Category: Great Tech Sites

Get “Hooked” on Screencastify! 🎥🎞

efisher713 / / Assistive Tech Tools, Great Tech Sites, Video

Bitmoji Image

Hello there!  I’m back!  Did you notice I took a nice summer break? As educators, we all need to take some time and step back to relax. During that time, I made some changes! Did you notice?  I’m excited to show off my new themed, ready-for-the-school-year-ahead, blog!

How about trying a new tool for the new school year? Imagine, sending a video of yourself, or just your voice showing something off, to parents and students before school starts. How about offering students options in how content is represented? Well, I have the answer for you!

For a GREAT tool this week, I’d like to showcase a favorite of mine: Screencastify!  I’ve mentioned this tool in my blog many times before. However, like all tech tools, Screencastify has UPDATED! I’ve been with this awesome tool since the beginning. I’m an original subscriber – an OG! Through the years, I’ve watched popular EdTech bloggers showcase other screencasting tools, only eventually to move to the best: Screencastify! I’ve known this has been the #1 Screencasting tool since the beginning. It’s FREE and it’s AWESOME! I recently spoke about this tool on the MassCUE Get a CUE Podcast, hosted by Brandon Hall! I spoke about all of my favorite features I listed below.

Screencast

Screencastify is an extension that you can install using the Chrome Web Store.  One installed, it will appear where your extensions appear next to the Google Search Web Omnibox (Yes, that’s a search box – but that’s another post).

Simply click the icon once installed, and you have the option to start recording what’s on your computer screen and record your voice along with it, if you choose.  If you computer is connected to an interactive board, you can write on the board and it will record that as well. Screencasts can be used in a variety of ways such as:

  • FLIP your classroom: Have students view the material prior to coming in the classroom or while working in small groups
  • Tutorials: Explain how to do a skill or process or have students provide a video explaining a process!
  • Station Rotation: While in small groups, have a short video students can refer to for direction
  • Explanations for Parents: Send a video home to parents explaining something in the classroom or on the computer (like how to access your website or homework).
  • Sub Plans: The best sub plan – Screencastify + Google Classroom!  Don’t worry about the students and/or Sub missing something, explain it with Screencastify!

Record Video

Not only can you record your screen, but you can also choose the camera option and video yourself or something else! Maybe you want students making a commercial or maybe students need an opportunity to pause as they record. How about having students record how they solve a math problem?! Once recorded –  you can also upload this video to other platforms like Flipgrid, post it to Google Classroom, or embed it into Slides!  Click here for more information on Screencastify + Flipgrid (seriously, this resource is one of my best workshops ever!).

Powerful Student Ideas

I was fortunate enough to assist teachers and students this past school year on a few amazing projects that used Screencastify. Two that stood out were a an app smash of Screencastify and Slides with Stop Motion Animation (inspired here by Eric Curts), and also a project on Foley Artistry.

In 6th grade science. we had students create stop motion animation of the digestive tract. Once finished with their slides, they layered Screencastify over their project and narrated the video to explain each phase of digestion.  It was pretty cool!

Another AWESOME project we worked on this year was in Music class.  Students were studying Foley Artists. Foley artists are responsible for the sound effects in film. Students watching a video of a Doritos Commercial and then had to go in and be Foley Artists.  This is perhaps one of the MOST FUN ways I’ve used this tool. I’ve included the original commercial and the studente example below. Pay special attention to the sound effects (crunching, falling, etc)

Original: https://youtu.be/HwkeEgESR3g

Student Example: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TSJh3Us3FuqXW-P6jqVyuhdtEVC4MEW2/view?usp=sharing

Screencastify has a great resource area with many ideas on how both students and teachers can use this great too. You can access that resource area by clicking here. 

Integrations

Perhaps one of the most a alLURing (get it, Lure, fish pun – haha) aspects about Screencastify is its ease to push out to Google Classroom and other areas.  This great tool integrates, easily, with many popular platforms! Record your screencast or video, and BOOM – in less than thirty seconds you can push it out to whomever you’d like to see it.

  • Google Classroom: Once your recording is done, you will be brought to a finishing screen to preview. Click the Share icon and you have a few options. Choose the one below and quickly send video to Classroom.

  • Youtube: Similar to above, rather than choosing Classroom, choose YouTube!

