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IN THIS ISSUE… Taking Research to the Next Level…..……..…1-2 National Technology Day……...…………..……. 3 Celebrate Martin Luther King Day: Day of Service..…….……..…3 Indoor Recess ……..… 4 Digital Citizenship..….5 SAMR Lesson ………....6
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TIS & THAT
Taking Research to the Next Level: Tools for Creating Presentations and Animations
Remember doing a research project? Students used encyclopedias, library books and websites to look up facts about a topic. They recorded facts on notecards in order to write an essay about their topic. Perhaps they would create a poster with facts and pictures photocopied or printed from the internet. Sound old-school? It is. Although there can still be a place for this type of research, we are living in the twenty-first century and it is time to integrate technology into our projects! Students as young as kindergarten can use technology to present information they have learned. Kindergarten students need guidance and support but, by second and third grade, should begin to gather their own information for research. By using presentation and animation technology, students will be more engaged in their research and excited about sharing information with others. Most of us have used PowerPoint for presentations, but there are many more presentation programs available. A quick Google search for “presentation software for kids” will give you some websites that have lists with detailed descriptions. I found “20 Terrific Presentation Tech Tools for Kids; Recommended by Educators” at www.lauracandler.com. Some of the tools this article recommends include Blabberize, Educreations, Glogster, Google Drive Presentations, Prezi, Sliderocket, and Storybird.
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Taking Research to the Next Level continued from page 1…
One of the best resources for information on technology comes from Common Sense Media. The Common Sense Education article, “Best Classroom Tools for Presentations and Slide Shows,” can be found at the following link. https://www.commonsense.org/education/top-picks/best-classroom-tools-forpresentations-and-slide-shows. It includes the names, links, descriptions, suggested grade levels, app or website options, free or paid options, and has a star rating for 16 presentation tech tools. Some of the tools listed there include Nearpod (an app for grades K-12) Shadow Puppets Edu (a free app for grades 2-12) BiteSlid (a free website for grades 3-10) Screencastify (a website for grades 3-12) and Pear Deck (a website for grades 4-12). Some others include Office Mix, Adobe Slate, Class Flow, Keynote, and Sway. Another tool that students enjoy is used to create animations and videos. Using the ChatterPix app, students can make pictures talk. The article has a link to a video in which kindergarten students make plastic food talk and present a nutrition lesson with the students’ voices. This could also be used to present a variety of other topics such as historical figures, animals, or anything you can imagine! Other animation tools include Tellagami and Shadow Puppets. I found some great resources in the article “My Three Favorite Video Creation iPad Apps for Elementary School” by Richard Byrne on his blog Free Technology for Teachers at www.freetech4teachers.com/2016/06/my-three-favorite-video-creationipad.html#.WUqltNLyvIU. One of the greatest things about these tech tools is the ability to share them with other students, locally or worldwide, to collaborate and get feedback. I hope you will try some of these tools with your students and share this information with the other teachers.
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NATIONAL TECHNOLOGY DAY January 6, 2018 What would our life be like without technology? How would you spend your time? What technology can you not live without? Technology Day is observed on the 6th of January every year. A technology company in Las Vegas, Nevada called StoAmigo founded the day. The very first National Technology Day was observed in 2016. StoAmigo wanted to encourage people to use technology in a new way. What better way can you inspire technology use than a whole day centered around it? People are encouraged to share new ideas on social media with #TechnologyDay or #NationalTechnologyDay. What idea will you share on January 6th? Let’s take it a step further and add #WVTIS to our exciting, innovative technology ideas!
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Celebrate Martin Luther King Day: Day of Service January 15, 2018 Martin Luther King Day (MLK Day) will be celebrated on Monday January 15, 2018. Instead of making this just another day off from work, make it a day on for service. Dr. Martin Luther King asked the question “What are you doing for others?” Since the passage of the King Holiday and Service Act passed by congress in 1994, thousands of Americans have answered that question by volunteering in food banks, community events, hospitals, schools, and in many other capacities. If you or your students would like to be involved, below are some links that can provide more information. https://www.nationalservice.gov/mlkday http://www.aascu.org/programs/ADP/MLKDay/ https://www.volunteermatch.org/seasonsofservic e/mlkday/ http://volunteer.wv.gov/Pages/default.aspx
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Indoor Recess Winter, cold weather or rainy days are all things that an elementary school teacher never wants to talk about as they pertain to recess. The thought of staying indoors with twenty-five munchkins in a small, educationally supplied classroom is what horror movies are made of to most teachers. Below you will find multiple resources to save any teacher’s sanity during the cold winter months of indoor recess. In addition, the resources can be used for much needed brain breaks.
Great Website to visit during indoor recess Go Noodle Sign up for a FREE account www.gonoodle.com Cosmic Kids Amazing brain breaks including Yoga for kids! www.cosmickids.com Room Recess Terrific learning games the kids will love! www.roomrecess.com
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Digital Citizenship: Our Role as an Educator As a teacher, one of our most important roles is to help educate our students in a digital society on how to be successful and productive while being safe and responsible with technology. One such way teachers can help with this endeavor is to follow the guidelines and requirements established by the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA). Congress enacted the CIPA in 2000 to address concerns about children's access to obscene or harmful content over the Internet. For more information on the CIPA, requirements please visit (https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/childrens-internet-protection-act). In addition to the CIPA requirements, most of the International Society for Technology Standards for Students (ISTE) list digital citizenship as one of the aspects of education technology that all members of a school or district should support. These nine key elements have been combined into three main categories...
Respect: digital access, digital etiquette and digital law Educate: digital communication, digital literacy and digital commerce Protect: digital rights and responsibilities, digital safety and security, and digital health and wellness
More information on each of these standards can be found at https://www.iste.org/explore/ArticleDetail?articleid=101
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SAMR Example Standard
Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons. ELA 3.20
Traditional Method
Research topic in the library and pass out paper and pencil opinion polls.
Substitution
Use the internet to do research on various opinions on the student’s topic. Type the report into a word processing program and then read report to class.
Augmentation
Use a variety of websites to gain information about their given topic. Pick out more sources than just text, such as videos and audios. Type report into a word processing program (spell check and grammar check, etc.) and then create a Power point to share with the class.
Modification
Skype with experts in the field of the given topic. Use a school approved social media (schoology or Edmodo) to poll their classmates and received a detailed local opinion from their peers on their given topic. To gain broader opinion poll students will use survey monkey.com
Redefinition
Use YouTube live stream to start an open real time dialogue with people around the world about your opinion piece.
About the Authors Amy McVey Katrina See Nellie Cottle McDowell County Doddridge County Monroe County ncottle@k12.wv.us agmcvey@k12.wv.us ksee@k12.wv.us