Magic City (5-Minute Tips!)

21st Century Learning Links

Terry Dash — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:53:41 +0000

Colleen and Carrie shared this wonderful website about essential education in our changing world:

Curriculum 21 Clearinghouse
Short link: http://goo.gl/BEUpR

You’ll find an easily-accessible list of websites and web-based tools to help you teach. Tools are organized by subject area and grade level, and they are rated by a network of teachers. Check it out!

Maps that show what students know

Terry Dash — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 11:04:37 +0000

Looking for one-page maps that you or your students can color, annotate online, and also print? Try http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/mapping/interactive-map/

National Geographic has compiled a set of clear, informative maps with drawing tools that middle- and upper-school students can use to show what they know. The students love them.

Be patient … it takes awhile for the site to load initially. But it’s worth it.

Please share this link with other interested teachers!

Fixing PowerPoint Presentations

Terry Dash — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 18:05:31 +0000

All faculty using PowerPoint should take the steps below to ensure that your presentations display properly. If you don’t, your audience may see a very confusing screen.

Open your PowerPoint presentation.
Locate the Ribbon towards the top of the screen. The Ribbon begins with a tab labeled Home.
On the Ribbon, click Slideshow (towards the right).
When you click Slideshow, new buttons appear on the Ribbon. (If you don’t see these buttons, click Slideshow again once or twice.)
At the right side of the buttons you will find two labeled Presenter View and Mirror Show.
Click Mirror Show to ensure that you and your audience both see the presentation successfully.
Save.

Each time you create a new presentation, you’ll need to repeat these steps inside that presentation. But once you’ve completed the steps, the new settings will “stick” and won’t need to be done again for that presentation.

See the award-winning movie showing you how to change your PowerPoint settings:

Tech Cafe Tips!

admin — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 09:23:41 +0000

Click the links below to download the tips sheets from the Tech Cafes offered in February and March 2011. (Tech Cafes are informal training sessions offered on some Wednesday afternoons.) I hope the tips will be helpful…

* Microsoft Word Tips & Tricks (for faculty and staff)

* PowerPoint: Pictures, Sound, & Video (for faculty)

* Digital Storytelling for Grades PreK – 4: Little Bird Tales (for faculty)

Finding Things Fast

admin — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 19:33:10 +0000

Trying to remember where you put that document you worked on yesterday? Want to search the Internet without wading through thousands of unproductive links? Here are tips!

1. On Your Macintosh: QuickLook

Ever wanted to peek quickly into a document? Just click on the document in the Finder once. Then press space bar or click the Quick Look button (below). A quick preview of the document will open.

2. On Your Macintosh: Today, Yesterday, & Past Week

Can’t remember the name of a document you worked on recently? Open a window in the Finder, and then click Today, Yesterday, or Past Week at the bottom left. If necessary, click the List View icon near the top of the window.

You’ll see a list of the documents you worked on recently.

You can narrow the list to show only Microsoft Word documents by typing .doc in the Spotlight field at the upper right, and then clicking the File Name button below and to the left.

3. Internet: Pictures

Want students to look for pictures and see only what’s appropriate? Try Pics4Learning at http://www.pics4learning.com. Pics4Learning is a copyright-friendly photo library for educators containing thousands of photographs donated students, teachers, and amateur photographers.

For free stock (professional) photos, go to 4FreePhotos at http://www.4freephotos.com.

4. Internet: Videos

Want to find educational videos quickly?

Try NeoK12 at http://neok12.com. At NeoK12, you can browse videos reviewed by educators covering topics in science, social studies, math, reading, language arts/English, and fun videos like time lapse. Neo also includes lessons and games.

Check out Watch Know at http://www.watchknow.org. At WatchKnow, a program of the non-profit Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi, editors oversee the videos recommended by a diverse user population.

Visit Snag Learning at http://snaglearning.com, where you’ll find free, high-quality documentaries selected by educators for middle school and up (limited selection, though). Use the Subject and Grade Level pull-down menus to search.

Go to the Internet Archive Collection at http://www.archive.org/details/movies to find two-hundred thousand free historical videos, many academic. The Internet Archive, a non-profit, is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form.

