A. I tried to learn how to use Google Earth through Atomic Learning, but I couldn't handle the computer voice narrator...so I instead read through Google's getting started sheet for educators. I really appreciate the "10 cool and easy things you can do in Google Earth" tips, as it basically laid out the ten most important skills to know and understand when using Google Earth!
B. First, I looked at the lesson plan ideas for Grades 1-5. Many of the ideas involve creating placemarks. You can have the students create placemarks at their homes, helping them learn the geography of their local surroundings. You can also create placemarks that show American traditions, or map significant events in American history. You can also make global connections. One idea was to show monies from the different countries and "fly to" the different continents. You can teach the students about the different regions, and also show them how to use latitude and longitude.
The ideas for high schoolers were much more in depth and interactive and included ideas such as virtual tours, following the paths of characters in novels, studying the paths of explorers, and even (my personal favorite idea) raising global awareness.
C. In reading through some of the Google siteseer blog, I found a video about Google Map Maker. This allows for anyone to update and add to google maps by locating things such as their favorite coffee shops, favorite bike routes, shortcuts to class on a college campus, etc. It makes so much sense! People can add more information than satelites!
I also really like the Google for Educators section about Google Earth and the resources and idea that it lists. One cool thing I saw on there was that you can track earthquakes in real time. You can visibly see the constant changes of our planet! Amazing!
I think Google Earth can be so beneficial in a classroom setting, usable for multiple subjects. I would love to use it in literature to track locations, but I would also like to use it just to teach basic geography and maps skills. I think the students would love exploring their own neighborhoods and seeing how they fit into the world as a whole!
Friday, June 10, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Google Maps
As I am not an owner of a GPS, I rely on google maps to get me just about everywhere. I even used google maps to make my 300-mile bike route a few weeks ago all throughout Indiana! Though I have used it many times for directions, I learned a few more helpful features.
1. You can easily view real estate in the chosen area, as Google will mark all the listed real estate with red dots that you can then click on/zoom in on. You can do the same with hot spots!
2. You can plan out routes using public transit OR for walking! This is pretty neat.
3. You can check live and predictive traffic information!
Google Maps can also be a great tool for the classroom! Alice Christie has designed several lesson plans that place curriculum on the map for students to follow. On example I looked at was "The Corps of Discovery" that covers the trail of Lewis and Clark. Christie took different significant parts of their expedition and marked them on the map for students to click on and read in more detail of the historical adventures while seeing where they were located. Each tap also comes with questions for the kids to keep in mind and to answer. I think the maps helps in that is gives a more tangible grasp to history by helping the students visual where actual events took place.
I then looked at a lesson plan that was actually designed by a student. She worked on math problems using real life scenarios and charted them on a map! For example, she located Brooklyn Bridge in New York, and captioned it by stating, "It would take you 22 minutes to walk the bridge if you walked 264 feet per minute." Teachers can incorporate maps even into subjects such as math simply by creating problems with locations that can be charted. Perhaps this would help students remain engaged??
1. You can easily view real estate in the chosen area, as Google will mark all the listed real estate with red dots that you can then click on/zoom in on. You can do the same with hot spots!
2. You can plan out routes using public transit OR for walking! This is pretty neat.
3. You can check live and predictive traffic information!
Google Maps can also be a great tool for the classroom! Alice Christie has designed several lesson plans that place curriculum on the map for students to follow. On example I looked at was "The Corps of Discovery" that covers the trail of Lewis and Clark. Christie took different significant parts of their expedition and marked them on the map for students to click on and read in more detail of the historical adventures while seeing where they were located. Each tap also comes with questions for the kids to keep in mind and to answer. I think the maps helps in that is gives a more tangible grasp to history by helping the students visual where actual events took place.
I then looked at a lesson plan that was actually designed by a student. She worked on math problems using real life scenarios and charted them on a map! For example, she located Brooklyn Bridge in New York, and captioned it by stating, "It would take you 22 minutes to walk the bridge if you walked 264 feet per minute." Teachers can incorporate maps even into subjects such as math simply by creating problems with locations that can be charted. Perhaps this would help students remain engaged??
