cristina.runkles's blog

Please check out these useful resources to use with your students!  Thanks to many of the TRT's that helped share some of their favorites!

Math Resources:   

• K - 5 Math Teaching Resources - (Links to K-2 Interactive Whiteboard Resources from various sites)
• Collaborative Kindergarten Common Core Pinterest Board  - (So many great ideas...check them out!)
• Interactive Tens Frame from Illuminations
• ThinkCentral - Go Math Flipcharts and Online Interactives - (Mathematics > Go Math! > Login > Common Core Math Interactive Whiteboard Lessons)
• Discovery Streaming - (Click on the Curriculum Standards Search.  It aligns Common Core with Math or ELA by grade level.)

• FCPS Elementary Math WebLinks - (Many great math resources including some of those listed above)
   

 Social Studies:

• Kindergarten Social Studies Pinterest Boards - (So many ideas, so little time...)
• Jobs in Your Neighborhood from Ben's Guide K - 2
• Build a Neighborhood from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
• Interactive Map Using a Compass Rose
• Adventure Island - Maps: Tools for Adventure - (Use your map skills to show customers around Adventure Island.)

 If you have not already done so, take a closer look at these tools when you get back from holiday break in 2013!

Edmodo - is a free, secure social network for classroom use and teacher professional development.  Collaborate with this tool to share content and ideas, and to access announcements and grades.  Edmodo can be accessed online or through a portable device.  Increase communication by using this tool with your students or with other fellow teachers.

• If you don't use it as an online classroom environment for students, use it to collaborate and get new teaching ideas for yourself!
• TRT Edmodo Resource Page

Remind101 - provides a safe way for teachers to text message students and stay in touch with parents.  Teachers never see the students' or parents' phone number and likewise, the teacher's phone number is never revealed to students or parents.  Students and parents can use Remind101 with cell phones or by email. Teachers can even preschedule messages to be sent on a certain date.

• Increase communication with parents for the second half of the year.
• TRT Remind101 Resource Page

MentorMob - when you Google something online, it is usually ranked by popularity and not usually by usefulness.  It takes a long time to find good resources to use with your students, teachers, or colleagues.  MentorMob sifts through all of the content and leaves you with the most useful resources organized into a playlist.  It is like a VIP version of the Internet.

• MentoMob and Learnzillion have teamed up to create playlists aligned with the Common Core.

Students may accidentally resize objects when trying to click and drag them across the board. Removing marquee handles is helpful to avoid having this problem.

Follow the directions below to remove them from objects.  Be sure to save these settings under profile you have named appropraitely for students.

1. Click File>Settings>Command tab.
2. In the second dropdown menu, select "Marquee Handles."  Now go back to the first dropdown menu and select "Marquee Handles."
3. Select the first option "Stretch Top" or "Stretch Top Left."
4. Click the "Remove" button.
5. Repeat the "Remove" process for each of the marquee handle options. (See the picture below.)

6.  I usually leave the "Freely Move Objects" icon.  When ready to save, click on the icon with the disk and pencil = "Save Profile As."
7.  Save under a name that you will remember to use for students.  Click "Done" when finished.

Teachers can upload videos to Vimeo, password protect the video, and then embed the video into their website.

1. Sign-up for a Vimeo account.
2. Click on Upload Video.

3.   Click on Choose a Video to Upload > Browse for the video on your computer > click Open.

4.   Click on Upload Selected Videos.

5.   The video will upload.  Now add Basic information about your video.  (Title, and a Description, and/or Tags if desired) and click Save Changes.

6.  Next click on Privacy Settings.  Click on the following privacy settings:

* Who can watch this video?   Only People with a Password > Put in Password. 

* Where can this video be embedded? Anywhere

* Who can comment on this video?  No one

* What can people do with this video? Uncheck, "Download the video" and "Add to their collections"

7.  Once uploaded your video can take from 30 minutes to an hour to appear. 

8.  Once uploaded, you can embed the video into your teacher website. 

* Copy the code from the embeddable player

* Log into your Teacher website  

* Log into your teacher account and select the page you want to add the video to

* Click on Edit > Source > Copy and paste the code in the box > Click Save.  (See image below.)

To save YouTube videos to Favorites in YouTube, you need a Gmail and/or a Google account.

Your Gmail/Google Account:

If you have a Gmail account or Google account you will be able to log into YouTube.

If you do not have a Gmail account or want to create a separate Google account to use just for educational purposes then you will need to do the following BEFORE coming to the training on Tuesday.

1. Go to YouTube
2. Click on Create Account in the top right-hand corner.

   
    

3. Enter the information needed to create your account.
   o If you would like you can uncheck the box, “Set Google as my default homepage”.
   o Uncheck the box, “Google may use my account information to personalize +1’s on content and ads on non-Google websites.

    
   

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YouTube Settings:

1. Log-into your YouTube account. (Using your Gmail or Google account)
2. Go through your Settings.   (Overview, Sharing, Privacy, Email, and Playback) You have to click Save after each tab for the settings to save.
    o In Overview Settings, click next to: Do not allow advertisements to be displayed alongside my videos.

Setting Up a Channel on YouTube:

Saving your favorite YouTube videos will save you time from year to year as your favorite videos you use with teachers and students can all be saved in various playlists.

1. Before you can save any favorites, you have to create a YouTube channel. 
2. Click on the drop down menu by your name in the top right-hand corner.
3. Go to My Channel, and set up a name. You will need to also fill in birthday and gender.
4. Next, adjust your privacy and sharing settings with your channel.
5. Now you are ready to Add to Favorites. If you do not have a channel you can't add to favorites.

