8pm
Supporting Literacy with Digital Tools
Step 17. Click on the HTML button and then rightclick and choose paste in any white space.
9/20
Step 18. Click on the Finish Editing and the yellow Save and Continue button
7pm 8pm
Engaging Students through the Student Center
9/22
7pm 8pm
Have you Ever Wondered?!? Sparking Your and Your Students’ Curiosity
9/22
7pm 8pm
Back to School with Discovery Education: Maximizing Student Engagement Using Discovery Education
Step 11. Click on the “T” - Text to Speech button Step 12. Plop in our text and click on the “Say it” Step 13. Enter in your email address in the “Step 3” section Step 14. Go to your email and click on the link from Audiopal.com Step 15. Click on the red “Copy” button Step 16. Click back on your Writing Prompt window
button
Step 19. Assign your prompt! Step 20. Now hold your thumbs up and ask your self - “Who has two thumbs and can embed an EReader into a Writing Prompt?” Answer - This guy/ gal - that’s who. Note that you can choose a different native speaker to say your text aloud. That means that you can enter in Spanish, French, Japanese words and more and have Audiopal say them in a native accent great for Foreign Language instruction!
I found this article about Discovery Education Science - check out the great teacher examples! Exert from: Edutopia.org - Cooking Up a (Virtual) Laboratory: Discovery Education Science Delivers These digital resources, from interactive glossaries to lab simulations, help teachers engage students. In an ideal world, teachers would engage students one-on-one and foster a learning environment that's as dynamic and promising as the kids themselves. They would present lessons with panache, assess student comprehension along the way, and give kids a chance to apply their newfound knowledge immediately. Classes would inspire students at all levels to explore topics more deeply and allow them to pursue their curiosity independently. Some teachers say this Edutopia is now a little easier to implement in the classroom thanks to Discovery Education Science for Elementary, a digital service from the company behind the Discovery Channel. Tracie Belt, [DEN Star] a life science teacher at Shorecrest Preparatory School, in St. Petersburg, Florida, says Discovery Education Science's reading selections, image library, and video clips make it easier to do integrated curriculum projects that connect language arts, history, technology, and science. If her students are learning about American colonial times in history class, for example, she might assign readings and videos about diseases from that period. The students can then use the service's movie clips to make an Apple iMovie, read about the discovery of germs in articles and e-books, or write papers or give presentations based on what they've learned. "The new method of teaching is trying to get kids to think, and this is the best tool I've ever used for doing just that," Belt says.Discovery Education Science brings all of the digital resources together in one place so students can navigate through them at their own pace and make decisions about the information, images, or video clips they will incorporate into their work. Moreover, they can do all of this independently. "I think it is really important, because twenty-first-century teaching is all about collaboration," Belt explains. "I don't want collaboration to mean just group work; I need projects in which all students have a part, but they are individually accountable." You can read the full story by going here:
Take Teaching to the Next Level
Where Microscope and Mouse Meet
Connecting to a Global Community of Educators
Matt’s Monday Media Tips 9/26 A Picture is Worth a 1000 Words You probably already know that your access to Discovery Education STREAMING and Discovery Education SCIENCE provides you access to thousands of images, clip art and sound effects (28,000+ images and clip art and 3,000+sound effects). If you knew that - kudos! If not - what a great Monday Morning surprise! But let’s take it up a notch. How do you think these images and resources could assist you when you start to plan lessons using the Common Core Standards? How about ELA, History, Math or Science lessons? If that question has you scratching your head, leaving your computer screen for another cup of coffee, or throwing your hands up and sending you back to a warm comfy bed - don’t worry - I’ve got a few ideas to share with you! Today we’re going to explore how we can combine Discovery Education images and sound effects and more with a few Web 2.0 tools to work on: Comprehension and Collaboration • Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally. • Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric. Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas Common Core Standards ELA
• Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
What is a DEN Star Member?
• Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations. • Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and communicative tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate. Craft and Structure •
•
Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone. Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza).
Of course we want to foster a sharing community so please feel free to send your tips, tricks and/or stories to matt_monjan@discovery.com so that I can highlight you in the next edition!
