Map Scales and Google Earth

Do you remember breaking out your atlas to measure how far it was from your school to your house? Or maybe from your favorite vacation spot to your house?  Of course there was also the obligatory worksheet that had perfectly manicured streets with geometric houses, a school, and a library.  All different ways to learn that on the map, the distance is not real...it is a scale.

Now we're so used to using some kind of GPS (Google Maps is my personal favorite) that the concept of needing a scale is completely foreign now.  Even the kids know how to use a GPS app. The skill of reading a flap map, an atlas, is seemingly obsolete!  But, nope, it's still part of the curriculum - and I'm not arguing whether or not it's important, I'm just stating that it is what it is.

So, in technology the last couple of weeks, we have been learning about map scales (to compliment the kiddos 4th grade curriculum).  Since we have computers and not paper maps, we broke out Google Earth and since we have GPS that gives us EXACT distance, we worked on estimating.

The image of the kiddos searching on Google Earth and getting their exact distances from point A to point B (we also brought in some Nevada Geography and measured the important places in Nevada) was amazing!  They are pros!  Then the image of the kiddos using the rules on the monitor was quite funny.  Who ever imaged that we would use a ruler on a computer monitor?!  Not me!!

They really seemed to enjoy the exploration and realizing that a few inches can be anything from a few miles to hundreds (or more) of miles!!

Up next...longitude and latitude?!  Any ideas?!

It's all SUNSHINE and rainbows...

Recently I have taken on the task of the Sunshine Committee.

It's a little bit of a blur as to how it all started and ended with me, but I have to say I'm kind of excited!  I have a lot of support from teachers that have been part of the Sunshine Committee in the past.

With that being said...what's the point of this post in particular?

Yesterday, one of the teachers gave me a binder of stuff from the past years of Sunshine.  I barely know what to do with it.  Have things changed so much that a binder of papers overwhelms me?!

Apparently so.  

Granted I haven't done much, but everything I have done so far has been almost exclusively digital.
Let's run down the list.

Meeting Agendas: Google Doc
Cards (Get Well, Happy Birthday, etc): Word Swag app w/ Pixabay images
Ideas: Pinterest
Happy Hour Interest: Google Forms
Happy Hour Announcement: Word Swag app w/Pixabay images and email
"Binder" to keep everything: Google Drive

Granted, I'm not expanding to outside the digital box but so far what I have works...for me and my team.  I do have to keep in mind that not everyone at my school geeks out over tech like I do.  So of course I made flyers for the Happy Hour and I will print out agendas for meetings, etc.

But I feel more organized...and creative.

"Get Well" image that was made into a card for a teacher out for surgery

The image above was made with @wordswagapp (introduced to me by +Tony Vincent) and +Pixabay images that are found within the app. BONUS: Pixabay images are copyright free so they can be used without attribution.    

Audio Boom

Hello!

I've fallen behind.  And I know myself and I know that unless I have a purpose and keep this short and simple, if I put too big of an expectation on myself for this blog, I will continue to fall behind. That is not something that I want...obviously.

So I decided today that I would talk briefly about +audioBoom.  I used this website to host some audio clips and I'm so excited that I rediscovered it and decided to use it.  So happy in fact that my post for today is pretty much hosted there.



Essentially, if you would like to use/explore Audio Boom, I highly recommend it.  If you're on Twitter, you can create an account through them.
Super Easy!
Then you can either record on their website, which I admit, I have not mastered or you can upload audio files AND they have an app.  I found that I prefer using my Voice Memos and uploading right from my phone.

Here's the question...as teachers how can we use this for our students?  I shared an idea in my broadcast here.  But also...what can our students create with it?!  I know this is going to be a tool I take back when the break is over and try to see what we can do with it!  There are some middle schoolers that I think may have a great time with it.

Thanks!

Anne Frank

I teach at a K-8 Catholic school.

This post is about the 8th graders specifically.  They have been reading the Diary of Anne Frank.  I read that book when I was a child.  I picked it up when I was bored one day, not realizing the weight that book carried.

Unfortunately, there were so many visual descriptions that were critical to the story that I just couldn't image.  I couldn't see them in my mind.  I feel like it took away from the gravity of what I was reading.  I couldn't possibly image how a door was hidden!  I couldn't see how small the living quarters really were.  I read the words but the images were from my life, with a few tweaks.

