Gaggle, You Tube Education, and 2 More Resources

Welcome to your Tech Tips of the Week, Blog Edition.
Featured: Gaggle Tips, You Tube Education, Scholastic Storia, and Internet 4 Classrooms Online Tutorials

1. Gaggle:
I gave you an introduction to Gaggle a few weeks ago. (Get started here.) I have seen quite a few classes start to use it in big and small ways. Some teachers use it to have students turn in assignments from the computer lab. One class has begun using the discussion boards feature under My Classes for students to open dialogue about the novel they are currently reading. And, I can see in Gaggle Tube that many teachers have been saving videos to their My Videos folder for streaming in class.

These are just a few examples of the Gaggle use going on here at school. If you are using Gaggle in the classroom, share how you are doing it by leaving a comment below.

Also, I have saved some Christmas Traditions videos in my folder on Gaggle. You can access these videos through Gaggle Tube in the "School Library" folder. Just click on my name. Tip: When saving videos, I find it is good to add tags to them for easy organization. That way I can save many videos, but not have to scroll through all of them to find them. When saving a video, make sure to check "approve for student use" so students and other staff members can look through your videos too.

2. You Tube Education:
Now accessible here at school! You Tube started offering You Tube EDU a little while ago. Similar to Teacher Tube, You Tube EDU has thousands of lessons and educational videos to stream right to your classroom. You can make your own account and add your own videos as well. Our county recently opted into You Tube EDU on our network, so we can browse, search, and watch videos from a defined set of educational content. This means that sometimes you may come across videos that are not accessible on our network because it is either not suitable, or doesn't fit into the defined set of terms. I recommend searching for videos to use while you are here at school or at least testing if your videos will open here at school before committing them to a lesson. The great thing is there are many videos to choose from and unlike Gaggle Tube, you have the ease and flexibility of searching like you would regularly from the web instead of going through Gaggle Tube. (Both are great options.)

3. Scholastic Storia:
Storia is a new download from Scholastic. It is a way to download e-books purchased through Scholastic but with a few more features, like a dictionary and read aloud. Check out the site. You may not have tablets to download these ebooks in the classroom, but you can use the app with your devices at home or share this new resource with parents. Really neat!

4. Internet 4 Classrooms:
Internet 4 Classrooms has online technology tutorials available here. If you need a refresh before starting that Power Point project or want to see some of the differences between Word 03, 07, and 10, check them out here. The Web 2.0 Tools link gives some great tutorials on tools you can use in your classroom to make your lessons more engaging or to help you get more organized.

Happy Teching!

The Wonderful World of Edmodo

I've heard of Edmodo, visited it once or twice, and didn't give it much thought until I took a look at it again recently. It's totally amazing. (And yes, I just said totally.) Edmodo is a FREE(!) online community for your classroom that allows teachers and students to interact. It's kind of like  a Facebook-Wikispaces-gradebook-Gaggle-Blogger all rolled into one. To add to the awesomeness, there are many ways that Edmodo is 100% safe for students to use and gives the teacher full control of all content.

Start here. When you create your (free and 5 seconds to make) account, your basic dashboard looks like this:

You can add a picture and a few details to your profile. You can join groups (you might notice I've joined the Edmodo New User Group) or create groups. For use in your classroom, you'll want to create groups for your class as a whole group, by subject, or maybe even by reading or word study groups.

You can then add assignments:

 Quizzes: (That can be automatically graded. Time saver!)

Keep track of grades:

And store files in your library so you can access them for other assignments and posts:

For more information, I highly encourage you to visit the Edmodo Blog and watch several of the webinars that are available to view at any time.

Excited yet? Who wants to use this in their classroom this year?!

Social Networking for Teachers

The Facebook IPO may not have panned out as well as investors thought, but social networking still has great benefits, especially for teachers interested in collaborating with others and learning more. Here are a few great networking  and learning sites for teachers:

TeachHub: Join the Teach Hub community for free and gain access to updated articles, blogs, lesson plans, and discussion forums. Sign up for weekly updates, start or participate in discussions, share what you are doing in your classroom, and connect with other teachers. 

SimpleK12: Ok, this isn't actually a networking site, but it does have a blog and some free training via webinars for technology. There is plenty of free content and information, but also a paid version that gives you access to even more great training. Sign up for emails and be alerted when membership fees go on sale. 

TeachAde: An online community for teachers to browse lesson plans, articles, and videos or connect with other teachers. Join groups and discussions and share your resources with others. TeachAde is free for K-12 educators with great resources. 

Classroom 2.0: A social network for educators interested in technology to use in their classroom. Join in forums, view live training, and connect with other teachers to collaborate and share ideas. Really neat technology information at this site!

We The Teachers: Another social networking site to collaborate and share ideas with other educators. Free to join. Search for resources, tools, and groups to be a part of. 

ISTE Connect: The International Society for Technology in Education has a place to connect with other educators using technology in their classrooms. Network with others via blogs, wikispaces, Twitter, and other social networks. ISTE does have a membership fee, but also has great information and resources for learning more about integrating technology. 

Don't discount Facebook groups and Twitter as great ways to discussion education and share ideas as well. Check these out over the Summer as you prepare for next year. And really be sure to check out the webinars that some of these sites offer. I learn most of what I know about instructional technology through these trainings that I can view on my own time. You can view and learn from the comfort of your own couch!