Keystone Tech Talk

Links for 2009-11-10 [del.icio.us]

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST

Manipulate PDFs Using Preview | Mac|Life
Preview on the Mac does more than just read PDFs!
Web 2.0 Guru - home
On the site, there are tons of resources, sorted by different categories, that can be used in the classroom to help improve teaching and learning.

Links for 2009-11-08 [del.icio.us]

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST

Interesting Ways | edte.ch
Interesting ways to use a variety of tech applications in classrooms; includes tips!

Links for 2009-11-04 [del.icio.us]

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST

Profiles for Technology Literate Students
Examples of learning activities (Pre-K through Grade 12) in which students might engage as the National Tech Standards are being implemented.
ISTE | NETS for Students 2007
National Educational Technology Standards for students.
Essential Conditions to Effectively Leverage Technology for Learning
From ISTE, a list of conditions that are necessary to effectively integrate technology for learning. Interesting!
Bloom's Taxonomy--Updated
Bloom's Taxonomy was updated in the 1990's. This site offers verbs (instead of nouns) to help guide the development of activities to target each of the levels.
Tips for a Good-Looking Wiki
How to change the appearance of your Wikispaces wiki.
Life Cycle of Flower
Interactive . . . drag and drop parts; match with labels.
Oil Refining: A Closer Look
Interactive.
My LIfe as an Elk
My Life as an Elk - interactive storybook for K-4
Home of CELLS alive!
film and computer-enhanced images of living cells & organisms for education.
Biomes & Ecosystems
Missouri Botanical Garden- multimedia information on Biomes & Ecosystems for grades 6-8. Biology site included
All Systems Go
All Systems Go - interactive website for grades 3-5 on the human body system.

Links for 2009-11-03 [del.icio.us]

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST

shapePoems
Shape Poems is a simple poem generation template hosted by Read Write Think. Shape Poems provides a template for writing poems in the shape of an object, about that object. Shape templates can be selected from one of four themes including sports, school, nature, and celebrations. Students then select a shape and identify words that they associate with their chosen shape. When completed, students can hear their poems read to them and or print their poems.

Links for 2009-11-02 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST

FreeTypingGame.net
Free typing games online, fun and lesson based keyboarding games including home row!
BibMe: Fast & Easy Bibliography Maker - MLA, APA, Chicago, Turabian - Free
- MLA, APA, Chicago, Turabian - Free - Can use auto-fill or manual entry mode
Son of Citation Machine
Citation machine helps students and professional researchers to properly credit the information that they use. Its primary goal is to make it so easy for student researchers to cite their information source.
OttoBib - Free Automatic Easy Bibliography Generator.
For books only. Enter the ISBN and the tool will complete the citation. Fast! MLA, APA, Chicago, Turabian
toolsforsearch - home
A long list of search tools. Search blogs, twitter, wikis, images, people, videos . . . Google is not always the most efficient way to search.

Before You Forward--Snopes!

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:01:00 +0000

Sony is giving away free laptops. A mother is pleading for help to find her runaway daughter. A child is collecting bottle tops to raise money for cancer research in honor of his ailing mother. A computer virus is circulating that will burn your hard drive. And so on and so on.

We all receive forwarded (and forwarded and forwarded) emails that we feel we must pass on to friends so they can get a free laptop, help find the missing daughter, add to the bottle top collection, prevent a hard drive meltdown, etc. But do you realize that many of these emails that we forward are actually just hoaxes that fill up our inboxes unnecessarily?

One of my favorite listservs, 180TechTips, gives tips on how you can check out these "urban legends" before forwarding them to others. The site I use most often to verify email stories is Snopes.com. Just do a search for the keywords in the email and see if the story is a hoax or fact. For example, I recently received an email stating that Sony is giving away free laptops to anyone who forwards the email to eight friends. (The email even said that the sender checked it out on Snopes!) Well, I checked it out on Snopes, too, and found the free laptop story to be a hoax.

So, before you forward your next urban legend, Snopes it!