  • Quickly Email: Upon finished the recording, you can also copy the Google Drive link or YouTube Link.  Simply paste it in an email and send it off (Or schedule it – see here)!
  • Google Drive: Screencastify AUTOMATICALLY sends the video to your Google Drive in a folder called Screencastify.  You can link an entire folder somewhere if you’d like! Be sure to title your videos once they’re created.
  • Wakelet: If you don’t want videos taking up space in your Drive, you can also send them to Wakelet! You could create Wakes for various concepts and push videos to categorized areas quite easily!

  • Google Slides: It’s very easy to embed your Screencasts into a Google Slide deck. Choose insert video and rather than YouTube, choose from Drive!
    • Pull audio now from your screencasts and use the clips on slides! Check it out here!

Pro Tip

A pro tip I suggest, when using Screencastify, is to change the shared settings on the folder in your Drive.  Often I will quickly grab the Google Drive link to my video and put it in an email to send off. Only to have the recipient let me know they don’t have permission to view.  By setting the shared permissions on the folder to “Anyone on the web can view” you avoid this issue.  Sometimes, you may post a link in Google Classroom to a video for future students, this shared setting will avoid any delays in those viewing the video. Be sure to only share links of the videos, and not the link to the WHOLE folder!

Privacy

If you’re concerned about privacy, fret no more! Screencastify is both FERPA and COPPA Compliant.  For more information, you can read about their privacy policy here! 

FREEMIUM

If it’s free, it’s for me….

Screencastify is perhaps one of the most generous free tools out there on the EdTech scene.  Once installed, you get 50 recordings with a cap of ten minutes each PER MONTH!  Also, if you make an error, just hit the re-record button (see below) rather than start again and it will not count against your monthly quota!

Premium

If you decide to go that route, and upgrade to premium, it’s only $24 a year.  For that $24 you get an unbelievable amount of features! You can create GIFs out of your Screencasts, pull the MP3 Audio from your file, export the file as a video file, unlimited videos and time limit, AND there are a few editing tools that you have access too as well. You can take a look at the plans here.  Reach out if you want any tips and tricks on the premium plan, I’ve had mine for four years!

As always, reach out for more help with this AWESOME tool! Feel free also to search my blog with the term Screencastify to see other posts!

Take care everyone! I look forward to getting you hooked on EdTech!

oFISHally Yours,

Erin Fisher 🐟 🐟 🐟

The Sea of Digital Creation 🌊 📹 🐟

efisher713 / / Great Tech Sites, Teacher Shout Out!, UDL

Bitmoji Image

The Sea of Digital Creation

Wow! It is the first five day work week of the new year and boy am I energized!! So much good stuff happening everywhere! This week I’d like to feature a few awesome teachers, and also a few awesome tools, that all center around digital creation.  When I see students creating, I see engagement! Students are working, sometimes together and sometimes alone, on a common objective. They may all be using the same tool, or have a choice of different tools, but they are problem-solving and synthesizing information to present a product that demonstrates mastery of a concept. When I’ve been in rooms where students are creating, I notice not a single student is off task.  Every student, even if talking, is concentrated on creating the product.  Now, this may be because the tool or the content is engaging. AS we know, the first step is engagment…that hook! Once we combine the tech tool, with engagement and content….BOOM! It’s where the magic happens and it’s amazing to see! Let’s take a look at these engaging tools, and teachers, below!

 

Tools 🛠️

Brush Ninja Bitmoji Image

This is an AMAZING tool for student and/or teacher creation! It was suggested to me by my good friend Colleen Terrill, Instructional Technology director of Mashpee after her students had such success with it! Take a look at the video below to see how to use Brush Ninja, an animated GIF creator. It is so much FUN to play with.  This is also a great article by Richard Byrne on ideas of how you can use this tool for presentations. Amy Schleinkofer, 5th grade teacher, used it this week and had students post their GIFs to a Padlet. Check out some of the amazing examples of the water cycle by clicking here…Ally’s is pretty AMAZING!

JamBoard Bitmoji Image

Google JamBoard is both an actual board and also a Google App located in the waffle, just like Docs or Slides.  It’s intended to be used on Google interactive boards (Jamboards), but can be used by any Google user.  This really cool app works best on a tablet, or the app version in the Google Play store, but also has a web-based version. Think Smart Notebook Software (kind of) but in the Drive! On the app version, you can Drive content, images, links, and also write on the blank canvas. As you write, the jam appears to anyone you share it with in live time.  Just think – you can walk around the classroom with a tablet and whatever your write appears on your mainboard and also student screens. Pretty cool right? The possibilities for this tool are endless! Take a look at the video below for a brief overview. Click here to try Google Jamboard!

