There's a Map For That

There’s A Map For That

How often do you mention locations in class without showing students where that location actually is? The Internet has revolutionized the way that we get directions, and now maps can be easily integrated into any course, topic or project. Everything takes place somewhere, now you can show it on a map.

How to get started with Google’s My Maps

A Trip of A Lifetime

• Use Google Lit Trips to follow characters in your favorite story.
• Create a collaborative map to identify locations of major WWII Battles.
• Explore significant steps towards the revolution on thisRevolutionary War Map.
• Link a street view images to your map and explore real or historic sites.
• Compare and Contrast the construction of Mayan and Incan Architecture.
• Create maps that track migratory patterns.
• Map the volcanoes along the Ring Of Fire, or different state reservoirs with their current water levels.

Tour the White House, Which Presidential Portraits can you find?

Chrome Apps/Extensions to Improve Workflow and Make Your Life Better

Have you ever found yourself completing a task on your computer thinking 

"There has got to be a better way!"

Well...There Probably Is
This list of Chrome Extensions and Apps have made my life better and I hope they can help improve yours. If you know of something that is missing from this list, post it in the comments.

Extensions: Shortcuts that perform a function, located at the top right of your browser. Application: Stored in your Apps, shortcuts for programs with more developed user interfaces. Add-Ons: Scripts designed to complete some function in Google Docs, Sheets, Forms All will help you bit.ly/Workbetter
Shortened URLS	Bitly Customize and shorten your URL - bit.ly/Workbetter	Shorten Me Shorten URLs and create QR Codes to Scan
Tab Management	Too Many Tabs Open a window listing tabs when you have too many open	Tab Cloud Create sets of tabs to open together
Images	Nimbus Screen Shot Take Screenshots and Annotate on them	Pixlar Editor Edit Photos and Images
Makes Life Better	Clearly   Remove Ads and junk on text	Adblock Block ads on web pages
Makes Life Even Better	Google Docs Quick Create Create Docs in one click!	Save as PDF Save an entire webpage as a PDF
Video’s	Snagit Screencasting Made Easy	MoveNote Import Slides and create a video presentation
Text To Speech & Speech To Text	Speakit! Convert Text To Speech	Voice Note II This App opens a notepad that will transcribe your voice. The notes can be copied and pasted over on a google doc
Literacy Tools	Cite This For Me Create a citation for a site	Diigo / Diigo Webcollector Annotate Text, annotations can be copied to a notepad
Literacy Tools	Scrible Annotate Text, and Save notes and links.	Lucid Chart Students can create graphic organizers, and Charts in Google Docs.
Form Add-Ons	Autocrat Mail Merge Form Responses to a Doc	Form Mule Create Automated E-mails from a spreadsheet list.
Not Chrome But Super Useful	Create recipes that work for you

PUSD's First Student Film Festival #Films

The first PUSD Film Festival was a huge success. We had over 120 Films submitted from over 50 different classrooms. Projects spanned many genres and levels, even Kindergarden students got involved. It was incredible event highlighting Student Voice. This opportunity was something that was not possible just a few short years ago, but now with the technology that students have at their fingertips,  it is truly incredible to see the diversity of the films submitted.

On May 15th at the Firehouse Arts Center 48 of our best films were screened using several YouTube playlists that are linked below.

    A Few Of My Favorites

            Weird and Awkward                 Toy Wars 3                     New Beginnings
                  Music Video                              Animation                              Stories

     

The Full Playlists

Trailers/Promo Videos, Animations, and Stories

Public Service Announcements. Documentaries, Spoken Word Poetry and Music Videos

High School Appropriate Films

Digital Formative Assessments

Formative Assessments provide a snapshot to help teachers direct their curriculum. There are countless digital formative assessment tools, but these are some of my favorites!

Formative Assessments Presentation
	Kahoot! A Game Based Approach Engaging All Devices	How To Kahoot!
	Socrative Create Quizzes Create Quick Question Responses All Devices	How To Socrative
	Formative (Formerly smartestk12) Allow for drawing responses Upload a PDF and make it interactive	Get started with Formative How To Convert PDF’s to Digital Assessments Mental Math Quiz Use Code - AO12990
	Plickers Scan student cards with your phone (great for a low tech classroom)	How To Plickers
	Zaption Add questions to video clips. Merge multiple clips together.	How To Use Zaption
	Poll Everywhere All Devices	Poll Everywhere
	Nearpod Make a presentation interactive	How To Create A NearPod Presentation

Creating Meaningful Digital Portfolios

It's time to really think about digital portfolios. They are a place for students to archive work, reflect on their growth as a learner and publish their best artifacts of learning. This is their learning journey in the era of Common Core.

Blog Posts on Portfolio's

The How and Why of Digital Portfolios 

8P’s of Education

On Demand Webinar
Digital Portfolios

More Resources and Example Blogs and Sites
James Sanders
Karen McMillan
Jen Robert
9th Grade English Blog
Megan Ellis
Ramsey Musallam

Portfolio's must also provide a feedback loop from teachers, peers and parents. This helps create student ownership. Clearly this leads to concerns regarding social media and digital citizenship. However the portfolio can be like the "training wheels" for other media platforms that exist. Students will have years of work archived, and  it can help develop social media maturity as they will need to constantly make decisions on what they are adding to their digital footprint.

The portfolio belongs to the student so it is important to have a simple platform that easily allows them to use it across content areas. This requires some type of consensus about what platform to use. It should be easy to organize all subject areas, allow embedding of other work, and provide an audience for the published pieces. In addition, the portfolio needs to easily transition from year to year. As with all technology, there are a million ways to accomplish this. The most obvious being sites, blogs or digital portfolio sites. All have pros and cons.

Sites

• Google Sites 
• Integrates Well With GAFE
• Easy to post digital content
• Free
• Privacy Settings 
• Easy to create templates

Blogs

• Blogger 
• Integrates Well With GAFE
• Creates A Chronological/Thematic Log
• A Public Forum (Kidblog and Edublogs have paid subscriptions that allow privacy settings)
• A Clean Appearance

Digital Portfolio Sites

• Nureva Troove - subscription based digital portfolio site.
• Not Free - An ongoing cost to maintain every year
• Built In Features Like Rubrics
• Software designed for Digital Portfolios

Think about the big picture of digital portfolio's and share your thoughts on this post. What concerns, ideas or suggestions do you have when considering creating a place for students to archive their work for the remainder of their school career?