Discovery Education Webinar Schedule Dates
Time (EST)
Link
9/27
7pm 8pm
Jumping in the Digital Stream
9/27
7pm 8pm
Blogging Basics: Getting the most of our DE Blog
9/28
7pm 8pm
Discovery Education Science TECHBOOK Best Practices from the Classroom: Journals and Notetaking (Great for Science too)
9/29
7pm 8pm
Effective Evaulation with the Techbook Assessment Manager (Great for Science too)
9/29
7pm 8pm
Back to School with Discovery Education: Maximizing Student Engagement Using Discovery Education
Speaking of sharing - check out this week’s Educator Spotlight!
Educator Spotlight! Check out what DEN Star Molly Hay, principal of Spring Creek Primary School, is doing with her staff! Molly’s started a DEN (Discovery Educator Network) Club at her school. The club will meet monthly to share ideas and best practices with each other. Molly will be providing PD hours and even Discovery door prizes! All meetings are going to be limited to an hour and will be at her Springcreek Computer Lab. And I love Molly’s challenge to her staff, “You don’t have to commit to all meetings - but I bet if you come once, you will not want to miss another one.”
Let’s get started Getting to the core with word clouds You’ve seen them before, lots of words (some bigger than others) on screen, paper, billboard, etc. There’s actually a word cloud about the DEN on page two. Go ahead and scroll up/back and check it out ...I’ll wait here for you. Welcome back :) Word clouds can be used in a variety of ways. For example you can use a Word Cloud to: •
•
•
•
Work on predicting. Copy and paste text (DE STREAMING articles song lyrics, and/or speech transcripts) into a word cloud generator and then ask your students what they think the subject matter, big idea, or theme could be. Jump quickly to the main idea. The bigger a word appears on your screen the more frequently it was used in the text. This can be a great indicator of the importance of that word or theme. Try searching for “Kennedy” and then “Audio” in your media drop down box. Then click on the “Related Materials” tab. Cut and paste the transcript into a word cloud generator to see which words appear. Use a word cloud to reinforce vocabulary or work on new words. Bolster your students knowledge by entering in key vocabulary terms and then asking students to identify which words are new to them. Then challenge them to create their own word clouds that can help explain the term. Analyze a famous poem or literary work bonus points if you can have your students
represent their own poems in a graphic form - using a word cloud •
Embed your word cloud into PowerPoint and link words to additional slides. On each corresponding slide have students find and embed a sound effect, image, or video that complements a term/word.
Two great word cloud generators include www.wordle.net and www.tagxedo.com. They both work the same but tagxedo actually let’s you create different shapes for your word cloud!
Creating a story with PhotoPeach Move over PhotoStory 3. Take a hike iPhoto. I’ve got an even easier tool to use than you guys. I love PhotoPeach.com. PhotoPeach is web-based which means; 1.
It can be used on any type of computer (Mac, PC, Netbook)
2.
You can start on on computer and finish on another (i.e. start in a lab and finish at home).
3.
You can embed into other digital places - blogs, web pages, wikis, etc.
4.
Others can comment on your work
Where can I access this fabulous tool you ask?
Going outside-the-box with Museum Box Ok if you’re moving from left to right - as most readers in the US do - then you’ll see that I’m kind of scaffolding a bit here. Museum Box (http://museumbox.e2bn.org/)is a unique and very cool way to present your information in a 3D and dynamic way. This site provides the tools for you to build up an argument or description of an event, person or historical period by placing items in a virtual box. What items, for example, would you put in a box to describe your life; the life of a Victorian Servant or Roman soldier; or to show that slavery was wrong and unnecessary?
Go to www.photopeach.com and create a free account. Once you do you’ll be prompted to upload pictures to their site. As mentioned on page one - you have access to thousands of high-quality imagery inside Discovery Education. You are definitely encouraged to use them!
You can upload your Discovery Education images, video, text files, PDFs, sounds and links. Or you can use their library of material.
Once you have uploaded your pictures create a title, select a song, and submit your story. Your story will play. However you can enhance your story with captions and quizzes!
• Enhancing vocabulary lessons - vocab box
To add them click on the orange button and then click on the “Edit Caption &Photos” link. There you will be able to add words under each photo that you select. If you click on Quiz you can even add a multiple choice question to your story. Here’s a link to a story that I created with elementary students in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. We were working on Mood as well as descriptive language. I picked out the images and had the students work in groups to create the sentences and story. They had to use the vocabulary that they were working on that week. They also chose the music - they had a great time with that part!
