Link To A File: School in Sites Website

You can add links to websites on any page using the Insert/Edit Link tool. Did you know you can upload a file and create a link that takes the viewer directly to the file? It's a great way to take a viewer directly to a file instead of just sending them to your Forms page.

For example, maybe I want to put a reminder for parents to sign their student's permission slip and then I want to link to a copy of the permission slip just in case they have misplaced theirs.

1. Log in and upload the file to Forms in your website admin window. (Supported files include Microsoft files like word, excel, and powerpoint, and PDF)
2. Go to the school website and refresh the page. Then go to Staff-->your name-->forms-->click on the form and download.
3. The file should appear in a new window. Copy the URL of that file.

4. Now, in your website admin window go to the page you want to link from. I have chosen my Welcome page. Type your text. Highlight the text that will hold your link.

5. Choose Insert/Edit link from the toolbar. 

6. Paste the URL of your file that you copied in step 3 and click Insert.

7. Click Update to save your changes.

8. Go to the school website and click refresh. When you go to your page, your link will appear. 

9. Rejoice in how easy that was!

Link To A Website: School in Sites Website

You can, of course, add links in the "links" section of your webpage which is a great way to keep a list of websites that your students commonly use. You can direct your viewers to your links page and keep all links there. However, having links on your start page will allow you to send viewers directly where they need to go instead of looking through a list of websites.

1. First, copy the URL of the website you wish to link to. 

2. Log in to your School in Sites website admin area and choose the page on which you wish to insert the link. I have chosen my Welcome page, which in my page settings I have set to be the start page.

3. Choose a title or wording for your link and type it in. Highlight the text that will be the link.

4. On the toolbar, choose Insert/Edit Link. 

5. In the box that appears, paste the link URL and then click Insert.

5. Now your linked text should be blue and underlined. Click update to save your changes. 

6. Enjoy the fruits of your labor!

Mimio: Add A New Activity

Mimio has a great, EASY way to add an interactive activity to your lesson in minutes. This is created from the "new activity" option. These activities include matching or sorting items in a variety of subjects.

For example:

Animal Classification:

Or syllable sorting:

Here's how to create an activity:

1. In Mimio Studio click on the "New Activity" icon or go to Insert--> New Activity

2. Choose the subject, grade level, and type of activity. I chose to make a math activity for K-2.

3. Choose your Topic and the categories for your activity. I chose shape classification, sorting circles, rectangles, and triangles.

4. Next, you are given a screen with the "library" and "choice pool". The library is the catalogue of options for your topic. In my case, the shapes I have to choose from. In my activity I can choose which colors and types of shapes I want. I am going to include a variety of colors and a few different looking triangles. To choose to add more, I simply right click in the choice pool and add. I can make sure certain shapes are included by right clicking in the library and choosing "include".

(You can only "include" as many items as there are choices. So if you get a warning box, go back and add more choices.)

5. When you are sure you have all the choices you want, click "next" and preview your activity. If you need to change anything you can choose "back" and make your changes. Then choose "finish" and your activity will appear on your page.

When students are ready they can drag the items to the correct column. A green check will appear if they are right and a red x will appear if they are wrong. 

Take a look at the options they have in each subject when trying to come up with an activity for students to do. This really takes less than 5 minutes and gets students involved in the lesson. That was easy!

Mimio Interactive Activity: Bubble Pop

Gallery Collections and Resource Packs

When creating your own flipcharts or notebooks, whether in Promethean, Smart, or Mimio, it's important to understand the role that gallery collections or resource packs can play. This post will apply to all three programs.

Why would I want to use the gallery? Well, it saves time and gives you items you can put into your charts that come directly in your software instead of searching everywhere else for them. Let's say I want to make a Halloween themed math notebook; I can download a Halloween gallery pack from the Smart Exchange and use the images in my lesson.

Or maybe I want to have base 10 blocks for students to use as counters in my flipchart to correspond with the blocks they use at their desk. Promethean has some in their resource browser. I can add them and put it on drag a copy. 

There are also games and activities that already exist, like these dice you can change the letters on for students to create words.

Or this shape sorter on Promethean:

When you open your software there is an option on the side for either the "Gallery" or "Resource Browser".

Promethean:

Mimio:

Start at Insert--> Gallery and the menu will appear.

Smart:

In the galleries are resources that are either preloaded when you received the software or that you can download and add to yourself. Gallery items include pictures, icons, question slides, backgrounds, charts, and even interactive items. As you browse through the items, all you need to do is double click or click and drag the item to put it on your page. 

It's a great idea to go into the gallery or software website and take a look at the resources available. You may find pre-made items that would be useful for future lessons or that will help you generate new ideas. 

Using Screen Captures to Enhance Your Lessons

In my tutorials for this blog I take pictures of my screen or things on my screen to give visuals for the directions. For presentations in the classroom I often do the same thing so I can use the examples for my lessons. For example, when organizing math lessons, I might take a screen shot of an example from the online textbook and put it in my flipchart. That way I use the same steps the textbook uses without having to recreate it.

