Teachers Control Effectiveness of Interactive White Boards

Here is an article that was shared with me by Dr. Wirth. I highly encourage you to read it from start to finish. It has great insight into what we are trying to do in our classrooms with white boards. I felt that many of the ideas and language transferred over to what we are going to establish this year with blogs, podcasts and rss: http://bit.ly/l1winW

Here are some things that resonated with me:

The title rings true, “Teachers Hold the Real Keys to Whiteboard Effectiveness.” I hope it rings true for you!! The first line supplements this, “Educator skill seen to determine the technology’s impact.” “An IWB is just a tool, and if it’s not used correctly, you can’t blame the tool, you have to blame the user,” he added.


For those teachers that fear the ‘stumbles and falls’ of new software and 21st Century technology (including Web2.0 or 3.0) never fear! I have always found, and the article reaffirms via the spotlighted teacher, that the fluidity of class lessons and student understanding is based on the time we invest in and our comprehension of the resources available to us. And it should be pointed out that intimidation should never be a factor in your teaching and growth as a teacher. The article shared, “[She] has the slightest hiccup with the whiteboard software, a number of students yell out suggestions on how to fix it.”

I have had my own hiccups and found that they are teaching moments. Students that are good with technology will shine in front of the class and teach you, along with the students, how to troubleshoot the problem. When my IWB did not work correctly one lesson I had a student jump up, grab a marker and say, “Mr. Kelsey, I got this. Fix the problem and I’ll give them problems.” She demonstrated her knowledge of the concept and her understanding of the general format for word problems by writing her own out for the class to solve on the marker board, and then led them through it.

In a recent in-service I chose a room to teach the remotes our school would use in conjunction with the IWB’s and found that not all of the software had been loaded to it’s computer. It did feel uncomfortable, but the teaching moment there (for us both) was how to power through the difficult, embarrassing moments with this technology, improvise and still teach. In the afternoon, our staff meeting readjourned in another room and everyone got to work hands on with the remotes and IWB. We found success in the afternoon because we were patient and took the time to work through the problems together in the morning.

I hope you feel encouraged and inspired to learn, practice and use IWB’s as well as all new technology (Qwizdom, blogs, podcast, wikis, etc) in your classrooms.

Using the Library Database as a Resource & Easiteach Tips & Tricks #6: Making Tutorials

I recently found out that if you have a library card you can use the database at your local library. This means you have access to tons and tons of academic journals and magazines online for all your learning and research needs. This works for those of you researching for fun or trying to get your masters/PhD, but guess what? This also works for those of you wanting to teach your students better researching skills; especially if you want them to be COLLEGE READY. The best part, IT CAN BE ACCESSED ONLINE, you don't even have to go to the library.

Here is where you go (for those of you in San Antonio), mysapl.org and click on database:

Next you will see the advanced search boxes. Scroll down and you will see the journals it may browse through. You are free to browse the individual journals yourself, or you may use the advanced search and click on the journals you wish it to search through. A tip the librarian gave me was that when you select the "select all" option it does not actually look through every journal because some of the journals become incompatible with each other during the search process. She recommended that you only choose 2 or 3 at a time. Here is what you will see when you click on the data base tab into the advanced search:

I hope this helps your in class and out of class needs. If you wish to learn how I made the images on Easiteach here is the tutorial:

Easiteach Tips and Tricks #5: How to Make a Slide Answer a Question Audibly

This is a fun trick and kids eat it up! Be sure to try this. For fun, I added a second trick for todays post, because after this one you should have the hang of the utilities link.
Free Tip #1: Make a slide audibly answer a question.



Free Tip #2: Linking URLs to jump to from your slideshow.

Easiteach Tips and Tricks #1: Starting at Square One

Hope this video tutorial helps. Be sure to comment any questions or email them to me.

Prezi.com

Here is a cool site for presentations in the classroom: www.Prezi.com

Most of us probably use MS PowerPoint, but as we all know that can become a little mundane. Some of us know  (although I find most do not know)  how to animate slides to make them more engaging. In fact, Microsoft has done a great job of adding photograph editing to the newest versions of PowerPoint. The problem is that most classrooms don't have the newest versions of software, know how to use them and lessons are not always stored in the cloud.

Prezi.com is like a notepad where you jot your ideas down, then decide in what order you would like to present them. You are not limited to just text, but may include picture and video as well. Items can be made bigger & smaller, angled and placed no where near the preceding thought. This allows your audience to be drawn in through unexpected movement, zooming in and out and really keeps them engaged via a grand change of pace.The entire presentation is stored online and can be created through your web browser on any computer. The hitch for Ipad users is that if you download their app, it may only be used for presentation. The Pro is that they hold webinars to learn how to use Prezi for those that need it.

Here are some how to videos from the company and myself on using & embedding Prezi's:



How to Embed Prezi:

Generic Prezi Embedded:

How to Prezi on Prezi

How to Prezi on Prezi

Here is a popular Prezi to get a feel of how others are creating them. Here is a Prezi tip: click on the word more at the bottom right of the Prezi and you can "Autoplay" the Prezi and also make it "Full Screen."

The history of CANDY!!! (and other sweets) on Prezi