Before we even got started with Search Engines, I needed to make sure that the students  understood a little more about how search engines work. We watched the video below from the very good Common Craft Plain English series on Web Search – Strategies in Plain English

Next, I introduced four different Search Engines especially designed for Kids.  Each one offers something different from the other, so we talked about how there is never a search engine that’s perfect for every search we will ever do in our learning!

Boolify
Librarians, teachers and parents have told us how hard it is for students to understand web searching. Boolify helps students bridge that gap by visualizing the process and letting students interact with the abstract concept behind the search process in a tangible and hands-on way.

SquirrelNet
SquirrelNet is a kids only search engine that has Google SafeSearch activated. From the homepage itself, you can also access the Google directory of websites relevant for children.

Dib Dab Doo & Dilly Too!
The search engine is again based on Google Custom Search and it tries to keep the content as children friendly as possible.

Kids Click!
A web search site designed for kids by librarians – with kid-friendly results!

For the classroom teacher, I left these resources also for them to introduce to their students over the next few days.

Search Engines for Kids
- and what they search -

• Awesome Library - 14,000 carefully reviewed resources
• Britannica - websites, magazines, books and the Encyclopedia Britannica.
• Dibdabdoo - metasearch DMOZ – Yahooligans – Kids Click
• INFOMINE - scholarly internet resources in K-12
• KidsWeb - Mid-Continent Public Library kid’s directory
• SuperKids SuperSearch - selected sites
  
  (adapted from: Ivy’s Search Engine Resources for Kids)

No Search Engine is entirely 100% safe. Custom search helps to keep out a lot of unsavory links, but it is definitely not foolproof. Most of the search engines for kids also display ads with some undesirable ones sneaking in. Parental control software in combination with these search engines can help to keep children shielded from the bad side of the web. It is a tough battle but at least with these sites, parents and teachers can worry a little less.

As with any use of technology, our lesson included strategies for what to do when the “undesirables” sneak in.  Although I “modelled” good and bad examples of what to do when faced with something “icky” (for the sake of time as I only had a 45 minute slot) – if I was to do it differently – I’d have the students work in pairs and come up with little demos of what not to do (scream at the top of your lungs) and what to do (lower your lid and raise your hand).  Kids seem to love it when I model the “what-not-to-do” examples!

Information also adapted from: Make Use Of: 10 Search Engines for Kids with Safe Browsing

Currently I use Presentation Zen for PD sessions with faculty as much as I can, but when I was in the classroom I used Presentation Zen Keynotes for Readers and Writers Workshop.  The result in the classroom was (I think) better conversations, shorter mini-lessons and increased motivation and inspiration – especially for writing.

Recently at the JIS Technology Learning Institute, the Presentation Zen- Introduction session I ran, was very popular.  Below I’ve included the Keynote (uploaded to SlideShare) to introduce the basics of Presentation Zen.  After the basics, we looked at an actual Readers Workshop keynote that I’d used in the past, then I asked the session participants to begin work on their own Presentation Zen keynote.  It was a great way to not only introduce the basics of keynote, but encouraged a really good conversation about Creative Commons and copyright, which a lot of schools are struggling with.

Do you use PresentationZen? What ways do you use it?

One of my many favourite sessions with Grade 5 bloggers has to be our Beginning Blogging Sessions.  When classroom teachers decide that they want to blog (individual blogs) with their students, they can book me for 4-6 getting-started sessions.  These sessions go hand-in-hand with our Digital Literacy Unit for the start of the year.

Our Guiding Question:   What makes a quality post?

Investigate:

We used the “noisy round-robin” techniques to get all our ideas down on paper.

Noisy Round Robin Technique:
In groups of 4, brainstorm ideas for 1-2 minutes then pass your sheet of paper to the next table.
Rule 1: 1 person to read all responses to rest of group
Rule 2: Add more ideas/responses to the new sheet but DO NOT repeat what you have already added to the previous sheet/s.  Repeat process 3-6 times.  Groups then decide on top 2-4 ideas on their sheet.

Plan:

One person from each group reported back the top idea from the chart.  No repeats are allowed, so students had to listen to each other.  Everyone had to agree that the idea belonged on the master list of what makes a quality post?