Wakelet Bitmoji Image

As I learn more about this tool, I grow to love it even more.  Wakelet, as I mentioned last week is a curation tool.  You can add various types of content and keep it in one organized place, called a Wake.  Recently, Wakelet paired up with both Flipgrid and Screencastify to offer integrations with both of these great tools!  Take a look here at this article on Screencastify + Wakelet. Below, I included a brief video which mentions the Flipgrid integration.  Simply post the family link in your Wake, and BOOM your videos appear! You can then add additional content with your Flipgrid videos, like Slidedecks, links, text, and video!

 

Teachers 🍎

Shout outs to some awesome teachers this week!! Check out the Choice Boards below created by Amy Ronayne, Jamie Hulke,  Stacy Linnehan and Beth Barra (in that order).  These boards provide engagement for students as they choose how they want to approach a concept. The end product allows for creativity and a bit of student personality as well. These teachers are always willing to share, be sure to reach out to them and/or follow them on Twitter! They will gladly send you a copy of the board to modify for your own needs!

 

Just to give you an idea of the power of Choice Boards and/or Learning Menus, take a look at this tweet from Stacy Linnehan regarding her choice board she tried. Check out how many views it received. WHOA!  This board was originally inspired by another teacher she saw on Twitter. Sharing is caring and together we are better!

Tip of the week: BIG Google Classroom Updates (again) 💡

So, if you haven’t already noticed Google Classroom had another huge update this week! It looks quite different and a few new features have been added like drag and drop in the classwork page and assigning form quizzes directly from Classroom. Take a look at the article from Google here.

Twitter Chat 🐦

Don’t forget, if you’re looking to discuss great things you’ve tried, or you’re looking for new ideas, join our Twitter Chat THIS TUESDAY! It is going to be an AMAZING chat that will leave you feeling excited! I will release the questions ahead, so look for them THIS weekend! Haven’t done a Twitter Chat before, but want too? Reach out and I will gladly walk you through it! They are super easy and SO MUCH FUN!

I hope you’re finding this time of year as ENGAGING as I am! If not, reach out and let me help you feel engaged!

Take care everyone and be well ♥️

Bitmoji Image

oFISHally Yours,

Erin Fisher 🐟 🐟 🐟

Reading “On(the)line” 📖 🎣

efisher713 / / Assistive Tech Tools, Great Tech Sites, Reading
Happy End of September Everyone!!

We made it! First month (almost) in the books! I always hum Green Day’s “When September Ends” this time of year. Honestly, I find it so much easier once this month has passed.  Having our new routines established, and our groove back, makes me feel so much more comfortable. And this Weather! A little cooler is a bit easier to be in school!

This week I’ve had quite a few teachers reach out about ways to read online.  Hoopla, OverDrive, Libby, Epic and Bookshare are all GREAT options. The best part….they’re FREE!!!  Let’s take a look at what’s on the line, and how to read online, below!

Let’s Read: Free eCard from Boston Public Library!

Hopefully, you have a library card from your local library network! If so, you have so many titles and media available to you FOR FREE from the comfort of your home! However, if you don’t have a library card – or you’re avoiding that overdue charge from your local library 😜 – you can sign up for an Ecard from Boston Public Library and you don’t have to leave your computer! Even if you do have a library card, consider also signing up for a Boston Public Library card as well. The advantage of having multiple library cards is a greater variety of content!   Click here to access BPL and sign up!

Now, let’s take a look at the best ways to access FREE digital media!  Check out how to read online, and what I have for you “on the line” below:

Read in your Browser – OverDrive

You can read directly on your Chromebook or PC! Simply go to the library of your choosing and access the Sails Digital Resources site! This will require a library card. Take a look at the video below to see how to read on your screen!

