Technology Tailgate

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Transferring Blogs to Bloglovin'

Hi, it's Amanda here from Learning to the Core! I wanted to pop over to one of my favorite blogs to share something I tried yesterday that was easy!

Did you hear the news?!!? On Wednesday, July 1st Google Reader will cease to exist. As far as I heard it was part of "Google's Spring Cleaning." Well, seeing as I log in almost each and every day... (let's be honest it is more like several times each and every day!) to see my Google news feed and catch up on the blogs I follow...I didn't know exactly what I was going to do!

I had heard about Bloglovin' a few weeks ago but got overwhelmed so I just left it to the side. Now, that Google has their official date set, I didn't want to loose all of the blogs I so enjoy following I thought now is the time to figure out how to transfer over all of my blogs to Bloglovin'.

Here is the best part of this post...it's easy, really easy to do! Just follow a few steps below so you too can keep track of all of the blogs you follow now through Google and have a new newsfeed of them on Bloglovin'.

1. Go to Bloglovin’
Click here to go to Bloglovin'.

You can log in with Facebook or with an email address.

2. Sign up and wait for an email

Once you are signed up (it is quick and easy) they will send you an email to the address listed and confirm your account. You will see a link in the email that says "You are nearly finished...click the link below."

3. Click link and select to upload all blogs

After you click the link in your email you are given the option to upload all of the blogs you follow through Google.

You can always "skip this" step and come back to it.

4. Import Blogs..wait

I am following 219 blogs (I didn't even know I was following that many!) and the import took less then 5 minutes...so it is definitely worth it!

5. Explore

That's it. Really. Now you are all set. Your blogs will be there and you can see them as a news feed the same way we have gotten used to with Google.

When you change your settings you can decide if you want email daily or not.

It truly was easy and is worth your time since Google Reader is soon going away. You can also look for the button that looks like this on many blogs...this will allow you to follow that specific blog:

Give it a try! It is definitely worth it so you have all of your favorite blogs in one spot! If you haven't already come on over to our blog to hear more about how we incorporate technology into our daily teaching of the common core!

Happy Wednesday!

Amanda

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Tuesday, June 18, 2013

iBooks Author Software

If you have a Mac and haven't tried the iBooks Author software yet I would encourage you to check it out! All you have to do is download the software from the App Store on your Mac. I love the possibilities the software has to offer for writing books for my teachers and students and best of all it is FREE! There are so many widgets that will allow you to add video, picture galleries, whiteboards, and interactive quizzes right in your book. How cool is that? If you would like to learn more about how to create your own iBooks you can check out the following posts here, here and here. I also have an iTunes U course of "how-to"videos if you would like to learn more. All you have to do is click on the picture below from your iPad to download the course and then request enrollment.

I also have a new iBook that I created for my teachers to answer some of the questions they had about using iPads in the Classroom. If you are interested in learning more about my new book and how to download the book click on my blog link below. How would you use iBooks in your classroom?

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Techie Tuesday Link Up

Welcome to Techie Tuesday Link Up!

Every Tuesday we are hosting a linky for you to link up with your best technology post. Please link directly to the techie blog post you are featuring. We are looking forward to seeing your great ideas!

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Monday, June 17, 2013

A Guide to Google Apps for Education

For me, Google Apps for Education is one of the most exciting things happening in the edtech world. It is changing and evolving daily- leaving us with unlimited opportunities to incorporate technology into the classroom. At times, the sheer amount of programs and ideas available can be overwhelming, to help with this I have compiled some of my favorite resources.

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Collaboration..A Web 2.0 Solution

Hi there everyone, this is Kristen from Teacher Playground! Today I wanted to talk about "Wallwisher/Padlet". I have used this for awhile, but it came to light recently in a collaboration meeting. I was working with some Elementary and Secondary specialists and they were talking about how they did not have time to follow up with teachers after professional development trainings and build the connection amongst their campuses. The light bulb went off and I mentioned Wallwisher/Padlet. Imagine being able to input feedback on Wall Wisher and have teachers contribute their ideas and suggestions. You can multiple users on a time.

Here is a little information about Wall Wisher:
Wallwisher/Padlet, allows you to create a “wall” where you can place virtual sticky-notes. You can allow others to also place notes on the board, or keep it so that only you can do so (which is what I would recommend for students). The sticky-notes can include images you grab off the web, videos, or websites, and you can add text to them (you can also just include text without adding anything else). Each sticky has a 160 character limit for text.

Examples:

Collaboration amongst campuses (share ideas, what works/what doesn't..no need to reinvent the wheel)
Collaboration after a training (share thoughts, feelings, how did the implementation go)

Once teachers feel comfortable using Wallwisher/Padlet, they can then use it with their students. Have you ever taught a Math topic and then had a student say that they have another way of doing it. This is a great way for students to share their ideas and feel vested in the learning process.

A great feature I really like about Wallwisher/Padlet is that you can export the board to Excel or as a PDF.

Below are a few other sites that are similar to Wallwisher/Padlet. I like to give you options!

Enjoy!!

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Building Online Portfolios in LiveBinders

My students final project was to create an online portfolio of the work they have done this year using the website www.livebinders.com. We added links to all of the projects we have done during the school year, storybirds, glogs, prezis, blog posts, even stories they typed in google docs, as well as photos and videos. These links provide the “evidence” for learning in each subject.

I can’t share a whole portfolio with you because they contain private pictures and videos, but here are some screen shots of different portfolios. Feel free to stop by my blog – Raki’s Rad Resources to find out how we have done it, or download my Student Created Online Portfolios Packet from my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

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Sunday, June 16, 2013

iPads in the Science and English Language Arts Classroom

This past week I had the opportunity to present the first of my iPads in the Classroom series. In this session I focused on Science and English Language Arts in the Secondary Classroom. I learned so much in preparation for this presentation. The first portion of the presentation was must have apps for any teacher at any level in the classroom. The second portion was science apps and the third and final portion was English Language Arts. Check out the full presentation here!

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Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Make a Scene App

Have you ever heard of the Make a Scene app? I learned about the apps after I visited Ms. Carnazzo's Class wikispace. I was reading about how she uses one iPad in the classroom and came upon this iLesson that caught my attention. She had her 2nd grade students create scenes representing multiplication problems using the app Farmyard Make a Scene and annotate their pictures using the Skitch app. I thought it was a very creative idea and decided to try it out with some sweet kinders to see what they thought.

The first thing I did was explain the app and let them explore it for a bit. Always allow students time to explore a new app! I consider apps just like I do math manipulatives. Students need time to "touch and play" before the lesson. While students are exploring you will probably want them to wear headphones or turn the volume down! The objects in the app make noise! LOTS OF NOISE! After a while of hearing "Spotty Pig" and "OINK, OINK" coming from all directions; volume control is a must. Once the exploration was over we began to work on some addition word problems. Students then saved their scene to the camera roll and transferred it to the Educreations app. Using this app allowed students to explain their scene in a little more detail and write down their math problem.

The lesson was such a success with the kids that I had to add these three apps to my core list for our district's iPad carts. It also got me thinking about other ways I could use the Make a Scene app. I came up with so many skills and concepts that can be taught and I am sure that I have only scratched the surface! If you would like to learn how to use these apps click on my blog button below for my "how-to" screenshots and some of the ideas I came up with of how to use these apps in the classroom. What do you think? What ways could you see using the Make a Scene app in the classroom?