Learning in the Lou

This is the time of year that there are a million and one posts about best apps.  I have read a bunch about the top 10 apps that do this and the top 5 that do that. Here are two examples: Top 10 Cell Phone Apps Top 50 iPad Apps These got me thinking.  What are the top apps you use?  Leave some comments about which apps you use. Here are mine: Music Pandora - great to let it just play Spotify - setting up some on demand songs. Camera (I used to use Instagram until they changed their terms of service.) Snapseed - very interesting app by Nik Software (a google brand) Flickr - A very old site but the new app is pretty nice.  Might be the best way to share pictures from the classroom.  Easy for iPads, parents and students to share images to one common location. Cloud Storage Dropbox - all images I take are automatically saved online.  Very easy to find these images on my laptop. Goolge+ - This will automatically backup all images I take to th...

My mother loves to see my kids read.  There is one small issue.  She lives in New Orleans.  I could use one of the many streaming apps but that requires Grandma to be online when the kids are reading.  Not exactly easy to pull off. There is this new iOS app that we tried out.  I hit record and once Aidan finished reading the clip was uploaded to youtube.  My mom could then click on the video anytime she wanted. I can see a million ways to use this app in the classroom. (Uploading video may take some time.  Be patient!) How the app works: *You will need a gmail/youtube account. Open the Capture app .   (You will need to download the app from the app store. Search for Youtube Capture under the iPhone section.) Frame your shot.  Make sure you can see everything you want to record before you click the red button.  Avoid moving the iPad while recording Click on the timer on the right side of the screen to stop t...

Google+ What is google+? (Google Plus) (Visit youtube for more videos about Goolge+) Why should I invest any time in Google+? Do you have an android phone? Yes - All your images will automatically backed up in the cloud.  Once you click it gets saved!  It makes sharing the images much easier. No - keep reading Communities There is a new section within Google+ that allows for people to come together to talk about certain topics.  I found a few great communities of teachers talking about topics many of use are interested in. I searched and quickly found these six. Here are a two posts that I found to be helpful. It is a cross post from Pinterest.  I don't think I would have ever found this without Goolge+. Edmodo!  This is a HUGE update.  This one single site/app would be amazing to use in the classroom. Getting Started with Google+ Why is this important? There are so many ideas and sites out there to help you in the classro...

I was working with Sammi, my 8 year old, on a piece of writing she was doing for homework.  There were three words she was struggling to spell.  My first instinct was to grab the dictionary but I couldn't find one.  We were going to use Siri on the iPad but we decided to try something else.  I wanted to find a solution she could use on the iPad and on a laptop. laptop Note:  use the chrome browser! We launched chrome on the laptop and clicked the small microphone on google.com .  Make sure your laptop microphone is turned on. Sammi then spoke the word she was struggling with into the computer.  Google took care of the rest. iPad You need to download the google search app for this to work. Open the google search app. Click on the small microphone. Say the word you are wanting to spell. The results will pop up as a regular google search results page. The Big Picture There ar...

From 1st Graders in Tammy Russell's room at Concord: First graders LOVE to share their writing!  Most of the time, they choose to project their writing onto the whiteboard for all to see and read it to the class wearing the microphone.  First graders LOVE using the microphone!  We thought it would be fun to record our authors, simply reading their stories to the class.  This is HW sharing her funny Thanksgiving turkey story. I sent a link to each parent almost immediately after each story was read.  Parents LOVED watching their little ones share their stories.  The feedback was very positive!

From the classroom of Christina Phillips Concord- I have been incorporating BYOD in my math centers. In honor of the holidays, I had students shopping online to complete a budget project. This project was engaging and fun. Students wanted to work on it more and more so they were encouraged to bring their devices to school. I now have 8-10 regular device users daily! Also 3 parents have e-mailed me to tell me that they are purchasing devices for their students for Christmas because their child is excited to bring them to school! How are you using devices in your classroom?  Any creative ideas to encourage students to use their devices in your classroom?

So my best friend Colin sent me this video the other day. He said he wanted to hire this man to work for us on the LiNC team. I waited a few days and finally took the time to watch this video. I took a few notes, watched it again, and have been watching/listening to it every day now. What I absolutely love about this video is the raw honesty Eric Thomas presents. You can apply this speech to any area of your life you are struggling with. It's like a personal challenge. I bring this to our LiNC blog because I know a lot of you out there are struggling with technology in some way or another. Hopefully this video will inspire you to never give up and keep working to find success.

If you are looking for some new ideas for students to use to create, check out some of these fun tools.  Be sure to share how it goes in the comments section of our blog. These ideas are browser based (explorer, firefox, chrome) and/or app based. Tool What Can I do? Educreations -iPad app or browser version Create and share your amazing video lessons with your iPad or browser Camera-device Use the camera on your device to take pictures around a central theme. Video-device Create a video and upload it to YouTube. Toontastic -iPad app A Creative Learning app for the iPad that empowers kids to draw, animate, and narrate their own cartoons and share them with friends & family around the world. Puppet Pals-iPhone, iPod, iPad app Create your own unique shows with animation and audio in real time! Storybird -browser version Storybirds are short, art-inspired stories you make to share, read, and print. Animoto -app or browser version Turn photos, video clips and...

