Mr. Riley's Blog

Helping Students Become Smarter Searchers

2012-05-23T12:34:00.000-04:00

Helping Students Become Smarter Searchers

This is a guest post written for me by Mark Pullen.
Thank you Mark for these tips and this great post.

We in the edublogosphere can get so caught up in finding the latest and
greatest sites, apps, and web-based games out there that we sometimes forget to
take the time to teach our students how to become experts at some of the more
basic but crucial elements of successful technology use. One such area that is
often overlooked is helping students to search for online information more
effectively. Here’s a step-by-step progression designed to turn your students, no
matter their age, into savvier searchers (fair warning – several items on here are
Google-specific):

1. Search for key words or phrases: The very first lesson elementary students
should be taught is that they should generally enter key phrases or words, not
entire sentences, into a search engine.

2. Searching for exact quotes: Next, students need to understand how to use
quotation marks when searching for an exact quote.

3. Searching for certain words while excluding others: Students should also
learn the use of the minus sign to eliminate pages with a certain word from their
search results.

4. Site-specific searches: Students should learn how to use the ‘site:___’
keyword to search for information only on certain sites. For example,
entering ‘Louisiana Purchase site:edu’ into Google will pull up only results which
are about the Louisiana Purchase and are on .edu sites.

5. Getting word definitions: Students should learn the use of the ‘define:___’
keyword to get definitions of a word of their choosing.

6. Advanced search tools: Students should be taught how to use the ‘Advanced
Search’ feature on Google. Within this feature, students can choose to search
only for pages that have been updated within a certain period of time (which is
perfect for finding timely, pertinent information about a current event) or even
by reading level (which is ideal for younger students). Through Advanced Search,
you can filter your search to include only pages from a certain region, search for
numerical ranges, find sites similar to a known site, and much more.

Two additional resources for teaching students smart searching are Google’s own
classroom posters and this Common Craft video about smart searching.

It might seem like today’s “digital natives” shouldn’t need any tips on how
to use something as basic as a search engine, but I’m convinced that it’s critical
not to ignore low-hanging fruit like this even as we also work diligently to identify
the best new tools and trends on the Web.

About the Author:

Mark Pullen has been an elementary teacher for 13 years, currently teaching
third grade in East Grand Rapids, MI. He’s an advocate for classroom technology
integration, and writes extensively on that subject on behalf of Worth Ave Group,
a leading provider of laptop, tablet computer, and iPad insurance for schools and
universities: worthavegroup

Facebook An Overview

2012-03-20T14:02:00.000-04:00

Facebooks new layout and design has confused many. So for my last Social Networking Class I presented a PowerPoint on Facebook. I discussed everything and illustrated it as clearly as possible during my presentation. I covered everything from what is Timeline

To posts
Privacy
Account Settings
Groups
Finding Friends
Photos
Search
and more

I hope this overview of Facebook video helps

WLMP Files To WMV

2012-03-16T08:46:00.000-04:00

Some Students have a different operating system than we do at school and when they create a video they forget to save it as a video file. Some will begin editing a film and want to work on it here at school. Both are normal everyday occurrences, however because this is a format that is not compatable at school so I can not play, convert, or save it. The .wlmp file is a project file, not a video. Since we do not have Windows Live Movie Maker at school, students need to open it at home, in WLMM and save the movie file. From the left-most icon of the main menu, use 'Save movie' and view choices of quality and save it to your hard drive. Choose "Standard Definition" and file type WMV.

It may take a few min for the project to save as a movie, but once it does, it is a movie.

Save a Pages document to open in Word 2007

2012-02-07T13:25:00.000-05:00

Save a Pages document to open in Word 2007

In Pages
Open the document
Click file
Then export
Select as doc

At school we use Office 2007

The file extension is .docx

In compatibility mode the extension is .doc

If you save work at school in compatibility mode you should have no problem opening up your document in Pages

SOPA & PIPA

2012-01-18T08:12:00.001-05:00

For those of us who are web dependent you have probably heard about SOPA & PIPA, but have your students? DO they know what it is and what it means? Or do they just think its cool that Google and Wikipedia have blacked out?

So how to educate students on PIPA & SOPA? Well Google has a great visual on its SOPA & PIPA page that you can connect to here. The Wikipedia article is probably written just a bit better for a Middle or High School Student to really comprehend. Google's article although short and sweet doesn't answer the questions as well as the Wiki article though. Because pictures tell a story better than words I will show this video That Kirby1 posted on his youtube channel. I am certain that this will bring up some heated discussion especially with 8th graders, I wonder though whose side they will be on?

PollDaddy

2012-01-17T12:00:00.001-05:00

A while back I wrote a post about online survey tools. Well today I stumbled upon another one. PollDaddy.com. The basics are the same as SurveyMonkey or Google Docs Forms, however when comparing to SurveyMonkey Directly it looks to be a bit cheaper. $200 a year for corporate clients.