You can also use a box for all sorts of things like:
• Delivering a book report - book box • Examining a period in history - industrial revolution box
Take Teaching to the Next Level
Where Microscope and Mouse Meet
Connecting to a Global Community of Educators
Matt’s Monday Media Tips 10/3 Opening Up Closed Captioning There are many great reasons to used closed-captioning in your classroom. They include: 1. Assisting those students who are hearing impaired 2. Addressing your students who are read/write learners 3. Helping your students who are struggling readers 4. Reaching your English Language Learners 5. Emphasizing a grammar or vocabulary lesson And the list goes on and on! This week I wanted to bring your attention to the 24,000+ Closed-Captioned videos that you and your students can access. In addition, I am going to share with you a few tips and tricks that will show you how to: 1. Find and download Closed-Captioned videos both on a PC and Mac 2. Edit the captions to: 1. Make them larger or different colors 2. Change the text so that the words meet the reading level for your students 3. Change the language of the text (default is English) Sound cool? Awesome! Let’s get to work. Oh and by the way - remember that you can always click on the word Help up there in the upper right-hand corner of your screen. Go ahead and take a gander - it’s to the right of the blue Search box. Once you click on the word Help type in “Closed-Captioning” in the Search Help bar and you will and you will find this information as well. (see image on right)
Step 1. Finding Closed Captioned Videos
What is a DEN Star Member?
Finding them is pretty easy and there are many different ways that you can sort Discovery Education’s vast resources to find a Closed-Captioned video. One way is to simply type in a keyword and, then on the left-hand side, in the Narrow My Search box, scroll down and see if Closed Captioning is listed under the words “By Video Detail.” Another way to find the CC videos is by clicking on the Advanced Search link. Then type in a keyword, check the Closed Captioning box, and click on the blue Search button at the bottom of your screen.
Discovery Education Webinar Schedule Dates
Time (EST)
Link
10/3
7pm - 8pm
Discovery Education STREAMING 101
10/4
4:30-5:30 PM
How to upload students in Bulk
10/5
7pm - 8pm
To download the video right-click on the little icon that looks like a filmstrip with a down arrow on it (it should be on the right-hand part of your screen).
Engaging Students through the Discovery Education Science TECHBOOK (Great for Discovery Education Science Users too)
10/6
4:30-5:30 PM
To download the CC file right-click on the the CC icon and save it somewhere on your computer.
How to upload students in Bulk
10/6
7pm - 8pm
Blogging Basics: Getting the most out of your Discovery Education Blog
Step 2. Downloading Closed Captioned Videos Once you’ve found your video you’ll need to download both your video and the CC file. You’ll need to have both files saved on your computer in order to edit and play the CC file. Remember that once you download a video you don’t have to worry about buffering either! Before you download make sure that your download type is set to QT for a Mac or Windows Media Player for a PC. You can check by clicking on the words “Download Type” located underneath the big box that says “Play.”
Create a folder and save both files in that folder on your computer
Step 3. Telling Your Media Player to Play the Captions (PC Instructions) Still with me? Good! Now we need to tell your computer to play them. Here’s how. Open up your Windows Media Player (WMP). If you don’t see your WMP tool bar hold down your ALT key and press the letter “T” and click on the the word “Play.” Then scroll down and select “On if Available”
Got it? Good. One more step. Pull up your tool bar again and click on the word “Tools.” Select “Options” and then click on the “Security” tab. Then place check marks inside the first box, “Run script commands...” and the last box “Show local captions when present.” Click on Apply and/or Ok and you’re set. You don’t have to do these steps again for this machine.
Step 3. Telling Your Media Player to Play the Captions (Mac Instructions) For Mac users there are a few more steps (I know! This is the one thing that is actually more complicated on a Mac!). But no worries here is a link to a .pdf that includes great screenshots and instructions - CC on a Mac
Step 4. Changing the Captions (PC) Open up the folder that you created that now contains both the video and .smi file. Rightclick on the file that ends in .smi and choose to “Open With” Notepad. The code will appear and look a little like the Matrix. Don’t worry - it’s really not that scary. To change the size simply find “font size” at the top of the code and change “10” to “20”. To change the color simply go down to where it says “color: white” and erase the word “white” and type in “Yellow.” Note: yellow on a black screen is statistically proven to be easier to read. To change the text scroll down and look for a spoken line of dialogue and change it. Save your Notepad (do not choose Save As) and congrats you are now a Coder!