Links for 2009-11-01 [del.icio.us]

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:00:00 PST

coolfood kidz
Cool Food Kidz is a kid-friendly website about nutrition, exercise, and general health. Cool Food Kidz provides easy-to-read lists of things they can do to take care of their health. For example, there is a list of "building healthy habits" tips which walks kids through ten basic things they can do to keep themselves healthy. Cool Food Kidz also provides students with tips for dental health and tips for keeping their brains sharp. The tips for eating out section offers advice to students on picking a healthy lunch and healthy snack foods.

Links for 2009-10-30 [del.icio.us]

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:00:00 PDT

It's My Life . Friends . Bullies | PBS Kids GO!
PBS web site on bullying, includes games, video, etc.

Keystone Students Surveyed on Technology Use

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:53:00 +0000

We recently surveyed Keystone students in Grades 4-12 on their technology use both in and outside of school. We learned that:

93% have computers at home, and 85% of their home computers are connected to the Internet.
About 69% have high-speed Internet at home; about 6% still have a dial-up connection, and another 16% aren't sure how they connect to the Internet.
Almost 66% of high school and 34% of elementary students (Grades 4-6) have an account on MySpace, Facebook, or other social networking site.
Over 86% of KHS and almost 78% of KES students have an iPod or other brand of mp3 player, and about 80% of high school and 61% of elementary students have cell phones.

We also surveyed our students on their attitudes toward technology use in school and discovered that:

About 89% of students in Grades 4-12 feel that technology makes learning more interesting.
Around 83.5% think that technology makes it easier to learn new things.
About 78% said that technology helps improve the quality of their school work.
88% feel that having computers in the classroom is an advantage for learning.

In addition, it appears that our "Classrooms for the Future" and EETT grant programs have had an impact on teaching and learning at KHS over the past few years. A comparison of 2006 and 2009 survey data from Keystone High School shows:

Daily student technology use in classes increased by 12.8%.
Students who reported that they learn and remember best when the teacher lectures or tells them the information decreased by 26.7%, while the percentage of teachers using lecturing as a primary means of lesson delivery decreased by over 34% according to students. Only 8.7% of KHS students now report that they learn best when teachers lecture.
Students who said their teachers use technology to present lessons increased by nearly 33%, while an additional nearly 40% report that their teachers use a combination of methods to deliver lessons in 2009.
High school teachers increased their daily use of technology to deliver lessons by over 41% since 2006.

Unfortunately, Keystone Elementary has not benefitted from the state and federal technology grants that have targeted the high schools over the past few years. Teachers do not have access to nearly the number of multimedia projectors, interactive whiteboards, and student laptops that are now ubiquitous in the core subject area classrooms at KHS. This lack of equipment naturally limits the lesson delivery options at the elementary school. Although nearly 89% of students in Grades 4-6 say that technology makes learning more interesting, about 84% say that technology makes it easier to learn new things, and 88% report that having computers in the classroom is an advantage for learning:

Only 5.6% of KES students report that they use technology daily in their classes (as compared to 22.4% of KHS students.)
About 7.4% of KES students say that their teachers use technology to present lessons (KHS--49.6%), and only 6.5% of KES students report that their teachers use tech to present lessons daily as compared to 48% of KHS students.

Obviously, our challenge for the future is to find the financial means to provide the faculty and students at Keystone Elementary with the equipment and training they require to meet the needs of 21st Century learners while also, at a minimum, maintaining equipment and programs at KHS. And, of course, we can't forget that we need to continue to increase our PSSA scores as well!

This video demonstrates the unique instructional needs of today's students. Blog readers who receive updates by email may not be able to see the embedded video and should access it through this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-ZVCjfWf8

Apps for Education

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:52:00 +0000

There are now thousands of free or inexpensive apps (applications or programs) for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Educators across the country are finding that many of these apps have educational value and can be used by students in and out of the classroom.

Check out this list of educational apps compiled by a school district that apparently uses iPod Touches for instruction. And if you'd like to learn more about the Touch, just ask to see mine. I'd love to give you a demonstration!

Thanks to our Apple sales executive, Angela Miller, for sharing this site with us.