Like in this lesson:

So I could refer to the students' page in front of them and stay on my flipchart, I took a screen shot of the page and incorporated it into the chart.

Then I took a screen shot of the chart they would fill out and typed in my numbers over it.

I did the same thing to make a worksheet students used to do at their seats and turn it into an interactive lesson. (The worksheet was first scanned and turned into a PDF file.)

If you find yourself needing pictures of things on your screen, you can do this in several ways:

On a Mac: 

command + shift + 3 takes a shot of your entire screen and saves it to your desktop.

command + shift + 4 allows you to click and drag to highlight the area you want to take a picture of then saves to your desktop.

On a PC:

alt + print screen (on your keyboard) then open paint and paste (crtl + v). You can crop from there.

I find the PC process time consuming, so I like to download a free screen capture software. I have used Screen Hunter before. You just open the software and choose a full screen or to highlight part of it. This will also usually save to your desktop or wherever you decide to save them. 

Smart and Promethean both have screen capture abilities:

Smart:

On the top toolbar choose the camera icon:  

 Then you can take a picture of anything on your computer. The camera tool always stays on top so you can go to another screen

Promethean:
Go to Tools --> Camera, and choose your option.

Taking screen shots takes seconds and then the images are incorporated into your flipchart, notebook, Power Point, etc. in the same way any other image would be. 

ActivExpressions 2

If you have recently been introduced to the ActivExpressions 2 from Promethean, then this post is for you. Just like the original ActivExpressions you are able to use the devices for student question and answer sessions. You can have students select multiple choice or true/false answers or have them submit text answers. The 2s have a much sleeker design and a full QWERTY keyboard to make text answers much easier to type. Plus students have fun using new technology and seeing their answers get sent to the board. It's a great way to get all students to participate and interact with the board at the same time. The results give feedback to both students and teachers which can aid in future lessons. Use them before units to test prior knowledge, use them during lessons to see if students are understanding, or use them to close a unit in a self-paced assessment.

via http://www.prometheanplanet.com

Here are some things to know about ActivExpressions:

1. There are several types of questions you can ask from multiple choice, to text, to sorting and likert scales. 

2. You can create a flipchart with prepared questions, create a self-paced assessment, or use the Express Poll (located on your toolbar). 

3. You can choose to have students respond when registered in a class or anonymously. 

4. Use them with flipcharts you have made or downloaded from the Promethean website.

5. You are able to view results for each question in a variety of forms.

To begin using the ActivExpressions you will need to register them. The devices register through the ActivHub (included). You should only have to register the devices to your board one time. The hub is capable of registering multiple classes to the same board. Directions for registering are found on Promethean Planet Support here.  

The ActivTips page from Promethean Planet also has videos with step-by-step directions. Just search "ActivExpression". (I am unable to link to specific videos.)

Supporting flipcharts to download from Promethean with more instructions:

More than one correct text answer 

Prepared vs. Ad Hoc Questioning

Using the Question Master

Question Types

Balloon Pop Tool: SMART

In an effort to continually keep students engaged in our lessons, it helps to add variety to the interactive parts of our Smart lessons. Once you feel confident in creating a notebook in Smart, varying the ways that students interact with the content makes each lesson new and exciting. The Smart Exchange website is a great place to find ideas, such as the Balloon Pop Tool for revealing answers. 

A complete tutorial is available here.

Start by opening Smart Notebook and clicking on the Gallery tab. Search "Balloon Pop" and it should come up. The tutorial should explain everything else, so I won't recreate it here. 

Tips for using this tool:

1. Notebook works in layers, as in each item you put on the page will be layered over the next. So if you put the balloon on the page before you put the answer to be covered up, the answer will not be hidden by the balloon because it is layered over the balloon. This is fixed by right-clicking the balloon, select "order" and then "bring to front". Now the balloon is the top layer. 

2. The tutorial asks that the "Lesson Activity Toolkit 2.0" be downloaded. This should be downloaded already if your software is up to date. For more info, on the tools available in this toolkit check out this Notebook. 

Now you have one more trick in your book for making lessons interactive!

Activity Builder: SMART Notebook 11

SMART Notebook 11, which has been fully updated with new features has made the software a lot easier to use. For starters, the menu at the top allows for easier adjustments when creating shapes and fonts. The process is much faster and easier to adjust. But another great new feature is the Activity Builder.

The Activity Builder allows the user to put objects on the page and choose one object to be the activity object. Let's say the activity object is the number 4. The other objects on the page either go with the number 4 or they don't.

Once I have the objects on the page, I click on the puzzle icon on the side of my screen. This is the Activity Builder.

To choose the 4 as the activity object, I select the number 4 and reselect the puzzle icon.

Then I click and drag each of the other objects to the "accept" or "reject" boxes in the Activity Builder  menu.

For efficiency, I dragged the three objects to be rejected to the reject box and then clicked "Add All Remaining" in the accept box. Nice to have.

Once all objects that are part of the activity have been added to the appropriate boxes, you can choose to adjust settings or click "Done". In the "Settings" tab on the Activity Builder menu you can choose the animation of the objects, such as fading out or bouncing away.