Where is all this technology going?  Will it reach beyond just consuming media and larger screens? I have talked about how the idea of common everyday things connected to the internet are coming in every possible shape.  Take a look at these three common items that have been altered to allow them to connect to the web.   (I still believe that the next really big thing will be cereal boxes connected to the web.  I know how it sounds.  Just keep reading.) nest It is described as the next generation thermostat.  The most amazing part is it learns your behavior and will adjust the temperature as it learns what you like. There is also considerable energy savings when using this unique product. The nest is controllable from an app.  No more coming home early to a cold/hot house. WeMo What about all those things that can be connected to the internet?  Your lamp by the front door or that pesky toaster?  Ever turn around and dr...

How are you using your Promethean software?  Do you ever get stuck wondering what else you can do with your students? The Promethean Planet site offers a number of great tips and ideas.  I had no idea they also had a running list of what is most popular this week.   Take a look and see what might be useful.  Share your thoughts on the blog or facebook. The 4th most downloaded filpchart is about main idea and supporting details.  The pages of the flip do seem a bit busy but you can always edit out what won't work.

When we aren't afraid to make mistakes.....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/twcollins/ "Our struggles are the short-term lessons we learn to achieve long-term success." People in our training sessions often say that I am a patient person. For those of you who know me well, you know that I am not really all that patient. I want things to happen immediately. As in yesterday. But that's the thing about change. It takes time for people to really embrace change. Just think about this example. Colin loves his shoes. So much so that he needs new ones and is not willing to buy just any old shoes because his beloved shoe company has gone out of business. He is waiting until his brown shoes literally fall apart before he buys new ones. And eventually, he will be forced to buy new ones because the old ones simply will not work anymore. O.K. so maybe that isn't the best example...but you get the idea. We all hold onto old things and ways because they are comfortable. It is easy. It is comforting to know that I ...

Be sure to check out this virtual exhibit that tells the stories of our diverse cultural heritage.  There are TONS of different ways to utilize this in the classroom. Teach art?  Check out these collections from various art galleries from around the world. Amazing World Wonders   Click here for a virtual journey of historic sites, palaces, castles, parks, gardens, archaeological sites, and monuments from around the world.

How often do you use the same three or four sites?  This video demonstrates how to make your web experience 27% more efficient using this tip.

Check out these text to self connections as students created a video of themselves discussing key elements of the book to then show to the rest of the class. Using student devices allows students to record, edit, and publish from a single device.  Create a youtube account and get started today! Check out this blog post for more ideas on what students can actually DO with devices.

Wouldn't it be amazing if you could leave lessons plans for your students with you giving directions AND showing the notes?  If you are looking for an easy way to create a video for your class and substitute, look no further. Present.me allows you an easy way to record and share your webcam and files.   Check out how this teacher used the site to create a presentation for a substitute teacher while she was away from class at a workshop. She even shared the notes for her sub plans: Class and Lesson Set-Up: Please use the student laptop on the cart to run the Power Point presentation.  This will include all of the elements of the lesson.  The laptop should be ready when you enter the room.  You’ll need to turn on the power for the projector using the remote control. If the laptop isn’t ready, please follow these steps: 1.      Log on to the computer a.     Username: ________ b.     P...

"We can be impressed by someone who does something big for themselves, but we can only be inspired by someone who does something big for another." Came across this quote today and it reminded me of this amazing project.     A  former Truman elementary teacher, colleague, and friend-   Robbie Miller Engel 's daughter (Olivia Engel-a former Truman Elementary student) is going to be traveling to India to write a book that shares the voices and photography of silenced women - their protests for liberty, daring escapes, and - finally - freedom.  You can support this project (after watching this impressive video) by clicking here on her kickstarter project.

From Laura-Thank you for teaching me about Google Reader!  I happened to see an interview in a blog that I was able to use in a lesson plan this afternoon while also incorporating youtube videos.  The kids were completely inspired to become better musicians from this.  I was also inspired to find a few more music blogs and actually stumbled upon some great blogs that are about incorporating technology into music ed.  Hooray! If you are interested in learning more about Google Reader, check out these video resources and the Google Reader Tutorial here.

Look no futher... Here is a fun list of apps that can be used in the educational setting, especially the speech therapy setting.

There was a video that many of you watched that had two guys talking about technology and education.  They both happened to be named David.  The Davids have been in education for many years and have post after post of wisdom to share. This video sparked a number of people wanting to learn more about them. David Jakes He has a few sites that he writes on from time to time. David Jakes - This one site will link to all of his work. Words Matter - love this one.  These posts help generate thoughts and ideas that I might not get to on my own. David Warlick Read his thoughts on this blog .

