I should have recorded that...

Have you ever taught a great Common Core lesson/activity and wished later you would have recorded it?  Well, we wish you would have recorded it too!

There are several ways you can record yourself or just your lesson for sharing purposes.

(1) Swivl - www.swivl.com
The Swivl is a great device I came across while watching an App Smackdown session from the Tech&Learning Tech Forum in March 2013. The camera, in a nutshell, connects to your IOS device and records a video including voice of you and whatever is behind you. The video can then be shared via YouTube, iTunes U, and just saved to your computer for later use.

(2) Jing and Screencast-O-Matic
These are just two examples of ways you can create a screencast or video of whatever is on your desktop. You can create a screencast to model or teach a concept to your students. Perhaps you want to explain how students can perform a search on KidRex or NetTrekker, a screencast will allow you to make a reference students can use over and over again. You can also create a screencast on how to solve a two-step word problem using one of the resources above and your IWB software.  The ways and ideas are numerous!

Jing can be downloaded from http://www.techsmith.com/download/jing/default.asp on both PC and iMac.  Jing will allow you to create a 5 minute movie for free. Five minutes is a lot of time if you really think about it. Movies can then be uploaded to screencast.com for further sharing.

Screencast-O-Matic is a website that allows you to create a movie that can be saved to your computer or shared. (www.screencast-o-matic.com)

(3) ShowMe, EduCreations, ScreenChomp, Explain Everything
These are four examples of iPad apps that allow you to create screencasts on your IOS device and share out to others. Each program has its pros and cons, including how the screencast can be created and how it is shared. Educreations, for example, wants you to create an account for sharing. The screencasts you create can be private, if needed.

ShowMe
http://www.showme.com/
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/showme-interactive-whiteboard/id445066279?mt=8&ls=1

EduCreations
http://www.educreations.com/
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/educreations-interactive-whiteboard/id478617061?ls=1&mt=8

ScreenChomp
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/screenchomp/id442415881?mt=8

Explain Everything
http://www.explaineverything.com/
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/explain-everything/id431493086?mt=8

Now that the lesson/activity is scheduled, you do you do?  You SHARE IT!

If you want to share these with your students, create a reference folder through DropBox or Google Drive that contains all of the screencasts. This allows the students to have access to those reference materials.

If you want to share these with other teachers (which we want you to do) then you could create a blog or an iTunes U account.

As teachers around the US are continuing to understand the Common Core State Standards, we need to band together and learn/share with each other.

Mississippi Common Core Collaboration

I am very excited to be part of the founding group of something awesome for Mississippi educators - the Mississippi Common Core Collaboration website and networking group.

The mission of the Mississippi Common Core Collaboration is the facilitate preparedness and ensure success in achieving the expectations established by the Common Core State Standards.

We want to provide all stakeholders - educators, parents, students, community members - with the resources necessary to ensure success on teaching/learning/understanding the Common Core State Standards.

WE WANT YOU! We want you to become part of this group that is dedicated to all things Common Core. You can join, learn, and share! You can do so by doing two things:

(1) go to the Mississippi Common Core Collaboration website
This site will be the go-to resource for Common Core. It is still a work in progress, but resources are added daily.  The current website address is curriculum.psd.ms/curriculum

(2) join the Mississippi Common Core Collaboration LinkedIn group
Are you a member of LinkedIn? If so, search for our group and join. This is a great opportunity to talk to other MS educators about the Common Core.  If you are not a member of LinkedIn, join the site and then join our group.

If you are not an educator in Mississippi, its ok! We still encourage you to join this great group!

the power of Google Drive

I was able to witness something awesome all because of my PLC on Twitter!

Around 1:00pm on March 20th, I saw this tweet come across my screen.

I had to click on the link and help show this class how Google Docs (now Google Drive) works! What I saw amazed me!

power_of_Google_Drive (click to see the video)

That one minute video is powerful! It shows how people from around the world can easily collaborate together on a single document. So many people were trying to access the document at one time, that some had to wait to comment because of the collaboration limits.

The class watching all of this unfold was a class of third graders .. YES THIRD GRADERS! These students got to see not only how multiple people can collaborate on a single document, but how awesome a PLC can be!

So, how can this collaboration benefit my classroom? The word "collaboration" is mentioned in the Common Core State Standards for Language Arts 14 times. The word "collaborate" is mentioned nine times.

Allowing your students to work on presentations and documents on Google Drive provides them the means to work collaboratively with other students - other students in the classroom, school, district, state, country, world! That is powerful!

This experience also benefited the teachers and professional who participated in this project. We were able to grow our PLC! Now I have more experts that I can learn from on a daily basis.

Do you use Google Drive? Talk about it! Share your experiences!

Do you have these digital skills?

