GarrisonSites

VideoAnt

2012-02-13T09:29:00.000-08:00

VideoAnt is a great example of a simple tool with POWERFUL potential. VideoAnt allows you to annotate videos while you are watching them, and then share those annotations with others. It was designed to give speech students feedback on their class speeches, but there are many more uses. Here are a few.

Staff development - Have new teachers reflect on a video of themselves, or others teaching.
Students feedback -Assign students to watch a video and then takes notes on things they learn. You can have their annotations sent to your email inbox.
Grade student presentations - Send your annotations straight to their inbox.

Are you a VideoAnt user? If so, comment to this post to tell us how you are using it.

Read more about it in CE+HD Connect or on the VideoAnt Blog.

UPDATE: Click here for complete instructions.

Molybiphobia

2012-02-13T06:25:00.000-08:00

Of course this is over simplified and satirical, but it does (unfortunately) sound a lot like actual dialogue I have had about the struggles of technology integration. The bottom line is that technology integration is about more than tools, it is about embracing new ideas and pedagogy in the classroom and seeing technology as a vehicle that allows us to examine existing problems through a new lens.That is a good thing!

TCEA 2012

2012-02-06T08:22:00.000-08:00

GarrisonSites is heading to Texas! I'll be presenting twice at the TCEA Conference.

Wednesday, February 8 @ 12:00 in room 16B
12 Web Tools for Authentic Classrooms

Drawing on years of experience with teachers at every grade level, Garrison will show you how to turn 12 free web tools into the cornerstone of an authentic classroom. Motivate students to produce meaningful work in your classroom and beyond. Leave with innovations you can implement immediately as well as a couple you can work towards over time.

Friday, February 10 @ 8:00 in room 17A
50 Sites in 90 Minutes

This high energy presentation uses 50 websites as a springboard to examine great classroom instruction and the philosophies behind exemplary technology integration across all subject areas. Participants will leave with outstanding free resources, scores of integration ideas and the inspiration to reshape their classroom teaching.

Listen to the Web

2012-02-02T08:41:00.000-08:00

You and your student can listen to the web when you add Announcify to your Chrome browser.Announcify reads out loud every website you want in a pleasant voice. It is a great tool for differentiation, research, and helping students read challenging content online.

Announcify can also claim an important part of the writing cycle. Students write in Docs, publish to the web and use Announcify to proof read. By listening to Announcify read out loud writers can more easily hear their errors and sentence structure. It also blurs out all by the current paragraph making it easer to follow along ad you read.

Hover over the tools on the left side of the page to pause, rewind and fast forward.

iBooks Author

2012-01-22T10:55:00.000-08:00

iBooks Author lets ANYONE create and share an interactive ibook. Teachers can create textbooks or guidebooks or interactive fiction. Students can write books that keep a focus on the writing process, but include the kind of engaging interactive experiences that we have all come to expect on the web.

Since Apple announced their $14.99 (or less) textbooks* for the ipad there have scores of articles written that summarize the tremendous possibilities. Check them out, or go to the source and watch the full introductory video. The 5 minute iBooks Author demonstration that begins around the 25 minute mark is totally worth watching. You'll see how easily you can go from raw content to creation and publication.

Have fun! Give it a try yourself...then hand it over to your students and let their creativity drive the process!

*Looking at a new biology textbook adoption, but you don't want to spend a fortune? E.O. Wilson's Life on Earth is available for FREE right now.

WeVideo

2011-12-16T21:19:00.000-08:00

I have been waiting for years for a great online video editor. Something that will outdo iMovie and work for free online. We got Jaycut (briefly) and Creaza (sort of) and I am still holding out for Aviary's video editor, but for now I am optimistic about WeVideo. It offers a comprehensive video editor that will allow students to work on videos anywhere and store their project in the cloud. Channel your inner Scorsese and put the power of video to work in your classroom. Oh, and give FileLab a look while you're at it. Enjoy!

Update: You can access WeVideo and other great tools from Youtube Create!

Thanks TIES!

2011-12-15T14:06:00.000-08:00

TIES 2011 50 Sites in 50 Minutes

TIES 2011 YouTube in the Classroom

10 Helpful ipad Resources

2011-12-11T18:00:00.000-08:00

Here are 10 ipad terrific resources that will help you to:
Learn 75 ipad Tricks and Tips.

Discover great literacy apps...and then discover some more!

Dig deeper into how one school district is implementing ipads.

Create an iBook with 2epub and Calibre.

Check out the best in Special Ed apps or sort apps by the subject of your choice.

Master the ipad at the ipad academy.

Finally, save money by always checking to see if there is a free alternative to your favorite app at Free ipad Apps.

Air Clicker

2011-12-11T14:51:00.001-08:00

Air Clicker is a look into the future of photography. Projecting forward to a time when our bodies themselves become the camera. For now a couple of ring-like censors are a necessary part of the design, but it not that hard to envision a time when even that will be unnecessary.

I've been trying to get more cameras into kids hands to help them document their days at school. Air Clicker will take that to the next level. I can't wait!

Looking at this and the Lytro leads me to think we are on the brink of a new photographic era!

Remind 101

2011-12-11T13:31:00.001-08:00

Use Remind 101 to contact your students, athletes and their parents to remind them of important upcoming events and changes in plan via texting. This works so well because your audience is likely checking texts much more regularly than email.

"Remind101 began at Michigan State University when Brett became overwhelmed and unorganized with his semester workload. The "AH-HA" moment came when he received a text message. Knowing students text message and email so often, what if a program could send reminders to students before their assignments are due?"

It is a perfect tool for any teacher who wants to more efficiently disseminate information.