Step 4. Changing the Captions (Mac) Open up the folder that you created that now contains both the video and .smi file. Rightclick on the file that ends in .smi and choose to “Open With” TextEdit.app. The code will appear and look a little like the Matrix. Don’t worry - it’s really not that scary. To change the size simply find “font size” at the top of the code and change “10” to “20”. To change the color simply go down to where it says “color: white” and erase white and type in Yellow. To change the text scroll down and look for a spoken line of dialogue and change it. Save your TexEdit.app (do not choose Save As) and congrats you are now a Coder!
Closed Captioning Stories from the Classroom Janet Hallstrom, a Tech Coordinator in Clay County Florida, teaches this trick to students that are in the upper level French classes. These students, in turn, translate the CC files into French and provide their authentic work to the elementary kids. The reason? Clay County has a large Haitian population and they use this technique to help teach the primary kids English.
More Things I Thought You’d Like To Know From the Customer Support Team The 10 most frequently asked questions and the answers to them! 1.
How do I Create Students using Bulk Imports? How-to Screen Shots and How To Video
2.
I forgot my username and password/Send username and password? - How-to Instructions and Screen Shots
3.
User Transfer: Move a user - How-to Instructions and Screen Shots
4.
Discovery Education Assessment: Bulk Import Tool How-to Instructions, Videos and ScreenShots
5.
School Passcode – Who has it and how to find it? How-to Instructions and Screen Shots
6.
Cookies and Cache – Caching on User’s computer /Site sends me back to the login screen/ Cannot log into the site but do not receive an error message/ How-to Instructions and Screen Shots
7.
Firewall & Filter Exclusions - Caching at Network level - How-to Instructions and Screen Shots
8.
I receive error messages when trying to play videos – Customer has Local Host or Network Manager How-to Instructions and Screen Shots
9.
Play & download videos and video segments How-to Instructions, Videos and Screen Shots
10. Video is not playing in a particular format or any format and there is no Local Host or Network Manager – Please email Education_Support@discovery.com and we can escalate the issue to our Content Team. Our customer support team is available to answer any questions at 1 -800-323-9084 #1 (Mon-Thu from 8am-7pm and Fri 8am – 6:30pm, EST), if you have any questions. They are always happy to help!
Take Teaching to the Next Level
Where Microscope and Mouse Meet
Connecting to a Global Community of Educators
Matt’s Monday Media Tips 10/17 Stick it To IT (Get it? IT as in technology and IT as in “it”- sigh - it’s Monday)
I know, I know - we missed a week! I do apologize for that - I was off canvasing the country in search of neat ideas to share with you. Since we last spoke (or you read) I have been up and down the east coast, OH, and over to TX. So without any further ado - Let’s get sticky with www.Stixy.com. Let me just say I love this site. It is a lot like www.wallwisher.com only without the constant crashing and better embed features. From Stixy’s site: “Stixy helps users organize their world on flexible, shareable Web-bulletin boards called Stixyboards. Unlike most personal productivity or project management software, Stixy doesn’t dictate how users should organize their information. Users can create tasks, appointments, files, photos, notes, and bookmarks on their Stixyboards, organized in whatever way makes sense to them. Then they can share Stixyboards with friends, family, and colleagues.” Now how can you use this tool in your classroom? Well let’s take Science Literacy as an example. Say we’re working on the how a larvae turns into a butterfly, or maybe we’re keying in on photosynthesis. First, let’s find images from Discovery Education STREAMING and their definitions from Discovery Education SCIENCE and upload them to www.stixy.com. After the content is uploaded to Stixy, simply drag your photos into a bulletin board. Next, cut and paste the definitions into the yellow sticky pads that Stixy.com provides you. Then share the link with your class. Once your students click on the link they’ll be taken to your Stixy bulletin board. Then it’s just a matter of moving and matching the definitions to its corresponding image (great if you have a SMART, Promethean or some other type of interactive white board)!
So cool right? Well it gets cooler my friends. Not only can you collaborate on images and sticky notes you can also upload .pdf docs and/or Word documents. Have you seen the Discovery Education’s Speech Transcripts or Lodge McCammon’s song lyrics? I’m just sayin’.
What is a DEN Star Member?
