My goal is to create a blog that shares new tools, tips, and techniques. I want to share not just what I have done in the classroom, but also give an honest evaluation as to what has worked and what has not worked. As an added bonus I will publish examples of blended learning assignments, projects, etc...
It's Sunday afternoon, there are 8 inches of snow on the ground and the wind is whipping like a banshee at the same time you have The Office and are snuggled up in a blanket -- life is pretty good.After hours of contentment and The Office, something terrible happens -- The Office marathon ends and reruns of Duck Dynasty begin. Now, you don't want to watch Duck Dynasty but the remote is on the other end of the couch and you can't be bothered to move. Here is where you must make a fateful decision -- do you leave the comfort of the blanket to fetch the remote, suffer through Duck Dynasty,or take a nap and hope that Duck Dynasty is over when you wake up?
We have all experienced this devastating moment when your favorite show ends and a new show (that you do not like) begins, but changing the channel is too hard because the remote is not in your hand. This scenario plays out at school as well. Ask yourself, how many times have you gone to create a new Google Doc, Sheet, or Slide and you just can't be bothered because it is too many clicks? Ok, probably never because it is not that hard, but, hey, it could be easier, right? Right.
Watch the video to see just how much easier your life could be.
If you haven't dusted off your Plickers cards this year there are some updates that you should be aware before you do. Plickers has upgraded the user interface (the website is prettier) and improved your ability to organize your library and export student information. When scanning for answers, text and student names are larger and you can do more from your phone such as flip to stats and reveal correct answers.
Most importantly, Plickers has made it easier to queue multiple items at once! This makes me soooooo happy! • To use multi-select, hold your shift key and click on the questions in your Library to queue. Side note: If you are not using Plickers -- start using Plickers! If you need help getting started let me know.
Did you know that Google recently added closed captioning to Google Slides? Yeah, me neither.
I just stumbled across this the other day when I opened a Google Slide on the Harlem Renaissance (man, the kids really dig the Harlem Renaissance) upon "presenting" the slide I was asked if I wanted closed captioning. Of course, the answer was yes; I don't know why, but I really felt like I needed it at the time. I don't know if you have ever used the closed caption option for YouTube, but, in my experience, it is usually trash. I expected this to be trash as well. So, I asked the kids to buckle up and I enabled my microphone (an automatic feature) and we took the closed captioning feature for a spin.
Low and behold it worked and I mean it really worked! Check out this sample video.
I don't know who this guy is, but
he encapsulates how I felt playing Choplifter.
There are a few fond memories I have from my childhood: riding my bike to the local Hills Department Store to play Choplifter on the arcade cabinet in the lobby, grandma's freshly baked ginger snaps, summer trips to Geauga Lake, and the squeeky-thump of wheels coming down the hall. See, our video cart had a strand of carpet wrapped around one of the wheels and it made a weird squeeky-thump as it came down the hall. Will it be Bill Nye? Will it be The Magic School Bus? Will it be some random Coronet film focused on emotional maturity (yes, we were still watching those when I was in school)? Who really cares just get that cart in the room so I can stare into space for the next hour!
We all have that memory of "video days". It doesn't really matter what was being shown because it was pretty much a free day.
The problem with slapping a DVD of The Magic School Bus: Human Body into your DVD player and letting it play for 50 minutes is that "shorter videos are much more engaging" and should be "shorter than 6 minutes" (Guo, Phillip, et al.). I know this is bad news for some of you, but all is not lost. One easy strategy to implement is to segment your videos into chunks and have an activity every 6-ish minutes. This would be similar to how many Edpuzzle's are crafted -- every 6 minutes stop the video and have a short guiding question or activity.
Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Works Cited
Guo, Phillip, et al. “How Video Production Affects Student Engagement: An Empirical Study of MOOC Videos.” Quality Matters, MIT, 2018, www.qualitymatters.org/qa-resources/resource-center/articles-resources/research-video-length.
I have headphones! Please don't tell anyone! So, I wrote a grant last year and purchased a class set of some sweet, blue headphones that are mostly noise cancelling and have a microphone. They look a little goofy looking, but they work really well. When I got the headphones I tried them on to test them and was instantly transported back to the 1980's (the golden age of television in my opinion) as the pilot of Air Wolf or maybe it was the Screaming Mimi from Riptide. It doesn't matter which show because they were both awesome! Anywho, I tested the headphones and was like, "Man, teachers are going to love these!" So I looked online for lessons and teaching strategies for using headphones so I could write an article (suspiciously like this one) with advice on how to use the headphones. What I ran into was a conundrum. The number one search query I found relating to classroom headphone use had nothing to do with lessons or strategies. Almost all of the articles focused on cleaning and storage of the headphones. Well, shoot. I never thought of that. It took me a while but I acquired to final pieces to the headphone puzzle. 1) I got a storage solution (that looks a lot like the box they came in) and 2) I got disinfectant -- not cleaner, not degreaser, but bonafide germ genocide. The good stuff. A real killer. So, I have headphones for you to borrow. They are nice. Please help me keep them nice by using the wipes in the storage solution (a cardboard box) and placing the headphones back in their plastic bags just like I gave them to you. Shoot me an email and I will get them to you.
The first "Beginning a New Blend: Fundamentals of Technology Integration" class is September 12th from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. in E6 of Hoover High School.
This class will be extremely flexible. You can earn 1 graduate credit hour, 2 graduate credit hours, or contribute towards your 7 required professional development hours. What you earn depends on the track you take and how many sessions/logged hours you complete. Graduate hours are $175 an hour and professional development credits are free.
Youtube
Hey, so last week I ran a session on our professional development day and I noticed something. We are not using Youtube much. Well, let me clarify, we use Youtube to look up videos of personal interest (cats mostly), but I feel like many of us are not using Youtube for school purposes.
I don't know why.
I know that there are plenty of places to get videos, but, in my mind, Youtube is still king. My personal mantra is that if one wants to learn how to do something one needs to start with Youtube. I have learned how to fog a boat motor (which is a real thing), make a motorcycle out of balloons (seriously), and how to execute a 1, 2, 3 combination (boxing stuff). Ok, so those are all personal things, but there are billions and billions of educational videos on Youtube.
Take the Crash Course series, for instance. John and Hank Green started the series years ago making videos related to psychology, social studies, and science. The production has expanded exponentially and there are countless series featuring the brothers and others.
I recently emerged from the depths of summer and am now I am hastily preparing a presentation on how to use Youtube for communication for this Friday's district professional development day. So far the presentation looks good except for all of the problems that I am having with it which is just super. Luckily, when I get stuck on a project I can't stop working on it and/or thinking about it until it is fixed -- which is probably a mental illness of some sort. Speaking of preparing technology for students... Beginning Tuesday, September 12th at 3 p.m. I will re-open my after school sessions for technology integration -- this year with graduate credit available! Yes, actual graduate credit from Ashland University; not pretend credit from Hogwarts or something. Depending on what you need you will be able to score 1 hour, 2 hours, or your 7 required hours (not graduate credit). Check your email inbox for more instructions soon!
