Crash Course: YouTube Channel--How Students Study Today

Yes, students use YouTube to help them study for school. CrashCourse offers some excellent and entertaining videos for students to brush up on what they're studying in English, social studies, and science classes. Check this list below of subject areas and the number of videos presently in each category.

Even if you don't teach high school, you should be aware that high school and even middle school students are going to sites such as CrashCourse and other sites to review for school.

I am posting three examples from CrashCourse to give you an idea of how the videos work and their quality. I have sent some high school students to CrashCourse, and they reported the site was helpful.

Here are two for English classes: one on Emily Dickinson and one on Catcher in the Rye:

Here's one for social studies:

Check CrashCourse to see the collections of videos available. How do you feel about students using sites such as CrashCourse? Would you send your students to such a site? Should you as a teacher be aware of the kinds of videos available online to help students study? Do you provide a list of videos for your students to review at home?

Get Going with KidBlog

Looking for some additional information on using KidBlog. The first video takes you through a teacher's and student's explanation of the why's and how's of KidBlog, and the second video is a quick overview of how to get started with KidBlog. Let me know if these videos are helpful to you. Post a comment.

The Voice of the Active Learner

Scott, Boylen, the teacher whom two of the sections of Integrating Technology and Literacy hooked up with for the KidBlog exchange, posted this video on Twitter. Thought I would share it with you. Am interested in your reaction to it. The connections with Scott's classes will continue, but now the Manchester Cohort will also (maybe?) set up their own KidBlogs for the students in Iowa to write responses.

Okay, those in the cohorts, what do you think would make a good topic to use for the Manchester Cohort students to use for their first post on KidBlog?

So, here's the video Scott shared. How do you think his 7th and 8th graders will react?

Impending Snow Day

In hopes of a snow day, this group of students produced this video.  The video was shown at a conference I attended Saturday (virtually--I was in Connecticut--the conference was in Philly.)

What's your response to the video? Speaking of multi-literacies, note the communication skills these students use.

Other videos from the conference were archived at this site, including one featuring Will Richardson, author of Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for the Classroom. 

EduCon 2.5 Videos

There's two by Richardson at the link, one he delivered last June at the International Society for Technology and Education (ISTE) and one he delivered at this weekend's conference in Philly, "Why School?" Hold on to these two in the event we do, indeed, have a snow day (well snow night):

ISTE Presentation:

This second one is a full recording of a live presentation that went for an hour, so definitely good for saving when you have the time. The beginning is a bit scratchy as equipment is getting set up, and remember this is a live recording of a presentation as it was happening.

Trying Out Another Video Editing Site

Seeking alternatives to Animoto, I tried the WeVideo site tonight. This was a first attempt. On a second attempt, I recorded narration and removed the template.  I am still awaiting delivery of that video to my in-box, but in the meantime, here's the first draft for sharing. I had to change the dimensions to fit the video into the blog, but you can use the full-screen mode to blow it up.




My reactions to WeVideo are still mixed, but I was looking for options for those who don't have MovieMaker, iMovie, or another movie editing program on their computers. So I thought I would explore some online movie editing sites. Let me know of any good ones you've come across. If the second attempt comes out better than this one, I'll post it.

Our Digital Dossier: The World We Live In

• What does it mean to grow up today in a world where much of one's life is captured digitally? 
• Watch this video of a hypothetical person, Andy, from embryo onwards. 
• What thoughts does the video leave you with?

Tips for Using Google Drive

If you're new to Google Drive or just looking for some tips to enhance your skills with using Google Drive, I highly recommend you check out this blog post my one of my favorite bloggers, Richard Byrne.

The Writing Process

Stacy, a 4th grade teacher, in the West Hartford Cohort created this Animoto on the Writing Process as a way to introduce her elementary students to the writing process: "The Writing Process." 
The Animoto video is a helpful way to get discussion going about the research process. Once students view the video, a teacher can then lead them through a discussion of how what they watched will apply to their upcoming project. Look at the video, and then think of ways in which you can use Animoto to introduce an upcoming project in your class. Share your ideas by leaving a comment.

Click on the picture or the hyperlink below it to access the video at the Animoto site.

The Writing Process

Do You Want to Encourage Your Students to Read More?

Pernille Ripp, a 5th grade teacher from Wisconsin and an avid blogger, shares strategies she uses with her students to engage them in the reading process. I invite you to check her blog post and to share here which ideas she offers that you would implement as well. Click on the picture to link to her post.

This image is from her blog post and attributed there and in the screen capture.

And if you want to see what her students are writing, check their KidBlog posts, to which we will be responding as an upcoming class project.

If you teach 4th through 6th grade, you also might want to connect with Mrs. Pernille to see if she would like your students to write replies on her students' posts.

Teachers Care

I usually don't create posts such as this one, but a colleague in a course I am taking posted it on Google+ in our class community. It was created by a teacher in her school, and it has already received over 6,00 hits on YouTube since it was posted there recently. Regardless of what age you teach or the work you do, this video should resonate. Let me know what you think of it. You can also visit the video at YouTube, and read some of the comments there.

Haiku Deck

Haiku Deck allows you to create visually oriented slide shows with some text. It is easy to use, and young children could easily create one. Recently, I came across a few that will illustrate how Haiku Deck works. I am posting one that addresses bullying, and which could be used to promote a discussion of citizenship and character building. If you use iPads in your teaching or own an iPad, you might want to download this app and start playing with it. It can easily be used by all age groups.
Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app for iPad

Need Photos for Your Blog Posts

Check Flickr's Creative Commons to find photos you can freely use on your blog according to the licensing restrictions. Some are free to use unaltered, whereas other can be altered. For most you need to attribute the source, and Flickr makes this easy. If you already have a Flickr account, and want to stockpile photos to use in the future, you can save them as favorites or in a gallery. You don't need a Flickr account, however, if you just want to grab some photos occasionally. Simply use the Flickr Creative Commons to get what you want on as needed basis.

Recently. Flickr wrote a post celebrating the 5th Anniversary of its Flickr Commons. Check the post for information on how to use the Commons to find photos. Here is an example of a photo I found there today that struck me of interest simply because it's eye catching. I used the embed code to place both the photo and attribution easily into this blog post.

 

cc licensed ( ) flickr photo shared by National Maritime Museum

Here is a photo that I found that spoke to my teaching philosophy especially when bringing technology into the classroom.

cc licensed ( BY NC SA ) flickr photo shared by gcouros

Here is what the attribution boxes look like in Flickr for photos that can be shared with attribution. You have two choices.

• Method 1: copy the embed code (Attribution HTML), which will copy both the picture and the attribution into HTML screen (see the html option in the Blogger toolbar) 
• Method 2: Copy the attribution information (Attribution Text), which you can then simply copy in your blog after you have inserted the photo that you have downloaded and inserted. 

Illustrations below: Attribution (HTML) or Attribution (text)