Tech, Teens, and a Trek to the Great Outdoors

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 21:49:00 +0000

Keystone 7th graders made their annual trip to Beaver Ponds on a cool but sunny autumn day to complete a variety of cross-curricular activities. Using our Palm handheld computers and science probes, the students conducted a variety of water tests with Mr. Whitling. I heard someone say that the pond water was only 55 degrees! Mr. Everett assisted the students in taking and evaluating soil samples as well.

During another activity, the kids connected cameras to the Palms and photographed their favorite subjects at this wetlands and wildlife sanctuary. They then wrote descriptive paragraphs using strong adjectives and adverbs for Miss Wilcox's English class. Their reading class assignment for Mrs. McGiffin involved writing acrostic poems about their photos.

The students also went creek side to join Mrs. Werner and Mr. Reed to calculate water velocity for their math activity. Finally, the teens applied their geography latitude and longitude skills as they hooked the GPS devices to the Palms and went in search of items hidden ahead of time by Mr. Heath.

The handheld computers and peripherals were obtained through a "Hands-on Learning" grant in 2004. What great fun and what a great group of kids!

Follow this link to see the Animoto video of our day at Beaver Ponds!

Love These Mac vs. PC Ads!

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:38:00 +0000

Despite many years as a PC user, I have become an avid Mac supporter. After much thought and debate, we chose Mac over PC for our "Classrooms for the Future" project two years ago. I love my Macbook!

Enjoy this series of Mac vs. PC ads that I learned about from a tweet by @jgates513.

100 Mobile Tools for Teachers

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 14:03:00 +0000

100 Mobile Tools for Teachers offers 100 online tools that can be accessed with cell phones or sometimes an iPod Touch. I discovered the site from a tweet by @joycevalenza.

It is a common-known fact that teaching is a labor of love for most educators. They are overworked and under-appreciated and many of them spend their own money, time and energy to improve their students’ education. With all of the new mobile tools on the market today, teachers can more easily work from satellite locations, share educational resources and access school-related data directly from their cell phones. Here are 100 mobile tools for teachers that make the grade.

Skim over the list and find some tools that will work for you and your students!

Flickr image by Robert Scoble

Teaching Problem-Solving and Creativity

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 16:01:00 +0000

On this dreary, rainy Labor Day, I'm sorting through last school year's technology journals. I came across an article entitled "Foundations for Independent Thinking" in the Fall 2008 edition of The Creative Educator magazine. The article gives several alternatives to the "choose a topic and write a report" assignments that we traditionally give--and that encourage the lovely "find a web site and copy and paste" creations that our students often submit for grading.

Many of you have heard me say more than once that if your students are able to complete your assignments by copying and pasting, you're giving the wrong kind of assignments! Consider these alternatives, which will require your kids to apply, analyze, evaluate, and create. Yes, they will work their way up the new and improved Bloom's Taxonomy!

Top Ten List

Students create a "top ten" list ala David Letterman, which can vary depending on the topic. How about the top ten reasons for living in a particular state, or the top ten reasons why a certain animal would or would not make a good pet, or the top ten reasons why a historical figure should be nominated for the History Hall of Fame. Be creative!

Five Senses

Students write a poem about a place or habitat using their five senses. What might they see or taste or smell? Have them illustrate their poem by creating a PowerPoint, Voicethread, or Animoto video using images, words, and sound to further describe the topic they've researched.

Associative Letter Report

Assign each student a different letter of the alphabet and ask them to use only words beginning with that letter to describe the topic they've researched. Yes, they will have to put on their thinking caps and perhaps use a thesaurus to come up with appropriate words. This might be a great time to introduce alliteration. Students can create a Wordle cloud to illustrate their words and/or use Powerpoint to create a book to further expand on and illustrate each of their words.

If . . . But

This activity requires comparing and contrasting. Students research two topics, and then writing in first person, compare and contrast the two. If I were A, then I would . . . . But if I were B, then I would . . . . If I lived in A, then I would . . . . But if I lived in B, then I would . . . How about having students create a Glogster poster for each of their topics to help visualize the similarities and differences with images and perhaps video?