During Lindbergh's Unconference, I was excited to see how many resources I could take back to my room and USE! As a kindergarten team, we discussed many resources that we would like to investigate further, but Class Dojo stood out as a "must have". It is a behavior management website that helps to improve behavior, share data, and save time. It is simple to use and I plan to start later this week. Teachers can set up positive and negative behaviors that they might see through out the day. Points can be awarded or subtracted according to classroom behavior. It would be easy to tie this into our Stoplight and Bucket-filling behavior managements that are already in place. At some point, I would love to have little buckets instead of avatars. :)  Parents can also have access to their child's record. They can check it through out the day to see if there is a certain time of day that their child begins misbehaving, or prepares them for conversations that they can have w...

 I wanted to share  Answer Garden . Answer Garden is a great online tool for brainstorming. It can also be embedded to a website or blog to be used as a poll or guestbook. Once you've accessed the site, you simply click "Create an Answer Garden." Then, you enter a topic or question. By adding your email address, you can access the garden later to view or make changes. When you continue, a simple box pops up where you can start submitting answers. The answers then appear in the blank space creating a sort of word cloud.  I have used Answer Garden in my third grade classroom. At the beginning of the year, I used it as a brainstorm tool where students generated ideas about how they'd like our classroom to be. With my Epson Projector, students could watch as I entered each response as opposed to writing their ideas on the board or on chart paper. They were very engaged. I also used Answer Garden at the beginning of a science unit on plants where I submitted student ...

Today is the Lindbergh UnConference.  With a glorious Starbucks pumpkin spice latte (a true sign of Fall, warmth, and comfort on a drizzly day away from students) in my hand, I had the pleasure of attending the librarians' session: Cool Tech Tools & Tips. Wow, those ladies had a wealth of information to share.  It was great that they put all of their resources on one wiki; I could easily bookmark it and return to it later.  No keeping track of handouts in file folders--huzzah! http://cooltechtoolstips.wikispaces.com/ My Truman pal, Vicky Stanford, presented on present.me .  I am totally interested in this new resource!  The basic idea: upload slides and video to a website, record yourself, and have these two things play simultaneously.  So groovy.  One thing Vicky discussed as a possible use (which I actually thought about while she was talking!) was to use this for days when you are away from the classroom.  Perfect for ELITE 3 days. ...

Posted by Guest Blogger-Samantha Whorton After our Unconference 2.0 on Friday I found myself eager to try out some new things. Some of the things I learned include present.me, blogger, Arkive.org, historypin.com, Ifaketext.com, among many more. Present.me is a great tool to use for presentations. Instead of just the regular PowerPoint, you can include videos as well. With PowerPoint, you can input videos, but then you can not see the slideshow. With Present.me you can have a PowerPoint slide on half the screen and a video on the other half to explain the slide. This is beneficial for many reasons such as oral presentations, homework problems, explaining a process, showing examples to the students, etc.  Blogger is a great tool to use for classrooms and also for communication between the students, parents, and teachers. I have had a blog for my classroom for two years, but during the Unconference, I learned a great deal about adding pages, inputting my google calendar, and also...

Here is a great demo created by a teacher on how he uses the Chrome browser.  I am a huge fan of using multiple tabs.

WHAT: Jonathan Kozol , author and educator WHEN &WHERE: Monday September 24,2012 5:30 PM Keynote Address 6:30 PM Meet the Author and Book Signing Free and Open to the Public Loretto Hilton Theatre 130 Edgar Road St.Louis, Missouri 63119 I have read a number of his books and think this will be a unique opportunity to hear what he has to say in person.

Watch this short ignite talk for the answer. What do you think?  Do we have a totally new form of literacy?

In our ELITE 3 classes, we have been discussing how our classrooms have changed over time.  Here are the activity directions: For this activity, we would like you to brainstorm what it would be like to explain the modern classroom to your grandparents.  If you were taking them on a tour, what would they see and hear?  What would students be doing? The teacher?  Create a 5 minute presentation of your choice to share this information. Here are some of the sample projects people have created. Using Glogster.... Using Prezi..... Evolution of the Classroom on Prezi

First, you need to download educreations for the iPad.

The free tickets to this event are slowly disappearing.   Sign up now before it is too late! Why should you sign up for this event?  The number one reason is this is unlike any event you have ever attended.  The sessions are not planned in advance and there is no keynote speaker.  This is more of a conversation around specific topics. I had the best time last year.  Will you join me? (The LiNC team also created a discussion and it was a pretty powerful experience.)

Know that what you do on a daily basis makes a difference. We are changing the world....one child at a time. Thanks for making someone feel special today.  

How to Make Better Teachers Article Getting Started with Blogger DIRECTIONS...Log in to blogger with your google account. Don't have a google account?  Click the  Sign Up  button and follow the prompts. Getting Started How to create a new blog on blogger. Basic settings within blogger. Creating a blog post with blogger. Advanced Blogging Embedding a video on your blog post. Adding an image to your blog post. ELITE 2-Tic Tac Toe Board

Using Diigo to Organize Web Resources Diigo What is social bookmarking?   Check out this video  to learn more. Create an accout with  Diigo.com Step 2: (Optional) Install the Diigo toolbar Additional Tutorials: How to bookmark a site using the Diigo Toolbar Find and Join groups in Diigo Edit a bookmark Find and follow people on diigo How to Create a List in Diigo How to Find Lists in Diigo   What now?