Hoopla

Hoopla is another AMAZING service offered by some public libraries.  East Bridgewater and Boston Public Libraries both offer the Hoopla service. Although you may have a Sails Library card, it will matter what library is your “home base” to access the Hoopla service.  Hoopla is both a website and app, but the difference between this and the other library apps like OverDrive and Libby is that it also has a TV component as well. Hoopla has a lot of FREE digital media, in addition to great ebooks! Hoopla is available on all of the devices and app stores below:

Libby/OverDrive

Libby (click here) is an app created by OverDrive. Like OverDrive you can access digital books and media free through your local library. However, Libby has a sleeker design and is a bit quicker in terms of downloading ebooks. See the comparison between Libby and OverDrive in this article here. Personally, for my needs, I like Libby since I like to access books quickly. However, for mixed media, it appears OverDrive may be a better fit! Either way, both OverDrive and Libby are a GREAT way to access FREE online ebooks and digital media (audio, video and print).  Both Libby and OverDrive are available on the Lenovo Chromebooks by going to the Google Play Store and are also available in the Apple Store as well as Android.   You will need a library card to access the content within these applications.

OverDrive is the original when it comes to online reading! What’s nice about OverDrive is it will recommend books based on your reading preferences! This site/app also requires a library card and provides you access to so many free items!  No late fees because the items are automatically removed from your device!

Epic

Epic is another GREAT free site that I’ve mentioned before! It’s awesome for grades preK-5 maybe 6. As a teacher, you create a class (syncs with Google Classroom of course) and from there, students can choose books to read or have read to them.  You can also create book sets and send them out to students.  This site is a HUGE favorite among many of our younger grades here in East Bridgewater, and it’s FREE!!! Click here to check out Epic!

Bookshare

Bookshare is another great, free, program that has any book, online! However, this program is limited and for those with a documented print disability.  It’s a great resource to find any book, even textbooks, online! Take a look at Bookshare here. 

Personally, I love to read! I hope some of these tools listed above give you some opportunities to read something new!

oFISHally yours,

Erin Fisher 🐟 🐟 🐟

 

 

Game Fish 🎣 🐟 🐠

efisher713 / / Great Tech Sites

KaHoot, Quizizz, Quizlet….Oh My! 🦁 🐯 🐻 

Do I have a great “catch” for you this week! It’s a large “game fish” 😉

As the dust settles, and the heat subsides, you may start thinking about how to first use the technology in your classroom.  A great first, easy, activity to try that can get the students really excited are three popular learning “game-like” sites: KaHoot, Quizizz, and Quizlet Live.  These sites may appear as games at first, but the learning, data, and collaboration that is built-in are well worth the time spent fishing! Take a look below at these great sites – even if you’re familiar with each you may learn a new tip as all three have updated!

KaHoot!

This was the FIRST activity I ever tried when I received Chromebooks in my own classroom. It is just so much fun, and now, with recent updates, it’s even better! KaHoot needs student devices and a teacher projector.  Students answer questions in a fun, quiz-style format.  The data is displayed after each question and available for the teacher to download following the session (that’s new!).  There are plenty of premade KaHoots or you can create your own.  You can add music, images, video and more! There is team mode, or classic as well as the standard game or jumble!  This is a GREAT activity to “pull-in” on your line!

Quizizz

If you like KaHoot!, then you’ll LOVE Quizizz. This one is my personal favorite.  The data it generates (without having to download) is spectacular and students can go at their own pace. It has some fun features like memes after each question answered.  Bonus: It integrates with Google Classroom! Even better, there are thousands of premade Quizizzes! Check it out below!

Quizlet Live

Quizlet on its own is an AWESOME vocabulary site with many premade lists teachers have created.  No need to add your own lists, if you search Quizlet by a story name, chapter, or title of a topic you will probably find a list of words. You can then modify them as you wish.  This tool is wonderful because it has speech-to-text built in, as well as a picture dictionary and translator.  Once you have a list, kids can play Quizlet LIVE!  This is unlike Kahoot and Quizizz, it puts the kids into teams and they have to work together. They LOVE it! Check out both Quizlet and Quizlet Live below!

Tip of the Week: ANOTHER awesome Google Classroom Feature

Eric Curts had a great post this week that you can read here. It includes MORE Google Classroom updates! As of August 2018, any Google Classroom that is created can be COPIED, including all of its content!  This means you can easily copy your course, and then archive the previous year. You can then edit the title of the copied course. The best part is the copy will hold all of your upcoming announcements and assignments as DRAFTS! You can choose to reuse and edit old posts that are sitting there from the previous year or delete! SCORE! So, for those of you who use your old classrooms each year and just clear out kids, you may want to consider making a new class for this reason! This feature only exists in NEW Google Classrooms! AWESOME!!!!

