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Matt’s Media Tips 5-7 Help us Find a Winner A few editions ago (Matt’s Tips and Tricks 1/30), I told you about our first student media contest of the year, the Discovery Education and Dr. Lodge McCammon Video Challenge - http://www.discoveryeducation.com/DEN/drlodgevideochallenge.cfm. The challenge required students to listen to a song and then create a music video that demonstrated their interpretation of the song. We have have received a ton of great submissions from all around the U.S. and Canada. The judging team is narrowing down to the final entries but we need your help. On Wednesday, May 9, 2012, we’ll be posting the finalists on our video challenge page for your vote. The videos with the highest scores and vote counts will win some really cool prizes including Discovery Education Flip Cameras, backpacks and even an assembly with Dr. Lodge himself! This week’s Tips - Summertime Resources: Now that we are in May, students, educators and parents are sharing a common thought - “we’re just about a month away from summer vacation!” Many schools around the country are preparing their students with summer reading lists. And that got me thinking...what if we could create a summer digital resource list as well? In the pages that follow I will share with you a few of my favorite free, openly accessible, and engaging resources. Each of these resources can be accessed by anyone without a log-in (parents, teachers, students, etc.), anytime (winter, spring, summer, or fall - just like that James Taylor song), from any device (you know what you are) connected to the internet. To get to these free resources simply go to www.discoveryeducation.com and then hover your mouse/finger over the the words “Teachers, Parents or Students.” When you hover over any of these tabs a menu will appear. Each of these links will take you to a great interactive resource.
Five of my Favorites My all-time, hands-down, favorite free resource has got to be WebMath. Here’s why. I stink at math. I was never good at the subject and there are no signs that, as an adult, I’m getting any better. But here’s the deal. I’m a proud pappa of two and some day one of my kids is going to ask me for help on Math. Thankfully that day is a little ways off (they are ages 3 and 5 months), but I am already dreading it. I can feel the sweats coming now as I write. Because that’s the day that Ben or Kaitlin find out that Dad’s not the smart guy that he pretends to be. Enter WebMath. This resource is a free online math tutor. It will walk you through any problem from counting coins (I can pretty much handle that) to complex calculus or trigonometry (I have hard time even spelling that). It provides step-by-step instructions with images to help you solve the problem. I’m praying that it will be there for me five years from now. Featured Programs can be found in the Teachers, Parents and Students tabs. And there are a lot of great choices to take advantage of and play with. I really like the Toyota Teen Driver challenge. Thankfully, I am a slightly better at driving than I am at math. But I really do love this tool as it is a great way to reach that son/daughter/student who thinks that they already know how to drive better than you do... before they have actually gotten behind the wheel. There is a very cool driving simulator and lots of car/driving safety information for educators, parents and students within this tool. And speaking of things to do over the summer, check out the 3M Science of Everyday Life. It is chock full of virtual labs, science fun activities called “Whelmers,” and experiments that you can do at home. Check out the Whelmer on creating a multistage balloon rocket - way cool! Going on any long road trips or need create a fun activator in your classroom? Check out the Discovery Education Puzzlemaker. This puzzle generating tool is for teachers, students and parents. You can create customized word search, criss-cross, math puzzles and more using your own word lists.
As you know, Discovery Education combines scientifically proven, standards-based digital media and a user community in order to empower teachers to improve student achievement. What you may not know is that we also provide a great Lesson Plan Library which includes free lesson plans written by teachers for teachers. Here you will find hundreds of original lesson plans for elementary, middle and high school students. Use them as they are or modify them to create your own. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg my friend. We haven’t talked about all of the great homework help, programs, and contests that you can find before logging into www.discoveryeducation.com. Note: You’ll want to come back often as we are constantly adding new information for you to use. And don’t forget that all of these resources are available to anyone and everyone and we hope that you take advantage of them. It just keeps getting better and better As I mentioned at the top of page one. We love feedback. In fact, we take feedback from educators around the world every day. We use that feedback to improve the features and functionality of Discovery Education over the summer. And we’re super excited about the new school year’s enhancements. So much so that we’re giving you, yeah you on the other side of this screen, the chance to get a sneak peek. If you’d like to see all of the new and exciting things coming out this fall please join us for one of these three special webinars: Tuesday, May 8 Tuesday, May 15 Tuesday, May 22
7:00 PM 3:30 PM 7:00 PM
Eastern Standard Time Eastern Standard Time Eastern Standard Time
You can register for anyone of these webinars here by clicking or following this link: http://links.discoveryeducation.com/sneakpeek2012
Discovery Education Webinar Schedule Dates
Time (EST)
Link
Google Translate. Perhaps your summer vacation will have you traveling to another country. Or maybe you are going to use that time to brush up on another language. Check out Google Translate for both iphone/ipad/itouch and Android devices.
5/7
7pm 8pm
Discovery Education STREAMING 101 The webinar begins with the basics (logins and passwords) and moves quickly through searches, the Teacher Center and Builders, incorporating digital content with web 2.0 tools, and classroom building through our online organizational tools.
With Google Translate you can: • Translate text between 63 languages • Translate by speaking the text instead of typing it (17 languages) • Listen to your translations spoken aloud (24 languages) • Communicate with another person using speech-to-speech translation in Conversation Mode (ALPHA, 14 languages) • Display translations in full screen mode to make it easier for others nearby to read • Star your favorite translations for quick access even when you’re offline • Access your translation history even when you’re offline • Spell out the translation of non-Latin script languages (e.g. Chinese, Japanese, etc..) in Latin characters to read it phonetically (e.g. Pinyin, Romaji) * View additional dictionary results for single words or short phrase
5/8
1pm 2pm
Explore the Blue: Hands-on Conversation - Student Webinar! Bring your students for a fun, informative webinar where we?ll highlight five of our favorite hands-on activities for learning about our planet?s most precious resource water. We?ll explore together and show students the importance of conservation through cross-curricular lessons you can do in the classroom, at home or outdoors. This webinar is designed for students in grades K-5.