If you like to compare and contrast try ClassPager as well.

Bloom's Taxononmy on the ipad

2011-12-11T11:52:00.001-08:00

Click on over to Diane Darrow's Edutopia series on the best apps for each level of Bloom's Taxonomy. It is a great resource for the teacher who wants to apply for an ipad grant as well as the one who wants to move beyond the simple activities and apps.

She offers suggestions for:

Remembering
Understanding
Applying
Analyzing
Evaluating
Creating

eGFI STEM Ideas

2011-12-11T11:00:00.000-08:00

STEM is pervasive in educational conversations these days. eGFI offers a mountain of lesson plans at every grade level to help you make STEM a fun, engaging and rigorous part of your curriculum.

Try designing a better canoe, or harvesting water from fog. Then look at ways that you and your class can leverage the power of STEM to reach out to your community.

Tripline

2011-12-11T10:59:00.001-08:00

I have long been a fan of using maps for assessment. There are few more authentic assessments out there than presenting your students with a blank digital map and asking them to fill in the major events of the Civil War, or the regional characteristics of the 13 Colonies, or the main events in Bud, Not Buddy...

These types of assessment are authentic, promote higher level thinking and they are easy to grade!

Scribble Maps and Google's My Maps are excellent tools to create such maps. However, new tools are are always emerging. Lately, I have become a fan of Tripline. It allows you to make personalized maps that are even more interactive and engaging. "Just like in the movies, the Tripline player gives you an animated line moving across the map with a soundtrack."

Chrome

2011-12-11T10:45:00.001-08:00

Chrome is my go-to browser. It is fast and clean and it is the best at running Google Apps. Moreover, the apps and extensions make it a powerhouse of efficiency. Learn to use it like a Ninja!

Chrome recently overtook Firefox in total use.
Web Apps and Extensions in the Chrome Browser are like apps on an ipad. They make for a much better user experience. I have scores of them linked to my profile, but the ones I use daily are:

What are your favorite apps and extensions?

National Geographic Education

2011-12-11T10:36:00.001-08:00

I remember reading National Geographic at my grandparent’s house when I was a kid. I spent hours pouring over the pictures and the expeditions and the stories. It certainly played a role in shaping my love of exploring. The new National Geographic education site is bound to help a whole new generation of children dream of exploring beyond the horizon. Give it a spin!

Embedit.in

2011-12-11T09:45:00.001-08:00

Use Embedit.in to customize and embed a pdf, word document, audio file and more into a website. You can even control the level of privacy and track analytics. Put it in a digital archive or use the annotation tool for assessment. You can even post a thumbnail of your document if you'd prefer.

QR Voice

2011-12-11T09:22:00.001-08:00

Perhaps QRVoice is the innovation that will finally get QR codes to live up to their promise as critical classroom tool.

Record your short message and post it as a QR code.

Offer directions to students and parents, narrate a museum-like tour of your school, post a scavenger hunt in your classroom or a message to parents to view as they wait for conferences.

Every school has student art hanging in the halls. Next time you post new artwork, have students create a short message and post a QR code next to their work explaining the work.

Don't worry about the short recording time (100 characters) or the voice (it is rather robotic). The concept it what is important here. You can post a recording online using another service such as Zoom.it and then embed that in a QR Code using Kaywa or one of the many other QR code generators.

Here are a dozen more QR-in-the-classroom ideas.

What Was Here

2011-12-11T09:03:00.001-08:00

Link the present to the past with What Was Here or History Pin and make history come alive for your students.

MPR ran an interesting story recently about the burning of Swede Hollow. When it originally aired it contained a reference to What Was Here , but that part was pulled from the online article (probably because there are not actually any historical photos posted in the Swede Hollow area yet.) Can you place this photo in the right spot in Swede Hollow?

You can even make your own history archive! Why not create your school's own Dear Photograph project?

And remember that while being there is certainly powerful, you do not need to visit every historical place to place a photo there. Pull it up on Google Maps Street View and pose in front with your photo!

Socrative

2011-12-11T08:58:00.001-08:00

If the ipad/apple TV combo is the new IWB killer, then Socrative is the beginning of the end for paid classroom clickers. Why pay $1,500 - $3,000 for a set of classroom clickers when that same investment could get you a handful of ipads or ipod touches? Free services like this will take over as we open up our schools to more student devices and as we expand 1-1 computing.

Wonderopolis

2011-12-11T08:51:00.001-08:00

Model lifelong learning. Share a compelling question and an engaging answer with your class every day!

Have Wonderopolis set up on your projector as students walk into class and use it as a discussion to start the hour, or look back through the archives for the perfect tie in to use as your so-called anticipatory set.

12 Important Things to Know About Kids Today

2011-12-11T08:31:00.001-08:00

Angela Maiers, author of The Passion-Driven Classroom recently wrote an article on the the twelve most important things to know about kids today.

Sometimes around this time of year we can begin to fall into a rut with our students. Our expectations for them can become static and we need to look from a different perspective to better appreciate them and to remind ourselves what an important, interesting and engaging job teaching can be! This article is a must-read.

Once you are done, check out these 10 ways to encourage your students to be more reflective thinkers.

Read Write Think

2011-12-11T08:26:00.001-08:00

My job as an Instructional Technology Coordinator requires many skills. Among them, writing is one I draw on the most. It is at the center of nearly every project I work on, every email I send and every report I write. I believe it to be one of the most fundamental workplace skills. Not every teacher is a great writer. That fact can sometimes make it challenging to incorporate wiring into every discipline. Now, however, you have Read Write Think. This is an excellent online resource offering writing ideas, lesson plans, templates and more. Educators of every subject and grade level will find it helpful.

