ActivPrimary in the Classroom

If you are using ActivInspire in your PreK - 1 classroom you have another alternative. You can change the look and feel of ActivInspire to benefit your younger students by setting the system to open using ActivPrimary.

To do this you will Select the Configure button from the Dashboard and then put a check in the box on the Right side of the screen that says "Launch next time using the Primary look and feel."

Don't worry I have included this video:

When you open up ActivPrimary you will immediately notice the new look. One thing to keep in mind is that some things are not in the same place as they were in ActivInspire but all the same features are still intact. When you look at your Browser window you will notice that the two icons are missing for your Page and Resource Browser. Don't worry they are now located along the bottom of the floating Toolbar. Now since the features are the same and just the look is different there is no new learning curve with the software. Everything that you could do in ActivInspire you can do in Primary. However, if you need some additional assistance you can check out resources on Promethean Planet and videos from YouTube.

images from ActivInspire and ActivPrimary

video by: eherreid

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The 5 Reasons I Use Social Media

1. To share thoughts and ideas with others in my field.

2. Quick answers to questions I have on technology issues

3. Build relationships with my peers in Education

4. Helps me to keep track of resources.

5. Provides me the opportunity to help out others just as much as they help me.

For the past few months now I have been delving more into the realm of Social Media than I had ever before. I have to admit that I was a skeptic and was always worried that whatever I said could come back to haunt me. So I tended to stay away from it, positioned myself to avoid the conversation.

Since participating with colleagues from around the southeast in a conversation regarding the uses of Social Media for both Business and Education, I have let down some barriers. I have since started using Twitter to share my thoughts and ideas as well as to help out others who were looking for answers just like I was. I now have my own Blog and am reading more blogs than I had ever done so before. I think my blog feed now has literally hundreds of blog entries waiting for me to read through on a daily basis and really gets backed up if I am not keeping up with things.

Why the change of heart, what is different now from the way I felt just a few short months ago? I have to credit my peers who are using Social Media effectively whom have helped to guide me along this new journey. I look forward to continuing to use the current products out there as well as researching new ones.

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Where the Wonders of Learning Never Cease ...

I have recently been looking at the Verizon Thinkfinity site. One of their content partners (logos and links at the bottom of the Thinkfinity homepage) is Wonderopolis. Well, with a name like that, I felt a need to go check it out! I am very glad that I did!
It just so happened that the first day I looked at Wonderopolis, there was great information about the Wright Brothers and the First Flight. Being a former 4th grade teacher, that was one of my favorite things in North Carolina Social Studies. I decided to add a Wonderopolis widget to my blog so I could easily catch a glimpse of something new each day. I try to learn something (big or small) each day, so I think this site will help me accomplish that goal.
A couple days later, I saw some neat information on the moon from Wonderopolis. My 4 year old has been telling me lots of things about the moon recently, so I looked to see if there was anything she might like on the site that day. I found information facts, a video, an experiment to try at home, and some vocabulary words. While that information was probably for an older student, I will continue to check back. I found that if you miss the Wonder of the day one day or if you want to look back at a Wonder from the past, that is possible by clicking on the Wonders tab at the top to visit the archive. There is even a place where you can nominate a Wonder (another tab at the top of the page). Wonderopolis also has a presence on Twitter (@wonderopolis) where they share great litte tidbits of information and informative resources.
Here is some information from the About Wonderopolis page:

Create. Laugh. Imagine. Explore. Learn. Smile. Grow.

Visit Wonderopolis.™ It’s a place where parents seek and nurture a brighter world for their children through the power of discovery, creativity, learning and imagination. Wonderopolis™ is brought to life by the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL).

You see your children not only for who they are but for all they can become, yet you may need a little help directing that passion and igniting that wonder. We can help you get there — together. You don’t have to travel far. Wonderopolis is a special place found in a curious question, an everyday adventure and right in your own home. Just let wonderment be your guide.

Our Wonders of the Day will help you find learning moments in everyday life, ones that fit in with dinner preparations or carpool responsibilities or a stolen moment between breakfast and the bus.

Even though the focus of this site seems to be parents, I think teachers could use this site in many ways in the classroom. A few ideas that quickly come to my mind include using it for possible journal topics, a site of the day, a story starter, or even a research prompt. What are some other ways this site might be used in the classroom?

As both a parent and an educator, I am excited about the way Wonderopolis encourages lifelong learning on a daily basis.

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IWB Resources on Symbaloo



Below is a Symbaloo Webmix that I created for interactive white board resources. The orange buttons are for Promethean web links and the blue buttons are for SMART web links. Everything in pink or brown can be used on either software or board.



IWB Symbaloo Webmix



My IWB Symbaloo webmix has links to blogs and wikis from people that I follow through Twitter, Skype, or their Blogs. I added video tutorial links from Promethean and SMART's YouTube channels. There are links to lesson plans, interactives, games, and simulations that can be shown and played on the boards.