Reach out if you plan to use these tools, I would love to see them in action!! Have a great time!

oFISHally Yours,

Erin Fisher 🐟 🐟 🐟

 

August – the SUNday of summer for teachers ☀️ 📅 🐟

efisher713 / / G-Suite, Great Tech Sites

Hello! I miss you! 🐟 🐟 🐟

I hope everyone is doing well this summer! We still have a good amount of time left, but as my title says, August feels like the Sunday of summer for us teachers!  We start to feel school looming and it’s both exciting, and a little sad, at the same time.  Spending my summer away from Twitter, away (some) from the computer, and WITH my children is amazing. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world! However, I can’t wait to see what’s in store for my own children this year, as well as the children of East Bridgewater as they continue to learn and grow. As my own children change, so does the world around us, including educational tech! Check out my post below for a few of the bigger changes!  Also, a gift for you – this great video by John Spencer, made for teachers like you!

MAJOR GOOGLE UPDATES  

This is a great presentation, by Meagan Kelly (see her blog here), of ALL of the major Google Updates – including LOCKED QUIZZES!!!! Coming soon you can LOCK a Google Form and students cannot access the internet! Pretty awesome stuff! See these updates and more in the slides below.

Flipgrid is now FREE! 

Well, it’s free now for teachers!  We get ALL ACCESS, longer videos that you can download, unlimited grids, and much more! Flipgrid is a great way to collect video from anyone, in a safe, fun format! Check out the article here: https://help.flipgrid.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006038413-Flipgrid-is-now-free-for-all-educators-

Here are some great ideas from Matt Miller of how you could use FlipGrid in the classroom! Read about it here!

Stop Teaching like Technology Doesn’t Exist  

This article is a great post about how a teacher was trying to fit technology into already existing lessons. Sometimes it just doesn’t work. It’s a pretty good read. Click here to check it out!

Stay Tuned! I’ll be doing another post on GREAT first-week-of-school Tech Activities to get to know your students!

Enjoy these last few weeks, no one deserves it more than you! 😘 

oFISHally Yours,

Erin Fisher 🐟 🐟 🐟

FishFlop 👡 🐟

efisher713 / / Assessment, Google Sites, Great Tech Sites

Greetings! 🌸 🌼 🌷

Spring has sprung and with it a whole slew of NEW ideas 💡!  I certainly cannot wait to throw on a pair of flipflops, hence my title this week.  Let’s “flipflop” away from MCAS style tests when we can! We are deep into the first rounds of MCAS here in Massachusetts and students are doing their best at showing what they know. Can what we truly know and are able to do, be measured by just one test? On just one (or two) days? Of course not!  Our students are hungry for other ways to show knowledge, other ways to be assessed! Therefore, I chose to focus on alternative assessment ideas other than your standard paper/pencil or online test 📝. Kasey Bell and Matt Miller had some great suggestions on their Podcast this week that I included below among other ideas. Their Podcast Channel is certainly worth a listen.

Check out my post below for some alternative assessing ideas!

PBL – WorkBench 🛠️  

This FREE site is so cool! Workbench is a collection of projects already designed for you, ready to push out into Google Classroom.  Many of them have multiple steps, where students work together, at their own pace to show knowledge. Many of the projects involve a writing component, an active (doing) component, and an area to upload images as well.  Project-based learning is a great learning process for students and a great way for students to show knowledge!

 

 Presentations 📽️ 

I’ve seen teachers assign topics to students to teach the class! What a great way to show and share knowledge.  Many times I see Google Slides being used as the presentation tool of choice. Although I LOVE Slides, I see some teachers and students moving towards other tools.  A student in Janice Griffin’s ELA class chose Animaker for a book trailer – so cool, check it out below (excuse the one small spelling error in this fabulous project)!