And don’t miss PBS videos at http://video.pbs.org/.

5. Internet: Sites Recommended by Educators

Want to know which web sites — on any topic — other educators find most useful?

Try Diigo Search at http://www.diigo.com/search. Type your topic in the search box and then click the Search button. Diigo is an online library where thousands of educators save their favorite bookmarks. The numbers at the left of each item indicate how many educators found the site useful enough to bookmark it. Higher number indicate the most useful sites.

Or browse the Internet Public Library at http://www.ipl.org. A consortium of colleges and universities with programs in information science develop and maintain this wonderfully useful site.

For lesson plans and educator-recommended resources, stop by Learn NC at http://www.learnnc.org/lessons/, a comprehensive and wonderful library of materials from the University of North Carolina School of Education. Search by clicking the Grade Level buttons or subject links.

6. Internet: Using Google

Here are some tips for making your Google searches more productive.

Use + to indicate a term that must appear. For example, to search for Star Wars Episode 1, type:
star wars +i

Use - to indicate a term that must not appear. For example, to search for dolphins without reading about football, type:
dolphins -football

Use ~ to search a term and its synonyms. For example, to search for tutorials on Google, type:
google ~guide

Use .. to search within a number range. For example, to learn about the Russian Revolution in the 20th century, type:
russian revolution 1900..2000

Use site: to search within a particular web site. For example, to search NASA for pictures of the moon, type:
site:nasa.gov moon pictures.

And last, but not least, when you see the Google results, you can search quickly for a particular word or phrase on the page by clicking Command-F and typing the word or phrase in the Find box. Depending on which web browser you’re using (Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer), you may need to click the Next button to move to each instance of the search phrase that you’ve found on the page.

Many thanks to Pike’s Librarians, who supplied some of this material!

Drawing a story

admin — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 11:23:33 +0000

Sketchfu (http://sketchfu.com) is a simple and lovely drawing program with a special twist: magically, it plays back each stroke of your drawing in the style of a flip book. Even the youngest students can use Sketchfu to draw a pictures through which a captivating story unfolds over time.

This post includes two drawings I made, just to give you an idea of how Sketchfu works. You might want to adjust the speed to 8x, and click the Replay button to see the complete animation. Also, you are sworn never to mention my drawing skills again. If you want to see really good drawings, visit the site.

The animation below also sends my good wishes for winter break to all of you!

Brainstorming with BBC Pinball

admin — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 12:03:50 +0000

BBC Pinball allows you or your students to brainstorm and organize ideas in novel ways. The site can be used for whole-group activities or by individual students.

You can reach BBC Pinball at http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/pinball/ Pinball

See the movie below an overview of how the site can help to generate and organize ideas.

Climate Change Animations

Terry Dash — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 09:45:40 +0000

You can find animations about climate change and other environmental impacts of modern life at Google’s Earth Outreach page. Here’s just one of them:

Animations can be downloaded to your laptop, where you can combine them or change them.

Incredibly useful YouTube movies

admin — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 15:12:26 +0000

Online College Courses has created a list of 100 useful YouTube channels for teachers. The list is divided into four categories:

physical sciences, mathematics & technology
multidisciplinary & general education
social sciences, history & world issues
visual, performing & liberal arts

It looks like there’s some wonderful stuff here. Enjoy!

Want to find a picture or document quickly?

Terry Dash — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 23:31:17 +0000

Option #1: Quick Look

Option #2: Cover Flow

	Ever wanted to peek quickly into a document? Try Quick Look — just click on the document in the Finder and then press space bar or click the Quick Look button (top, left of the picture at the left). A quick preview of the document will open.

	Want to preview pictures without opening iPhoto? Try Cover Flow — just open a folder containing pictures in the Finder and click the Cover Flow button (top, left of the picture at the left). You’ll see an instant slide show of your photos.

Option #3: Today, Yesterday, and Past Week Searches

	Can’t remember the name of a document you worked on recently? Open a window in the Finder, and then click Today, Yesterday, or Past Week at the bottom left. You’ll see a list of the documents you worked on recently.