Google+ and blogging

Since I have grown to love Google+ more and more, I am using it more and more.   I use this microblog to spread the communication on new content, idea, resources, and tutorials for technology integration in the classroom. Be sure to fine me and add me to your circles in Google+.   Even if you do not have a Google account or use Google+, bookmark my Profile page or my education page and frequent this site for some very useful resources to assit your classroom environment and professional development.  You'll find much more content on my Google+ education page (also, titled Ratkacher Station) since it is a microblog and much easier to send out new stuff; and quickly.

My Google+ page.

And...Begin!

We're back and ready.

Since this blog is devoted to spreading information and content to my school district (though, not restricted to this), I only post during the school year and school days.  You will not find any new content during holidays or vacations (well, you may find something from time to time).  Though I have been using this blog for about a year and a half, I feel that I am still very new to this mode of communication.  In the past year my blog posting frequency was about one per week.  I intend on increasing that frequency this year to a couple a week depending on how busy my week is.

Through my posts you will find helpful tutorials, useful online tools and information that will assist educators in being better at what they do.

As we begin this new year, I am excited again about working with my teaching staff and helping create solid curriculum through technology.  We have a couple of new products that I am excited about - i.e. SMART Technology's new integrated SMART tools and the new PowerTeacher upgrade.  I will be posting some information on these as well as some tutorials.

I would like to reiterate what a Technology Integration Specialist does.  The video below is something I had posted last year, but does a great job at explaining what my goals and desires are as a TIS.

I am a jack-of-all-trades, but some of the areas I do specialize in are any of our SMART Technology's products (i.e. SMART Notebook, SMART Boards, SMART Response, and more), Moodle, Google Earth, using a Personal Learning Network and many of our MLTI Macbook applications from Noteshare to ComicLife to iMovie.

Some of you at the High School are already aware that I have relocated my "office".  I am now in Rm 213 and will be available for anyone to stop by at any time for a visit.  I will also be available to stop by your location if you have any questions.

Durring these next couple of weeks I will be available all week until harvest break.  After harvest break I will be available at the high school on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I can be flexible, though, if these two days are not accommodating for you.  Just let me know what would work best for you and I will see what I can do to help.

Please contact me any time if you have any questions, ideas, feedback or want to discuss how we can work together:

nasonb@sad1.org

ratkacher@gmail.com

twitter.com/Ratkacher

Google+

Have a great new year!

Twitter Search Using Hashtags

I was talking with a colleague of mind this morning about using Twitter hashtags to find more content and contacts and I thought it would be a good idea to publish a post about this great tool for others.

I will always sing the praises of how much of a resource Twitter is not just for content, but for connections with other people.  In Twitter's main stream of tweets in your home you have your customized flow of information form those that you follow.  Just like most other social networks.  This is a nice resource to access when you want it.  However, if you want to get out there and discover new content or even new contacts beyond your regular stream of tweets in your home, Twitter uses hashtags.  For more information on hashtags, visit my Google Site page Hashtags.

This blog post will focus more on the basis of how to use a hashtag to search in Twitter.

Once you find a hashtag that is associated with your specific area of interest, you can use it in your Twitter search bar.

The results of your search will show in your tweet stream, as viewed below.

As shown here you can save your search for later access and return to that specific search by clicking on your search bar.  Below is a list of saved searches that can be accessed at any time.

For more information about Twitter, there are thousands of education blogs and sites that help with this.  However, feel free to visit my Google Site page about Twitter.  Go to Ratkacher Station (the Google Site version)

SlideShark - Online Storage, Sharing, Presenting for PowerPoint (Now Available iPad App)

SlideShark is an online service that hosts your PowerPoint presentations and allows you to share them via social networks or email and allows you to access them from any internet connected computer.  SlideShark also has an iPad app.  This app could serve as a very useful tool for those educators who like to use their iPads in the classroom as their teaching tool.

SlideShark's iPad app let's you access your uploaded PowerPoint slide presentations and present them on your iPad, either alone or on a projector via VGA cord or Apple TV.  SlideShark has easy controls when presenting your PowerPoint presentation and (I like this) allows a "pointer" simply by pressing and holding on the slide; which presents a very visible red dot which you can move around on the iPad and presentation view to assist in creating focal points.

The web application as well as the iPad application are both very easy to use.  Best of all the account and app are both FREE.  You are limited to 100MB of space with your FREE account, however I think that is plenty of space for the casual user.  For the heavy user, upload only your critical presentations.

IWitness - Video Testimonies of Holocaust Survivors

"IWitness is an online application that gives educatorsand students access to search, watch, and learn from more than 1,000 video testimonies of Holocaust survivors and other witnesses." - IWitness

As mentioned above in the excerpt from their site, there are over 1,000 video that you can use for you classroom.  The videos are individual interviews with actual Holocaust survivors explaining some of the things they went through.  You can browse through their categorized library (categorized by camp location and topic) for instant viewing of small 4min clips, or you can register for your own account and get the full interviews.  It may take up to two days for IWitness to review your request for registration.  To check out this rich library, go to IWitness.

What Really Drives Students to WANT to Learn?

This TED Talks video came out back in 2009.  I just discovered it.  Knowing who Daniel Pink is and some of what he does and has done with education, I did not know he spoke at TED.  Although this presentation is business-centered, it goes hand-in-hand with education.  The way businesses are motivating their teams is the same motivation that works in the school system.

Being a former businessman myself, I know that if your team is not intrinsically interested in what your business is doing or they do not know where your business is going, they may never be as successful and devoted to learning as they would if they WANTED to invest themselves into it.  They will not be your problem-solvers or your goto people if you need creative solutions or to be innovative.

Do students need to learn to think outside the box?  Or is creative thinking something for after school?  Perhaps they should wait to finish their standardized test before attempting this.  Write in the comments below your thoughts about this.

Mac's iLife In The Classroom

MacBook's iLife suite can help make some great productions for students in the classroom.  iMovie, iPhoto, and Garageband are very powerful tools and offer some fairly elaborate features that not only make it fun for the user, but can make a well crafted product.  Do NOT let these programs scare you.  Once you learn a few basic steps, you or your students can create a very nice product with minimal involvement.  

Using the iLife suite in the classroom for class projects or a final portfolio of what they learned, not only creates interest and engagement from the student, but allows students to learn about the content in ways that lecture or worksheets can not.

Students can create "movie trailers" as a book report; a handsome photo album of their collected images of 911; create a podcast as if they were reporting live at the Beach of Normandy; use their iTunes library to store important documents or podcasts from iTunesU.  With a little creativity you can do so much more using this collection of media producing software.  Because each of these programs are in one suite and are Apple products, they sync and work with each other.  So if I am creating an iMovie and need some images from iPhoto or some music from iTunes, I can access these right in the iMovie program.

With any of these applications, I consider myself almost-pro if not pro.  I can assist you with creative ideas on how we can use these applications with what you are doing in your classroom.  I would even love to make a class visit and walk your students through some of the basics and advanced features of any of these programs.

Please contact me at any time - nasonb@sad1.org