Consider having students make a presentation using one of these tools listed below:

PowToon –  cartoon style presentations

Animoto – picture and short video presentations

NearPod – interactive presentations

Prezi –  premade templates with an interesting flow

ToonTastic – available on certain Chromebooks using the Google Play Store (grades 7-12 in EB)

Animaker – similar to Powtoon but much more user-friendly with cartoon style templates

InfoGraphic (a fancy word for poster) 🎨 

How about having kids make an online digital poster with information and graphics to demonstrate mastery? If you google “infographics” you will find a whole bunch of GREAT resources! There are MANY awesome sites that you can use to create InfoGraphics such as PiktoChart, Canva, Adobe Spark, and even Google Slides (my personal favorite!).  Creating an inforgraphic utilizes many great skills aside from technical skills – students are researching and analysing the best information to be included in addition to using digital skills as well. Check out the video below on how to use Google Slides for a cool InfoGraphic!

Video! 📹 📼 

And of course, VIDEO is a GREAT way to have students demonstrate knowledge.  Unless you live under a rock, I’m sure you’ve heard of Flipgrid! Flipgrid is one of many tools that allows one to easily create a quick video that is then placed in a grid.  Recently, Sean Fahey and Karly Moura, two great Ed Techies, published a free online book on using Flipgrid. The book also includes some great ideas on how to use it.  Click here for the free book.  Just this week Flipgrid also released a new feature called FlipGrid Templates. This is a GREAT feature which gives you some premade templates for flipped ideas.

Let’s Recap and SeeSaw are also GREAT sites that also allow for video creation placing videos in a safe location to view.

Open Ed – Free Resource 📖 🆓 

In the article,  “50 awesome apps that integrate with Google Classroom” the amazingly, awesome Kasey Bell features many great apps. Padlet, Pear Deck, and IXL are a few she lists as being great apps that integrate with Classroom.  Another she mentions, Open Ed, is also an incredible resource. OpenEd does have online assessments but also has other assignments as well as you can see in the screenshot below. The best part of Open Ed, other than it’s free, is that it integrates with Classroom! Woohoo!

Let’s give our kids choices to show what they know!  What ways do you have students demonstrate knowledge?  Share below! #TogetherWeAreBetter

oFISHally Yours,

Erin Fisher 🐟 🐟 🐟

FISH FUN 🎉 🐠

efisher713 / / Great Tech Sites

How’s it going?

I hope you are doing well! Can you believe it’s almost April? 🌸 OMG, I cannot believe it! Each and every day I am so proud to work with you, and proud to do what I’m doing. I love Ed Tech, and it’s a great time in education…even if it’s a little blah outside here in New England. I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling a little cabin fever lately. I’m ready for warm weather and being outside 😎! Therefore, to break up the monotony of New England Weather, I decided to focus a little on “Fish 🐟 Fun” this week! What are you doing that’s “fun” in your classroom? What would students say is fun? Learning is the central purpose of school, and cannot always be fun, but it’s a great feeling when students enjoy a lesson and maybe even call it fun. Although sometimes fun can look chaotic, students may enjoy it, and when we enjoy learning it generally seems to stick a little more than if we are bored. For me, writing is fun. I enjoy it and that’s why I do it every week here at FishinOnaMission. Let’s take a look at some fun finds this week….

A Google a Day ❓ 

This is FUN!  Check out A Google A Day for a fun game that utilizes the Google Search Engine to solve some riddles and questions. It awards points and asks some difficult questions that you truly need to “Google.” Each day you collect points and it’s a great way to learn a new fact, and also practice “Google-ing.”

Family Feud 🛎️ 

This is a GREAT post by Matt Miller that even includes the FREE template to create your very own Family Feud style review game for your class! He suggests using a Google Form to poll your class, this will allow you to come up with your % from your “survey says” results.  Simply use his template to enter in your questions and results, and BOOM, Family Feud! What a great alternative to Jeopardy Reviews! Students generally find review games FUN, so why not give this a try! He even has an app for a buzzer that’s available across devices.

KaHoot! 🖥️

Seriously, who doesn’t love KaHoot?! KaHoot is FUN! Do you ever have issues with the names students choose when playing? Or does it take too long for your students to enter their names? Well, try the name generator within KaHoot! Check out the video below for directions.