All of these ideas can be modified for almost any grade level or subject area, and in my opinion, will be more interesting and motivating to students than the typical "write a report" assignment! See the article for even more ideas and get ready to challenge your students in 2009-10!

Image: http://faculty.chass.ncsu.edu/slatta/hi216/images/gifs/blm.gif

Time Lists the Top 50 Web Sites of 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:54:00 +0000

Time Magazine has listed their picks for the top 50 web sites of 2009. The list includes several of my favorites--Delicious, Flickr, Twitter, Skype, Google, YouTube, Amazon, Pandora--as well as quite a few that I haven't yet explored.

The Today Show included a segment this morning on Supercook, where you can enter ingredients that you have on hand and search for a recipe that includes them. That site might come in handy when I'm leaving school at the end of the day with no clue as to what's for dinner!

Dance Like No One's Watching

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 23:55:00 +0000

I'm sitting on my back porch this evening with my computer as I often do in the summer. You know how it goes . . . one click leads to another and soon an hour has gone by. (I'm supposed to be creating a Google Site for my CFF class!)

I came across a blog called Blogush, written by Paul Bogush, an 8th grade social studies teacher in Connecticut. I immediately started skimming through the blog and then added it to my Google Reader. (Yes, someone near and dear to me is also an 8th grade social studies teacher, and he just loves it when I find this stuff for him. No pressure, Dear!)

I was especially intrigued by Paul's post entitled . . . dance like no one's watching. It's really hard for us teachers to give up control of assignments and assessments, but it sounds like Paul meshes well the traditional and student-centered assignments.

Are you ready to dance this school year?

Image: flickr.com/photos/ edenpictures/3204387452/

Teachers Attend Tech Summer School

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 02:02:00 +0000

Several of Keystone High School's "Classrooms for the Future" teachers spent two days of their summer break brushing up on iWork and iLife '09 applications. Apple trainer Paul Tarantiles traveled from New Jersey to teach us the latest and greatest about the newest versions of the software. (We haven't met an Apple trainer yet that we didn't like!)

We explored GarageBand (Did you know you can take piano and guitar lessons through GarageBand?) and learned to make Animoto-like videos with iPhoto. We also found that we can create books through iPhoto and have them published into hardbacks. In addition, we developed projects with both iMovie and Photo Booth.

Our second day was spent primarily on podcasting. We explored the thousands of free podcasts available for download through iTunesU and then created enhanced podcasts in GarageBand. Each of us researched historical events that occurred on our birthday, gathered related images, wrote a script, and then narrated our podcast. We had a great time sharing our finished products. Let's just say we have some very creative teachers!

Paul, a former classroom teacher and school technology director, shared excellent ideas for integrating all of these tools into our classrooms. He also convinced me that there is no reason to buy Microsoft Office when you have Pages, Keynote, and Numbers on your computer! (Paul liked our local Italian eatery so much that we took him back there for lunch on the second day. I won't be surprised if he visits us again just so he can eat at Vito and Connie's!)

I think we all enjoyed and benefited from our two days of "summer school." As one teacher put it, it was nice to relax and concentrate on the training instead of worrying about what her class was doing while she wasn't in the room!

Bill Irwin, Brett Vaughn, and Paul Tarantiles

Sharon Geary and Ann Noonen (from Crawford Central SD)

Sandi McElravy and Barbara Beggs

Greg Heath, Bill Irwin, Dan Reed, Brett Vaughn

The iSchool Initiative

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:59:00 +0000

Much has been written about the future of smaller, less expensive computing devices in schools. Well, a forward-thinking high school student from Georgia has his own thoughts on how the iPod Touch can be used to reform American education. Take a look at his video!

Thanks to Apple account executive Angela Miller for the link.

New iLearn Ezine Now Online

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 01:47:00 +0000

Technology specialist Kelly Tenkely has published the second volume of her iLearn ezine (online magazine), and it's a good one! Although Tenkely is a devoted Mac user, her ezines have something for every teacher--Mac or PC--who integrates technology into his or her lesson plans.