Do you see where I’m going here? What about using STIXY.com for peer review? How about working in teams during the creative writing process? Finally, you can lock down a bulletin and password protect it, you can send out emails and invite people, or embed on your website or blog. The possibilities are great with this site and Discovery Education... so I hope you stick with it :)
Discovery Education Webinar Schedule Dates
Time (EST)
Link
10/17
7pm - 8pm
Discovery Education Science Middle School 101
10/18
7pm - 8pm
Reaching all Students with Project Based Learning
10/18
8pm - 9pm
Seasonal Science Stream: Pumpkin Patch Science
10/19
1:30 -2:30PM - STUDENT WEBINAR!
Making a Difference Through Conservation With Discovery Channel’s Dave Salmoni
10/19
7pm - 8pm
STEMulate Students Mids with Creative Web 2.0 Sites
10/22
9:00 AM 3:00 PM
2011 Fall Virtual Conference
Two cool iPad Apps that are great for Digital Storytelling 1. Check out the ToonTastic app ($1.99) for digital storytelling. Students are prompted to follow a story arc (setting, climax, resolution, etc) by creating and stage of a story and then asks students to respond animating characters for each accordingly. stage of their story. They can 2. Check out the Puppetpals app (FREE) . Similar to draw their own characters, gain Toontastic, this app is a great tool to use with inspiration from other ‘toons’ that digital storytelling. One thing that I really like have been created, use some of about this app is that you can use your own photos the stock images and/or combine and animate them. Which means that you can grab original artwork with the stock some of the great National Archive imagery from images to create a unique and Discovery Education and animate it - i.e. you can animated story. What’s more, an bring Abe Lincoln, Dr. Martin Luther King, or other onscreen narrator describes each great leaders to life!
More Things I Thought You’d Like To Know
And speaking of Literacy - check out Jennifer Everett’s comments in this week’s Educator Spotlight! Jennifer is a teacher at High Street Primary school and she is doing amazing things with Discovery Education and her elementary students. Here is a snippet from arecent email: • • • • • • • • • • •
I created an assignment on What we use Money For The students all were able to log in (using the lap tops) and they all were awesome at it.... They were prompted to say if they were under 13 years of age.. They clicked "yes" they were--therefore it then wanted an email address to send things to so had them enter my everettj@piqua.org address.... They opened their Student Center and there they were able to view all of their assignments related to the lesson on money. We talked about what Status means and how that shows me what stage of the process they are at with each area. They viewed a 4 minunte video on How and Why we use/need money..... They clicked the writing prompt that I created and then wrote a short 2-3 sentence statement about how they have used money in their life...... They clicked SUBMIT TO TEACHER...... Then their status changed to submitted on their writing prompt in their student center..... Then I received a reply from each students account saying that they completed a writing prompt.
“OK--I am in in "teacher heaven" right now......I have students using words like: submit • student center • spell check • video clip • Rock on Jennifer! Way volume control • text box • assignments.... • I could go on and on--but I will quit” Tomorrow: I will check over their writing submissions that have been submitted to me and give them replies....and then we will move on into the next part of the assignment.
A Spook-tac-u-lar experience!
October 22 is right around the corner and that means it is almost time for the Fall Virtual Conference! Please join in on the fun. There will be prizes for best costumes and lots of other goodies. Session descriptions are here:http:// www.discoveryeducation.com/VirtualConference2011/
to go!
Here’s a list of all of the in-person events. Medicine Hat, AB Canada (Register here) Birmingham, AL (Register here) Anaheim, CA (Register here) Costa Mesa, CA (Register here) Los Angeles, CA (Register here) Meridian, CT (Register here) Orange Park, FL (Register here) Palatka, FL (Register here) Atlanta, GA (Register here) Glenn Ellyn, IL (Register here) Bossier City, LA (Register here) Mandeville, LA (Register here) Auburn, ME (Register here) Rockville, MD (Register here) Battle Creek, MI (Register here) Branson, MO (Register here) St. Louis, MO (Register here) Goddard, KS (Register here) Chocowinity, NC (Register here) Madison, NC (Register here) Camden, NJ (Register here) Port Chester, NY (Register here) Harrisburg, PA (Register here) Lexington, SC (Register here) Cope, SC (Register here) Poundmaker Cree Nation, SK Canada (Register here) Knoxville, TN (Register here) Houston, TX (Register here) Pasadena, TX (Register here) McKinney, TX (Register here) Muskego, WI (Register here)
Don’t see your location listed? Then organize your own inperson event for the Virtual Conference! Head over to our Meet Up site and add your location there. Then promote it via Twitter, Facebook, Email, Plurk, and any other way you can think of. Come Tech or Treat with us!
