Empowering Students with Google Docs

The Ning Classroom 2.0 featured a video of an 8th grade language arts class using Web 2.0 tools to engage and empower students and promote literacy skills.

I have embedded the video because it offers firsthand experience of what the students are doing in the classroom and in particular how they use Google Docs to enhance their literacy skills.

What is your response to the video?

Find more videos like this on Classroom 2.0

Using Glogster with Middle School Students

In his blog, principal Eric Sheninger from New Milford High School, NJ, has a guest post from a middle school special education who describes how she has uses Glogster to engage students in reading, writing, and critical thinking.

When asked to create a Glog of their "bucket list," after reading a book, students came up with a variety of examples. Here are a few of their examples.

Amazing Facade of a Public Library

Just had to share this picture of a facade in front of the parking garage near a municipal library. It is the Kansas City Public Library.

Going Mobile

This powerful video reinforces the inevitability of mobile devices in the classroom and what both the present and future holds. Leave comments after watching it.

Are Standardized Tests Valid?

In an era where standardized test not only drive the curriculum, but also affect teacher performance appraisals and what students are promoted, we need to worry about the validity of these tests. Do multiple choices really serve to tell us who the best teachers are, or what students can accomplish?

A recent press release about an invalid question on the New York State exam has raised the issue of not only the absurdity of one test question, but other test questions as well. 

The controversy has surrounded a reading passage, "The Hare and the Pineapple" and the multiple choice question that followed. These screen shots are from The Washington Post story listed below.

Here are links to some of those stories.  I found this group on Larry Ferlazzo's Best Posts of the Day:

The Pineapple Story Tests Us: Have Test Publishers become Unquestionable Authorities? is from Anthony Cody at Education Week.

Daniel Pinkwater on Pineapple Exam: ‘Nonsense on Top of Nonsense’ is from The Wall Street Journal.

State Scraps “Pineapple” Test Question is from The New York Times.

When Pineapple Races Hare, Students Lose, Critics of Standardized Tests Say is the New York Times’ “take” on it.

Putting Daniel Pinkwater to the Test is from Wired.

‘Talking pineapple’ question on standardized test baffles students is from Valerie Strauss at The Washington Post.

Now that you have reviewed these articles, how do you weigh in on the issue?

Photo Story Tutorials

I have been practicing with what I hope is an easy-to-use tutorial site that allows you to create tutorials with text, images, and video in a step-by-step process. Below is a hyperlink to access a tutorial on the site that I just created about how to use PhotoStory.

Let me know if the tutorial process on Tildee works for you. Did you find it easy to access the tutorial at the site? Did the videos about PhotoStory help you learn about the software, or were you already comfortable with it?

If you have a chance to create one of your own tutorials with Tildee, let us know how you found the process.

Also, try blogging about the process of creating a tutorial with site, and then make a link to the tutorial in your blog post. If you click Share in Tildee after creating your tutorial, look for Blogger as an option and select it. Your blogger account should automatically open for you to write your blog post, with the link to the Tildee tutorial already posted inside the blog post window for you. What could be easier? Just try it out. If you don't want the tutorial in a blog post, you can share it in other ways through the options offered at Tildee.

Photo Story on Tildee

http://www.tildee.com/qKTGAd&m=1#.T3iGOUGvQqI.blogger

Tips to Enhance PowerPoint Creations

PowerPoint remains a stable for augmenting presentations. However, a poor PowerPoint can detract from your overall presentation. We have all heard of by now the phrase "Death by PowerPoint." The problem is not the tool, but people's understandings of the features in the software. People tend to mimic what they see modeled. As long as people continue to see poorly designed PowerPoint presentations, the more the vicious cycle of boring, ineffectual presentations will continue.

On the other hand, I have seen several presentations with tips for making engaging PowerPoint slide shows to augment one's presentation. Although this one is not my favorite, it still makes some good points and offers helpful advice, including how to work with color schemes and where to find acceptable use images.

10 Tips for Making Beautiful Slideshow Presentations

View more presentations from Edahn Small

What ideas did you pick up from going through this slide show? How might you now be able to enhance your own presentations?

You might also want to check out Doodleslide's Advice on PowerPoint for additional points about creating and delivering effective presentations. 

80 Alternatives to YouTube

80 Alternatives to YouTube is an e-book, which its author, Med Kharbach, has made available for sharing. I will embed the ebook below, but you can also access it as Google Doc if you prefer to review the book in that way. After skimming through the book and options explored, let us know which of these alternatives you have used, which you want to explore, and which you think you might want to use in your teaching.

Use the forward > mark or the scroll bar to advance through the book. 
Use the magnifying icon to enlarge the image and text.