For example, the newest iLearn, "Learning Made Mobile," includes a comparison of the four popular iPod models and gives tips on using each in the classroom. And iTouch fans, don't miss Tenkely's list of the best educational apps! Also take a few minutes to read the articles on digital storytelling and 21st Century literacy.

While you're on Tenkely's web site, look around a bit. You'll find many, many great resources for the classroom. In fact, many of the sites that I share with Keystone teachers are first recommended on the iLearn Technology edublog!

Videoconferencing Opportunities

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:44:00 +0000

I attended a day-long Videoconference Showcase at IU 6 recently and had an opportunity to participate in videoconferences from several different venues. I will paste my notes below. Please excuse the lack of complete sentences and other grammatical niceties!

Check out the links for more info and to see lists of available activities. Also, if you are interested in participating in any of these videoconferences in the future, let me know. Please note that some are free and some charge a fee. Many send out classroom materials prior to the videoconference.

Mariners Museum
http://www.mariner.org/
http://www.mariner.org/educationalad/teachers/elec_classroom.php

Man’s interaction with the sea
Web content, activities to download, quizzes—try to provide whole package
Programs for every age group

Pirates—difference between what literature and Hollywood have taught us about pirates; program tries to dispel myths; schools use when reading Treasure Island; can be geared to K-12
Civil War—museum is repository for artifacts being brought up by USS Monitor that went down in Hampton Roads area; Monitor vs. Virginia (ironclad); end of wooden war ships; deadliest day for US Navy before Pearl Harbor; web content on their web site; also do beginnings of CW
Native Americans in Mid-Atlantic Region—younger elementary students--tools they used; weapons; canoes; roles of men, women, children;
Sailing into Thanksgiving—K & 1—Pilgrims and Mayflower; 1st Thanksgiving
They send kit so kids can make their own Mayflowers!
Big Winds, Big Waves, Science of Hurricanes—4th through lower HS grades; what is necessary for hurricanes to form; use satellite imagery and other graphics; will follow a certain storm
Life at Sea Program—life at sea during 19th Century; sailors’ jobs, tools, artwork; Why were they going to sea? Why did they go out to hunt whales?
Titanic program—3rd grade through HS--talk about classes of people; communication tools of the time; events of the time the Titanic went down; legacy of the Titanic; why are we still talking about it?
Captive Passage program—older elem through HS—difficult topic to talk about—explanation between African and western concepts of slavery; cramped conditions on ship; what slaves did when arrived in Americas as opposed to the Caribbean area or S. America; Use primary source documents
Age of Exploration—spices, What did the early explorers find? Upper elementary through HS; map study
Chemistry of Conservation—currently developing and testing
Chesapeake Bay
Most are $100; some are $75
Usually 1 hour long
757-591-7748 to book a program or visit web site www.marinersmuseum.org or distancelearning@marinersmuseum.org

Library of Congress
Geared toward professional development for teachers; not programs for students
http://www.loc.gov/index.html
Teacher’s Page: http://www.loc.gov/teachers/

Under resources:
Videoconference workshops: http://memory.loc.gov/learn/educators/video/index.html
America’s Library—for kids http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi
Everyday Mysteries--science http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/
Images on Popular Topics—groups of photos on a variety of topics so teacher doesn’t have to go out and find them! http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/listguid.html
Lesson Plans http://memory.loc.gov/learn/lessons/index.html
Portals to the World: Links to resources from around the world http://www.loc.gov/rr/international/portals.html
Thematic Resources—links to resources arranged by themes: http://memory.loc.gov/learn/community/
Webcasts for Teachers—recordings of presentations at the Library of Congress, selected for teachers: http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/results.php?cat=1&mode=a
Young Reader’s Toolkit: http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/2008/toolkit/

Links at top of page:
Ask a Librarian—form to inquire about programs or workshops
Digital Collections—links to all digital resources

Taking the Mystery out of Copyright—for kids: http://www.loc.gov/teachers/copyrightmystery/

