Eno software is here!

Now that teachers have had a chance to get comfortable using the eno boards and magnetic strip tools we are ready for the next step. There are two software programs that came with the purchase of the board. One is Wizteach and the other is RM Easiteach. They both offer a variety of interactive tools, widgets and lesson options. The software was just delivered to us. The technology staff is working hard to get the programs installed on all of the computers used with the eno boards.

You might be asking yourself which one is better. Well, that is hard to say since they are both great programs. You will just have to make up your own mind after you see both options! There is one main difference between the two that I have seen so far. Easiteach is a stand alone program that for the most part, is used on by itself. It does offer "glass mode" which lets you go out to other programs, annotate on the screen and easily grab images to bring back to be used in the software with the other tools. There is no need to save a picture from the web just to go back and upload into Easiteach. Glass mode lets you go to the web (or any other program), take a picture and it does the work for you by putting it into your Easiteach screen. It is a great option for a simple, clean look that gives you access to all the tools in the program. You don't need to worry too much about planning ahead since everything you need is at your finger tips when you open it. For example, when you are working with prefixes and suffixes or hunks and chunks you can pull up your word builder cards and create on the fly! Word builder cards are interactive puzzle pieces with letters, hunks, chunks, prefixes, suffixes etc already labeled on them. You can move them around, snap them together to make words and pull them apart again to switch them around.

Wizteach has similar tools and widgets but can work on its own like Easiteach or directly on top of other programs. It has a small control icon (access to tools) that lives on top of whatever program you have open. So, for example, lets say you are teaching math and working with protractors. You can create your own angles to measure in either program. However, when you use Wizteach you can pull up a Word document, PDF, website, etc with problems previously created and use the protractor tool right on top of the other program. It also has a great graph maker. You could quickly create a graph right below your word problem the students just worked out or right on top of the science lesson you have already been working with.

Want to learn more? There was a preview of Wizteach offered during our Tech Tuesday session last week for those that wanted a head start. Jayne Neufarth and I will be offering training on each program during Tech Tuesday sessions in April and you can always contact me with any questions. Enjoy your new software!

Eno Evolution

Interactive white boards are changing the way teachers teach and students learn. Here in Ross we have decided on the Eno board for our interactive white boards. Eno boards are now installed in all 4 buildings across the district in varying numbers. The students and teachers are really getting into the swing of a new way to learn.

I was fortunate enough to work with Cindy Ward, fourth grade teacher at Elda and two of her students Zac Duggins and Daniel Wright to present to the Ross Board of Education at the last meeting. After my introduction about the training and implementation of the boards Cindy and her students took the floor for a demonstration of the Eno in action. Zac and Daniel took turns being students and teachers for a typical math lesson. The 'teacher' would control the computer and eno board while proposing math questions to the 'student'. The 'student' completed the equation on a personal sized dry erase board and held the work up for the teacher to see. The attention then turned to the function machine from the Easiteach software (runs on the eno board). The function machine is a great little widget that allows you to create your own equations. The numbers you insert crunch through the machine to produce the correct answer. In a typical lesson the students took turns putting the numbers into the function machine to check the work of the class.

Next, the lesson moved to place value. The 'teacher' (student acting as the teacher) used the place value cards from the easiteach software to create a number. The place value cards are movable numbers that look like puzzle pieces. You can move them, stack them on other cards or snap them together to make larger numbers. In a typical lesson the students take turns coming up to the board to use the eno pen to write the number below the place value cards, add commas then say the number correctly out loud.

These are just a few examples of how Cindy uses the Eno board and software with her students. She uses it every day to teach and feels that the board and software have helped her to become more of a facilitator and empower her students to become the teachers. Cindy, Daniel and Zac did a fantastic job giving the audience an understanding of how the Eno boards are helping students to develop a deeper understanding of content and the new tools available to learn.

Tech Help is on the Way!

Welcome back to school! I consider our first week to be a success! There were definitely a few hurdles to jump (networks down, bare floors, you name it) but everyone pulled through and welcomed all the smiling faces back from summer break. Many of us even got together early to participate in the TEACHnology conference held in August. There were plenty of great sessions to attend. If you missed out on one or two have no fear! Tech help is on the way! Beginning in October there will be Technology Tuesday professional development sessions offered at 3:45 at the high school every week through April. We will cover topics from the TEACHnology conference, new emerging technologies, ways to go digital to save paper, Eno board trainings and more. To check out any of the information from the TEACHnology conference, click below. There are notes, handouts and links for all the sessions that were offered.

http://rossteachnology.wikispaces.com/

Your feedback is always appreciated! If you have ideas for tech trainings or other tech related feedback please let me know. You can start by voting in the poll to the right. It is just for fun this week but the question will change every week.

I also wanted to thank everyone for their patience with all the "hurdles" we are jumping over due to construction pains. The tech support staff is doing their best (and a great job!) to get everything up and running as quickly as possible!