Symbaloo is a free social bookmarking tool that allows you to create a webmix (a webmix is a visual list of favorite web sites) of your favorite web sites and then share with other people. I really like Symbaloo because it is a visual image of my bookmarks. I use Diigo to save bookmarks, but with Symbaloo, I can organize by category. It helps me to better remember what I have saved in Diigo. I can share my webmixes with other people and I can add other people's webmixes to my webmix.

Some uses in the classroom would be if you were studying the Civil War, you could create a webmix of Civil War links and resources and share with your students. Of course, anything you were going to research, you could create a webmix and share with students. Other webmixes that could be created might be lesson plan resources, how to get math help, reading/literacy resources.



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What else can we find?

Let's look at some of the resources that are available (just from one site ... that is linked in WSFCS Learning Village on the dashboard)?

• Did you know you can find information on 21st Century Skills in Thinkfinity?
• Did you know you can find student interactives on Thinkfinity?
• Did you know you can do a State Standards Search on Thinkfinity?
• Did you know you can look at information on Today in History in Thinkfinity?
• Did you know you can find lesson plans on Thinkfinity?
• Did you know you can attend webinars to learn more on Thinkfinity?
• Did you know Thinkfinity partners with EconEdLink, EDSITEment, ArtsEdge, ScienceNetLinks, Wonderopolis, NatGeoEducation, and NCTM for great resources?
• Did you know @Thinkfinity @EconEdLink @EDSITEment @artsedge @ScienceNetLinks @Wonderopolis @NatGeoEducation @NCTM can all be found on Twitter as well?

My co-worker Dorene Bates has written about Thinkfinity and the great resources there in the past: Thinkfinity from Verizon.

I would encourage you to go check out Thinkfinity and see what you can find. If you find something you like, please come back and tell us about it so we can go look at it too!

image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/89165847@N00/3982881207/

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The Super Book Of Web Tools For Educators

There is lots of great information on there on Web 2.0 and using technology in the classroom for teachers. Heck, that's our job! But often if you have teachers that are just starting out or need some help figuring all this tech stuff out, it can be a daunting task as there is lots of information.

My good friend Richard Byrne, writer of the wildly popular Free Technology For Teachers blog approached me a few weeks ago and asked me if I would contribute to a free ebook he was putting together. I was happy to contribute a section on social media. Beyond that you have some of the best in the business of education contributing sections as well, such as Patrick Larkin and George Couros, 2 of my favorite administrators giving us the administrators view of technology. Or Kelly Tenkely, Larry Ferlazzo, Lee, Kolbert, Beth Still, Cory Plough, Adam Bellow, and Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano. Such an amazing list of educators. I am so honored to be included in a publication with them.

Here is the book. Download it, pass it out, share it with your colleagues, administrators, teammates. Once you have a chance to check it out, head back here and tell me what you think.


Super Book Of Web Tools For Educators

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Lessons From A Smackdown...

One of my favorite parts of many conferences is the Smackdown. What is a Smackdown you ask? Well, it can take on many different forms depending on who you ask but for the sake of our discussion a Smackdown is when people get up and they have a very limited time to share information about their favorite technology tool or trick. It could be anywhere from 60 seconds to 3 minutes.


Here is a video of one I did at #NTCamp in Philly over the summer.






Recently at EdcampCitrus in Florida they did a Smackdown session where several tools and tricks were shared. While I hate I could not be there in person, Jerry (one of the organizers) kindly created a Google Doc to share. Below is that doc so you can take a look.





I wanted to point out a few from this list that caught my eye:


Classroom 2.0 Live Archive-This is a great place to catch all the recorded Classroom 2.0 sessions. There are so many great interviews and sessions here. Everything is tagged and easy to find.

Wallwisher-I love this site for getting quick ideas on topics. It is basically a virtual sticky notes board that, when shared anyone can access. You only have a 140 characters but you can include links to websites, images, sounds and video, which can be helpful. I like this site for getting quick feedback and ideas for topics. (Be warned, however, it has been going down lately. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. But it is too good not to include here. Always check before you use it. Lino It is a good alternative.)

WhenIsGood-This online scheduler is great. Say you need to do a meeting. Click all the times you are available. Send a link to invitees. They click when they are available. When all matches up. You have your meeting time. This is really great when trying to organize events with lots of people. Best part? Free!

Fur.ly-This is a URL shortner that allows you to combine a bunch of links into one. Great for kids to share sites or web tours or for just sharing a bunch of links all at once. Very easy to use.


Be sure to check out the doc. What is your favorite tool not on the list that you think others might not know about? Leave some details in the comments.


Update: Thanks to Jerry (mentioned above) and the girls at SimpleK12. Below is the video of the Smackdown from #EdcampCitrus. Enjoy!

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