Take Teaching to the Next Level
Where Microscope and Mouse Meet
Matt’s Monday Media Tips It’s All About the Stories With Halloween just around the corner I thought it would be appropriate to highlight a few applications that you could use to tell some really “ghoul” stories. Treat #1 The first free application that I want to share with you is a site that I learned about from Wes Fryer’s presentation during the 2011 DEN Fall Virtual Conference. His presentation was amazing and inspiring. We’ll be posting the entire conference (including Wes’ presentation) at www.discoveryeducation.com/webinars. You can also check out Wes Fryer’s fantastic site and resources at http://www.speedofcreativity.org/ www.Audioboo.com (how appropriate is this name for Halloween?) is a site that allows you to create and share audio. From there site: Audioboo is the simplest way to share audio. It's fantastic for many things. Impromptu interviews that you can put on your website,ambience that just sound wonderful, music you've made yourself, a record of your children growing up or even a full blown radio show. You can use it for reporting, for story-telling, educational use or quick tips. Think of it as your audio digital archive, your web connected dictaphone or simply a great way to let your friends know what you're up to. Audioboo works on iPhone, Android and Nokia devices, and you can also record via the web. Soon we'll be adding Blackberry and Windows Mobile. Our mission is to be the one platform you use when you want to record audio, share it or keep it safe for the
Connecting to a Global Community of Educators
What is a DEN Star Member? Treat #2 Ok we’ve covered publishing audio but how about images? I love www.posterous.com for this. Like audioboo you can use smart phones (Android and iPhones) to publish on-the-fly. You can also use email and/or their website to publish and comment on your images. I like this easy tool to use on field-trips, with roving reports, scavenger hunts, digital storytelling and more. If you’re a Principal, you can use Posterous during your walk-throughs to capture and share best practices with the rest of your school and, of course spread your kudos!
Two spooky apps for your iPhone/ iPad/iTouch 1. I’m not really sure about the educational value of this app but it is free and it is Halloween-y. Want to turn your iPhone/iPad into a Jack-o-Lantern? Crazy Pumpkin is a digital Jack-o-lantern! It's a scary sound effect machine, a multi-colored flashlight, a creative toy and/or a pumpkin carving design tool! It's all this and more... http://itunes.apple.com/app/ crazy-pumpkin/id292692071? mt=8
2. Halloween Card Creator - Free Use Halloween Card Creator on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch The unique thing about Halloween Card Creator is that you can customize as much or as little of the card as you want. The app comes loaded with fun Halloween backgrounds, clip art and fonts. After you've created your masterpiece you can share it with your friends and family on Facebook, through Email or save it to your Photo Album. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ halloween-card-creator-free/ id464451172?mt=8
Discovery Education Webinar Schedule Dates
Time (EST)
Link
10/25
7pm - 8pm
May I have your attention please... The following is THEIR safety announcement Great tips for creating Student PSAs
10/26
7pm - 8pm
Siemen’s We Can Change The World Challenge Awesome and Free Project Based Learning Challenge!
10/27
7pm - 8pm
2011-2012 Read to Succeed Program Overview Check out the new and exciting changes to the 2011-2012 Read to Succeed program brought to you by Six Flags and Discovery Education for grades K-6.
Community Spotlight! This week I had the great privilege to participate in the Piqua City Schools Night of Discovery. Throughout the night students, parents, and community members gathered together to share and learn from each other. It was amazing to see the students lead the exhibits and showcase how they use technology in their classrooms. One of the best quotes of the nights came from a 2nd grade teacher who told me, “Last year my students created PowerPoints and this year they want to use Prezi...I don’t know what Prezi is but we’re going to learn it together!” I observed kindergarteners demonstrate learning on netbooks and elementary and middle school students interact with SMARTboards and Discovery Education Science. I also got to see some great science experiments ranging from giant bubbles, storms in bottles, and underwater robotics. What a great exhibition! It was really fun to see the marriage of technology and curriculum from the students’ point of view.