Do you want multiple YouTube channels?  You can have as many YouTube channels as you'd like. Unfortunately, you have to have a separate YouTube account for each and every one of them. 

You can however save videos to various Playlists on your Channel.

Save to Favorites:

1. Find a video you like on YouTube
2. Click on Add to
3. Create a title for your Playlist > Decide whether you want the playlist to be public or private > click Create Playlist
4. Once the playlist is added, click on the playlist you would like to add the video to.

Click on the drop down menu by your name in the top right-hand corner and go to My Channel to view Favorites and Playlists.

TeacherTube is a great website that both allows teachers to download content, but also upload your own videos, docs, and audio files.  

You can embed TeacherTube videos into ActivInspire, PowerPoint, or your teacher website.

Embed into ActivInspire:

1. Look for the TeacherTube video you would like to embed
2. Copy the code from the embeddable player. (See image below.)
3. Open ActivInspire (You must have version 1.6)
4. In ActivInspire, click Insert > Link > Embedded HTML
5. Copy and Paste the code into the box and click OK

Embed into PowerPoint:

1. Look for the TeacherTube video you would like to embed
2. Copy the code from the embeddable player.
3. Open PowerPoint
4. In PowerPoint, click Insert > Video > Video from Website (See image below.)
5. Paste the Code and click Insert
6. Adjust the video size. You need to be in Presentation mode to view

Embed into Your Teacher Website:

1. Look for the TeacherTubevideo you would like to embed
2. Copy the code from the embeddable player.
3. Log into your Teacher website  
4. Log into your teacher account and select the page you want to add the video to
5. Click on Edit > Source > Copy and paste the code in the box > Click Save.  (See image below.)

Presented by:

Kelly Kirby = kelly.kirby@fcps.org (Pinterest)
Michael Hakkarinen = michael.hakkarinen@fcps.org (Livescribe and Pixie)
Cristina Runkles = cristina.runkles@fcps.org (Livescribe and ActivInspire 1.6 Features)

Agenda

o 4:30-4:55 – Whole-Group in Staff Development - Livescribe

o 5:00-5:45 – First Session – ActivInspire, Pixie, Pinterest breakout sessions in labs

o 5:50 – 6:35 – Second Session - ActivInspire, Pixie, Pinterest breakout sessions in labs

o 6:40-7:25 – Third Session - ActivInspire, Pixie, Pinterest breakout sessions in labs

o 7:25-7:30 – Online evaluation
 

ActivInspire 1.6 Features Resources: 

o Instructional Flipchart for this evening

o ActivInspire TRT Page - Resources and Tutorials

o Updating your School Computer to ActivInspire 1.6

o Embedding HTML into ActivInspire 1.6

I LOVE the new feature in ActivInspire 1.6 that enables you to embed HTML code.

This is amazing!  You can stream content directly from websites.

Go to Insert> Link > Embedded HTML and paste the embed code from another website. 

Example 1:  A French set of Quizlet cards is embedded into ActivInspire below.  Now I can go directly to the review Scatter game in my flipchart without having to click a link and wait for the game to pop-up.

Example 2:  An embedded YouTube video without having to deal with the inappropriate comments and videos along the side. 

I found and previewed a YouTube video > clicked Share > Embed > clicked off of 'Show suggested videos when the video finishes'> clicked either 640 x 480 or 960 x 720 > copy and paste code into ActivInspire by going to Insert> Link > Embedded HTML. 

Note:  When using 960 x 720, I had to drag the video to fit the whole flipchart page to see all of the video.  Also when going to the embedded YouTube video on your flipchart, you as a teacher will need to log-in with your username and password for the video to appear.

You will need to open the Application Menu, click on Productivity, and double click on, Install ActivInspire 1.6.exe.

It will take anywhere between 5 - 20 minutes to install, depending on what type of computer it is.  If the software does not install properly, please let your Technology Coordinator know. They will need to uninstall the software and reinstall it.

Once the software has installed, open it from the Desktop if the software has not already opened itself.  Once the software is open, click on "Help" on the top menu bar and then click on "About."

The version number that is loaded on your computer will appear. It should say, "Release version 1.6.47432." This is the version that is being supported by FCPS in the schools at this time. Please see the picture below.

For all of the new features of 1.6, check out this blog entry from Aimee Satterlee.

To upgrade on your home computer, please ask your Tech Coordinator for Work at Home Rights for ActivInspire.

Quizlet has some great tutorials and resources available for teachers:  http://quizlet.com/teachers/.  Check them out!

If you are a secondary teacher and are going to be using the Groups feature in Quizlet, I would recommend printing out the "Students" PDF from http://quizlet.com/teachers/ to help them sign-up for an account and join a group you have created.  I would definitely recommend sending home a letter to parents informing them that you will be using Quizlet and that you have high expectations for students to use the site appropriately. You may want to state that if students are unable to use the site appropriately in your group then they no longer will be able to be a part of it. It is nice to have the parents and students both sign the note you send home and have it returned to you. It is always a good idea to keep parents informed of what their child is doing online.

Remember students should be 13 years or older to create an account.  Students do not need an account to practice sets teachers have made.  Students only need an account to join a group and/or make their own sets.

Check out other great resources the TRT's have created: http://sites.fcps.org/trt/quizlet

Ask your TRT for information on how to upgrade your account to Quizlet PLUS and start uploading your own photos to the sets you create!