Gas Law LiveBinder
You will need this access key to visit this LiveBinder - khschemistry
The titles of my LiveBinders are Gas Law, Chemistry Resources, and Classroom Management Tools. I chose to embed my gas law LiveBinder in this post because I really like the way it allowed me to put a demonstration of the gas law, then a worksheet, and a quiz. I see how this could be really helpful in some situations, but not so helpful in others. For instance if you have all of this stud already organized on a flash drive, it might not be worth it to you to create the LiveBinder, but if you were just starting to teach it would be a great way to organize all your information. For students, I think it could be a great way to compile information for a research paper. I like the fact you can access it from anywhere as long as you have an internet connection and don't have to worry about leaving it in the back of a computer and losing it, like a flash drive!
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Monday, April 14, 2014
Thing # 21 Animoto
My Video
I have more photographs on my phone than I do on my computer so I decided to make my video using the Animoto app for the iPhone. The app was really easy to use. I picked pictures from when I was in Key West over spring break. I really like the way the video turned out, It makes me feel like I was back on the streets in Key West. The themes you could pick to put your pictures to were really neat and there was a variety of options. Even with me using my phone, it was easy to link my video to my blog. Enjoy!
I have more photographs on my phone than I do on my computer so I decided to make my video using the Animoto app for the iPhone. The app was really easy to use. I picked pictures from when I was in Key West over spring break. I really like the way the video turned out, It makes me feel like I was back on the streets in Key West. The themes you could pick to put your pictures to were really neat and there was a variety of options. Even with me using my phone, it was easy to link my video to my blog. Enjoy!
Thing # 20 YouTube
First of all, I love Kid Present and so do my students! I was excited to open up thing # 20 and see Kid President, so I decided to share another one of my favorite videos of his. Okay back to the post.. I really enjoy integrating YouTube videos into my Prezi presentations. YouTube videos are engaging to students and can help students see the real world application of standards. Sometimes I'm my class some students will be confused as to what I'm trying to say and getting another person to say it is as easy as opening up YouTube. I am glad that YouTube is controlled in CMCSS, and can only be pulled up on teachers' computers. This helps teachers use YouTube to facilitate the learning and not be a distraction.
Another useful tool in the classroom could be the video hosting site vine. This website allows you to put short video clips together, and repeat the whole video on a loop. This would be great for all science classrooms. You can take clips of something, like hatching a chicken egg, and loop it together to see the whole process very quickly. I found a vine of chemistry students making ice-cream. I usually do this lab with my students to show the affect of freezing point lowering by adding salt particles to ice. In this video you just see the kids shacking the ice-cream bags, then eating the ice-cream, but when teaching colligative properties if you were to show this, your students could tell you what exactly was going on in that bag.
Thing # 19 Other Social Networks
I think there are two main uses of social networking for educators. The first use is the collaboration of resources between teachers and the other being a professional way to communicate with your students. The main two social communities I use are Facebook and Twitter, but I did sign up for the Tasty Kitchen social network, because every recipe I saw in the few minutes I looked at that site looked yummy.
Your options are really endless when talking about social communities, but enough is enough for me. I don't have much time to get on Facebook and Twitter as it is, I don't really need to join anything else at this time. I think they are good to know about, but people who become so consumed in every little thing posted, doesn't really have time to be the best teacher they can be.
Your options are really endless when talking about social communities, but enough is enough for me. I don't have much time to get on Facebook and Twitter as it is, I don't really need to join anything else at this time. I think they are good to know about, but people who become so consumed in every little thing posted, doesn't really have time to be the best teacher they can be.
Thing # 18 Tweet Tweet
Follow me on twitter!
It is important that educators understand the importance of social networking, because its all our students know these days. Students use phrases like "follow me" or "hashtag" in everyday language, and if you understand what your students are talking about, they will be shocked. Educators also need to understand the importance of social networking to be able to collaborate with people across the world in their field, and follow the newest developments in your subject area.