I came across a great article that I have bookmarked and plan to use as a starting point for upcoming tech training. What is the article you ask? It is The 22 Digital Skills Every 21st Century Teacher Must Have. What I love about this article is the fact the author provides examples for each digital skill.  I have to admit, I am not proficient in some of the areas - but that is ok!

I won't talk about all 22 digital skills here, but I will focus on just two today. If you want to see all 22, read the article - which I highly suggest!

(1) Create and Edit Audio
~ Audacity

Ok, I love Audacity!  This is a free download for PC or iMac. Although the program looks like a lot, you will only use three buttons in the beginning - record, stop, and play. So how does Audacity fit into my day? Audacity is perfect Common Core - Speaking and Listening! Students can record themselves practicing reading fluency passages, reciting math facts, practicing an upcoming speech/presentation, and much more. Once recorded, the students to listen to themselves and analyze what worked and what needs improvement. Teachers can use Audacity as well. The next time you have to be out of the classroom, record your directions using Audacity for the the sub to playback.


(2) Use Social Networking Sites to Connect with Colleagues and Grow Professionally
~ Twitter and Pinterest

Again.. love!! Yes, you can pin your favorite recipes or follow the tweets of Tim Tebow but when Twitter and Pinterest are used in a professional format you can so much knowledge! I am a big fan of Twitter and try to bring teachers to the Twitter side whenever I can. My PLC is not very big, but it is growing. If you do not have a Twitter account and want to see what the conversation looks like before creating an account, just do the following:

-- go to www.twitter.com/search
-- do a search for one of the following hashtags - 1stchat, 2ndchat, 3rdchat, 4thchat, 5thchat, kinderchat, edapp, scichat

Pinterest is the same way. When used professionally you will gather so much for your classroom and your professional development.

So who do I follow..
Twitter - edutopia, NMHS_principal, thenerdyteacher, rmbyrne, jaymelinton
Pinterest - Matt Gomez, Lisa Johnson

This is just a tiny sampling of the awesomeness you will find on Twitter and Pinterest!

teacher blog finds

So, on Monday I talked about searching for great teacher blogs to share with elementary teachers during grade level meetings.  I have found some great blogs and gotten some super ideas. I just realized though - I haven't shared those finds with y'all!

I have started a Pinterest board with all the great teacher blogs that I have come across and shared.  This is not a final list by any means, but it is a good start!  Check them out!  If you know of and have a great blog that I need to add to this list, let me know.

Great Teacher Blogs

I am a Mississippi Blogger!

I am currently in search of great educator blogs to share with the elementary teachers in my district during our district wide grade level meetings. While searching for 5th grade, I came across Fifth in the Middle. She has a great collection of educator blogs which she has organized by state, hence the name Blogs by State. I added my blog to the list for Mississippi and started looking at the other MS blogs.

So why is this such a great idea?? I have a great collection of educator blogs at my fingertips! Bloggers can connect with each other and collaborate on projects, activities, and create a professional learning network.  I am excited to say I am a Mississippi blogger and I can't wait to see where this will take me!

more iPad apps

Yesterday I worked with teachers in grades K-5 and realized my elementary list would not be beneficial to my 5th grade teachers. I have created an upper elementary teachers list and modified the middle school teacher list.

always learning...

It is becoming harder and harder for someone in the education profession to get away with not participating in professional development opportunities. Educators have to get outside the four walls of their classroom and learn something. When I say educators, I am including teachers, administrators, technology & curriculum specialists, and district leadership.

So where can I go to learn? Well.. EVERYWHERE!

I am learning more and more from the awesome people I follow on Twitter. I can get iPad app suggestions, suggestions for great blog posts on so many topics, and Common Core resources! Just last week, I came across a link for a Live Stream of an app smack down session at the T+L Tech Forum in Atlanta.  I am so glad I clicked on that link because I learned about some great apps, websites, and a really neat swivel camera! I also found a new Twitter friend to follow.

Where else can I go to learn?

I can attend a conference. I attend our state's technology conference every year and learn something new every time. There are also regional and national conference, like ISTE, you can attend.  If travel isn't your thing, several conferences now offer access to parts of their conference via the Internet.

If you want a not so conference feel, you can kind EdCamps popping up in multiple cities around the US. I really want to find out close enough to me and attend.

Do you have a really comfortable chair? If so, then pull out one of the many great ed tech books and/or magazines. Currently, I have three books on my desk - Creating a Digital-Rich Classroom, Curriculum 21, and World Class Learners.

These ideas and suggestions are just the tip of the iceberg. I don't even mention MOOC or iTunes U.

As you can see, those in the education profession have no excuse when it comes to learning and growing professional.

How do you learn? What professional development opportunities do you enjoy the most?