Newsletter: http://www.loc.gov/teachers/tps/newsletter/index.html

Hardware Demo—Kevin Simmons
Polycom introduced software (People Plus Content—free download) to allow to share content from laptop over the videoconference
Try to make setup simple so anyone can use without tech staff help
Set up presets

To use Scopia Desktop:

Reserve space on IU 5 bridge—contact Ken Pruitt or Kevin Simmons
Gives the capability of joining videoconference without the videoconferencing equipment.
About same quality as using Polycom.
Can only connect to videoconference happening on the bridge. Can’t use if it’s a point-to-point videoconference (two parties only)
Might possibly be able to use at elementary school without hauling equipment over.
Always do a test first! Schedule two times on bridge so can test prior to videoconference

Carnegie Museum of Natural History
http://www.carnegiemnh.org/doe/programs/DL.htm
Rocks and Minerals
Presenter offered a workshop on rocks and minerals. Showed several rocks/minerals and talked about them.

Ann Arbor Hands-on Museum
www.aahom.org/distancelearning
Great presentation! We did sample activities from their “Slime Time and States of Matter” and “Fractions Interactions” programs.

Videoconference Databases
www.learninpa.org for list

Cleveland Museum of Art
www.clevelandart.org/dl

Arielle Levine—presenter; alevine[at]clevelandart.org

All programs include handouts and/or other materials that are sent ahead of time
Book with at least a 2-week lead; longer for 2nd semester and end of school year

Pricing--$135 for most (45 min-1 hr); We get at $120 since we are Magpi members.
$75 for those for younger children (30 min)
$165 for those presented in a foreign language

A sampling of offerings:
Math Connections in Art—4 sessions—focus on art of Chuck Close; He uses math and grid system in his art; students then do a project—do self-portrait using grid system. (Like our art students do in 8th grade with Mr. Carrow)

Tessellation Exploration!
One session
Look at tessellations from around the world
A type of closed repeating pattern—all patterns must interlock
Show artwork from around the world to demonstrate tessellations

Origami Program
Math program that uses origami and other artwork that relates to math

Harlem Renaissance—popular with language arts and social studies programs
Study African-American artists from Harlem in the 1920’s and 30’s

A is for Animal (K-1)
A is for Apple, A is for Art (k-1)

Gods and Heroes programs—popular with high schools, esp. from Greece and Rome

Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration
http://www.cilc.org/
—resource for video conferencing programs. Cleveland Museum of Art uses for their bookings.

Are MIni-Notebooks a Cost-Efficient Option?

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Tue, 12 May 2009 15:58:00 +0000

We recently purchased four HP Mini 2140 Notebook PCs to pilot for possible use with our elementary students. These laptops have a 10.1" diagonal widescreen display and weigh only a little over 2.5 lbs. The keyboards, however, are just a little smaller than a standard laptop keyboard. The computers include a built-in web cam.

Although these notebooks ship with Windows Vista Home, we opted to load the Windows XP Pro operating system. We are connecting them wirelessly to our Active Directory network with an Apple Airport Xtreme Base Station.

The notebooks have been living in Kate Schoeppner's fourth grade classroom for the past couple of weeks. I asked her to turn her students loose on them, and the kids have used these laptops for writing activities as well as for Internet research.

Kate plans to have her students voice their opinions on these smaller, less expensive laptops. (Our students have been using standard-sized laptops for several years.) They will add their comments to this blog entry as they get time. To read what they have to say, click on "Comments" at the end of this post. Those of you who get these updates by email or RSS feed will have to click on the title of the post, which will take you to the actual blog, to see the comments section.

Learning with the iPhone and iPod Touch

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Fri, 08 May 2009 00:41:00 +0000

Are you a fan of your iPhone or iPod Touch? Then take a look at this list of 100 Best iPhone Apps for Serious Learners. The apps are arranged in categories; choose from Literature, Arts, Foreign Languages, Travel, Science, Medicine, Math, Nature, Christian Studies, and Reference Materials. Some of the apps are free, and others are not.