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Wiki Site
Let's have a picnik!
Picnik is so much fun! I uploaded a random sunset picture from google, and then made several changes as you can see...
Before:
After:
This could be addicting!
Picasa is another great photo program that I've played with before. First of all, I think it's great for organization. It pulls all your photos from your computer and displays all your files, which can be easily manipulated as you please. It also has a face-recognition feature which identifies all the similar faces, which you can then give a name to and group all the photos of the same person if wanted.
I like the "collage" option which places all your selected photos into a neat arrangement. If you don't like the way the computer initially compiles them, you can scramble the collage and try again. This would be fun for personal decor and for homemade gifts! Picasa also lets you make a "movie" of your photos, and has a button to easily add photos to your blog!
Picasa doesn't have the editing features of Picnik, but you can take your Picnik-ed photos and place them on Picasa for organizing and filing. Both programs are a lot of fun and easy to use!
Before:
After:
This could be addicting!
Picasa is another great photo program that I've played with before. First of all, I think it's great for organization. It pulls all your photos from your computer and displays all your files, which can be easily manipulated as you please. It also has a face-recognition feature which identifies all the similar faces, which you can then give a name to and group all the photos of the same person if wanted.
I like the "collage" option which places all your selected photos into a neat arrangement. If you don't like the way the computer initially compiles them, you can scramble the collage and try again. This would be fun for personal decor and for homemade gifts! Picasa also lets you make a "movie" of your photos, and has a button to easily add photos to your blog!
Picasa doesn't have the editing features of Picnik, but you can take your Picnik-ed photos and place them on Picasa for organizing and filing. Both programs are a lot of fun and easy to use!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
The Search Savant
I thought I knew how to get around the internet pretty well, but I'm finding that before tonight I was a search dummy.
Here are some knew techniques I learned!:
Google Squared:
I had no idea this existed, but this could be helpful in several different circumstances. It is great for charting facts (such as US Presidents, states, poets, etc.), but it's also great for comparing and contrasting. For example, instead of going to fifty different websites to look at different top-selling cars, google search can simply take your "top selling cars" search and display a chart of all the different car models, their manufacturer, their description, their location of where they're made, and anything else you would like to know (as you can add columns of information). Cool! This is a great resource for both teachers and students.
Wonder wheel:
Once again...I never knew! This is such an easy and efficient way to narrow your searching! I think this is great for kids, because often they do not think about being specific at the beginning of a search. Once the options are infront of them, they can better select when they are looking for.
Google Custom Search:
This blew my mind a little bit. I watched the video on the iPad about how teachers can create their own custom search engine, allowing kids to access only the sites the teacher approves. This way, teachers can be sure that their students are getting valid and accurate information, as well as providing some guidance in their searching process. I was going to create one myself, but time is running out!
These were just three of the six given searching tools that I took a look at. I think I am going from the search dummy to the search savant...??
Here are some knew techniques I learned!:
Google Squared:
I had no idea this existed, but this could be helpful in several different circumstances. It is great for charting facts (such as US Presidents, states, poets, etc.), but it's also great for comparing and contrasting. For example, instead of going to fifty different websites to look at different top-selling cars, google search can simply take your "top selling cars" search and display a chart of all the different car models, their manufacturer, their description, their location of where they're made, and anything else you would like to know (as you can add columns of information). Cool! This is a great resource for both teachers and students.
Wonder wheel:
Once again...I never knew! This is such an easy and efficient way to narrow your searching! I think this is great for kids, because often they do not think about being specific at the beginning of a search. Once the options are infront of them, they can better select when they are looking for.
Google Custom Search:
This blew my mind a little bit. I watched the video on the iPad about how teachers can create their own custom search engine, allowing kids to access only the sites the teacher approves. This way, teachers can be sure that their students are getting valid and accurate information, as well as providing some guidance in their searching process. I was going to create one myself, but time is running out!
