Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Techie Tuesday: Online Resources

With the billions of websites out there, it is sometimes hard to find the exact ones you would like to integrate into your daily life.  Where can you go to find the perfect websites?  Sorry, but there isn't a quick answer to this.

Know What You Want

You need to first know for what type of site you are looking.  Maybe you are having trouble keeping up with your favorite websites.  You know the drill.  I found the most awesome site on (insert fav topic here), and now I can't find it. You need a bookmarking site!  I personally love Diigo.  It isn't enough to just sign up for a site. You have to also prepare to use it.  How can you do this?  Here are a couple of examples:
  • Use the Browser Add-on for your work and home computer.  This makes it super easy to "click and add" a website.
  • Use tags.  By tagging the websites, you are able to search by topic.  It's like your own digital filing cabinet.
  • Use your smart phone.  Most smart phones have the capability to automatically save websites to your bookmarking site such as Diigo.  An app will even allow you to access your sites on the go!
Search for What Fits You Best

Maybe you are looking for an online site on which to keep notes.  Honestly you have to search and find the one that fits your style.  Here are a few examples:
    Talk to Others

    Oh, you want something even more "real life"?  How about couponing?   I'm sure you have watched at least part of an Extreme Couponing episode.  I must admit I have been greatly intrigued by the amount of savings.  I've even tried out a few tricks using the Sunday Circular and weekly sales.  There is a big difference in what I am doing and the $1000 savings you see online, which brings up another key component in finding online resources, TALK to others!  Yes, this seems like a simple option, but sometimes it is used last or not at all.  If you are looking for something, there is someone else that is already using it (or looking for the same).  If you can't find someone, turn to a social site such as twitter and ask others!

    FYI Another colleague (friend) and myself have truly been interested in couponing.  We have looked around, but not found the huge deals "like TV".  Through talking, we found out that another one of our colleague's, Peggy Lacobee, is having great success with couponing.  She is actually presenting Techie Tuesday for this week on just that! Here are a few resources she shared:

    http://thekrazycouponlady.com/
    http://www.couponsthingsbydede.com/
    http://coupondivas.com/

    What resources would you like to find? Do you have a favorite to share?
    Posted by Mrs. D at 11:40 AM 0 comments
    Labels: ,

    Tuesday, September 27, 2011

    Techie Tuesday: Widgets, Widgets, Everywhere

    You have finally selected a website name and maybe even found the perfect template. What now? Well, It's time to bring your site alive with the incorporation of widgets!

    There are so many options, I think it is easiest to just give you a "get started" list. In no time you will be finding your own!  Many of these can be accessible right from your phone which automatically updates your website.

    1). Clustr Map
    This is a great way to track visitors to your site. You and your students can easily see traffic and all the countries visiting!

    2)  Dropbox
    Do you have files you would like to share with your students?  Dropbox allows you to uplaod files to make them accessible for your students.

    3)  Google Translator
    This is an easy way to make your website translate into another language.  A visitor just selects the desired language via drop down menu.

    4)  Google Calendar
    This widget allows you to embed your calendar right on your website.

    5)  Photos
    There are numerous ways to embed your photos directly on your site such as shutterfly, picasa, photo bucket, flickr, and more.

    6)  Voki
    A talking avatar for your website!  What a fun way to give announcements or welcome visitors to your site;)


    There are so many out there from word of the day to measurement converter to a dictionary.  Honestly this list can go on and on and on.  But you dont have time to keep reading all this!  Get out there and try some out yourself;)  Visit Google widgets as well as widget box for more!

    What are your favorite widgets?
    Posted by Mrs. D at 12:55 PM 0 comments

    Wednesday, September 21, 2011

    Student Picks for Rule of Thirds

    During this week's WOW time, students posted their favorite rule of thirds photos in our virtual classroom discussion board.  Everyone was able to "like" their favorites.  Are you ready to see the winners?

    Taylor S
    Claire C

    Haley M



















    Can you pick out how these photos follow the rule of thirds technique? 




    Stop back by soon for the leading lines student picks!

    Will L
    Posted by Mrs. D at 8:54 AM 1 comments

    Tuesday, September 20, 2011

    Techie Tuesday: Using Blogger to Create a Class Website

    Are you looking for a free, quick way to create a class website and still have the ability to personalize the design?  Blogs are a great way to take your class online.  I recently merged my personal blog, student blog, and class website into one site~the one you are reading now;)

    Before you get started, you need to think about a few things:
    • Objectives for creating the website
    • Know your audience
    • Think of possible challenges
    • Research
    One of the best research avenues is having a variety of examples to get an idea of what you want.  You will also want to look at this as building your own website and follow those basic directions such as what not to do, gathering a list of items to include, plan, and evaluate. While evaluating, make sure you are think about the accessibility of the site.  I am honestly still working on this step, and the previous accessibility link is exactly where I am starting.