I wonder how the Stanza app compares to the iPhone/Touch version of Kindle? The more I use my Kindle app, the more I like it! It sounds like Stanza has more features, though.

iPods in the Classroom

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:59:00 +0000

The NBC Nightly News ran a story on Grace Poli, a New Jersey teacher who uses iPods to teach English as a Second Language. Her ideas can be modified for almost any subject area, though.

Warning . . . You may have to endure a commercial or two before the video starts!

Image: http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2006/11/05/5e_brad_wideweb__470x330,0.jpg

"Fleshing the Bones" Part II

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 13:05:00 +0000

Students held their pictures in front of the camera of the videoconferencing unit, and the video was sent across the Internet to be viewed across the state! Jason from the Academy of Natural Sciences is shown on the screen to the right.

Keystone junior high art students participated in the second part of the "Fleshing the Bones: The Art and Science of Drawing Dinosaurs" videoconference yesterday. The first part of the videoconference, presented by Magpi and the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences three weeks ago, introduced students to the concept of drawing dinosaurs based on skeletons and other clues. Students were given the assignment of completing the skull sketch that they started during the first session to present to other participants during the second meeting. See the K20 Inter@ctions blog for detailed info on the project.

Our students spent a whole day recently with art teacher Fred Carrow while he guided them through the sketching and painting of their dinosaur skulls. Using web sites and pictures from professional artists as their guides, they learned about shadowing and other art techniques as they finished sketching and then applied water colors (tempera paints) to their creations.

During yesterday's videoconference, each student artist from the seven participating schools in PA and New Jersey had an opportunity to share his finished masterpiece. The students simply held their papers up to the camera attached to the video conferencing equipment for viewing across the state! Jason from the Academy of Natural Sciences commented on their work and questioned their choice of colors, their biggest challenges, and the animals that influenced their drawings.

We have some very talented artists at Keystone as evidenced by their creations pictured below! Clicking on the pictures will enlarge them.

Get Dictionary.com for your iPod Touch

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:04:00 +0000

Dictionary.com has come out with an app for the iPod Touch and iPhone. According to the Dictionary.com web site:

The free Dictionary.com app delivers world-class reference content from Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com including more than 275,000 definitions and 80,000 synonyms. The app also features audio pronunciations, similarly spelled words and Dictionary.com's popular Word of the Day that is enjoyed by more than a million users.

Don't miss the commercial on the web site. I'll bet you never thought using a dictionary could be so cool!

The site recommends downloading and installing the app through iTunes and a computer.

Dinosaurs, Art, and Science and a Great Videoconference

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:47:00 +0000

Junior high art students from Keystone High School learned much about skulls, dinosaurs, and sketching when they participated in "Fleshing the Bones: An Introduction to the Art and Science of Drawing Dinosaurs." This program, presented by the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences and distributed via videoconferencing through Magpi, was introduced as follows:

In 1868 the first dinosaur skeleton, Hadrosaurus foulkii, was mounted and put on display at The Academy of Natural Sciences. This momentous event was the result of a collaboration between and artist and a scientist. The ability to visualize an extinct animal as a living creature continues to be the work of scientists and artists working together to study the skeletal anatomy of these animals. How do scientific illustrators accurately represent the anatomy of extinct animals, known only from their fossils?

During the videoconference, students compared the skulls of modern animals with those of the hadrosaur. They then started their own sketches of the dinosaur and will reconvene with Academy staff and the five other participating schools via videoconferencing equipment later this month to share their completed drawings.

Keystone Kids Collaborate!

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:53:00 +0000

Keystone Elementary students had a great time collaborating with their neighbors from Clarion Area Elementary School!

Erin Zacherl's kindergarten students completed an "April Fool's Pranks" project with Traci Blazosky's first graders from Clarion. Each Keystone student was partnered with a Clarion student. Then they came up with a prank that they would like to play on each other and drew pictures describing their jokes. Their teachers uploaded the pictures to Voicethread and recorded the students talking about their pranks. Finally, the students "met" their partners via Skype and the Internet. Visit Mrs. Zacherl's classroom web site to see the Voicethreads from Mrs. Blazosky's and Mrs. Zacherl's students. What great fun!