Asia Society

2011-12-11T07:55:00.001-08:00

As Mandrin is taught in more schools and as Asia’s economic and global impact becomes more pronounced here in the US, it is important to expand our understanding of Asian culture and heritage.

The Asia Society seeks “to increase knowledge and enhance dialogue, encourage creative expression, and generate new ideas across the fields of arts and culture, policy and business, and education.”

Therefore, it is a great resource for the classroom...and for life.

BayFIles

2011-12-11T07:47:00.001-08:00

Bayfiles allows you to share big (or small) files quickly and without any hassle or cost. You don’t even need to create an account.

This is the perfect solution for posting files for students and colleagues or for sending a SMART Notebook file to your reserve. Simply browse, upload and share the file’s URL with anyone.

Easy.

Tilt-Shift

2011-12-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

Tilt shift photography is indisputably cool. Buying a professional quality lens specifically for this technique is prohibitively expensive for most of us, so why not use an online tool to accomplish a similar feel? The technique was designed to make life-sized objects look miniature, but it can also be used to alter the mood of a picture. You can simply plug your picture into Tiltshift.com , or you can use photoshop to do a more customizable job. SmashingMagazine has written up great directions here.
Read up on the techniques in SmashingMag, then go have fun! The color boost feature is perfect for summer photos.

News

2011-12-11T03:00:00.000-08:00

There are more and more great ways to help your students keep up with the news. Try starting, ending, or centering your class with one of these resources:

10 X 10 is a pictorial depiction of the day's events. It provides an interesting take on the news. Click on a picture to see the details.
Newsmap has a similar lens, but is more based on the word-cloud concept of demonstrating important stories with size.
BBC Weekly News Quiz Embed it in your website. It can be taken on a computer or mobile device.
Week in Rap is a pretty entertaining 90 second rap review of the week's news. Add it to your lessons...because it is clever, and because it is always good to embed music and the arts into other subject areas.
CNN Student News is another news source that caters to young people. Not bad if you are looking for more detail (10 minutes each day.) But there are ads to watch before the news begins and the demographic appeal seems a bit strained at times. Somehow wearing jeans and using words like "awesome" is more cheesy than youthful.
Hubii gives you the world's news on a map.

feel free to use the comment section to tell other GarrisonSites readers how you keep your students up to date with current events.

MoodleShare

2011-12-10T21:37:00.001-08:00

Looking at some curriculum planning in the near future? Do you have to design a new course? Does your current course need some new energy? Do you have a great course to share?

Open-source it up with MoodleShare! This site is doing it right by promoting and hosing shared curriculum. We can all benefit from this culture of sharing. Thanks!

CK-12

2011-12-10T20:53:00.001-08:00

Given the prevalence of digital devices why are we still buying textbooks for most every strudent in most every class? Textbooks are expensive, quickly outdated, non-interactive and very few of them truly follow our curriculum. Couldn't you and a handful of your best colleagues do better? Why not write your own?

Take advantage of the growing open-source curriculum movement. Use CK-12 as it stands, or rewrite a section (or the entire book) to fit your needs. Post it online and grant your students access to their own personalized (and personalize-able) textbook.

Need additional resources? Bookboon's free online textbooks for students are focused and to the point. They are all written by highly respected professors from top universities in the world and cover topics such as economics, statistics, IT, engineering and natural science.

Typing Games

2011-12-10T13:51:00.000-08:00

Mastering the home row has never been so fun! Be a winner today with this typing adventure.

Once you master that, move up to Keybr or Chrome's KeyHero.

Have fun!

Of course, with texting, swiping and then split-able IOS5 Keyboard one wonders just how ling traditional "feet on the floor" typing will really be a necessary skill. For now, however, it proves pretty valuable.

Thomas Suarez and the Importance of Programming

2011-12-10T05:05:00.000-08:00

"For Soccer you can join a soccer team, for violin you could get lessons for a violin, but what if you want to make an app?"

Thomas Suarez is an app developer and 6th grade student. He started an app development club at his school so he could share his experiences with others. What are you doing to encourage creativity and to share your expertise with others?

Suarez understands that, "These days students know a little more that teachers with the technology...sorry...so this is a resource to teachers and educators should recognize this resource and make use of it."

You can create a classroom where you foster creativity, authenticity and intrinsic motivation in your students!

When it is time to redesign your school’s foreign language department, or redefine literacy at your school, or take another look at your computer science department, why not consider bridging the two by teaching programming as a language. It is an immensely useful and imminently applicable skill that transfers directly to the job market and makes MANY tasks more manageable and MANY problems easier to solve.

Schoology Lunch and Learn

2011-12-09T11:46:00.000-08:00

Minnetonka / White Bear Lunch and Learn with Schoology:
Using Social Networking to Tackle Tough Problems in Education
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 - 10:00 - 12:00 PM Minnetonka High School - Free lunch!
Click here to REGISTER.

Social Media

2011-12-06T13:18:00.001-08:00

I've seen this before, but was re-reminded of it when it got posted on Free Tech 4 Teachers. It is a great reminder of why using a social LMS tool such as Schoology in the classroom can keep us relevant and keep our students engaged.

Community

2011-12-06T12:34:00.001-08:00

First of all, this video is pleasing to watch. It embodies great visual and auditory engaging. It is well edited, well told...For those reasons alone it is worth showing to your students. However, why not take it to the next level and have your students move past consumption to the stage of creation. What would this movie look like if it were made about your school or community? Given a simple digital camera, or a smart phone, or an ipad your elementary or high school students could use this as a model to create their own work. That is real world assessment that is actually worth sharing with the real world.