Love to hear some feedback from those that use online survey tool.

Moving Domains

2012-01-12T08:16:00.001-05:00

As I reported earlier I am moving one of my websites away from Yola. So far the process has been relatively painless except for the moving the Blog which was the main reason for moving in the first place. Because Yola was my Host as well as my Registrar I needed to move my Domain name to a new registrar. I use GoDaddy already so I moved my domain name there. Basically you just follow the steps for Godaddy for transferring a domain. You will need to get a transfer code from your initial registrar first. Then begin the GoDaddy Process.

The process with Godaddy took about a week. Between Yola releasing the Domain and Godaddy completing the move. Then it took about 48 hours for all of the forwarding to really work properly between Godaddy and Google sites.

I learned a valuable lesson here. Always back your site up and own that domain.

Move Complete

2012-01-12T08:14:00.001-05:00

I have completed my website and blog move. A couple of things I will remember to tell others when setting up a website. Make sure you can export your data. That was tough to learn that I had to rebuild the entire site from scratch. No copy and pasting here but a total rebuild. Having to re-input all of the blog entries was a killer. I got lazy towards the end and just stopped tagging posts because I just wanted them in the new blog.

Things are working great now. My domain name, now hosted with Godaddy, forwards to my new site, hosted by Google sites. My blog, hosted by blogger is up and running. Blog posts are forwarded to Twitter using Twitterfeed. I am able to post to blogger / twitter from my Android powered phone via email. It is so much easier for me now to post information and photos. Hopefully I will continue to post. If i ever feel the need I can always go back and edit old posts and tag them but.........

Webmaster Help

2012-01-10T09:43:00.000-05:00

Check out this really helpful video on Google Webmaster Tools. It is about a half hour long but really worth it.

Assistive Touch

2012-01-09T11:16:00.001-05:00

I have someone using a Verizon iPhone Version 5.0.1 (9A405) On the screen this person has this "White Dot" that once pressed opens up a menu. I would like to disable or turn off this "APP" I can't figure out how to do it. I looked under the "General Settings" and there was no toggle switch to turn it off like in other videos I have watched. I called the Apple Help desk who told me they think the phone was jailbroken but I don't think this person did that.
So who can help me? I posted 2 pictures below. Thanks

Update: OK so this is called Assistive Touch. 2 ways to turn this off:

1) Go to Settings

Assistive Touch

Turn Off

2) Select the "Dot"

Go to "Gestures"

Choose a Gesture Square

Assistive Touch Off

Add a Blogger Gadget To Google Sites

2012-01-05T10:09:00.000-05:00

To add a Blogger or Embed Blogger to your Google Site:

Edit Page
Insert Gadget
Search for "embed blogger"
Fill out the form
Add

Please note that as of posting you will not see the blogger logo on the gadget but rather what appears to be a calculator. Worked for me no problem.

Moving From Yola To Blogger

2012-01-05T09:53:00.000-05:00

I have decided to ditch Yola for Goolge Sites. It's not that I dislike Yola or don't like the features they have. Yola has come a long way since I initially created a site with them, however the cooking site I host is mostly a blogging site. Because it is a blog heavy site the blog feature in Yola holds me back. Too many steps involved. So I am moving to Blogger. The first problem I encountered is that I can not export my Yola blog. This is tragic and something I should have looked into when I first created this site, but hind site is always 20/20. So I will need to copy and paste EVERYTHING. Once I have rebuilt the blog and website I will have to re direct my domain. That will be another post.

The moral of this post to all my followers. Be sure you find a way to back up your blog or site before you build it. Moving is stressful enough.

ParksByNature

2012-01-04T09:54:00.000-05:00

I came across this really cool app for iPhones, iPods, and Andriod phones. It's called ParksByNature and has "access the most up-to-date park information such as upcoming events, weather conditions and safety alert communications, while taking in the scenery at your favorite area. Choose a park to visit by location, or by activity such as camping or fishing." Looks like there are a few more states available to iPhone users but Android market users should see more maps soon. Very cool & Free.

Spam Warning Gmail New Policy

2012-01-02T18:06:00.001-05:00

Look Out for this phishing email;

To all our esteemed customers, all accounts not registered/verified will be suspended by the end of the month. We are sorry for the inconveniences but with the increase in accounts daily, we are trying to serve you better.

Verify Account

Facebook at Work or School

2012-01-02T12:26:00.000-05:00

Thought this was very clever of one of my students. As in most schools social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are blocked. However one of my eighth graders was able to figure out that if he changed his facebook account settings at home to only use HTTPS ( a secured site ) to access facebook he could:

Login to a school computer
Google Facebook
Select Login from the sitemap
The secured https://www.facebook.com will show up in the address bar
Circumnavigating our web blocking software
Sign into facebook
Update his status

I am by no means advocating this or encouraging this behavior and will report this to my administration. However I did think it was clever of this student to think outside the box and problem solve.