I have used twitter for years, so I didn't necessarily learn anything new, but I did begin to realize how twitter can be an educational tool, and not just for pure social means. My search of hashtags made me think I could put together a hashtag for my classroom such as #KHSChemistry and students could see the trending posts. Following this trending hashtag would allow students to discuss what they did in class or to get help from each other on homework questions. To see hashtags I believe you have to have public tweets or be friends, so you could also create a twitter account for your classroom and allow teachers and students to follow the account. You could tweet your weekly schedule, homework hints, and reminders to your students. Students would really enjoy and appreciate such a use of twitter, because its something they check so often!
It is important that educators understand the importance of social networking, because its all our students know these days. Students use phrases like "follow me" or "hashtag" in everyday language, and if you understand what your students are talking about, they will be shocked. Educators also need to understand the importance of social networking to be able to collaborate with people across the world in their field, and follow the newest developments in your subject area.
I have used twitter for years, so I didn't necessarily learn anything new, but I did begin to realize how twitter can be an educational tool, and not just for pure social means. My search of hashtags made me think I could put together a hashtag for my classroom such as #KHSChemistry and students could see the trending posts. Following this trending hashtag would allow students to discuss what they did in class or to get help from each other on homework questions. To see hashtags I believe you have to have public tweets or be friends, so you could also create a twitter account for your classroom and allow teachers and students to follow the account. You could tweet your weekly schedule, homework hints, and reminders to your students. Students would really enjoy and appreciate such a use of twitter, because its something they check so often!
Thing # 17 Social Bookmarking
After creating my Delicious account, I see the bigger picture behind social bookmarking. I never thought about how you bookmark stuff on your computer, so when you go to a different computer you can't see those bookmarks. Wow, that is a huge inconvenience that social bookmarking takes care of. Teachers could use tags to bookmark resources for each unit they teach. This would be something you could connect to that cool Wiki I talked about in my previous account. So that if a teacher needed a lab for determining molar mass, teachers could look at resources others have posted, and pick the lab that best fits their needs. Teaching really is about not having to recreate the wheel, so why not collaborate and share recourses, it just makes everyones life's easier. I could see this being useful in my classroom as well. A common question I get in my class is, "why do we need to know this?" I could have students who ask this question bookmark websites that connect what we are doing to real world situations. Students could tag these bookmarks and compile many reasons that what I am teaching them is relevant to them.
Thing # 16 Get Organized
I chose to look at a UStart homepage, simply because this was the easiest of them to remember the name of. I liked how when you first opened the homepage it included things like, weather, a monthly calendar, and top news articles. I typically use Safari on my computer and it comes with a homepage that links to all your top viewed websites. UStart was very different, containing a lot more information than just your most viewed websites. I didn't like how you had to link all the websites to your homepage. I liked how my Safari homepage would automatically do that based off my most viewed websites.
Using 30 Boxes I created a monthly calendar and added a few dates to it. The calendar was really easy to set up and use, but not very convenient to my lifestyle. I need a calendar in front of me that I can pull out and check at any minute. I think managing this online calendar would be more of a hassle than its worth.
Zamzar is a very helpful tool i will be using in the future. This website allows you to convert one file type to the next. There are 4 simple steps to turn a file into a different format, just upload the file, click the type of file you want it to change into, type in your email, and click submit. They will email you the fine converted to the correct file type. This will be very useful when you have a PDF, but need to convert it to a Word document to be able to type on the document. There are many times I can think of off the top of my head that knowing about this website would have been really helpful.
Using 30 Boxes I created a monthly calendar and added a few dates to it. The calendar was really easy to set up and use, but not very convenient to my lifestyle. I need a calendar in front of me that I can pull out and check at any minute. I think managing this online calendar would be more of a hassle than its worth.