Take Teaching to the Next Level
Where Microscope and Mouse Meet
Connecting to a Global Community of Educators
Matt’s Media Tips 11-4 Turning a Nano, iPad, iPhone, and/or an iTouch into an iCenter
Many of the schools and districts that I have been working with have been exploring how an iPad roll-out might look in their classrooms. I myself have been hesitant to embrace the iPad as the “all-in” device that many people think it can be. And while I still don’t think we should limit ourselves to one specific tablet, device, or piece of technology in a classroom, I do now see the iPad as way more than a consumption device. Recently one of my colleagues showed me how to create an ePub - or interactive book - on an iPad. And that’s when a ray of light from the heavens beamed down upon my head, choirs sang and somewhere a light-bulb went off. Because in that moment, my friends, the iPad that I was holding no longer was a shiny new object. In that moment it became a great instructional tool, a learning center, and a fantastic new way to reach our students. With that in mind, I began exploring the idea of using a Nano, iPad, iPhone or iTouch as learning centers in the classroom. I thought that it would be pretty cool if I could combine free apps, the built in camera (iPad 2, iPhone or next generation iTouch), and Discovery Education STREAMING videos into one ePub and use it for as a self-directed learning center. I built the ePub in Pages on a Mac. However, if you are on a PC, iTunes, and you have an iSomething, you will need to build your ePub in PowerPoint and then save your PowerPoint as a Movie. Then drag your movie over to iTunes. Once your movie is in iTunes, click on the Advanced tab and then choose “Create an iPad or Apple TV version.” If you are using a iTouch or iPhone click on the Advanced tab and choose “Create an iPod or iPhone version.” The following information are the steps that I used on my Mac. First I created my draft in Pages. Note: In order for you to publish your work in an ePub you can’t use any of the fancy templates - at least I couldn’t get that to work - and trust me I learned that the hard way! I recommend clicking on the little Pages drop-down icon in your tool bar and then either choosing the Text Page or Blank templates. I was able to get them to work 100% of the time. The others...not so much. If you choose to embed any images or video into your document make sure that you select Inline and not Floating. An ePub will not publish if your images and/or video are floating. You can tell it is “floating” if you can move your image around within your document. If it is locked into one location it is “inline.” I think the default is “floating.” The inline and floating buttons are located within your tool bar when you click on the image. Before you embed a video from Discovery Education you’ll first need to download a QuickTime (.mov) version of a video onto your Mac. Then drag it into iTunes and click on the Advanced tab. If you’re building for an iPad, choose “Create an iPad or Apple TV version.” If you’re building for an iTouch or iPhone click on the Advanced tab and choose “Create an iPod or iPhone version.”
This will turn your .mov file into a MPEG-4 video file. You’ll probably have two files in your iTunes (one .MOV and one MPEG-4). Drag the MPEG-4 into your Pages document. Remember to click on the video and choose “inline” in your tool bar.
What is a DEN Star Member?
Once you have your Pages document complete, click on the word “File” in your tool bar. Then choose “Export” and click on the ePub icon and then the “Next” button. This will place a .epub version of your document somewhere on your computer (I put my stuff on my desktop and move it later). You’re almost there at this point. Drag your .epub file into the “books” section of your iTunes. Then all you have to do is sync up your iPad with your Mac and bingo, bango, presto - you have an ePub/ learning center on your Nano, iPad, iPhone or iTouch! Here is a portion of the center that I built into my iPad center. The full version includes an Encyclopedia Article and three video segments from Discovery Education. You can download this epub as a Pages document for your Mac by clicking on this link Practice turning into ePub.
Discovery Education Webinar Schedule Dates
Time (EST)
Link
11/7
7pm - 8pm
Discovery Education STREAMING 101 Great tips for getting started with Discovery Education
11/8
7pm - 8pm
Story of Learning: Digital Storytelling with Discovery Education STREAMING! Join us for an exploration of the creative ways to engage students across the curriculum with digital storytelling with Discovery Education resources.
11/9
7pm - 8pm
Siemen’s We Can Change The World Challenge The nation’s premier sustainability competition that gives students the inspiration and free tools to make a difference.
11/10
7pm - 8pm
The Collective Brain - Digital Storytelling Leverage the power of community and learn effective ways to engage and inspire your students through digital storytelling projects.
11/14
7pm - 8pm
Discovery Education Science 101 This webinar provides an overview of the Discovery Education Science for Elementary service.