Elda and Morgan Teachers
As many of you already know, there is a student website for each building. Jenna Rahrig created one for Morgan originally and I created one for Elda. The sites are a great way to get the students to the programs they need quickly and painlessly! The Elda site is a work in progress, but ready to go for the basics. Check out the links below:
http://www.rossrams.com/Morgan/mediacenter.html
http://eldastudents.wikispaces.com/

Apple iPad for Education

Apple released the new iPad a few weeks ago and it is amazing! It is really easy to use and has a surprising amount of ways to use for teaching and learning. It has a big enough screen to actually read and compose on and it has a great battery life (up to 10 hrs). The whole screen is touch sensitive so anything you want to do is intuitive. The size is a great benefit. It is big enough to be useful, yet small enough to be easily portable and let students work collaboratively if needed.

There are a lot of great education applications that are completely free and others available to purchase. There are flash cards, vocabulary builders, maps, books and many more apps to choose from. For example, the Kindle app is a great way to read books and be used as a study tool. You can take notes right in the app for the page you want in the book and highlight passages. The Kindle app syncs with your Amazon account (once you create one) so you can log in and see everything in one place. So, instead of having to flip through pages to find notes or passages you want to reference they are all organized in your Amazon account. You have it all right in front of you electronically that you can sort and organize in any way you want. Plus, there is a built in dictionary that you can highlight any word and look it up right there on the spot from the book you are reading.

Another great way to use the iPad is to download free resources (documents, videos, podcasts, etc) from Ohio iTunes U. You can view them all into your iTunes account on your iPad and view them even with out internet access.

I am sure you will find plenty of other ways to utilize an iPad in your classroom and daily life once you take a look at one! I know I have!

Make your own video tutorials for free!

Have you ever seen a video tutorial of a computer screen with instructions and wonder, "How do they do that?" Now you can make your own tutorials with free software! There are several different software programs available to make this happen, however 'Jing' is free and easy to use. You can capture sill images of your computer screen, record a video of your screen and share your files online. The next time someone asks you how to do something 'techie' you can create a quick video with your instructions instead of typing them out and sending them over email. It will be faster then typing out all of the steps! Check out the link below for a free download and more information.
http://www.jingproject.com/

Once you create your video/webcast/vodcast (video webcast) there are many ways to share it. If you have a wiki or webpage you can upload it there. Or, if you are not that fancy yet you can use 'Screencast.com' to share your videos. It is basically saving your files in 'the cloud' (or, online). You can share the link to your internet storage space so others can view your videos. Screencast.com is also free. You just need to set up an account. From there, you can upload your videos and files. You can even control which files are public (anyone who has your link can get to the files) and which files are private. Private files are only accessible to you when you sign in so others can't see them. It is super easy to get started. Check out the Screencast link below to get started.
http://www.screencast.com/



Check out my tutorial below on how to add a file to a Wikispaces page.
Link to my Screencast shared page:
Add file to wiki

What's Up with RSS?

Have you ever wondered what people are talking about when they say 'RSS Feed'? Or, have you seen those little orange boxes on websites with the letters RSS and wondered who this RSS person was and why they keep leaving their initials everywhere? Well, here are some basics to help you get up to speed. The icon below is another common symbol for RSS feeds.

RSS feeds are a great way to for you and your students to stay up-to-date and informed with 21st Century skills. RSS typically stands for 'Real Simple Syndication'.
"RSS solves a problem for people who regularly use the web. It allows you to easily stay informed by retrieving the latest content from the sites you are interested in. You save time by not needing to visit each site individually. You ensure your privacy, by not needing to join each site's email newsletter. The number of sites offering RSS feeds is growing rapidly and includes big names like Yahoo News. 

What do I need to do to read an RSS Feed?

Feed Reader or News Aggregator software allow you to grab the RSS feeds from various sites and display them for you to read and use."(http://www.whatisrss.com/)

 

There are several options out there to choose from for feed readers and/or aggregators such as Page Flakes and Google Reader.

"Once you have your Feed Reader, it is a matter of finding sites that syndicate content and adding their RSS feed to the list of feeds your Feed Reader checks. Many sites display a small icon with the acronyms RSS, XML, or RDF to let you know a feed is available." (http://www.whatisrss.com/)

 

As mentioned above, Pageflakes is a great site to view your RSS feeds and to use in education. One reason I like Pageflakes is that you can make your page public and share it with others. So, the next time you teach a unit on habitats you could set up a page flake to bring in articles from sites that you choose all to one place. You can share the Pageflake link with your students so they have the most recent information and content to read and it will all be about the topic you are covering!

http://www.pageflakes.com/

2nd Grade: Saving Forests with Clickers

If you thought second graders were too young to use Turning Point clickers, think again! Second grade classes at Elda and Morgan are using the clickers for their district assessments. Turning Point slides were created for all of the multiple choice questions for the Science and Social Studies assessments. We started the project at Elda with Dave Williams and Mandy Brosier's classes. The students loved it and did a great job! It was so easy! They picked up with the paper/pencil versions for the fill in and short answer questions after they 'voted' in all of the multiple choice answers.

The project will pick back up again next week at Morgan. All second grade classes will be using Turning Point for assessments. The idea is to pilot the clickers for district assessments this year with a few classes to see how it works. If all goes well (so far it is) we can use clickers for more assessments and grade levels in the future. Just think about all the paper and money we could save by using the clickers for multiple choice questions. If we only have to print the short answer and fill in questions we will save whole forests! Well, it might take a few years to save a forest but why not dream big?