What is the ONE
thing that all teachers need? If you guessed time, you are right! This month, we are sharing productivity tips, tools, and
apps. Here are a few of my favorites:
Move an Email to Outlook Calendar- Select the email and drag it to the calendar icon (bottom left of the Outlook window). When the appointment window pops up, modify the date/time/details to block out time to address the email
Give your mouse a rest and review some keyboard shortcuts here.
When you receive a
document that needs to be signed, don’t print it out. Save a tree and use Hello Sign. (Click here for an overview of how it works.) To get started, visit the Hello Sign web site or download the Chrome extension to use in Gmail.
What are your favorite productivity tips? Do you have an app that you love? Leave a comment and share your favorites.
This time, it's going to be different. With a brand new year, brimming with opportunities, one of the top ten new year's resolutions is to "get organized". With so much of our lives online, to say things can get overwhelming is an understatement. As you devise a plan to get more organized, Google Keep is a note taking application that you may want to look at.
Google Keep is a note taking application developed by Google and is available as a mobile app for the Android and iOS mobile operating systems and as a web application.
Google Keep lets you:
capture, edit, on your notes on any device, any device,
add notes, lists, photos and audio to Keep.
organize your notes with labels and color coding
share and collaborate your notes with others
Automatically transcribe voice recordings created through Keep notes
Archive notes and create copies of notes
sync notes between devices using the user's Google account
This was my second year to attend TCEA. The conference has quite a turnout, and I found it energizing to be in the midst of so many educators. It was also great to be able to follow the conference on Twitter (#TCEA15) so that my learning wasn't just limited to the sessions I could physically attend. Here are my top 3 favorite finds:
Getting organized digitally:Greg Garner’s presentation provided a multitude of digital organization tools. With so much of our lives online, to say things can get overwhelming is an understatement. Greg’s main idea was that we need to “devise a plan and get organized.” If you are organized, you can be more productive. No brainer, right? There are a variety of organizational tools or plans such as GTD, 43 Folders, and IFTTT, but the trick is to find what works for you. Once you find it…be intentional about using it! You can find Greg's presentation with more resources here.
Smarter Chrome: I have been using Chrome as my browser of choice for a while now, and I love the way it makes my life easier. Amy Mayer's session Smarter Chrome (session link) shared general Chrome tips along with extensions and apps that just made me love Chrome even more. A few examples:
The omnibox is pure awesomeness: Want to set a timer? Just type in “timer 10 minutes” (or whatever amount of time you need) and BAM!, Chrome gets a timer going. Need a calculator? Just type in what you need...34*99 and BAM!, Chrome answers it for you. Click here for more omnibox tips and tricks.
Extensions are where it's at: We've talked a little bit about extensions on this blog before, and I have a growing list that I regularly use. Amy talked about a few extensions that were new for me, so I had to install them and give 'em a go. TabCloud saves the tabs you have open to reopen later or even on a different computer. Webpage Screenshot lets you take a screenshot, add annotations, or even edit the look of the webpage itself. Extensions can be found in the Chrome Webstore. Click here for some extensions to get you started.
Touchcast: This is a wonderful little app for flipping your classroom or creating interesting video content. Touchcast allows you to pull in video, websites, images, polls, and more creating an interactive and engaging experience. See Touchcast in action below:
The top ten New Year's Resolutions for 2014 included: get organized, lose weight, spend less, save more, enjoy life to the fullest, stay fit and healthy, learn something exciting, quit smoking, help others in their dreams, fall in love and spend more time with family were the top. As you welcome 2015 and attempt to fulfill your goals, consider three strategies that will help make you successful in 2015: SMART Goals, Technology To Do List Managers and Wearable Technology Health and Fitness Trackers. SMART GOALS: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Specific. Specific: A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. Specific goals address the six "W" questions: Who, what, where, when, which and why. Example: a general goal would be 'lose weight' and a specific goal would say 'join a health club and workout 3 days per week'.
Measurable: Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress. Ask questions such as How much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished? Attainable: By identifying goals that are important to you, you will establish ways to make them come true. Plan your steps and establish a time frame. Realistic: A goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to achieve and become labors of love. Timely: A goal should be grounded within a time frame and have a sense of urgency. Set a date and establish the time frame. Technology To Do List Managers: Tracking your to-dos, syncing and scheduling, notifications and reminders and great apps.
Finding the tool to assist with to-do lists is specific to each persons personality and organizational methods. There are great apps and tools available to stay organized and scheduling calendars.
Wunderlist is a webapp and mobile to-do list manager that I personally use to stay organized. You can star important tasks, add notes and additional information.
Alan Henry, in the Life Hacker posting Five Best To Do List Managers, includes Google Keep, Wunderlist and others based on a poll of readers and their favorite organizational tools.