Google Graphing Calculator

2011-12-06T12:19:00.001-08:00

The graphing calculator is finally built right into Google. Check it out. This is one of those things that will QUICKLY become so obvious that we will simply take this easy graphing from granted, so enjoy it while you still think it is cool!

Free Online Courses at Stanford

2011-12-01T14:30:00.001-08:00

Be a lifelong learner. We are in the education profession and should always be modeling our own learning process for our students and even our colleagues.

To that end the bar just keeps getting raised in the world of free online education. When MIT posted a handful of lectures on the Internet a handful of years ago it seemed groundbreaking. Now YOU and all of your friends (and your students) can sign up for classes at Stanford for free. Online. In real time.

What will you learn?

Oh, and Yale is getting in on the game as well.

43 Apps for the Literacy Classroom

2011-11-07T18:58:00.000-08:00

Every day I come across more outstanding ipad apps with scores of classroom potential.

Here is my collection of 43 great apps for the elementary classroom, with a focus on literacy. More than than half of them are free. You can always spend a little for the rest, search for a free alternate or watch the AppShopper for a deal.

Enjoy and let me know about your favorite apps!

Oh, and here are 1300+ more educational apps for your ipad!

Digital Youth Playlist

2011-10-28T15:34:00.001-07:00

I was truly inspired after seeing Nichole Pinkard today at the U of M!

Youmedia is very impressive and her talk drew a diverse and incredibly interesting collection of participants. Here is the group's Twitter stream.

This post contains a collection of videos she showcased along with many her talk inspired me to seek out. See entire playlist here.

Superhero Supply

2011-10-20T08:56:00.000-07:00

As the Superhero Conference nears I find myself drawn to heroic stories of one kind and another.

Dave Eggers gave a TED talk a few years back that made me rethink some of the ways we approach education.

His 826 Centers and stores are an inspiration for thinking out of the box and one great model for how educators throughout the community can work to motivate, inspire and educate our children.

Thanks MAASFEP!

2011-10-08T12:10:00.000-07:00

It was great to meet so many energetic educators at MAASFEP!
Here is a brief clip of my 50 Sites in 60 Minutes presentation.

Check out this and other videos on the GarrisonSitesYoutube Channel.

(Like so many things it looks best when viewed in Chrome.)

Inspiration For Writing and Math

2011-10-04T13:45:00.000-07:00

Looking for some great story starters to inspire your next creative writing assignment? Check out the miniature and delicious world of Jeannie Huang. Her images feature tiny people in massive worlds of food - like the gentleman in this image mowing his broccoli.

Inspire your students to see math in everyday experiences with Huang's sorting and stacking exhibit. I think there is great potential for bringing math to the playground, lunchroom and beyond. Try recreating her idea at your school...and submit the picture so we can all admire your work!

Ave ASL

2011-10-02T23:30:00.000-07:00

I am a proud graduate of the University on Minnesota's Learning Technologies department. In the couple of years since I left they've moved into a new space and expanded their mission. Last Friday they went public with one of the coolest projects I've seen - Ave ASL. With this tool they've completely streamlined (and I'll add, improved) ASL instruction. Your ASL department can use if free this fall, and then pay a small fee for continued service after that. Ave ASL uses video to assess, instruct, provide practice and timely feedback to ASL students.

It is a beautiful tool and it holds tremendous promise for ASL and MANY other subjects. Charles Miller is currently working on a Deaf and Hard of Hearing edition and in the spring of 2012 they will roll out the World Language edition. Spanish, French, Mandrin, German...teachers, prepare to transform your teaching. Once the language (and ipad) versions are out, the sky is the limit for innovative uses for Ave. This thing is cool, free (for now) and live at last!

BBC Schools

2011-10-02T21:00:00.000-07:00

BBC has produced some outstanding free educational resources over the years. Their new schools site is a continuation of that fine tradition. Spend a few minutes (or hours) poking around this site and you'll learn how to count to 100 in Mandrin, find an interactive timeline of America's Civil Rights struggle and brainstorm on a pinball machine...and much more.

Most of the video will not play in the US, but there are plenty of other perks of this site to draw you in.

50 Apps

2011-10-02T20:20:00.000-07:00

I am no where near through this list of 50 apps, I can already recommend it as a great resource. Spend some time looking into your area of interest:

VIRTUAL WORLDS
STORIES AND WORD GAMES
SCIENCE & MATH
ART, MUSIC & PHOTOGRAPHY

Have fun..but be careful not to spend too much money. Few of these apps are free.

Infographics

2011-10-02T19:46:00.000-07:00

I am a big infographic fan. Perhaps looking at Cool Infographics will inspire you to make you own...well, cool infographics, in your classroom.

Presenting information more visually is clearly a huge step ahead of the black text on a white background that dominates SMART Boards across North America.

When your students make their own infographics they are taking steps up the Bloom's Taxonomy pyramid. That has to be a good thing!

iBand

2011-10-02T19:02:00.000-07:00

What are you doing in your class to inspire your students? What are you doing to give them an authentic audience? You certainly do not need to start an ipad orchestra to make a difference, but this video from Store Van Music is worth watching either way.

If nothing else, it is worth challenging yourself to do something in your classroom this week (or month, or quarter) that inspires the level of concentration, satisfaction and dedication displayed by the students in this video.

Let me know what you come up with!

LearnBoost

2011-10-02T14:21:00.000-07:00

Given the relative poor quality of the many paid Student Management systems, why not try out LearnBoost? The self-proclaimed free and amazing gradebook, lesson planner, attendance, reporting and calendar certainly looks promising. Please let me know if you are a user. I'd love to learn from your experience and share your thought with others. (Oh, and if you have an SMS that you love, please tell me about that as well.)