Switch it Up! 💡 

Sometimes, just switching it up is fun.  If kids are bored, if you are bored, change what you’re doing.  I know it’s hard, but reach out…don’t get stuck in a rut. Don’t forget….I’m here for you too, even if you just want an idea of something different to try.  I’m not the answer, but I’m here to assist you and sometimes just collaborating helps new ideas come about! Think about it 😊

Feel free to share with me what you’re doing to have some learning “fun” in the classroom! Comment below or email me directly!

oFISHally yours,

Erin Fisher 🐟 🐟 🐟

Fish food for thought… 🤔 🐟 🥫

efisher713 / / Great Tech Sites

 

Happy February! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

I am so happy January is over! It is such a long, cold and sometimes snowy month! Now we’re on to longer sunshine filled days, less days in the month, and hopefully less snow! ❄️ ❄️ ❄️

Are you having the winter doldrums? A little stuck in a rut? How about trying something new! I get so excited when teachers reach out and tell me the NEW things they’re doing. especially those teachers piloting Chromebooks and trying new things here in EB! A little “fish food” for ya this week…to try something new.  Are you getting a little tired of your same go-to apps/sites/activities? Check out some different ideas below! Who knows, maybe trying one new thing will spark that student who you just can’t get to come around…

Try a new tech tool 🆕  

Is KaHoot, Peardeck, Quizlet, Quizzizz, and others becoming a little dull? Well, check out this great list of other formative tools. The list is a long and there are a lot of great ones on here! Many of which you’ve probably used! If you want help using any, I’m here! 😀

The Ultimate List – 65 Digital Tools and Apps to Support Formative Assessment Practices

Cool Tools 🛠️ 

Word clouds are so much fun, but popular sites like Wordle don’t run on a Chromebook. Check out this post from Eric Curts on some great word cloud tools! You could make a super cute Valentines Heart word cloud using the Chromebooks!

http://www.controlaltachieve.com/2016/04/chromebook-word-cloud-tools.html

Did Steve McGuire get you thinking about what you could use for a Random Name Picker (the way he uses Alexa for student raffles)? Well here’s a good one from Classtools.net.  I created a video below to show how it works – but it’s pretty easy to figure out on your own!

Use Emojis! 🌮 🐸 

Sometimes it’s the little things that students really enjoy – like emojis in your posts on Classroom or in your email title.  Have you wondered how the little fish show up on my Name in my email display?  Check out this video below on the extension Emoji for Chrome.  It’s a fun little tool! *Note: when this extension runs it can cause interference with slides. I disable this extension when I’m creating a Google Slide deck.

Check out the video below: https://youtu.be/PMEVT2TG9uI

Embed your Twitter feed (or other items now) on the New Google Sites 🐦 

A great update from Google, if you wanted to add or embed any widgets on your New Google Site – now you can! See how to do it below! Twitter is just one widget that will embed, other sites that have embed codes or widgets will also work!

I hope some of this “fish food for thought” gives you some ideas to start something new with your students! Have a great weekend everyone!

GO PATS!  Image result for patriots 🏈

oFISHally yours,

Erin Fisher 🐟 🐟 🐟

 

HAPPY FISH Year! 🎊 🐟 🎊 🐟 🎊 🐟

efisher713 / / Assessment, Great Tech Sites, Math

                      🐟 🐟 🐟  🐟 🐟 🐟

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone is having a great start to 2018! My resolution is to see more of you and your students in 2018! So far so good, we’ve started Digital Portfolios in a number of classrooms from grades 2-11, tech trainings are starting at the JRSRHS after school next week as well as a pilot of teacher devices, and PLCs continue at both GWMMS and Central. Wow – it is GREAT to be a Viking! Let’s try something new this year with technology! How about using some video inside Google Classroom?! Let’s make that happen! Book me to come in by clicking here.

Let’s look at some FISH FOOD below:

Quick Key – Give the same assessment digital OR paper! 🔑 

This site/app is pretty cool! You can give an assessment digitally or on paper and it will score it for you. Simply, scan the paper bubble sheet with your phone! This would work well if you wanted to give students a choice in how they take a multiple-choice assessment.  The paper grade and digital grade are both released to students digitally. The only downfall is the free version is limited in how many paper scans you get per month.  Click Here to check out Quick Key!