These were just three of the six given searching tools that I took a look at. I think I am going from the search dummy to the search savant...??
iPad APPS!
I feel like I could spend all day exploring the apps on this iPad! One of my personal favorite subjects is astronomy, so I spent a lot of time exploring apps under that category. One of those apps is NASA. When opened, a maps of all the planets in our solar system is portrayed from the sun to Pluto (even though it got stripped of its planet status :( ). You can then click on the planet you want to learn more about, and a new page of information comes to the screen that tells all about the distance from the sun/earth, size, weight, how it got its name, significant dates regarding the planet, etc. This app also offers video, NASA TV, news topics and features from nasa, a google map of all the NASA centers, and a calendar of important NASA events/launchings.
As a student in elementary school, I LOVED talking about the stars and constellations. I feel like this app is a great interactive way to learn about the solar system and to hear about the latest NASA research, developments and launchings. I would love to use this with a classroom!
Because math can sometimes be the hardest subject to get students engaged in, I explored the math apps. I remember the biggest motivator for me to learn my multiplication facts in grade school were though drill tests. SO, I tried the math drills app. You can choose addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, or a mix. You can then take a timed test that keeps a record of the questions you missed and will then offer help and re-ask. I think this is such a helpful tool! When I took drill tests, I had to wait for them all the be graded by the teacher, and then by the time I had feedback on which ones were tricking me, it was time to move on and there was no time to practice. I would love for me kids to be able to take math drill tests using this app.
THEN I discovered one of my FAVORITE apps called Your World. It gives you an image of the world, which you can rotate and move in any direction. THEN it gives you a picture of a country and flag in the middle of the screen. You then have to rotate the world until the country is in its right location. It was addicting, and I was learning so much geography! Seriously, I couldn't stop playing!...until it asked me to upgrade for $.99 :(. I think this would be an app worth paying for, however, because I think students would really truly enjoy it and REMEMBER their world geography. It's like working on a puzzle, and eventually you memorize where all the pieces go! I love it!
As a student in elementary school, I LOVED talking about the stars and constellations. I feel like this app is a great interactive way to learn about the solar system and to hear about the latest NASA research, developments and launchings. I would love to use this with a classroom!
Because math can sometimes be the hardest subject to get students engaged in, I explored the math apps. I remember the biggest motivator for me to learn my multiplication facts in grade school were though drill tests. SO, I tried the math drills app. You can choose addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, or a mix. You can then take a timed test that keeps a record of the questions you missed and will then offer help and re-ask. I think this is such a helpful tool! When I took drill tests, I had to wait for them all the be graded by the teacher, and then by the time I had feedback on which ones were tricking me, it was time to move on and there was no time to practice. I would love for me kids to be able to take math drill tests using this app.
THEN I discovered one of my FAVORITE apps called Your World. It gives you an image of the world, which you can rotate and move in any direction. THEN it gives you a picture of a country and flag in the middle of the screen. You then have to rotate the world until the country is in its right location. It was addicting, and I was learning so much geography! Seriously, I couldn't stop playing!...until it asked me to upgrade for $.99 :(. I think this would be an app worth paying for, however, because I think students would really truly enjoy it and REMEMBER their world geography. It's like working on a puzzle, and eventually you memorize where all the pieces go! I love it!
Monday, June 6, 2011
Google Drawings
Every day I am becoming more and more aware of how internet-ignorant I am. Here is yet another gem of a tool from google that I had never discovered-- drawings! Honestly, I don't see much of a difference between this and paint...but again, you have all the advantages of it being online and apart of a google account. I can see several personal uses that a teacher might have with drawings such as diagrams, mapping, picturing editing, etc...but I think it can also be usable in classroom lessons.
In the lesson plan given, for example, students used sketches and digital art as a spring board for story writing and literacy improvement. I think that digital art can be used as an effective way to engage different learning styles. Students who are more visual learners are more likely to learn through creative means and outputs. Google drawings can also be used by students to map out ideas and outline notes.
In conclusion...here is yet another tool that google has provided that can be used in the classroom!