Create:

Here’s what I was hoping they would come up with:

• Make sure your work is the best it can be
• Think before you post: Make sure what you write is appropriate to put online
• Always tell the truth on your posts
• Say what you mean, and mean what you say
• Online work is NOT private. Never say anything on a blog that you wouldn’t mind seeing on the school bulletin board, or in the local newspaper
• Get descriptive in your title. The title helps your audience decide if they want to read your post or not.
• Try to link to other ideas or resources that back up the point you are trying to get across or further explain or enhance your content.
• Is your post learning related?
• Make your writing physically attractive. Add a supportive image, use bullets and paragraphs appropriately
• Give credit in your works cited list to anyone whose work you use. Never use other people’s work and call it your own. In other words, don’t cut, copy, or plagiarize Internet content!
• Share your knowledge with others; when you learn something new, pass it along to someone else who can benefit
• Carefully proofread your online work before you post, just like you would a regular letter. Use good form, spelling and grammar
• Capital letters are regarded as “SHOUTING.” Be careful with them
• Don’t publicly criticize (or “flame”) others. Don’t be offensive, and don’t ever use bad language

Final List for “What Makes a Quality Post”:

1. Don’t offend people (no swear words, insults, racist comments, and no discrimination).
2. Add images, videos, and captions if necessary or if it is related to your writing.
3. Be thoughtful when posting. Start with a good idea.
4. Check your punctuation spelling and grammar! (Capital letters= shouting, so only use it when it is needed).
5. Keep your personal information PRIVATE!
6. Make your reader (audience) feel like you are talking to them.
7. Always have a title. And be sure to make your title a hook.

What I’ve noticed is that when students help construct a list, they are more likely to understand the foundations of a good quality post – more so that just brainstorming a list together as a class.  It gives the teacher more of an idea of what the students are thinking about blogging already.

The “noisy round robin” technique is certainly that – noisy!  But I like it and I’m pretty sure the students do too.  Everyone has a voice, everyone can contribute and from others’ ideas grow more ideas!

Each of the 23 links below take you to an Edublogs Teacher Challenge page for a tool with an overview, a task & challenge plus help & support links.

What a perfect challenge for the summer if you’ve got time to dabble with this list of free web tools.  It will only take 30 days!  Some of them you will have heard of before.  Which ones will you try out?

#1 – Wallwisher
A Web 2.0 free online tool where anyone can build a “wall”.  Discussing a new idea? Taking notes? Giving feedback? Voicing opinion? Wishing a happy birthday?  Your students can then go onto the internet and stick post-it notes electronically onto your wall.  The notes can include linked pictures, You Tube videos, PowerPoints, PDF documents, Excel Spreadsheets, or web page links.

#2 – Self-grading Quizzes
Learn how to create a self grading, multiple choice quiz using Google Docs

#3 – Bitstrips for Schools
A web-based resource that enables any student to write their own great-looking, original comic strips without having to draw.

#4 – Classtools.net
Free flash tool website that allows you to create quizzes, diagrams, and educational games. You can then host them on your own site free of charge.

#5 – Edmodo
Web 2.0 tool that allows teachers to safely share ideas, files, assignments, videos, projects, etc.with students and with other teachers in real time. It is a safe and secure social learning site for classrooms.

#6 – DoInk
A simple & friendly vector editor that can create flash-style animations.  You can download your art, post to YouTube or Facebook and use the community art or just your art.

#7 – Kerpoof
Kerpoof is all about having fun, discovering things, and being creative. Here are just a few ways that you can use Kerpoof: Make artwork (even if you aren’t good at drawing!); Make an animated movie (really! it’s easy!); Earn Koins which you can trade for fun things in the Kerpoof Store; Make a printed card, t-shirt, or mug; Tell a story; Make a drawing; Vote on the movies, stories, and drawings that other people have made.

#8 – Glogster
GlogsterEDU (the Basic, Free version) is a Web 2.0 tool that allows students, or yourself, to create an online interactive poster/presentation/research on any topic that combines graphics, backgrounds, videos, images, sound, text and hyperlinks.  (This is one of my most favourite free web2.0 tools for the classroom)

#9 – ToonDoo
Free, fast, and facile comic strip creator.

#10 – Wordle
A word cloud, helps to interpret the meaning of the words by assigning font size according to how frequently the word appears in the targeted text. (Another favourite of mine)

#11 – Skype
Free voice and video calls using Skype is great for talking with authors, experts, peer classrooms, language classes, and more.  (Highly recommend this one!)

#12 – Animoto
Web 2.0 tool that allows teachers and students to create impressive and unique digital stories and presentations (incorporating images, video clips, music and text) quickly and easily. Animoto is a wonderful tool for students because it allows them to focus on content creation rather than trying to learn an editing or manipulation tool. In the school context, Animoto For Education is ideal tool for students to create their own booktrailers, digital stories or music videos.

#13 – VoiceThreads
An application that can be used right from your browser, which allows you to use different types of media to create an interactive slideshow.  You can use pictures, videos, documents, or even presentations.  Then, you or your students can record video/audio that allows you to describe each slide in more detail.  You can even draw right on the slide to circle or highlight different areas of interest.  (Love this tool!)

#14 – PhotoFiltre
We, and our students, all need to edit and manipulate images at some point. There are many image editors we can use to do this. However most of these are quite complex to learn and are also often only available at a relatively high cost. PhotoFiltre is both simple to use and free to download.