The Kindle Meets the iPod Touch

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:32:00 +0000

I continue to be intrigued by my iPod Touch . . .

You've probably heard about the Kindle, Amazon's wireless reading device. Kindle owners can download books from Amazon.com at a reduced price ($9.99 for a best seller and less for others) to read on their Kindles. Newspapers and magazines are also available for download.

But did you know that you can also get a free Kindle app for your iPod Touch or iPhone? I downloaded the app, and it was sent directly to my iPod via my wireless Internet connection in a matter of seconds. However, I still wasn't sure how I would like reading a book on such a small screen. To test it, I scoured Amazon's Kindle store for a free book to test. Yes, there are FREE books for both the Kindle and the Kindle iPod app! I found a romance novel that appealed to me, and it was downloaded in a flash.

Surprisingly, I don't mind reading the book on the iPod. I don't think I'd want to read War and Peace on the small screen--Okay, I don't want to read War and Peace from a book, either--but it really isn't bad. The screen is backlit and the text large enough that it doesn't cause eyestrain. And the iPod saves my place when I stop reading. I can reopen the Kindle app later and pick up where I left off.

The Kindle app on the iPod Touch allows you to carry your favorite books wherever you go!

Image: http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/digital/kindle/lassen/touch-side-by-side._V250440637_.jpg

Tony Vincent on iPods in the Classroom

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:43:00 +0000

I had an opportunity recently to participate in a Discovery EdTechConnect webinar by Tony Vincent on using iPods in the classroom. Tony has lots of information and podcasts about using iPods and other handheld devices on his Learning in Hand web site.

Some tips from Tony:
1. Incipio--$18 voice recorder that works with the iPod Touch. Use it to record instructions for centers, lectures, etc. that can be played back on the Touch.

2. Spokentext.net--converts text to speech. Upload a text file and this site converts it to an audio file to play on the iPod. Students can listen to what they've written while editing.

3. Convert YouTube or other videos to mp4 format to view on the Touch. Add the word kick to the front of the video URL. (Example: http://kickyoutube.com/watch/?v=ddO9idmax0o) Click MP4 at the top of the window, then click Go on the right. Right click on the Download button and save the file. Then add it to your iTunes Library and sync your iPod.

4. iPREPPress. E-books for iPods, such as dictionaries, can be purchased and loaded into "Notes."

5. Use PowerPoint to make flashcards. Put a question on one slide and its answer on the next. Make as many question/answer slides as needed. When saving, change the "format" to jpg instead of PowerPoint Presentation. Each slide will be saved as a separate jpg picture. Read more on Tony's web site.

6. The Touch and other iPod models can be used like a flash drive to transfer files. Note the keychain with USB adapter that can be purchased for $10.

7. Documents can be saved as text files and imported into "Notes" on the iPod. Make ebooks for iPods at ipod-notes.com. Students can load their class notes on their iPods and study during their long bus rides. They can have lists such as transition words or prepositions on hand at all times for reference.

8. The Our City Podcasts project allows students to create podcasts about their hometowns and post them online.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using the iPod Touch in your classroom!

Image: http://www.canby.k12.or.us/news/740.html

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:50:00 +0000

Watch this musical performance performed on iPod Touches and iPhones. The instruments used are apps downloaded from the Apple Apps Store! Apps used include Ocarina, Retro Synth, miniSynth, and DigiDrummer Lite. Share this video with your students and inspire them to create. Many already have iPod Touches. If you can't see the embedded video, use this link.

Thanks to Angela, our Apple sales rep, for the link!

More Educational Apps for iPhone and iPod Touch

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:49:00 +0000

Take a look at the Open Culture blog's Top Educational iPhone Apps. Remember, many iPhone apps also work on the iPod Touch.

Spanish students might want to explore Free Spanish Tutor. Need to get organized? Try myHomework, which allows you to keep track of tests, projects, and assignments. See the blog entry for even more apps that you may find you can't live without!

Learning to Change, Changing to Learn

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:50:00 +0000

Kids explain why they are passionate about technology. From the Consortium for School Networking.

(If the embedded video doesn't load, use this link.)