OERI Tech Conference Resources

On May 28, 2013 Southwest Missouri Schools came together to offer a free technology conference for their teachers.  The presenters were outstanding and the information had great value to me as a classroom teacher because it was presented by other classroom teachers!  I only got to go to a few sessions so I decided to go back through Twitter #oeri13 and review the resources (I recommend you do this also).  It was so interesting and OVERWHELMING that I knew I better post it so I can reference it later.  So, here is what I have.  If you have a link to a resource not listed here, place it in the comments and I will add it to the post.

Presentation Resources:
Twitter Presentation Resources
@MrPowersCMS 

Screencasting
@lberg6

Evernote and Livebinder
 @vb4mb

Shift2Viral
@jgarton 

Get on the Tech Track
@tracie_joiner

Chrome Apps
@marcallie

eLeaders
@ShannonEllis9

Learn for Life:  21st Century Skills 
@sknight151 

1:1 Few of my Favorite Things
@mrcraigbarr

Chrome: Power up your Desktop


Apps Shootout

Janna Elfrink
@jelfrink

Lisa Berg
@lberg6

Amy Ramsdell

Dr. Brenner's Apps
@vb4mb
Dragon Dictation – FREE – App that allows speech to text
· Slingnote – $2.99 – Great for research – 2 browsers and allows cutting and
pasting along with citations for research. Also highlighting and note-taking
within the app as well
· Photosynth – FREE – allows you to take panoramic pics
· PicCollage – FREE – way to organize pics into collage for exporting
· Qwiki – FREE – allows you to make a short video set to music from pics on
your device
· Slideshark – FREE – presentation app – upload powerpoint presentations into
Slideshark and use for presentation, annotation allowed as well
· Haiku Deck – FREE – presentation app, quick way to make a presentation for
your classroom or have students make a presentation on a topic to check for
understanding
· WifiPhotoTransfer – FREE – simply connect to network and enter URL to get
pics off of ipad
· VoiceDream – $9.99 – app that allows you to upload PDFs, textbooks, etc and
it will read it to you. Lots of customizable features within the app
· WritePad – $9.99 – Advanced handwriting recognition app
· Apps Gone Free – FREE – Lists all apps each day that have ‘gone free’
· Discovr Apps - $1.99 – Way to search for apps that are similar to ones you like.
Enter an app name and see what else comes up (also has Discovr Movies and
Music)

Google Earth

Over the years I have had students research and write reports on different countries and cultures.  My students would read books and/or websites and answer questions about that country.  But really what can the student understand about a country they haven't seen?  They do not have a starting point.  So their reports always turned out to be them reciting a bunch of facts, but no "understanding".

Now, let me tell you about a resent visit I had in a 3rd grade classroom.  The class was going to study Mexico so the teacher asked me to come do a Google Earth tour of Mexico before they began their research.  Wow....fun, fun lesson for me and for the students.  But, best of all were the connections the students made. 

I first showed them the distant view of the entire earth, or one hemisphere.  We talked about the temperature at the upper most north point on Earth and furthest south.  Then we discussed where it was warmest (equator).  We found the United States, Missouri and then Mexico.  The students decided it must be pretty hot in Mexico.

Then I took the students on a tour I made and saved.  In my tour we went into some 360 Cities bubbles.  (see the Google Earth video tutorial)  We were on a street in an old town in Mexico and talked about what looked the same as our town and what looked different.

We looked at desert areas and mountains.  The students talked about there not being any trees in the dessert and even in the mountains the trees were sparse and looked different.  They loved the colors of the houses.  When I asked them how the houses were different and they said they didn't seem to be made of wood.  I asked them why they thought their houses were not made of wood and here are 2 answers I got:

• It looks like the houses are made of rock and maybe that is to keep it cool because it is hot in Mexico.
• They may be made of rock because they don't have very many trees like we do to make houses out of.

I think these students are much more ready to research about Mexico!  They have some background information and some pictures in their minds.

In Google Earth you can also see satellites in the sky and shipwrecks in the ocean.  You can overlay a historical map over the Earth.

Class Uses:

• Research Countries and Cultures
• Visit historical sites
• Visit the setting(s) of a book
• Measure distances between locations

Resources

• Google Earth video tutorial on how to create a save a tour
• Google Earth for Educators
• Tutorials from Google

Finding Internet Resources --QUICKLY!

Where do you go to find an Internet resource for a content standard you are about to teach? It can be overwhelming to search through all the links to find one that is appropriate to use in the classroom with student level information. Below are 3 websites that are Internet Resource Databases that are created specifically for teachers and students. These make finding resources quick and easy....PLUS the sites you find are often linked to Common Core or other standards.  

If you get into the habit of putting links to Internet resource that you use in your classroom onto a class wiki or website then you

eThemes: created for eMINTS teachers but anyone can use. It is great for interactive or informational websites for students to use. http://ethemes.missouri.edu/

Thinkfinity: This site has great lesson plans with links and worksheets embedded. Once you search look at each entry to see if it is a website, interactive or lesson plan. http://thinkfinity.org/welcome

Thinkfinity partners with these popular companies:

Teachers First: Great for lesson plans, website, interactives http://teachersfirst.org/classroom_resources.cfm