     I spent most of my time looking at sample class websites.  After I created a great doodle of what I wanted to include such as pages, column sections, and widgets, I searched and searched for just the right template. You would think this would be easy, but I soon found out that I was pretty picky...ok, I actually knew that, but finding the right artist was a challenge.  Here are some of my favorites:
    My absolute favorite was Louise Franks Designs.  She has an awesome collection of free blogger templates, scrapbook kits to make your own, and  even Blogger tutorials.  If you have seen my classroom, you know she has "hit the nail on the head" with the design she created for my class website!!

    Well, it's time for you to go get started! My class would love to visit your site when finished or as it evolves, so post a comment with it's link.
    Posted by Mrs. D at 9:34 AM 0 comments

    Monday, September 12, 2011

    Pictures Can Say a Thousand Words

    The following post is by our student guest blogger, Anterrica M. 


    Photography can be a very interesting thing!  Most people think photography is capturing things that are happening at the moment, something people do for a living, or even just picking up a camera and taking a picture of themselves.  This is all true, but photography can be way more than that.  Photography is a type of art.  Most people do not realize that photographs and paintings are very closely related, and pictures can say a thousand words.

    Photography is more than just picking up a camera and aiming at something.  There are many techniques that come along with the art form of photography.  The "Rule of Thirds" is one technique where you imagine that the image is divided into a tic-tac-toe board.  This tic-tac-toe board consist of two horizontal lines, as well as two vertical.  These lines can be used when capturing a picture of a person.  You should line their eyes up on one of the horizontal lines.  If you are capturing some type of tall object, you should line it up on either of the vertical lines.

    By the way, have you ever noticed that all of the parts in a picture go together? I thought this was a very cool concept.
    Posted by Mrs. D at 7:15 PM 3 comments
    Labels:

    Organizing Your Wire Chaos

    Are you suffering from wire choas? For some of us, the more geeky we become the more our life is taken over by masses of crazy cables for each gadget we own.  In a 21st century classroom, this can be especially true due to buildings not equipped for all this fabulous technology integration.  You can only imagine the crazy chaos of cables being magnified with the addition of extension cords, surge protectors, and more extension cords.

    As teachers, we search for the most cost effective solution for our everyday issues, so why should wire choas be any different.  Here are a couple of free ways to organize your technology cables with ease:


    1)  Bread Ties Labeling 

    2)  Binder Clips organize the cables to stay off the floor

    3)  Paper Towel rolls, swimming noodles, or zip ties organize the cables in neat sections.

    4)  Create your own charging station from a shoebox wrapped in your favorite scrapbook paper.

    Even though it is great to find free ways to organize your cables, there are two that are worth mentioning that are relatively inexpensive.

    1)  USB Wall Socket

    2)  Hidden Surge Protector





    Of course this is just a quick view into the multiple ways you can organize your wire chaos.  What are your favorite ways to organize your geeky gadgets?
    Posted by Mrs. D at 1:23 PM 0 comments
    Labels:

    Sunday, August 14, 2011

    Welcome to the 2011-2012 School Year!

    9/6/2011 UPDATE:  The new class website is almost complete!  If you recently found us, please check back in a week!!

    Are you ready for the new school year?  This site is currently under construction, but will be up-and-running very soon.  New for this year, this site will be used as both our school website and blog! For the first week of school (Unit 1), we mainly focus on our online classroom which is located at http://mindenhighschool.edu20.org .  The Edu 2.0 site is our class LMS similar to Blackboard and Moodle which you will use in college.

    We will begin using this page during our 2nd unit when we become immersed in the World Wide Web and Online Communities!

    I'm looking forward to an awesome year;)
    Posted by Mrs. D at 9:25 PM 0 comments
    Labels:

    Saturday, March 12, 2011

    Diigo Links (weekly)

    Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

    Posted by Mrs. D at 10:36 AM 0 comments
    Labels:

    Thursday, March 3, 2011

    Are You Ready? Jump In...

    Are you ready to jump into elearning? WE ARE! At our local high school, we have begun building a self paced online learning environment.

    As mentioned previously, we are using Edu 2.0 as our LMS platform. Where are we receiving direction? I'm glad you asked! If you have ever thought of jumping into elearning, below are some must have resources. Best of all, they are FREE.

