Google in the Classroom @SAS

Session 1: Advanced Search Tips and Techniques Thanks for the fun (Bacon #'s), the fascinating (WDYL), and the practical (too many to mention)! As I played around with some of the tips you shared, I tried to keep my students in mind. I think I owe it to them to share some of search tips and shortcuts. We do a lot of research in our social studies units, and too often I just expect them to be proficient searchers. A simple first step is showing them the "Reading Level" option in Google search:

As a teacher, I'm already seeing the usefulness of the search tools with an Image search:

Thanks so much, and I look forward to today's class!

A Minute Saved is a Minute Earned

As a teacher, there is really very little down time in my day. It seems that there is always something to do: planning, grading, writing lessons, and of course teaching! Throw in a few meetings and time to meet with kids, and that makes for a pretty full day. So it’s no wonder that I’m always looking for ways to work “smarter” and more efficiently. And the other day I discovered a great way to do that.

My RLA students just finished their personal narratives. Suddenly I’m faced with a pile of 40+ papers to read and grade. Not only that, but I want to provide feedback for each student so that they know how to develop their writing skills moving forward. Phew! Something had to give, or I’ll never get done. The thing that gave was my “old” tedious ways of writing out feedback to students. Instead I tried recording my commenting via an online voice recording service called Vocaroo.

I found the Vocaroo interface simple to use. In the end, I was able to record more feedback comments in less time than it used to take me to type up my thoughts. So, it was a true “win-win” situation. And with the time I saved, I was able to do something I truly love to spend time on: sleep.

Image from:

edweb.sdsu.edu

Blogging Basics

Believe it or not, we're living during an amazing moment in history.  Sure, there have been inventions like the printing press and the telephone that have revolutionized the way we communicate, but in the last few years, the exchange of ideas has exploded at an alarming rate.  New genres are being formed as we speak, and they are already making an impact on how we learn and communicate.  What's causing this big explosion?  Technology.

Enter the blog.  When I was your age, the word "blog" wasn't even invented yet, let alone Facebook, Twitter, and the internet itself.  Like those other innovations of the 21st century, the blog empowers us as we express our opinions and communicate with each other.  Maybe you're like I was until recently though, and you don't really get how a blog works.  Check out this video:

With blogs, we can share ideas and grow our community beyond the walls of our classroom.  We can include images and videos to enhance our ideas in ways that words alone cannot.  We can connect with others in the world and hopefully make an impact on them.  And finally, we'll be able to track and link our own thinking as we do it.

Of course many of you already know this.  I was amazed at your responses to the blog survey you completed.  Over half of you (24 to be exact) have written for a blog already, so maybe I'm already preaching to the choir.

You're not the only students trying this genre out in hopes of seeing results.  Recently, a teacher from ISB told me all about his students' blogging experience.  One of his students, Brian Leong, wrote a post about his experience with Operation Smile, a charity organization that provides free surgeries for children with facial deformities.

Along with his post, he created a video to show what he experienced.  Well, his video went viral.  It even got back to the folks at Operation Smile.  They loved it, and not only did they contact Brian to tell him how much it meant to them, they also asked him to be a keynote speaker at their conference.

So you never know where the ideas on your blog may lead you.  One thing's for sure, they'll connect you with people and places like never before.  So what do you say?  How about we give it a try and see where it takes us?