In the lesson plan given, for example, students used sketches and digital art as a spring board for story writing and literacy improvement. I think that digital art can be used as an effective way to engage different learning styles. Students who are more visual learners are more likely to learn through creative means and outputs. Google drawings can also be used by students to map out ideas and outline notes.
In conclusion...here is yet another tool that google has provided that can be used in the classroom!
I-Pads. Really?
If someone had told me two weeks ago that a school was providing ipads for all of their students, I would've responded, "Seriously?! That's ridiculous!" My assumption would've been that it was a gross amount of extra expensive with little effectiveness in increasing education. The articles on iPads in education, however, point to very different conclusions. According to myfoxboston.com, iPads could save school thousands by reducing the amount spent on textbooks. E-books can be purchased for the iPad, and as I have just discovered from using it myself, iBook is easy to use and great for highlighting and note taking while reading. One article then even claimed higher test scores from students who used iPads in class. Why? Learning just became fun and engaging! I suppose that if I were back in elementary school, I too would be more apt to do my homework if it was on an iPad! There are many wonderful and education apps that intrigue and engage students, making homework a much more appealing idea.
Though many are probably skeptical of using ebooks, I found reading on the iPad ebook reader to be a positive experience. With a flip of your finger, you turned a page (just as you would a real book). By touching the screen, you could scroll through the book to any desired chapter or page. You could also highlight, take notes, and look up words in a dictionary! At any given point, you can also go back and view all of your highlights and notes. This is my favorite part! For students working on research papers, this saves the trouble of sticky notes and index cards. All your notes and bookmarks are saved and ready for easy reference.
In conclusion...
If someone were now to tell me that a school is investing in iPads for all their students, I would respond by saying, "Right on!"
Though many are probably skeptical of using ebooks, I found reading on the iPad ebook reader to be a positive experience. With a flip of your finger, you turned a page (just as you would a real book). By touching the screen, you could scroll through the book to any desired chapter or page. You could also highlight, take notes, and look up words in a dictionary! At any given point, you can also go back and view all of your highlights and notes. This is my favorite part! For students working on research papers, this saves the trouble of sticky notes and index cards. All your notes and bookmarks are saved and ready for easy reference.
In conclusion...
If someone were now to tell me that a school is investing in iPads for all their students, I would respond by saying, "Right on!"
Friday, June 3, 2011
Forms!
I made a quiz! ...And I feel quite proud of myself for it :). The quiz itself was easy to make, but it took me awhile to put in the answer key and remember the formula for grading. BUT now that I have done it, I think I could easily do it again and use this in a class! I like that you can view all responses and easily point out which questions were the most commonly missed, etc.
I took a look at the lesson plans for elementary and like the idea of making a get-to-know-you survey for the kids and letting them see how the answers are shown on google in charts. It would be fun and engaging for the kids, but also a great way to teach how to read and understand charts. I also like the idea of having the kids make their own surveys and gather their own data.
I took a look at the lesson plans for elementary and like the idea of making a get-to-know-you survey for the kids and letting them see how the answers are shown on google in charts. It would be fun and engaging for the kids, but also a great way to teach how to read and understand charts. I also like the idea of having the kids make their own surveys and gather their own data.
Finders Keepers
My goal when I get online is often to find what I am looking for as fast as possible. Bookmarks are great for easy access to my commonly visited sites like gmail, facebook, etc...and also great for those times I stumble upon something interesting I want to find easily later to go back to. I had never heard of Delicious Bookmarks until today, but I went ahead and registered and explored it a bit. Though there are lots of alternative way to bookmark pages, Delicious is great for the social bookmarking it allows. I can save my bookmarks (which I can see no matter what computer I am on!), and share them with others. I can also see what others are bookmarking. I like seeing the most popularly bookmarked pages, because I assume other people have figured those neat things that I don't have time to discover for myself! You can also make folders for your bookmarks, which can be helpful if you have several sites.
