Sunday, January 29, 2012

Dropbox...This will change your life!


For the past few months I have been bragging to people about how much I love a FREE service/software called Dropbox. I am including a 3 minute tutorial video explaining how Dropbox works, therefore I will not bore you with the details. However, the basic idea is that you can open your files anywhere, edit them, and then save them for future use. Additionally, you can share folders with people. The best part is that if your computer dies, your files are automatically saved in the cloud! When I say you can open your files anywhere, I mean it...laptops, desktops, smart phones, and even tablets can access your Dropbox files.

I don't have to worry about backing up my files to a physical device. I don't have to worry about losing a USB drive. Dropbox makes computing much more efficient and anxiety free. Because I use three different computers on a daily basis, I never worry about  wondering which device has the most recently updated files. As long as your computer is connected to the Internet, Dropbox will update your files automatically.

Obviously nothing is perfect (including Dropbox). The good news is that you automatically receive 2 gb of free storage. If you are able to persuade others to install Dropbox, you can earn more free storage. If you are someone who works with large media files, then you might want to consider paying to receive higher amounts of storage or find another service to meet your needs. Nevertheless, if you are a classroom teacher like me who primarily uses Microsoft Word, PowrePoint, Excel, and PDF's, then the basic Dropbox account should suffice for your needs.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

E-Books



Ken Halla is a social studies teacher in Northern Virginia. NBC Washington recently covered how he uses E-Books (electronic books) in his classroom. I like the idea that students can access their textbooks anywhere without having to carry a giant book, though I do have some reservations. Here is a link to the news report.

My big concern with school districts mandating more technology uses for students outside the classroom is rooted in the fact that many low income students lack Internet access at home. The news story mentions how students can check out computers from school (I hope PGCPS adopts this) and how students can use computers at local libraries. I am a big fan of the Hyattsville library close to my school, but because of budget cuts their hours have been shortened.

I tutor my nephew (a 6th grader in a PGCPS charter school) and his social studies class uses E-Books. He likes using the technology to learn, however, he prints out much of the information. You can imagine ink and paper costs for his mother have taken a toll. 

I foresee E-Books spreading to more school districts as a means of saving money buying expensive paper textbook books. 


Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Catching Plagiarism!

Cheating and plagiarism are two huge problems facing high schools. Long gone are the days when students would write answers on their hands. Now, students can send and receive text messages so quickly that even the most keen teacher might not observe this malicious behavior.


Nevertheless, one of my favorite weapons against plagiarism is http://www.duplichecker.com/. It is quite simple, paste an essay written by a student or upload the student's file and then press "Search". The website does the rest showing you if a student copied text from another source by providing the link where you can find the original article. 


It is up to us teachers to combat plagiarism. However, we are living in an era where it is seen as legit to listen to illegally downloaded music and view bootlegged films--making it hard for students to understand the problems of plagiarism and cheating. We must work hard to educate students about summarizing text and citing sources correctly. 


I hope you are able to use http://www.duplichecker.com/ as a deterrent to plagiarism in your classroom!



Monday, January 9, 2012

Use Screen Shots like a Pro




I have been using screen shots to capture images to help my students for years. When I received my MacBook Pro from my school system this year, I had to re-learn how to do many of the tasks I did easily with a Windows computer. Through a Google search, I came across this useful website: http://take-a-screenshot.org/.

This website explains (using screen shots of course) how to take a still photo of what is on your screen so you can use the image to better help your students. Once you figure out how to take screen shots, you will use them on a regular basis. Since I am a visual learner, I find having a photo of what I am learning helpful.

Obviously, one should be aware of copyright rules and regulations before using the imagery from a website.




Thursday, January 5, 2012

Google Translator



Google offers many FREE resources to make life simpler for teachers. One of my favorite tools is their Google Translate service. You have the ability to translate text into a variety of languages.

The following scenario is one I come across quite frequently. If you are calling home about a child and you think their parents/guardians might not speak English, you can use the Google Translate resource to create a few simple sentences to tell the parent. You will not be able to have a fully fluent conversation about the student, however, the parent can learn they need to set up a parent conference at the school with a guidance counselor and a professional translator. 

The Google Translate resource is not perfect. For example, certain words might have many potential Spanish translations. For example, when translating the word "to drive", many people from Central Americana use the word "manejar", while people from Spain use the more formal word "conducir". Nevertheless, if you need to translate a few basic pieces of information into another language in order to communicate with a parent, you should bookmark Google Translate!


Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Watchknowlearn.org

Recently, I came across the website www.watchknowlearn.org. From this website, you can search for videos in a variety of content areas from many different websites. Instead of doing video searches on many different websites, you can be more efficient by searching at this one website. 


No matter your content area, www.watchknowlearn.org is a great website to bookmark. I found an interesting video about setting up Twitter for a classroom.

Monday, January 2, 2012

What is a "Flipped Classroom"?




"Flipped Classroom"

The main idea of this type of teaching is for teachers to upload a video or podcast that delivers education content. Students are expected to view/listen to the content at their home. At the following class, the teacher provides students opportunities to perform activities using and practicing the information they learned in the comfort of their home. Simply put, students learn at home, while they perform formative assessment in the classroom. The old definition of "homework" is thrown out the door!

The link above shows an informational graphic showing how a "Flipped Classroom" works.

If you are curious about this phenomenon, check out these links:
1. USA Today article
2. Khan Academy
3. The Daily Riff article

Personally, I love the principle of a "Flipped Classroom". However, in order for this philosophy of learning to function students need the infrastructure to view course content outside of the classroom. Computers, tablets, and Internet access are expensive items for many of the students I teach. Students with access to Smart Phones are able to bypass some of challenges previously mentioned. Nevertheless, I do favor utilizing technology to make learning more personal.

A month back, I realized nearly all of my AP US Government students were not going to attend class due to an Honor Roll assembly. Instead of wasting the day, I turned the lecture/discussion into a Youtube video using a great resource (http://screencast-o-matic.com). Here was my finished product.

I plan on commenting more about screencasting in a later post.

Learnzillion.com

If you have child that struggles in Math or have students struggling, then you need to check out http://www.learnzillion.com/

At this site, teachers create 5 minutes tutorials that connect to the Math Common Core standards.

Another cool thing is that teachers can submit their own lessons and get paid.

I wish the site included more subjects other than Math, but alas, perhaps more subjects will arrive in the future.