Mostly a Language Arts Sort of Thing

Hey all. This post is probably mostly for language arts teachers but when I saw it I couldn't resist bringing it to some one's attention. I fired off a text to Nancy Nash and ironically she had just seen it about the same time. "noredink" is a web-based platform that allows students to practice grammar skills using content they already are into such as music, movies, and other favorite interests. I know this post could have been on the tech tools or apps blog site but it really does have literacy implications. So, here it landed. Check it out. The 1:31 introduction video is well worth the time so, click, watch, and listen.

http://www.noredink.com/

Your Discovery Literacy Leaders

Paperless Stress Relief

We are going paperless, someday. So, when that day finally arrives be stress free. Are you all stressed out over the dilemma of how are you going to get this document, video, or picture, from your iPad, iPhone, Droid Phone, Mac Book, or PC, to your school or home device? Or are you wondering how to allow students to turn in paperless assignments without overloading your inbox? Well, maybe this will be the cure for your stress. No, it's not a tall iced Mountain Dew (insert drink of choice) but it could be the next best thing when you can't seem to get your devices to be compatible. I came across this article [on Twitter] covering transfer options so I just connected you to the link below. It is rather lengthy but organized in such a way that you may quickly look through to see if something strikes your fancy.
Stress Relief

Or, you could just email it to yourself.

Your Discovery Literacy Leaders

Sheila Knows Stress!

Whew! The turkey is about gone, Black Friday has come and gone, and Notre Dame survived USC. Okay, one holiday and several stressors down and one big holiday and several new stressors to go. Because while you're wondering what size mock turtleneck to buy for Grandpa Joe and whether or not Timmy is too old for another box of Legos (even if it is from the new Lord of the Rings collection!), you also have to worry about your SLOs and CLOs and TERs and BCS and Fantasy Football Leagues. It could all make you crazy enough to want to enter into a cage match against the cast of Expendables 2.

Enter Sheila Toth. The Queen of Calm. The Mother of Mind Control. The Lover of Yoga. The Teacher of Tantric...anyway.

Sheila is ready to put us all at ease, but not just for these next four weeks, but for the next several months as we continue to wade through all of these new requirements.

This Thursday, November 29, in room 206 starting at 8:15, Sheila will be sharing many of her magical ways to control the stress in our lives. Come and see what she has in store. We guarantee you will leave with a refreshing outlook and a peace of mind.

Your Discovery Literacy Leaders

ScreenCast-O-Matic

Hey all,
ScreenCast-O-Matic sounds very corny but in fact is a great little screen casting tool. One way I used it today was to record a rather lengthy (35 minute) screen cast of a geography focussed lesson "Around the World With Google Earth." I was out today for a meeting but wanted my students to move forward without me. I had my sub fire up our social studies web blog and click on the YouTube video of which I had instructed her. I also supplied students with a front and back map of North / South America and Europe.

Below are a couple of TubeChops of the video. Remember TubeChop (TubeChomp) from the staff meeting a while ago? It allows you to chop sections out of a YouTube video focussing on the part you like.

Another idea is that you could make up or use someone else's Power Point presentation and run that behind ScreenCast-O-Matic while you narrate. You can pause it and restart without any tell-tale evidence.

 Opening 58 seconds:
Mt. St. Helens flyover 1:19: 

Tools: ScreenCast-O-Matic (Internet based recorder), Google Earth (maps), Google Chrome (web browser), MacBook Pro (computer), and TubeChop (Internet based) to only show you a little bit so you would not waste any more time.

Your Literacy Team

Thinking On Thursday

Hey all. Even though we didn't have a Thinking Thursday event today I thought I would check out what was going on the sixth grade side of things. Here are a few samples of what I found.

Mr. Reininga doing a Gallery Walk classifying animals.

Mrs. Cobb working on Text Coding (Annotating) political articles.

Mr. Losch with students working up at the board.

And, Mrs. Nash using her iPad tethered to her LCD projector for a presentation.

Way to go sixth grade!

Your Literacy Team