PlanbookEdu.com

RH: Matt, Sue, Nancy, Mickie, and probably many others told me about this on line planner and that I should give it a look. I have and I believe it to be a really good program and very easy to use. To be honest I was hesitant at first as the format was not what I was used to. I had been using the CTL layout. After a few days of working with it I have come around. There is a free version but it has some limitations such as not being able to share your plan with others. It has a good print feature as well as the ability to one-click Indiana and Common Core Standards. Not only are you able to share your plan but you can set it up to collaborate with your colleagues. You can also upload files such as handouts and quizzes so you have them at the ready. Another feature that I like is the link feature. For example if you want to schedule a YouTube video you can embed it right on your plan and you are one click away from action.

I posted this to the DMS Tech Place blog but this just may be such an important find that I wanted to post it here as well. Anytime we can find tech tools that help make our jobs go smoother we don't want them to get away. There is a free 14 day premium trial to let you get the feel of it. For me, the premium version is the only way to go. Thanks to my colleagues that talked about cool useful tech tools.

Check it out!

Your Discovery Literacy Leaders

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

Follow-Up Fridays Update

Hey! Here is the follow up to Friday's post with the "as promised" links to Cam's stuff. I found that the "link"
would actually be files so I decided to post a "how to get to Cam's stuff tutorial" (of course). So, if you will indulge me, I will post pics to guide you through the "how to get" there. If you are already familiar with the process, ignore me.
Just follow the clicks:
Click the start button at lower left
Click Computer

Click Groups

Click Teacher Shared

Click Algebra Activities

Click Activities that Engage etc...

Click Hot Potato Vocabulary

 
Click Hot Potato Directions

There you have it. In a very long nutshell.