    Why are we traveling this adventure?  OUR STUDENTS;)  Even though we are currently running a "rough pilot" of what we will officially begin next year, there have been numerous successes.  In fact my next post will be on just that...student success!
    Posted by Mrs. D at 12:39 PM 1 comments
    Labels: , ,

    Saturday, February 19, 2011

    Diigo Links (weekly)

    Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

    Posted by Mrs. D at 10:37 AM 0 comments
    Labels:

    Saturday, February 5, 2011

    Quick Exit?

    exitHave you been called to a meeting just to learn of a new project so vast it will take years to complete? In the back of your mind, you know a quick exit is in order, but you stay. Why? You know kids will be reached. You see the big picture. Most importantly, your brain has already etched pictures of students needing this opportunity.

    What is the project? A self paced eLearning opportunity for students.  Before you start to chuckle to your self, yes, I realize the astronomical amount of work ahead.  Unfortunately, so do my two colleagues also called to the meeting and they both have one foot out the door.  I too was standing on the threshold needing to get a better grasp of the project and more importantly make sure we are on the same page with administration.

    Our principal's directions were pretty broad which gave us lots of room for "out of the box" thinking and creating.  Basically, she wanted a self paced academy for students at risk of dropping out. Seat time has been waived by the state of Louisiana, student schedules would be flexible, and a strong career component was needed. Oh, and she wanted it to begin in a little over a month with a few students.

    out-of-box-1My colleagues (and friends), Caroline Croad and Ashley Hooter, and myself began to brainstorm over the next few days to discover how this would look for our students.  This was followed by general research to present back to administration to ensure we are all on the same page prior to moving forward.

    What was our general rough sketch?

    • Start small and double in size each year until reach max

    • Full running program will take at least three years due to non funding and approximately 200 hours needed to create each course

    • Change student focus group from only at-risk to a variety including TOPS and early graduation needs at an approximate 50% ratio between at-risk and non at-risk students

    • Courses offered based on Career Diploma and TOPS/Core 4

    • Interactive elearning format addressing higher order thinking skills not just software based

    • Use of our existing LMS  - Edu 2.0

    • Integrate PBL possibly through a cross curricular project per semester

    • Existing credit recovery software, A+ would be a supplement while we are developing courses, but they would have resources available via LMS.

    • Career component will be a key component


    We didn't take a quick exit.  In fact, we are pretty excited about the possibilities.  This gives you only a brief look into our project, but we will update regularly.

    Do you have any tips or ideas? We would love to hear them!
    Posted by Mrs. D at 3:32 AM 0 comments
    Labels: , ,

    Saturday, January 29, 2011

    Diigo Links (weekly)

    Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

    Posted by Mrs. D at 10:36 AM 0 comments
    Labels:

    Sunday, January 23, 2011

    Feeding My Addiction

    My addiction to High School Reform began many years ago when my then principal, Mr. Morris Busby, purchased the SRN study kit. Nowadays you can find thousands of resources focused on High School Reform from around the world. But most include at least one of the following:

    • Data driven

    • Small schools (or school within schools) with around 200 students

    • Personalization

    • Rigor

    • Relevance

    • Establishment and regular integration of stakeholders


    My first large scale high school reform project was the creation of a Freshman Academy which was the vision of my current principal. After a field trip to Zachary Freshman Academy, a group of us knew this was for our school.  We started planning immediately, literally on the car ride back home.  Several months of planning passed including data analysis, research, and too many meetings to count. Though some key planned elements weren't able to be integrated, the first two years were filled with success:

    • 82% promotion rate to 10th grade (baseline)

    • 92% promotion rate to 10th grade

    • 93% promotion rate to 10th grade


    My key involvement ended at this time.  Unfortunately numerous elements changed school-wide and items were still not integrated during the third year, and we were back to where we started data wise (actually worse). Three constants still remain dedicated teachers, 1:1 technology integration, and the belief that a fully integrated academy would work. Hopefully when our first Freshman Academy students graduated next year, we will be able to revisit the original plan and  fully implement. The proof is in the numbers;)

    What does the Freshman Academy need? Honestly just some of the basic components:  location back on their own wing, class size around 22, scheduling where core teachers share same students (two "teams"), and HEAT, Help Eliminate Academic Tardies (for students not completing work).

    So how am I currently feeding my reform addiction?  Well, I'm a computer education teacher.  If you were currently looking for a US public high school without internet access, it might be a case for Sherlock Holmes. Yet in 1994 only 35 percent of all public school had internet access.  Likewise elearning is starting to become a staple in higher education facilities. How long before the same is true in high schools around the world?

    Well, that time is now for Minden High School. We are currently creating an online academy.  It is set up as a "school within a school" so we never plan to enroll over around 200, but are starting slow with ten students. Stay turn for a walk through on this experience!  Do you have any experience with elearning? If so, what tips do you have?
    Posted by Mrs. D at 10:44 PM 0 comments
    Labels: ,
    Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)