Google Forms

This is a sample of a Google Form. It is very rough, but it is to give you the gist of how to show others in the class how to access and use the form you created. You can also share the form with others by sending it to them using email. Their email is available in the class contact form.

Here is a link to the simple form I created.

I have also embedded the form into the blog, using the embed code that is available from the More Actions options in Google Docs.





By the way, I found an example of an excellent way in which one school is using Google Forms to get feedback from students about books they would like to see the school library stock as well as other information. Once the forms are created, they are embedded right into a wiki where students can submit their replies. Check out this blog post about the project:

Community Conversations Using Google Forms, Docs, and Wiki to Connect Outside of Your School

Image from: http://www.thedaringlibrarian.com/2010/09/community-conversations-using-google.html

Education Kills Creativity!

In this TED Talk, Sir Kenneth Robinson speaks about creativity, education, and the future. Listen to what he has to say. Although he notes creativity in education is at all-time need, he questions if we are addressing this need.




Do you agree that education is killing creativity? How can education better inspire and nurture creativity?

Why Use SlideShare

I first began using SlideShare as a way to store PowerPoint presentations so I did not have to worry about where they were when I needed to do a presentation. That is, I did not have to store them on a portable drive (e.g., flash drive), carry around a laptop, or save them to a network drive. Instead, I could simply upload my presentations to SlideShare and access them from anywhere.

However, in the last few years, I have also discovered the beauty of using SlideShare as a social networking site. As the name implies, SlideShare is a place to share. Many users upload their presentations and grant rights to others to use these presentations. This feature can be a real time saver. When a user finds a presentation on SlideShare that he or she wants to use, the user simply needs to save it to "favorites" and can easily access it when the need arises. Using tags when saving to "favorites" can help when searching through the "favorites" to find a specific presentation. Type in a search word to find the presentation. On the other hand, if you don't have many presentations stored n as "favorites," just scroll through them looking at the titles and thumbnails.

This morning, I came across a link on Twitter for a SlideShare on Personal Learning Networks (PLN), a topic I am covering in the course Integrating Technology and Literacies in an attempt to build a spirit of educators as lifelong learners who can increase their PLN by accessing resources online. I decided to take a look at the presentation. I discovered the creator archived the presentation under Creative Commons Attribute for use as long as the creator is identified. Here, I embed the slide show for a variety of reasons. One is to demonstrate the ease with which a SlideShow can be embedded in a blog. Another is for viewers to review the very content in the presentations: ways in which one's PLN can be increased by using online social media. Another and third reason is to persuade viewers to make use of SlideShare if they are not already.

Creating a Personal Learning Network

 Presentation from from Corinne Weisgerber and Shannan Butler

Do you have a SlideShare account? Have you used the service? If you make PowerPoint presentations and lose track of where they are saved or don't want to be bothered storing them on a portable device, which can easily get lost or damaged, consider the convenience of SlideShare. Moreover, presentations saved on the site can be viewed from the site or downloaded to a specific computer to show on that computer during a presentation.

Once you become a regular user of SlideShare, you will not only find links that others share to presentations that you can access, but you will find presentations by browsing the site itself. If you like one presentation a person put up on SlideShare, you might find another one you like from this person by just browsing through the thumbnails of that person's presentations. You can also do a search with terms to find presentations. For instance, recently, I was looking to spice up an educational research course I am teaching. Although I could find a few excellent YouTubes, this site is blocked in the school where the course will be taught. Searching through SlideShare, I found some excellent alternatives.

Of course, finding relevant presentations on SlideShare not only is a timesaver because we don't have to create our own PowerPoints, but also it allow us to let another voice speak in our classrooms or for other audiences. Whereas our own PowerPoints can have a distinct look and feel, using someone's else can add variety.

Take some time to look through SlideShare perhaps on a topic you will be teaching soon. See what you find and check the creator's options for sharing. If you already use SlideShare, let us know what you think? Can you see how the site can open new possibilities and also contribute to your PLN? Would you consider putting your PowerPoint presentations on SlideShare?

Another similar site to check is AuthorStream, but if you need to begin somewhere, start with SlideShare, where you will find a host of ready-to-use presentations, such as the one I embedded above and other ones embedded in this blog. SlideShare can also help you with brainstorming for new presentations you want to create. By viewing others' work, you will get ideas.

Post your comments. What do you see as your potential use for SlideShare? After exploring for awhile, find a SlideShare to embed on in one of your own blog posts or to share with your students or others. Remember to give credit where credit is due and to check the sharing rights to use the presentation.

Best of the Web

Richard Byrne, the author of the Free Technology for Teachers blog, created this Google doc presentation for a conference. Skim through the slides to discover new resources.



What new sites or tools did you discover that you want to explore? Have you used any of the sites mentioned in the presentation? If you are not already following Byrne's blog in your Google Reader, you should consider doing so.