Social Media for Toddlers

Edutopia has an article on using social media, like Twitter and other similar sources, with toddlers and young elementary students.  My immediate thoughts when I began to read this article were "kids need to get outside and play instead of spending so much time on computers." and "Why in the world would a toddler need social media?".  However, after reading further I started to change my mind set. The author suggests that when I was young I was taught proper social etiquette - how to write a friendly letter, a thank you note, and how to speak to someone on the phone properly. It really is the same type of thing, just a different format.  Kids do need to learn how to use social media correctly.  I skype with my 6 year old nieces all the time.  I watch my sister teach them proper socialization skills, even via skype.  Yesterday I even got an e-mail with videos of one of my nieces who has been creating video tutorials.  I am amazed at how much they know how to do.  They are going into 1st grade and can almost do everything that I am teaching my 7th graders how to do in computers class.  If their teachers don't keep up on using technology in their classrooms, I worry that my nieces will become bored.

Teaching Toddlers to Tweet? Introducing Social Media to Elementary Students.

QR for quick reference

On the World History Teachers blog that I follow on my Google Reader, there is a tutorial on how to use QR codes for the classroom.  I think this is awesome!  My students would love this!  And, it seems pretty easy to use. Websites, YouTube videos, Google Maps, and more can be given a QR code to be downloaded and used on any document handed out in class.  My 7th grade computers class creates a school newspaper so I immediately thought about how we could incorporate QR codes into our printed newspaper.  I love the idea that the school newspaper is interactive. I am excited to use this next year in my classroom, both for my students on assignments and for my computers class to create their own.

Here is the tutorial:

Braves in DC

This past week was spent with 28 8th graders from my school touring Washington, D.C. I started a blog for parents to follow and linked it to our schools web page. I figured some of you may be interested in viewing what I have been up to! I had a wonderful experience and am so thankful I had this opportunity.
Our school mascot is a "Brave" so it is called "Being Brave in Washington, D.C."

bravesindc.blogspot.com

Fact Pyramid

My school has been working hard to switch to the common core standards for the past year or so. For social studies we really need to focus on primary source documents and non-fiction reading. I am lucky that my textbook includes a lot of primary source documents, but I am always looking for more to use in my classroom. Sometimes it can be difficult to know how to analyze these documents and really stress the importance.  This week one of my favorite blogs, History Tech, posted something that I can see is extremely useful for primary source and non-fiction reading sources. It's called "Fact Pyramid, Because Box" and asks students to evaluate, analyze, and rank 4 pieces within the document in the form of a pyramid. Then students are required to use the "because box" to back up their opinion. I am super excited to use this next year. If you are interested as well, check out this post:
Fact Pyramid, Because Box

United States Capitol

Twitterverse

After reading chapter 6, going on a technology tour to neighboring school districts, and reading articles about how twitter can be useful in the classroom, I am starting to brainstorm some ideas for my own room.  I have these little sheets of paper that I printed at the beginning of the year that were for "twitter" posts. I used these as tickets out the door. The kids had to write something they learned that day in class in 140 characters. None of my students even knew what twitter was so I actually had to teach them about it. Since my kids are so young and unaware of different types of social media, I worry about incorporating it into my classroom.

Rant of the day....

Ok, I have to rant a bit.....I love technology and I love having my students use it in the classroom, but today something happened that really irked me.  I have my students in the computer lab creating a Glogster on the Inca civilization.  I have two student computers right next to my teacher computer and today one student, who was sitting directly next to me, e-mailed me a question she had about her project!  I couldn't believe it!  She really couldn't have even raised her hand or turned to me and asked?  It blew my mind! Are the days of oral communication over?  I am concerned about these kids being able to properly socialize with one another. Sometimes I just want to take a break from teaching social studies and teach my students some social skills.

Summer Reading List

I read an article titled "Tip of the Week: Summer Reading List" from the History Tech blog.  I was drawn to this article because just yesterday I was pinning all over pinterest my summer "to-do" list and was mainly finding pins on great books to read. I enjoy reading books but am entirely too busy to open up a novel and start reading.  I find myself concerned with all the other things I need to get done.  Now that summer is approaching I am looking forward to finding a few great books to read.  Glenn, from History Tech, has a "work list" and a "fun list".  Although I want to have my summer off and not think too much about school, it may be a good idea to add some "work books" to my list.  Some books he suggested that I find interesting are: On the Map: A Mind-Expanding Exploration of the Way the World Looks, and The Republic of Nature.  The "fun list" has some great reads too, like: The Malice of Fortune, and Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland’s History-making Race Around the World.  I love reading historical fiction and I especially LOVE reading about the renaissance. 
I also really want to finish reading the final book of the Hunger Games series.  I was trying to finish it when school started last year and it just never happened.  Anybody have any great summer reading suggestions?

RSS

Chapter 6 in our classroom textbook is devoted to RSS.  I will be honest and say that the RSS is somewhat difficult for me to catch onto.  I think it is a great idea and I am trying to find meaningful ways to use RSS in my computers or social studies classrooms. I am sure that after I have played around with it enough it will make more sense to me.
I am excited to possibly use RSS as a classroom text for computers.  I also think I could make RSS feeds work well as another text in my social studies class.  I think it would be wonderful for a Current Events class or for research.  Have any of my classmates used RSS in their classrooms?  If so, what age group is best to use RSS with?  I am concerned about using this with my 6th graders, but I think my 7th graders will catch on.

Apple TV

Last Friday, my interactive projector got another upgrade!  Apple TV was installed and I am in love with it!  I have to post on this because it has become my new favorite tool to use.  It is especially exciting because it is new to my students so I can actually keep their attention during these last few days of the school year.  I can connect my iphone or ipad to my Apple TV and everything is projected onto my whiteboard. 