To turn on secured browsing on facebook

Log into your account
Go to Account Settings
Security
Secure Browsing
Check the box
Save Changes

Duolingo

2011-12-22T13:52:00.001-05:00

I just signed up for duolingo a betasite that will help teach me a new language while I surf the web. You will need to sign up as it is in private beta right now but it just looks too cool to pass up. I can't wait to pass this on to the ESL teacher here at school.

Networked Society

2011-12-22T08:48:00.000-05:00

As winter break approaches and we enter a shortened day schedule I wanted to show a movie to my students. Something that would get them thinking about what we discuss in class. Something that was school appropriate and related to the subject. Sure I could show them how netflix streams a movie but what would they really learn. I found this video about a networked society. Awesome! Networked Society shows how we as a society are connected and how we can use these broadband internet connections to better our lives. I am anticipating some strong class discussion afterwards and hopefully see and hear some really great ideas how we can make some of this stuff work. I am also hoping one of my students will go to botanicalls and try this really cool system out.

15 Second Film Time

2011-12-14T13:16:00.001-05:00

I have written about the 15 second film festival before, this is part of a club I help run after school where students write and direct their own films. This year, like in years past, I am creating my own film. However I try to show students the behind the scenes footage of how my film was created. The other advisers do the same. We do this to help new students to the club understand what goes into making a film and how proper planing can really help production. Here are some tips;

Pearl Harbor Resources

2011-12-07T09:52:00.000-05:00

Today is Pearl Harbor Day and to keep "The Day That Will Live In Infamy" alive and remembered I posted this link on my website and gave students 5 minutes at the beginning of class to read and explore.

If you are looking for images check this link out.
Update: 12/8/11
I have received numerous emails and comments about this post. Many of you have suggested this link to the Pearl Harbor Interactive Map. This was an awesome find!
Thank you

2011-12-06T12:01:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I ordered myself a RoadID Wrist ID. These ID tags are great and are offered in 2 different variations, the static tag like the one above or an interactive tag that allows first responders to access your insurance information. Anyway because I ordered from them they extended a coupon offer to me;

Coupon Number: ThanksMichael9720390

Good for a $1 off every order. So I thought i would pass it on to you.

enjoy

Combine 2 2010 PowerPoint Presentations

2011-12-01T10:37:00.000-05:00

homeshortly made a comment on one of my How to combine 2 or more Powerpoint Presentations: I thought it was important enough to share;

2010 is cryptic on merging two seperate 2010 presentations:
There maybe another way, but this works pretty quick:

1) Open Presentation 1, click on last slide
2) HOME tab, NEW SLIDE drop down, chose SLIDES FROM OUTLINES.
3) Drop Down file type, choose ALL FILES, then locate your other presentation
4) Press the INSERT button.
Should place the 2nd presentation below the first.

Thanks

Follow Mark Twain

2011-11-30T13:50:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite blogs & Podcasts is The Bowery Boys. They have a way of taking history and making it really engaging to students. I use the Bowery Boys to illustrate what podcasts are and how they work. Today the Boys are discussing Mark Twains adventures in NYC. This is a great lesson for language arts and technology teachers. The blog has a Google Map embedded into the post, use the maps features to go street view or take a virtual field trip. Use this post as a way to teach students about blogging or podcasts.

Thank you Bowery Boys for all your hard work.

iPad Help

2011-11-29T09:04:00.000-05:00

My Principal is ordering iPads for the school and asked me if I knew of any apps or lesson ideas that relate to Middle School Science or Math. I told him I would check somethings out but hope some of you in the blog world could help.

All I ever learned....

2011-11-22T12:00:00.000-05:00

We have all seen the All I ever learned i learned in kindergarten posters but what if you took a different slant? Film School Rejects posts the Top 10 Things We've Learned From The Muppets. Awesome job!

What a cool idea for a writing prompt.

WPS files

2011-11-21T14:33:00.000-05:00

Today I had a student come to me in a panic. She couldn't open her Word file. When I plugged in her USB drive and looked at the file extension it showed WPS an extension for Word Processing Software no good. At school we use Word 2007 we can open DOC files and DOCX. Normally when you open a file and your WPS file is missing you can change the File Type to All Files. At school students are restricted from doing this so I will do it for them and save in the DOC format.

Why it s confusing.

The WPS extension comes from Microsoft Works. This product was discontinued in 2010 and looks very similar to Word. many people get confused by this.

Way around it.

You can try using openoffice.org a free download that will work "seamlessly" with Office. I haven't tried it myself but feedback is positive.

If you can access your files you may want to try zamzar.com a free online converter.