Edpuzzle: Make any Video Your Own

https://edpuzzle.com/

EDpuzzle allows you to add questions, audio-dub or, pause the audio and record your own for pretty much any video out there (Youtube, TED Talks, etc.).  This way students can watch a video on their own and answer questions about it so you can check their understanding.   Questions can be multiple choice, short answer, or even just a discussion prompt. It can sync directly with your Google Classroom groupings and will post directly to their Google Classroom feeds.

It is super easy to use and makes videos much more useful and learning oriented.

Google Forms - Sending personalized emails to respondents

Just learned something new today!

If you have your class fill out a Google Form, you can send them a email back in response. Not only that, but you can send personalized-ish responses based on the answer they choose, using formMule!

I'll post more later, but very excited!

Siri is Da Bomb!

This post is obviously biased towards iPhone users (Android users have Google Now which is arguably better anyway). But I've been trying to use Siri more and more in my professional and personal life and want to share a bit.

I have a long commute every day, so getting stuff done on the road is great. Bought for $25 a Siri button that's attached to my steering wheel and let's me do stuff while avoiding death and destruction on Highway 880.

Key commands I use are:

- "Find e-mails from Mike Shaw" and Siri will find recent e-mails from the person, then after it reads a list, I can say "read the first one" and it will read that one.

- "Get directions to work (or home)" gives the depressing reality of my commute.

- When I finally get home, I can do "Turn on the lights" from my iPhone or Apple Watch and they now turn on!

Brainpop!

I love to use Brainpop for a variety of subjects.  Yes, it is a little pricey but that is what EPAK is for.  A tip given is to get a classroom license and share it with a few other teachers (three computers can be used at any given time).  The videos and questions associated are pretty fun and awesome.  Plus, for my school, I got the Spanish/French add-on and they are respectable, well-done translations/presentations.  Give it a shot!

Grammar Exercises

No Red Ink does Grammar Exercises for students.  They start off answering questions about favorite sports figures, movie stars, singers, etc.  Then the questions/examples in the exercises use these people to help with student interest.

They get immediate feedback on mistakes and correct writing.  No waiting to get back pages scribbled on by the teacher with red ink that the students don't look at anyway.

The basic form of the program is Free and has enough bells & whistles to be a good program.  Use your .net email to set up the account.

Student Genius Bar

This idea was shared at a CUE conference and was very successful with middle school students.  They had a team of students that were trained to be site support - here are some notes from that session.

Genius Bar - Student Leadership - aliciajohal@gmail.com

Application - weekly meetings

Morning “help” hours

Assign a teacher partner (maybe grade level partner)

Encourage them to research/be aware of new apps

Students can give PD

Official shirt/badge with a logo

itunes u course - 10 things that must be completed to become a “genius”

Google Art Project!

Check out the Google Art Project - The Google Art project is an amazing way to tour and view major works of art along with historical sites. The site allows viewers to compare and contrast different pieces of art along with creating personal collections that can be viewed at later time.

Angela Karamian