Needless to say, I have been obsessed with finding useful apps for my ipad.  So far my favorites are a paid app called "TT Uxmal" which is an interactive map of the Mayan city-state of Uxmal.  There are animations, games, 360 panoramic views, now and then photographs, graphics, and information.  My students LOVED the app! The other one I love is "fotopedia Heritage".  I can zoom into places all around the world and find beautiful photographs of the areas geography and culture.  Some other apps I have downloaded are Khan Academy, fotopedia National Parks, Show Me, History Maps, Earth 101, CNN, BrainPop, TED, LOC Virtual Tour, and Google Earth.  I would love to have more suggestions if anyone has any!

I am also excited that our school may buy mobile labs with ipads for next year.  My students can work on projects right at their desks and then project what they have done onto the white board through the Apple TV.   The other thing I can do from my Apple TV is show YouTube clips, download movies through itunes, play Netflix, etc.  If any of you out there have more suggestions please let me know!

Robots? Really?

Ok, I know this doesn't have much to do with the education world (that is, unless you teach technology - like myself), but I have to comment on the article I just read.  It was posted on the ReadWrite blog through my RSS feed and shows images of the Google I/O after hours party having robots doing different tasks.  The article was called "Forget Self Driving Cars, These Robots Will Make You A Drink".  There are robots mixing drinks for attendee's at this party, entertaining by playing the drums, and even getting into a boxing match!  I have to say that this is somewhat scary.  Why in the world would I want to watch a robot playing the drums?  Where is the excitement of watching someone truly talented?  Where is the social interaction with bartenders?  I wouldn't want robots serving my drinks.  It is amazing how far technology has come, but this freaks me out...

Forget Self Driving Cars, These Robots Will Make You A Drink

Library of Congress

I just subscribed to the Teaching with the Library of Congress blog, which gives a variety of ideas about teaching using primary source documents.  The blog was actually recommended by History Tech blog that I already subscribed to.  I was excited to see the recommendation and subscribed right away!
Last summer I attended a Library of Congress: Teaching with Primary Sources conference.  This was a 3 day conference teaching us how to navigate the Library of Congress site and all of the useful tools it provides for our classroom.  We were then required to create a lesson plan centered around one or more of their primary source documents.  Before attending this conference I probably would not have used the site for much other than to conduct some research here and there.  Now, I find myself using loc.gov as a tool in my classroom often.

After teaching 6th grade social studies for 3 years I have become obsessed with teaching about the Maya, Aztec, and Inca Empires.  I decided to create a lesson plan on the Aztecs using paintings that show the Spanish encounter with the Aztec people.  What is neat is that you can zoom into various details and read descriptions about what is happening and why those details were put into the painting.  Most of the Library of Congress site revolves around United States history so I wanted to create something for World History.  If any of you teach social studies and ever get the opportunity to attend a LOC conference I would recommend it!  I was also paid to create the lesson plan!
I would also recommend subscribing to the LOC blog and using the site to find great lesson plans and ideas for your classroom.
www.loc.gov

Wow!  I just read an article on the ReadWrite blog and I am blown away!  Amazon is apparently creating a 3D smartphone where images seem to float over the screen without using 3D glasses.  This is almost scary!  
I have got to tell my students about this tomorrow.  At the beginning of the year, I introduce my sixth grade students to the 4 subjects of Geography, Government, Economics, and History.  During my unit on Economics I have a lesson where my students have to pretend to be entrepreneurs and come up with a business plan for a new cell phone.  I actually have my students create a (pretend) cell phone from scratch and create a video advertisement to market their phone.  Every year I get students coming up with a holographic or 3D phone.  I also get students to want to make phones that can spit out money or food whenever you need it.  I have to remind them to think realistically, and imagine what will be important in the future.  It is funny to see what they come with!  They are going to love reading this story on Amazon's new phone.  It will probably validate the thoughts of some of my students, and it is a great way to connect to something they did at the beginning of the year. 

Amazon Smartphone

World History

For my class I subscribed to a blog called "World History Teachers Blog" and I love it!  I teach sixth grade social studies which focuses on Western Hemisphere geography, history, and culture.  Sometimes it is difficult to find good web based sources on World History, but very easy to find American History material. I always get really excited when I find quality material on ancient civilizations of the Western Hemisphere like the Aztecs, Maya, Inca because those are my favorite things to teach to my students.  I also struggle finding material on Canada and South America.
So I subscribed to this "World History Teachers Blog" and found some great stuff, including a Ted Ed video called "Who Invented Writing?". In the video the Mayans are discussed with their invention of hieroglyphic writing as well as other civilizations like the ancient Sumerians and the Chinese.  This was a short but informative video that would serve as a great warm-up at the beginning of my class period.  I also enjoyed an interactive map of the world showing population and other annotations, and an graphic called "The World as 100 People".  My absolute favorite post from this blog is the "Age of Exploration Rap".  I have included the rap below:

Hello!  I suppose I should start with an introduction.  

I am a middle school teacher/cheer coach/bartender/runner/Ed Tech student.  I wear many hats and find myself constantly busy.  I wouldn't have it any other way.  My job as a teacher has become a bit less challenging in the last year because I have been teaching the same thing year after year.  So I decided to get my masters in Educational Technology.  I am learning so much new information and getting great ideas along the way.  My current course is called Read, Write, Web which in 1 week has already taught me more collaboration tools than I have used in the past 2 years. 

I am new to this whole "blogging" thing so it is very exciting and scary at the same time.  Bear with me as I take on this new adventure.