technology in the classroom

Technology in the Classroom
Tech Talk : January
- January 18, 2015
- 3 Comments
- by greatmindsteachalike@gmail.com
Monthly blog hop all about Technology! That’s right, cool time saving tips, and tools that Great Minds need to know about! Got a interactive whiteboard and you don’t know what to do with it or 1 iPad in the classroom. This is the place to be to stay in the know on technology. Have a cool app, website or tech idea to share please link up below. Please read my instruction sheet before joining, you will find the graphics and all you need to know here.

This month I have two interactive websites that your students will love. Both sites are very collaborative and require students to have access to their own device to use. Both sites are also very user friendly and easy to navigate. Oh yea, and completely free!

The first site I am going to share is padlet.com This is a on-line forum where students can post comments, pictures, videos or links and responses to whatever prompt or question you post. The beauty of this is that you get to create a personalized space you can customize for your students. Think of it as a digital bulletin board that all your students get to interact with. You can make your paddle public or completely private by generating your personal link. I have only used the the free version but they have created a version specifically for classroom use called Padlet Backpack.

The skies the limit for activities you can do with site. In the photo above students had to find images of regular polygons and post it to this padlet their teacher created. Students can access this site from pretty much any device. Here is a video tutorial on how to create your own padlets for your classroom. Don’t worry they are super easy to make and even easier for your students to post to. My 4th graders figured it out with ease.

The next site is my new favorite it’s called Kahoot. It is a game based student response system. It’s super fun and very interactive! Your students will love this. Basically you create a Kahoot which is a series of questions with multiple choice answers. Now these can be your basic questions or you can go deeper by inserting videos or images based your content. The type of questions are completely up to you. You pull up your Kahoot on your smart board and it will generate a custom code that allows your student to link up to the quiz on their device. It’s like a whole class game show complete with fun game show music. Did I mention that you can search ready-made kahoots and download them to use. I’m sure most are made by other educators! Thats right you could possibly find one that fits perfectly with your curriculum. Your students will be highly engaged in this activity and love the interaction. It really feels like a game it also displayed your students activity whithin the Kahoot. I encourage you to just give it a try! I even found a Pokemon Kahoot! This site is also very easy to navigate but I did find a tutorial for all you visual learners out there.

Thanks for reading and I hope you and your students enjoy using these sites in your classroom! Please drop me a comment below and come back for more Tech Talk every 3rd Sunday!

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Technology in the Classroom
Tech Talk December
- December 14, 2014
- 4 Comments
- by greatmindsteachalike@gmail.com
Monthly blog hop all about Technology! That’s right, cool time saving tips, and tools that Great Minds need to know about! Got a interactive whiteboard and you don’t know what to do with it or 1 iPad in the classroom. This is the place to be to stay in the know on technology. Have a cool app or tech idea to share please link up below. Please read my instructions sheet before joining, you will find the graphics and all you need to know here.

This month I am going to share a small tech tidbit that made a world of difference for one of my struggling writers. Did you know that Mac has a dictation feature that will pick up your speech and type it for you? That’s right you talk to your laptop and it will type for you! Under your system preferences you can turn on and set your dictation and speech settings. What does that mean you ask? It means that your Mac will read highlighted text for you and or type the text for you as you speak into your built in mic!

I have a student that struggles with writing. He displays a very high frustration level when doing any type of writing. He’s typically very articulate verbally but really struggles with getting his ideas on paper. While having a casual conversation with my mentee ( 1st year teacher I mentor) she mentioned she used dictation and speech to have a blog post of mine read to her.

On your Mac laptop or desktop computer do a spotlight search on Dictation and Speech. This box should appear with different settings and options for you when using the Dictation and or Text to Speech features. You can use both of these features for anything, from word documents to online sites. The options are endless.

Turn Dictation on and make sure you select a language. Also check out the shortcut settings. Typically you press the fn (function) key two times to activate dictation you can also select Start Dictation in your edit, drop down menu. This is how you will be able to easily activate this feature when you are ready to use it. The microphone will pop up like the one below when you activate Dictation. The wave lengths increase as it picks up your speech. Don’t worry, you don’t have to shout, this mic will pick up even the quietest whisper. Be ware other students will find this amazing and want a shot at speaking into the mic.

The Text to Speech is the feature that allows any text to be read to you. You can even select the voice that reads for you! Take a look at all the settings options and make sure your preferences are set. You can use this feature for any text just highlight the text and activate the Text to Speech. This all depends on how your settings are set up, but this is super easy to do.

I use this dictation feature everyday with my struggling writer. He is able to successfully finish all tasks in a timely manner and most importantly get all of his thoughts and ideas down on paper. I even connect my laptop to the Promethean Board to allow my student to share his work. This has also increased his tech fluency. He has learned how to successfully edit his typing and navigate throughout my laptop. This simple fix can tremendously increased his self esteem and made writing enjoyable for him. Check it out it could even be useful for use bloggers when we don’t feel like typing but have an idea to get out. Thanks for reading your “teach away” is a small fix could make a big difference don’t be afraid to try new things with your students. Don’t forget to check out more great technology tips from other great bloggers below!

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Technology in the Classroom
Tech Talk Blog Hop
- November 22, 2014
- 8 Comments
- by greatmindsteachalike@gmail.com
New monthly blog hop all about Technology! Thats right cool time saving tips, and tools that Great Minds need to know about! Got a interactive whiteboard and you don’t know what to do with it or 1 iPad in the classroom. This is the place to be stay in the know on technology. Have a cool app or tech idea to share please link up below. Please read my instructions sheet before joining, you will find the graphics and all you need to know here.

My students have been struggling with controlling their noise level during our workshop time. I discovered an app called Too Noisy on my smart phone. It is an actual sound meter! It measures the noise level and alerts you when its too loud. I simply open it up and display it on my Promethean Board using my document camera during workshop. I do a split screen between the noise meter and my workshop schedule. To my surprise it worked wonders with my 4th graders! They thought it was super cool, to add some excitement I told them they all could earn a Dojo point if they managed to keep the meter happy. You can get your own sound meter on any device just search noise or sound meters and you will see a plethora of apps geared towards monitoring sound in your classroom. My advise would be to choose one that is appealing to your students. The app I chose uses a gauge and smiley face to show levels. It’s really cute when it gets too loud the face changes and smoke comes out of the ears. LOL

Has your school gone Google? You have got to try Google Classroom. It is an easy to use app available for users with access to Google Apps for Education. This time saver proved ways to interact with your students by posting assignments and grades. It helps with organization and really promotes tech literacy skills in your students. Thats all I have for today but enjoy more tips from other great bloggers that have linked up below! Please leave a comment below I’d love to hear how sound meters worked for you!

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