Now students can come to the board and drag the objects that make the number 4. If they are right, my objects will fade into the 4. If they are wrong, the object bounces back out.

Promethean has a way to make an activity just like this (See "Creating Containers"), but for once, SMART made it a lot easier and faster. Use this activity whole group, small group, or for centers. It allows interaction and instant feedback. Awesome!

Dropbox: File Storage and Sharing

I wanted to tell you about an application I've been using for a few months now. It's called Dropbox.

Dropbox is basically a folder on your computer, phone, or on the web that holds your documents and pictures and makes them available anywhere else you you have Dropbox downloaded or an internet connection.

All you do is go to the Dropbox website and register for a free account. You then download the application to your computer with a few simple and guided instructions and link the Dropbox folder to your account. The icon will then be visible on your desktop or your tray icons (all those icons near the clock on your screen) And, making the app even easier to use, instructions are in each folder to tell you exactly how to save and share.

Whenever you have a file you'd like to be able to access from home, school, or on the go, just open Dropbox and move a copy of the file there. It will automatically update the folder and when you get to your next device the file will be there. This is great for lesson plans, worksheets, PDF files, pictures, and anything else you can think of.

You don't even have to be on a computer that has Dropbox downloaded to it, because you can access your account via the Dropbox website and still download and store or open files.

Download the app on your home computer, school laptop, and even get the app for your phone.

The other great thing about Dropbox is that you can choose files you'd like to make public and share those files with other Dropbox members. Maybe you want to share some project files with your team. Just drop them in your folder, right-click and choose "Share Link". The website will open up with the option to email your team members the link to your file or copy the link and paste it into your own location. This would be great for emailing the file to students or team members, storing and sharing lesson plans, and making sure you have your files even if your primary computer goes down for the count. 

A free account only comes with a certain amount of storage, so I find myself deleting files I don't need anywhere access to when I'm done with them and storing them in another location. For small fees you can upgrade your storage. Either way you choose, Dropbox is useful for file storage, anywhere availability, and file sharing. 

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!

Getting Started with Gaggle

Gaggle is email, social network, discussion board, digital storage, and more all rolled into one. It's also incredibly safe for students to use. Here's all the information you need to get started on Gaggle today.

1. Gaggle has so many capabilities, don't worry about using them all. As you use Gaggle, decide what to use and what just doesn't work for your classroom needs.

2. When you log in, you will see your personal dashboard and navigation tabs at the left. This dashboard is customizable.

3. To start off with, Gaggle can be used for email. Students can email you, you can email students, and students can email each other. Everything in Gaggle is immediately run through a filter before getting sent out, so if there is something non-kosher that is written it will be flagged and not sent.

The mail tab can be accessed on the left or on the top.

4. Gaggle also has ways of organizing and sharing things with your students. Your "My Classes" tab has your classes. (If you are in OCS, your classes have been downloaded automatically from NCWise. If you are not, you will have to create student accounts and create your classes.) Just click on the class you want to work with and there are a few options available.

You can share information on the class wall, share photos from field trips, and upload documents used in class for students to access from home. You can create assignments and have students submit the assignment through Gaggle. You can also create class discussion boards for discussions on any topic, like their thoughts on the book read in class or their favorite historical figure.

5. Gaggle is also known for its applications. Apps include blogs, a digital locker, Gaggle Tube, and social networking.

Gaggle Tube: Filtered You Tube you can access at school! You are able to search for videos. If it is an inappropriate video, the video will be highlighted pink. Anything else is available to view. You can also save the video to "My Videos" to access later. You will have to play the video through Gaggle. There is not a way to download and save the video. But hey, at least you know nothing inappropriate is going to pop up!

You can access "My Videos" on the left hand side of the browsing screen. You can also search the School Library to see what other teachers are showing. This is great for someone who found a video they want to share with their grade level team. Each team member could just look under that teacher's folder and find the video to share.

Digital Locker:
You can upload and store files here. You can access these files from anywhere on any computer. So long Student Share! Have students save their work on the student share, but then upload it to their digital locker. They can work on it from anywhere, including home. They can also then submit assignments through Gaggle. And teachers can access their students digital lockers by finding the student in the Student Admin section.

You also can keep your files to yourself or enable sharing. Just click on the blue link under the Sharing column. You can choose to email and invite others to view your document. A good idea if you want to share something with your team or committee. You can also choose People with Access  tab and give others access to either view or edit. 

This is an option for students too, so they can share documents with classmates in a group and edit the document together. 

Social Networking: Other capabilities of Gaggle are the Social Wall and Chat options. If you click on Social Wall you can make your own profile and even add friends. You can then chat with those friends using the chat feature at the bottom right of your screen. This is a fun way to add a personal touch and get to know your students and other staff. Students can feel like they have social networking options, but still communicate in a safe space. Just like everything in Gaggle, even the conversations in the Chat feature go through the filter before they are delivered. Great way for students to communicate safely with no room for bullying!

This is a great way to get started with Gaggle. There are so many ways to use this tool in your classroom. If you have more questions, check out the Training Videos also available in the Applications tab.