I then tried out Google Reader to realize that I am already subscribed to 15 blogs! Several of my friends have blogs and I have subscribed to them, not even knowing that I could easily view them all from Google Reader. ...I feel very silly for not knowing this. I also just subscribed to BBC Middle East news and put in a folder I titled "News", because that's a site I try to keep up with regularly as well. I think Google Reader will be a very useful as a teacher because you can find helpful blogs or sites with interesting lessons plans to stay current with. Yay!
LibraryThing is another resource I had no clue about until today. I like that I can read the book reviews and discussions for both books that I have read and books that i am thinking about reading. I think my favorite part about LibraryThing is that is makes reading recommendations based off the books you add and like. You can also see other people who like the same books as you and get recommendations from their libraries! This can be a great way for a teacher to network with other teachers and see what books they have found interesting for themselves or for their students.
I then tried out Google Reader to realize that I am already subscribed to 15 blogs! Several of my friends have blogs and I have subscribed to them, not even knowing that I could easily view them all from Google Reader. ...I feel very silly for not knowing this. I also just subscribed to BBC Middle East news and put in a folder I titled "News", because that's a site I try to keep up with regularly as well. I think Google Reader will be a very useful as a teacher because you can find helpful blogs or sites with interesting lessons plans to stay current with. Yay!
LibraryThing is another resource I had no clue about until today. I like that I can read the book reviews and discussions for both books that I have read and books that i am thinking about reading. I think my favorite part about LibraryThing is that is makes reading recommendations based off the books you add and like. You can also see other people who like the same books as you and get recommendations from their libraries! This can be a great way for a teacher to network with other teachers and see what books they have found interesting for themselves or for their students.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Spreadsheets
I remember learning how to use Excel Spreadsheets in high school, but it has been a long time and I never actually used it after the class. Using Google spreadsheets was similar to Excel, but it took me a while to remember how to do things. Entering data and moving around the cells was easy, but it was hard for me to figure out how to make formulas. I think I'm still slightly confused...but I will get it with practice! I also like how the data can be turned into charts and graphs. Visuals are helpful and can be great to use in a classroom!
I looked at the two lesson plans for Elementary, and though part of me worries that the spreadsheets might be too complicated for elementary-age children to use themselves, I think it is a great resource and visual for the teacher to use, as well as a great way to introduce the scientific method! I would love to do something similar in my classroom--having the children take data (possibly a survey like in the first lesson plan), and then turn that date into information and organize it in a spreadsheet. You could also use a spreadsheet and the graphs in math lessons to demonstrate probability or fractions.
I looked at the two lesson plans for Elementary, and though part of me worries that the spreadsheets might be too complicated for elementary-age children to use themselves, I think it is a great resource and visual for the teacher to use, as well as a great way to introduce the scientific method! I would love to do something similar in my classroom--having the children take data (possibly a survey like in the first lesson plan), and then turn that date into information and organize it in a spreadsheet. You could also use a spreadsheet and the graphs in math lessons to demonstrate probability or fractions.
Gmail- Google Calendar- iGoogle- Goodness
I have to confess that until this class, I was stuck in the '90s with my hotmail account that I've had since junior high. Gmail has a lot more to offer than I realized. Specifically, I love the ichat option! I also love the filters you can add, making it easy to search through your e-mails and combine other accounts if you have them. I did this for my school account. Goodbye, hotmail!
Google Calendar is a wonder that I discovered last year at my internship with Global Seeds. I used it to record the important events and birthdays of all the staff and interns. It would then send me a notification a week in advance so I could then make the necessary preparations or send the necessary cards. I watched the video on the iPad about using it for lessons plans, and love the idea! It is such a great way to stay organized! I also have an iPhone with my calendar synced to it, so I am able to view all my events daily from my phone!
iGoogle is another great discovery! I can't wait to get my new computer so I can make my own homepage! I love the themes, and the whole assortment of gadgets you can choose from. It makes me excited to get online! I will probably add some BBC news, my calendar, the weather, a joke of the day...and whatever else I feel like :).