Desmos 🔢 

This great resource has been mentioned in the past, but it’s worth a second mention (as are many tech sites)!  Why, you ask? The answer is because John Orr, a math teacher, has put together a Google Sheet of resources for grades 7-12 full of Desmos Activities for grades 7-12! Desmos is a great online graphing calculator. There is so much you can do with this FREE site!

https://teacher.desmos.com/

30 Free Desmos Activities

Cool Templates for Slides 📺

Do you like to have students create Google Slide Decks for projects or class activities? Do you like to create them yourself for your classes?  If you’re looking for some different backgrounds to use on Slides, you can find FREE Instagram and Time Magazine templates to use in Google Slides. There are other (paid) templates as well, but I really enjoyed the free ones!

http://creativeedtech.weebly.com/templates.html

Library Extension 📚  📚

This is really cool! This extension allows you to see books and e-books that are available at your local library. You simply set all of the libraries you access, and when you’re in GoodReads or Amazon the Library Extension will show you if your libraries of choice have the book. See my search below:

 

Read more about this great tool here:  https://www.libraryextension.com/

MAPS  🌎    🌎

From Richard Bryne’s blog: Outline Maps

Outline Maps is a simple set of games that you could use in an elementary school or middle school setting to help students learn the names and locations of countries and states. The site is a little short on decorative graphics that you will find on other game sites, but I kind of like the minimalist style of Outline Maps.

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2017/11/outline-maps-simple-geography-games-for.html#.WhwJpVVKuM8

I hope to see you soon!

oFISHally yours,

Erin Fisher 🐟 🐟 🐟

Jinglefish, Jinglefish…. 🎅🏻 🎄 🐟

efisher713 / / Email, Great Tech Sites, Math, Phone Tech

December 1st is here, and with it comes the craziness of the month ahead!  I wish you well this time of year, and I hope you have some peace during a chaotic month. Please remember, I am here to help you.  If you’d like a little breather, book me to come in! I LOVE teaching, and I can prepare a lesson that just shows off some tech, or I can connect it to your content. I’m happy to help and I love being with you and the kids!  Click my calendar here to book me – I filled up quickly last December, so get on there early!

Let’s take a look at some top tech of the week:

 

 

Holiday Tech ❄️  ☃️

Click here for my Google Doc (which I will update as I find new activities) for Holiday Technology Activities. Here you can find activities involving the stock market, how much the 12 days of Christmas would cost today, Elves singing, make your own digital snowman and even just Christmas Fonts for Google Docs.

Equatio now FREE for teachers   🔢

The extension, Equatio, by Texthelp is now free for teachers! This is great because previously they charged for this extension. This would help one use math language in a Google Form or Doc. You can even write (digitally) or dictate an equation and it will convert it into math language for you. Check it out below:

Sign up for your free account here: https://www.texthelp.com/en-us/products/free-for-teachers/

Send personalized emails with a Google Sheet ✉️ 

Do you regularly send parent emails?  Would you like a spreadsheet that houses student names, parent emails and a cell where you could write a personal note that automatically sends when you want it too? Even attach a file that shows something important? This is pretty cool! You could get this sheet already exported from Schoolbrains, add the mail merge add-on called Mail Merge and BOOM start sending personalized email to each and every parent or student. Keep this handy-dandy spreadsheet all year long and change the notes as you please. In a matter of minutes you can send 50 emails, all looking personalized! Send 50 more the next day – you can schedule them!

 

SCREENCAST FROM YOUR iPHONE! 📲 

With the newest IOS update you can now screencast your phone!  “When would I need this?”  Well, if you want to show students how to do something on their phones, this is useful. It is also useful to add video to Google Classroom from you! It’s much easier that screencasting from one’s computer and sending to YouTube to add to Classroom. Not only can you add the screencasting tool to your quick access screen, but you can add other tools that you’d like as well.  See below for the steps and an example video of me screencasting from my phone. Note – to get audio when screencasting your phone you need to long press the screen recording app and turn the mic on. 

This week I read a great blog post by George Couros author of The Innovator’s Mindset and the blog The Principal of Change. If you haven’t read George Couros book or blog, I highly recommend it.  George is a former Principal, and he has a great philosophy that I admire. He believes that it is important that we always work to get to “what is best for kids.” He had a great post this week about connecting with kids titled So Much More Than Letters and Numbers. I included an excerpt below:

If the technology takes away our human connection that is crucial for the development of our students, it is not worth it. Using tools like this can help to add to a conversation, but it cannot be the conversation on its own.  We cannot reduce our students to becoming letters and numbers. George Couros, The Innovator’s Mindset

Technology integration is a passion of mine, and I love it, but I love connections with kids even more! Have me come in, I’d love to connect with you!

oFISHally yours,

Erin Fisher 🐟 🐟 🐟