Ask Me Every

2011-10-02T14:13:00.000-07:00

AskMeEvery.com is a handy little daily reminder. You can set it to text you any time of day with a reminder...and it will graph the results.

Students can use this when charting weather, science data, pages read per day, exercise...

Teachers can use it as a reminder to bring something home every day, run every day, drink coffee, get enough sleep...

Since we are in the lifelong learning business why not set it to ask you, "What did you learn today?" You'll get a reminder to pause to consider this important question each day at a preset time and you'll end up with a graph of your knowledge gained. Cool.

Design School Advice

2011-10-02T14:04:00.000-07:00

At this time in the school year it is good to take a few minutes to step back and take stock of how things are going.

Many of you already know that I think of teachers as designers - since we design lessons, objectives and learning environments every single day.

Josh Berta'a advice, while focused towards design students, has some real relevance for teachers. The basic themes are: Be yourself (and take care of yourself), play to your strengths, learn from your colleagues and always strive to do better.

You Can’t Learn Talent

Don’t Worry About Style

Borrow (Don’t Steal) Freely

Consider the (Authority Of The) Source

Edit Your Own Work Judiciously
Edit Your Own Work Really Judiciously
There is No Freedom Without Structure
Change Brings Clarity
Sleep Brings Even More Clarity
Be Yourself

dotepub

2011-09-25T19:50:00.000-07:00

So much of what is possible on the ipad seems like magic. Yesterday I was at a neighborhood festival and a local restaurant owner was using hers to record a video of the band playing on her deck. Visually impaired people use the ipad to read money, my first grade son taught himself fractions, we've got a silly talking giraffe that mimics anything we say, my brother-in-law has retaught himself to play guitar on his, the Assist app might well replace the Scantron, LiveSketch HD makes me look like I am a great artist for under $2 and...Today, I am taken by dotepub. This site will take any article or website and turn it into an ebook. So anything you read online that you want to save for later, or share with others can now be published into an ebook. You can create the ebook on you ipad or computer. It's magic!

Be Funky

2011-09-20T11:27:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't want to be funky?

This site provides quick and easy ways to cartoonize, 1970's-ify and personalize your photos. It includes a great tool for making a picture into a blackline drawing.

Superhero

2011-09-07T19:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my daughter told me that she has "Human Powers!" Pretty cool news. You know what is even cooler?... SUPERHUMAN powers.

Now, everyone has the chance to become a Superhero. Join me and FlippedEducation at Madden's October 21-22 for the first ever SUPERHERO tech camp - a weekend of networking, learning and saving the world!

It promises to kick off with a bang and end with a slam! So register today! Become a Superhero!

Flipped

2011-09-07T17:17:00.000-07:00

This summer I was given the opportunity to participate in the first-ever YouTube Teacher Studio. I learned a ton about the WHY and the HOW of using video in the classroom, met some amazing people and earned the title of Youtube Star Teacher. (More on that in the coming months...)

My biggest takeaways from the experience centered around ways to use well video to give students a preview of the key terms and concepts so they feel as though the have some prior knowledge when they come to class (and thus lighten their cognitive load and learn more!) and the idea of flipped teaching.

The great Ramsey Musallam discussed his work with these topics and how he has incorporated flip teaching into his Chemistry classroom and academic research.

Here at GarrisonSites you can expect to see more video this year as I branch out and incorporate more of these ideas into my daily work.

Flipped Classroom Infographic

2011-09-06T17:21:00.000-07:00

This is just a preview. Click here for full sized Infographic.

Adam Bellow's Tech Commandments

2011-08-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

Adam Bellow, thinker, educator...and creator of EduTecher tells it like it is. Spend 15 minutes watching this today and then vow to change some part(s) of your approach to teaching, tech integration and access to information this school year.

Top 10 Jobs that Didn't Exist 10 Year Ago

2011-08-14T19:24:00.000-07:00

What are you doing to prepare your students for the future?

5 Mistakes

2011-08-14T18:20:00.000-07:00

There is nothing incredibly earth shattering or surprising about Robin Jackson's "5 Biggest Mistakes I Made as a Teacher." However, her short list covers mistakes that many teachers make nearly every year.

1: I took everything personally.
2: I avoided dealing with parents.
3: I waited until students were failing to intervene.
4: I was afraid to make mistakes.
5: I tried to cover everything.

As you prepare to return to students this school year you should read her advice. It just might keep you from re-repeating the same mistake again this year.

Cell Phones in Class

2011-08-14T18:00:00.000-07:00

One of the most striking statistics to come out of April's Speak Up! study is the huge disconnect between the 67 percent of parents who are willing to purchase a mobile device for their child to use at school and the near equal percentage of school administrators who will not allow mobile technology to be used in their school. It is long past time for America's schools to rethink our use of cell phones in the classroom. This slideshow will give you 30+ ways to harness the power of cell phones and it might even help you convince the right people to change your school's policy. Good luck!

Newswordy

2011-08-14T17:54:00.001-07:00

Vocabulary is one subject often still taught in rote fashion, but when students learn words out of context they do not have the same sticking power. Now you can use Newswordy to teach one great vocabulary word along with a current even every day. It is a perfect teaching tool and conversation starter.

I bet even the most well rounded teacher will learn a word or two from Newswordy.

Teach With Your iPad

2011-08-14T17:47:00.000-07:00

Teach With Your iPad is another great iPad resource that sorts apps by subject, type, grade level and more. Check it out!

Print What You Like

2011-08-14T17:41:00.000-07:00

The next time you want to print something straight from the web, please run it through PrintWhatYouLike.com first. You can get rid of ads and extra text and reformat to meet your needs all while saving paper and focusing your readers on the most important information.

