Tech Tuesday for March 13

Happy Tuesday everyone! Sorry I did not send you an email last week, but MME Testing and my trip to MACUL gave me a busy schedule. I did come back from the conference with some great new tools to share with you over the next few weeks, so please take a moment and check these out.

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 sold out all 175 tickets and have started a wait list. Schedules change and people cannot make it to the event, so please sign up if you still want to go. This is not just for teachers. Anyone involved with education can attend and share. Media Specialists, Special Education, Administrators and school board members are encouraged to attend. Please visit our site and put your name on the wait list. As the organizer, I've got some pull if you really want to join the fun on May 5.

Apple Update

On Wednesday. Apple announced their new iPad, their new Apple TV and their software update, iOS 5.0.1. If you have an Apple Device, you should consider the update. It does not take very long and has some nice additions. Sorry, no Siri if you do not have a 4S. Here is a great article by Mashable explaining how to update your device. This applies for all iPads, iPhones and iTouches.


UJam

The idea behind UJam is simple and awesome. Allow anyone the ability to create music and share it with the whomever they want. Here is a video that explains how it works.




As a teacher, this could be a fun way to introduce new concepts to class and create songs to make some ideas more memorable for the students. This could also be used by students to create their own songs for any number of projects. For the musically minded, UJam is a great FREE web tool that can attract students to almost any lesson.

E.ggtimer.com

E.ggtimer.com is a simple timer any teacher can use. Here is how you can use it. 

Example usage:

• http://e.ggtimer.com/5minutes
• http://e.ggtimer.com/1hour
• http://e.ggtimer.com/30 (defaults to seconds)

By typing in the time you want after the /, you can create timer as long as you want. There are also some special timers you can have fun with in class or at home. 

Special Timers:

• http://e.ggtimer.com/pomodoro (does one 25/5 minute cycle)
• http://e.ggtimer.com/morning (can help get your blood pumping)
• http://e.ggtimer.com/brushteeth (for healthy teeth)
• http://e.ggtimer.com/tabata (8 reps of 20/10 second intervals)

While not a revolutionary idea that is going to change the way we teach, it is a nice little FREE web tool that can make class run a little more efficiently.

I want to thank my friend Steve Dembo for showing me these, and many more, web tools that I know get to pass on to the great educators of Grosse Pointe Public Schools.

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

iNudge - Make Beautiful Music

• 
  
  iNudge.net

Here is an interesting site for the Music Teacher in the district. You can create you music with this free device. Here are some of the things you can do on iNudge.

• * Select 1 of 8 different Sound Patterns from the small Matrixes icons on the right.
  * Use your mouse to draw notes on each 16 Step Matrix.
  * For each Pattern, adjust Volume, Mute, Clear, or set Audio Pan from Left to Right.
  * Click on the Tempo numbers and click up or down to change the overall Tempo.
  * Get & Share allows you to Send Mail, Get Link, Get Embed code or Spread in communities.
  * Use the Feedback Forum to tell us what you think, leave your comments or make suggestions.

This could be a fun site to have music students play with or little children to use to learn about notes. Play around with it and see what you can so with it.

-Give it a try!