Tech Tuesday for January 31

Happy Tuesday everyone! Here are some goodies I want to share with you.

Edcamp Detroit

Last year, I organized an unconference at Wayne State University and it was a huge hit! I'm happy to say that Edcamp Detroit will be back at Wayne State on Saturday May 5th. You can checkout our website at EdCampDetroit.org or click here to be taken directly to registration.

We have worked very hard to get even more sponsors and predict that space will fill up fast, so be sure to lock down your spot as soon as possible. Like last year, this conference will be free for all who attend and we will be looking to live stream many of the sessions for those who cannot make it in person but want to watch at home. I have been to 3 different EdCamps and I have to say it has been one of the best learning experiences I have been part of. There were many GPPSS teachers there sharing and learning with teachers from all over the state. I hope to see them and many new faces at EdCamp Detroit 2012!

Here is a video of my friend Kristen Swanson who explains how EdCamps started in Philly and spread across the country. If you have any questions, send us an email at edcampdetroit@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter at @EdcampDetroit

Muzy.com

Leo Provenzano

I was able to create the collage above using photos from my Facebook account by using Muzy.com! I found this site on my Google Reader and I played with it for a little bit and I'm hooked. The site allows you to create photo collages and share them directly on Facebook or Twitter. Once they are created, you can download the image and place it in blogs if you want. You could print them up and place them in a frame.

You do not have to use photos from Facebook though. You can upload the photos you want directly to the site. There are many different collage layouts you can choose from to make the picture look the way you want. There are also effects you can add to the collages as well if you were looking for more of a retro look.

There is actually much much more to Mazy, but I have only scratched the surface. I recommend that you dive in and see what hidden gems you can find and use.

This could be a very fun way for a teacher to share pictures of class trips or fun things happening in the classroom. These pictures can be placed right on the school website. Please take a look at Mazy and see how you might use it in class.

Kicksend.com

Kicksend is a pretty simple concept. Let people send very large files through email. We all have had issues with multiple documents that are to large to email and have to send many emails in a row. If you are not ready to go to Dropbox and want to share documents, pictures and video over email, Kicksend is just perfect for you. It is a free site that does not require you to sign up to use. Just go to the site and start uploading the files you want to send.

Kicksend allows you to download their app for your computer for even easier sending and it even has an iPhone app so you can send large photos and videos you take directly from the phone. This site is worth the time to look at.

Museum of Obsolete Objects

This is a funny site I wanted to share with all of you because I remember when some of these things were cutting edge. The YouTube page is a collection of videos that talk about technology that has now become obsolete. Here is a great video example,

This could be fun to share with your students to show them what communication used to look like when we were growing up. I wonder if the the telephone game will still be called the telephone game by the time Leo is in school.


GPS Featured in Japan!

A couple of months ago, some reporters from a Japanese newspaper came to my class to see how I was integrating social media into my classroom. Here is the article that ran on the front page of their evening edition that has 2-3 million subscribers. I always thought social media would take me places, but I never thought it could do this. The reporter said he is working on a translation for me, but I thought I would share this with all of you.

I hope you give some of these new tools a try. 

- NP

Tech Tuesday for 1/17

Here are some great goodies to look at for this week.

Photo Pin

Photo Pin is a great site that allows Bloggers to use images free of charge. Now, many of you might not be Bloggers, but you might be assigning more web based projects and this is a great tool to share with your students who are looking for picutres. Some of the pictures shown will say there is a charge, but there are many more that are free to use. It is never a bad thing to have extra search options when it comes to photos.

Block Posters

Have you ever wanted to take a picutre and blow it up into a poster? Well, with Block Poster, you can do that with just a few clicks of the mouse. Block Poster is designed to allow a user to choose how many sheets of paper they would like their blown up poster to use. You can scan in student work and blow it up for your classroom or hallway. This would be a great way to surprise students and share their work with everyone. Once pieced together, the poster could be laminated and given to the student to take home. This looks like a great site to share with your students and parents.

Sum Cloud



Sum Cloud is a fun site for young math students that works great on the Smartboard. Using 6 different levels of difficulty, the game allows kids to take a look at the possible answers and select them. It's a fun game to have kids practice their Math skills.

Inside Story Flashcards

Inside Story Flashcards is a great flashcard site for kids. Check it out!

My friend Kelly wrote an amazing review of a site I want to share with you, so I'm going to send you to her amazing site for the full run down. iLearnTechnology is a site filled with amazing resources and I encourage you do to some snooping around there. I'm not kidding when I say she has covered almost every educational site on the Internet. She is an amazing person and you need to check out her site.

I hope you enjoy the sites!

Give them a try!

Wired Wednesday?

Sorry for not getting this out on Tuesday, but I was in tech meetings all afternoon. Here are some goodies I hope you enjoy.

We Give Books

I heard of this site from my friend @KTenkely who heard of it from @ShannonMMiller. Pearson has but together a collection of picture books for children through age ten that can be read online! Students with an Internet connection can no access pictures books from home. Also, by reading these books online, you can help other children read books as well. By choosing a literacy partner campaign, the more books that are read, the more books that will be given to these great groups.

I think this is a great read to do some reading as a class. There are some great titles and they will be adding more each month. They also have seasonal titles for the holidays that kids enjoy most. I definitely recommend that teachers check out this great offering from Pearson.

Math and Science Rap

This has to be one of the coolest sites I have seen for Math and Science in a very long time. The idea is simple. Turn important parts of Math and Science into clean rap songs to help students learn. You can consider this a modern day version of School House Rocks! I really like it when people try and approach traditional material in a new and different way and the Rhyme 'N Learn people do just that. The header of their website alone is enough to make you stop and check out their work. Here is a video and song for the Pythagorean Theorem:

Bloom's Taxonomy for iPad Apps

This picutres comes froma Twitter pal @Langwitches. For those of you with iPads and are interested in using them in your class, here are some great apps that line up with Bloom's Taxonomy.

 

Rubric's for the Digital Age

Now that many teachers around the country are entering into the digital world, the most asked question is, "How do I grade it?" Well, there is now a wiki that has rubrics for digital work that includes, blogs, wikis and other Web 2.0 Tools. If you are interested in exploring what digital work has to offer and are looking for rubrics, this is the place for you.

These are some great resources I hope you take the time and time and give them a try!

- NP