Oh, and it is very easy to use. You may even want to check out the short tutorial so you area aware of all the great features.

SnipSnip.it

2011-08-14T15:24:00.000-07:00

Next time you are showing a YouTube video in class you should skip the part that does not relate to your lesson and show only the most essential seconds. Of course you can use some video editor, or even the YouTube editor to accomplish this, but an even easier solution is to use SnipSnip.it.

Paste the YouTube URl into SnipSnip.it, select your starting and ending point and play. It is that simple!

2011-08-14T15:14:00.000-07:00

"We succeeded in taking that picture, and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam."
- Carl Sagan

Play around with this interactive to get your own sense of scale.

Speech Recognizer

2011-08-14T15:05:00.000-07:00

One of the most frequent questions I get when I speak to groups of teachers comes from Special Ed Teachers - "Is there a great text to speech tool out there?" Well, there are a few good options, but they have been very expensive...until now!

Speech Recognizer is a simple Chrome app that you can use to write a sentence or two, or even an entire paper! For now the accuracy rate is pretty good, and you can play around with it to learn tricks about mic placement, volume and pace that will make it even better. As more and more companies produce these kind of HTML5 tools, they will only improve.

It is hard to see keyboarding going away as a necessary skill...but this will certainly shake things up!

Pen.io

2011-08-14T14:46:00.000-07:00

Do you ever wish you could quickly throw together a good looking website to display some curriculum or sell you house or publish your Master's thesis or advertize your dog walking service or...

Now you can use pen.io to put together a website so quickly, you could make a new one each hour during the passing time between classes.

Try it out today and give yourself a web presence! Here is a two page site with text, video and images that I put together in about 3 minutes.

Click here and here for the tags.

h/t Ramsey Musallam

Self Adhesive Whiteboard

2011-08-14T14:17:00.000-07:00

One of the striking things about the Google offices is that there are whiteboards everywhere. Googlers stand around these board to collaborate, brainstorm, problem solve...

As you are planning your classroom and considering putting up another version of the same old bulletin board consider instead covering your walls with whiteboard. What problems might you and your students solve if every surface (or even one wall) in your classroom was writable? At a cost around $10.00 for 25 square feet it is a cheap price to pay for allowing unlimited collaboration.

You can buy it many places including; Amazon and iKorDesign. Have fun!

Audacity

2011-08-14T10:18:00.000-07:00

Audacity is one of the better sound editors around. With a low floor and high ceiling you can do everything from create podcasts to mix and edit music.

UPDATE: Jill Baedke has produced a GREAT video tutorial series along with supporting resources. Her videos are so complete and well supported that they will help anyone go from total Audacity novice to expert in no time! Try them out yourself, or pass them along to a friend.

60 Seconds on the Internet

2011-06-15T06:04:00.000-07:00

This is an amazing infographic showing what happens on the web every 60 seconds - and it repeats:

1440 times per day
10,080 times per week
526,000 times per year!

(That's 131,040,000 iphone apps and almost a billion Twitter posts every week!)

The data was intended for advertisers and marketers, but it certainly has implications for schools as well. How are you utilizing these types of tools in your classroom?

(Click on the picture to view the full size image and read the detail.)

Poetry in the Park

2011-06-09T14:53:00.000-07:00

Sometimes authentic learning involves Skyping with a class in Germany, or publishing a book online, but sometimes authenticity is much closer at hand.

My son's first grade class wrote poems and then hung them up on trees, benches, fence posts and electric poles over a span of about a half mile. They are scattered from the school down a few blocks and through a large city park.

Hundreds, and maybe even thousands, of people have paused to read a poem during the few days they've been hung up. The pride these first graders feel at having created real public art is palpable.

Hats off to these teachers for making a real difference!

(Click on the pictures to read the poems.)

Morris Lessmore

2011-05-31T09:19:00.000-07:00

I have read a handful of books on the ipad and I've taken to reading most pdf files on the ipad, but I had not really seen a book that took full advantage of the interactive movement, audio, visual and touch capabilities of the ipad until I read The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. It is well worth the $4.99 app price. I hope it is just the beginning of whole new re-imagining of books.

Splashtop Remote

2011-05-31T08:53:00.000-07:00

The ipad has the potential to be a true game changer in the classroom and Splashtop Remote might just be one of the keys to making that happen. When you can control your teacher computer through an ipad do you need an interactive white board anymore?

In Math class you can hand the ipad to a student and ask them to show the class how to solve a problem - just as you would have done on the interactive white board.

Phy. Ed. teachers can use this in an gym setting that is not well suited to an interactive white board.

A preschool teacher can use it to have a students demonstrate letter writing techniques and a high school teacher can use it to give students the power to show a class presentation.

RoboVoice

2011-05-30T10:27:00.000-07:00

Install RoboVoice to your bookmark bar. Open a website, select text and RoboVoice will read it to you. Simple.

Infographic

2011-05-30T09:32:00.000-07:00

(Click each for larger view)

Infographics are everywhere these days. They are in newspapers, magazines and newscasts because they communicate a large amount of information in a succinct manner. That is exact reason that they are such great classroom assessment tool. A designer really has to understand a concept before creating an infographic. The best ones have many layers of information and make use color, text, images, graphs and every inch of space.

Next time you complete a unit of study have your students create an infographic in place of a paper assessment (to depict a novel, mathematical concept, historical era, current event...). Give them time to collaborate together and then post their work in a public place so others can learn from their infographic.

The New York Times makes great use of infographics and they've assembled this lesson plan to help you use them in your classroom. Here is a list of tools you can use to make simple infographics that provides a basic starting point, but I bet your students can do better.

