Thinglink is a presentation program that allows the user to upload a picture or video and then add links to web pages or icons with text to make the image more interactive. Thinglink is free and educator accounts are available. Below is an example I made for the library that now resides on our library web page for a visual tour. (See Library Tour on Thinglink column on the left-hand side of the page for more examples). Thinglink has uses in all curricular areas.
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Voki
Giddy Up Returns!
I haven’t posted on this blog in over three years. I was in survival mode. When hard times hit the library due to budget cuts, our district was able to keep teacher librarians and keep secondary libraries open, but we lost all our support staff. Teacher Librarians were essentially working two jobs to maintain the level of library services we offer our students and staff. Sadly, there wasn’t time to blog about technology to support student learning. Last year, our library technicians returned and life in the MTHS/EHMS library is returning to normal. It’s time to get back to sharing with staff great digital tools. Since I last posted, I’ve become a site level coordinator of Digital Citizenship. So I will also share items of interest I find on the web that may be of interest to our teachers to use with their students or to further their own knowledge about Digital Citizenship.
I am a beginner blogger and the purpose of Giddy Up! is to maintain a record of digital tools and teaching ideas which I share with the staff of my school.
A Little More Understanding
Here are links to some more Web 2.o tools that you may find useful in helping students study and understand.
Jeopardy Labs is a free site where you can make your own Jeopardy game or you can use one made by others.
Technorati is a blog search. Student may use this to search topics for reports or interest. They would need to use their evaluation skills to figure out if the blog’s author is an authority on the subject or at least verify information presented through other reliable sources.
Wikipedia is a good source for gathering background information. Used as a starting point, Wikipedia can be useful in learning keywords about topics, relative time period, etc. Just as with Technorati, Wikipedia sources should be verified for authority and accuracy in reporting information.
Bubbl.us is a free brain storming and mind-mapping application. A video tutorials for how to us Bubbl.us are available on Teachweb2 on Wikispaces.
Olympics XXX Animated Infographics
I came across this interesting animated infographic on one of my library groups. It comes from the The New York Times. I thought this would be useable for Physical Education and Math classes. “One Race, Every Medalist Ever” compares results of the Men’s 100-meter Sprint, Men’s 100-meter Freestyle, and the Men’s Long Jump over the last 116 years of the Olympics. Even if you don’t use it with your students, it is definitely a cool comparison piece.
Google Docs
I am a part of a Professional Learning Network, a PLN. The library world is changing and to keep on top of these changes, I am always learning. This year Elk Grove Unified School District Librarians formed a PLN. We get together once a month and learn something new about technology available for libraries. Sheldon High School librarian, Karin Ledford, taught a session on Google docs. I had heard about Google docs before through my other PLN on edweb.net “Emerging Tech: Using Technology to Enhance Your Library.” Michelle Luthala, New Canaan High School’s Librarian, uses it regularly with her students and staff. But it was just a mention in a webinar until Karin Ledford demonstrated Google docs and explained how it is used on her campus. After her demonstration, we played around with it a little, and I found docs easy to use.
I started hearing more about Google docs. A basketball coach using docs to set up parent help for food and coverage for a tournament. EGEA used them to set up our protest schedule and for coverage at the Western Festival. I used them with other librarians for collaboration on a document for one of our committees. And I have to say I loved how we could work on the same document and not have to physically meet. One less meeting to attend, and yet the work was completed and all who wanted to include input were able to do so.
Google docs is a wonderful tool to use with your students. It does require that all students acquire a free Gmail account. Once they have that and access to a computer, students can collaborate on documents with each other. You can provide feedback from any computer to their work. You can see how often students work on assignments. It is a time and paper saver.
So if you think you’d like to try out Google docs, check out Google Docs for Educators. There you’ll find tutorials and ideas of how to use them with your students. Google docs can definitely make life easier when collaborating with colleagues in your department. And if you need any assistance, I am here to help if I can. If I can’t, I’ll find out how.
Of the many things I’ve learned this year about technology available for educators, Google docs has the most potential. As a former Language Arts teacher, I highly recommend this application for teaching the writing process. As a writing coach, you can leave comments and suggestions right on the document for your students.
Check out this cool tool for school! It should make your life easier.
Giddy Up!
The Urban Dictionary defines “giddy up” as the new “you betcha”, “let’s go”, “I’m in”. Over this school year, I have presented many Web 2.0 free sites that can be used in the classroom. As a staff, many of you have joined me in using these technologies with your students either in the library or in your classroom. Each week in the Library Communication Bulletin, I share websites that support student learning and curriculum taught on our campus. But the Library Communication Bulletin isn’t the most effective way of sharing this information with you. One of my colleagues in the library world, Karin Ledford, the Sheldon High School Librarian, started a blog for the teachers at her school. She posts useable websites, free Web 2.0 sites, links to tutorials, etc. She does what I do in my Library Communication Bulletin in her blog. I decided that this would be an improved format over my bulletin. In the blog format, I would be able to provide links to helpful websites, just like before in my weekly bulletin, but here I can tag information allowing readers to find it later, more easily than in the old newsletter format. I’ll still send out a shorter version of the LBC with the notifications of who is scheduled to use the library and if there are available days. But as for the useable links to Web 2.0 technologies, I’ll be posting a link to this blog. So continuing with the theme of my other titles for our library wiki, Research Trail and our library book blog, Book Trail, our library blog will be titled Giddy Up! Digital learning? Let me hear you say, “Let’s Go!” “I’m in!” “You betcha!!” Giddy Up!