Blendspace (formerly Edcanvas) is the perfect, free web tool for organizing and streamlining your media materials. In a matter of seconds, you can sign up for a free account and begin creating lessons using video, Google Docs, images, web links, and so much more. Have a PowerPoint that you've created? Pull that in to your lesson too! The possibilities are endless!
Classroom Application
Differentiated Instruction
Flipped Classroom
Project-Based Learning
Student Projects (They can create their own “lessons”!)
Sharing materials with colleagues
Creating Lessons
While users have the option of creating classes, it's not a necessary step for lesson creation. After choosing, “New Lesson” users can select a layout and get right to adding content. Content can be pulled from a huge variety of sources and everything is searchable right through the Blendspace site. Once you've found what you need, drag and drop it to your lesson. You can also search the gallery for lessons/collections created by other users. Click here to view a sample lesson from the gallery.
Want to assess your students as they progress through the lesson? No problem! Users also have the option to add multiple choice assessments. Want more options? Create a quiz in Google Forms and add the form as a web link in your lesson!
Sharing and Collaborating
Lessons may be shared to classes that have been created or through a link. Users may also share or embed lessons on the web. Privacy settings can be tailored to fit your needs, and teachers have total control over who can view the lessons. Do you want your team members to be able to add content? Add them as collaborators in settings. No need to worry when sharing lessons with others because the site is web based and works with any device that has Internet.
Creating Classes
Per the Terms of Use, students under 13 may use the program with parental permission. Teachers can set up the accounts or have the students use join using a unique code. No email is required from students. One of the benefits of creating classes is the lesson tracking feature. Students can add comments to the lesson, and they can also check the "Can We Go Over This In Class?" box to notify the teacher that some material may need further discussion. Teachers can view the stats and see feedback from the students.
How do you see Blendspace being used in your classroom? Let us know in the comments below. Then create your free account and get started!
Behavior Management and Student Engagement Software
Whether it's the third grader that just can't seem to focus or the senior with a bad case of senioritis, Class Dojo is an interactive site that engages those students in the classroom by recognizing positive behaviors as they happen in a fun and colorful way! What is really great is the simplicity of the site. Using a computer or a smart phone, the teacher sets up the classes and students and then determines what types of behaviors to reward or the types of behaviors to discourage. Students accumulate points (or have points deducted) based on the parameters set. The class can be setup with reward sounds and the teacher can manipulate the class settings to create a running total or end the points for the day. Additionally. ClassDojo provides behavior-tracking analytics, dashboards and reports for parents and administrators, all at one-click. No extra data entry required! A demo class is set up so you can just copy it and move on if you don't want to personalize your class. Teachers can get really creative with this and use it as a tool to encourage interaction and participation and make behaving in class FUN! Students could work on accumulating participation points for a grade, extra credit or class reward. It's up to you!
Right now it's still free so be sure to sign up today, even if you aren't going to use it until next year! Click here to join: http://bit.ly/HZT8GA
As the end of the year approaches, many of us are asked to write letters of recommendation or perhaps we need to thank a special parent or co-worker. Niceletter is a super easy site for creating different types of letters. These letters can be cover letters, thank you, or any other type of letter you need to write. Your students could even use this site to create letters of their own. Simply fill out a template and then download it as a PDF or RTF file. Niceletter is nice and easy and FREE! Hint: Be sure to scroll down to get to the letter generator. You don't need to download anything.
Are you planning an event, working on a new curriculum unit, gathering ideas and resources for a project, or just trying to get your life in order? Microsoft OneNote could be your answer. You may have seen it listed in your printer list or within the Microsoft Office folder in the Start menu.
Described as a digital planner and note taking program, OneNote is much more than that. Think of it as a digital version of the one notebook or a collection of notebooks that you just couldn't live without. OneNote can contain photos, videos, audio files, meeting notes, random thoughts, documents, highlights from websites (complete with a source link and the date/time of access), and so much more all neatly organized into tabbed sections. Each section can contain as many pages as you need to organize your work and/or personal life. Any part of a notebook can be shared with others or password protected from being viewed by others. It is one of the best research and collaboration tools available for students as well. All that is needed to get started is Office 2007 or 2010 and a Windows Live Account for accessing your notebook/s online.
Johnnie's Math Page is one of the largest collections of online interactive math tools for K-8 found on the internet.
Tips of the Week
#1 Do you need to get a handle on your email? Outlook 2010 can help you get started cleaning up your inbox or any other folder. On the Home tab, click the drop down arrow next to "Clean Up" and choose "Clean Up Folder". Outlook will remove any redundant messages, leaving only those that contain new information. The removed messages will be sent to the Deleted Items folder. Don't worry....Outlook will not delete messages that contain attachments.
#2 For those of you who have subscribed to this blog and receive weekly email updates, don't forget that you can visit the blog anytime at http://dragonits.blogspot.com to check out previous posts and our growing list of technology websites. Add it to your favorites, today!