Zamzar is a very helpful tool i will be using in the future. This website allows you to convert one file type to the next. There are 4 simple steps to turn a file into a different format, just upload the file, click the type of file you want it to change into, type in your email, and click submit. They will email you the fine converted to the correct file type. This will be very useful when you have a PDF, but need to convert it to a Word document to be able to type on the document. There are many times I can think of off the top of my head that knowing about this website would have been really helpful.
Thing # 15 The Wiki
Before thing #15, I had seen Wiki's and heard of them, but didn't realize how many possibilities there are within them. I visited the examples of Wikis provided, and enjoyed seeing how others used Wikis in a variety of ways. My favorite was the Resources for History Teachers Wiki, which allowed teachers to collaborate resources for teaching history. I learned that edited material could still be viewed at a later date, which made me feel more Wiki friendly. At first it scared me to think someone could just come delete my work and replace it with theirs, but then I realized the importance behind the collaboration on Wikis. I added text on the APSU 23 things sandbox from a previous post on my blog.
What I find most interesting about the Wiki is that there is a built in tool that can track each edit that is made. To truly collaborate you should be able to discuss why someone took it off your Wiki, and why they replaced the text with what they did. I would be interested in creating a Wiki for chemistry teachers in CMCSS. This would allow us to share resources and activities that works in our classroom. We could talk about how we taught lessons and receive input in what worked or didn't work for other teachers on the same pacing.
What I find most interesting about the Wiki is that there is a built in tool that can track each edit that is made. To truly collaborate you should be able to discuss why someone took it off your Wiki, and why they replaced the text with what they did. I would be interested in creating a Wiki for chemistry teachers in CMCSS. This would allow us to share resources and activities that works in our classroom. We could talk about how we taught lessons and receive input in what worked or didn't work for other teachers on the same pacing.
Thing #14 Go With The Flow
I love using flowcharts in my notes, because they help students visualize which topics relate and what makes them different. I always just drew the flowcharts on the board, because I had trouble getting them in a presentation the way I wanted. The above flow chart was made using Gliffy very quickly. I could use this website to create flow charts for my notes, screenshot them into my presentations, or print them off and have students fill in extra information on them. Bubbl.us is a mind map creator. I feel like this would be more beneficial to me as a teacher when planning out my instruction for a particular topic. It gives me more freedom to make changes as I go and interconnect my thoughts. Students could also use this program though when brainstorming or coming up with information they know about a particular topic. Both flow charts and mind maps are very useful in the classroom.
Thing # 13 Google Drive
Google Drive Discoveries
Below is a screen shot of the Lesson Closure quiz I made using Google Forum
I believe one of the best applications of Google Drive is the ability of students to collaborate on the same document. That eliminates one person doing all the work compiling the information. Each student can now be focused on their part of the document, and then edit or make suggestions to other students' work on the same document. This will also probably motivate your slackers to get their portion done, because everyone can see your progress as you work through your part of the assignment. I really think Google Drive is creating applications that will benefit teachers in the classroom.
Zoho seemed more business focused. You also had to pay for this application after a 14-day free trial. I felt like Google Drive was easier for me to use. I am already familiar with gmail, so I found all the buttons I needed pretty easily. Zoho may not be affordable for a school system to purchase for each student. Google Drive is a much better choice for public school educators to use.
Below is a screen shot of the Lesson Closure quiz I made using Google Forum
I believe one of the best applications of Google Drive is the ability of students to collaborate on the same document. That eliminates one person doing all the work compiling the information. Each student can now be focused on their part of the document, and then edit or make suggestions to other students' work on the same document. This will also probably motivate your slackers to get their portion done, because everyone can see your progress as you work through your part of the assignment. I really think Google Drive is creating applications that will benefit teachers in the classroom.
Zoho seemed more business focused. You also had to pay for this application after a 14-day free trial. I felt like Google Drive was easier for me to use. I am already familiar with gmail, so I found all the buttons I needed pretty easily. Zoho may not be affordable for a school system to purchase for each student. Google Drive is a much better choice for public school educators to use.
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