Back to the 8th graders.  Maybe they have a better imagination than I did as a 4th/5th grader.  Or maybe because we have never been in that kind of situation (for which I am so thankful), it's not something we can fathom, imagination or not.

This week they are going to the local Catholic high school to see the play Anne Frank.  That will give them a better visual representation.  I want to support that in my class.  I want to show them something that will really make them see how hard it was and the struggles that these families faced. I want them to understand how brave Anne Frank was...this girl who is their age.  I want there to be an impact.

So this week and next week, we will be taking the time to explore the Anne Frank museum online. Specifically, we will be looking at some of the photos and pieces of history from her life.  And I think most importantly, we will be able to go on a virtual tour of Anne Frank's Secret Annex.

I hope it gives the 8th graders a really good concrete visual of what they are reading.

It's just...Padlet

I'm trying to write up a quick blog post this morning and while I know my topic...I don't have a fun, attention getting title.  Soooo...it's just about Padlet.

I've been a big fan of Padlet since it was Wall Wisher (or something like that)...it was a few years ago.  You seriously can't expect me to remember all the different names of various websites.  ;) So I was introduced to it as a part of my RPDP class with +Jerrad Barczyszyn.

*side note: I blame him for my love of ed tech...he showed me how interesting and exciting class could be with tech integration.  Thanks Jerrad.*

Right so...the point of this post:

Yesterday was day 1 of the second week of school...the first week was all half days...this week full days.  *I'm so tired!*

I teach technology to K-8 students.  Since last week was half days and I'm teaching a "special" I had no time to start with my typical Capturing Kids' Hearts Social Contract.  So that was the plan for this week.  However, I had to figure out how, exactly, to integrate technology into that.

Now, I realize and recognize and appreciate that technology doesn't always and shouldn't always be used...especially just for the sake of technology.  So if I was a homeroom teacher, I probably wouldn't have done this...but I'm the technology teacher.  I kind of think...I'm supposed to do it this way.

Typically, students will work in a small group, brainstorming words or phrases to the 4 questions that guide our social contract.  Instead of having us work in small groups, I had them work independently on Padlet.  The way I explained it was - instead of giving them all Post It Notes to stick on the wall with their words/phrases, they needed to post them on the Padlet.  Re: CKH...I explained that even if a word came up that they were going to use, they needed to write it too because I wanted them to be heard.  I wanted everyone to have a voice.

All in all, I'd say that it went pretty darn well!  6 classes...5 were scheduled to create the social contract...and only 1, due to poor choices, had to use the paper and pencil technique!  They seemed to enjoy it.

We will see how today goes!!  Have you used it?  What did you think?

 

Google "Keep"ing It Together

So life has been crazy to say the least this summer.

1) Wedding
2) House hunting
3) Cross country move
4) New job - new school
and all the unpacking and cleaning that comes with 3 and 4!!

So today I decided to stop for a minute and do a quick vlog on Google Keep.  It has literally helped me keep my brain from exploding.

Enjoy!

What can you use Google Keep for?

ISTE Resources - Social Media in EDU

I recently reposted a blog post that had access to the Haiku Deck I created for the ISTE 2016 poster session that a group of us presented at.

After a comment left by Alice, who was kind enough to visit our poster, she reminded me that we had some really awesome student created resources that I hadn't shared!

When we were planning for our poster session, we had a few brainstorming meetings and then started to divide up the jobs to complete the various tasks.  Keep in mind, that while our whole team was from Ohio, we were not from the same place.  So completing our tasks was a relatively independent project.

I created the presentation on +Haiku Deck that scrolled through on a screen that talked about ways you could use Social Media in education.  Then Marisa, who is an engineering teacher at Bio Med Science Academy, worked with her students to create the physical posters.  The students created the design, researched the statistics, and worked on the posters within Google.  I was thoroughly amazed at their work!

Please check out the posters from the students here:
Facebook
Flipboard
Instagram
Pinterest
Twitter
You Tube

Over all I think the poster went wonderfully and I can't say enough good things about the teachers that I was lucky enough to work with.  So to +Ben Clutter, +Salvatore Maiorana, +Marisa Manocchio, and +Brock Wysong...thanks for working so hard on this poster session.  You are amazing teachers and I am so lucky to have been able to work with you for +College Ready Ohio and for #ISTE2016!