You are no longer curriculum specialists, teachers, educators or even students. You are now esteemed research scientists and you have a new problem to solve. You and your colleagues are developing a new propulsion system that will be used to transport heavy cargo in a new cost efficient and environmentally green way. Using the material provided for you on your lab table you must work with your colleagues to successfully move the three cargo models (soccer ball, tennis ball and baseball) into the receiving mechanism (trash can) using your prototype hand-held hot-air propulsion system (blow dryer). Time is money so you have three tries and/or 10 minutes (which ever comes first) to document and record your best transportation time. You may use any of the materials on your table/lab. However you may not move the trash can. As innovators in your field you must share your findings with the world. With that in mind: 1. Choose someone to either film/or take pictures and document your progress. 2. Choose someone on your team to be the scribe and provide a narrative to complement the pictures 3. Choose someone(s) on your team to carry out your experiments. Use the Posterous App on the iPad to both take pictures and document your experiment. Please be sure to include pictures and one - two sentences that describe: 1. Your hypothesis (what you think will happen and why) 2. Your procedure and how you used the material 3. Any principles, forces, etc at play that can explain why the propulsion system and cargo behaved the way they did 4. A name for your propulsion system and a reason why the world should adopt your new way of transporting goods. After completing your experiments review the research material on the following page
And speaking of innovative real-world problems to solve - check out what Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ STEM Director, Cindy Moss, shared with me this week! Call for students to develop innovative products to solve real-world challenges 5th annual Spirit of Innovation Challenge continues its quest to transform STEM education HOUSTON — Recently, Nancy Conrad, founder and chairman of the Conrad Foundation, officially launched the 2011-2012 Spirit of Innovation Challenge to encourage students to create technologies and products that solve global issues. For the past four years, the Innovation competition has helped transform the way science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) is being embraced by high school students. “If we are to ignite passion for STEM education, we must embrace an academic plan to focus on the relevance of the knowledge we share with our students,…#157; said Conrad. “Memorizing facts to pass a test just won’t do the job. The hallmark of America’s culture is innovation and entrepreneurship. It’s how we got to the moon. It’s how companies like Apple, Facebook and Google were formed. It is how our country will continue to explore the universe, discover cures for disease and become good stewards of the world we share with our global neighbors.…#157; Hosted by the Conrad Foundation, the Spirit of Innovation Challenge invites high school teams to use STEM skills in developing commercially viable, technology-based products. It is the only competition of its kind to combine education, innovation and entrepreneurship, giving students the tools they need to succeed and sustain a knowledge-based economy. “Using a network of world-renowned scientists, engineers, academics and business leaders, the competition connects teams with mentors to assist in making their ideas a reality,…#157; said Jennifer Fotherby, executive director, Spirit of Innovation Challenge. “We are thrilled by the support and collaboration from global industry leaders in this year’s program.…#157; The 2011-2012 Spirit of Innovation Challenge is supported by Lockheed Martin and PepsiCo and in partnership with U.S. Department of State and NASA. Additional corporate and organizational involvement from, Kraft Foods and the National Space Biomedical Research Institute is allowing for rapid program growth. This year’s Challenge Partners who provide experts, mentors and judges for the student entries include: the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Foundation (Aerospace Exploration), The William James Foundation (Clean Energy) and the American Society for Nutrition (Health and Nutrition). Interested student teams draft an online abstract that addresses five questions about their innovative idea for first-round judging. From there, selected semi-finalists in each challenge category – Aerospace Exploration, Clean Energy, and Health and Nutrition – develop a business plan, technical plan and graphical representation of the team’s product or innovation. The top five teams from each category will travel to the annual Innovation Summit, hosted at NASA-Ames Research Center (Moffitt Field, CA), March 29-31, 2012, where they present their innovations and vie for awards and commercialization opportunities. The Conrad Foundation is also currently in discussion with the Department of State about sending the winners of the 2011-2012 Spirit of Innovation Challenge to Rio de Janeiro in June 2012 during the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. Winning teams would present their work in conjunction with the official U.S. delegation led by the Department of State. This event will allow Spirit of Innovation winning teams a lifetime experience of joining diplomats, scientists, sustainability experts and other leaders to take a forward look on pressing global needs and opportunities for creative problem-solving. This year’s Innovation competition features a new online community that facilitates student, teacher and mentor collaboration across multiple platforms, from sharing videos to uploading documents and communicating in forums. The Portal for the Spirit of Innovation Challenge is also being expanded to assist teams in acquiring patents and funding for further development and commercialization of their products. To learn more, visit www.conradawards.org.