The Teaching Channel is a great resource for teachers who are looking for successful ways to teach a particular concept. Teachers from all over the country are sharing what works best for them, and there are a plethora of good ideas to add to your bag of tricks. You can view videos without an account or create a free account to access their lesson planner, notebook, and the ability to follow your favorite teachers.

In this example, students analyze and explore poetry through a class blog and podcasting:

Poetry Workstations

Storybird is my new favorite Web 2.0 tool (except for Google Earth, of course) and have found alternative uses for it. This is the website’s great explanation of their concept:

What is Storybird?

Storybird is a service that uses collaborative storytelling to connect kids and families. Two (or more) people create a Storybird in a round robin fashion by writing their own text and inserting pictures. They then have the option of sharing their Storybird privately or publicly on the network. The final product can be printed, watched on screen, played with like a toy, or shared through a worldwide library.

Storybird is also a simple publishing platform for writers and artists that allows them to experiment, publish their stories, and connect with their fans.

Click here to see an example of a Storybird workstation activity:

NEISD Teacher Web

Creating a free teacher account is easy. Just follow the steps below:

http://storybird.com/teachers/

Storybird Instructions created by Sarah Ogden

The teachers and students at Fox Run Elementary went all out this year decking the halls…literally. Check out this awesome display of holiday spirit. I used Photopeach.com to create this cool slideshow. It’s free and will embed in all blogs and your Teacher Web!

Appy Holidays!

I am so proud of the 1st graders in Mrs. Cunningham’s 1st grade class at Fox Run Elementary.  Mrs. Cunningham is truly devoted to creating a classroom full of tech savvy children that will someday surpass the talents of Google executives.  Check out their latest creation:

So this may not be a Tech Tip, but it’s certainly words to live by-

“Follow Your Heart”

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like, “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” Since then….I have looked in the mirror every  morning and asked myself, “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?:  And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.  Your time is limited….Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.  And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition…Everything else is secondary.

Steve Jobs

Publish Student Work Using Flip Books

It literally took me about 3 minutes to create this very cool flip book using http://www.flipsnack.com  All you have to do is create a free account and upload any PDF.  Choose your template, background color and cover options for a stunning alternative to your boring, everyday PowerPoint presentation or Publisher brochure. I used the PDF from SMART Notebook 10 to try this out for myself and ended up creating about 10 flipbooks in less than an hour.  You can embed your flipbook in Teacher Web or your blog, or you can send a link to your flipbook through email. VERY NICE!!!

Before you play the video below, let me just apologize for my singing. You can see (or hear) why I kept my day job.  Mrs. Cunningham’s class at Fox Run Elementary sang the cutest song to me this morning, Albuquerque Turkey.  If you have songs that your class sings on a regular basis, why not Blabberize them?  Just upload your own picture or scan a student’s drawing and make it come alive.  You will have to create an account, but it’s free.  Just open it up on one of your student computers and have your kids upload their image to the website. Just make sure they have permission to be on the Internet!  If you don’t have a scanner, you can always use the free app called Genius Scan on your iPad or iTouch. Once you take the picture it will save it as a PDF or jpeg that can then be uploaded into Dropbox (If it’s not blocked by your district).

So, my tech tip this week is someone else’s blog…The Fabulous Lisa Johnson, NEISD ITS.  Yes, it’s OK if you say her blog is better than mine.  It is.  This is the first place I come to when I need a new and innovative technology integration idea.  I have no idea how she finds the time to do what she does.  I’ve decided she doesn’t sleep at night.  Lisa is a master of the iPad.  If you have any kind of iDevice, personal or professional, you will want to bookmark this site: http://www.techchef4u.com/  Put everything down right now and check it out!

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WORDFOTO- $1.99

You’ve probably heard the tired cliche about a picture being worth a thousand words. We’ve taken this phrase quite literally and created WordFoto, an app that turns photos and words into amazing typographic works of art.

Instructional Uses:

• Animal Research
• Creative Writing Prompt
• Describing Characteristics of Landforms
• Word Families
• Beginning and Ending Sounds
• Five Senses
• Matter

I LOVE THIS LESSON!  In the new NEISD world of iDevices and Web 2.0 tools, I’m always telling teachers not to forget about the world of PowerPoint.  This isn’t your everyday, boring slideshow.  This is a really cool fun foldable that can be used with any subject matter.  It can be created from scratch or can be saved as a template for younger grades to use.  Here is an example of what a completed project looks like using images from Google Earth:

You can use this template for multiplication facts, animal adaptations, parts of a cycle, scientific process….on and on!  Below you will find a blank template with directions, the Google Earth example you see above, and the landforms template.

LandformFlipbook_Final Product

LandformFlipbook_Template

Question and Answer Filpbook_Blank