5/8
7pm 8pm
Discovery Education: Back to School Sneak Peek. Be the first to get a look at back-to-school updates to Discovery Education resources! You've asked for it, and we've listened: get a sneak peek at the exciting changes we're making to Discovery Education this summer, and find out how we're going mobile, social, and adding even more functionality for you and your students. We'll also explore the latest content, features, and resources that are available to you right now. Don't miss this exclusive preview!
5/9
8pm 9pm
Seasonal Science Stream Lesson Plan Webinar: Spring Changes. Monthly webinar to prepare for our Seasonal Science Live Stream. This month's topic: Spring ChangesA Lesson on Weathering, Erosion and Deposition. Join us for a review of three different lesson plans (K-2, 3-5, 6-8) that utilize resources from Discovery Education Science Techbook.
Atlas, STEM Connect explored. Socrative App (student response).
Miss a week? Catch back up here! 4/30/2012
4/23/2012
4/16/2012
Getting Your Game On. Finding great games, simulations and more within Discovery Education. Back-toSchool Sneak Peek Webinars announced. Futaba Classroom Games for Kids iPad app explored. Getting the Point with PowerPoint and Keynote. Learn how to trim audio & video in PPT and save both PPT & Keynote presentations as images to embed in Web 2.0 sites. 2 Screens and Joinme mobile presentation apps explored. It’s all about the Theme. We’ll explore several different ways to find unique thematic content. Three most voted upon stories revealed. Studyblue mobile flashcard app highlighted
4/9/2012
Scratch and Pop. Six-Word Story finalists revealed. Links between Discovery Education and Scratch.mit.edu, Popplet.com and EduTechr mobile app explored.
4/2/2012
Mi Content es Su Content. Bookmarking and sharing your Discovery Education content across your school and district, two great contests, and two text-to-sign mobile apps
3/26/2012
2/13/2012
2/6/2012
1/30/2012
1/23/2012
1/18/2012
1/9/2012
Can You Picture it? Learn how to create a six-word story using iPiccy.com and Discovery Education. Digital Story Challenge! MeeGenius 12/19/2011 Audiobook app for mobile devices.
3/19/2012
Audio Book ‘em Dano. Eight simple steps for creating an audiobook using iTunes and any computer (Mac/PC). Molecules mobile apps.
3/12/2012
It’s All About The Sharing. Uploading, sharing and accessing your own content within Discovery Discovery Education. Cel.Ly app polling device via any device.
2/27/2012
Teacher Center Treasure Trove of Resources. Interactive Calendar
12/12/2011
Special Valentines Issue - Things I love about Discovery Education. Five Minute Preps, Images,Coaches Eye App What did you say? Closed Captioning on an iPad? Getting Closed Captions to play on your iPad, GreenScreens on iPhone/iPad with GreenScreen FX app Let’s Give Them Something To Sing About Differentiated Instruction Using Songs, First Student Media Contest of the Year, ShowMe and Educreations whiteboard apps Meet the Faces of Discovery Education Get up close and personal with the Discovery Education on-air talent, special student webinar series, Story Kit app
11/7/2011
First Six Weeks Aggregated
11/4/2011
Creating an “iCenter" How to create an ePub using DE videos. Spirit of Innovation Challenge
10/24/2011
Spooky Edition Digital Storytelling, Web 2.0 Piqua City Community Night, Crazy Pumpkin and Halloween Card Creator Apps
10/17/2011
Stick it to IT Collaborative Note Taking Site Educator Spotlight - Jennifer Everett, ToonTastic and PuppetPals Apps
10/3/2011
Opening Up Closed-Captions Closed-Captions for Macs and PCs, 10 FAQs Customer Service Receives
9/26/2011
Common Core, Web 2.0 and DE Three cool sites that integrate nicely with Discovery Education. Administrator Spotlight - Molly Hay!
9/13/2011
Can you Hear what I’m Writing? Embedding an eReader into your Writing Prompts, Getting to know Discovery Education SCIENCE
In a Class of Their Own Setting up Discovery Education Classrooms, Discovery Education Live Webinars, Quizlet App. Building out the New Year Five of my favorite things you can do with the Discovery Education Builders, Rover App for DE Students Special Holiday Edition 13 Tips from Educators around the US and Canada, Videolicious App 50 Ways to Use Discovery Education Tips and tricks galore iSwifter - Flash for iPads
11/28/2011
What I am Thankful for Building out your PLN Wordspree and Math Acorn Apps
11/14/2011
Things I Stole From the Community DEN Tips, Four really cool tips you can do with Google. TED and Animoto apps
What is a DEN Star Member? The Discovery Educator Network (DEN) is a global community of educators passionate about teaching with digital media, sharing resources, collaborating, and networking. With over 100,000 members providing professional development to over 600,000 educators worldwide, the DEN connects teachers both on-line and in-person. Discovery Educators have exclusive access to a wide range of resources, professional development activities, networking opportunities, exclusive Discovery Educator events and more. Find out how you can be part of this dynamic and supportive community. Become a DEN Star today! Help Me Make Matt’s Tips and Tricks Even Better I am always looking for ways to improve Matt’s Tips and Tricks and your feed back is invaluable to me. With that in mind I’ve created a short 15 question survey. I would love to hear your ideas and thoughts. If you can take a moment to fill out this super fast survey it will go a long way to making each edition better than the next!