#15 – Livebinders
A digital 3 ring binder that you can put virtually anything into; webpage, PDF, document, image, or video. Everything is organized by tab and you can even have subtabs within those tabs.

#16 – WeeBehave
WeeBehave provides online chore and behavior charts to help teachers and parents track and record behavior patterns. The WeeBehave philosophy is that children can be better self-managed when using behavior and chore charts. Research shows that children will accomplish more if they can visibly see their results and participate in the goal setting process. This website helps accomplish that!

#17 – DropBox
A free service that lets you bring your photos, docs, and videos anywhere and share them easily. Never email yourself a file again! (Personally, I adore this application & wouldn’t leave home without it!)

#18 – Jing
Jing is a screen sharing tool. It allows you to capture anything on your computer screen either as a still image or as a video up to 5 minutes long. It is a good free  tool for narrating and sharing what is on your screen.  (ISB staff – you already have jing installed on your laptops – just type jing in the spotlight to find it)

#19 – Audacity
Free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. (Similar to GarageBand)

#20 – LearnBoost
LearnBoost empowers with a free all-in-one online classroom management solution so they can track student grades and progress, create standards-aligned lesson plans, generate beautiful analytics and reports, and organize their schedules from a central dashboard, all while integrating with Google Apps. Teachers can share academic progress and attendance with parents and students using the safe and secure student and parent platform.

#21 – Wetoku
A simple platform for interviewing someone via the Internet. Collaborating globally is a must for our students and as result interviewing can be a challenge. Wetoku makes doing an interview as easy as filling out some basic information, creating an interview session and then sending the creative interview session’s URL to the interviewee.

#22 – Little Bird Tales
Little Bird Tales is an incredibly easy to create a high-quality digital story. The site allows users to create narrated slideshows, using their own photos or illustrations and their own voices.

#23 – Wikispaces
Wiki comes from the Hawaiian word for “quick” and a wiki is a website that can be modified quickly and easily.

And here’s one of my own personal favourites that is well worth “dabbling” with over the summer …
# – Prezi
An easy to use, online editor that makes zooming presentations.  CheatSheets & Video Tutorials to help you learn Prezi are provided!

It appeals to the photographer in me and my own love of poetry.  What a great way to inspire kids who struggle to come up with ideas to get them started!

Here’s my first attempt (from my library of books at home)

Skype enables us to experience such great learning opportunities and it was a lot of fun connecting people across the world. On top of that, we also got some answers & tips to some questions that we have about the Writer’s Workshop model. ISB is not as far along in their workshop model journey as Chets Creek Elementary, so it was great to hear questions that Chets Creek Elementary teachers had for Ruth Ayres.

Here’s the video Melanie created of all our questions and Ruth’s answers for us. I’m sure that you’ll get something out of it, especially if your school uses the Writer’s Workshop model.

A Conversation with Ruth Ayres from Melanie Holtsman on Vimeo.

From the working with 2 classes of 5th Graders on getting their individual blogs going, to working with Kinders exploring a brand new program called Pixie (to take the place of the much loved but seriously out of date KidPix) to introducing Grade 1′s to the laptops.

Image Attribution: Peter Caspiolay:http://www.flickr.com/photos/66656285@N00/2475639269/

Not to mention walking in and out of 3 different teacher’s classrooms in the space of ten minutes to teach them how to do something that was frustrating them.

And then hearing from a teacher, who’d asked you earlier in the day how to do something, to which you had to say “I don’t know, but I will find out for you”, then they email you and say they’d figured it out, and then sharing teaching you how to do it!!

The “ideal day” just can’t get any better than that!

the AASL Top 25 Best Websites for Teaching and Learning!

The “Top 25″ Websites foster the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration. They are free, Web-based sites that are user friendly and encourage a community of learners to explore and discover.

Categories include

• Media Sharing
• Digital Storytelling
• Manage and Organize
• Social Networking and Communication
• Curriculum Sharing
• Content Resources: Lesson Plans and More
• Content Collaboration

The AASL (American Association of School Librians) has also linked each category to their standards for the 21st Century Learner.

I love that all the websites listed are FREE!

Flixtime is very simple to use.  Create new video, name your video, add a description, upload your photos/video, choose your title image, add music (it automatically adjusts the time to the length of your images/video) add text, save and render.

What Flixtime offers, that PhotoPeach doesn’t, is that you can add voice over too. The tool button to do that does not appear until you have saved and rendered your video though.

You can either upload your recorded voice or you can record on the spot. I like that feature too.

A few photos, no captions, a bit of music, no voice over (but I will get my son to make his own video about this) and a few minutes (it was very quick), here’s my finished product. All the transitions are done automatically by flixtime.