Here are some great examples from SmashingApps to inform and inspire your students. Here are 10 more, and here is a quirky list of the best infographics on the web today.

Better Google Apps Mail with Labs

2011-05-30T09:12:00.000-07:00

Make your Google Mail better with labs.

Create nested labels, a better signature, better search, image docs and map viewing, and more!

Here is a list of the Labs I use. Which have you enabled?

Color Scheme Designer

2011-05-30T01:17:00.000-07:00

Easily improve the look of you daily lessons, class website, newsletter, bulletin boards, art projects outfits and more! Color Scheme Designer makes it so easy to find great color schemes! Even easier to use than Peacock (part of the Aviary Suite) and ColourLovers (also helps you find great patterns). h/t FollowMolly

UPDATE: SmashingApps lists these 45 other color tools, so you're certain to find one you like.

iPads in the Classroom

2011-05-28T18:57:00.000-07:00

Perhaps you are making a pitch to get ipads in your classroom, or maybe you have them already - either way you'll find this presentation full of helpful tips. Don't be fooled by the dorky first slide. The ideas inside are outstanding.

Check out Tom Barrett's other great ideas on classroom uses of Google Apps, Interactive White Boards, Skype, Audio, Video, QR Codes and more.

Tinkercad

2011-05-27T20:45:00.000-07:00

A free, powerful, web-based CAD program. The creative possibilities are endless! Tinkercad is a great example of putting powerful tools in the hands of everyone with internet access. (Oh, and with a 3D printer you can actually build what you draw.) What will you design?

Bubbl.us

2011-05-27T11:59:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been promoting Google Drawing as a great mind mapping tool...and it is, but sometimes it pays to use the real deal. Of course bubbl.us is a helpful (and free) brainstorming/thinking/planning tool, but it is an even better assessment tool. Next time you need to assess your students' learning have them build a mind-map of their knowledge. You'll be pleased with the results, and you can even post them on your website.

HistoryPin

2011-05-27T11:48:00.000-07:00

I am a big fan of using images in the classroom. Google Images is great, but seeing photos in context is even better. Next time you need a photo prompt for an essay, context for a lecture, or you want to incorporate some old family photos that you collected on Grandparent's day, try historypin and see your old photos at the spot they were first captured.

Looking for a cool project? Try collecting and uploading a historical photo essay of your town or neighborhood.

Scientific Calculator

2011-05-27T11:07:00.000-07:00

Embed a scientific (or standard) calculator right into your classroom website for all your students to use by clicking on the widget link on web2.0calc.com!

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Web 2.0 scientific calculator

Google Body

2011-05-24T19:55:00.000-07:00

Google Body is so cool! If you have not had a chance to play with it yet, you really need to set aside a half hour to check it out soon.

I/O Conference Streaming Live - May 11

2011-05-11T10:15:00.000-07:00

Want to see what is new in Chrome and Google today?

Check out the video highlights.

Chromebooks for schools will be released June 15 at just $20 per month.

Angry Birds Fans - The Chrome version was released...and hacked.

iPad & Google Calendar

2011-05-06T15:35:00.000-07:00

Most of the uses of the iPhone/iPad intuitive. However, syncing your Google calendars is tricky unless you have this link. Enjoy!

50 Sites Webinar

2011-04-25T06:38:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all of you who joined in on the webinar. It was great to see people online from all over the country interested in great classroom technology integration!

Please contact me if you'd like me to present GarrisonSites at your school or conference.

Join GarrisonSites for a webinar edition of 50 Sites in 60 Minutes on Thursday, April 28 @ 3:00 - 4:00 EDT.

Sign up for a chance to take part in the first ever 50 sites webinar!

Teaching to the Text Message

2011-03-22T18:13:00.000-07:00

Do today's students need to learn to write more concisely and succinctly to excel in a world where online writing is king? Andy Selsberg certainly thinks so, and I agree.

Check out his short and compelling opinion piece from this week's New York Times and decide for yourself.

Khan Academy

2011-03-17T06:41:00.000-07:00

Khan Academy started as a series of YouTube videos intended to help Sal Khan's cousins learn math. Now it is shaping into one of the best (and free) tools for classroom math instruction. Teachers at nearly every level of mathematics could make Khan Academy the centerpiece of their curriculum.

Students follow a series of math steps - starting with 1+1 and going as high as their conceptual understanding will allow. Each time a child demonstrated mastery by getting 10 problems in a row correct, they are prompted to move on to a new concept. If they struggle or need help, they can ask for a hint to see a visualization of the problem broken down step by step, watch a video, contact their coach (teacher) or collaborate with peers. Rewards, energy points and the pride associated with self-paced learning will keep students motivated.

Teachers can follow the students as they self-pace through the curriculum and see where they excel or where they need extra assistance. For those of you who love data, there is ample detail on how each child is performing...down to the amount of time they spend on any given problem.

There is MUCH more to Khan Academy, so watch the TED talk and then check out the site to try it out and get set up for yourself.

"I think you just got a glimpse of the future of education." - Bill Gates

Thanks @followmolly for pointing my towards this TED talk.

UPDATE: Remember, that remedial online work can only take you so far. Read about some of the limitations of Khan here.

S. Craig Watkins

2011-03-06T17:25:00.000-08:00

I have heard S. Craig Watkins, author of The Young and The Digital, speak twice this this year. Both times I have found his message interesting, insightful and well supported. Here is a brief overview of his message:

Read more about Watkins' work on his website.