Google Calendar is a wonder that I discovered last year at my internship with Global Seeds. I used it to record the important events and birthdays of all the staff and interns. It would then send me a notification a week in advance so I could then make the necessary preparations or send the necessary cards. I watched the video on the iPad about using it for lessons plans, and love the idea! It is such a great way to stay organized! I also have an iPhone with my calendar synced to it, so I am able to view all my events daily from my phone!
iGoogle is another great discovery! I can't wait to get my new computer so I can make my own homepage! I love the themes, and the whole assortment of gadgets you can choose from. It makes me excited to get online! I will probably add some BBC news, my calendar, the weather, a joke of the day...and whatever else I feel like :).
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Google Presentations!
Google Presentations, similar to Power Point, offers many of the same advantages that Google Docs does over Microsoft Word. The simplicity of the layout makes it easy to understand and use, and the advantage of having an internet-based program allows for easy saving, sharing, and restoring. I found it far less confusing and easier to navigate than Power Point and yet was still able to have creative options (thought not quite as many). It was almost the same as Word, but with the picture and link options. I was disappointed to find, however, that there was no option to customize transitions like on Power Point. Though Google Presentations is great at getting the basic job done, it it not as complex nor does it offer as much as PP.
I think Google Presentations would be a valuable media tool to aid in classroom learning.
One of the lesson plans I looked at was for Middle School Language Arts, in which students would work in groups and use Google Presentations to create their own Choose Your Own Adventure story. Because the nature of such a story in non linear, students would be able to use hyperlinks to branch the story off according to the chosen plots of the story. This lesson plan allows for many of the NETS standards to be met as well as the IRA standards for English Language Arts.
Through Google Presentations, the students can also view and enjoy each others' stories. I love it!
I think Google Presentations would be a valuable media tool to aid in classroom learning.
One of the lesson plans I looked at was for Middle School Language Arts, in which students would work in groups and use Google Presentations to create their own Choose Your Own Adventure story. Because the nature of such a story in non linear, students would be able to use hyperlinks to branch the story off according to the chosen plots of the story. This lesson plan allows for many of the NETS standards to be met as well as the IRA standards for English Language Arts.
Through Google Presentations, the students can also view and enjoy each others' stories. I love it!
Chrome gets my vote!
Before class today, I honestly had no idea how many different browsers there were! The only ones I was aware of were Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome (which I have recently discovered and have fallen in love with).
I took a look at both Sea Monkey and Camino and found them to be quite similar. Both of them have a bookmarks bar with primary websites listed, making easy access possible, and both have the basic Refresh and Go Back buttons at the top. Sea Monkey, however, also offers a bar at the bottom with several options that surprised me! There was a button for composition, e-mail and chat! The chat bottom allows for you to ask questions and get answers!
I found Opera to be somewhat similar to Explorer, but it also had a home page like Chrome's that shows pictures of multiple sites you can click on.
Closest to my heart, however, remains Google Chrome. It seems to work the fastest, and makes traveling to websites even faster by predicting what site you will be going to once you begin typing the address. Normally, all I have to do is type the first few letters and press enter because the rest of the address is added in for me!
Chrome also has a great home page option with the most-visited sites represented. It's also brighter, which is visibly more appealing to me.
Well done, Google!
I took a look at both Sea Monkey and Camino and found them to be quite similar. Both of them have a bookmarks bar with primary websites listed, making easy access possible, and both have the basic Refresh and Go Back buttons at the top. Sea Monkey, however, also offers a bar at the bottom with several options that surprised me! There was a button for composition, e-mail and chat! The chat bottom allows for you to ask questions and get answers!
I found Opera to be somewhat similar to Explorer, but it also had a home page like Chrome's that shows pictures of multiple sites you can click on.
Closest to my heart, however, remains Google Chrome. It seems to work the fastest, and makes traveling to websites even faster by predicting what site you will be going to once you begin typing the address. Normally, all I have to do is type the first few letters and press enter because the rest of the address is added in for me!
Chrome also has a great home page option with the most-visited sites represented. It's also brighter, which is visibly more appealing to me.
Well done, Google!
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