Inside Out

2011-03-06T16:53:00.001-08:00

TED awarded photographer and artist JR $100,000 to continue and expand his Inside Out Project. This video is an impressive, and visually engaging, look at how one person can truly have a positive impact on the world.

Isn't this the kind of 21st century skill we want to inculcate in our students? Perhaps one of your students or teachers is looking for a cool project that allows your school to have a profound impact on the community. If so, learning about Inside Out might serve as a catalyst for new ideas.

tpt

2011-03-06T14:46:00.000-08:00

Last month I had the opportunity to attend an educational networking event at tpt that premiered the compelling video, "Digital Media - New Learners Of The 21st Century". Every educator should watch this 55-minute video. It provides great examples of real 21st century teaching skills and is full of outstanding soundbites. It also raises some profound questions. What, for example, is your school doing to mimic the Digital Youth Network?

At the event I met and reconnected with many Twin Cities educational leaders and also learned that nearly every show tpt shows is archived and viewable for free online. I bet you can find a use for those thousands of videos in class!

Watch the full episode. See more Digital Media - New Learners Of The 21st Century.

Dangers of the Status Quo

2011-03-04T11:57:00.000-08:00

Rob Dickson posted this ad on a Schoology group with the note: "This commercial kind of made me think about education(al) technology." How true. Sometimes we are reluctant to try the next new thing in education until it has been tested out by others. However, if we keep passing up on innovation we miss out on the chance to evolve, improve and remain relevant.

How about trying out something new each week in your classroom? Each Month? Each Day?
Good luck!

Mandrin Internet?

2011-02-07T08:30:00.000-08:00

In 3 - 5 years Chinese will be the dominate language of the Internet, according to @TheNextWeb. Is Mandrin a part of your site tech plan?

(Click on image to view in full sized info-graphic.)

Authentic 12

2011-02-06T19:26:00.000-08:00

Google Art Project

2011-02-01T19:10:00.000-08:00

View Starry Night one brush stroke at a time. Put yourself in the great galleries of the world's best museums. MoMA, The Tate, the Freer, The Smithsonian... visit them all from the comfort of your classroom computer. Take your students to visit the treasures of the art world with the Google Art Project.

Every subject are could be made richer with a bit more art. I challenge you to substantively incorporate one (or more) of these works of art into a lesson this week.

See the behind the scenes here:

How Big Really?

2011-02-01T11:44:00.000-08:00

If the moon were centered on my town how much of the earth would it cover? If the Great Wall of China started in Minnesota how far would stretch from here? Illustrating these kinds of relationships for your students is at the core of best practice teaching.

See the answers to this and other cool dimensions questions at How Big Really.

On the Radio

2011-01-31T09:08:00.001-08:00

Did you miss MPR's Midmorning segment on Sophia and technology in the classroom? Don't fret, you can check it out here. I offer some thoughts on the subject, as do many other educators, entrepreneurs and thinkers.

Thanks M A S S P !

2011-01-27T16:32:00.000-08:00

Thanks principals! It was great to meet so many of you today at the Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principals Conference.

Here is the list of 50 sites that I used in today's presentation.

Enjoy the rest of the conference!

Sophia

2011-01-26T23:39:00.000-08:00

I attended an event at MPR tonight with Kerri Miller and a room full of educators, designers and technologists. We were discussing Sophia and talking about the power of technology in the classroom.

You can hear it on MPR at 9:00 on Monday, January 31. It was an interesting event with lots of great ideas being bantered about during the taping as well as during the socializing before and after.

In addition to exchanging ideas with some great thinkers, I learned more about Sophia. It is a platform that allows anyone (a K-12 teacher, student, engineer, scientist, professor, auto mechanic, doctor, builder...) to upload a learning packet explaining a concept that they are familiar with. As teachers we can use it as a platform to host the videos we record of the essential parts of our daily lessons. However, anyone can upload a learning packet explaining how to do something. It is still in Beta form now, but it will go live on March 1, 2011. You can request a trial membership today if you are eager to put it to the test.

How will it turn out? Ultimately it depends on how creative, innovative and dedicated the users are who post content there. For now, it has a lot of promise the expand the walls of the classroom.

Qwiki

2011-01-26T22:02:00.000-08:00

Are you ready for the "future of information consumption"...or at least one company's idea of what that ~~will be~~ is? Then give Qwiki a spin. It is a curated, computer algorithm- generated program that makes the intake of information an "experience that you watch."

Here is a brief overview video that explains it in further detail.

Shoot me an e-mail if you are having problems getting an Alpha test account. I can get one for you.

Texting While Driving

2011-01-26T14:37:00.000-08:00

You can all tell your students about the dangers of texting while driving, but I think that this 10 minute video conveys the message with so much power and emotion that it is really worth showing to any student (or adult) who drives.

It will convince people to resist the temptation of texting while driving, and it may even save a life.

Screencast-o-matic

2011-01-26T10:52:00.000-08:00

There are all kinds of screen recorders out there. I have friends who use Jing, SMART Recorder, Snag-it, and others but they all have limits in terms of use and/or cost. I'll throw one more in the mix that might just be a cut above.

With a free Screencast-o-matic account you can record videos up to 15 minutes in length ($9 per year for a 60 minute-per-video limit). That means you can record a part of your lesson to post on your class webpage, sub plans, or a tutorial for students or colleagues to walk them through a process - like this one by New Prague's Shawn Brandt showing how to use Screencast-o-matic. Best of all, it works right in your browser with no download or install required!

Give it a try, and share the link as a comment here, so others can learn from your great work!

Minnesota 2020

2011-01-12T13:08:00.000-08:00

Minnesota 2020 takes a look at Technology Integration. I weigh in on the article as do a handful of my friends who work in the tech integration.